Brace Yourselves for the “New Year, New Me” FB Posts

Nowadays, it seems to me that everyone makes new resolutions when the New Year starts. People need to somewhat accept the fact that New Year is a more celebrated holiday than Christmas, people during this joyous occasion wants to seemingly start 2014 off on the right foot by listing their resolution on social media sites like Facebook while firing up beautiful fireworks to welcome the year 2014. A New Year's resolution is a decision to reform old not so good habits or it can be a resolution to achieve new goals in life. The successes of these resolutions will considerably depend on the person’s will to continue with the new good habit, here are some Usual New Year’s Resolutions you will spot on social media sites.

New Year, New Me - Will Lose Weight / Exercise More

Gender: Female
Since people are more critical towards a girls body image rather than boys, this resolution will be more common to girls of all sizes. Because girls are usually the ones that get criticized and picked on when they get a little heavier after a festive holiday such as Christmas and New Year.

List of Shocking Videos

Thousands of videos are uploaded everyday on Youtube. You can browse their video library, and their video ranges from documentaries, interviews, reactions, televised shows, music videos and a whole lot more. From these list of videos there are also those that are known as viral videos. These viral videos are not limited to entertain and fascinate viewers alone, it sometimes gets infamous because of the shock value of the content. Many of these videos have extreme disgust factor, that’s why it hits viral social media status overnight. Although, many are not fans of these shock videos there is still great sense of curiosity, so the numbers of views steadily rise despite the disgust. With the advent of social media sites such as Facebook and Youtube, people are getting keener on the once taboo world of voyeurism. 

Here are some examples of shock videos that went viral.

2 girls one cup
As a summary of this shock video, the primary factor that made this video an odd hit among Youtube viewers was their fascination at the level of repugnance this video brings to the table. This video is about two girls who primarily defecated into a cup and then later on started to consume the excrement inside that cup.

Photo Sharing Apps

Social networking is now synonymous to photo sharing, once you build your bio in social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it is somewhat expected that you have a photo sharing app like Instagram where people can view, comment and share your digital photos to the world. It is so convenient and fun to share your photos to your loved ones. And in this day and age, you need not worry about your artistic skill primarily because these applications have their built in filters that you can choose from. 

I know there are a lot of photo sharing apps out there, so it is quite a challenge to pick just one for your photo sharing need. With that, I am listing here five of the most awesome photo sharing apps that you can use to capture those splendid moments.

EyeEm

This is a great photo sharing mobile app that is free for everyone. You can use their fifteen color filters and their fourteen artistic frames for your photos any time.  And immediately after you edit your photo you can share them instantly via email or Facebook. With Eyeem you can discover a number of photos from all over the world just by viewing the Popular, Search or Discover tab.

Facebook Christmas

Christmas is the special time to celebrate the birth of Jesus and it is also the time to offer gratitude for everything that we are accomplishing in this life time. Christmas is also the perfect time for family, friends and endless decadent food to be posted on social media sites such as Facebook. Christmas is our Holiday excuse to be extra narcissistic in posting personal guilty pleasures/pictures that makes our Christmas holiday a tad more special and fun. 

Photos of Tasty Looking Food
Food is ofcourse going to be a staple post in social media sites because of the abundance of food that will be present in every Christmas table for the Noche Buena. Food is one of the things that bring people together during this festive holiday occasion (besides booze of course).

Pretty Christmas Tree

Posing in front of a Christmas tree is a known holiday tradition. Well, besides the fact that Christmas is the only “appropriate” time to display a Christmas tree and pose beside it. If you are the one behind the beautifully decorated tree with lots of goodies then you will be very (of course) excited to post cute family photos behind the green tree beauty. Don’t hesitate to share your pretty tree to everyone.

WILDCARD! Home Remedies for Pimples

STEAM
Steam is a good home remedy to help reduce acne. The steam opens up clogged pores and allows the skin to flush out some impurities like dirt and bacteria that may further agitate the acne causing it to get bigger.

You will need…

-boiling water placed in a bowl

-a towel

Directions
You would need to boil a pot of water then pour it in a large bowl and then place your face above the bowl. Just basically allow the warm steam to come in contact with your face, make sure to drape the towel properly so that you will trap the steam appropriately.

FAVE! Charmed Episodes

“Charmed” was one of my favourite television series when I was in high school and college. I would sometimes finish my college paper and reviews while watching the show, which was quiet an effort especially when the topic was about Shakespeare and Freud. This show sparked my fascination with magical powers, warlocks, sisterhood, witches and destiny. This show was primarily about three Halliwell sisters known as the Charmed Ones, whose destiny is to protect innocent lives against mischievous sprite. I guess one of the reasons why it gained popularity was primarily because of the hero portrayal of the Halliwell sisters in the series. They were not portrayed as the usual women victims who were in dire need of saving and a knight in shining armor. They are powerful independent women who do not only have magical powers but are excellent in hand to hand combat aswell. Another formula that made this series popular was because they set an example for other television shows, that a show should always be fun for all ages and it showed that it didn’t have to be all about sex, drugs and violence (although I have to admit that some of their clothes in latter seasons were a tad revealing.)

Let's Turn the Table (December)

When we browse sites such as Youtube it is quiet normal to expect a number of negative video comments, whether these comments are related to the video or not, people seem to be unfazed in sites such as Youtube. We see a number of people disrespecting the video platform just so he can present his egotistical nonsense by commenting and offending the viewers. These offenders are known as internet trolls. And as this trolling trend grows, the growth of misspelled, misused and abused words online grows along with it too. And because of the prevalence of these things on sites like Youtube, I opted to make this monthly list of Youtube comments to somewhat turn the table on them. Here are some:

Not only is this person’s grammar and spelling bad but his racist comment is terrible aswell.
Dis means to treat someone with disrespect
This means a person or a thing that is near to you.
That means a person or a thing pointed out or mentioned before.

“My Life is Better than Yours” (Social Media Edition)

In social networking sites instances of displaying one’s fame or fortune is often exercised in simple false gratitude forms wherein they will mask the attitude of bragging by being graciously thankful. This practice can be found in sites such as Facebook, Google +, Instagram and other social networking sites where people love to be acknowledged. With that, I am listing here the types of “My Life Is Better than Yours” Persona in Social Media.

THE CAR ENTHUSIAST
Primary Photo: Their primary photo is usually the semi candid while they were driving their brand new luxury vehicle. They are very keen at making sure that the cars emblem is at proper photo angle for maximum impression.
Social Media Updates: Usually consists of photos about their “baby” in the carwash or updates about getting their new expensive unnecessary accessories for their luxury vehicles.
Swag Requirement: (MONEY) Just the basic sunglasses and a good luxury sports car.

Social Media After a Disaster

When there is a catastrophic event such as a Super typhoon, volcanic eruption or an earthquake, it is safe to say that the newsfeed on every Facebook wall will be filled with disaster related posts like updates and news so as to provide information to the whole social media community. I myself wanted to think that that happened to my Facebook wall during the strike of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the visayan region of the Philippines a couple of weeks back, sadly to my surprise there are still people in my Facebook list who are way too self absorbed to even take a week off their narcissistic regimen in social media and they opted not to give importance to the typhoon survivors and their needs.

If I remember it correctly, the super typhoon ravaged the visayan region of the Philippines on the morning of Saturday, November 9, 2013. A day after the havoc done by the super typhoon, news broke about the devastation it brought to the nearby islands of Panay and the province of Tacloban, Cebu, Ormoc and Palawan. People in the metro knew the destruction and hardships that people in those areas were experiencing but still, somehow insensitivity worked its way up in social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRACTION

It is so easy for social media users to get distracted with each mobile tweet or fb alert these days. There seem to be an immediate need to check Facebook and Twitter updates as early as we wake up in the morning. There is a curiosity as to what updates we might have missed when we were asleep. We are fascinated with new photos, updates and milestones in our social media feed that is why majority of us cannot and will not miss a day to check on with our Facebook or Twitter account.  

In this day and age, the distraction of social media is so apparent that even with the assume closeness that social media is said to bring to relationships it is still able to put a crack on a sturdy connection may it be parental, romantic or a friendship. This happens when a distraction is caused by social media through a mobile device. A mobile device is a great distraction because it is a handy apparatus that is basically like an extended artificial limb of a person.

So, a status or update will primarily be a distraction for some people. Here are some of the scenarios.

You get distracted when you are in a meeting at work

Thoughts on Cyber Bullying

I had a hard time as an elementary student. I got teased a lot because of my wavy hair and thick lips. I remember this one instance in Civics class when our teacher was discussing the physical characteristics of an Ita or Aeta, in the middle of discussing the characteristics a couple of my boy classmates pointed at me and laughed. They were saying “Katrina is an Aeta, with thick lips and dishevelled hair..hahaha” If you don’t know what Aetas are, Aetas are the earliest indigenous inhabitants of the Philippines their main characteristics as per my civics book was they tend to have features such as curly hair, dark brown skin, small nose, thick lips and small stature. And I guess for some reason my classmates saw those characteristics in me.

My boy classmates ridiculed me day in and day out. They even pull my wavy hair up and laughed away with their whole clique, it was entertainment for them. I was so self conscious with my thick lips and hair that when I was in the canteen I walked so fast that I often dropped my food or utensils because I was in a hurry to get out of that place and basically did not want to exist. Because of the routine bullying I started putting my hair in a bun and I also hid my ugly aeta lips by covering my mouth with a handkerchief. I did a handful of oral recitation with my handkerchief covering my mouth. Ordered my lunch, talked to some some girl classmates, greeted the guard with a handkerchief covered mouth. I felt comfortable hiding that faulty physical trait from the eyes of my bullies. 

WILDCARD! Home Remedy for Dark Circles

EGG WHITE
-- Use egg whites as your primary mask for a week or two. This home made mask will  help tighten your pores and can actually reduce puffiness. Egg white is known to have lots of vitamin B that can also aid inflammation. Simply get a saucer of egg whites then dab a cotton ball into it and then apply it generously on the dark circles. Leave it on for about thirty minutes until you can feel the mask dry out. Then rinse thoroughly with water.

METAL SPOON
-- This may seem a little odd for some people but putting two cold metal spoons under your eyes, really works. What you would need to do is first put two metal spoons inside the freezer for about two hours. Then afterwards when it is completely cold simply press these spoons under your eyes, this primarily helps with the circulation of blood.

Bitstrips made it Tolerable

Bitstrips is an app designed for Facebook and smartphone users wherein they can design cartoon versions of themselves and their friends aswell. With this new fun app you can add more visualisation with regards to your status updates, friend’s tags and virtual greeting cards. It began as an unknown comic app and then slowly it gained popularity amongst people who wanted to spice up their Facebook activity. Now this app seemed to be so infectious, that Bitstrips updates are becoming staple daily posts in our Facebook walls (whether we like it or not).

This I can say is a very self indulgent app because this app actually encourages their users to edit their own Bitstrips avatar in accordance to their own physicality. Majority of the people using Bitstrips usually aims to be comical hence the comic antics they post. They even post awkward cartoon moments of themselves that in real life would be excruciatingly odd to watch. Here are some:

Bromance

Bitstrip Version:

Fave! Animated TV Series

When I was young, I always made sure that I spend my free time watching all of my favourite animated TV shows. I especially look forward to holiday cartoons that are only shown during festive season like Christmas and New Year. The holiday cartoons are so much fun because that’s the time when I got acquainted with the stories about Santo Claus, The Three Kings and the classic “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Although I looked forward to the special holiday cartoons of my time, the regular cartoons did not disappoint me aswell, for I had a wonderful television experience when I was young. And thanks to Youtube, I am now able to watch some of my favourite animated TV series and reminisce.

As told by Ginger
As told by Ginger is first on my list because this is a cartoon that showed the importance of family values. And when I was a young impressionable kid, it was very important that I watch a cartoon that can help mold my emotional awareness. As told by Ginger showed me the complexity of growing up, friendship, relationship and self worth, this is one of my fave animated series because it actually has a time line, the character matured as the show moved forward.
For the theme song, REMINISCE HERE.

Let's turn the table (November)

As I browse the video library that is Youtube I realize that it is a common sight to see people undermine other people’s videos, thoughts and opinions there. There are indeed a number of people who loves to stir drama in sites such as Youtube so as to create disdain and to just mainly swirl everybody around with their own egotistical nonsense, these offenders are known as internet trolls. And as this trolling trend grows, the growth of misspelled, misused and abused words online grows along with it too. And because of the prevalence of these things on sites like Youtube, I opted to make this monthly list of Youtube comments to somewhat turn the table on them. Here are some:

Its amazing not amaizing, I hope this is just a typo issue.

Isolation on Social Media

While it may seem that social media is a bridge that connects people to their families and friends, there are also instances when isolation happens to people in sites such as Facebook and Twitter. There are even studies about social media isolation causing depression, anxiety, hormone issues, aggression and even instances of mental illness. Since a lot of people are spending a lot of their time on social media sites, there have been a great demand of maintaining a type of social media status. This type of popularity can be measured in accordance to someone’s Facebook likes, followers, comments and even birthday greetings. Because of this conscious mindset, people are starting to feel the need to maintain or acquire that state of social media attractiveness and that being isolated is the worst thing that can happen to them online.

How are people Isolated on Social Media? Here goes,

Birthday Greeting
Birthday is a celebration of life, and people these days often celebrate their additional knowledge and age by announcing their birthday on social media sites like Facebook. This simple day can be a celebration or an isolation of some sort, this will depend on how scarce or grand your birthday greeting list will be. I know this may sound a tad dim-witted for some, but I personally know someone who actually counts his birthday greetings on Facebook and Twitter.

Is Online Gaming for You?

I am not a usual online gamer but since I am curious as to why a number of people are quiet addicted to online games specially those that are primarily connected to social media sites such as Facebook, I am giving myself at least a day to experience this online game phenomenon. I will opt to play the game using my good old laptop so as to maximize my control! Here it goes!

I believe the first thing that a gamer should do when participating online is to verify the tab where the gamer will be asked who will see posts that that game app makes for the gamer on their Facebook timeline, it will be smart if a gamer will choose the “only me” tab, since you wouldn't want these apps to barrage your friends main Facebook wall with mundane updates about your gaming scores and activities, right?

CITE IMAGE: GMillenas

Are your parents engaged in social media?

Although my parents are not social media fanatics like some older people I know. But I do see a number of my friends parents who are very much engaged in social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. They do occasionally post photos of themselves and their family on Facebook but as I saw their activities online I have realized that they seem to have a steady social media routine.

First on the list, is their sort of natural instinct to basically “like” all of their kid’s photos and posts. Whether it be a food photograph or a humdrum matter about a lazy afternoon siesta, they will like and sometimes even comment on the subject matter. I asked my mom why she wasn't like that to me on social media and her reply was “I don’t want people to think that only your mother can appreciate your existence and I for one am busy with my own social media life too.” This frequent "like" practice is a tad tolerable for me but I do have the same sentiment as my mom when I say that “overly liking each and every post” of your kid is a bit unnatural and parents should remember that too much ego stroking is not good for kids (and adults even).  

FAVE! Crime Shows

I have always been fascinated with crime shows since I was a girl. I started watching America’s Most Wanted back when I was a young elementary student who was very impressionable and naïve about crime against women. Although the crimes that were announced were really shocking and upsetting for a young child like me, I cannot help but still continue my avid fascination with these crime shows and be amazed with the intelligence and empathy of those crime investigators. Although the brutality of these crimes is indeed dark and barbaric, I believe the main thing that pulled my interest was the level of loyalty and wit that these law enforcers have for these cases and the victims.

I am listing here my fave Top 5 Crime Shows

CSI - EPISODE
Although this show has a lot of franchise, I personally love the first and original Crime Scene Investigation series where William Petersen played the awkward and witty character of Gilbert “Gil” Grissom. The CSI: Las Vegas episode that I really really like was when they found Nick Stokes buried alive on a deserted land on Las Vegas (CSI: Season 5), to say that I cried a bucket is an understatement.

Photoshop and Perfection

With all the social media sites out there, I often find myself bombarded with photos of overly edited pictures of people with their smiles superficially stretched to convey their unadulterated happiness and people with heavily made up eyes beaming with intensity that is reminiscent of the bright eyed doll Chucky that is ready to pounce and kill. I admit that I have a very minimal talent when it comes to editing photos using softwares like Photoshop and other editing tools out there, this picture depicts my superb editing talent

CITE IMAGE: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=525387354199297&set=a.472701902801176.1073741826.468682366536463&type=1&theater

Despite my inexistent talent in editing, edited photos seems to still hover over my social media life this past year because of the booming android camera filters and other editing softwares in the market. This is not a personal rant, but this is actually a Public Service Announcement of some sort :D. I am trying to provide valid points on why a person should not overly edit their photos, here it goes: 

WILDCARD! Home Remedy for Sinus Congestion

It’ll be quiet challenging to sleep softly at night when a person is experiencing nasal blockage that causes an issue of sniffling and snorting when trying to get some sleep. I for one am a constant victim of this ailment due to my dust allergy. When this attacks I often suffer watery eyes, stuffy nose and intense sneezing, it is an uncomfortable feeling to have especially when I am at work. I often pop a tablet or two of over the counter decongestant to primarily ease the pain and discomfort. However I don’t want to continuously do this practice of taking meds for every nasal congestion because I fear for the wellbeing of my kidney, we all know that filtering lots of meds and alcohol will eventually damage a person’s kidney. And so, I am opting to try these home remedies!

Drink warm burnt rice
Just deliberately burn the rice until its black as coal and then you would need to add hot water so as to create a coffee like concoction. When your drink is ready you may add a squeeze of lemon or a teaspoon of honey to at least make the taste more tolerable.

FB of people in their 20’s vs. FB of people in their 30’s

An immense gap of ten years provides an interesting representation of changes in ones life. Whether it is regarding love, social or family life, one thing is for sure, a good number of transformations will reflect in how we interact with people, how we view things and oddly enough how we treat our Social Media life, whether consciously or subconsciously. As a person on the verge of stepping into the unknown interesting thirties realm, I am fascinated at how things seems to change overtime in my personal and social media life, now at this age I am more open to burning bridges, I realized that it is alright to burn bridges for there are still other ways to cross over, I will opt to swim or fly over that bridge than to walk on that crooked dilapidated walk way. With that thought in mind, I steadily saw my Facebook list of friends dwindled down from 900 people to only about 400 Facebook friends. Have my Facebook changed as I come towards the dreadful 30? I believe so. Check out the list.
  

20’s                       

                               

Tons of Pet Photos

Either they have an album of their cute 
cuddly pet or they have a bona fide Facebook 

page for that furry creature. A Facebook page 

where they actually set themselves as the 

care giver of that little four legged thing. 

This is primarily the next best thing to a 

boyfriend or a girlfriend in their life.

               

Let's turn the table (October)

The internet sphere these days is full of opinionated people who love to poke criticism at other netizens. This may be triggered by their goal to mainly disrupt the flow of conversation in say a forum or a Youtube page. They will often question other people's different taste in music, movies or cultural beliefs. Along with this growing trolling trend in Youtube and other social media sites there is also a growth of misspelled, misused and abused words online. And because of the prevalence of this on sites like Youtube I cannot help but make this list of Youtube comments to somewhat turn the table on them. Here are some:

One should know the difference of “their” and “there”
Their indicated possession.
There refers to a place of some sort.

Our Sephora Gift Card Winner!

CITE IMAGE: www.sheknows.com

WILDCARD! Home Remedy for Coughs and Colds

Drink ample fluids

This is the most basic and inexpensive of home remedy that you can do when you are experiencing coughs and colds. This is the natural best way to flush out phlegm and bacteria out of your system.

Peppermint Steam

My doctor told me that when there is nasal stuffiness, it is best to inhale warm peppermint steam so as to relieve the blockage in the nasal cavity and sinus. Another comforting steam that one can do is to have a warm, steamy shower to further loosen up the nasal congestion. 

FAVE! Medical Show

My fascination with medical shows started when I saw Dr. Oz on the Oprah Winfrey show where he showed a number of interesting organs inside the human body. I remember that one episode where he brought five pounds of fat, it was his way of spreading awareness regarding the growing issue of obesity in America. Dr. Oz is one of the medical show doctors that I truly like because he is blunt and honest about the diseases and toxins that corrupts the human body. Because of the medical knowledge that these shows provide to their audience it has gained popularity and audience ratings.

In the US, one of the popular medical shows is “The Doctors,” where they talk about a number of diseases and issues about health and fitness. They also show new and advance technological innovations that can help alleviate the pain of some intense illnesses. I do like the talk show feel of this program because it’ll make you feel like you are just chatting with these knowledgeable medical practitioners and they are also able to simplify complicated medical terms for you.

Are you a Facebook Solicitor?

When a person joins a contest these days it is usually connected to a number of social media sites. The most popular contest social media site right now is Facebook. Facebook now has turned into a “like” marketplace, and Facebook contestants often goes around asking for likes and comments for their photos online. One of the usual basis for winning these types of contests is by gaining a number of Facebook likes/votes from random Facebook user. However, not everyone can get a good rating when it comes to contests on Facebook, this may be because of the fact that their work is not that appealing, their photos are not that creative, their kids are not really charming and these are I think some of the reasons why they would need to ask a random Facebook friend for a like/vote.

Don’t get me wrong, it is acceptable to ask your family and close friends for help with regards to your Facebook endeavor but to ask a “not-so-close-civil” Facebook friend for a like/vote is a tad annoying. Especially if the only time you exert an effort to reach out to these people is when you are in need of a favor. If that’s your personality then you should at least make an online gesture that’s says you are acknowledging their Facebook presence, you can atleast post a birthday greeting on their wall before or after a favor.

In my hope to lessen the prevalence of this on Facebook I am listing here the Top 3 types of Facebook Solicitors

Popular "Feelings" on Facebook

Facebook has introduced a new feature where a person can add feeling to the activity that they are posting online. Like if they post a dining with friends update, they can accompany that post with a feeling that says “feeling hungry.” There are a number of feelings available to post in Facebook, you can be happy, sad, excited, tired, great, wonderful, annoyed, blessed, meh, loved, pretty, angry, determined, sick, irritated, bored, good, awesome, special, sleepy, bad, better, guilty, amused, hungry, down, hopeful, alone, sorry, safe, confused, exhausted, proud, hopeless, human and heartbroken. If those feelings don’t quite describe their current emotional status, they can opt to add their own feeling.

People post a number of information about their emotion online and here are the most common feeling post and their type of Facebook user (you may agree or disagree with me.)

Feeling sick

The Attention Seeker
Pros: It is quite entertaining and amusing to see their daily “performance” on Facebook.
Cons: Sometimes, they tend to be a tad too dramatic.

Let's turn the table! (September)

Trolls seem to be so fearless in Youtube that they go around commenting on everything and anything that they see online. They seem to criticize even the smallest thing like punctuation yet some of them actually lack the linguistic skill to do so. They are so blunt, obnoxious, rude and fearless because they do these criticisms behind their computer desks, which gives them the anonymity pride that they need. This linguistic troll problem is so prevalent these days that I am making a monthly list of these youtube comments so as to perhaps shed some light on the most common misused, misspelled and abused words online. Here are some:

Where can we find this “doctore”?
Doctor means a medical practitioner
Doctore means teacher in the television series “Spartacus”

Like & Win $10 Sephora Gift Card

CITE IMAGE: www.sheknows.com

1. Promo period is from August 18 to September 18, 2013

2. Who can join:

     a. Promo is open to everyone.

     b. He/She must have valid Facebook account.

3. How to join:

    a. Participants must simply:

          1. ‘Like’ the Purpletomato Facebook Page: PURPLETOMATO

     

4.  Determining the Winner:

    a. All valid entries will be screened and validated by Purpletomato.

    b. Announcement of Winners will be posted on this site on September 30,
    2013.

    c. Winners will be notified through Facebook via a Private Message.

5. Prizes:

    a. The winner will receive a $10 Sephora electronic gift card.

Let's turn the table! (August)

Internet trolls these days are commonly undermining other people either because of their looks or their beliefs every single day.  Despite their know it all approach on things they still lack the initiative to basically look at their own issues like their misspelled, misused and abused words online. Because of the prevalence of this on Youtube these days I cannot help but make this list of youtube comments. Here are some:

The whole sentence is full of mishaps but I think the main thing that this person should know is the difference of dying, dieting and dieing.
Dying means a person is on the point of death.
Dieting on the other hand means a person is practicing healthy eating.
Dieing is a common misspelling of dying, ok?
For now, please veer away from calling other people stupid.

Digital Stalking

Technology allows us to share a lot of information like photos, thoughts and whereabouts online that sometimes we often tend to neglect our personal privacy. And in that scenario, people are able to get their hands on details that are often crucial to our safety.

In the past, people turn to hearsay and tactical stalking to get an info about their prey. But these days they can easily turn to a number of social media sites to get specific information about their victims, their stalking capability has turned high tech. Whether it be a crime against women, children or a mere petty crime, they have evolved in accordance to our social media happenings.

Like say, our fascination of posting a number of personal gadgets and valuables online. Whether it is a laptop, a new smart phone, a new tablet or sometimes even thousands of dollars at hand, some people are just arrogant and proud that they tend to post these things on their Facebook wall for everyone to ogle on.

Typical Beach Photos on Instagram

A photograph is said to worth a thousand words, especially when you observe the beauty that the world is offering.  However, as I browse through social media sites such as Instagram I realize that not every photo captures something eloquent and worthy of admiration. I mean to stumble upon a number of colorfully decorated fingernails as a artsy excuse for a photo in Instagram is something to think about. Is this our generations take on art? Really?

There are a number of photo categories in Instagram, but for now I am listing the Typical Beach Photos that we typically see on Instagram:

What is Lookbook?

As per Andy Warhol “In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” And with the advent of a number of social media sites out there, it is indeed very possible. Now, there are a number of ways where you can promote yourself for gratification and attention. You can empower and endorse yourself either by your opinions or your looks. As the saying goes, “if you have it then flaunt it.” This I think is the back drop of another social media site that is getting much attention from stylists, models, photographers and fashion icon wannabe’s. Have you heard of the Lookbook website?

The Lookbook is an online collection of photographs of people from all over the world who primarily shows off their fashion style and taste. Usually you will find a lot of bloggers, amateur and professional photographers, students, stylists, artists, editors, vloggers, designers and models strutting their style in this popular fashion site.

WILDCARD! Home Remedy for Migraine

Migraine is a common issue for adults these days, it may be because of the hectic routine schedule, emotional stress or the dreadful deadlines at work that can trigger this illness. Whatever the cause may be, this often times unbearable headache can really hinder one’s performance and schedule. I myself have experienced a number of distressing migraines in the past year so I was very much willing to experiment on a number of home made remedies that can really ease the pain of migraine naturally.

Here is the list:

Get yourself some sleep
I can firmly attest to this that an adequate sleep is essential to have a migraine free day. So it is wise to have at least eight hours of sleep and just basically keep your sleeping habit healthy  

Make a Ginger Tea
What you will do is pound a ginger root and then add the ginger root to boiling water. Let it cool for a while and then you can pour yourself a warm soothing ginger tea. Ginger is a natural food source that fights off a number of ailments like migraine.

Multiple Facebook Account

IMAGE CREDIT: GMillenas

Maintaining one account on Facebook can be considered a task especially if you feel oblige to provide up to date information about your whereabouts, opinions and your travel photos. This to some may seem like an unnecessary daunting task that will not be beneficial to anyone but yourself, this is just a self gratifying thing that you do via social media. But what can you say about people who maintain a number of Facebook account?

Facebook was primarily conceived with the thought that it will run under the rule of real names and real causes, this type of platform is fundamental because it leads to a better understanding of respect, accountability and trust.

FAVE! Weight loss TV show

Obesity levels worldwide have more than doubled in the last 20 or so years claiming people from different walks of life. The so called epidemic is reaching people not only through extreme food intake but also through television shows around the world. There seem to be an intense fascination on the lifestyle of these people that is why a number of shows regarding obesity and weight loss is gaining a lot of popularity and high ratings. The show’s primary goal is for the overweight contestants to gradually lose weight and hand in hand to maintain a healthy lifestyle outside of the television series. I am easily drawn to these types of shows because I myself am very critical about my weight too.

Here is my list

Supersize vs. Superskinny

What I like about this show is how they tackle both the issue of obese and undernourished people. What they primarily do is to make these two very different people face their food issue by doing a meal reversal where they’ll have a firsthand experience of how unusual their diet is. Another nice thing about this show is that they let these contestants talk about the emotion that is behind their eating habit. Check out the video!

After Breakup

IMAGE CREDIT: KMillenas

Relationships these days have turned into a social media spectrum. From the minute you commit to that relationship, you and your partner are simultaneously committing to the social media expectations that you guys will eventually provide people in your friends list immediate updates and photos regarding your relationship whereabouts, your celebrations, your cute lovely affairs, your fine anniversary gifts and what nots. This inlove social media etiquette is quiet tolerable for friends and family but then you ask yourself what if we break up, what is the right social media etiquette when we part our ways.

Take a Social Media Break

There are days where there seem to be an overload of irrelevant updates and personal affairs in social media that sometimes it is wise to just turn off those computers, laptops and smart phones even for a day to get away from the buzz of it all. These updates may be irrelevant to us but still we often find ourselves checking these things out and in essence cause our lack of sleep and undeserved stress sometimes. One of the primary reason for getting a bit loony on social media is the fact that majority of social media users are managing multiple accounts, profiles, emails and the likes. And because of that, they tend to spend a great amount of time managing all these connections trying their best to communicate across all social media platform, which can be overwhelming to some people. That is why; it is a great idea to take a little break from the usual log in log out scenario.

Animals and Social Media

Majority of people treat their pets as part of their own family. Where they bathe it, feed it and just basically provide fantastic attention and affection. That is why some of these pets are starting to be part of our social media life. There are a number of animal lovers who actually create an account for their pets where updates on statuses, photos and bios are done. You can see these animals in different platforms, here are some examples 

Animals In Facebook
In Facebook we often see photos and updates about pets and the likes. But what is really nice about finding animals in Facebook is the initiative of people to feature and promote pages for the benefit of these animals. Animal rights pages are really prevalent in Facebook because of the passion that these people and organizations are doing to spread awareness and facilitate the needs of these animals. One of the Facebook pages that I really like is the ANIMAL RIGHTS Facebook page because they provide videos and articles that discussed issues about animal welfare and rights.

Facebook Profile, A Social Resume

When we meet a new friend over coffee or dinner we often emerge ourselves to a variety of conversations to weigh his or hers emotional and intellectual stance on those subject. With these conversations we are then able to grasp the person’s interests, hobbies and outlook. But this interaction is not only limited in face to face time but we also gauge a person base on his or her Facebook profile which can be considered now as a social resume.

THE COVER PHOTO

This can be compared to a intro letter that primarily states their idea on life, art, family and love. The people that the person usually incorporates in their cover photos are people they really care for. And the thought or passages that we see in these cover photos are reflections of their thoughts and feelings.

THE PROFILE PHOTO
This primarily gives us the physicality of the person behind the name. What they add on these photos are things that he or she is passionate for, like say if it was a picture of a guy and his sports car. Or if he is a musician, there will be photos of him playing his instrument.

Check their Childhood Photos!

PHOTO CREDIT: GMillenas

Have you heard of the news regarding a man who filed a lawsuit against his wife because she was ugly?

We all know that divorces can be really tough for both parties, but having aesthetics as the cause of your divorce can make it more problematic. And your divorce can easily turn into a media circus. The lawsuit scenario was said to have originated from China where a Chinese woman, who had a number of plastic surgery on her face and body before her wedding was sued by her own husband when he saw that their baby didn't look anything like them.

FAVE! Art In Youtube

There are overwhelming articles about the aesthetic appeal of art in our society. There are great Neoclassical and Elizabethan artists that are renowned for making picturesque paintings and works of art that are worthy of praise and admiration. But not everyone has the chance to really admire these works of art up close. In this day and age, art is not only constraint to the basic painting or sculptural aesthetic that we used to connect art with. Now, art is appreciated early in the conception of the work itself, art can now be associated to the method used in creating the art.

I, myself am not an artistic individual capable of creating unusual yet beautiful pieces of art but I am an avid appreciator of different genres of it. Genres that are now recognized by millions of Youtube subscribers who have seen these people at work. Here’s my new fave list:

Spray Paint Art
GENRE: Canvass Art
Wow Factor: This video will make you feel that achieving such a beauty can done with much ease and simplicity because of how he was able to present simple tools and tricks while painting this art. It may seem simple but there is more to this talent.
Main differentiator: Brandon McConnell used spray paint to achieve the paradigm of the dark paradise.
Check out the video!

Let's turn the table (July)

The internet sphere these days is commonly full of people who love to criticize and undermine other people because of their differences whether it be regarding their taste in music, movies or cultural beliefs. Along with this growing trolling trend is the growth of misspelled, misused and abused words online too. And because of the prevalence of this on sites like Youtube I cannot help but make this list of Youtube comments to somewhat turn the table on them. Here are some:

I guess we won’t be working for this person any time soon. 

WILDCARD! Herbal Mosquito Repellent

Dengue and Malaria are diseases that affect s number of people due to the fact that this is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes. These diseases attack the immune system of the patient making him/her weak to fight further infection that may come his/her way. I just dread this because the fatality level of these diseases are actually escalating as time goes on. There are a number of ways to protect yourself from these ailments; first you can go and get a vaccine that will boost your immune system against dengue or you can repel those dengue mosquitoes away.

And since I do like herbal homemade remedies, my go to solution for this is to make and use herbal mosquito repellent.

Lavender Mosquito Repellent
Ingredients: Lavender flower or Lavender oil
Directions: If you are going to use a lavender flower you can dilute it in either Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Tea Tree Oil or Vodka so as to strengthen the mosquito repellent formula and for it to be more lasting. While for the lavender oil you can use it directly behind your ears, wrists and neck.
 

What is a Throwback Thursday?

Cite: Urban Dictionary

Its Thursday and for sure people are rummaging thru their photo albums and computer picture folders looking for “old” photos that they’ll post on social networking sites such as Facebook, Google + and Instagram to promulgate the Throwback Thursday internet theme. These Throwback Thursday photos are primarily instigated by a number of nostalgic narcissists and soon people from all walks of life. Throwback Thursday is an internet trend where people are given the excuse to post photos from way back and then hashtagged it as #tbt or #throwbackthursday. Your photo will get a better wider exposure in the internet sphere when you add these hashtags to your tbt photos. However, not everyone is doing it properly. Properly in the sense of giving consideration to the other people who will view the newsfeed, here’s a list.

Scandalous and Risque

Sublimal messages are the thing of the past when we talk about music videos these days. Now you’ll see a cohort of music videos with on your face messages of intense sexual promiscuity, controversial imagery and distorted religious views. Now your subconscious need not decipher the meaning behind these videos because the meaning will be available to you as soon as you press the play button on Youtube. I have seen a handful of swag centric videos with girls in thongs bouncing around with their beaux rolling in money and promiscuity but there are still videos that are raunchy and a tad overwhelming, here’s my list.

Miley Cyrus – We can’t stop
This video has a number of controversial antics, one of which is the overt sexual behaviour that Miley Cyrus and her crew did to perhaps exude sexiness and freedom, which they did not really achieve. Because it was more promiscuous than sexy, I am being nice here when I say promiscuous. In the video you’ll see how they tried to glamorize the issue of self infliction by using a fake finger which oozed a pink slime of some sort. They also amplified the fun of wasting money by the feast of money sandwiches and expensive blings that were presented in the video. I think Miley was trying to prove to the world that she's now an adult but the video failed to do that.

5 Ways to Amend a Relationship

Take advantage of our technological capability. One should maximize the usage of these tools so as to make our relationships more fun and a little bit more bearable when distance happens.There are a number of ways where one can communicate with their dearly beloved with ease. The main factor that a person should have to make that relationship work is a persons determination to keep communication active and be open to accessing these means so that he/she can strengthen his/her relationship further. These technological advances on our communication will hopefully mean a more sturdy relationship (may it be romantic or parental).

Chatting

PHOTO CREDIT: KMillenas

Pros: Good for people who are at ease with writing their thoughts well.
Cons: It’ll be a challenge if your partner is a grammar nazi.

The "In" Thing of Checking In

You will normally see this checking in phenomenon in a number of social media sites. You’ll primarily see a number of check ins in restaurants, hotels and resorts. People are fond of documenting these events on a day to day basis. This social media phenomenon is exercised by your typical high school students, young professionals, grown women and men. There is primarily no limit to this check ins, as long as you travel and dine in to different locations then you’ll have the privilege of socially announcing your whereabouts.

This is commonly practiced using an application either on your mobile phone or computer. What you will primarily do is to create an account with that application and then you can go and tag yourself to different locations that fit your daily roaming. One of the popular location based social networking sites is Foursquare. This location basically uses the GPS locater of the device and the computer network. The entertaining aspect of Foursquare is that they can actually crown a user as a “Mayor” of a certain place or establishment. This will primarily depend on your frequency on the said place for about 2 months. One of the perks of being a Foursquare “Mayor” will depend on the establishment’s guidelines, some restaurants actually have special promos or discounts for their crowned Foursquare Mayor.

Wildcard! Remedies for Dark Spots

One of the common issues of women when it comes to their skin is the issue of dark spots. It is so easy to get this annoying problem however it is quite a challenge to get a good safe solution for it. Yes, you may get highly expensive whitening or bleaching session at spas and cosmetic centers everywhere in the metro, but is it safe? And next to the safety concern is the matter of cost. How much does these high tech skin innovations cost nowadays?

Dark spots may appear due to friction, cosmetic products, skin allergy and other beauty regimen; these are just some of the causes of dark spots in women. I myself have been a victim of this, which is why I opted to venture out of the usual sessions in spas. With that thought in mind, I tried my hands on some homemade remedies for dark spots.

Fave! Gabriel Iglesias Videos

In Youtube there are a number of ways where you can entertain yourself and some friends. Like for instance, you can check fun heart-warming videos of babies, awesome artistic painting videos, full television series episodes and the likes for your entertainment pleasure. With all these fantastic means of distraction from our day to day routine one of the menial challenges that we will face is the process of choosing our favourite go to videos to de-stress.

I personally have a hundred of go-to videos in my list but I think one of my top favourite is the absolutely fun and entertaining stand up comedy videos of Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias. Gabriel Iglesias is great stand up comedian and voice actor, he is known for his hit shows Hot & Fluffy and Standup Revolution.

I just love his humor and his very cute cuddly facial expressions! I cannot wait to share these videos with you, so here they are!

Dance ,Dance, Revolution - Gabriel Iglesias
Best funny line: “I’m so ready”
Best Facial/Body Expression: The soft fluffy dancing!
Check out the video!

DUCKFACING

PHOTO CREDIT: KMillenas

Girls with wacky faces in social media sites are quite normal these days. They will often present themselves in photos with their puckered lips together in a combination of a pout and a kiss that gave the impression of perhaps a more prominent cheekbones and fuller lips. This facial expression is commonly seen in photos of women when they are taking photos of themselves in front of a mirror. This facial expression is known as the duckface.

It is now popularly known as a duckface because of the lip manipulation that is associated with the expression. It may somewhat mimic the protruding beak of a duck. Girls does this pose every so often that sometimes they even have a facebook album that is completely dedicated to documenting this look.

Let's turn the table (June)

Trolling as I see it has turned into a type of internet sport for people who love to malign other people with their rude offensive comments online. And they all seem to be so fearless in doing that, in sites such as Youtube. They just love to criticize every nooks and crannies of the video or of the people commenting on the video yet some of them actually lack the linguistic skill to do so. This linguistic troll problem is so prevalent in sites like Youtube that I am making a monthly list of these youtube comments so as to perhaps shed some light on the most common misused, misspelled and abused words online. Here are some:

The words “lik” and “tring” may be typographical errors. But the word “there” surely is not a typo.
There usually means a place.
They’re is the contraction of they are.
So, it should have been “It’s like they’re trying…” 

What is Food Photography?

Food Photography is a normal part of our social media life. Nowadays we stumble upon a number of food photos in sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Photobucket and the likes. Our fascination with the intricate attractiveness of some of these food presentations is just obvious. There is indeed great culinary artistry in some of the ordered food that we get from restaurants and it is quite natural these days to document a personally considered work of art.

With the availability of a lot of apps that are within our smartphone’s reach it is quite easy to present food also known as food photography. What is food photography? This is usually represented through a photo of a glamourised food presentation arousing one’s desire to eat and enjoy the food. The styling of the food is important in food photography because the foods provocativeness is the main focus.

Death in Social Media

Death is a normal part of life however these days it is not only found in our normal uneventful life it is somehow injected in to our social media life aswell. People are compelled to somehow document their mundane lives even in the event of such a misfortune. Nowadays, it is quite normal to see a whole Facebook album full of narcissistic selfies but to stumble upon an album with a coffin and the surrounding emotional grief is kinda hard to take in one sitting.

In finding an album like that I often think about what is the proper decorum? First thing that comes in to mind is the necessary condolence message. However it doesn't stop there, how about the Facebook like button? Should I go about and dismiss it or like it? One might think how insensitive of a person you are to “like” such a scenario? But liking those types of photos may derive from your empathetic understanding. Maybe you “liked” it due to  the fact that she’s in a better place or something to that extent.

What are Captchas?

It is a usual task nowadays to sign up and log in and out of a number of websites. And I as go with this random task I often encounter these Captcha codes that often than not delays my online action. Before I go mumbling about my thoughts on Captchas I think it is necessary to discuss what it is.

What are Captchas?
Captcha as per Wikipedia is an initialism for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.” Now that we know the words behind the initials, what are Captchas for? Captchas are words and numbers that are often distorted in appearance and color. These are words that are generated to basically determine if the user is human or not. This is primarily important for the protection of various information’s that are available on the internet and to also prevent bot-generated spams in forums, emails and other online messaging boards.

FAVE! Top Ellen Interview

I have watched a lot of episodes of the Ellen Degeneres Show and I just like how quirky and fun the interviews go. What I really appreciate about Ellen's show is how natural her conversation with her guests flow. The interview doesn't feel forced or doesn't feel very talk showy, it is just a simple fun talk between two friends basically. There are a lot of honest good stories that will make feel like you know these people.

Ellen has interviewed a number of actors and actresses but still there are the ones that stand out. Here’s my top three memorable interviews by Ellen Degeneres.

Liam Neeson
I just love his charming "thanks ellen” remark during his interview with Ellen. Liam Neeson is one of my favorite actors of all time. Despite his age he is still able to exude sexiness that can be at par with Robert Redford and even Brad Pitt. I love the fact that Liam Neeson can lure you with his voice alone, he is the voice of Azlan in Narnia. And of course beyond that sexy voice is his great acting skill that kills. Love him in Schindler’s List, Batman Begins, Unknown and Taken! Click here for the video.

Types of Posers

As I go around my Facebook page I stumble upon a good number of what many people may call as Posers. You’ll see them posting a lot of selfies and stereotypical stuff. But before I go on, let us first identify what is a Poser? A poser is someone who likes a certain typecast and wants to be seen as that. A poser is primarily someone who is trying to be something they’re not. Example, for quiet sometime being EMO was the “in” thing, people were wearing full black ensemble, deep eyeliners, listening to angst centric music and a lot of black paraphernalia. With this trend, people tried their hands on this EMO thing even though they didn’t really like the music and the style. The primary reason why these posers got the “EMOfied” look was because they want to get people’s attention and they want to present themselves as perhaps “cool.” 

This defecation on social media is happening much more than you think, so I am listing here My Top 4 Types of Posers.

EMO Poser

PHOTO CREDIT: GMillenas

This poser stereotype is usually practiced by teenagers and young adults. They often prance around wearing full on black ensemble, anime looking hair and eyeliners to boot. They present themselves as majorly depress and emotionally unstable. They often post very dramatic “alone in the rain crying” photos in shades of black, white and gray. They want people to pity them and at the same time view them as cool kids who are not ashamed of showing his/her “dark” emotions.

What Are Hashtags For?

What are Hashtags?

Do you know what this # means? For 20 plus years of existence I have known this as a number sign but as our society and technology progress it has evolved into a new lingo known as a Hashtag. What is a Hashtag? This is (#) the symbol of a Hashtag, it is usually followed by a word or a phrase that contains one’s thought. These Hashtagged short messages are usually found in microblogging social media sites such as Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Google plus and even Facebook. These Hashtags act as keyword tool that groups certain messages together.

Are you liking your own post?

5 Reasons Why You Should Not Like Your Own Facebook Status.

1. It is redundant.

PHOTO CREDIT: GMillenas

The mere fact that you wrote the status says a lot about your stance regarding the topic. And liking that status is just unnecessary. Liking it does not really add any information for the readers. There is no justification for this, content wise because liking your own post at the end of the day is just plain redundant.