Ambigram

Originally uploaded by gormful.

Inspired by the ambigram artwork created by John Langdon (http://johnlangdon.net) for the book “Angels & Demons.”

Play of light. Blurred background. Streaming light. Still.

Those were the only words I can think of when I see one. A great picture, that is. From the moment I saw ingenious art, or artful genius, or basically brilliant photography, I knew I’m going to pursue a dream which may or may not come true. I also knew I wouldn’t care if it did or did not, since a picture is worth, not a thousand words, but a feeling. Eye candy is all that matters.

I then tried to get hold of a decent camera. Zoom function is a must, and so is a built-in flash. Then came the age of digital cameras. Compact, sleek, easy-to-use. Just point and shoot. Quality-wise, nothing can beat an SLR, but a digital SLR.

Nowadays, DSLR cams have a boat-load of features and thingamajigs that will take you years to learn all of them. From wireless flash to humongous lenses, taking pictures is not just point and shoot anymore. Everyone wants to take the perfect picture. So do I.

I’ve tried to research about photography before but I didn’t know where to start. Until a friend of mine hooked me up and told me about apertures, and shutter speeds, and ISO’s. This is what I found out.

Apertures
A higher aperture will give you a clearer background (as clear as your subject).
A lower aperture will give you a blurry background, but with a clear subject.
It is affected by how far the background (depth of field) is.
Ref: Lexar’s website

ISO settings
A higher ISO setting is ideal for low-light situations.
For bright situations, use a lower ISO setting.
A higher ISO setting allows faster shutter speeds.
Basically, the ISO setting controls how much light is picked up by the sensor or film.
Ref: Photoxel’s website

Shutter Speeds
Having a faster shutter speed means less light is entering the lens, which may cause you to need more lighting or a flash giving your pictures a lower exposure. This can freeze action.
Using a slower shutter speed means more light is entering the lens. Pictures will have a higher exposure. This will blur moving subjects, including light.
Ref: About.com’s Photography website

I believe the above information is a good place to start. So start taking pictures, play with ISO’s, apertures and shutter speeds. Deviate from Point and Click cams.

As they say, the only limit is your imagination.

BRB.

I dunno if anyone was around to see the first version of my website. It didn’t start out as a blog, nor was it even powered by anything. I made it from scratch, using Notepad and Adobe Photoshop. It was like a console, using inline frames and displaying a flash animated clock-slash-calendar.

I think I’ve outgrown the Squible theme already, which I hacked more than a rat in a tin house, and want to flex what’s left of my little brain and create my own theme. I mean, how hard can it be? It’s like I know anything about PHP and WordPress. Well, I don’t. But as I treat everything else, I consider this a challenge and when I’m done, I know I’ll really, really feel good about myself. Call it as a motivator.

And with this endeavor, I would like to take the opportunity to say I’m sorry, in advance, to Carlo, et al. for being such a noob and for bugging them with all my stupid questions. It’s time I prove I’m not gormless anymore. So there.

Also, I’d like to say a disclaimer in advance. If you’re using IE, you might not be able to see the theme as how I intended to display it. Why? Coz I hate IE. I respect your choice not to use another browser besides IE, but please also respect the choice I made configuring, hacking and tweaking the website that I’m paying for. I’m not making any moolah over this anyway. This is for me.

As I start making my own theme, I don’t think I’ll be able to post regularly. But I will be back before the year ends with the new theme fully functioning. Or at least I will try to.

Amen.

Browse Happy. Kill IE. Use Firefox. Here’s why.

I’ve written about this before, but I just had to write about it again.

Traffic. It just begs to be written about. You might consider it legendary.

There are about 10 vehicles on the road at any given time. 10 vehicles that you can see passing by. 10 vehicles waiting idly for the green light. At any given time.

There are no obvious reasons why traffic should suddenly become heavy, except for accidents which, ninety-nine percent of the time, is caused by stupidity. There are no obvious reasons to slow down, which has a ripple effect of slowing down the others behind, unless something would compel one to slow down.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still prone to accidents. I’m just not accident-prone. And I get compelled to slow down when something “nice” catches my eye.

Anyway, what I’ve noticed from my frequent visits to Tagaytay is that there’s a segment in the northbound lane of the Southern Luzon Expressway or SLEX wherein everyone slows down or, sometimes, crawl to a stop. Always at the same spot. This may prove also that majority of drivers heading north in the SLEX are male. At any given time. I think it’s the section approaching Susana Heights, but I might be wrong. It’s near the Shell Station on the southbound lane that might be causing the traffic slowdown. I think it’s the SO-EN billboard, with the hot chick in some ordinary looking lingerie. Hot chick + ordinary lingerie = softcore porn.

Let’s admit it.

We’re men.

We brake for porn.

Now I get confused. Do I thank SO-EN or blame SO-EN?

Things have gotten too personal here at my blog that I think no new reader can relate to whatever I was posting. So here’s my generic post. Hehehe.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization has been one of the key factors in promoting a website. The more times a keyword appears in the website’s content, the more relevant a website will be, hence the higher position the website will have. Or at least, that’s how I understand it.

And then there’s SEM, or Search Engine Marketing. I have no idea what it is or what it’s for.

Anyway, to promote SEM/SEO in the Philippines, SEO Philippines is holding a contest with over PhP 130,000 worth in prizes.

Quoted from the Contest Mechanics:

To win the top prize, you must be #1 for the keyword phrase isulong seoph (without quotation marks) in Google.com.ph on Friday September 29, 2006 at 8:00 PM. During the awarding ceremonies, there?ll be a public viewing of the Google.com.ph SERPs to determine the winners. Only organic search results are accepted and not sponsored listings.

There are bonus prizes as well, which may be sponsored by Lakeside SQL.

In order to [join], contestants must register, read and acknowledge the full contest terms and conditions by posting a ?I have read the contest mechanics and I agree? comment on the contest terms and conditions page. Contestants who do not comply are not eligible to win.

To read more about the contest and prizes, click here.

Good luck, everyone.

Manila. Navotas. Tagaytay. Alabang. Tagaytay. More Tagaytay. Manila. Makati. Manila. Navotas. Manila. Laguna. Tagaytay. Manila.

A total of about 440+ kms and about 43 liters of Premium gas.

Pretty decent mileage per liter.

All of this happened because of one thing.

The wedding.

I got married. Her name is Grace. Yes, I know, it’s a “Will & Grace” thing.

First things first.

A big THANK YOU to all who made it to the wedding. Thank you for joining us in celebrating this momentous occassion. We appreciate it, in the deepest sense and meaning of the word. It has been a long and arduous journey, whatever arduous means (if it even exists). We were tried. Our heads ached. Our feet blistered. Our bodies fatigued. Those hardships we encountered were all worth it when we saw smiles and grateful expressions AFTER the wedding. We survived, because you were there, smiling and saying gratifying remarks. Yes, I’m running out of words. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t only for us, but we had to endure everything because of all of you. So again, we, as Will & Grace, would like to say THANK YOU.

The Sponsors – generous, accomodating and endearing – you all are a big part of our lives now. We hope that someday, we will be able to make an impact on others as much as you all have made an impact on us. We, as Will & Grace, would like to say THANK YOU.

To those who were not able to make it, you have your reasons. We respect those reasons. I just can’t help it if I have to make you feel guilty for not coming, as we would really, really, really want you to be there. We missed you. You shouldn’t be sorry you weren’t able to be there. We’re sorry you weren’t able to make it.

We were not asking for presents. We were asking for your presence. Your presence is a gift already. The presents were just an icing.

Honestly, I don’t like icing. But a big THANKS, anyway.

After everything that has happened, we have more fears to face than before.

Can we be good parents?

Can we be a good spouse?

Can we be what YOU expect us to be?

With everybody’s help, we will be. That, I am sure.