The DJ who's not a DeeJay

Aside from the food tour, we were determined to go to the beach since it's been more than a year since we've been to one and so Aileen and I mentioned to the other bloggers that before the food appreciation tour officially starts, we planned to visit Samal in the morning and have breakfast.   Samal is just a 10 minute boat ride from Davao City and the island is suitable for swimming and diving.  Several resorts are also located in Samal including the famous Pearl Farm.   

We visited the resort nearby which was Paradise Island Park and Beach resort.   Markku, Hanna, Maki, Aileen and I rented a boat which took us straight to Paradise Island.  When we got off, we were already amazed at the clear waters...clear enough to see the fishes below.

The staff were very friendly and all greeted us left and right.   We were directed to the picnic area right in front of the beach where they conveniently had tables and benches in front of the beach for dining.  We ordered our breakfast and took a quick swim while waiting for the food to be served.    When in the water, you could see Davao City's coast and huge mountains in the background which we soon discovered one of them being Mt. Apo.

We had bacon, hungarian sausage, scrambled eggs, toast and omelettes.  We didn't think twice about ordering fresh fruit shakes and juices since this is where fruits are always in abundance.   Dining by the bay with the fresh air, cool breeze and spectacular view just makes your breakfast much more pleasant and exciting. 

Since we didn't have much time to spend, we toured the rest of the resort after breakfast and pleasantly discovered a mini zoo with some exotic birds.   And heading towards the dock, we saw a sign which read "massage" and saw the white mats with giant umbrellas at the beachside where you can have your massage.

The serenenity of the resort does make you feel like you're in paradise.  No wonder they call the resort Paradise Island.  I'm hoping to visit them again and stay longer the next time I get to visit Samal.  You can check out their website at http://paradiseislanddavao.com/

I remember when I was in school during breaks, I was memorizing lyrics to "Mga Kababayan" and was an instant fan when Francis introduced Pinoy rap to mainstream.   I remember my classmate jokingly suggested that "Mga Kababayan" should become the new national anthem.    

I remember him tagged as the Master Rapper hooking up with DJ MOD on turntables, who was then more popularly known as the Master of Disaster and they'd perform live.  

I remember that whenever I'd interview upcoming Pinoy rap artists and ask who their inspiration was, FrancisM was always one of them.   Gloc-9 never failed to mention FrancisM as his idol.   FrancisM also  gave new talents a break and would include them in his albums and compilations.  

I always attended the Philippine Hip Hop Music Awards to cover the event and you could see the mutual respect everybody had for FrancisM every time he won an award.  The crowd was at an applauding consensus when he was awarded the Hall of Fame award in 2005.  The milestones that FrancisM did to the music industry elevated dance, rap and hiphop into accepted mainstream.  

I remember that FrancisM was also a good dancer.  I didn't get to see him during his breakdancing days but whenever he'd pull out some dance moves for a crowd, it looked so cool.  I was surprised to see how great FrancisM danced to Michael Jackson's hit in a special dance number in Eat Bulaga in 2007.   Even during practice, he gave it his all.

Being a music site owner, I've met and talked to Francis on several occasions.   Whenever he'd perform, you can feel his passion for everything he sets his mind on.  My last encounter with FrancisM was during one of the music video shoots for Pupil.  Since Ely Buendia and FrancisM are close friends, the band had the honor of having FrancisM as their official photographer for their shoot and album.  I talked with FrancisM about the possibility of selling his line of shirts via our website and even if he was in a rush to leave to catch another event, he kindly told me that we could discuss it over e-mail.  

It is sad to lose a good citizen, a role model and an inspiration.   You will be missed.  Peace FrancisM.  

I rarely know anyone who wakes up and is instanly 100% awake.  It's like when you wake up, you're slowly waking up until you're 100% ready to start the day.   Some linger in bed for a while (with heavy usage on the alarm snooze feature) and some slowly get up but move in a slow motioned state.   I like to wake myself up by playing some music.  And it's usually one of two kinds of music I play to wake myself up.

The first one is Santana's Supernatural live concert series.  This is an 8-time Grammy awarding album which also won Album of the Year. The Cuban and Latin rhythms from Oye Como Va would make even your head move from side to side with its infectuous beat.  His other songs from this series have positive messages which make basically has a "feel-good" motivation like the song "Make Somebody Happy" with only two lines of lyrics repeating throughout:

The 2nd part of that medley is a totally upbeat song "Right On Be Free".  Back-up vocals, crazy vintage organ solos and the momentum of the song is great to shake off those last feelings of sluggishness and transform to complete  awakeness.  Some of the other songs on the album are collaborations with other talented artists like his duet with Rob Thomas in "Smooth".

The 2nd type of songs that wake me up to a good and refreshing day is the soundtrack from the Original Transformers The Movie, released in 1986.  Since the album was released in the 80's, the type of music is anthemic rock with positive reinforcement.   One of the main songs message  "The Touch" (by Stan Bush) is to never give up and gives you the positive momentum to be optimistic.

The other songs in the album are mostly upbeat rock songs and will get your adrenalin pumping.  

I believe that the sound and message you hear in the first few minutes of your day can generally influence your mood for the day.   So why not listen to something to make your day a great one ? 

Good morning !

So it was a surprise for me to know only today that Batista is back here in Manila !

Batista will be at SM Megamall on March 3, 2009 2:30pm for a scheduled wrestling appearance for all his WWE and Pinoy fans.  He's here on a promotional tour for WWE.

Even if I won't be able to go to any of his appearances this time, I'm happy to have had the opportunity last time he was here in 2006 along with other WWE Superstars visited for a 2 day wrestling extravaganza at the Araneta Coliseum.  My wrestling barkada (composed of my former officemate, his girlfriend and her daughter) all walk and planned 6 months before the event.  We saved up every month so we could have enough money to buy tickets at the lower box area.  And it was worth it !  We also won meet and greet invites to Batista and an autograph signing while he was here.   So I guess that was my Batista Experience.

Here are some pics from the Smackdown tour in 2006.

Now I chant.... BATISTA ! BATISTA !  BATISTA !!!

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(I'm talking about the car to the left).

I miss composing and arranging songs.

This is one of the last songs I composed way back in 2002.    My friend Boots wrote the lyrics and I with 3 others collaborated.  I composed the melody and arrangement for this song.  Marvin, our singer,  is Boots friend, and a member of the UP Singing Ambassadors.

It's entitled "Pangako Ko'y Tutuparin" and was our entry to the 2002 Himig Handog Love Songs Competition.  Unfortunately, it never made it past initial screening. 

But now with the advent of Youtube, I can share this song with you all. Hope you like it.

So now, behold, Glorietta 5.   The site where Glorietta 5 is situated used to be an open-air parking lot.  Glorietta 5 is located between Hotel Intercontinental and Rustans.  It's also beside the Glorietta park across Glorietta 4 and the former Oakwood Hotel.

Unlike Glorietta 1 to 4 all interconnected and joined by its center, Glorietta 5 is only joined to Glorietta 4 by its underground parking lot.   This new Glorietta wing is classy and brings a new ambiance to the Glorietta malls with its sophisticated shops and design.   There aren't much stores open yet and the place is still currently being built after mall hours.  Expect the scent of fresh paint for the meantime.  One of the biggest stores to move here is National Bookstore.  It moved from its former location at Glorietta 1 but retains its two-floor structure in the new Glorietta wing.

For some reason that night, I decided to take C5 instead.   Travel was smooth and traffic was nonexistent.  Passing the Kalayaan intersection and crossing the Pasig Bridge, I was shocked to see right before me a Tamaraw FX, jeep and van in a major 3 car collision which made the bridge totally impassable.  The FX was already slightly hanging out of the bridge.  A truck and I had to step on the breaks  immediately from likes speeds of 60kph to a full stop because of the accident which looked like it

 just happened a minute earlier.  

The cars were near total wrecks and you could see some bodies being carried out from the wreck.   It was a scary scene.  The accident caused a total standstill of 50 - 70 cars behind us.  I was also personally tense cause I was worried that an explosion might occur from the crash and there was practically no way to distance myself  cause of the cars all behind me which could not move anywhere else.  Worst case was to abandon the car and run away in case the cars would leak gas and explode.   Luckily, there wasn't any fire and after 20 minutes, it heavily rained.  It toko the paramedics around 30 minutes to get there.  They also had a hard time finding out how to get to the bridge if a bunch of cars were blocking the road.  They had to pass through the other end of the bridge. 

  

It didn't seem that the bridge was going to be clear immediately, and after an hour, the police decided to assist all the cars stuck on the bridge to slowly back up.  It was a long slow wait cause even before I could start backing up, I had to wait for the other 50 cars to backup and this is a long flyover so you could imagine how long that took.

While I was waiting for the other cars to move, I realized that if I had been at that place a few minutes earlier, I may have been part of that accident.  It was a scary thought, enough to include my being safe in my prayers for the victims of the tragedy.

I got home 2 hours after I left Bicutan, still a bit rattled and couldn't sleep right away.  In the morning, my parents told me that the accident was shown in the news and it so happened that a drunk driver from the other lane hit the island, flipped to the other side and cause two other cars in my lane to crash straight into it at high impact.  Two bodies were pronounced dead while several were injured.

Drinking while driving is really a serious matter.  I'm no drinker and I definitely don't drink and drive.  But what's scary is that even if you follow that rule, your life may just be in the hands of someone who doesn't follow that rule.   

Don't drink and drive, not just for your own well-being but as consideration to others.   Be safe.