The Links to Obertianism

Tagged

Tagged is a social network of general interest similar to MySpace and Facebook. In addition to allowing users to share photos and videos, it provides a window to Netvibes as a personalized start page.

Tagged has come under attack for questionable practices such as spamming for invites by searching through the user's email address book.



Jaxtr

Jaxtr brings voice to social networks and blogs. Jaxtr can be used to link my phones with my online network to receive the calls, voice messages and texts I want while keeping my phone number private. I can now call be called for free on my mobile without needing to download anything or use a headset. Just enter the phone number, your phone rings and jaxtr connects the call.

However, I can opt the phone to or not to receive calls. I can block callers or specify on a per-caller basis who can ring my phone and who gets routed to voicemail. The best thing about it is that Jaxtr is free. In the future, they will offer premium services for jaxtr power users, but the basic service will remain free. Depending on the phone plan, the service provider may charge fees for making local calls.

The only problem now is that... I still don't have a new mobile phone since I lost it in July



Wayn

WAYN is a social network for travelers and people, who love travel, want to share experiences, photos, keep track of all the contacts from around the world and make new friends based on where they have been, where they are going and where they are now. One feature is that you can find and contact people from your current location, from places you have been or plan to visit. WAYN list in Wiki guide allows you to find reviews and advice from people all around the world about places, events, or attractions.

What is scary is that a lot of people say that this is a spam site that inadvertently sends a spam message to every single person in your address book. What was thought was that someone should get back in touch with the owner of the account after sending what was probably another unbeknownst spam message but when you go through the process of signing up, and when you’re done WAYN wants to know the trips you’ve taken in your life. That’s something ridiculous, in the first place, and here it was thought to be a social metagroup of some sort.

I signed up though…


Hi5

I didn't know I have a Hi5 page until one of my friends sent me an invite and clicked on the link to register. To my surprise, I already have an existing account and had a number of friends linked to it. I don't even remember when, how and why I created an account on this site.

It's one of my unmaintained sites. It's too redundant to have Friendster, Multiply and Blogspot plus other networking sites which have the same functions as the first three mentioned. Others don't have those as they say so it's better to connect them to this network instead. Makes sense, though.

I actually thought this page is the Australian group's Hi5, hahaha!





Flixster

A movie buff like me should have a site like this. This page encases all the movies I like, all the DVDs in my collection and the flicks I have missed and wanted to watch.

It's amazing to collect all the ones I like in just one page. From the movies I have seen when I was still a kid to the underground movies I have seen only in select theaters to the critically-acclaimed releases only seen in Film Festivals around the metro. It's a little bit sad that some of the movies that I have seen and liked are not found in the list.

Have yourself a bucketful of popcorn, sit, relax and check out the movies!

iLike

This is the site where I listen to several artists and albums "I like" without the need of uploading these tracks to my webpage. The artists and albums are available online for ready listening and easy selection. It's a cool site. It's recommended for music lovers who can't live without hearing their favorite artists play in a day's life!

Ringo

One of my online accounts kept dormant and unmaintained. I don't even remember anymore who sent the invites for this. I was able to upload some pictures though, but when I found out that it isn't that popular and only a few people got interested opening such account with Ringo, I discontinued it and never got the chance to go back to it.

Facebook

One of the latest craze in networking sites which they say better than Friendster. It gives you an update to users you might know so you can connect to them, and the best deal is that you can catch them real time if they are online. And... that's one thing I despise because that's invading my privacy.

I was invited to create an account though, and I liked it somehow. Some of the people you can't find in Friendster are registered here. What's funny is, all the other people you are connected with in some other network sites are also here. 

Blogspot

My first Blog ever!

This was created when I was a Customer Service Representative in PeopleSupport Philippines back in 2005. It was influenced by my co-worker Francis Ortalla, among others, who are so hooked into blogging at that time. Francis was the one who brought me into the world of blogging, and surpisingly, I was able to create one in HTML codes which I was still learning at the time everyone else is already master of their own crafts. Then came Irate Eira (that's how I call Eira Aborde Ü, also one of my co-workers) who became my personal guru in developing my newly-born blog. Francis and Eira were hand-in-hand, as I may remember it, in criticizing my page. They laughed on it, praised it and gave their utmost support to make it the way I wanted it to be. 

I wanted my blog to show who I am, without me speaking. I wanted the page to describe me, without me showing myself in flesh. And here's the final product. My life story...

It soon became a white elephant. When my daughter was born, it was left all alone in the dark and my full attention was drawn to my my newly-born baby - Gelii. When I went back to it, I found it to be like an old rotten shoe that you don't wanna wear no more. That led me to switching to Multiply (it was again Francis who dragged me into this multiply craze, hahaha).

The page is still existing though... like a hermit in the Australian caves.

Friendster

My friendster account is one of the most significant creations that came into my life. This page was born at the time I met Sheryl Pedrigala, the girl who would become the partner I would be with for the rest of my life. Friendster helped open a line to a soon-to-be married life with my chosen partner, now my wife Sheryl Reyes. 

More significantly, it was my bestfriend Dennis Opiso who invited me to create this Friendster account. It was the same coincidence that Dennis was the one who introduced me to Sheryl. Both events happened at the same time. He connected me to the outside world and linked me to married life. 

Married life with Sheryl is an eternal blessing. Friendship with Dennis is a bond forever. Ergo, Friendster is an existence for the rest of my life.

The Vampires are Haunting Me Again!

It was 8pm when my wife and I crept into the dark night to watch Twilight in Megamall. We were both in awe when we found ourselves right infront of the exhibit of all Twilight promotional materials in the movie house. We know we can't wait to grab a ticket for the last main feature of the day. The last time I ever felt this way craving to see a vampire in the movie was in 1994 when Lestat invaded the cinemas like locusts from the dark with "Interview with the Vampire." And it was a flick my wife tagged as "the movie showcase of my boyfriends."

We got a 10pm schedule. This date with my wife is supposed to be a birthday treat to me but it came a bit late because our daughter was with us that day. I'd rather have a family day than watch a movie leaving our most precious treasure behind. Today is the day! As we were waiting for the minute hand to reach 10, I flashed back to the vampire movies I have liked seeing in the screen. Queen of the Damned is exceptional, Van Helsing was a bit too pushy to become a sequel of Underworld, Blade was violent, The Lost Boys is too old to remember, Buffy is more like a slayer of the witches in Charmed. Couldn't think of anything anymore. With Twilight, I don't know what to expect. Am I just gonna see the real montage of scenes I only visualized when I read Stephenie Meyer's book? Or will I be dazzled?

It was already 10pm and we started to sneak into the dark pathways of the movie house. As the movie started, I didn't even want to hear the sound of a popcorn bite so I could hear the dialogues more audibly. I didn't want to breathe either. The first few scenes to me are just reminiscent of Kristen Stewart's 2007 movie The Messengers where she also moved from the city to a suburb. Everything changed when Robert Pattinson came out. Vampire movies haunted me again. It's right infront of my nose and I am not believing it is happening. It's so surreal. Curtains are already closed but flashes of the scene where Edward Cullen is playing piano while Bella Swan was right next to him was stuck in my mind.

Yes, it is enough. Enough for forever. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning.

Rihanna and Chris Brown Concert

At exactly 6pm, my wife and I rushed to Fort Santiago Open Field in Taguig to see the international concert of the year, the one we both waited for a very long time. This is one of the best concerts we think we will be seeing, since she likes Rihanna and I like Chris Brown and we will see them both in just one concert. When we reached the concert ground, it took us a while to figure out where the entrance for the tickets we bought, the Silver Section. One good thing in coming to a big event like this ahead of time is that you can still gather sensible answers from the guards and concert ushers. We were told to go that way, turn to a direction that way, straight ahead and voila, we saw the end of the labyrinth. We were frisked immediately and some of our items were confiscated and were not allowed to be brought inside the concert venue. We didn't have much time to argue (and we were in the height of our excitement) so we just left the stuff in their custody, not knowing if we can still get them back. Read: we were not issued any claim stubs. 


At last, we were inside the concert venue. We looked for the best place to watch and enjoy the concert. Our requirements - (1) near the humongous speakers, (2) conducive to the viewing monitors, (3) not necessarily in the middle but at least both Rihanna and Chris Brown are visible in stage, a(4) near any emergency exit [just in case]. Eureka! We found our place. While we were waiting for the 8pm start and for my wife's friends who will be joining us in the concert, we took several pictures and watched the sun retire in the west to set the night's party mood. After a few flashes from our camera, I noticed that the concert venue was suddenly filled up with a sea of 70,000 people in no time, all cheering "Ri-hanna, Ri-hanna!" and some sing the chorus part of "Forever" in unison. 

It's 8:00pm at last! The concert started on time (or at least a few minutes late because of the tons of reminders and advertisements) and the crowd suddenly went wild when the lights went off, pushing everyone on their way to get nearer the stage, with their hands clasped with point-and-shoot cameras and camera phones thrown in the air waiting to catch the entrance of whoever will be the first artist to perform. The pyrotechnics blew off and signaled the entrance of Chris Brown, who was hanged upside down singing "Wall to Wall." The crowd, most of them girls, roared and screamed and shrieked. It's a dance cut but amazingly, no one in the crowd can be seen dancing or singing along with him at least. They are all taking videos of Chris Brown performing. I wonder if this is the idea of Filipinos in going to concerts. To take photos and videos and upload them in their social networks. 

Chris Brown seemed not to mind how boring the Pinoy crowd was, he just danced to all his other upbeat songs like "Kiss, Kiss", "Picture Perfect", "Gimme That" among others and serenaded the girls with his ballads like "Say Goodbye", "With You", "Superhuman" and other songs which I only know the chorus parts. A Chris Brown concert is not a Chris Brown concert without him showing his chest and abs. He took off his sweat-soaked shirt and threw it in a crowd of girls. And best of all, Chris performed a few of Michael Jackson's famous cuts and showed his 'gloved-one' moves which included "Billy Jean", "Rock With You" and "Thriller." My favorite part of his show was when he sang "No Air" which was a supposed duet with a pre-recorded file of Jordin Sparks but the crowd sang along with him. At least it showed that Pinoys are not that completely boring when it comes to concert. His last track was "Forever" which obviously, the only Chris Brown song that everyone else can interact to (or the most popular, so far). Everyone danced (finally) and sang along with him.

After Chris' part, a 30-minute fireworks intermission blew off in the air. This is to divert the crowd's attention to the spectacle in the sky and not notice how the stage is being transformed from a Chris Brown-environment to a Rihanna-milieu. After the entertaining (and ear-popping) fireworks show, the DJ played some of the hit songs of today. It was funny (and a bit disappointing) that the crowd sang and danced along with the recorded tracks like Pink's "So What," Flo Rida's "Low," Beyonce's "Single Ladies," among others more than singing and dancing along with the live performer onstage.

The second part of the show signalled when the lights went off and steel stairs showed up onstage with Rihanna on top of it singing "Disturbia" only wearing a black corset and bikini on a knee-level boots. This number rocked the whole Taguig. The crowd roared, screamed and shrieked again. I was expecting to hear only girls to sing along with her but I saw everyone, as in everyone, swaying their hands and screaming "Disturbia" (some people only know that single line in the track). She sang all her other upbeat hits like "SOS", "Don’t Stop the Music", "Shut Up and Drive", and ballads like "Unfaithful", "Rehab", "I Hate That I Love You", and "Take A Bow" was her most-interacted song in the concert. The night was concluded with Rihanna's greatest hit "Umbrella" with which Chris Brown suddenly emerged from the backstage to sing along with her on the remixed version titled "Cinderella." They kissed together like as if a fairy tale book is about to close to end a story with a life lived happily ever after.

It was a very tiring night, but we have definitely enjoyed it. It was only a bit disappointing that it failed my expectation to experience a real partying crowd. Maybe because most Pinoys are really not into dancing and singing (in short, interacting) with the performing artist. A great percentage of the 70,000 sea of people are literally "spectators" of a show. They come to "see" a show that they paid for... not to do along with the artist who was paid to perform. Or sometimes, you blame it to a performer who can not make his or her crowd sing and dance along with them. There are artists who just wants the audience to hear them sing and see them dance. But a Chris Brown and Rihanna concert is an exception. This is a party concert. You see the two artists' efforts to make the crowd join them, especially Rihanna who kept on shouting "Manilaaaaaaa" and the audience will scream a little, sing with her a few lines and throw their hand in the air a few minutes and they go back to their lethargic mode. That's funny. That's only in the Philippines.

Gelii's 3rd Birthday

It was a stormy day. From the window pane was a scene of heavy pouring rain. I was excited and nervous, not knowing what to feel and which one to feel first. Not knowing what to think and which way I should think. I would stare at the dark sky. Far. Farther. Void. And then the doctor came out of the operating room and exclaimed "your baby's out!" It was one of the greatest feeling I had ever felt in my life. And that was three years ago.

My baby's now three! My, how time flies. And today, I'm feeling the same way again. The same great feeling on that same day I saw her behind the viewing room of the hospital's nursery. I told myself "my Princess is here" and I was right. She is the epitomé of the princess I have known in the fairy tales I once told when I was a kid. And now, the princess is with me celebrating her 3rd birthday.

Happy birthday, Gelii! I love you very much.

It's Over Now

Though the feeling hasn't passed
Sad to say our love didn't last
Please don't ask me to pretend
Cause to know it's over

When I'm done forgetting you
You can say what you wanna do
Please don't ask me to pretend
Cause I know it's over now


Ewwww!

That would be the initial reaction I know I would get for posting this. I've never been this mushy for years now. And holy cow, I know I'm too old to be mushy for such. And I never posted any lyrics that I liked, as far as I can remember. Okay, how about LSS as an excuse?

It just happened one day when I was watching MTV and saw a video from Kyla with this track. I don't remember any distinct event in the past that would relate to this song but flashes of memory suddenly came popping up my mind like the white lights in a near-death-experience phenomenon. I then found myself looking for the audio file of it in the internet (preferably the original from Joey Albert) to be downloaded.
I got the answer finally: it's a bitter song, that's why I suddenly liked it. My wife knows. If there should be a song that will be written for ampalaya, for sure it'll sell like hotcake to me!

HDD Web is down!

HDD Web has just ceased operation. And what's the repercussion? All my online files are gone forever!
I woke up this morning to see that my Multiply site doesn't have my personalized banner anymore. Moreover, my Friendster page doesn't have my personalized wallpaper background. And what's worse is, everything in my Blogspot is gone coz all the files are uploaded and stored in that online storage. It's the same feeling that I have when my harddisk crashed and I wasn't able to back up my files.
This is what I hate when you're sucking all things which are given for free. There really is nothing free in this world. If there is, you'll meet your doom one day and you'll pay for everything...
More than the blood in your veins!

Listen To Me!

This is my world of music. And these are the types of music that I've known. Noise. Grunge. Evil.

This is an influence of my college days when I transitioned from a jack-of-all-trades teenage boy to a rebellious grown-up man. I can say I was summoned to this realm of sound madness during the time I was out there looking in the void for a shoulder to lean on. I saw myself in the anguish of the little boy in Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" and fell in love with Liv Tyler and Alicia Silverstone in Aerosmith's video of "Crazy." I shared with the false hopes of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" and became one dependable person in Edwin McCain's "I'll Be." All this and more... and I was enslaved into this time when grunge ruled the world. These songs are gone, Kurt Cobain's dead, bands are disbanded but I'm still here... wallowing in the memories of this existence.

Since my Multiply's back, I thought of uploading some MP3s again. But now, a little bit cautious. I will no longer upload the full albums of all that I have. I came to realize that I want to list down here the tracks that I loved most. Some people may agree with me that these are the best songs so far, some may not. Who cares?!? Some people may also say that my compilation will reveal how old I am now. Who cares?!?


I'm only a man in a funny red sheet and it's not easy to be me.


Follow me here just like the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland...

I Am Dumb...

Why am I so dumb in making decisions?

For everything that I have in my life, I always have this guilty feeling that I have not done anything right. I have always thought when I was a young boy (might’ve been because of pressure from other people) that I am a bright kid… intelligent… unique person. A rare breed!

But as I am growing old, these attestations are slowly going all wrong. I am starting to believe that I was raised with a just a mere fairy tale. Everything that I was made to believe is a big lie. I am not really the one they thought I was. It’s all wrong! How if the only truth in this world is just a lie? Is there really a Messiah that the humankind is waiting for? Is there really life after death? Are there really spirits and ghosts wandering in non-life forms? Are there really aliens? Is Charles Darwin right? Is Big Bang Theory true?

Are there really concrete answers to these questions? To these unsolved mysteries as uncountable as the multitude of heavenly bodies in the universe? And who would answer these? Am I going to believe? Do I still believe?

Believing to anything is something that I have to decide, for now.

If I am intelligent, why am I dumb in achieving these decisions…

Welcome Back to my Multiply Account... whew!

Finally, I got my Multiply account back!

Multiply administrators deleted my previous account due to copyrighted materials uploaded, according to the advisory that I received few weeks before I lost access to my own account. I’m guilty anyway because I uploaded all tracks and albums that I have with my favorite artists. I almost wanted to upload everything that I have in my 80Gb hard disk. Sometimes, I really believe that being sloth is not a deadly sin, it is an advantage!

To those who still have copyrighted MP3s in their accounts, be warned now, otherwise, you’ll savor the same consequences that I suffered when I found out one day that my account no longer exists. I still will upload MP3s anyway, but not the full album and not all tracks from one particular artist anymore. And I’ll try to find a way that all tracks I will be uploading will be restricted and such.

Let’s get back to my real Obertian world…