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Mostly Everything

Kick Ass Department of Tourism Ad


[Click on image for bigger size]

Apparently this is not a fake campaign. It’s blooming with awesomeness and controversy, I wasn’t too sure if it was indeed material from the DOT. But it is. This is a part of a series launched by the DOT and SMART and will be all over the place soon. To fully appreciate this ad, you need to see the fine print at the bottom:

** This value driven campaign promotes the Philippines to its own people, many of whom opt to travel abroad unaware of their country’s beauty. “Tara na” means let’s go.

As to whether I only need to pay PHP 4,050.00 for a round trip ticket, that I am not sure. But I guess that’s not the point, is it?

I also highly doubt its meant to belittle Thailand. For generations, Thailand has fast become a major backpacking route for Europeans as it is part of the banana pancake trail. This trail is a rite of passage for Europeans. How can we possibly compete with a backpacking tradition?

Maybe it’s time to start new traditions.

What a brazen ad. What a HUGE improvement from the previous failed campaigns. This one doesn’t speak softly. And it may even carry a big stick.

Net of it all, it’s brilliant. It’s viral. It’s controversial. I love it.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Jewelmer: A Short Primer on the South Sea Golden Pearl

On the geeky side: I’m using the new Samson Go Mic to record the voice over for this short amateur documentary. It’s an amazing device for PHP 2,300.00. It’s small, lighr and super affordable and can very well replace your professional USB studio mic if you aren’t too meticulous.

Transcript and photos follow.

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Mostly Everything

Synergy XIII: Club Paradise, Palawan

N.B. There’s still time before we close this week’s contest!

Synergy is a yearly event hosted by HP and Intel and 2010 marked year 13. Back then, it was one of the more innovative types of events as it paved the way for more intimate dialogue with the press. 13 years later, Synergy is still going strong and this year we’re at Club Paradise in Palawan.

Click on to see what happened at Synergy.

Categories
Mostly Everything

WWII Wreck Diving and Barracuda Lake in Coron, Palawan

Barracuda Lake and Wreck Diving in Coron, Palawan from jayvee Fernandez on Vimeo.

I summarized one memorable weekend into 3 minutes. It was hard, but I did it! This was my first time to experience wreck diving in Coron, as well as enjoying the reverse thermocline “spa” inside Barracuda Lake. Good friends, great dives, what more could you ask for the long weekend?!

Credits: “Open Happiness” (www.openhappiness.tv) for the audio. The entire video was shot using a Panasonic Lumix LX3 and a Sony Cybershot W230 w/ marine pack for the underwater shots. Editing done in iMovie ’09.

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Our dive weekend itinerary consisted of overnight stay on board the Super Ferry (their chocolate cake is really good!) and 6 dives throughout Saturday and Sunday. We boarded the ferry back to Manila Sunday night and docked into a work-filled Monday 🙁

This was my most memorable local trip, and it would have been at par with my Batanes sojourn but it obviously exceeds that due to our “getting wrecked” in Coron. Our itinerary consisted of three dives for Saturday — the Kogyo Maru, Tangat Wreck, and the Olympia Maru (my best wreck dive!), and Sunday had us inside Barracuda Lake (overall the most entertaining dive for the whole trip), the Akitsushima gunboat (with actual guns!) and finally the Taiei Maru oil tanker.