Citizen On Mars Blog Review

This early in its blog life---barely three months to this day---this reviewer could safely say that The Samuel Bilibit Diaries is a labour of love.

In fact when Criocksz G. was still in that crucial stage of choosing the name for this weblog, he had to scrutinize a long and protracted list of potential banner title that included such names as Katapusang Singgit sa Amang, Aping Daldal, Kanto Tiño, Sa lilim ng punong manga, Conversations with Jack Daniels, Blog Bath, Lamang Utak, Isipang Buntis, Panuhot, Careless Whispers, Blah blah blog, Sangplatitong Mani, Duha Singko, and Pasakalye and by this you could tell how this weblog author take his blogging seriously and that must be how every blogger should be.

Then Criockz G. became Sam when he chose “The Samuel Bilibit Diaries” as his blog title. The title came about when once he was reminded that when he was a child, his mom scolded him for being a constant wanderer, mumbling to him “Murag ka man si Samule Bilibit” (“As if you we’re Samuel Bilibit.”). In one of his earlier entries, Sam explained the tale behind the Visayan mythological icon. In legend, Samuel Bilibit was cursed to walked the Earth until the end of time and many believed that to this day, he is still walking among us ---along the streets he strolls by us everyday and inside the speeding jeepneys he rides along with us, towards his never-ending journey.

Sam says he is a wanderlust, craving for places to roam ever since he was merely a youth of the greatest exuberance, that in his words he must have traveled nearly half of the world.

The traveler in Sam is best exemplified in his posting billed as “A Mindanaw Travelogue” where he recounted a sojourn into heartland Mindanao, the island that he hold so dear in his heart, and tells the reader how despite the potential dangers that one could encounter in a land ravage by years and years of war and conflict, there is that hidden satisfaction of threading a paradise reborn amidst the thorns of blood on the tarmac of this land of his birth. These narrations of scenic excursions are wonderfully littered with good quality images such as maps as well as pictures that are well focused and illuminated.

Yet despite Sam’s apparent forte for travel journalism, the Samuel Bilibit Diaries shines all the more every time it ventures into scathing and pointed socio-political commentaries like in one of his more recent entry titled “Banal Na Aso”, where Sam held no punches whatsoever while proceeding to censure a bishop’s bizarre statement concerning the wrath of God just after innocent children just died of fortuitous poisoning. He says he has no problem with God, but it is God’s fans that he could not take. With this foray into political commentary, this weblog shows a great promise and may find a good niche in it for the longest time. Sam has the right amount of audacity and frankness that most readers look for when it comes to being a political critic.

And then there are the light and heartfelt moments in this blog that finally consolidate its great shot at blog success. In “And aking kaibigan si X”, Sam speaks with great esteem of his stepson and how the child that he met as a three year old now finally stands toe in toe with him and finally have interest in the matters of the heart. “Time flies like an arrow” Sam declared.

Even when The Samuel Bilibit Diaries was still hosted by the popular Blogger web log engine, it was already a sight to behold with the shadow of a man threading a hill as its central image. Now that it had transferred to the Word Press portfolio, the sharp lay-outing remained and the arrangement of its contents had become even more organized and structured—just like how every blog should be. Among the new and notable blogsites today, The Samuel Bilibit Diary is a prime candidate of finally joining the roster of the more famous blogs in the local blog scene.