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Latest update: 11/05/2010
- Internet - Philippines
Filipino web users mobilise for the country’s elections
In this edition : Filipino web users mobilise for the country’s elections. The blogosphere comments on the organisation of an alternative World Cup in Gaza. And immature Jedis have some fun in the US.
ELECTIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
On Monday the Filipino blogosphere was at boiling point as over 50 million voters went to the polls to elect their president, members of parliament, mayors and local councilors. The election campaigns had been marred by violence which claimed a hundred or so lives across the country.
Benigno Aquino, son of former president Corazón Aquino was the big favourite in the Presidential election. Many web users had mobilised over the past few months for the man they affectionately refer to as “Noy Noy”. His Facebook page has over one million fans.
And after 9 years under the presidency of Gloria Arroyo, which was marked by endemic corruption, Filipinos are expecting great things from this election. Some students have made an Internet clip appealing to their compatriots to show their common sense when electing their political leaders.
These elections had been moved into the digital age, with official results communicated on the Internet and electronic voting machines used for the first time on a national level. Objective: make the elections as transparent as possible.
But there have been concerns over the reliability of this automated vote. And many complaints have been made via social networks. Technical problems brought on delays and there were long queues outside polling stations, as we see in these pictures, posted online by voters.
GAZA WORLD CUP
Whilst millions of football fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa on the 11th of June, another competition is currently taking place in the Palestinian territories: The Gaza World Cup. It’s the first tournament of its kind and until the 15th of May it will bring together professional Palestinian footballers with foreigners, humanitarian workers and journalists living in Gaza. The project aims to give the people of Gaza something else to think about.
An official web site has been set up to cover the competition and keep fans updated. Aside from the Palestinian team, 15 other countries are represented, including France, England, the United States and also Egypt. Many photos are also available so you can experience this alternative world cup as if you were there.
This video has also been created for the occasion. In the clip we see residents: Palestinians and foreigners, men and women, explain why they are playing: for Gaza, to make it less isolated from the rest of the world.
You can follow the competition via social networks and Facebook in particular. This group has hundreds of shots taken since the beginning of the tournament. The photos illustrate the festive spirit in the stadiums.
This Gazan blogger thoroughly approves of the initiative and on her site she has posted an extract from a match she went to see. She says that this type of event makes the people of Gaza feel like they have not been forgotten.
NAWLZ: INTERACTIVE COMIC BOOK
A cyberpunk world, a science-fiction story based on virtual realities and hallucinogenic drugs and a techno sound track. This is Nawlz, an interactive comic created by Stuart Campbell, an Australian graffiti artist and multimedia designer. Various different options will open up to you, a bit like a video game, taking you to the different animated pages of this new type of comic book, which is moving into the web 2.0 era.
IN B FLAT
Try your hand at composing music with this site created by Darren Solomon, Ray Charles’ former bass player. On the welcome page there are twenty or so YouTube videos, each with one musician playing an instrument for 1 to 2 minutes. Guitar, trumpet, banjo, piano …. You choose the videos, the order in which they are played and when each instrument comes in. The result is always harmonious, leaving you with infinite possibilities for your musical compositions.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
What would happen if Jedis, the wise creatures created by George Lucas in the legendary Star Wars saga, were completely immature, even stupid? Well, if this video is anything to go by, they would be masters of rather childish pranks, using their powers on unsuspecting individuals. This offbeat clip should bring a smile to the faces of Star Wars fans.
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