A Kape Isla Invitation

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 3rd, 2007

Props to the owners of Kape Isla, that little coffee shop at the entrance of Serendra, right across Market! Market! There’s more to the quaint coffee shop than meets the eye. In fact, some people may think that the establishment is a bit out of place compared to the other restaurants in the area. Truth be told, Kape Isla is a “coffee museum” that is supported by the Philippine Coffee Board. Yes, it is an NGO.

Kape Isla is the Philippine Coffee Board’s cooperative marketing program. The Board issues the Kape Isla name as a national umbrella label for coffee to signify that a coffee product uses Philippine-grown coffee beans. The label is used in tandem with existing brand names and blend trademarks as a complimenting label to signify its Philippine origin.

The marketing and events of the establishment is being handled by Rock Ed Philippines and Gang Badoy. I’m helping out as well promote the establishment as a truly Filipino coffee shop that’s geek friendly as well. The coffee is affordable, strong and can be accompanied with free wireless Internet (Serendra itself also has free WiFi but Kape Isla is a good alternative if you want to spend a few hours working on something on your laptop).

Blog and Soul will be doing a small event at Kape Isla sometime during the latter part of the month.

There’s a rumor that the Bayanihan Blog Network might be doing their official launch there very soon

Thanks for the Greetings!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 2nd, 2007

Surprisingly, a lot of people greeted before November 3. I even got an advanced birthday cake from a good friend. I’ll be spending my birthday somewhere in Jakarta, Indonesia for work related matters till the 7th (I made sure I would be back by the 7th, as Apple launches Leopard in the PH on the 8th). Nope, this trip has nothing to do with blogs and such. It’s enough to say that I’m helping a multinational company enter the Philippines. It’s really just some copywriting here and there. I’ll be moving about Indonesia and Malaysia for the next seven days.

And I’ll be alone for my birthday tomorrow *sniff*

Our First Certificate of Recognition!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 26th, 2007

Juned: It was fun

Jayvee: Is that the correct word?

Juned: It was fulfilling!

We talked about blogs, blogging, and using blogs as a teaching instrument in lesson plans. According to the teachers, high school students are very familiar with Friendster blogs as their means of self expression. Why not channel this enthusiasm into a learning tool in the classroom? The teachers were very receptive and although the session was short, we’re working on phase two of our school penetration program. We’ll be working with the top journalism students of Lagro National High School and help them use blogs in a number of class projects. The possibilities are numerous. [Blog and Soul]

Thank you to Arpee and Juned for working on this project. Do you want to volunteer your time to talk about blogs to students? Click here.

Update 3: Glorietta ‘Bombing’ photos taken by INQUIRER.net from bloggers

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 19th, 2007

More than the INQUIRER breaking news page, “Disney” has been getting a lot of traffic over at his Multiply site for the photos he took of the bombing this morning at the Ayala Glorietta malls. I was actually nearby when this happened, attending a press conference for the new line of SHARP TV’s with Yuga. After leaving the Shangri-la, I saw crowds of people making an exodus towards the bus stops.

I decided to walk and wait the traffic out. I was also carrying this with me and silly, should have taken pictures too.

According to “Disney”,

Yup nasa parking ako nito pero when it happened I was like 40m away lang inside the mall….I have to walk around outside glorietta just to go back to park square 2. Yung walkway from G2 to Park Square 2 dapat yung daan ko (Yes I was at the parking lot, but about 40 meters away when it happened inside the mall. I had to walk outside Glorietta to get back to Park Square 2. I was supposed to take the walkway from the G2 to PS2.)

Tragic day for the country today. I hope this doesn’t scare investors off. Truth is, stuff like this DOESN’T HAPPEN ANYMORE.
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Thought: The impact of Playboy Philippines to the publishing industry

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 19th, 2007

EDIT: Review of first issue here.

EDIT: Read today in the Philippine Start that Playboy Philippines will be launched on April 2 2008 at the Sofitel. The editor in chief is Beting Laygo Dolor. There will be no nudity as being daring is not a mark of success. Playboy Philippines will contain articles in good taste written by at least 5 Palanca award winners and will be very tasteful.

Though I am not updated with the rumor mill on this development, it seems that Playboy Philippines will allegedly make its way to local shores as the buzz in the industry states late this year.

Rumor or not, the scenario puts forward a lot of questions that demands a lot of answers. First, will the overused argument of “free speech” rule over the CBCP? Second, what will happen to leading men’s titles such as FHM, Maxim and UNO? Will that “raise the bar” for explicit nudity in these magazines too? Third, what exactly will Playboy Philippines have to offer? If it is going to be a “toned down” version of what Playboy is everywhere else in the world, then what’s the point of bringing in the franchise?

Was Mark Verzo correct after all when he said that Filipino males are indeed sex addicts?

Biblioteca Fernandez and Book Stores

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 17th, 2007

That’s the library on the second floor of my home, where I spent 1/3 of my childhood waking hours (the other 1/3 of my 80′s was spent in front of the television and the remaining pie was dedicated to toys). Afternoons and weekends were usually spent getting lost in the piles of National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, and original copies of the very first Marvel and DC comics which my dad hard bound.

As I grew into my teens, the library was reduced to a fleeting memory and the books gathered dust at the same rate that the newly opened mall in Alabang gathered traffic. I opened the encyclopedia less, and opened my email more. Nonetheless, libraries still fascinate me: Whether it be the rustic smell of a leather bound tome, the whispering voices that provide an ambiance or the iconic librarian that I was attuned to as a child.

I guess the modern day library would be the “reinvented” book store – I can sit and finish a book in one session if I have to.

Which leads me to why I like events that are held in bookstores. If you have the time, do drop by the WeeWillDoodle event this Friday at Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street. And grab a moleskine while you’re at it.

One month to go …

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 17th, 2007

Scary. Exciting. Girl.

Will I Be Able To Take This–?!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at July 21st, 2007

So the last book of Harry Potter saga comes out today. I don’t think I’ll be able to stand trying to avoid the spoiler parade from all over the place. Maybe I should just lock myself up and finish the book in one sitting.

The problem with the household is that all of us here are readers. In the past Harry Potter reading experiences, we have three book marks present on every Harry Potter book and there has always been a three-way tug of war and spoiler alerts during dinner conversations.

I’m hoping to read the PDF version instead (some of my friends have finished the book way before release thanks to this) so that I get to have one book all to myself. It’s supposedly really fantastic.

Do You Have a Remarkable “Taste Asia” Networking Plan?

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 27th, 2007

On Tuesday, roughly five days from now, there will be a huge blogger event at Taste Asia. Over a hundred and fifty bloggers will be there in attendance. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to network with other bloggers? Jeremy Wright of Ensight gave some good advice several months ago as he gave away b5media calling cards that had the name of the event listed onto the card apart from his other information. This helps other people recall where they met you just by looking at the card.

We might be able to set up an open mic session where anyone can just come up and play guitar. I heard Punzi is going to bring his brass and Lauren will be taking her Squire gee-tar too.

All in all, there will be a truck-load of opportunities for bloggers to get to know other bloggers. Wouldn’t it be remarkable if you did one thing to blow all 150 bloggers away?

The Future is in Your Blog

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 22nd, 2007

No that’s not my son. He belongs to Anton

I wonder how, in 20 years time, our children will belong to that same digital age we belong to. I guess its too early to preempt such a thing, in the same way that Bill Gates declared that you only need 640KB of RAM back then. But this is the age of information, and since the late 90′s to beyond, our online lives are chronicled and archived by the search engines into the vast series of tubes known as the Internet.

I wonder how our kids will react when they read our personal blogs, browse our Flickr pages and get into the nitty gritty dailies of their parents’ lives – the first few dates chronicled on blogs, the friends and colleagues they dealt with (our kids would have to contact “Uncle Jim” through their father’s Facebook page, listed as a business contact “worked together” back in 2007).

You know you’re a Web 2.0 baby when your parents decide to give you unique Google-able names. No more “John Smith” or “Pedro Santos.” I already have a formula: You’d probably get a more unique permutation of your first name as your family name gets more and more common.

I want a Bugaboo for the geek to come

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 4th, 2007

Colorful things always pulled me into stores. I remember a few weeks back i was walking along the Bonifacio High Street strip and caught sight of a set of Bugaboo Strollers being displayed by the window of Hobbes.
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