In the tradition of me being so behind the times I should never attempt to work in the media, I only just found out what the hell TL;DR means.
Well, it was two months ago, when I learned what it means from Anna. Well, sort of learned, because she only dropped the term in a conversation, and I searched for it on the Internet - as you do with most Internet-speak, or whatever they call it nowadays - and learned the meaning behind a term I don't see anybody use, at least in my case.
"Hindi na uso yung 'writing' part of blogging," she told me, as I bemused the idea of having an online group that is called - yes - "Bloggers Who Write". I mean, don't bloggers all have to write? Even photo bloggers have to write. A picture may say a thousand words, but it can be any thousand words, and every reader needs to be told where to go. Anyway, back to Anna. "Majority of 'famous' bloggers blog to get free stuff now, sadly."
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11/25/2013
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11/21/2013
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I was reading an old blog entry today - well, I always read my old blog entries, mostly to just look back at how foolish I can be, but this time I was reading back to stop myself from repeating myself. (I know I said "myself" write in that sentence fragment. Did I just repeat myself?) I know, I tend to write about the same things over and over again, and lately I've been a bit paranoid about whether I've succeeded in finding a fresh approach to stale topics, or if I'm just relying on synonyms.
Anyway, that old blog entry, I wrote it a year and a half ago, and it was about how people seem to hate negativity. Judging from how I wrote it, I was pretty passionate about it, because I ended up writing it as a letter to myself, from a hypothetical someone who's had enough of my complaining. So passionate, in fact, that I ended up pulling stuff from, you know, the things I often complain about. This being seven months before I got myself into a relationship, it ended up being my constant loneliness.
I don't want to sound like that writer who finds himself explaining the way he writes, but, well, here I am. That really was just a critique of how people are being achingly positive nowadays. I hate that. Specifically, I hate the lack of balance. And I decided to write about it by playing up that perceived fault of mine - my never-ending cynicism. I mean, even up to now, when things are, on the surface, supposedly going well, I am still cynical. I don't think it drags me down; I think it keeps me on my toes. I mean, okay, sure, when things get terrible it does drag me down, but on most days it keeps me on my toes.
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Anyway, that old blog entry, I wrote it a year and a half ago, and it was about how people seem to hate negativity. Judging from how I wrote it, I was pretty passionate about it, because I ended up writing it as a letter to myself, from a hypothetical someone who's had enough of my complaining. So passionate, in fact, that I ended up pulling stuff from, you know, the things I often complain about. This being seven months before I got myself into a relationship, it ended up being my constant loneliness.
I don't want to sound like that writer who finds himself explaining the way he writes, but, well, here I am. That really was just a critique of how people are being achingly positive nowadays. I hate that. Specifically, I hate the lack of balance. And I decided to write about it by playing up that perceived fault of mine - my never-ending cynicism. I mean, even up to now, when things are, on the surface, supposedly going well, I am still cynical. I don't think it drags me down; I think it keeps me on my toes. I mean, okay, sure, when things get terrible it does drag me down, but on most days it keeps me on my toes.
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11/14/2013
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A week ago tonight, the night before Yolanda plowed through the Visayas region, Noynoy Aquino spoke in a televised address to the nation. He spent little time warning Filipinos in potentially affected regions of the trouble they will encounter, and more time assuring them that the government is ready to give relief. Three C130 cargo planes, 32 PAF aircraft, 20 Navy vessels, relief goods, all ready to be deployed. "Umasa po kayong darating agad ang tulong paghupa ng bagyo," he promised.
It's been six days, and the images coming out of eastern Visayas are still depressing, frustrating, disappointing. If we're going by what we hear in the news, from both local and foreign journalists, things are not getting any better. Many towns remain isolated, with no aid coming through. Even in Tacloban, where relief efforts are concentrated, survivors are complaining of having little to eat. "Hindi kami namatay sa bagyo," one survivor told a television crew, anguished, "pero mamamatay naman kami sa gutom!"
On this alone, you begin to wonder: is this the same government who went on national television to declare that they're prepared?
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It's been six days, and the images coming out of eastern Visayas are still depressing, frustrating, disappointing. If we're going by what we hear in the news, from both local and foreign journalists, things are not getting any better. Many towns remain isolated, with no aid coming through. Even in Tacloban, where relief efforts are concentrated, survivors are complaining of having little to eat. "Hindi kami namatay sa bagyo," one survivor told a television crew, anguished, "pero mamamatay naman kami sa gutom!"
On this alone, you begin to wonder: is this the same government who went on national television to declare that they're prepared?
Read more »
11/11/2013
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"Ang dami ninyo, ah," I told the barista at the Starbucks branch near our office.
"Ganito talaga kapag ganitong time," she answered, while adding squirts of syrup to a plastic cup when gooey brown liquid in it.
I was waiting for my drink. A gingerbread frappucino, because it's Christmas, which means every mainstream coffee shop in the city offer holiday-themed drinks. And, yes, the beginning of planner season.
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"Ganito talaga kapag ganitong time," she answered, while adding squirts of syrup to a plastic cup when gooey brown liquid in it.
I was waiting for my drink. A gingerbread frappucino, because it's Christmas, which means every mainstream coffee shop in the city offer holiday-themed drinks. And, yes, the beginning of planner season.
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11/10/2013
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I'm only seeing images from Tacloban, possibly the hardest hit of all the places Yolanda passed through, this morning. I've been following the dramatic stories from news teams stranded in the city, cut off from all communication, left with no choice but to do their jobs, which is to record all of the suffering around them. I try not to cry.
I'm pretty sure we prepared for this. We've seen it for weeks: there's this storm, and this storm could be strong, and turns out it was really, really strong. A category 5, to put it in hurricane terms. Katrina was a category 5 when it threatened New Orleans, but it weakened to a category 4 when it made landfall. Yolanda - you call it Haiyan, we call it Yolanda - it did not relent when it made landfall six times.
But how prepared were we, exactly? How prepared were they? Am I just comparing this, unnecessarily, with Katrina? I was watching coverage of that storm when it hit eight years ago. Will it hit New Orleans? Will it not? Are the people out? There were appeals from everybody to get out of the city, that the levees could break, that the levees will break, that the entire city will be inundated with flood waters and it will be hard to help people who are left behind.
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I'm pretty sure we prepared for this. We've seen it for weeks: there's this storm, and this storm could be strong, and turns out it was really, really strong. A category 5, to put it in hurricane terms. Katrina was a category 5 when it threatened New Orleans, but it weakened to a category 4 when it made landfall. Yolanda - you call it Haiyan, we call it Yolanda - it did not relent when it made landfall six times.
But how prepared were we, exactly? How prepared were they? Am I just comparing this, unnecessarily, with Katrina? I was watching coverage of that storm when it hit eight years ago. Will it hit New Orleans? Will it not? Are the people out? There were appeals from everybody to get out of the city, that the levees could break, that the levees will break, that the entire city will be inundated with flood waters and it will be hard to help people who are left behind.
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11/07/2013
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First, make sure you have a captive audience. In this case, everybody will be tuning in no matter where they are. My whole office, for one, was tuned in, at least four computers (mine included) streaming the whole thing live, the constant buffering meaning what's said is repeated left and right, with a second-long delay or so. I had lunch at the carinderia nearby and all the seats were turned towards the lone television mounted high up against the wall. I was in a taxi cab this afternoon, and the driver was listening to the whole thing. Captive audience.
Second, have a relatively sympathetic protagonist. By that, I mean someone who you'll talk about no matter who you are, or what side you're on. Fans will exalt him to the heavens; haters will find the smallest fault and scream about it. Better be talked about than be forgotten. So we have, as our protagonist, a guy whose morals are good, for the most part; who finds himself in his position after a series of unfortunate events; and is generally loved by the people. Well, those in the drama, not those watching, not necessarily.
Third, have an antagonist who you will just hate. As in, really, really, really hate. Like, the sort that you'll hate so much that you'll have to accept the protagonist no matter what his faults is. The sort who you'll want dead at the beginning, no matter how tragic and inspiring her back story is, no matter how she went from rags to riches, no matter how the writers attempt to give her a sympathetic side. So, a businesswoman who made her way up, from high school - no college - to one of the most powerful women in the country, one with lots of cash and properties and whatnot, but is, deep inside, scared and forlorn.
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Second, have a relatively sympathetic protagonist. By that, I mean someone who you'll talk about no matter who you are, or what side you're on. Fans will exalt him to the heavens; haters will find the smallest fault and scream about it. Better be talked about than be forgotten. So we have, as our protagonist, a guy whose morals are good, for the most part; who finds himself in his position after a series of unfortunate events; and is generally loved by the people. Well, those in the drama, not those watching, not necessarily.
Third, have an antagonist who you will just hate. As in, really, really, really hate. Like, the sort that you'll hate so much that you'll have to accept the protagonist no matter what his faults is. The sort who you'll want dead at the beginning, no matter how tragic and inspiring her back story is, no matter how she went from rags to riches, no matter how the writers attempt to give her a sympathetic side. So, a businesswoman who made her way up, from high school - no college - to one of the most powerful women in the country, one with lots of cash and properties and whatnot, but is, deep inside, scared and forlorn.
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11/06/2013
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I'm turning 25 in a couple of months, which should get me thinking: what exactly have I done with my life?
Well... lemme see. I have a job. That's a start.
I think I have saved enough for my future, or, technically, I am saving enough for my future. I'm not sure how much money I have stowed in the banks, but I'm pretty sure it's not a large amount. In any case, I am not in a rush to withdraw all of that money so I can spend it all on some trip to Europe or something.
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Well... lemme see. I have a job. That's a start.
I think I have saved enough for my future, or, technically, I am saving enough for my future. I'm not sure how much money I have stowed in the banks, but I'm pretty sure it's not a large amount. In any case, I am not in a rush to withdraw all of that money so I can spend it all on some trip to Europe or something.
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11/05/2013
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Dear Georgina,
I don't like you. I don't like you at all.
In fact, it's safe to say that I hate you. And to be honest with you, I don't really know why.
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I don't like you. I don't like you at all.
In fact, it's safe to say that I hate you. And to be honest with you, I don't really know why.
Read more »
11/02/2013
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As the story goes, Chichi just left home when two men on a motorbike tried to rob her at gunpoint. I assume there was a struggle, because she was punched in the mouth, and hit in the head with the gun. I don't know if the robbers succeeded.
I also heard that she, somehow, managed to go back to her home, despite being a "bloody mess", to quote a relative of hers who posted about it on Facebook. She was rushed to the hospital, where she is now recovering from surgery. Her skull was fractured, among others.
One, I'm glad she's safe.
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I also heard that she, somehow, managed to go back to her home, despite being a "bloody mess", to quote a relative of hers who posted about it on Facebook. She was rushed to the hospital, where she is now recovering from surgery. Her skull was fractured, among others.
One, I'm glad she's safe.
Read more »
Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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