Month: June 2007

Extreme Niche Blog: Let’s Learn Latin–?!

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Err okay maybe I do have a lot of time on my hands. I’ve been wanting to start this project for quite some time but I was debating on whether I would have enough content to fill this blog up. It’s a dead language you know, and only the ancient scholars of the past as well as the Vatican still speak this. If you want to take a lighter look at the language I tried to learn for four years back in high school, then do subscribe to this blog. I hope I can update it often. I’ve actually took the time to dust off my old text books and ancient scrolls.

The comic above is an excerpt from Asterix the Legionary but the text is in Latin. These are collectibles nowadays and I should have bought a few of these when I was in Rome several years ago.

A short history should suffice: I went to PAREF Southridge School for Boys and there were over 64 of us in the batch divided into two sections. We took up Latin twice a week, 40 minutes per session and it was hell. Which is why the tag “Latin killed the Ancient Romans, and now it’s killing me too” was very prominent and engraved in our hearts in the same way that Spartans were trained to kill.

So why am I doing this? I have absolutely no friggin reason. I just felt that it would be an interesting as well as humorous exercise to brush up on some of my mediocre (mediocritas, – tatis: n; in the middle, moderation – quite a far fetched meaning from what it means today) Latin skills. Note that I do not speak Latin. I can only translate. Speaking Latin is like … trying to resurrect the Betamax. [source]

I humbly present my Latin blog www.latin.jayveefernandez.com Ad astra per aspera! (to the stars through difficulties!)

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Mostly Everything

Regie Pablo of Globe Telecommunications Summits Mt. Everest

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I’m currently at Circles Buffet at Shangrila Makati attending a press conference for Regie Pablog of Globe Telecommunications, who was the 7th Filipino to summit Mt. Everest and plant the Philippine flag (as well as the Globe flag and Globe Visibility access point) onto Mt. Everest. This is another great mark for the Filipino people!

Here is a short fact sheet:

Continue reading “Regie Pablo of Globe Telecommunications Summits Mt. Everest”
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Mostly Everything

Book Recommendations June 6 2007

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I’m currently reading Gregory Maguire’s WICKED: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (PHP 765.00 Powerbooks). It is a fictional work of art that describes the evolution of evil, psycho-social motivations of people, and does an entertaining parody of Oz which is quite frankly more alive and vivid than Technicolor. The tone of the book is very mature, and paints a very different picture of the world of Oz in a way that I’ve never seen it to be. Maguire is also author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Son of a Witch and Mirror Mirror. WICKED is over 10 years old.

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

More popular than the book was the Broadway musical based on the same title. Surprising too, since I saw this new WICKED blogspot layout.

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As an aside, I’ve rediscovered my virtual media library with Delicious Library. After upgrading to a MacBook with built in iSight, I’ve been scanning, with a growing penchant, the bar codes of my books automatically adding the titles to my library.

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Mostly Everything

Caylabne Bay Resort Shoot this Friday

There will be a shoot this Friday at the Caylabne Bay Resort. The subjects will include “surfing and bikini clad bodies” and the shots will be used for a press release. The invite goes out to bloggers who are photo enthusiasts and who want to hone their craft and gain exposure. If your shots are used for the press release, you will gain full credit to your site.

I actually do not know how many additional photographers they will need as they left the numbers open. Compared to the last shoot we did in Intramuros, this one will be a bit tight as it will be on an early morning Friday. There will be transportation for this event. The meeting time and place will be at 6:00AM at the Shell McKinley EDSA. The shoot will last till 12 noon. That’s enough time to file for a half day leave 😉

You can send me an email with your name mobile number so we can get in touch with you. 🙂

Categories
Mostly Everything

Where are the car bloggers?

And a voice cries out from the Web 2.0 wilderness .. “Where are the auto enthusiast bloggers?”

Technology, entertainment, politics, religion, fashion, pets, and even support groups — we’ve got them niches covered in the Philippine blogosphere. Now I thought we got them all covered, but I had an epiphany a few days ago after posting this particular press event on Blog and Soul.

There were some who were interested to attend but attending an automobile press conference did not spike the same interest in terms of response as say, a technology or food event. This is funny too because we have a huge online motorcycle community as well as a number of Vespa bloggers. More interestingly too that Filipinos are all hot about cars and car parts. Are there no dedicated car bloggers around? And if there are, why aren’t they well known as compared to the traditional media equivalent as C!, Evo, Tech and Tuner and Top Gear?