93 ‘Til Infinity

Nothing much to report about these days, lots of background chatter, something might happen soon. But for now, I’ll leave you guys with some 90’s hip-hop from the Souls Of Mischief, the track is called 93 ‘Til Infinity.

Think About It

A thought came to mind while I was at the office earlier.  Why am I so insistent in trying to become an active part of the art, design and music culture?

I’m not really sure what to say, but this idea came to me while thinking about it. I think partly it’s because it allows me to make my mark in this world. In today’s current age where products and ideas are pushed by multinationals, being involved in culture is one of the things that I feel is something that’s achievable by an ordinary citizen like me. It’s one of the things that you can still try to grasp and feel with your own hands, not just something mass produced by or built up by factory or marketing machines just to sell. Something like a song, when written honestly can feel like the artist or the band is sharing part of their soul or their personality to the listen. It feels genuine.

But these days, even that isn’t safe from the prying hands of the big players. It’s funny though, because even before some of these subcultures have already crossed bounderies to mainstream markets. However I feel that these days, what’s happening is that companies are integrating into the culture and making it seem that they are supporting it’s ideals and history.  But the truth is they are bastardizing it and making it fit into their mold, while still selling it to people who don’t know better. And as you see more and more people are getting into these cultures or subcultures under the assumption that it is real, when in reality this just the same machine under a different guise.

I hope I made sense. Think about it.

The Kontra Zine

The Kontra Zine is an idea that I’ve been messing around with since around mid of 2007. It started out to be a webzine for local art, music, film and the like. In fact, I have developed some idea for certain sections of the zine and have lined up some possible features and topics that the zine could take on, however due to manpower constraints as well as limitations on my experience in creating a magazine, even though quite simply it’s just an online magazine in a blog format. I’ve kept postponing the whole idea, for the fear that I wouldn’t have enough ideas to keep the webzine afloat consistently.

And now, I’ve decided to take another shot at it, in a printed format. This allows me to control the timeline for the releases of material better, that even if I can only churn out 1 issue per year, it wouldn’t feel like such a waste. It’s a personal preference and probably because it’s tangible, it can be the same issue but it can be passed around and would have different effects, hopefully profound, for each and every reader. Nothing is set in stone for now, but I will try to work this thing out. Definitely, this will not be your ordinary magazine or digest. We will be very focused on the content of the features and really get behind the ideals of the topics that we will be featuring. It will be very tough, and I don’t know shit about editing or magazines, but it should be quite fun.

“‘Cause we like to shake things up!”

Musica Oh Musica

A great song for the upcoming rainy season,

Eight Legs with These Grey Days

And the track where I ripped my blog title from,

The Rakes with The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect

Enjoy!

At The Drive-In

Okay, it’s time for a recall. I’ve struggling with this for a bit, but I gotta give it up for At The Drive-In and put them into the top 5 artist list. I just wanted my top 5 to be more balanced, but the past 2 years, I’ve listened to At The Drive-In the most.

Okay, okay, I know I was probably 3 years late in discovering ATDI and only after they have disbanded, but seriously, their last two albums, In Casino Out and Relationship Of Command is tremendously NEXT LEVEL. I would highly recommended people who likes postpunk to give them a listen. From ATDI, The Mars Volta and Sparta were born, so in a sense, the ATDI is combination of both, with more youthful exhuberance.

Recommended songs? Each and every track.

*Thanks to Google again for the pic.

5 x 5: Top 5 Music Artists and Songs

1. The Beatles

• All You Need Is Love
• Blackbird
• Come Together
• Penny Lane
• Two Of Us

..hell 5 songs ain’t enough! I Will, Penny Lane, etc etc etc.

2. Death Cab For Cutie

• Photobooth
• Movie Script Ending
• A New Year
• Lack Of Color
• 405

3. Incubus

• A Certain Shade Of Green
• Favorite Things
• Summer Romance (Anti-gravity Love Song)
• The Warmth
• Stellar

4. Wu-Tang Clan

• M.E.T.H.O.D. Man
• C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)
• Protect Ya Neck
• Triumph
• Gravel Pit

5. Jay-Z

• Politics As Usual
• Dead Presidents II
• Dirt Off Your Shoulder
• Lucifer
• Heart Of The City (Ain’t No Love)

It was tougher than I thought, I mean 1 to 3 was easy, they were no-brainers, but the last two slots was tough but I had to give it to the artists who got me into hip-hop.

Your Lifestyle - A Top 10 List

Hi! I figured this would be a good way to introduce myself. Basically it’s a list of things that are ‘must haves’ in my life today. Idea and title jacked from Superfuture.

1. Family

Not much explaination needed. Family is the basic foundation of society, yes? We are not the perfect family, but we do okay.

2. Basketball

Flashback, the 1993 NBA finals, Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson and the Phoenix versus Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the Chicago Bulls. Jordan with his swagger moves, Barkley with his power plays, it was a Wednesday night I think, it wasn’t even a live telecast. But ever since that time, I was hooked to, no, LOVED basketball. If there was any one constant thing in my life, this was it. My interests have come and go and some come back again, but this was one thing that never changed while I was growing up.

Not just limited to watching basketball, I grew up playing the game, I was never and ever will be good at this game, but I’m a decent player. I could probably do better explaining the technical aspects of playing basketball like shooting, defense, running plays,etc. than actually playing in the game.

I’m 25 now and it’s been 15 years, and this will be forever.

3. Sneakers

Playing basketball meant you needed the proper kicks to play. Most people just wore whatever back then, as long as it was ‘rubber shoes’, it was okay. But I saw more than just shoes, I saw great design and a certain connection to the player wearing or endorsing the sneakers. Early years I was enamored by the designs on Reebok shoes, the Shaqnosis worn by Shaq or the Kamikazes that were designed for Shawn Kemp, as a kid unknowingly learning to love how good design affect our lives. Eventually I caught up with Nike and Adidas, with Penny Hardaway rockin’ Zoom Flight 96s and of course, Jordan with his Air Jordans. Later on was the love for the 3 stripes, with great Feet You Wear campaign banned by then-rising stars Kobe Bryant and Antoine Walker.

I always wore mid-level priced kicks back then though, because my parents would never buy me expensive shoes. I would always buy at sales and shoes that were from the previous season, and I would wear ‘em till the soles fell off. It was only recently when I got into the working world that I had the capacity to purchase whatever shoes that I liked and still there was still a certain frugality that was instilled to me that prevented me from going wild with shoe purchases.

From basketball shoes I grew to love casual sneakers as well, and it just grew and grew to what it is now. Whatever pair I have now doesn’t just look good but appeals to whatever personal ideals I have, it’s many different stories in each pair. It’s not just something that conforms to the body but to the person wearing it, to me.

4. Comics

One of the other things I got growing up. This was one of the ways my father used to get me to read. I loved comic books, those Superhero types most of all. It kinda waned off when I grew older, probably due to the fact that I couldn’t afford to follow every issue, but later on I got back to it. Just like when people say it’s meant to be. The internet did help a lot with downloadable scans allowed me to follow the current storyline, and after a while I got back to buying the trade paperbacks and hardbound books as well. As of late, I’ve been buying hardbound books because I figured I would start my own collection and perhaps it could be something I could show my kids later on and hopefully they’ll love it too.

5. Internet

The Internet has been revolutionary, it’s been said a million times and they should keep on saying it. I’ve just learned some much online which I wouldn’t have access to without it. Growing up in a 3rd world country meant being limited to whatever resources available locally, and with people starving and jobless, those resources would be scarce as most funding would be needed for more important matters. I admit that I grew up on the Internet, most of my interests now are influenced someway by what I’ve learned online. From the type of music I listen to, to my personal ideals, even to the shoes I wear. I’m just sick and tired of being satisfied of the things that are just available here, I want something more, I want something different, something that not every Jack walking in the street is wearing, or every Manang is listening to. I want to say something is cool because it is, and not because everybody says it’s cool. The Internet helps me do that.

6. Design

I got into design by way of comic books. Naturally I dreamt of growing up and becoming a comic book artist one day, perhaps in the mold of a Jim Lee. I used to copy a lot of comic book covers and tried to make some of my own characters. Used to think I really had talent, but that kinda fell apart especially when I stopped developing. I can still draw decently but it’s nothing compared to the skills Pros have. But that led the way to me learning to appreciate design on another level, on how a certain line can change a whole scene or how proper placement of shadows can set the mood of the panel, just how color affects a certain piece. Graphic design was a natural next step for me, I did try to self teach myself and was able to decently handle Photoshop, but without the proper education behind me, all plans of doing design just fell off too.

Design will always be an interest, whether it’s a book layout or a great CD cover, I’m always looking out for that something, that spark of inspiration. It’s a great feeling.

7. Glasses/Contact Lenses

I’ve had glasses since grade 3, and been wearing contact lenses since I was in 3rd year high school. I wish I could live without them but for now this is something I must have, unless I want to walk around ‘blind’. I hope that someday I can avail of Lasik and live a life without worrying about my glasses getting broken or losing my contact lens.

8. Music

I’m a pretty late bloomer. While all my life, I was surrounded by The Beatles and The Carpenters playing in my parents’ radio, I never really got into music until I was around 13-14. And even then I only got into mainstream stuff, I was downloading songs since I was around 16-17, so it just grew from downloading songs that was on the Billboards Top 50 singles and discovering songs that were not available locally, and then hearing 2Pac doing ‘California Love’ or Jay-Z’s ‘Can I Get A’ was when I learned about rap and from then I kept listening and researching. I joined an mIRC channel back then where I got to know about the Wu-Tang Clan, and more underground stuff and I was lovin’ it. It was around 2000 and I was probably 7 years late. I moved on to more rock oriented songs while still maintaining interest for hip-hop and r&b ballads, and it just kept expanding, from mainstream alternative rock songs to more emo songs and to indiepop and the list just kept growing and growing. I just like good music, irregardless of genre and no, Akon doesn’t count.

9. Friends

Now these are the people that keep me sane. There will always be a side of me that most people won’t see unless I’m with friends, it’s the Jason who is totally unguarded and relaxed. A place where I can say pretty much whatever I want without any discrimination or fear of acceptance. Like most people I have a few sets or groups of friends but one in particular, the Monztarz, is like family to me, I’ve known most of these people for more than a decade now.

10. Water

I’m a water freak and I probably go to the john more often than most guys. I just have this need to be constantly hydrated and just feeling dryness for just a few moments will make me uneasy. So for me, it’s gotta be H2O for life!

So what’s on your list?