And so far so good! Here are the new stuff I fire up on my idiot box:

1. Eastwick is an American television drama series created by Maggie Friedman. The series is a television adaption of the John Updike novel, The Witches of Eastwick, and its 1987 film adaptation. The show premiered on September 23, 2009 at 10:00 PM ET. The show follows the lives of three strangers, Roxanne, Joanna and Kat, who meet at a wishing fountain and soon become friends. A mysterious man named Darryl Van Horne has moved to Eastwick and has sinister plans for the women, but befriends them. Even more dangerous, he unleashes their supernatural powers. By igniting their hearts’ desires, he might just be opening Pandora’s box.

My thoughts: This series looks like it’s a cross between Charmed (starring Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano) and some girl-centric comedy drama (think Sex and the City, Lipstick Jungle, or Desperate Housewives). It’s light and frothy fare, a worthy time-passer.

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2. FlashForward is a science-fiction television series currently in production by ABC Studios for the 2009–2010 television season for ABC. It is based on the 1999 novel Flashforward by Canadian science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer. It began airing on September 24, 2009. A mysterious global event causes everyone on the planet to simultaneously lose consciousness for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, during which people worldwide see what may be visions of their lives approximately six months in the future, April 29, 2010. The event results in deaths from accidents and leaves the survivors wondering whether what they saw will really happen.

My thoughts: With no less than Shakespeare in Love’s Joseph Fiennes at the lead, FlashForward looks to be the intriguing sci-fi hit I’d get giddy downloading — much in the mold of Heroes season 1 and Fringe. I’m about to watch episode 2 right after publishing this entry!

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3. Melrose Place is an American television series for The CW Television Network,^[1] that premiered on September 8, 2009. The fifth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise, it is an updated version of the 1990s FOX prime time drama Melrose Place, featuring a group of young adults living in a West Hollywood, California apartment complex. Smallville producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer are show runners of the series. According to Entertainment Weekly, the first season will feature a murder mystery involving characters Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton) and Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro) from the original series, as well as a crop of new residents.

My thoughts: I watched the original Melrose Place series back in the day, and found the ludicrous partner-switching and shameless betrayals amusing. Soapy, sappy, and full of eye candy, this show looks to be part of my regular downloading stash for a while.

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4. Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox. It focuses on a high school show choir, also known as a glee club, set within the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. A pilot episode of the show was broadcast after American Idol on May 19, 2009, and the first season began airing on September 9, 2009. On September 21, 2009, Fox officially gave the series a full-season pick-up. The show was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, and originally envisioned as a film rather than a TV series. Murphy selects all music featured within the series himself, and intends to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits.

My thoughts: Glee has the inimitable appeal of old school teenybopper series, laced with loads of crowd-tested musical pop. Surprisingly entertaining to some and hugely successful with most, the series has captured a massive global audience since its debut. I like the good music, the formidable cast, and so far, the bouncy plot. B)

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In the relatively short span of time that I’ve been publicly chronicling aspects of my life online, there is an obvious change in the way the blog entries are composed.

The earlier months portrayed a lot of scattered, random thoughts about many things, particularly of my faith and mundane everyday stuff. Along the way, I started to zero in on specific things and subjects: my tech and multimedia passions, work musings, the food I eat, websites I browse, and lately, domestic life with my two puppies.

The tone of my entries has since forgone their casual candor, which for me somehow reflects a shift from my unsettled personal “multichotomy” to a relative certainty of self-awareness.

I had thought about whether or not the continued existence of the older entries bothered me. True enough, after reading some of what I had posted before, I would not think of posting that way today. More so with the entries from my older blog — one I started at Xanga and eventually to Blogspot.. those posts were totally outrageous!

That said, the totality of this current blog and its rich archive of entries represent chapters in my life that would remain online for as long as I find substantial purpose in having them so — regardless of what I feel about the state of mind I was on when they were written. They will continue to exist until the time comes for this site to sign off.

In the mean time, on with the show.

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As I progress with blogging and blog maintenance, I’ve come to uncover all that the Quick Blogcast platform is not capable of offering.

The software had too many weak points:

• Inflexibility of personalization. Customization is difficult in Quick Blogcast, and whatever little you can do with it, you have to do with utmost caution (my blog crashed about 2 times in the past when I attempted to overhaul the site design).
• Absence of knick-knacks. Sidebar widgets and additional plug-ins that are readily available in other platforms such as Blogger and Wordpress are scarce in Quick Blogcast. Even the ubiquitous tag cloud is only given as a premium offering, available only if you pay an additional amount.
• It’s just not pretty enough.

Then why did I have to move from the old allanko.com domain if I only had concerns with the blogging platform, you ask? Pretty simple.

The .com domain is tightly integrated with the old Quick Blogcast site, and I didn’t want to risk losing my current (albeit paltry) blog reader base as I migrate into Wordpress. And considering how cheap it is to register domains these days, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get the .net equivalent along with the new site. I will still retain the allanko.com domain, which should eventually autoforward here.

Thank you for visiting my blog and hope to hear from you on the comments!

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* This is all over the news: two Kelly Hildebrandts — guy and a girl sharing the same name — get hitched after meeting each other on Facebook.

* To all the Nintendo fans out there — this Mario games family tree is really interesting. I didn’t know there has been this many games released under the Mario franchise! I only own a couple of the major ones.

* Text addicts beware: texting tendonitis might be plaguing your thumb soon.

* This site cracks me up — My Parents Joined Facebook features funny screen caps of parent-child interactions in the popular social networking site, and has even spawned a copycat site from the parents’ perspective.

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* It is now officially the second half of 2009. The first half of the year has been eventful and fun, but there’s no doubt I could certainly push the envelope some more. Among other things, I need to get back into shape — have been remiss with my exercise regimen ever since I moved to the new place.

* You’ve got to try this: dulong in garlic and olive oil (available at Salcedo Market) served atop a steaming cup of rice. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

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* As I’ve joined the quirky ranks of folks who take pictures of the food in restos before eating, I can very well relate to what this article says — Put Away the Darn Camera: How to politely photograph restaurant food.

* Cash-strapped? Chances are, you’ve been lazy with your money. Here are All The Ways Your Laziness Is Costing You. Right off the bat, I can tell that I flunk on these ways: Not Taking Advantage of Corporate Wellness Incentives, and Not Bothering to Negotiate a Better Deal.

* For everyone who, like me, has erratic sleep cycles, read this article as it may help you identify the sleep arrangement that works for you.

* I have yet to successfully jailbreak my iPod Touch, but this guide should come in handy when I try to do so soon.

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The iPhone’s lack of a physical keyboard is a dealbreaker for me, as I just can’t stand texting via an onscreen keyboard (which is why my Samsung Omnia has since been a mere idle paperweight on my drawer). However, browsing through the iTunes App Store, I found a whole world of neat applications and games that are within reach — a lot of them offered for free — and that was really enticing. As such, yesterday I gave in to the gadget itch: and got me my own iPod Touch 32GB.

Upon purchase, I hurriedly hooked it up to my Mac to sync it up. There are a lot of free games available that are lots of fun, and while I haven’t spent a single cent on downloads I already have about a hundred apps loaded on to the unit. My gripes thus far: there are not enough pages on Springboard (the app launcher) to accommodate all my programs; the internal speaker is a joke — it sounds very tinny and the volume’s too low. I tried to ‘jailbreak’ it myself, but somehow something kept going wrong so I gave up for the time being.

Thus far, I’ve been enjoying it. Let’s see how it goes — my old iPod Classic (acquired around early 2006) is still in good condition, and has served me well. I will continue to use it in the car, while my new toy keeps me entertained elsewhere.

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* Engadget and gdgt, the latest tech gadget news from respected gadget bloggers. I enjoy having them blabber away in the background while I work.

* Engadget HD and HDTV and Home Theater Podcast — these are tech podcasts as well, but focusing on HD / home theater stuff.

* Max Lucado Daily Devotional MP3 — little one-minute inspirational nuggets from my favorite Christian book author. Really good in-betweener to music that I listen to on my iPod when it’s on shuffle.

* Radio Free NIntendo — Nintendo World Report’s official weekly podcast, covering everything from the latest Nintendo news to the staff’s favorite classic games. Perhaps not the best video games podcast out there, but one that I particularly enjoy. This is what I play on my long weekend drives from Eastwood to Manila.

* This Week in Tech — The very first podcast I subscribed to (way back 2004?). Leo Laporte and his gang of geekheads talk about the latest tech news and trends, roundtable style.

* Covenant LIfe Church Sunday sermons. A nice occasional listen, especially the messages by “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” author Joshua Harris.

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* Last week, I bought myself a copy of The Sims 3, which I have installed on my MacBook Pro. The graphics and AI are impressive, way beyond the pixellated, dimwitted beings I last encountered on the original PC game. Thus far, I have only managed to create characters and got them to live through a few days in auto-pilot based on the traits and dispositions I gave them. Not exactly the most engaging game experience I’ve had, but it definitely does the trick for much-needed momentary stress-busting.

* What is it about long weekends that make them seem like they’re, ironically, too short? I just got back from mine — and feel that it is not enough. That said, I did enjoy it a lot — my mom and nieces came for a Wii-filled sleepover, and I got to dine out with them twice. Looking forward to more R&R time in the coming weekends!

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