Dual Video/Camcorder Fever

Caught up in the crazy world of digital cameras and camcorders. I was able to bought one today. Its a Toshiba Camileo s20. It costs me about R1,699.
My reasons for buying this:
1. Full HD recording
2. Ultra slim design/lightweight (appearance - unique)
3. Price (inexpensive - fits my budget)
4. Storage (using SD card 8GB)
5. Dual usage (Photo and Video)
6. Out of curiosity.

In camera mode, the picture can be adjusted from 5MP to 16Megapixels. Now, that's a bonus. It also comes with a photo/video LED lighting, image stabilization and 4x optical zoom. I guess, this thing will do for now.

Ratings: 3/5*

The Names

Here's another set list of possible names for my coming baby. Its a boy. And it has been, a subject of debate with my wife. I liked it. She doesn't. I wonder what's next.

Possible names:
1. Gotham
2. Constantine
3. Ethan
4. Camden
5. Dalek
6. Sui Generis
7. Heath
8. Bastian
9. Keanu
10. Keane

happy holidays to all.

Just like a beatnik love affair

This is the latest title of my mixed cd. Track listing:
1. New order - the beach '88 mix
2. Real life - send me an angel 12"
3. Dead or alive - you spin me round 12"
4. The smiths - this charming man (remix)
5. Wire train - chamber of hellos
6. Joy division - love will tear us apart
7. Cactus world news - years later
8. Figures on a beach - no stars
9. Echo & the bunnymen - seven seas (peel session)
10. Care - flaming sword
11. Pale fountains - you'll start a war
12. The lotus eaters - set me apart
13. Lords of the new church - dance with me
14. The beloved - a kiss goodbye
15. New order - ceremony
16. Seona dancing - more to lose
17. The bolshoi - sunday morning
18. Duran duran - save a prayer
19. Tears for fears - mad world 12"
20. Book of love - book of love
21. The room - new dreams for old 12"
22. Real life - catch me I'm falling
23. March violets - the deep 12"
24. The cure - just like heaven
25. Gang of four - damaged goods (live)

Total runtime: 79mins. 57sec.

Its a non-stop new wave party cd. My tribute to NU 107 and Club Retro.
Once a waver, always a new waver.

Happy holidays to all.

Duran Duran in South africa

The wild boys (a.k.a. Duran Duran) will be performing live at carnival city, in Johannesburg. On december 8. I think Spandau Ballet and Alpha-ville had performed on that same venue previously. I missed both concerts, and again this one, perhaps. Its a case of bad timing and low budget. Duran Duran is simply, one of the best new wave bands that ever existed. A part of the new romantic movement (synth-driven pop music) that is coy and infectious.
The dvd "Live in London" is a living testament, of how great they are on stage. I've bought the deluxe edition - comes with an audio cd and a 3D eyewear. Overall, the film is funky and stylish - with the original line up, bringing a superb performance.
Their song "Save a Prayer" is a personal favourite of mine. Other tracks that I liked from them are:
Rio
A View to a kill (from James bond movie)
New moon on monday
union of the snake
the reflex (who could forget the stifmeister and belvedere dance-off in American Wedding movie)
Ordinary world
girls on film
planet earth
wild boys
pls, pls. Tell me now (is there something i should know?)
come undone

welcome to the beautiful south, Duran Duran - good luck and best wishes on your tour.

Mannequin

A blast from the past. This movie, goes back to 1987. A very cheesy film. Worth the money. I found this dvd, lurking in Pic n' Pay (for 69rand only)
I liked Kim cattrall and andrew mcCarthy's chemistry in this film. The soundtrack also is a phenomenon. "Nothing's gonna stop us now" by Starship. The lyrics of the song, pretty much says about the film itself. Definitely, worth watching. 5/5 *

Against the flow

One of those memorabilia's from Nu 107 is the "10 of another kind" compilation. This is the second volume. I have it in tape, back home. Its got 2 bands that i liked.
Ethnic Faces and Violent Playground. The rest of the band in the compilation sucks. I prefer the first volume, its more 80ish. I have it in mp3 somewhere.
There's another compilation called "This is...Modern Rock" as heard on Nu 107.5fm. Our uncle from marikina gave the tape to us. Great stuff. Very new wave. A very decent compilation. Featuring:
Erasure - a little respect
I start counting - you and i
primitives - crash (original recording)
mighty lemon drops - out of hand
the colourfield - confession
the bible - crystal palace
the church - under the milkyway (acoustic)
housemartins - the people who grinned themselves to death
depeche mode - strange love (hi.jack remix)
the version of "Crash" by the Primitives in this compilation, sounded very primitive and raw. Its also rare. A version not much played on your local radio station.

NU 107

My bro, gave me the news - that my favorite radio station in the philippines today bids farewell to all its rock listeners. I can't believe it. This is a sad day for me. Besides, having pests, i mean guests in the house, having brai, and singing worship songs (doing fellowship on a sunday evening- kinda late actually) christian wannabees, just can't get enough of a good thing. My wife loves visitors, yeah she's a people-person, and can throw away 1.5kg of chicken (to be eaten by people she doesn't know.) thats what friends are for.
And now, the home of new rock is closing. I remember, it was valentine's day of 2004. I was a guest at their show called "between planets" - yes, i was interviewed by dj mondo castro. I am live, on air - and played some of my stuff (mostly new wave) to start the show, I put on Nick heyward's "love all day " - because it was feb. 14. My mom's birthday, i've greeted all of my folks in bulacan. They were glued to the station. Waiting to hear my voice. Thanks to my wavelength friends, for bringing me in Nu 107, as a special guest that night. It was great. Many thanks NU 107, for bringing programs like (the nu rockphiles, modern rock sunday, the groove nation sessions, club retro) new wave music that says something to me and about my life. Thanks for the memories. Now, i'm 31.
I'm so much sad, tomorrow is work day again. And the visitors are stil here, damn it. Its 8pm now. Get a grip folkers, if u want to praise and worship - go to the church in the mornings, and don't disturb your neighbors. You're annoying now, not entertaining. Love your neighbor, as you love yourself -
goodnight.

Sirion

Time flies, and it has been a year now, since i bought my daihatsu sirion. I think these 2 websites help me find this car.
Www.cars4sale.co.za
www.carfind.co.za

besides, from the sirion. Here's my other top picks of 2009.
1. Proton Savvy 1.2
2. Renault Twingo
3. Daihatsu charade celeb
4. Citroën C2 (but no automatic transmission available)
5. Daihatsu YRV
6. Chery QQ3 (from china. Yay!)
7. Honda Jazz
8. Kia Soul
9. Toyota Yaris T3 spirit
10. Nissan Micra

Pluriel

This is the citroën c3 Pluriel with a semi-automatic gearbox. Triptronic 1.6l engine. I think its a limited edition 2004. The mileage: 99thou plus. Price: R69900. Its fullhouse. Nice looking car. Very unique and, rare - to be seen on the roads. Individuality, at its finest. One of the best used cars i have seen this year. If only market car sales, would give us a better deal with this car. Surely, we'll take it.

Have myself a merry smartphone christmas

The yuletide season is coming. And the battle of smartphones is uprising. I can't decide which phone is right for me. iPhone 4 - this changes everything. Or the world's first phone sculpted from a solid piece of aluminum, the HTC Legend. I Liked the concepts of both phones. Prices are sharp and stiff. Appearances , both are cool and like swiss thins. Its hard to decide. Watch this space...

Naming Names

I'm gonna be a father soon - probably next year (around February) I have gathered some unique and rare names for my future son/daughter. You can use some, if you like.

BOY:
Zeiss
Bodine
Broudie
Morrissey
Miroslav
Riley
Keane
Dalek
Autumn

GIRL:
Seona
Aberdeen
Korova
Tristesse
Elise


Just updated my blog site as well. New look. New feel, new name - My Pale Shelter. I would like to say many thanks to Ate Meriam (of The Salvation Army South Africa) - for the food, stay, internet sessions to the max - She's a very accommodating person. Bon Voyage! We will see you next year - December 2011. Homecoming! in Philippines. We're going to miss you here (tawanan, kainan, halakhakan, call center) Godspeed and have a safe trip to Philippines.

At the Johannesburg Zoo

Its a saturday. I took half day work (overtime) and by no means, I ended up in the zoo. As usual, I just tagged along with friends. Not much of an outdoor type, your blogger is. The Joburg Zoo, is quite big, a half-day isn't enough to tour the whole ground. Here are Some of my encounters in this jungle:
1. Scimitars
2. Peacocks
3. Elephants
4. African buffalos
5. Caracas
6. Monkeys (lots of them)
7. Aardwolf
8. Zebra
9. Giraffe
10. African wild pigs
11. Crocodiles
12. Ostrich
13. White lions
well, there's more, but my wife's tired of walking around haha! This zoo is very organized, well kept. And offers rides for recreation, an open park field for picnics. Entrance is R50. Shisas!

Milk Stout

I loved this dark beer from south africa. The castle milk stout. I tried mixing it with vanilla bar one ice cream, about 2weeks ago. While watching the live dvd of Big Country. It was a nasty mix float. Pls. Don't try it. Otherwise, you'll end up in the toilet.

My Vanilla Sky Coke Float

Summer is approaching. Its timely, since last week - I am crazy over Coke Floats. So curious, I tried making it at home. The first take: a ginger ale + vanilla ice cream - It was a mess (doesn't taste good either) The second try: Pepsi + vanilla ice cream + ice (a tip from my best man, for bouyancy purposes) it did work. And with a little help from google - put the cola slowly to avoid bubble overflow. Now, I'm enjoying my kind of float. Next time, I'm gonna try: Milk Stout Beer and Vanilla ice cream. I will let you know if the mix is quite right. %-)

Sushi and the banshees

I have tried making a sushi last saturday night. I was, experimenting, by the way. Fashion sandwiches and makis. It turned out to be a jumbo maki, (papa maki) hehe! And the uramakis (inside out) fashion sandwiches, i have made, were not that fashionable. But in the end, it tastes great. The sunday visitors, took all my left over sushi creations today. I think they liked it.

Ingredients: crab sticks, avocado, tangy mayonaise, sesame seed, roasted sea weed

for the Japanese rice: 1/2 of glass put rice vinegar and 1 tablespoon: brown sugar

perfect partners: pickled ginger
soy sauce with wasabe
and ginger ale drink :-)

At Tassenburg Close

July was a busy month. We've finally found a new place to stay. Its 10 minutes a way from work. With 24/7 security access. I could sleep peacefully at night. Its also close to East rand Mall. My elder brother also moved to this place. The atmosphere and tranquility is very inviting, absolute and refreshing. This is Tassenburg Close. Home is where the heart is...

31

On my 31st birthday. Here's my own new wave mixed cd. Its 65 minutes long. Cd audio format (another experiment from yours truly)
track lists:
1. Flesh for lulu - i go crazy
2. O.m.d. - if you leave
3. U2 - new years day
4. Aztec camera- walk out to winter
5. Care- whatever possessed you
6. 3:00 - on paper
7. Friends again- state of art
8. The Wild swans- bitterness
9. Ocean blue- on growing up
10. Positive noise- when lightning strikes
11. Go betweens- right here
12. Echo & the bunnymen- silver
13. Red rockers - china
14. The the - this is the day
15. Everything but the girl- when all's well
16. April showers - abandon ship
17. The church - no explanation
18. A ha - you are the one
19. Modern english - i melt with you
20. Joboxers- just got lucky
21. Concrete blonde - happy birthday
22. Iggy pop - candy.

Sweet and tender Yahooligans'

The year 2010 have diminished some of the best YM Messenger clients on mobile phones. YM TINY doesn't work anymore. YAMEE wasn't that yummy anymore. Here's what I've been using on my phone right now.

1. Nefanasa Yahoo - still reliable and able to connect these days. With lots of emoticons and font settings are changeable. I used nefanasa a lot at work, to chat with my mom, my bro, my wife and my friends. It gets me through the day.

2. IM built in - this is the ym client found on my phone. Built in with my nokia. Advantages: you can multi task, without exiting yahoo. You can use Opera mini. Play music while doing google. You could go to your inbox. Create, check and send Sms as well. Make phone calls, access your address book too. Disadvantages: connection not stable. Some yahoo users appear offline. You might not even get some of the offline messages. Its costly a bit. This built in IM also consumes more battery life.

Iron Man 2

Having bad reviews on other blog sites. I decided to watch this film, with my wife (as a treat for mother's day) I think the movie was great. From start to finish. I simply don't understand,why they said, the movie was better off in a scrapyard. Maybe, clash of the titans will go to my recycle bin. But Iron Man 2 is the kind of film i would copy and paste in my documents folder. With bonus, war machine in my desktop, and black widow screensaver. Hahaha! The suitcase scenario where tony stark want to change into iron man - is my favourite. War machine is trigger happy. Mickey rourke, delivers an evil performance. While nick fury turned out to be a nigger? I think, he was a white guy, in my animated spiderman series. Tony stark have upgraded his suit in this movie. Replacing the circle, with a much better and powerful logo - a triangle in his chest piece. Like a vicks vapor candy. Man, i missed that sweet. Hehe!
3/5

Quarantine

This is a great horrific film. I saw it last night. I was alone in my room. My wife's out on a birthday party (sort of.. Who cares¿) i don't wanna go there anyway. So i just chilled out and put this dvd in my new hp laptop. Quarantine is simply a sci fi. Zombie like movie with a twist. A crossover of Dawn of the dead and paranormal activity. Great acting, nice casts, unique plot and filled with creepy moments. Yes, the last part was very creepy to me. It made me jump a bit in my bed, hehe! There was a thin ugly old man looking for his medication or something, and at the attic - some kind of alien zombie test tube baby, i don't know wtf it is. But somehow all of this, put a chill to my bones. This dvd is worth the rent.
Ratings: 4/5

Goodbye HP 510

Yep. Finally my hp 510 notebook will retired from my dirty hands. It was not broken. It was stolen by a f***ing burglar. My room, was raped and ravaged today. After 9years of living in south africa. Life doesn't get any better than this. The company premises had an electric fence, but it was just for show. Its not working anymore. Wow! They took out the security system, to save money, I'd better hang my wet clothes there, next time. At least the fence would be useful. God, thank u for this event.

2010

Sorry for my long absence. It was a very busy year. 2009: Lost loves and old thoughts. Quick decisions and work resignations. Looking for a new job and later finding the job not so good looking. Going back to old job, to move forward. Crying. Laughing. Loving. Die cutting. Finding the right car. Getting the license. Homecoming. And finally 2010, Married.

2010

Sorry for my long absence. It was a very busy year. 2009: Lost loves and old thoughts. Quick decisions and work resignations. Looking for a new job and later finding the job not so good looking. Going back to old job, to move forward. Crying. Laughing. Loving. Die cutting. Finding the right car. Getting the license. Homecoming. And finally 2010, Married.