Name Meme. :)

Here’s another fun tag game courtesy of Chuck (apologies for this loooong delayed response).

This should be an easy one (though it took me some time to answer this!).

• Your Rock Star Name: (first pet and current car)

  JINGKY NUBIRA

• YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)

  Choco oreo
  

• YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

  D Car
  

• Your detective name: (favorite color, favorite animal)

  Blue bird
  

• YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

  Dela Cruz Manila
  

• YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

  Car Do
  

• SUPERHERO NAME (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)

  The Green Coke
  

• NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)

  Domingo Bernardo
  

• STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
  

  Calvin Mentos
  

• WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names)
  

  Pimentel Nuevo

• TV Weather Anchor Name: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with same letter)

  Dionglay Davao
  

• Spy name/bond girl: (your favorite season/holiday, flowers)

  Winter Lotus
  

• Cartoon name: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now ! “ie” or “y”)

  Mango Island Spicy

• Hippy name: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)

  Rice Hotdog Ipil
  

• Your rockstar entourage name: (“The” + your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”

  The TV Watching Sun Tour
  

• Your porn name: (First pet +name of street you grew up on)

  Jingky Ambray

   

This was definitely fun. (nadala yata si Chuck sa tagal ko sumagot. )

Now off to giving back the fun. Shari, Ivy, Elaine, Karlo, Czille and Ayie!

Media trends in Australia, Philippines and Thailand

Just a quick observation of the general media trends in the three countries that I’ve been based in. I can say that as to balanced programming, by and large, Australia might be on the right track but this is just a quick assessment. So, here’s what to expect with media outlets in each country.

Philippines
I might not be an authority on this now but as far as I can remember news tend to be “crowded” with entertainment news. First thing in the morning, there might be morning shows on TV, this will be followed by talk shows with topics ranging from personal development to showbiz. A noon time show will follow then followed by either a soap opera TV or showbiz talk show. A children’s show might follow, then news then movies or another three to four hours of soap program again. Before coming to Thailand, I remember news programs being relegated from prime time to almost late night (or the cheap time slots, which is close to midnight).

Print media, as most of my Filipino readers know, tend to be mainly politics if not crime focused (well, that’s news in the country anyway). By and large, most of the print media tend to be entertainment focused as with tabloids.

Thailand
News and current affairs in Thailand tend to be “sporty.”After a morning show, which is basically much like a radio talk show on TV, programs that follow will be news and entertainment. There are some noon time shows, which are almost like the Bubble Gang show in the Philippines, then these will be followed by sports news again (mostly football/soccer). Then usually news are on by 6pm. They also have soap operas here but mostly are fantasy in topic, although it differs from season to season (themes might be country to family drama). One thing I like in Thai media are the good funny commercials they have, pretty good!

Australia
Just like Thailand, most of the programming on Australian TV are sports news (football/rugby or cricket). There is a morning show, which is followed by children’s show, then talk shows from the US and then an Australian soap opera then children’s show. Programs on prime time include US TV series (CSI, NCIS, Californication, Heroes, Australian Idol among others) and Australian talk shows.

The World at Risk

The UN recently reported that there is a dire need to act on the world’s global warming. Their message, simply put, is we can do something with climate change (without having to dive into the inconvenient truth) if, and only if, everyone takes the cudgels for the environment and invest towards a more sustainable management of the environment and global warming.

The Carbon Monitoring for Action website, which hosts a wealth of information on global warming placed Australians as the worst producer of CO2. The CNN.com reports that Australia “produce(s) 11 tons of CO2 for each of its people from their power plants — the highest anywhere — compared to 9 tons per person in the United States and 2 tons per person in China.” However, the US tops the worst CO2 producing country in the world with China nearly overtaking it.

A former colleague in the UN once told me that developed countries, including Australia, are holding back on the Kyoto Protocol as they have forwarded a number of reasons from job loss to economic slow down. There is double talk from the side of developed countries as they want developing countries to achieve “developed” status, however, would not want to compromise on climate change issues.

Let me explain my point, economic development is almost reciprocal to CO2 emission, i.e., if one country has to develop, it has to increase production of goods, which developed countries would not want to compromise. If there are countries that have the ability to address climate change, it is developed countries. Developing countries are basically telling developed countries, you’ve had your chance to develop, why not give us a chance and it was “them” who have (mainly) caused global warming (industrial period to present).

Global warming is one of the big issues here in Australia. There is a big chance that Australia’s position might change if Kevin Rudd wins the election (although recent blunder by the party’s supposed environment minister is quite worrying, I’m still hoping that it will definitely ratify the Kyoto Protocol). As to the rest of the world, it seems that it’s just like taking drugs, one knows the dire consequence but are still willing to take “the plunge” and suffer any consequence, even if it means taking its own life. God help us all.

Melbourne

There are a lot of news here Down Under, however, I’m off to a conference in Melbourne. The hotel internet cost is outrageously high, so I’m writing this in one of the internet cafes here in St. Kilda. Melbourne is a nice cool (literally, it’s about 19 degrees now) city.

It’s a pity, I wasn’t able to catch up with Alma (wasn’t able to inform her anyway). Well, it’s been a busy five days for me here. Off to Perth this Friday evening.

Now, here’s the twin tower for your indulgence.  Just shaved my hair last Saturday to save money for my three years stay here.

CSR

So, what’s with the acronym?

It doesn’t stand for customer service representative or corporate social responsibility but it stands for a visual impairment, central serous chorioretinopathy also called central serous retinopathy. This is usually temporary albeit for a few months. According to contributors of Wikipedia, it affects males 20 to 50. The disorder is further described as

Going blind… (on one eye)

Well, God willing, it will be only temporary albeit for a few months.

I recently consulted a General Physician due to some black spots that I’ve been seeing for about a week now. Apparently, I got it while driving without my sunnies on. The after image was gone about after five minutes right after I unintentionally looked at the sun’s reflection in another car. The following day, the after image appeared again and I was having a hard time reading or writing as my vision is impaired. So, I consulted the GP, who referred me to an ophthalmologist after finding no apparent abnormality.

The ophthalmologist’s examined my right eye and said that I have a Central serous retinopathy (CSR), also known as central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Everybody has it for no reason at all, the doctor said. But as I’ve read, it only happens with male aged between 20 to 50 and likely with “type A personality.” The usual attributed causes of CSR is stress.

Indeed, I’m in a bit of stress these past few days trying to catch up with various writing deadlines that I’ve almost slipped out of my regular “stress-relieving activity”–blogging. Anyway, I still hope that this will only be temporary but one thing is certain now, driving at night will be harder than usual. Although, one way I manage my CSR is by winking more often so to freshen up my right eye–though I don’t do it while walking lest I get a slap from women or men that I come across.

By the way, fruityoaty’s back and she’s made it in the semi-finals round of this year’s Philippine Web Awards, blog category along with other heavy weights-Yuga, etc. . So, register and nominate her or Yuga if you will