Friday, February 27, 2009

One Youth Headshot Clinic (Open Shoot)

For all Filipino Youth! You are invited to attend the Headshot Clinic One Youth shoot on February 27 & 28, 2009, Friday and Saturday, at Capones Bar in A.Venue Mall Makati Avenue.

Open to all Filipino Youth. This is part of the very successful Headshot Clinic series of visionary photographer, Niccolo Cosme. Just go to the venue from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Friday and Saturday and register for your FREE headshot photo.

You can also send names at info@headshotclinic.com Invite your friends and classmates, and be part of this advocacy. Let us all participate and promote oneness of youth one headshot at a time. Limited slots only. First-come-first-shoot basis.

For more info visit www.headshotclinic.com and www.24ever.com.ph or
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?sid=b8a029e9b51c8962147a3ba4960a5fae&eid=70564320468

Or call 7181311 to 12
Headshot Clinic

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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Help Spread the Charity Virus - Be A "Kaibigan ng PCSO" Volunteer!

The Philippine Charity Sweeptakes Office (PCSO) started the celebration of it's 75th year anniversary last February 20, 2009 with the theme "Care, Share & Win, Tulong mo na, Suwerte mo pa (Help & Get Lucky)." The celebration's main event is the night concert entitled "Spread the Chairty Virus" where they launched the "Kaibigan Ng PCSO(Friend of PCSO)" program where sourcing of volunteer individuals, professionals, civic groups, and organizations are systematized for services to PCSO medical and dental missions, among others.

As part of their effort to gather more volunteers, they invited a number of bloggers to support the event and even enlist as possible volunteers - and of course we did. “We hope that bloggers can help spread the spirit of charity and volunteerism that we envision with the Kaibigan ng PCSO program,” remarked PCSO General Manager Rosario Uriate.

More about "Kaibigan ng PCSO"

Basic health service delivery remains a major concern in the Philippines needing to be addressed adequately. The chronic lack of doctors, nurses, and competent health workers has aggravated as decades of overseas migration of Filipino medical practitioners leave the country in search of higher-paying jobs abroad. Likewise, the lack of basic medicine and provisions for primary medical procedures has made difficult the timely intervention for arresting communicable diseases and even common ailments among the nation’s 42,000 barangays.

"Kaibigan ng PCSO" is a program that will be pursued through the leadership of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to systematize and rationalize sourcing of volunteer individuals & organizations in partnership with the private sector to advance the charity agency’s health mandate by establishing sustainable networks and linkages.

The program hopes that through this mode of intervention on a nationwide scale the corporate responsibility ethic of private corporations and companies will be enhanced, particularly with regard to health issues. It likewise seeks to promote the volunteerism spirit inherent in every Filipino. It also gives importance to the value of individual and collective civic efforts and of raising these efforts to the level of “unity in volunteerism” to sustain a functioning and efficient health & medical assistance delivery system for poor Filipinos everywhere.

"Kaibigan ng PCSO" will organize volunteers at the provincial, municipal, city, and barangay levels, using primarily the organizational reach of PCSO, the country’s premier charity agency.

On the other hand, all card-carrying members of "Kaibigan ng PCSO" will also have the chance to be given the special PCSO Health Card that puts you on the priority list for those seeking financial assistance for hospitalization and medical support from the country’s lead agency in charity work.

Volunteers can sign up at PCSO’s provincial regional and district offices, and lotto outlets. You may access and download the forms here: Individual Forms -O- Institutional Forms

The event with the bloggers was made possible by Yehey!

*Related article: Bloggers Help Spread the Charity Virus
* Portions of the "More about 'Kaibigan ng PCSO'" are referenced from the information flyer and press kit.

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Monday, February 23, 2009

The 81st Academy Awards Concluded - Oscars 2009 List of Winners

The 81st Academy Awards (Oscars 2009) has just been concluded and Slumdog Millionaire was the run away winner with eight Oscar trophies including the much coveted Best Picture award for producer Christian Colson and the Best Director award for Danny Boyle. The other six awards bagged by Slumdog Millionaire include Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Song, and Sound Mixing.

On the other hand my favorite The Curious Case of Benjamin Button got three Oscars for Best Art Direction (Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo), Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects.

Hosted by Hugh Jackman, the Academy Awards were presented a little differently this year. Sean Penn took home the Best Actor Oscars for "Milk", and Kate Winslet got the Best Actress Oscars for "The Reader". The audience got emotional when the Best Supporting Actor Oscars was awarded to the late Heath Ledger for the movie "The Dark Knight" as a posthumous award.

I haven't watched Slumdog Millionaire. Now, I guess I have enough reason to. =)

List of the Oscars Winners:

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire
Christian Colson

Best Director
Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle

Best Actor
Milk
Sean Penn

Best Actress
The Reader
Kate Winslet

Best Supporting Actor
The Dark Knight (posthumous)
Heath Ledger

Best Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Original Screenplay
Milk
Dustin Lance Black

Best Adapted Screenplay
Slumdog Millionaire
Simon Beaufoy

Best Animated Feature
Andrew Stanton
WALL-E

Best Foreign Language Film
Departures in Japanese (Japan)
Yojiro Takita

Best Art Direction
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo

Best Cinematography
Slumdog Millionaire
Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Costume Design
The Duchess
Michael O'Connor

Best Documentary Feature
Man on Wire

Best Documentary Short
Smile Pinki

Best Animated Short
La Maison En Petits Cubes
Kunio Kato

Best Live Action Short
Toyland (Spielzeugland)

Best Film Editing
Slumdog Millionaire
Chris Dickens

Best Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Greg Cannom

Best Original Score
Slumdog Millionaire
A.R. Rahman

Best Original Song
Slumdog Millionaire - "Jai Ho"
A. R. Rahman (music) and Gulzar (lyrics)

Best Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
Richard King

Best Sound Mixing
Slumdog Millionaire
Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

Best Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, and Craig Barron.

*Photo used is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License. Author is Flickr user: Anne Siegel - photographer. The use of this image with attribution is permitted by its author.

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PERYA : A Whimsical Benefit Fashion Gala

The PERYA cosplay event will happen on March 6, 2009, 6:30 pm onwards at A. Venue Hall in Makati. Registration and judging at the cosplay photo wall booth will start at 6:30 upto 8:30 pm only.

Admission is free to all cosplay contest participants. For the online registration and mechanics of the contest. visit http://www.toyconph.com/perya

About the Event

F*ART Fashion Art productions together with Happy Andrada proudly presents "Perya": A fashion Gala and Benefit for Bethany Homes Orphanage, Hands on Manila and Virlanie. The show is a fusion of fashion, art, photography and lomography.

Perya is the local slang term for small carnivals that are set up during fiestas in different cities. Our grandparents and their parents most probably have been to one at least once in their lives. Now, it is a fading culture. This fashion show is conceptualized to remind us of the "Peryahan" culture seen from a glamorous perspective.

Witness the Spectacular revival of Perya in this extraordinary Fashion Event

Happy Andrada will showcase a 50 piece couture collection, that is theatric, matured and wearable. She will be putting the artistic definition in glamour. The collection will also showcase different characters from a perya like the woman who eats live chickens; or the half-woman, half-fish; Siamese twins and more. The collection is filled with vibrant colors, with different treatments, silhouettes and paintings on clothes

Happy will be collaborating with young designers and artists who also excel in their fields, like Artist Paolo Icasas, Accessory designer Dennis Celestial, Shoes by Schu, Hats by Hat Momma, Maverick by Design, Lomo Manila, Photography exhibit by Darrel Pobre, Art Exhibit by Ang Ink, Musicality dance group and Music by Pops Orchestra of De La Salle University and Electronica Manila.

This event will be hosted by Issa Litton and directed by Gerry Katigbak

Pls visit http://peryagala.com/ for more details.

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Sunday, February 22, 2009

My Favorite Spa Treatment at BlueWater Day Spa

A week ago, Digital Manila won in an online contest by Blue Water Day Spa at TechFilipino .com. Together with more than 20 other winners, we were toured around the Blue Water Day Spa Greenhills branch and treated to an hour-and-a-half of foot, back and neck massage. This is while we were watching the "Kung Fu Panda" BlueRay movie in their Spa Theater. The Spa theater is one of the newest treatments they are offering at Blue Water.

However, what caught my amazement, aside from the awesome Spa Theater experience was the Foot Massage treatment I received from my therapist.

For a guy who's always on the move and around the metro, I commute a lot and go to and fro Makati and Quezon City where I work. In short, at the end of the day, my feet is always tried and weary.

What a comfort indeed after getting that foot massage.
More so, the massage also covered the lower leg and knees giving my feet the total massage experience at the competitive price of only P550 ($12).
I am not really the spa-massage-type of guy, but this experience now makes me want to get this treatment regularly. I can't wait to tell and invite my friends and relatives to check out and read this blog post of mine about this new found secret only at Blue Water Day Spa.

Lastly, the Capitol Hills branch is opening soon. Watch out!

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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Mensa Day @ The Fort


Mensa Philippines invites you to Mensa Day ”MD2.22" tomorrow, February 22, 2009(Sunday) at Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street in The Fort.

With the theme “Celebrate Learning, Celebrate Life,” this is a whole day public event filled with learning and activities. Talks include topics on entrepreneurship by GoNegosyo, technopreneurship, and blogging, among others. Sequence of talks and seminars start as early as 11am and end 6pm. The blogger speakers are Coy Caballes, Winston Almendras, and Fritz Tentativa.


There would also be a Mensa IQ Challege for those who want to be members of Mensa Philippines. Participants only need a to score within the top two percentile. There is a regular testing fee of P500, but only P300 for students with ID.

Mensa has over 200 active members in the Philippines, and 100,000 members in over 80 countries worldwide.

Pre-registrants, high school students and children with valid ID and Mensa IQ Challenge takers can come in free. Regular admission is PhP100.

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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Congratulations to the Winner of Digital Manila's First Online Movie Premiere Contest


After two days of commenting and 11 participants in the contest, Digital Manila was able to validate the entires of 8 contestants and scored them accordingly on the two movie reviews: Benjamin Button and Gran Torino.

Digital Manila would like to congratulate winning commenter justmejasmine. She gets 2 movie premiere tickets for Confessions of A Shopaholic showing on February 17, 2009 at the Glorietta 4 Cinema 1.

Her winning comments are the following:

On Benjamine Button

For me this is the best Brad Pitt movie ever. I liked the way the characters were portrayed. The scenes kept me glued at my seat. Story-wise it's complex but once you've seen it's entirety, you'd understand why it was written.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button showcased good values that seemed drifted in today's generation. Overall, this flick is worth watching over and over again.


On Gran Torino

Definitely not about racism. Yes, Az and Yapatoots, i agree on this. Never mind those detractors. Well, at first one might think is, but then again, dig into the story and learn more about life..

This showcased Clint Eastwood's best performance, as an actor and director. I liked the way he injected humor into the story. It added a more realistic twist. It kept me laughing till now remembering his famous "get of[f] my lawn" and "yum yum".

I appreciate[d] my elders more when i saw this film. [A] coincidence, 2 of my elders are war vets as well.. plus, i've learned about the Hmong culture; I've actually researched about them out of curiousity.
"justmejasmine" will be contacted through her given email in the comment system and asked for her mailing address where the pair of movie premiere tickets will be couriered.

Thank you to all the participants for joining and continue visiting DigitalManila.blogspot.com for other features and future contests.

Click Here to Read More..

Friday, February 13, 2009

Confessions Of A Shopaholic - A Digital Manila Free Premiere Movie Tickets Contest


Win a pair of tickets to the movie premiere of Confessions Of A Shopaholic on February 17, 2009 7:30pm at a Gloriette 4 Cinema 1 in Makati, Philippine as Digital Manila hosts its first online contest for its readers - You!


One of Digital Manila's segment aside from events and technology are movie reviews. You simply have to leave one comment in each of the two recent movie reviews on the movies: Benjamin Button and Gran Torino.

Mechanics:

1) Leave a relevant comment about the movie or the review. A relevant comment is defined as a comment which is related to the topic in discussion and makes sense according to context.
2) A commenter could write as many comments as he/she deem necessary but only his/her first comment in one review post shall be considered valid, (identified unique through the IP address) would be considered as an entry.
3) A commenter could have a maximum of 2 valid comment entries, one for each of the movie reviews. Each comment could get a maximum of 5 points based on relevance and sense as judged by the blog post author.
4) The contest period shall start today, February 13 until 8pm of February 15, 2009. The winner shall be announced 9pm of the same day through another blog post.
5) 1 Winner shall be selected and contacted through the email he/she will provide in the comment form. His/her address will be requested for shipping/courier of the 2 tickets the next day.

For any inquiries, email DigitalManilaBlog@gmail.com

* Image(above) reference from Wikipedia in fair use category.

Update: The tickets are in! And the winner is CLICK HERE


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Thursday, February 12, 2009

A Sweet Discovery Suites Date in Tagaytay From National Bookstore


In this season of hearts, make it the sweetest time of the year for you and your sweetheart! Join National Book Store’s A Sweet Suite Date Raffle Promo and win a super romantic overnight prize package for two at Discovery Suites in Tagaytay.

Every purchase worth P200 of any of the participating items earns you one raffle coupon. Laking National members will get two. Four consolation prize winners will also win a dinner package for two. Promo runs from Feb. 1 -18, 2009. Per DTI-NCR Permit No. 0376 Series of 2009

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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Spa Theater Reunion - What?

I recently came across an online article about a spa theater in the Philippines. I first gave off a light smirk on the idea, but later on realize that it was quite elegnt. Imagine yourself enjoying a relaxing foot scrub or hand massage while watching your favorite film on the big screen!

The concept is made into a reality by BlueWater Day Spa in its Ortigas Avenue branch. It is also tagged as one of the, if not the, first Spa theater in the world and can house a maximum of 28 clients at a given time. It shows Blue Ray movies equipped with high definition cinema projectors and Dolby Surround 7.1 sounds. The LazyBoy leather seat sofas were custom-made to recline in a relaxing way.

Aside from the usual private parties, company gimmicks, or group movie gigs, I think a unique way of utilizing the Spa Theater would be renting the whole Spa Theater for a Big Family Reunion.

Imagine, together with your dad, mom, titas, titos, grandparents and cousins, enjoying a relaxing spa all at the same time. And since it's a reunion, and as an alternative to movies, the big family could watch all the family portraits and digital photos of the relatives from the past upto the present. The whole clan could laugh together at their own wacky and mushy pictures or photos of a recent celebration. It's also a good way of catching up on what the other members of the extended family has been busy with.

Being born in a family of 10 with 7 brothers and sisters, of whome 6 already have grand children, I could only imagine how the 28 seater theater might not even be enough for us....catching up on each other and laughing at the same time on candid-and-not-so-candid photos of family members.
If this article has tickled your fancy, you may visit BlueWaterDaySpa.com for more details and contact numbers.

This blog post also serves as an entry to TechFilipino's online contest for the Spa Theater
experience

Click Here to Read More..

Thursday, February 5, 2009

“Get Off My Lawn” – A Gran Torino Movie Review

Get off my lawn,” is a greeting you might get upon stepping on the backyard of iron-willed Mr. Walt Kowalski, played by Clint Eastwood in the drama film “Gran Torino.” Or at least get a spit to the ground before you leave.

The movie starts off with Kowalski mourning on the loss of his wife. Another death he has to face in addition to those he experienced as a war veteran in Korea. Those encounters have taught him many things about life and death, as many as the wrinkled lines on his forehead.

His past continues to haunt him until the present which explains his Scrooge-like character who prefers to be alone and isolated from the immigrant townsfolk whose “women go to college and men go to prison”. He is left to himself with his dog Daisy, an M-1 rifle, and his 1972 Gran Torino.

Heaven knows how you come across somebody once in a while you should’ve messed with.” That’s him.

The story further developed based on his relationship with the ‘Hmung’ neighbors and new found acquaintances in the characters of Thao and Sue. Although cultural differences were a hindrance at first, Kowalski didn’t have much of a choice being a lone wolf and widower in his humble abode, just like his garage-parked Gran Torino.

Sue proved to be one tough teenager who is able to stand for her own. In contrast, her younger brother Thao was a timid-looking kid without aim in life - typical of a young man.

An incident involving his Gran Torino brought about by Thao’s issues with a local gangster brought them closer together. And not for long, Walt found himself as a father to Thao, a father-child relationship he was never able to share with his own two sons.

The movie climaxed defending this relationship amidst vengeance, confusion, and anger.

It is about an individual caught in his hounding past, and how he was able to rise above it to regain the peace he needed for his soul.

Clint Eastwood portrayed an outstanding role in Gran Torino as someone “who knows how it is to kill a man.” The character seemed to have been tailored for him too. This was however downplayed by the mediocre acting performance of Thao, played by Bee Vang. There were a few awkward scenes brought about by his unnatural acting amidst Eastwood’s strong delivery. This sidestep is however overshadowed by the movie’s flow of story, twists, and another interesting character interpreted by Ahney Her as Sue (who strikingly looks like a former local Philippine teen actress named Sandara Park). Other film stars include Christopher Carley, John Carroll and Brian Haley.

The drama “Gran Torino” marks Clint Eastwood’s first film role since his 2004 Oscar-winning film “Million Dollar Baby.” Presented by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures from a screenplay by Nick Schenk and story by the same and Dave Johansson.

Gran Torino * will be shown in your favorite cinemas February 18, 2009.

www.grantorinomovie.co.uk

* The images in this article were used with permission and are for advertising and review purposes only. Copyright held by Warner Bros. Copyright laws apply.

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Wednesday, February 4, 2009

XBX Interactive Grand Opening Today

XBX Interactive will hold its grand opening today February 4, 2009 at the 2nd floor of Burgundy place in Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City. Starting 2pm until closing, celebrations and free gaming will be held.


XBX Interactive hosts social gaming, lounge and events. It has VIP rooms with overhead LCD projector and a 60" screen, a home theater system, premium drums, premium Fender Bass guitars and light stage show kits

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