Life, Love, The Works

It's been a while since I last updated this blog, and it seems to have been raped by enough robots to be able to sell the rights to a filmhouse making nerd porn. As is customary, I am now to enumerate updates on my life (i.e. best attempts at excuses why I wasn't posting anything noteworthy)

Actual excuses worthwhile endeavours after the jump.

1. I've been pouring extra effort in stock trading. My recent losses with MPI and LodeStar Mining have now gone down from six digits to a paltry four digits thanks to IPVG-E-Games and well, Loadstar Mining. With this I am glad to report that after all those stupid things I did, fate has been kind enough to ensure that I will not spend my latter years sleeping in the streets shirtless. Lately I'm tempted to go back to the stock market, but I'd like to take the time to reevaluate some of my personal trading advices (apart from "Just don't"). I'll post them later here, in case you also want to stake your future on a field as random as John Lloyd Cruz's dancing. Current position 30% cash, 10% stock, 60% canned goods. (SPAM does not devaluate, and worse comes to worst it's a good source of protein)

2. Chemical Manila, my ongoing apocalyptic speculative novel is still ongoing, now standing at 19 chapters, approximately 22,000 words, and a zero audience base. Apparently less people want to read about Chemical Manila that's actually set in Manila, compared to the earlier release that was set in Laguna. Maybe it's the hotsprings. Anyway it doesn't matter. The story will continue as I see fit. Meanwhile, if you're interested, link can be found here: CLICK HERE.

3. I've been writing for the soft reboot of the magazine I used to audition for. So far I've written three full articles already with another one coming up for the next issue. I'll be giving more information on this as the issue actually comes out, because even if I told everybody here that yes, some editor was crazy enough to actually thinks that the things I write here are fit for paid consumption (haha. hi pao), nobody would believe me. But yeah, it's been consuming my time and mostly creative energies. Kinda like Noynoy Aquino's gray material. When you work with very small amounts of something, you'd be surprised how often it gets drained.

4. I finally got myself a new computer, and seeing as my last computer's capabilities go only as far as 2003, I now have a backlog of 7 years worth of games to play. Just to demonstrate how far that goes, the only Call of Duty game I played until I finished Call of Duty World at War game a few days ago was Call of Duty 1. Without the expansion. So now I'm dunking myself headfirst into gaming again, although my body is now protesting against it, having been used to playing simple games that don't chuck photorealistic and highly dynamic environments in your eyes, which is the equivalent of trying to fit our First Gentleman into a handcarry luggage (forgive the comparisons, I can't really think of a lot of fat people analogies lately. They weigh me down)

5. Bonds. I've also gone into the bonds market now. My mother's been more than happy to teach me the ins and outs but so far, I've been as absorbent as a piece of marble. It's a whole different ballgame from the stock market and it moves at the pace of our economic development, and literally. Boring, but dependable I'd say. Still, you can't really beat 6% a year for dollar accounts.

6. Work. I can't really elaborate anymore how much work I have. I've long since given up trying to make sense out of all of it but I realize my job is still a whole lot better than Noynoy Aquino's PR staff. At least for my case, my problems aren't affecting national stability. I'm now open to any other major developments in my career, though in keeping with my principle that's exclusively based on the virtue of sloth, I'd rather stay here.

7. Digiworx and me are now officially part of the final roster of people who submitted movies to the Fully Booked Philippine Graphic Literature Awards. You can still vote for us (see post after this one) on the online poll thingie. We can get free IPod Touches for it. I'll be so generous to share you a free mp3 song if you vote for us and we win. (Download costs from 4shared not included)

8. My girlfriend, for if not for her my world would have long since crumbled. Well, maybe not really. I just thought it'd be awfully sweet if I said that, as though I'm dedicating a book to her, only I have no book yet, and I want instant gratification. Seriously though, we need more time together. Like we still haven't finished both Left 4 Dead installments. Maybe I need to put that on top of my things to do list. Yeah that.

Anyway, that's it for today. I have to go back to work now.

VOTE FOR US

Our Fully Booked Philippine Graphic Literature Awards 2009 entry for Short Film has been short listed. Story and script was written by me, while the film was directed by my cousin Gharawi Usman. Please vote for us using this link:

CLICK HERE.

Lost and Found is a short film that plays with the ruinous irony of granted wishes. Filipinos are raised in a culture that demands respect for elders at the constant threat of karmic retribution. The story of Lost and Found is a take on this idea, delivering poetic justice to a disrespectful young woman simply too eager to skip out on her family duties.

We really worked hard on this. Like ass hard. So we appreciate any votes you can give.

SPREAD THE WORD. WE NEED YOUR HELP. FOR EVERY VOTE YOU SEND, WE WILL SEND 100 pesos to the REDKINOKO FOUNDATION FOR THE EMPOVERISHED REDKINOKO. JUST KIDDING. VOTE ANYWAY. I LOVE YOU ALL! :D

Wat.

I don't even understand why sites like Public Static should exist when Inquirer.net is already graciously providing us with high QUALITY articles round the clock.

Speaking of round the clock, here's my excuse for lack of update: life, love, the works.

A good friend of mine has given me yet another chance to write articles for his pet project, and I'm more than happy to see myself deliver a trainwreck. (but not intentionally, because I love trains)

On Owners

(10:33:44 AM) Nard: nga pala, whats the backstory behind topgear's ford fiera review?
(10:34:08 AM) Nard: i mean its not the most like-able car, i know pero...
(10:34:21 AM) Red: no idea. as mentinoned, some guy just said top gear just doesnt review cars like they used to
(10:34:43 AM) Red: they really blew money on that no?
(10:35:23 AM) Nard: yeah
(10:35:32 AM) Nard: walang ganyan sa atin
(10:35:37 AM) Nard: sayang
(10:36:52 AM) Nard: they all love it
(10:36:53 AM) Nard: the review
(10:36:56 AM) Nard: thanks for the link pare
(10:37:59 AM) Red: haha ano review natin dito? owner?
(10:38:18 AM) Nard: pwede no?
(10:38:31 AM) Red: i can imagine an owner coasting along the flooded espana
(10:38:36 AM) Nard: hmmm
(10:38:40 AM) Red: with the song "Nakaligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura..."
(10:38:47 AM) Nard: all terrain vehicle, lol
(10:39:13 AM) Red: all terrain, as in will break down in any kind of terrain, just wish for it.
(10:39:35 AM) Red: i remember my friend's owner, nawawalan ng preno, tapos amoy gasolina palagi.
(10:39:53 AM) Red: i rode it once and nearly turned into a devout catholic.
(10:40:47 AM) Red: some road mishaps are purely accidents,but god damn that piece of shit of a vehicle is like a personal request to God that you want to die already.
(10:40:58 AM) Nard: =))
(10:41:06 AM) Red: kinda like your scooter
(10:41:10 AM) Nard: yung auto na second hand na binili ng bayaw ko
(10:41:14 AM) Red: granted your magnificent riding techniques
(10:41:18 AM) Nard: pinaandar ko sa bukid, off road challenge
(10:41:21 AM) Red: uhuh
(10:41:26 AM) Nard: galit na galit sa akin eh
(10:41:40 AM) Nard: naging kulay chocolate
(10:42:05 AM) Nard: pero di naman panganib sa pasahero, di gaya nung kwento mo na jeep
(10:42:11 AM) Nard: bakit nga ba owner ang tawag dun?
(10:42:23 AM) Nard: ano ang pinagmulan ng tawag na yun
(10:42:26 AM) Nard: jeep yun eh
(10:42:30 AM) Nard: bakit naging owner?
(10:42:47 AM) Red: try crashing in it. see if the term "owned" does not enter your mind after it's splattered on the pavement on a 500 meter spread.
(10:42:58 AM) Nard: =))
(10:43:00 AM) Red: but it's just a theory
(10:43:01 AM) Nard: hahahahahhaa

On Communism

I've lost count of the times I've gotten into squabbles with my significant after whenever the topic of justifying our local version of communist revolution. it's like every time, my rage meter just keeps on spiking to degrees associated with issues of calculated stupidity and epic disregard for common sense.

Don't get me wrong. Once upon a time I really thought communism could be the key to improving our country. I was fourteen. I loved the Che Guevarra spirit, the revolution, the idea of the masses not having to put up with a parasitic upper crust of society. And then I kinda just grew out of it. There are just some things that work on paper, or in small scale cases, but just won't work in a national level for one sole reason: the anthrocultural factor.

(more after jump)

Filipinos are the worst communists of all.

1. Communism requires equality on all levels, without regard of the family unit. Filipinos regard their family ties sacrosanct, equality in treating nonfamily members be damned. Just try asking a family to give the same aguinaldo to both nephews and random carolers, I dare you.

2. Communism requires people willing to fall in line, willing to know their place in society and accept it. The mechanical pragmatism of communism relies on people moving in a uniform, automaton way, which goes directly against the "Wais" cultural tenet of the Filipino people, which states that if you can get ahead of others, you should.

3. Communism, while a social structure that favors the masses, is a very intellectual concept hardly understood even by the well educated. Its principles require consistent study, and being all-encompassing from the dogmatic beliefs of a country to the trivial activities of an individual person, cannot be fully understood without comprehensive reeducation.

40 years ago, maybe, just maybe, we had a chance of being communist. We had the resources, we were just coming out of the American clutch, and support for communism all over the world was big. But the 40 years came and went. The founder of the local revolution spends his time in Amsterdam making youtube videos filled with comments from bashers and armchair communist 14year olds not too different from me 10 years ago. The major composition of the armed struggled is now of three types of people:

1. Students
2. People who have beef with the establishments, government-based or otherwise
3. Lazy people in general who can't be bothered to get real work.

Revolution of the proletariat, as preached by the communist heads tell us of workers rising up against the elite of society, and none of the three types fall under the "proletariat" category. Shit, I can't even trust students to do my accounting for me. Theory aside, what do they know? As for the vendetta-driven people, I doubt they'd even know the difference between communism and socialism, not that it ever matters to them as long as they can shoot people. The last type? I wouldn't really be taking my say on these things if it were not true and seen in our province. Too lazy to get a job or finish your education? Go live off the revolutionary tax. It gives communism the bad name it has in this country. Meanwhile, the original proponents of the communist thrust are either exiled, dead, in jail, or simple too old to carry on whatever the hell it is they set out for, while the rest are left to just make shit up as they go about their revolution.

In that sense, the communist parties in our country has totally dropped the ball.

I had a recent discussion with a Chinese friend of mine, who happens to admire the system in their country. At the very end, we had to conclude the reason why Filipinos have a hard time accepting communism: Filipinos don't want to be controlled. Matter of fact, they are reverse control freaks. Any semblance of authority is treated with disdain if not outright resistance. Socialism at its earliest phase requires a pseudo totalitarian control over citizens, good luck with that buddy.

And it's not like our communist parties are still communist. Most communist units in our country has turned into simply anti-establishment hate machines that range from pro-democracy advocates to electioneers. Whatever happened to wiping out the current system instead of fitting into its numerous proletariat-murdering cogs? Why is the Communist Party condemning the VFA as a violation of the democratic constitution that it shouldn't even bother recognizing? Why are they struggling to get their parties elected to the congress when they're supposed to be making their own?

Meanwhile, the rest of the world has started ditching the dead carcass of socialism into a pit to be covered up and pretended as nonexistent. China's revisionist system is moving more and more away from Mao's dream. Russia's junked theirs totally. North Korea's being stubborn and will probably get themselves into more trouble. Cuba, the sole surviving communist state that still seemingly thrives is now moving away as well, with Fidel's successor starting to open up foreign relations that kept their ideology safe for the past few decades. Armed communist movements in other countries have given up, if not totally, save for our country.

Communism is dead, plain and simple. Such an extremist idea will never have worked anyway and the best we can do is be intellectually objective about it and try to apply what can be applied (state-sponsored social services is one of them). There is no romance in this article, only tragedy.

Apparently, some people just can't get over the hype of communism. 40 years on and the communist party of the Philippines is still all the rage, like a Macarena fad that just won't die out despite the fact that it's grown irrelevant, at the very least.

Today I read the inquirer again and saw a heavily opinionated, bias bullshit of an article in the news section, which might as well pass as propaganda, about how glorious it was for a promising intelligent, beautiful girl joined the communist bloc in Mindanao, who died late last year.

You can read the article here.


No, idiots, she didn't die for the masses she thought she was helping. Yes, she did her share of helping other people, but her death was basically meaningless. She died because she was hanging around with people who extort money from poor and rich people alike, kill people, and drag down our nation's stability in general. She died because she was also aiding the people who perpetrate these crimes, masked as revolutionary activities. There is no glory in that, considering she could have helped more people if she finished her studies, got a real job, and used her position in society to instigate change.

People will probably assail me for my beliefs in this post, but I don't really care. For as long as communist/socialist advocates in our society continue acting like they're a bunch of intellectuals who assert their belief system superiority at the cost of general disgust from the rest of the population, they will never get the support of the mass they need. Or me.

If ever we should learn something about communism, it's that at the end of things, it's how we openly we treat and accept our brothers and sisters that counts, not what we want to happen, or how we want to go about it.

President Arroyo's New Year's Resolutions

I will no longer eat at expensive restaurants that cost the taxpayers $20,000 per meal.

This year, I'll order takeout to save on the service charges.



I will no longer participate in dubious broadband deals with our Chinese neighbors.

Everybody knows wireless is the new broadband.

I will no longer act friendly with warlords from the South.

Maybe I'll just poke them every now and them in facebook.

I will no longer make ridiculous excuses about why I underwent breast augmentation surgery.

Everybody knows I'm already an ass. I just need tits to complete the T&A set.

I will no longer make any stupid promises I don't intend to keep, like not running for anything.

But I'll do whatever I want anyway, like become a Queen.

Retro-tarded Technology

Technology is ridiculous when you think about it.

10 years ago, we had phones we could operate without even looking at the screen through muscle memory and one hand. Apparently, this arrangement was too much of a hassle for some reason so we did away with the buttons and started using touch screen instead. Ten years later, people are looking for a faster way to interface with their phones without having to look at the screen and using both hands. Here's an idea. Buttons.

10 years ago, a bunch of guys decided that having to put up with a large cache of oversized CDs or radio DJs that lords over your music selection is simply unbearable. Their solution? Gigabyte-sized MP3 players. 10 years later, with thousands of songs literally in our pocket, those same guys are trying to find way to develop intelligence that picks out the most popular songs in the batch and automatically plays them for us. Here's an idea. Radio DJs.

30 years ago we developed videogames as a way to play without actually having to do anything physical. 30 years later, we're trying so hard to make the games as realistic as possible and give us as much exercise as possible. Why not just go outside and actually play?

The future is now. And looking at the trend, now's pretty retarded to me.

Our Dying Press

Just now, I read Manila Bulletin's latest bombshell in the cold war arms race of retarded online articles by our lovable newspapers. I've seen the future of journalism. It's brave. It's bold. Damn straight, it's loaded with double dutch special of dumb shit I won't pay for if it's print.

Case in point? The link to the article is here:

Gargoyles Out To Snatch Christmas


(more after the jump)

It took me half of the article to realize what the hell Allan Fransisco was talking about. The column is supposed to be about IT. There is the world Gargoyle on the title. And under normal circumstances not involving mild retardation, there has to be some connection.

Two paragraphs later, my good friend "correlation" still cannot be found. Neither are there any attributable context clues that would point out that I was, in fact, reading the writer's mental fart about the Maguindanao Massacre, and not about a videogame involving Gargoyles (which would've been awesome)

Speaking of which, GARGOYLES. Let's talk about that for a minute here. Think of a bad word to describe the Ampatuans. Try to think of as many as you can, and see how long the list goes before the word "Gargoyle" enters your mind. A stone, gothic looking waterspout carved in the image of a winged beast. An ELEGANT STONE RAIN DRAIN. It never entered my brain. It probably never will.

Jesus. No.

And that's just the start. For the sake of being fair, I'll assume that four paragraphs later, Allan Fransico was hit by a hard object at the soft spot of his skull and completely dislodged the idea that he was writing about the Ampatuans in the article and replaced it completely with iPhones, because honestly, I can't think of two topics more irrelevant to each other than a cold blooded killer and a trendy communications device.

Writing style is absolutely purple. I had to remind myself twice while reading the article that I'm not reading Twilight fanfiction. I can also understand that this is supposed to be an opinion-type of column, but the lack of facts almost makes me think the guy basically sat down, thought of one or two things he and his friends talked over lunch that day, and just wrote them the fuck down like nobody would ever read it. Because that's what I think this is. Glorified scribble.

If winners get to write history, I would assume columns like this are what losers would write. Is this what journalism has come to? Some guy sitting down for 15 minutes without researching anything and then publishing substandard horse shit for people to read? Quoting Michael Crichton, "In the information society, nobody thinks. We expect to banish paper, but we actually banish thought"

What the fuck happened? It almost feels like there was some point in time not too long ago, editors of online newspapers woke up one morning, realized that unlike their traditional counterparts, their money won't come from people who will appreciate their journalistic prowess, integrity, and writing skills.

No, on the internet, it's all about how many people accidentally stumble on your website and consciously/unconsciously click on your ads. Imagine being an opera singer whose income depends on how many packs of peanuts gets sold during her performance. You don't have to sing well, just have lots of shows to get more peanuts.

In a knee jerk reaction, the editors went "Fuck it. Fuck integrity. Let's make money!" and just went on letting writers do whatever the fuck they want for articles like the dumb sonnvabitch gargoyle article that fucking pointless and a waste of my time.

*pant pant*

Going back.

I remember before, I was being recruited by a friend to write online articles for him for 300 pesos per piece. He says it's a good way to make money and exercise my literary muscles. He knew it in his heart as well as I did that it's not really about what I write about, but how much visibility my article will give his clients on search engines. I could write as horribly as I could for all he cared but it wouldn't really matter. I turned down the offer and politely asked him to go fuck himself. (we're not friends anymore, if you still haven't figured that one out).

There are still days I refuse to believe this model is now what our once revered publications are now adopting. And clearly, there is something fundamentally wrong in having the voice of civilized society turn into money-making drabble.

Fuck gargoyles. More than anything else, I believe this warehouse-style of writing is killing our free press faster than any Ampatuan can.

Regarding NiHao (NI)'s rescheduled SRO

This is related to my previous posts regarding trading with NiHao(NI). Reposted from my favorite message board.

Maybe JAP and his gang had this planned out from the start. Everybody knows the moment Dec 11 neared, the stock will drop. Looking at the drop the past week or so, they could have sh**ted along the way to a very huge profit. And then they execute an extension at the last possible minute, disrupting the timing of everybody.

Eto lang po idea ko.

Now we're thinking, maybe they are going to push the price up again? One week is more than enough to squeeze in yet another rise/fall cycle. People will look into buying becuase of this thought. And the jockeys aren't stupid. They will expect this mentality and work their magic trying to reinforce that idea by jockeying the price and let the buyers play last touch until sometime next week. They have the funds after all, from the sh*rts they could have done.

If the jockeys play their cards right, the stock price will rise at a rate higher than ever, and there's no way in hell even a pricedrop halfway through the week can bring it back to the level it's touched today. Because if we learned something about NI, its price doesn't avalanche down, so by the time the SRO shares get released, the amount will be bigger.

Guess what's happening after the SRO listing date? LIHC ASM. They'll announce the par change, the SRO and let the sellers jump ship to yet another M7 stock.

Talk about keeping money within the community eh?

Of course, you'd ask, this is a zero sum game right? Unless new investors start flocking, it's probably true. Then how come everybody seems to be winning? The people who got stuck at the top, those to cut loss. That's where the profit is coming from. The philosopher's stone is made with the blood of victims.

Now all of this is just a theory. I cannot say I'm exceptionally good in TA or FA. Best indicator I can think of is is if the price of NI starts rising on Friday and continues on Monday. In that case, the real game begins.

Again, just a wild theory.

Yes, Damn It, I'm Endorsing Somebody