CSS and U.X.

So I have been switching from Wordpress theme to theme trying to decide which of the hundreds should I use for both Life and Times and FlickSide. I’m quite sure on what I want. Black, empty and easy to edit. It’s just a journal anyway. But heck, I couldn’t find the perfect one. Me mind’s very erratic. Or maybe when it comes to design and presentation, I’m painfully meticulous.

FlickSide is still under construction. And because yours truly is outrageously stupid when it comes to CSS, I had to consult the help of specialists. Hence, I set up a one on one brainstorming session with Mae Paulino of LastLeaf.Org. I tell you, this 22 year old is a treasure in the Web Marketing industry. She is a front-end developer, web designer, blogger and creates Wordpress themes for clients. I told her how useless she made me feel. “Hmm, what was I doing when I was 22?”, “Ah ok, I was a mixing gin-pomelo, a lot.”

Well now that I have a clear understanding on what the current Flick Side theme can offer in terms of Usability , all I need to do now is add content. I bought a notebook with Audrey Hepburn on the cover. It now serves as the “Flick Side” book where you could find the 5 S of User Experience:

• Strategy
• Scope
• Structure
• Skeleton
• Surface

Every campaign should involve these elements. And although that UX is the analysis of user-behavior, which would obviously be available once a site has been launched and has amassed unique visitors, I find the practice as great preparation. Basically, I will dictate what my audience would experience.

Thanks Mae for the help. And to Mito Pontillas, the SEO with many names, who btw is asking for a 500 peso referral fee. So until the next UX, the theme remains the same.

Flick Side

My movie review blog is now born!

I am a film addict. No doubt about that. And just how appropriate for me to have a movie review blog to call my own. I sometimes fancy myself as a critic, I don’t know, maybe I’m just too familiar with everything cinematical. I was always the one to ask for that inescapable, “Teej, sino nga pala yung bida sa?“, “Teej, ano nga pala yung movie ni ano?” during small talks and heated movie discussions. I always had an answer but if didn’t, I make sure I’ll find out about it the next day.

Out of IMDB’s Top 100 (as voted by users), I’ve already watched 61 of it, straight 9 out of the top 10. Although that list doesn’t really speak for every one’s taste, it does contain the best films ever. But still as of now, I’m not sure which film is my favorite. Apocalypse Now, maybe.

Flick Side will be a success. Ah well, I hope so. For sure the “wired” demography would find a discerning movie review useful. My blog wouldn’t be jologs, I effin’ swear. I owe it to the pinoy moviegoers. Let me be the one to watch ugly films so they don’t have to. And let me tell them YOU those that are good. Plus, trusted friends are joining me there. These people are co-cinephiles, so what they say has great value.

One of the greatest work-related advice given to me was this. Career-wise, find yourself a job that to you isn’t actually work but instead, you find it as play. I heeding it. Writing about movies, especially the ones you love, isn’t work to me. It’s play. For sure, there’ll be some rough times ahead but it’s ok, I play hard after all.

Evidence

Time has a way of healing, so they say
So why am I still left here cryin’
Caught in these ways of emotion as people stare
I find there’s no real place for me to hide
Well I’ve been trying in vain
Was only fooling myself
With each passing day
The pain still stays the same

Caught you in the arms of another
I’ve been dying everyday since then
Caught you in the arms of another
I’ve found out about you

What more is it that you need
Right now clearly it’s not me
With every minute that I gave to you
And the punches that I took from you
Why was there no warning love?
What more is it that you need
Right now Clearly it’s not me
Despite everything I did for you
Excused if i’m surprised
The moment that I found out that we were through

When everything seems alright
You turn and break my heart
Didn’t I deserve your love
It kills me to think of his arms
Wrapped around you now,
Is he better lover than I?
Well I’ve been trying in vain
Was only fooling myself
With each passing day
The pain still stays the same

Caught you in the arms of another
I’ve been dying everyday since then

I’ve found out about you

Time has a way of healing, so they say
So why am I still left here

WTF?!

Probably the worst social networking site ever.

Repeat after me. “Tseng”, Greg “Tseng”. =)

Ambition

I’m becoming really, really ambitious these days. Well come to think of it, I’ve always been one.

First there’s the movie blog. An effort that’s gonna be spearheaded by me, along with the help of trusted friends. I decided it’s going to be a hip, modern approach to cinema critique, more of movie appreciation and not film snob. But at the same time, I want readers to actually regard my views and opinions as authoritative. Someone people would find as a significant figure, probably much like Roger Ebert. If I say that a particular movie sucks, then that movies sucks.

Secondly, the SEO Society. See there’s not a lot of SEO’s here in the country. And incidentally, only a handful know who’s who. There is the SEO forum, but honestly, I’m not that friendly enough to PM everyone and say hi or even join the group discussions. So I’m gonna create a blog by SEO’s. A real concrete web space that brings the latest news, trends, tips and everything under the Search Engine sun. It’s gonna be initiated by selected SEO’s in the PI, then if everything goes alright, then the network grows.

So there, a lot of work ahead. I still prioritize my day job of course, making my beloved major corporate site battle it out with competitors and rank higher. But being restless, that ain’t enough. There’s got to be something well within my capabilities that I could utilize and leave a great impression. Something more than what I do day in and day out. Something more out of this career. Hustle and tussle, I gots to get it. I know that it’s definitely hard and that I have to work/slave for all these that I want. But thinking of it, I already have a foot forward. Right now, I have ambition.