I had the great opportunity of attending the second iBlog Summit, held last Tuesday at the UP College of Law in UP Diliman. While there, I got to meet fellow Man-Blog editors and other bloggers comprising the Philippine blogosphere.
After the key-note speeches and introductions, I sat down on the Political Blogging Panel, giving up the Personal Blogging group, mainly because the latter had "blogging for mere mortals" as its first topic. I'm no mere mortal. And there goes my god-complex for the whole world to see.
The attendees had been served with insights of Manuel L. Quezon III on "blogs and the battle for ideas: personalities and issues" and Davao City Councilor Peter Laviña on "blogging and participatory governance" which lasted until about 1:30 P.M. The presentations were both informative and engaging. So engaging in fact that the Q&A portion had been cut short to accommodate only a few of the inquiries from the floor.
Then it happened.
One participant raised a hand to supposedly give MLQ a commendation on his talk and eventually ended up having for himself ample air-time to share his own insights on what ideas are, how it is larger than the blogger, all the while unleashing the most heart-felt impromptu speeches I ever lent my ears to in a long while. It lasted more than it should have, in my opinion. While the speech-cum-question-cum-reaction was being delivered, I could only stare at the floor, trying very hard not to mind my noisy stomach in its empty-except-for-a-cup-of-coffee state. I mean to give the participant I'm referring to no offense but that speech was uncalled for in the following respect:
- It did not directly refer to any of the presenter's points as discussed;
- This happended at the Q&A portion and, while the participant excused himself via a brief intro on what he was about to say and do, it looped trying to drive home a key insight in the minds of the other participants;
- As the previous point may have been a valid excuse for sharing an idea, the fact that the panel ate its way through lunch time and I was particularly famished rendered his intrusion (for lack of a better word) more of a nuisance than welcomed.
I have not had the privilege to know the identity of the blogger and I am really very sorry for not being able to link nor react on his blog. It would have been nice had that portion been shared in a more appropriate avenue, like in an open forum, for instance.
It might just be that I'm hungry, that my head is reeling with the insights and information from the two speakers, that it was Q&A-time instead of sharing-a-lengthy-idea time, or that I felt it was uncalled for to most of the participants who's minds were pre-programmed to listen to only two speakers during this particular break-out session.
I am not speaking for anyone else on this insight. I just felt like sharing what was going on in my mind at that time. After all, I consider this an appropriate venue for expressing my thoughts.
The Subic Getaway Trois: Behold, the Panthera tigris
Zoobic boasts of their tiger safari as the highlight of the tour. It comes right after the part where your group goes in the serpentarium where you will get to observe dozens of beautiful snakes in glass encasings. Should you go and visit Zoobic, do opt to be the group to do the tiger-feeding. It would cost you an extra P200 for a live chicken bait but then your group would be treated like royalty. Royalty, in a sense, because your party gets to take a jeep where there are only a limited number of passengers as compared to other groups who will be crammed up in theirs. This is also a big plus for photo enthusiasts as you will get a closer shot of this beautiful animal in all its grand glory. The ride is virtully safe as the windows of the jeepney you are to take on to the safari are sealed with railings to protect the passengers from the unpredictable temper of these creatures.
Do note that as explained by guides, most of the young tigers awere actually born and raised in captivity. That they are taking very good care of them with the appropriate nourishments and attention. It is evident that they are actually telling the truth since the tigers looked really healthy and happy. (Again, as with almost all pictures on this blog, please click on the images for a larger view.)
First, the jeeps, led by the "feeding" group, go inside the safari gates in search for the tiger who is hungry enough take the bait. Our group made several tauntings but secceeded in getting the attention of the alpha male tiger on the third try. Once a tiger made the move, signifying his interest on the chicken, the jeep would then circle around the safari to give the intent tiger his chase to the prey-cum-lunch hanging by the adidas-ankles via a rope whose ends are held by the able safari guide. The chase is actually a need. A necessity from the point of view of the tiger as this all the more makes the eating more satisfying.
After what seemed like two minutes of letting the chicken out and subsequently taking it back in the jeep to make the tiger salivate to near insanity, the guide responsible for the feeding then tosses the chicken onto the other side and over the roof of the jeep. This would make the tiger leap up, intent to find his live lunch scampering about on the roof, and find no chicken since the poor foul is hanging frantically on the other side by the window of the jeep. At this point, we did not know what was happening on our roof as even the onlookers are dead-silent. Next thing we observed was a paw reaching out in a scooping motion from the roof to the other-side window in the direction of the about-to-be-dead chicken.
Having been satisfied of the tiger's cooperation and just-as-rehearsed reaction, the guide then tugs on the rope to hoist the chicken up to meet its maker in the paws of the hungry tiger. He leaps down from the roof, mind all made up on how to eat his prey, when the chicken is tugged from its feet by the rope which is still in the hands of our guide: a cue for all the spectators to shoot their cameras on to the exhibit.
A couple of seconds later, the guide tugs hard and sends part of the chicken hurrying back towards the jeep. Logically, the tiger would not take this crap from some measly human who is intent on toying with his meal since his momma told him it is impolite to play with one's food! With this in mind, he makes a beeline towards the rest of his meal. By the time he bites off the rest of the foul, down to its feet, I instinctively take close-ups of the tiger all the while being struck by awe on how close we are to this big, feeding, and very hungry mammal. The whole experience is just effin' surreal.
We then offered a moment of silence to give respect to our fallen commrade, er, chicken, whatever, before wiping the splatter it made on most of our body parts.
[mood set by Kraak & Smaak doing One Of These Days]
[End of part trois]
All images in this post are proprietary to the author. Tigers courtesy of Zoobic (modeling agency). No tigers were killed nor harmed during the photoshoot. No humans were apparently skinned during the photoshoot, either. Copyright 2006 by Fritz Tentativa.
The Subic Getaway Deux: Communing With The Animals
[WARNING: The following post contains potentially offensive material. If you are offended at all by pictures or images of snakes or animals and reptiles of any kind then this post is NOT for you. Please close your browser or hit the return-button NOW]
I haven't gone to the
Manila Zoo recently. I remember from when we used to go there when we were still small that the animals there are somewhat not healthy looking. From our photos, I could remember the giraffe, ostrich, snakes, hippos, and different kinds of primates including one big-assed baboon. There might have been lions but they must have been in their make-shift lair, sleeping, instead of making the children happy to at least get a glimpse of their sheer magnificence and beauty. They say it deteriorated in time. The
Manila Zoo, I meant. Some said they've revived it and the animals don't look as sickly. My memories should not however serve as the actual basis on how the
Manila Zoo actually looked like then. After all, I was young then and the years that passed may have skewed the reality from within my head.
With that last thought of what visiting the zoo felt like, I wasn't expecting much from
Zoobic. Once there, they will charge you a modest fee of P390.00 for admittance. It would be worth every penny and I'll share with you our experience. In pictures. The highlight, though, will be reserved for
Part Trois of this series. Feel free to click on the images for a
bigger picture. Note that due to the limited capacity of my camera's batteries, I wasn't able to take pictures of all the animals featured in Zoobic. These, though, are the beautiful ones.
[mood set by Roisin Murphy singing Ruby Blue]
[End of part deux]
All images in this post are proprietary to the author. Animal-cum-models courtesy of Zoobic (modeling agency). No animals were killed nor harmed during the photoshoot. Copyright 2006 by Fritz Tentativa.
The Subic Getaway Une: Life's a Beach
It started with the text message that read, "got any plans for the Holy Week?" to which I replied, "um, no." Then came an inevitable, "wanna go to Subic?" to which I answered, "hell, yeah!"
I had initially intended to only capture the blue-ness of the sky while I was taking this photo when I noticed, to my surprise and subsequent delight, that this pretty vixen wanted to be a part of the shot. Seeing the preview image, I said, "what the heck, join in if you want to." And so she did. Photo was taken along the North Luzon Expressway in transit to Subic.
I always let myself get easily dragged to spur-of-the-moment travels for as long as I do not have anything planned. Having gone to Subic several times before and knowing how the villas there are furnished, I got off work early and bought a set of DVDs for the entire season of Grey's Anatomy just in case we decide to stay indoors instead of going-out-to-enjoy-the-sun,-get-some-tan,-and-frolic-in-the-sand. As a sort of warning to those who might buy them dibidis: the set only has 6 discs containing 12 episodes when the entire season actually has 16 episodes. We got to rely on the previously-in-Grey's-Anatomy portion before each episode so we could catch up with what we missed (and four episodes is a material miss).
Having been "just dragged," I left deciding on the intinerary up to my comrades, Ainna, Conrad, and Carlo. Talk about being passive. Ultra-passive, should such a state exist. I did not even know there were beaches in Subic (loser!). And I realized, on our three-day stay at the place, there are actually no really nice beaches in the area. Sure there are shores with brown-to-grey-sh-brown sands, but they just don't live up to our idea of what a beach should have. Or be like, at the very least. We drove around and every shore on all pseudo-beaches were filled with people. Some even asking for an entrance fee of P200.00 (US$4.00) which we had to let pass since the people-infested beach looked really ghastly. Pictures below are from three different locations in the area.
The sky is greatly blue as usual. In fact it's the perfect beach weather. Minus the beach, of course. It's in these moments, tanning lotion on tow, that you wish you could wish for Boracay to just come on over. Or Coron in Palawan. Or Caylabne, as a last resort.
Good thing we have something else to look forward to (other than Ainna's diving which is one of the reasons they chose Subic). Something that involves animals apart from the monkeys you usually see crossing the highways of Subic. That something is actually a somewhere.
It's called Zoobic.
[mood set by Lucie Silvas singing Nothing Else Matters (a Metallica cover)] [End of part une]
All images in this post are proprietary to the author. Copyright 2006 by Fritz Tentativa.
Though I have had the most opportune time of talking for plus-minus three score minutes (that translates to thirty minutes to you, Tootsie) to a great friend at a time when I felt so vulnerable, small, and helpless, I have realized that the greatest of conversations could only peak up if you choose who to talk to, most importantly if you'd want to get some helpful opinions from the supposedly intellectual exchange.
For instance, I had been racking my brain recently with a decision on whether or not to give in to a somewhat long standing struggle that has been going on with the personalities residing inside my head in finally getting myself a 60GB iPod. Now, the decision is not of the lame kind that may concern whether to get a white one or a black one because my mind has already been conditioned on the black one, it being the result of a personalities-inside-my-head poll held recently where those in favor of black won 17 to 2. I had initially planned on getting an iPod after I get my very own iBook or laptop, whichever comes first, because, as surprising as this may sound to most, I do not own a computer. Yet. All I have is my Pocket PC. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the known world, apart from the Windows Mobile, I'm only a proud owner of a 512 Mb USB flash drive which practically temporarily hosts my files if it's awaiting to either be transferred to my office PC (as in the case of those music files I have painstakingly searched via the most reliable download manager there is that's luckily installed in every terminal of my favorite internet cafe who, by the way, boasts of having the fastest data transfer rate at 10Mbps) or the internet (when it's time for me to upload those photos for blog or Friendster purposes).
Going back to my story, there I was, holding a smallish piece of paper from the local Apple store containing the specs and price of all the iPods that are currently out in the market. Note that for an impulsive buyer of 6 years, not coming up with a firm decision 24 hours after the sudden urge to buy could already seem like an eternity of pain and suffering likened to listening to and watching Jose Marie Chan sing "Beautiful Girl" for 30 minutes straight in a viewing room while tied to a seat and left with no choice whatsoever of whether or not to watch and hear it because you can not not look and listen (imagine that mole on his forehead and that I'm-just-so-fucking-pleased-with-singing-this-song-that-I-can't-bear-to-be-pleased-with-it-alone look on his receding hairlined face from 15 years ago).
Again, going back, know what, I just realized that I'm so good at stalling that, at the rate I'm going, I feel like I could stall my own death from that old scythe-wielding, black-cloaked bloke.
Where was I? Oh, I was holding the Apple paper (which, by the way, was hand-picked together with the pack of pickled pepper by no other than good old Peter Piper XI, direct descendant to Peter Piper himself, who, if I might add, is a proud member of the congregation of 19 personalities residing inside my head) when the following verbal exchange transpired between me and a friend:
ME: I intend on getting me an iPod but I'm restraining myself because I do not yet own a laptop or a PC (I was keen on not mentioning the term iBook because I might just end up getting into a debate on the pros and cons of an iBook vs a Windows-run peripheral which could get rather bloody).
Dick (not the real name): Can't you use the PCs in the internet cafe to transfer your files?
ME: I'd need a software (referring to iTunes) and it has to be installed onto the terminal and that would mean syncing my files but I don't want to share the tracks I have, I'm sorry. It would also be a hassle to always install the program every time I use a different terminal.
Dick: Can't you download your songs via the internet?
ME: Getting the songs is a different process altogether vis-a-vis transferring your files onto the iPod (insert I-think-you're-stupid stare here).
Dick: Oh... So what kind are you planning on getting?
ME: I've got several options right here (handing stupid-asshole the Apple paper)
Dick: You should have gone to Abenson's (a local appliance and electronics shop) for iPods. You could get one on installment arrangement from there.
ME: That thing you are holding, old Padawan, happens to be from the Apple Center, read: a legitimate iPod dealer. They also apparently give out a 0% interest deal on 12-month installment purchases.
Dick: (while looking at the paper) What mobile phones do they sell?
ME: (already really sorry to have started the conversation) Nope, no mobile phones, just Macs and iPods.
Dick: (looking at the list) What do you plan on getting?
ME: The 60GB iPod Video.
Dick: What? Just two hours battery life?! That's stupid!
ME: I think you are looking at charging-the-battery-up time. Read the headers, please (sarcastic tone).
Dick: (now apparently reading the storage capacity specs) Right. Where could you get 15,000 songs? I mean, I can't even come up with 1,000 tracks which is why, if ever I'd get an iPod, I'd probably go for the Shuffle.
ME: (pissed) With 512Mb and an I'm-so-very-much-a-sissy form factor? You are talking to Mr. Audiophile here who happens to have an appreciation for about a dozen and one genres of music! That's a baker's dozen to you, Margaret! I even have more than a hundred J-Pop songs whose language I honestly do not understand at all!
Dick: So what else does it do other than play tracks? Would it make calls and have a calendar function? Sony Ericsson phones could play media files, make calls, text
messages, and have a calendar function!
ME: (playing along) How much internal phone memory does your SE have? Let say, um, 256Mb?
Dick: (feeling so good about himself that he is about to tell me some brand new, never-before-heard-of information, in an as a matter of factly tone) It has a small disk, thus expanding the unit's internal memory.
ME: (with the smart-ass look now) and how much memory could the highest capacity SD card now have?
Dick: ...
ME: 512Mb? 1GB? 2GB?
Dick: (in hush-tones) I don't know...
ME: It's 2GB (delivered in a don't-play-smarty-pants-and-go-telling-me-stuff-about-SD-card-memory-capacity-because-I-eat-and-breathe-SD-card-specs-for-a-living way, and rather nonchalantly, which also proves the fact that he does not know shit on SE phones only accepting MS-Duo cards. Hah!). And to answer your previous question, iPods right now also happen to already have a calendar function.
Dick: They do?! If I were you, I'd get the 30GB since those stuff get obsolete so fast. You may get a better model next time. Tsk, technology just happens in a blur. Just take a look at mobile phones.
ME: Gracey, you are comparing a Nokia to an iPod which, while they are both portable and light-weight gadgets, are really not apples-to-apples when we talk about time frame of obsolescence.
Dick: (still clueless that his ego had just been spat on, poured over by a generous coating of super glue, and sprinkled with a container van full of bird-feathers) I agree. My girlfriend bought an 8850 phone about 5 years ago and she still uses it. That's how durable it is.
ME (think): WHAT THE FUCK?!
ME (say): Oh, as I passed by the mall, my phone unit costs as much as O2's much newer model, the XDA2s, at 48k! Three years later, man!
Dick: Wise decision on the purchase!
ME: Oh (seeing an great moment to escape the dumb exchange, I turn towards the TV), I like this episode of Scrubs (now holding the remote and jacking the volume up so loud, my already sleeping neighbors could have all been roused simultaneously from their reverie).
[Cue Scrubs opening theme intro: I can't do this all on my own... No, I'm no... I'm no superman]
Thank God for TV.
I had the great opportunity of attending the second iBlog Summit, held last Tuesday at the UP College of Law in UP Diliman. While there, I got to meet fellow Man-Blog editors and other bloggers comprising the Philippine blogosphere.
