Digital Influencers Marketing Summit 2012 Review

Just like what I expected the Digital Influencers Marketing Summit 2012 was jam-packed by people doing online stuff: seo practitioners, social media specialists, internet marketers, networkers and entrepreneurs etc. While everyone was giving their introduction, I don’t know how to tell my profile because my seven year old job is not in any way related to what my online persona is that dragged me in this event. So I passed on the microphone to the next one because I was there to listen, observe and be inspired of whatever the social media or digital influence that I can learn from.

After almost three years of blogging “silently” and realizing that my blog is all about “forgotten stories and dead people”, I decided to deactivate its Facebook Fan Page long ago. I got two reasons: not many

Wiki Loves Monuments 2012: The Wikipedia Photo Contest around Cultural Heritage

Wikipedia is launching "Wiki Loves Monuments", an international photo contest around cultural heritage monuments. This is for everyone, does not matter if you are an amateur, professional photographer or you just happen to snap a captivating photo through your mobile phone on your way or while on a trip.

The Philippines is one of the countries participating so don't waste this opportunity to dig out your photos hidden on your Facebook albums or on your phones.

Social Good Summit 2012 in Manila

 Social Good Summit is a global event initiated by Mashable held during UN week (Sept. 22 - 24) where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions. In New York, it is a three-day conference which the ideas are Digital + Global + Action. In China and Kenya, its leaders and citizens will gather on Sept. 24. In Manila, the Social Good Summit is 1 day only organized by Rappler and TweetupManila under the ideas of Innovation + Social Media + Social Good. The event aims to bring together the country’s brightest minds and creative thinkers to come up with innovative new ways in which digital technologies like social media can be used to solve the world’s challenges and make this world a better place – and then translate these ideas to action.

MassKara Festival 2012

Photo credit to The MassKara Festival official website

MassKara Festival actually has a "sad" history. Bacolod in 1980's went through a double crisis. First, the primary agricultural crop ofthe province, sugar cane was at its lowest in profit when sugar products from the USA arrived the country. Second, April of that same year an inter-island vessel carrying a lot of Negrenses collided with a tanker from Tacloban City that took several hundreds of lives. But the people of Bacolod was strong and determined that according to Wikipedia-

"In the midst of these tragic events, the city's artists, local government and civic groups decided to hold a festival of smiles, because the city at that time was also known as the City of Smiles. They reasoned that a festival was also a good opportunity to pull the residents out of the pervasive gloomy atmosphere. The initial festival was therefore, a declaration by the people of the city that no matter how tough and bad the times were, Bacolod City is going to pull through, survive, and in the end, triumph."

Authentic Filipino Dishes for Budget Conscious Foodies

If there's one thing that I look forward whenever I travel aside from the scenes as the top reason is the local food of a particular place. When I went to Cebu for 28 hours only, the memories of that "lusty" Cebu pork lechon still linger somewhere in my tongue up to now. In Cagayan de Oro, I was shocked by the fondness of the locals in anything about grilled seafood but the best is the grilled chicken made by a local brand. I am looking forward to eat a "sinful" plate of pork bagnet again in Ilocos when I visit this place this November. And come next week I will be in Bacolod and Iloilo. Whew, I am drooling already of what new dishes I will have there!

Filipino taste is really a mix of different cultures. When one goes to an island and hops to another, the flavor of the same dish is different that is why our Filipino food culture is one of the richest among the countries around the world. This fusion of tastes was made possible through Filipinos’ innate versatility to adapt to different flavors. Whether sweet, sour, salty, bitter or spicy no one can ever describe Filipinos love for food.

"Proud" to be Filipino

Suddenly remembered Charlie, from USA whom I met in Cagayan de Oro last August. He has been living in the Philippines for 4 years all because of love. "Cheesy, that is so sweet!" I replied and smiled like the ends of mouth are reaching to my ears already. Then rephrased what he said "I am only staying here just to be with this Filipina I married. Nothing more, nothing less." My smile faded, gave him a poker face. I was getting it all wrong. Next thing I knew he was giving a litany of he described as a very well thought and justifiable observations of our country that any local in legal is aware of these but not everyone does something about it either because he does not care at all or he thinks these are what compose of a definition of our normal life. [Word meaning screenshot from Webster online dictionary]

"Traffic and pollution, government corruption and you Filipinos are too proud of your race!" A well lived life is not about what race you are from but it is all about the rights as a human being wherever you are.

I Am Featured as a Phenomenal Filipina in Pinay.com!

Did you know that in early days of Internet the keywords "Filipina" and "Pinay" when googled in search engines mostly return dating sites, sex scandals & pornography-related contents? Sucks, yeah! Meaning there is nothing much positive that represents these keywords in the online world before. How did I knew it? Well, late of 2009 when I was searching for a name of this blog I just started without knowing what will I blog about after. A group of Filipinas who are very active online campaigned to their very best and encouraged every Filipinas to write more positive content about these keywords may it be an article, photo, video audio etc. Being a full-blooded filipina myself or pinay in short, I know I had to do my part so this is the explanation why I ended up naming my blog www dot iampinay dot com or in other words i am a filipina. I hope I kept the screenshot of the Page one Google result as a proof way, way back but I can't find it anymore. 

What Keeps Me Going?

Woke up this morning and suddenly wondered of what keeps me going. Am I living the life worth my hard work and the way I want it to be? Then I thought of these reasons. Is it my seven year old work that pay my bills? Is it my family back home that I rarely visit? Or is it my girl friends whom I have  spent countless hours in coffee shops talking about shopping, life and boys?

I was looking at my completely nude body in front of the mirror just after I took a shower. My loose hair is still dripping with water, my lips felt like mildly squeezed wet sponges and the shiver of  cold air is embracing my wholeness. The fruity smell of the shampoo and the pleasing scent of the milk soap all over me is like restoring my soul for a moment. I am not in a hurry to get dressed since it is my off today. I started touching the physical matter in me from my breasts, to my stomach and down there. I felt my body's imperfections. I wished I would have been like her blah, blah but this is what was given to me by the One above.

Fernando Amorsolo: Portrait of the Artist as Historian

“Fernando Amorsolo is the most prolific Filipino artist of his time known for painting the Philippines’ rural life during 19th century.” says Ambeth Ocampo giving his second talk of the two-part series “History Comes Alive” at Ayala Museum. “And history is not always written by historians. It can be done by musicians or painters like him.” He added. One example is the painting of the Battle of Mactan he showed us in his projector. “The beginning of the Philippine history is in 1521.” He said. “So how about the events happened in the Philippines before 1521, isn’t it a part of history?” He replied. “Lapu-lapu and his men defeated Magellan in 1521. This marked the Filipino’s resistance against colonialism. This was properly documented.” If you will talk about what happened before 1521 which is mostly undocumented in words or images, that might not be history at all. You may call it as the study of anthropology, geology or even archaeology instead!”

Philippine World Heritage Sites: How Do We Conserve These?

“Heritage is a legacy from our past, what we live today and what we pass to the future generations.” says Boj, speaking in front of a community of travelers under Couchsurfing Manila. He is a fellow Filipino doing an internship with UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines and taking up his Masters degree in Urban Planning – National Park Planning & World Heritage Site Management in Peking University, China. The purpose of his talk is to raise awareness of our cultural and natural heritage. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized branch of UN (United Nations) with 3 major programs: conservation of world heritage sites, safeguarding of intangible culture and promotion of cultural industries and expression.