Back to Basics

© Joselito Briones

Back to Erlangen, and back to experimenting with digital pics. This one is taken in the Bamberg train station... I was trying to create an old-world, hand-colored character to it.

MTV: In constant rotation nowadays is Christina Aguilera's "Hurt", from the album "Back to Basics", really well made, the make up alone when she's sitting down crying is flawless and a pefect fit to the video, it must've cost a fortune. Also, among the top British MTV's dance videos is the one that Frieder produced, "Dance for Life". And I happened into MTV2's Barrio 19... wow! How could I have missed this show before?


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A Little Lesson in Filipino

© Joselito Briones

I challenged one of my nephews, DanMark (yes, same as the country, German spelling), "Big Mac" to some of us, "Kuya Makky" to some of his cousins, to tell me something, so I can tell you about it.

Here's what he came up with (with my attempt at understanding the relatively new Filipino shorthand, and a translation):

sori poh sa late reply heheheh
d poh ako nkapag log in ng 2 days hehehehe
dto poh ang bago d2 nagtitinda cla lola ng fishball at halo2 un ang bago d2
hmmpp c kuya magkakaroon na ng panganay ewan ko lng poh kung kelan ang due date ni ate lanie ^_^
bkit yaw nyo poh pagandahin profiles nyo??.

-
Sorry for the late reply ("poh" is "po", a Filipino word to indicate some sort of respect, the way one would say "no, sir" to an older relative)
I wasn't able to log in for 2 days hehehehe
Here, what's new is that Gramma ("Oma" in Germany, "Inay" to me) is now selling fishballs and "halo halo" (a typical Filipino treat of sweets in ice and milk). That's what's new here.
Hmmpp... Don Don ("kuya" is brother, usually how all the siblings call the eldest brother, as "ate", sister, is used to address the eldest sister - older brother or sister other than the eldest is addressed as "kuya" or "ate" with the name attached to it) will have a firstborn already, I just don't know when Ate Lanie (Don's wife) is due. (a smiley)
Why don't you make your profile (referring to my friendster.com profile) look better?
-

You know how nothing ever happens to me when I ask my nephews to provide content to my letters to you.

The picture above is a composite, of course, the background is Times Square, in New York, while Mark's picture was taken in the Philippines.


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Berlin Revisited (Literally)

© Joselito Briones

As last time I was here, it's dark. Only now it's cold and raining too. Argggghhh!!!


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Hearst HQ

© Joselito Briones

I was browsing through magazines and saw a full-page photo of this building, so I thought I'd show you my version of it, taken early this year.

The building is the Hearst Corporation Headquarters, in 8th Avenue and West 57th Street in Manhattan, designed by Sir Norman Foster.


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Delineated Sunset

© Joselito Briones

This train station is somewhere in Germany, of course. I wasn't paying attention when I took this digital snap, and I was probably half asleep, so I didn't see where exactly.

The only thing I find interesting in this photo is the geometirc sunset, which is the reflection of the overhead lighting inside the train on the window, through which this is the view.


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The Siemens Sun Also Rises

© Joselito Briones

It's always nice that the Schlaffgutzimmer is filled with sunlight every morning, it's one of the things I like most about this apartment. Sometimes though, it gets confusing when, after leaving the sunlight-filled bedroom (photo, above), in the east side of the apartment, I see that the sun is shining just as brightly in the kitchen and dining area, west of the apartment (photo, middle).

© Joselito Briones

I've got Siemens to thank for it, of course, as the westerly sunlight in the morning is a reflection in their tallest building (photo, bottom).

© Joselito Briones

In the afternoon, it hailed. I was planning to go to Frankenlabor, I decided to just stay in. Goodbye golden October. Hello cold!


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How stupid of me

© Joselito Briones

...I just wade the tides that turned
Till I learn to leave the past behind...

...Press my face up to the window
To see how warm it is inside
See the things that I've been missing
Missing all this time...

-Beck Hansen, "Guess I'm Doing Fine"
(from "Sea Change")


How could I have mistaken this song for something from an eternal optimist? I guess it's not hard, if you just listen to it while doing something else, it's easy to see "It's only lies that I'm living, it's only you that I'm losing" as someone saying there's a lot worse that could happen, he could brave anything. I've been listening to this song for years without really knowing what it meant. Today I got tired of listening to my German Language audio lessons from my iPod and decided to switch to music, the song came up, I guess I was still in "pay attention" mode and heard differently from the other times I listened to it. It's sooooo depressing! How could someone who wrote such songs as "Sexx Laws", "Loser", and "Where It's At" write such a downer!

Hmmm... now that I think about it... maybe I just haven't been really listening to those other songs. I don't really want to find out later that they're just as tragic, so I'll just keep on listening to them while multitasking. Meanwhile I'll just keep on picking this one song apart, after all, who doesn't like lingering on miserable songs?


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P.S.

Googling Beck, I found out that he released a new album last month, "The Information"... and it's supposed to be as dark and moody as "Sea Change"... can't wait to get my hands on it!

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Golden Pond

© Joselito Briones

I always passed by this puddle in the middle of an empty construction site, on the way to Frankenlabor, here in Erlangen. There's something about it that made me keep looking at it, and I didn't know why, so I thought, I'll just take a digital snap of it and see what's in it. I picked the image apart and saw that there's actually plenty of color hiding behind the murky grayness of it, so I thought I'll just process it, turn it into something that resembles more a pond, sort of an hommage to Monet (pictured left is the result). I thought his paintings of ponds and water lilies were awesome, first time I saw them in Rouen, when I went there to study basic French many many many moons ago. I visited the actual garden that he painted, his own, in Giverny, just to see what inspired him to paint such wonderful pictures.


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No more classes, No more books, No more teachers' dirty looks

© Joselito Briones

Well, one more day. On the 7th of next month. But next week is Bavaria's fall break for schools, and this includes us. So, yay! The next level starts on the 10th. Not much time in between. Aline, our Lehrerin, said though that unless there are more than 10 students in class, there might not be a class for the next level. Petra, our other Lehrerin, is leaving after this level, to teach high school. Me and my classmates (picture, left), the beautiful women of Wysteriastraße, planned a farewell potluck for her, on the 7th.


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Old Manhattan pictures

© Joselito Briones

When I saw "The Devil..." last night, I realized how much I miss living in New York. There was a scene in the beginning when the main character bought something from a bakery and started eating it, while walking, and in the subway, on the way to work. I just blurted "That's me!" in the cinema... I used to buy "everything bagel" with cream cheese extra and coffee from a shop in 48th and Broadway, close to where I used to live, and have my breakfast while walking south along Broadway, past Times Square. I was usually done by the time I reach 40th. I worked in 37th. The story in the movie pretty much took place within this stretch of blocks.

© Joselito Briones

Anyway, I dug up some old pictures and posted them, both in my photography site and in flickr, here they are. The one on top was taken in Midtown, close to the Carnegie Deli (remember that one?) and the other one, in the bottom, was taken in Central Park, looking south.


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