Lizz has a new art exhibit coming up.

The exhibit runs from November 5 to 29, 2009 at the Mag:net Cafe, Bonifacio High Street. The opening is at 5 PM on November 5. Be there.

And I know I've said this before, but I'll start posting real blog entries again. Soon. I swear.

I can't remember the last time I posted a real blog entry, but I promise to start blogging again soon. Not today though.

While you're breathlessly waiting for my brilliant upcoming blog entry, here are a few quick plugs.

1.

It has been two weeks since Typhoon Ondoy, but people in badly affected areas still need our help. If you're a fan of Krispy Kreme like I am, there's an easy way to help raise some funds. The proceeds from every Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut you buy this Sunday (October 11, 2009) will go to relief operations, so go stuff your face with doughnuts. You may kill yourself in the process, but you'd be helping other people survive, and that's a good thing.

2.

Two weeks ago, I attended a National Thank You Day Philippines event sponsored by Toblerone. My brain wasn't working that night, and I didn't quite understand what the Thank You Day thing is all about, so I guess you'll have to go check out their website and find out for yourself.

I went through the site a few times, but I still don't get it. I'm dumb. One thing that I found amusing though is this e-card on the website.

Does it say "Toberone"? Heh. I don't think the sponsor would want to thank the artist for misspelling their brand name.

3.

Taal Vista Hotel, Pearl Farm Beach Resort, 7 Stones Boracay Suites and Club Punta Fuego are offering Spanish buffets for the month of October. I got to sample some of their fancy dishes at the Flavors of Spain '09 launch event last September 24. Before that, the only type of Spanish food I knew was paella. Now, I also know... um... um... well, it has been two weeks since the event, so I don't remember any of the names. But they were all yummy, I swear.

Ahoy, mateys! T'day be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so I be bloggarin' like a pirate. Arrr!

Yesterday, me and me buxom beauty boarded a Red Ribbon ship and raided a merry feast hosted by t'fearsome Cap'n NomNom.

Arrr!!!

The grub was delightful, but the best part of the feast was the strange cake--a curious mix of moist chiffon and white chocolate flakes topped with luscious cherries. Arrr! They said it be their new White Forest cake.

Arrr!!!

I say it be t'albino cousin o' t'Black Forest cake. O' course, we pillaged t'cakes like good hungry pirates. It be yummy. Wait, do pirates say "yummy"? Arrr! Talkin' like a pirate be harrrd.

Anyway, all ye pirates can purchase yer own White Forest cakes on various ships o' t'Red Ribbon fleet docked around t'Philippine Islands. A big one costs 560 silver coins; a small one costs 335.

If ye be lazy land lubber, ye can dial 8-7777 on yer fancy-pants talkin' machine and have yer grub delivered t'yer door.

I'm shovin' now, mateys. Arrr!

Lizz has been on a short break from gainful employment, so we found time to attend 6 events in the last 11 days, which has got to be some kind of record for us. I shall now attempt to squeeze all of them into one blog entry.

1. PFST 25th anniversary dinner at the Philippine Science Centrum - June 25, 2009

After a nice dinner, we were treated to a performance by a group of young dancers. And by young I mean really young, like 15 or 16 years old at the most, which would have been fine except for the fact that the four girls in the group were dressed like strippers. To make things worse, they did a sexy dance to the tune of a song with the line "touch me, touch me all night long" repeated about a hundred times. It made me feel like a dirty pedophile.

Then, in the middle of the high-energy dance number, one of the girls lost her balance and fell down. I laughed out loud.

Seriously though, despite their quirky taste in entertainment, the members of the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology are good people. They're working hard to promote science education in this country, and they'll always have my support.

Event rating: 5 stars for unintentional hilarity

2. Randell Tiongson's personal finance seminar at the Promenade - June 27, 2009

When Philos told me about a free personal finance seminar, I was skeptical. I was half expecting a multilevel marketing recruitment session or a Kiyosaki cult evangelical meeting. But I went anyway, and I'm glad I did.

Randell Tiongson's talk was practical and pleasantly bullshit-free. Instead of trying to push a get-rich-quick scheme, he emphasized the importance of saving and budgeting. And, best of all, it wasn't boring--the dude was funny.

And the food was great too.

Event rating: 5 stars for sensible advice

3. Flippish launch party at Fiamma - July 2, 2009

Flippish is a new Filipino online video channel featuring broadcast-quality series. Their shows are better than almost everything on local TV, although of course that's not a high bar to clear.

The launch party was set at 8 PM. We foolishly got there at 8:30, forgetting that fashionable people often like to be fashionably late. We spent a long boring wait sipping alcohol. The program started at a little past 10, only to stall again after the two-man indie band introduced by the host had to spend 15 minutes fixing technical problems with their instruments. We left just as the program was getting back on track. I'm so not a party animal.

Event rating: 5 stars because booze doubles the number of stars

4. 7-Eleven's Big Bite Match at the Rockwell Tent - July 4, 2009

I was grumpy at having to wake up early for the event, but I cheered up the moment I walked into the tent and saw the fair-like atmosphere. Hot dogs, corn, barbecue, pizzas, Slurpees! I felt like a child again, at least until a comedian dressed as a giant hot dog went on the stage and fired off endless hot dog penis jokes.

The highlight of the event was of course the hot dog eating competition. The event organizers brought in Tom "Goose" Gilbert, a competitive eating superstar, and he didn't disappoint. He downed 10 hot dog sandwiches in 3 minutes and 20 seconds, easily more than twice as fast as any of his hapless opponents from the media.

I used to smirk when I heard people referring to competitive eating as a sport, but after witnessing the performance, I'm a believer. I can't wait for it to become an Olympic sport. I'm sure it would be more exciting than sports like curling and soccer. Lizz was so inspired by the performance that she's planning to start a career in competitive eating as Lightning Lizzy. If you want to join the fun, head over to the Big Bite Match website and join the hot dog-eating challenge.

Event rating: 5 stars for gluttonous fun

5. Junior Cafe Scientifique at ROX - July 4, 2009

This was the first Cafe Scientifique hosted by kids--very nervous kids. A doctor/professor gave a short but informative lecture about viruses. Ironically, the doctor had a cold but still shared a microphone with the kids and shook hands with one of them, possibly passing on the virus. Quick, kids, wash your hands.

Virus is a hot topic right now thanks to the swine flu hysteria. I'll talk about that in my next blog entry.

Event rating: 5 stars for science

6. WiFi testing at SM Megamall - July 5, 2009

This WiFi testing event wasn't as good as the one at The Block for the following reasons:

1) There was annoying band playing onstage. Their music wasn't bad, but it was loud. I couldn't concentrate long enough to blog, so I didn't.
2) There weren't enough tables. I had to put my laptop on my lap! The outrage!
3) I didn't win anything this time despite the increased number of prizes. Ade won a Wow Magic Sing, but he didn't seem particular ecstatic. Well, I wouldn't be either if I had won it or any of the large number of caps and T-shirts.

On the bright side, they gave us free food. Lizz and I also found a little stall that sells confections, and we stuffed our faces with delightful salt water taffy. Of course, we got headaches.

Event rating: 5 stars for eating too much

Phew. Going through the event marathon was fun, but god, it was exhausting. I think I'll take it easy for a while.

Last Thursday, Philos and I went to Smart's Sandbox launch party. According to the press release, "With the launch of Sandbox, the latest web platform that unites social networking, online media content sharing and downloading, as well as web services, the future of digital connection for Filipinos comes with a new breakthrough interactive experience." That's a very long sentence, and I'm not sure what it means. All I know is that Sandbox is something like Multiply meets iTunes Store. But hey, impressive buzzwords!

This is what Sandbox is like. You understand now? No?

The event was held in a nightclub during daytime. Because it was a workday, I expected it to be a nice cozy affair with very few people showing up. I couldn't have been more wrong. The place was packed, the music was loud, and most of the partygoers were very well dressed. Well, duh, it was a party in a nightclub. What did I expect? I felt so underdressed that I covered up my chickenmafia.com T-shirt in shame.

Of course, Philos and I wasted no time. We squeezed through the crowd and went straight for the buffet table to stuff our faces with food. After that, we parked ourselves in front of a row of notebook computers, because we're losers who don't like to socialize. I logged into Sandbox and started blogging there as the program started.

If you have a Sandbox account, you can read my live blog entry here. If not, go sign up. I'll wait.

Also, please add me as a friend, because having lots of friends I don't really know or care about is supposedly a cool thing on online social networks. Look me up--my user name there is "angrychicken." I'm angry because they require all user names to be between 8 and 12 characters, and "joyfulchicken" has 13.

 

I always feel uncomfortable in loud crowded settings, so my live blog entry was mostly a whiny rant. Halfway through the program, as I was just about to take a break from blogging, a scary old woman beside me jabbed my shoulder and said, "Keep typing." I turned my head and saw a big TV camera pointed right at my screen. I suddenly got very guilty about the harsh words I had been spewing, and I tried to cover them up by scrolling up and down very quickly to hide them from the camera. The scary old woman looked annoyed, but she instructed the cameraman to shift the focus to Philos, who proceeded to perform for her like a good blog monkey. (See Philos's blog entry for some photos of the event.)

But despite all the things I said in my live blog entry, I did have a reasonably good time. The food was good, and... uh... I had a good time. I swear. Smart can really throw a good party thanks to their bottomless PR and marketing budget. And if their development budget ever catches up, Sandbox has a shot at becoming the dominant social networking site in the Philippines.

I hope they come up with better ads than this though:

Real Sandbox users aren't that annoying. Well, okay, many of them are, but you can say the same thing about all popular social networking sites overrun by dumb teenagers. At least Sandbox has a few cool and intelligent users like me. Sign up now and watch out for all the cool and intelligent stuff I'm planning to post there.