28 November 2009

The King of Self Promotion...



He even had orange plastic bags, with his name on it, when they distributed relief goods to the typhoon Ondoy survivors. Campaign period for Villar started years ago.

27 November 2009

Power hunger...

We've been hearing, with no confirmation, that GMA might run for lower office in 2010, this is a sick sick idea! Not because she already holds the highest seat in the politics, but because of the things she has done or hasn't done to make this nation better. Why there isn't a law that can stop this from happening, I don't understand! I hope people realize that more than anything else, this is just an act to stay in power.
This doesn't have to do with anything, but just because I love photography... let me share the best GMA pictures on the web.



26 November 2009

Music, music and me...

Anti-file sharing campaigns have become massive, at least in countries like US and the UK. Understandable... since these are where artists who would greatly be affected come from, they release albums or singles worldwide. In third world countries like the Philippines, you can still easily get away with downloading music without any fear that you might receive a letter that tells you to either pay a fine or spend time in jail. Buying CDs or even paying for downloads is just not practical at these times when economic downfall is in its deepest place. I, myself have stopped buying CDs, the last CD that I bought was Usher's flop album "Here I Stand", in 2008. I probably paid for t0 download music twice, meaning all the almost 2000 music in my hard drive is ofcourse downloaded from files shared by other people. Woot to Bitlord! I still go to music stores though, and at times I get tempted to buy new releases but thankfully I have the ability to get out of the store before I actually pull out cash from my pocket. If in anyway, I'd buy new albums again, this would be my list:








Sidenote:
Doesn't this look like a Roxette or Cindy Lauper album from the 80's?

22 November 2009

Today I sold my Canon EOS1000d to upgrade to EOS500d. My 1000d took over 6,300 photos since December 2008, most of it are pictures of my niece and nephews.
This is one of the first few photos I took when my camera was barely a month old, It's not the best, but my first decent night shot. HongKong skyline taken from The Peak in January, 2009.

Here are some of my new favorite photos from flickr:
This is a photo taken by Mohan Gumatay, also known in the Philippines as DJ Mo Twister. I love black and white photography and when the subject involves people, B&W, for me, adds a nice dramatic effect in a picture.

If there is one thing I'd like to learn or maybe even master, it is to take nice photos of fireworks. I saw this in flickr, from Guy Flâneur's photostream.


One of his photos actually got included in a UK travel guide website. I happen to know Froi and his flickr site is really worth visiting.


I hope that I will soon have the time to attend some photography lessons and if that happens, I will definitely enroll in some, if not all of Sir Nicolay's classes.


This is my cousin feeling like a real pro. (Zambales)


by Ryan and Randall Dagooc. You can find the best wedding photographs here.

...and more favorites... all from flickr.(No copyright infringement intended)




20 November 2009

Vampires, Werewolves, and the end of the world...

Since I am on leave today, I decided I'd watch 2 movies. It has been months since I had the time to watch a film. I already missed out on 500 Days of Summer, This is It, Julie and Julia, and many more... and because there's just simply no one to go with on a working day, I went by myself. I'm not new to watching by myself though, I used to do it a lot back in the days but the last movie I went to alone was Lost in Translation, in Oxford. I decided to watch New Moon and 2012, I caught the first screening of New Moon which I thought would be perfect because the cinema won't be crowded yet but I guess I was wrong. I have never seen too many people in a movie theater at 10:40 in the morning on a weekday. I bet all those younger audience either cut or skipped class.
Anyhow, the movie was good. I won't say much about it except there is a scene between Edward and Bella that lasted more or less 10 seconds that was very cheesy and the movie could have done without it. And, I know I was not the only one who cringed. If only for Jacob Black, I'd say the movie is perfect! Haha! How Taylor Lautner turned from this (in Cheaper by the Dozen 2- 2005):
to this:



in just 4 years or so will remain a mystery to me... on second thoughts, who cares how he did it!

and then there was 2012...


There's something about Roland Emmerich and the end of the world, may it be by disasters or alien invasion(he also directed The Day after Tomorrow and Independence Day), I'm starting to think he has visions of the future. The thought of apocalypse is a bit scary but also a reminder that we will never know what's gonna happen and the only thing that is for sure is that every day is a chance to change, make things right and show some love...
The movie was also good except for the fact that you'd need a billion Euros to be spared from death:) I say... just pray and be ready.

Both movies are worth watching.

19 November 2009

I'm a watch this!

Crazy 'bout FLIP!


Two weeks ago, I bought this very cool gadget. This is the Flip Ultra camcorder. I decided to buy it mainly because of my nephews and niece. I thought I'd take videos of their activities to record their milestones.
Here's a list of just a few things I like about the gadget:
- it's very handy (think iPhone, only a bit thicker);
- it runs with 2 AA batteries, so you don't have to worry about it being discharged when you are out. You just have to bring extra batteries and don't worry, the battery life is very reasonable considering there is a live view while shooting. My first set of batteries recorded videos that last well over 2 hours if I add up the length of all the videos I've taken and that does not even include the playbacks.
- it's very affordable, mine is a first generation Flip, bought it for P3,999 (about $80)
- as seen in the image above, it connects to computers directly through USB, and once connected, it automatically starts up the software which will let you directly upload videos to YouTube
- and more importantly, the sound and video quality is very good

Click here to see sample videos, this is the e-journal I made to share videos of my nephews and niece.

I learned about this gadget from one of my favorite blogs: chuvaness.com

To learn more about the new generation Flip, click here.