2011
5th International Silent Film Fest at Shangri-la Plaza
If there’s one Shang film fest I would not miss, it would be this.
The first Silent Film Fest I watched was in 2009, Fantomas: in the shadow of the guillotine (1913). Prior to watching, I thought all along that the music was recorded. I did not expect a LIVE BAND playing vis-a-vis the colossal screen of sepia. It was Corporate Lo-fi who played that night. Somehow their hip hop jazzy funky music was perfect for the classic French silent film. It was mind-blowing. I can still remember the good shivers sent down my back, as I experienced this extraordinary audio-visual.
This unique artistry will be again accessible to everyone this August 2011 at Shang Cineplex. And for the first time the Philippines will participate with the film Brides of Sulu.
See the screening schedule and film synopsis after the jump.
August 26, 2011 Friday
7PM – Brides of Sulu (Philippines)
9PM – Nosferatu (German)
August 27, 2011 Saturday
5PM – Akeyuku Sora / The Dawning Sky (Japan)
7PM – Dante’s Inferno (Italy)
August 28, 2011 Sunday
5PM – The Greek Miracle
7PM – Pilar Guerra
BRIDES OF SULU
John Nelson,1933 (47 min.)
Drawn by their forbidden passions, a beautiful Mohammedan Moro princess and her lover, a pagan pearl diver, defy religious and moral laws and flee her arranged marriage to another. The ruler of a primitive Philippine Island has promised his daughter Benita’s hand to a nearby noble chief. As the town prepares for Benita’s planned betrothal, Asan sneaks into the royal compound and steals away with his beloved. Vowing to make the infidel pay with his life, the inflamed tribesmen launch a furious pursuit to recapture their princess.Beautifully filmed on location, using local Moro tribesmen, this forgotten 1934 film provides a rare glimpse into a lost culture.
NOSFERATU
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1922 (94 min.)
The film Nosferatu – A symphony of horror is a German silent film produced by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. The premier was on the 04 March 1922 in Berlin. For the first time Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau showed vampires in a movie thus, making it the precursor of vampire films.But only a few people recognized the innovative character of this film. The film was edited, mutilated and screened in different variations. In 1987 it was possible to restore the film, even the sound and the pictures could be repaired and it looks like the original film.
AKEYUKU SORA/ THE DAWNING SKY
Torajiro Saito, 1929 (71 min.)
A melodrama about an orphan and her mother who are separated and lose contact, but are later reunited.
DANTE’S INFERNO
Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1911 (71 min.)
The Italian epic came of age with Giuseppe de Liguoro’s imaginative silent film of the Inferno, loosely adapted from Dante and inspired by the illustrations of Gustave Doré.Full of special effects, flashbacks, monsters, appearances and disappearances, giants, dragons, demons and other hellish apparitions, it must have had a terrific impact on viewers when it was first screened in Naples in the Teatro Mercandante on 10 March 1911.
The film took over three years to make and was the first full length Italian feature film ever made. Its success was not confined to Italy, it was an international hit taki
THE GREEK MIRACLE
staged documentary film, 1921(5 min.)
The film was produced by the brothers Demetrios and Michalis Gaziadis, the sons of Anastasios Gaziadis, a well-known photographer in the Athens area. The brothers founded (D.A.G. Film) in 1918 to produce newsreels and documentaries. In 1921 they were commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to produce a “staged” documentary called “The Greek Miracle” devoted to the achievements of the Greek Army in Asia Minor. Two employees of the Ministry wrote the script. The two brothers had partly followed the action and captured some dramatic pictures of the events during the Asia Minor campaign (1919-1922).The film tells the story of an Athenian family who wants to participate in the war. The husband volunteers and the wife soon follows as a nurse. Although the film was shot with professional actors (the two stars are actually Russian actors), the locations and soldiers are real. Excerpts from real newsreels that the Gaziadis brothers produced during the Asia Minor campaign have also been used.
The Greek Miracle is a rare example of a fiction film shot before WWII in Greece with both actors and real extras and settings. It is also important as it sheds light the ideology of the period. Unfortunately, the film was not completed and was never shown because of the unsuccessful outcome of the military operations in Asia Minor.
PILAR GUERRA
José Buchs, 1926 (63 min.)
The teacher of the town of Araceli, Pilar Guerra, has romantic relations with Luciano,the son of the mayor who does not approve of this young love. In hopes of separating them, he sends Luciano on a trip and Pilar to a different destination.
See you there! 
2011
Black Mamba
2011
The Importance of Mobile Apps: Evernote
In the Philippines, according to Greg McNamara a Mobile Guru I recently talked to, a big chunk of mobile users are still in black and white, meaning they have very limited internet capabilities, therefore brands have limited engagement options. But there are actually available options. But this isn’t really the point of my post tonight. What I really want to point out is how awesomly handy it is to have apps like Evernote, Instagram, and Google Maps in your pocket. These are not even moderately entertaining apps but are very useful.
I would like to focus on an App i’ve actually been using, Evernote. I like to jot down words from my head like that, and gone are the days where I panick when I dont have a pen or paper around, or I have to stuggle in my small phone and cram my thoughts in a text message. I now use Evernote with my iphone!
2011
Who views your Facebook profile?
Fact: humanity is narcissistic by nature. Somehow conceit/self-obsession must be part of our primitive survival mechanism. We are consumed with thoughts about who are interested in us. Thus the burning question translated in social media — who views my Facebook profile? Does my boss view my profile? What about my crush? Or my ex-boyfriend?? The demand is so great that lately there has been a proliferation of (fake, scam-my) FB apps which supposedly reports our social rankings, and which we fall for.
But there’s no official way to find out. Facebook seems very protective about this. And most of the apps can only measure your public interaction with your friends. So we succumb to theorizing…
At a point during a happy speculation, my officemates thought that MAYBE the friends which appear alongside your profile might be there for a reason. Have you ever asked yourself how Facebook generates this friends list?
Theory #1
The people who appear in your friends are the ones you publicly interact with the most. But in my case I don’t publicly interact with all of them. I don’t even look at the profiles of some. Try checking your friends list, and see for yourself 
Theory #2
Those on your friends list may be the ones who view your profile the most for the past month (or for the past X time). We did an experiment on this. An officemate who never appeared on my friends list, made my FB profile her homepage. Thus the frequency of her viewing my page increased… And on the 3rd week, there she was on my list.
Theory #3
The list might be generated using a more complicated Facebook algorithm: partly those who view your profile, partly those you view the most… Or the top 1, 3, 5, …, who view your profile. The permutations are infinite, and I guess we’ll never know?
Hope this doesn’t stop you from viewing your friends’ pages These are just spectacular speculations for your evaluation, dear reader…
What do YOU think?
2011
It’s Raining in Gmail!
With Gmail, you can enjoy the weather online or offline…
It’s raining in my screen!
(And while it’s not yet raining outside, maybe it will, in a few…)
One of the awesome themes of Gmail is “Tree”, where a tree sits at the bottom of your screen, and is subjected to skies which adapt the weather of your selected location.
How to enable the “Tree” Gmail theme:
- Click the cog icon at the upper right and choose “Mail Settings”
- Click on the “Themes” tab
- Select the “Tree” theme
- Don’t forget to input your location in the bottom part of the page
Enable the “Tree” theme, and see your screen change from sunny to partly cloudy to cloudy to rainy to stormy!! Exciting!
2011
How Facebook Targets You!
Just like google, I think Facebook knows what we post, and targets us based on what we post. I came across a quote that I wanted to share, and as I was pasting the post in Facebook’s Whats in your mind? input box, the suggested fan pages suddenly changed to the Author of the quote, does this mean then that If ever I post a brand it will automatically suggest the brand fan page? what a cool way to target consumers! See screenshot below. 