Contest: Win prizes worth hundreds of dollars from Mukhang Pera

A Review on Icongalore.com, Buytemplates.net, Brochuremoster.com and MukhangPera.com






Icongalore.com is an online store that sell high quality icons need for web development, application development, and other purposes. There are thousands of professionaly designed icons displayed in the website. The website contains icons suitable for various windows OS, such as XP style icons, Vista icons, and Windows 7 icons. They are further classified into categories to make it easy for the customers to choose the pack they are in need of. These various categories of icons come in five different formats, three states and in all standard sizes. Each of the icon package has a complete set of icons required for specific purposes and have be priced much lower than the standard market price.

The icons are grouped under various categories, such as Network Icons, Festival Icons, Socialmedia Icons, Vista Email Icons, Network DB Icons, Hotel Icons, Travel Rule Icons, Weather Icons, Accounting Icons, Navigation Icons, Travel Icons, Real Estate Icons, Ecommerce Icons, Transport Icons, Accounting Software Icons, E-commerce Icons, Conceptual Icons, Web Icons, People and Objects, Flag Icons, Multimedia Icons, Computer & Network Icons, Insurance Icons, Telecom Icons, Entertainment Icons, Medical Icons, Windows Theme Icons, Retail Icons, Banking Icons, Education Icons, Food & Beverage Icons, Object & Product Icons, Software Icons, Button Icons and many more.

Buytemplates.net is a renowned online store for high quality websites templates. The online store has been serving global clients over a decade now. Over these years the online web template store has been transformed into a superstore with thousands of web templates in various categories and web technologies. You can find all kinds of web templates that range from simple HTML web templates to the complex Joomla templates that run on CMS technology. Buytemplates.net has successfully adapted to various trend changes in the internet world and remains the best online web template store to this day. The store has three membership plans to suit the needs of its customers. These consist of budget, standard and premium membership programs. The website also offer plethora of freebies and complete online support until your websites are launched. All of the services provided by the website, such as template customization, custom designing, content insertion, or even hosting are priced very competitively. Best of all the freebies is the one year free web hosting service offered to every new member.

Brochuremonster.com is the right place for people that are on the lookout for high quality brochures and flyer templates. The website has been serving its clients with the best brochure designs available in the industry. The online store contains all of the conventional marketing tools, such as brochures, flyers, tri-folders, postcards, posters, and even folders. These templates make it easy to create wonder working marketing collateral within a short span. The online store has flexible options for its clients. You can either choose individual templates or join membership programs of the online store. Membership programs enable customers to download unlimited number of brochures flyers posters, etc with a one time fee for a period of six months. The store also provides custom design services and excellent customer care.

Mukhang Pera is a blog for money-conscious Filipinos. The blog is a great source of information on the latest offline and online contests, promos, discounts, how to make money, and more. All the information blogged there has been filtered for the Philippine audience but readers from other countries can still learn a lot from the blog.

Win prizes worth hundreds of dollars from Mukhang Pera.


Prizes

First Prize

1. Windows7 Network Icons and Vista DB Network icons Package worth $ 180
2. Custom Flash banner design from bannerwind.com worth $ 199
3. Text link ad from bizbrim.com worth $ 10 (One month) - for related websites only
4. 5 GB Linux Reseller Hosting and a 2 GB Windows Reseller Hosting from webspace2host.in for one (1) year

Second Prize

1. Get any one brochure package from brochuremonster.com worth $ 149
2. Custom logo or WordPress theme worth $ 99
3. 2,000 MB hosting from http://www.bhardwajweb.com for one year
4. 1000EC credits http://i-heart-contest.com

Third Prize

1. Two Joomla templates and sharepoint templates from buytemplates.net worth $ 116
2. One year membership at memberwind.com. Get free access to 6 product sites that have various products, such as web templates, brochures, banners, icons, logos, and illustrations for member download.
3. Text link ad from http://www.stunningmesh.com for 1 month

There's more! Anyone who participates will receive a professionally designed web template from the sponsors!!!


Rules

• Read the Terms and Conditions before you enter the contest. Your participation in the contest implies that you have read and agreed to the terms and conditions of the sponsors regarding this contest.
• The contest will run from February 1 to 28, 2010. Credits earned after the closing date will not be counted.
• To participate in this contest your blog should be at least 3 months old.
• Participants can post the review on any number of blogs but only one post per blog will be accepted.
• Post this review along with sponsors' ad banners, rules, and prizes. Care should be taken that the hyperlinks in the review are "dofollow" links and are live.
• You can follow us on twitter and earn credits as well.
• You can also post reviews about the contest on different social media sites to gain credits
• You can get the maximum credits if you write your own review about any of the sponsors' websites (buytemplates.net, brochuremonster.com, or templatewind.com) and mukhangpera.com
• Submit your blog entry URL, social media username, and twitter username and tweets by posting a comment at http://mukhangpera.com/2010/02/contest-win-prizes-worth-hundreds-of-dollars-from-mukhang-pera/
• There are corresponding points depending on the type of entries:
  For blog post - 3 points
  For twitter followers - 2 points
  For social media bookmarks - 1 point each (e.g. digg, stumbleupon, etc.)
  Writing a short review about any of the four sites on your own and posting it on your blogs - 10 points
• In cases of ties, winner will be selected using random.org

Contest Page: http://mukhangpera.com/2010/02/contest-win-prizes-worth-hundreds-of-dollars-from-mukhang-pera/

Manga: Saint Young Men

Originally posted at Mangabullet

I had heard of the manga "Saint Young Men" from my friend Yvie, as well as via the feeds of Anime News Network. I normally don't read or watch stuff that has something to do with religion (mostly because I find it boring) but I decided to give this a go.

"Saint Young Men" is about Jesus and Buddha taking a vacation from their "jobs" and decided to spend it in Japan. They share an apartment and go about their days living like ordinary young men (though in many cases, they retain their powers).

The manga doesn't tackle religious issues (which would definitely spark some controversy), nor does it try to say anything about either religion. If you remember Joan Osborne's song "What if God was one of us?" this manga goes along that line.

It's full of one liners, funny quips and random moments that you can't help but laugh out loud at. Think of this: Jesus is a popular blogger who reviews TV dramas, Buddha wants to be a mangaka, and both of them wish that people would depict them a little more positively than how they do now.

I take this with a grain of salt and just enjoy it.

Season's Greetings!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I got two new books to read: "Wicked" by Gregory McGuire and "Odd and the Frost Giants" by Neil Gaiman. Hope you have a fresh stack of "to-be-read" books too!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows screen caps

Two images from the upcoming "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" has been released over at Yahoo! UK.

My guess is that both scenes are from the part where the trio escapes the Death Eaters during Bill and Fleur's wedding, then flee to Grimmuald Place.

I'm obviously a big fan of the series. I can't wait for this!

Updated book list

Hi folks. I have a stack of books that I had finished reading the past few weeks. I haven't had time to write about them yet, mostly because writing about a book I've read aside from the "It was good" or "It was bad" is something that I rarely do.

Anyway, here's a list of the books I've finished. Hopefully I could post at least once a week about these.

By Diana Wynne Jones
The Merlin Conspiracy
Conrad's Fate
The House of Many Ways

By Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters
Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse
Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian

By Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol

My thoughts: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Though a popular writer, this is the first time I have read Murakami's work. When it comes to Japanese literature, my education is limited to manga adaptations. I am often of the impression that many such writing is lost in translation, especially given the nuances of each language.

Reading "After Dark" was, for me, similar to reading a manga that's a bit dark and melodramatic (a story from George Asakura's "A Perfect Day for Love Letters" comes to mind), or watching an anime like "Perfect Blue."

The story occurs at times between night and dawn, from sometime before midnight to just before 5 am. In between those times, so many things happen, intertwining the lives of the various characters of the story. Due to the "real time" treatment of the story (think of something like 24), where the events happen in a specific time, the reader becomes a part of the story, even if just as an observer.

Though I am far from impressed, I am intrigued. "After Dark" may not be a favorite of mine, but it's enough for me to want to pick up Murakami's other works.

Manga: A Perfect Day for Love Letters 1 & 2

I rarely buy manga. During the years when I first wanted to buy them, a graphic novel can cost up to Php1000, and a single issue costs Php120 to 150. The English translated manga market was cornered mainly by Viz Comics and Dark Horse Publishing, with Mixx Entertainment coming in during the late 90s. Publishers nowadays, like DelRay, are releasing them the same way its released in Japan, tankōbon, or pocket sized compilation manga printed in newsprint paper, which costs less.


I came upon A Perfect Day for Love Letters by accident. It was the only manga in the bookstore that didn't seem to run for volumes. In the end, I got both of them (and at Php10 less per volume, it wasn't so bad).

Each volume is composed of five to six short stories revolving around a relationship that is often sparked by a letter, while in some cases it is sustained by that. With the exception of one story (which seems to be more about a boy getting to understand his late brother by spending time with the latter's lover), everything is about a guy and a girl and their relationship.

Many of the stories evoke a feeling of nostalgia, as they are about first love. But the relationships go deeper than that. Quite a few of the stories have the characters communicate solely through letters, and interacting only at the end of it. Yet some of the stories involve just one letter, while two stories have the characters exchange letters digitally.

It is also endearing to read about young men who can pour their feelings though old fashioned letters. With all the guy friends I've had over the years, only a handful willingly write me letters. But whenever I receive any, it is a wonderful feeling.

DelRay includes some notes and explanations at the end of each volume, which is rather handy for first time manga readers. As American culture is remarkably different from Japanese culture, some comments, instances, words and customs need to clarified to avoid confusion. Even the honorifics used by the Japanese (although absent from the translation) were explained.

Mind you, this a work of fiction, but the feelings these stories invoke are all too real for anyone who has gone through the joy (and pains, of course) of liking someone. The kilig factor definitely there, and for a hopeless romantic like me, this is a light but fun read.


Originally published in my Multiply account.