IMEErocks.net

Breathe No More and more

// July 22nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Music

I re-recorded my cover of Breathe No More by Evanescence. I did a cover months ago, of the ballad version, but this is the band version. A little on the post-rock/electronic rock direction. I hope you like it. You can stream it first, or download a 320kbps version.
Imee - Breathe No More (band version)

I’ve also put up a video of it on YouTube, which you can visit here or view on my sidebar at the right. It’s basically a collection of some videos of me or with me that I’ve found in my computer.

I’ve also re-recorded Paint Your Target by Fightstar, it’s a much better version in my opinion, which you can preview/stream here:
Imee - Paint Your Target (new version)

And here is my cover of Decode by Paramore:
Imee - Decode

I will upload more songs (both originals and covers) which I’ll add to the music page soon.

PS: Don’t forget to download my demo “Early in the Decade” EP for absolutely free, or buy a physical CD copy of it if you’re feeling generous. Visit my music page or store to do so.

Early in the Decade

// June 30th, 2010 // 4 Comments » // Computer, Family, Holidays, Music

Without much further ado, I present to you… “EARLY IN THE DECADE” =) My first EP, my first demo, and my first lo-fi record. I’m quite pleased with it, actually. The album is called that way because they were written early in my years of songwriting (2002 to 2005). Same reason why the album artwork features photos and art I’ve created in the same era.

Right now, you have two ways of downloading the EP for absolutely FREE:

1. You can visit my BandCamp site to download each track or download the EP as a whole (I recommend the latter, by the way); or
2. You can Pay with a Tweet (tweet about the EP in order to download it)

If you download the EP as a whole (aka in a ZIP file) you’ll find a few cool surprises in it. Just saying. Whichever method you’ll choose, I hope you’ll love it =)

Anyway, I spent the past month’s weekends with the family, celebrating my dad’s birthday, father’s day, and my mom’s birthday. ‘Twas great. Lots of yummy food. How has your month been like? Pleasant, I hope. Lotsa love your way <3

I’ve also been on a Twitter un-follow rampage, removing any unfamiliar person I’ve been following. I don’t see the point of following almost 300 people if half of them don’t even talk to you. So I’ve decided to follow only people I know personally, and a few celebs. Believe me, it was difficult doing that.

I’m getting pretty sleepy now, as I haven’t slept well since yesterday. I can tell because my eyes are droopy, I have not much energy left, and I’m swaying from side to side as I type this. Not to mention, I’ve pressed the backspace/delete key a lot of times already. LOL

broken strings

// June 5th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Celebrities, Family, Friends, Life, Music

James Morrison & Nelly Furtado said you can’t play on broken strings. And by golly, I think they’re right. There’s five guitars in this house, and none of them are working at the moment. One is my sister Doreen’s guitar, which she kind of abandoned. It is super out of tune, out of shape, and has a broken 1st string. The other is my dad’s, which was what I was using for the past few weeks. It just died on me yesterday – its 1st string broke as well.

The other three guitars here at home are mine, but alas, none of them work. My first guitar, the one pictured on the left, broke. I don’t even remember how or why it did! My second guitar is the one whose 2nd string’s peg broke just yesterday. My third, which is probably my favorite, is a blue acoustic that you could connect to an amp. Somebody dropped it when I was a senior in high school, and nobody would own up to doing so. My mom said I could probably get those fixed after we get the van fixed. I suggested that I’d just display the broken guitars & get a new one instead; my dad said it would take up a LOT of space. He’s right, given that I have the tiniest room in the house.

So here I am, left with no guitar, and feeling like I just lost a limb. I suppose I could tinker with my electronic keyboard, but I’m not a very good piano player. HA! Maybe this is some sort of signal that I should go back to playing it… I have abandoned that thing except for using it to tune guitars. Although lately I have developed some sort of interest in it again – I did try learning the piano parts of Fightstar’s “Floods” and Evanescence’s “My Immortal” this week. I’ve been trying my hand on “The Scientist” by Coldplay last night as well.

Oh, and I’ve been writing a couple of songs lately… None of them are super 100% completely finished. So with my music on indefinite hold… I’ll just blab on about what I’ve been doing in my life for the past month or so.

I should let some of you know I auditioned for this year’s MYX VJ search, but no callbacks from them. Haha. I didn’t do fantastic in my audition spiel, I mean it wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t da bomb if you get my meaning. What else, what else. Ah, I went to Enchanted Kingdom with my friends Vanessa, Ickay and Cheng, as well as her friend Rona. We of course went on rides & stuff, but we also went there to support my friend Hadi in his musical “Electrifying Kiss of Summer.” Oh, and I’m also excited that Lee DeWyze is the new American Idol. Love him. He was hilarious last week on Ellen, during Know or Go. Hahaha

I’ve also been updating some of my pages all over teh interwebs. My Twitter has a new simple/minimalistic yet still grungy design. My MySpace page is totally revamped, and I did pretty well with it if I do say so myself. I also redesigned my Tumblr, so if you’re into that kind of blogosphere, then add me up – I follow back! My Facebook could always use a couple more fans/likes, and you can always ask me a question if you’re bored or curious

I’m excited that I have a bunch of celebrities following me back on Twitter. Ellen DeGeneres, John Vesely (Secondhand Serenade), Gavin DeGraw, Tim Urban, Vera Mesmer (previously known as Chris Turner of Reveille), and just today, Alison Sudol (A Fine Frenzy). I don’t know if the real Bob Proctor is following me, but I guess that counts. INSANE, huh? I think I’m now famous by association. LOL. One time, I was this close to getting followed by Shannen Doherty. I’m also working on getting the attention of Charlie Simpson and Alex Band. I want Amy Lee to follow me as well, ’cause she’s my idol, but I don’t think she does that. Damn it, what does a girl have to do to get these peoples’ attentions?! Hahaha. I’m kidding of course. I’m not that desperate, but it would really be mega cool though.

Yesterday was my dad’s 67th birthday. Could you believe it?! I think we’re celebrating it tomorrow with the whole family. We were supposed to go out of town, but since the van isn’t okay and there aren’t enough fixed vehicles to fit all eight of us, well… I guess we’re just staying in. I wonder what we’ll be feasting on. I hope there’s ice cream

PS: Does anybody have a vacuum cleaner they’re willing to lend (or possibly give) to me? There’s a dust bunny in my room, and you know how fast bunnies get when it comes to multiplying…

Inspired :]

// April 21st, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Family, Friends, Life, Music

I’m currently working on a little something special. It’s an audition for a very popular show right now, which I got invited to at MySpace. I don’t know if they found me and want me to audition, or they’re just adding random people, hahaha. Either way, it’s good! So at the moment I’m just practicing the song I chose from their list, and I’m trying to memorize the lyrics & the guitar chords. I’ll be able to shoot the video either tomorrow or on Thursday, and I will post the link when it’s done!

Lately I’ve felt so inspired. Aside from that thing I just mentioned, I am also working on something else. It’s a song I’ve been writing, and I sort of got stuck for a while. Now, though, I feel the urge within me to finish it. Hopefully my efforts will be recognized, enough for me to be featured on a certain talk show.

Hmm, what else. Oh yeah, I’m trying to go to a friend’s show out of town as I promised him. Some of my friends already agreed to go with me, but we don’t have a means of transportation. My family has a means of transportation, or two, or three… Except, I haven’t fully convinced them yet. I just want to be able to spend time with these people & take a pretty good vacation at the same time.

I gotta go now ’cause it’s just too hot where I’m at. I need a little cool-down of some sort…

Some Twitter Tips

// April 16th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Computer

A lot of people nowadays have joined Twitter, the online social network/microblogging site partially made famous by various celebrities around the world. However, it is unlike most social networks – if you add a person, the person does not necessarily add you back. In Twitter terms, it’s called “following” a person. If you follow someone and they follow you back, then you are “friends.” If you follow someone, you are their “fan” or “follower.”

I’ve been on Twitter for a while (2 years on June 23), so I’d say I know a bit about its mechanics. Here are a few of my tips about it:

1. Pimp your profile
Use a profile picture (one of yourself, preferably), fill in the Name, Location and Bio areas. If you have a website, Facebook, Card.ly profile, or any other page you want to link to, fill that field in as well. If you’re pretty good with graphics, you can design your own profile. You can also leave it up to the pros and get free Twitter designs instead. If you can help it, stick to only one Twitter alias. Your real name or a nickname is best, and it’s far less confusing for your followers/friends that way.

2. Update often, but not too much
It’s okay to tweet every so often. Once every few hours isn’t that bad actually. But if you tweet every second, especially about nonsense, useless stuff nobody could really care about (i.e. “I’m brushing my teeth!” Then 1 minute later, “I’m done brushing! Off to gargle!”). It goes without saying that you should be interesting. With many mobile applications out there, you can even tweet on the go using your cellphone/smartphone, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, or whatever compatible mobile device you have. I like using Echofon and Mobile Tweete. If you really must say something longer than 140 characters, try TwitLonger.

3. Make friends
Treat it like you would any other social network. Add people, and if they follow you back, great! Start talking to them, and keep in touch. Don’t spam, and remember to be nice. Don’t be a stalker either, and never do the whole “follow, unfollow, then follow again” method just to get their attention. You can’t force people to follow you back

4. Spread it like wildfire
There are many Twitter widgets and plug-ins you can use to promote your account on your blog, MySpace, etc. Here on WordPress I use Twitter Tools, but Twitter also provides a few nifty widgets. On Facebook, there are apps such as the official one, and Selective Tweets.

5. Respond
There are two ways to send messages on Twitter. One is via “mentions.” You can manually type the @ sign followed by their user name, or just hit the reply button on one of their messages. Others choose to “retweet with comments.” These are public. Alternatively, you can send a DM (direct message), which is private. However, it requires that the one you’re sending a message to is following you. Also, if you don’t follow them back, they won’t be able to reply privately either.

6. Use Twitter following services
I personally use twiends.com, because it’s free and it’s unlike most services that require you to “follow VIPs” in order to get followed. You just do certain things like follow people for a certain amount of credit, or tweet once every 7 days about their site, among other options. Services such as this allows you to gain readers, and even friends (if you follow others and they follow you back, eventually leading to conversation).

7. Add pizazz to your tweets
If you like posting pictures, videos and music in your blogs, then you’ll love doing it on Twitter. There are many services such as TwitPic, TwitVid & twt.fm/twaud.io that allow you to post the media you need. Some mobile and desktop Twitter apps even integrate those services in their software! And if you’re the type that loves adding symbols to your tweets, try Twitter Symbols.

8. Just be you!
In everything you do, be yourself. Even on Twitter! Whether it’s the way you tweet, how often, what design you use, or the people you follow/respond to, if you’re not comfortable with it, don’t do it. And of course, HAVE FUN!

Lost: online blog buddies

// April 12th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Computer, Rant

Just out of the blue, I started to wonder if personal blogs are still as cool as they used to be. Now that there are various microblogging platforms such as Twitter & Plurk (and even the “status update” features on sites like Facebook), gone are the days when personal blogs ruled online life. I’ve been an internet user for over a decade (since 1997, to be exact), and so I’ve been a witness to how the internet has been used & how it’s changed all through those years.

If I’m not mistaken, personal blogs reached their peak sometime in the early 2000s. I remember blogging for the first time in the summer of 2002, because I was bored as hell and wanted to try something that my peers haven’t dabbled into (yeah, I have this issue with being unique & original). By December 27 of that year I bought my first domain (the now defunct rocker-girl.net), after getting sick of annoying pop-up ads from free website hosts. I guess I liked blogging because the idea of sharing my thoughts to anybody who’ll listen (or in this case, read) was very appealing to me. I was a girl who had a lot to say but not a lot of guts to say it verbally. I started blogging manually, first getting only a few site visitors – mainly a few close friends – and then eventually branching out to making online friends through commenting.

Then I started getting into various social networking sites. It wasn’t called that way back then. I had a LiveJournal account that I maintained pretty well. I had a lot of Friendster accounts (they were always full – 500 was the maximum back then so I kept making new ones), and a MySpace, which didn’t really catch on where I’m at. I even remember making a Xanga account, and a Hi5 account which I later deleted. I made a few good online buddies in those sites, some of which I still keep in touch with until now. Most of my online buddies, by the way, had a blog or personal site of some sort. They also had AIM, MSN and Yahoo IM – our weapons of choice when it comes to instant messaging.

Somewhere along the way, when I was in college, I lost touch with most of those people. Most of them don’t even have their domains up anymore! It was hard to trace some of them, but those whose full names I remembered, I was able to hunt down on Facebook or Twitter. The few that maintain personal sites don’t even blog anymore. They just have portfolios up on their site or something. If they do blog, it’s at Tumblr, where most posts aren’t even theirs but rather “re-blogs” instead. I’m lucky if they even edit it and put a side comment about their re-blog!

Okay I blabbed too much. Here’s a little timeline of the internet as I remember:

• 1997 – People here started to have email addresses & explore the internet
• 1998 – A few people started creating websites
• 1999 – Everyone starts panicking about the Y2k bug
• 2000 – Everyone was over the Y2k bug hahaha
• 2001 – A lot of people have gotten into web logging a.k.a. “blogging”
• 2002 – I started blogging. lol.
• 2003 – A few of my real-life friends started blogging too
• 2004 – The peak of my online social life. Bloggers from all over the world where my friends. I even could even receive as much as 60 comments per day or blog post.
• 2005 – I blogged less. I still had up to 30 comments per blog post though.
• 2006 – I somehow lost interest in blogging. I still maintained a private journal at LiveJournal though.
• 2007 – You’d say my blog is lucky if I remembered it once a month. People in my class just started to realize what LiveJournal & Blogger/Blogspot is, and so they started blogging too.
• 2008 – Blog what? I’m working. I got introduced to Web 2.0 and the very young, not so popular back then Twitter website.
• 2009 – I started tweeting loads. It took me nearly a year after I registered before I properly tweeted and understood what Twitter was all about. But I became a Twitter expert, so ahead of my time here in the Philippines. Most of them just started & half the time they don’t know what they’re doing.
• 2010 – I freaked out because a lot of my tweets are missing. WTF. Is microblogging going downhill as well? My peers are just starting to get into Twitter still.

PS: If you’re one of my online buddies, I’m sure you’re surprised I still even have this domain. What can I say? I’m committed to it. But if we’ve lost contact, please please PLEASE send me a message in one of the social sites I’m at (look to the sidebar) or leave a comment here. I miss y’all, you know? <3

Photography and Such.

// March 21st, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Music, UST, Work

So wassup? Been a month again since I last updated. How’s everyone? March has been crazy for me. Thanks for the feedback on the song from the last post; most have commented on FB, Twitter and YouTube instead, but thanks nonetheless. I appreciate it :]

Okay, all those aside, I have a few announcements to make. First is that my photography website will be up by the end of the month. If you’re interested, just check out snapshot.imeerocks.net. There’s just a countdown thingy there at the moment, but rest assured, I’m hard at work at finishing the site.

Second, I have submitted a few photos to UST’s Tumblr account vivasantotomas.tumblr.com and I think my submissions have gotten pretty positive feedback (likes & reblogs occurring everywhere).

And oh, I’m gonna be working on some music again after all the graphic-related mania. My eyes are starting to hurt. lol

you can burn it all

// February 23rd, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Music

Meh. I got bored today and decided to finally do my cover of Fightstar’s song, “Paint Your Target” – one of my favorites of theirs.

So, here it is. It’s basically an acoustic piano/guitar version of the song. It’s not perfected yet. I couldn’t edit out the feedback from the microphone for some reason. Why there was feedback is far beyond me…lol. Anyway I hope you like it

Credits:
Written by Charlie Simpson/Alex Westaway
Music composed by Fightstar
Guitar Pro tab by Diazz [ click here for the tab ]
Arrangement/Vocals/Video editing by Imee (that’s me! hahaha)

so…

// February 18th, 2010 // Comments Off // Computer, Family, Holidays, Life

Oh, hi there. What up what up?

I’m lazy. Find me elsewhere. I’m seriously considering becoming a neo-Luddite. Well, not entirely. I mean, we all need technology one way or another. It’s just too frustrating sometimes. Errors here, there and everywhere. I’d like some zen into my life, thanks.

At the moment my Acer laptop is more of a sleep soother thingy. Whatever that’s called. ‘Cause when I go to sleep a few “white noise” and “relaxation” websites are on, playing rhythmic beats so I can sleep better. I’m a very, VERY sleep deprived person and I’d love to change that. I want to have enough sleep to keep me energetic and stuff. See, even this post is kinda making you sleepy. Huh?

What the eff. I gotta fix these smileys. I just upgraded WordPress and they’ve overwritten my smileys! Nooo. Gotta go. Hope to see y’all soon.

PS: Who wants to go see Paramore with me? I’ve no one to go watch it with.

PPS: How was your Valentine’s weekend? Mine was peachy. Spent it with the family.

iPad – for all your iPeriod needs

// January 28th, 2010 // Comments Off // Computer

Unless you have one of those iTampon things. Ahhh the things I read on Twitter these days. Seriously, “iTampon” was in the middle of the trending topics for quite some time!

ANYWAY.

This is the post where I say why I don’t think the iPad is such a good idea. And don’t get me wrong… I (most of the time) LOVE Apple/Mac products. But here goes.

1. The name seems semi-ridiculous. Okay, it kinda makes sense, but you have to admit – it’s hard not to poke fun at the name iPad. Some celebs are even tweeting it as the MaxiPad. LOL!!!
2. It’s basically a gigantic iPod Touch – without a camera. Admit it! It uses the iPhone operating system. So really, it’s just a keyboard-less mini laptop that runs the iPhone OS.
3. I think Apple is much more capable than this. I’m one of those Apple fangirls. Why? They’re innovators. They claim to Think Different. However, there’s barely anyone today in their right mind who I’ve seen to actually WANT an iPad aside from the fact that it’s NEW. People with basic techie knowledge are aware that for at least $499, you’re not really getting something entirely new or innovative. So unless you’re a hermit and the idea is relatively new to you, I don’t think you’d want one too.
4. I can’t even make music on it. A plethora of musicians create demos and such on their trusty Apple laptops and desktops. Why? Because of Garage Band (yes, the ever famous software included in the iLife bundles), as well as other musicians’ software that run flawlessly on the Mac. Since the iPad uses the iPhone OS and not the Mac OS, you can’t install Mac software there – only iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps available from the Apple App Store. Sure, there’s some music creation apps there, but it’s just not the same.
5. It’s not even wide-screen! I haven’t seen the 1024×768 resolution on any computer for YEARS running already. So why revert now? Most videos and photos these days are in formats of at least 1280×800 or something similar. Why bring back the annoying black top and bottom borders?
6. I’ve seen Apple mockups that are far better than this. Oh, if only Apple would do a bit more research! The iPad (then rumored as the “Apple tablet”) spawned so many great products we could only dream of.

This thing, the all new iPad, is seriously over rated. It’s not an entirely bad thing though. I guess students and businessmen would find great use for it. But people with other agenda, such as music and digital art, would probably want something more advanced. Or at least the same thing, but running the Mac OS instead of the iPhone OS. A Mac version of the famous netbooks such as this one wouldn’t hurt either.

What do you think, Steve Jobs? I like your idea, but it’s just not for me.