WRONG SPELING

 
I`ve been keeping myself updated with the news through the internet for as much as I can. These days kasi, I’m on the grave yard shift (7pm-7am, I know right?). Meaning, I don’t have time to watch the prime time news.

Yesterday, I was browsing a certain showbiz-oriented website when suddenly a headline catches my attention: “Philippines win Miss Teen Universe 2012 First Runner Up”. Lovely, I thought. Because I haven’t heard the pageant before, I did some research. Okay, it’s a new one. With 13 candidates. Held in Nicaragua. I also did some research on Miss Philippines Clarisse Obia. 

I had a fantastic run until I saw this -

PHILIPPNES. Ano ‘to, lokohan?!

Miss Philippines must be such a sweet and nice girl not to complain that the name of her country was misspelled. Or she did complain nicely but the organizers took 123456789 years to print the correctly-spelled sash.

This is not the first time that a Miss Philippines wore a misspelled sash. Remember Miss Philippines in Miss Universe 2008? That’s the epic-est fail of all times. To think that it’s Miss Universe. Like, hello? 

So, let me ask you my dear readers, if you are representing the country in an international event like this would you still wear the sash even if it is misspelled? 


Would you or would you not?

BAKIT INIIBIG KO ANG TWITTER?

There are things in teenager’s life which bears cosmic obsession. I see and know people who get undue addiction on the internet, alcohol, shopping, spending cold cash on whitening soaps, texting, illegal drugs, smoking and alas, masturbation. Too bad, ako din ay isang adik. Adik na adik. Adik sa Twitter. Uh-oh.

It has now been 5 months since I signed in for Twitter. And I can say that this “Twitter” thing has gotten over me and became addictive to my dismay. But wait, I only have 39 followers as of the last count. Nope, no typo error there. It’s goddamn 3-9! Imagine that? It’s a miserable total of THIRTY NINE. Only 39 followers for Pete’s sake, would you believe? After five months? Whattaf – You’re missing half of your life people if you don’t follow me. Nah, I’m just kidding about the rant, the 39 followers I’m dead serious.

Twitter is probably the most unproductive thing (read: walang ka-kwenta kwentang bagay) one can indulge in but I love it. And I mean it real hard. It’s a great boredom killer, stress reliever. Walang panama ang masturbation. Hahaha. Twitter really makes me silly and a little bit naughty. Kahit walang kabuluhang bagay, itini-tweet ko. “Just got home”. Tweet. “Good morning”. Tweet. “I’m in (insert name of place here)”. Tweet. “I’m watching porn”. Tweet. Wala lang. It’s one easy way para magpa-PANSIN sa world wide web. Magpa-SIKAT. Magpa-EPAL. 

I’m on Twitter day and night, in sickness and in health – before breakfast, at lunch, during breaks, and before going to bed. Sometimes more when I don’t have any work. I mostly use Twitter to keep people updated with my every move. Feeling celebrity lang. The thing is I personally know only about 10% of those I follow. The rest are combination of random adds, mostly Twitter & Tumblr celebrities and people I don’t remember meeting at gigs.

Why do I spend so much time on Twitter? THESE.

1. It makes me feel good. Kung badtrip na badtrip ako or kapag wala lang magawa, buksan ko lang ang Twitter ko at magbasa ng mga tweets. Sure yun na nakakawala ng badtrip. Agad-agad. Sobra. Tested and proven. If someone follows me or retweet my tweet (huwat?), kinikilig ako. To the bones. And I’m flirt like that.  J

2. I can be as tsismoso as possible. I don’t usually eavesdrop in conversations. Pero sa Twitter, iba. Ume-epal ako sa mga usapan. But I don’t want people to call me “tsismoso”. I prefer to be called  an “investigative reporter”. One of my favorite things about being tsismoso is trying to look like I’m NOT tsismoso. I mean, if I’m I’m going to be nosey, I want to at least be clever about it. 

3. It`s a PR thing. Twitter drives traffic to my blog so I’m sobrang grateful to that cute little birdie. In fact, two of my new blog readers found my blog through Twitter. Fucken’ sweet! But no, I don’t use Twitter just to promote stuffs. 

4. Sangkatutak ang cute (katulad ko). That’s the main reason why I created a Twitter account. There’s an old saying that goes like this, “birds of the same feather are the same birds – este, flocks together”. HAHAHA. ‘Chos! Pero talaga namang nakaka-inspire magpasikat kapag may cuteness kang ka-tweet. Sometimes, nakaka-distract nga lang. Ang shit! 

5. There’s a high chance na sumikat ako. As much as other people think that I’m talented, the only thing I know is that I am not. Mukha lang talaga akong talented pero hindi. Nakakadaya lang ang good looks ko. Ansabe? But as of now, medyo malayo pa ang pagsikat ko. Madami pa akong kakaining kanin. But I’m not losing hope. I believe in the power of my dreams. ‘Cos “dream is a hope that never sleeps”. PUNYEEETANG MUSHHY!


The only thing I don’t like about Twitter is its 140 characters maximum limit. It’s such a challenge. Brevity is not my thing, you know. When I'm engaged to talk, I talk a lot. I'm a certified talking machine.

SHAMELESS PLUG IN.

Follow me. 

Stalk me.

Love me. 

It’s @hoobtheawesome baby! Don’t worry, I don’t do cyber bullying. So you’re pretty safe with me.

Living Inside A Pressure Cooker

I don’t know how to entitle this piece so it ended up as that. ‘Less you find “My Monster Mom” a more fitting title. Well, I don’t.

I’ve been down the past four months because I felt like I had no specific directions in my life. I felt that I’m one of those 20 years old whose clocks were ticking. As much as my family perceived that I know what I want to do in life, the only clear thing to me now is that I’m clueless.

It also doesn’t help that I’m currently staying with Mom. As odd as it may sound but sometimes I feel that our house is this huge pressure cooker with mom being the regulator. And me? The chicken that is being roasted. Don’t get me wrong. I love my mom so much and everybody, even our dogs, can attest to that. She’s wonderful. She loves us so much and do her best. It’s just that my mom is a total nagger (and this is where I disintegrate and crumble for calling my mom a nagger). Every time she nags, it puts pressure on me to do something. I’m like “I need to do this ‘cos Mom wants me to do this”, sensing that if I resist, I will hurt her feelings. The problem is it doesn’t give me much fulfillment. Yeah I know, as her son I have the obligation to please her but I also have the right and responsibility to make decisions on my own.

She always find something negative to comment on whether it be from couple of years ago and worse, something that didn’t even occurred. There’s so much to say about me I know – my eternal laziness, my messy room, my things all over the living room. But when she starts to talk and elaborate about it, oh forget it. Every time I do something wrong, she’ll scold and nag me for it so badly like I never did good in my entire life. And she’s going to recall that over and over and over again. What’s pissing me off is that she does not listen to my protest. If I’d speak out, there will be a big blow-out for sure. So now when she nags at me, I just put my mental mute button on (Shh. That’s a secret.). Was I being too arrogant and disrespectful for not listening to what Mom has to say? I am actually open to hearing opposing sides as long as that side has valid reasons which my Mom quite evidently doesn’t have.

On blogging. My Mom knows I have a blog. Actually, the whole family knows. She even commented when I published (the highly-controversial) “Dear Mr. President” which pushed me to do a little editing so all this time I thought she’s cool with this whole blogging thing. But I was wrong. The last time we had an argument, she blurted out, “Ano ba ang nakukuha mo sa pagba-blog? Ang layo naman niyan sa kinuha mong degree. Kalandian lang yan”. She doesn’t know how much pain that few words caused me. It hurts so much. It’s like she can’t fully understand that blogging makes me happy. If my younger sister prays for Blahniks at night, I pray for more blog views and comments. Seriously and please refrain yourself from laughing.

No matter what, I wouldn’t trade my mom for anybody else. I love her so much for the life and love she gave me. One thing I learned from this: Be MORE careful of my words. I realized that I need to weigh down my words and consider their impacts on others.

…

The other week, she was nagging about my sister’s excessive use of her cellphone. She was nagging and nagging and nagging. I increased the volume of the television to level with her voice. When all of a sudden, she turned to me and said: “Ikaw naman, ano ang balak mong gawin sa buhay mo”?

I’ve contemplated on it for days. Tomorrow I’ll tell her my decision.

Papasok na lang po ako sa showbiz. J

Shameless plug-in again. ^

# ItsMoreFun: It's not who made it first, it's who made it better

When I first saw the new tourism brand, It’s More Fun In The Philippines, I was like “wow, that’s funny!”. After a year of research, the DOT boys can only came up with this? I was totally dismayed. It seemed too plain, too lame and too generic - at least, until I saw the promotional photos, the leaked video, the website and read the future plans of Mr. Secretary. It may not be as brilliant as “Wow Philippines” but it’s not cringe-worthy. Being too generic could actually work out in our advantage if done right.

Then someone released the bomb: a Swiss poster using the same tagline, well, “It’s More Fun In Switzerland”. As expected, passed on by tweets on Twitter and statuses on Facebook, the old Swiss poster suddenly became the toast of town. Angry, flabbergasted netizens flooded every social networking site there is. I read some comments that they find this mediocre; some say a copy cat. But I think some people (read: haters) overreacted over that old Swiss ad. Seriously, I don’t think there’s need for us to make a big fuss out of it.

First off, like what I said, the line “it’s more fun in” is too generic. Anyone can use it. So it’s not surprising if it may have been used before. And it was.

Second, the Swiss poster is not even a campaign; it’s just for an advertisement. And anyone who went to school knows the difference between the two. It’s not that hard, right?

And my gosh, the ad was used in the freakin’ 1950s. That’s more than half-a-century ago for crying out loud! Seriously, who remembers that one? I doubt that the Swiss knows that they used that before.

I don’t think it’s plagiarism. I think it’s a mere coincidence that really means nothing in the end. Some stupid people just wanted to find holes in it. They search deep into details that are not significant and unnecessary. Some even came up with a brilliant idea: drop the 5.6 million-worth brand. *start of rant* Seriously people? Are we gonna spend the six years of this administration trying to come up with the most brilliant tourism brand? Why not we just let this one go so that the DOT can start with the campaign? *end of rant* Seriously the intellect of some of these people is totally questionable.

Some also suggested to just revive the old “WOW Philippines”. In my opinion, we shouldn’t. Though I admit that it’s the more creative slogan with all that wow acronym stuffs, the line seems to be a jargon to some foreigners. “The Philippines went with WOW Philippines which said absolutely nothing about their country. WOW WHAT? A few more words won’t hurt. Wow naman pare. Wow talaga. LOL. I’m almost pretty sure the one who came up with it was holding a bong! The old Pearl of the Orient is one of the best I have ever heard.” ~ Pisanu, Thai-Belgian blogger (bisean.blogspot.com). Besides, the campaign was poorly executed. I barely saw its ad spots on the television unlike the “Amazing” or the “Truly Asia” ads that were being advertised every 5 minutes and 36 seconds. And besides, the former website makes me wince.

Hell, enough with the bad vibes. I told you that I wasn't satisfied with it at first but slowly fell in love with it as I walked through the possibilities and here are the reasons why.

7 reasons why I think the new brand and the campaign could work out

1. With billions of words tossed every minute of every day, I’m glad they chose “It’s More Fun In the Philippines”. The idea of making a tagline is pretty brilliant. It’s what will make us stand out. It is not as conservative as what you might prefer but it does set a different tone than existing slogans. So thumbs up DOT.

2. The slogan itself is a good punch line. It can be an actual part of a conversation. It comes out naturally, not forced. And what I also love is how I can use a bunch of lines as a segue into the slogan. I’m just wary that some stupid people may end up using it to a negative or sarcastic effect.

3. And the banig-inspired logo? Ah, I can’t think of a more perfect logo. I really don’t mind if the country is in color yellow. It’s well designed and not a pain the eyes. It gave the whole look a different effect on the viewer. Again, a breath of fresh air.

4. The website is also commendable. It gave me a festive-vibe. I dunno, maybe because of the banderitas and all which I think totally captures the feel of our country. I can’t wait for it to be officially launched. Excited much. I hope they would provide more-specific information about our attractions like tour packages, hotel accommodations, convenience of transportation and stuffs. Online reservations would be a plus, too.

5. What I personally love about the new campaign is that it encourages people to be part of the whole campaign. It’s a silly but a brilliant idea. Personally, I had fun tweeting about it. I can extend it anyway I want. Yes, we may not have the tourism budgets of the Thais, Singaporeans or Malaysians but we have Twitter and Facebook users – tons and tons of it.

6. Mr. Secretary himself. I love the way he defended his work, no “yung satin mas makulay, may tarsier at may sun” bs. It shows maturity. This only happens when you have competent people in the government and not a bunch of air-heads. Hear that President? And he has a twitter account, yay!

7. And if you people don’t know, there's such thing as “truth in advertising”. The line maybe simple but it’s honest and direct to the point. No bs or whatsoever. Overly pessimistic netizens won’t succeed for the simple reason that the line is so real, it’s so us. I, and every Filipinos around the world, knows that “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” so don’t argue.

I think this is worth giving a try. Of course, it takes much more than a catchy slogan to bring tourists to our shores but I think if the slogan is the start, then this is a great start. I’m really excited for the international launch in April. I can’t wait for the promotional vid to be released. (For the record, I love “Forever Young” and “If you’ve waiting, you’ve been waiting for long” ads, both from NZ.) I hope that they can come up with a song that can go viral. And if “It’s More Fun In The Philippines” is shouted by a celeb at the end of a highly-stylized commercial, all the better!

Give the new slogan a rating: (+/-)

A. I can’t think of a better slogan. Two thumbs up DOT!
B. It’s million times better than the previous attempt but still WOW Philippines is the bomb.
C. Nice try guys. Back to the drawing board.
D. WTF, Pilipinas Kay Ganda for the win!
E. Fuck you DOT! Bow.

Shameless plug-in. :)

STOP THE HATE. GIVE THEM A BREAK.

It’s been a week since that gruesome shooting incident happened inside a mall (refresher course: a 13 year-old boy shoots alleged boyfriend and then shoot himself). It was all over the news. Upon hearing it on television, I became sad. Just because of a crazy little thing called love, two young people lost their lives. Ang sayang lang!

...

I’m surprised that “someone” actually created a fan page dedicated to Jake - the 13-year-old young man. I don't have any idea on what's the real intention of the page creator but I think the page will do more harm than good. Thought there’s a lot of people who expressed their genuine concerns and deepest condolences to the families, there are also a number of overly self-righteous Filipinos who out rightly judged and criticized the two young men without even knowing the whole story. Look, I am not defending Jake for what he has done. Nor I’m tolerating their relationship considering their age but c’mon can we at least give some respect to the souls of these young men and their families.

Some also brought up their sexuality – a nice sample of classic discrimination. NEWS FLASH: This incident can happen to any heterosexual couples out there. All along, I thought that sexual preference discrimination has subsided in the Philippines but it seems that I am wrong.

People might insist these as their own claim of freedom of speech – there’s no problem with that. In a democracy, everyone is free to express his opinion. But not all opinions are intended to help. Some, let’s just say, aimed to achieve more sinister results.

...

I had a “heated” argument the other day. I reacted to one of the posts (pictured above) of the page I’m subscribing to. I just want people to be more sensitive of the feelings of others. It is just an opinion, as good as anyone’s, but unfortunately it was given more credence than it should.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with finding happiness amidst tragedies. Nor do I have anything against the administrator (after all, why should I, I don’t even know him personally) but I must argue that what he posted is way-out-of-the-line and indeed, inappropriate.

And just because I’m the only one who think that the joke didn’t make a lick of sense nor was it a good one I am automatically “close-minded”? Wow. With all due respect to him, how can he assert that I am “close-minded” if he himself just brushed my comment off without even bothering to look where I’m coming from.

*start of rant* Dude, only those who are shallow will use language as a counter argument. You’re at a loss so instead of providing an intelligent counter argument to debunk what I have said, you shoot the messenger. You are not forced to agree with it, you’re free to offer your own “views” but where is it? *end of rant*

...

I know that the screen caps are just a very few out of a lot of FBs and tweets re: the shooting incident but I don't need to see the rest to know that there are still people who are just plain irresponsible and insensitive. Can we be responsible posters for once, pretty freakin' please?

Also, let us stop this “hate” thing against the third sex. In the eyes of God, everyone is equal and everyone deserves to be love.

To Jake and Jonathan, you will surely be missed.