Sun Burned!

Okay… this is just more of a rant for me than it actually is a “blog entry” but since it’s here… let’s just chalk it up as another post.

I used to have a Sun Cellular line a few years back… thinking, “Hey!  This 24/7 Call and Text Unlimited Promo is one great way for the family to keep in touch without actually spending a whole lot!”… WRONG!  The frustration and anger I went through due to hours of disconnections and calls not getting through from one party to another took it’s toll…!

Fast-Forward to present.  Since my wife is being sent by her office to Baguio (for a MONTH) to train personnel there, I figured Sun Cellular must’ve at least improved their services by now, right?  Right?!  So, me and the wifey decided to get prepaid simcards from Sun to help us “bridge the gap” so to speak while she’s up north.

Well, seems like Sun Cellular hasn’t changed a bit… text messages give you error displays such as “Message not sent this time” or “Message sending failed”… especially during rush hour (late afternoon)… calling one another is just a frustrating and equally tiresome!  You’d think these Gokongweis would try to at least stay on the heels of Globe and Smart and try to be similarly competitive… but no matter how competitive you are in terms of call rates (FREE, in fact!)… it doesn’t make any sense if you cannot actually call, let alone text the other party.

And if it DOES go through… we still have the problem of message delays.  And I’m not just talking about 5 minute delays especially during the afternoon… some of your messages take forever to come in.  10, 20, 30 minutes… even more!

The 24/7 Call and Text Unlimited promo was a good idea… WAS.  I had friends here and there scurrying to purchase prepaid and postpaid Sun sims and using it as a secondary lines…!  Sun could’ve sustained the hype by improving their signal and strengthening their infrastructure.  Their excuse then was that since Sun was still new to the game, they still had to put up more cellsites in and around Manila and eventually a substantial amount of coverage all over the Philippines.

2-3 years after, you still get the sucky signal in Metro Manila which you’d expect to be “at par” already with their more successful and reliable counterparts.

So, in conclusion… after trying Sun Cell years back, going into exodus from their service, and coming back again… I only have this to say… “Up yours!  Shove your services and promos up where the SUN don’t shine!”.  Pun intended you, losers!

10 Things I Hate (or least like)

Aha! Another tag game! This time it’s Jim’s turn to tag me… (Jim, nakabawi ka na ha!)… hahaha! The topic of this new meme: “10 Things I Hate” aka “My Hate List”. As I start to scour through my least desired things in life, I shall begin… (ahem)!

• • FOOD:
    Kimchi! (I couldn’t stand the odor!)

  • FRUITS:
    Durian (Though I haven’t really tried tasting it yet… Duh! Go figure!)

  • VEGGIES:
    Ampalaya! Onions! Raw Garlic! (Blech!)

  • PEOPLE:
    Posers! Name-droppers! Pessimists!

  • EVENT/SITUATION/INCIDENT:
    A situation when I am talking to a person who doesn’t practice what they preach.

  • TV SHOWS/MOVIES:
    Ummm… I can’t! I really can’t say it… considering how many people (and friends) read my blog, I just can’t. So as not to offend anyone. Let’s just put it at that. Hehehe…!

  • MUSIC:
    Very tricky… there are lots! Hmmm… but APRIL BOY would definitely be up there. And oh…! THUG RAP! I hate it with a passion! Wait a minute… it’s NOT EVEN CLOSE TO MUSIC!

  • HOUSEHOLD CHORES:
    Fixing bathroom pipes… I think. (I can imagine my wife laughing as she’s reading this… hahaha! I can imagine her saying, “Anong pipes?! Eh bihira ka mag-household chores, ano!” Haha!)

  • THINGS AROUND THE WORLD:
    Violence. Discrimination. Corruption (especially in the Philippines). Pollution. Racism. I could go on and on and on…

  • THINGS ABOUT MYSELF:
    Bad Temper. Worrier (sometimes). Procrastinate (admittedly… at times)! Lord, help me change…

The best part of every tag game is the actual “tagging”… And since I have already completed answering the 10 things I hate, I shall now tag 10 people to do the same…

YOU’RE TAGGED: Jun, Tintin, Pao, Kengkay, Maru, Az, Jeangr3y, Selvo, Jovi and Taroogs!

 

 

Updates… Updates…

So many things have happened the past few days that I didn’t really get the chance to update my blog… funny!  So, let me enumerate the more notable events which happened just recently.

1. Tooth Begone!
   I recently (about a week ago) had my molar extracted!  It’s been a long and dreary battle with my tooth and finally, I decided to just have the dentist yank it out.  Anyone who has ever experienced a really bad toothache can relate.  You can’t work, can’t talk, practically cannot concentrate on anything at all!  Not to mention the bad mood that you’re in throughout the day.
   But that doesn’t mean I’m pain-free already.  The tooth that was pulled out was a BIG one!  So, I’m still kinda recovering from it… and I’m still taking pain killers (though not as frequent as the first few days after the extraction).  Couldn’t eat right… oh, and I was adviced by my dentist not to engage in any strenuous activities for 3 days!  There goes my weightlifting routine for the week… bummer!  So was “sexy time”!  LOL!
2. Under the Weather
   Apparently, this whole tooth extraction thingy has caused me to feel under the weather… and the cold sore just beside my swelling gum ain’t helping at all!  More pain relievers!  Dammit!
3. WordPress Pinoys
   My baby project which has taken off quite successfully!  I’ve been busy creating a virtual home for all Pinoy WordPressers (WordPress.Com and WordPress.Org)… I’m very grateful that the vast majority of WordPress Pinoy Bloggers have joined the group.  Lots of events, projects and ideas will come out of this newly formed community.  Some of ‘em are already in the works… just you wait for it!
   In a span of merely 4 days, we’ve grown to an impressive 84 members already!  Our members are just as enthusiastic about this group as I am!  I’m pretty sure there are more Filipino WordPressers out there who haven’t heard of our community but slowly and surely we will gather each and every one of ‘em.  Hopefully we can eventually hold WordPress-sanctioned events here in the Philippines… that would be cool, huh?!  In fact, I was able to talk to Matt (Mullenweg) of WordPress/Automattic and he thought that the community and the official events the group plans to engage in are very good ideas.  So, if you’re a Pinoy with a WordPress blog… join your new home on the net… meet the rest of the wacky bunch at WordPress Pinoys!

   Oh and by the way… for those who aren’t aware… WordPress Pinoys used to be located at Google Groups but due to the sudden upsurge of memberships, tracking conversations and discussions within the group became a tedious and sometimes impossible task.  So, we finally put up our own forum located here.  Discussion threads and the exchanging of ideas are much easier to monitor now.  And everyone seems to be happy with it (Whew!).  I’ve wanted so badly for the transition from one site to the other to be a smooth one that I practically didn’t have time to maintain my own blog!  Haha… But we have very competent and responsible moderators over there already so I can go back to my regular blogging habit.  Did anyone miss my articles?  Anyone at all?  Hehe.  Anyhow, everyone who was (and still is) a member of the “WordPress Pinoys” Google Group is now a member of this new incarnation.  So, SALI NA!

So I guess that’s it!  More articles very soon… Hope everyone missed me!  You guys did miss me, right?  Right?! 

Thug Rap

I was at the gym earlier and I kinda noticed how the person in-charge of maintaining the facility kept on playing “thug-type” rap music…! Then I noticed how similar all these songs sounded… and how all their lyrics are laced err… rather “filled” (to the brim) with profanity and expletives!

It’s like all they could say is “bitch”, “fuck”, “motherfucker”, and all the other crap you could think of. I bet if you ask them to write some rap lyrics without the profanity, they’d be “dumbfucked” (pun intended).

No wonder the rap genre is at a decline… all the same words intertwined with unoriginal resampled choruses of old songs. Ok… not only can they ONLY talk about bitches and motherfuckers and “capping” (“shooting” for the uninformed) other “niggas” (as they would normally call one another in their songs)… they also DON’T KNOW how to write original melodies to match their unrequited hatred in verses.

When they realize (yes, they also have realizations like normal people) that the words they’ve been using have been too worn out, they make up a bunch of new “slang” terminologies which actually have the same definitions as their old words… then they use these “made up” words to reconstruct new verses, which, in reality ARE the same in gist.

People actually buy THIS stuff?!!!

Why can’t most of them rap like some very few upstanding African-Americans in the music industry such as Will Smith who doesn’t believe in intertwining profanity with his lyrics?

Thug-Rap. All about hatred… All about sex… All about violence… unoriginal… and NO musicality. Such a pity… and an embarrassment to the industry. Tsk-tsk!

Oh… and if you’re still wondering about the guy in charge of the music at the gym… yeah, I told him I’d be permanently leaving him with some new CDs when I come back… something with REAL MUSIC!

Sarah Album Update 9

It’s official… Sarah’s album, “Taking Flight” won’t be coming out today.  Don’t bother checking the record bars.  Last I heard from the Viva office, the release date was moved to Friday, July 27, 2007… which actually isn’t so bad, right?

Like I said earlier on my previous update, “a day or two”.

So, save your transportation budget and spare yourselves the disappointment of double-checking the record bars hoping against hope that it’s out by today and finding out it ain’t.

Sarah Album Update 8

Well, tomorrow is the expected date of release… and the reason why I’m not actually saying it like, “Tomorrow Taking Flight will be available at your nearest record bars!” is because there is some chatter inside the Viva office that the copies might not make it out tomorrow due to the album’s cover which is STILL in the printers as of press time.

Don’t fret, though…!  A lot can happen from now till tomorrow.  But if it does get delayed, it’ll only be for a day or two.  Everyone’s excited about the release and so am I!  Hold on to your seats… I’ll try to update you guys again tonight or tomorrow.  Whatever happens, it’s definitely coming out very very very soon!  Cheers!

So Near and Yet… (Sigh…!)

Don’t you hate the feeling of knowing you have something but don’t actually have it in your hands YET?

Just thought I’d let out my anxieties and share ‘em with you.

(Sigh!)  Antsy Pantsy me!

Bad Pinoy Traits I’d Wish to Change

We can’t have a “Why It Feels Great To Be A Pinoy” tag game without having the opposite of it.  That’s why I’m starting this tag game myself… and personally, I believe this will help Filipinos be more productive (if acted upon) than the previous game.

To truly know ones self is the only way we could improve on it.

So, this tag game shall be called:  “BAD PINOY TRAITS I’D WISH TO CHANGE”

There are lots to enumerate but I will only name about 3 of them to give others a chance to ponder the rest.

Let’s start…

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-  The “One-Upmanship” Mentality
Pinoys love this as much as the “Crab Mentality” we also possess (I’ll get to the “Crab-Mentality” later).  It’s the trait most pinoys have that makes ‘em want to always be ahead of everyone else regardless of how complex or petty the situation is.
Say for example you’re in the middle of traffic… bumper to bumper… and all of a sudden the lane on your right starts to move forward.  You decide to slide in since there is a considerable gap on that lane between the vehicle in front and the vehicle behind.  You switch on your signal light to indicate your intention to move to the right lane.  As soon as the vehicle at the back notices your right signal light blinking, he zooms straight forward not wanting you to get ahead of him or at the least slide in.  What’s with that?!  It always happens… and it doesn’t make sense!

-  The “Crab-Mentality”
Crab mentality describes a way of thinking best described by the phrase “if I can’t have it, neither can you.”
The metaphor refers to a pot of crabs in which one tries to escape over the side, but is relentlessly pulled down by the others in the pot.  This term is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality.
It is also often used colloquially in reference to individuals or communities attempting to “escape” a so-called “underprivileged life”, but kept from doing so by those others of the same community or nation attempting to ride upon their coat-tails.
For Pinoys, crab mentality is the tendency to “outdo another at the other’s expense” or to “pull down those who strive to be better.”

-  Ignorance and Willful Ignorance
Pinoys love to ignore rules and regulations.  You can see this everywhere.  Either falling in line at your nearby fastfood stall or simply just following your everyday traffic light.
It’s the choice to not act or behave in accordance with regard to certain information in order to suit ones own needs.
Willful Ignorance on the otherhand is a bad faith decision to avoid becoming informed about something so as to avoid having to make undesirable decisions that such information might prompt.
Oh!  And notice how when other pinoys get away with not following the rules, others immediately follow suit… now THAT’S Pinoy!

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I could go on and on… but where is the fun in that if I don’t give you guys the opportunity to think of the others.  So go ahead… post your comments below… I’m sure you could come up with really good ones!

TAG TIME!  Haha… now I get to tag 10 friends whom I haven’t tagged recently.

You’re TAGGED:  Jun, Tingting, Jonas, Jim, Sir Martin, Jepoy, Laarni, Martin, Jay, and Eric

Why It Feels Great To Be Pinoy…

I’ve been tagged… again.  This time it was Jonas… who tagged me… hehehe!  Well, the question being tagged around is something most of us are slowly running out of answers for… “Why it feels great to be Pinoy?”.

Why, indeed?

When I noticed I was tagged… I shrugged it off for a while… not cause I didn’t want to participate but because I realized as I pondered my answers that I was actually having a difficult time figuring it out… As hard as it may be for me to come up with a whole bunch of reasons… I did find a few arguments why it still feels great to be Pinoy.

-  OPTIMISTIC.  Pinoys are optimists.  Even in the midst of personal, national, political and often tragic calamities, we pinoys seem to always find that glimmer of hope… we always find a way to look at things in a different perspective.  As cliche as it may sound, it is true that we see the glass as half full, instead of half empty.  We laugh at our own quirks, mistakes, absurdity and shortcomings.

-  FORGIVING.  A trait very admirable of Pinoys but oftentimes also our bane.  To forgive is divine… of course.  But in no way should we “forget” in absolute.  Case in point… look at all the national scandals and embarrassments we pinoys have been subjected to year after year after year… personalities and politicians who have deceived us, hurt us and abused our trust in every way possible.  We get angry… we protest… then given time… we forgive… and forget.  This seems to come out more like a rant only because this wonderful trait of ours has been exploited time and again.  But don’t get me wrong, this characteristic of Filipinos have probably been the very reason why we still aren’t in a state of civil war considering all the hardships that have been thrown at us… and that is saying a LOT!  So yes, it still is an admirable trait.

-  GROUNDED.  Faith/Family/Community grounded, I mean.  We always find the strength and courage through our great love for others… we rely on family… on friends and the community… on our faith… to be able to achieve many great things.  We simply just overcome; We don’t question… we just do.

-  HOSPITABLE (Updated).  Pinoys do everything to please their guests… to make them feel at home.  This trait I admire of Pinoys so very much!  Example given:  During a meal, even when there isn’t enough food for everyone, a Pinoy will insist that a visitor sit with his family and partake of whatever meal they have served on the table.  “Kahit walang-wala na talaga… magpapabili pa ng ulam para masiyahan ang bisita.”… very Pinoy!

We always enumerate reasons why we love being Pinoys… is it our way of coping with our shortfall?

I suggest we reflect on the seemingly irreparable (and undesirable) traits associated with being a Filipino and act upon them.  Why address only the positives?  We should determine the negatives and work on them… only then can we truly feel great to be Pinoys.

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TAG TIME:

Ok… here’s the fun part.  I tag the following guys:  Cryst, Martin, Kat, Patty, Roland, Jane, Jim, Tinggay, Poytee and Zerovoltage!

Bits and Pieces of News

Hmmm… just thought I’d update you guys as to what has been happening to me lately (not that I’d think you guys would be interested, but hey… it’s my blog anyways! Hehehe)…

Okidoki… let’s see… where do I start… (scratches head…)

 

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• MEASLES!!! There has been a huge outbreak of Measles over at my wife’s office in Makati! More than 100 employees have been diagnosed with the highly contagious disease since 3 days ago. All of them have already been sent home and given “leaves” due to the virus. Her office will be shutting down for 1 whole day tomorrow for fumigation. Even the Australian Embassy located a floor below them has already reported 10 cases of employees infected with the same sickness. The problem with measles is that it has an incubation period of 2 weeks before you can actually discover symptoms that you’re infected with it. I just hope our kids don’t get infected as well.

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• Just finished being part of the screening and judging committee of this year’s 20th Awit Awards. This has been my 7th consecutive year participating in the Philippine music industry’s most prestigious event. The Award’s Night will be held at the Aliw Theatre sometime around July 2007. Exact date has not yet been determined. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners-to-be!

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• Oh! Guess what…?! I was messaged by “Kevin Jones”! For those not familiar with the name (or with 80s songs in particular)... Kevin Jones is the lead singer, composer and guitarist of the 80s New Wave band called, “Two Minds Crack”. They are the group that sang “Upside Down”. Still not familiar? The song goes: “You’re turning me on, You turn me around… You turn my whole world upside down…”. Now do you remember? Apparently, he stumbled upon an article I posted a long time ago here on my blog wherein I featured the band, named “Candles”… the band I was managing. I also showcased the band’s own stripped-down remake of… (you guessed it!)… the song “Upside Down”. Kevin’s message was short and simple… he messaged to just let me know that he really enjoyed Candles’ rendition of his composition. Coming from the actual singer and composer of the song… and being the 80s music sucker that I am… it meant a WHOLE LOT to me! I was the one who insisted the band included the song in their debut album which was released August last year (2006). The whole album was recorded, mixed and mastered in my recording studio with me sitting in as sound engineer. I even did backup vocals for it. Although, our “Upside Down” didn’t come out as a carrier single, it came out with the album long before 6CycleMind released their very own version of the 80s hit about a month and a half ago and which they are currently promoting. Which version was better (Candles or 6CycleMind)? I’ll leave that up to you guys. For those who want to listen and judge for themselves, here are the two versions:

“UPSIDE DOWN” (6CycleMind Version)

“UPSIDE DOWN” (Candles Version)

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Guess that’s all for now! More updates soon!

 

And More Transformers Posters…

Guys, here are more Transformers posters that have been recently released. I was supposed to post them much earlier but I kinda got sick of these posters cropping up one after the other so I waited till I got somewhat in the mood!

Personally, I think they’re putting out a whole bunch of ‘em than I’d really like to see…! It’s as if their creative department couldn’t decide which of the whole lot is going to be the final layout so they just presented all the studies to the public.

Oh, and check out what they claim to be the FINAL International Poster (last image)… It’s as if they mashed everything together and… TADA! Eck!!!

Whatever… just as long as the movie doesn’t end up being SUCKY!

Getaway: Galera

Well, looks like I won’t be able to post anything new over the weekend.  I’ll be off to Puerto Galera with my wife and kids.  Not too anxious, though… I’ve been feeling under the weather the past 2 days already and it would really be a bummer if things got worse by the time we hit the beach.

I’m hoping all these cold medications I’m currently taking will help suppress the virus.

I’m bringing the videocam so hopefully I’ll be able to post a few short clips when we get back.

(Geez!  The medicine I just took sure is making me sleepy…)

I’ll probably just snooze all the way to Batangas since we’re just taking the bus.  If I find a decent net cafe somewhere there, I’ll most likely update my blog.  That’s all for now…

Off we go!

And then there were four…

Last night’s American Idol’s “Results Show” saw the departure of two promising contestants… Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson.

Although Phil had probably his strongest and most memorable performance last night with Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory”, it wasn’t enough to save him in the competition.  He may have lit up the stage with last night’s rendition but if you add all his previous performances in the equation, it does justify why he was sent packing.

Sorry, Phil… too little, too late.

Chris Richardson, though very talented, just doesn’t seem to deliver in the “uniqueness and originality” department.  No doubt he’s a great singer, what with the soulful slurring and everything else.  But, we can probably name a few other singers who can do exactly the same thing he does… maybe even better.

I can’t really say if the constant comparison of Chris’ looks and vocal stylizing to Justin Timberlake helped him more than it has done him in.  I mean, if you’re compared to someone who’s still very much active in the industry, then I guess that means you’re not actually delivering something new to the table.

Case in point… Last season’s winner, Taylor Hicks, although not as “commercial” as the other American Idol champions, brought something new… his vocals and antics kept him in the running all throughout the contest.  And even if he was compared to other singing greats, those icons have either long retired or aren’t living anymore.  He filled that void.

So, yeah… I think the results this week were reasonable.  I expect Jordin Sparks to take her final bow next week regardless of how strong a performance she’ll deliver during “boogie” night.

So far, it seems like my prediction is going to hold true… Melinda Doolittle and Blake Lewis will go “neck and neck” in the finals!

No pun intended, Melinda…!

NBA Bummer

I was able to watch some NBA playoff action earlier today and I’m quite surprised (and disappointed) to see Miami fall into a 0-3 hole against Chicago.  I mean… it was terrible enough watching the Heat lose 2 straight games in Chicago, but I thought, “Hey, they’ll surely make up for it once they get back home…”.  They didn’t!

Well, I guess the defending champs are done with.  Regardless if they win games 3 and 4, chances are they won’t advance to the next round given the consistent trend of NBA teams that try to comeback from a 0-3 deficit.

What a bummer!

Performance Night

Just finished the last replay telecast of American Idol’s Top 8 Performances which was aired “live” a few hours ago.

Lots of disappointments… some “ho-hum” numbers as well… but some really stood out, the ones I really expected to shine going into the final stretch.

The 3 best performances of the night, in my honest opinion were:

Blake Lewis – Very cool! Consistent. Always brings something fresh and contemporary. Knows his strengths very well. Truly the male front-runner.

Chris Richardson – This guy is slowly inching his way into my “Top 3″. He may be no Rob Thomas, but his rendition of “Smooth” was very cool.

Melinda Doolittle – Ah yes… as expected, she always delivers. Vocals, emotion, intensity… everything (sans the neck… but what the heck! <-it rhymes! Bwehehe!). Flawless singing as ever.

Performances worth noting:

Lakisha Jones – This is one heck of a powerhouse. Powerful vocals… but she seems to have reached a plateau. It seems that, although her performances are always wonderful, it lost variation and color. This is what most reviews about her have been dreading… she definitely has the pipes but is slowly losing spunk.

Haley Scarnato – Notable. Why, you ask? The legs… period. If you were actually analyzing and scrutinizing her vocals, either you’re female or gay!

Oh! Lest we not forget…

Sanjaya Malakar – WTF?!!! Goatee and all… it still doesn’t work! You may have fooled a whole bunch of cellphone-wielding teeny boppers, but you can’t deceive us! During earlier rounds, you seemed surprised yourself for being saved countless times from being eliminated and at times seemed boggled. But as of late, you seem to have embraced the notion that you are quite untouchable during “Results Night” knowing that you have legions upon legions of turban-wearing supporters.