El Bosquejo as an app

The only thing I can program is my inventory. I don't know a thing about platforms and scripts, and even the smallest blog design tweak gives me a headache. I would never have thought that creating a decent-looking mobile application could be as easy as brewing coffee.

I know, I don't even use a Nokia anymore, but I couldn't resist seeing my blog on a different interphase. Here is a step-by-step run-through of how I used Nokia's OVI app wizard.




Step 1: Enter blog feeds and see an instant preview.




Step 2: If you've got more than one blog, you can key in up to three more URLs. I've decided to enrich my app content by including my (now rarely updated) streetstyle blog, La Folie Douce.




Step 3: More feeds. Lastly I add my photo blog, Draft of Shadows.




Step 4: Upload your application icon. I have never created one so I hope my crazy face suffices. (I have a feeling I will regret this some time in the future…)




Step 5: Using my good old banner for the blog logo.




Step 6: Background color: black.




Step 7: More customization.




Step 8: Create an account.




Step 9: No ads please. I know how annoying that could be given limited space.




Step 10: Publisher logo. Same crazy face, haha.




Step 11: Quickly now. That's enough…




Step 12: Place your blog under a category. Mine: Lifestyle & Leisure.




Step 13: Set your blog FREE.




Step 14: Distribute blog app globally. (One time, I was checking my analytics and found readers from Gaza!)




Step 15: Final Review. Now this is what scared me a bit, especially the part that says: "You are the copyright owner of the content", since we all know that I use lots of pics from the web, and other blogs to boot.




Step 16: Though I submitted my "El Bosquejo" app for review, I cancelled my submission out of fear of legal complications, and redid all the steps to only include my La Folie Douce and Draft of Shadows feeds. Renamed the app to "Miguel Paolo Celestial" too. Take that, law-abiding citizen! (Though I do hope there is a way around this. Like sifting through my feed to only place my outfits, perhaps? Nokia, are you listening?)

Update: the app has been up for review for a few days now. Wonder if it will ever see the light of a touchscreen phone...

The new iPhone 4, fashion, and planned obsolescence

Hello, Steve (Jobs)? Are you there? You kept me up all night drooling over the world's next cool gadget. Why couldn't you warn us in advance, so we could smooth in changes to our lifestyles? Not to mention to prepare our budgets?

Well, just so you know, my silent toggle is no longer working and an accidental drop has inflicted permanent scratches on my 3GS. This pain has made it easier to covet the next model, damn you!




Good thing, fashion nowadays does not follow the same pace of obsolescence. Past collections and styles and their influences can be revived decades after, or can even be mixed altogether. All one needs is a different perspective, a sideward glance to render something known into something new, and perhaps fresh.

Like for example, wearing my hammered metal cuff over my cardigan, in much the same way as seasoned gents wear their watches over the sleeves of their jackets. An easy way to escape the habit of wearing multiple bracelets and bangles together.

Pre-order by the end of June! Spring 2011 even before then!


Polo shirt, Zara; cardigan, Topman; pants, Custom Made from People are People; belt, Izzue; metal cuff, Hablo; Young Camel satchel (in the background), thrifted

Photos by Patricia Suzara