Menthol-Guy

Casting my vote

Influential. Emerging. Such “hefty” words are associated with the Top 10 Emerging and Influential Blogs held annually (since 2007), a project by Ms. Janette Toral. We all have our connotations with those hefty words mentioned above, and my connotation - I’m afraid - might be the sole basis of my candidates this year.

Last year’s winners were dominated by personal blogs, and it’s quite refreshing that group blogs are - so far - populating this year’s nominees. Last year’s winners, though, haven’t stood that long against the tests of time. A number of them (like the nonexistent one-hit wonder blog named Utakgago, whoever that is, and Jhed) became either inactive, nonexistent, and lost a lot of factors that somehow summed up their “influence” in the blogosphere. And I’m really hoping that this year - whoever makes it to the Top Ten - will surface and stand for a couple of more years.

So much for the sentiments and the expectations. The (three) blogs I nominate are as follows:

1. Visit Sagada - This blog promotes the hidden beauty of the Cordilleras (which I suspect, is a world-class beauty since it’s regarded as the Philippine version of Shangri-La - see, I know a loooot), which is still unknown even to us Filipinos since a friend even thought of it as a cave (well, it’s NOT just a cave). And maybe because I have my ulterior motives so I nominated this blog (like an all-expense paid trip to Sagada, LOL).

2. Billycoy - Ever since this site started at Blogspot, I’ve been a fan of Billycoy’s brain-blasting way of humorous writing!

3. Wawsabaw - I’m actually paid to vote this blog (35 pesos = a kilo of rice!). This blog - please read this as sarcastic as you can - is ONE OF MY FAVORITES. EVAR. I always bookmark it at any computer station I use around the globe, really. He’s a promising (sarcasm again) writer and a drop-dead fan of mine. Heh.

So as you can see, I really need a lot of “catching up” to read other blogs and follow-up my list. :D

Time frames

Newly-launched blogs are like newly-bought shirts. You’re so excited to wear them at first, asking yourself if it’s good to pair with blue maong pants or khakis, or when will you wear it, and the questions of exaggerated excitement and eagerness to flaunt your shirt.

Time just really fades the color of everything. It tends to make colors dull by a shade or two. It spoils everything; rots everything; decomposes everything.

When I launched this blog last week, I was swept by excitement that every plan on making the blog kickass simultaneously popped out of my mind. I want this blog to showcase my talents in photography, and make the comments section much livelier than usual, and plans of tons of reviews about books, movies and albums.

Everything newly-bought has this tendency to make its user ambitious: a fresh haircut, a sleek new sports car. But time just ruins everything; you hit the lowest notch of zero, and nothing’s new anymore. Nothing spices up your creative ideas anymore; nothing’s suspense anymore.

How could you make things look as if it was newly-bought? How could you convince yourself that everything’s new? That everything’s meant to be maintained - old or new, hardbound or paperback, signature or ukay-ukay, personalized or default? That everything is something even without the chains of time? That every single thing depreciates its value as time goes by (with the exception of the antique furnitures and everything for the museum)? That we are the culprits who puts the time limit in everything we have, with the fear that the longer it lives - the less we appreciate it, the less it satisfies us?

Maybe it’s time for me to remove all the dates in my head.

As ambitious as skylines may look like.

Making this blog is another attempt towards personal blogging. It might be a vague attempt towards stardom or fame; personally, it’s an attempt towards surpassing my former achievements from Utakgago or at least satiate my desires with even the humblest achievements.

What a speech.

I have had eight blogs for the past two and a half years (I made one at Friendster, three at Blogspot, two at Wordpress, one at MyJournal, and one Utakgago.com) and this would be my ninth blog. Sadly, or not, all of those blogs are either inactive or nonexistent (such as Utakgago.com).

Now, the questions you might want to ask.

Where’s Utakgago.com?

A number of my blogging friends have been ranting about my abandoning of Utakgago - probably the only blog I have made that became “successful” - and I can’t feel anything but sympathy since I myself am helpless with the case. I haven’t explained much of the details to everyone.

I acquired Utakgago.com last April 2007 from a blog which has this promo of giving a one-year domain for free to the first ten people who posts a comment on that post. A blogging friend (by the name of Chico) informed me about it - I gave my best shot and commented on that post and after a week or so, I got the domain and named it Utakgago.com.

Surprisingly, it was February 2008 when Utakgago.com “expired” without any notification or warning (it was quite weird that I sensed it, though). I was not shocked but I searched for explanations. Unfortunately, I did not have any direct contact to the one who hosted my blog in hopes of renewing the domain. Now the website is parked free.

Of course it was saddening to know that that website is, the way I put it, a “waste of time” since all my archives are gone. I am stupid enough to make a back-up file without even knowing if I’m doing the right thing.

As what Chuck Palahniuk in Fight Club had said, “it’s only after you lost everything that you’re free to do anything.” So I still have this consolation prize after losing that blog.

Why name it Menthol-Guy?

Simply because I want this blog to sound lousy, OKAY? And I have my lousiest and lamest reasons for naming this blog as Menthol-Guy:

1) After days of brainstorming a new website name, all of those candidates (I really want this domain to be nincompoop.net but it’s not available anymore) are either not available or too corny

2) I smoke Marlboro Menthol back then and

3) I should’ve named this as Menthol-Boy, whatever.

Name your (ambitious) plans for this website.

This website would be exhibiting more of my so-called self-proclaimed “skills” in photography, fictions, video narratives, draft-on-demand (that is, if I got drafts) and everything personal. But of course, most of the plans are made to be broken, so I’d rather not enumerate my plans for this website and instead, keep it to myself.

Anyone to thank?

Of course I would like to thank that fairy gay-mother (as what she prefers to be called) who’s kindhearted enough to host Billycoy and I. And to Mr. Derek Punzalan (if I got his name right) for making such a guh-reat layout that defies the usual blog templates. :)

For other questions, either related or not, fire them all at the comments section.