I <3 Packages

When most of your shopping is done online, you really look forward to packages arriving in the post.

Amazon is one of my favorite stores because they are quite reliable, fairly cheaper, and have super fast delivery. For FREE delivery, you could expect items the next day. Pre-ordered items actually arrive the day the item is released. I can’t imagine how faster their super-fast delivery is which one can avail for a few additional quid.

Anyway, after months of waiting Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core finally came out in Europe. The game was released last year in Japan and around 3 months ago in the US. Damn these multi-regional translations.

To try and mend the wounds a little, people who pre-ordered get a special edition version which includes a book of art from the game which is quite lovely.

I have yet to play the game as I have not finished God Of War: Chains of Olympus, but I am quite excited as it arrived just in time for my holiday, something to burn during the 5 hour trip down to Cornwall.

I was about to throw away the packaging when I noticed this,

Coldplay is just so big now, they are practically everywhere!

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Now playing: Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
http://foxytunes.com/artist/kaiser+chiefs/track/i+predict+a+riot

Camera Dilemma

With a Cornwall holiday planned for the end of June and a newly approved credit card, I am in the market for a new camera.

My old camera is really old. It’s a Canon Powershot A80 which I got in January of 2004. Yes, four years ago. Back then, it was real easy to choose a camera since there weren’t much variations and the Canon Powershot A80 was quite greatly rated online. The moment I saw it, I was sold. It’s a great camera and has shared a number of great adventures and a decent amount of travel.

It hasn’t really died yet but the CCD died last year before I went to Boracay. This was a factory flaw with the sensor and was replaced by Canon. It worked for quite a bit, snapping up Dubai and capturing Cornwall before dying again at Stonehenge. Now it would intermittently work when photos are snapped through the optical viewfinder.

Anyway, after four years, it is definitely time for an upgrade.

Problem is , the choices are so many and widespread. There does not seem to be one camera to rule them all. Well, if there was, companies wouldn’t make money out of the 10 different ranges they have.

DSLRs are awesome and all, but I do not consider myself a professional photographer. In my opinion, a casual photographers could be clever enough with a point-and-shoot compact. For me, DSLRs are strictly for professionals or those who have the time to attempt to be one. I could go for one, but it would be a complete waste of money as I wouldn’t have the time to explore and learn it to it’s utmost potential.

A simple point-and-shoot is out of the question simply because I am a geek. I need at least some settings to play with. Something which threads the water between DSLR and point-and-shoot.

I also can’t seem to veer too far away from Canon due to previous experience (yes, the one camera). The Lumix TZ line looks impressive but a bit too simple.

Ultimately, the choice has seemed to boil down to two cameras; the Canon Powershot G9 and the Canon Powershot A650 IS.

They are almost identical cameras 12.1 MP, 6x optical zoom, IS, etc but do have a few distinct differences which sway me from one side to the other.

The Powershot G9. If you have seen it, you know that it is the prettiest piece of meat on the “compact” range. The design is just brilliant, retro and professional. If looks were everything, I’d get this one. I am pretty sure if I ask anyone, they vouch for the G9.

On the other hand, we have the Powershot A650 IS, a descendant of my A80. This camera is just big, heavy and bulky but does have a vari-angle TFT LCD and uses AA batteries which means you would never run out of batteries.

With these two features alone, the Powershot A650 IS has won me over. Add to this, it is far more cheaper than the G9 which just happens to be outside my credit limit. The G9 is also heavier even though it is slightly smaller, this is due to its metal body.

It is quite hard to be a geek, to dig into every little detail until making a final decision. I am quite excited as well. This would be my first gadget purchase in months. Oh, wait. I just got myself a LCD TV and a Xbox two months ago.

Finch at Scala. With Envy on the Coast and Armor for Sleep

Pictures from a smaller gig at Scala last May 13, 2008. Finch with Envy of the Coast and Armor for Sleep.

A wonderfully intimate venue and got to see the three bands closer than in GIAN. Missed out a portion of Envy’s set as I was hanging out with Randy aka R2K of Finch who was handling the merch on sale. Sad thing was band shirts cost 4 quid more than when they were sold at GIAN.

Armor for Sleep was exactly the same as the one they had for GIAN except for the last song which was “Dream To Make Believe.”

Finch was brilliant at GIAN but this was even better as they were “headlining.” Played close to 15 songs including brand new songs as well as old favorites like What It Is To Burn, Three Simple Words, Post Script, Letters To You, Stay With Me, New Beginning and Perfection Through Silence. Wait, that’s almost the whole What It Is To Burn Album.

Oh, and as seen in the pictures, Nate is indeed ridiculously short.

Disappointed with beer on tap which was insanely expensive and took ages to fill a pint.

Give It A Name 2008: Looking Back

The most amazing thing about a festival aside from seeing the bands you’ve loved and have been listening to for ages is the exposure to new music.

For someone who doesn’t listen to radio (no NU107 here but we do have Kerrang!), I have so little exposure to new music except for recommendations from friends.

When Give It A Name’s lineup was announced, I tried to listen to as much new bands as I could and those which caught on right away where Billy Talent, Envy On The Coast, The Color Fred, Cobra Starship, and Chiodos.

Among bands I got very little exposure to before the event, ie, listened to a week before or not at all were All Time Low, Four Year Strong, Set Your Goals and You Me At Six.

After the weekend of gigs, I am sort of on a gig hiatus as the next ones are not until July 16 and 17 for Mars Volta and Death Cab For Cutie. I hope I could squeeze in an odd gig in between.

Give It A Name 2008: Day Two

Here is the second part of the Give It A Name twitter summary/guide.

At Give It A Name day two. Totally missed the Mexicolas but Four Year Strong is up. 01:36 PM

The Color Fred and envy on the coast just played. Envy On The Coast was quite intense. 03:26

You Me At Six is up. They are quite the crowd favorite. 04:28 PM

Of course they’d be popular, they’re Welsh English. One of the only Brit bands in the two day event. 04:54 PM

The Blackout are the welsh ones and they are seriously intense. 05:05 PM

Anti-Flag now. Awesome sets from Armor for Sleep and Silverstein. Just positioning ourselves for Glassjaw! 06:53 PM

Awesome performance by Glassjaw again! 08:00 PM

Billy Talent was bloody brilliant. I’d certainly watch then again when given the chance. 09:09 PM

30 Seconds To Mars next. Last time i saw them i was sitting down in the balcony area. 09:23 PM

There are more surprises for me on day two considering I have already heard half of the bands before. Four Year Strong, You Me At Six and The Blackout are quite fun to watch. The Blackout maybe a little too hardcore but still loveable (We are the dynamite!). Four Year Strong sound tremendously better live than they do on their record. As for You Me At Six, I could only find two songs before I saw them live but have to say they are quite good. Another Brit band to look forward to seeing.

Envy On The Coast was the first band on Sunday to perform on the main stage which is quite a surprise considering they are still a relatively new band compared to bands on the second stage like Armor For Sleep and Anti-Flag.

The Color Fred was lovable. A product of former Taking Back Sunday’s Fred Mascherino and was great as expected as I am quite a fan of their first album.

Armor For Sleep is downright emo. If you think they are emo enough, you have got to seem them play live.

Glassjaw was well, Glassjaw, superbly brilliant and powerful. They are the main reason I purchased Sunday tickets. It was a welcome surprise that they were able to squeeze one more song to their already powerful set. I wore my 7.7.7 gj shirt and was looking around the venue for people wearing the same shirt only to find myself standing right next to two during Glassjaw’s set. No much talking as usual from Daryl so no circle pit encouragements from the band. From where I was standing, it wasn’t too crazy unlike Brixton last year.

Now, Billy Talent. These guys are crazy and ridiculously brilliant. After I started to listen to them when I first heard about them through the first release of the festival lineup, I knew they would be amazing to see live and they surely did not disappoint. I will definitely see them again when they announce another gig in London. Along with Envy On The Coast and All Time Low, they are another band now among my favorites.

As for the headliner, 30 Seconds To Mars, they were at their usual level of flash but still played a seriously fun set.

I’ll write a short(er) write up as a summary of the whole experience later on as I still need to bathe and get ready for another gig at Scala with Finch, Armor For Sleep and Envy on the Coast. A triple bill of old and new favorite bands.

By the way, pictures have been uploaded on my Multiply site.

Give It A Name 2008: Day One

I am not going to go too much in depth with each and every band at GIAN 08 or how the experience was. Actually, the experience could easily be summed up with a few words which almost portray the same meaning such as wicked, awesome, brilliant, superb, outstanding, crazy, amazing. By now you should know what I mean.

I should have done this immediately after the event or heck even yesterday but I was lazy.

During the festival, I found myself twittering a bit so here’s a twitter summary for you all.

Christ. Earl’s court is massive. 01:15 PM May 10, 2008

Chiodos was quite amazing but had to be ruined by freaking kids wanting to mosh. MC Lars next then Cobra Starship! 03:15 PM

No offense to MC Lars but what is a hiphop act at a post-hardcore festival? They do have 1 ok song called “Signing Emo”. 03:32 PM

Cobra Starship was a bit of a disappointnent. They were able to redeem themselves a bit when the sound was fixed. 04:24 PM

All Time Low performed quite a show but Finch just blew it out of the water. How freaking crazy and amazing was that! 06:42 PM

Guitar Hero competition on stage. How freaking cool is that! 08:05 PM

Someone recognized my skull panda eats kitties shirt. Webcomics ftw! 08:38 PM

For what it’s worth, Plain White T’s are pretty good live. 09:17 PM

Overall, quite a good day. Tomorrow is going to be so much better. gj. 11:19 PM

Paramore just put on quite a show expected from a headliner. Still not as awesome as Finch though. 11:17 PM

First off, Earl’s Court is massive. It is comparable to an indoor UP Sunken Garden with more than enough toilets, food stalls, bars and great sound. The second stage was simply a small stage beside the main stage. I initially thought it would be in a different area and play times would mostly overlap like other festivals.

The biggest disappointment of the night was Cobra Starship. They seriously need to learn how to setup their gear properly. For the first 3 songs, the sound was ridiculously muffled and you could barely here the vocals, not enough energy to dance to. Thankfully, they were able to tweak it a bit at some point but it was a little too late.

The biggest surprise was All Time Low. I only started listening to them a week before the festival and they really didn’t catch on at first. However, they put on an amazing live show which was absolutely brilliant. I am a fan now. I am regretting not purchasing their blue band shirt.

Another surprise but to a lesser extent was Plain White T’s. I tried listening to them ages ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to like them even though they are part of the Kappa Tau’s on Greek which is one of my favorite shows at the moment. Seriously though, they were not as bad as I thought they’d be.

The main reason I showed up for Saturday was Finch and their set was freaking crazy. I was sufficiently satisfied with Worms of the Earth, Stay With Me, and of course, What It Is To Burn.

As for the headliner Paramore, I haven’t had the chance to get into their music much but I still loved their set. Hayley is just adorable.

Blurry mobile phone pictures to follow in a separate Multiply post as well as Day Two of GIAN 2008.

Give It A Name 2008: The Line Up

With all the commotion Thursday in Manila has brought, I almost forgot a couple of gigs I’ll be watching this month.

This weekend (ie, today and tomorrow) I will be at Earl’s Court attending the Give It A Name 2008. It is a music festival but indoors and without the camping unlike the bigger three day festivals like Download, Reading, and Glastonbury. Since it is in London, one could simply go home after the gig and come back the next day.

When the line-up was initially announced, there were still around 6 or more unnamed special guests. Finch and Glassjaw were listed for Saturday and Sunday respectively which prompted me to purchase tickets (for Saturday AND Sunday) as soon as they were released. Armor for Sleep was also confirmed at some point. I wasn’t too keen with the headlining bands though even though I have heard their music before.

Here is the last minute line-up as posted on the Give It A Name website including times on stage.

I am not too keen on the headlining bands on Saturday, especially Plain White T’s.

Of course, when the line-up was announced I was only familiar with Finch, Glassjaw, Armor For Sleep, Silverstein, and 30 Seconds To Mars.

I tried to listen to as much of the new (to me) bands as possible but some just didn’t catch on. Among those which did invigorate me are Chiodos, Cobra Starship, The Color Fred, Envy On The Coast, and Billy Talent. Said bands are already among my favorite new bands and I am pretty much looking forward to watching them.

Still, I’d try each band at the event and hope the two stages are not far from each other. This is going to be an awesome weekend.

Muse DLC for Guitar Hero 3

Downloadable Content (DLC) for Guitar Hero 3 comes in packs of 3 songs. So far, they have been mostly one great song with two “meh” songs. Still, we have spent a few quid buying DLC for it namely for the Foo Fighters and the Metal Pack which included Hole In The Earth.

A week ago, Kotaku mentioned that there was a Muse pack on the way and included Stockholm Syndrome, Supermassive Blackhole and Exo-Politics. As a new born fan of Muse, I was pretty much stoked about the whole thing. I love Muse and Knights of Cydonia happens to be one of my most favorite songs on Guitar Hero 3, second maybe to Helicopter by Bloc Party. It is just a song you could rock out too.

Found out last night that the DLC was already online and available so purchased it as soon as I got home. I have to say, the songs are quite easy even on medium (my finger dexterity can only get me as far as this level). Favorite in the pack is Stockholm Syndrome of course, although the other two are remarkably good as well. If they could only have included Assassin and Hysteria (available in Rock Band), it would be perfect. Too perfect.

Anyway, with a bit of practice I could be as good as this guy.

How Long Is The Night? (Month)

The signals over the air have finally cleared the transmission over the intertubes, Thursday is definitely playing in the Philippines.

I would have said Manila, but they are also playing in Camarines Sur. I know most of you already know this and are pretty much psyched and stoked about seeing them live. I won’t even bother to post a picture of the poster as I am sure you’ve seen it countless times already or set it as your desktop/mobile phone wallpaper.

They toured England a month before I moved here and haven’t announced any tour dates since. For a brief moment a few months ago, I thought about a holiday break in the Philippines from the middle of May to the middle of June but when I saw someone from my shift already booked for those days, I scrapped the idea.

To say that I am quite Ian Curtis (depressed) about this is a very fitting song/word. Thursday just happens to be one of my most favorite band(s) even though my last.fm lists them as the 5th as it hasn’t been around as long as I have been listening to Thursday. It is the one band I would have wanted to see first upon arriving here.

It’s not just about seeing the band as I know someday, I will finally see them but rather the experience of watching them with your closest friends who are equally crazy about them, road trip to the Bicol area, possible backstage privileges, etc. Frak, I don’t even want to imagine how good it will be.

Now I know how people feel when I mention that I’ll be seeing so-and-so band except in this case it is coming from everyone I know back in the Philippines. It’s like people are just taking turns stabbing your heart.

I sure hope the month is over soon as I cannot take anymore of this. It is just winding up, leading me, winding up to explode.

Where the hell is my pseudo girlfriend? She always disappears when I need her.

365 Days Later. Part I.

Wait. Since 2008 was a leap year, the title should read 366 Days Later.

Yes, it has been a year now since I said farewell to the Philippines and finally moved back to England after 22 years. Actually, I left the Philippines on the 5th of April and stayed in Dubai for a few days and arrived at Heathrow on the 9th.

Regardless, it has been one year now since I started a somewhat new life here in England.

For the most part, it has been quite brilliant but somethings never change, then again this would be me not changing.

London is a very wonderful city. Historically rich and just simply beautiful. The cultural diversity is really mixed and no one really sticks out in a crowd or even in a small group of people.

The weather is so much cooler although it rains almost every week of the year, I still love this climate better than 20 plus years of heat in the Philippines. At least when it stops raining, it’s still cool so you’d still keep your coat on.

There I go with a comparison already, one thing I should stop doing would be drawing comparisons between London and Manila since this would be totally unfair.

London is the kind of city you would not grow tired of walking around as you would keep on discovering new things no matter how long you have been here. There is always something new to see and explore. With this being said, it has been a while since I’ve been exploring London as I have quite engrossed with work.

Speaking of work, I couldn’t be happier where I am now. Well, I could be if I was earning a 5 digit paycheck every month but let’s be realistic.

What rubbish relationships I have been through (what little of it), work on the other hand has been a glimmering gem. Etelecare was reasonably adequate for a first job (I did spend 3 1/2 years there) but it died out when I realize it wasn’t a career.

Rackspace however is everything I could wish for. A great job with amazing people, learning loads of new stuff and building towards a more fruitful career. It’s really energizing to feel truly happy with the work you are doing.

I did spend 6 months lingering around looking for a job but it was well worth the wait. Looking back at the two other interviews I had, I would have been totally miserable. Thank God they turned me down and simply gave me a few days of depression.

Also, they actually offered me a lower salary than what I am getting now. As everyone knows, everything is so expensive in England especially when it comes to houses. I doubt I’d be able to get my own place after 5 years. By own place, this means getting a mortgage to purchase a property. Rent is also ridiculous costing roughly half of your salary if you didn’t live with someone.

Then again, a month’s wage could easily satisfy a gadget geek with one or two items a month. Or, assuming one had a license, a reasonably priced car with a few months savings.

There is so much more on my mind and I decided to just continue on another post as this one is already quite long. Doubt anyone would even read this as it is now.