Learning from friends

It's the 1st day of the ASC seminar on self-regulation in the advertising industry. It's a 2-day learning session which aims to broaden the knowledge of advertising practitioners on the importance of self-policing.

And as the seminar started, the opening video featured one of our good friends - Nonna! She's really one of the pillars in the Philippine ad industry.

With that as an opening salvo, looks like we have a very fruitful 2 days ahead.

In Good Company

It's such a bummer that they don't have that brand in MNL anymore. It was such a short run, and it would've been longer if not for the pandemic.

But I digress. This isn't about that "In Good Company."

It's about the recent 4As Aral Seminar.

The panel was an interesting mix of personalities because it brought together the old and the new. Aside from industry stalwarts like David Guerrero & Melvin Mangada, they asked very young creatives to join the panel, as well as "in-betweens."

This diverse company gave us an equally diverse view of where the industry is now and where we can go.

Good learnings. Good panelists. Good job.

School spirit!

Last Friday, we had the Hildegarde Awards in SSC. This is the first time I'm attending the event as a professor of Events Management, and I saw how hard the students worked to get this event off the ground.

Despite some setbacks and unnecessary difficulties along the way, I'd say they pulled off the event with the grace. relevance and the spirit of its namesake, St. Hildegarde of Bingen. The event went smoothly, despite some minor hiccups here and there.

As a closing treat, the students sang an original composition by one of their batchmates. And it gave me goosebumps.

Great show, 4th year Mass Comm! It was a perfect representation of our school spirit!

In the Industry

It's been a while since I last attended an IMC industry event, so I'm glad I found the time to attend this year's Agora Awards.

Not only did I get to reconnect with former colleagues and long-time friends, I also got to hear this very inspiring message from one of the awardees - Sec. Jimenez of DOT. (Who, incidentally, started out in advertising.)

I should do this more often.

Aldo it!

Today, we welcomed my newest Godson to the Christian world!

Welcome, Aldo! You're such an adorable and nice little baby! No wonder your Mother Lyli can't get enough of you.

I can't wait to spend more time with you and your Kuya Rafa.

Candid date

Raymond posted this photo of Ate Bullet and Kevin on their way to the new Grand Ballroom of Marriott Hotel in Resorts World. And it's such a nice, candid photo of the two.

Mother and son photos are always nice.

Fathers and Sons

In the continuing saga of Alecx's 18th birthday party...

Here are 2 sets of fathers and sons. We were all in a row, seated at table 7. After the photographer took our shot and gave us the print out, all I could think of was: "Gosh, we're carbon copies of our respective Dads!"

Carlo, Mario, Edgar and Lester Edgard. You can't have a better Father and Son match that that.

The 2012 Year-in-review: Top 12 of 2012

The last day of the year is the same day when all networks air their yearend special Whether it's a local news channel, or an international news agency, there is no shortage of programs that count down the top events of 2012.

In keeping with that theme, my last post for 2012 is a look at the 12 events this year which I will always remember and be grateful for. Unlike the big and grandiose events that news outlets usually report on, my 12 events are small in scale, but big in impact. So, here they are in chronological order:

1. Complete New Year - The first day of 2012 was a complete day because our family members from abroad came home. On our side, Biboy and family came to Manila, so the 5 siblings in the Regalado-Morales clan were home. On Dad's side, Tita Evelyn came home from Barcelona, at Titos Orestes and Hector flew in from Bicol. So, after a long, long time, the Murillo-Morales siblings were complete.

2. Travel first class - This year, I had my first travel to HKG with my entire Feature and Technical Writing class! It was stressful because I had to watch over a group of gregarious girls, but it was fun since it was educational in more ways than one.

3. Church duty - During the school's baccalaureate mass for batch 2012, I was asked to be an acolyte. Despite being out of the acolyte circles for decades, I took on the task. It turned out that I was going to be an acolyte for Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle! (Who's now Cardinal, by the way.)

4. Back to School - After a long time, I participated in an international learning conference which was hosted by RNTC from The Netherlands. It was fun being a student again after a long time.

5. Back to Japan! - After 4 years, I said "Konnichiwa" to Japan once again. Mark and I spent 2 weeks in Tokyo, which is the longest I've stayed in the big city. During those 14 days, we were able to accomplish a lot of things, both new and familiar. We tried out new restaurants, made new friends, heard mass at a new church, met up with old friends, and finally went to an onsen! Sugoi!

5. Life begins - This was the year when a lot of my friends marked the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. Needless to say, fun, fabulous and frou-frou celebrations were in order.

7. Back to my regular programming - After a few years out of the local advertising industry, I went back to agency work!

8. Back to bowling - One of the things that the new office made me do was to play bowling! And it turns out that I'm still good at it. I ranked number 4 out of more than 50 players!

9. Museum hopping - This year, I was able to go around a number of museums - more than I ever did in one year. From the old National Museum in Manila, to the new Mind Museum in Taguig, it was fun to immerse myself in different exhibits after a long time.

10. Teaching a new subject - I used to produce a lot of Audio-Visual Presentations in my former jobs. So, when Chally asked me to teach AVP, I took on the job with much gusto. It was definitely a great decision as my students came up with so many good productions in one semester.

11. By design - Last November, Ate Bullet had their family portraits taken and I was on-hand to help in the layout and styling. Before the photo session ended, the photographer asked the two of us to pose like a "designer and muse." After photo came out, some of my friends in HKG and SG thought that this was my new career! One of them even sent me a lengthy email saying that if only she knew that my new career path was in design, she would've asked me to fly to New York and make her wedding gown. Alas, the "designer" photo was just conceptual, and I couldn't make her wedding gown even if I wanted to. (I'll take that free trip to New York, though. Harhar.)

Then again, I did do a couple of design jobs this year. These include designing accessories for Mona and her sisters-in-law, and designing a dress for Ate Bullet, which she also wore for that shoot.

12. Christmas missions accomplished - This year was also the year when I was able to do a lot of the Christmas-related activities that I set out to accomplish. This included sending out Christmas cards early, buy and wrap gifts (most of it, at least) a week before Christmas, celebrate Christmas with family, celebrate Christmas with Mark in Manila, spend time with our friends from both sides, and just savor the spirit of the season. This 2012, Christmas was truly, truly Merry!

Like most countdown shows, I'll end by saying that I'm very grateful for all the wonderful events, experiences and people that shaped 2012. And I'm looking forward to the even more wonderful events, experiences and people that will arrive in the new year.

Formalities aside...

Here's a first in my many years of teaching at SSC.

I'm wearing something formal!



Yes, that's me. Although some students actually didn't recognize me. Seriously. That's what a change in outfit can do.

The reason why were were in our Filipiniana attire was because of the Hildegarde Awards that we held yesterday. It's the school's annual recognition of women in media. One of our awardees, Gilda Cordero-Fernando, came in a Salvador Bernal terno. Ergo, we had to look as spiffy as she did.

There were a lot of amusing reactions to my first formal outing.

One student said: "Sir, bagay kayong naka-barong. Para kayong si Ken. Kulang na lang, Barbie na naka-saya."
Another one said: "Congressman! I mean, sir!"
Finally, the dean: "Wait, wait. I have to have my picture taken with you. This doesn't happen very often."

Amazing what a little formality can do.

Hit Parade

It's that time of the year again. UP is pulling out their creative stops and celebrating Christmas with the annual UP Lantern parade!



Usually, I go there with my classmates or co-professors, but this year, I decided to go with my students.



As usual, each college showcased their best. And here's a sampler of what we saw that evening:

College of Engineering's "Up" themed lantern:


A sweet treat from College of Architecture:


And the most awaited part, College of Fine Arts' super creative entry. This horse parade was just a sampler of what was to come.


It was my students' first time to watch the lantern parade, and they were amazed at how fun and creative the event was. And I'm hoping that this inspires them to be more fun and creative in writing their articles from hereon in.