SentiSabado

There was a wave of Pinoy Twitter that happened over the weekend. Actually, it started 2 Saturdays ago. Online journalist @tonyocruz and @chuckdreyfus, you know, “Hapi House”, Isabel Granada — started sharing about nostalgic events of their childhood. It snowballed last weekend and almost everybody on my Twitter feed is sharing something on what they now call #sentisabado. I did share about a bunch of my own childhood memories. And, since I don’t plan to join the next SentiSabados — there’s a point that it kinda gets too repetitive, you wanted to shout “Move on, you people!” — I’m copy/pasting my contributions from my Twitter feed.

Walkman. #sentisabado

“I love you, lucky!” @luckymanzano #sentisabado

Jacky Chan’s “Drunken Master”. #sentisabado

Ricky Brown. Anybody remembers “The Quick Brown Fox”? — Brown, 3 points! #sentisabado

Mellow Touch 94.7 #sentisabado

FACES disco. Di ako naka punta don. Alam ko lang dahil madalas ang commercial sa PBA :D #sentisabado

Panalo yon! RT @chuckdreyfus: T.O.D.A.S. sa Ch.13! :) #SentiSabado

Theres no @mmda. There were “traffic policemen” because it was the police that mans the traffic, obviously #sentisabado

Ginebra vs. Northern Consolidated. Quarter finals. Jaworski multiple 3 pointers even with bleeding eyebrow. Classic! #sentisabado

Tight jeans, may zipper pa sa dulo #sentisabado

Haha! I got in touch with him at FB RT @mamoocindy @arnoldgamboa si arnold gamboa!!!! hahahahaha!!!! couldn’t resist… #sentisabado

My best #sentisabado post last night: Bioman. I cried when Yellow 4 died. She was replaced by an archer.

Sinong artista ang cover ng notebook mo? #sentisabado

Student Canteen sa channel 7 #sentisabado

Ano ka ba dati: new wave o hard core? #sentisabado

The Dawn. Envelop Ideas. #sentisabado

Oo nga ano! RT @isakalabasa: @arnoldgamboa Yesterday was happy 9-02-10 day! Once in a lifetime! #sentisabado

Beverly Hills 90210 friday nights #sentisabado

Parachute. First ever Game and Watch I knew existed #sentisabado

“Cherish the Love” #sentisabado

Robert Jaworski. Ginebra. Francis Arnaiz. Chito Loyzaga. Saldana. #sentisabado

Julie Vega at Janice de Belen. Flor de Liza. #sentisabado

Super Friends pag Sabado #sentisabado

Syempre, sino makakalimot kila, kiko matsing, pong pagong, kuya bodji, ate shenna ng Batibot #sentisabado

Bioman. I cried when Yellow 4 died. #sentisabado

Shider. Annie, ang time space warp! #sentisabado

Wala. Panis. Mga sosyal nag nasa #sentisabado wala bang nagpapatintero sa inyo? :)

Piling Piling Pelikula sa channel 13 #sentisabado

Donkey Kong. #sentisabado

Jolens. #sentisabado

Nutri bun. For those who studied in public schools. #sentisabado

Ula. Galing ni Judy Ann. #sentisabado

Syato. #sentisabado

Anyway, for those of you who are interested to join in, just be on Twitter and use a hashtag #sentisabado. I think @tonyocruz and @chuckdreyfus will announce the theme this weekend. Kayo nalang muna. :D

Christian bloggers’ meetup?

Hi Christian blogger,

I’m playing with the thought of having a mini-Christian bloggers’ meet-up this Friday night. I’m not an event organizer or anything like that, so I really don’t know what I’m doing. :D Nonetheless, I have a couple of reasons why I need this to happen:

1. I need to see the faces behind those avatars. Let’s admit it, we know a lot of people online, but very few know each other personally. It can be a great time to fellowship and shake the real hands, you know what I mean.

2. LifeChurch Makati, the church we’re launching in May, said we’re willing to sponsor the coffee/drinks for this event. So, that’s free Starbucks for those who’s coming. :D To be transparent about it, not only that we’re excited to meet Christian bloggers, we also what to know if you guys can help cover the event on Sunday (March 21) as we have our 2nd preview service at Glorietta 4, Cinema 4. Details during the meet-up.

So, if you’re a:

- Christian blogger, or

- Christian twitter (wow, new English term, eh!)

and if you’re available this Friday, 7 pm, we’d like to have you for this Christian Blogger mini-meetup. That’ll be held at Starbucks Glorietta 4. Please confirm your attendance here. If I’ll have even just 4 bloggers to sign up, we’ll proceed. If you have questions, please email me at arnold[at]lifechurchmakati.com.

Thanks,

Arnold

Bloggers unite! – blogger Ella Ganda faces libel for being “too concerned”

In the midst of the Ondoy rush last year, one blogger made it to the lime light: Ella delos Reyes a.k.a “Ella Ganda” as her blog is named.

Philippine Daily Inquirer reports:

(DSWD Sec.) Cabral asked the NBI last year to investigate the identity of the blogger after reading a blog entry entitled “Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo (What good is help that comes if it is too late),” posted on ‘Blog ni Ella’ on Oct. 21, 2009.

The former social welfare secretary claimed the blog entry contained “malicious imputations against her, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and its employees.”

“The article alluded that she and the DSWD employees are corrupt, having diverted donated goods for personal gain at the expense of the typhoon victims and downright incompetent,” the NBI said in its referral.

A few things:

- I saw the blog during its height. There’s nothing libelous about it. The blogger stood with nothing to gain — other than the unsolicited fame the blog resulted from. If there was anything Ella was about during that time, she was sincerely bothered by the fact that people were hungry and homeless and without clothes and the government doesn’t seem to care.

- Sec. Cabral has an onion skin. As the saying goes, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”

- This sends a chilling effect on bloggers. Blogging — and social networks — as we now know, is the future of media. It may not be as formal as the print or even TV, but I will argue that it’s the fastest and even more accurate source of information nowadays. Just take a look, for instance, on this report from PDI. It says, “It also checked with the hosting company of the domain name www.ellaganda.com and found out that the hosting contract with “Ella Rose delos Santos” or “Ellaganda” has been terminated since December 2008″ Duh? If it was “terminated” since Dec. 2008, why has www.ellaganda.com able to post the alleged libelous blog last Oct. 2009? So who has the accurate information now?

As a blogger, I feel for her. Do you think freedom of speech can still be exercised in this country — even in a free platform such as blogging?

Bloggers, unite! Make some noise. Defend your rights.

Ask me anything

Whoever made this simple webapp is a genius. (Well, we know that the guys that created FormSpring did this). FormSpring.me allows you to dare anyone to “ask me anything”. It’s really a straightforward way to interact with your online followers. It’s fun, actually. Now, the technopreneur in me asks, “How are you going to monetize this webapp?” :D

So, what are you waiting for? Ask me anything!

Bringing the online world to the real

I have a little project to make. I don’t know if this works out. I’ll try anyway.

My goal is simple: I’d like to bring my online world and my real world together.

My youngest child is celebrating her first birthday on Saturday (Oct. 17, 2009). My wife, who’s in charge of the list, asked me who’s I’m going to bring. (She’s bringing her friends from past jobs and some college buddies). I thought, well, I have my friends from work and church going. But that’s about it.

The problem with statement is the context: you see, I’ve had these friends for years, and nothing has changed. And that’s not good. I realized that most of my interactions happen ONLINE and not off line. That makes me have 250+ Twitter friends and 500+ Facebook friends — that I almost always interact with everyday online — and about 10 people that I talk to off line (not exaggerating). Kinda pathetic, if you’ll ask me. Blame it on my job.

So, here’s what I’m thinking. I’d like to invite anyone who will be gracious enough to meet me and my family personally on Saturday at about 3 pm for my child’s birthday party. If you:

• have not met me personally yet
• … and I have been online friends for quite sometime
• have a family and a kid to bring (he’ll enjoy it!)

… I will be honored if you’ll accept my invitation to meet me and be my offline buddy, too. :)

The event is happening at the beautiful DMCI community RiverFront in Pasig. It has free WIFI (so you can tweet about the party :D ) and a swimming pool — I will be sponsoring a swim for you and your family right after the party if you like (so, bring your wet suits).

Don’t worry about bringing a gift — I would just like you to be there. I only have one room for a family (of 3, including yourself), or my wife will kill me. :D If you don’t have a family to bring, you can bring a buddy with you.

It’s going to be fun. I promise, we’ll still talk about the internet and Twitter and Facebook. :D If you’re interested in this invitation, please send me an email arnold [at] gamboa.ph or at my Twitter account: arnoldgamboa.

PS: Oh, and I’m thinking a Filipino would not assert himself. So if no body contacts me by Wednesday, I’ll contact you ;)