micachu and the shapes

while searching for podcasts about san francisco, i came across this npr's sxsw podcast of micachu (from 2 years ago! how did i miss this? she's adorable) and ended up downloading everything micachu from itunes and watching everything micachu on youtube. i'm hooked.

if you go to her rough trade records website there's free download of her songs.

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eddie vedder's "ukulele songs" released today

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hello mr. dinner

first this pretty thingy trashed my kitchen by doing the flipping thing of his tail, splashing water all over the place.  then we had a staring contest (i lost).  then i gave him a bath of hot oil with minced garlic and ginger and rosemary.  then he was dinner.  yum.

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btw, his hot tub was a brand-new le creuset cast iron pot.  how i spoil my crustaceans.

cooking something

passing by the fresh fish market on the way to and from work everyday, it's taken much restraint on my part to not binge on home-cooked seafood.  my apartment is so small that the whole place would smell of cooked food if i did any cooking here.   now that i'm only gonna be here half a year tho,  i've given in.  i don't care about the smell anymore,  i'm gonna try every single thing that the fish market has to offer.  starting tonight.  :)

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I'm nervous.

 
i always am when making big decisions.  in about half a year, my job commitment here in hong kong will be over.  when that time comes, i've decided i'm moving to san francisco.

it's scary.  yet another start.  i don't know how many i've had.  i'm tired - of moving, of starting over, of being nervous.  it's scary because i've ran out of the thoughtless bravado of my younger days that made me plunge head-on to "adventures" like this, and fantasies that i'd hoped such move would make real. it's scary because i can still remember how rough it was the first time i moved to the bay area, at the height of the dot-com bust, and i can't imagine the current economic situation to be any better than it was at that time. it's scary because i feel too old to be starting again, even though i've wrestled with this terror when i left berlin two years ago.  it's scary because i don't think i can do another move if this doesn't work out.


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my prettiest pair of shoes

just felt like wearing them today.

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otamatone - my latest must-have useless toy

i don't even know how it works really,  most of the instructions that came with it are in japanese. i just pressed buttons and squeezed the mouth and it made a sound.  maybe it's pre-programmed.  maybe i'm just a musical genius. of course it's preprogrammed with tunes.  but really, some enterprising young hongkongers saw a prime shop location and decided to rent it for a couple of weeks to sell something done cheaply at a premium price. in any case it's a waste of money - therefore, fun. otamatone. revival.






anyhoo. i bought one in blue because the pink one is just too obscene.

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Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace

weirdness!  i was walking down hollywood road trying to digest my lunch when i came across this  exhibition space called "experimenta".  among the exhibits is a map showing locations of usb drives embedded on walls throughout china where supposedly, one can upload or download info (supposedly to hide from the censors) from the usb drives. very spy-like and too gimmicky.  the person manning the space, a susanne burner, then explained the other things on display, images downloaded from the internet and reinterpreted, and spliced together videos from youtube.  my first question of course, was, "is that legal?" either she was really clueless or she just didn't care.  she then showed me this pamphlet (photo, above) that she was selling, which she says she downloaded from the internet and reprinted to sell, and isn't worried about copyright issues because she says even the original author doesn't identify himself. i haven't read it but from skimming through the pages it looks like it's a how-to manual on how to disappear a la jon krakauer.  i'd have preferred if, instead, it's a how to on disappearing from the radar of the numerous websites making money selling personal information of people without consent. the scums.

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one shoot down

finally finished processing all the photos from this shoot (october 2009, lifestyle, indoor and outdoor) in san francisco. there's a couple of unprocessed videos from this shoot but those would have to wait. 

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citi ad

eric seems to have a knack of spotting in newspapers random photos i've taken.  last time he spotted a photo i took of jorma (in a new york daily),  this time it's an ad for citi, in philippine daily inquirer.

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a little boat trip to picton, new zealand

this is what you see when you take the ferry (huge, more like a ship) from wellington to the south island. amazingly beautiful. the color of the water was just insane.

oni and libs (above, posing as honeymooners) took me on a ferry ride (their treat, yay!) that day to show me the beauty of their adopted homeland.  oni's brother-in-law, ronald works for the ferry company, food on board was his treat (double yay!). he also gave us a tour of the bridge.

 the small town of picton, gateway to the south island of new zealand and the ferry's destination.




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the libunaos

 © Joselito Brionesyep. that's a roasted pig's head right there. there was another pork dish (inihaw) and pancit. all made by libs, yummy food from the heart (and in the pork fat's case, straight to the heart) - libs said he woke up early to prepare all of it, he had to, as i arrived in wellington airport from sydney late morning and he volunteered to pick me up. i had not seen him for a few years but it felt like just a few months since i saw him and oni.  all this time i assumed it was oni who was in charge of the kitchen, tho in hindsight i can see how it turned out to be libs (tomador - necessity of pulutan, makes sense).

  © Joselito Briones

 the occasion? marielle's birthday, and oni and lib's wedding anniversary.  the whole family was there.

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fine dining by the quay

 

on top of marco's list of "splash out" restaurants - harvey and i went to one of sydney's finest dining places - "quay restaurant".  great-tasting innovative food (and so pretty!), great service, awesome view.  we had a 4-course meal. well worth the price tag :)

either harvey was already very drunk (they also had an excellent selection of wines) when these photos were taken or he really didn't want me in the pictures, but i guess it worked out for the best :)

Quay Restaurant
Upper Level Overseas Passengers Terminal Circular Quay West
Sydney 2000, Australia

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i ♥ bondi

beach day. yay! sydney's pride - bondi beach. beautiful.

had to go there ahead because when i phoned harvey when we were supposed to meet up he told me he was still in bed and very much hung over.  i made the mistake of taking the slow way (bus, went through several residential districts, was good to see them tho) so i wasn't there long before he showed up. we had lunch at "north bondi italian food". good food, good ambience. and the staff - beautiful.


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fratelli paradiso

© Joselito Briones

lady (in blue and black dress, above) as she was approaching the restaurant, to a staff: "can we sit on that table?" - *lifts baby girl out of trolley*
friendly staff: "sure. let's just put this trolley here. a bit windy today. use it to stop the door from banging"
lady: "oh, here. use the girl instead"

as per marco's suggestion, i tried their calamari salad - was a little too salty and too much anchovy (i assume that's what's in it) on the sauce/dressing, but was just perfect with a basket of bread and 2 glasses of white wine (can't remember what it was, just remember that it was local, and good)


Fratelli Paradiso
12-16 Challis Avenue
Potts Point, Australia

(not to be confused with Fratelli Fresh)

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qvb

 

just posting random stuff - queen victoria building in sdyney - high-end mall - very pretty inside.

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manly beach on a cloudy day

just in case you're wondering, the photos i've been posting are not current (taken a few weeks ago) and not in order. i just post them as i see them while organizing my files. this one's taken in manly beach in sydney.

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drinks by the opera

what's a trip to sydney without checking out the opera house, right? harvey and i went to opera bar for drinks (great view, very noisy tho) before going to longrain (super yummy food, but no pics, sorry. was too busy eating).  we were gonna go to quay restaurant but they were all fully booked already so we made a reservation for the next night instead. 

above is sydney's skyline as seen from the opera.

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bills famously fluffy eggs

rene and chris were so impressed that they bought a book about it, and marco swears it's the silkiest scrambled eggs he's ever put in his mouth, so naturally i had to try it. second day breakfast in sydney: bills in darlinghurst.

fluffy indeed. and yummy. unfortunately i wasn't able to take more than a few mouthfuls  - what they forget to warn you about it is its lactose content.  it must've been at least half cream as i was still burping lactose the next morning. 

bills
433 Liverpool Street
Darlinghurst, Australia


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little pockets of happiness

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i was apologetic for having fallen asleep because well, in fact it wasn't my bed. it wasn't even my house. why are all these people here discussing business ideas while i was sleeping?  i got out as soon as i could, put my outdoor clothes on, and started running.  only my spirit was running faster than my body so i decided to walk instead.  after walking for some time i came into, with college students behind me (they don't look american, i must be in europe), an open but empty chapel, sun setting on the opposite direction of where i came from stuffing every corner of the wooden structure with golden light. someone behind me said that the rhythm of the interior is like that of a carpark, with communal tables instead of pews. any other day i would've reached for my camera and start clicking away. but not today. i climbed on top of a  table and jumped from one to another. a band started playing a song that could've been a keane song. we all sat down to listen. at the end of the song the lead said it was entitled "cathartic", and i smiled because i knew the song. then he did the tongue thing that the band "kiss" does. as an encore, he lifted his t-shirt and showed the very big tongue on his belly button do the same. he then went around with a very small pouch, collecting donations.  he said they're trying to save up for a trip to new york. i gave him all the coins i could fish from my pockets, some of which fell on the ground (the pouch got smaller) and i had to help him pick them up.  the student next to me didn't have any coins, when the singer stood in front of him with his money pouch open, the student lifted his hand and used his pointer finger to pet the singer's chin, just below his right jaw. i was thinking - i am so banking this in my little pockets of happiness.

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this is what i get from taking cough medicine before going to bed.  even in my dreams the medicine-induced euphoria is pretty tame (and lame). 


photo above is of kleber from a shoot in beijing late last year


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sicky, sick me

my tear ducts got leak!  at first i thought it was just what i was watching. but then who cries watching "doctor who", right?  (i was watching the last christmas special. why does it take so long for the next season???).  i mean it's great and all and i enjoyed it, but something to make me cry?  i don't think so.  a little experiment then.  i played several other shows and movies and found out that even the silliest comedies made me cry too.  my eyes never had a good cleaning as yesterday and today.

how do i get all these time to waste on a silly experiment?  i had to call in sick yesterday. cold and flu symptoms. head, nose, throat, joints - name it, it hurts.  am still not feeling well so i'm staying in today as well.  all i want to do is stay in bed under the blankets.  i won't be surprised if it's also the cause of the easily-induced saline water inundation of my usually very dry eyes.  i sure do hope so.


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