I have a strong feeling this site is going to be a “Karla Garcia FanSite” for the So You Think You can Dance Season 5 airing, and why not?! Her first US live national television appearance turned out to be a success. She’s such a joy to watch. I’m glad the initial pairing with Ballroom dancer Max Kapitannikov wasn’t final after all and she’s being paired with Jonathan Platero for the entire season. No offense to Max but the current pairing is more “pleasing” to the eyes. Both Jonathan and Karla look comfortable and they seem to have that “chemistry” the SYTYCD judges always look for in the competition. (Watch the performance at the end of the post.)

The other challenge is to bring out their personalities to the audience and be interesting, likeable and memorable in every performance they do. The problem with reality television shows is that there are too many contestants and if you’re not extremely beautiful or extremely awful, you’re not going to be highlighted. If you’re middle of the pack, it’s hard for you to be noticed. There are SYTYCD contestants who from day one were given full exposures and so America knew and followed them for a good number of episodes leading up to the live performances. Brandon Bryant, Paris Torres, Kayla Radomski, Evan Kasprzak, Melissa Sandvig, Kuponohi’ipoi “Kupono” Aweau and Philip Chbeeb are among those given ‘royalty’ treatments when it came to introducing them to the public. Karla and Jonathan weren’t really given ANY airtime during the audition process and even in Vegas week when they were picking out the Top 20. They were just among the nameless faces in the crowd. No one knew them (except friends and families).

Executive producer and Judge Nigel Lythgoe couldn’t have said it better when he gave his critique after their performance:

“Your another couple that has totally slipped under the radar. Nobody really knew who you were up until tonight. If you talk about chemistry, you two just exploded on that stage. Absolutely fantastic routine. It was exciting. It was challenging to you and certainly entertaining for us here. Congratulations, great routine.”

The pair danced a Cha-cha routine to a Lady Gaga song “Poker Face.” I must say they weren’t the BEST performers that night. There were 2 or 3 couples who were wickedly outrageous but they weren’t among the worst either. It’s safe to say that they will be ‘safe’ from eliminations tomorrow night. BUT BUT BUT like all reality television shows, it is all about the fan base and the more you have it, the more people voting for you. It doesn’t matter if you are the best, you could still face eliminations like what happened to Chris Daughtry or Danny Gokey (hey, I wanted it to be between him and Adam Lambert in the final 2 of Idol!). If people don’t vote for you, you will be cut regardless if you deserve to be cut or not.

It is unfortunate that they have to work extra hard to earn the audience votes unlike the other contestants who since audition already had a fan base going. That means Karla and Jonathan are 6 weeks behind these other hopefuls who were showcased early on. It is now up to Karla and Jonathan to prove their worth and earn the viewers votes. I think with their first performance, they earned that spot in the Top 20 and truly deserve to stay longer… Are you with me in this or not?!

Watch the performance here:

A full version of this video is available here, with complete introduction and judges comments.

To know more about Karla, this first post should help!

Find out who Karla and Jonathan are up against. Meet the rest of the Top 20 SYTYCD contestants by clicking here.

The deck is approximately 245 feet (75 m) above the water. After a fall of approximately four seconds, jumpers hit the water at some 86 miles per hour (138 km/h), which can be fatal. Some of those who survive the impact drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water. (Wiki)

Lethal Beauty, a seven-part series looking at the darker side of the Golden Gate Bridge reached an inescapable conclusion: A suicide barrier would prevent deaths. On October 10, 2008 the Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors voted 14 to 1 to install a plastic-covered stainless-steel net below the bridge as a suicide deterrent. The net will extend six meters on either side of the bridge and is expected to cost $40–50 million to complete.

Sorry I never meant to touch on such a depressing subject but I couldn’t help not going that direction talking about the Golden Gate Bridge…

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of furry animals this week– lots and lots of furs!

The best thing about going to animal parks and zoos in the United States is the vast land area the animals occupy. The parks are well kept and well maintained and the animals could freely move around like they are in their own habitat in the wild. My memory of zoos in my childhood growing up in the Philippines was that of animals cramped and caged in a tiny usually grungy and smelly unfinished concrete pens and they look sad and hungry all the time!! Haven’t been in Philippine zoos the last 20 years or so, maybe it’s changed. I hope it’s changed.

The parks all across America are expansive. These photos were taken from the San Diego Animal Park in California where there are more than 3500 animals living comfortably in a 1800 acre or 728 hectare land. Amazing.

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

You can take photos at close range as close as this!

US Route 101

to San Francisco bay area leads you straight to the Golden Gate Bridge…

nothing like a “wide” open highway to get you to where you’re going- FAST!

(as in majority of the highways in the US, this is six lanes going to one direction!)

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

Copyright © 2012 Sinigang For The Soul. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. copyright protected feed. Bawal gamitin ng walang pahintulot!88 Salamat po.88 Please contact admin@mysinigang.com so we can take legal [...]]]>

US Route 101

to San Francisco bay area leads you straight to the Golden Gate Bridge…

nothing like a “wide” open highway to get you to where you’re going- FAST!

(as in majority of the highways in the US, this is six lanes going to one direction!)

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

You must have perfected the art of digital photography by now. You are adept in operating a digital camera, you can probably punch into the settings and menus with your eyes closed! I know I can (well, maybe half-closed). I am attached to my digital camera in as much as I am to my laptop. I never go out without a camera on my purse. I could leave home without a cellphone but never without a digital camera!

But what happens if you are handed a disposable camera? You remember those. You know, that kind where you wind up the wheel on the upper right corner and peek into this tiny window as you point and snap to take a picture at the same time you are pressing on that flash button on the front of the camera. That kind.

I bet that will be a real challenge! Well, are you up for it?

When I seriously started blogging two years ago, I have this nagging idea of finding a way to interact with others but couldn’t figure out exactly how. Until recently when everything just sort of fell into place. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I had to just take action and put it into a whole new website (like I need another one, huh)!

On December 5th, onephotoproject.com is born.

If you only have one photo to take when a camera is handed to you, what would you take? Are you going to shoot randomly or think hard?

A traveling one-time use camera is sent out to the world and asks people it meets to take ONE PHOTO of any thing, any event, or of any one that triggers interest, inspires, disgusts them at that particular first chanced meeting with the camera.

Wanting to connect with people more than the internet has been the motivation for this project. To be able to interact with different people in different places utilizing something tangible, one that can be touched and leave a mark for the world to see is the inspiration.

Out of sheer curiosity, check out a latest project I am collaborating with my youngest sister. Learn more on how you can be part of it. See you at the other side!

I was in my usual site hopping when I discovered something profound and it hit me with some unexplainable emotions. Was it his emotionless stare? Was it the sadness in his eyes? the stoic look? Was it the music? the simplicity of it yet the obvious labor the project commands? the unceasing dedication? its symbolism? the meaning of life? Perhaps it’s all of the above or that it just caught me in my softer moments, whatever it was- it made me feel something.

Noah Kalina was 19 years old when he started on an ongoing project, a personal idea of photographing himself daily. He began in January of 2000. His photo project took a remarkable turn in August 2006 after seeing a similar work done by a graphics designer and experimental filmmaker named Ahree Lee. She has been taking pictures of herself every day for 3 straight years when she put it up in a video- short film format. This inspired Noah to create his own by putting together all his photos into a time-lapse, life-in-a-flash video and put it on you guessed it- YouTube! In a matter of weeks, the video called “Everyday” became a worldwide internet sensation.

From August 28, 2006 when he first placed his clip on YouTube and Vimeo, his life was never the same and he became sort of instant celebrity with the media (print, TV, radio and internet) wanting a piece of him. His clip appeared on TV shows all over the world. The New York Times and Washington Post did a story on him. The Simpsons did a parody! He even had a photo session with Hollywood celebrities like Paris hilton, Fergie and Will.I.am and Hayden Panettiere. He is still getting press news to this day. And get this: as of this writing, his YouTube video has had over 11 million views and counting!! That’s excluding Vimeo views!

Isn’t it far-out that over 11 million people have already seen and heard of him and this is my first encounter of him and his great big idea? Have you heard of him before today?

On his website, he calls his first video release a work in progress, dating January 11th, 2000 to July 31st, 2006. He affirms that he will take his photo daily- today, tomorrow and until the day he dies and plans on releasing his next video on the 10th anniversary of the project. A new video every 5 years thereafter is on his plan until the “final conclusion.”

Watch this ‘trance-inducing’ video of him and tell me if this does not move you… To fully appreciate the video, please turn on your sound.

The powerful and gripping music is an original work by his former girlfriend, Carly Comando. Thanks to the video, her popularity has grown as well and her music noticed. The music can be downloaded in iTunes, Rhapsody and elsewhere.

Now 27 year-old Noah is a New York professional photographer. His website shows his amazing work porfolio and you can find it at noahkalina.com, interiors.noahkalina.com, Flickr and you can also follow his daily self portraits at the site.

Continue on next page…

met.al: [met-l] noun, verb, -aled, -al.ing or (especially British) -alled, -al.ling. –noun

1. any of a class of elementary substances, as gold, silver, or copper, all of which are crystalline when solid and many of which are characterized by opacity, ductility, conductivity, and a unique luster when freshly fractured.

“You see metals every day. Aluminum foil is a metal. Gold and silver are metals. If someone asks you whether an element is a metal, metalloid, or non-metal and you don’t know the answer, guess that it’s a metal.”

I chose Chemistry 101 for this week’s theme, that of the purest state of metals categorized under the periodic table of elements. Anybody still remember this from Junior High? We had to memorize the entire table along with its atomic symbol, atomic number and its atomic mass- all 103 at that time (I think!). As of 2006, there are now 117 elements. Glad I’m past memorization and I can just google everything! Yay!

According to this photo:

“Chemical elements (comprising the metals and non-metals) are the building blocks of everything. The Sun and stars, the silicon chips in our computers, and all the cells in our bodies are collection of elements.”

It’s kinda hard to imagine that our bodies are made up of metals, isn’t it? It’s because when we think of metals- we think of hard objects, coins, copper, iron, tin, lead, nickel, cast irons, railroads, bridges, wires, sheet metals, brass, alloys, jewelries, gold and silver, etc!

What’s in our Bodies?

Calcium (Ca), Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn) are just some of the major elements in the metals category found in our body and yes, even traces of Lithium (Li), Aluminum (Al), Silicon (Si) and Arsenic (As) in the metalloids category.

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

Properties of Metals

“Metals share some common properties. They are lustrous (shiny), malleable (can be hammered), and are good conductors of heat and electricity. These properties result from the ability to easily move the electrons in the outer shells of metal atoms.”

What are the Metals?

“Most elements are metals. There are so many metals, they are divided into groups: alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, and transition metals. The transition metals can be divided into smaller groups, such as the lanthanides and actinides.”

Griffith Observatory . Los Angeles . California

September 2008

Whew, that was some lessons! If you want to refresh your memory some more on the elements, the quoted items and further readings are lifted from here.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

- Confucius

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

can’t take one without the other.
can’t have one without the other.

complimenting. blending.

side by side.

what’s salt without pepper? what’s pepper without salt?

together.

Shades of Blue…

Kauai, Hawaii | October 2008

a Hawaiin dude, surfing not that high waves but in a very strong current just the same.

One of the better public beaches for surfing and snorkeling! Lawai Beach Park in Kauai, Hawaii | October 29, 2008

Find more photo hunters at PhotoHunt

Where else could I find “blue” – all shades and hues of it, but at one of my great loves: the beach…?!

Located at the North Shore, Tunnel’s Beach in Kauai, Hawaii | October 21, 2008