It’s that time of the year again! The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008 is now ongoing and I have finally come up with my final list of blogs which I believe are both, well, emerging and influential. Last year, I nominated only 8 blogs as I was kinda new in the blogging community and didn’t really follow a lot of blogs.

Oh what a difference a year makes! Thanks to my online and offline whoring of my blog, I have gotten to quadruple the number of blogs on my feed reader. I have also learned a lot from my experiences — getting invited to events and launches, meeting new bloggers, reading new stuff about blogging, and a whole lot more. I have also put up new blogs apart from my pre-existing LiveJournal, Multiply and Baklaako.com. I came up with Gay Events Philippines - a blog that rounds up all gay-oriented and gay-related events from all over the Philippines. I also started Ernie’s own travel blog (which at this time is on temporary hiatus due to technical issues) since he tagged along with me in all my adventures in and around the country. I also put up my own food blog, Eat Your Hearts Out! — a food blog for non-food experts. And just recently, the gossip blog about bloggers: DaWho! Also, I am currently in the planning and building stages in putting up a group blog of sorts for me and my chica friends about fashion, beauty, movies, music, entertainment, lifestyle, clubbing, and so much more! Oh and yeah, the ambitious Baklang AJ is also currently setting up his own tech, beauty, fashion and shopping, career, and events blogs (tig-iisa yan ha, so good luck na lang sa akin!) No, I am not nominating all of these, nor am I pitching them to you for nomination (if the pitch works, I won’t blame you. lol).

So let’s get on with my nominees for this years Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008 (In no particular order): …..Click here to read more

Don’t we all?

Your dirty mind might think that I’m talking about what you’re thinking, but I’m sorry to disappoint you, it’s not what you think it is. I’m talking about two of the Little Loser Shirts from David & Goliath. The “Little Losers” is a collection of graphic misfits that pay tribute yo character stereotypes, which will stay true to David & Goliath’s acerbic (uhm, do they have a shirt for Malu Fernandez?) sense of humor.

I think I must have spit out some strands of pasta on the table at the launch of David & Goliath’s new shirt line called Little Losers. How could I not, when Mag:Net Cafe in Bonifacio High Street almost exploded due to the laughs from a lot of LOSERS also known as bloggers. Yes, …..Click here to read more

I’m sure many of you have already heard this audio file of this call made by an irate customer to a local helpdesk. It’s so hilarious that I played it on loop in my media player.
And since I am so fond of transcribing stuff, I transcribed the whole conversation and turned it into a video.

Why “I Kell You?” Watch the video (with an I Kell You transcript) to find out.

Enjoy!

Video Source

“I am not angry at gay men. But I’m against what they’re actually doing,” so said Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales in an interview on the church-run Radio Veritas. (Thanks to Arbet and Queerty for the lead). This was part of an interview where Cardinal Rosales frowned upon the participation of gay men in the May Flower Festival, Santacruzan, which is a tradition conducted in honor of the Blessed Virgin.

Rosales lambasted small parishes saying that “We should keep sacred, what’s sacred,” and that it is not right to allow male cross-dressers to participate in the parade as it destroys the purity of the procession. Ah, purity.

Wherever can we find that these days? I wonder if Rosales will also berate the people in showbiz who organize Santacruzans which have those “sexy stars” as the reynas. Purity!

Rosales, however stressed that he is not discriminating against homosexuals and that he just wants to preserve the solemnity of the processions. If not allowing gay cross-dressers (who can play the part and sometimes better than females) to be part of these religious processions is not DISCRIMINATION, I wonder what is.

Some may debate that since this is a religious activity, the church has all the right to impose any rule they want. Sure they do, but what does that have to say about the religion?

However, the double standards when it comes to homosexuals still come into the picture. Take for example what happened last year to lesbian couple Leah Vader and Lynne Huskinson in the United States. They were active members of the church, but were eventually disallowed from taking communion by no less than their parish priest. The priest sent them a letter telling them that because of their union (they got married in Canada), and because of their public advocacy of same sex unions, they were no longer fit to take communion.

Now let’s move closer to home. Just last month, Monsignor Achilles Dakay, the spokesman of Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal released a statement regarding the Cebu Black Suede Canister Scandal. He blamed the victim’s homosexuality for the whole incident:

They seem to forget the whole thing. They are blaming the doctors for what they (did) but I think they should blame the guy for what they did,” Monsignor Achilles Dakay, spokesman for Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, said

That statement is clearly biased, discriminatory and uneducated. Dakay clearly did not know what the issue was about. The issue was not about sexuality nor was it about morals. It was about professionalism and ethics. If they continue to impose their moral standards on every single issue like that, then we have a problem. I’m just wondering though why they’re so vocal about homosexuality of the common people but they keep mum on issues of their fellow priests accused of sexually harassing young boys and girls. Would they also say the same thing, that we are forgetting what the real issue is?

I was born and raised a Roman Catholic and it was stuff like this that made me abandon the church, but not my faith. Over the years, I realized how unfair the church was and still is when it comes to their homosexual members. It is a known fact that many gay men are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and many of them are active in church-related activities too. You can see them in choirs, charismatic renewal movements, church beautification committees, etc. There isn’t any downright discrimination, because from a utilitarian point of view, these gay men are important to the church. The Vatican is still against homosexuality (some say the church is not against homosexuality, just homosexual acts), and homosexuals are doomed to go to hell if they don’t go straight.

If the church does not consider these biased statements and repulsive acts as discriminatory, I wonder what discrimination is.

So what is it that we, gay men, are actually doing that the church is against? Don’t ask me, ask Cardinal Rosales.

News Sources:

1. GMA News
2. ABS-CBN News
3. Reuters

I have been invited to a lot of food-related events in the past year. However, I don’t feel like I have given justice to the food items and the events so it is in this light that I have finally opened a separate food blog!

Eat Your Hearts Out is my new food blog. It is a food blog for non-foodies, non-experts, non-food bloggers who just appreciate good food. And since I’m not familiar with technical terms used in food reviews and the like, I will use basic English and a little gayspeak! O davah?

In the past two weeks or so, I had the honor of being invited to Spot.ph’s Blogger Food Tour at Trinoma, Serendra, and Bonifacio High Street. And since I believe that one post for each venue will not be enough, I will be posting them on http://food.baklaako.com. Another event that I attended was Appetite Magazine’s Grand Launch of the Tasting Room in Greenbelt. Oh and yeah, how could I forget Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s Tea Appreciation Seminar? These will be my initial posts on the new blog! I have already collected a few photos and some reviews of different restaurants which are not part of any PR campaign and those will appear on the blog too!

Some come visit Eat Your Hearts Out and enjoy good food from a non-expert’s point of view!

This doesn’t mean though that I’m making pabaya Bakla Ako, May Reklamo? It’s just a new blog that I will try to maintain.

And yes, this also means that regular programming here has resumed!