Crimson Crux

Today is the first day of the week-long 9th UST-CCWS National Writers’ Workshop, and as luck would have it, I’m one of the workshop’s Fellows (for the English Creative Non-Fiction category).

I learned that I’ve been accepted a few weeks ago (see my Multiply blog post), although it was only last week that UST formally announced the Fellows on the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

This is my second literary workshop after graduating from the LIRA Filipino poetry clinic and being sworn in as one of the organization’s newest members.

Wish me luck!

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

StarCraft was the very first game I popped into my very first computer (yes, I started quite late — I was in first year of high school). The years haven’t sullied the great gaming memories from ‘98-’99, and those memories are almost exclusively StarCraft memories — Zergling rushes, jaw-dropping Blizzard cinematics, mostly one-sided Battle.net matches (with me on the losing end), and so on.

Which is why I’m proudly displaying that banner above. It’s actually part of the new Blizzard “I <3 SC" Photo Mosaic contest that celebrates the franchise’s ten-year anniversary (as well as drum up publicity for the upcoming StarCraft 2).

I won’t be joining the contest. Rather, this post is just a little tribute to one heck of a game…the game that made me a gamer.

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

I’m now serving as the Editor of the Web’s “oldest blog directory”, EatonWeb. The site is one of Splashpress Media’s prime properties.

Taking from the directory’s About page:

As the oldest blog directory on the web, Eatonweb is the perfect place to establish your blog’s online authority. But what really sets EatonWeb apart is the way we measure and display the importance of blogs in our directory.

Each blog receives three rankings: strength, momentum and overall.

I share the day-to-day duties with fellow Pinoy problogger J. Angelo Racoma, SP Media’s Editor-in-Chief and EatonWeb’s manager.

Membership at EatonWeb is free, although there is a review fee for each submission in order to maintain the quality of the directory. (Yep, we do write reviews for each blog!)

Visit EatonWeb today.

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Please support my friend Noel’s research study:

Good day!

I’m an undergraduate student from the UP School of Library and Information Studies who is presently working on a study entitled TagBux, a tool to determine the effectiveness and relevance of tags on a library’s collection. The library collection that was chosen for this study is the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Diliman Library. Through this study, library users will be able to discover the popular topics or the current trends in a library’s collection through the frequencies of tags.

Website: http://nicole.feria.name:8080/tagbux/feedback.jsp

What is TagBux ?

TagBux is a Web 2.0 application developed through Open Source technologies (Java EE and Wordpress) and patterned from social networking applications such as Shelfari. It lets you use tags to assign labels to books and was designed to test the accuracy of tagging as compared to the subject headings assigned to books. The library collection that was chosen for this study is the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Diliman Library. Through this study, library users will be able to discover the popular topics or genres in a library’s collection through the frequencies of tags.

Read the rest of this entry »

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

I know I’ve gone without a post for two months, but this one’s just in time for the season of Lent.

On his blog, my friend and colleague J. Angelo Racoma recently unveiled HolySacrifice.net, the official website of the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice in the University of the Philippines Diliman.

The chapel is a Philippine National Historical Landmark and a Cultural Treasure, being the first circular church and the first thin-shell concrete dome in the country. It is a work of art of five National Artists and many bright minds. (You can learn more on the church’s Wikipedia article.)

On the personal side, I hold the church very close to me — when I was still studying, not a week passed that I didn’t drop by the chapel to say a few prayers and catch a moment of silence. Nowadays the vroooms of passing jeepneys easily invade the sanctity of the chapel, but the place remains as true a haven as you can find on UP campus.

J. Angelo helps manage the site, while the web design is another masterpiece of Ia Lucero (okay, you know I’m biased, but the site does elegant justice to an elegant landmark).

Do visit HolySacrifice.net from time to time.

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be flying to Kalibo, Aklan to participate in the third international reunion of our clan. I actually have tons of work and literary stuff in the queue, but I’d have to forget these for the meantime — even with the telecommuting nature of my employment, I think it’s impossible to work there this time of the year. Kalibo is reveling in the wild Ati-atihan Festival!

My last trip to our home province was in May 2006. After this new one-week vacation, I’ve got a full hectic year ahead of me, so I think I’ll store up on the fresh air and great memories, hehe.

See you soon.

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

I’ve published a pseudo-photo essay on last week’s UP Centennial Celebration kick-off on my lit blog, Slip of the Pen. An excerpt:

At this point, the excitement was very palpable in the air. Many people were chatting with voices slightly shaking in excitement, and laughs were in abundance. The UP Ang Galing Mo song blared through the loudspeakers, and the drums thundering to the tune of UP’s cherished school cheers spiked UP pride in everyone’s veins.

Read the whole thang.

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

This 2008, the state university of the Philippines celebrates its 100th year — and I plan not to miss the action.

First up in the to-attend list: the launch of the UP System’s Centennial Celebration this Tuesday, January 8. UP alumni, don’t miss this one!

Borrowing the program of activites from the official UP Centennial website:

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. — Mass in UP Manila
10:15 - 12:00 a.m. — Celebration Program in UP Manila
12:00 - 2:00 p.m. — Motorcade from UP Manila to UP Diliman; Assembly of the celebrants at the University Ave. in UP Diliman
2:00 - 2:30 p.m. — Motorcade from UP Manila meets the other UP College Units contingents in front of Lung Center in Quezon Ave.
2:30 - 3:00 p.m. — Motorcade proceeds to University Ave.
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. — Arrival of Motorcade at University Ave.
4:00 - 4:30 p.m. — Skydivers with banners land in open area next to Plaridel Hall
4:30 - 4:45 p.m. — Tambuli and ‘Kwitis’ signal start of ceremony
Read the rest of this entry »

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Longtime PC gamers will know what Simlish is — a fictional and unintelligible language used in the revered Sim franchise of Will Wright and Maxis.

Well, surprise, surprise — Simlish is partly a child of the Philippines! If you’e going to trust Wikipedia’s article on the language:

The Sims development team created the unique Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian and Tagalog (one of the major languages of the Philippines).

Just one of those amusing tidbits of trivia. Now, this begs a question — did the Maxis devs include a Filipino in their ranks, or did they just pick Tagalog for its qualities?

Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Okay, for those unacquainted with the college basketball scene in the Philippines, here’s a primer: there are two major leagues, the UAAP and the NCAA.

A discussion on which is the better league is better left with sports blogs, but it’s oft-mentioned that of the two, the UAAP is the “glamour league”, having two ‘well-endowed’ schools (Ateneo and La Salle) in its ranks. The NCAA, on the other hand, enjoys a richer tradition, having been founded earlier. The University of the Philippines, my alma mater, competes in the UAAP.

Now, a very intriguing proposition has been plastered on the sports pages these past days. As part of the upcoming UP Centennial celebration, the State U is pushing for a unified super-league.

Craziness? Perhaps. An impossibility? Nope. According to news reports, member schools like the idea of a combined UAAP-NCAA. However, these same schools doubt whether the merger can be pulled off. A couple of problems looming on the hardcourt horizon:
Read the rest of this entry »

Subscribe to this blog's feed.