Crimson Crux

For the past months — no, a year! — I’ve spent more time on my offline writing career (UST and LIRA literary workshops) than the online one (blogs and web projects). Truth to be told, I think my heyday of putting up blogs and writing posts here and there is drawing to a close (or has done so already). I’m now settling into a comfort zone in the offline writing world, slowly but surely.

Still, that doesn’t mean that I’ll be turning my back on blogs. I still love blogging. It’s just the time that is scarce, not affection.

And time for blogging is what I will be setting aside on September 6, 2008, when the first WordCamp in Southeast Asia will be hitting town. From the event’s About page:

WordCamp is the premier event for WordPress users and developers. WordPress is arguably the #1 blogging platform in the world today…One of the objectives of WordCamp Philippines is to encourage more developers to use and deploy WordPress, not only as a blogging engine but also as a full-featured content management system for Web sites.

I’m one of those users who fully appreciate WordPress’ power, having deployed it on a plethora of sites, from my main website to the family portal, from a personal blog to a literary magazine. I’ll attend WordCamp Philippines not only to learn more WP stuff, but also to show support to a platform that just keeps on giving.

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I’ll be the one of the panelists in today’s The UP Parser Writing Workshop.

The UP Parser is the school paper I edited (along with Ia) for two academic years. Not only is it rewarding for me to have the chance to share my blessings with a new generation of wordsmiths, but it’s also surreal to be leading a workshop panel only a few weeks separated from my being a workshop fellow (at the UST NWW).

The workshop programme, taken from my Multiply blog:

The UP Parser Writing Workshop 2008
1.0: News and Feature Writing

July 23, 2008
5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
UP Alumni Engineers Centennial Hall
Velasquez Street, UP Diliman

Organized by:
The UP Parser Alumni &
The UP Parser Staff for AY 2008-09

Programme

5:30 - 5:40    Introduction / UP Parser History
5:40 - 6:00    The Winning Team (by Jonel Uy)
6:00 - 6:45    News Writing Workshop (led by Phillip Kimpo Jr.)
6:45 - 7:30    Features Writing Workshop (led by Phillip Kimpo Jr.)
7:30 - 8:00    Open Forum

The Panelists

Phillip Kimpo Jr.
Head Panelist

Phillip served as The UP Parser’s Editor-in-Chief for the academic years 2004-05 and 2005-06, helping resurrect the then-dead publication. During his term, Parser emerged as the foremost publication in the College of Engineering, releasing seven issues with more or less a total circulation of 3000 copies, many of which were in full color and tabloid size. During this time, Parser’s signature line was permanently etched in DCS history: We don’t just write programs; we write.

Phillip graduated from the Department of Computer Science in 2006, and was cited as an Outstanding Representative by the UP Alliance of Computer Science Students (UP CS Network). He currently works as a freelance writer, editor, and website manager.

Phillip is a member of LIRA (Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo), an organization of poets writing in Filipino under the aegis of National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario (a.k.a. Rio Alma). He is a founding member of KATAS (Kalipunan ng mga Taga-Sining para sa Lipunan). He was a Fellow for the 9th UST National Writers’ Workshop and the 2007 LIRA Poetry Clinic. He serves as a staffer for the Bulawan Online literary journal.

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Remember my recent post on laser engraved moleskines? Well, I just got mine earlier this week, and it’s a beauty.

Playing on its coffee steam design, I’m naming my second moleskine notebook “Katas” (Filipino for ‘juice’ or ’sap’). KATAS is also the nickname of a small literary organization I helped establish last year, the Kalipunan ng mga Taga-Sining para sa Lipunan (Society of Artists for Society).

I was especially enamored of this design because 1) I love coffee, and 2) I have a strong interest in cities and urban planning. Not to mention that I interpret the union of coffee steam and city as the (rightful) merger of art with society.

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After years of waiting, a third Diablo game has been announced.

Damn.

Last year, it was StarCraft II. Now, this industry-shaking news. What more can I, a Blizzard fan, ask for?

I’ll spare you from a litany of how much I became engrossed in Diablo II, and I’ll instead point you toward the official D3 site, where you can get all the game info to your heart’s content. But for those who don’t have the time (or net speed) to view the Diablo III cinematic trailer, here are some vidcaps I took:

Blizzard kicks ass.

Hmmm. New location?

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