Cory Aquino, 1933-2009



Today, the day was gray and overcast, rain falling like tears, as if to let us know someone we all knew and loved had passed away. I heard from Mom that President Corazon C. Aquino was gone. Though I cared little for politics, especially now, I found myself feeling the grief. In this day and age, when there are few heroes and inspirations among Filipinos, where everyone in government is tainted and suspect, one person could always be seen as true. And that, I believe, somehow, was Tita Cory. The housewife and widow turned leader of the country and people, and even after her term, a surrogate mother for the Pinoy, a moral center and heart to a people. To the end, she was a beacon of courage and hope. Truly... she represented the best the Filipino could be, in the most trying of circumstances. Hero

The Philippines' Madame President. The Best-loved President of the Philippines. A True Hero.

Salamat, Tita Cory. Farewell. May God and Ninoy welcome you to your rest with open arms. You deserve no less.

Flippin' Out!


Easy HD: The Flip Mino HD.

I've gotten myself a slick new tech-toy... and incredibly enough, it's NOT a phone. But damn if it doesn't look like one. It's the Flip Mino HD, an ultra-compact and light HD camcorder. Surprisingly it's apparently a pretty high-profile gadget, being the fave toy of some celebs like Ellen Degeneres and Oprah Winfrey. Anyway, what does it do? Well, as it's name implies, it takes HD video- that's footage with 720p resolution (1280 x 720 pixels). That's about three or four times bigger than the regular VGA videos taken by your usual non-HD digital camera or mobile phone. And a whole lot clearer and crisper. The controls as well are about as simple as you can get- click to record, click to stop. You get 4GB of storage for about an hour of HD footage. You can connect to a laptop or PC via USB and just drag-and-drop your vids which are MP4 and ready for iMovie or your usual editing software.

Basically after getting my N97 and trying out it's video, as well as looking through samples of the iPhone 3GS's recording capabilities, I've finally given up on mobile video from cellphones. So now, I got myself an HD cam that LOOKS like a cellphone. HAHAHA!

As far as I know, the Flip Mino HD isn't formally available locally, but there seems to be a growing number of people with the device, apparently being brought home by some enterprising folk (like the nice guy I got it from) or by relatives. It's also available on Amazon or eBay and at Flip Video's official site. I really count myself lucky I got this device, for a price far below the price of a standard digital camera. It's still a toy though, not really one for making serious movies, but for stuff like short films, parties, trips and anything you want to remember in extra-clear quality, this just can't be beat.

It's FLIPPIN' COOL!!!! WAHAHAHA!!!