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Philippine Choirs

The new (last) Harry Potter and the HBP trailer

The final Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer is out! It's below after the "jump". Are you excited? The trailer looks awesome. Really dark and mysterious. Need to review the book though, it's been more than a year since I read it, haha.

And read this: "The release of the new Harry Potter film in the US has been brought forward by two days. It'll now open on Wednesday 15 July - the same day as it opens in the UK."
I had reported on this blogpost last month that Harry Potter and the HBP will come out in the Philippines on July 16. Are you going to watch it?

'Ere's the trailer:

Theme Thursday: Earth!

This is a blast from the past for me, from my childhood (which, come to think of it, is now quite distant...) watching cartoons on television. One particular cartoons series I enjoyed was Captain Planet and the Planeteers. This week's theme reminded me of it because it's always the first element they shout. I actually know this next one by heart...

Kwame: ...Then let our powers combine! EARTH!
Wheeler: FIRE!
Linka: WIND!
Gi: WATER!
Mati: HEART!
Captain Planet: By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!
All: Go Planet!
*Song - Captain Planet, he's our hero! Gonna take pollution down to zero...

- then I don't know anymore. Haha!
This video, I conveniently found on YouTube, the intro to Captain Planet's first episode:



I really enjoyed this series because aside from the entertaining action sequences (hehe) they also have tips on how to save the earth at the end. I think this is really helpful in making children aware of how pollution affects the world.

This is one of my favorite cartoons from the 80's. But just to reminisce, my other favorite cartoons then were Transformers, Voltes V, Daimos, Thundercats, He-man and the Masters of the Universe, Care Bears (stare!), Visionaries (this one is my favorite!), King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table, Thundercats, and so many others! Haha...

What was YOUR favorite cartoon series?

I live on a golf course but cannot play to save my life

Next week will mark the 4th anniversary of the first time I came to live on a golf course. And in those 4 years, I have never been able to hit a golf ball properly. Not once. Nope.

Let me qualify though, that in those 4 years, I have only held a golf club a maximum of maybe 10 times... Haha! But truthfully, I am all praise and respect for anyone great at golf because it is one mind boggling game. I have never been able to get my mind around how to actually play it. That oddly shaped stick and the tiny hole where you have to putt it in is just too much of a mismatch to comprehend.

I mean, basketball, even though I suck at that too, is fairly easy to understand HOW you get to be good at it. The same goes with football, volleyball, even tennis or badminton. Chess, the game of strategy, is also a concept not that difficult to understand: you anticipate your opponents moves and make your own strategic plans...

But golf, dear Holy God, whoever made this sport was crazy...

Some more photos of the golf course...







Okay, some of those are not really part of the golf course, but who's keeping track anyway? :p

The white thing in the foreground is a mushroom!







With the swimming pool and some flowers along the driveway too.
And lastly, here's a funny blogsite with jokes about golf.

Photographs: Good Friday Procession

For the first time in a long time, I joined a procession in my home baranggay of Santolan, Pasig. The procession went around the whole baranggay and then back to our local church the Santo Tomas de Villanueva Parish Church where I used to sing with the choir and was commentator for the "children's mass" on Saturdays. Liz and I walked with the huge throng of people (must've been more than 500 people there...) but only for a little bit coz we had to leave for the province.



More photos below...

Armed with candles and fans, we joined the throng of mourners, remembering Jesus Christ's death on this Good Friday.

Happy Easter (tomorrow)!

My Visita Iglesia

In the spirit of the traditional Visita Iglesia, here are some photos I took of Manila Cathedral in October last year (2008) while waiting for some papers to clear at the Bureau of Immigration.

Although my camera was only a point and shoot Canon Ixus 90IS, I was trying to learn how to play with light at different settings. When I have enough experience and money, or when the recession is over, maybe I'll get a better camera! Here are some of my favorite shots:


I was sitting in front of the church, then I looked up to see the noontime sun. It was really hot that day so I went under an Ipil tree for shade and got the above shot...


I loved how the light from the stained glass was reflected on the newly polished floor. :D


And it being really bright outside, I got good even lighting on the stained glass window.


This sculpture was on the door of the cathedral. I actually never noticed it before. I liked the way the side lighting gave it more depth.



See some more of my Manila Cathedral photos HERE.