American Chopper Season 6

I've been following the series "American Chopper" since 2007. It's a reality television series which originally aired on the Discovery Channel(Sky Cable) every Thursdays and Saturdays here in the Philippines. However, the show moved from Discovery to TLC in the latter part of 2007 and got bumped off the Sky Cable's program list. Good thing there's torrent and I could just download the latest episodes after it has aired in the US.

The popular series is based around the founder of the company, Paul Teutul, Sr., his sons, Paul Jr. and Mikey, and their posse of talented fabricators and mechanics-Rick Petko, Christian Welter, Vinnie DiMartino(who now has his own chopper shop, VForce Customs), Lee Stamper, and Jason Pohl-whose business is creating custom motorcycles(choppers) in their workshop, Orange County Choppers. Among their most popular clients were: Intel, Wendy's, HP, Gander Mountain, Discovery Channel, NASA, and the US Military.

What started out as a mere basement operation of building custom choppers in 1999 is now regarded as one of the premier custom chopper builders in the world! But what is it that attracted a lot of audience that made the show successful? Obviously, the guys are very creatively talented to have built all those theme bikes. Well, I guess it's the human side to the series that makes this difference. You see, cameras cover not only the build itself but also the personal lives of the Teutuls: their relationship with their employees, their various charity and community works, their support for the different branches of the military, and most specially---their relationship with one another. Personally, the last one gave genuine credit to the term reality TV as the viewers become witnesses to the blowouts between Paul Sr. and Paul Jr.

Two schools of thought here: Senior being the boss believes in a structured work ethic, adherence to schedule, and thrives on the value of punctuality and hard work. Junior on the other hand is the "artist" whose job is to integrate design, function, and quality. Artists don't like being rushed. This is where the conflict sets in.

Now on their 6th season, the company is faced by the reality of the economic standstill in corporate America. Slow down on builds forces Senior to make cuts to the staff. And then here comes the latest squabble between Senior and Junior with the former gets the boot! So far, four episodes have aired and a total of seven bike builds. Junior was not part of the build for a good two months and only arrived at a truce with Senior on the third episode. The truce was only good for one episode as Junior's "work ethics" continue to test Senior's temper eventually forcing Junior to quit to save his personal relationship with his dad.

Is this for cinematic effect? I don't know. One thing is certain, OCC won't be the same without Junior around.

Vinnie, Junior, Senior, and Mikey with the Napa Bike

(photo courtesy of flskevin_flicker.com)

Trans Show @ SM Megamall-April 22, 2009

Men and cars---what can I say, it's a fixation!

I used to collect Matchbox cars when I was still a boy but nothing beats the real ones! Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to collect the genuine article so I just ogle them and capture in my old reliable camera! What better venue to do this than attending car shows! Actually, the fixation is not only with cars but with those mamalicious girls! Well---men will be men! I guess BUSYLIZZY was right when she commented on why men dig going to car shows. She said, "I think the guys go to the car shows to see the cars. I think they stay there longer because of the girls."

What the heck! Forget the cars---let's go to the girls!

View the car pics at http://nonomaca.multiply.com/photos/album/3/Trans_Show_SM_Megamall-The_Cars

More girl pics at

http://nonomaca.multiply.com/photos/album/2/Trans_Show_SM_Megamall-Model_Pictures

A Magical Night of Music!

My professors in the Humanities Department at UP Diliman will surely have second thoughts as to why they let me graduate after they read this blog! Unforgivable for me not to know!

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When I first glanced at our department's workshop schedule, I ranted about who the hell was Coke Bonipata who was scheduled to give us a talk from 6-8pm. Actually, that blow-out was more from the fact that the session would be beyond our normal office hours! At 8pm I should already be home! The session actually lasted less than 2 hours and what I initially thought would be a waste of time---turned out to be a magical night of music!

Alfonso "Coke" Bolipata, as my boss, S'Paul, described him, is God's gift to Philippine music! He is a premier violinist, who, at age 8 years old studied under the wings of Oscar Yatco. At age 14, he won 1st Prize at the National Musical Competitions for Young Artists (NAMCYA). He furthered his studies abroad at the New School of Music in Philadelphia under Jascha Brodsky, Indiana University under James Buswell, in New York under Felix Galimir, and at the Julliard School under Dorothy Delay. He was concertmaster of the Indiana University Orchestra. He received acclaim for his performances, including that of his performing the solo passages in Strauss’ Le Petit Bourgeois Gentl Homme. He is the only Filipino who has ever participated in the premier season of the Miami-based New World Symphony in 1988 and was the soloist of the symphony’s performance of Berstein’s Serenade for Solo Violin, Chamber Orchestra and Percussion in 1991. During the previous year, he was also the soloist of Beijing’s Central Philharmonic Orchestra in their performance of Chausson’s Poeme which incidentally was also conducted by another Filipino Francisco Feliciano. He is also a composer and an actor(he played Ariel in the independent film "Boses" released in 2008).

When we arrived at the GCF Auditorium, Coke was already playing a tune which I recognized but can't seem to remember the title. Truth be known, I don't know him by face either(forgive me oh great teachers!). I was thinking that he was just some GCF musician practicing. Being into classical music, I even requested him to play Mozart's "Eine Klein Nachmusik" which he gladly obliged to. I was about to request for Vivaldi's "Spring" next if he was not approached by S'Paul. It was only that time that poor me realized that he was the speaker!

Coke shared with us the sacrifices that he needed to go through to become the great artist that he is; his love for the violin and how music allowed him to influence the poor children of San Migues, Zambales, by putting up the music school, Casa San Miguel, in his family's mango orchard when he returned home from his studies at Julliard School of Music. In between his sharing he serenaded us with classical numbers which included "Hating Gabi", "Sana'y Wala ng Wakas", and "Sa Kabukiran".

Thank you S'Paul for inviting Coke to our session. It was truly a very magical night indeed! Oh, and the food was great as well!

Inserted is an excerp of Coke's up and personal performance for the Information Management Division of Jollibee. Enjoy!

Related link http://nonomaca.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-is-there-to-classical-music.html

A Holy Week Thought

I went to church today for confession with my family. The church was packed with parishioners going about their holy week rituals. Many were doing stations of the cross, some where obviously not from our parish and was on visita iglesia, but a great majority were lined up for confession.

The queue was rather long and a little disorganized. When we arrived we didn’t know where the “line” started and ended. Good thing that a layperson noticed the confusion and immediately put the line in order.

Now, since it is Holy Week, let me talk about something appropriate to the occasion---SACRIFICE. Lent calls for fasting and abstinence as part of the regular Catholic sacrifice to remember Christ own sacrifice for our sins. Christ endured the scourging, the weight of the cross, and His crucifixion. However, there are other forms of sacrifice that one can do to commemorate the season and that includes waiting in long lines. Unfortunately, not all people see it that way.

We lined up for confession with an elderly woman. She was all made up with a good layer of make-up and matching cherry red lipstick. She had her ash-grey hair combed back with what seemed to be a wet-look gel. She did look frail but her movement would say that looks could be deceiving. Well, she looked like she was under the impression that her age merited a NO LINE passes and moved her way up the head of the line! I can see her discussion her case to the young man she was trying to insert her way in. The man was explaining to her that it would be unfair to those in line (not to mention to the other elderly people patiently waiting in line). Well, she was either dumb or just plain unscrupulous to know the difference since she inserted herself anyway! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! What a waste of years! One thing I can say about this matter is---THERE IS NO SHORTCUT TO HEAVEN! Amen.

Manila International Auto Show 2009

I have been hearing about the Manila International Auto Show since 2005 but every time it was in the past tense. Well, I’m not what you call an auto enthusiast in the strict sense of the word. For one thing, I cannot identify cars in terms of make and engine. All the car knowledge that I have I got from playing Grand Turismo and Need for Speed on PSP! However, I would like to think of myself as an appreciator of beauty! At least I know that, being a graduate of Art Studies, I was able to imbibe the teachings of the course I took! Anyway, as soon I read about the on going MIAS in an article in the Philippine Star last April 2, I immediately made a conscious decision to go! And so, last April 4, my wife and I took off to have our first Manila International Auto Show experience!

The traffic from Novaliches to the World Trade Center in Pasay City was awful but it was all worth the experience!

It was cars galore! Speed demons, new edition sedans, SUVs…


…and restored classic beauties!

Even a vintage World War II jeep!

Hey, where’s Mr. Bean?!

Look at this stretched up Beatle!

There were also motorcycles and scooters!

Pimped out bicycles, anyone?

Of course, the coup de grace of car shows---a whole lotta beautiful women!

Of course, the one in green was the fairest of them all! (and that’s my key to repeating this gig again next year!!!)