New Hobby

I really look forward to Groupon emails. It's not just because I look forward to their deals, but because the copies are amusing. Not sure if they meant those emails to have a comic touch, but they do give me a good laugh. Some of the best intro lines I've collected (when I decided to start collecting some time back):

• For a bag promo: Bags date back to early human history when traveling troglodytes desired a more stylish way to haul their sacks of rocks to the wishing well.
• For a Mexican resto promo: Every prince knows that the most effective way to wake a sleeping beauty up is not with a boring kiss, but with a single potent drop of fiery red hot chili.
• For a Japanese resto promo: Great inventions can be exceedingly simple yet fulfilling. Sliced bread, shorts with drawstrings, lipsticks with attached night lights; and although the nationality of the ramen inventor is still being debated, its international appeal ...
• For an Italian Resto promo: Pioneering Italians were not only the first to put tomatoes in cuisine; they were also the first people to take photographs of them pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• For a Jap-Filipino fusion resto promo: The Japanese invented chopsticks when they realized that although killing a man with your bare hands may be very cool, eating with your bare hands isn’t.
• For a gym promo: Bees communicate through both the medium of dance and the emission of pheromones, so heated arguments can lead to sensory overload.
• For a mobile bar promo: Alcohol is the first non-solid type tool; as since its inception, it has served to clean cuts and wounds, increase the burn rate of fires, and give unattractive people a higher homerun percentage during nights out.
• For a cupcake promo: Some things, such as cakes and dentist hands, are better small.
• For a massage parlor promo: Giving yourself a massage, like throwing yourself a surprise birthday party or asking for your own hand in marriage, is a surefire disappointment. 
• For a laser treatment promo: An aesthetic laser’s beam of light has the power to disband nuisances, just like a distressed cop.
• For an electronic product promo: Prior to modern day gadgetry, communication was limited to messages passed along tin cans connected by long pieces of string and mp3 players that were connected to traffic cones to amplify sound.
• For a LASIK surgery promo: Although vision is just one of five senses, it’s the one that tells us whether an approaching object is a friend carrying cupcakes or a puma who’s just ravaged a bakery.
• For a shopping promo: Shopping for clothing can be like finding a needle in a haystack: even when you think you've found what you're looking for, you've actually only found a really shiny piece of hay. 
• For a chocolatier promo: According to a recent survey, people have listed chocolate as their preferred cause of death, followed closely by "money avalanche" and "dangerously high exposure to nudity."

I'll be posting more of these when I feel like it again haha.

RIP Mega Upload

This is so sad, sad indeed. Mega Upload's gone for good. I'm in denial. What about the shows I watch? I can't watch em anymore coz everything's been taken down. NoooOO. What about the Vampire Diaries? What will happen to Damon, Stefan and Elena? :(

As the story goes:

In a joint statement, the Justice Department and FBI called the action "among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States."

Ira Rothken, an attorney for MegaUpload, said in an interview that he only learned of the actions in a press release this morning and had not yet read the entire indictment. "Our initial impression is that the allegations are without merit and MegaUpload is going to vigorously contest them," he said. "We have deep concerns over due process and assets being taken without the opportunity for a hearing."

According to the indictment, the operators of MegaUpload earned more than $175 million in illegal profits and caused an estimated $500 million in harm to copyright holders.

Read the rest of this tragedy here.

Censoring the Web

Say what? internet censorship? Apparently there's this bill that's about to be passed as law in the US. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261, gives law enforcers expanded ability to incriminate sites that stream copyrighted content. According to www.razorianfly.com:

Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for 10 such infringements within six months. 

Oh no, this means sites like YouTube could be shut down/blocked! Actually, practically any website could be shut down coz sharing copyrighted content has become commonplace in practically all social media. And how about blogs? People will have to clear everything with the content owners now? I'm not from the US but lots of the sites I visit are US based. I'd be really sad if I couldn't access YouTube or Facebook anymore. For sure the net wouldn't be as fun anymore.

If it's worth anything, I think I'll be signing up for the petition against this bill. And if you happen to read this, Reader, why don't you join, too? Whether or not you're in the US, you can join the strike. Add #STOPSOPA to your tweets and sign up at:

BB Cream Again:D

Yep, despite doing such a rough sport as muay thai, I'm still a makeup addict at heart. Some things just don't change :)) I've always been excited by the sight of new BB creams in the market, though I've stopped going on shopping binges for the stuff coz I ended up having to give them away (else they'll expire in my closet).

Today, I wandered into this mall somewhere at Timog ave. I was with my mom and brother. I think the mall's name is Victoria Mall (Sounds like Victoria Court) and it's got the Robinsons logo, so yeah it's Gokongwei-owned. There was this tiny stall near the entrance. I thought it was one of those Avon stalls, but when I checked it out, all the goods were Korean brands--Missha, TFS and Skin 79. *GASP!*...SKIN 79!
Skin 79 is one of the higher-end cosmetic brands in South Korea. This was my brand when I was still studying there coz they made such high quality BB creams, and if you surf around Gmarket you can get them for up to 50% off. The Korean woman at the stall showed me the "Oriental Gold Plus BB Cream" and I didn't think twice I just said, "Ok, that one" because the packaging was so pretty. @_@ It was gold and shiny....Really, for someone who works in advertising, I'm such a sucker for good copy and nice packaging. In this case, it's just the packaging coz I couldn't understand much of the English copy written on the box hehe. For example, I don't get much out of this:

Patent ingredients of Oriental Tea Newplex and Peptatox Complex care skin to be sleek and firming by activating the original function of skin with Gold and Caviar Extracts and Oriental Sue Formula maintaining ideal condition of skin by keeping optimal skin balance and comfortably soothing skin internally and externally damaged.

But it's just so darned pretty. (Let's hope it makes me prettier, too LOL)

I know I'm supposed to do the product review research BEFORE buying, but I got too excited. I did the research after the damage to my wallet. In any case, this 40g bottle would most likely last me a year so I don't regret giving in to my impulse. It also has good reviews when I looked around. Already tried it out. Since I have an Oriental skin tone, the color fits me perfectly. It's also lightweight. I don't think I have to worry about clogged pores. Even the pink lip and cheek tint that comes with the cap is good, it glides on smoothly and is very sheer. Looks so natural on me it's like I'm wearing no make up. Ironic how I'm always on the look out for makeup that won't make me look like I'm wearing makeup.

This find made me so happy today....I almost forgot about that lump on my foot which I got from kicking someone's elbow during MT sparring the other day.

Ah yeah, ye ol issue on marriage

I recently saw a post shared on Facebook regarding the Catholic Church's stance on marriage between infertile people. The title of the article pretty much says it all: "Infertile people can't marry says Catholic Church"

I had to click the link of course; I mean it's such a juicy title. I expected to read some religious bull**** that I'd hate enough for me to blog about it today. And yes I did blog about it today but had to do further research coz the writer of the article above didn't mention that the bishop was talking about same-sex marriage.
Still, I see a point in that writer's stand. By cutting down on details like whether or not the relationship is heterosexual or homosexual, we are able to look at the issue in a deeper level--

Whatever happened to plain old, no-frills love? So what if the relationship will not produce children? Can't they just adopt?

Anywhoo, adoption aside, let me just make clear the inaccuracies in the article before I continue to blab:

• The Catholic Church has never said infertile people can't marry.
   
• The Catholic Church does not teach that sex within the context of marriage is ONLY for procreation. Several circulars have been issued that make it clear the church recognizes the importance of the sexual act in unifying the partners, strengthening the bond of love. This is the reason why the church subscribes to the natural method of birth control.

But yeah well even if the church never said infertile people can't marry, they did say homosexual couples can't marry for that exact same reason. I'm amazed at how Archbishop Oscar Cruz declares this type of relationship a mortal sin.@_@

There are several discrepancies in the logic behind this stance on infertility. If the church won't allow homosexuals to marry (coz they're infertile and it's an "abomination"), might as well forbid the natural method as well. After all, during those days when the female is "safe", she is also officially infertile. Given that, sex between couples using the natural method should also be declared a mortal sin. Right?

And truth is, this stance makes me see humans in a lesser light. It pretty much delegates love between couples to an inferior position in the relationship: Inferior to one's sex and inferior to procreation. Oh, and this line:

“What is there that comes from marrying them? Nothing! They are two, they remain two, they die two.” ~Archbishop Cruz, CBCP

...Lots of things come from binding two loving people together = LOVE. When they die, no one can deny that there was LOVE. Having a child do not make two people one, they remain two unique individuals struggling to make sense of this harsh, hypercritical world. (Sorry for the cheesy sounding lines, just can't think of less cheesy synonyms)

Really, from what I see, looks like we're fucked.

Call for submission of manuscripts to the Silliman University National Writers Workshop

Reposted from Panitikan.com.ph

The Silliman University National Writers Workshop is now accepting applications for the 51st National Writers Workshop to be held April 30 to May 18, 2012 in the Silliman University Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village. This Writers Workshop is offering fifteen fellowships to promising writers who want to have a chance to hone their craft and refine their style. Fellows will be provided housing, a modest stipend, and a subsidy to partially defray costs of their transportation.

• To be considered, applicants should submit manuscripts in English on or before 10 February 2012. All manuscripts should comply with the instructions stated below. (Failure to do so will automatically eliminate their entries):
• Manuscripts should be submitted in hard copy on short-size bond paper, using Times New Roman or Calibri in 12 pt. font type.
• Applicants for Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction fellowships should submit three to five entries. Applicants for Poetry fellowships should submit seven to ten poems.
• Applicants for Drama fellowship should submit at least a One-Act Play. For plays beyond the one-act length, a scene accompanied by a synopsis of the entire work should be included.
• Each fiction, non-fiction, or drama manuscript should not be more than 50 pages, double spaced. We encourage you to stay well below the 50 pages, since a submission half that length is more than sufficient as a critical gauge.
• Manuscripts should be accompanied by at least one letter of recommendation from a literature professor or an established writer.
• Along with the manuscripts and the recommendation letter, the following requirements should also be included: resume, a notarized certification that the works are original, and two 2X2 ID pictures.

Send all applications or requests for information to Department of English and Literature, attention Dr. Evelyn F. Mascuñana, Chair, Silliman University, 6200 Dumaguete City. For inquiries, email us at nwworkshop_su@yahoo.com or call us at 035-422-6002 loc. 350.