Here are some of the shots I found worthy uploading here. Wasn’t able to get that many decent pictures because as you could see, Magnet Cafe at High Street was very crowded when Urbandub performed. I was fortunate enough to at least get into a spot where I could see *most* of the band in my d40’s viewfinder. Now I sorely miss playing in a rock band.

What: Nikon Club Philippines Official Launch

When: July 6, 2008 [Sunday] ; 1pm to 6pm. Program will start promptly at 2pm

Where: Gerry’s Grill Jupiter Branch

How: 500 pesos plus registration from

Why: a membership card, a polo shirt bearing the official club logo, a club car sticker, a 5% discount toward Nikon equipment purchase, 5% discount on service, 12% discount on annual subscription of Digital Photographer Philippines Mag, optional benefits of an email address with the nikonclubph.org domain with 250 mb mail storage limit, a 10mb limit album in club gallery, access to participate in the club forum online.

More infos available here: http://nikonclubph.org/

I have racked five titles to satisfy my melancholic cravings. Here are my top picks:

Somewhere in Time [1980] - Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour

The story starts off on a creepy note when an old woman approaches Richard Collier a playwright, played by Reeves, just right after a gathering or celebration of some sort that is primarily hosted by/for Collier who reaches out and gave a pocket watch while saying “come back to me”. Spooky since that old lady is the very woman, Elise McKenna a renowned 20th century stage actress played by Jane Seymour, Collier fell so deeply in love with several years back. He just needs to rediscover it somewhere in time.

So it’s like the Lake House movie though in this movie, the lovers had the chance to meet and know each other in person at the Grand Hotel. The con in this movie imho is the time traveling technique Collier used to get back in time to be with McKenna which I find it kinda awkward since it felt like the movie shifted from the supposed romantic tone to a sci-fi one. The pro is the movie soundtrack Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini which is played on most sequence of the film and exceptionally captures the emotion expressed by the actors and writers of the movie.

Before Sunrise [1995] - Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

I literally fell in love with this movie. Two thumbs up for this movie as it has been rated by critics a perfect score and is considered one of the best romance of all time. This is one of the many movies that teamed up Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy together. Never have I seen a discourse so perfectly constructed and played that it got me writing most of the movie lines down that first time I watched it. Paris could never have been lovelier. An absolute favorite and I am speechless right now.

City of Angels [1998] - Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan

Yep! You got it right. It’s that song you’re humming right now. One of the more popular romance movie of its time alongside with the popular soundtrack it came along with, you just can’t avoid being sad on how this movie ends. It’s like a bittersweet ending making one feel how it is to love and be loved and making the other feel how it is to live. Living in the sense of experiencing joy, love, laughter, pain, sorrow, and sadness without exception. I just can’t imagine being in that position and still having the guts to live despite of it all.

Il Mare [2000] - Jun Ji-hyun and Lee Jung-Jae

This was kinda tough since I originally wanted to watch My Sassy Girl but figured out that the movie was on a lighter tone as compared with Il Mare in Italian or the The Sea. The Korean movie title of this film is Siworae or Hanja in Chinese which translates “time-transcending love”. What I love with Korean movies in particular is the music played on parts of the movie when there is heavy drama expected. It really has been a perfect compliment to the way actors play their scripts. I don’t know but there is really something in melancholy that I find rather comforting. As noted earlier, Somewhere in Time and Il Mare are similar in the aspect of love versus time and/or space setup.

Before Sunset [2004] - Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy

From the team that brought you the highly acclaimed 1995 movie Before Sunrise comes a sequel entitled Before Sunset which took place at Paris as well. Same quality discourse and quality acting, this movie is set to put more romance on the unfinished business the main actors left upon ending their first meeting in which they’ve promised to meet at the same location they’ve separated after six months.

This failed to materialized since Delpy’s characters’ grandmother suddenly died before the two ever got the chance to meet up again. This led to Hawke being married and having a son of his own and Delpy in a relationship of her own though both parties weren’t that particularly satisfied or happy with their respective commitments. I guess that’s what happens when one had one too many what if questions going on his or her mind. As the song goes, “it’s sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along.“

BASIC CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
June 28-29, 2008
Venue at KOLEKTIB, Cubao Expo, Cubao, QC (formerly Marikina shoe expo)
Time: TBA

Please email me at allan.florendo@gmail.com or text me at 09209607829 to reserve a slot.

So if you are interested, you could just refer to the details above. It’s never too late for you to learn how to shoot or should I say shoot to learn. I’m still persuading my colleagues to come with me on these dates since most of us here are proud Nikonistas and Lomo fanatics and it will be a great team building venue for us. Hope to see you there!

Pinikpikan’s music is simply and absolutely enchanting. The Penguin Cafe gig was exactly the kind of gig I’ve been wanting to be in. No bouncers. No security. Just mature individuals trying to have some clean fun and enjoy the limitless boundaries of music. Pass on the red wine bro.

I just hope there were more musicians like them in the industry. More of a musician than an endorser of some sort. However, things aren’t that simple. Looking forward to be in the band’s next gig this coming Friday at Penguin Cafe Malate. For those who are interested just visit the band’s multiply site.

However, despite my apparent pain-in-the-ass relationship with these women in my life, I “constructively” rebelled towards them which eventually led me into realizing that I was just being ridiculously selfish. Many would say it’s pretty normal to undergo the rebellion stage but I just can’t help to question why.

For the past Mother’s day celebration that my Mom was away, I’d always send her something useful, considering her lifestyle, through FedEx. Just a couple of days before Mother’s day, I sent her a book discussing the ‘knowabouts’ of Windows Vista.

The reason being in me giving her this specific book is for her to not be intimidated by technology which I think is the number one (1) factor why she comes up with excuses like “it’s too difficult” or “it’s no longer my generation” etc. which prohibits her in actually discovering that it ain’t that complicated after all. Something or anything would really be difficult if in the first place you are not giving it a chance to be understood or learned.

On the other hand, difficulty for me made me realize something more. Difficulty and challenges in my life made me appreciate the fact that even though my reasoning is crooked most of the time, there are but a few very special women in my life who will always be by my side. Always.

To the three (3) very special women in my life [you know who you are], I would want to extend and greet you all a delightful Mother’s Day.

Cheers!