from the Parser blog Corsarius' comment in my last entry led me to the Parser blog. Take a look at some of the interesting things I found there:



Writing Techniques (via jonas)

** Avoid alliteration. Always.
** Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
** Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
** Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
** Contractions aren't necessary.
** Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
** One should never generalize.
** Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
** Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
** Be more or less specific.
** One-word sentences? Eliminate.
** Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
** Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
** Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
** Who needs rhetorical questions?
** Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.



It Felt Love (via Tweety)

How
Did the rose
Ever open it's heart

And give to this world
All it's
Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light
Against it's
Being.

Otherwise,
We all remain

Too

Frightened.

  ¶ 6:29 PM 2 Comments

  Another reason to crave for a Typepad account I remember signing up for a Typepad trial account (as Sinang) when it started (as what I usually do whenever a new blog server pops up) but I also remember not using it. Bah.

Now Typepad provides its users a tiled Amazon wishlist which can also mean eye candy.

Anyhow, my favorite typepad user has enough eyecandy (and goodies!) even without that feature. Achtung Baby!  ¶ 11:20 AM 1 Comments

  2005 Bloggies If you have the time, you can browse the nominated sites at the 2005 Bloggies and you can vote as well (you have until the 3rd of February).

So far, I've only seen the sites of those nominated for the Best Asian Weblog and this one is my favorite. For a compact list of the 2005 nominees, go here.

More interesting links from Weblog Wannabe:

French kissing can be so dirty

Secret Ingredient for Elderly Romance

What Do You Remember From School? (I got 8/10. Acck! Guess which subjects I missed? :P)

updated: Noodlepie sounds like a good blog for you to visit. Pho(!), you likey?

  ¶ 10:57 AM 1 Comments

  Get your books ready! Neil Gaiman news:

Incidentally, I'm trying to organise (well, I'm not actually doing the organising) the promised signings in the Philippines and Singapore before or after the Melbourne convention and Australian book signings this summer. The signing in the Philippines looks like it's happening, but I'm not sure about the Singapore one...

(link via UP Grail)  ¶ 9:52 AM 0 Comments

  Coke 'I Wish' ads sing of hope I just found out (through Yeye) about the (original?) UK version of the latest local Coke ad.

I wish I could share all the love thats in my heart, remove all the bars that keep us apart!
I wish I could say all the things that I should I say, say em loud, say em clear, for the whole wide world to hear.
(The whole wide world to hear.)
I wish I could give, all I'm longing to give. I wish I could live, like I'm longing to live!
(Longing to live.)
I wish I could do all the things I can do.
(Ohhhh things I can do.)
And though I'm way I'm overdue, I'd be starting anew.

Sana’y masabi sa awit kong ito
Lahat ng ninanais nitong puso ko
Sana saan man patungo sa buhay
May pag-ibig, pag-asa; may saya at saysay
Sana sa bawat sandali’y matikman pa
sarap ng pagsasama,at simpleng ligaya
Tara na, sakyan lang, malay mo
Andiyan lang, andiyan lang… ang hinahanap mo!

As for me, I only wish to finally overcome the Coke addiction which I've been trying to do since late last year.

Current status: hopeless!   ¶ 7:21 PM 4 Comments

  Nonsense! Operation Bojinka

Several media outlets, including TIME Asia, wrongly claim that the word Bojinka means "loud bang" or "explosion" in Serbo-Croatian. Endnote 7 of Chapter 5 of the 9/11 Commission Report states that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed claims that "bojinka" is "a nonsense word he adopted after hearing it on the front lines in Afghanistan." "BOHICA" is common military slang for 'Bend Over Here It Comes Again' which refers to an incoming enemy attack, often bombs.

Kodak

The company started as the Eastman company, but included one of the first simple roll film cameras known as the "Kodak" in its product line. Asked about the name, George Eastman replied, "Philologically, the word Kodak is as meaningless as a child's first 'goo'—terse, abrupt to the point of rudeness, literally bitten off by firm and unyielding consonants at both ends, it snaps like a camera shutter in your face. What more would one ask!" The camera proved such an enormous success that the word Kodak was incorporated into the company name.

During a research for my Film 110 class, I've read that George Eastman just wanted a name which both starts and ends with the letter K because such a word can catch attention so easily.


Häagen-Dazs

Häagen-Dazs is an American brand of ice cream, established by Reuben Mattus, in The Bronx, New York.

Contrary to common belief, the name is not European; it is simply two made-up words meant to look European to American eyes. This is known in the marketing industry as foreign branding. Mattus included an outline of Denmark on early labels to reinforce the Scandinavian theme. (None of the company's 700 stores is in any Scandinavian country - Häagen-Dazs operates in 54 countries around the world.)

I was able to watch The Ice Cream Show in Discovery's Travel & Adventure and when the Mattus family were interviewed, they said that when Häagen-Dazs released their ice cream all over America, it became the country's first "domestic import." I guess that just shows where we got our colonial mentality.  ¶ 10:32 PM 0 Comments

  Nail biting

is a nervous habit that's often a symptom of anxiety or insecurity,'' says William Womack, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Child Psychiatry at the University of Washington School of Medicine and codirector of the Stress Management Clinic of Children's Hospital and Medical Center, both in Seattle. ''It's your child's way of comforting herself. (from The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Children)

On a different note, her diamond hair clip reminds me of the plastic barrettes (for babies!) I used to wear back in grade school.

I think I've given up nail biting and Goody hairclips quite some time ago. I guess I just wanted a reason to put up another Jeisa picture to cheer up a bad day.  ¶ 5:38 PM 0 Comments

  The mind is an erogenous zone for Gorey   ¶ 6:05 AM 0 Comments

  Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman recently won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in Closer at the Golden Globes, a precursor to the Oscar's.

Celo insists it's bad luck. I don't really think so.  ¶ 8:11 AM 0 Comments

  For good Idina Menzel steps out of Oz
(Jan 9, 2005)

(images from broadway.com)

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart...  ¶ 9:48 AM 0 Comments

  UP Film Institute highlights Asia from the UP Film Institute:

Jan 13 Thu 5 p.m.
Three Seasons (Vietnam)
The dramatic film tells the story of an American in Ho Chi Minh City looking for the daughter he sired during the war.

Jan 14 Fri 5 p.m.
Nowhere to Hide (Korean)

Jan 17 Mon 5 p.m.
The Yin-Yang Master (Japan)
(Onmyoji)—the acclaimed samurai film that is also a phenomenally huge box-office success.

Jan 18 Tue 5 p.m. (Korean)
My Wife Is a Gangster

Jan 19 Wed 2 & 5 p.m.
Bayani (Philippines)
Accompanied by a pair of Lamberto Avellana documentary shorts on Aguinaldo and Mabini.

Jan 20 Thu 5 p.m.
House of Flying Daggers (China)

Jan 21 Fri 5 p.m.
In the Mood for Love (China)

Jan 24 Mon 5 p.m. (Korean)
A Good Lawyer’s Wife

Jan 25 Tue 5 p.m.
The Sin (Thai)

Jan 26 Wed 2 p.m.
Nang-Nak (Thai)

Jan 26 Wed 5 p.m.
The Fruit Is Swelling (Hong Kong)

Jan 27 Thu 5 p.m.
Zhou Yu’s Train (Hong Kong)

Jan 28 Fri 5 p.m.
2046 (China)

Jan 31 Mon 5 p.m.
Three

  ¶ 6:50 PM 1 Comments

  Early exit for our Elphie?

A day before she leaves Wicked, our poor Elphie got hurt during the matinee show. Here's an account of what happened during the actual show from michl87 of livejournal:

...when she was "melting," I could tell that something was wrong. Anyone who has seen the show before knows that during this scene Idina is supposed to gradually go down and melt. Well, I sort of saw her hit the curtain and then they pulled the curtain across the stage and dragged someone across (I am not sure if this was Idina or not)

Everything got sort of quiet for a while, and then I heard Idina say "I can't breathe, I can't breathe." Then someone was like "what should we do, should I get some ice?" and the next thing I heard was "someone call 911." JLT (Jennifer Laura Thompson playing G[a]linda) was the only one on stage, and she handled it pretty well. She said "elphie?" and walked off.

The house-lights were turned on and the announcer guy asked if there were any doctors to the audience to report to the back orchestra section. This doctor two rows in front of me got up and was back there for about 30 minutes. When he came back, he said that he thought Idina broke some ribs and her shoulder. 15 minutes later it was announced that for the rest of the performance Shoshana Bean (stand-by and will be playing Elphaba starting Jan. 11) would be taking over the role of Elphaba.

(OMG! I didn't know the reason she was going to leave the show was because she'll be filming for RENT!!! Idina will be playing her original role in the musical...the tango Maureen. :P Hopefully, the movie will turn out great!)

Hopefully, Idina gets better in time for a proper finale. After all poor Elphie deserves a happy ending.  ¶ 9:52 PM 1 Comments

  Spacey and Bosworth to play as Lex and Lois Main casting choices for Superman Returns have been confirmed and the movie is set for 2006 yet as early as 2004, a lot has been going on for the movie.

Kate Bosworth is in negotiations to play the Man of Steel's plucky fellow reporter, and Kevin Spacey is set to play the superhero's nemesis in Bryan Singer's Superman movie for Warner Bros. Pictures.

The role of Superman has already been given to Brandon Routh earlier who "went as Clark Kent/Superman for Halloween in 2003, only to receive the movie role one year later" according to IMDB.

  ¶ 1:00 PM 2 Comments