What Talent?
Posted by titopao in rants and raves on 13 June 2010
So my wife and I came back home from church service. We thought we might miss about half of Pilipinas Got Talent because of our long trip. Imagine our surprise when, upon entering the house, PGT was actually starting to air. It’s time to bring the inner critics in us 
Having watched just half of the previous semifinal episodes, I didn’t know what to expect. Jovit Baldivino, I heard before (but, no, I didn’t get to see that Youtube video). I also saw the magician, the puppeteer, the piano/violin girl and the Luntayao family before. I had the vaguest idea of how good the other performers were, until last night’s episode. Let me just say that, in fairness to all the finalists (and my personal critiques aside), they did deserve to be there at the Araneta Coliseum, if at least for the only time in their entire lives.
I don’t intend to go over each of the finalists and who I think deserve to win. I’m not casting any votes anyway and I don’t think my votes will stand a chance against the rather obvious crowd favorites. However, one thing that didn’t escape my notice is who got in (or rather, who the organizers/producers think each contestant looked/sounded like when a contestant was auditioning…in particular, the singers), and what the judges were saying during their assessments. Read the rest of this entry »
RT: The Perfect Interview Test
Posted by titopao in bits and pieces on 12 November 2009
Found this article by Guy Kawasaki, one of Apple Inc.’s early pioneers. The situation: you are an HR manager and you’re not sure if your interviewee is cut out for the job he or she is applying for. What do you do?
If you can’t arrange for an interviewee to cross the street to get to your building, arrange for the interview at a Starbucks, cafe or restaurant—preferably in Manhattan during rush hour, but any reasonably-sized city will do. Watch carefully. Secretly videotape it, if at all possible. These few seconds will tell you more about their workplace capabilities than an hour of tough questions.
And after figuring out which “type” I was, I realized maybe I was really cut out for a different job description all along 
hehehe
LINK: The Perfect Interview Test
Bits and Pieces: Roadtrip
Posted by titopao in bits and pieces on 26 October 2009
Some random musings derived from a recent out of town trip in the North:
- Anyone who thinks the Caleruega chapel in Tagaytay is the only one of its kind should visit churches in the Ilocos Region. Since many parishes in the North were run by the Dominicans, many churches there are also made up of red bricks
- PAGASA and international weather bureaus have warned of another impending typhoon. But we never found rain: only the bright sunlight everywhere, and the cool breeze of the night.
- We passed through many towns that were in the news during the rampage of typhoon Peping/Melor. No, there were no floods. But it’s alarming to find that many, many riverbanks have been eroded, as if the rivers widened by a meter. Meanwhile, business as usual…
- The best place to get your healthy dose of bangus is still in Dagupan. ‘Nuff said
- Spotted ABS-CBN’s Abner Mercado on a stopover on the way home. He’s a big, hefty guy but sans the keffiyeh shawl. He was on the phone for the most part; it looked like he was already discussing his next assignment just as he was already returning to newsroom.
- SM is going to open another mall in the provinces???
New Music, New Songs
Posted by titopao in rants and raves on 25 August 2009
It will surely mean busy weekends to come.
My order of new music sheets just arrived in the mail. I went to the post office to pick it up, initially hesitant that I might get taxed Great Book Blockade style. Happily, I only paid the standard handling fee (that’s PhP 35, regardless of the size of the package) and left the package claims desk immediately. Read the rest of this entry »
REVIEW: And I Love You So
And I Love You So borrows its premise from a few familiar movies: how to cope with the loss of a beloved, with the help of the deceased lover’s soul. We need not look to Hollywood as this premise shows up on at least one Filipino movie: Honey, Nasa Langit na ba Ako? featuring Janno Gibbs and Regine Velasquez. While the latter is a comedy infused with some fantasy, the former (and the topic of this review) is grounded on reality, with most of the dialogues between the departed and the bereaved happening on another, more private space. Read the rest of this entry »
New 7 Wonders: The Finalists
Posted by titopao in rants and raves on 22 July 2009
So Puerto Princesa made it after all
Here are the 28 finalists in the New 7 Wonders of Nature:
- Amazon
- Angel Falls
- Bay of Fundy
- Black Forest
- Bu Tinah Shoals
- Cliffs of Moher
- Dead Sea
- El Yunque Read the rest of this entry »
Off to the Movies ;-)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (from Wikipedia)
I’m off to the movies tonight! I got myself free tickets to a special screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (a.k.a. Harry Potter 6, if you prefer the numbers). This will be a fundraiser, so I’m assured that proceeds from the tickets go to a worthy cause.
I hope I could get to complete a review by tomorrow. I can’t say if I’ll avoid spoilers because, by this time, some viewers should have re-read the entire book to prepare themselves for the movie. (At least, I know a good number who did.)
Half-Blood Prince is one of the best books in the entire series. This proves to be a disadvantage, because any reservations or comments I may have about the movie may be tinged with a bias for faithfulness to the text. I’ll try to avoid these biases for the sake of those who haven’t had the chance or the time to read through the entire Harry Potter series.
Why I Won’t Vote for Puerto Princesa
Posted by titopao in rants and raves on 14 July 2009
A cave entrance to the Puerto Princessa Subterranean National Park. Is this the next 7 Wonders of Nature?
There is an interesting discussion about the New 7 Wonders of Nature online poll over at one of the online communities I belong to. The discussion began way back when the voting for the 7Wonders of Nature began; in typical Pinoy fashion, most of the participants in the discussion called on all Pinoys to vote for all the Philippine nominees. Back then, there were four entries from the Philippines, to wit:
- Puerto Princessa Subterranean River National Park
- Tubbataha Reef
- Chocolate Hills
- Mayon Volcano
In case you missed the goings on, here’s a recap: the New 7 Wonders of Nature is an online contest ran by the same group that conducted the New 7 Wonders of the World contest. The previous contest featured man-made sites, while only natural sites are qualified in the current poll. There are three rounds of voting: the first, a “wildcard” voting where anyone in the Internet can nominate a site (subject to the nominating rules), and the voters pick their favorites. (This is the round that got the most press in local news websites.) The top 77 entries in this wildcard vote will move up to the, well, Top 77 round, which will be reviewed by a panel of experts. Only one entry per country is permitted, except for multi-country sites such as the Dead Sea (which made it to the Top 77). The expert panel will then announce the 28 finalists (on July 21, 12:07 GMT), and only then would the final voting resume until 2011. The Top 7 out of 28 finalists will then be declared as the New Seven Wonders of Nature.
Fortunately, the Philippines’ top entry for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, Puerto Princessa Subterranean River National Park, made it to the Top 77. But I will not vote for Puerto Princesa…yet. If you read the previous paragraph well, you’ll see why: because I simply cannot vote when voting is closed. Read the rest of this entry »