Pirate's unfinished business

Piracy can be as quick as Manny Pacquiao's blow on Marquez. While everyone revels over Manny Pacquiao's sweet victory against Juan Manuel Marquez, our eye-patched friends with hook and bicorne hat hustle over their "unfinished business". Pirated dvds of the bout reached every bend and corner of Quiapo just a day after the celebrated fight.

Thanks to our very tight guard against piracy.

Advertise your blog through Entrecard

I subscribed to Entrecard today. I was so entertained that I left some shitload of tasks in my end unfinished. Nice. That didn't concern me though, especially when the daily grind in the office already gets to you.

Anyway, back to Entercard, I really enjoy the first time I joined. I know it's too late before it was introduced to my vocabulary but my appreciation goes to Maline who, as per her advice, suggested that I try it. It's somewhat like Blogmad or Blog Explosion when it comes to the scheme. I'm a fan of these sites when I want to increase visit to my blog. You can earn credits by surfing other member's blog, by exchanging banner ads, by winning the lottery or by mere generousity of a beloved blogger-friend who wants to share their credit earnings. Then you use these credits in any way you want to earn traffic.

But Entrecard is far more interesting with its simple advertising setup. The free exchange network platform is an innovation to bloggers who want their site advertised through other's blog. A fair play is ensured in the process so everybody gets their fair share of the credit. If you're a beginner, Entrecard is a pretty good startup to introduce your site and gain readership.

Check it out yourself. You'll see how fun that drop-your-card-or-advertise-on-a-widget thing is.

Logo credit: Entrecard.com

The Backcountry.com experience

I got bored at one point this morning that I thought of browsing the website of Backcountry. I already miss working for this website and our boss, Tim Meikle, during my stint in Eversun Software Philippines back in Iloilo City.

Backcountry.com is an online retail store of outdoor and backcountry gear. It carries over 250 top brands like The North Face, Black Diamond, Petzl, Mountain Hardware, Arc Teryx, Salomon, and more, with nearly 50,000 products. If you're scouring for best made gear including backpacking, camping, skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, kayaking, mountaineering gear and more, on the planet, look no further because Backcountry.com is the perfect store.

Don't miss to visit their other online shops, too. If you're a real snowboard junkie, you'll find the biggest names in snowboarding at Dogfunk.com. Meanwhile, if skiing is your action, Tramdock.com is your ultimate local skiing shop. The newest, sweetest, highest quality ski gear is very affordable from this site. Avail also of last year’s gear at insanely low prices from Backcountryoutlet.com.

Our job then was to optimize keywords. We sort and find for the best keywords used by customers to search for the products in these sites and in top search engines as well. These keywords and the product's URL must also be regularly updated so customers are led to the right product (with fewest clicks) during query. Well, I don’t need to elaborate those other technical processes. What was exhausting then is that we’re dealing with hundreds and thousands of keywords everyday. It’s part of their search marketing after all.

Anyway, there’s nothing big that’s changed in the website. It’s still has the same look as before—only cleaner (and with smaller font) this time. And oh, by the way, did I mention that Backcountry.com is included in Internet Retailer Best of the Web Top 50 Retail Sites and awarded with Bizrate’s Circle of Excellence Award for four times in a row?

Logo credit: Backcountry.com

A nicer Simon in American Idol 7

I’m not a huge follower of American Idol. Although I know who the winners in the past seasons were, it's only when the 7th season premiered that I started to hook with its every episode. The latest was they were in America's southeasternmost resort city--Miami, Florida--to scout for the next Idol. The tropical hot spot were bound by thousands of hopefuls desiring to get that golden ticket to Hollywood and become America's next singing superstar.

Well, who could forget about the three judges? Sometimes, or most of the times, I'm more entertained with the judges than with the contestants. Simon Cowell, notorious for his unsparingly blunt and often controversial criticisms, insults, and wisecracks about the contestants, is more forgiving this time. Many aspirants received the very rare "Yes" from him during the audition.

I enjoy every time Paula and Randy agree but Simon doesn't. The judging sometimes falls from a debate to a two-against-one riot. Meanwhile, I find Paula's antics very cute. I remember her dancing in front of the audition room while a certain Renaldo Lapuz, who by the way is a Filipino, sang his own piece, "We're Brothers Forever" for Simon. His audition created some buzz and I bet he'll make it big--not in Hollywood--but in Youtube, I guess. Remember William Hung? Fame didn't require him to sound (and look) good. On the other hand, Randy is the nicest among the guys.

The series of audition for this season is filled with different colors and characters. I can't help but laugh when some desperate auditioners beg for another chance or some sort of psycho or drunkard, dressed in comical character or with weird fashion sense, go there just to embarrass their selves or try to get some attention. At least, their silliness makes us entertained.

It's still a long way before a new Idol can be proclaimed. A series of elimination is yet to be held. Many aspiring singers from different key cities are still waiting to be discovered. I hope another Filipino will make a name again (after Jasmine Trias who made it to the final three). We'll see more of the best and worst auditions in American Idol season 7.

SEO Specialist post

A few days back, I received a call from an SEO company. An HR asked if I'm interested for SEO Specialist post. "Why not?" was my quick reply. She told me she got my contact number from Jobstreet and, later on, invited me for an interview. I didn't refuse the invitation of course.

Right away, I googled for some company information. I learned that DirectWithHotels helps hotels maximize the performance of their website. They "seo" their client's site to reach a wider and targeted audience by promoting via web. This only indicates that a large chunk of budget is alloted by some hotels for Internet marketing. It's a good idea most especially that competition, nowadays, is very tough and given that Internet is a powerful marketing tool.

Directwithhotels go beyond plain SEO actually. When a website receives overwhelming traffic or tops some search engine sites, it doesn't limit there. It's important for them to make visitors book. We know that they won't be earning a single cent even if their site gains billions of visitor but none makes a booking. So they aim to convert "lookers" into "bookers".

As with the invitation, Link Popularity Specialist (LPS) was the second offer should I don't get the SEO Specialist post. Well, it's not quite bad for a trying-hard SEO like me. Haha.

Participate in 2008 Philippine Blog Awards

In line with my unlikely comeback this year, I'm sort of announcing something for promotion. I may not be involved or participating in this event, but I’d like to spread the word about the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards which I first learned from Karla. I believe this year is the second of its series and I hope it'll turn out successful as well. Let’s help recognize who’s good in what when it comes to Pinoy blogging.

Watch out for his unwitty comeback

I'm finally out of the cocoon! I almost lost my enthusiasm towards this endeavor but the good thing is, I'm back. This is my looooongest break ever since I started blogging two years ago. As you may have noticed, I was out of the blogging scene for almost ten precious months. It feels great to be back in the blogosphere.

If you'd thought I was dead, no. I wasn't so totally distant from the blog world either. Hibernated? Maybe. In fact, I'm completely aware of what's new with what's happening around the blog universe. I miss those times when I went crazy to drive traffic to my blog, hop from one blog to another, tag somebody or link to someone's interesting blog and all. These what make me "bloggy" right now.

My apologies to fellow and dearest bloggers whom I failed to update for some time. It's bad to see how the number of your visitors drastically plunged. But it hurts even more when your Google PR drops. Ouch!

I know there are bloggers who are temporarily inactive from their usual blogging business. But there are some who don't sleep at all because they blog round-the-clock (kidding, I've yet to hear one). And those who stop blogging--for good--because they shifted interest or focused on some important things or whatever. But hey, who says blogging isn't important?

Without further agitation, I'm thinking of moving to a new one or recover this inactive, spiritless blog. The former will be a choice of buying a certain domain or creating via another blog host, say, Wordpress. The latter would include reformatting the look and feel of my first ever weblog. That means a major overhauling is going to happen. (And yes, I swear to rip out those distracting adverts.) I prefer the second option, for now. By the time I could seriously spend more time blogging, that's the time I'll try purchasing a domain (and place many ads). See, it's all about money-making. Lol.

Anyway, one change I've done so far was renaming this blog from Blogger's lair to Gabzki's lair. This is my blog in the first place. Another was removing irrelevant ads for speedy download.

That's all for now. Care for blogsome welcome?

Ramblings on 300

Fam and I were hesitant to watch 300 at first. I was convinced by his "feeling" that the film is a crap (only by judging from the trailer) although I've anticipated to view this one. Well, how would we know if we don't see it for ourselves? Here's what I can ramble about the film:

A visually entertaining war film loaded with blood splatter, gory & violent scenes. Plenty of slow-mo shots would send you to boredom though. Nothing's really original but the director has combined different cinematic styles in his own discipline. The storyline is pretty basic & the film favors less in humanizing the characters. But it doesn't make it at all crap. Historical inaccuracy is quite obvious, nudity and sexual content were done significantly and artistically (hence, the PG-13 rating), and the casting is swarmed by men (by the way, it somehow had homosexual undertone). However, it didn't fail to provide a superb visual treat. The graphics is just marvelous! And the film has a distinct cinematographic look artfully duplicating the imagery of a comic book.

300 is a 2007 film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller about the Battle of Thermopylae. The movie is under the direction of Jack Snyder.

Pre-election rants...and more rants

Summer's hot, and so is the coming election.

As much as I loathe to talk stuff about politics (especially the been-dirty election junks), I have to because I have declared myself a good and responsible citizen of this country and do believe that my vote will make a difference to the future of all Filipino people. Gee, I have to keep my fingers crossed then. How in tarnation shall I determine if my vote will be counted, anyway?

Five days ago, I was surprised to receive a mail from a senatorial candidate. I mean, who am I to be sent a letter from the Office of the Senate? Such letter, I believe, was mass produced and delivered randomly. But as to how I was included in one of the addressees, I never cared to figure out.

Anyway, the incumbent senator generally asserts in the letter his authored laws in education, health, agriculture and social welfare, and other major legislative measures he is currently pushing through (which I basically prefer not to elaborate here). The content opens about returning thought at the more significant events of 2006--both positive and negative--pointing to the turbulent Philippine political atmosphere and some moments of economic upturns. On the other hand, the end part tackles about his optimism to reducing poverty and uplifting our nation's living standards, and that he will remain our partner in working towards a stronger Philippines and a better life for all Filipinos. Yadah, yadah yadah!

Now, what are these blabberings all about? I supposed you're sooooo stupid if you missed the point he is trying to punch to. If you happened to receive this letter, you would say he simply wants to be seated in the senatorial post. Well, this is not entirely mockery. I still believe of hardwork and achievement that's kept yet for a good cause rather than letting the whole damn world know about them!

In this vein, I also detest watching those political ad campaigns that harass our supposed-to-be television viewing pleasure. Those infomercials provoke the freak of me. Don't you just hate those crappy jingles? Don't they titillate your spines? And where are the decent platforms? Let's see whose promises are just mere facade.

Hitching in the political wagons are actors, magicians, exhibitionists and what-not. Even celebrities (who happen to be the politician's sister, best friend or wife) become endorsers in their campaigns. You know, popularity is the only investment to be more appealing. You see, the more tricks they know, the better are their chances of bringing home the bacon. Now where are the competent and credible people (should I say the messaiah) we've been looking for to salvage us from eternal damnation?

Am I asking too much? Or are they just doing very little? Be my cynicism forgiven.

Oink, oink! It's year of the Yin Fire Pig!

Kung hei fat choi!

The Chinese all over the world will be once again celebrating their colorful New Year festivity, hoping that the year of the pig will bring them endless harmony, more luck--and money.

Chinese months are ushered in by the lunar calendar, with each month beginning on the darkest day. Traditionally, New Year festivities begin on the first day of the month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. As for how an animal like the pig came into play, legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality traits.

Those born in the Year of the Pig are believed to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work very hard, and appreciate luxury. They are very loving and make loyal partners. Sounds like someone you want to paint the town red with, right? If your friend or partner is a pig person, or if you’re simply feeling festive and want to be in solidarity with our Tsinoy countrymen and women, check-out some places where celebrations abound this Chinese New Year.

Source: http://www.clickthecity.com/metro/?p=1511

Crazy for chocolates this Valentine's?

It's exactly seven days before Valentine's Day. In this month of heart, the god of love will be sending forth his battalion of cherubs and once again, the town will be painted in red. Don't you wish to be hit by a cupid's arrow? Oh, love is in the air. However, I will not speak of love in all its splendor.

Let's go straight to business. I mean, chocolate cake business.

My friend's sister and her amigas come out with a simple business venture this Valentine's season. We know that aside from the demand for roses, chocolates is the next all-time favorite gift. But they won't be reselling chocolate bars; instead, they will home-bake chocolate cakes, only with a twist. For only P135, you get to choose from seven varieties: rocky road, vanilla brownies, mocha brownies, german choco, choco mint, orange creme and mini choco cupcake. It comes in square shape (12"x12") which you can have it sliced into 12 pieces (except for the cupcake). You can also request for customization.

But here's the catch: A postman will deliver the cake straight to the recepient for FREE! Isn't that sweeeeet? It's perfect for busy people who want to surprise their loved ones despite time constraints come Valentine's day.

But if your budget is limited, you may place an order for a three-piece chocolate rose which only costs P75 . This awesome edible gift can be your simple way of saying 'I love you' without worrying about spending some pennies. Compared to real roses (and with proper storage), the chocolate may last for a couple of months--including the memories.

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Wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine's season.

Snowfall in the Philippines?

Forgive my illusion that winter is coming to the Philippines. Or that Christmas breeze is a month delayed. But with frosty weather that we nowadays experience soon after the sun would bid good night (in irony of the torrid daytime condition), who will not think that snowfall is far from impossible?

Yeah. I know it's impossible.

You know, only in "ber" months that the country's weather would normally go cold. But it's February and summer is supposedly greeting us. Not unless you live in the City of Pines (Baguio City) or Tagaytay, then cool climate is an all-year round grace. And besides, we have only two seasons. We expect nothing more than rain or shine.

Is this a reverse of cycle in the state of atmosphere? Or a phenomenon of sudden and inevitable weather change? One news informed that this is caused by the melting of ice in Siberia. Another hearsay told North pole snow thaws. To whether they are true or not, I could not be certain. However, it is said that this chilling effect will last only until March.

Oh, by the way, I gotta slip on my thick-layered coat before darkness fall. It'll be an open refrigerator out there!