KENNETH PORIO | the blog

It has been a time since this craze has been popularised. Surprsingly, this form of music and dance culture was established through the Bisdak ( Bisayang dako ) culture in Mindanao, and is being given a frown among those who are unfamiliar to its sound and its impact among Filipino southerners. With its heavy beats, scratchy basses, and high-pitched synths, combined with odd sound effects and Bisaya lyrics and dialogue, no wonder it has been ingrained in the minds and bodies of the low-income class youth of Mindanao. This is called "budots" . To give you a preview, let me share you this clip. Atrocious as it sounds to those who aren't familiar with the music and the dances incorporated with it, budots has interesting elements that have been well-combined to create an identity that spans across the hip-hop and techno music genre. It's been identified as "a crossbreed of European techno music and bad hip-hop, added with some nasty attitude." The...

I have just turned 21. It's been another year for me. Now it's time to start new things. New things to look upon. New things to explore. New things to enjoy. Thank you Father for all You have done. This is for You. Cheers! KENNETH

Things have been going well for me this last semester of mine in UPMin. My schedule's not so tight anymore, although I still have my Special Problem to manage. Only two CS major courses are left for me: Networking, and Automata Theory. Oh, well, this semester has been proven quite challenging for me, since I'm having a new Special Problem adviser. It also happened he is my batchmate who graduated on time. So, it's a bad choice between being comfortable with him as a batchmate and being awkward having to communicate as a faculty member. But nevertheless, I have to do my big part to finish this project of mine once and for all. My job with Himati coincided with my SP as well, since my topic involved the publication. After being a video blogger for two terms, I decided to move on and become mainly the Online Services Developer for the student publication. It's quite stressful having to communicate with the staff regularly to gather their feedback about my project....

My blog's now six years-old ! How the years have gone! This personal blog of mine may be quite inactive because of my work, I will not hesitate myself to post things that I am happy to share with in these past years. For six years, this is where I share my stellar, wonderful life. It has been rocky, but I look ahead of a great journey. Thanks for those who believed in me, and I am grateful for it. Move on! KENNETH

In celebration of my blog's Sixth Anniversary , I present to you a new series of Animations for you to enjoy. All of them are produced through Xtranormal on YouTube. My first animation is called The Serious News , a non-conventional news bulletin, hosted by Fred and Anna. Here they present news and current issues in a way you will enjoy. My next animation is called The Office  Show , hosted by Jane and Andrew, where they discuss business news, and trends in the corporate office. My third series is called My Urban Life , about a man named Jacko, sharing his life in the streets, and how he loves his girlfriend Ashanti. So, don't miss all the excitement with my animation series. Enjoy!   KENNETH

CNN's Kyung Lah talks to a local woman seeking for pagpag. CNN International has been running reports on the Philippines through its Eye On... series. The week-long coverage will cover the best sites of the Philippines, the emerging economy, its governance and current issues like poverty. Speaking of poverty, the news network broadcasted this report by Kyung Lah about a practice that is happening in the depressed slums of Manila. Pagpag is a Tagalog term which means "to dust off." But in the context of these poverty-stricken communities, pagpag is food thrown off by restaurants that are being recovered by these poor people and are being re-cooked for their consumption. Dennis Villegas made an excellent write-up on pagpag and how it has been affecting the urban poor community. This report clearly shocked a lot of Filipinos who could afford to subscribe to cable television and watch CNN. Reactions from social media indicate this is a report that ...

This is Part 2 of a series of posts about the curious case of celebrity among Philippine athletes. You are encouraged to read Part 1 of the series. Volcanoes strut their stuff shirtless. In my previous post , I introduced on why do a number of Filipino athletes are treated like celebrities. In the example of the Philippine football scene, the recent successes of the Azkals national team came fruit due to talented and incidentally good-looking players. In basketball, the arrival of Chris Tiu and Kiefer Ravena in the national side started a new generation of gwapo in the hard-court since the Alvin Patrimonio generation. Now we continue the series with the case of our rugby and racing scene. The Philippine Volcanoes and the Explosion of Rugby Ned Stephenson of the Volcanoes in Bench undies. Rugby football or simply "rugby" is little-known in the Philippines. It isn't as prominent or as widely-preferred as football or soccer, although they are both orig...