Litratong Pinoy: Tulay

There’s a bridge to tomorrow, there’s a bridge from the past
There’s a bridge made of sorrow that I pray will not last
There’s a bridge made of colors in the sky high above
And I think that there must be bridges made out of love

Magandang araw mga ka-LP! Ang lahok ko ngayong linggong ito ay walang iba kungdi ang Jones Bridge na makikita sa Maynila. Kuha ito noong unang EB ng LP noong araw ng Kalayaan noong isang taon.

Ang Puente de España, na nagdudugtong sa Binondo at Ermita, ay unang itinayo noong 1701 kapalit ng Puente Grande na nasira nung lumindol noong 1863. Noong 1916 ay Itinayo ulit ng mga Amerikano ang tulay at isinunod ang pangalan nito kay Atkinson Jones na isang miyembro ng US Congress at chairman ng Insular Affairs Committee na nag-sponsor ng Philippine Autonomy Act ng 1916, o ang mas kilala natin bilang Jones Law. Narito ang larawan ng Jones Bridge noon.

(Photo from wikimapia.org)

Ang ganda diba? Sayang lang at hindi na-preserve ng gobyerno natin ang dati nitong itsura.

Happy LP!

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Happy Thursday everyone! My entry for this week is a photo Jones Bridge which is located in Manila. I took this shot during Litratong Pinoy’s 1st EB last year.

Puente de España, which connects Binondo and Ermita, was built in 1701 replacing Puente Grande, which was destroyed by the earthquake of 1863. The Americans rebuilt it in 1916 and renamed it after Atkinson Jones, a member of the U.S. Congress and chairman of the Insular Affairs Committee who sponsored the Philippine Autonomy Act in 1916 (Jones Law).

Edited: April 30th, 2009

Just Like A Pill

Here’s a song that perfectly describes how you know who used to make me feel. He’s exactly just like a pill which makes me ill instead of making better. Ha! Funny because this is what literally happens to me when I take pills because I’m allergic to most of them. It would’ve be a lot nice if he was like a diet pill and made me thinner. Haha!

The video is a cover I found in YouTube that I really like. Happy listening!

JUST LIKE A PILL
By Pink, cover by cabreezzah

I’m lying here on the floor where you left me
I think I took too much
I’m crying here, what have you done?
I thought it would be fun

I can’t stay on your life support, there’s a shortage in the switch
I can’t stay on your morphine cause it’s making me itch
I said I tried to call the nurse again but she’s being a little bitch
I think I’ll get outta here

Where I can run just as fast as I can to the middle of nowhere
To the middle of my frustrated fears
And I swear you’re just like a pill
Stead of making me better, you keep making me ill
You keep making me ill

I haven’t moved from the spot where you left me
This must be a bad trip
All of the other pills, they were different
Maybe I should get some help

I can’t stay on your life support, there’s a shortage in the switch
I can’t stay on your morphine cause it’s making me itch
I said I tried to call the nurse again but she’s being a little bitch
I think I’ll get outta here

Where I can run just as fast as I can to the middle of nowhere
To the middle of my frustrated fears
And I swear you’re just like a pill
Stead of making me better, you keep making me ill
You keep making me run just as fast as I can
To the middle of nowhere
To the middle of my frustrated fears
And I swear you’re just like a pill
Stead of making me better, you keep making me ill
You keep making me ill

Edited: April 28th, 2009

Films

I went to Digiprint today to have some films developed. Well, not just some but tons! Nah… just about 10. Seven of them were from the Aliwan Fiesta last Saturday. (I’ll have a separate post about that on my Escapades blog soon.) One roll is my nephew’s, one is my attempt on double exposure, and the last one is a roll from the pinhole camera that I made from scratch, which I will also blog about soon (I’m just waiting for the photos and crossing my fingers it’s a success). Anyway, I’ll be receiving the scanned negatives on Thursday and I can’t wait to see everything and crossing my fingers that I’ll have a few decent shots worth entering into MBC’s Aliwan Fiesta photo contest. Wish me luck!

I gotta go now, my tummy is acting weird. Maybe I need something to cleanse the colon or something. Laters.

Edited: April 28th, 2009

Kuch

Carl’s older brother passed away last Friday, April 17.

I was at the Twitter Bebot’s EB with Trin when I received a text message from AA asking me if I knew it already. I didn’t. I sent a message to Kuch a couple of weeks ago in Facebook to ask him how he was and what happened to him, in response to his FB status. He told me he had Cellulitis and he had undergone an operation. But he told me he was recovering already and I was shocked when I found out.

It was really sad. I couldn’t believe it and everything sank in when I went to his wake and saw his family. I talked to his family one by one and I cried all the time. Kuch was too young, he’s just a couple of years older than me. Tita said he had Polymyositis and his was in the form called inclusion body myositis (IBM). I did some reading and learned that it’s inflammation of the muscles. The cause of the disease is unknown and there is no cure but the symptoms can be treated. Unfortunately, in Kuch’s case, IBM cannot be treated, it is unresponsive to drugs.

I was really low and sad when I got back home. Even my turning of door knobs was sad. And I can’t stop thinking about Carl. He was closest to Kuch amongst his brothers.

Remembering Kuch

Kuya Chiqui loved giving nicknames. Kuch was actually Carl’s nick for him and his nick for Carl is Yak. Why? Carl is Kay to his family and Kuch was fond of spelling names backwards, so, Kay spelled backwards is Yak. And he named me Eg. It’s short for Egub, which was Buge spelled backwards. It’s funny because whenever I called Carl and he answered, he’d shout “Yak si Eg!” Now, I feel special because he has a nickname for me.

I’ll miss you Kuch!

Edited: April 20th, 2009

Passport Renewal

Last April 3, my parents and I went to the Department of Foreign Affairs to renew our passports. If you don’t know it yet, they now require personal appearance so you cannot ask your travel agent to renew your passport for you. For senior citizens. It was quite an experience since it was my first time to go to the DFA office and I really hate government offices.

My mom told me we were leaving at 4am so I didn’t sleep anymore since I go to sleep around that time. I tried to kill time by surfing the internet, reading anything from movie reviews to liporexall reviews. When I got downstairs at exactly 4am, my mom and dad were still sleeping so I just took a nap at the living room for awhile while waiting for them. We left around 4:30 and my dad decided to take the Quiapo route and there was a traffic jam already that early, maybe because it was a Friday, Quiapo church day. We were stuck there for about 30 minutes and arrived at DFA about 5:30 am already. And this was our situation… we were in a hurry because we were already late and a lot of people were already there. My dad walked too fast so I didn’t have time to go to the comfort room anymore and I needed to pee because they pointed all the aircon towards me when we were in the car and I was sleeping. Turned out I wouldn’t have time to go because I was on a different from my parents since they’re both senior citizens. Sigh. Good thing I was able to control my bladder or else… I was only able to go to the restroom after I was done with everything, a couple of hours later. Haha!

So, all the people were seated already, including me, and waiting for the DFA employees to open the counters. They asked everyone to stand and fall in line again just so they could stamp numbers on our form. That alone took about half an hour and my gosh, some people really know to cheat. Grabe silang sumingit. They really found a way to cut through the lines, it was really irritating. And then one DFA personnel kept announcing on the mike the procedures and he was using this old karaoke machine, you know, the big black rectangular box and he irritated me more. Haha! After the stamping, we sat back on the chairs and moved and waited till we get to the counter. From there, the other procedures were fast and easy enough, it was just funny and their system was so jurassic.

And then there was this guy. When someone is staring at me, I stare back. That’s how I am. I do that because I’m curious why. So, I stared back at the guy.  And he stared every time we crossed paths and I stared back everytime too. Maybe he got the impression that I like him or something because the next time I saw him, he was whispering to his friend and both of them were staring at me. The nerve! And then one time, were in line again and I passed by his friend and his friend said something to me, I just ignored him and pretended I didn’t hear anything. Haha! And then when I was done, I hurried sneaking on my way back to the car so I wouldn’t cross paths with them. Haha!

I was done around 9:30 am and my parents had to wait for me because they finished early. It wasn’t really bad but the DFA still needs a LOT of improvements.

Edited: April 19th, 2009

Litratong Pinoy: Hardin

Magandang araw mga ka-LP! Pasensiya na at medyo nahuli ang lahok ko ngayong linggo. Nawala sa loob ko na Huwebes na pala. Ang aking lahok ay ang hardin ng gasang na makikita sa ilalim ng dagat. Siyempre hindi ito kuha talaga sa ilalim ng dagat. Hehe! Ito ay kuha sa Manila Ocean Park nung huli naming punta doon ng aking kapatid kasama ang kanyang pamilya.

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I apologize for my late Litratong Pinoy entry for this week, I lost track of the date and didn’t notice that it is already Thursday. Anyway, my entry for this week is a garden that can be found under the sea… a garden of corals. Of course, this was was not taken underwater (how I wish!) but rather, I took this the last time I went to Manila Ocean Park with my sister and her family. Happy LP everyone!

Edited: April 16th, 2009

This Never Happened Before

This is one of my recent favorites. I know IT never happened to me… yet… hopefully… but I’m wishful. That’s the least I can do. I’m sure many of you know that the song was used in the movie The Lake House, starring Keanu Reeves & Sandra Bullock. The plot of the movie was a bit weird but I like it, in fact, it’s also one of my faves. Yeah, I’m weird like that. Haha! The movie was actually a remake of a Korean film titled Il Mare (Italian for The Sea) released on 2000. I wish I could watch the original Korean version too. Anyways, I’ve been listening to the song over and over for the past couple of days But I haven’t grown tired of it yet. So here is the song and hope you’ll like it too.

THIS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE
by Paul McCartney

I’m very sure
This never happened to me before
I met you and now I’m sure
This never happened before

Now I see
This is the way it’s supposed to be
I met you and now I see
This is the way it should be

This is the way it should be for lovers
They shouldn’t go it alone
It’s not so good when you’re on your own

So come to me
Now we can be what we wanna be
I love you and now I see
This is the way it should be

This is the way it should be

This is the way it should be for lovers
They shouldn’t go it alone
It’s not so good when you’re on your own

I’m very sure
This never happened to me before
I met you and now I’m sure
This never happened before
This never happened before
This never happened before

Edited: April 4th, 2009

Litratong Pinoy: Paboritong Litrato

Magandang Biyernes mga ka-LP! Kamusta kayo? Ang inet diba? Bago ang lahat ay gusto kong bumati ng Happy Birthday sa Litratong Pinoy! Yehey! Isang taon na ang LP at sana ay matagal pa tayong magkasama-sama!

Narito ang lahok ko para sa linggong ito…

Ito ang pinaka-bagong paborito ko na litrato na aking kinunan. Siyempre pa at Lomo na naman yan… hanggang plastic na kamera lang kase ang kaya kong bilhin. Haha! Kuha ito sa Punto Miguel sa Anilao, Batangas noong isang, isang linggo. Sobrang tirik ng araw niyan. Talagang iba na ang panahon ngayon. Naalala ko noong 2000-2001, kung saan halos linggo-linggo ay nasa Anilao kami, kahit maghapon kami lumangoy at magpaaraw ay hindi naman ako masyadong umiitim. Pero ngayon, halos dalawang oras lang ako naka-bilad sa araw at nasunog agad ang aking balat, as in sunog.

Ang tawag dun sa mga butas sa gilid ay “sprockets.” Ang film kse talaga para sa Holga ko na camera ay ang 120 format. Mas malaki ito kesa sa karaniwang 35mm film kaya’t pag ginamitan ng 35 ang Holga ay nasasakop ng isang frame pati yung mga butas sa gilid nung film. Naintindihan niyo ba? Pasensiya na at magulo talaga ko magpaliwanag. Haha! Kita din pati yung mga numero at detalye nung film na ginamit ko.

Wala din akong proseso na ginawa para maging ganyan ang kulay at itsura ng larawan. Diba’t napaka-old school ng dating? Haha! Kaya ulet naging ganyan yan ay gumamit ako ng slide film at pina cross-process ko eto. Magkaiba kse ang kemikal na ginagamit pag develop ng ordinaryong colored film at slide fim. Pag cross-process ay gagamitin nila ang kemikal na dapat ay para sa colored film para i-develop ang slide film. At yan ang kinalabasan, ang kakaiba niyang kulay at depende din yan sa brand ng film na ginamit.

Sana ay nagustuhan niyo ang lahok ko ngayong linggong ito. Salamat sa pagbisita!

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Before anything else… Happy 1st Birthday Litratong Pinoy!!! Yay!

This is my entry for this week… my newest favorite photo that I took. Again, this is lomo because plastic cameras are all that I can afford. Haha! This photo was taken ac ouple of weekends ago at Punto Miguel in Anilao, Batangas. The sun was so hot that day and the weather has really changed. I remember when we used to go Anilao almost every weekend way back in 2000-2001, even if we stay out in the sun for almost the whole day, I didn’t get sunburned very much. But this time, I only stayed out for about a couple of hours and I was already burnt, and I mean burnt and not just tanned.

The holes on the sides of the photo are called sprockets. The Holga camera uses a 120 film format. It is bigger than the common film we use, the 35mm, that’s why when you use a 35 film on a Holga, the frame is bigger than the film itself so the photo occupies even the sprockets of the film. You can even see the details of the film I used.

I also didn’t edit the photo. Again, I used a slide film and had it cross-processed. It was developed using chemicals intended for ordinary colored film.

Edited: April 3rd, 2009