Tuesday, July 31, 2007

What's that sound?


Not that I want to be an Alexandra Patsavas (music supervisor of Grey's Anatomy), but since I consider myself to be an uber music disciple, I have found that there is more to sound in its technical aspect. I regularly update the songs or audio files in my iPod, and then one day I thought it would be nice to familiarize myself with these acronyms I encounter in my field.

Many file extensions came about in this generation of "everything digital." Now what do these stand for? For the sake of awareness, here are some of the most common technical terms in sound:

AVI - audio video interleave

AAC - advanced audio coding

AMR - adaptive multi-rate

WAV - wave / waveform audio format

WMA - windows media audio

MP3 - mpeg audio layer 3

MPEG - motion (moving) picture experts group


There you go. Now enjoy that sound.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A Cute Surprise

I just got a cute surprise gift from my counterpart in Singapore. Look, it's such a cute pen holder! I have not met this lady personally but the thoughtfulness sure wreaks out of her character. Wonderful surprises such as these, however small, make my day really. In the world of temporary insanities, I find it hard to believe sometimes that goodness still flows.

Ah, talk about goodness. Perhaps my instant friend knows the secret too. Good for her!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

"The Holiday"

It suddenly dawned upon me yesterday that I have not seen The Holiday yet. I read some critics' reviews and out of curiosity I grabbed a copy of this movie and saw it last night when I came home from work. Since this is a film written and directed by Nancy Meyers of Something's Gotta Give, I was all the more excited to see another one of her masterpieces. The flick was 2 hours and 15 minutes long, but I truly enjoyed it! Certainly "meet cute." Anyway, here's Kate Winslet's (as Iris) narration at the beginning of the movie that fittingly describes love in all forms and conditions:

"I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. It's called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmases, the worst birthdays, New Years Eves brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms. "

So true, indeed.

How 'bout a do-over of the movie tonight? Hehe.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

"The Other Side of Your World"

My alter ego speaks.

As you turn a year older, you assess, you turn back time (like you always do), you recall, and you treasure beautiful memories in your life that have left you nostalgic, melancholic, always. You just close your eyes, wherever you may be, just when that sudden attack of loneliness pinches you, you just know. After all like you always tell yourself, you are now one who believes that life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

And so back in college was the life of trivial and negligible things. Memories of that football field would bring you to think fast times with your group of friends or batchmates or blockmates. Sneaking through basketball players’ locker rooms, escaping tennis practical exams, crashing in friends’ parties in clubs, filling the long gaps with strolls in the malls. Everything else showed facets of college life, a step short of supreme adulthood and major responsibilities. Joining the mass choir made for an uplifting pursuit except for the fact that falling for the choir leader never felt so hopeless and futile. It was mere infatuation, or if you will, wishful thinking. But it felt good. Think Sleepless in Seattle good. Even if those were gloomy, stormy days you remember. Your point is, it was certainly good.

You have never appreciated making a thesis more than when you were all set to march down and throw your hats off to burning eyebrows and earning degrees. Here you tell yourself you’re ready to face the world, but you don’t know what kind this world is made of, climbing the corporate ladder, heeding the desires of your heart, or preparing to start a career in another continent. You eventually unravel for yourself the reality of life as you tread along the path of your choices. In this world anyway, we choose the life we make.

From dream to dream, end to end, you seem to have acquainted yourself with the most bouncy of characters in your life. You sincerely allowed these chaps to take the better out of you once, twice, even thrice. In the end, you turned neither condescending nor irate. You cherished hope amidst the sore heart. You wished good thoughts about them and thought this is how love works on you, as much as this love heals you and protects you from the next bitter episodes.

When you’ve moved on to the more interesting and good-natured phases of your life you had a more expansive look at the other side of the world. You have now gracefully taken in the best of blessings through the small family you’ve created for yourself. You’ve nurtured and gave your companion and offspring the kind of love that you know, this time reciprocal, eternal, resilient. Then you suddenly discover your true self. You opened your eyes to the veracity of your existence, as a wife, mother, sister, and friend. You are now avid and keen on satiating your mind with every rambling and musing of life and love. Truly, because you know deep inside that this is your home, this is your place on the other side of your world.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

The Secret is "You"

Here's a man who proclaims that you can have everything you want if you know how to use the laws of attraction. One must be able to send good vibes, believe and remove doubts so you allow all positivity to set in.

Vibration is the name of the game here. Reading books on these is currently my main squeeze.