Geek Chorus Convenes on Friday June 1 2007
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 31st, 2007The Geek Chorus will be having its first general assembly this Friday, June 1 2007, 7:00PM at mag:net cafe, Bonifacio High Street. As this will be the first geeks of the round table meet up, salient points of geekdom shall be discussed such as the discourse of action to be taken in the next several weeks until the culmination of the first year anniversary, namely the construction of a working siege weapon.
If you are interested in helping out in the activities listed, do come to this meeting.
Movie Review: Mr. Bean’s Holiday
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 30th, 2007
I’d like to invite everyone to come and watch Mr. Bean’s Holiday. It premieres today, May 30 2007 in the Philippines.
I was able to catch the first show of Mr. Bean’s Holiday. As I rarely do movie reviews, I’d like to mention that my motivations for doing so involve a fanatical attachment to Mr. Bean’s character as well as my “uncanny resemblance” to this stage persona when I feel like it.
This is perhaps one of the best examples of well-put product placements. Nokia is prevalent throughout the film as Bean and Stepan (Max Baldry) dial several numbers at three key points in the film with many people around the world answering. The signature Nokia ring tones are promiscuous. Bean also holds with him a Nokia 7370 (at least that is what it looks like). At one point in the film, Bean points to Sabine’s (Emma du Caunes) car tires and says in his signature voice the brand, “Dunlop.” Not to mention, throughout the movie, Bean carries with him a digital video recorder (I think its a Sony, but I could be wrong).
For those expecting a funnier and more engaging Bean compared to his first movie, you may be slightly disappointed. The movie takes the form of a road trip as Rowan Atkinson’s character, Mr. Bean, wins a vacation trip to the beach in Cannes. He encounters several adventures along the way and wrecks havoc to a movie set, allegedly kidnaps a a Cannes film festival critic and crosses with director Carson Clay, who is played by the Green Goblin himself, Willem Dafoe. Because Bean is constantly on the move, you do not feel the same character development which was very prevalent in the first movie where he is mistaken for a museum curator and lives with an American family. The pranks, slapstick, and embarrassments that make you cringe and laugh in every Bean movie aren’t as prevalent here as the first. But don’t get me wrong, it is still worth the laughs.
Migs Paraz has questions. I have answers.
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 29th, 2007Here is a short interview from Migs Paraz. This is a tagged post from him. If you want me to send you my set of five interview questions, just leave a comment expressing your interest.
About the Mac. I’m having Mac Envy. Give me a good reason not to get a Mac. OS X’s Safari doesn’t render post quicktags in the WordPress dashboard. You can install Windows and it will become prone to viruses.
About blogging. It’s your advocacy. What’s the strangest experience that blogging has brought you? A number of companies “monitor” my blog. When I go to press events, I feel a cold shudder running down my spine as I write “Jayvee from A Bugged Life.” It’s all good really. It is a little disconcerting but at the same time flattering to be on the phone with a PR agency and the first thing they say is “hey we were just with [name of client here] and they said they read your blog.” The strangest experience is when people find out my online persona is cooler than my real life 
About your cellphone blog: what’s the favorite cellphone you’ve owned? I never really had a favorite. I guess with all the phones I’ve owned, they each had a special place in my heart with different strengths and weaknesses. I guess I treat them all like my children – I did my best with all of them. Contrary to what people think, although I’m a geek, I only change phones once every two years as SMART gives away a free phone depending on your retention plan. No questions asked.
About new media. Which media mogul (past or present) would you like to trade places with? Chris Anderson, editor in chief of WIRED and author of The Long Tail. I’ve learned to put up a virtual board of directors to help run my life. Borrowing principles and attitudes from different people in my preferred industry helps me keep a smiling face, a positive outlook and one hand in my pocket. Chris is a brilliant editor, having steered WIRED to become something like the NatGeo of tech. And that Long Tail book. Oh don’t get me started on that. I can go on and on.
About people. Who’s the most interesting blog celebrity you’re met or communicated with online? There are so many, but Darren Rowse of Problogger leaves a good impression on me. My relationship with Darren has many levels. First, I was a fan of his blog ever since 2006. Second, he is technically my boss at b5media and I sometimes ping him on Skype to clarify work-related stuff. But among all these times, Darren has what I like calling a “unity of life” where how he is on his blog is exactly the same way he is in chat, in his internal podcasts and in the forums. It’s something I admire because it spells a genuine and sincere character.
Juned asked to be tagged. This is my interview with him. Riz Sanchez also answered my questions to her dismay! My interview questions are very thought provoking.
Here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Why Magazines are still out there
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 29th, 2007
It is no secret that new media is not so slowly taking a bigger role in viral marketing efforts as well as being included in the business models of publishing companies. There is usually the “online version” of a publication that contains stuff that magazines cannot achieve such as running commentaries, reader to editorial conversations, and daily news updates.
But given all this, magazines are still out there – and for good reason too! (read: not just for your pet to poop on)
Not everything can be read on a blog. You won’t print out a blog entry to show your friends the latest camera or cellphone in the market. You’d show them the magazine or product catalog. In the same light, it is much easier to appreciate a two page spread or specially executed pages (triple folds or advertorial pop-ups with music) from the perspective of a print publication.
To read a blog, you need a computer. Or a PDA with a feed reader. You won’t really bring your laptop with wireless connection to the throne either (because if you do, then you’re really geeky and gross).
Quality Content. This is perhaps the main differentiator, at least for the more established titles. Blogs don’t require an editorial hierarchy. Magazines do. It helps ensure quality control, as well as making resources available to bag that next big story.
Like it or not, we’re still in some sort of bubble. Not everyone reads blogs or looks at the Internet to find pertinent information. They still resort to television, radio and print. I feel that for the entire trimedia to go fully digital, businesses have to collapse and generations should pass before any such revolution will occur.
There are some class A titles better suited for print. Great titles such as Esquire, GQ, and Tattler find some sort of comfort zone by being seen on the news stand and not purely online. It’s meant to be read, and maybe even read in public. It’s a status thing I guess.
Image taken from the Esquire Cover Gallery
On posting press releases on your blog
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 28th, 2007Nope. You aren’t required to write about the media events you go to. There was no obligation to in the first place, but of course it would be nice if you did. I guess in traditional publishing, writing an article or including a press release would have more to do with having real estate space for that sort of thing or it also would have to do with “sucking up” to a client (the sad case in Philippine media) …
In fact, this “non requirement” was reinforced with insights from a publicist friend who finds it an embarrassing practice to follow up TV, radio, and print media companies because it sounds too much like a hard sell, and on a personal level, downright annoying to the editorial team. You end up sounding like a wet market vendor or a stock broker at his game (not that I have anything against stock brokers or vendors). Going this far may even destroy sincere relationships, as they may have been made under false pretenses.
I like writing about the events I attend because it helps in the long tail end of things. Certain keywords are added to my site which I otherwise would not even have if I didn’t go to the event. Since blogs have unlimited real estate anyway and the cost of one post is really more about time spent writing, I say go and write about that fantastic event you went to.
Posting a block quoted press release isn’t the nicest of things to do though. It shows, a least for me, that the event wasn’t so great as it took someone else’s copywriting skills to create a canned writeup of the event. Press releases are tools for information and quality control, especially in print. But this is a blog, and being so, a free-er environment to express your thoughts about events that you attended.
How long does it take you to compose a weekend post?
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 27th, 2007For this particular weekend post, it took me roughly three hours. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with wine, cheese and chocolates, having attended some cultural appreciation classes at Enderun Colleges in Ortigas (truffle making and chocolate centerpiece styling demo with Valrhona chocolates) as well as attending a sushi rolling class with Noemi, Annalyn and Rache, Anton’s wife.
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John Rambo: Attacking Soon
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 25th, 2007John Rambo goes to Burma. Stallone wraps up his movie career. I continue blogging. 
A Change of Email Address and an iRant
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 25th, 2007This is just a friendly note that for those who have been trying to email me at my .Mac account email address, you will no longer get replies from there as I have decided not to renew it. See my about page if you want to contact me.
If its one thing I do hate about Apple. its the fact that they charge a steep price for a perk that doesn’t even deliver much in terms of value for features. They’re stuck in the old days (late 90′s) where not everyone could put up their own blog for free, buy your own domain and email address, share photos online, backup files, or establish a file sharing system. I can think of dozens of free Web 2.0 services today that outmatch purchasing a .Mac account, and costing you so much less too.
So the switch from a .Mac to a Dreamhost account made perfect sense. I’m paying almost the same yearly price for 160GB versus a measly 512MB of storage and getting over 1TB of bandwidth. I can install all the blogs and forums I want and create unlimited email accounts. The need came when I reached my fourth podcast episode. I felt that I would be needing a lot more space to host my online show, The BuggedCast and half a gig worth of space wouldn’t hack it in the long run.
So adieu, .Mac. It was a fun one year, but I’ve moved on to other things. My priorities have changed, but really, at the end of the day, its not you. It’s me.
Alternate Night Outs: SPIT Therapy
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 24th, 2007
As you know, this personal blog talks mostly about my geeky adventures between my work in traditional and new media. Today I’d like to concentrate a bit more on the “geeky adventures” part. I’ve been part of an informal, silent, and non-violent movement that helps people discover night life outside Greenbelt. Not that I have anything against it, but sometimes, clubbing and malling can have a high diminishing returns rate.
If you want something “different” to do on a Tuesday or Thursday night, you could go try SPITting. Yep, SPIT. Silly People’s Improv Theater. The podcast on their site doesn’t do the show justice actually. You should come and leave your inhibitions out the door and enjoy a good time. If you’re a fan of Drew Carey’s Whose Line is it Anyway, then this is a good gauge of what you can expect in every episode of SPIT. For theater and art geeks (and anyone else) who can appreciate a fun laugh!
The troop is led by Gabe Mercado, who is also one of the guys behind Geek Chorus. Other members include Asia Agcaoili, Missy, Aryn, Bibay, Joel and the rest of the gang!
Schedule:
Tuesdays 9:00 PM at the new mag:net at Bonifacio High Street (behind the Nike Outlet Store)
Thursdays 9:00 PM at mag:net Katipunan
P200.00 gets you in with a free drink. It’s so worth it!
Mac App: iStumbler = W00t Sniffer
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 22nd, 2007I took the advice of Bernie and downloaded iStumbler, a wireless sniffer for the Mac OS X.
As you can see from the screen shot, the app has a much more sensitive “nose” being able to sniff hot spots way further than the built in wireless detector of the MacBook. Well, no surprise really. This is precisely the reason why iStumbler and other wireless sniffers have their demand on the virtual shelves.
Best of all, it is free!
Blog and Soul Event tomorrow
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 21st, 2007As of 8:08 PM Monday, the Blog and Soul Movement has space for six more bloggers for the Nike event tomorrow. Nike has excitedly extended the invitation to a total of ten bloggers from five.
Hi there! Do come and join us tomorrow as we launch our partnership and new ad campaign for Nike-Team Pilipinas! =) We will not only give you all one hell of a good time but we will also be giving away limited number of Nike-Team Pilipinas dog tags for our blogger friends! =)
