ARE you an otaku? Can’t get enough of manga and anime? Then check out this nifty blog called The Otaku Shrine.

Here’s an excerpt from the latest blog entry:

There was a time when I totally gave up on Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. While the fillers were a huge turn-off, BeeTrain’s animated rendition of TRC was a far cry from the CLAMP’s mouthwaterinly artistic manga. And I have to admit the theme song played whenever Syaoran battles someone to get Sakura’s feather gets old after a while. And the flashbacks to meeting Yuuko are not at all invigorating. So I stopped following Syaoran and Sakura’s story for months.

Two days ago, while in hot pursuit of Beck’s manga scanlations, I stumbled upon the latest chapters of TRC. I opted to read the chapter 145 which was the last update. Holy good lord my heavens! The very first page hooked me with an all out battle between Syaoran and Hikaru (Angelic Layer). Warning! Spoilers full speed ahead! Do not read if you don’t like S-P-O-I-L-E-R-S! CLAMP is a freakin’ genius for all the amazing plot twists and cliffhangers they throw at us slavering fans! This is the front cover of one of the latter chapters– good lord– two Syaorans!?! Spoilers Ahoy!!!

I FOUND this blog called Inevitable Karma by Martin Perez, a social studies teacher at the Philippine Science High School.

A quick look at his blog will tell you he’s one cool teacher. Sir Martin (as he prefers to be called) loves rock and alternative music. He reads books like “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” and “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. He was born in 1983! And did I say he loves comics? That’s a long introduction to the topic on teaching through blogs.

Remember I already featured a blog by an American teacher? So I thought of finding a local one to show how Filipinos are using the same technology to reach out to students.

In a project called Pisay meets World, Sir Martin encourages students to use Internet technology to express “What can the world expect from the Pisay scholar in the future?” Pisay is a short for Philippine Science High School.

He explains:

In March 2007, Sir Martin and his students unveiled an ambitious project for the very first time — the Pisay Meets World. It was a cascade of online student projects that answers the theme, “What can the world expect from the Pisay scholar in the future?”

Their answers ranged from satires of high school life (that showed off their artistic side) to short films on real issues, and to blogs that responded to real social concerns.

Here’s one good example of a short film done by his students, which they posted on YouTube.

One thing I found interesting from his blog is a podcast that explains the genesis of the Pisay Meets World project.

Now, who says learning social studies in high school is boring? Heh

OUR hackenslash gaming site is now a blog.

It’s our very first site to be transformed into a blog, and it’s the seventh blog in the INQUIRER.net Blogs network.

Find out why we turned it into a blog.

THE FINALISTS for the Philippine Blog Awards have finally been unveiled.

The complete list of finalists for the main categories can be found here. The finalists for the special awards can be found here.

The Philippine Blog Awards will be held this 31st of March 2007 at Podium 4, the RCBC Plaza Auditorium in Makati City.

I RECEIVED an e-mail from a Malaysian journalist last week. It was about a story from Malaysiakini.com highlighting a recent warning from its Internal Security Ministry against newspapers quoting or citing “anti-government” content from blogs and online portals.

Unfortunately, Malaysiakini.com’s story is only available for its paying subscribers. But for the purpose of our discussion on blogs and free expression, I have picked a few points from the article to highlight:

• The Ministry sent a letter to newspapers reminding them of the Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984. According to Section 8A(2) of the law, newspapers should ensure “correctness and truth of news before publishing them.”

[Read the rest of this entry »]

I WISH to explore another application for blogs, which is teaching. I believe that schools are only beginning to see the benefits of blogs as a tool for education. In most cases, blogs by teachers or students are personal in nature. So I went searching for interesting blogs by teachers and found one. It’s called Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Here’s why I love this blog:

As I read about the evolution of the Web, I just feel that many of the experts are missing it! (Perhaps the 3D web is part of the “intelligent agent” idea, but I’m not so sure.)

[Read the rest of this entry »]

WE’VE added three more blogs to our growing INQUIRER.net Blogs network: Current, the Eleksyon 2007 Blog and Babe Republic.

Current is a joint blog from Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Manuel Quezon III and Inquirer editor John Nery, which will tackle current events and the issues of the day as reported in the Inquirer print newspaper.

Tired of letting the candidates do all the talking?

[Read the rest of this entry »]

OUR Blog Addict of the Week is Sajid A. Kamid of Ctrl + Alt + Delete.

Could you tell us something about yourself? How old are you and what are you currently doing? When and why did you start blogging and who got you hooked?

I am 31 years old, a native of Cotabato City, Mindanao. A Ph.D. student at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. I will be studying here until 2010.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

HERE’S a provoking question posed by an article on Guardian Unlimited.

This question is a result of an observation Robert Niles, the editor of the Online Journalism Review, which found that journalists often see bloggers “feeding” off the work of newspapers and magazines since they just serve as a “global echo chamber.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Are bloggers parasites? That’s the question of the day in the navel-gazing world of the blogosphere. Robert Niles, the editor of the Online Journalism Review, recently decried what he sees as a tendency by journalists to characterise blogs as “a ‘parasitic’ medium” that feeds off the work of traditional newspapers and magazines. He calls the charge “a poorly informed insult of many hard-working Web publishers who are doing fresh, informative and original work.”

[Read the rest of this entry »]

I STUMBLED upon this blog called EntrePinoys Atbp. while browsing through PinoyBlogosphere, a blog aggregator. First, the blog contains useful information for entrepreneur wannabes. From making ramen, spaghetti noodles, etc. to aroma candles, this blog offers a lot of ideas which will keep you saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

The blog is divided into different topics from tips (for more tips check out over very own Money Smarts), from doing business as an SME, to franchising, etc. It has already been featured by Annalyn Jusay for the Manila Bulletin and is currently among the nominees in the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards.

The blog is maintained by Eu-Leh who lives in Riyadh. But his hometown indicates he’s a Filipino and was born in Las Piñas City.