Former President Cory Aquino passes away

More often than not, we've always maligned the study of history at one point in our lives, not because we weren't interested at the gist of it, but because we weren't interested in the tons of dead people we had to memorize. The repeated inconsistencies of various other books certainly didn't help, which is why EDSA I was (and still is) by far the most interesting topic of discussion for me. Many people lived through it, so the gritty anecdotes, stories and major events that happened have always been the most fun to read about.

Now, the stories have come to an end.

Today, the icon of People Power, Cory Aquino, has returned to her creator (and her husband) and was pronounced dead due to cardiovascular arrest. God Bless her soul.

“I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.” --Corazon Aquino, Saint of People Power, a mother, and a wife. 1933-2009

Her death, like Michael Jackson's marks the end of an era fondly remembered by many. It was she (but admittedly, not solely she) who played a major part in restoring freedom to the dictatorial rule of the Marcoses, and it was she who braved all the frequent coup's that would greet her all throughout her 6-year rule. The color yellow, like the sun, will shine forever. She will be missed, and she will forever be remembered.

Making Twitter Work For You

While this relatively new social microblogging service is- for the most part- for the egotistical broadcast of mundane human activities- celebrity or not, Twitter can also be a really good productivity tool at times. Some practical uses include:

1) Keeping up with news

This is a no-brainer for a lot of people, as the 1 million plus followers of CNN can attest. Truly, it is a lot more convenient for other people to read bite-sized headlines of current news than the actual entirety of the article. While the convenience is there, other important information is left out- which is why several other news organizations in Twitter also provide links alongside the title.

2) Zeroing in on the news you care about

This is different from keeping track of the events happening on the world, because in Twitter you can also focus on a more specialized view on news. Let's say you like football (I refer to soccer as football) and you just happen to be able to find an interesting news source for football on Twitter by using its great Search feature. You can just follow the news source and you'll automatically receive every headline you care about. Why? Because it's just about football and nothing else.

True, you could just subscribe to RSS feeds but RSS feeds aren't exactly used in a widespread manner among computer users, even if they are widespread from site to site, but one can basically track everything a specific website churns out in Twitter anyway, so it's pretty much a mainstream version of the RSS feed.

Say, you like the articles of a certain site, and let's say you just have an allergy to RSS feeds. If you want, you can find the Twitter feed of that site (typically they even endorse it) and Follow it. That way, you can now get links of the articles of the site because unlike CNN, most of the time they just put a little info about the article then put the link of the article alongside it.

3) Keep track of the actual now

Most of the time, people Twitter a significant event as they happen, and the powerful Search tool lets you in on the action. You can literally get up-to-the-minute information of everything in real time and see the different views of different people.

Maybe a less significant example would have to be the elimination episode of a reality show. Say, American Idol. Since Filipinos get the short end of the stick (basically "via satellite" shows aren't really live broadcasts), they can keep track of the actual episode as it happens live. True, you're not exactly watching it, but at least you're really up to date- and you could see the reactions of people as an event happens in that episode as well. Some are utterly worthless, but you'll be surprised at some of the observations people make.

Perhaps American Idol isn't very good for an example... How about a more current example, like the Center for Disease Control tracking Twitter feeds for cases of swine flu?

4) Sync with Internet services

Some Twitter syntax enable you to sync with web services like Remember the Milk, which lets you see your to-do list. I've seen several "hacks" before, but I don't remember where I saw them.

5) Get questions answered

Twitter is a thriving community, and usually, you could ask a question and odds are they could get answered in a set period of time. If you have your friends and your workgroup with you, you could get a mixed set of answers and solutions that you perhaps could have never thought of.

6) To-do list

Twitter has a web page optimized for cellphones, so if you connect your cellphone to the Internet and access Twitter, you could be able to see your to-do list. How do you make a to-do list in Twitter? Tweet the thing you have to do of course!

If you have a lot of followers (or a follower who typically spams your Twitter page), you can favorite the tweet for easier access to it.

Perhaps those are the only ways I can think of that utilizes Twitter in a more productive manner, and this is just the bottom of the barrel.

REFERENCE: Lifehacker (for 4-6)

Not Just Birds, Pigs Too.

Piglet may not see the light of any day for now in countries like Russia, because the country has blocked imports of swine from the southern US and Mexico. Why? Two words: Swine Flu.

As if you haven't heard already, the Internet is abuzz with information about the newly discovered Mexican killer (OK, it's not necessarily Mexican, but the most severely affected area is Mexico and some parts of the States), so for now, if you can, why not go vegan?

Half-hearted joking aside, health organizations are now working hard to contain the potential epidemic. If you have a relative in Mexico, pray that they don't get the disease, as H1N1 is also easily communicable between humans, unlike bird flu (H5N1) which in my knowledge is only communicable from animals to humans. With the rate of people getting the disease though, it's highly likely that said relative will get quarantined in the airport like all those New Zealanders and New York preschoolers ahead of her.

Symptoms include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite, coughing, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. It's also classified as Influenza A.

Reference: CNN

Mean Girls... game?

OK, Nintendo is a company who does casual and hardcore gaming right. But in a time when casual gamers overpower the hardcore, the companies now flock to the land of opportunity just so they can make a quick buck from the mostly gullible soccer mom audience.

There have been failed attempts at this, most notably uhhh..., wait, has there been any epic failures in casual gaming lately, or is it just me?

Anyway, Paramount Pictures have been making some head-scratching decisions, this is one of them.

"Why don't we resurrect our old franchises and make a quick buck out of them? Come on! There's the nostalgia factor! And why don't we just put Mean Girls in since it was such a successful chick flick, eh?"

That or they were probably smoking crack. And that's because they're making Clueless, Pretty in Pink and Mean Girls into "games". Yeah, it's like they're thinking Dirty Dancing made any profit.

If you forgot (I just got all this info from RT, not a big fan of chick flicks), Clueless is that ever famous '95 chick flick featuring Alicia Silverstone as a Beverly Hills socialite taking care of the lives of others but not hers. It's a satirical teen comedy that is also a Jane Austen (Emma) adaptation.

Meanwhile, there is this other film called Pretty in Pink released in 1986. Actually, it's considered a classic and is about a girl named Andie who is a good student. She develops a crush on Blane, a guy who hangs out with rich, haughty kids- the kind of crowd she (and the traditional best friend) can't stand. They fall in love with each other, but Blane listens to the advice of a friend and breaks that special prom date off with Andie. What'll happen next, how the hell should I know?

And lastly, the more recent Mean Girls. Critics claim that the famous Lohan film scores with better than average writing and a vast coverage of topics ranging from race, class and homosexuality. So, Lohan is Cady and she meets the most popular girls in school, the Plastics. They set rules, they do stuff, etc. etc.. However, she also likes another clique called... wait, there's no info about that, so I'll just say, a clique of punks and rebels composed of Janis and Damian. But wait, where's the conflict, you ask? Well, it's the fact that these punks and these titular mean girls hate each other, what's more, Cady's crush is friends with the Plastics! What to do?

So OK, I'm spending waaay to much time with these synopses, but to be back on topic: these games will be $$$hit.

Oh, and here's another piece of $$$hit!

Castlevania Judment.

Don't the Japanese ever learn?

But OK, maybe it's not Namco (makers of the atrocious Soul Calibur Legends), but I know Konami is better than this! An effing fighting game, seriously?

Maybe it's because of the fact that, oh, it's for the Wii! Yeah, another way to make a quick buck by making better games on the DS and then tricking the Castlevania fans who own a Wii into this potential piece of crap? Not a chance.

Unless it's actually good, I still don't have faith in Wii fighting games- except Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I mean, look at G4's hands-on remarks:

"Although this is a 3D versus action game, it plays pretty much like a fighter. You shake your Wiimote to perform your basic attack, then you can customize your moves by pressing down combinations of the Wii’s buttons, and hit C to wield your character's ranged attack. There are super-attacks if your bar is totally powered up, and they're filled pyrotechnics.

...

As far as the fighting itself, with our limited play time, we treated it like a button masher…or more accurately a Wiimote swinger--While we’re sure the game wouldn’t respond like this on harder levels, as far as the easier opponents we fought, random swinging was enough. We played as Maria (love that owl!) and basically shoved the Wiimote around randomly and hit buttons quickly and were able to dispatch a couple opponents without much trouble."

Yeah, they hated it.

Finally, something that seems sensible.
So there's this guy named Wesley. He sees Angelina Jolie and his life changes as he becomes an assassin.

Yeah, sounds like the type of game that seems formulaic at best.

It is reported however that Universal Studios is investing heavily into the development of this movie tie-in, however, so I'll keep an eye on it, just in case.

While we're on the topic of movie tie-ins...
Gary Oldman reportedly lifted a little curtain as to whether the recent record-breaking blockbuster, The Dark Knight, will have a game. It seems that it indeed will have a tie-in that will be released when the DVD comes out. Interesting.

If you didn't know, Oldman plays Commissioner Gordon in the 2 most recent Batman films: Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, as well as other roles such as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series, etc.

While we're on the topic of Batman...

Chrisitan Bale gets arrested!

He was reportedly arrested by the police who were in turn summoned by his family following the actor pushing his mother, Jenny Bale while arguing.

The reason behind the spat is not being divulged, but it seems to involve the whole Bale clan.

More legalese!
Nintendo's Wiimote can possibly get banned in Texas due to the fact that they lost to copyright infringement claims by a company called Anascape. All Wavebirds (GameCube wireless controllers), regular GameCube pads (WTF do they have to do with it?) and the Wiimotes get banned in the US if they didn't pay.

Coincidentally, Anascape just charged Nintendo while the Wii is still printing money. If that's not called taking advantage of a situation, then I don't know what is.

Wii gets Dead Rising

It's a game that's driven by numbers- it's Dead Rising!

People say it's a great, funny survival horror game where you can use almost anything at your disposal in the mall to fight off hundreds of zombies. It'd be interesting as to how this game will fare, since the Wii is definitely a more inferior system.

Expect it to have the same graphics as Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, since the engine running that game will run this one as well. Personally, I'm looking forward to it.

Lastly, a tragic death.
My father especially loves to import old comedies from Hong Kong. One of them is a grand little series called The Golden Girls. What's tragic is that Estelle Getty, the purportedly 80-year old mother of one of the characters of the film who in reality is younger by a year than that other actor, has died from advanced dementia at about 5:30 am.

It's a shame since her character was my favorite because she was really sarcastic- I love sarcasm!

E3: Final Fantasy shockers!

Day 1: The Microsoft Keynote
Before I go to the really, really, really big shocker/s, let me clear these out first:
>Gears of War 2 gets a new trailer.
>Rock Band 2 gets AC/DC, thus causing rhythm fans to go baloney.
>The casual audience gets more games on the 360 Live Arcade platform, one of the most prominent being "I'm In The Movies!" which looks more like an Eye-Toy game for the PS2 by Codebreakers.
> Microsoft rips of Sony's SingStar karaoke series with their own "Lips".
> There's a new Halo game coming out called Halo Wars- and it may not have Master Chief!
> Resident Evil 5 gets co-op on our asses (although IMO, co-op will feel like SSBB's Subspace Emissary: it doesn't look like it's given much thought because the camera only focuses on the first player).
> Fallout 3 goes to 360 and not only PC.
> Mirror's Edge looks really sweet!
> Take a look at Spore: Will Wright's new simulation thingy.

BIG NEWS:
When you see Final Fantasy, what comes in your mind?

Cloud Strife, Tidus, Yuna, Squall, and oh, the PlayStation.


Now, it's all gonna change because the newest installment of the Final Fantasy series goes to the XBox 360.

Oooh, that's gotta hurt, Sony!

And then, come more rip-offs, courtesy of MS.

OK, they've revamped their famous dashboard, and it looks pretty nice. But look more into the first picture and what do you see?
A F**KING MII.

Thinking about it just sickens me, especially since the 360 was built almost primarily for the hardcore. And now they're going the way of the Wii? This is of course gonna be inducing some competition, but personally, when I mix the two terms XBox and avatars together, I get lost.

I mean, yeah, there seems to be a lot more Home-like options than that of the Wii, but still, this is just too derivative.

Tomorrow: NINTENDO!!!!
(Picture credit goes to my friend Hallway_Giant from the GameSpot community.)

In the News 5th edition

We've got the round-up of this week's news and today's headlines as well.

Rudy "Daboy" Fernandez; 56: God bless his soul
Masa action hero Rudy Fernandez- also known as Daboy- has been battling periampullary cancer for the past two years. Now the struggle has ended as he passed away a week ago aged 56.

Days ago, you may have also heard about his public wake, and burial which were obviously jam-packed. But that was simply the respected actor's last wish- to have a last "box office hurrah".

Enrile shuns foreign investors; but GMA welcomes them
The Joint Foreign Chambers received an embarrassing tongue-lashing courtesy of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Miriam Quiambao for trying to erase the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) a week ago. June 12 was different, and that's because it was GMA who invited them so that she could praise and suck-up to them and stuff.

3G iPhone announced
Apple's WWDC didn't disappoint as it was home to the unveiling of several iPhone applications, and of course, the 3G iPhone. Globe Telecom also subsequently made a news page/announcement that vaguely stated that the Philippines will have its share of iPhone fever "later this year".

Maybe in between August and October?

Tornado kills boy scouts in central US
June 12 not only saw the release of much-awaited game Metal Gear Solid 4 in America, but also the release of a devastating tornado in central America. It destroyed the Little Sloux Scout Ranch and killed 4 teenagers from Omaha who were also boy scouts.

2 more lives were claimed in Dickinson County and Jackson County.

Greenpeace and the coal plant
Coal power plants are obviously contributing to global warming, and that's what environmental activist group Greenpeace is trying to avoid in the barangay of Ingore in Iloilo. Barangay officials are rallying back however because they claim that Greenpeace, though their protest is understandable, is trespassing in private property.

Celtics win against Lakers
'Twas the Finals yet again, and the Boston Celtics won 3-1 against the Lakers. The final score was 97-91.

"We asked for Ces, got Angelo instead"
This was the frontpage headline in today's Inquirer, and that's because yesterday saw the release of Angelo Valderama: one of the cameramen who was kidnapped along with TV news anchor Ces Drilon who was kidnapped by an unknown group of gunmen while in Mindanao. Families of the kidnapped party were relieved to see Valderama released, but they, of course, wanted the others back.

Kidnapped Marines released
The MILF released 2 kidnapped Marines from Basilan. The 2 released Marines' names are Jessie Duatin and Bernie Alcabasa which were "unharmed after a successful negotiation Thursday night," said MILF civil military affairs chief Eid Kabalu.

2 killed, 8 injured in Japan earthquake
Today saw an earthquake that happened in northern Japan which measured 7.0 in the Richter scale. The powerful earthquake claimed the lives of a fisherman in the Fukishima prefecture, and a person who was run over by a truck when the person evacuated from the house (which was in the Iwate prefecture: the epicenter).

There were 8 injured, one of them in critical condition.

Dial 8 For Murder?

What a week it was for the world.

First was the devastating typhoon in Myanmar, then the high-magnitude earthquake in Shenzhen, and now, Cosme in Northern Luzon.

And in between, 8 people were shot in RCBC, 8 people- 5 of them children- were shot in the middle of the night in their own homes by a farmer's helper and 8 people died from Cosme.

What the hell is happening?!

I'm pretty sure it's not apocalypse yet, but it may as well be with all the consecutive disasters and killings happening all throughout the week. And what's with the number 8 anyway? Is the same gang responsible for stealing money and shooting people in the head in RCBC and for killing innocent children and their parents? The fact that both the gruesome killings were held in Laguna supports that theory, although it would be a bit silly for the same people to go killing people days in a row. Still, it's really disheartening to see Laguna suffering their worst crime week- maybe- ever because I don't think the province deserves it- no place deserves it.

How about you? What do you think about all this? Maybe yet another killing will happen later?

But let's look at the bright side: Taiwan and Hong Kong has united with China in relief efforts for earthquake victims. 2 days ago, I saw on television a Taiwanese telethon with all those people happily and without conviction, urging people to get paying because the Chinese are people too. Aside from that, I've only got one more thing to say...

God help us.