Philippine National Anthem by Martin Nievera

Last May 4, 2009, Manny Pacquiao murdered Ricky Hatton in just 2 Rounds. I'm a little bit disappointed because of how brief the bout was. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Manny won. But do you know the next worst thing after a Pacman-defeat? Yup, an early win. At least the Pacman could have played with the Hitman a little bit, just to give the audience their money's worth. Maybe softer jabs, intentional misses, and probably a little nibble to the ear.

Anyways, congrats Manny! Now give me back my money!

But enough about that. This is about how the National Anthem was sung by Martin Nievera.

Martin Nievera singing Bayang Magiliw. Ay Lupang Hinirang pala.
(Not my video. Giving credit where credit is due.)

WTF!

The arrangement was awful. It was reminiscent to a nursery rhyme being played in a piano by a one-fingered toddler. It could have been a very intimate rendition of a supposed march song. It’s simplistic nature coupled by the crystal clear pronunciation and strong melodic voice of the singer can easily entice patriotism and the desire to buy Filipino souvenirs. They tried…

But they tried too hard. There is such a thing as too much. As mellow tempo changed into a out-of-tune rock ballad, so does the flaming fire of burning embers within each and every Filipino turned into a disgraceful coffee (at work) / commercial (at home) / bathroom (at Vegas) break. The arrangement was horrendous; musical instruments were all over the place. Is it just me or was the beat doesn’t follow itself? I bet when they recorded the musical accompaniment, the conductor or say musical producer had to answer the call of nature multiple times…and he reaped what he sowed.

I do not have much to say to Martin Nievera. I can’t say that he a commendable job, nor can I consider it good enough. First, anyone who knew that Martin makes (artistic?) faces while singing will not be bothered by it. However, when the world is watching, toning down would be better. Then again maybe it is merely an unconscious reaction to musical noise. Second, what was the slur all about (line: Buhay ay langit sa piling mo)? When I heard it, I felt a balloon was blown within my lungs and permanently lodge there full inflated. The slur came as a surprise and like most surprises, all brands of pork rinds and a lack of certain strenuous exercises (if you know what I mean), leads to heart attack. And lastly, cherry on top, which happens to be as big as the cake…the final note. It reminds me of Jen Bautista’s last note slip. It was completely unnecessary and totally awkward. A song is supposed to ascend the audience emotional state gradually. But that note, with no regard for gravity or the law of acceleration, just bolted itself in leaving the viewers just sitting in their asses completely humiliated.

The national anthem was once again butchered. Good thing Manny served steak.

Using Eclipse with Subversion

I finally decided to set-up my previously-configured-solely-for-thesis laptop to include any software application projects that I may undertake. The first thing I did was to configure my favorite Java IDE, Eclipse, to work with a familiar version control system, Subversion. These are the steps I took.

1. Download Eclipse IDE: www.eclipse.org/downloads. In my case, I downloaded Eclipse Ganymede. The downloaded application is in zip file. All I did was to extract the contents on my desired location.

2. I also decided to set-up a local repository for my future projects. I chose Subversion (for more info, visit www.subversion.tigris.org). I downloaded and installed Subversion 1.4.5 into my laptop.

3. Once Subversion was installed, I created a new repository location.


4. I made sure that I have Subclipse plug-in. This is a plug-in for Eclipse that will enable it to use Subversion. It can be installed in two ways, first is by automatically downloading the plug-in using Eclipse’s Software Update (Help->Software Update) and searching through the database. Another method is to manually download the necessary Executable Jar Files and putting it on the plugins folder under eclipse. Luckily, after searching through my old files, I was able to retrieve the .jar files I needed. After doing any of the two methods, Eclipse needs to be restarted.

4b. For SpringSource Tool Suit (STS), Open STS Dashboard > Go to Extensions > Look for Subeclipse, check the checkbox and click install (If you don't see it, it implies it is already installed)


5. On Eclipse, I opened the SVN Repository Exploring Perspective(Window->Open Perspective->Other)


6. Two tabbed windows appeared(SVN Repository and SVN Annotate). On SVN Repository, right click->New->Repository Location-> typed file:///e:/svn/eclipse_backup on the text box->click Finish.


7. If done correctly, the SVN Repository will have a new entry as seen below.


 9. Right click on the new repo location and select "Checkout". This will give you a local copy that you can then commit to the repo.

Big change

Just a few days ago, I found out that the processing of our permanent residency papers was completed. This means that in a few short months, the family will start a new life.

The biggest change I ever had to go through was the transition between high school and college. So just imagine what I'm feeling right now. The secondary-tertiary educational transition does not even come close to the change brought about by immigration. Just the idea of starting anew scares me to death. But I guess sometimes the line between what is comfortable and being in a rot seems to blur and once in a while change simply redraws the line. Adapting to a new ecosystem requires massive amount of work but, as human beings, we are born lazy. Once the sleep-eat-burp-poop baby cycle just becomes the sleep-eat-burp-stare-at-watch-until-5-pm-poop working man cycle.

What I'm trying to say is that change is inevitable. Law of averages dictates that the years of me living in my tiny, familiar bubble will be followed by a big change. Yup, and that change pop my bubble and kicked me in the ass so hard I was instantly transported to a country with 4 seasons. It may suck but at least it makes life a little more exciting/unpredictable.

PS: I recently serviced my Acer TM 6292. I spilled water on the keyboard and all of its keys stopped working. The replacement keyboard for the model cost Php 1040.00, about 4 times the cost an external USB keyboard.

Opportunities in life

I'm a firm believer of opportunities. If there is one thing that separates the successful "luckies"from the unfortunate losers, its the number of opportunities they have collected. One can argue that hard work or natural talent is the main reason why humans achieve better quality of life. I'm not discounting either of the two; however, compared to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, both don't come even close.

Opportunities breed opportunities. It is therefore up to us to firmly grasp the small opening of the uncertainty.

This reminds of the speech given by Steve Jobs. He stated that experiences are like dots and that connecting these life experience would produce something glorious.

As "high-IQ'ed" morons, people try to come up with the whole picture without actually going through the series of happiness, fullfilments, disappointments, fiascos and the occassional idiotic ideas. This is the opposite of what life should be.

Commit smart mistakes; take acceptable risks; commit to complexities; say yes. Living is the act of painting and life is the masterpiece. As paint is applied to the canvas, so is life filled with new realization. It would be a tradegy to look back and see a few semi-perfect dots and a couple of baby-drawn lines.

Living life?

a computer chair found at the saddest little corner of the house

What is the difference between a lonely person sitting behind a secluded desk, an affable person touring some of the world's most fascinating cities and a couple of months old baby barely able to keep his eyes open? Is it wrong to assume that the latter is living more than the former?

What then is the measure of living? Is it the amount of money on a bank account, the number of diplomas on the wall, the extend of fame and power, the volume of milk intake or simply the total time spent awake? Is there even a means to quantify life?

Is it not a little easy to say that living is measured not just by a single defining factor but by the grams, meters, seconds, kelvins, amperes, moles and candelas of life? Is it possible that this conundrum has a fairly easy solution?

If, out of nowhere, the question "Have you lived?" was ask; will hesitation with a certain degree of realization be hidden in beneath a vague answer? If one can reply with complete and absolute conviction, without a nanosecond of delay, then is it not an irrefutable evidence that will support living life to the fullest?

PS: Have you tried making a point by just asking questions?

Lightning Inspirations

Inspirations are like lightnings; it hold an insane amount of electricity but dissipates in a matter of microseconds. The moment something cool or extremely foolish comes to mind, I almost always start the job. Some tasks would require less time while others are plain impractical if not impossible.

The most difficult part is keep the energy, the passion to continue pain-in-the-ass undertaking. I am unfortunate to lack the skills in storing the electricity of inspiration, and the thing is there is no guaranteed way to improve on that. It will take a strong will to reach the end of a once interesting piece of work.

And to the lucky few who are able to accumulate excessive amount of inspirations and channel it, get out.

PS.
I was inspired to assemble my first computer. The last 2 desktops I have went puff. Here is my Intel D945GCLF2.

What am I doing?

I have no idea at all. Although it is quite contradictory at all for me to start blogging about something that is probably going nowhere, but this is the beauty of the internet...the anonymity of one's self.

So this is meant as an introduction to my blog. This is my sanctuary and my dump site. A safe haven to store my hidden thoughts, morally gray ideals, moronic realization, weird theories and plan for world domination...or something close to it. So all things that I am embarrassed to say out loud or that the world is not ready to hear (almost all would be because of the former), will be kept hidden here along with my identity.

I'm a critic, an admirer, an analyst, a scientist, a newscaster, a commentator, a know-it-all jackass...and above all, a possible idiot.