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Monday, June 28, 2010

Ganda Ever So Much! - Orman Manansala's Lethal Weapon

Ganda Ever So Much!



Being the lurker that I am, I make it a point to read up on what's happening to people I made friends  with online via their social media accounts so that when we (finally) meet, we can talk about what we Facebooked, Friendstered, Twitted, Plurked, Blogged, etc.

And so several years back, I've read Orman Manansala's previous blogposts in a social media site about his relationship with a young man I will call Two Boyfriends Ago (TBFA). Chronicled there in blogposts, pictures (look! we got matching rings!), and music (theme songs galore!) was Orman's emotional roller-coaster ride. That blog later gathered dust and was obscured by virtual cobwebs as Orman moved on to another relationship with another young man, Immediate Past Boyfriend (IPBF).

His brother, Avel, had been nagging him to resume blogging as we organized events for the SoCCSKSargen Bloggers. And when he finally got the gumption to blog, he surprised us with not one but TWO blogposts in his new Ganda Ever So Much! Blog on August 1 last year. Click here to read his first blogpost.

Since then, Orman tried his best to write a blogpost a day. He skipped a day or two, but made up for it by writing two posts the next. From his very claustrophic blogposts about him and TBFA to Ganda Ever So Much!, his roller-coaster ride became OUR roller-coaster ride as he opened his heart and mind to his readers.

His tumultuous relationship with IPBF was blogged for all to read and when it was finally over, you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief online, but almost immediately we hold our collective breath as we accompany the lovestruck Orman on his quest for True Love. When he licks his lips over his favorite food items, our collective stomach starts to growl and rumble at the sight of those eyepopping pictures of delectable dishes in his blogposts. When he goes emo, a collective commiseration floods the comments section of his emo blog - "Shh, shh, don't cry now. Soon your Prince Charming will come along. Just keep wearing the other crystal shoe, Cindylauperella or Keep on dreaming Sleefing Veauty until true love's kiss awakens you or Tandaan mo Ormz, ang luha pag natuyo, nagiging muta (Remember Ormz, tears, when they dry up, become eye boogers)." BUT when he gives tips, oh my Momay!, nobody does it better because he gives it with mega-doses of  wit and humor that readers end up ROFLing (Rolling On The Floor Laughing) while WTFTEing (Wiping Tears From Their Eyes).

Yes, indeed, Orman's Ganda Ever So Much! has become embedded in our collective consciousness as readers who have and haven't met him share the UPS and downs of his life (I tell you, he's the online version of his idol, Kris Aquino). And you must have been hiding under a rock or an alien from another planet not to have partaken from this buffet/smorgasbord of a blog. His blogpost categories has everything for everyone - What Ever, Bugbog Ever, Emo Ever, Contest Ever, Food Ever, Ngarag Ever, Love Love Ever, Movies Ever, Health Ever, Serious Ever, you-name-it's-got it! And his pictures - eye candies galore for heteros and homos, young and old, foodies and anorexics, actual and armchair travelers! He's got the lowdown on what's pop, what's cool, what's worth giving his two-centavos worth of bitchy opinion. I'm predicting that this blog is going to be a book soon and I'll be lining up to buy copies to be given to my bookworm-friends (of course, with matching autographs from the author: Koyah, pautograp puhleazzzzeee)!

It's no wonder then why his faithful blog readers keep coming back for more! He is our online one-man Vice Ganda Showtime! host! He's got us eating out of the palm of his hand! Armed with his Apple laptop and Lumix LX3 digital camera, Orman has made his Ganda Ever So Much! blog a lethal weapon to slay us all online. Everytime, all the time.

Kudos, Ormz, for coming back to blogging! :)

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Melody with Lyrics Part 1

I remember those times when I get caught up in the music especially the orchestral soundtrack for a movie and then hear the same melody years later with matching lyrics that enhance it all the more.



Cavatina was a classical guitar piece composed by Stanley Myers and featured in The Deer Hunter, a film about the Vietnam war. It was a soothing melody in contrast to the stark violence in the said war film. I love listening to this played on guitar, piano, flute. And then Cleo Laine composed the lyrics to the melody and it became He was beautiful.



Gabriel's Oboe is from the film The Mission about Jesuit missionaries in South America. Jeremy Irons played the oboe in the movie while being approached by tribesmen. The soundtrack was composed by the incomparable Ennio Morricone.



Sarah Brightman of Phantom of the Opera fame repeatedly requested Morricone to allow her to turn the melody into a song, but the latter refused. After several requests from Brightman, the composer relented and with Chiara FerraĆ¹ providing the lyrics, the song is now called Nella Fantasia (In my Fantasy). Brightman was the first to record it and soon it was a staple piece in many opera crossover artists' repertoire.