My first NBI clearance was 4 years old already. They are only valid for a year actually. I got my first a long time ago from the main NBI office and that was a grueling experience I have no intentions to relive.

Anyway, I knew about the NBI kiosk at SM Megamall so I went there that Wednesday afternoon at almost exactly 3 PM. I read a few blogs about this process and thankfully my own experience wasn’t as unfortunate as the others. I was in and out of that place in less than 20 minutes!

But let’s rewind back to a couple of hours before that. After reading a few traumatic accounts of this NBI renewal process, I decided to go to National Bookstore first to get a copy of Percy Jackson book 4, The Battle of the Labyrinth. Strangely, they did not have a single copy of any Percy Jackson book available. All five books were out of stock!

So I just proceeded to the NBI kiosk and was delighted to see the absence of a long queue! I planned on reading Percy Jackson while waiting in line. Turns out I would not have had the time to read after all.

With my new NBI clearance inside my envelope, I went to see if Powerbooks had the PJ book I wanted. To my surprise, right at the entrance was a table dedicated to the Percy Jackson series itself. There’s even a poster of the movie right beside it. But to my dismay, the clerk told me only books 2, 3 and 5 were available. They had the hardbound 5-book set selling for 3,239 pesos! Tempting but I can only afford the paperbacks right now.

I went back to the MRT Ortigas station with no new Percy Jackson book on hand. It was a long wait for the northbound train to come so I took out my trusty old Creative Zen mp3 player and Sennheiser HD-205 to listen to some Christian songs. That’s how I cheer myself up nowadays. Listen to worship songs.

I might have looked like a pretentious idiot in the crowd with that huge DJ headphones but I don’t mind. I like my music as close to audiophilic quality as possible.

After 3 jam-packed trains scooted across the station, I was finally able to squeeze myself onto the fourth one.

As my train passed by Santolan all the way to Quezon Ave., I had a huge grin across my face as I saw each station sporting a Percy Jackson billboard ad.

It’s the one where he acts like Moses because he’s in between two walls of water. The same one I saw at Powerbooks. I hope the marketing for this movie here paid well. I loved the movie by the way and have seen it 3 times!

Upon reaching Trinoma, I dropped by one of my favorite secondhand bookstores. It looked like it wasn’t God’s will for me to get the fourth Percy Jackson book that day but I wasn’t gonna let myself get back home without a new book in my bag. I felt like another book was waiting for me again. That’s how I got my last book purchase which now dearly holds a special place in my bookish heart.

I chanced upon the trade paperback fictions which sell for as low as 90 pesos. After much internal bleeding struggle, I got “Island From Home”. I chose it over “Master and Commander”. It’s the more juvenile option but I got it anyway just for kicks. Then I took a picture of the store or stall rather, for what else? For this blog post!

Upon arriving at SM North Edsa, I felt myself being pulled into National Bookstore again. Obviously, I’m a hard-headed bookworm. I wasn’t giving up that easily on Percy Jackson. But I’m sure you know what happened. The fourth book was probably available at their Bestsellers branch at the Annex building but I didn’t bother going there anymore because my feet were dead sore from all those walking. So that’s how my search for Percy ended that day.

Oh wait, rewind back again to Powerbooks Megamall. (Get used to it. This is how my mind works. It’s a huge mess, really.) I also checked out the expensive Moleskine notebooks. How expensive? The pocket sized notebook costs 795 pesos while the bigger ones are around 1800 pesos! Yeah, just for a notebook. Obviously, this is not your ordinary school notebook.

I was surprised to see these expensive contraptions at National Bookstore because previously I thought Fullybooked was the only bookstore that carried them.

They are thread bound, have leather covers, straps and acid-free paper. The pages won’t yellow with time. Therefore, they’re perfect for archival purposes. What could be so special that would merit getting written on such pricey paper? I have no idea. Nonetheless, there are legions of sketchers, diarists and wannabe writers out there who would swear by their Mol-a-skeen-a! (That’s how it’s pronounced.)

Me? I don’t see myself riding the Moleskine bandwagon ever. Any white sheet of paper would do for me. For instance, I wrote this article on several small index cards. I’ve been using them whenever I’m not in front of WriteMonkey.

I simply can’t justify spending 800 bucks for a few blank pages. It’s insane. If Apple is the king of the most unreasonably priced notebook computers, then Moleskine is its paper notebook counterpart.

I’d rather buy “The Hunger Games” which costs just as much and is sure to be more fun to read than my (mostly) nonsense scribbles. That was a joke of course. I like thinking I’m the best writer there is in this quiet, little corner of the web.

It’s been so long since my last update. I think I’ve broken pretty much everything I promised for the new year with regards to blogging. I say this a lot but let me say it again — It’s amazing how things don’t go always as you’ve planned and things still turn out better than you had imagined or hoped it would.

I’ll write about my Holy Week discernments (probably) later this week. But let me reveal to you one of them now: I’ve learned the great benefits one can get just by disconnecting oneself from the online world more often and for longer periods of time. Details will be posted soon. Hehe.

It’s also been ages since I last touched my book blog. I still love books. In fact, one of the reasons I’ve not been able to write more often is that I’ve been reading more now. I’ll update The Bookish Pinoy later this week or next week to share my book purchases for the first quarter of 2010.

Lastly, I regret to inform you that I don’t have a valid personal challenge to share for the month of March. I failed. I was so slow to recognize His challenge. I really, really felt bad that someone had to suffer because of my failure to fulfill the challenge. Even though I failed, I’ll still write about it here (maybe next week) with the hope that it would inspire people to act differently when faced with that situation.

I realized I don’t blog too much about music even though I proudly profess that I’m a music lover. So here it goes…

Last month, I discovered an amazing singer. Actually, I’ve been hearing his music since last year thanks to my younger sister who kept on playing his song “How Great Is Our God” while in the shower. And because I was born to love music, it didn’t take long for me to like the song in spite of my lifelong promise to automatically despise anything that my sister likes. The artist is Chris Tomlin, a popular contemporary Christian music singer with an amazing voice.

Yesterday, I bought his latest CD “Hello Love” in the House of Praise store at SM North Edsa. Yeah, I still buy CDs and there are three reasons why I still do.

First and most obvious, to support the artist and his/her music.

Second, to get the music in true CD quality. MP3s just don’t cut it for me anymore.

And third, just like with books I like having a real, tangible thing to hold for my favorite music. Not everything has to be virtual. I also always read the included liner notes to know who else is behind the production of the album. I think they deserve that at least.

And this particular CD — “Hello Love” — is just worth every single cent. It’s truly an amazing album! I would feel guilty skipping any of the songs here on playback because they’re all good. It’s one of those rare albums that doesn’t have a filler song. I’ll probably write a review of the full album at some later time but right now, let me share to you the first song in the album that instantly caught my attention. I named this post after the song’s title.

The catchy music and chorus is simply irresistible. (Oh what would I give just to be able to play the drums like that!) But what caught me most is how meaningful the message this song is sending out. This is definitely the current anthem of my life considering what I’ve been going through for the past several months.

The most meaningful words for me in the lyrics are the chorus and the bridge.

“You Lifted Me Out” by Chris Tomlin

You turned my way
You heard my cry
You turned my mourning into shouting
Sorrow may last for a night
But with the light I am seeing
I am singing

[Chorus]
You lifted me out
You lifted me out
And set me dancing, dancing
Free, now I am free
Your love rescued me
Now it’s the anthem I’m singing

Many will see
Many will hear
And find You strong enough to save
Many the wonders You have done
Your light has come, and I am singing
I am singing

[Bridge]
Lost is where You found me
Shattered and frail
But You love me still
Trouble may surround me
My heart may fail
But You never will
You never will

I can only hope that Chris will release this song as a single. And how I wish for this song to cross over to mainstream too. The song is very radio-friendly. But just the song please. I don’t think I like the idea of Chris Tomlin doing a Switchfoot. One of the things I admire most about Chris is his decision to use his God-given talents all for His glory. If only more artists would have the guts to follow his example…

No, I didn’t forget about this. I promised to do something challenging every month of this year. It just took a while to get myself mentally prepared to write this down. It’s been a month since I did the challenge so I might miss a few important details. You’re just gonna have to take my word on this one. Yeah, blame it on my short-term memory as always.

One of my January challenges included leaving the social network site Plurk. One of the consequences of that decision is the fact that I would no longer be in constant contact with the folks I got to know through Plurk. I met two of them in person last month and this served as my challenge for February.

Some of you might think it’s funny that I even consider this challenging. Seeing in person someone you’ve just known online may seem normal for most people nowadays. But for someone like me, it has been a huge no-no. Well, at least until I decided to do this challenge. Let me explain why.

It’s been 8 years since I started using “Little Wolf” as my online nickname. As I mentioned in my About page, I got this nick from the English translation of Syaoran. He’s the guy on that picture above. Uh… a main character in my favorite anime series Cardcaptor Sakura.

So what’s the connection of that to my February challenge? The answer lies in Syaoran’s character in the anime. The guy likes to keep to himself. He gets mad easily (often to Sakura) and isn’t very sociable. Indeed, he’s even called a “brat” by Kero-chan in the TV show. But underneath all these, he’s a caring and loving person.

I fancied myself having a personality a lot like Syaoran. I saw myself in him. And you have no idea how far I’ve gone to show the world that I was like Syaoran. In one instance, I found a way to make him the subject of my college project. Corny, I know. But to an inexperienced kid, I think this is normal… relating oneself to a cartoon character.

Becoming Syaoran…

Identifying myself as “Little Wolf” online, I eventually developed certain rules that needed to be followed so I could stay true to my namesake.

#1: I shall never have a real photo of myself up online.

As a fansite webmaster, I needed visitors to think of Syaoran when they’re talking to me. What a weird rule.

#2: I shall never meet in person anyone I’ve known only through the Internet.

There are other small rules but those are the main ones. These are things that (theoretically) what Syaoran would do also if faced with these situations. Observing these ensured that I live up to my online namesake’s reputation.

As I grew up, I found it increasingly difficult to act like Syaoran. I realized I wasn’t getting the kind of life I wanted to live. It felt like I wasn’t really being myself by being this quiet, reserved guy who’s already nearing his 20s. I wanted to break free from my self-imposed bonds. The breakthrough came when I finally uploaded a photo of myself on my Friendster profile. But that happened several years ago.

It took a few more years before I could muster the courage to break the second important rule: the prohibition on EBs (eyeballs).

Last month, my Plurk friend mati invited me to watch Percy Jackson with his other friend. If I remember correctly (a forgetful person uses this phrase a lot), I was the one who suggested to him to read the books. Now, he has finished the entire series and I’m still on book four!

Anyway, I struggled greatly with this decision. I wasn’t sure if it was the right time to break the second rule. I had a chance to break it earlier this year when another online friend (you know who you are ) invited me and I declined. But this time, I remembered one of my resolutions for the new year .

To say YES to more things as long as it’s not unlawful, indecent, impractical or unmistakably reprehensible.

Meeting my Plurk contacts certainly didn’t seem like it fell under any of those categories. And so, with trembling hands, I answered mati’s email. I agreed to meet them at SM North Edsa. Perfect. I didn’t even have to travel far. Just a stone’s throw away from home. Haha!

The Challenge

I don’t have any pictures of the actual challenge to show here but the two certainly didn’t miss a chance of getting souvenirs. It seemed like they were used to doing this. Meeting online acquaintances in person, I mean. But personally, I was nervous the whole ordeal because I’m really uncomfortable meeting new people. More on this later.

The funniest thing in this experience was learning that mati’s friend, megane-kun is actually a guy! I’ve talked to her him quite a few times at Plurk and I’ve always envisioned that I was talking to a girl there. And you know how most guys are conscious and picky with their words if it’s a girl? Yeah, I actually did that to him/her! Imagine my face after discovering the truth that day.

Going back to the challenge, generally everything went smoothly that day. I enjoyed watching the Percy Jackson movie with them because of their reactions. Seriously book loyalists, get a grip on yourself. It’s just a movie.

And these guys are such foodies! They probably try out everything from food stalls to fancy restaurants. We ate at a Thai restaurant (Was it Thai? Couldn’t remember. Sorry!) for dinner. I… well, my tummy rather was more than mildly surprised with the foreign nourishments. But hey, I didn’t shell out a single cent that day so I’m not one to complain. If you guys are reading this, I’ll treat you back next time. Couldn’t make it to Wonderland.

Still a Syaoran…

So that’s it. I’ve finally broken free from the second bond.  But that’s not to say, I’m no longer anything like the old Syaoran. There are still traces of him in me as most people would surely notice when they meet me for the first time.

I don’t speak a lot, if at all, when I’m around strangers. It’s amazing really, seeing how I’m able to write a thousand-word blog post like this but strangely unable to express myself this much orally.

The first impression strangers will always get from me is that I’m a shy person. Many might even think that I’m being snobbish. Okay. Now, do you hear that? That’s the sound of my close friends screaming a resounding NOOOO!!! That’s because they know how loud-mouthed I can really get. I guess that’s the biggest change in me since I broke the first rule. I do talk but it does take a long, long while before I can get comfortable speaking with anyone new to me.

But sometimes, I do miss being this completely quiet guy. All mysterious and appearing to have a lot of secrets. But you must also know that Syaoran in the TV show underwent a huge change of personality by the end of the series. He became more open and easily approachable. I can’t say I’ve already achieved that last bit so I think I’m still halfway between “the original quiet Syaoran” and “the more transparent, post-TV show Syaoran”.

This is also the reason why I’ll never abandon this SYAORAN.net domain name and why I still use “Little Wolf” as my online identity. I don’t think I will ever grow out of this Syaoran syndrome and frankly, I don’t want to either. But I’d love to achieve that last phase of Syaoran’s personality someday. The only mystery left now is… will Sakura be there too once I’ve reached it?

Every day, I scour the Pinoy web to find the most interesting Philippine-related articles, tweets, pictures and videos of the week. Then every Sunday, I share my best finds here.

2010 Philippine Elections

Women candidates in the 2010 national elections

Newsworthy

(Photo) Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao tries to hush up the crowd as he and Ghana’s Joshua Clottey break up in a laughter…

(Photo) Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao seemingly enjoys a playful punch from Dallas Cowboys Michael Irvin

The New ePassport: No long queues, delivery available

Entertainment: Music, Movies and TV

FOX, World’s No. 1 US TV series channel now in the Philippines

Breaking News: ‘Alice’ Grosses P47.9-M in 4 Days, Opens at No. 1 in the Philippines

‘Miss You Like Crazy’ Earns P114.7 M in 2 Weeks

Joshua Davis a.k.a. The Yoyo Tricker wins in Talentadong Pinoy’s Battle of the Champions

Paramore concert live in Manila 2010 – Azrael’s live blogging and plurk updates

Super Junior will perform at the Big Dome on April 10

(YouTube) XLR8 – You’re So Hot [Full Song - radio rip]

Melason

Technology

Why is 4G/WiMax in the Philippines slow?

Notable Tweets

#myxmusicawards thanks @RealDonitaRose for coming! last award favorite music video goes to @sixcyclemind @glocdash9 for “kasalanan”!
~ MYXphilippines

Good News: Jollibee has started rolling out free WIFI in its restaurants, powered by SmartBro and/or AirborneAccess
~ tonyocruz

enter to win a writing scholarship from writers block philippines!! visit http://writersblockphilippines.com/ for more info!
~ manilamommy

German Moreno is slowly beginning to resemble Juan Ponce Enrile. There’s a theory that all humans start to look alike once they hit 100.
~ gangbadoy

Life

Form or Goal?

Have You Ever Fought for the One You Loved?

Do You Feel Useless?

Think I missed something really cool last week? Feel free to share it in the comments.

What I mean is I rarely ever use the Turn Off or Shutdown option in Windows.

Why? Well, there’s no reason for me to.

I use the same programs every day. Visit the same websites. And it’s my personal computer. No one else will actually use it besides me.

So does this mean that I get soaring high electric bills because of an always-on computer? No. Because I use this awesome feature called Hibernation. I even have it set as the default button on my Start Menu.

Note: Some people confuse Hibernation with Standby. They’re two different things. Standby doesn’t really turn off your computer. Think of it as a low-power mode. Hibernation, on the other hand, is a true shutdown but better.

Hibernation basically saves on the hard disk the “state” of a computer before shutting it down. Next time you turn the computer back on, the hibernation file is simply loaded up. After a few seconds, you have your computer up again as if you’ve never turned it off. You can even leave your computer in hibernation for weeks or months and everything will still be there like they used to. (Well, except for the system date and time.) Amazing, really.

If you don’t see this feature, you might need to enable it first. It should be enabled on Windows 7 and Vista computers by default.

With Hibernation, I don’t ever need to wait for programs to close before shutting the computer down. A real shutdown is a huge waste of time. I bet most computer users would open the same programs when they turn their computer back on anyway.

So why can’t I afford to do frequent real shutdowns?

First, the Opera web browser.

I love this browser to no end. It’s blazing fast and I keep several windows of it open. Shutting the computer down (with no hibernation) would mean that the next time I open Opera again, all those tabs will have to be reloaded and that takes a significant amount of time. I use Opera like a file folder to keep all the stuff I’ll take care of at some later time. If there’s one non-native Windows application I have open all the time, it’s Opera.

Second, the Mixero Twitter client. This nifty program enables me to sift through all the noise in the Twitterverse.

If I close this program, all the tweets it loaded that I haven’t read yet will automatically be marked as read. I can’t let it do that for this reason.

But the most important reason of all: I’m a heavy computer power user. (Redundant, I know.) My notification tray is filled with a ton of stuff.

There’s the antivirus, firewall, WordWeb, PicPick, Workrave, Wakoopa, Dropbox and Direct Folders, just to name some. Loading all of these at Windows startup would mean that I’d have to wait no less than 5 minutes before I could actually start using the computer.

It’s also unproductive to have to try to remember which programs I need to have open. Sometimes I start doing something the hard way only to remember a few minutes later that I have a program for doing it the faster way. It’s better that I just have them all open and ready but running there in the background.

The only times I ever do a true shutdown is when I need to restart the computer for Windows updates to take effect. But the great thing is I can postpone that for as long as I want. I don’t need to restart the computer right away just because it got a few minor updates from Microsoft.

I have to tell you though that the computer I’m talking about is a laptop. I’ve been using a laptop as my main computer for almost seven years. Laptops, to me, have become synonymous to computing that every time I use a desktop computer, it feels like I’m in a new world. It’s weird, I know.

Anyway, the bottom line is: any heavy computer user (especially laptop users) would hugely benefit from the Hibernation feature. Use it!

But if you’re on a shared computer, most likely you won’t have much use for this feature. If that’s the case, be sure to turn this feature off to save a few gigs of your hard disk space.

Here are links that would teach you how to enable or disable hibernation on your Windows computer:

Windows 7 – Enable or disable hibernation

Enable/Disable Hibernation in Windows Vista

Windows XP: Disable or Enable Hibernation

February 2010 – My Percy Jackson desktop (AGAIN!)

The second month of the year saw my return to the professional work life. You didn’t think changing desktop backgrounds would be high in my priority list, did you?

So I subsisted on having this Percy Jackson wallpaper for my desktop the entire month of February. In fact, it STILL is my wallpaper right now and we’re already entering the second week of March!

Anyway, while we’re on the subject of Percy, I’ve already posted my review of the movie and have seen it a total of 3 times now. I just thought you might want to read why I watched it this many times.

Back to my wallpaper, I guess I just haven’t been inspired enough by anything at the moment that would compel me to change it. I don’t choose my wallpapers based on what’s cool and popular at the time. It would have to mean something special to me.

But I predict that my next wallpaper will again be related to another movie I’m looking forward to see. If not, it will most likely be some panoramic view of nature. Those always get me into a relaxing mood. Abstract wallpapers? Not a fan of those.

Check out my wallpaper last month (January)

* I am Little Wolf. I just didn’t want to use again that hackneyed first-person pronoun. My Desktop… My Toy… My World. Ugh.

This is sad. I’m just updating this blog with a new “Best of” article. Whatever happened to promising two blog posts every week. Even The Bookish Pinoy hasn’t got an update for more than a month now! So much for New Year resolutions…

Anyway, I’ll write about my (hopefully valid) excuses some other time. For now, let me give you the Best of Pinoy Web for the past week.

2010 Philippine Elections

How to vote in the May 10, 2010 automated elections

Ethical and effective

The Philippines and the world of electronic voting

Drink and Vote with the 7-Elections

Newsworthy

Charice to Sing RP National Anthem in Pacquiao vs Clottey Bout

(Photo) Thousands of tilapia float lifeless in a fish cage near the Magat Dam in Isabela

(Photo) A park attendant at the Cebu City Zoo rests his head on one of his wards, a boa constrictor

My Pilipinas is… Photo Contest (Win a My Pilipinas Moleskine)

“We’re brown and should be proud,” says Binay, bashes companies selling whiteners

(Photo) Graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class Madislak 2010 throw their hats in the air in jubilation

(Photo) Children enjoy the cool shade and dirty water at an estero along Mindanao Avenue

(Photos) Pyromusical Photos & Videos – Week 1 (USA)

Entertainment: Music, Movies and TV

Top reasons to love Miss You Like Crazy

Backstreet Boys concert in Manila 2010 (photo coverage)

Paramore concert live in Manila 2010 – get your SVIP tickets here!

(YouTube) Pilipinas Got Talent Faithfully by Jovit Baldivino 16-year old boy February 27 Episode

Charice breaks into US Billboard charts again

Owl City Live In Manila

MYX Music Awards 2010 Winners and Photos

Technology

If You Spend Too Much Time Playing PC Games…

Watchpad preps for Pacquiao-Clottey Fight

Windows 7 Prices, ParkSquare

Top 10 Facebook games for March 2010

Notable Tweets

Try this: While seated, draw a clockwise circle with your right foot , while draw ing the number 6 in the air with right hand. Impossible!
~ jimparedes

Just saw the final rap-song of a Sunday noontime show. Gulat ako sa claim nung singer na di sila “matalo talo kailanman” nung kabilang show?
~ jovefrancisco

Using precint finder I found out my voter status is still deactivated. I have to contact local office. What about you? http://bit.ly/aNP9Ic
~ momblogger

salamat sa tax ko, kaya may footbridge na ganyan.lol http://tweetphoto.com/12890949
~ trinz

The 1960 tsunami generated by the Chile earthquake killed 32 people in the Philippines. http://bit.ly/yeTXY
~ ageofbrillig

Praying for chile. Hope the tsunami causes no major damage. We need some water for our crops, but not a tidal wave please.
~ 1ricoblanco

may kudeta ba sa pinas? bakit may blackout? ahahaha reminds me of the 80s.
~ jonijavier

Oratio Imperata at today’s Mass re El Nino, power shortage. Prayers asked for wind, water.
~ tonyocruz

Aurelio on the lessons from the recent quakes: Understand the phenomenon, the hazards that come with it and know how to live with them.
~ ANCALERTS

Just continue to do good & u will get what is due. God is watching he knows what’s in ur heart & can read ur soul.
~ kingbianca

Life

The Things We Don’t Do

2010: Brownout and Blackouts

Essay: Playing Tricks with eBooks

Can You be Ambitious and a Christian at the Same Time?

Think I missed something really cool last week? Feel free to share it in the comments.

Every day, I scour the Pinoy web to find the most interesting Philippine-related articles, tweets, pictures and videos of the week. Then every Sunday, I share my best finds here. Late again, sorry! But I promise, there’s a lot of great stuff below.

2010 Philippine Elections

Bro. Eddie broke my heart

A reader complains about Villar bias during voters’ education

(Photo) From the traditional yellow, the Comelec will use black ballot boxes during the May 2010 automated polls.

Newsworthy

(Facebook) Jim Paredes’s Photos – EDSA Celebrations 2010

Feb. 25, 2010 is Blog Action Day: The Real Heroes of EDSA

(Photo) A worker spruces up the monument of the late Senator Ninoy Aquino while the larger People Power Monument stands in the background…

How to live the way of People Power

Apply for Philippine passport at new DFA bldg. starting March 8

Priest hits Bro. Eddie rally near Quiapo Church

(Photo) A man walks on the exposed massive sedimentation of the Gamano River in Santiago City, Isabela, one of the provinces most affected by the El Niño phenomenon.

Entertainment: Music, Movies and TV

Delaying the Inevitable – Phil Dy’s review of “Miss You Like Crazy”

Paramore Live in Manila Promo

Meet The Twitterati: Top 20 Non-Showbiz Celebs with the Most Followers

The Shang’s Digital Cinema is First to Bring Active 3D Glasses to the Philippine Cinematic Experience

SOP to ASAP: ‘The Battle is Not Yet Over’

Pinoy Gossip Boy’s Movie Review: Miss You Like Crazy

MYX Brings the Korean Boy Band ‘Super Junior’ to the Philippines

(YouTube) RICO BLANCO-Ayuz/Bangon (Ako Si Chris’ American jOePM Version)

Technology

Five Software Trends and What They Mean for Business in the Third World

The IIPA Thinks Power Mac Center is Guilty of Piracy

Microsoft offers WebsiteSpark to small web development companies

Smart launches SurfTV

Yugatech’s Nokia Booklet 3G Review

The Gadgets of TJ Manotoc

Tips in accepting event invites for bloggers

Notable Tweets

PAGASA: Feb 24 posted Metro Manila’s highest temperature this year at 34.5 C. They are yet to declare summer as official.
~ kevin033054

Wow. Bro. Eddie’s following has gone cult-like. I love the passion, people. Just don’t Bro. Eddie is THE SAVIOR.
~ arnoldgamboa

Traffic jams everywhere because of road closures for the EDSA celebration. Why oh why today is not a non-working holiday? #YellowEDSA
~ jonasdelosreyes

just noticed the new MMDA signs at the intersection: BAWAL TUMAWID. MAY NAMATAY NA DITO.
~ cholled

Owl City – SMX Convention Center March 14 Paramore – MOA Concert Grounds March 9 Justin Timberlake w Timbaland!MOA Concert Grounds March 27
~ chariev

Today in d elevator, a man tried 2 suppress his sneeze. He ended up farting. Hope ur day gets better bud!
~ mia899

How do they find thrill in shooting a carabao? SICK
~ juliusbabao

nods. RT @cruizer: @LaTtEX it’s unfortunate that our best and brightest are made to ride decrepit flying coffins
~ cocoy

Life

The Facts on Fasting

Don’t Be Paralyzed by Your Past

love sweet love

Think I missed something really cool last week? Feel free to share it in the comments.

I remember the time when I first heard about it back in college. During that time, I was still cooped up in maintaining my anime fansite. As with most fansites, I served up video clips but they were not embedded on the webpage itself. The only way was to compress videos into WMV or RM format then put them inside zip files for direct downloads. Tedious work for both the webmaster and the site’s visitors.

Then came YouTube which I welcomed with extreme skepticism. High-speed internet back then was still too expensive for the average internet user. And being a webmaster myself, I thought that offering large bandwidth-consuming files like videos was an infeasible business. So it took me almost a year to register my YouTube account.

The video hosting site reached true mass popularity by 2006. Now, we can embed videos as easily as this on any page!

That’s Jawed Karim, one of YouTube’s cofounders, in the first video ever to be uploaded on YouTube. The first video on the site was just him talking about the largest land mammal on Earth. Haha!

And the first ever comment on YouTube?

But in my case, I waited two years before uploading my first video on YouTube. It was because I was shocked to find some of my anime music videos (AMV) were uploaded by other YouTube users. I felt a bit mad at first finding that they took credit for making them when I had spent hours just perfecting the timing and selection of the clips in those videos. But I’m really grateful to them because I would have entirely forgotten about these videos if not for them sharing it on YouTube.

To date, I’ve uploaded only one of my AMVs through my account and it’s my first video upload there too.

Someday, I’m gonna write about my whole anime music video making history. Haha!

But if there’s any lesson I learned from my story of YouTube it’s the fact that when it comes to technology, what is impractical and seemingly impossible right now may well become a common reality in less than 5 years!

A few weeks ago, I tried applying again at a callcenter company for a technical support agent position. I passed the screening process although the offer wasn’t exactly what I had expected. I was still thrilled though because the office is quite near to my place.

Anyway, long story short I ended up turning down that offer because just a couple of days later another opportunity presented itself to me. Accepting it would mean that I am simply rekindling my passions as a programmer.After my first I.T. company last year, I definitely had no interests in becoming a callcenter agent again. I started reconsidering four months ago. From then, it was a constant battle between the two sides.

At the beginning of this year, the callcenter option seemed to be the obvious and practical option to take. A few signs led me to believe I was in the right direction. But everything changed when out of the blue, I was offered an I.T. job again.

I totally did not expect that at all! It hugely felt like God was trying to save me from another big decision that I was bound to regret down the road anyway. With a renewed trust in Him, I decided to take the plunge and so here I am as a newly reinstated Junior Web Programmer!

Things have been turning out well so far although the work is definitely more challenging than in my previous job. But I’d like to think of this as an opportunity for me to improve not just on the technical side but also grow as a person. I’m learning to deal with people who have personalities which I’ve not been exposed to very often. It’s been a fun (although sometimes unnerving) experience being in this new workplace.

The past few weeks were also dotted with several huge turning points in my life. I’ve been trying my best to live out my promises for the new year and so far I think I’m doing unexpectedly well. Obviously, I’ve still got a long way to go but it just makes me so happy that the year has started out really good so far. All thanks to Him and the several people I meet everyday whom I learn from.

Because I’m alive again…

Let me share to you a new song I came across while browsing a seminarian’s blog. The blogger didn’t share the title of the song but a quick Google search of the lyrics was all I need to track it down. I don’t even remember how I arrived in that blog but it’s a real gem to me now.

This song literally brought chills down my spine after first hearing it there on one of their videos. A Christian song with a catchy music and fantastic lyrics!

“Alive Again” by Matt Maher

The lyrics were inspired by St. Augustine’s words from his Confessions book. (A book I’ve been dying to read since… forever!)

“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.”

~ Saint Augustine, from Confessions (Source)

This song brought me up from my rut of despair. Thank you Matt Maher for the great song and St. Augustine for the inspiring words. But most of all, thanks to Him for… everything.

Now, I’m unequivocally alive again!

P.S. There’s also a live acoustic version up on YouTube.

Every day, I scour the Pinoy web to find the most interesting Philippine-related articles, tweets, pictures and videos of the week. Then every Sunday, I share my best finds here.

2010 Philippine Elections

Para sa bobong pamunuan, bobotante ang kailangan!
by Bob Ong

Newsworthy

(Photo) A traditional dragon dance along the streets of Binondo, Manila, on the eve of Chinese New Year

(Tumblr) “before you flat line…” – a touching tribute to MTV Philippines

(Photo) Disabled participants prepare to race in wheelchairs during the 3K fun run at the Luneta

Entertainment: Music, Movies and TV

(YouTube) Melai is PBB Double Up Big Winner

Philippines and USA @ 1st Philippine Int’l Pyromusical Competition

10 Best Pinoy Music Videos of the MTV Generation

The 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Night – Fully Booked and Neil Gaiman

Technology

How to remove political ads from your blog

Want to be a part of the Norton Inner Circle?

How to Save Money on Windows 7 the Legit Way

Get Ready & See You at iBlog6!

Notable Tweets

MTV Philippines goes off air tom, I was there when it started now I’m back to witness it’s death. I never thought I’d say that
~ KCMontero

We pulled out all the reality programming and will play nothing but music all the way until signoff! All the best hits are on MTV!
WE LOVE YOU. THANK YOU. GOODBYE FROM ALL OF US AT MTV PHILIPPINES.
~ MTVphilprog

it’s all over. Video Killed The Radio Star was d last song. Goodbye MTV Phil! U wer a big part of my HS yrs! http://twitpic.com/13f3f7
~ tjmanotoc

kaya walang lalake na nagdedebut kasi sapakan na kapag sinabihan ka ng ‘pare punta ka sa debut ko, ha?
~ ramonbautista

sana may options ang mga JOLLIBEE customers to choose bottled water for the drinks instead of the softdrinks..
~ sheila_mae

i miss the days when the internets was just one big social. no SEO, no blog advertising, no PR jobs. when bloggers were diarists…
… and chatting lead to EB’s (decent and/or otherwise). selling out was non-existent, and even bad writers had passion.
~ raincontreras

Blunder of the day: I referred to the new soap on abs-cbn, Agua Bendita, as “Agua Vida”. I thought the twins were named Agua & Vida. lol.
~ joniang

yahoo philippines most popular searches…#`1 melai cantiveros…ovvvvvherrr na sa kasikatan
~ jessan_55

Life

Why Do We Fast?

Do You Want To Change?

Why should you teach your child to read early?

Have You Been Ashamed of Our Faith?

Think I missed something really cool last week? Feel free to share it in the comments.

I’ve been dying to see this movie. The reason I picked up the book last year was because I knew it was gonna be made into a movie. Also, I badly needed a replacement for Harry Potter which is about to end soon. In cinemas, that is.

I absolutely love this series as evidenced by my book reviews. But having learned from experience, I know not to expect the movie to follow the book so much. In fact, I was bracing myself to see a story with characters far flung from what I had read. I was just excited to see how they’d interpret it into the silver screen. And with this mindset, I’m happy to report that I loved the movie!

I already saw it twice so I’m confident I can give a balanced review of it. That’s one of the things that irk me about book loyalists. I love reading books but I also know how to appreciate a good movie.

So what I do before entering the cinema is I try to forget as much as I can about the book. Thankfully, this isn’t hard for me with my short term memory disability. A disability used to my advantage much like Percy’s dyslexia!

Several things were changed to fit the movie. So I’ll start with those.

Differences from the Book

These are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. And because of that, I’m not trying to find any more because the ones I missed here obviously didn’t affect my enjoyment of the film and are most likely not worth mentioning anyway. In short, that’s just nitpicking. And I hate criticizing just for the sake of criticizing.

• Grover as comic relief. At first, I hated the fact that they made Grover black. I’m not racist or anything but it just didn’t make sense when looking at it from a book fan’s perspective. But after seeing the film, I understood why they did it. The movie tries to cater to the teen moviegoers who have not read the book. Most teen movies these days need to be funny and expectedly there’ll be clichéd characters. A white kid for an unlikely hero. Check! A black guy for his sidekick who will crack jokes every now and then. Check! And a pretty girl as the hero’s love interest which leads me to the next point.

• Annabeth is shown as a head-turner in this movie. I never got the impression that Annabeth is supposed to be a looker in the books. It even took a while for Percy to notice that she’s actually a girl. Haha! But I guess this change comes as a consequence of the age difference with the characters in the book. And I’m guessing that since the book is in first person they’re making the movies that way too. So it follows that we are made to look at Annabeth this way since we’re seeing things on Percy’s point of view.

• Every young character is older. The trio in the books are supposed to be like 12 year old kids. I also didn’t like this change at first but as I mentioned in the first bullet point, it’s a good thing for the teen audience. And it would also be very reminiscent of Harry Potter if they were younger because the two book series do share a few obvious similarities. My only worry is that the actors would surely look too mature for their parts by the 5th movie. Although by then, we might have gotten used to them already.

• A lot of important stuff are missing. No tree of Thalia. No Clarisse. No Oracle. No pit of Tartarus. And NO mention of the prophecy. This is understandable as these are not really important to the story YET. They are cut off for time constraints. They can be easily introduced as new stuff in the next movie.

• The concept of houses are not mentioned. In Camp Half-Blood which is the training ground for the demigods, each hero lives in the house of their parent god. But in the movie, we’re told that Poseidon built a house specially for Percy. Okay maybe now I’m just nitpicking but this is important because Percy will have a house buddy in the second movie. But yeah, I guess that although this is an important fact, it can be left out here as it’s not really crucial to this movie’s storyline.

• But the biggest change that I really didn’t like is how they had to push the love angle between Percy and Annabeth this early. Percy certainly didn’t have love at first sight with Annabeth in the first book! Even the second book only had subtle hints. But I guess this change works well for the movie and for the general audience. Still, I hate “love at first sight” kind of stories!  :?

Despite these differences, The Lightning Thief ends up as a perfectly enjoyable film for readers and non-readers alike. It’s gonna appeal to younger audiences because of all the magic and yet there’s also plenty for adults to enjoy too. Look out for the Lady Gaga song in the Las Vegas casino sequence. That’s easily one of the best parts of this movie. Oh, and there’s an extra scene too after the cast credits.

It took a while for me to like the actors’ portrayal of their respective characters. But for the most part, they were all good. I think Logan Lerman portrayed the egotistical attitude of Percy very well although in some scenes it felt like he was overdoing it. Alexandra Daddario does a convincing Annabeth but I hated her characterization here. She’s not supposed to admire Percy that much here. Brandon T. Jackson as Grover was genuinely funny in many of his scenes.

The movie’s two hours long but I barely felt the length of the film. You know how there are movies that are an hour and a half long and still can’t wait for the credits to start rolling? Well with this one, I never had the urge to look at my watch – something I usually do in theaters for movies that I don’t end up liking.

I’m taking away a point from the score for the wooden acting of some actors (mostly the gods) and another point for their decision to bring up the Percy and Annabeth love angle this early. Yeah, I still prefer the tension and suspense of the attractions unbeknownst to them in the books.

Overall, I rate this movie a 8 out of 10. Mind you, I had very high expectations and I didn’t even expect I’d like it this much.

A message to the book’s fans:

If you can just forget about the several stuff they left out, no matter how important they may be for the next books, and see this as just a fun, myth-inspired adventure film, then you’ll definitely enjoy it.

The feeling I had after seeing this reminds me of the time when I first saw the first Harry Potter movie. It was so surreal. A lot of things were different from the book too but I was happy with what I saw and accepted it as just a version of the story.

People focus too much on the negatives of every single thing in this world. I’d rather look at the good side as doing otherwise won’t do me any good anyway. The Percy Jackson movie is what it is – an adaptation. Deal with it or if you can’t, take this as a clue not to watch the next ones.

Phew! Sorry about the rant. I’m just so pissed off with all the hate I’ve read in forums.

The next Harry Potter of Hollywood?

So does Percy Jackson have what it takes to be the next Harry Potter? Well, it depends on what you think I mean by that question.

Box office-wise, it would be a stretch to say that this series will be as successful a franchise as Potter. Harry had the advantage of being the first. Now, fantasy book to movie adaptations are the norm. But when you think about it just in terms of popularity with the general moviegoing audience, I think Percy has a good chance of making a mark in that aspect. With four more movies, the franchise will only get even more famous. And it has a very solid foundation now with the first movie so I’m very optimistic about this series.

The second movie The Sea of Monsters is slated to be released next year. This book happens to be my favorite so far because I still have yet to read the last two books. But unlike with Harry, I’m not forgetting my own version of Percy’s world in my mind. As I said in my book review, I can connect with Percy’s character a lot and so I’m doing my best not to ruin that picture. It’s an awesome thing… reading stories and making up worlds and people in your head.

* I first saw this movie just by myself at Gateway cinema 5 on Feb. 13, 2010. The following day I watched it again but this time with the company of mati and megane-kun at SM North Edsa. A landmark event in Little Wolf’s life! Why? That’s the stuff of another blog post.

Every day, I scour the Pinoy web to find the most interesting Philippine-related articles, tweets, pictures and videos of the week. Then every Sunday, I share my best finds here. This one’s a day late. Sorry.

Valentines Special

8 Ideas for a Chinese Valentine’s Day in 2010!

10 Eternal Pinoy Love Teams

10 Addictively Bad Love Songs

2010 Philippine Elections

Celeb endorsers told to take a leave or risk getting jailed

Links: Websites of candidates in the 2010 elections

We need a contingency plan for the May 10 elections

(Scribd) Comelec Sample Ballot National and Local Non-ARMM

(Photo) A huge flag covering an area of about two hectares is unfurled at the Rizal Park grounds as part of the launching of the presidential campaign of Bro. Eddie Villanueva

Newsworthy

(Photo) A member of the Ozone Extreme Base jumping team takes a plunge from the 400-foot South of Market (SOMA) Building at The Fort

Your Survival Guide for the 15th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

(Photo) Balloons of all shapes and sizes fly over Clark Airfield in Pampanga

Rotating brownouts to hit Luzon for a month

(Photo) A helper cleans a Golden Buddha statue at the Seng Guan Chinese temple in Tondo, Manila in preparation for the Chinese New Year

Entertainment: Music, Movies and TV

MYX Music Awards 2010 Online Voting

Paramore Ticket Discount from Globe!

Richard Gutierrez drops P25 million libel case vs PEP.ph

Technology

Yahoo Reveals Most Popular Online Items for 2009 in the Philippines

Owning a Google Nexus One in the Philippines

Yugatech Poll: Which kind of laptop are you?

(Photo) TJ Manotoc winning an “iPad”

Techie Lola Does a Steve Jobs in Keynote Parody

Have You Grown Bored With Blogging?

Notable Tweets

Come to think of, a power shortage is being actually felt only now? When the 2010 elections are coming? She’s taking all of us for fools.
~ jhayrocas

So, when did campaign period start? Coz I feel like it’s been forever. Nakakasuka.
~ jonijavier

Twitter is like the real world. If you don’t speak up, no one will notice you.
~ ssowy

BREAKING NEWS. Channel V brings JOHN MAYER in the Philippines on May 15! You read it here first here-@iamtimyap Yahoo! Spread the word.
~ iamtimyap

It was a wonderful experience listening to @karitonkid talk about what an ordinary man can do to make positive significant change! Galing!
~ 147robocop

remember that when we do what we can.. GOD WILL DO WHAT WE CAN’T.
~ yuniseeeena

Life

Need to Withdraw
by Fr. Jboy

(New York Times) Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord
NYT article pertaining to the “My Way” Karaoke Killings in the Philippines

Why Do We Have to Go to Church on a Sunday?
by Fr. Jboy

Send this next one to preachers that bore you with their homilies:
If the Preacher Makes You Sleep
by Fr. Jboy

Think I missed something really cool last week? Feel free to share it in the comments.

Take note, this is not the teaser trailer released a few months back where Aang is shown doing some basic airbending in a circle of candles. This is the new 1:52 minute trailer that will be attached to the Percy Jackson film.

There are slight differences between the clip shown in the Superbowl and the theatrical trailer. But since we see more stuff in the full trailer, we’ll do a frame by frame “analysis” of that one instead. Brace yourself because we’ve got more than 40 screen captures for this one. Let’s begin!

The South Pole landscape. Looks cold.

That’s Katara and Sokka on thin ice

So I assume Aang and Appa’s ice ball will dramatically break through the ice shelf here.

Sokka and Katara are scared

Sokka and Katara still frightened…

…because Aang is naked?! Seriously, I don’t remember Aang’s body tattoes accurately but those designs look overly intricate.

The Southern(?) Air Temple

A really creepy sound can be heard in this particular shot of the trailer. I’m guessing those bones are of Aang’s fellow airbenders.

Katara: I always knew you’ll return…

Aang: You bet! All for our Kataang fans! I won’t let Zutara win!

Water Tribe boats sailing beside a cliff (can’t get any more descriptive than that)

Oh noes!

Nice forehead dude.

The Fire Navy’s cool but they’re definitely hot every time they shoot these blazing fireballs!

Sokka and Katara with the Water Tribe people. Run! The Firebenders are coming!

Closer shot. What a weird glowing… bag?! Haha. Just kidding.

Get rid of that stupid coat Zuko! Where’s the awesome Fire Nation soldier costume?

I don’t get this. Who are the soldiers fighting alongside Aang? And their moves look amateurish…

Come on. He’s just… chubby!

Zuko’s sword (there should be two!) and throbbing veins…

Cool helmet I must say. He seems to fit the character in this shot.

Afraid you’re losing now Aang? Don’t worry. There are still 2 books/seasons/movies.

Please tell me that isn’t Uncle Iroh with Zuzu. And I don’t like how Zuzu’s scar isn’t very striking.

Cool airbending stance there Aang.

That blurry thing is the Fire Navy getting their butts whopped by The Last Airbender.

I promise, this picture looks way better when it’s a moving picture.

Aang’s glider!

I don’t know who this guy is but it doesn’t matter because whatever he’s doing is wicked hot!

My favorite part of the trailer – Firebending versus Earthbending!
Wait a minute… is that the cabbage guy? Great, now we just need foaming mouth guy to make an appearance. Haha!

I don’t have a clue what rebellion Sokka’s talking about but I’m curious who that figure is behind him. Could it be Aang holding a map? Nah. We know Sokka’s the maps dude.

…

Please don’t do it Suki… On second thought, please hurry!

He actually screamed?! You do know what this scene is right, no? Well, watch the TV show!

Hah! Take a shower before going here you stinking firebenders!

Ooooohh!! That’s gotta hurt. Haha!

The Northern Water Tribe has a bell? Sorry if I have the worst memory.

Aww! He will definitely need you Katara after he does this…

The Avatar State!! Wooooohh!!!

This trailer is so full of win! And firebenders… 

I wish they had left Shyamalan’s name out instead of the flags. Those were cool.

And what is NOT in the trailer but was seen on the Superbowl ad?

Aang preparing to waterbend, I guess.

Appa’s not in the trailer and that just sucks! He’s in this frame though.
Time for Hidden Appa!

I have no idea…

…what Aang could possibly be doing here. I know this is definitely not on the TV show!

The Superbowl ad is shorter but I love it because of that rock background track and it’s the only one where we can see Appa! Still no Momo though.

The full trailer only says Summer 2010 but the Superbowl ad indicates a July 2nd release.

Regardless, I’m amazed at how great these two videos ended up. It has given me more hope that this movie is gonna be good. Certainly, it couldn’t be as bad as Dragonball. Right?

The only thing that bothers me now is how serious the film looks. I remember Shyamalan saying in an interview that he’ll be getting rid most of the show’s childish humor. While I do agree that many of the funny stuff may not work in a movie adaptation of this series, I still think they should add several light-hearted moments. One of the things I love about the TV show is that it’s really funny. Sokka in this movie just doesn’t seem to be anything like the Sokka we’ve come to love on the series. And that will be the downfall of this movie for many of the show’s fans.

Still, I’m holding out further judgment until the movie is released. After those breathtaking visuals, I expect to see the actors at least prove that they deserve their parts.

P.S. By the way, enough with the racism rant. The actors have been cast already. Either you deal with it or make your own Avatar movie.

P.P.S. The movie’s official site has also been updated finally with actual Avatar stuff!