As a Casual Artist, I'm Finding Those Adobe Ads SUPER ANNOYING

Still relying on past success, Adobe? I remember getting introduced to Adobe Photoshop in college. I enjoyed the program and said, "Hey, it's much better than Microsoft Paint!" The use of layers and several effects allowed me to make art better than what Microsoft Paint allowed. The moment I bought a PC to replace my PC last 2014 (and it's been 10 years), I realized that I was under a rock. I was using an old version of Adobe Photoshop. Adobe had this ridiculous subscription fee, which will pay much more than a Netflix, Spotify, or YouTube premium subscription! It's like downright ridiculous. I discovered Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher--all replacements for nostalgia glasses (read here)!

I ditched Adobe because the subscription fees are downright ridiculous. Why should people pay exorbitant fees for childhood nostalgia or college nostalgia? Now, I'm seeing a lot of ads on Facebook, Instagram, etc.--all bragging about what you can do with Adobe. However, I heard there are so many privacy issues with Adobe Cloud and even the programs themselves. It might already fall under the category of misleading advertising--like those annoying fake game ads where the real game don't match up with what the ads are giving! Those fake game ads should be outlawed or even criminalized, if need be!

It's catchy, but there's a price. As mentioned earlier, it's the ridiculous subscription fee. I could understand paying a high price if I need a lot of intensive features. However, as a casual artist (and I never went to art school), why would I pay PHP 3,000+ for Photoshop or Illustrator, when I'm just a casual artist?

Now take a look at my obviously casual art below...

These artworks are meant to be drawn just for leisure. I doubt that anybody would want to have these printed into posters in the living room. For example, the picture of Santa Claus at the beach was just drawn purely for fun. I'm just drawing to either de-stress or feel young. Why would I again, pay that ridiculous fee just to draw? I would buy the Affinity programs and be able to unleash my hidden creativity for fun, or if it can be done with work, do it with work!

Even if I were a professional artist, I find the fees exorbitant! If I were running an advertising firm, I would definitely not want to pay that much, because it would impact profits more than ever. Sure, I could be paying for all the employees under a group fee. However, hearing Adobe's programs getting worse would mean, "Is it worth the price?" It's like paying for a super expensive meal that tastes terrible. I always feel like I lost millions of pesos every time I eat an expensive meal, that tastes terrible!

Just looking at these, as a casual artist, I'm still going to say, "No thanks to Adobe." Childhood nostalgia is no excuse to allow such practices! It's almost like getting chummy with a criminal, just because the criminal was one's childhood playmate.

Yes to Filipinas Marrying Foreign Men, No to 100% FDI Shares Ownership?!

Today is Valentine's Day. I feel Valentine's Day is plain overrated. Some people just get a date for the sake of it--even if it means enduring that materialistic girlfriend or abusive boyfriend! Isn't romance a year-round thing? A few Valentine's Day ago, I wrote about Filipinas marrying foreigners and that FDI doesn't include Filipinas dating foreigners . This time to add some comedy, I wrote this post. It's something to say, "Yes! Somebody is married to a foreigner!" It's the hype to get job opportunities abroad or to marry a foreigner. Blossoms Why do Filipinos want to marry foreigners? The Blossoms blog writes down the following: Love and Affection: Love is often the primary reason for marriage, and Filipinas who marry foreigners may do so because they have fallen in love with someone from another country. Financial Stability: Some Filipinas may marry foreigners because they believe a foreign husband can provide financial stability and secur...

Facts vs. Gossip: Did Vietnam (According to Filipino MARITESes) Develop from Its Own Treasury Before Opening Up to FDI?

Vietnam Youth Union It's been 80 years since Vietnam achieved its independence in 1945. Some time ago, I wrote about how Vietnam's Doi Moi actually disproves the Trust Me Bro School of Economics . I wasn't too accustomed to researching Vietnam's ironic economic miracle . Vietnam is a one-party state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam. The word Communism would evoke fear and terror. What I find funny is that some people are using Vietnam as an excuse not to open up the Philippine economy (read here ). Such misinformed people think that Vietnam "won this revolution," supposedly self-industrialized from its own treasury before opening up to FDI. In short, some people either believe that (1) Vietnam is an example of how a highly protectionist economy works, or (2) that Vietnam made itself rich before opening to FDI. Both of them are lies. I'll focus on the second point for this new blog post! Right now, some people say that I'm just another marites...

China's Real Great Leap Forward and Economic Cultural Revolution Under Deng Xiaoping

Nobody can dare deny that China has become a big superpower. I remembered I went to China last 2007 (which would be more than 10 years ago). China had become such a huge metropolis of power that I'm amazed at it. I was thinking about how Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing were truly magnificent cities before the pollution problem (which should call for eco-capitalist measures). I was thinking about how I never realized China was once dirt poor. Did you know China used to be so dirt-poor? The "economic legacy" of Mao Zedong was a disaster with the so-called "Great Leap Forward". It was a great leap forward all right--a great leap forward to ruin. Mao seeking to avoid the use of foreign resources to launch China proved disastrous. The 1970s would see a dramatic change when Deng Xiaoping finally took over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The beginning of the rise of Communist China under Deng's new political policy would pave the way to China becoming a great s...

Going from Tet Offensive in 1968 to Doi Moi in 1986

Foreign Trade University The Lunar New Year isn't just celebrated by the Chinese. Chinese New Year is one form of the Chinese New Year. Other forms of Lunar New Year follow the Chinese New Year cycle, such as the Tết Nguyên Đán of Vietnam, the Japanese Lunar New Year, and the Seollal in South Korea. There's also the Tibetan New Year and the Mongolian New Year. I remember when talking about Vietnam celebrating the Lunar New Year together with the Chinese, my fellow Chinoy made the squity-eyed gesture to talk about most Vietnamese looking like Chinese. Should we even be surprised that there's a Vietnamese student who looks like the deposed Alice Guo, aka Guo Hua Ping? What was the Tet Offensive about? Right now, I want to talk about the infamous Tet Offensive , which was a Lunar New Year attack of January 31, 1968. The Western concept would prefer to talk about it on January 31 instead of the Lunar New Year. A Filipino would probably say, "So what if it was Lunar Ne...

Honoring the Recently Deceased Jose de Venecia Jr. in a Business/Economics Perspective

That's right. Jose de Venecia recently passed away yesterday. As an advocate for reform, it's sad but true that de Venecia didn't win because he was boring . It was easy to think of him as a boring guy. I remember the time when he was called in ISPUP as Yoda De Venecia (after the Star Wars character). I was just a clueless college student at that time when the ISPUP episode was shown. I was only 13 years old when de Venecia ran for president. It was also that era when Joseph Estrada (who's now 88 years old) ran for president, and it was that time when Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (who turned 90 last year) became the chief justice. Just recently, I found this eulogy for JDV. I will not post the whole eulogy, but only the one from the one that would "fit better" for a business-economics blog: He helped advance policies that enabled major infrastructure projects through public private partnerships, converted former military bases into thriving economic centers...

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