Vlog Ep. 311: The Legacy of Romeo and Juliet

To continue our pre-Valentine's Day celebration for #BaduyPride, our episode focused on that classic story of tragic young love - Romeo, and Juliet. We've all encountered this story in one form or another whether it's the original stage production or one of the many adaptations that have used the original text or translated the core story into something else entirely. The structure of this story has become intrinsic pretty much to our global culture at this point and there's a lot to celebrate.

I never imagined that we'd end up talking about the works of Shakespeare on the show, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe we should have more discussions of this nature that go beyond "just" analyzing pop culture alone. This doesn't mean we're going to go full-on edutainment or anything like that, but it does add more variety to our live stream discussions. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 303: 2021 Geeky Year in Review

For our last episode of #BaduyPride for 2021, we decided to do a sort of round-up of all the different geeky things we loved this year. We had already done an episode just about the games we enjoyed this year last Tuesday, so this episode took a broader perspective covering everything from movies, TV shows, books, and other things we enjoy. 

It's easy to want to fall into the trap of investing a lot of time to talk about all the things we didn't like this year, of which I'm sure there were a lot. But it's very much in the spirit of Baduy Pride to get into the practice of finding things to meaningfully celebrate without necessarily taking an unrealistic perspective towards the world around us. It's something that can feel quite emotionally fulfilling and I hope that viewers walk away with a lighter feeling because of the reminders of the many fun things we still experienced this year. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 271: The Magic Behind Magic

For this Friday night episode of #BaduyPride, we dove into the deep end of talking about magic and magicians, and other related forms of entertainment. Tobie and I share quite the love for this particular art form (if you can call it that) and it was nice to look back to shared experiences like the classic David Copperfield televised magic tricks. 

Tobie and I also had magic performances in common. At least Tobie got paid for his stints as a magician as I only performed for free for classmates and family. Super big thanks to that Usborne Book of Magic! That was my friend growing up. Tobie remains more into the continuing progression of magic thanks to shows like Fool Us, because Penn and Teller are awesome.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!    

Vlog Ep. 101: Our Fandom Icons

Today's #BaduyPride episode was a late suggestion that felt timely enough. As we crossed the 101 episode mark, we opted to talk about our different icons and idols across our different areas of interest and found some interesting public figures that we liked.

I was initially hesitant to tackle this topic since I always feel like I don't have people that I "idolize" per se. It's not like the people we cited today are all people we want to be like or follow as role models. But they do represent people whose creative efforts we've come to love and it was nice to celebrate them in this little episode.

This was a community-contributed topic originally shared by our friend, Mitch! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured in a future video.

Vlog Ep. 88: One Night with MC Black

I guess we spoke too soon about the anniversary episode being our longest yet. Last night's #BaduyPride live stream ran for over 4 HOURS because we had so much fun talking to fabulous O Diva MC Black! This was a great interview and a beautiful exploration of her career, her thoughts on drag as an art form, and with a surprise performance at the end!

Ever since we got to interview Turing, we knew that we wanted to coordinate with the rest of the O Divas for episodes and we're super appreciative that MC made time for us last night. And the range of topics that we covered and the many insights she shared were outright inspiring not just for drag artists but pretty much anyone wanting to better express their creative side.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 84: Intro to Theater Appreciation

Tonight's #BaduyPride episode on theater appreciation went on a lot longer than expected, which just goes to show how much we miss watching live stage productions. But the conversation ended up being really enjoyable, especially with all the friends who participated in the session and added their inputs as well.

We may not be theater experts, but we are certainly passionate fans and we hope this video helps to get more people curious about and eventually interested in live theater, especially with so many online options available during this time of social distancing. The videos are a decent way in to get a feel for what types of shows one may like or dislike. But when the theaters re-open, I hope more folks will support the arts and help keep this medium alive.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Movie Dates

I really enjoy going to the movies. It's an experience that I often relate to happy memories while growing up because a trip to the cinema is always going to be a good thing. Movies are a special kind of magic that will irrationally look better on a giant projector screen no matter how good your home theater setup is. Watching a movie at a cinema means always having popcorn and sitting through trailers that give you a glimpse of exciting features to come and enduring local ads that are always much louder than everything else.

I love going to the movies with Tobie and I'm glad that he takes the time and effort to do so. Sometimes my eagerness to see a movie will mean needing to venture out on opening day or wake up much earlier than normal on a weekend just to squeeze in a showing before other social commitments. He understands when I get worried about not catching particular films while they're still showing at theaters and will help ensure that we do get to go.

We may not travel much nor do we feel strongly about the beach or what have you. But we'll always have these movie dates and they continue to add so many fun memories to our shared history.

Just another reason why I love Tobie so much.

Four Months...of THEATER!

Marina Bay Sands Theater (Jan 2012)

I've always been rather big on theater - especially musical theater. Jokingly one could say that it's one of my obviously gay traits, if you get the movie reference. And thankfully over the years that I've known Tobie, he's been more than happy to share my enthusiasm for watching plays.

And it's not exactly a cheap endeavor, as you all may well know. So instead of a heck of a lot of travel to remote beaches, foreign shopping destinations and the like, we end up investing a lot in this little theater hobby.

And there's a heck of a lot of theater to be enjoyed - in fact it has become one of the main reasons that we travel to Singapore so much, apart from the desire to visit my sister and such. Yes, we travel to another country just to catch great shows like the recent stagings of The Lion King, Wicked and Jersey Boys.

I know I'm really lucky that Tobie is so supportive of this particular passion of mine - but that's how good relationships work of course. You find ways to celebrate what each of you love and to do so in a manner that is genuinely enjoyable for both of you.

Today is also our fourth month of being back together - a rekindling of our relationship that ironically began with a trip to Singapore last November to watch Jersey Boys. And this year we've already indulged in a few shows with another one scheduled this afternoon!

Pseudo-slideshow time!

Prince Singapore Diary 04: Marina Bay Sands

Image via Wikipedia

The bulk of our Sunday was spent at Marina Bay Sands since we had mapped out a trip to see the Titanic Artifact Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum and to catch Wicked at the Marina Bay Sands Theater. We also made sure to take a lot of videos to give our Prince a quick tour of the area and so he could enjoy things with us.

It's a shame we couldn't take video inside the museum or in the theater, but I think we did a pretty good job with what we were allowed to.

One more day in Singapore to go! Can't wait to get home to our baby!

Rhythm follows a pattern...

...and for us, that pattern seems to be love.
Music has always touched people emotionally in ways that may seem strange or magical.
This has never been more true than for me than with rOckY.  

Any of you readers who frequent this blog, or mine other blogs, or rOckY's LJ or Geeky Guide would probably be familiar with how much this year has been a special one for us.   But were you aware of how special it also was in a musical level?

Kylie.  Jason Mraz.  In the Heights.  From each of those artists is at least one song that we truly deeply love.  And as fate would have it, we would be able to watch all three of them each in a massive performance for us to enjoy.   Kylie and Jason Mraz would somehow happen to both decide to hold a concert in the Philippines (and just next door to boot!) and within the same year, a local production of In the Heights would be staged almost as if to remind me of the time when one of their songs marked an important moment in our lives.

Most of you might not even be aware of how music was a constant force that helped us remember the love we shared even back in the earlier days before we got together.  I will always cherish the anecdote how one morning, I happened to wake up with a weird last-song-syndrome still in my head.  I vaguely remembered dreaming of the Garfield and Friends song and posted it as a status message, only for rOckY to inform me that morning that he had chosen that song as well for his blog.    Then there those moments that a song we kinda pegged for a time as "our song" kept being played even in a CD-R filled with over 200 mp3 songs worth of music that was set at Random.    I will also recall those times when we'd hear the song play while we were at McDonalds and the like almost out-of-the-blue.   (Maybe we should have a post about our "wavelength" moments too soon.)



Then, there were the smaller moments that I personally still hold special as well.  Such as when Ingrid Michaelson, who song The Way I Am reflected a lot of how I felt for rOckY, held a mini-online concert which I was able to record for him.  Or how Musicals have once again returned to be part of my life, with rOckY sharing that moment with me when he let me finally watch Into The Woods in full in his arms (you can watch it in full here too), or how he introduced me to The Origin of Love from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which has very much made me realize how special our feelings for each other truly are.    There was also him getting me hooked on Spring Awakening, which to our luck had a local staging as well.

And (as of this blog post) we have us finally catching The Lion King at Singapore, Marina Bay Sands for his birthday and tickets for the upcoming musical, Wicked, this January.   We also have DJ Zymon at O Bar Ortigas who always spoils us by playing a few Kylie songs on nights that we are there.   Then there are the O Divas who perform songs we love.  More and more, music wraps around us and reminds us of how magical and special our relationship continues to be.

I must admit, I look forward to how else it will in the many years to come.

A Year of Culture

I love musical theater.

I can't quite trace back exactly how this began. but it's definitely a true statement today If this were a scene from The Broken Hearts Club, then my love of Broadway and show tunes could definitely fall under the category of "Rocky's Obviously Gay Traits" or something.

And thankfully, Tobie shares this love with me as well. And thus he's enthusiastically enjoyed all of our theater venture together. After all, we're the guys who actually went all the way to Singapore to watch a show together.

I don't always bring my camera with me to such shows - it always feels weird to bring such things to a theater after all. Their use is highly prohibited once the show begins and I've always been one to play by the rules. But I still managed a few shots here and there on the days that I made sure to bring our camera along.

As I go over the year, we've watched the following plays and joined a movie festival to boot:

• Next to Normal (Atlantis Productions)
• The 39 Steps (Repertory Philippines)
• Care Divas (PETA)
• Shakespeare in Hollywood (Repertory Philippines)
• Aida (Atlantis Productions)

Cinemalaya 2011

Little Shop of Horrors (Ateneo Blue Repertory)

Sweet Charity (9 Works Theatrical)

The Lion King (Base Productions Singapore)

In the Heights (Atlantis Productions)

Still undecided if we'll be watching Atlantis Productions' Little Mermaid or Repertory Philippines' Peter Pan, but that still leaves us with a pretty full year of culture through theater. And already for 2012 we're mapping out another Singapore trip to try and catch Wicked! So exciting!

It's always a great thing to find things that you and your partner can celebrate together. And thankfully, theater and related cultural events is definitely something that Tobie and I will continue to enjoy for the rest of our lives together.