Crimson Crux

Now for some family-centric affair…

Last week I presented this portal to the members of the Kimpo Clan, and now I have the pleasure of unveiling Kimpo.ph to the public.

Quoting the site’s About blurb:

The online portal for all members of the Kimpo Clan. The years have witnessed the Kimpo families spread all over the Philippines, and as part of the Filipino diaspora, the whole world. May this website help the descendants of Juan Kimpo and Maria Lutgarda Escalona reconnect with their roots and with each other. On this site, you will find various accounts of the Clan’s history, an extensive family tree for the descendants of the seven children of Lolo Juan and Lola Ganday, info and pictures of all the Kimpo international reunions, webpages of various Kimpos, and more.

Two sections of the site (History, Family Tree) are still in progress. I know, I know — don’t release a website until it’s done through and through. But I figured the news and features section of the site count more right now in the weeks leading to the family’s 3rd international reunion in January 2008, in order to keep people abreast with what’s happening. The History and Family Tree sections will be finished next month (once the souvenir program/book rolls off the press).

Speaking of the reunion, the Kimpo.ph site comes with company — the Kimpo International Reunion 2008 blog. The Kimpo family is in the homestretch of preparing for the quadrennial reunion, and the blog will give a candid look as to how we do it. When the clan is merrymaking in Kalibo and Boracay in Aklan, I’ll try to dish out some liveblogging goodness. And when the festivities are finally over, this blog will be home to summaries, memoirs, and AARs.

Both sites wouldn’t have been possible if not for Ia’s magic (or should I say, stellar) touch. A simple “thanks” won’t cut it, hehe.

That said, please visit Kimpo.ph and the Kimpo International Reunion 2008 blog!

I’ve just uploaded some vidcaps of my recent TV guesting on Nancy Castiglione’s show, where we talked about airplane “toys”. You can view all of them on my aircraft models blog.

Hopefully I can get a copy of the full video soon from Makisig Network. Till then, the poorly taken pics will have to do!

Splashpress Media, one of the companies I work with and a major player in the international blogosphere has recently relaunched its main site. Along with the sleek redesign came long-deserved profiles for its formidable team of managers, editors, and bloggers.

The Filipino blogging community is well-represented in Splashpress’ roster, with the most notable Pinoy being J. Angelo Racoma, SP Media’s Editor-in-Chief. Yours truly is listed as:

Phillip Kimpo Jr., Editor

A published literary writer, poet, and professional blogger, Phillip has taken over as Editor of both Blogger Jobs and Blog Network Watch and helped breathe new life into both blogs.

With its recent major acquisitions, the future does indeed look bright for the blog network. Here’s hoping for more great things to come for Splashpress and its publisher, Mark Saunders.

As longtime readers of this blog might know, I’m a sucker for all things Roman, specifically, Ancient Roman. (This interest manifests itself in Roman Empire video games, history books, historical fiction novels, and classic maps, among others.)

That said, I’m quite fascinated by the Rome Reborn 1.0 project under the aegis of the University of Virginia. The huge undertaking took a whole decade to complete and involves both a 3D digital model and a physical miniature model of the city. (Speaking of minis, you know I’m a sucker for them, too!)

To quote the Communications of the ACM article:

The $2 million project, called the largest and most complete simulation of an historic city ever created, allows visitors to view a side of the city unseen by ancient Romans.

For more info and tons of pictures and videos, visit the Rome Reborn website.

Thanks to J. Angelo’s heads-up on the recent speed upgrade of Sky DSL / Bayantel DSL (which has been rebranded as Bayan DSL), I’m now squeezing more juice out of my Plan 1699 connection. From a max speed of 768 Kbps, I’m now due for 1280 Kbps, which is burstable to 1536 Kbps during off-peak hours.

Existing users will need to call Bayan DSL’s customer service to get this free upgrade. Just dial 411200, or better yet, dial 171 from your Bayan phone (if you have one).

Update: Here’s what I got with Bayan’s Speed-on-Demand:

I have lots of blogs with separate groups of readers, so pardon me if I announce this here, too:

Update 11/17/07: Airing will be on November 18 at 7 P.M.

Update: The airing has been postponed to November 18. And even that date is tentative. Sorry for this belated notice; their own notice to me was also belated.

Yours truly will be guesting in today’s episode of At Your Pleasure, Nancy hosted by Nancy Castiglione, airing at either 2 or 3 pm on Makisig Network (channel 76/82 at SkyCable/HomeCable, ch. 84 if you have an analog box installed).

I will be sharing my experiences as a collector of airplane scale models; the show’s researchers were able to reach me through the power of Google, hehe. (Insert the customary praise for the blogosphere: Thank God for blogging!)

The episode won’t be live; it was taped last week. For some tidbits on how the taping went (and my brush with Nancy, Maureen Larrazabal, and Francine Prieto), you can read my post on Slip of the Pen.