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Neil Gaiman Weekend

Neil Gaiman at Fully Booked

I have always argued that Neil Gaiman is more than just a writer. He’s a story teller. There are some writers, who, when you listen to them speak, sound as if they are speaking in prose. The sentences they construct are uttered with a cadence that makes you stop to listen to every word as he effortlessly highlights his point with stops, intonation and the perfect choice of words.

Mr. Gaiman tells how Philippine literature is rich in realism, yet not so in unrealism as, according to him, we have the richest culture in the world. He didn’t say one of the richest. He said we are the richest. Don’t you wonder?

P.S. Perhaps you’ve already heard about it, but during the 2007 Ad Congress, Neil Gaiman served as pastor to two bronze award winners. The tale is recounted here for the guy and here for the girl. Neil writes about it here. Sadly, I was not able to make it to the ad congress, but I did catch him at Fully Booked, where he recounted the tale.

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Philippine Blogosphere Pitch: Why not aim for the Anvil Awards?

Every year, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) gives out a set of Anvil Awards for remarkable public relations campaigns done in the Philippines.

The ANVIL is a symbol of excellence in public relations in the Philippines awarded by a distinguished multi-sectoral jury for outstanding public relations programs and tools designed and implemented in the past year. The Anvil Awards competition is conducted annually by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines.

The Anvil symbolizes excellence and quality. The standards for winning are high. No award is given unless the standards are met.

There are four award categories:

The Anvil Award of Merit
The Anvil Award of Excellence
The Bronze Anvil Award
THE GRAND ANVIL AWARD

What exactly am I pitching? Why can’t we pitch the ongoing Filipinas Campaign as an entry in the 44th Anvil Awards happening in February 2009. This February 2008 is the awarding for the Anvil for campaigns done between October 31 2006 to October 31 2007. Though it would be too late to include the Filipinas Campaign as an entry to the 43rd Anvil Awards, it can still very well make it into the 44th.

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Mostly Everything

Nokia Fever: Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia E90, Nokia 7500 Prism

Nokia N95 8GB

I have some reviews of a couple of Nokia phones over at Cellphone9. If you’re interested, check out the following links:

On Friday, November 16 2007, Nokia will be holding the launch party for the Nokia 5310 at Makati Avenue. Sign up by clicking on the link above and place your first and last name on the comments section for the VIP room access.

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Time Machine Makes Backing Up Fun

Here are some charts that show how often Macintosh users back up their data. 26% of all Macintosh users back up their systems regularly. However, only 4% make use of the auto back up feature:

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Hands down, the three most eyecatching experiences with Leopard are, in no order, the new iChat moving backgrounds, the new reflective effect of the dock, and Time Machine. Apple engineers intentionally made Time Machine look this good so that people will be encouraged to back up often in exchange for the eye candy.

It is advised to purchase a “time machine” (aka external drive) that is at least equal to the total hard drive space of your current Macintosh. It is advised to run Time Machine before you go to sleep so that when you wake up the next day, the backup process would have been completed.

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Mostly Everything

Leopard Now.

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Mac OS X Leopard is officially in the Philippines.

If you bought a Macintosh anytime beginning October 1 2007 in the Philippines, you are entitled to an almost free upgrade to OS X Leopard for only PHP 527.00. All new Macs come pre-installed with Leopard.

On a side note, I’ve heard reports of retailers in the Philippines going out of stock for the MacBooks. This can only mean two things: (1) the new Macs are coming with Leopard, which is no surprise OR (2) the new version of the MacBooks may be due in the next few weeks.

One. Ultimate. Version.

Farhad Manjoo (Salon) makes a compelling case. “If we’re going just by what’s better—the ages-old Mac-vs.-PC debate is over. Long over. Yell it from the rooftops; The Mac has won.” Now’s the right time “to buy an Apple computer,” proclaims Manjoo. “Indeed, it’s been that time for the past five years.” After all, “its Macintosh business is now in league with that of the biggest PC companies in the world.” And “everyone who’s used it agrees that Leopard, the operating system that Apple released late last month, is to its chief rival, Microsoft’s Windows Vista, roughly as Richard Wagner is to Richard Marx.” Manjoo even takes the opportunity to “put to rest the myth that an Apple computer will set you back more than a Windows PC. In fact,” he says, “it’ll cost you less.” [Start]