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Mensa IQ Challenge on February 27, 2010 @BHS

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had this same Mensa Member’s ID to flash should you run out of stuff to flaunt? I remember the day I took the test like it was only months ago (you may read about my experience at the testing room here and learn how I told the world I passed the exam here LOL). Mensa Philippines would like to invite you, your friends, family, classmates, Korean tutees, arch nemesis, that Kenyan runner, suking tapsilog server, syota, FuBu, and/or ka-MU to take the Mensa IQ Challenge on February 27, 2010 at Fully Booked, B6, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. Testing fee’s P300 for students and P500 for everybody else. Rate’s pretty cheap for an accurate IQ gauge of this caliber.

Here’s a brilliant idea: invite all the politicians you know who are running in the May 2010 elections to take the exam! Challenge their intellect! “Hey, dear presidentiable! What are you made of?” Will they break? Will they pass? There’s only one way to find out:

Think about it: bragging rights and a snooty membership ID to be all snooty with. You wouldn’t really know until you tried, right? If you don’t want people to know you’re taking the IQ Challenge, because I know that nagging feeling brotha, trust me, just sneak right in Fully Booked at BHS and we’ll make sure nobody else knows until you tell them yourself after you passed. Deal? Yes? Yay!

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Supafly Singled Out from the Quiapo Crowd

Kids, I have to warn you that fishing out your camera on the LRT platform can be very dangerous even if it’s a mere point and shoot camera you’re using. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon while we were lounging at the San Mig Cafe inside the Oceanarium after a day of walking around Manila, I was reviewing my shots and came upon this:

I don’t know if it’s typical of Quiapo to be this crowded but I wouldn’t be caught dead swimming with that swarm. I’m not really a crowd person is why. I zoomed at the photo to see if anybody’ll stand out. Yeah, one person did.

See him yet? Let’s zoom in a little more.

Wide view… magnified… magnified… hold it right there Supafly! LOL

Now, the big question after this exercise: “Can your point and shoot camera do that?” /gloat

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In Photos: Two Eclipses and a January

This much I know when attempting to photograph an eclipse, be it lunar or solar: my first few attempts will always end up a failure. See that post-header image? Got that this at around past 5 in the afternoon on 01.15.2010 when I hoped for a decent shot of the solar eclipse. Shooting earlier would have ended in failure because those blasted clouds decided to block the sun. Way to go, clouds!

I rushed to another office window to get a clear view of the sun minus the metal obstructions and got depressed because no matter what setting I use on the Lumix ZS3, I still couldn’t get a decent shot. What followed was an idea I got when I was still in school: get a micro floppy disc, tear it open, and get the magnetic film inside and use that to filter the brightness that’s too much for the camera’s sensor. I got excited when, finally, I got this (pardon the digital noise):

I did my best but it ain’t good enough and so I tried to get another shot but was already too late. The sun has already set. :(

I used the full zoom (12x optical) and tweaked the following with the dial on “normal picture” mode (limited manual):

ISO Sensitivity: Auto
AF: 1-point
Pre-AF: Continuous AF
Metering Mode: Spot
Intelligent Exposure: On
Stabilizer: Mode 2
Min. Shutter Speed: 1/8

Coincidentally, I just discovered that I used almost the same settings in getting this Lunar Eclipse shot on January 1, 2010 (save for the Min. Shutter Speed factor which I set to 1/60 for this photo):

Compact point-and-shoot cameras win at life. See those lines? Fuckit, I never thought that those can be captured, either. You may see the images of my first two failed attempts for the lunar eclipse in this flickr page.

Gloat factor: these images were not enhanced/post-processed, save for the in-camera cropping and/or resizing.

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Year-Ender Post: 2009 in Fritzparazzi Photos

Whew! This took too long. I’m sure there’s an easier way out there but I’m old school (i.e. a noob) so I rocked the hard way. If we’ve had interactions in the past year and if in those moments I was crazily snapping away like a loon, then most probably you’ll be in one of the 250 odd “fritzparazzi” photographs I used to come up with this vid. I was too tempted to use photos of other bloggers from most events because I later realized I was missing a month’s worth of pics off my archives, July 2009 to be exact, but thought better. This should do, I hoped.

So I start out with the Baconator and end with a snap of the lunar eclipse that happened on New Year’s Eve. Ok, that’s a lie. The ending’s totally different and I might end up getting killed for having that up LOL. Watch the vid already so you’ll know what I mean.

This one’s for you. For the company, the good times, your work, your craft, your dedication, and your passion. I hope that one day, I could at last measure up with the amount of efforts you have put in this endeavor, with or without Google AdSense.

Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s to a better year ahead of us all. And world peace.

Cheers!

Note: You may want to watch the full HD sized format of this vid straight off its youtube page. You’ll see the detail better that way.

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Holiday Gift Suggestion: “Not The Planner” 2010

I first read of this great gift idea from Sarah’s “This planner. I has it. I LOVE IT” plurk two weeks back. It had a link to the Not the Planner multiply site that just begged to be clicked. 10 minutes of going around the site, looking at the photos of the planner, and reading the creators’ notes had me texting the number and ordering 12 of this for my officemates. See the photos below to understand my “I want one, too!” reaction (hover on the images for captions).

I had a short chat with Chinggay, one of the brains behind the awesome “Not The Planner 2010″ planner and coerced her to share something that fans and soon-to-be-fans of the product may want to know. She said, “Chinggay, Tonet, and the planner’s artist Karl had their first (and only) face-to-face brainstorming meeting in Seattle’s Best.” The irony! LOL

I later found out that Chinggay and Tonet are both from UP Diliman. The entire idea about the planner only started in September this year. I didn’t believe it was possible, either. Such a short time to create something of this caliber!

When I finally got my dozen, I immediately scribbled a note on gift tags and began distributing them to officemates. They said if I or anybody with my personality were to make a planner, this would definitely be how it’ll look LOL. Getting a fix of the holiday coffee offerings of Starbucks I’d understand but going crazy and going to a store at least once a day in order to be the first of many to own an overly mass-produced planner (philanthropic undertones aside) only after owning 17 stickers (of 9 Holiday Specials and 8 from any other coffee drink) I don’t. Way expensive and stressful, not to mention common.

Two years ago, I brought my 2007 Starbucks Planner to an industry convention. I was feeling rather aloof that time and there’s this annoying person who took note of my planner and used it to capitalize on small talk with a “so you’re a coffee lover.” WTF?! That same night, I gave the same planner to my sister. Never again.

So if you still haven’t done your Christmas shopping yet, getting these planners at P320.00 a piece is just a text message away to +63 906 4652191. They can also meet you up at some place convenient (some MRT stations, for example). Panalo lang!

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Shooting Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” Mini-Figures

It’s been a while. Good thing Anne’s got new toys on the shelf downstairs. Photos are of the Tim BurtonCorpse Bride Mini-Figure Collector’s Ser Series 2 from McFarlane Toys. Used the Lumix ZS3 in “Manual” mode, white balance in auto, 200 ISO max, and macro. Light source, as usual, is a 21-LED caving light. Tell me what you think.

The good thing about the Lumix is I’ve no need to reduce noise levels despite using a very low ISO limit and a paltry light source. Loving the cam all the more.

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Uno Magazine Fashion Show ‘09: “Man Up!” In Photos

Uno Magazine held their annual fashion show at the NBC Tent at the Fort Monday, November 16, 2009. To manage the expectations of the guys in the audience, Uno Magazine Editor-In-Chief RJ Ledesma gave an assurance that there’d be something in store for everybody. True enough, female models strutted down the runway donning both men’s and women’s clothing from notable brands such as Celio, Marks & Spencer, /bench, GAP, Raoul, Girbaud, DC, Levi’s, and several others. Most are pleased with the setup while some got chills owing to this thought: “androgyny is THE future! All your base are belong to us! There’s no escaping it, people!” The three piece suit is now a bra, the jacket, and your slacks, fabric and color coordinated all! How fun! ;)

I took around 3x more photos this time than I did at the Havaianas fashion show. It’s hard to take decent shots when the lights are erratic and when the models move so fast from one point to the next. So sorry I only have a few to share.

All photos in this post are proprietary to the author. All rights reserved (coz I’m snooty like that LOL). Thanks to April Marasigan, and RJ Ledesma for the invite. Thanks to Jayvee, Jane, Noelle, and Dhon for the great company. Congratulations Uno Magazine for a successful show!

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