Crimson Crux

This is what Ia Lucero and I had been cramming for in the past few weeks. Quoting the popular Panitikan.com.ph site:

JUNE 22, 2008

BULAWAN ONLINE LAUNCHED

At his lecture in UP Diliman last June 19, National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario was glad to launch a new website: bulawanonline.com. He serves as chief editor while Roberto T. Añonuevo, Romulo P. Baquiran Jr., Michael M. Coroza, Vim Nadera and Fidel Rillo serve as co-editors. Phillip Kimpo Jr., Sophia Lucero, Eilene Narvaez and Ernanie Rafael are the staff members.

Bulawanonline.com gets its name from Bulawan, a refereed quarterly journal published by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts. The NCCA is also one of the major forces behind panitikan.com.ph.

The maiden issue features works and commentary by Nikka Osorio, Roberto T. Añonuevo, Ronald A. Atilano, Romulo P. Baquiran, Jr., Michael M. Coroza and Virgilio S. Almario himself. Visit the new site here: http://bulawanonline.com/.

The lit journal only accepts works in Filipino — poems, short stories, critical essays, and translations. Several important links:

• The first issue
• About the journal
• Submission guidelines

Submitted works will be reviewed by some of the most distinguished names in Philippine literature; accepted pieces will be accompanied by critiques from the editors.

The online journal’s elegant design is courtesy of — you guessed it — Ia. Now, if only she’d update her portfolio to include this latest masterpiece!

Visit Bulawan Online.

Another of my dear friend Sophia Lucero’s web design masterpieces has been featured on a top-notch venue, this time on Performancing WordPress Themes, home to “the world’s best free WordPress themes.”

The new Rubidious theme has a classy look that is sure to please lovers of the red-and-dark (myself included):

Rubidious is a three-column theme sporting deep hues of red and blue. The theme name is based on the chemical element Rubidium, which comes from the Latin term for “deepest red”.

The free WP themes site is part of the Performancing.com, a popular and trusted resource where I used to write.

You can preview and download the theme exclusively on Performancing. Also, if you will remember, Ia’s Tiffany Blue design won in a major contest last year.

I was at UP Diliman this afternoon, in the hours right smack in between the celebrations in the morning and the concert in the evening (at the Cultural Center of the Philippines).

That meant I wasn’t able to relish in any of the activities, unlike last January when I was happily clicking away with my camera during the Centennial kick-off celebration.

Still, it felt mightily good to be there in the Diliman Republic, strolling beneath the towering acacia trees and inhaling the crisp after-rain air. It felt good to be there on June 18, 2008, fanfare or no fanfare. It felt good to be there on the day the national university turns 100.

Cheers to the University of the Philippines!

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.

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.

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
(more…)

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?

Michael of the distinguished Basapa.com (and its forerunner, Basang Panaginip) has published the 2007 edition of the Top Pinoy Probloggers.

Well, Michael sprang a surprise for me through email — I’m listed as one of the country’s top probloggers for this year. Specifically, I’m under the “Bubbling Under” category (which occupies the last eight spots).

Never mind the low ad earnings — I’ll unabashedly take this recognition anyday. Thanks, Michael!

Postscript. This development jarred me into the realization that my list of blogging projects (plus the sites I write for, edit, and manage) hasn’t been updated in quite a while. Get the souped up list today at Corsarify.

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.

I was supposed to post this great news a few days ago, but a rash of offline events (LIRA, komiks, etc.) kept me from blogging. I got this from the UP CS Network mailing list (edited for clarity):

The First Philippine National Programming Competition (ACM-ICPC Philippines 2007) was held last October 20 at De La Salle Canlubang. Fifty teams from 24 different schools in the Philippines joined the contest, and we are proud to announce that out of the 50, 3 teams from UP Diliman, specifically from the Department of Computer Science, got into the Top 10! Well, that’s not all because one of our teams happened to be the ACM-ICPC PHILIPPINES 2007 CHAMPION!

Congratulations to

Marte Raphael Soliza
Ralph Rainier Pineda
Reginald Eli Deinla
ACM-ICPC PHILIPPINES 2007 CHAMPION

Ralph Justin Arce
Vanessa Rose Castro
James Wyson
ACM-ICPC PHILIPPINES 2007 FIFTH PLACER

John Kristofferson Sanchez
Wigi Vei Oliveros
Pio Ryan Lumongsod
ACM-ICPC 2007 NINTH PLACER

and, last but not the least, the Champion Coach who helped the UPD teams make it this far,

Sir Eric Tambasacan
UP DILIMAN TEAM COACH

Again, Congratulations!!!

Many thanks to Diwa del Mundo for pointing me toward Dr. Rafael Saldaña’s blog post on the official results of the prestigious competition. The top 10 teams and their schools:

1. University of the Philippines Diliman - “U.P Morons”
2. Ateneo de Manila University - “cxxC”
3. University of the Philippines Los Baños - “Heaven”
4. Ateneo de Manila University - “Team Automata”
5. University of the Philippines Diliman - “Team 43″
6. De La Salle University Manila - “DLSU-2″
7. Ateneo de Manila University - “Excessive Output”
8. De La Salle University Manila - “DLSU-1″
9. University of the Philippines Diliman - “Team 45″
10. Ateneo de Manila University - “eTeam”

You can check out Dr. Saldaña’s blog archives for the complete rankings and the programming problems given to the contestants.

Congrats to the aforementioned students for doing UP Diliman proud — this is a worthy advance gift for the school’s upcoming Centennial, and a great follow-up to UP ACM’s 4th international award last July and the recent Yahoo! Philippines Hack Day.

Mabuhay ang Unibersidad!


P.S. Do greet my dearest Ia Lucero a very happy birthday!