Latest Blog Posts

My Dive Gear

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 16th, 2011

So Lilliane started this so I decided to follow with my own list of dive gear. I’ve divided the list into skin diving gear, SCUBA gear and underwater camera gear.

Skin Diving Gear

Black SCUBAPRO Spectra Mask

The current mask I’m using now. I like the black skirts instead of transparent ones because it gives less distractions when taking photos. This mask was a gift to me by Chie!
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So will you buy Crocs after they’ve reinvented themselves?

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 30th, 2009

About three years ago I bought my first pair of Crocs. It’s akin to the first time you experience anything in your pubescent life — and then grow up to realize that what you did was a bit overrated.

So despite being comfortable, the lot were in agreement that the “awkward” fashion sense outweighed the actual comfort. So what did Crocs do? They removed the holes and kept the sole. Capitalize on what makes your product good, and mitigate the weakness — holes. Note that they also kept the bright colors, at least in most designs that made Crocs stand out as well.

One thing regarding brand authenticity though — check out the Tideline Canvas: Real Crocs, or fake Sanuks?

Here are some of the new pairs of Crocs available TODAY in the Philippines:
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One skin care product all men should consider using

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 22nd, 2008

[Off topic]

Happy weekend!

There are such rare occasions when I get invited – not directly, but as a date to beauty events. Such is life, and the last “beauty event” I attended was the new Shu Uemura store launch at The Powerplant Mall in Rockwell. I didn’t care much for the make up and was more busy gallyvanting with Daniel Tan in between his shoots. I’m not too comfortable with the crowd in lifestyle events – not because I dislike the general atmosphere, but because I don’t know too many people. Tech press conferences are very different in tone, pacing and atmosphere from the lifestyle ones.

I did have a take home though – a loot bag from Shu Uemura. I gave all of it to my mom except for this one sampler bottle of Skin Purifier, High Performance Cleansing Oil you see above. Wow. After the Swiper demonstrated to myself and the Beautynomist how it is a very effective make up removal, facial cleansing, and diluting oil, I was urged to try it out for a few days. OK what did I have to lose right? I’ve never really used a “beauty product” out of due diligence, and I wouldn’t usually care less. But yeah, sounding like a girl from off a beauty commercial, “my face feels so much softer and smoother.” :)

And it’s a powerhouse for make up removal. I was part of this viral campaign for Axe and having had a ton of make up on, I removed it the fastest with this one (note: I’ve been in theater and had to wear stage make up for performances and it was always so hard to remove!).

I did a lot more research on Shu Uemura’s cleansing olls and yeah, apparently they’re really top notch, if you can afford them . The bottles are expensive – at P1,7xx.00 for the small one and P4,xxx.00 for the huge economy sized one.

To the geeks – if you spend a lot of time in front of the computer, this is your saving grace.

———

Fast forward. Reading this post now after taking a break makes me wonder why I wrote it in the first place. I guess it’s one of those things you just have to share when you make small discoveries which are so off from your niche. Hehe. Please don’t judge me.

Let my flawless face be the judge. Bwahaha! Can’t resist. :P

[/Off topic]



Watchmen the Movie: Criticizing the Character Costumes

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 30th, 2008

There’s really no need to introduce Watchmen. For any fan of comics, Alan Moore’s creation is coming to the big screen in 2009. Watchmen symbolized the pinnacle of graphic novels and turned the tide for a comic book series to actually win a Hugo Award and a Time Magazine 2005 “the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.”

So the behind the scenes Flickr page is up and we have some character pegs of the costumes for Ozymandias, Rorschack, The Comedian, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre. I do want you to decide for yourself but as a fan of Moore’s original work, don’t the costumes look a bit too bad ass? Part of why I loved Watchmen was how crude and realistic everything looked. Like okay – in the original, Nite Owl looked like he was going to fall over his huge ass armored cape (and looked rather silly with the utility glasses) while Ozymandias was a perfect replica of Alexander the Great. In these pegs, Nite Owl’s costume looks too kick ass like Batman’s while Ozymandias is screaming emo.

I kinda like The Comedian’s leather armor get up (played by 300′s Leonidas!) though he’s reminding me more and more of The Punisher. I guess Rorschack’s costume is the safest – because you can’t really be too creative with an ink-blot mask and a trench coat.

Too bad ass? Or it’s just a realistic way to keep up with the times? Would love to hear your thoughts on how this novel-to-film adaptation will come to life and speculation is all we have.

On the flipside, we have another set of Watchmen character pegs you may also enjoy. :)



New Media is all about conversation. Spam NEVER talks back.

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 13th, 2008

I recommend Stowe Boyd’s post on PR Spam. In the Philippine context, what he’s saying is that PR practitioners should engage bloggers and journalists through social tools like Twitter or Facebook, and not through the email inbox. That way, it looks more like an invitation to join in on the conversation, with our time well spent in listening to a pitch. Stowe wants PR practitioners to stop spamming inboxes:
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The Perils of Being a Freelance Writer in the Philippines

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 11th, 2007

This morning, “Big Brian” Ligsay made me listen to a radio drama he read titled Kawatanan ng Rentas Internas which is the sad yet humorous reality of applying for a TIN or tax number at the Bureau of Internal Revenue in this developing country I’ve come to love. Now that I look back into my professional life, I’m glad that I jump started my career in a reputable corporation so as not having any problems acquiring my TIN and not being subject for questioning for my credit card application. Personal advice — work for a company first to get your act together, then quit your job to become an entrepreneur.

Paano pala kung kailangan mo ng lisensya para magsulat? Isang physical manifestation ng concept ng poetic license? Kung sa drivers license may mga restrictions tulad ng “vehicle – up to 4500 kg GVW” [...] paano kaya yung sa poetic license? (1) haiku and short essays only (2) essays up to 500 words and free verse up to 5 stanzas (3) essays above 500 words and free verse above 5 stazas (4) critical essays, short fiction, poetry, etc.”

[What if you needed a license to write? A physical manifestation of the concept of "poetic license?" If in the driver's license you have restrictions such as ...]

You can listen to this well read radio drama. The show is entirely in Taglish, an amalgamation of English and our local language Filipino. Highly recommended for us freelancers!



Naked Meme: What’s on your iPod?

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 9th, 2007

A few chapters through The Perfect Thing, it was revealed that one of the factors that made th iPod a huge success was the feature that it could hold your entire library of music. Looking into one’s iPod was almost like baring that person’s soul as taste in music revealed a lot about a person. You’re naked.

So what’s on YOUR music player? It need not necessarily be an iPod that you own, or heck it may not even be a portable music player. Grab your iTunes or equivalent desktop music player and follow these instructions:
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Code Monkey Unplugged Lyrics Chords and Tabs

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 3rd, 2007

Songwriter Jonathan Coulton dedicates this song to anyone who has served as a code monkey in a software corporation. The song is great stuff but what really struck a chord was when he performed an unplugged version that turned the entire thing into a ballad.

So yeah it struck a chord, so I decided to transcribe bits and pieces of the song into tabs for all your guitar folks to try out. For reference, this is the plugged in version of the song and this is the unplugged version. He also has a YouTube video up for the acoustic version of Code Monkey.

Code Monkey Tabs
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My Facebook Behavior Findings

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 27th, 2007

Here are some personal observations of my FaceBook habits. Are yours similar or completely different?

  • Deleting and ignoring apps can be a tedious process. Do you add every application that’s sent to you? The process is so tiring, it can be similar to writing off an entire cheque book or signing papers.
  • Some apps get old quickly. Some don’t. I’ve deleted WarBook, but kept my Big Photos. Yeah, it’s a matter of preference. As to what I’m more fascinated about is what makes an application stay in someone’s page. What are the benefits involved?
  • More of amusing really – that I’ve been using Facebook’s Inbox messaging system to conduct meetings with two or more people in threads. I’ve been finding it easier to use for managing conversations between three or more people as compared to using a group email system. What you can’t do however (at least from what I’ve tried) is add another person midway into the thread.



Do you also write for print?

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 15th, 2007

In the Philippines, a number of bloggers I know have begun contribution stints for magazines because of their blogs. In the same light, a number of contributing writers for print have also begun writing blogs.

Here are some of the publications I have written for in the past. I currently write for some of these till today:

Mobile Philippines
PC Magazine Philippines
GAME! Magazine
CHALK Magazine (umm long story!)
Rogue Magazine
MANUAL Magazine
EPSON Vision Corporate Magazine
CANON Images Corporate Magazine

Do you also write for print publications? If so, which ones are they? Do they allow you to place your author bi-line with your blog address?



Press Freedom in the Philippines is a huge joke

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 12th, 2007

press_freedom.jpg

You’ve probably heard about this from a few days back. But still.

A mural depicting the history of press freedom made by the Neo-Angono artists in the Philippines was censored by the National Press Club before it was presented to President GMA. How ironic that the NPC’s “press freedom” commission was censored by none other than themselves. Truth be told, the word is not “censorship.” It leans a little bit more closely to “defacement.”

The final mural, which was submitted to NPC on October 24, shows a man reading the latest news on journalists’ killings while press freedom icons from the past and present converge around him. In one scene, Marcelo H. del Pilar is seen with fellow editor Mariano Ponce while rooting for cigarette butts in a garbage can under the streetsign La Solidaridad. Near the two, Filipino revolutionary Emilio Jacinto sells copies of the newspaper “Ningning o Liwanag” whose headlines proclaim the declaration of martial law while an incensed Eggie Apostol walks past. Perhaps the most arresting image is that of the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. talking to National Hero Jose Rizal while the latter reads a newspaper article on the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, son of press freedom icon Joe Burgos.

“Isn’t it ironic that an institution such as the NPC would cause the censorship of a work that they themselves commissioned purportedly to promote press freedom? Isn’t the freedom of expression of the artist bound up with the very press freedom that they supposedly uphold? Aren’t these alterations a clear violation of the rights of authors/artists protected by the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines?” the group said in a statement.

[source]

I can’t believe it. More photos of the alterations here. Neal Cruz’s piece talks about it more here.