Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Teased by Game of Thrones Season 2

I just watched this teaser video of the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. The second season is slated to launch in April 1.



I geekily drooled while watching this.  April 1 just can't get here any sooner.


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Friday, January 27, 2012

My Bali Steel Pan Will Be Here Soon!

It's been around 9-10 months so far since I first emailed Bali Steel Pan expressing my interest in purchasing one of their hand pans. I remember blogging about it on the day Chris from Bali Steel Pan replied back to my email.

Yesterday, Chris emails me the following.

Aldous

Would you like to order a hand pan now?
What scale are you interested in?

Thank you

Chris

Yes! The wait is almost over. I was sick yesterday. So I wasn't able to check my personal email then. I just replied back to him clarifying some payment and shipping details.

A few months ago, I emailed Chris asking about the status of my order and if it was possible to change the scale that I initially asked for to another scale that's listed on his website. He responded saying I can pick any scale I want when it's my turn on the order queue. So in my email response back to him just a few minutes ago, I asked for this scale instead.

Minor Pentatonic
F Bb C# Eb F G# Bb C# Eb


I am absolutely stoked to get my hands on a hand pan from Bali Steel Pan! (Pardon if you fumbled through reading that last sentence there. LOL)


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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

New Band: The JR Oca Experience (JOE)

I haven't really blogged about a lot of the gigs that have been happening the month or so. I seem to have fizzled out detailing each and every gig given the sheer frequency of it these days. So this is my attempt to rekindle that. Or at least document it here, before they further just all get to be a blur.

One of my bandmates from "Jack Versus the Crab", JR, invited me to join his new band called JR Oca Experience (JOE for short). Now JR Oca is a veteran in the music scene. Some of the bands of note that he's been in are "Third World Project" on guitars and even fronted his own band "Alak Pa". My other bandmates are music scene veterans as well. Berns, the bassist, is from "All For Patricia" amongst a whole slew of other bands currently. Paulo, our drummer, is from a number of bands in the past like "Hale" and "Kjwan". Enzo, our trumpet player is the only veteran exception, like myself. He's my bandmate from "Jack Versus the Crab".

I've had a few gigs with JOE under my belt. JOE is currently recording an EP which I am fortunately a part of. I've recorded percs tracks for 2 of the songs for the EP so far.

It's a little difficult to describe what kind of music JOE plays. So I'll give video examples instead. Below is a video of the first time I jammed with the band. Totally unrehearsed, but somehow the skill of my bandmates just provided for relative ease to follow. This is a Yano cover.

Banal na Aso, Santong Kabayo (Cover)


The next few videos is a whole set we had in Malate District bar during the first week of January 2012. It was the first gig I had for the year.

The Chicken (Cover)


Rapsadoodle


Englishman in New York (Cover)


I could've played better especially on my solo on the last song. I haven't quite synched up with Paolo our drummer. But it's getting there especially coming off our Freedom bar gig last Saturday.

I'm fortunate that I am still continually invited to play in other bands despite my lack of skill. I think my selling point is more because I have decent percs gear. Something a little above and beyond your run of the mill djembe drum totting percs guy. But hey, I'll take anything I can get just to have the privilege to play with very talented veteran musicians.


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Saturday, January 14, 2012

Razer's Project Fiona

Razer debuted its gaming tablet concept design called Project Fiona at the CES 2012. Out of everything I've read of what was showcased at the convention, this particular product was what blew me away.



Check out this hands-on video at the Razer booth at CES 2012 too.



It's a concept design. So just like the Switchblade, it might turn into something else by the time they release it. But if they do release a polished version of this gaming tablet, it'll definitely make me think twice about buying an iPad 2. Sorry Apple, I love your products, but a PC gaming tablet is just way over the top.

/wipe geeky drool


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