mark wahlberg is basking in the limelight these days, what with the birth of his third child (a boy) and plans to tie the knot with long-time partner, rhea durham. but more importantly, he will shortly be gracing the silver screen as Max Payne. Trailers for this video game-based action thriller are already out (check out below), and some fanboys are already drooling…

luckily for some, it’s initial “R” rating has been toned down to PG-13.

meanwhile, watch out for marky-mark’s other film projects: in The Lovely Bones, he plays Jack Salmon (as a last-minute replacement to ryan gosling, who reportedly backed out of the project due to ‘creative difference’s with film director peter jackson. mark wahlberg is likewise set to appear in Cocaine Cowboys, and is currently preparing for his role as a boxer in The Fighter, which will also star brad pitt.

there’s nothing much that i can relate with when it comes to jerry seinfeld and bill gates — except maybe for the fact that Seinfeld remains one of my all-time favorite TV sitcoms and bill gates = microsoft = windows = my laptop.

but when i viewed their Vista ad for the first time (the second batch, anyway), i was really amused. maybe not in a laugh-out-loud-and-rolling-on-the-floor fashion, but it sure made me grin — which is a surprise because bill gates isn’t really what you would call a funny guy and it’s been a while since i had laughed over jerry seinfeld’s antics.

i know the ad is supposed to promote Windows Vista, but it sure takes a circuitous route to make its point — until that last frame, you’re never quite sure what these guys are trying to sell. still it’s nice to see these well-heeled dudes going out of their way to make a quirky ad.

today marks the second time in a week that an electrical blackout has disrupted our office routine.

we don’t know what caused the first one (last thursday), but it gave us an unscheduled 2-hour (12:15 midnight to 2:20am) break that we basically spent lounging in our seats and swapping ghost stories. i can’t remember exactly who started the ball rolling, but it got everyone’s undivided attention.

as one might expect, it didn’t take long for an officemate to claim that she had the “third eye.” now, i know that sounds rather like a convenient cliche, but you have to admit that under the right circumstances, it makes for an interesting atmosphere.

to continue, our officemate (let’s call here diane) noted that she would occasionally have a “sighting” of a young boy walking around the halls leading to the elevator, particularly near this unoccupied office space right across our quarters.

naturally, this drew some horrified squeals from some of our more highly strung co-workers, along with a plaintive request to please change the topic. (fat chance!) that, of course, led to more hair-raising and chill-inducing — not to mention occasionally absurd and hilarious — ghost tales. gasps of horror and nervous laughter vied for dominance, with neither gaining the upper hand for long.

now comes the crux of the matter. i was supposed to leave the office around 2:10am (after a 2-hour OT). dare i venture out alone and brave the “shadowy horrors” of the dark hallway in order to get to the elevator, or just wait until morning? ribald suggestions aside, i was actually more worried about the availability and reliability of the elevators, which have this unfortunate habit of inconveniently conking out right after a blackout.

fortunately, the lights came on again around 2:20am. with a minimum of fuss, i logged myself out and gathered my things.

“wait! what if you meet that young boy’s ghost?” a worried voice piped in as i was leaving.

great. there’s really nothing like a well-aimed parting shot to stop you on your tracks. i could have done without that reminder, but there was no way i was going back now. with some misgiving i thumbed for the elevator. about 2 interminable minutes later, it arrived. hoping fervently that it wouldn’t stall on me (now, that would really be the PITS), i pressed the “Lobby” button and tried to ignore the fact that i was all alone.

to make this long story short, the trip down to the lobby was smooth and uneventful. but it wasn’t until i was out of the building that i finally heaved a huge sigh of relief.

the program started a bit late, but the organizers hit the ground running after that. several figures (blogie robillo, CSB’s information management dean, etc.) delivered short remarks, and a few minutes later, we proceeded to the respective segments that we had signed up for.

Blogging 102 was handled by jayvee fernandez, who was very effective in making his point (being engaging, that is). in fact, my only regret was that it was too short. i would’ve loved to hear more about his ideas. next was Organizing and Optimizing Your Blogs by elymar apao, who made several interesting disclosures that are worth looking into. the last one was Blogging & Journalism by danny arao. again, it’s a very interesting topic that i wish i had more time to delve into because he presented several insights that i’ve never even considered before.

lunch followed (provided by Chowking). the meal was a bit too starchy (too much carbo) but my empty stomach didn’t care.

of course, the main highlight of this event was matt (Mr Wordpress!) mullenweg’s discourse and so we were all hyped up to listen to him. matt m. actually looks younger than i had expected and although he doesn’t really have a loud voice, he had everybody’s attention. he showed us some interesting numbers (relating to bloggers and Wordpress in particular), and gave an abbreviated presentation of the upcoming release of Wordpress version 2.7 (which will be out by november, i think).

i’m not really a technical person, but i liked what matt mullenweg showed us. WP 2.7 looks great! i hope to convert to that version as soon as it becomes available. he also revealed some developments at Wordpress, including Buddy Press — a WP-based social networking tool that he described essentially as Facebook in a box.

this was followed by spiels from the event’s sponsors and giving of prizes (Migs was definitely in fine form, he kept things at a lively pace). too bad i didn’t win a thing. then came the Q&A portion with matt. a party was supposed to follow afterwards @ mag:net (the Fort) but i opted not to go because i wanted to catch up on my sleep.