Lines In My Head

The Philippines. Very seldom that lesser known foreign acts and bands display their unique talents here. Probably due to a lot of factors. Long travel. Hot weather. Or simply, they don't have enough followers in the country. But then, news broke out. Motion City Soundtrack. March 9, 2013. SM City North EDSA Skydome. I muttered. "HOLY SHIT!" Motion City Soundtrack. A five-piece rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Known for their energetic brand of music. Witty and clever songwriting. First encountered their music when their song, "Everything Is Alright" was featured in the soundtrack of a certain video game. I became a fan. Discovered "Fell In Love Without You". Instantly fell in love with it. Followed their offerings ever since. Two weeks prior. Purchased my tickets. Affordable price. Perfect schedule. No work. Saturday. Biggest problem though? NO ONE TO GO WITH! Friends are not familiar with MCS. For shame! Predicament? Yes. Will s...

For the past week or so, and for some odd reason, I've been really enamored and engrossed on watching a bunch of foreign movies that are categorized under the romance/comedy/drama spectrum. I think it has something to do with the Christmas-y feeling in the air especially with the holiday season this year being extra special for me (oh yeah!). Or on more practical terms, maybe it's because I just want to actually watch these movies that I downloaded instead of just letting them rot and take up precious space in my filthy, old hard drive. Heh. I really am a sucker though for these type of movies especially those that were somehow designed to recreate the teary-eyed instances of someone chopping an onion or someone letting out a big yawn. Almost every time, these lot of heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and stomach-knotting scenes lead to a fierce, grueling battle between my heroic stand to resist the urge to weep like a little girl against that swelling pile of emotions deep ins...

While watching an NBA pre-season game (Blazers vs. Warriors) yesterday, a crazy thought crossed my mind. What if a team was ONLY composed of players that they originally picked during the draft? Would the team be able to form a competitive squad? It was seemingly a good idea for a blog post and so, armed with several useful links from the web (Thank you basketball-reference.com!), I'm going to try to build an NBA roster based from a team's draft picks. But first some selection criteria that I  will use. 1. Only active players will be considered . Retired players and those who are already out of the league will not be included in the list. 2. Only players who came from a team's original draft choices will be included. This eliminates players acquired through trades during the draft day itself. 3. The squad would be limited to 12 players. That's it! So then, let's start with the "Homegrown Squad" for my favorite team back in the 9...

"I love you, however, you hold me down." "Missed opportunities, and I Don't Cares." "You're the metaphors I can't create to comprehend this curse that I call love.." Probably one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. The band is Motion City Soundtrack and the track is "Hold Me Down" from their album, "Commit This To Memory". Song starts with a simple drum beat then in comes the line:  I found a letter that said:/ "I'm sorry that you were asleep when I wrote these words down."/ You'd think I'd ought to be used to that by now.    Damn. I wish I had thought of those lines myself. It probably should be illegal to write something brutally sad. Oh, and then the song ends with a couple of repeated lines that goes: How will I break the news to you? (Sheds a tear and goes to sleep).

So let me try something new for the blog. As some of you may have surmised from the previous posts, I'm a big, big fan of the pop/punk/alternative side of the music scene. My playlists are littered with songs ranging from "roll-your-car-windows-down" summer jams to "mosh pit worthy" tracks to "cut-and-slash-your-wrists" classics to "radio-friendly" tunes. I can confidently say then that I have a pretty good idea of what's cooking in the pop-punk scene. So together with my trusted earphones, I present the segment "Earphoned" (what a creative title), wherein I'm going to review (or at least try to) past and current albums of bands from this genre. Hopefully, this segment would introduce you to some really good music that you're surely missing out on while at the same time saving your ears from the depths of music purgatory currently dominated by the likes of Justin Bieber and One Direction. Heh. After the jump, learn ...

"I'm trying to hold it together but irony's found cracks in the foundation." "I try so hard to be some great white hope but I can't shake the feeling that tonight I'm gonna end up shaking in bed alone." "I had to take my own advice and I did. Now, I'm waiting for it to sink in." "It's not about forcing happiness, it's about not letting sadness win." I always though it was really cool when you discover a not-so-famous band that blows you away on your first listen. You immediately think that they should be the next-big-thing but in reality, no one in your circle of friends has any freaking idea of who the band is. Such is how I felt when I discovered "The Wonder Years" and their pop-punkish brand of music. While their sound is typical of the one you'll find in this scene, what I think separates them from the rest of their peers is their uncanny songwriting skills and great lyrics. Their ...

WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) recently held its 1000th (!) episode of Monday Night Raw and oh boy, it was such a blast from the past especially for someone like me who has been following this sports-entertainment industry for the last 15 years or so. "RAW 1000" delivered a hell of a show as it showcased a horde of legends (The Rock, DX, Bret Hart, Taker, Brock Lesnar, Lita, APA, and more)  interacting with the current crop of superstars (which I found really cool) , progressed existing and created new storylines (Jericho-Ziggler, Miz-Christian, AJ Lee as GM) , and created a wicked angle at the end (Punk-Rock!) . So many 'mark out' moments and despite the wrestling industry being scripted and all, episodes like this remind me of why I was a wrestling fan to begin with: entertaining, exciting and fun! Looking forward to more holy sh!t moves, 'this is awesome' chants, heel and face turns, return of stables, epic pay-per-views, and doses of nostalgia. If yo...