Adoration

This couple have been "absent" from the Gospel Jam scene for quite a while and its good to see them back. Here's Irl and Ditas singing Adoration.

Janine Liao at Gospel Jam

I love this lady. Here are three videos from the beautiful and talented Ms. Janine Liao.

Gospel Jam 2009 12 27

Here is a rare group photo of Gospel Jam guests, audience and the staff and me of course. It was a reunion of sorts. A happy Christmas celebration!

This Little Child

This is the first time I heard of this song. It is a Christmas song talking about a child in a manger. It's not a popular song either but i love it nonetheless.

Midnight Mass

Fr. Arre, parish priest of the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice in UP Diliman.

The co-celebrant priests.

The Communion with the Parish Choir singing at the background.

The Church overflowing with people.

Yet more are coming in...

Food after the mass...

NCCP Christmas fellowship 2009

The NCCP Christmas Parties has always been planned with the kids in mind. This is the best ever! Of course i'm biased because my niece took center stage during the dance contest! hehehe. Both kids and adults enjoyed the food, the games and the company of friends! Kudos to the committee, you did a wonderful job!

NCCP Staff Integration 2009

This year's staff community integration was held in Baguio City. The staff was divided into two teams, with my team assigned to bring the relief food baskets to Kubabeng in Bokod, Benguet.

The long line of NCCP Staff, local volunteers and recipient families bringing the goods from the NCCP truck to the tent.

The other truck containing the 25-kilo sacks of rice and the relief packs from the Canadian Food Grains Bank, NCCP's partner organization for this operation.

Bringing home their treasures, a much needed help. The recipients were in all smiles and very grateful.

The Kubabeng Team after a long day's hard work taking time out for a photo-op. I think this particular photo was taken using my phone and I turned on the geo tagging feature so you can look up the location of the relief site using Google maps.

2nd week of Gospel Jam Christmas Festival

Happy Birthday Bianca!

I almost forgot, pupunta nga pala ako ngayon sa UP after office!

Pretty in Pink

Aside from being pretty and pink this flower is also very aromatic. I know it as four-o-clock because it is aound that time that it blooms and releases its fragrance. I know of white, yellow and orange variations, a really wonderful garden plant.

The United Nations on the Mindanao Massacre

Everyone had said their piece on this atrocity, from the media to the family of the victims, to the different churches and organizations to our own tarnished Philippine government. Here is what two UN experts had to say (or shall I say had been saying regarding the Philippine Human Rights situation). Click on the news clip to read the rest of the article at the UN News Centre.

The Best Ang Nanay Ko

Same rap group this time with a piece dedicated to all the mothers out there.

Ito ang Oras ng Kaligtasan

If I am right this is the first rap group we featured in Gospel Jam, the first rapper, i forgot his name, was a guest in the mall show we had a couple of months back.

Pinoy gospel rappers, Cool di ba!

Bright Blue Beauties

I bought these from the flower shop a few years back, I sort of ignored it in one corner of the office building. The pot is now cracked, the leaves are tiny and i thought it totally ignored me as well. I gave it a little TLC, a little mulch, lots of sunshine and water and it gave me these beauties in return!

Purihin Ka

Here is another gifted artist, Larzone Bueno singing an original composition.

Ads on AIDS

This day is filled with ads and campaigns but whether they are for the general public or for a specific group, the message is clear...

Paid sings I Know Who I Am

I started editing the Gospel Jam videos again! Hopefully my office load won't get crammed again until after I finish editing the four shows worth of videos pending in my to do list!

Here is Nino Batino, Joy Pring and Timmy Yee's wonderful performance of "I Know Who I Am" last November 22.

Gospel Jam presents: An Evening with Robin Nievera

It was an evening filled with very talented artists: Jerus del Socorro, Arthur Cruz, Kathy Solis, Edwin Dimaranan, Aldwin Perez, Emlyn Olfindo-Santos, Life Conquers Death and Robin Nievera. Robin was awesome with the guitar! And like his father, Makulit din!

I got a bit worried when we used the drums, although the owners allowed us to use it, medyo naging bigay todo ang pagtugtog ng isa sa mga band and i was expecting the homeowners to barge in at the door to make us stop because it was getting too loud. (The homeowners in the area are against the use of drum sets)

It was also extra tiring for me since the event Co-host Jeanne Vicars could not come because she had another event. Because of this I also had to take over her task of manning the live web feed. It was exhausting taking photos and videos and manning the livefeed and chatting with the online viewers!

Below is the group photo of the guest artists and audience.

Bloody encounter

A vampire bat came flapping in from the night covered in fresh blood and parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.

Pretty soon all the other bats smelled the blood and began hassling him about where he got it. He told them to knock it off and let him get some sleep, but they persisted in hassling him to no end until finally he gave in.

"OK!" he said with exasperation. "Follow me," and he flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats following close behind
him.

Down through the valley they went, across the river, and into the deep forest. Finally he slowed down, and all the
other bats excitedly gathered around him.

"Do you see that tree over there?" he asked.

"Yes, yes, yes!" the bats all screamed in a frenzy.

"Good," said the first bat, "because I DIDN'T!"

Undas 2009

Our planned schedule was 8 am but we were able to leave the house at 9... women! hehehe

My brother had a tummy ache and could not come. Me, Nanay, Dina, Ate and her daughter Bea went to Baranka cemetery to visit the grave of Tatay and Lola Duday. Good thing Kuya Henry passed by with his van or we would have fried going there, ang init kaya! Parang hindi dumaan ang bagyo nung Sabado.

Before leaving we had to pay the retention fee of 100 pesos or else our dead will be evicted from their apartment. I just had to say that. hahaha

I also played around with the color swap feature of my camera...

I was not able to fully appreciate the song while taking the video. But after it was edited, with lyrics to boot enabling me to sing along, i ended up humming the song long after it ended. Thanks for sharing your talent, Mark. Bless us with more songs!

Relief Operations in Barangay Kay Buto, Tanay, Rizal

Here are photos from my phone of our relief operations in Barangay Kay Buto, one of the barangay near Laguna de Bay. Houses nearest the lake's shores are totally submerged. The town's major trades consist of fishing, agriculture and regional commerce. Now they have nothing.

The boatmen i talked to said that the usual knee deep floods lasts a month to subside, this they say might last for three months! I really did not know what to say to them. The goods we brought is only good for one day. When we left it was getting dark and it was starting to rain again...

Dulce sings You Light Up My Life

I was going through my old video files from my Nokia N73 phone which was stolen almost a year ago and I re-discovered the 2008 Gospel Jam videos. Here is Dulce's upbeat rendition of You Light Up My Life. Enjoy and be blessed.

Gospel Jam September 20, 2009

Mark Aranal opening the night with "How Beautiful"

Mark, Ehdd Arquiza, Isabella de Leon and Aba Lluch Dalena sang the Gospel Jam theme song. Anything goes in a live performance, I think this is the first time that Ehdd and Aba are singing the theme song on stage and it showed, but they did pretty well. Watch how Aba handles technical problems with the microphones. Isabella's talent, pretty face and youthful exuberance brings life to any performance.

Carol Bello accompanied by Aba and Marvin blessed us with three gospel songs.

The all all male group of F40 rendered 2 songs.

Angels wearing traditional Filipino Baro't Saya

Have you ever wondered what those angels on top of the Quezon City Memorial Circle monument look like up close? I have since I was a kid, and growing up in the area and passing by it almost every day, it’s a curiosity that never got an answer… until now.

This is the first time I saw an angel wearing a traditional Filipino baro’t saya. Cool di ba?

Take note also of the crumbling mortar. Attention Quezon City hall!

Document nightmare in the office

Here is an example of a disaster that can happen when one is multi-tasking and everything is rushed... and a little bit of katangahan. I was requested to scan a document, but i was doing something else so i placed the document in the automatic feeder of the scanner so i can go back to what i was currently doing. The problem was the front page of the document was printed on onion skin, the machine "ate" the document and when the technician was finally able to removed it, it was in pieces.

What a nightmare! With lots of patience and a whole lot of magic tape, it took me roughly two hours to put the document back into a semblance of its original form. That's a lesson learned the hard way!

note: both pics were altered to remove print to protect the identity of the document owner.

Red is the color of the day in the office

Apples from the Desert

Apples from the Desert is about an independent-minded daughter and her Jewish Orthodox parents and the conflict that arises as the young lady discovers and chooses love and life beyond the confines of her highly regimented life. A heartwarming dramatic comedy (with the comedy provided mostly by the antics of the irrepressible aunt) written by Savyon Liebrecht, one of Israel’s best selling and acclaimed writers. The one I saw with friends last September 12 was the Filipino version which was translated by Lisa Magtoto and directed by Tess Jamias. The play was presented by Tanghalang Pilipino at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino.

It was highly entertaining and full of insights on family relations. Except for some scenes between the father and daughter that I found lacking in conviction making it less effective in connecting with the audience, the play was well worth the travel of going all the way to Roxas Blvd from Quezon City and braving the vey unpredictable weather. The play is ideal for teens and parents and couch potatoes.

I brought my bulky camera thinking of possible fantastic photos of the CCP grounds after the play and breathtaking views along the bay while taking a leisurely walk but the darn weather did not cooperate so I had to settle with these: a modest but very tasty dinner, a shot of the CCP inside the cab, and a very cute stuff toy that seemed to mirror our sentiments of the weather.

Flower Power

Monday morning madness was making me miserable so I decided to take a break and buy bread in the nearby bakery. I saw this beautiful bloom and it brightened my day. Now that's what I call flower power.

Gospel Jam invitation for September 6, 2009

Join us this Sunday for an extra-ordinary musical treat as Gospel Jam presents “The Stage is Bare” with Papuri singer cum theater actress cum tv host, TRICIA AMPER-JIMENEZ in one of her rare guest appearances. Also featured are FRANKLIN BENITEZ & MUSICIANS ON FIRE, fresh from celebrating their sixth anniversary; visually-impaired musician, BOBBY DUCLAYAN; and professional jazz artist AISAKU YOKOGAWA. Plus, a special testimony by Mr. MATT ELSBERRY of Crown Financial Ministries, U.S.A. This evening will be hosted by Mark Aranal and Jeanne Velasco-Vicars. Come and be blessed! For those who cannot be there in person, you may watch, listen and chat with us online at www.livestream.com/gospeljamlive. Please check out www.gospeljam.multiply.com to know more about us. Thank you.

Gospel Jam August 30, 2009

As always the night was a blessing, but i cant help feeling ... I can't find the right word ...kulang/disappointed/depressed/spaced out? I'm not sure if it was the headache i've been having since morning or the audience being a little unenthusiastic or the absence of one of the members of the Bautista family or technical stuff or some other things. But being in the sideline documenting, that energy that i usually feel during an event is somehow absent.

But the blessings were there, Isabella and her dad dropped by. She was having a fever but she stayed and even performed an excerpt of a song. The venue was almost full with a lot of walk-ins. A former office mate, Lesley joined and chatted with us at the livestream broadcast. Proskuneo, LA Laguna and the other performers were at their best doing what they do best and that is blessing people with their talent. To all of you, THANK YOU and see you all next Sunday!