Today is International Mother Language Day

At isang maabong Miyerkules. Heto ang isang bagong tula ni Becky Añonuevo
tungkol at para sa ilang "academicians" sa isang unibersidad
na patuloy na nagmamarunong, eh hanggang ngayon nama'y nakakalimutan
pa ring mag-evolve. Isang meditasyon hango sa tulang "Postscript"
ni Rolando Tinio.

POSTSCRIPT SA POSTSCRIPT

Akala ko rin ay tumatagos ang iyong mga tula
Sa mga diyos-diyosang
Nakatuntong sa kalabaw,
Pero palibhasa’y latak ang utak,
O patak-patak,
Paano ka nga maiintindihan?
Ay, kung maririnig mo lang
Wala pa ring puknat ang tralala-twang
Hayun sa entablado, bigay-todo sa mikropono,
Kagagaling naman ng mga hinayupak
Na inglesero in fairness
wala nga lang laman
(ang high notes at falsetto)
sandamakmak

ang jargon lexicon kotong!

sa kaliwa’t kanang kumperensiya
national regional international

Cathedral for critical discourse analysis
Asian readers negotiating meaning and identity
Hyper-realities hegemony worksheets
Context, culture, and communication
(subtitle, fading effect: cheers for call centers)
Sheesh kulang na lang naka-tutu ang mga titulo, a-one!, a-two!
At nakaliyad patingkayad na pumasok
Sa background music na el bimbo

at kung puwede lang under the ocean
or over 47 Ursa Marjoris B
at ano pang planetoid Mathilde
hindi talaga makaliligtas sa mga organizers de-kalibre,
aba, karapat-dapat silang tawaging doktor at mga maestro,
kung hindi ba naman,
nahilo ang mga delegado sa pagparoo’t parito
sa world-class campus (na ang tanging sakit
ay obesity sa traffic, just try counting the cars),

at mayroon nga palang mapa!
E ba’t hindi ninyo naman binasa!

Di bale may meryenda, tatlong piranggot
Na tasty na may palamang ala-pimiento, o itlog.

Take note, limang libo, Rolando,

LIMANG LIBONG PISO (P5.000.00) ang ibinayad
Ng mga guro mula katipunan hanggang cotabato

At kailangan kaming magtaka,
magmakaawa sa balewalang inakala:

Ang tanging naiuwi ay sertipiko,
Pero paano kami mag-eecho?


Rebecca T. Añonuevo

Pebrero 18, 2007

Bayaw na Bayaw

Radioactive Sago Project's








Abeylabembol na!
Magbihis na kayo't bumili!

BLOG is short for BALROG

I'm starting a column for T3 Magazine this coming March. Below is the first, unedited version of the article.


The View From Vista (Or Why You Shouldn’t Upgrade Your PC Just Yet)

Joel M. Toledo


A friend texted me a few days ago, asking for advice re: building up a new system. He needed a new sleek hardware; saying he can’t wait to own a Windows Vista-ready PC, having probably been “privy to” (he’s a law student) all the hype that surrounds the much-awaited successor of Windows XP.

And who in his right computer-savvy mind wouldn’t be excited? Windows Vista promises a plethora of software features that would make one drool. The view from Vista is a definite sensory assault, in all probability marking a new age in computer systems.

Still, I simply told my would-be-lawyer friend, not to even bother with an upgrade. Sure, he has his plausible arguments as to obtaining a dual-core processor, a bigger hard drive, A DVD-burner, and newer RAM. But the bigger issue really is his willingness to settle for a mid-range video card—you know, that square-ish graphics contraption that non-gamers often take for granted. And which is actually the heart of this column’s argument.

My friend says he’s getting a 7600GT card, one of graphics developer giant NVidia’s touted products in the recent year. Any other time, I would not have hesitated recommending it; heck, it’s powerful and rare: certainly not often bundled into most pre-assembled systems nowadays. Moreover, it’s usually a per-order basis card, not readily available in your neighborhood computer hardware shops.

Ironically, the 7600GT is relatively cheap, priced in hardware warehouses at about six to seven thousand Pesos. And if my friend had more dough to spend, I would have suggested he get a 7900GT card or its equivalent from ATI, NVidia’s graphics competitor. The usual price range for these supposedly high-end cards are in the 10K to 15++K level. And again, most likely per-order basis, unless you really bother to scour the Gilmore row of shops in San Juan.

Ridiculous, one might say (I can already see readers rolling your eyes, hear the collective groan), for a simple video card. Why, you can get a really nice appliance for that kind of money, a large TV, an LCD monitor, an Xbox 360 even. In the past, high-end graphics cards are mostly the ludicrous contraptions of fanatic gamers and the powertools of video editors.

Well, not any more.

This is probably the first time in the history of computing that you can truly take the word from gamers (and, uh, former game reviewers) and NOT upgrade yet. While the wicked dual-core processors and next-generation RAMs and motherboards are already out in the market, the missing link can simply and ultimately be summarized in one word:

DirectX10.

The video card technology has made significant leaps toward PC independence in the past few years, giving birth to the now-popular term Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Now, this ideal severance is almost completely realized, with DirectX10 technology—
arguably Windows Vista’s ultimate attraction—allowing for dedicated GPU utilization.

All in all, it is not a good idea to upgrade yet because of two basic points: one, the general lack of DirectX10-ready software; and two, incredibly expensive hardware (and the lack thereof) to truly harness Windows Vista’s power (Think P25K. And that’s just for NVidia’s cheapest DirectX10-ready 8800 series cards). More importantly, no amount of Windows XP tweaking will let you experience DirectX10’s beauty, as Microsoft will not let this technology trickle back to your aging XP operating systems.

The bottomline? Yes, by all means you may upgrade to a Vista-ready system now, but at this point it will most likely be temporary, transitory and, worse, a waste of your money. Wait a little bit for the technology to cheapen to sane price ranges and for the support to multiply. Don’t expect your Vista experience to open up to lovely and wondrous DirectX10 sceneries just yet. Keep those Windows latches firmly in place and preserve those precious XP points.

If only for a little while longer.

***

at syemps...

Search Engine

Whose algorithms swim the ocean
of a single word, returning pages
fished like coelacanths and pearls
from the server's architectured soul:

in the machine’s drowned palaces, among
the gates and lattices of silicon
its terms have cradled satellites and saints,
touched their coronas in the disc’s mosaic.

Here mathematics gropes in parley
with the unknown, its hands entwined
in filigrees of light, tilting the net
over the imagination’s edge

into the dark: and in its snarls are hung
the numbered stars, the deftly rising moon.

Meirion Jordan


Wasak!

* From the new pamphlet,
Search Engine: Poems from Tower Poetry 2006.

Eucalyptus Especial