Urbanears: Express Yourself in Colors
“It's like you're always wearing your music on your sleeve, huh.” A dear friend once told me.
At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of what he said because it’s either he thinks I’m a hipster who gets validation from publicly displaying her taste or I just share my music more openly that usual. I’d like to think it’s the latter. But whatever he truly means, I do really wear my music. And I try to make it fashionable. I complete my music experience through my Urbanears.
Urbanears is a Scandinavian headphones brand that recognized that we don’t simply “use” our headphones, we wear them. So they made headphones and earphones with superb sound quality that felt more like clothes, in affordable prices. This August 14 at the Podium, Urbanears will open its first concept store in the Philippines. They will also be launching their new Fall/Winter collection that will includes 3 new colors.
Right now, I’m using Urbanears Medis in mustard. I opted for a pair of earphones because I listen to music when I commute but I don’t want to wear big, attention-grabbing headphones. Medis may be small but with its bold color, it still looks very quirky and stylish. Also, I love the EarClick construction. I’m not really comfortable with earplugs - I’m scared for my ears! Medis is just perfect for me - great sound quality, ideal size and comfortable fit.
And to all my fellow of Urbanears lovers, let’s express the love some more and join this contest!
Look, here’s mine. (Sorry, I really find it hard to take a good photo of myself wearing my Urbanears Medis!)
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Urbanears come in different styles and prices: Plattan - Php 2950, Plattan Plus - PhP 3450, Medis - PhP 2450, Medis Plus - PhP 2950, Tanto - PhP 1950, Bagis - PhP 1200
You can get them in these following stores: Astrovision, Digital Walker, Mobile 1, Automatic Center, Egghead, Power Hub, Avant, Electroworld, Power Mac Center, Beyond The Box, Gadgets in Style, ROX, Bratpack, Gui, Switch, Buzz, iCenter, Technoholics, Complex, iGig, Toby's Arena, Digital Hub, iStudio and Urban Athletics
All Hail The Queen
Call me archaic but I think in our modern age, monarchy still exists. We hand-pick our royalties from semi-celebrities to people who take their photos of their outfit of the day, unknowingly proclaiming ourselves as their followers. (Oh hello, Twitter.)
But there will always be the royalty we didn’t choose and simply invaded our lives - in high school, in college and even at work. They might not be the same person, but she’s definitely the same girl. The girl God made to continually make us feel insecure and inadequate. The Queen Bee.
Contrary to popular belief, the Queen Bee is not the girl you can never be. In fact, she’s the girl who’s almost as good (or great) as you, only she makes herself appear to be better than you. She surrounds herself with friends who will make her always one step ahead and bullies you if you attempt to wage a fair fight. She can be the girl who violently pushes you when you bump into each other. Or she can be the girl who gives you cake face to face and would attach a nuclear weapon at your back. Either way, she’s the golden girl and she will make sure you cannot outshine her.
In my 24 years in this planet, I’ve been pushed around, given cake and been planted with nuclear bombs from behind. I’ve seen girls fight back against the Queen Bees of their life but early on, I realized I’m not the type who does that. For years, I've suffered and wallowed quietly until I recently learned that the Queen Bee’s source of power is my very own insecurities.
So whenever I felt that my own Queen Bee haunts me and tries to paralyze me, I hear The Eraserheads sing to me: “Ikaw ang diyos at hari nang ‘yong mundo. Matakot sila sa ‘yo.” I’ll be reminded to let go and let the Queen Bee have her rule, find a myself a new passion to take control of. Something I can own and I can be awesome at.
And here’s my ode to all the Queen Bees who tried but failed to reign over me.
- Pretend To Be Nice by Letters To Cleo
- Boys With Girlfriends by Meiko
- Ugly Girl by Fleming & John
- Call An Ambulance by Albert Hammond, Jr.
- Tighten Up by The Black Keys
- Happiness Is A Warm Gun by The Beatles
- Crazy by Aerosmith
- I Can Buy You by A Camp
- You Know The Answer, Follow The Leader by Ciudad*
- SURPRISE TRACK
- (They Long To Be) Close To You cover by Cranberries
- Just Like Heaven by The Cure
- There's Always Someone Cooler Than You by Ben Folds
- Cool by Gwen Stefani
- Giraffe by The Miniature Tigers
- You're So Cruel Stephanie by Patience Dear Juggernaut*
- Bust Your Kneecaps by Pomplamoose
*You Know The Answer, Follow The Leader by Ciudad can be downloaded here.
*You're So Cruel Stephanie by Patience Dear Juggernaut can be downloaded here.
Kids, It's Back To School
When Wincy went home in Manila last April, we thought of touring each other in our schools. He brought me to Ateneo, gushed on how much it changed, reenacted the way he would fix his hair before approaching his college crush and explained the hierarchy of Ateneans based on the locations of their bench.
Of course I brought him to UP Diliman (but if St. Scho Manila was closer, I would’ve toured him there too.) At first, I thought there’s nothing I could elaborate about UP because I thought I didn’t have enough memories which are worth telling. I always saw myself as the one who just went to her classes, spent odd break times in the library and rushed home. I never really hung out and made friends. In fact, I would record my groupmates’ numbers in my mobile phone as “groupmate glasses <insert subject name>”. I didn’t mean to be aloof, I just really wanted to graduate and start working (and earning.) Yes, I’m the tin woman back then, I guess.
But as I stepped on the grasses and threaded the pathway from AS to the Fine Arts building, I found myself describing to Wincy how much I loved January mornings in UP. I recalled how much I loved PanPil 19, the time when it rained in the track oval, my feet got stuck into the mud and that it took two guy block mates had to pull and carry me. Suddenly, UP Diliman turned into a remembrance of my coming of age.
Cliche as it may sound, I realized that UP Diliman felt like home. Even if I’ve (figuratively) moved out four years ago, its still my sanctuary. School will always be the place where I can go back to innocence, where idealism is my everyday coffee and mistakes are fixable the next semester.
So here’s the BACK TO SCHOOL PLAYLIST I made inspired by my newfound memories of school.
- Holiday by Weezer
- You Only Live Once by The Strokes
- My Emptiness by Ciudad
- Holland, 1945 by Neutral Milk Hotel
- Lover by Devendra Banhart
- Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John
- Art School Lover (Death to Ordinary Girls) by Patience Dear Juggernaut
- Like Or Like Like by Miniature Tigers
- Trying To Say I Love You by Math and Physics Club
- Little Secrets by Passion Pit
- Our Weekends Dissolve by Us-2 Evil-0
- Shut Up and Let Me Go by The Ting Tings
- Take It Easy by Surfer Blood
- Beetlebum by Blur
- Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by The Beatles
- When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade by The Boy Least Likely To
- Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds
For My Great Parenthesis of 2010
I have a new friend who’s been nursing the post-breakup heartaches.
I just thought of sharing this playlist that kept me sane and sped up my recovery from The Greatest Parenthesis of 2010. ;-)
Here’s the playlist:
Bear by The Antlers
Great Divide by The Cardigans
Hurting Each Other by The Carpenters
And Then You Kissed Me by The Cardigans
I Can’t Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
It Ain’t Me Babe by Bob Dylan
Surprise Track*
The Bad In Each Other by Feist (this is actually an addition because Feist just released her Metals album last 2011)
Take It Back by She & Him
It’s Okay by Land of Talk
Let It Die by Feist
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Had Flown) by The Beatles
A Waltz For A Night by Julie Delpy
Everything Refuses To Move by Hannah+Gabi *didn’t put the file because you all should get a copy from Mikey Amistoso! ;-)
If Only It Were True by The Walkmen
Landed by Ben Folds