Today presented an interesting situational dichotomy as I spent it hanging out with different friends. In the morning, I met up with a good friend of mine, Iñigo (in whose spare bedroom I’m crashing while in Manila) and some of his friends for lunch. We ate at a nice upscale Japanese restaurant before retiring to one of the friends’ houses for sangrias.

Tomorrow begins my sojourn back to the Philippines, the first in almost a decade. Half the time, I can hardly believe it.

As much as I hate the term “Developing Nation” (there’s nothing wrong with calling it a Third World Country), the moniker is incredibly apt. Metro Manila has been developing at a near-exponential rate, and in the past nine years, the topography of the cities has changed drastically. It will be a homecoming to an unfamiliar place.

I can’t help but wonder if, just as we will never again see another band like The Beatles, does the saturation of images brought on by the dSLR revolution and the fragmentation of major news outlets mean we will likewise never again see images with the global and cultural resonance of Afghan Girl or Tank Man? If there is more wheat now than there was chaff yesterday, has it become nigh-impossible for any single image to make a meaningful impact? Have we reached the end of iconic documentary images?

Last night was the Natuzzi event I mentioned in my last entry. For some reason, I always find myself best connecting with and having most fun with the people behind-the-scenes than anyone else. Which isn’t to say that the partygoers aren’t nice enough people, just that I seem to have more in common with the salt of the earth than the crème de la crème.

I was recently approached to cover an upcoming event at Natuzzi SoHo, a showroom for what is apparently the largest leather furniture manufacturer in the world. I stopped by earlier tonight to scout the location and get the lowdown on the location, layout, and lighting (alliteration in the house, what up).

The shot above was taken while on a karaoke outing with some coworkers the day before last. We had a private room and a lot to drink — the perfect recipe for fun karaoke times.

I’ve been trying to convince my mom to replace the rotting cherry tree on the front lawn with an evergreen. Then she could just dress it every Christmas and not have to slaughter an innocent tree.

So I’m a good day or so into the ‘cleanse’ and it’s going well so far. It’s actually a little scary how much more time I have in the day, just from cutting out twitter, facebook, and other “distraction” websites.

The other day, John Mayer (yes, that John Mayer) put forth a challenge for people to go on a “Digital Cleanse,” the goal of which to ‘defragment’ our brains from all the inundation of little bits of chatter we’re filling it with constantly.

I decided to take him up on it.

I’ve seen a lot of Christmas decorations in my time, but this has got to be one of the more macabre ones to date. It reminds me of those witch doctors’ shrunken heads you’d see in cartoons and comics. The only things that are missing are lifeless eyes and sewn-shut lips.