tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59827576735758729642024-02-21T00:28:33.236+08:00Starmars OnlineLife and Video GamesStarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-57418818707988576932017-11-26T20:30:00.000+08:002017-11-26T20:31:17.798+08:00Steam Awards 2017 Nominations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJSl1oW3ioM21j7HTGCHGuh-dOll6LDwxq143cqTHzDN95Nu8Q2yaBaRxZ-7i0TEt72gHIwsa77AVz2AGNLfxGpmTseV9UKNLYfU38WHdM8kJByJ0CpSjN1nPph42i2pap8fm7Q2yrAIZ/s1600/Steam+Awards+2017+Icon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLJSl1oW3ioM21j7HTGCHGuh-dOll6LDwxq143cqTHzDN95Nu8Q2yaBaRxZ-7i0TEt72gHIwsa77AVz2AGNLfxGpmTseV9UKNLYfU38WHdM8kJByJ0CpSjN1nPph42i2pap8fm7Q2yrAIZ/s320/Steam+Awards+2017+Icon.jpg" width="136" /></a></div>
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My picks for the Steam Awards 2017.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><a href="http://store.steampowered.com/SteamAwardNominations/">http://store.steampowered.com/SteamAwardNominations/</a><br />
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STEAM AUTUMN SALE</div>
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FEATURING: STEAM AWARDS NOMINATIONS</div>
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NOV 22 10AM - NOV 28 10AM 2017 (PST)</div>
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A year ago, the Steam Award Selection Committee stepped out of the shadows and put a challenge out into the world… “Who amongst you has the will to stare into your very soul, and in doing so determine what was the best use of a farm animal in 2016”. The stakes were high, fortunately 6,700,000 brave men and women stepped forward who were up to the challenge. But that was then. Today, the SASC has been called to gather once more… are you ready to celebrate the best?<br />
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<b>The “The World Is Grim Enough Let's Just All Get Along” Award</b><br />
Games delight and entertain us, giving us much needed breaks from the sorrows and low points of our lives… and let’s be honest, for a lot of people it’s been a rough 2017. That is why the SASC has chosen to celebrate a game that doesn’t involve combat or conflict.<br />
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<b>The “Choices Matter” Award</b><br />
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Games are about agency, and this award is for the game that has it in spades. Maybe it’s because there are 31 ways you can breach into a villains lair. Perhaps there are dozens of potential partners for you to build a romantic future with. Or maybe you find yourself constantly saying “Where oh where should I plant those turnips”? In all three scenarios there is a common bond: the choice was always yours.<br />
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<b>The “Haunts My Dreams” Award</b><br />
This award is slightly a misnomer, because this game doesn’t just haunt your dreams. It consumes your thoughts every waking moment of the day. This game doesn’t demand your time. You give it willingly.</div>
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<b>The “Mom’s Spaghetti” Award</b><br />
There are games that make you excited. There are games that make you happy. Then there are games so intense that they elicit a physical reaction. We’re talking weak knees. We’re talking sweaty palms. We’re talking fear-induced accidents. We’re talking your friends reminding you to breathe. We’re talking about mom’s spaghetti.<br />
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<b>The “No Apologies” Award</b><br />
This award is for the game that you love unconditionally. Does it have some faults? Maybe. Do other people not understand your love for it? Sure. But make no mistake. There is no guilt here. Only pleasure.<br />
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<b>The “Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Dogs Of War” Award</b><br />
The Bard said it best. This game doesn't necessarily offer the biggest explosions... it offers something better. Potential. Potential to be a rampaging force of nature. Or not. Who knows. You're an agent of chaos and no one is going to tell you what to do.<br />
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<b>The “Suspension of Disbelief” Award</b><br />
Let’s be honest: games can have some pretty ridiculous elements in them… from the stories that drive the action, to the items required to conquer obstacles, to even the protagonists themselves. This award is for the game that has a key component, which when described out of context, seems totally insane, but while playing the game doesn’t even make you bat an eye, because in the moment it makes total sense.<br />
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<b>The “Soul Of Vitruvius” Award</b><br />
The Vitruvian Man was Leonardo’s celebration of the ideal form. And in that spirit the SASC looks to celebrate the game with the most lovingly rendered character… be it human, alien, anthropomorphic cat people, or even a piece of produce.<br />
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<b>The “Defies Description” Award</b><br />
This game is like... well actually it's more similar to...picture a combination of... ya know what, I can't describe it, just play it.<br />
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<b>The “Labor of Love” Award</b><br />
This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the first unveiling of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years.<br />
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<b>The “Whoooaaaaaaa, Dude! 2.0” Award</b><br />
The Academy wasn't clear enough in the awards description last year. Let's try this again. This award is for the “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” of video games.<br />
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<b>The “Even Better Than I Expected” Award</b><br />
We’ve all been there. You get super excited for a game, you pre-order it, and you anxiously wait as it downloads. Then you finally play it. How do you feel now? If the answer is “Elated beyond words because even I, a conductor aboard the hype train, was blown away with how good this thing was” then you have found the perfect candidate for this award.<br />
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<b>The “Write-In” Award</b><br />
You are a member of the Steam Award Selection Committee and your voice needs to be heard! What additional category needs to be added for the 2017 steam awards? Best Use Of A Lighthouse? Best Game To Play While Listening To The Hamilton Soundtrack? The only limit is your imagination (and a vague sense of decency)!</div>
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And My PICKS... I don't own all of these games; they're just the games at the top of my head at the time but I did give some of them some thoughts. I am obviously biased towards RPG games and games that I've played. I would pick Black Desert Online for the “Soul Of Vitruvius” Award or the game with the best-looking character but it is not available in my region.</div>
<ul>
<li>The “The World Is Grim Enough Let's Just All Get Along” Award — Currently Hidden Folks</li>
<li>The “Choices Matter” Award — Currently Torment: Tides of Numenera</li>
<li>The “Haunts My Dreams” Award — Currently Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition</li>
<li>The “Mom’s Spaghetti” Award — Currently Dota 2</li>
<li>The “No Apologies” Award — Currently Crusaders of the Lost Idols</li>
<li>The “Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Dogs Of War” Award — Currently Minion Masters</li>
<li>The “Suspension of Disbelief” Award — Currently The Stanley Parable</li>
<li>The “Soul Of Vitruvius” Award — Currently The Witcher® 3: Wild Hunt</li>
<li>The “Defies Description” Award — Currently Undertale</li>
<li>The “Labor of Love” Award — Currently Terraria</li>
<li>The “Whoooaaaaaaa, Dude! 2.0” Award — Currently Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition</li>
<li>The “Even Better Than I Expected” Award — Currently Pillars of Eternity</li>
<li>The “Write-In Award” — Currently PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | Your category suggestion: “Most Popular Game I Would Never Play Award”</li>
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<b>Steam Awards 2017 Nomination Committee Badges</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4Rkog3fcu08nR-BbyldLU_nuYL02-Pj2Zzi_T2Tk8WfaPBsJIm9CVCXl4PuoeUesG4HA45UeIQ3b8zx7DIsavf8sQka6Eh-1EyA_5MXkEAzTy5ycLCRJe-rPYLpfovBaoqg0HCKrFJPD/s1600/Steam+Awards+2017+Nominations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="393" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4Rkog3fcu08nR-BbyldLU_nuYL02-Pj2Zzi_T2Tk8WfaPBsJIm9CVCXl4PuoeUesG4HA45UeIQ3b8zx7DIsavf8sQka6Eh-1EyA_5MXkEAzTy5ycLCRJe-rPYLpfovBaoqg0HCKrFJPD/s320/Steam+Awards+2017+Nominations.png" width="78" /></a></div>
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StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-55087499428672868932011-11-02T21:50:00.000+08:002011-11-11T00:50:23.529+08:00The Countess in Diablo II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a alt="the Countess in Diablo 2 and Elizabeth Bathory" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK0d9B55prK-xEczu11e56uxq0l-jLnHAR3BJly0JOO3unz0w5ziE8dd_ymBQPkNk4GNFrKxVnFXD0aAHuBucwQ33l8Gw7eFHOvC8D09jtHxn8dGGFq8MSgJlgetILkn_-f_KDsQm3gAJ/s1600/countess-d2-elizabeth-bathory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="the Countess in Diablo 2 and Elizabeth Bathory"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK0d9B55prK-xEczu11e56uxq0l-jLnHAR3BJly0JOO3unz0w5ziE8dd_ymBQPkNk4GNFrKxVnFXD0aAHuBucwQ33l8Gw7eFHOvC8D09jtHxn8dGGFq8MSgJlgetILkn_-f_KDsQm3gAJ/s1600/countess-d2-elizabeth-bathory.jpg" /></a></div>
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I just learned that the Countess in Diablo II is based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory">Elizabeth Bathory</a>, a real-life Countess in Hungary who lived from 1560 to 1614 . She is said to have bathed in the blood of girls in order to preserve her youth. She is often labelled as the most prolific serial killer in history and the female counterpart of Count Dracula. She is also known as the "Blood Countess", "Blood Queen" or "Countess Dracula". She was imprisoned in her own castle, much like her Tower in Diablo 2.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>She is the best source of runes in the game. Every time she dies, she is guaranteed to drop at least 1 rune, up to three. Her rune drops depend on the difficulty level of the game:<br />
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<b>Normal:</b> El - Ral <br />
<b>Nightmare:</b> El - Io/Ko; above Io (r16) is much rarer.<br />
<b>Hell:</b> El - Ist/Lo; above Ist (r24) is much rarer.<br />
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One thing to note though is that the Countess is both <b>Fire and Cold Immune</b> in Hell. That makes it hard to impossible for some builds to farm her efficiently.<br />
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Her taunts give more hints to the origin of her character concept :<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Your blood will boil<br />
Here for a bloodbath? (laughs)</blockquote>StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-60080212974725777872011-05-09T12:37:00.000+08:002011-05-09T12:37:42.654+08:00Ganito kayo ka-close dati"Ganito kayo ka-close dati. Sana ganito pa rin this Mother's Day."<br />
[You were this close once. Reconnect this Mother's Day.]<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuS7AQ6UxbixwCey-rEOXFoCQeoYZcfwU2WCaZBEuzxslN6SM4g59iwhAnrHpU9mh3ntmmVajxeOE3SiXB2oLNp5D9HH9frAOvwaCArEKi4PUX_mDmlxVln5-QnYMIWq4fp6RIj_nrIiA/s1600/PLDT-Mothers-Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuS7AQ6UxbixwCey-rEOXFoCQeoYZcfwU2WCaZBEuzxslN6SM4g59iwhAnrHpU9mh3ntmmVajxeOE3SiXB2oLNp5D9HH9frAOvwaCArEKi4PUX_mDmlxVln5-QnYMIWq4fp6RIj_nrIiA/s1600/PLDT-Mothers-Day.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Just a short video which inspired me today, related to Mother's Day.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="257" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k2acZitdDZQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k2acZitdDZQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="257" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br />
Very inspiring. Very touching.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-62949175225446416622011-03-30T00:39:00.000+08:002011-03-30T00:39:51.439+08:00I wanna play The Sims Medieval...The Sims Medieval is a spinoff game in The Sims franchise.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs0oH9vrglRgXfnRMlWABAk7rjnYyE2K_oSj_I33ssbRFKfemM_BmcOwA49GsR111uoa_S6vIf5CtSJPIfqwR3PFZu8V0imN2TGyvk9jyX5jjboV_ew_aPfRthilEOydfsotJdptskUfg/s1600/Sims-Medieval.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="The Sims Medieval"><img alt="The Sims Medieval" border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcs0oH9vrglRgXfnRMlWABAk7rjnYyE2K_oSj_I33ssbRFKfemM_BmcOwA49GsR111uoa_S6vIf5CtSJPIfqwR3PFZu8V0imN2TGyvk9jyX5jjboV_ew_aPfRthilEOydfsotJdptskUfg/s320/Sims-Medieval.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a>I admit. The video trailers sold me. Even though it looked like just one of the many expansions of The Sims 3, Medieval offers a promising escape from the tried-and-tested game play formula in the main series of games.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="255" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-5V-DE0GRRs?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-5V-DE0GRRs?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="255"></embed></object><br />
The Sims Medieval launch trailer</div><br />
I spent a lot of time playing the original The Sims game and I have to say that it was really a time-consuming game. The succeeding main series of games (The Sims 2 and The Sims 3) inherited the core gameplay elements of the original game so they are just as addicting, if not more, as the first game.<br />
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Then here comes The Sims Medieval. EA calls it a new base game, but it runs on the same engine as The Sims 3 I think. It looks like The Sims 3 in a medieval setting but that's not entirely true. Many game play elements were added to highlight storytelling and quests.<br />
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Old school players who have played The Sims incarnations all over the years should be familiar with Medieval game play and controls. The basics are still there. Instead of making houses, the player would make castles, fortresses and other types of buildings.<br />
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Playing the game to the fullest, which includes getting all <a href="http://the-games-master.com/p/the-sims-medieval-achievements-031148" title="The Sims Medieval achievements">The Sims Medieval achievements</a>, is a hard feat. Thankfully, Maxis included cheats in the game to lessen the burden of players. The oldschool cheat "Rosebud" is now "kaching" and "motherlode". There are many other cheat codes available to speed up the game play. It is not advisable to use them though because it ruins the game, especially for beginners.<br />
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Developed by the award-winning The Sims studio, The Sims Medieval is a new stand-alone game offering a fresh setting, a new look, an exciting new set of features gameplay mechanics, and all-new features.<br />
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The Sims Medieval lets you experience the medieval era with Sims you create and control: kings, queens, knights, wizards, spies, blacksmiths, merchants, bards and many more. You will create heroes, choose quests, build your kingdom, and create epic tales full of drama, romance, conflict and comedy.<br />
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Train your hero to level up, do some quests and upgrade your kingdom. We can do all of these faster. Just press Ctrl + Shift + C to bring up the command console and type <a href="http://the-games-master.com/p/the-sims-medieval-cheats-hints-tips-031158" title="The Sims Medieval cheats">The Sims Medieval cheats</a>. There's even a cheat testing mode that lets you easily drag up and down the sim's motives bars.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-77403940356709752642011-02-28T01:11:00.000+08:002011-02-28T01:11:30.606+08:00"Estudyante Po""Estudyante Po (I'm a student)". That's what I always say when paying my fare for a ride in Public Utility Jeepneys nowadays. The regular fare is now 11 pesos, up by 1 peso a few months back, when taking the Pasig Palengke to Crossing route. The discounted price is 9 pesos for students and seniors. Back when it was still 10 pesos, I didn't care much and I paid the regular fare. Two pesos didn't seem much to me. But now that its 11, I always make sure that I don't pay more than 10 pesos. Why? Because I don't want to dole out an additional coin. I'm used to paying with an exact 10-peso coin or two 5-peso coins.<br />
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Now that I think about it, two pesos looks more valuable to me. It's 20% of the regular fare and that's a lot.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-60678000343314415192011-02-09T01:50:00.000+08:002011-02-09T01:50:25.941+08:00Get your potbellied pig to mateGet your potbellied pig to mate!<br />
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In case you don't understand the title of this post, don't worry, I also don't. I am just required to include that phrase in a new post. You can take it literally, in which case, it means "breed your pig". It doesn't make sense but what else could you make out of it? It looks like it's just a group of words stringed together with no meaning. kekeStarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-60307608583539254252010-12-15T23:56:00.003+08:002010-12-23T02:31:20.486+08:00Zest Air sucks!Zest Air sucks! <br />
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That is prolly what goes in the mind of Winston after his <a href="http://www.batangyagit.com/zest-air-philippines/" title="Zest Air">Zest Air</a> experience this last Nov 29, and what will be in mine if I ever experience the same thing. I wouldn't have the same patience as he did though. Winston absorbed everything Zest Air threw at him and suffered. This is what could have happened if I were in his shoes.<br />
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Just imagine this: <br />
<blockquote>Zest Airways called you and informed you that your flight has been rescheduled one day after your scheduled flight. You agreed with Zest Air and accepted the new flight schedule. But when you arrived in the airport, there are no Zest Air flights available. After that horrible experience, Zest Air still has the guts to ask you to pay an additional fee for not showing up in your scheduled flight!</blockquote><br />
<a name='more'></a>Of all things, I hate being made to wait the most. It's like breaking a law -- breaking an agreement between two parties. Just a few hours of delay and I could rage for hours. What more if it's one full day! But I guess flight delays are inevitable. So yea, just suck it in!<br />
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Reschedule the flight. What a drag! Sure, there's nothing we can do about <strike>their service sucking</strike> it anyway. But this one day of delay can cause a lot of trouble. Everything you've planned would have to be changed. That includes planned appointments, food expenses, hotel expenses, expenses, expenses and more expenses. Jesus! And Zest Air wouldn't shoulder the extra costs incurred by the delay...<br />
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Keep your cool. Maybe Zest Air can fix everything when you're at the airport -- your last resort after going through a maze of pre-recorded telephone messages passing you from left to right as if you don't matter, that is. But what if there's no Zest Air personnel to attend to your concerns, even after waiting for some time? As in nothing - zero, nil, nada... Imbeciles! How do these incompetent fools even run a business with such few employees? But then again, maybe it is better that way for if I ever see one Zest Air employee I woulda punched him straight to the face.<br />
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Winston wasn't able to do anything about the situation and maybe I couldn't too.The damages done by Zest Air are just irreparable. What else to do but to transfer to another airline? Maybe it's more expensive but that saves you all the stress and hassle the sucky Zest Air sent your way. And so everything is fine again. But just when you think the troubles are gone, here they come asking you to pay additional fees for their bad service. The Nerves! These morons are as greedy as they are big an idiot.<br />
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Will I ever take <a href="http://www.batangyagit.com/zest-air-philippines/" title="Zest Air">Zest Air</a> flights? Never. Thanks Jhez and Winston for letting me know.<br />
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<b>NOTE:</b> This is my entry to Jehz' contest <a href="http://www.jehzlau-concepts.com/2010/11/a-cool-contest-before-november-ends.html">here</a>. This is just a work of my mind and doesn't really reflect my personality and character (though some are true hehe).StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-69447041526641832202010-11-14T16:16:00.000+08:002010-11-16T17:22:13.870+08:00rArA won $6000 in a Street Fighter 4 tournamentMy Warcraft 3 friend and <acronym title="Arranged Team">AT</acronym> partner "rArA" ("Filipino Champ" in SF4) won a Super Street Fighter 4 tournament a few days ago for a prize of $6000.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://shoryuken.com/content/blg-filipino-champ-interview-shoryuken-com-2381/" title="rArA interview">BLG Filipino Champ interview by Shoryuken.com</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTZJHV5IFmWr8f42Lcs3aF_sGYUTEzFfDrqIg-_tfbh3McP5mb7VtlI8gxpXShoBsNVGNudHtV4nfjSXrkbdiY8BBhKTYpH6Bay2egHvkykaV813lLldfuYE2P2sEng37WjDg8X-m8JQN/s1600/Filipino-Champ-SF4-rArA-Warcraft-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwTZJHV5IFmWr8f42Lcs3aF_sGYUTEzFfDrqIg-_tfbh3McP5mb7VtlI8gxpXShoBsNVGNudHtV4nfjSXrkbdiY8BBhKTYpH6Bay2egHvkykaV813lLldfuYE2P2sEng37WjDg8X-m8JQN/s320/Filipino-Champ-SF4-rArA-Warcraft-3.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Good for him to get something out of his hobby! He is quite known in the Warcraft 3 circle as one of the top human players during the early Frozen Throne patches. His character in Super Street Fighter 4 is Dhalsim.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>rArA (Ryan Ramirez) is a bad-mannered player, in Street Fighter 4 at least. A warning just before the video says "Warning: contains *NSFW* language." In the video, the interviewer even said that he is famous for being a sh*ttalker. The video had a lot of comments, many of which detest rArA's attitude. I don't recall him being a shittalker in Warcraft 3. Being arrogant aside, he is actually a good-mannered player saying "gl" and "GG" in games.<br />
<br />
There is one comment that caught my attention:<br />
<blockquote>you're bad for the scene, you're bad for all the people you represent... </blockquote>"the people you represent" means the Filipinos of course. Having a nickname "Filipino Champ" for a sh*ttalker isn't good. Plus, he is an immigrant there. He's been in the US for less than 10 years I think.<br />
<br />
I shared this video to my friends who got to know rArA through the replays I posted on my <a href="http://clan-os.blogspot.com/" title="Warcraft 3 blog">Warcraft 3 blog</a> and they just loled.<br />
<br />
Note: I think he's holding a Pikachu stuffed toy all throughout the interview. I can see the black ends of the pokemon's ears in the video. lolStarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-18442500772732535432010-11-12T10:11:00.002+08:002010-11-13T16:44:49.541+08:00Bocha and pig cannibalismJust a funny thought that came to me after watching a news story about Bochas on the TV.<br />
<br />
As used in the report, <b>bocha</b> is the meat of pigs which died of reasons (usually disease) other than the normal process of going through the slaughterhouse. Another term is "<b>double dead</b>". Instead of throwing and burying the dirty meat, bocha owners want to get something out of them and sell them in low prices.<br />
<br />
The TV report showed a lot of lechon bochas being prepared. The piles of meat were handled as if they were not human food. Near the preparation was an unhealthy-looking pig. <br />
<br />
At the end of the show, the pig was shown eating the confiscated bochas -- eating his own kind. So I thought the pig must be thinking:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">"So this is how I taste like. It's good."</div><br />
xD Pig cannibalism?StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-9467469141280412982010-11-11T21:01:00.002+08:002010-12-22T14:45:20.444+08:00Good Old DnD RPGamesI can't believe this. Good Old Games or simply GoG.com is now offering the best old DnD RPG games - the ones that ate a lot of my time many many years ago. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a alt="Good Old Games, GoG.com logo" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivoMhd-t7Buyf2VaO9hn1JG7HS7raOiBSH2v0DVcFA3pHKna7M_5TXvONHkvJ9PW3x8pE9Sn4PXU-QNHT1HW9HT1zXbh54qA1MPX9uGG4fLo1ZEDX13MPvxeFgVQwzjrmIle9SdML6aqQZ/s1600/big_square_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivoMhd-t7Buyf2VaO9hn1JG7HS7raOiBSH2v0DVcFA3pHKna7M_5TXvONHkvJ9PW3x8pE9Sn4PXU-QNHT1HW9HT1zXbh54qA1MPX9uGG4fLo1ZEDX13MPvxeFgVQwzjrmIle9SdML6aqQZ/s320/big_square_logo.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>I'm talking about these games:<br />
<ul><li>Baldur's Gate - $9.99 </li>
<li>Icewind Dale - $9.99</li>
<li>Icewind Dale II - $9.99</li>
<li>Planescape: Torment - $9.99</li>
<li>Neverwinter Nights - $9.99</li>
</ul><br />
<b>Dec. 12, 2010:</b> I just found out that Baldur's Gate II is already included in the GoG games catalogue. Cool!<br />
<br />
The only one missing is the Baldur's Gate II series (10 years old), the best in this group. It is such a good and influential title that people are still willing to pay the original price for it. I think. That means it still sells, up to this day.<br />
<br />
BTW, The Temple of Elemental Evil is also also available for $5.99 but it not that old and it doesn't fit well into the group.<br />
<br />
What really shocked me is Neverwinter Nights which was released just 8 years ago. I bought my Neverwinter Nights Platinum for 2000 pesos (~$40). Insane! I believe the online community is still strong, and that there are many players still playing that excellent game. Maybe the game no longer sells these days. Neverwinter Nights 2 is just 4 years old too.<br />
<br />
The best part is that like all GoG.com games, they are all <b>DRM-free</b>, are working in the latest computers today, patched to the latest versions and have some extras. That means no more cracking, downloading patches and CD checks. Why was this service not available many years ago???<br />
<br />
Man, we should support services like this so we could clearly convey our message to the game publishers:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>WE LIKE OUR GAMES DRM-FREE.</b></div>StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-82292918217931629542010-11-10T01:25:00.001+08:002010-11-10T01:26:23.261+08:00Don't change the Wordpress permalink structure!I changed the permalink structure of my video games site <a href="http://the-games-master.com/">the Games Master</a> and I noticed the traffic I'm receiving now dropped dramatically.<br />
<br />
A bulk of my traffic comes from search engines. When I changed the permalink structure, the pages indexed by search engines returned a 404 error because the URL had changed. My URL structure before was<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><pre>/%postname%-%monthnum%%post_id%</pre></div>Now, I've read that (and I'm pretty sure I knew this before but I didn't really care) this type of permalink structure can be very taxing on the web host and can cause major slowdowns in blogs with LOTS of pages. There are warnings all over <a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks" title="Wordpress.org: Using Permalinks">this page</a> concerning the matter: <br />
<q>Starting Permalinks with <code>%postname%, %category%, %tag%</code> and <code>%author%</code> is strongly not recommended for performance reasons.</q><br />
<br />
As I understand it, this is because Wordpress uses the same structure for the static pages you create and it can not easily distinguish between the static pages and the pages mentioned above e.g. a static page entitled "Wordpress" can have the same URL as a post with a title of "Wordpress". To correctly address this problem, Wordpress has to perform a check against each and every post in the blog.<br />
<br />
I changed the permalink structure into this: <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><pre>/p/%postname%-%monthnum%%post_id%</pre></div>I knew I would lose much of my traffic but I had to do it now, before the site gets too big. Hopefully, Google and other search engines would update their indexes with my new permalinks.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-25480063661002393092010-11-04T11:13:00.013+08:002011-03-03T01:11:06.446+08:00Pokemon Bug Catching Contest pointsThis is a list of the details in every Pokemon Bug Catching contest I participate in, held every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I am playing Pokemon HeartGold.<br />
<br />
The goal is to find a pattern for the point system used in the contest. So far, I know that the species of the Pokemon is important (Pinsir and Scyther are the highest?), the level and the amount of health left when you caught the Pokemon.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bug-Catching_Contest" title="Pokemon Bug Catching Contest">Pokemon Bug Catching Contest</a> at Bulbapedia<br />
<br />
The Pokemon with a level beside it is my catch. The health is also listed so I can discern its overall effect on the points.<br />
<br />
<b>PRIZES:</b> <b> </b><br />
<ul><li><b>1st-place</b> - Sun Stone (pre-National Pokedex); evolutionary stones (post-National) <b><br />
</b></li>
<li><b>2nd place</b> -Everstone<b><br />
</b></li>
<li><b>3rd place</b> - Sitrus Berry<b><br />
</b></li>
<li><b>Consolation</b> - Shed Bell</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<table border="1" style="width: 100%;"><thead>
<tr> <td>1st place</td> <td>2nd place</td> <td>3rd place</td> <td>Health</td> </tr>
</thead> <caption>Pokemon Bug Catching Contest details</caption> <tbody>
<tr> <td>Butterfree 337,15 </td> <td>Scyther 317</td> <td>Beedrill 231</td> <td>full </td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Scyther 327</td> <td>Scyther 317,14</td> <td>Butterfree 264</td> <td>about 1/4</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Paras 314, 15</td> <td>Kakuna 289</td> <td>Beedrill 284</td> <td>full</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Scyther 313</td> <td>Scyther 301, 14</td> <td>Pinsir 280</td> <td>near half+</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Scyther 335, 14</td> <td>Pinsir 310</td> <td>Weedle 293</td><td>about 1/3</td> </tr>
<tr><td>Metapod 318</td> <td>Scyther 317</td> <td>Scyther 316,13</td> <td>1/3-</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Scyther 335</td> <td>Butterfree 322, 15</td> <td>Beedrill 294</td> <td>full</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Metapod 310</td> <td>Scyther 306, 14</td> <td>Scyther 305</td> <td>half</td> </tr>
<tr> <td>Pinsir 319</td> <td>Metapod 314</td> <td>Metapod 306, 18</td> <td>full</td> </tr>
<tr> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> <td></td> </tr>
</tbody> </table>StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-6755797676481242062010-11-03T10:07:00.002+08:002010-11-11T02:35:19.818+08:00New Adsense InterfaceI noticed this yesterday when I checked my Adsense account. A pop-up came out asking me to try the new Adsense interface.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngYomAFmvlvWMPYIWD5YhWSinmGtKXmiTbQP-DckVxFSfbMIADY2WQOC5sfYVuPRgkgxNWwB3kM-deCs1LWlcxvLzyobFvuqkn0bN6_l8_kScnX5Ohyphenhyphen6ijsnsPU6Eg3Wh6KnTIUTYJ8mW/s1600/new-adsense-interface.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="new Adsense interface"><img alt="new Adsense interface" border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngYomAFmvlvWMPYIWD5YhWSinmGtKXmiTbQP-DckVxFSfbMIADY2WQOC5sfYVuPRgkgxNWwB3kM-deCs1LWlcxvLzyobFvuqkn0bN6_l8_kScnX5Ohyphenhyphen6ijsnsPU6Eg3Wh6KnTIUTYJ8mW/s320/new-adsense-interface.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<div class="aligncenter"><object height="261" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/r5Y9DTk2DhQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/r5Y9DTk2DhQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="420" height="261"></embed></object></div><br />
<br />
The new interface looks good even if it is still in beta stage. Well, the old one looked... old. The interface is very basic, just using basic HTML. This new interface looks modern. It even has graphs letting you compare your estimated earnings, ad unit impressions, coverage, clicks, CTR, CPC and RPM everyday.<br />
<br />
<div class="aligncenter"><object width="420" height="261"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aE68e23CxAc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aE68e23CxAc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="420" height="261"></embed></object></div><br />
I'm hoping for more improvements to this new Adsense interface as it comes out of beta. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.google.com/adsense/www/en_US/adsense3/index.html">https://www.google.com/adsense/www/en_US/adsense3/index.html</a>StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-62486128625454093782010-11-01T00:01:00.001+08:002010-11-01T00:01:00.205+08:00PH, PHL instead of RP to refer to the PhilippinesThe DFA is now following the ISO initials PH and PHL instead of RP (Republic of the Philippines) to refer to the Philippines.<br />
<br />
I haven't seen the initials RP being used in official documents anyway but it's good that we are now following international standards. My passport which was issued in 2007 used PHL not RP.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://dfa.gov.ph/main/index.php/newsroom/dfa-releases/2039-dfa-shifts-to-iso-initials-ph-and-phl">Source</a><br />
<br />
28 October 2010 - The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and its Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) will use the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) initials PH or PHL when referring to the Philippines, and not anymore "RP", which is the acronym for the "Republic of the Philippines".<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
This is in line with the Philippine membership with the ISO, as well as to avoid the ambiguity and confusion with the use of the initials "RP".<br />
<br />
In DFA Department Order No. 16-10 dated October 20, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo directed the DFA's 67 Embassies, 23 Consulates General and four Permanent Missions to use the initials PH or PHL.<br />
<br />
The long standing usage of the initials "RP" is not in accordance with ISO codes, leading to ambiguous initials that can also refer to other countries, the DFA noted.<br />
<br />
The ISO developed the ISO3166-1 codes, assigning two letter (alpha-2) and three letter (alpha-3) code to member countries.<br />
<br />
ISO 3166-1 is part of the ISO 3166 standard adopted by the ISO, and defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. The codes for the Philippines are PH and PHL, respectively.<br />
<br />
These codes are used in the Philippines and abroad in airline ticketing, passport issuances, currencies, and internationally-traded shares of stocks, among others.<br />
<br />
The DFA Office of Consular Affairs has adopted and reflects the ISO three-letter codes in the data pages of the Philippine electronic passport.<br />
<br />
The ISO standards provide technological, economic and societal benefits. For businesses, the widespread adoption of International Standards means that suppliers can develop and offer products and services meeting specifications that have wide international acceptance in their sectors. For governments, International Standards provides the technological and scientific bases underpinning health, safety and environmental legislation.<br />
<br />
The ISO is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards.<br />
<br />
The Philippines is represented in the organization by the Bureau of Product Standards of the Department of Trade and Industry.<br />
<br />
Adoption of these initials was recently endorsed by former Ambassador Juan Ona and the DFA Tattlers Group, a group of retired and active Philippine envoys.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-48803563130150069992010-10-31T02:32:00.000+08:002010-10-31T02:32:30.047+08:002 New Gadgets for BloggerI just noticed that there are 2 new official gadgets/widgets in Blogger: <b>Popular Posts</b> and <b>Blog's Stats</b>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EefFhEu7UkYJtVifGggwX6AbC0_3IhQyeWp8g98Rqfz0KCMhw6K7jbOGqpEuasDBGOlJgpnyk1t18RX0NpK-OmxvAsZJJ_dRUtzECkFXXZincJ_I-FDCyZ5Tx2WOpC_4EcsU6Z3UjxOf/s1600/Popular-Posts-Blog-Stats-gadget-widget-Blogger.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Popular Posts and Blog's Stats gadgets for Blogger" border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EefFhEu7UkYJtVifGggwX6AbC0_3IhQyeWp8g98Rqfz0KCMhw6K7jbOGqpEuasDBGOlJgpnyk1t18RX0NpK-OmxvAsZJJ_dRUtzECkFXXZincJ_I-FDCyZ5Tx2WOpC_4EcsU6Z3UjxOf/s320/Popular-Posts-Blog-Stats-gadget-widget-Blogger.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
These are some of most sought-after widgets in Blogger, at least for me! Popular Posts in particular is very hard to find. Many of the codes you can find online either do not work or are very complicated. Blog stats are easy to find, but most of them rely on third party services.<br />
<br />
After some reading, I found out that these 2 new Blogger gadgets have been out for months. They were announced on August 30, 2010.<br />
<br />
I hope that they'll add gadgets dealing with comments (proper recent comments widget, posts with the most number of comments, people with the highest number of comments) next.<br />
<br />
I might write a separate post for each gadget after I examine them.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-20296266819564207652010-10-26T20:55:00.001+08:002010-10-26T20:55:53.022+08:0010.10.10 Run for Pasig River a success!Yes, the 10.10.10 Fun Run for Pasig River marathon was a success.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKw3hVnSfCU6HjzgZ506Njkberpm3pfTYq8Ga047wmTvBjYLZQntDXz1Mi5eelO3VNnEl4PLuQtJYTWcync2jgBNhR-uphVN-7wBxPqn4KHwrj08yyvH5NqnseHAGhwxWQsyQErdgImuoM/s1600/Fun-Run-For-Pasig-River-marathon-10-10-10-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="10-10-10 Run for Pasig River"><img alt="10-10-10 Run for Pasig River" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKw3hVnSfCU6HjzgZ506Njkberpm3pfTYq8Ga047wmTvBjYLZQntDXz1Mi5eelO3VNnEl4PLuQtJYTWcync2jgBNhR-uphVN-7wBxPqn4KHwrj08yyvH5NqnseHAGhwxWQsyQErdgImuoM/s320/Fun-Run-For-Pasig-River-marathon-10-10-10-logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Its main goal was to raise funds for the restoration of Pasig River. Registration fees were 250 pesos for non-students and 100 pesos for students. For this fee, they got only a sheet of paper with the runner number. This was to maximize the percentage of money going to the restoration project. Approximately 160,000 people reportedly registered for the 10-10-10 Pasig Fun Run.<br />
<br />
The marathon also succeeded in breaking the then-current Guinness Book record of the biggest marathon event at 110000. According to the independent count of the SGV, 106000 runners attended the 10.10.10 Run for Pasig River.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
It was also surprising that the organizers encountered no problems during the event. The weather was perfect and there were no accidents and crime and the big crowd of people left little trash.<br />
<br />
Free rides on the MRT and some bus companies were provided for the runners. This would improve logistics for the thousands of people after the events.<br />
<br />
The 10-10-10 Run for Pasig River was entitled <i>Kapit Bisig para sa Ilog Pasig</i> and was organized by ABS-CBN Foundation Inc. <br />
<br />
<br />
There were 4 events in this marathon. They were 3 km, 5 km, 10 km and 21 km. The 21-km event was not open to the public but only to the select few runners(like Gabby Lopez, an ABS-CBN executive) and the military. Manny Pacquio ran and led the 10-km event.<br />
<br />
Gina Lopez, one of the organizers said that they were planning to hold this event every year breaking their previous record each time, until all of Pasig River has been cleaned. What an overwhelming task, but hopefully they will succeed.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.starmarsonline.com/2010/10/10-10-10-fun-run-for-pasig-river-marathon/" title="10-10-10 Run for Pasig River">10-10-10 Run for Pasig River</a>StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-57461131893064465982010-10-21T17:49:00.000+08:002010-10-21T17:49:03.802+08:00Cheesy love quoteThis is a love quote I got from a Facebook application. I just copy-pasted it so the formatting stays intact.<br />
<br />
<span style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 36px;">Boy: I have 2 words to tell u.<br />
Girl: whats that?<br />
Boy: I Love YOU<br />
Girl: Isn't that 3?<br />
Boy: No. Because, 'You' & 'I' count as one. :D I♥YOU..</span></span><br />
<br />
Notes: <br />
-The heart character can be copy-pasted from this post.<br />
-it's good to look at the CSS behind the formattingStarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-26094424366368778372010-10-06T23:49:00.002+08:002010-10-07T00:01:29.664+08:00Perfect Dark Zero sold - a Sulit deal!At last, I was able to sell my sealed copy of Perfect Dark Zero for the XBox 360 thanks to <a href="http://www.sulit.com.ph/">www.sulit.com.ph</a>. It was the first ad that I posted on the site. After only 3 days and around 80 views, I was able to sell it. If that says anything, it's this: a lot of sulit.com.ph visitors are <b>interested buyers</b>. That's good news for both buyers and advertisers.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnYwjkw-a4JiNer27riPdV4Oe9oyjuA_22dzweiZegKYSw4if965V1DvW967qKwIfR7Uy_FDhvu9VS6HjQBU6wYQxoPCZvNSkQlnlhsvIQoHrs2b0V_OtTd1jBHXW5luYYGOPeV8RwpCUJ/s1600/Perfect-Dark-Zero-XBox-360-sold-Sulit.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="my Perfect Dark Zero for the XBox 360 advertisement at Sulit.com.ph"><img alt="Perfect Dark Zero for the XBox 360 advertisement at Sulit.com.ph" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnYwjkw-a4JiNer27riPdV4Oe9oyjuA_22dzweiZegKYSw4if965V1DvW967qKwIfR7Uy_FDhvu9VS6HjQBU6wYQxoPCZvNSkQlnlhsvIQoHrs2b0V_OtTd1jBHXW5luYYGOPeV8RwpCUJ/s320/Perfect-Dark-Zero-XBox-360-sold-Sulit.com.jpg" width="169" /></a></div><br />
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The Perfect Dark Zero game has been in my possession for 3 years. I got it as a prize for a contest back in Seattle at the <acronym title="World Cyber Games">WCG</acronym> 2007. Its current value is $9 for a brand new copy at Amazon. I was able to sell it for 250 pesos (~$5). Good enough deal. I tried other sites(including international ones) in my effort to sell this game. I don't have an XBox 360 so I won't be able to use it. Sulit.com.ph is by far the easiest to use and the best Online Classified ads website I've ever tried.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-52125790613161669762010-10-05T19:03:00.000+08:002010-10-05T19:03:27.891+08:00Teacher's DayToday is Teacher's Day. This is the day when we celebrate and appreciate the importance of teachers.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Happy Teacher's Day!</b></div><br />
My little brothers who are in the 2nd and 3rd year high school didn't hold normal classes in the school today. Instead they watched programs prepared by other students for the teachers. The programs include dancing, singing and a powerpoint presentation thanking everyone in the school's staff including the janitors.<br />
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This reminds me of how important teachers are in the society. I remember I used to act like a teacher (teaching trivial and interesting topics like shortcuts in Math) in-between class breaks in high school. There's fun in teaching and imparting your knowledge to your listeners. You feel satisfaction knowing that your audience has learned something new from you.<br />
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I have big respect for teachers and I appreciate all their hard work.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-12426474770878231352010-10-04T20:38:00.001+08:002010-10-04T20:44:25.921+08:00WCG 2010 Warcraft III Grand Finals - Remind vs GrubbyA few hours from now, Grubby(Orc) will face Remind(Night Elf) in the Grand Finals of World Cyber Games 2010 - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Grubby has shown so far a good performance not dropping a single map. Remind on the other hand, was nearly eliminated early in the tournament <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a title="Remind vs Grubby - WCG 2010" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGAQ9BcGgqqnXc4EF4cNkTMvtIpVWwyyJaHx3MoQvjBTBpQ9ocKqW0W8bhoea2_rIw7rn5UqXJcPpRjNXq40e3N3oTvs0vyTNajeuMkZhrTjTn9Fwfb4QNU0vFh_r63XPBjD-TvZWLhzg/s1600/Remind-vs-Grubby-WCG-2010-wc3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Remind vs Grubby - WCG 2010" border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGAQ9BcGgqqnXc4EF4cNkTMvtIpVWwyyJaHx3MoQvjBTBpQ9ocKqW0W8bhoea2_rIw7rn5UqXJcPpRjNXq40e3N3oTvs0vyTNajeuMkZhrTjTn9Fwfb4QNU0vFh_r63XPBjD-TvZWLhzg/s320/Remind-vs-Grubby-WCG-2010-wc3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
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If Grubby succeeds, he will be the first to win a WCG title three times in any game.<a href="http://clan-os.blogspot.com/2010/06/manuel-grubby-schenkhuizen.html">Manuel Schenkhuizen</a> won his first WCG titles in Warcraft III in 2004 and 2008.<br />
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If Remind wins, he will be the first Korean to win the title. Koreans are known to be very competitive in video games competitions specially in strategy games thanks to the StarCraft progaming scene in the their country. But the WCG title has eluded them for years with their representatives only reaching the 2nd or 3rd place.<br />
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Update before this gets posted: Remind won 2-1. I saw the 3rd match, missed the first 2. My friends and many others said that the 2nd game was the best where Grubby had a big comeback. In all 3 games, Grubby went Shadow Hunter for his 2nd hero, an unusual choice vs Druid of the Talons.<br />
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Too bad for Grubby, he won't get the WCG title for the 3rd time. This match was very important because we may not see Warcraft III in the World Cyber Games next year due to release of StarCraft 2. <br />
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Congratulation to Remind!<br />
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Night Elf Power!StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-19938613034782161012010-07-26T03:38:00.001+08:002010-07-26T03:39:01.261+08:00'Pasalubong' from Tita GraceTita Gay (as we call Aunt Grace) arrived yesterday from Hawaii at around 5:30 pm.I think it has been six years since she and her family last visited the Philippines.Their vacation here is in time with Lolo Poling's(Titay Gay's father) birthday on July 27. Of course we're all excited to see tita and our cousins Abigail and Ariel. But what we are most excited about are the balikbayan boxes or simply put the PASALUBONG. Hehe.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>They brought many balikbayan boxes with them - 4 I think. Along with the usual clothes and accessories, they also gave us some useful gadgets. Jasper and Carlo got a new PSP in a limited edition Metal Gear packaging. JJ was really happy about it. Kuya Tyrone received an brand new iPod. I don't know which model but he told me it costs around 12,000 pesos here. Tita Gay said it's the most expensive of all the pasalubongs.<br />
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I received many pasalubongs. First is the 19" monitor LCD. It is the old monitor of Tito Danny but it is still in excellent condition. Woot, new monitor! Time to replace my soon-to-die monitor. Then I got a Blackberry cellphone. I do not know how much it is worth but it is also an old, unused item of Uncle Danny. The Blackberry is locked, meaning it won't accept sim card from the Philippines. Inside its box is a Polaroid camera. I also got a brand new watch. Brand: Victorinox - Swiss Army. Lastly, I got brand new pairs of sandals and rubber shoes(Converse). Hehe.<br />
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That's all for now. GGStarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-19788008964397555842010-07-18T22:36:00.000+08:002010-07-18T22:36:01.422+08:00I love my DragoniteI'm in love... with my Dragonite.<br />
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He's the best HM slave you could possibly ever have. Being a slave sounds bad, but an HM slave pokemon is very useful and a must in any party. For those who don't know, an HM slave is a pokemon dedicated to using HM moves only, so the other members of your party don't have to learn these Hidden Machines.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="my Dragonite" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZzO5i3-rrJ5IjD-Hjtgey0itvqmYEcVguGi_N-d3ZItJYMGy-_QnSDl-rq1bXyz_MTzIkCEtukznnOdYnlA9cjgHAe08NmGvPLpinLB_99zKRtkn_7XTHM134r8N_PNYgTk_x-KHN45Dm/s1600/Pokemon-HMDragon-Dragonite.png" /></div><br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="my Dragonite" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITpirmVRaKmliaG9WZkWSHZETlRWo6zSR_IVHgLmUOAIMe2mLoMST0da2Sh5DcpScSvjw1wy64LjsRWsSIAWB3p6FyjRQzYs7pMh8V04Ad7oTr8BXWmZQptpY6H71FtMXClKHMHshdB1A/s1600/Pokemon-HMDragon-Dragonite-stats.png" /></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="my Dragonite" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwQ9Ue2xJ3iy5DqAFMbYyXoh12HeowPoETUymI5qMkyvdgKdErGPLJJwmVUKQDo2pGRe-pZdrvyQ3euB73mhe4O_iE02_fOnU7yy0v1Peil7jofezOh1sX6yruB5ri2CQSWyIPAmjKQSa/s1600/Pokemon-HMDragon-Dragonite-moves.png" /></div><br />
Dragonite is the best. In Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, he can learn the most important Hidden Machines - Fly, Surf and Cut. Actually he can learn all HMs except Flash. Isn't that cool? He has impressive stats by default so don't underestimate him even if he has only Hidden Machine moves.<br />
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I named my Dragonite "HMDragon", a pretty straightforward name. And he replaced two pokemons in my party with HM moves - Pidgeot (Fly) and Krabby (my former HM slave). All for the best. Now I can find better pokemon without worrying too much about HM moves.StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-37169638383285222362010-07-13T03:13:00.000+08:002010-07-13T03:13:30.234+08:00Blog inactivity and spam commentsSo I'm thinking I haven't checked or even visited my main blog at starmarsonline.com after I started this Pokemon thing. I finally checked it out today and was surprised to see what... 40 spam comments. FFS!<br />
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Some are very spammy; some, it's hard to tell. I just trust Wordpress when it labels comments as spam coz maybe it has seen the same comment and links before in countless other sites.<br />
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I believe these spam comments are made automatically by bots, spamming blogs with useless comments hoping that they would get a backlink to their site. Of course, this would happen only on blogs with outdated versions of Wordpress or those which use unreliable <acronym title="content management systems">CMS</acronym>. They fail to understand that this type of SEO is no longer a viable option.<br />
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That's all for now. Like what Gary says in Pokemon LeafGreen, <br />
"Smell ya'"StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-18839053399677879942010-07-09T03:53:00.000+08:002010-07-09T03:53:15.570+08:00What's been going on lately...So I kinda have forsaken this blog...<br />
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So many things have happened since I last wrote a post. First is the Warcraft 3 drama between Chethan, (battleroyale-@Lordaeron) and Clan Old School. I think I'd dedicate a new post for that.<br />
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Then lately, I've been playing Pokemon LeafGreen a lot. This is a remake (Generation 3) of the old Pokemon Yellow version (Generation 1) that I used to play a lot on my black and white gameboy. Ah, the good old times. I miss my original Pikachu. I know I had spent a great deal of time on that game.<br />
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Next, I've been reading a lot about Pokemon - the games, the monsters themselves and the game mechanics. There's a lot of information out there and I should have known them when I started playing Pokemon Yellow. I dunno much about the new Pokemons - only the first 150 in the National Pokedex so I'd be playing these games (yes prolly all the versions lol) for a long time.<br />
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To sum everything up, here is how my brain is wired right now:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="Pokemon series" border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0yY95O9fPiGlOq9m6lsHaHLjAGKuk1i90ACazTbr_9O3ipcLXX4xqQtCPNahBtA3bTFhj58skz58Gw7mTEBruf2lj85IZtjvyutIUB_0OdiaqiDbq-0kaEDJS8EDVdmQCLswAfI5t0NU/s320/pokemon-series.jpg" title="Pokemon series" width="320" /></div><br />
GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL, man!StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5982757673575872964.post-84352870267935130742010-07-01T02:22:00.000+08:002010-07-01T02:22:30.979+08:00on the PBB: Teen Clash of 2010 Big Winner and the Big Six...James Reid is the <a href="http://www.starmarsonline.com/2010/06/pinoy-big-brother-pbb-teen-clash-of-2010-big-winners-big-6/" title="PBB: Teen Clash of 2010 Big Winner">Pinoy Big Brother PBB: Teen Clash of 2010 Big Winner</a>.<br />
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Why? I mean, Congratulations but why the hell did people vote for him?<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Of the PBB Teen Clash of 2010 Big 6, I'm rooting for Devon to win. She's the most deserving. She's the poorest of them all, living/having lived only in the squatters area. She needs the prizes the most -- the P1M money and the condominium unit. She has a natural beauty and is very talented. She should have won.<br />
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Of the PBB Teen Clash of 2010 Big 6, why did the people vote for James? First of all, he is the least interested in getting the title and the prizes. He even said it himself. "I can't say that I'm the most deserving to win." In the house, I see him as a sickly man who didn't do so much for the other housemates. Could it be that he has the most supporters outside the PBB house? Could it be that these supporters are willing to spend more money or give extra effort to vote for James? Or maybe his family and relatives spent a good amount of money to vote for James? It's just not fitting for an Australian to win in <br />
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There are other more deserving housemates. Near the end of the show where the teen housemates were asked to rank the others based on who they think are the most deserving to win, Ivan Dorschner came out on top earning the most top 3 spots or medals. The most common desccription they gave to Ivan is that he is most helpful in the house -- doing household chores, leading the team, giving advice and showing strong performances in the tasks. All that on top of his good and personality. And yet he didn't win.<br />
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Ryan Bang is the clown of the PBB Teen Clash 2010 house. There's this song being played whenever Ryan is shown doing silly things -- we just call it "Ryan's Theme." He makes us laugh effortlessly. He is funny in many ways. His actions are of course silly and funny. And with his broken english, he unknowingly makes us laugh. He started the now-famous "Chuvachuchu" line, a way of showing and conveying love in a funny way. In short, he stood out more than James did.<br />
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My Pinoy Big Brother PBB: Teen Clash of 2010 Big Winner and Big Six<br />
<ol><li>Devon Seron</li>
<li>Ivan Dorschner</li>
<li>Bret Jackson II</li>
<li>Ryan Bang</li>
<li>Fretzie Bercede</li>
<li>James Reid</li>
</ol>StarMarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14047420174856872813noreply@blogger.com0