Phobia: a shortfilm

Topophobia

• an exaggerated or irrational fear of specific places or situations.
• in extreme form, the person dealing with this phobia will actively avoid the source of their paralyzing fear.

Symptoms:

• clammy hands
• rapid heartbeat
• dry mouth
• nausea

If you haven’t read about it yet (in my Facebook page or some major news dailies *wink*), my entry to Nokia’s Pier Roxas contest was chosen as one of the 8 finalists. And to tell you as honestly as I can, I really did not expect it. Why? Because I and my brother (who has been so instrumental in the creation of that film) were not serious about writing the story at all.  But it did happen. :-)

Anyway, I am not expecting (but yeah, hoping a bit, hehehe) that the shortfilm entry would win because the other contestants are sooooo effin genius. That’s why I would like to invite you to watch all the entries. If you have an hour of free time, then, this won’t be a waste of time. Here’s the link:

nokia.com.ph/pierroxas

So, what are you waiting for? Sit back. Relax. Enjoy the movies. :-D

And I found a Youtube link (http://www.youtube.com/pierroxas#p/a/u/1/bA9GVCf-kZo)!

Obsession #02: Mount Fuji

Kasalanan ko ba kung obsessed na obsessed ako sa iyo?

Now, I did a quick review of the continental drift theory, and whoala! You’ll still be there within the year. Hahaha.

24: Season 8

Still pondering if I should start watching 24 now or wait for it to be completed… Watching it on a weekly basis can give anyone a heart attack out of sheer excitement!

Anyway, got this from an old post. The list — even if I’ve read it already for so many times — never fails to make me laugh. Hehehe.

24 Things You Need to Know About Jack Bauer:

1. Jack Bauer can unscramble an egg.
2. Jack Bauer was not born; he forced his way out of his mother’s womb.
3. Jack Bauer once stepped into quicksand; the quicksand couldn’t escape and nearly drowned.
4. If Jack Bauer had been a Spartan the movie would have been called “1″.
5. When a convicted terrorist was sentenced to face Jack Bauer, he appealed to have the sentence reduced to death.
6. People with amnesia still remember Jack Bauer.
7. It is a known fact that when Time magazine awards “The Man of Year*”, there is fine print on the bottom of the cover that says, ” *besides Jack Bauer.”
8. If everyone on “24″ followed Jack Bauer’s instructions, it would be called “12″.
9. Jack Bauer can torture you into giving up information you do not possess.
10. 1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Jack Bauer. Alright, sounds like a fair fight.
11. If you wake up in the morning, it’s because Jack Bauer spared your life.
12. Jack Bauer counted to infinity — twice.
13. Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won.
14. When the Boogie Man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Jack Bauer.
15. Jack Bauer could get off the Lost Island in 24 hours.
16. Jack Bauer once arm wrestled Superman. The stipulations were the loser had to wear his underwear on the outside of his pants.
17. When Jack Bauer took a stress test, the test failed.
18. Sun Tzu once wrote, “If your enemy is weaker, conquer him. If he is stronger, join him. If he is Jack Bauer, you’re fucking dead.”
19. When Google can’t find something, it asks Jack Bauer for help.
20. Jack Bauer once killed so many terrorists that at one point, the #5 CIA Most Wanted Fugitive was an 18-year-old teenager in Malaysia who downloaded the movie Dodgeball.
21. If you’re holding a gun to Jack Bauer’s head, don’t count to three before you shoot. Count to 10. That way, you get to live 7 seconds longer.
22. Jack Bauer is the ‘i’ in TEAM.
23. If Jack Bauer misspells a word, your dictionary is wrong.
24. Every mathematical inequality officially ends with “< Jack Bauer”.

PS: Jack Bauer once sneezed and it is rumored that the aftermath was known as Chernobyl.

Quiz Time!

(Note daw: Passing requires 4 correct answers.)

1)  How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2)  Which country makes Panama hats?
3)  From which animal do we get catgut?
4)  In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5)  What is a camel’s hair brush made of?
6)  The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?
7)  What was King George VI’s first name?
8)  What color is a purple finch?
9)  Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?

Answer?

Avatar in Digital 3D

You think Matrix is awesome? How about Iron Man, The Dark Knight, GI Joe, Transformers? (How about Brother Bear? Hehehe.) Well, if you liked these movies, you have to watch Avatar, and hopefully, in 3D. (Truth is, even if you don’t like any of the movies I mentioned, you’ll still gonna love Avatar. :-) )

Avatar is a movie written by James Cameron in 1994. This is his next movie after the highest grossing (or second) movie of all time, Titanic. According to some Web sites, this was not produced then due to a condition that has to be met first:

If it was really this emotional story at the core, why not make it a decade or more ago, when the story was originally written? His answer confirmed what most of us have assumed: that the real importance here is not the 3D, but the believability of the Na’vi. We have to accept that these beings and all the creatures and plants around them are as real as Sam Worthington’s human character. We have to accept that a largely digital ten-foot blue alien is a creature capable of expressing the range and depth of emotion of a human. (http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/06/08/everything-we-know-about-james-camerons-avatar/)

Emotional or visual, technology or storyline, everything is just perfect. Here’s how the story goes:

The story’s protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a former U.S. Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. Jake is selected to participate in the Avatar program, which will enable him to walk. Jake travels to Pandora, a lush jungle-covered extraterrestrial moon filled with incredible life forms, some beautiful, many terrifying. Pandora is also home to the Na’vi, a sentient humanoid race, who are considered primitive, yet are more physically capable than humans. Standing three meters tall (approximately 10 feet), with tails and sparkling blue skin, the Na’vi live in harmony with their unspoiled world. As humans encroach deeper into Pandora’s forests in search of valuable minerals, the Na’vi unleash their formidable warrior abilities to defend their threatened existence. Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids known as Avatars. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake will be able to walk again. Sent deep into Pandora’s jungles as a scout for the soldiers that will follow, Jake encounters many of Pandora’s beauties and dangers. There he meets a young Na’vi female, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña). Over time, Jake integrates himself into the Na’vi clan, and begins to fall in love with Neytiri. As a result, Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth and the Na’vi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Pandora and the Na’vi. (http://cinema.theiapolis.com/movie-0BE4/avatar/storyline.html)

I won’t be making any attempt to make a review as I don’t think I can give justice to its awesomeness… but let me just say this: Avatar is awesomely mind-blowing.

Do You Know Who I Am?

This is just too good not to be shared… :-)

Happy weekend everyone. :-)

Help Victims of Ondoy through Paypal, Credit Card Donations

I checked the net on ways we can help our Kabayans who were affected by Ondoy. I know we all have our reasons why some of us can’t possibly volunteer to rescue operations, or probably send goods to donation centers. But one of the easiest ways (and the least of what we should do) on how to help is by using Paypal or our credit cards. For those who are familiar with the platform, you know you can use your own account to donate. And if you don’t have a Paypal account, you can use your credit card either to create an account or directly make your donations.

Right now, I only know of one organization who’s accepting Paypal donations. Please refer to http://www.txtpower.org/. Inquirer published their story so I would have to take that as an assurance that they are legit. Here’s the story: http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20090927-227196/Help-Ondoy-victims-via-Paypal.

Help Ondoy victims via Paypal

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 23:13:00 09/27/2009

MANILA, Philippines – Consumer group TXTPower is urging Filipinos abroad to help the victims of typhoon Ondoy through donations via Paypal.

The group’s head Ian Anthony Cruz said Filipinos especially those abroad can help victims of tropical storm Ondoy via the organization’s Paypal account.

Donations will be sent to the Philippine National Red Cross.

Donations can also be made via SmartMoney (5577-5144-1866-7103) or
GCash 0917-9751092 or directly to Red Cross, said Cruz.

Paypal users, you may send your donations to magbayanihan@yahoo.com.ph or by visiting this Paypal page: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8484182

If you know of some other organizations who could “help us help” Ondoy victims, please share them. Let’s try to help in our own little way.

1 Billion Online Users… and Counting

(I wrote this last March in a techblog I am trying to set up, so, what I have here is a 6-month-old set of data. Hehehe.)

Did you know that there are more than a billion online users in the whole world? There are about six billion of us here on earth and almost 20 percent frequently access the Internet. Also, a range of 25 to 35 million are active members of different popular social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, Blogspot, WordPress, etc.).

What is this for me? Right now, I know I have the potential to reach out (directly and through their connections) to a few hundred million people simply by making a post in my Facebook account. Or posting through this WordPress blog… like this one.

Again, what is this for me? This means if I know how to utilize the power of the Internet, I can open up a business and/or consultancy site and have a potential 1 billion business leads. Offline, reaching out to a hundred people is already a pain in the ar$e. So, maybe, this potential should not be ignored. It shouldn’t be.

Three random facts about social media platforms:

1. Obama announced his running via Twitter first. He has more than half a million comments in his Facebook account and more than 5 million friends when I checked. he also has a MySpace account, a YouTube Channel, and some more.
2. Facebook’s creator is Mark Zuckerberg, a 23-year-old dropout from Harvard, and is worth more than a billion dollars.
3. Friendster is most popular in Asian countries; with Facebook and Multiply coming in next.

Here are some of the most popular social media platforms (super-lazy to put the links, just Google them, they’ll probably in the top result — else they are not that popular at all, hehehe):

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Blogspot
4. WordPress
5. LinkedIn
6. Digg
7. Technorati
8. Stumbledupon
9. Friendster
10. Multiply

Open one and explore possible opportunities — be it professional, personal, or business.

Practice… Practice…

Practice… Practice…

So far, the biking routes I am taking are limited to MOA-PICC-Makati area. I am still trying to connect with my bike. Hehehe. Also, because it’s been some time since I last worked out in the gym, I believe it is necessary that I work out my legs first before going to more exciting rides.

Last weekend was MOA. It was a fun ride because it was not raining and it’s not so hot. I left my place at around 6 in the morning — then, Buendia, PICC, and MOA grounds. Dami ng tao! It’s just a 3- to 4-hour easy biking, so to speak. But it was fun. The scent of Manila Bay is just… well, refreshing considering the daily Makati environment I am exposed to.

My plan is to spend some more sessions at MOA to make sure my legs are ready for the longer rides. By next month, I hope I’ll be able to take a more challenging route/track. For now, and next week, I’m OK with these easier rides.

So far, the biking routes I am taking are limited to MOA-PICC-Makati area. I am still trying to connect with my bike. Hehehe. Also, because it’s been some time since I last worked out in the gym, I believe it is necessary that I work out my legs first before going to more exciting rides.

Last weekend was MOA. It was a fun ride because it was not raining and it’s not so hot. I left my place at around 6 in the morning — then, Buendia, PICC, and MOA grounds. Dami ng tao! It’s just a 3- to 4-hour easy biking, so to speak. But it was fun. The scent of Manila Bay is just… well, refreshing considering the daily Makati environment I am exposed to.

My plan is to spend some more sessions at MOA to make sure my legs are ready for the longer rides. By next month, I hope I’ll be able to take a more challenging route/track. For now, and next week, I’m OK with these easier rides.

—

On another note: Saw the cast of Umagang Kay Ganda at MOA yesterday. I think Bamboo was also there. It has something to do with the 2010 elections, which by the way, is just another circus in the making. I mean, look: Teodoro’s proclamation as standard bearer is foul, while Aquino-Roxas tandem proclamation is not? What the — (Ooopsss, not here!)

Sa uulitin!

My MTB

Finally… my own MTB (mountain bike — pic after the post).

I and my brother initially went to Makati Cinema Square as I saw an advertisement via AyosDito.ph but luckily, we didn’t buy the bike we saw there. We went to Cartimar Shopping Center and looked around. Ang masasabi ko lang: wow! There were so many bike shops in the center!

Inside Shop 1, while looking at first MTB: “Oh yeah, this is it.”
Inside Shop 2, while looking at second MTB: “Hah! this is it. Really.”
Inside Shop 3, while looking at third MTB: “I swear this is it. This time I am so sure.”

To make the story short, we found the bike that we want (he got one, too) and we were so happy with our choices. We tested the MTB before paying in full. Then, we used the bike to go back to our place in Makati.

First road trip with the new MTB: Cartimar Shopping Center to our place. Ang saya, inabutan pa kami ng ulan! We figured it’s a blessing from up above. Hehehe. When we’re almost home, a couple of blocks away from our place, something happened: The tire of my bro’s bike hit something and alas! Flat tire! The good thing is that we’re almost home, hehehe. Birth pains, so my brother called it. It’s a good think it happened this early. At least, we’ll be forced to look for ‘gadgets’ for the bike — tools, accessories, etc. So, for now, we’re having the tire fixed, buying some gadgets, and enjoying the remaining of the day at home.

Here’s my MTB. :-)