Year: 2007

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Mostly Everything

The Ease of Writing Resources

With a number of bloggers wanting to become more like journalists, and a number of journalists venturing into new media, the one great thing about the venturing forth into the web is how a ton of resources are now available on tips for writing better. Back in the day when the Internet consisted of a Hotmail account and IRC, the mainstream guide for writing was this book written by Zaide.

Ten years later, all I have to is open my RSS reader and see what Brian Clark and Darren Rowse are up to, among the many other bloggers who help us write better.

UPDATE Here are some suggestions for books that I know can help you in various ways with your writing skills. Feel free to contribute.

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How to Write Great Copy by Dominic Gettins. I talked about this book in a previous blog post.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denims by David Sedaris. I always believed that the best way to learn to write better is to read more. David Sedaris is well known for his top of the line casual writing style. If you’re a fan of the Seinfeld series on television, David Sedaris makes the most mundane things interesting on paper. In this book, he talks about growing up with his Greco-American family.

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Mostly Everything

Compartments

Several months ago, I was having a conversation with Joey Alarilla about how the Internet and social media are causing a phenomenon which I want to call “compartmentalizing” your life.

This phenomenon is most apparent, but not limited to, bloggers who have started several niche blogs – compartmentalizing their life to food, technology, travel, politics, pets, etc. It is even almost correct to even say that the sum of these blogs equal the person.

Because the Internet is the new Forum Romanum, our lives converge in the most visible places, making what was once private, now very public. We now know what the family did for lunch, what we ate for dinner, where we went for the weekend, what we bought… all good. Very interesting. What you do with your blog is a masterpiece that no one else can copy even if you write about the same topics.

Continue reading “Compartments”
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Mostly Everything

Will I Be Able To Take This–?!

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.

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Mostly Everything

So I finished a book while waiting in the book store …

Alright i’m such a geek. While waiting for a friend at Fully Booked at the Bonifacio High Street, I was actually able to finish Seth Godin’s The Dip lying around the third floor business section.

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The Dip, a book I fondly call “the little book that quit” is a short (80 pages!) and tiny little number that talks about knowing when to quit. The Dip also comes with some famous doodles from Hugh McLeod.

The old saying is wrong-winners do quit, and quitters do win. [PS The Dip just hit #5 on the New York Times bestseller list.]

Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all.

And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you’re in a Dip-a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it’s really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.

This is my new book recommendation for the month as it talks about the art of quitting. It also pays close attention to quitting jobs and moving to something more productive to help you become more remarkable as a human being. Short story is, if you don’t feel remarkable with your current job, then quit.

I recommend The Dip because not only is it informative, it is also affordable and easy to read. You can finish the book in an hour or less.

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Mostly Everything

Bikini Female on Front Cover: Tatooed on Advertiser Mind?

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not a bikini, but you get the drift …

I was having a beer with a friend who works for a well known consumer technology company and we were talking about how having a bikini clad female on the front cover of a Philippine publication can be a deal breaker or a deal maker for some advertisers. Obviously, for magazines like FHM and MAXIM, the statutory bikini girl is already calloused to us. But for other publications that draw the line between geek and sexy (i.e. certain technology and men’s titles), do you really need to have a bikini clad girl on the cover?

Some advertisers have a reputation to protect and will pull out their ads on magazines that dare to include photos of bikini or underwear-clad women (note that this does not include “sexy” shots of women fully clothed). So this friend tells me of certain instances when they had to pull out of some magazines that went “sexy” — even if it was just for one issue.

I have two questions now:

1. Is this HARSH?

2. If you were an EIC, would you risk an attractive bikini clad female to grace your cover in hopes that sales go up in stall purchases, with the opportunity cost of letting one advertiser go, forever?