Digtial Manila's 2009 Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs

Digtial Manila's 2009 Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs are... (drumroll...)

In alphabetical order..

Adaphobic
http://www.adaphobic.com/
Who could resist Adaphobic?

Cebu Bloggers
http://www.cebubloggers.com/
A group blog by Cebu bloggers. With a Cebuano's zest, this site and their group is truly an emerging force in the blogosphere.

Good Times Manila
http://goodtimesmanila.com/
Good Times Manila is one of the few blogs which I knew about through this writing project.

It earned its well-deserved spot.

Let's Go Sago!
http://www.LetsGoSago.net
LetsGoSago.net and Digital Manila has a special relationship -- they are owned by one and the same. :) And for that reason alone, this cannot go without. (what?) :)

Seriously now, LetsGoSago.net is a travel and food blog in one. It also has a cute monkey character-mascot going by the name of "Sago", and hence, "Let's Go Sago!". Sago travels with the blogger and is omnipresent in almost all the travel and food photos. Sago is also a self-confessed cam-whore. :)

Even if LetsGoSago.net isn't mine, I'd still vote for it; and so do you! hahaha....ok now, pleeeeeeease. :)

Style and Relax
http://styleandrelax.blogspot.com/
I'm not really much into girl's fashion (if you know what I mean) :) . But Lace earned this vote for the consistency of her blogs and how she never fails to update her readers about fashion, whether she is in the Philippines or abroad.

Patay Gutom
http://www.pataygutom.com/
One of the most controversial blogs of the year, I should say. :) The domain name alone is enough to make it influential.

Need I say more? :)

Pinoy Cravings
http://pinoycravings.com/
Warning: When you check out this blog, you will get hungry.

Albeit you have just eaten, you would want to eat again. The photos are fantastically appealing it is dangerous for people on a diet. Doctors should prescribe viewing of this blog for patients having problems with loss of appetite. :)

Teacher Ria
http://theaccidentalteacher.com/
A teacher at heart, Ria expresses her views and expertise through this new and wonderful blog. Nothing explosive or ultra-hyper, but her writing style would make you feel its sincerity and warmth.

Thirsty Blogger
http://www.thirstyblogger.com/
If I'm not mistaken, this is the youngest blog in this list. However new, the Thirsty blogger hit a great, and often neglected food blogger sub-niche,-the drinks.

I believe in the blog's big potential in both the near and far future.

Video Chops
http://videochops.com/
Coy Caballes made it again. If you were captured by his thisiscoy.net before, you would surely love this fast-food serving of his videos and collections; chops of videos indeed.

I'm listing here the other blogs I hoped I was able to include in my list. I wrote them here nonetheless, in case you are looking at blogs to complete your list and you don't completely agree with my list above, feel free to pick from these equally awesome blogs below. :)
http://travel.batangyagit.com/
http://singingblogger.com/
http://animetric.blogspot.com/
http://kelvinonian.com/
http://DigitalManila.blogspot.com

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors such as Absolute Traders, My Brute Cheats, Business Summaries, Fitness Advantage Club, Events and Corporate Video, Events at Work, Dominguez Marketing Communications, Red Mobile, Budget hotel in Makati, Lucio C. Tan Group of Companies, and Blog4Reviews.com.

By the way, vote now! Tomorrow (July 30) is the last day of voting for the 2009 Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs.

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Yahoo Purple Hunt Finale Winners Announced!

The July 25 Yahoo Purple Hunt Finale activities covered Bonifacio High Street in purple! From balloons to shirts, from ice cream to hair dos, and from donuts to cars, everything was purple.

Yahoo Purple Hunt Finale was the culminating day from all it's purple hunt related activities since it started back in May. For almost two months, consumers were teased to join the hunt for Purple prizes over the internet in their microsite.
The Prizes

After giving away some digital cameras, and Blackberries in phases 2 and 3 of the Purple Hunt, this day was The Day. In the finale, they gave out a Canon EOS500D Digital Camera (3rd prize), a techie-entertainment set consisting of a Macbook Air, PS3 and an iPhone (2nd prize), and the grand prize - a Honda Jazz “jazzed up” by the creative WeewillDoodle team.
The Winners

Getting the third prize is 26 yr old Jemuel M. Del Valle. He goes home with the Canon EOS500D Digital Camera.

Lizzie Cabisidan, a 25 yr old employee in Makati, ecstatically received her gadget showcase including a Macbook Air.

The Grand winner is Calvin C. Galgana who literally drove home an extraordinary brand new purple Honda Jazz Car uniquely hand painted with artistic "doodles" by the WeewillDoodle team.

Calvin narrates that he leaped for joy upon seeing the white Honda jazz car through the purple maze race which was the last challenge in the Purple Hunt Race.

He recalls that he was not exactly the first one to enter the last leg of the race (the purple maze). Another guy preceded him during the start which initially dampened his spirit of winning. he did not falter and later on, the other guy ended up with a dummy Honda Car prize which is color red, instead.

Galgana, only 20, is a senior college student studying BS Computer Science at the New Era University in Commonwealth, Quezon City. Interestingly, Calvin does not have a driver's license and does not know how to drive yet. And because of this, Honda Cars kind enough included a driving lessons scholarship for Galgana as part of his winnings (as if the car was not enough! :) ).

In the evening, the awarding ceremony was highlighted with a great fireworks display and an evening concert featuring top Pinoy bands, Sandwich, Paraluman and Duster.

What is the Project Purple?
Purple is Yahoo!’s corporate colour which reflects the company’s brand personality and philosophy of innovation, uniqueness, creativity and passion. With this campaign, Yahoo! aims to call out to all Filipinos who share this same vision to bring innovation and a positive change in the Philippines. Through a creative mix of online and offline initiatives, Yahoo! Project Purple brings awareness to the things Filipinos are passionate about and how they can be found on Yahoo!.

“Project Purple is a social movement and is open to everyone – online and offline. We are rallying Pinoys to be Purple and utilize the internet to aim higher,” said Jojo Anonuevo, General Manager, Yahoo! Philippines.

The Yahoo Purple Hunt is their way of linking Yahoo!’s brand to a cool way of doing things.

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Blog Action Day for Real Change & SONA 2009

Today, July 26 is Blog Action Day for Real Change, not Charter Change. It symbolizes the Internet communities' aghast against efforts to change the constitution to favor certain groups or prolong someone's term of office through technical means by twisting the system itself.

As one of the newest form of media, the Internet Media intends to say in solidarity that we don't want constitutional change at this critical point in time of our political history.

It is the stand of this blog that a change in the constitution this year or in 2010 is untimely and not beneficial for the Filipino people.

Tomorrow is President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's supposedly last State of the Nation Address (SONA), as many of her critics demands it to be. It would surely be full of self-rigihteous praises, as expected. It is our prayer that as thinking individual Filipinos, we have our own eyes and thoughts to see the real state of the nation.

If you wish to participate in this stand today, feel free to use these buttons and post them on our blogs, Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, and Sandbox accounts. If you wish to Tweet or Plurk, use Con-Ass (or #conass).

Say your piece today, Blog Action Day.

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Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE) 2009 Results Released

The latest Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE) results were released just tonight by the Professional Regulation Commission. 32,617 examinees passed the Nursing Licensure Exam.

A Cebuano got the highest exam results from a school in Bogo, Cebu. Golda Manto Yap from the Felipe R. Verallo Memorial Foundation is now the accollade of her town.

On a personal level, our relatives are very happy and proud of my niece, Angelica Jo Uy, who is also one of the board passers! Kudos to your blooming career 'Lyka'! :)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the
NURSE LICENSURE EXAMINATION
Held on JUNE 6 & 7, 2009 Page:620 of 655
Released on JULY 23, 2009
...
30929 UY, ANGELICA JO
...

Click here for the full list of the Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE) results.

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"Cory Aquino Died" Rumor Dismissed

Text messages (SMS) has spread Friday morning that "Cory is dead." Pertaining to the former Philippine president Corazon Aquino who has been fighting colon cancer since early last year.

One Liner Update: Ausgust 01, 2009 - Cory Aquino Dies at 76

Although the disease is now on its higher stages, supporters of the Aquino family continues to pray for her recovery, or at the very least, for lesser pain.

The erroneous SMS rumor has been dismissed by the Aquino family and relatives early this afternoon after the news reached them.

Aquino's spokesperson Deedee Siytangco has already confirmed this saying

"It's not true"

The family, including daughter-celebrity Kris Aquino, have appealed to the public to verify information first; and that such kind of news would definitely come from them if necessary.

However, some still fell prey like close supporters Adolf Azcuna, former Supreme Court justice, who announced the sad news after he and fellow former cabinet members received the same text messages. Azcuna later expressed remorse for the mistake.

Even the United Kingdom embassy was not spared. The British embassy issued a formal statement of condolences to the family early during the day supposedly for the "death" of Cory Aquino. They received the same text message and later on apologized for the misunderstanding.

At 76 years old, the former president is currently confined and stable at the Makati Medical Center (MMC), albeit having difficulty talking and is taking pain relievers. She is also not on life support system as others may have assumed.

The image above was sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aquino_2003.jpgis a file from the Wikimedia Commons

The Aquino family pleads to the public to continue praying for the former president instead. Residences of Manila and Makati has tied yellow riboons on their home fronts as a sign of support for Cory Aquino.

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Urban Time Discount Coupons : Print & Present

Newly opened Urban Time in SM North Annex is giving away discount vouchers to Digital Manila readers! Urban Time is the distributor of Lulu Castagnette, Cherie Paris and MC Marie Claire watches .

Just print and present this coupon at the Urban Time store located at the 3rd floor of SM Annex to avail of this special treat. (Click on the image to enlarge; then print.)

The discount voucher is for regular priced items only and is not convertible to cash. It is valid until August 31, 2009 only and are applicable to all the watches available at Urban Time.

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Longest Total Solar Eclipse Tomorrow - July 22

From dawn until sunset tomorrow, Wednesday - July 22, the new moon will cover the Sun from the earth producing a total solar eclipse.

The forthcoming total solar eclipse will be the longest of the 21st century.

However, the total solar eclipse can only be completely seen from a small part of the Earth. It will be readily visible from Eastern China, India and different cities including Surat, Varanasi, Chengdu, Chongqing, Patna, Thimphu, Whuan, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

What most will experience is the moon's penumbra, which provides partial solar eclipse. These will be visible from South East Asia.

Looking at the sun directly with the naked eye or through binoculars is not advised as the absence of filters can cause eye damage.

*Some facts are sourced from Wikipedia and the solar eclipse image file above is from the Wikimedia Commons.

Tomorrow's total solar eclipse will be followed by the third of four lunar eclipse on August 6 for the year 2009.

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Harry Potter 6 Broke New Philippine Cinema Record

Harry Potter 6 - the Half-Blood Prince, despite getting mixed reviews from fans and movie-goers, created a new Philippine cinema record.

Posting a grand P104.77-million four-day opening weekend (July 16-19) in 310 movie screens nationwide, Harry Potter 6 is now the all-time biggest four-day movie opening weekend in Philippine history (surpassing 2007’s “Transformers’ at P103.87-million) as announced yesterday by Warner Bros. Philippines general manager Francis Soliven.
It also broke the fastest time (four days) for a “Harry Potter” film to breach the P100-million milestone (outpacing 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” which achieved the feat in five days).
The series is now the undisputed most successful franchise ever in local history, with an accumulated gross of a staggering P959-million (surpassing the “Spider-Man” franchise’s P910.32-million overall take).
SM Mall of Asia (including IMAX) led the box-office champion with a magical gross of P8.70-million. Close to its heels are SM North EDSA (including IMAX Digital) at P7.79-M, Trinoma (P5.68-M), SM Megamall (P4.11-M), Glorietta 4 (P3.86-M), Gateway (P3.67-M), Power Plant (P3.14-M), Eastwood (P2.98-M), Greenbelt 3 (P2.74-M) and Shangri-la (P2.54-M).
Completing the Top 20 cinemas are Alabang Town Center (P2.48-M), Robinsons Ermita (P2.33-M), Ayala Cebu (P2.09-M), SM Cebu (P2.08-M), Robinsons Galleria (P1.99-M), Festival (P1.91-M), SM San Lazaro (P1.79-M), Greenhills (P1.75-M), Market Market (P1.59-M) and SM Fairview (P1.57-M).

“...we know the best is yet to come with the final two `Harry’ movies in 2010 and 2011,” Soliven added.

Indeed the last two Harry Potter movies are expected to deliver much.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Ending

If you are a Harry Potter fan and you didn't like my title, let's see how you'd react to my friend Spanky's "Harry Potter and the Half-Asleep Audience". :)

Nonetheless, I didn't fall asleep. I watched and listened so intently as not to skip an important word or phrase uttered by the characters in the story. I was then so thrilled to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because I think the trailer was made of awesome compared to all the previous series'. It left in me the impression that it was action-packed and full of magic. See the trailer here.
This is aside from the fact that I am watching the movie in the San-Miguel IMAX Theater in SM MOA, a surprising first for me.

Two hours after the movie, I was still expecting a major showdown of magic of some sort. I told myself, ok, they have around half-an hour left to amaze me. :) And suddenly, just when I though it was about to come, the credits showed.
I asked my friend beside me if that was it and am I really seeing the credits! (that the movie was over)!

The others conclude that it was anti-climactic. True, but I guess these are all the reactions one would get from the non-book readers. We didn't know what will happen and we expected much.
The book readers, perhaps, were happy with the results and knew what is to come. The movie stayed true to the book and ended in such manner. Ron and Hermione took the back seat and was not involved in the story in any major aspect. I would like to believe that book 6 was meant to invest in the story and plot build-up for the last, book 7.

The movie's cinematography was outstanding, expectedly dark and 'Harry Potterish.' In IMAX, the first half-hour or so was in 3D Imax mode.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie is the sixth installment in the Harry Potter movie series from Warner Bros. Pictures. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint once again takes on the roles of Hogwarts students Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley.

The movie rendition of the seventh book will be divided into two parts with the first one to be shown on November of next year and the last one on July 2011.

I expect the first part of book seven to push us at the edge of our seats and leave us hanging again similar to what happened in this half-blood prince movie review.

See you again after 16 months for the next Harry Potter movie!

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SM Megamall Wi-Fi Service Redeems Itself

Just last July 5, SM Megamall invited us to beta test their new free Wi-Fi service for its launch and the connection occasionally failed during that 2-hr period of 3pm to 5pm.

They mentioned though that the roll-out of the technology was still only at 80%. We tested it then at the lobby area of Building A.

This time around, it was SM Foodcourt's turn to have us test the same service on the foodcourt area of SM Megamall a while ago.

They passed with flying colors with speeds reaching 1MB/second, and I didn't have to use my baon - Sun Broadband USB. The speed was up to par with my standard basic broadband needs which include sending email proposals with .pdf attachments, plurk, multiply, facebook, and monitoring of my blogs including LetsGoSago.net, Digital Manila, and the very new JumpSHotsPH.com.

However, we have to take into consideration that there were only about 20 concurrent beta-testers for this event; in contrast to that of the july 5 which involved more than thrice this number.

Hopefully, this rate of Wi-Fi speed would be consistent all through out other days and hours in SM Megamall, more specifically the SM Megamall Foodcourt area which was also celebrating its Filipino Food Festival in all SM foodcourts nationwide. :)

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IMAX SM North Edsa Opens Today

IMAX SM North Edsa opens today as the second IMAX-equipped theater in the Philippines. Powered by digital projection and theater systems, the proprietary technology is said to be better than the conventional digital systems.

Today, July 16, the IMAX Theatre shows Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
with exclusive IMAX 3D scenes.
For movie inquiries & reservation of tickets, you may call 929- 5452 or 924-4274.
For inquiries and screening schedule, log on to www.smcinema.com
or you can email SM IMAX at imaxnorthedsa@smsupermalls.com.

After SM North Edsa's IMAX, what's next?

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'Kada Kwento: Your Unusual Common BarKada Kwento (Stories)

'Kada Kwento is the story of a barkada. The daily chats, the common pats. It's a story of friendship. 'Kada Kwento is a series of short films produced by Pelicola.tv Internet Television and Globe. It is a collection of stories about seven individuals that make up a barkada.

In each film, we see interesting turns of friendship that each one shares. The whole series revolves around unique personalities.

There's an optimistic yet frustrated traveler, two constantly bickering best friends, a passionate musician who introduces a soft-spoken singer to the barkada, and a slightly socially-awkward bookworm.
Key among these individuals is an aspiring young writer named Luis, who also ties the whole series together. Step into his writing as the stories are told in his words.

With a scheduled release of one episode per week which started June 24, the five-episode series will only be released online - highlighting Pelicola.tv and Globe's focus on creating gourmet content for new media.

It is the story of friendship. Five stories, five films, one barkada. That is 'Kada Kwento.

'Installment' 2: PICK

Pol (Nicco Manalo) and Penny (Via Antonio) are best friends with contrasting personalities.

The more level-headed Pol and the headstrong Penny submit themselves to constant friendly bickering that are resolved by a simple game of “Bato-Bato-Pick”. It is their differences that give their relationship such a strong foundation which result in an understanding all their own. Like constantly clashing children, they always emerge with one winner and loser but always still best of friends.

See more 'Kada Kwento videos from Globe at www.globe.com.ph/kadakwento

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Main Poster and Featurette (Trailer)

Barely three days to go and the movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince would be shown worldwide as millions of fans await the movie. It would be remembered that the movie was intentionally delayed by about half a year from the original date.

And as the day comes nearer, Warner Bros. Pictures reveals the main poster of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Dark Secrets Revealed).
Along with the poster, is the unspooling of the second featurette, which highlights Harry Potter and Dumbledore's relationship in this exciting sixth installment in the Harry Potter movie series.

* The images and trailer used in this article are from Warner Bros. Pictures and used with permission.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie will open in conventional theaters and IMAX on July 16th by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

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