This is the Ultimate Travel Video

We all have our own travel photos and perhaps videos and mostly it's just our faces with the place where we're at as as backdrop just like 99.9999 % of all travelers or may be more. The video here is just so original and refreshing. What a fortunate guy this is.

One thing that comes to my mind in relation to this is the quirky french movie 'Amelie' starring Audrey Tautou. She later starred with Tom Hanks in the 'Da Vinci Code'. Anyway, to encourage his father to 'see the world'. She lent his gnome statue to her flight attendant friend. Her father would then regularly receive 'polaroids' of the gnome at different places around the world. The story didn't actually revolve on this but it was a welcome addition.

Watch the movie and watch this video. Both are very entertaining.







Here's the link to his website: http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/

Here's another goofy idea you might want to look at. http://runningfromcamera.blogspot.com/

Now that I have somewhat whet your creativity. Perhaps you can think of another original idea to remember your trips. I would love to hear and learn from anyone.

Not Exactly Photoshop But...

I was not aware that there is this image manipulation software called GIMP that can be had for free until recently. People who have used it said that it does basically what Photoshop does albeit less comprehensive but hey if it can duplicate just the basic functions of Photoshop then it is already invaluable to a lot of people. Besides most people who use Photoshop doesn't really utilize all the functions it's capable of.

Of course Photoshop is the premier image manipulation software and basically it can do to an image what your mind can conceive provided you know what you're doing. Just a warning and this is a little off topic but don't believe all the images you see all over the web as the absolute truth. Many of which have have passed through Photoshop and dissed as reality especially with the chain emails we see everyday.

Here's another article about it. Click here.

To download, click here. Just continue on the page and look for the pre-compiled binaries that can self-install. Check the link on how to install because you need another application to run it. All in all, you need to download the gimp set-up file and a file named gtk...set-up. About 12mb total in zip format.

I already have downloaded it. The interface is very different from Photoshop and will take some time to be familiar with but I'm not complaining. The good part is it accepts plug-ins just like Photoshop and it already has it's own built-in library of plug-ins.. I just haven't tried if it will accept plug-ins made for Photoshop.

In summary, GIMP looks like a very good application for image manipulation. The obvious difference with Photoshop is about $600.00.

Article about the Philippines on Smithsonian Magazine

I came across an article from Smithsonian magazine about the Philippines from the point of view of a professional soldier and also a journalist. As a Filipino, it widened my view on how foreigners view my country of birth. It's a very interesting read. It talks about history, politics, the US presence among others. The article's title is 'Waging Peace in the Philippines'.

Here's an excerpt from the article.

"It struck me that the most pressing problem in today's Philippines isn't terrorism or even government corruption but poverty and a lack of social mobility. People at the bottom of society are trapped. That view has been expressed by Tina Monshipour Foster, executive director of the International Justice Network based in New York City. "Powerful ruling families stay in power because, after Spanish colonization, society is still essentially feudal. Those who don't own land have no voice, no rights, and virtually no representation." Since World War II, the Philippines has gone from being one of the richest countries in Asia to one of the poorest. About 15 percent of its people live on less than $1 a day, and the nation has one of the world's fastest-growing populations. People who don't own land have no way to feed their families other than to work, as they have for generations, on property belonging to large landowners like Pakila Datu. That's how these "rebels," and others like them, have ended up on the battlefield, fighting not for their own rights but for those of the big men they serve."

Here's another one:

"There are, of course, critics of the U.S. military presence in the Philippines. Some argue that the war on terror has provided Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo—a conservative member of the political elite, who was first elected in 2001—a blank check to destroy political opponents. "Arroyo is using a tool of the [Ferdinand] Marcos regime, extrajudicial execution," says McCoy. "She has run one of the most brutal state assassination campaigns—not on the terrorists, but on the remains of Socialist parties and activists." Earlier this year, Arroyo declared "all-out war" against leftist groups. Amnesty International has decried the government crackdown, saying it has led to more than 700 extrajudicial killings by paramilitary death squads since 2003. "President Arroyo is using the war on terror as a license to kill," says Monshipour Foster, the New York-based justice activist."

Here's the link.

My Amazon aStore

I just joined Amazon.com's Associates specifically their 'aStore' where I can put up a store of products selected by me. I can also put up box links to products from their website but they will be the one to automatically advertise specific items I have no control of. For the meantime, I'll try this aStore. It's my nature that when I buy something I always want to check out the reviews first, comparing them to similar products, asking questions if it's a good value for money, etc. I check the features and specs. well too thus 99% of the time I have no regrets because I did my homework.

In my aStore, I have the ff. categories which of course caters to my needs but I'm pretty sure will be usable for certain people too.

Books-Photoshop, Portraiture and Lighting
Office and Mobility
Cameras and Photo
Travel and Lifestyle
Magazine Subscriptions.

I added some personal descriptions to most of the products I included.

This is just a preliminary store list as I've just started to make an inventory of things I usually use and/or will recommend.

To view, please click HERE or click on 'Links' on the top right portion of this blog. It will be permanently included there.

Eat All You Can Places in Metro Manila

I came across a link to a blog that had a list of these wonderful invention called 'eat all you can buffets' found in Metro Manila. I would certainly bring this list with me next time I'm back home. This list is from a post by Jozzua.


Something fishy, (breakfast time) Eastwood Libis. 12am-10am
Kamay Kainan with bottomless Iced Tea, Market Market, P295/head.
Chinatown’s Best, Banawe QC, P400/head FULL MEAL! (Already ate here!)
Saisaki/DAD’s/Kamayan, P500/head
Dragon Prince, BF homes Pque. (Lunch Buffet) P180 per head.
Cabalen - all branches, P275/head.
RCBC Plaza Food Center, Makati 95/head (Breakfast) & 65/head merienda.
Blue Bay, Quirino Grandstand, 350/Head.
Brazil brazil - Metrowalk & Powerplant Mall (meat all you can P650/head)
Dimsun ‘N Dumplings @ Shopwise (cubao) - Unlimited Siomai either P99 or P125 lang
Sweet Inspirations along Katipunan, eat-all-you-can Mongolian Buffett P300/head
Seafood Club(Red Crab) Greenbelt3 - dinner 275/head
Chubby China(Greenbelt) - dimsum(fried & steamed) breakfast at P88/head. with yang chow rice, crisp noodles at single serve iced tea. order all you can lunch - P295, merienda - P88, dimsum all you can w/pancit canton, noodles and congee
Red Crab (Greenbelt 3) - alimango(crab)-all-you-can
Circles, Shangri-la Makati, expensive but very large buffet!
Spiral, Westin Philippine Plaza
Cravings, salad all you can Katipunan infront of Ateneo, Katipunan
Siamese Grill, Pasta all you can, P85/head Bluewave Marquinton, Marikina
Tramway, Banawe, Chinese eat all you can, P160/head
Kamay Kainan, Kalayaan Avenue, P199/head
Red Kimono, The Fort, 499++/ head
Mandarin Palace, Ongpin, P150/head
Tokyo Tokyo, Rice all you can (all branches)
Yamcha Teahouse in Timog (Lunch/Dinner Buffet P349)
Aling Nene’s BBQ/Ihaw, Eat all you can (Fridays & Saturdays), Magallanes, P200+/head.
Alba’s Restaurant - Tomas Morato, Libis, Jupiter St., P550
Jestine’s Restaurant, Jupiter Street Makati, Breakfast all you can, from 12AM to 12PM (tapa, tocino, varies) P99.00
Emperor Villa - ongpin st., binondo - lunch P180-P200, dinner is seafood buffet at roastings (asado, lechon de leche) @ P350.

If you know of other places that should be included here, please let me know.

Our First Park, Magic Kingdom

We just got home Thursday evening after spending 3 nights in Orlando. We stayed at Comfort Suites Maingate Resort which is just about 4 miles from Disneyworld. It was our first time in this resort and we liked it a lot. It was very clean and the service is very good. Breakfast was included and we of course took advantage of it, eating there every morning before going to the theme park. Whenever I book for any accommodation, I always read the customer reviews and we were not disappointed as in the past when I didn't really checked the reviews first. Next time we go there, we will definitely be staying in that hotel/resort unless I can get a good deal from a Disney Resort and I can book earlier.

Tuesday, we left the hotel early and went straight to Magic Kingdom. We reached the main entrance to Main Street USA at exactly 9am after the tram ride, monorail ride to the gate and bag inspection. As usual, some prerequisite photos were taken in front of the park and in front of Cinderella's castle among others. Then we went to Tomorrowland first for the Buzz Lightyear ride and Stitch's Great Escape. We didn't go to Space Mountain anymore since it will be too scary for the kids but were were able to ride the kiddie coaster inside Toontown. Later in the evening Ophine and Missy rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which is another roller coaster, albeit much faster and bigger that the kiddie coaster. We also had the opportunity to have a family photo with Mickey inside his domain in Toontown. Among the favorites of the kids where we went to were the Indy Speedway, Mickey's PhilarMagic (3-D movie), The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. This last one has the likeness of Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow already included.

It was just a soggy day since it rained almost non-stop from noon to evening, thus the parade was canceled and the picture taking opportunities were kind of limited. We left the park around 7:30 pm and went back to the hotel to rest and 'fight' for another day. Epcot was beckoning. Here are some photos from Magic Kingdom.

A Day in Epcot

Still tired from all the walking the previous day, we managed to leave the hotel early for Epcot. When we got there, there were not so many people yet. We went first to Spaceship Earth since there was practically no line. After that we went to Test Track. Missy was kind of apprehensive because she can see how fast the 'car' was moving on the track. I told her, this is nothing compared to the roller coaster she rode the previous day. It was a cool ride as David had said. The next stop was Mission Space. They now have two choices in terms of intensity. We chose the 'no spinning' option and we all liked it. It was a simulation of a trip to Mars from launch to landing. Of course it was a very short one. David said it was 'cooler' than the Test Track ride. We also went to 'The Seas with Nemo and Friends' which was a renovation from the older 'Living Seas'. We were kind of hoping we can finish the new 'Soaring-A California Adventure' ride before moving to the World Showcase but the kids were already hungry.

We already planned that we are going to eat at the Akershus Restaurant in the Norway pavilion but it was fully booked. We have always eaten there before and there Scandinavian buffet is really good but unfortunately we can't be accommodated. I was wary of making a reservation because of the unpredictability of knowing what time we can reach it. I guess it was not meant to be, they have increased their lunch buffet price to $25 per head for adults. If I'm the only one eating, I'm sure I can make it worth the price but with the two kids, maybe not. Anyway, we ended eating at the Japan pavilion. It was good but you can eat Japanese food anytime and anywhere.

We have always liked going through the different World Showcase Pavilions but we missed going to France, Canada and UK for lack of time. We were also able to visit Italy, Germany, China, the US and see their 'American Adventure' show and Norway and take the Viking boat ride. After that it was again raining hard, we went back to the 'Soaring' ride but the waiting time was 90 minutes. We still went to the line but after 30 minutes, the kids were kind of restless so we decided to go back to the hotel without seeing 'Illuminations' show (fireworks) besides we were quite sure it was going to be cancelled because of the rain and we were already tired. The day was hot and muggy and the late rain made it a little worse. Here are some photos. I'll try to post some more and some videos too soon.





























































Missy was so enchanted with the dolls inside the Germany pavilion. This dollmaker makes the dolls with your choice of clothes, hair and head. At an average of about $150 a doll, Missy can only drool but at her age she already knows if something is too expensive.

Finally, a picture with Mulan and Mushu.

Disneyworld Video Clips

First time I've uploaded videos here in my blog from a Fujifilm Finepix Z3 digital camera that Ophine was mostly using. It can take TV quality Mpeg-4 videos. The quality is very acceptable when viewing with Windows Media Player but after uploading to Videoegg.com which converts it to flash format, there is some loss in quality. I tried uploading first to Google video which has a larger frame/monitor size but uploading takes forever so I removed the embedded videos and decided to just use Videoegg. I'm just not sure if these videos can easily be seen with a dial-up connection. Comments are welcomed.

On the way to the park




Meeting Mickey




Barnstormer Kiddie Coaster at Magic Kingdom




Entering Epcot




Test Track





Mission Space



Dollmaker in the Germany pavilion at Epcot



Meeting Mulan and Mushu

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our family and friends. It's now 2007. Yaay!

We're leaving for Orlando today for a family vacation and we'll be going to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I'll post some photos when we come back on Friday.

Have a blessed year everyone.