Day: September 17, 2008

I’ve been wanting to express my undying support for sinfully good sex — erm, I mean, the Reproductive Health Bill — but methinks I need to cool down a little. Cool as I was when I wrote my pro stand on the legalization of divorce in the country (which, coincidentally, seems to be the most popular entry in my blog in terms of hits). I will write that entry, eventually. Honestly, the world is full of atrocities….

Pistang Panitik

Anyway, I’ve exceeded my greatness and went to the last day of the Manila International Book Fair yesterday, and I feel that it’s now safe to say that it hasn’t been all that good when compared to the previous book fairs. In fact, the disappointment is still hanging in the air. And to think I’ve gone to the fair three different days. Luckily, National Bookstore’s sale is until the end of the month. That has got to do me a lot good. Of course, I don’t know why it should even be a consolation; I don’t have enough money in my wallet to last me until the Philippine Blog Awards.

I did manage to attend Pistang Panitik though. Eric was supposed to be with me, but he slept in (why was I not surprised?) and decided not to go anymore. Panelists were Vlad Gonzales, Dean Alfar, Marne Kilates, Santiago Villafania, and Bobby Añonuevo, who are all published writers as well as bloggers. They talked about blogging (and why the speakers themselves encourage other literary writers to do it), so it was easy enough to understand why I’d be interested.

Did I mention that I almost lost my footing when I found out that the moderator was my Creative Writing professor two years ago? Thank goodness I mentioned him only once, and in passing.

Vlad Gonzales started his talk by telling a story. And it’s a story most UP students in the blogging community are familiar with.

Once upon a time (I know, it has the makings of a fairy tale), a New Era graduate posted an entry that UP students are fake scholars. Said fake scholars — oh, I’m sorry, I meant to write “students” — students retaliated. During the whole ruckus, I was somewhere in the middle. While I despised the way the certain New Era dude posted his blog entry as a comment in numerous blogs, I found the way the students dealt with the situation even more despicable. But really, my thoughts in the matter are irrelevant to this post.

Sir Vlad highlighted a few comments on that certain blog entry. The Jester-in-Exile’s and Ederic Eder’s were the more calm and sensible ones. Arpee Lazaro’s and Toxic Boi’s were also mentioned as so-so, if not implying…*something*.

In the end, Sir Vlad posed this question: (and because I’m probably the worst translator ever, I’m not even going to try) ang blog ba ay pumapaloob sa oral, print, o hypertextual na sensibilidad? This was because of blog’s qualities that encompass all three paradigms. You’d have to be there to understand; I’m too lazy to explain everything.

Dean Alfar was just as I remember him during the 3rd Philippine Blogging Summit. He was fun to listen to, as usual. Points and highlights were:

• blogging is about expression
• he uses the guerrilla style of writing
• quality content doesn’t necessarily come with time
• having a blog made him disciplined; he made a commitment with his (2) regular readers
• write what is relevant to you
• who is there to say that this blog is better than that blog? Who is there to judge what quality content should be?
• we consciously choose to expose ourselves
• if you’re afraid of being copied/plagiarized, get the hell out of the blogosphere
• don’t let your fear stop you

Did you know that one published novel of Sir Dean was actually written for and during NaNoWriMo? That is way cooool!!!

Marne Kilates is a poet who started blogging to practice his prose and talk about poetry. The most interesting among his points, I think, was that the internet is the biggest electronic democracy. It has a mechanism for self-correction. Sonny Villafania, a web poet first before becoming a published poet, pointed out that weblogs are a natural medium for poets. It’s a new genre flowering on the net, he said. I found it interesting how he hit it right on the nail with this one: narcissism is the fuel of the blogging world. Heh, how true.

I mustered up enough courage to ask them what they’d do if someone plagiarized their works. After all, they all chose to post excerpts, if not the whole thing, on their websites.

Zoo at Home

Having a zoo at home definitely has its perks. The animals keep us amused and entertained throughout the day with their antics.

Boomer, for example, managed to sprain a leg 2 nights ago, and we had to rush him to the vet to have his leg checked. We didn’t know what happened, but we had an idea how it happened. Seriously though, tears sprang from my eyes when I saw him limping and whimpering — I saw my baby Bullet in him during the time when she also suffered the same fate, no thanks to Robby. Oh well. Have you seen Boomer’s first grooming session photos? Cute!

Popoy, the resident guard dog and all-around ferocious dude, has been sniffing Boomer out. I imagine they’re both virgins; they hump whenever they see each other! Hell, Boomer humped my brother’s legs a few days ago! Nyah!

Tiffy doesn’t bark; she’s not a dog after all. In fact I think she’s a little more like cat. An overenthusiastic cat. And, I repeat, a terrible glutton. My mom has recently been to a kangkong farm and took advantage of it, and now Tiffy is a happy rabbit. We can’t let her hop around with Boomer’s arrival, and I think she’s a little upset about it (she used to have the whole house to herself).

Twiggy. Now he’s a funny one. He’s still high-strung as hamsters go, but he’s getting better. I’ve never known that hamster’s cheek pouch could be expanded *that* much until I saw him take in food and run to his little hamster house which he couldn’t enter because he got too big for it. Oh dear, that was hilarious. And let me leave you with this picture. That’s almost always his position whenever he sleeps. I’ll have to post the picture some other time because I can’t find the darned camera.

Pluggage

• Oktoberfest 120 Na! (Oktoberfest for Bloggers!)
  When: September 26, 2008, Friday, 7:00 p.m.
  Where: Taste Asia, Mall of Asia (beside SM Hypermarket)
  How: Register here!
• Nokia N82 raffle for the VOTERS of the Bloggers’ Choice Award
  Get a chance to win a Nokia N82 phone. Just vote for your favorite blog among these nominees, and make sure that you follow the mechanics (note: you may choose to include the sponsor links…or not)