Instructions: Name ten of life’s simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick ten people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.
1. The taste of Bulalo on a cold, rainy day
2. Chicharon Bulaklak with Royal Tru-Grape accompanied by the dizziness you feel afterwards
3. Being awaken by a slobbery kiss from my dog
4. New guitar strings
5. Family fun Sunday
6. Being able to say “wow I have nothing to do”
7. Water with ice
8. Being able to fix the computer without any help
9. Paying for bills and still having extra money to spend afterwards
10. Being hugged
I’ll bend the rules a bit – forget about the ten people. This is neat. Answer away!
Formerly known as the Revolution, the Nintendo GO! looks like my next huge console purchase (after the huge price drop of course a few months after retail). This is coming from the guy who has never owned a console since his teens.
Here’s why. After the days of 8-bit console gaming, I went straight to the PC gaming scene, attracted by the Lucasarts and Sierra series of Zak McKracken, Quest for Glory, Police Quest, Leisure Suite Larry (!), Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. These games were more interactive – more point and click. I remember being able to type stuff in the command line like “commit suicide” and the computer will respond with “you’re too dumb to do that.” That was really kick-ass back then.
This may be just me, but I found this more attractive than the consoles. On the console, you couldn’t do this – you couldn’t click on a dark tunnel and ask for Indiana Jones (another great game by Lucasarts) to describe what he saw. It didn’t feel as “freeing.” Of course, there were times when I’d borrow my friend’s N64 and finish Zelda: The Ocarina of Time because Zelda as well as the early days of Final Fantasy were always the exception to the rule
N.B. Times are different now and with the way gaming has become more competitive, people have upped the level of interactivity (or is it interactiveness?) to make gaming more immersive.. But the Nintendo Go has remained one step ahead by turning the controller into more than just a joystick.
Watch this marketing video. You might get what I mean.
Go to iBlog 2 , the Philippines’ 2nd Blogging Summit. Attendance is FREE. Register now to save your seat!
There is a schedule of breakout sessions listed here. It is interesting to note that the blogging conference is pretty broad in its topics for bloggers.
The day is divided into different sessions where participants can choose which track to attend, whether it be blogging for politics, personal blogging, blogging for the arts and media, or professional blogging.
As reprinted in my m|PH March 2006 issue column titled The Prodigal Screen Protector and Other Bedtime Stories
There are those rare moments when the demo unit reveals all
There’s a reason why I love reviewing phones for m|PH. In the beginning I ‘d choose to review phones for the pure sake of gadget bliss. Lately however, I’ve wanted to get the last dib on mobile phones, from the long line of people from the press and the rest of the local tech community. You heard that right. I like being the last person to review a press unit. But why, pray tell am I so excited to get the tail end of this month’s tech?
The answer is quite simple – because I like counting on the fact that Filipinos are too lazy to reset devices back to factory settings. Most people think that once they let go of a unit, it will auto-reset itself erasing whatever evidence they left behind.
Evidence may include text messages in the inbox and sent folder, names and contact numbers of loved ones, videos and pictures if the phone happens to have a camera. If I were an ass, I could think of a hundred ways to have fun with these people. If.
On several occasions I get tech feedback from writers from other magazines. I remember the time when one of our editors was fiddling around with a certain mobile phone just last year. True enough there remained some text messages that formed part of a conversation between the previous user and someone who was asking feedback. “Dud, iksi ng battery nya†(‘the phone has a short battery life’) was the first message I read. Thanks for the feedback, Mr. Anonymous.
There was another time in 2004 when I kept a certain handheld device for a couple of weeks. Because it was a PDA-phone, it had an almost unlimited amount of space for messages. As a bonus, I had a ball reading the text conversation between two lovers. I had found out that the guy, perhaps from the media, had no time for his girlfriend. The girlfriend, insecure most likely, would ask him to send pictures from the phone just to prove that the guy was still at work burning the midnight oil, and not with friends. Alas, the trials and tribulations of young love.
Sometimes though I find interesting gems – like familiar numbers of people I know in the industry as well as camera phone shots of writers’ pets, children and the occasional “I love you Daddy!†that makes the heart melt. Sometimes I also grab interesting quotes and jokes, which people leave behind, on purpose I would guess.
There are many things one can learn from a person by just browsing through his or her mobile. It’s that human element that makes me want to see how individuals put their gadgets to use. Of course, in the real world, no one in their right mind would let me read their message inbox. Let’s just say that during these rare moments with the demo unit, I get to know a little bit more about the lives of our happy little tech community.
The moral of this bedtime story is obvious – be the last in line!
Family tradition states that I stay here at home. I was never one to go out during the Holy Week. It was pretty straightforward since I was young. “Jesus is dead, so you should stay home.”
And I guess it stuck. The only difference is that now, I have work and need to be in the office from Monday to Wednesday – and God forbid, Thursday and Friday since we’re rushing two magazines to be print-ready by next week.
A bunch of my friends are going to the beach. Some to out of town trips. Some on retreats. Me, well, if I’m not at work, Ill prolly be at home playing The Godfather.
Here’s why. After the days of 8-bit console gaming, I went straight to the PC gaming scene, attracted by the Lucasarts and Sierra series of Zak McKracken, Quest for Glory, Police Quest, Leisure Suite Larry (!), Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. These games were more interactive – more point and click. I remember being able to type stuff in the command line like “commit suicide” and the computer will respond with “you’re too dumb to do that.” That was really kick-ass back then. 
