Moleskine Contest: Week 2, Entry 1

My tears are like snow in midsummer, forming imaginary stars on the escritoire, condensing the words in your notebook, inconceivable yet alive.

Joined yet another Moleskine contest on http://anothermiyaw.livejournal.com/146627.html#cutid1

Me Want a Mohl-Uh-Skee-Nuh

How would I use a Moleskine? Let me count the ways...

I do not just create words but I actually get more stimulation out of creating letters on a surface (any surface: notebooks, table napkins, hell even walls for some time) with the strokes of my fingers, enticing the paper with my pen. Here's how much I love the written language: Two of my three tattoos are made up of words, "Born to make mistakes" and "Drei's". What's more, I'm a very impulsive writer. So if I had a Moleskine, I would probably scribble in it more than I would email my fiancé.

Ever since my significant other has destroyed my notebook (it was made of thick, thick brown recycled paper and oh how I loved to write on its pages... sigh) - it simply contained too many remarks about insignificant others from the past - I have downgraded to a spiral notepad that has less sentimental value and that I have filled with even less significant contents: grocery lists, budget lists, lyrics of my current earworm, lists of books to read, music to download, movies to look for in Quiapo. Lists, lists, lists. I suddenly transformed into a less introspective, more practical, nay, mechanical writer.

And that, my fellow prose lovers, simply proves that your passion for writing is directly connected to your relationship with the instruments you write with. Now imagine what a Moleskine would do to your writing habits. You wouldn't even need an inspiration anymore, the notebook itself would already be your muse. I can already picture the pages I would fill with pensive thoughts, happy thoughts, angry thoughts... thoughts, and not lists. I might even take up sketching again.

If I don't win any of the contests by Avalon.ph, I'll just have to wish for one for my birthday. A Moleskine's simply too special to just purchase yourself... I know, very drama queen of me.

For those of you who got all drooly over Moleskine, the series of contests has now started on the Wifely Steps blog and there'll be more to come til December, so why not take your chances.

Han Loves Daphne Loves Derby Loves Emo

Far past these roads
There is a place
Where all our precious dreams remain
Someday I know
I'll find a way
To keep myself from holding on

Stay awake with the sound of my voice
I'm restless from the silence in the air

I want to be somewhere I can see the roads
A place where everytime you breathe a wish comes true
I want to be where love is real
And memories of distant days come to life again

Inside this room
Time will stand still as long as
I'm not aware of change
The world outside
Leaves me behind by myself
There's no mercy for those who hold on

Stay awake with the sound of my voice
I'm restless from the silence in the air

I want to be somewhere I can see the roads
A place where everytime you breathe a wish comes true
I want to be where love is real
And memories of distant days come to life again

Bakit ba wala nito sa videoke?

Can't.. Suppress... Anymore...

There's this all too familiar feeling lurking beneath my nerves and in the pits of my stomach. I think I know what it is but I don't dare say it out loud. Because then it would be real and I'd have to admit that I'm 13 again.

My Love-Hate Relationship with Dane Cook

After watching My Best Friend's Girl last week, I started contemplating Dane Cook's movies so far. In Mr. Brooks he was convincing (maybe it's also just because I didn't know him to be a comedian back then). In Dan in Real Life he was the perfect complement to Michael Scott's, er, Steve Carrell's character. Then in this new comedy with Kate Hudson he was almost adorable, but the entertainer in him could've needed just a bit more push.

I haven't seen Good Luck Chuck yet for the mere reason that I found its trailer, synopsis and movie poster dry, nay, forgettable. But now, having watched his almost-but-not-quite performance by Cook, I think I'll give him a shot.

Now, Dane Cook as a stand-up comedian is a totally different story. He's quirky, he's energetic, and he can find the hidden joke in the most mundane things. What I can't seem to grasp though is how someone who's bigger than life when in front of an audience could suddenly turn into a cardboard cutout when in front of a rolling camera.

The Ballad of Lula and Bela B.

Okay okay, first of all, I don’t wanna be one of those people who embed way to many vids, music clips, etc. in their blogs (or even on their profile). But this one I just have to share with all of you, simply because it may very well be the best duet I’ve ever heard… and that despite some flaws I’m going to talk about later.

So this is the video of the song "Leave" by Bela B. and Lula. Lula, then still an up-and-coming chanteusse from France, wrote the lyrics to the song and recorded it for her solo album. After Bela B., a German rock icon (for me THE German rock icon) heard Lula’s singing talent he convinced her to rerecord this particular song and to collaborate with him on other projects. Later on, the song came to be included in the soundtrack of the German film "Kaliber Deluxe" (2000), hence the video with snippets from the movie.

Now let me first elaborate on the mini-flaws. There are just two: Lula’s sentence construction and Bela B.’s pronunciation. Again, Lula is French and Bela B. is German, need I say more? There are no lyrics of the song online, but ever since I first saw this video I’ve understood the words as "you’re the one who leaved perfume in my bed". Who leave? Me leave? You leave?

Plus, "a thousand doorbells buzzing in my head" will definitely sound a bit off in a song where the lyricist obviously focused only on the sonics and not on meaning, depth, or even grammar. (Although sonics and depth are easily interchangeable for some.)

Ultimately though, and I don’t mean to romanticize or euphemise, all these minute details put together make up something very, very special, namely the entrancing words and sounds coming from Lula’s mouth and the equally intense singing of Bela B. The first time I saw this video I was literally transfixed and sent into perpetual sigh-dom.

*SIIIIIGH*. This is the only expression I can use to describe what this song does to me. It’s especially the video that I think is so awesome, I think without the catchy video the song wouldn’t be as moving.

Well, see for yourselves folks:

The Soundtrack of My Youth

Albums that shaped my existence:

Foo Fighters - There is Nothing Left to Lose

Alanis Morissette - Supposed Former Infatuated Junkie, Under Rug Swept

R.E.M. - Up

Natalie Merchant - Ophelia

Lene Marlin - Playing My Game

K’s Choice - Almost Happy

Tonic - Sugar

My Best Friend’s Wedding Soundtrack

Ally McBeal Soundtrack Vol. 1

Message in a Bottle Soundtrack

Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up the Girl

Semisonic - Feeling Strangely Fine

Jude - No One is Really Beautiful

Bryan Adams - MTV Unplugged

Sarah Maclachlan - Mirrorball

Does it mean anything that the most unforgettable songs in my life I listened to when I was in high school, the only time in my life that I was perceptive, uncorrupted, and introversive?

I hate myself. I’m shallow and I now listen to what people say and care what people think. Should listen to more music and connect to myself and daydream more again. Note to self: buy cd changer