Rappler internship

The press row at the PICC.
Thanks to Ate Sheila for the picture!

I've been away for most of the summer, but if most of you spent it in beaches or on trips abroad (ehem, Katz!), I took an internship with Rappler. I filed stories from the Comelec beat for Rappler's election coverage, and if you take a look at #PHVote coverage, you might see my byline on quite a few of the stories there.

Election coverage was fulfilling and humbling. I spent three years sitting in writing classes and discussions on ethics as a Journalism student. But what really put me through my paces was fighting for room during ambush interviews and trying to formulate questions that wouldn't be dismissively answered by Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr.

As souvenirs I have with me two IDs that share the distinction of being my first press cards: one from Rappler, and another, my media accreditation ID from the Comelec for the midterm elections. What a great way to start off.

Now it's on to grueling Senior Year, which I hope will be my last as a Journalism student. Wish me well.

Hay, Buhay

That's the title I've picked for this little comic strip I've started, using Bitstrips, which is a really neat website. I'll also be making appearances often (the first is in the third episode, right above this paragraph). I've embedded the first three episodes above. Click through them for bigger versions!

The entire strip is here, and you can subscribe via RSS here. I'll also be posting each episode here as I publish them. This isn't really a big project I'm embarking on, just something to pass the time and express my opinions in a different way.

UP Diliman pillbox blast

I was at Eduk yesterday afternoon when I was told about the pillbox that had exploded on the grounds of Benton Hall, which was just a minute's walk away. I rushed to the scene to report for my college paper, Tinig Ng Plaridel.

I'm proud to say we were the first to break the story correctly. News outlets were tweeting that a vintage World War II bomb had caused the explosion. The authorities that responded to the incident weren't yet sure what the explosive was when I got to the scene, but they had already speculated it was a pillbox and ruled out any chance it was a vintage bomb. The damage to the area was minor, and the two construction workers who were injured in the blast were still conscious with all limbs intact, so it probably wasn't an undetonated bomb from the 1940s. I tweeted photos of the area and quoted police officials to dispute the hearsay.

GMA News used my tweets and photos in their story. InterAksyon used my photo, too. Of course, I had few resources and little time with me and so I wasn't able to chase the story much after I broke it. DZUP and the Philippine Collegian, as well as the mainstream media outlets, followed up very well. Still, I'm glad to say I think we got all the important facts out on the first break.

Journalism is fun. Check me out in the video at the top of this post, at around the 2:10 mark!

Les Miserables

Katz and I went to see Les Miserables, which everyone has been raving about. I'm not crazy about musicals, but that was some really moving stuff.

It was the first time we used SM Cinema's e-ticketing system. Fun! Also, Dear Popcorn, your days as the staple cinema food are over. Shakey's Mojos Supreme, that bucket full of potato slices, is much \ better.

A few things about Les Mis:

• Anne Hathaway did a terrific job. The hair on my arms stood on end when she sang "I Dreamed A Dream" for the first time. But it was disappointing how little screen time she got, especially after all that hype.
• Holy crap, Borat!
• She will always be Bellatrix LeStrange to me. It doesn't help that her hair doesn't vary very much from film to film.
• Every time Amanda Seyfried was in the shot, I half-expected her to go, "I was cheated by you, and I think you know when..."

Perhaps you've heard about the train wreck of an interview Ricky Lo conducted with Anne Hathaway. Lo was troubled, unprepared, and unprofessional. Thank goodness Anne had enough class to not go berserk on him.

Phil Dunphy

Source

When I become a dad I want to be like Modern Family's Phil Dunphy. He's quirky. He knows how to have fun. He's never lost touch of his inner child. And although he might forget to fasten a cabinet here or change a light there, no one can ever doubt for one moment that he really, truly, deeply loves Claire and the kids, and would do anything for them.

Two hundred posts

Time marches happily on. Life's fantastic! (I hope British readers won't take offense at my hand gesture, which, although innocently meant, may appear to be flipping them off.)

Neat bracelets from Peu de Soleil

Our friend Paige makes and sells these nice "wrist candy" bracelets through her online store Peu de Soleil. Very nice.

These are mine. I was afraid they'd look too girly, but I think I can pull them off. The one on the left looks camo-y, no?

These are Katz's. Notice the charm on the solid-pink one.

They're really simple, and at P100 for three, they're affordable, too. I don't usually endorse stores or products on my blog, but I haven't written in a while, and these bracelets are too nice not to talk about!

MVP: bridging Internet gap important for future

Note: Blog posts tagged "J117" (such as this one) are requirements for the Online Journalism class I'm taking this semester. See all of my J117-related posts.

Pangilinan. Photo from Wikipedia

PLDT Chairperson Manny Pangilinan said yesterday that bringing the Internet to more Filipinos is “important for the future of our country.”

Speaking at the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) Summit yesterday, Pangilinan said: “many Filipinos are still cut off from the digital world. It’s important for the future of our country that we bridge the divide as quickly as we can.”

He said that in other countries, the Internet was being used to improve people's livelihood. In India, farmers receive real-time weather updates through the Internet, he added.

“Digital adds more fun in the Philippines,” he said.

Pangilinan said that although he was not a "digital native," he found much use and potential for the Internet.

"Even my humor has gone digital," Pangilinan said, before rattling off a set of Internet-related pickup lines.

He also announced that he has joined Twitter under the handle @iamMVP. The account already has more than 10,000 followers.

Convergence

Pangilinan said he was able to use the Internet and mobile technology to rescue athletes trapped in a gym on Araneta Avenue during the onslaught of rains brought by Hanging Habagat.

He added that the companies he owns—Smart, Talk 'n' Text, Meralco and TV5—came together for the rescue.

Pangilinan said his telecommunications company, PLDT, wants to be at the heart of the convergence between old and new media because of the opportunities it brings.

He added that he wants to upgrade PLDT’s infrastructure for the digital age.

"Merging telcos as a delivery system with OTT (over-the-top) players as content suppliers” was another "point of convergence" for the company, Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan noted the power of Apple’s devices and its app ecosystem, which he said is effective because it provides context to its users.

OTT services even have the potential to change the business model of his TV network, TV5, he said.

Don't bother watching Bourne.

Bourne Legacy is aiming at a very specific audience: people who have commuted around Manila enough to be able to point out a specific street or area based on three seconds of fleeting footage.

But even the fun of correctly identifying where the chase scenes were shot can't redeem the film's tedious exposition, pointless action, and abrupt ending. I feel cheated—the only thing a film shouldn't be allowed to make you feel.

Journalism in a hurry

Note: Blog posts tagged "J117" (such as this one) are requirements for the Online Journalism class I'm taking this semester. See all of my J117-related posts.

Source

They say journalism is "history in a hurry." The profession is all about reporting stories accurately, fairly, and completely—but also very quickly.

A decade ago, printing "history in a hurry" meant a whole day of legwork—scurrying around from office to office gathering documents and talking to sources to create a comprehensive news story. When Pinatubo exploded in the 1990s, newsrooms sent out reporters, who talked to sources and wrote stories, which they sent back to their desks for broadcast or publishing.

We're finding that today's journalists don't even have the luxury of one workday. In the era of online news, journalism isn't just journalism anymore—it's journalism in a hurry. In 2009, when Ondoy hit Manila, reporters were tweeting what their sources were telling them and uploading photos taken from their phones on Facebook.

Paul Bradshaw's diagram on how digitization has changed the news production cycle is very interesting. In a matter of years, the three stages in the news production process, once distinct, now occur simultaneously. They've become layers, and not stages, of the cycle.

Bradshaw adds that because so many newsrooms have switched to this model, the new process has become formalized. Post-Web news organizations now have the same important editorial process and responsibilities as pre-Web ones, which is very important for the integrity of the profession.

The ground is shaking underneath the feet of the world's journalism educators. J schools should catch up with this in the next year or two if they don't want to lag behind in the long run. We should definitely keep teaching students the long-held tenets of journalism.

But we should start teaching them how to perform their job in a fast-moving world. I don't think that's being done enough right now. It's harder than you might think to be fair, balanced, accurate and ethical in a world of Twitter, Facebook and an audience whose appetite for news seems insatiable. I think that requires a wider skill set than the ones we're currently teaching.

There isn't much difference between what journalism schools teach and what the industry expects. There is, however, an inadequacy—the methods taught in school are for an era bygone. They've outlived the context in which they were taught. What we need to start working on is how we can teach the same quality journalism in an entirely different paradigm. And we better hurry. The Web won't wait.

The Filipino spirit is waterproof.

That's how many people have been describing Luzon's response to this week's deluge.

A few folks have raised their eyebrows, though. We shouldn't be okay with getting wet just because we're waterproof, they say. I couldn't agree more.

But I don't think that's what we mean when we say our spirit is waterproof. It's not a motto of resignation, but of resilience. We will never be okay with getting flooded, but when it does happen, you can bet we will get through it. That's what it means to be waterproof.

Cabin fever

Fartsy was very glad to get out. An entire day spent in a room can do mean things to your mind.

Today we woke up to—gasp!—the slightest hint of sunshine, but just before noon the rain started pouring again. A day of suspension is fun, two days, nice, but three days? Ugh.

The WWDC made Prodigy feel old.

Prodigy, my iPhone 4, is beginning to feel old after last week's Worldwide Developers Conference.

As expected, Apple showed off iOS 6 at this year's WWDC, months ahead of its Fall release (presumably at the same time as the new iPhone's announcement). Prodigy and I followed the liveblogs and tweets, giddy at the new features Apple is preparing to cram into the iPhone and the iPad.

Turn-by-turn navigation for the Maps app, which now runs on a custom database Apple made itself. There's even a Flyover Mode for easier driving. Yay!

Facebook integration. That's nice!

Facetime over cellular—that feature finally has a purpose!

Oh, and Siri's coming over to the iPad—yay for me and Plato, my recently bought iPad 2!

Or so we thought.

The turn-by-turn navigation on iOS 6? iPhone 4S only. Prodigy will get the fancy new vector-based Maps app, but neither turn-by-turn nor Flyover Mode.

The Facetime over cellular feature is restricted to the iPhone 4S and the latest-generation iPad. We don't know why, because Nokia had this working on much less powerful phones when I was in high school, but the fact is that I still can't make Facetime calls home over my cell network with Prodigy.

And Siri is coming to the iPad—the third-generation iPad, that is. The original iPad and the iPad 2 still won't have her (and not even Voice Control!). 

Of course, this is all a portent of the already obvious: that a new iPhone is coming out in the Fall, and it's going to support all of these features, maybe even along with some other unannounced hardware-related ones. The unspoken rule of Apple is that only the two latest iPhone models (in iOS 6's case, the iPhone 4S and the new iPhone to be announced in September) get to carry the full feature set. 

In other words, this is all part of the Grand Apple Plan, and has been from the very beginning. Prodigy and I were expecting it, but it still feels weird to be getting old. 

Scars & Stories

I finally have a copy of Scars & Stories, The Fray's latest studio album. Before the purchase, I'd only listened to a few tracks on The Fray's website, and to "The Fighter"a couple of times on Katz's iPod.

I have The Fray's three studio albums in my library, all of which I bought in physical form. This is a distinction unique to The Fray among the artists in my collection. Fall Out Boy has a similar distinction: I bought both of the FOB albums in my library (Infinity on High and Folie à Deux) as well. The Fray, however, is my only complete and bought-on-CD collection. I swore to myself I wouldn't obtain Scars & Stories through any other means. Such is my devotion to them.

Speaking of The Fray, if you follow the band you might have heard that their Manila concert has been moved to November 10 from its original June 21 date. There has also been a change of venue, from SM's spanking new MOA Arena to the Araneta Coliseum. I hear they postponed it because the tickets haven't been selling very well.

On one hand, this doesn't reflect very well on the Philippines' taste in music. Lady Gaga's concert sold out two nights in a row but we can't give the boys from Denver a chance? (Alternatively, I could go the hipster way and say you guys don't know what you're missing out on.)

To be honest, though, I was kind of happy the concert got postponed. See, I only had enough money for two upper box tickets (for myself and Katz). Actually, I only had enough money for two General Admission tickets, but Katz asked me if I really wanted my first concert experience to be from the rafters, and very kindly agreed to chip in the balance so we could afford the upper box seats.

The postponement means we have a good few months more to save up for better seats, hopefully. The news about the weak ticket sales is also exciting, because it leaves the possibility of prices going down as the concert draws nearer!

A couple of years ago, I swore to myself that my first concert experience would be with either The Fray or Coldplay. Seems like my dream will finally come true in five months.

Uy, Globe, ano ba!

An'problema mo, ha? Nananahimik lang ako rito tapos biglang, boom, may iToolbar ka nang nalalaman.

Sabi sa website nila:

We have introduced this functionality to make your Mobile Internet experience much more convenient. You can now enjoy quick and easy access to your favorite Globe and Internet services.

ANO? Convenient? Sure ka? Eto pa.

Yes, the toolbar is a permanent feature and is part of our initiatives to improve Mobile Internet customer experience.

Oha, hindi na raw 'yan mawawala. Good luck nalang.

Okay, ganito:

1. Ang bagal bagal na nga ng 3G niyo, pipilitin niyo pa akong i-load yan every time magi-Internet ako?

2. Ang corny pa ng design. Tapos ang bagal pa niya! Tapos pag ni-click mo yung minimize button (sa kanang dulo ng toolbar), mawawala nga siya, pero may palutang-lutang naman na maximize button. Tapos pag ni-scroll mo yung page, mawawala yung button tapos babalik. Ano kaya yun?

3. Okay lang naman sana 'to eh. Kaso ginawa nyo pang compulsory. As in, "Pwede ko bang tanggalin to?" "Nope." Ganun? GANUN? Wala akong choice? Coercion ang mode? Para niyong ni-rape ang Mobile Safari ko. Kaharass!

4. Bakit may Search function? Wala bang ganun ang browser ko? Haggs.

5. Honestly, hindi ko alam kung ano sa tingin niyo ang magagawa nitong iToolbar na to. Wala lang talaga kayong magawa? Baka naman pwede nyo munang ayusin ang network niyo bago kayo gumawa ng kung anu-anong intrusive software. Yung tipong, hindi ko na kakailanganing i-On at Off ang Airplane Mode sa phone ko kada kinse minutos para hindi mawala ang 3G connection ko. Tapos hindi yung, pag may tinawagan ako, ang maririnig ko eh ang sarili kong boses. Pwedeng yun muna problemahin niyo? Pwede? Suggestion lang naman.

Tabloidal

My family has always been partial to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, but recently I began buying tabloids instead (either Bandera, which is the Inquirer's tabloid, or Pilipino Star Ngayon), mainly because they're half the price of broadsheets, but also for the following secondary reasons:

• They're much easier to handle than broadsheets. Great for reading the news on the train, or while stuck in traffic in a standing-room city bus.
  
• Smaller news section, so the editors only put in the most important news and leave out the insignificant.
• Broadsheets are the province of the middle class, but the tabloid is the working man's news source. It's what the Philippines is really thinking.

Responsible prof is responsible

Sunken Garden in the summer

My first Diliman summer is annoyingly warm, but more importantly, very pretty.

Fine attempt at a Caesar salad

Katz and I were going to get a salad at Pizza Hut, but her sister Ate Grace suggested we whip one up at home instead. We bought croutons at Savemore, and went to the local wet market to buy bacon and greens, which were cheaper there than at the supermarket.

Photowalk on a warm Cavite summer morning