When I used to sing

"...biyayang bigay na galing sa Diyos..."

I stumbled upon this youtube "video" of a recording of a song I did way back when i was still in the University. It's called "Lagi na Lang" ("As Always") and was written and composed by Pastor Norman Dagdag, Drums, Acoustic Taylor guitar, and sound engineering by Mr. Ike Heredia, Mixed and Recorded @ STUDIO 7 Grand Villas, Quezon City.

Lead vocals and back-up vocals by your truly. :D
This was 2nd of 3 songs we recorded, and was the most fun to do. Haha!

Hope you watch and leave a comment!




A quick translation for non-Filipinos:

I hear your voice, and I am with you
You bring treasures overflowing
I am thankful for all the blessings that come
You show a path that is true
You care for and protect me
Day and night you love me

Your power moves my life
Your blessing are never ending
Always, for always




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First trailer! "The Last Airbender" is coming next year!

I have not been this excited for a movie in a long time. Haha! Around this time last year they announced that there will be a movie version of the Emmy award winning cartoon series from Nickelodeon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was really excited I blogged about it too. Now they've released the first trailer for the first movie of the trilogy! (Guys, seriously, this is sooo much better than that vampire movie thingy. Hehe!) The first movie is set for July 2, 2010. It will be titled "The Last Airbender" because some other movie was named "Avatar" already. I can't wait! This will be awesome. (Think, Lord of the Rings.)

I pray they won't make the same mistakes they made for "Dragon Ball Z" (like hire a white dude to play an asian dude). M. Night Shyamalan who will write, direct and produce, better not mess this up!

And by the way, Dev Patel of "Slumdog Millionnaire" fame will be playing Zuko. Hehe! That will be cool.

Anyway, the trailer looks awesome. Check it out here..




Woot! Woot! Excited!


Photo from here.
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Latest: The Philippines has first swine flu (Influenza A H1N1)-related fatality

About an hour ago, DOH announced the Philippines' first fatality related to swine flu or Influenza A H1N1 virus.

The 49-year-old woman from Metro Manila died from congestive heart failure (the blood passageway to her heart was blocked), but was discovered after she had died that she was infected with the swine flu virus. Her death is the first reported fatality related to Influenza A (H1N1).

Her husband and son are currently quarantined, and DOH is doing a contact tracing of the family.
Meanwhile, several more schools have suspended classes due to the outbreak. The Philippines reportedly has the highest number of infections in the South East Asian region.

Sources linked after the jump...

Sources:
GMA - DOH announces first death in RP linked to A(H1N1)
ABS-CBN - RP confirms first A (H1N1) death
_______________________________________
This report got me really worried. And this swine flu is really making me paranoid. Last week my girlfriend was sick, turned out it was common flu. And this weekend, my mom was bed-ridden with fever and cough. She's much better now, no more fever, but we're still monitoring it.

Stay healthy everyone.

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The politics of Political ads

I've read a lot of posts ranting about the Political ads running on TV like the one above of Manny Villar, and the one on this blog, of Mar Roxas. Bloggers like Adaphobic are lashing out at the audacity of using money for TV ads instead of for helping the poor...

Here's my 2 cents...

It's like Affiliate Marketing

Sure you, and me, and a lot of the bloggers are, as you say, "cringing every time we watch these ads", but let's keep in mind, even though we are part of the voting population, these ads are not meant for us - it is meant more so for the majority of the voting population, i.e. the people with nary a dime but have talking boxes in their 2x2 meter living rooms (which also double as a bedroom at night).

They are the people who will go, "ay, talagang para sa mahirap itong si Manny Villar!" every time they watch these ads.

And THEY have the power to put a President in office.

Now, my intention is not to demean poor people (or even those who claim to represent them), I am no way saying they are ignorant or incapable. My point is, simply, that these politicians are marketing themselves - and their target audience is the voting majority.  They are using the most powerful tools at their disposal to "sell their product", and from a marketing perspective, they are doing quite well.



We could probably guess Manny Villar is NOT the type who goes around (in full make-up) helping people on the streets, or riding pedicabs (ibang candidate yata yun?). But you would probably say, I know he is a good leader, a good man - and so let's do whatever is necessary to help get him to the Palace.

And this is it, my friend. This is it.
Imagine if your were Manny Villar or Mar Roxas' Public Relations agent or Campaign Manager - how far would you go to promote him to the public at large?

And one final disclaimer, I am NOT for Manny Villar nor Mar Roxas nor any other candidate for the moment. I'll reserve my judgment for later.


But what do YOU think?



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How far will you go to put your candidate in office?

UP is Top University in the Philippines in QS Top University Rankings 2009

No surprises there, the University of the PHILIPPINES (ehem...my alma mater...ehem) is still the top University/College in the Philippines, ranking #63 in the 2009 "Top 200 Asian Universities" of QS.com Top Universities. It is tied at 63 with Universitas GADJAH MADA of Indonesia.

Other Philippine Universities that ranked are the De la Salle University #76, the Ateneo de Manila University #84, and the University of Santo Tomas #144.

According to the site, this is the first regional ranking from QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd, the compilers of the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings. Previously published rankings were all Global rankings. In the 2008 Global ranking, UP ranked #276, a big jump from the previous year's #398 ranking.

The 2009 Top Asian Universities are as follows...
#1 University of HONG KONG Hong Kong
#2 The CHINESE University of Hong Kong Hong Kong
#3 University of TOKYO Japan
#4 HONG KONG University of Science and Technology Hong Kong
#5 KYOTO University Japan
#6 OSAKA University Japan
#7 KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Scie... Korea, South
#8 SEOUL National University Korea, South
#9 TOKYO Institute of Technology Japan
#10 National University of Singapore (NUS) Singapore, tied with
#10 PEKING University China

For the full ranking, visit QS.com Top Universities.


*A quick note on the attached video: The UP Concert Chorus singing UP's alma mater song, UP Naming Mahal. It is taken from BUKLOD TANGI VCD, produced by UP Dilliman Office of the Vice Chancellor, Chancellor, and the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA). Copyright 2001. All rights reserved.

P.S. I was part of the group that recorded it! But didn't make it to the shooting of the video. :(

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I'm on http://twitter.com/reyjrdotcom

I didn't think I would make one, but after reading an article on Time magazine, I was convinced.
So here's me:

Follow me on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/reyjrdotcom

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