Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?

Welcome 2009 and welcome to a brand new year of kabaklaan here on “Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?”!

2008 was such a great year for the blog and we hope 2009 will be an equally good if not better year.

So let’s do a quick recap of what happened in 2008. Here are some highlights:

Early in the year, I launched the “Are You ‘A’ Gay?” video blog series, which turned out to be just a few episodes.  I will no longer promise to start a new series nor to continue the series, I will just post whenever I feel like it.  Besides, no one really watched the videos. Haha.  It was also in January when I got gaybar-devirginized as I, along with some friends, visited not one, not two, but three gay bars in Manila! And who can forget the Cabalen Trinoma incident?  I was one of the few people who got the chance to meet the infamous Anne from Cabalen! What an honor!

In February, I got to visit Batanes courtesy of Epson Philippines!  And I won a printer by winning  (I was first runner-up) the Epson in Batanes photo contest! I also got the chance to meet Christine Gambito aka HappySlip.  Thanks to the people of Yehey!, I was able to go up onstage and ask HappySlip a question face to face! Not satisfied with that kind of mileage, I also got the chance to be interviewed on video by Janette Toral for the Digital Filipino Club.  It was also during this month that I had the honor of meeting Danton Remoto as we, the FabCasters, recorded a very enlightening, educational, and fun podcast with him.

March was one of those “issue months” as we dealt with a lot of issues here on the blog.  Who could forget the controversial Binibining Pilipinas World Janina San Miguel and her infamous answers to the interview portion of the competition (she eventually dropped out of the Miss World Competition due to family issues).  Interesting to note as well are the answers of the other finalists! I also wrote about the Anti-Discrimination Bill in the Philippines and did a little extra research on it.  It was also the height of the cirmcucision issue as Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Season 2 housemate Alex Anselmuccio decided to have himself cut live on Philippine TV.  March also saw the heat of American Idol and the issue of whether David Archuleta, one of the two David finalists, was gay or not. And since we’re talking about issues, why not revisit the Manila High Society and The Gucci Gang Scandal? We actually found a “Gucci Gang” that does Coke and had pics to prove that the gang did Coke!

In April, Luke McFarlane came out as gay and an alleged masturbation video of actor and model Victor Basa sprawled throughout the Internet. Another thing that came out was the Cebu Canister-Rectal Surgery Video scandal. I also came up with an April Fool’s Day joke by announcing that this blog was closing. I conquered a mountain, courtesy of Columbia Sportswear. And I did a livestream of iBlog4. This blog was also featured in Manila Bulletin’s Blog-O-Rama in April. One of the best things that happened in April was the opening of Bloggers DaWho (which can now be accessed through http://www.bloggersdawho.com!

In May, Ellen DeGeneres announced that she will marry her girlfriend Portia De Rossi. It was also during this month that I opened Eat Your Heart’s Out  – my food blog – which was later renamed If It Looks Good, Eat It!  (The site is temporarily down though, will reopen this January 2009). I also live blogged the finals of Miss Philippines Earth 2008 (the winner, Karla Henry later won Miss Earth 2008). This was also the month when I made a video with transcript of the recorded call that had a hilarious exchange of words between a call center agent and a customer – I KELL YOU! It was also this month when one of our transgender friends, Sass Rogando Sassot was discriminated against by a certain bar in Makati. I also went to the opening night of the Philippine Fashion Week 2008 and was baffled by a lot of things.

In June, someone tried to steal my identity by creating a YouTube profile using my name and mixing up a video I created and claimed it as his/her own.  It was also during this month when I met my now-ex-boyfriend (we broke up December 24th because he had to leave the country). I also celebrated the centennial of the University of the Philippines with the whole UP community and posted an old photo of me at the foreground of UP Mindanao’s Oblation. Hari ng Negros 2008 also took place during this month. And we also posted the Ten Things You Need to Know About the Anti-Discrimination Bill.

In July, Project Runway Philippines was the hottest topic here as we started doing recaps of each episode.  I got so busy (and disappointed with the fact that some people copied and pasted the whole recaps – which took me more than 5 hours each to finish – without attribution and claimed the recaps as their own.) that I had to stop the recaps. Marc Jacobs was also rumored to marry his Brazilian boyfriend during this month. In Dubai, some foreigners were arrested for alleged homosexuality.  Miss Venezuela took home the coveted Miss Universe 2008 crown.

In August, I gave away tickets to the premiere night of The Thank You Girls (which shall be shown on Robinsons Indiesine – finally! – on January 21 to 28). I also got the chance to interview (together with beauty bloggers Phoebe Ramos of Swipe Some Gloss and Sophie Uy of Beautynomics ) Dr. Hayden Kho of the Belo Medical Group during the Belo Bloggers Event (thanks to Micamyx for the invite!). Michael Phelps appeared in what looked like a halter top on the cover of Sports Illustrated. America’s Next Top Model made history by having the first transgender contestant - Isis. Gay icon Madonna turned 50 this month. This was also a good month for us because Bloggers DaWho was voted as one of the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008!

During my birthday month, September, Google announced their support for gay marriage in California. It was also during this month that a seemingly uninformed person (Pompeyo Pedroche) wrote about homosexuality in the Philippines, which was published on the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Clay Aiken came out via People Magazine (no one knew he was gay prior to this?). This was also a big and controversial month for the Philippine blogging community thanks to Wordcamp Philippines (where I got to meet Mr. Wordpress himself, Matt Mullenweg) and the 2nd Philippine Blog Awards (which, by the way, I co-hosted with Kring, Marcelle, and Tiff). Gay bloggers also started getting recognition in the community as a number of gay bloggers were nominated (and some won!) at the Philippine Blog Awards! Ricky Martin became a dad. And I got to watch the Eraserheads Reunion Concert with other bloggers (courtesy of Red Horse Beer!).

October was another great month!  I got to watch the final runway show of Project Runway Philippines Season 1 live at SMX during the Philippine Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2008 series. MyGanda Ako, May Reklamo? - my beauty and fashion and anything and everything beautiful blog was launched. I joined the Rainbow Bloggers Philippines group blog. Rustom Padilla surprised a lot of people when he went to the Urian Awards dressed in women’s clothing.

November was a busy month as we joined the LGBT community in the preparations and celebrations leading to the Manila Pride March 2008. I organized, with the help of GeiserMaclang and Red Box (two firms that are very supportive not only of the blogging community but also of the gay blogging community!), an LGBT Bloggers Night at Red Box. I also got the chance to interview Project Runway Philippines judge and fresh, fabulous designer Rajo Laurel. Boyzone also made history by being the first boyband to feature a gay couple in a music video. Aries Lagat became the first ever winner of the Philippine franchise of Project Runway! Daniel Radcliffe brought his naked ass to Broadway and David Beckham was happy that he was the branded as the gayest straight man in Britain! The real story behind why “Anna Dizon is Anna Dizon” was also revealed!

The last month of 2008 was pretty eventful! Of course, I got devirginized – I was stripped of my Pride March Virginity as I joined the LGBT Community in celebrating Manila Pride March 2008. I barely had any posts due to some technical problems with the blog, but it was still a pretty busy and interesting month.  The blog was down for about two weeks or so, which coincided with Migs, the Manila Gay Guy, closing down his blog. The Oblation Run kept many of our eyes busy. And I became single.

So there you have it, that was 2008 for Bakla!  I would like to thank everyone for your continued support.  To friends, old and new; to bloggers of all kinds; to Plurkers and Twitterers; to spammers and fakers and haters; to GeiserMaclang and Bridges and other PR agencies; to the ex-boyfriend; to family; to the FabCasters; and to you, the silent hero of this blog – my dear readers; THANK YOU FOR MAKING 2008 A BIG SUCCESS for BAKLA AKO, MAY REKLAMO?!

May we all have a bigger, brighter, and more fantabulous 2009!

Babushkabellez!