Hi.

If you’re one of the few people who may come to stumble upon this site, then I just want to give you a heads-up: I’ve moved to another blog address.

PERPLEXIGIRL

I’ll keep this domain up for 2 weeks or so, and then delete it. There might be someone out there wanting to use the domain name theinquirer. :]

See you at Perplexigirl.

~Yanna

Do more creative ads like these really encourage people to buy the product? Or do they just smile, take a picture of the ad, thinking, ‘Heck, this is cool!’, post it on a blog and forget about the main topic: the product?

Manila is one big Billboard City, but they’re all of the same young celebrities or models smiling or pouting back at me. Rarely do I see ads that really push the limit, grab you by the neck, shake you up and scream, ‘LOOK AT ME AND BUY WHAT I’M SELLING!!!‘

Advertising is the field I really want to get into when I get out of college–that is, until I become financially stable enough to set up my own business. From there, hopefully, I can grow to become not just any business woman, but a social entrepreneur. But before all that, I want to make ads that will incomparably stand out from all those generic ones all over the metro today. And wow, how are these for inspiration?

They Really Took ‘Sky’s the Limit’ Seriously

My favorite one would have to be the soccer billboard for Adidas, and the tongue stretcher for Mars (I’m biased ’cause that’s my favorite chocolate bar).

If you want more extreme billboards, then take a look at these:
Strong Tape – Strong enough to hold the billboard!
Papa John’s Pizza – Look! There’s pizza at the door! Well, there will be if you call Papa John’s. Smart.
Group E’s Electric Boards – Billboards that actually generate electricity! Not.

There are a lot more optical illusions at Virtual Fun House, so you might want to hop on over there. And this imaginative streak isn’t stopping at billboards; check out Valerie Morrison’s blog for photos of super cool, mind-boggling truck designs!

Do the dominant colors in one’s wardrobe reflect that individual’s personality?

If that’s the case, then I must be downright boring.

I’ve got a closetful of blacks, whites, dark blues and greys. That’s basically it. I think for the past year or so, I just went overboard with the whole jeans-and-tee look because I got too lazy to care, but now its come to the point that my personality and love for color just got washed out. So now I’m scouring the web for inspiration to spruce up my wardrobe with some brights and a few unique pieces.

I love yellow, so I am absolutely all over Sonia Rykiel’s ads for her new collection. Read more about it on FabSugar [Fab Ad: Sonia Rykiel Spring 2008].
But here’s a sneak peek–

Eye Candy Bazaar also features ‘wearable art’ in delicious green: [Wear Your Art: Spring's Painterly Prints].

Purple and aqua also rank high on my Get Happy Color List. And they make for a super classy but striking number on Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester (who, I may add, looks like a cross between Alexis Bledel and Rachel Bilson).

This got me searching for more info and pictures on the fashionable Miss Meester because—whew, I may top the Uncool College Girls List for saying this—but no, I haven’t watched a single episode of Gossip Girl yet. Snippets, yes, but very short and very few.

But now that I’ve seen these pictures, I’m making sure I’ll be getting my own copy of Season 1 tomorrow!

Leighton Meester a.k.a ‘Blair Waldorf’

Blake Lively a.k.a. ‘Serena Van Der Woodsen’

The Stylish Duo of the Upper East Side

Not surprisingly, there have been a lot of features and even whole sites devoted to Gossip Girl style. Here are the best ones:
Gossip Girl Fashion
People.com’s Gossip Girl Style: On and Off Set
Gossip Girl Style: Dress Like Us, Be Like Us (Livejournal community)
10 Gossip Girl Style Essentials (LA Times)
Shop Style: Gossip Girl
Abigail Lorick Designs for Gossip Girl (Stylelist)
InStyle’s Get the Look: Gossip Girl

Well, theirs is a bank-breaking wardrobe, while my wallet is a space vaccuum. Besides, with the unforgiving tropical climate here, I would die from heatstroke if I wore most of what they wear on set.

But if anything else, I got some sort of vision about what I want to add to my blacks, whites, dark blues and greys. I can even envision outfits here on Polyvore (a must-try for any clothehorse) so I know exactly what I’ll be looking for when I hit the mall. When I’ll get money for shopping—that remains a big question.

XOXO

Visit my new blog at:
PERPLEXIGIRL

Did you hear about Earth Hour 2008? More importantly, did you participate?

Anybody who hasn’t heard about it yet is even more in the dark than the thousands of people who switched off their lights last March 29, 8:00-9:00 PM in a show of support for the battle against climate change.

People from all over the world plunged into the darkness for one whole hour to save energy, and consequently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Even Nelly Furtado said ‘Turn Out the Light’, and Google embraced the blackness!)

I pledged my participation to EarthHour.org about a month ago, which I chanced upon while slaving away researching for our final presentation in the HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards. Since we started on that project, I’ve honestly been more conscious about having a greener lifestyle. Besides, don’t you feel it? The weather is going berserk–you step out of your house dressed for the scorching heat (yet your sweat glands still go on overdrive)–the next thing you know, you’re needing a jacket and an umbrella because the rain just won’t let up. Hello, Global Warming, don’t you think you’re getting a little too friendly?

Meeting in the Dark

We were going to have an overnight school org meeting on that same date, so since we were staying in another house, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to join in this event. But I was surprised that the parents of my friend were even the ones who reminded us that we should observe Earth Hour even if we were having a meeting. So by 8:00 in the evening, there we were–11 people cramped in the bedroom, talking, discussing and making decisions in the dark. Our only source of light were 2 laptops running on batteries.

The Philippines Joins In

And was I wrong when I thought that there wouldn’t be many Filipinos who’d want to be in on this. Here are also some pictures of Manila switching off (courtesy of Monsters and Critics):

Check out news from The Philippine Daily Inquirer and WWF Philippines.
Earth Hour Live writes about the success of the event in Manila:

“ON March 29th, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm, the Philippine Capital of Manila and more than 30 cities nationwide joined the world for Earth Hour. The entire stretch of Roxas Boulevard – spanning three cities – was plunged into darkness to symbolize unity in fighting climate change. … Rarely have the Filipino people been roused to such levels. … A developing nation of 7107 isles. A people working together to make a difference in the growing fight against global warming.”

It Isn’t Enough 

However, some think the Earth Hour is not as successful as everyone so glowingly thinks it to be. Vaes9 of Manila says that many residents weren’t informed, a sentiment echoed by a commenter on Green Daily.

Patrick Metzger of Green Daily proposes an activity for Earth Hour 2009: Let’s Stop Driving. I agree that this one’s gonna be pretty hard to implement, and will be hell for me (my school’s worth an hour’s drive). But for one whole hour of silent streets, less pollution and decreased greenhouse gas emissions—why not?

The recently concluded Earth Hour is, and should just be, a symbol for our willingness to modify our lifestyles so that we and our children and grandchildren can continue to live on this Earth. It shouldn’t hinder us from having our own little Earth Hours. Or just do something everyday to help save energy. Why not try setting your homepage to Blackle? It’s basically Black + Google, and its creators at Heap Media say:

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. “Image displayed is primarily a function of the user’s color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen.” Roberson et al, 2002 

I’m coming up with my 101 things to do in 1001 days list, and I think I’m going to include something on this and energy saving in general.
Because I have a confession to make: I’m all of 19, and I’m still scared to sleep with the lights off.

So now I have to decide what I’m more scared of: a ghost coming to eat me, or the accelerating pace of Mother Earth’s deterioration.

What’s your room like?

Mine right now is a mumbo jumbo of flamingo pink, lime green, pale yellow and electric blue. It seriously looks like an aftermath of an attack of pre-schoolers with highlighters.

Its been like this for almost three years now–

And I love it. It reminds me of those rainbow springs I played with as a kid, and well, a lot of my childhood in general.

I used to eat and breathe art. As a 3rd grader, I’d even cut classes to draw or paint in the art room. Art workshops were a summer staple, and I was basically a mainstay at the Ayala Museum. Man, I can even remember the chocolate shake I’d order everyday and would try to replicate at home. Ah, yes. Nothing can beat the old art and sweets combo.

Looking to revamp my room, I instead found some really cool works that made me want to grab a paintbrush and my trusty Prang watercolor set before my creative juices run dry with non-use. Even as a young artist, my art materials bore one thing in common: all the dark colors were the last ones to run out (if they even did), and the bright pinks, purples, yellows, reds, oranges, greens and blues were always begging for replacements.

Tina Fey Gets Layered

Watercolor is my most favorite medium, despite it being really hard to control. And I don’t know how Jordan Domont did these, but they’re amazing. Must try this layering technique some time.

Fresh Lychee Pickings

They’re at it again! I’m really loving this set they came up with for Hewlett-Packard. I think Electrolychee has a very distinct and humorous style. They’re a cute and quirky couple, very easy to deal with, as I’ve already interviewed them for an article for The GUIDON.

Totally Non-Intimidating Trucks

This is more on photography, but I really wouldn’t mind drawing, and more so, seeing these kinds of trucks on the road! These truckers went on an all-out lighting spree (or maybe went ballistic with safety precaution for night driving). I’m just half-waiting for circus performers to jump out any second. These are photographs from Masaru Tatsuki’s book, ‘Decotora’–short for ‘Decorated Trucks’.

Japanese Fluorescence

One of my daily haunts, The Cool Hunter, brought to my attention a certain Gianluca Fallone, a really young designer (he’s only 23!) who’s been creating waves in his Argentinean turf and beyond. I love his futuristic meets Japanese cartoons meets mystery case kind of designs, as well as his vintage cartoon works for Cartoon Network. He’s designed shirts for Nike as well.

A Random Discovery 

A little tag surfing also brought me to Knack Studios, where his entry led me to discover a new artist: Saiman Chow. (Yep. It’s Saiman, not Saimon.) Check out his work for the Latin Grammys above.

On one hand, this is all extremely inspiring. I really should touch base with my artistic side again soon.

On the other hand, it’s quite depressing because these works prove that I have A LOT of catching up to do. This is as bad as having to backlog tens of pages on my favorite forum.

What can turn my heart into mush?

This little baby right here.

Too bad he isn’t mine.

So just recently, I determinedly embarked on a Maltese Hunt on the Web. And, unless anybody has $600 dollars and a kind heart, then no, I won’t be cuddling a little puppy of my own any time soon. I did, however, stumble upon a few “Free Maltese for Adoption” ads. And being the desperate and too-excited searcher that I was, I responded to two of these posts.

The first response I got was from someone named Basile Lampard of California, who gushed about his well-trained, registered, house-broken, potty-trained puppies who love the companion of grown-ups, kids and other house hold pets. The puppy will be shipped to me along with some toys, health guarantee, crate, papers and even a food menu! All I had to do was pay for the shipping costs.

I was floored: this was a wonderful deal! He even wanted to make sure if my home was a dog-friendly one, and if I knew the basic care and attention that a maltese needs. He proceeded to tell me that he wouldn’t even think of giving up his babies, but he was on ‘a volunteer mission for the WHO on the eradication of the malaria parasite on pregnant women in a small country called Cameroon’.

I hurriedly e-mailed back, commending him on his worthy cause, and asking for a bit more details and some pictures, as well as an estimate of how much I need to pay. I was also concerned if it will actually be okay to ship the puppy. I hit send and excitedly waited for the return mail, hoping that nobody else had beat me to this great deal.
A few minutes after I sent my response, another e-mail came-this time from the other ad that I replied to. Lo and behold, here was this other guy (named Sanjo, I believe) who was also a volunteer worker stationed in Cameroon and was willing to ship his puppies to me, as long as I shoulder at least $300 of shipping costs.

Since when have Maltese owners shared the characteristics of extremely generous hearts and some sort of noble calling to volunteer in far-flung places (very particularly, Cameroon)? Do I eventually need to volunteer there too if I get a Maltese?

Google gave me more than 118,000 results saying that this whole thing is one big, furry scam. Maltese, Yorkies, bulldogs, Daschunds, chihuahuas, poodles–name it, it’s in that little country of Cameroon. Cats, ferrets and other pets are also available. (Why they picked this particular country, I have no idea.)

With this, I resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted a maltese, I’d have to find a legit breeder and save up for it. I guess this is another addition to the list of Things I Must Buy Once I Have Regular Paychecks.

On a happier note, my Maltese Hunt also allowed me to stumble upon Dog Is A God. It features designs for ‘six exclusive dog houses for just as exclusive dogs’ from 35-year-old Italian designer Marco Morosini.

Morosini has chosen to become an animal designer, creating temples for four-legged gods: tailor-made habitats created in the likeness of those of man and designed for their different attitudes and lifestyles.

If I were a dog, I’d find the houses a bit uncomfortable and weird, and I’d hold a bit of a grudge for my owner if he/she makes me stay in there. This one’s my favorite, although don’t you think it will make the pup feel that it’s living with ten other dogs inside?

Here are the five other designs:

• Good Life – The weirdest of all six. If you have a dog that prefers sitting to lying down, then this might work.
• Nomad Dog’s House – If I were a kid, I’d have fun pulling my pet around all day. Great for kids, can induce nausea in dogs.
• Temple Dog’s House – Inculturate your puppy. Make him Chinese. Turn him religious. Or simply confuse him with the three doors.
• Transparent Dog’s House – Minimalist dogs and owners rejoice! Although this won’t be pretty if his little ‘accident’ happens here.
• Dooog’s House – TOO CUTE! Dooog, get it? (But now that I think about it, it looks more for a Snaaake than anything else.)

I have no idea how much these cost, but I’m betting it’ll be more than a few Cameroon dogs combined.

College can turn you into one walking eyebag. When all the stress and deadlines get to me, I figure blogging is the best way to release some of the steam. At least now, I’m a walking–and blogging–eyebag.

THE COLLEGE GIRL INQUIRIES

If you’re a computer-hog like me, then you’d know what I mean when I say that the wealth of information on the web can be a pain in the butt—-quite literally. You search one thing, and there are thousands of sites to choose from. And from those sites, a thousand more sites of related and unrelated topics, and you just keep on clicking and clicking until you realize that it’s the break of dawn and you’ve made a permanent dent on your chair/bed/wherever. Yep, admit it, it is a real pain in the butt.

So I figured, just so all those clicking and butt pain and eyebags don’t feel too unnecessary, why not write about what I found out that day? A new site, service, product, person, news article, and all the other tricks that the WWW has up its sleeve. But then you might think, ‘Well at least one of us is lucky enough to have no other imminent worries other than the pain in her butt which she gets from sitting down all day. Geez. I hope this bum grows to double her present size.’ (Heyyyyy. -_-) I’ll also be posting pictures and details about interesting stuff I encounter outside, like stores, my purchases, friends, classes and all that. That’s also gonna be a challenge for me to go out more and discover new experiences to share. Basically, I just really want to get everyday things and find out what makes them interesting, or uninteresting for that matter.

Yep. That’s the initial plan. I’m working on building a better layout and streamlining what I really want to convey here. I may branch out to other blogs, but as for now, this is a chronicle of my general ramblings and experiences. :]

And if you’re wondering why I decided to start blogging again after a 3-year hiatus, then head on over to my About page to find out.