Wednesday 19 September 2012

Maroon 5 Concert

It all started with this Tanduay Ice Red Mirage bottle...

I used it as props in a video entry I made for a Maroon 5 contest on RisingStars (an online videoke website) sponsored by Tanduay Ice. To make the story about the contest short, my entry won 2nd place which earned me two tickets to the Maroon 5 concert.
So to give you an idea... here's what I look like in the video =====================>>>>>>>>>

I look funny, I know! But I did it anyway...
'cos I really really wanna see Maroon 5... so... yeah... and if you wanna see the actual video, click here.

Okay, moving on...
Look at that monitor above us. It has the prices of the tickets... quite expensive... and they're SOLD OUT! So If I didn't win the contest, there's just no way we'd be able to see the concert.
The concert was on a Tuesday, a work day. So Bry and I had to miss work that night (our boss was really pissed! HAHA... and we just had a closed door meeting with him a few hours ago regarding that... but that's another story, and don't worry, we didn't lose our jobs! HEHE!) The concert starts at 8PM according to the promotional posters but we were told to be at the Araneta Coliseum by 5PM because we had to meet with the other winners, the people from Tanduay Ice Asia Brewery, and Ms. Denise (RisingStars admin) to claim our tickets. When we arrived at the meeting place, the line was already long but I easily spotted Sam Mangubat who won first place (check out his video entry here, he's on YouTube too!) so we chatted for almost about more than an hour until Ms.Denise arrived. And here's our group picture:

Holding on to the tickets!
But we still could not go inside the coliseum and we had to wait for the people from Tanduay Ice Asia Brewery (one of the major sponsors of the concert) because we need to go in at the same time with the other winners of their other promos. So while waiting for them, Ms.Denise treated us to a lovely dinner at Kangaroo Jack. By that time, Sam's companion, Jun, arrived (he's responsible for Sam's victory as he was the one who promoted his video everywhere!) We all had a plate of sizzling chicken barbecue (I burnt some of my taste buds because I was so eager to take a bite) and raspberry iced tea...


After dinner, we still had to wait for about half an hour before those people from Tanduay Ice Asia Brewery finally showed up together with the other winners of their other promos. Several more minutes and we all found ourselves making it to one of the gates of the coliseum. It was almost 9PM. We all decided to drain our bladders first before going inside the coliseum because we would not want to be missing any part of the show. Besides, it was going to be really difficult with the amount of people there.

Before the concert: 

Video here

Around past 9PM... Maroon 5 started performing!!!

LEFT: Spotlight on Adam / RIGHT: OMG! He's pointing right at me! LOL!
Videos here, here, and here

Okay, I know that the photos and videos above aren't that great. The camera was busted.. couldn't Zoom in. I don't know why they turned out as if we were too far because our spot was really nice and we could clearly see the stage and all the little movements that the members of the band were making.

Here's the setlist... The band played a total of 24 songs including intro/outro covers and medleys.

1. They started off with Payphone (no rap version). I really love this song. The entire crowd went wild and started singing with the band. It was difficult to hear Adam's voice. Yep, that's how loud we were!
2.  Makes Me Wonder; using Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson cover) as intro
3. Lucky Strike
4. Then came Sunday Morning and once again the crowd was singing along.
5. If I Never See Your Face Again (album version, minus Rihanna)
6. Wipe your Eyes
7. Won't Go Home Without You. I sooo love this song too! Everybody was singing.
8. Harder To Breathe; using Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Skrillex cover) as intro
9. Wake Up Call
10. One More Night
11. Hands All Over
12. Then comes my favorite Maroon 5 song, Misery (also the song I used in the contest). Halfway through the song, Adam introduced the band members. I think of all the people there excluding Adam, I SANG THE LOUDEST. I was literally shouting and I felt like my lungs were about to collapse! LOL. My throat is still so sore 'til now...
13. And another favorite of mine, This Love, was supposedly the last song. Adam decided to show off by doing a guitar solo of Don't Forget Me (Red Hot Chili Peppers cover) as outro

But of course WE WANTED MORE! So then came the encore...

14. Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes cover)
15. An accoustic performance of She Will Be Loved; Adam dedicating this to all the ladies in the house :)
16. Then Adam showed off again by rapping during Stereo Hearts (Gym Class Heroes cover)
17. Daylight
18. The band also played a medley of Don't You Want Me (The Human League cover) and Sexy Back (Justin Timberlake cover).
19. And to wrap up the show, they did Moves Like Jagger; using Gangnam Style (PSY cover) as intro... we actually thought that they were going to play the entire "Gangnam Song" or at least see them dance to it. We would have gone crazy because of excitement if they did!

So... there! WE HAD A GREAT TIME! It was my first time (as well as Bryan's) to watch a concert by an international artist. We will never forget this experience... Again, I just wanna mention that we're so grateful to RisingStars Philippines and Tanduay Ice.

Oh by the way, look at these cool photos... not edited! Just glow stick magic!

Looks like lightning/electricity (left); looks like butterflies (center); looks like musical notes (right)

Monday 10 September 2012

RHEA

Guys, meet RHEA...

 

She is one of the Zoobles. Zoobles? Undeniably cute but... what are they?
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At my age, I'm still very fond of toys. For several years, I made attempts to collect a specific kind of toy... mostly little cute ones that aren't very expensive. I would start off by buying a couple. Then  I would buy a couple more on my next return to the toy store...  and... that's about it. It ends there. LOL! So I guess what I wanted to say is that I was always unsuccessful when it comes to collecting toys or just about anything... books, pens, stamps... Name it, I failed in it! Sad isn't it? I'm hopeless...

Anyway... this past weekend, my daughter showed me and Bry a brand new toy that my mom got her (my mom spoils her sooo much, I know! ). With it's size, at first we thought that it was just another Happy Meal toy... but she demonstrated what it can do... and we found it really cute!!! So I asked her what it is and she showed me the piece of carton that went with the toy... it says ZOOBLES: SPRING TO LIFE.

According to the official website Zoobles.com, Zoobles are collectable, colorful characters that 'pop' open when placed on their magnetized 'Happitat' (habitat). There are hundreds of Zoobles to collect from the nine Zoobles lands. So by using Rhea (Zoobles #352 from the land Jungleopolis), let me and Ashlee demonstrate how Zoobles "spring to life" (Bry took these photos using my Corby phone)...

So this first photo shows Rhea sleeping in her tree 'Happitat'
1. Remove sleeping Rhea from its tree 'Happitat'... 2. Put her on top of the tree (magnetized area)... 3. Watch her 'Spring to Life!'
Watch her curl back to sleep (into a ball) when you carefully push her head down...

 And you can even watch your Zooble dance by turning the wheel/knob found on the side of the happitat (actually attached to the magnet inside making the Zooble go in circles... thus, the dancing effect!)

I dunno really... but maybe I'm just really immature that's why I like this toy so much... HAHA! But since Ashlee, Bryan and my mom really like it as well, I am thinking of buying more. It's going to be like a family project... our family's collection!

The price is around 350 pesos each. Uh oh! For me, that's not really cheap... I guess we can't have all of 'em (there's like more than 300 of them, haha!) Let's all just see how far we can go with this. Stay tuned because when we get a new one, I'll be blogging about it of course!