Friday, September 6, 2002
Now going through John Maxwell's The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player: Becoming the Kind of Person Every Team Wants.
The book has a companion web site: QualitiesOfATeamPlayer.com [more]
Posted by Manuel [Are you a Team Player?]
Found some rules for the Carlos Palanca Awards (Year 2000) and here are some key points for those interested:
One-Act Play : 45 mins (at about 2 mins per page, that's almost 25 pages)
Full-Length Play : About 90 mins of stage time or 50 pages
I know the contest is many months in the future, but it would be better to start early. Goodluck! (You know who you are...)
March 18, 2003 Update:
Carlos Palanca 2003 Contest Rules
Posted by Manuel [Carlos Palanca Rules]
Thursday, September 5, 2002
I don't get it. People publish their blogs. Folks share their thoughts online. Some try to be anonymous by not showing their real name on their web site.
And then they point to other blogs, online journals which drop clues that identify the site owner's identity.
Sigh. I still don't get it.
Posted by Manuel [Weblog Anonymity]
Isagani Cruz wrote about his experience as a judge [Full-Length Play Category] of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Philstar, Sept 5, 2002), and he gave tips on how to improve your chances of winning a Palanca award:
* At least 50 pages of double-spaced text (full-length play)
* Use good grammar (especially in stage directions) ~ he ended up reading only six of the fourteen entries in whole
* consistency of language per character
* avoid trite images and pretentious figures of speech
He focused on the importance of grammar, and I got irked by this line:
A writer that does not know the grammatical or structural rules of a language has no business writing in that language.
Hmmm. Just a paragraph before that he wrote:
Action is still defined even with all the advances in technology and postmodern theories, the way it was defined by Aristotle, namely, as the thing that move the play forward.
I dunno. That doesn't sound grammatically correct. Angel says it might just have been a typo. But still...
If you like to write, then write. Even if your speling is bad. Even if your gramer s wrong. Afterall, if you have a different accent or if you mix your he's and she's or your is's and are's, does that mean you have no business speaking in that language? Hmph! "Hindi ako mayabang..." ;-)
Posted by Manuel [Palanca Awards, Grammar, and the Business of Writing]
Dindin wonders why our fingers turn wrinkly after spending a lot of time in the swimming pool. The quick answer: water from the pool enters parts of our body. We become waterlogged... but only in some parts. That's why we wrinkle.
For the longer answer:
Why Do We Have Wrinkly Fingers After Swimming?
Posted by Manuel [Why We Have Wrinkly Fingers After Swimming]
Tony Bowden: Understanding Nothing
Just to remind me of a blog (about software) whose format I find appealing, because of the "See Also" links at the bottom of his entries. Found that site via a link at WebWord, a site about usability.
Posted by Manuel [Tony Bowden's Blog]
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Why do cell phones make us stupid? (by Lisa Napoli). "The ability to focus on the moment is vanishing, along with the ability to conduct a meaningful conversation. Discussions are becoming more like MTV edits."
If people, hoping to keep in touch with each other, end up talking about such mundane things via their cellphones, what about weblogs? Yikes.... It's a warm day here in Manila, and my computer's humming while my monitor's whining irritably. Oops, the scanner is a bit askew and I have to remind myself to clean it with some MC cleaner.
Does a weblog make me stupid? Or does it help me write better? Or even keep in touch with online friends? Ah basta, I'll just use it to help me remember certain web sites. As for my cellphone, let's jst kp n touch, k? :-)
Posted by Manuel [Is My Web Site Making Me Stupid?]
Tuesday, September 3, 2002
(As a public service, I'm posting my friend's announcement here...)
We would like to invite you and your colleagues to attend the EDUCONFAB
2002: A Web Conference on the State of Science and Technology Education
in the Philippines, organized by the Science and Technology Advisory
Council-Japan, in cooperation with DOST-ASTI and UP-NCTS. In this
confab, we will discuss the subject of S & T education in the
Philippines and its menagerie of issues and problems with the theme,
"Empowering the Philippines through Science and Technology Education:
Responding to the Challenges of Globalization." The backbone of the
event will be a real-time interactive videoconference between the
Philippines and Japan.
[more]
Posted by Manuel [EDUCONFAB 2002: A Web Conference on the State of Science and Technology Education]
Do you parents need help when dealing with you child's homework? Are you interested in easily preparing practice sheets for your child who studies here in the Philippines?
I understand that there are few moms out there who use the computer to easily prepare study guides for their kids in kindergarten, prep and in grade school -- St. Paul's (Pasig), Ateneo, LSGH, etc.
If enough parents are interested, maybe we can organize something. Afterall, who wants to spend too much time on homework, right? If we can all save time, perhaps we'll have more non-school-related time with our kids.
Use the box below and send me a message...
Posted by Manuel [Homework Help]
The list may still slightly change (you'll understand when you get to that page), but here's a list of
Winners of the Carlos Palanca Literature Awards for the Year 2002.
Perhaps this will motivate some members of my family to join that annual contest? :-)
Then again...
Why do people join writing contests?
Posted by Manuel [Carlos Palanca Awards Year 2002]
Monday, September 2, 2002
The Global Network of Dreams (www.gnod.net) is a new search engine that allows you to see what are the other interests of people who share some of your interests.
So I gave it a whirl, and found out that I should try these other authors:
Douglas Preston
Kathy Reichs (gnod showed 'Cathy Reichs')
Dale Brown
Matthew Reilly (gnod showed 'Riley')
Jeffrey Archer
Anyway, visit Gnod and see what you think...
Posted by Manuel [GNOD - New Search Engine]
"The Truth Must Be Told!"
A Review of "Magic Words That Bring You Riches"
I once heard someone define advertising as being "truth well told." By this brilliant definition, Ted Nicholas is an absolute genius because he knows how to dramatize the truth in the most compelling and memorable way. He does this simply by using choice words and phrases.
It's no wonder that sometime ago, Ted brainstormed a single headline for a newspaper advertisement, and it successfully pulled in over $75 million in sales over a period of several years. It's also no wonder that he achieved almost $25 million in direct mail sales of one of his books, and he is often called the 500 Million Dollar Man, having successfully marketed over $500 million worth of products in 49 different industries.
Does Ted Nicholas have the magic touch? No, but what he does have are magic words. [more]
Posted by Manuel ["The Truth Must Be Told!"]
Do you know what makes a web site profitable? It's not the graphics. It's the sales letter.
A salesletter motivates interested customers to go and buy your product and services. Some professionals charge around $750 just to write your salesletter. I once charged a local company US$200 to write their salesletter.
Why are people willing to pay to have their salesletters written? It's simple -- they don't have the time to do it. How about you, do you have the time? [more]
Posted by Manuel [How To Create A Sales Letter]
