Vitamin Gem

Stuff to buy? Stuff to sell? It’s all right here in Sulit.com.ph

vitamingem — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:33:35 +0000

There’s this banner competition going on at Sulit.com.ph. Being a happy buyer and seller in the site I was really excited to do be able to do my Photoshop work and advertise for them.

If you’re from the Philippines and you’re looking for stuff to buy, chances are somebody has that online. Or maybe you’re a seller with your products; I tell you, there are a lot of people out there wanting to buy what you have. Or maybe you are in need of business services, you can find it here at Sulit.com.ph.

Sulit.com.ph is the leading buy and sell website in the Philippines. Post advertisements or find great deals at Sulit.com.ph.

Celebrate Sulit.com.ph 4th Anniversary! Join the Sulit Banner Making Contest for July and get a chance to win cool gadgets from Sulit.com.ph, Blackberryzuela.com, and GadgetGrocery. com!

UP students walkout from classes

vitamingem — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 06:14:42 +0000

Hundreds of student from University of the Philippines – Diliman walked out their classes to assert their dissatisfaction at the current educational system.

On Friday, July 16 2010, as part of the nationwide movement called the National Day of Action for Education, student leaders from the Center for Nationalist Studies (CNS) in UP organized a march to Mendiola Avenue. At around 10:40 am, about a hundred students attended the program conducted in the Palma Hall Lobby in preparation for the march. In the program, representatives from different campus organizations took turns in speaking their cause; among the speakers the recently tenured Professor Sarah Raymundo.

“Nung isang araw lang inaprubahan ang 37 lab fee increase (Just the other day the 37 lab fee increases were approved)”, Professor Raymundo stressed, “Kailangan natin ng edukasyon na makabayan, siyentipiko at makamasa (We need an education that is nationalistic, scientific and publicly accessible).”

Among the organizations who participated in the mobilization are members of League of Filipino Students (LFS), Anakbayan UP, Kabataan Partylist, UP Student Catholic Action, Agham Youth, STAND- UP, UP Repertory, Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity.

The concerns stressed in the protest include the Tuition and Other Fees Increase of 2006, commercialization and privatization of land areas in the university, and Representatives from different academic departments also raised their individual concerns such as from the College of Mass Communications and the sudden increase of lab fees from the College of Engineering.

“Kung gusto talaga ni [President Aquino] ipatupad ang kanyang plataporma, [tatanggaling niya ang mga katiwalian] ni [President] Gloria (If President Aquino really wants to carry out his platforms he will have to eliminate President Gloria’s corrupt policies).”, spoke Lawrence Co, chairperson of the UP Center for Nationalist Studies.

Clad in red, the student protesters picketed around the buildings in UP and afterwards proceeded to march towards Mendiola Avenue, passing through Espana Street, Tomas Morayta and Recto Avenues in Manila. They were later joined by students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Likewise, in observation of the National Day of Action, students of UP Los Banos, UP Cebu and other picketed their respective government and educational institutions this day.

A similar protest was also held on July 10 of last year during the oil price crisis.

The UP Circuit Logo Revamp

vitamingem — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:42:08 +0000

Then there are the logos that, while they already have interesting designs, have the potential to be better. These are the logos I’m going to looking at. In this Photoshop series, I want to revamp existing UP logos and make hip new version that would look pretty in posters and promotional materials.

Here I have the logo of UP Circuit. I started out by basically recreating the logo with solid colors.

I threw in some gradients, shadow and glow effects then I added the UP text using the font Yearbook Solid filled in with white.

I took me a few trials before I got the final patern for the “circuit” inside the C. I used most of the original design plus a few circles and a “core”, courtesy of Tech Brushes. I used the Tech lines from the Tech Brushes to redo the white line pattern outside the blue triangle.

The original logo had the three EEE courses written inside the blue triangle, and that’s not something I think should be removed. However, when I tried to recreate that using stylistic fonts, the text just looked out of place and messy so I decided to put it outside the triangle. It also fits perfectly in the space of the white lines.

A pattern overlay and more brushwork later, it looked like this.

Time to light up the circuit. I thought the glow effect with gaussian blur is very appropriate for the logo (besides looking really cool) so I used it. A lot.

The logo is done. A little background editing and it looks like this.

More American Idol 9 Fan Art

vitamingem — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:48:06 +0000

Here is the long overdue second part of my AI fan art.

Terrified Cover

vitamingem — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:49:02 +0000

I adore this song and I couldn’t help making a cover so I did (also partly because of a request made my friend Aid).
Check it out:

Single Review – House Party – 3OH!3

vitamingem — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 06:22:30 +0000

“I’M GONNA HAVE A HOUSE PARTY IN MY HOUSE!”

This song is almost Lonely Island On A Boat-levels ridiculous, but ridiculous seems to be working for 3OH!3 after their second album Want became huge in the US dance pop scene.

House Party, the first single to leak come out of their third studio album (due for release on June of this year), is pretty crazy and entertainingly straightforward. It has a hot beat, perfect for…umm…house parties, when you’d be so wasted to pay attention to the mundane lyrics.

The music video is equally absurd. You can check it out, but PLEASE do not attempt to do so if you are photosensitive or are prone to seizures.

Fan Art – Michael “Big Mike” Lynche

vitamingem — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:33:06 +0000

In honour of Big Mike’s elimination and save, here is his sketched portrait as part of my American Idol 9 finalist portrait collection.

Single Review – Love Like Woe – The Ready Set

vitamingem — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:44:06 +0000

I’ve been looking for new beats to stack on my summer playlist this week when I found this cool new track , Love Like Woe by The Ready Set.

The Ready Set is the stage name of Jordan Witzigreuter (hope I spelled that right), a 20-year old electronica singer from Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is signed to Decaydance Records, home of Hey Monday, Cobra Starship and Panic! at the Disco.

The new single came as quite a surprise. The catchy, funky tune immediately caught on. I haven’t had the same genuine excitement for a song since I heard Fireflies in the mall last year. Its chillaxing vibe is perfect for the summer.

The Ready Set’s style has some similarities to Owl City, both synthpop-electronic type singers with feelgood tunes, though the former has a more hiphop influence and significantly more Auto-Tune. Think Owl City synths+Black Eyed Peas Auto-Tune+Justin Bieber beat+Metro Station voice.

Featured – Telehone – Lady GaGa cover by Pomplamoose

vitamingem — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:02:41 +0000

If you think Lady GaGa’s Telephone video can’t get any weirder, check out this cover by Pomplamoose. This musically prolific group makes unusual covers of popular songs…with the singer looking scarily like an unblinking Justin Bieber.

Pomplamoose’s Youtube Channel

Music Review – American Idol Top 10 Studio Recordings

vitamingem — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:49:17 +0000

This week we lost Did Benami as the Idols took on RnB/Soul. I can’t say I’m surprised; Didi’s perfomance was one of the weaker ones this week, though I don’t think she deserved the screwing over she got from the judges..and Ryan. Her Rhiannon performance deserved a save in itself, but her emotional instability may hurt her further on. Better a graceful exit than a terrible meltdown. Besides, she’s already snagged a spot on the summer tour.

THE GOOD:

It wasn’t quite the “moment” he was aiming for, but Lee’s rendition of Treat Her Like A Lady was definitely one of the best performances this week. Lee’s raspy rocker voice is perfect for this song and if you close your eyes and listen to him, you would swear it was David Cook. That might be a good or a bad thing for him because I’m not sure if America wants another pop rocker voice to win. In the meantime, Lee’s going to sail through the theme weeks with his consistently good vocals. Treat Her Like A Lady – Lee DeWyze

Crystal finally drops her guitar but still find an excuse not to walk around the stage by wearing insane stilettos and sitting down with a piano. Crystal’s musical instinct still amazes me; she manages to make Midnight Train To Georgia her own without veering too much away from the original. She also has a pretty falsetto, I think she should use it more in the next few weeks. Midnight Train To Georgia – Crystal Bowersox

I like how Casey becomes more and more interesting and capable every week, trying to break free from mid-pack status to frontrunner. He hasn’t quite got there yet, but his performance this week of Hold On I’m Coming was energetic and entertaining. This guy knows how to put on a show and his blues rock style is definitely hot. Hold On I’m Coming – Casey James

THE MEH:

Once again, I just don’t know what to say about Mike. His performance of Ready For Love was pure, sincere, and vocally spot on, but it just didn’t strike me as something I’d want to hear on the radio. He’s still miles better vocally than most of the top 10 though, and with that he won’t have trouble making it far. Ready For Love – Michael Lynche

Andrew got his acoustic-guitar-song-transliterating skillz back this week and he finally got rave reviews from the judges for his version of Forever. While he got through that hurdle of beating his own standard he set with “that song”, he’s still far behind the other great voices in this competition. The recording was also disappointingly sound-alike, as he used the original arrangement. Forever – Andrew Garcia

I’ve heard like a bazillion covers of Chain of Fools; some bad, some good. Katie’s recording of the song could fit into the latter, but it’s not a version I’m going to remember. Chain of Fools – Katie Stevens

Same with Aaron’s version of Ain’t No Sunshine. The kids better step it up in the next few weeks if they don’t want to get trampled by the experience and showmanship of their co-competitors.
Ain’t No Sunshine – Aaron Kelly

THE HOT MESS:

Tim Urban looked and sounded like he was bearing a cross to towards the judges table and his song choice of Anita Baker’s Sweet Love is something I associate with barber shops and hair dressers. The way he creepily stares at the camera is very distracting, not to mention disturbing. The whole performance was just flat and uninteresting. Sweet Love – Tim Urban

Siobhan Magnus had a very tough week; getting pummeled by Simon after her shaky rendition of Chaka Khan’s Through the Fire. Weeks of difficult and ambiguous criticism is really hurting her and if she can’t get back on track next week, she might lose that finale spot people expect her to nab. On the brighter side, her recording sounds gorgeous as always and she breezes through those high notes she didn’t get in the live performance. Through the Fire – Siobhan Magnus