Pare Ko, Magasin, Superproxy all in one day

Today October 25, 2008 will go down The Annals of Pinoy Rock as the day those three songs (sorely missed on 08.30.08) were played live with at least one Ehead onstage, albeit 8 hours and 10 kilometers apart.

Around 10pm tonight in Makati, Raimund Marasigan strapped on "an original RJ wood guitar" and with Ramon Jacinto (lead guitar and back-up vocals), Zach Lucero (drums), Nino Avenido (bass), and Aia de Leon (back-up vocals) gave the SuperSessions crowd (especially RJ himself) the chance to scream "'Tang Ina!" at the top of their lungs. RJ liked the scatological trip so much he made them sing the verse again a capella just for kicks.

Raimund segued to Magasin which was no more polished but had less fumbles and miscues. I think that's the best that can be said of that performance.

On the other hand, earlier in the afternoon in QC Ely Buendia made his post-Reunion debut on Eat Bulaga first with Pupil then with Francis Magalona who was making his own comeback since taking leave for Leukemia a few months ago. Needless to say they blew the roof off just being there and, when Hardware Syndrome hit off the Superproxy riff . . . well, just watch.





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DZRJ SuperSession 25 October 2008

If you're a regular DZRJ listener (100.3 RJFM or 105.9 RJUR), you probably have the radio ads coming out of your ears by now. And you're probably excited for Saturday as much for the gig as for the end of the hard-sell.

I was on the phone this morning with a friend who's well-connected with the event and I got some juicy inside info:

• Young virtuoso and RJ guitar academy alum Daniel Crisologo has the honor of playing the National Anthem
• At one point in the concert there will be 13 axes ripping away onstage.
• Drummers include Zach Lucero, Wendel Garcia, and a really gorgeous, bitchin' beaut who's said to have once had Gary Perez so smitten and heartbroken, he's gone straight to rehab.
• Speaking of drummers, the late great Bosyo Fortuno will be represented by his widow Emee in the roster.
• Raimund Marasigan (who preferred being billed as "of Sandwich, Pedicab and Cambio" rather than Eraserheads) utterly refused to sing "Pare Ko" at first but couldn't bear to hear RJ murder the song so he's stepping up to the plate. I think that's worth the price of admission right there. See rehearsal video here (be warned: it's awful).
• Buddy Zabala and Jett Pangan will not be there because of a schedule conflict resulting from a sponsor conflict. At first, they couldn't do the gig because a rival of a product they endorse was a sponsor. When everything was cleared for them to play, they had already been booked for an out-of-town gig.
• Another no-show: Jun Lopito, due to a logistical snafu.
• Ely Buendia would have been there had the organizers been able to afford his P60,000 asking price.
• Arnel Pineda might be around, but he will not sing due to contract restrictions.
  
• All action will be staged on a truck that's been wheeled in the venue to get the feel of those parking lot gigs of old.
• Lastly, headliner Pepe Smith has been sequestered this early to make sure he'll be there come Saturday, able to play or at least be in an upright position.

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Getting Your Facts Straight

Little Boy (watching TV): Tatay, look it's The Leaning Tower of Pizza!
(I take a look and it really was a tower made of pizzas piled high.)
Me: You know, the real thing is called The Leaning Tower of Pisa. Not 'pizza'.
LB: That's its name? The Leaning Tower of Pisa?
Me: Yes.
LB: What was it called before it leaned?
Me: Uhm...
LB: The Straight Tower of Pisa?
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The Great $1B Google Mix-up of 2008

Three things I got after reading this.

1. A good laugh,
2. That German shameful pride thing, and
3. Miami Sound Machine looping in my head.

Algorithm is gonna get you,
'gorithm is gonna get you,
'gorithm is gonna get you,
Algorithm is gonna get you . . . to-night!

Oweyo weh!
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Disco Next You Notice

MYX has been playing Pupil's "Disconnection Notice" in heavy rotation these days along with the (thre)e-heads post-concertus interruptus interview. Empirical data: of the 10 or 12 times I surfed through last weekend, I saw the interview three times and Pupil twice. This channel knows the iron is hot.

Anvil Publishing on the other hand seems to be oblivious to the heat. I called to ask if they have any plans of running another print (printing another run?) of Fruitcake the book which has been out of print for ages. They said they're still "studying how to repackage it." Why they need to repackage it, who knows. These people should take a page from Sony BMG who lost no time re-issuing the entire eheads catalogue right after reunion rumors started to build up. Good news for people who could only afford cassettes in the 90s. Plus, the cds are actually cheaper now than they were then. I bought me a few copies of Fruitcake to send to friends and family who have since bailed out of Pinas. Yep, those in the First World will be getting digital Fruitcake for Christmas from the Third World.

Speaking of disconnection, I called my cable company to tell them I haven't received any bill from them since March. Turns out they've disconnected me since April. That's according to their records, they tell me. This was news to me and I thought, What?! You disconnected me without notice?! But then I thought, If that's what you think you've done, who am I to tell you otherwise.

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Words fail. Pictures to the rescue.

ode to eraserheads

Tonight our
hearts raced
and after one
all but gave out
in the end
quietly broke.

Be well.

Eraserheads Live Blog : No More Second Set

Ely had to be rushed to the hospital. Physical and emotional stress too much to handle says his sister onstage. It was too good to be true too good to last. We walk home like zombies.

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Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Eraserheads Live Blog: Intermission

20 min break. Alapaap opened and Lightyears closed this set. Another long one coming by all indications. Two songs from Fruitcake already. Not bad for a Christmas album.

Massive crowd. Dont know how it is from the back tho.

Raimund has green hair and working the crowd. Buddy playing straight as a whistle but managed to egg the crowd on in one song. Markus is noisy as hell. Ely is keeping it together.

Meanwhile, the crowd behind me chants "GROUP HUG!!!" every chance it gets. Fantastic night.

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Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Eraserheads: 20:08 at the venue

Pretty good crowd. Stoked as anything. Color bars flash on the screen and they go wild. Jay Contreras had cam time and promptly gave 2 fingers.

Now the screen is counting down from 10 mins to showtime.

In 6mins 19secs all hell breaks loose.

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Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Eraserheads: The Reunion Live Blog Test

It looks like there are only two types of people in Metro Manila right now: those headed to The Fort for the eheads concert and those in prison.

Ha-Ha-Have you heard?

"I'm glad they invented emoticons, otherwise I wouldn't know what my dad was thinking" – Kerry Godliman

"What do you say to your adopted African child if you want them to eat up their dinner? 'There are people starving in Africa right now, like your parents'" – Tom Stade

"Politicians are like God. No one believes in them, they haven't done anything for ages, and they give jobs to their immediate family" – Andy Zaltzman

"The Scots invented hypnosis, chloroform and the hypodermic syringe. Wouldn't it just be easier to talk to a woman?" – Stephen Brown

"Whenever I see a man with a beard, moustache and glasses, I think, 'There's a man who has taken every precaution to avoid people doodling on photographs of him" – Carey Marx

Read the other 45 in The 50 best jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe.

And then . . . The wisdom of Ricky:

* Pol Pot – he rounded up anybody he thought was intellectual and had them executed. And how he decided if someone was intellectual or not was whether they wore glasses. If they're that clever, take them off when they see him coming!

* Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

* Avoid employing unlucky people – throw half of the CVs in the bin without reading them.

* If you treat people with love and respect, they will never guess you're trying to get them sacked.

* If work was so good, the rich would have kept more of it for themselves.

* If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.

Gervais's latest gig is a movie called "The Men at the Pru", a "cross between The Office and Mad Men." Should have called it "The Office Mad Men" then. Save us the trouble of thinking.

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David Byrne and Brian Eno II

The first collaboration of Bryne and Eno in almost 30 years has produced "Everyting That Happens Will Happen Today", an album out today August 18 exclusively through the website. Their first and only other effort, 1981's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" was so groundbreaking and way ahead of its time that it sounds very much in harmony with today's computer-driven music. You know, like it was recorded just 30 weeks ago. From my first listen, the new CD pomises to be as cutting edge and satisfying as the first, perhaps even more so as there are actual songs in this one.




Click 'PLAY' for a stream of the whole album. Something to tide us over until "Here Lies Love" drops.


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"EMPTY CONDOM PACKET & A PHOTO OF 'THE TART'S' KNICKERS"

The No.1 song on Billboard's Country Chart? Could be, but not exactly.

Proof of Aussie husband's adultery on sale in eBay

An Australian woman has taken revenge on her cheating husband by putting a photograph of his lover's underpants up for sale on the auction site eBay.

In the listing the woman says she is selling a picture of a pair of lacy black knickers and an empty condom wrapper "size small" found in her bed after her husband had an affair with another woman.




Click on undies to get the skinny. Or place a bid. Go eBay!
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Dave Letterman's Summer Toys 2008

Said main guest David Duchovny after this segment, "I can only hope that this goes as well for me as it went for the toy lady. Dave, if you can do for the X-Files movie what you just did for that woman, I will be forever in your debt."

Part 1


Part 2

Gone Baby Gone

One of the largest and most photographed natural rock formations in Utah's Arches National Park is gone. Done in by "erosion and gravity" say naturalists. But us kids of the 70s know the real reason.

Damn you Road Runner! Damn you Wile E. Coyote!





Story here.
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Globe 3G iPhone Launch: August 22

Little Boy + cell phone = blocked SIM card.

I call Globe for the PUK and the automated menu happily announces the iPhone's local launch on August 22. I press 1 and a service rep called Paula walks me through the different iPhone plans on offer. A few minutes later I'm making a reservation for a 16GB iPhone under a P1200 GFlex plan with a cash-out north of P20,000. I can hear the clock ticking down to D-day.

I hang up, see the Little Boy standing in the corner, and call Globe again for the PUK.

Get the details yourself and make no reservations about making a reservation even if -- like me -- you've no idea where to get that kind of cash-out cash. Call Globe's 24-hr help line: 211 toll-free from your Globe cell or 730-1000 from any landline.

Sign of the Times: Ateneo La Salle UAAP 71 1st Round

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Look what the mouse dragged in.

Worth a thousand words to be sure. Click on the pics to read a few more.





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Twit for Twat: The Visa Woes of George and Martha

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Last week: Martha Stewart denied UK Visa

This week: Boy George denied US Visa
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Rogue Magazine Joey Mead Body Paint Cover

If you're taking a poll on reactions to the Philippine Independence issue of Rogue:

1. Yes, I actually bought a copy. Big departure from my usual re-wrap, re-rack routine at Powerbooks.

2. Yes, I think it's a work of art. No irony there whatsoever.

3. No, I haven't read the article yet.

4. Yes, I caught Argee Guevarra on the evening news last week gallantly defending freedom of expression, acidly mocking politicians, and ultimately failing to keep a straight face at the very last second.
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Knowing What You Like

Scene: Indoors, dinnertime, dinner table.
Ulam: Menudo

Little Boy: Tatay, I don't like atay.
Me: Why?
LB: They're yucky. Please take them out.
Me: OK. (I pick the liver pieces out of his food) But you know, when you grow up these will taste good to you. They might even become your favorite.
LB: (Big smile) Really?!
Me: Yes!
LB: They'll taste like whipped cream?
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The People Next Door

Chico Garcia recently got himself new neighbors who were noisy and happened to be Koreans (or were they Koreans who happened to be noisy, I forget). I dared to comment on his post basically to say there wasn't any point mentioning that they were Koreans since (a) noise-making wasn't exclusive to any race (case in point: his previous neighbors were also noisy but Pinoy), and secondly, certain traits combined with certain nationalities in the same sentence tend to set off xenophobic rants especially around these parts.

Before I could say quod erat demonstrandum, other comments started pouring in blasting away at the alien enemy.

For some, the enemy was me. I was referred to as vitamin-deficient, korean, an indio, defender of foreigners, Delamar, anal, Chico's ex, and the worst of the lot, panyero.

Nobody to blame but me though, as a commenter named "weeh" said so matter-of-factly in this gem: "besides, he’s the one who made such a huge fuss about ethnicity first, which is a sensitive issue in a country that has yet to come to terms with the fairly recent influx of koreans."

Yep, when you open your mouth to say something, better be sure those who hear it can handle it. Something I'd learned when I was 3 but forgotten over the years.

PCSO Power Lotto 5/55 + 1/10

Update 6-16-08: PCSO to hold first Power Lotto draw Tuesday, June 17. I guess the June 10 draw never happened. Wonder why.

I plunked P100 hard-earned bucks for two sets of numbers in that Power Lotto (the local version of the US Powerball lottery) inaugural draw last Tuesday June 10. Now I can't seem to find the results anywhere. Nothing in the dailies nor on the web. Which kind of sucks because I could already be a gazillionaire and I'm still busting my hump going to work and kissing my boss's rump every single day unnecessarily.

The PCSO says that with a P50 minimum bet and a P50M minimum pot every draw, this Power Lotto was meant to attract bettors who are financially affluent.

With odds at 1 in 146,107,962 (as opposed to 1 in 13,983,816 in SuperLotto 6/49), Power Lotto also attracts bettors who are mathematically impaired.

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QFT: 3G iPhone by Globe

Update 08-08-2008: Globe says 3G iPhone to launch locally on August 22, 2008. Posted an entry here.


Apple just announced the launch of a dirt cheap 3G iPhone in July. Note Mr. Job's pledge about the price being "the same across many countries."

The lucky 22 countries apparently include our very own, with Globe making its own announcement just a few hours after Apple's, quoting no less than Apple COO Tim Cook.

I'm perfectly fine with Globe's non-committal "later this year" launch date in contrast to Apple's very firm July 11. It's the commitment to the $199 (PhP8000+ !!!) price tag I'd rather hold them to.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The cheapest 8GB iPhone 3G will sell for $199, while a second model with 16GB of storage will sell for $299. Mr Jobs pledged that the $199 price would be the same across many countries. The 3G iPhone will be released on 11 July The new iPhones will be launched on 11 July in 22 countries, including the UK.

Stuff Happens

Like those X-files events that happened in clumps a few weeks back, things have been popping out again in a sort of organized randomness.

Last Monday a friend was telling us she took her 4yo daughter to the Lea Salonga concert a few nights before and how the little girl wept on hearing her mostest favorite song "Reflections" (Mulan) live with full orchestra. I thought to myself the last time I heard that song was ten-odd years ago and only in parts. Two days later on Wednesday, that song was played on the Morning Rush on RX and I caught it from start to finish. Two days later on Friday at the mall, what would the MagicSing demo girl be semi-belting as we passed by but that very same song. With feeeeling. We were too freaked out to stop and watch.

Last Saturday night, we saw a bar near Dampa in Paranaque boldly named "Titty Twister". I thought to myself, Where the hell did that name come from and how did it get past City Hall? Twenty-four hours later while clicking through channels, I paused when I saw a greasy Cheech Marin talking to somebody off-cam. Turned out he was talking to a greasier George Clooney and an out-of-breath Juliette Lewis. Behind them, a smoldering structure with the name big and bold on top: "Titty Twister".

Cue Twilight Zone music here.

Update on that John Estrada Case

From "In John’s world right now, all are friends"
By Marinel Cruz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:58:00 05/25/2008

clipped from showbizandstyle.inquirer.net John subsequently figured in more controversies, latest of which was his arrest at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for illegal possession of bullets. He was to board a Malaysian Airlines flight for Kuala Lumpur when the final inspection of his hand-held baggage yielded nine pieces of live 9 mm ammunition. “I cannot talk about that case; but my lawyers are taking care of it,” said John. “Let’s just say, I learned my lesson the hard way.”

Uh oh. The way things usually go down around these parts, the use of "lawyers" and "taking care of it" in one sentence means exactly what you think it means.

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Summer Gone

Posted this on Chico Garcia's blog. The Top Ten topic was the Most Memorable Summer.

"I was supposed to send an entry when this was airing, but the show ended before I could.

"All these happened in a span of 36 hours in Anilao, Batangas one summer in the early 90s:

"From our beach resort, we decided to go to Sombrero Island and on the boat ride there, about half a dozen dolphins swam side by side with our speeding boat, leaping in and out of the water just a few feet away from us. This went on for about 5 minutes or so until they disappeared underwater.

"When we got to Sombrero, we had the whole island to ourselves and it felt like we were the only living humans on earth sitting on an island that was just one big rock jutting out of the open sea.

"When we got back to the resort there were people gathered around an unconscious man in a wet suit while another man was trying to revive him. It turned out he was a diver who had "shot up" and was recovered by his friends just behind Sombrero Island right before we got there. Still unconscious and not breathing, he was loaded up behind a pick-up and brought to the hospital. We learned that night that he didn't make it.

"On our way back home to Manila the next day, we stopped by the Batangas Pier. We noticed a smallish ship that looked foreign so we walked over the docks. The ship turned out to be The Calypso. Yep, the very same Calypso which carried Jacques Cousteau to his ocean adventures in those documentaries we saw on Channel 9 when we were kids. We couldn't believe it. The people on the ship saw us and invited us to come on board. Jacques wasn't there but his son was and we were given the grand tour. They even let all of us in the bridge and run our fingers over the controls while the crew spoke English with a French accent. When we left they heartily shook our hands and seemed genuinely thrilled by our being there as much as we were.

"A surreal ending to a surreal weekend. And none of us brought a camera."

Pinoy in the News Alert: Maynard de la Cruz

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News from Sacramento, CA.

Golf clubs are stolen. Three hours later they're on Craigslist -- the local Cragslist of the very place where the they were stolen. TaylorMade R7 irons and driver for $120.00.

Dumb thief + Pinoy victim = Say hello to your cellmate Bruce and his own Big Bertha.

Click on screen caps to view video.



Can a name get any more Pinoy than that. Ayos ka 'pre!!! Way to go! Saludo kami!

View the Craigslist ad here.

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If you have porn in your hard drive...

Looks like hurling your harddisk down to earth in a fiery mass of steel is no guarantee your filthy little secrets won't be revealed.

"Data from Columbia disk drives survived the shuttle accident"

Story says 99% of the data was recovered. 99%!!! I can't even recover that email I was typing on Yahoo when my browser crashed.

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The X-Files : I Want to Watch...ahead of everyone else.

Posted about the X-Files Movie a while back. A few weeks ago, the rather underwhelming title was announced: "The X-Files: I Want To Believe." Today, the debut trailer came out here in HD. (After the trailer comes an interview with the creators so you might want to stay on the link and have it automatically load.)

Opens July 25 in the US. Click here for the International Release Dates. It turns out our Dear Motherland is the first in the Far East to screen it. Ahead of all our neighbors who trump us on just about everything else -- except in The Field of Cool, of course. That, we rule. Here's the list sorted chronologically.

BAHRAIN	7/23/2008
EGYPT	7/23/2008
JAMAICA	7/23/2008
JORDAN	7/23/2008
OMAN	7/23/2008
PHILIPPINES	7/23/2008
TRINIDAD	7/23/2008
ARGENTINA	7/24/2008
AUSTRALIA	7/24/2008
CHILE	7/24/2008
CZECH/SLOVAKIA	7/24/2008
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	7/24/2008
GERMANY	7/24/2008
GREECE	7/24/2008
HUNGARY	7/24/2008
ISRAEL	7/24/2008
KUWAIT	7/24/2008
LEBANON	7/24/2008
PUERTO RICO	7/24/2008
QATAR	7/24/2008
RUSSIA	7/24/2008
SERBIA/MONTENEGRO	7/24/2008
SLOVENIA	7/24/2008
SWITZERLAND	7/24/2008
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	7/24/2008
AUSTRIA	7/25/2008
BRAZIL	7/25/2008
CENTRAL AMERICA	7/25/2008
COLOMBIA	7/25/2008
ECUADOR	7/25/2008
ESTONIA	7/25/2008
HOME OFFICE ULT.	7/25/2008
ICELAND	7/25/2008
INDIA	7/25/2008
LATVIA	7/25/2008
LITHUANIA	7/25/2008
MEXICO	7/25/2008
POLAND	7/25/2008
SPAIN	7/25/2008
TURKEY	7/25/2008
U.S. COSTS	7/25/2008
UKRAINE	7/25/2008
URUGUAY	7/25/2008
TAIWAN	7/26/2008
BELGIUM	7/30/2008
FRANCE	7/30/2008
INDONESIA	7/30/2008
BOLIVIA	7/31/2008
CROATIA	7/31/2008
HONG KONG	7/31/2008
MALAYSIA	7/31/2008
NEW ZEALAND	7/31/2008
SINGAPORE	7/31/2008
THAILAND	7/31/2008
DENMARK	8/1/2008
FINLAND	8/1/2008
UK	8/1/2008
HOLLAND	8/7/2008
PERU	8/7/2008
PORTUGAL	8/7/2008
BULGARIA	8/8/2008
NORWAY	8/8/2008
SWEDEN	8/8/2008
SOUTH AFRICA	8/15/2008
ITALY	8/22/2008
VENEZUELA	8/29/2008
ROMANIA	9/5/2008
SOUTH KOREA	9/11/2008
JAPAN	11/8/2008

Japan = rotten tamago.


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The Josef Fritzl Photo Album

Everybody knows this guy by now.

"Incest Dad, Horror Father"

"Flossing for the Ladies on Thai Beach"

"Loving the 'razzi at Comedy Central Shindig"

"Doted on by Eldest Son
Who Escaped from Dungeon in 1990"

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Have you seen Tokyo Tokyo's April Fool's Menu?

Tokyo Tokyo, SM MegaMall
April 14, 2008

Squid Ika Fry. Mmmmm...

"Sir, se-serve na lang po."

4 minutes later...


What da...?!!?

To be fair, the pic did say it would be served
in a red, plastic, rectangular compartment dish...

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Please type these letters.

Was signing up with del.icio.us and I had to prove I wasn't a robot by reading this:


And now I'm here doing what any Pinoy non-robot would do.

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Alternate Route from Manila to Baguio

Just posted the southbound version of this route here.

This northbound alternate route to Baguio takes you from the SCTEx, by-passes all the usual bottlenecks such as Tarlac and Urdaneta and zips you right off to Binalonan. We did not have the pleasure of taking this one from beginning to end because it came out in the papers when we were already in Baguio.

But it turned out we did take this route at some point when we followed the Directory Philippines Corporation (DPC Yellow Pages) signs starting from Concepcion all the way to Pura town (Km. 41 to Km. 62.7 in the diagram).

So if you're like us and you missed the SCTEx entry from the NLEX, just take the usual Concepcion route from the end of the NLEX, watch out for the "To LUISITA" sign, which is your cue to look out for the first DPC Yellow sign on your right (Km.41 here).

How to read the diagrams:

Note:
Non-SCTEx route starts here from the opposite direction,
so you turn right at this corner instead of left:

A few more notes:

1. This is the reverse of the route I posted last year starting from the first turn after exiting the SCTEx (Km. 41.0).

2. This route is also basically the same as the Directory Philippines Corp. (DPC Yellow Pages) route and you will in fact see the yellow DPC signs along the road and major turns. However, there are points in the route where you are advised NOT TO FOLLOW the DPC Yellow signs (Km. 62.7 and Km. 121.3).

3. The SCTEx is open from 5:30am to 5:30pm only, barring flights of fancy to close it at any other time. When we got there at 4pm last Sunday, the freaking thing was closed for some motoring event and we had to turn the hell back. SCTEx Motorist Assistance Nos. are (02)362-9997; (02)362-2246; (045)865-2030. Give them a call to announce your arrival and intention to use the facilities.

4. This route is NOT to be taken at night. There are neither lights nor road assistance.