Markku Seguerra’s weblog on web design, photography, and other things of interest.
Yes I’m in the mood for blogging Christmas photos, so I’m posting another one from my recent UP shoot. I think I should just post all of them so I’d be forced to shoot a new set for next Christmas, which will hopefully have grand decorations considering the just approved tuition fee increase. Nonsense.
Christmas greetings again. It’s back to work for most of us tomorrow, three agonizing days of work leading to another long weekend. Woohoo!
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It has been my tradition for the past three years to write a Christmas entry on the 25th of December, or sometime near that date. This time though, I’ll be doing it earlier for a change. Not surprisingly, it is another Oblation/UP shot though at least this one was recently shot unlike the dated photos I used to repost over and over again.
I like this photo. What do you think?
Yes, I’m now a problogger at the Blog Herald! Abe broke the news out yesterday right after I got my brief introduction published.
Just a short story: When I heard that Abe was taking over and will be doing editorial duties for the new TBH owners, I was very surprised at the turn of events. Finally, a Filipino blogger taking a lead position in a prominent international weblog. I had no inkling that I could also be part of this sweet deal. When I got Abe’s SMS inviting me to write for TBH, I quickly confirmed without hesitation. This is just too good to pass up.
In the coming days, I should be writing regularly there on the various topics the Blog Herald has expertly covered in the past. Should. Hopefully as well, having myself write regularly for an external resource would also make the updates here more frequent. Hopefully.
Two Sundays ago, our high school batch had a little Christmas party for street children. We invited small groups near Diliman and brought them to the UP Lagoon for their celebration. Though it rained briefly, it didn’t stop us from pushing through. We moved to the Quezon Hall and it was more than enough for our needs.
We didn’t have much of a program prepared but for the usual kid stuff, but to them it was more than enough for a typical Sunday afternoon.
Some would argue that activities like this do not provide long term benefits for those who really need them. Though I agree, I also feel that we cannot help based on future gains alone. If you could make a young child smile over a plate of chicken and spaghetti, even just for an hour or two, you know that by doing so you give them hope. That no matter how difficult life may be, somehow God’s goodness will continue to manifest among men. Hope.
“Ate, kuya, salamat po.” All we could do was smile.
Last Saturday’s Graphika Manila was a huge success with over 1,300 attendees. Being the first international multimedia design conference held here in the Philippines, interest across all related fields was high, especially with the presence of popular local outfits like Team Manila and Inksurge. More importantly (no offense to our local guys), the world–famous Joshua Davis was also here to talk about design and his recent work for Motorola in the MOTOKRZR campaign. I was lucky enough to get invited to the press conference courtesy of Jayvee and our friends at Ogilvy. This being the first presscon I was officially invited to, I didn’t know what to do so I just took photos.
Our local designers were quick to agree that the multimedia design industry here in our country is still very much in its infancy, a disadvantage that we can put to good use since it provides us the room to grow in the direction we intend to grow into. Avid Liongoren and Nico Puertollano discussed the video/broadcast aspects of design and though they lauded the Filipino designer’s skills, they raised a common trend among local designers — the absence of true identity.
When it was Joshua Davis’s turn to speak, he initially appeared a bit uncomfortable with the unusually silent media people; little did he know that almost everyone in the room was awestruck with the presence of a design demigod right in front of them! He discussed his use of randomness and kaleidoscope ideas for his recent Motorola work and I was amazed how his art is greatly influenced by his use of programming. Like what Jayvee has also written, this man has basically created a unique design process that makes him his own programmer, artist and critic. His strength in programming has allowed him to accelerate the evolution of his unique designs. Using randomness and chaos within the confines of a predefined environment and set of parameters, he manages to produce designs that are truly unique that cannot be manually drawn/created in illustration/graphic programs. “Unless you’re on crack,” he says in jest.
Prompted by Avid’s question on doing designs for clients as compared to designs for personal satisfaction, Joshua emphasized the need to “just continue doing what you do.” He narrated how he used to work eight hours doing client work for a design house, then he’d go home and spend another eight hours just doing design on personal projects, the stuff he simply loves to do. After years of doing this, he eventually got paid work for the things he used to do on his personal time. I couldn’t forget what he said in regarding that: “You might as well be hired for something that you love.”
#How would you know if your weblog isn’t as good or as valuable as it used to be? My observations will certainly help you.
All these would really matter if you’re writing your blog for consumption or monetization. This weblog isn’t entirely for that, though most are.
If you see the signs above, your blog might be in trouble. In the next few entries we’ll try to take care of that.
Happy birthday Anne.
Wishing you a life of blessings and success, because you deserve it. May you have a truly wonderful birthday. God bless. I love you.
Uwi ka na, shopping ka ng shopping sa Tutuban eh, date na tayo…
So I finally got myself the famous Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L, one of the best lenses you can get for Canon’s EF mount. Karl found a good deal on an IS version, so he was selling his old one. Being one of his long–time slaves friends, I was first in line and with a price too tempting, I went for it.
I took the lens the first day I could, even without paying for it in full yet. Hehe. I made sure my beautiful Anne was with me so we could have a not so impromptu shoot right away. The photos were great, even better than the first time I got to use the lens when I borrowed it a few weeks back. Now I can “see” shots differently with this wonder zoom. I just love it! Though of course not as much as I love my number one model. Hehehe.
Now I’m significantly poorer but with a lens I could make living out of. I have more than 10 GB of photos to go through since the beginning of the year, so expect more in the next few days. That is, if my pending tasks or the flu doesn’t take me down again.
Note: I forgot to mention that a few shots from my Sigma 17-70 are included in the album, though the best ones are with the Canon L.
#These days, almost everyone is into running a weblog and trying to make money online. The availability of WordPress and cheap hosting has enabled every dreamer to go into micro–content publishing and cash their part of the AdSense pie. However, the weblog plus adsense formula has only led to eerily–similar sites, many of which bordering on content theft or simply just not providing anything valuable at all. That’s a point of argument, though certainly today’s web is not much different compared to a huge echo chamber. Even this entry echoes these entries.
Almost everything has degenerated to a SERP contest without regard for intellectual property, good design, and good content. Even markup isn’t given much attention. Gone are the days of non–passive WASP activism and advocacy. Luckily by some stroke of luck, many of today’s web designers started as Zeldman’s storm troopers several years ago, thus producing excellent themes and tools that produce good markup. Because yes, markup still matters.
In today’s web 2.0 industry, it is not rare to encounter experts in “design,” “blogging,” and “online publishing” that hardly know the difference between HTML and CSS. My almost–instant tip: read up, and read well. You don’t need to be an expert in these topics, but some knowledge will set you apart from the rest. Read the old Zeldman archives, and lots of A List Apart, surely you’ll understand. The ALA Primer [Part 1 and Part 2] should get you up and running. You’ll look never look at the web the same way again.
A short list of reasons why you should watch the movie The Departed:
If you want an in–depth review, the fool has written a comprehensive analysis for you — exactly why I didn’t go any deeper with my breakdown of the film. Watch the film, I promise it’s worth every peso.
I was fortunate enough to shoot the SMB Oktoberfest opening at the SM Megamall last Wednesday and got around a thousand photos, though I haven’t browsed it thoroughly for keepers. It rained midway through the evening but that didn’t dampen the rockfest that went on until around 3 AM.
Pardon the crappy non–inspired writing, I still don’t have broadband at home and the electricity was out until Tuesday afternoon, after which a million deadlines are now trailing my tail.
I could write a lot of things about the blogcon last Monday but I’d just be echoing what everyone has to say about it. So I’ll just mention that AJ noted that I (along with Anne) had a grand entrance for being fashionably late, though I didn’t notice. I was so hungry I even forgot to register!
Now to the more important parts: I won a 256MB flash drive in the raffle, and Anne too! In fact, three prizes were won by our table alone. Food was great and limitless and we bloggers had the whole NSG Greenbelt 2 all to ourselves.
I had a grand time shooting with Karl & Mimi’s Canon EOS 5D (photos above were from that camera, thanks Karl) and they’ve just posted some of the photos we took that night. It was raining with 350D bodies in almost every table the event could’ve been sponsored by Canon. Jayvee was all smiles with his rumored lady–love (chika!) and Yuga was his usual charming problogger self. Marc gave his blog SEO talk and Rico was also there though quieter than he typically is. Bimbo and Direk Soxy Topacio gamely set the record for being the first to order alcoholic drinks, I think. Other pisay bloggers were also there: Clair, jobarclix, Chris, and Ka Edong. Also, I finally got to meet a personal favorite pinoyblog: Eugene of vaes9.
Kudos to the Globe Innove people for picking up the tab again. The attention and recognition that you give to Filipino bloggers will surely reap its benefits in the months ahead.
I’m just too overloaded with work and other things right now that I could hardly keep my weblogs running. It’s nice that if I couldn’t write, I think I can get away with a few links and some photos. I’m lucky enough to have a handful of eager models; Anne gamely posed with Barbie on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I actually have a few more with my other models but I really have to sleep now.
There will be a blogging conference on the 25th of this month (September) from 7 to 10 PM at the National Sports Grill in Greenbelt 3, Makati. This is sponsored by Globe Innove who was also behind the blogger dinner that we had a few weeks ago, which reminds me that I haven’t really written about it.
This an open event for all pinoy bloggers and we’d like you to be there! Since there is no planned program for the night, we’ll probably end up talking about anything that comes up. Anything goes. You know you want to be there.
Abe and Jayvee has more details on this, and we have a wiki for attendance confirmation. See you there!
![[1] Arvi](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/060903-1635-4924-copy.jpg "[1] Arvi")
![[2] Clar & Ispok](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/060903-1649-4960.jpg "[2] Clar & Ispok")
![[3] Anne](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/anne-060903.jpg "[3] Anne")
![[4] Arvi](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/arvi-060903.jpg "[4] Arvi")
![[5] Ispok & Clar](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/ispok-clar-060903.jpg "[5] Ispok & Clar")
![[6] Anne](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/060903-1731-5034.jpg "[6] Anne")
![[7] Arvi](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/060903-1701-4983.jpg "[7] Arvi")
![[8] Joey](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/joey-060903.jpg "[8] Joey")
Joey finally succumbed to the digital SLR craze and helped himself to a Canon EOS 350D, going all the way to Hidalgo in Quiapo on lunchtime of a working Monday. He couldn’t make himself wait for the just announced 400D, and right away scheduled a photo shoot with our friend Arvi. She gamely posed for us though we were obviously amateurs in creative direction. Fortunately, we had a few good ones.
Ispok and Clar managed to join us for a good part of the shoot, and they ended up posing for some shots. Anne wasn’t spared as well, I just had to take photos of her too. Christa was the only one spared from my camera, probably because she was also busy shooting with her nice little Ixus. I just realized now, we could probably pass for a Canon promotional team. Maybe they could lend me a 400D for a comprehensive review perhaps?
I’m quite surprised how good some of my photos turned out, they were at least better than what I expected. I borrowed Karl’s favorite 70–200 f/2.8L and fell in love with it right away. My D60 felt like new when it was mated to this wonderful lens. Now I’m having a hard time stopping myself from stealing from my savings account. All photos posted above were with that lens, except for those in #3 which were both shot with the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro I bought a few months ago.
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I’m not a fan of rant–type entries though I just feel like doing it now. I’ve been going through java training here in the office and there’s one thing I could say: PHP rocks! Java/JSP/Struts and everything that comes with it is nice, but coming from a PHP background I just feel like they’re trying to complicate simple problems. Then you have XML config files and other things that do the same and end up making everything too hard to comprehend.
Whew, had to get that out of my system. Just a random rant. Gotta go now.
I would’ve written something nice for August 21, the commemoration of Ninoy Aquino’s death, but I remember the headline from two years ago:
Ironic, isn’t it? What was supposed to be a turn in the positive direction has led us to where we are now, a place where no journalist can criticize a non–transparent leadership, a time when freedom of expression no longer is a right but almost a crime. Did you hear the news that the number of politically–related killings for this year has surpassed the record for any of the Marcos dictatorship years? Is the Filipino really worth dying for?
Sometimes, I think aloud.
In typical fashion, I’m late. Rico [that's a PR6 link, bro] just wrote about our trip to Tagaytay last Saturday and both Abe and Jayvee posted on the topic earlier today. Since all four of us were male bloggers, we decided to call ourselves “Band of Bloggers.” Discussion ranged from blogging to other forms of geek talk, and even mushy girly stuff. Hahaha. This will likely be a monthly thing considering the trend in recent months, but beware — there is a tradition that we plan to strictly observe. Clue: it involves your monthly adsense/problogging check.
As you can see, we had so much fun taking photos we could’ve called it a flickr meetup. We dropped by the Crown Asia area on our way down from Tagaytay, planning to take photos hollywood–style. We ended up talking to an agent and dreaming of a problogger/IT community in the said village, problogging and/or telecommuting daily without the need for everyday Manila. Impossible? Big dreams? A friend from high school used to tell me, “dream big, so if you fall short you’re not that far from your goals.” Might make sense someday, somehow.
Two days ago, this weblog was four years old. I thank you and the rest of my [4 years x 365 days/year x 7 readers/day = 10220 readers] for being here, even if just for a short while. It’s still as fun as it was before, and surely will continue to be.
Of course I’m just kidding, I don’t have seven readers every day. Just you would do.
#BukoPie is a new feed reader for WordPress I hacked from the SimplePie demo, allowing WP users to have their own XML feed reader right in the WordPress dash/admin pages. I added functionality for keeping a feed subscription list and tag–based categorization. I’m sure this isn’t the first feed reader for WP, but it fills my needs quite well. Try it.
Update: Installation is simple, just drop the bukopie folder in your plugins directory and activate the plugin.
Would you believe I cried watching Adam Sandler’s Click? Yes I did. I wasn’t expecting this to be of any DVD–shelf value just like most Adam Sandler starrers, but this flick surprisingly has some. It’s not your typical watch and laugh affair, you may even feel it’s a bit lacking than expected in that department. It supposedly makes up for it by promoting — guess what — family values. “Family comes first,” the main character proclaims in a moment of reflection. Now that was a spoiler.
With or without spoilers, catch this movie if you’ve been planning to see it. Anyone who intends to watch an Adam Sandler movie surely doesn’t have much expectations other than have an hour of laughter, which I’m sure you’re still gonna get. In addition, you’ll be enjoying a not so typical story, one that at least tries to teach a lesson, something not too common these days. Think The Truman Show but lighter on the drama.
Aside from the things I’ve said, you can’t miss Christopher Walken doing what he does best. It’s hard to describe, but he has a way of making his roles truly his own. And then there’s a Dolores O’Riordan cameo singing “Linger,” one of her band’s biggest hits. Lastly, the end credits scrolls with the New Radicals’s “You Get What You Give” playing in the background, a personal favorite back in college. With all that, this is a good enough Friday night movie. Just go easy on the junk food. Now look who’s talking.
If you like the weblog, you’re gonna love the book.
A friend just bought a copy of the recently released PostSecret book through Amazon.com and had it shipped directly to Manila, all for less than 30 dollars. A good price, if you pretend that the shipping cost wasn’t almost half of the price you paid. I had a good look at it the minute it was delivered to our office and browsed the pages; I think it is even more interesting than the site/weblog. Reading long–kept secrets of random strangers transformed into postcard artworks and printed on real paper is a different experience compared to viewing them online in a webpage. It’s something I cannot completely explain, though it holds true for almost all great online art and literature — nothing beats sucking it all on paper.
I’m thinking of getting myself a copy, wanna grab one for yourself? We can pool and split the shipping cost. I’m sure you’ll treasure this book for a lifetime.
We barely made it to the late afternoon screening of Miami Vice last Thursday, getting inside the theatre just as the first scene was rolling. From that point until the end, I don’t recall myself yawning and I didn’t take a bathroom break at all. The movie was that good! Well, at least for me. It was very entertaining, in a violent kind of way. I just love the “colorful” gunfights! The movie was not at all similar to the TV series from the eighties and Colin Farrell with long hair is just, well, fugly. Hehehe. Now that I’ve used that word on this weblog, I can now retire it. Seriously though, if you’re gonna see a movie this week, this is it. Nothing else worth catching on the big screen.
![Look up. [ Nokia 6230i ]](http://rebelpixel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/Image003-copy.jpg "Look up. [ Nokia 6230i ]")
Scouting any location for a photo opp, you usually walk around searching for an interesting scene or a captivating view. On some rare ocassions though, all you have to do is look up.
Walking life with a tinge of uncertainty and doubt, we seek meaning and answers to questions we adamantly consider still unanswered. But all we really need to do is look up.
Try it, it works. Look up.
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