Andrew Sullivan in theatlantic.com writes a lucid and thought-provoking article on why he blogs, and the reasons he sets forth hold true for all of us. Aside from the need for self-expression, the standard explanation, there’s the adrenaline rush of thinking on your feet, and trying to put your musings and ideas into words with the immediacy inherent in the medium. It is “the spontaneous expression of instant thought“. As such, blogging can be addictive. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo from travelchannel.com

Anthony Bourdain of “No Reservations” fame was in Manila to film his show and I wasn’t even aware of it until weeks after he left. My wife knew, but didn’t say a word, not knowing or caring who Mr. Bourdain was.

As always, I found out first from the blogs, notably marketmanila.com and food-stylingmanila.com. I was on the verge of tears and dying of envy of everyone who had a chance to interact with the Great Bourdain. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of the show and when I got a copy of “No Reservations” the book, around this time last year, and saw that he had never been to the Philippines, I knew that it was only a matter of time before he landed on our fair shores and sampled our unique cuisine.

Well it happened, and he and his crew went in and out the country like ninjas, stealthily but effectively. They had no choice, I suppose, as the resulting media frenzy would have kept him from sampling the authentic grub which was their real objective. And they did their homework, zeroing in on the authoritative people who could give them a broad sampling of honest Filipino cooking at its best during their short stay. Guys like Market Man, Claude Tayag and Gene Gonzales. Read the rest of this entry »

The recent Philippine Blog Awards drew hundred of bloggers to the wind-swept venue at the One Esplanade at the Mall of Asia complex last Sunday for an evening of celebrating the best in the Pinoy blogosphere. Food and drinks were good and plentiful. Senator Mar Roxas was the keynote speaker. Jayvee Fernandez gave an insightful closing speech on the transformative experience of blogging.

Despite technical glitches and other missteps common to events of this nature, a good time was had by all. Or so it appeared to me. I had a great time just people-watching and marveling at the variety of creatures who call themselves bloggers.

Congratulations to the winners and kudos to the organizers.

There will be detractors, of course, who will find fault in many aspects of the awards and the occasion itself. Much as Filipinos revel in awards-giving, an undertaking such as this would not be complete without one controversy or another to spice up post-event discussions. Read the rest of this entry »

The annual Philippine Blog Awards is set for this Sunday, 21 September 2008 (for those old enough to remember, the anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of Martial Law ) at the One Esplanade, Mall of Asia complex along Roxas Boulevard.

All bloggers are invited to attend and traipse down the red carpet in their show-stopping finery. Or better yet, just come as you are. All will be welcome, regardless of gender, age, creed or political persuasion (or lack thereof). It’ll be a blast. Registration starts at 5:00 p.m. and the awarding ceremonies start at exactly 6:00 p.m. Prizes and surprises await you, with a party afterwards. So get there early. Read the rest of this entry »

Has the internet made us stupid, a recent article in the Atlantic asks. The author, blogger Nicolas Carr, frets about the effect the internet has had on his thinking processes, on the way it has rewired his brains’ very circuitry.

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading. Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do. I feel as if I’m always dragging my wayward brain back to the text. The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.

I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing and sometimes adding to the great databases of the Internet. Even when I’m not working, I’m as likely as not to be foraging in the Web’s info-thickets—reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link to link.

I’m not the only one. When I mention my troubles with reading to friends and acquaintances—literary types, most of them—many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing. Some of the bloggers I follow have also begun mentioning the phenomenon.

I have the same problem and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I haven’t read a book in its entirety in ages, even though I keep buying them. I have piles of books at my bedside table which, when I got them, I knew I would devour in one reading. Months, even years after, I haven’t gone beyond a few chapters, at best. I stop and start and finally give up at some point, distracted by the flickering text and images on my monitor. Read the rest of this entry »