DECISIONS
1 year ago
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Inauguration Day
Today is the inauguration Day of Noynoy Aquino and Jejomar Binay as the newly-elected President & Vice President of the Republic of The Philippines.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Go down memory lane with Luis & Billy (The Philippine Star)
Which show popularized the line “Kaya ikaw John, magsumikap ka!”? Which JoBoxers song was a hit in the ’80s? Who joins Red One, Green Two, Blue Three and Yellow Four in BioMan?”
Prepare to bring back the times of your life as you answer questions like these on ABS-CBN’s Panahon Ko ’To! Ang Game Show ng Buhay Ko, (PKT).
Join hosts Luis Manzano and Billy Crawford as they challenge viewers and contestants with questions and puzzles on everything pop culture from things to people, music, movies, ideas and events in the past five decades.
Luis said the show promises a fun and yet nostalgic experience as it takes the whole country down to memory lane and back with questions from as early as the ‘60s to the present.
“In PKT, you only need to look back at your previous experiences to find the answer. And in the process you also remember memories from the past, which makes the show a lot more fun because Filipinos just love to reminisce,” he said.
Billy also believes PKT will be another hit.
“This is the type of show that you want to watch if you want to bond with your friends or family. You don’t only get to remember nice things about your generation but also learn the fads and popular things during your parent’s or grandparent’s time,” he said.
At the start of the game, there will be five teams with three members each who come from three different generations. One is aged between 13 and 19, one is from the 20 to 45 year-old bracket, and one is 46 years old or up. Each one of them will be in charge of answering the questions or puzzles about their respective generations to advance to the next rounds.
Catch the pilot episode with Tetchie Agbayani, Gladys Reyes, John Manalo, Beverly Salviejo, Nikki Valdez, Makisig Morales, Nanette Inventor, Jay-R Siaboc, Josef Elizalde, Joy Viado, Rubi-Rubi, Kiray, Dindo Arroyo, Yayo Aguila, and Queenie Padilla.
Prepare to bring back the times of your life as you answer questions like these on ABS-CBN’s Panahon Ko ’To! Ang Game Show ng Buhay Ko, (PKT).
Join hosts Luis Manzano and Billy Crawford as they challenge viewers and contestants with questions and puzzles on everything pop culture from things to people, music, movies, ideas and events in the past five decades.
Luis said the show promises a fun and yet nostalgic experience as it takes the whole country down to memory lane and back with questions from as early as the ‘60s to the present.
“In PKT, you only need to look back at your previous experiences to find the answer. And in the process you also remember memories from the past, which makes the show a lot more fun because Filipinos just love to reminisce,” he said.
Billy also believes PKT will be another hit.
“This is the type of show that you want to watch if you want to bond with your friends or family. You don’t only get to remember nice things about your generation but also learn the fads and popular things during your parent’s or grandparent’s time,” he said.
At the start of the game, there will be five teams with three members each who come from three different generations. One is aged between 13 and 19, one is from the 20 to 45 year-old bracket, and one is 46 years old or up. Each one of them will be in charge of answering the questions or puzzles about their respective generations to advance to the next rounds.
Catch the pilot episode with Tetchie Agbayani, Gladys Reyes, John Manalo, Beverly Salviejo, Nikki Valdez, Makisig Morales, Nanette Inventor, Jay-R Siaboc, Josef Elizalde, Joy Viado, Rubi-Rubi, Kiray, Dindo Arroyo, Yayo Aguila, and Queenie Padilla.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The most intriguing health trivia By Willie T. Ong, MD (The Philippine Star)
The human body is like a machine that is full of wonder. Here is a collection of unusual health trivia — ranging from anatomy facts to medical anecdotes gathered from various sources.
• The human brain cell can hold five times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
• The average number of nerve cells (neurons) in the brain is 100 billion.
• The brain is soft and gelatinous — its consistency is something between jelly and cooked pasta.
• Though it makes up only two percent of our total body weight, the brain demands 20 percent of the body’s oxygen and calories.
• The time until unconsciousness after loss of blood supply to the brain is about eight to 10 seconds. (So don’t let anybody squeeze your neck.)
• Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
• The hearing range for a young adult human is 20 to 20,000 Hz. For an elderly person, hearing is less at 50 to 8,000 Hz. In contrast, a cat can hear better at 100 to 60,000 Hz, and a dolphin has the widest hearing range at 200 to 150,000 Hz.
• The auditory pain threshold is 130 Db. The threshold for hearing damage is 90 Db for an extended period of time. A rocket launching pad is equivalent to 180 Db, a jet plane to 140 Db, an automobile horn to 120 Db, a nagging wife up to 75 Db, and a soft whisper, 30 Db. Interestingly, the sound of a snore (up to 69 decibels) can be almost as loud as the noise of a drill.
• There are 9,000 taste buds on the tongue. We lose a lot of these taste buds as we get older.
• If you go blind in one eye, you’ll only lose about one-fifth of your vision, but all your depth perception.
Lungs & Heart
• A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph.
• A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph.
• According to a German study, the risk of a heart attack is higher on Monday than any other day of the week. Probably because Mondays are stressful days.
• An individual blood cell takes about 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of the body.
• Every day, the average heart beats 100,000 times and pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood.
• By the time you turn 70, your heart will have beat some two-and-a-half billion times (computing on an average of 70 beats per minute). Therefore, an average person has three billion heartbeats to spare. That is why some doctors believe that drugs (called beta-blockers) that slow down the heart rate may help prolong life. Generally, unhealthy people have faster heart rates while athletic individuals have slower heart rates.
• Even properly performed, CPR delivers less than 30 percent of the heart’s normal flow of oxygenated blood to the brain.
• Fewer than five percent of cardiac arrest sufferers survive to hospital discharge. If a victim of cardiac arrest is given good CPR, gets shocked by a defibrillator within four minutes, and drugs are given within 60 minutes, the chance of survival can go up to 60 percent.
Skin & Body
• A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands. Each foot can sweat the equivalent of half a glass of water per day.
• There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet. That’s why feet are so smelly.
• Your teeth start growing six months before you are born.
• What’s the hardest substance in your body? It’s the enamel in your teeth.
• You use 200 muscles to take one step.
• Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three bones.
• Every 12 years, we humans have an entirely new skeleton due to the body’s continual replacement of its bone cells.
• Your heels bear 60 percent of your body’s weight.
• There are more than a hundred different types of arthritis. You have a one in five chance of experiencing some form of rheumatic disease, such as arthritis, during your lifetime.
• 75 percent of adults do not know that antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses.
• On the average, the chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay is one in 15.
• Most deaths in a hospital happen between 4 p.m. and 6 pm. This is said to be the time when the human body is at its weakest.
• Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including at least 50 that cause, initiate or promote cancer in humans, such as tar, ammonia, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and benzopyrene.
• Tobacco kills more people each year than all of the illegal drugs in the last century.
• There are 18 doctors in the US called Dr. Doctor, and one called Dr. Surgeon. There is also one dermatologist named Dr. Rash, a psychiatrist called Dr. Couch, and an anesthesiologist named Dr. Gass.
• What are the 10 human body parts that are only three letters long?
Answers: eye, ear, leg, arm, jaw, gum, toe, lip, hip, and rib.
•PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICO VOLCANOKONIOSIS (45 letters), a lung disease caused by breathing in certain particles, is the longest word in the English language dictionary.
• Your thumb is the same length as your nose. Try it and find out if it’s true. (Just make sure no one is watching or they might think you’re crazy.)
• The human brain cell can hold five times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
• The average number of nerve cells (neurons) in the brain is 100 billion.
• The brain is soft and gelatinous — its consistency is something between jelly and cooked pasta.
• Though it makes up only two percent of our total body weight, the brain demands 20 percent of the body’s oxygen and calories.
• The time until unconsciousness after loss of blood supply to the brain is about eight to 10 seconds. (So don’t let anybody squeeze your neck.)
• Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
• The hearing range for a young adult human is 20 to 20,000 Hz. For an elderly person, hearing is less at 50 to 8,000 Hz. In contrast, a cat can hear better at 100 to 60,000 Hz, and a dolphin has the widest hearing range at 200 to 150,000 Hz.
• The auditory pain threshold is 130 Db. The threshold for hearing damage is 90 Db for an extended period of time. A rocket launching pad is equivalent to 180 Db, a jet plane to 140 Db, an automobile horn to 120 Db, a nagging wife up to 75 Db, and a soft whisper, 30 Db. Interestingly, the sound of a snore (up to 69 decibels) can be almost as loud as the noise of a drill.
• There are 9,000 taste buds on the tongue. We lose a lot of these taste buds as we get older.
• If you go blind in one eye, you’ll only lose about one-fifth of your vision, but all your depth perception.
Lungs & Heart
• A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph.
• A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph.
• According to a German study, the risk of a heart attack is higher on Monday than any other day of the week. Probably because Mondays are stressful days.
• An individual blood cell takes about 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of the body.
• Every day, the average heart beats 100,000 times and pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood.
• By the time you turn 70, your heart will have beat some two-and-a-half billion times (computing on an average of 70 beats per minute). Therefore, an average person has three billion heartbeats to spare. That is why some doctors believe that drugs (called beta-blockers) that slow down the heart rate may help prolong life. Generally, unhealthy people have faster heart rates while athletic individuals have slower heart rates.
• Even properly performed, CPR delivers less than 30 percent of the heart’s normal flow of oxygenated blood to the brain.
• Fewer than five percent of cardiac arrest sufferers survive to hospital discharge. If a victim of cardiac arrest is given good CPR, gets shocked by a defibrillator within four minutes, and drugs are given within 60 minutes, the chance of survival can go up to 60 percent.
Skin & Body
• A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands. Each foot can sweat the equivalent of half a glass of water per day.
• There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet. That’s why feet are so smelly.
• Your teeth start growing six months before you are born.
• What’s the hardest substance in your body? It’s the enamel in your teeth.
• You use 200 muscles to take one step.
• Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three bones.
• Every 12 years, we humans have an entirely new skeleton due to the body’s continual replacement of its bone cells.
• Your heels bear 60 percent of your body’s weight.
• There are more than a hundred different types of arthritis. You have a one in five chance of experiencing some form of rheumatic disease, such as arthritis, during your lifetime.
• 75 percent of adults do not know that antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses.
• On the average, the chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay is one in 15.
• Most deaths in a hospital happen between 4 p.m. and 6 pm. This is said to be the time when the human body is at its weakest.
• Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including at least 50 that cause, initiate or promote cancer in humans, such as tar, ammonia, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and benzopyrene.
• Tobacco kills more people each year than all of the illegal drugs in the last century.
• There are 18 doctors in the US called Dr. Doctor, and one called Dr. Surgeon. There is also one dermatologist named Dr. Rash, a psychiatrist called Dr. Couch, and an anesthesiologist named Dr. Gass.
• What are the 10 human body parts that are only three letters long?
Answers: eye, ear, leg, arm, jaw, gum, toe, lip, hip, and rib.
•PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICO VOLCANOKONIOSIS (45 letters), a lung disease caused by breathing in certain particles, is the longest word in the English language dictionary.
• Your thumb is the same length as your nose. Try it and find out if it’s true. (Just make sure no one is watching or they might think you’re crazy.)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Who is Joey Papa and why is he badmouthing Batibot now? By Bibsy M. Carballo (The Philippine Star)
When we first wrote in this section about the return of the children’s show Batibot to Philippine Television specifically TV5, we received a deluge of e-mails. Apparently, there was more on Facebook, YouTube and other social networks we neither have the time nor knowledge to access. That gave us the first indication of just how popular this show was.
Then, we got informed that some of the original members and staff of the children’s show were not happy with the article that failed to mention some important details and contributions of a lot of people involved in the success of Batibot. We waited for a request for corrections but received nothing.
Almost two weeks ago, a Joey Papa called us up on the landline quite incensed about the same article we wrote about Batibot. What have we failed to mention this time, we asked the person on the other end of the line? He said he was the owner of the Batibot title which he claimed in no uncertain terms was stolen from him by the writer Rene Villanueva (deceased) and Lyca Benitez Brown, one of the co-producers. When was this? We asked, and he replied it was when Tita Conching Sunico was in-charge of the Metropolitan Theater’s programming and he put on Batibot shows on stage. But that’s way back in the ’70s at least, we told him. Why was he complaining only now? And why did he wait for Rene to die before raising the issue?
Apparently, because of our article, he remembered his complaints in the past, how he wrote the press about it and nothing happened, how Rene called him up in 1984 to say, “Joey, pa-arbor ng Batibot mo” which he claimed were his exact words. Joey says he did not agree to give him the name, but Rene went ahead anyway and used “Batibot” for the TV show in 1985. He said he was bringing Lyca to court. He said he had the proof and was sending them to me — programs, ticket stubs, photos that showed everyone who was involved in the original Batibot shows like Tony Mabesa, Behn Cervantes, Hajji Alejandro who played Batibot, Gary Lising, Debraliz Valasote, Menggie Cobarrubias, Bibeth Orteza, Naty Crame Rogers and Boy Abunda. He would send us this proof so we would be convinced as to who owned Batibot.
We waited. In the meantime we were able to reach Lyca to settle issues regarding missing attributions in the article. We informed her of this latest issue from Joey Papa. She e-mailed us back. “As for Joey Papa’s claim that I stole the idea for Batibot from him.... I first heard about him from the late Rene Villanueva who mentioned that Joey Papa was making this claim. I honestly do not remember who Joey Papa is or what role he played (if any) in the project but I can categorically say that since Batibot was not my creation but the collaborative effort of many people, any claim that a single individual was responsible for the project would have to be taken with a grain of salt.”
A week later, Joey Papa informs us that he is no longer sending us the material he promised. His lawyers, he said, advised him against it right now. What then was he waiting for? A lawyer friend surmises, perhaps the best time would be when the show goes on the air and becomes the stunning success it is expected to become and he will have more to gain from a court suit that has already waited 25 years anyway. Very interesting premise. He would then have to deal with TV5 and Feny Bautista, one of the original producers of Batibot.
All we know is that all this to-do about Batibot has had some rather interesting developments. Lyca Brown e-mails us, “ …the good news is that your article prompted us to start a project to write an unexpurgated History of Batibot (from its earliest days as Sesame) so I really do want to thank you for giving us the impetus to do this.” We wonder if they would by this time need to ask permission from Papa?
What next? As they always say, Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
Then, we got informed that some of the original members and staff of the children’s show were not happy with the article that failed to mention some important details and contributions of a lot of people involved in the success of Batibot. We waited for a request for corrections but received nothing.
Almost two weeks ago, a Joey Papa called us up on the landline quite incensed about the same article we wrote about Batibot. What have we failed to mention this time, we asked the person on the other end of the line? He said he was the owner of the Batibot title which he claimed in no uncertain terms was stolen from him by the writer Rene Villanueva (deceased) and Lyca Benitez Brown, one of the co-producers. When was this? We asked, and he replied it was when Tita Conching Sunico was in-charge of the Metropolitan Theater’s programming and he put on Batibot shows on stage. But that’s way back in the ’70s at least, we told him. Why was he complaining only now? And why did he wait for Rene to die before raising the issue?
Apparently, because of our article, he remembered his complaints in the past, how he wrote the press about it and nothing happened, how Rene called him up in 1984 to say, “Joey, pa-arbor ng Batibot mo” which he claimed were his exact words. Joey says he did not agree to give him the name, but Rene went ahead anyway and used “Batibot” for the TV show in 1985. He said he was bringing Lyca to court. He said he had the proof and was sending them to me — programs, ticket stubs, photos that showed everyone who was involved in the original Batibot shows like Tony Mabesa, Behn Cervantes, Hajji Alejandro who played Batibot, Gary Lising, Debraliz Valasote, Menggie Cobarrubias, Bibeth Orteza, Naty Crame Rogers and Boy Abunda. He would send us this proof so we would be convinced as to who owned Batibot.
We waited. In the meantime we were able to reach Lyca to settle issues regarding missing attributions in the article. We informed her of this latest issue from Joey Papa. She e-mailed us back. “As for Joey Papa’s claim that I stole the idea for Batibot from him.... I first heard about him from the late Rene Villanueva who mentioned that Joey Papa was making this claim. I honestly do not remember who Joey Papa is or what role he played (if any) in the project but I can categorically say that since Batibot was not my creation but the collaborative effort of many people, any claim that a single individual was responsible for the project would have to be taken with a grain of salt.”
A week later, Joey Papa informs us that he is no longer sending us the material he promised. His lawyers, he said, advised him against it right now. What then was he waiting for? A lawyer friend surmises, perhaps the best time would be when the show goes on the air and becomes the stunning success it is expected to become and he will have more to gain from a court suit that has already waited 25 years anyway. Very interesting premise. He would then have to deal with TV5 and Feny Bautista, one of the original producers of Batibot.
All we know is that all this to-do about Batibot has had some rather interesting developments. Lyca Brown e-mails us, “ …the good news is that your article prompted us to start a project to write an unexpurgated History of Batibot (from its earliest days as Sesame) so I really do want to thank you for giving us the impetus to do this.” We wonder if they would by this time need to ask permission from Papa?
What next? As they always say, Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Kris has new inspirational album
Kris Aquino’s newly-released album has created excitement in the music scene. Titled Blessings of Love (Universal Records), the top-selling CD again reflects an important phase in her life, told in inspiring words and music.
In the Pinoy music scene, Kris is also known as the queen of concept albums. Since she started recording concept CDs, all her albums have been consistently certified platinum.
Kris started her liner notes in the album with touching thank you notes, where she thanked her fans, Gary V, Martin Nievera, Ogie Alcasid, Jed Madela, JayR, Nina, Gail Blanco, Ronnie Liang, Erik Santos and Regine Velasquez. These artists have performed in the new CD.
The songs in the CD are Impossible Dreams (Martin Nievera), Love is the Answer (Gary V), To Where You Are (Jed Madela), You Are Not Alone (Nina), I Have Fallen In Love With The Same Woman Three Times (Christian Bautista), Dance With My Father (JayR), Kung Tayo’y Magkakalayo (Gail Blanco), Ikaw (Ogie Alcasid), Iingatan Ka (Erik Santos), Kanlungan (Noel Cabangon and Aia De Leon), Walang Iba (Ronnie Liang) and Hindi Ka Nag-iisa (Regine Velasquez).
In the Pinoy music scene, Kris is also known as the queen of concept albums. Since she started recording concept CDs, all her albums have been consistently certified platinum.
Kris started her liner notes in the album with touching thank you notes, where she thanked her fans, Gary V, Martin Nievera, Ogie Alcasid, Jed Madela, JayR, Nina, Gail Blanco, Ronnie Liang, Erik Santos and Regine Velasquez. These artists have performed in the new CD.
The songs in the CD are Impossible Dreams (Martin Nievera), Love is the Answer (Gary V), To Where You Are (Jed Madela), You Are Not Alone (Nina), I Have Fallen In Love With The Same Woman Three Times (Christian Bautista), Dance With My Father (JayR), Kung Tayo’y Magkakalayo (Gail Blanco), Ikaw (Ogie Alcasid), Iingatan Ka (Erik Santos), Kanlungan (Noel Cabangon and Aia De Leon), Walang Iba (Ronnie Liang) and Hindi Ka Nag-iisa (Regine Velasquez).
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
2010 Election Winners - Malolos City, Bulacan
Mayor:
NATIVIDAD, Christian
Vice Mayor:
GATCHALIAN, Gilbert
Councilors:
1) OPLE, Bernardo, Jr. B.
2) DOMINGO, Laurens Jan G.
3) PINEDA, Noel G.
4) BAUTISTA, Christian P C.
5) AZADA, Noel T.
6) CENTENO, Francisco Jr A.
7) ERJAS, Crispin G.
8) GATCHALIAN, Alma A.
9) DEGALA, Jesus Ricardo, III C.
10) RAMOS, Alberto Q.
NATIVIDAD, Christian
Vice Mayor:
GATCHALIAN, Gilbert
Councilors:
1) OPLE, Bernardo, Jr. B.
2) DOMINGO, Laurens Jan G.
3) PINEDA, Noel G.
4) BAUTISTA, Christian P C.
5) AZADA, Noel T.
6) CENTENO, Francisco Jr A.
7) ERJAS, Crispin G.
8) GATCHALIAN, Alma A.
9) DEGALA, Jesus Ricardo, III C.
10) RAMOS, Alberto Q.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Spider-Man the new chapter
Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012.
Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced recently they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.
The new chapter in the Spider-Man franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.
“A decade ago we set out on this journey with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire and together we made three Spider-Man films that set a new bar for the genre. When we began, no one ever imagined that we would make history at the box-office and now we have a rare opportunity to make history once again with this franchise. Peter Parker as an ordinary young adult grappling with extraordinary powers has always been the foundation that has made this character so timeless and compelling for generations of fans. We’re very excited about the creative possibilities that come from returning to Peter’s roots and we look forward to working once again with Marvel Studios, Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin on this new beginning,” said Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
“Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job,” said Sam Raimi.
“We have had a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration and friendship with Sam and Tobey and they have given us their best for the better part of the last decade. This is a bittersweet moment for us because while it is hard to imagine Spider-Man in anyone else’s hands, I know that this was a day that was inevitable,” said Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, who has served as the studio’s chief production executive since the beginning of the franchise. “Now everything begins anew, and that’s got us all tremendously excited about what comes next. Under the continuing supervision of Avi and Laura, we have a clear vision for the future of Spider-Man and can’t wait to share this exciting new direction with audiences in 2012.”
“Spider-Man will always be an important franchise for Sony Pictures and a fresh start like this is a responsibility that we all take very seriously,” said Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures. “We have always believed that story comes first and story guides the direction of these films and as we move onto the next chapter, we will stay true to that principle and will do so with the highest respect for the source material and the fans and moviegoers who deserve nothing but the best when it comes to bringing these stories and characters to life on the big screen.”
Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced recently they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.
The new chapter in the Spider-Man franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.
“A decade ago we set out on this journey with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire and together we made three Spider-Man films that set a new bar for the genre. When we began, no one ever imagined that we would make history at the box-office and now we have a rare opportunity to make history once again with this franchise. Peter Parker as an ordinary young adult grappling with extraordinary powers has always been the foundation that has made this character so timeless and compelling for generations of fans. We’re very excited about the creative possibilities that come from returning to Peter’s roots and we look forward to working once again with Marvel Studios, Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin on this new beginning,” said Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
“Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job,” said Sam Raimi.
“We have had a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration and friendship with Sam and Tobey and they have given us their best for the better part of the last decade. This is a bittersweet moment for us because while it is hard to imagine Spider-Man in anyone else’s hands, I know that this was a day that was inevitable,” said Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, who has served as the studio’s chief production executive since the beginning of the franchise. “Now everything begins anew, and that’s got us all tremendously excited about what comes next. Under the continuing supervision of Avi and Laura, we have a clear vision for the future of Spider-Man and can’t wait to share this exciting new direction with audiences in 2012.”
“Spider-Man will always be an important franchise for Sony Pictures and a fresh start like this is a responsibility that we all take very seriously,” said Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures. “We have always believed that story comes first and story guides the direction of these films and as we move onto the next chapter, we will stay true to that principle and will do so with the highest respect for the source material and the fans and moviegoers who deserve nothing but the best when it comes to bringing these stories and characters to life on the big screen.”
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Cool tips to beat the heat By Willie T. Ong, MD (The Philippine Star)
The human body works best at a certain range of room temperature, usually around 23 to 25 degrees Centigrade. Being exposed to extreme temperatures can bring about weakness, fatigue, and even serious illnesses like heat stroke.
During the hot season, we should take steps to minimize the ill effects of heat on our bodies. For the elderly, the very young, and those with chronic medical conditions (heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and others), check out these tips to keep cool and healthy.
COMMON TIPS
1. Stay inside the house or a building between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If possible, spend more time in an air-conditioned or well-ventilated room. Try to avoid the sun.
2. Wear something white and cool, like cotton and linen shirts. Light colors reflect the heat of the sun, and cotton shirts help absorb our sweat so it can evaporate. Conversely, nylon shirts can feel sticky and hot.
3. If you’re out in the sun, do everything to cover yourself. Bring an umbrella, wear a large brimmed hat (not the small baseball cap), or cover your head with a newspaper. Avoid direct sunlight.
4. Drink between eight and 12 glasses of water a day. The elderly and those staying in air-conditioned rooms may drink less water, but active, young adults may need to drink more. Try to minimize drinking coffee and alcohol. Compared to plain water, these drinks don’t fully hydrate the body and may make you even more thirsty.
5. Eat more fruits with high water content, such as watermelon, melon, and coconut water.
NOT-SO-COMMON TIPS
1. Check the weather. Internet websites like AccuWeather.com are quite accurate in predicting the weather for the next five days. Lessen your appointments on a particularly hot day, and do more work under cooler conditions.
2. Slowly acclimatize to the heat (or cold). Our bodies do not like abrupt weather changes like going into an air-conditioned room after being in the sun. You can slowly increase the thermostat in your office or bedroom, say from 23 degrees to 24, then 25 degrees Centigrade, to slowly get used to the hot weather.
3. Go where the trees are. Leafy trees and plants are our best allies in beating the heat. In fact, studies show that temperatures are lower (and there’s more oxygen) in areas where there’s a lot of greenery. So start planting those trees around your home and workplace.
4. Buy houseplants. Just like trees, house plants may help a bit in improving the air quality inside your house. A study shows that houseplants can give oxygen and absorb surrounding pollution.
5. Freeze or chill your water. Before going to work, we usually bring frozen or cold water and place it inside an insulated bag. The water can stay cool even until the late afternoon. Try it.
6. Drink water little by little throughout the day. Take some water every 30 minutes or so until you reach your quota for the day. Drinking little by little is gentler to your heart and body as compared to drinking two glasses of water straight up.
7. Check your urine color. A rough guide to our body’s need for water is to look at the color of the urine. It’s usually darker yellow in the morning and late afternoon, when we are more dehydrated. That’s why you are advised to drink a glass of water when you wake up. Try to keep the urine color on the lighter yellow side.
8. Take a break during work. This advice may not be popular with employers, but an effective way to cope with the heat is to rest more often. If it’s very hot, take a short break, and maybe eat some halo-halo, mais con yelo or just sip a bottle of chilled water.
9. You can place a cold water bottle on the sides of your neck, cheeks, forehead, and also the wrist area where the pulse is located. This can help lower the body temperature. Alternately, you can cool some stones in the refrigerator and place them over your neck and arms.
10. Find and stay in the coolest room inside your house. You can even place dark curtains over the windows to block the sunlight. Use an electric fan, air cooler or air-conditioner.
11. If you’re just inside your house, guys can wear a sleeveless undershirt to keep cool. Of course, you shouldn’t do this at work or you’ll get fired.
12. Try using a spray bottle. It’s a little trick that’s being used by athletes. Buy a spray bottle (similar to those used by gardeners) and fill it with cold water. You can gently spray your face every so often to cool yourself. Having an electric fan around also helps because this adds to the “wind chill” effect of the water on your skin.
13. Take a bath and wash your face. You can also wet a towel and wipe your neck, face, armpits, and body.
14. Get some ice chips and sip on them while working.
15. Wear your sunglasses. Think cool and you’ll feel cooler.
16. Minimize or avoid exercising. If it’s very hot and you feel kind of weak, I would advise you not to exercise for that day. Exercising raises your body temperature and makes you feel hotter. You can still exercise, however, in an air-conditioned room.
17. Rest and sleep, if the hot weather makes you feel tired.
18. To keep cool inside your car, tint your car windows or attach see-through window shades. When you have to park under the sun, cover your windshields with those large sunblockers.
19. Finally, try to lose some weight. Thinner people can deal with the heat better, while overweight individuals feel more sweaty and hot.
During the hot weather, remember to avoid the sun, rest more often, and plant those trees. Let’s do what we can to stay cool and healthy.
During the hot season, we should take steps to minimize the ill effects of heat on our bodies. For the elderly, the very young, and those with chronic medical conditions (heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and others), check out these tips to keep cool and healthy.
COMMON TIPS
1. Stay inside the house or a building between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If possible, spend more time in an air-conditioned or well-ventilated room. Try to avoid the sun.
2. Wear something white and cool, like cotton and linen shirts. Light colors reflect the heat of the sun, and cotton shirts help absorb our sweat so it can evaporate. Conversely, nylon shirts can feel sticky and hot.
3. If you’re out in the sun, do everything to cover yourself. Bring an umbrella, wear a large brimmed hat (not the small baseball cap), or cover your head with a newspaper. Avoid direct sunlight.
4. Drink between eight and 12 glasses of water a day. The elderly and those staying in air-conditioned rooms may drink less water, but active, young adults may need to drink more. Try to minimize drinking coffee and alcohol. Compared to plain water, these drinks don’t fully hydrate the body and may make you even more thirsty.
5. Eat more fruits with high water content, such as watermelon, melon, and coconut water.
NOT-SO-COMMON TIPS
1. Check the weather. Internet websites like AccuWeather.com are quite accurate in predicting the weather for the next five days. Lessen your appointments on a particularly hot day, and do more work under cooler conditions.
2. Slowly acclimatize to the heat (or cold). Our bodies do not like abrupt weather changes like going into an air-conditioned room after being in the sun. You can slowly increase the thermostat in your office or bedroom, say from 23 degrees to 24, then 25 degrees Centigrade, to slowly get used to the hot weather.
3. Go where the trees are. Leafy trees and plants are our best allies in beating the heat. In fact, studies show that temperatures are lower (and there’s more oxygen) in areas where there’s a lot of greenery. So start planting those trees around your home and workplace.
4. Buy houseplants. Just like trees, house plants may help a bit in improving the air quality inside your house. A study shows that houseplants can give oxygen and absorb surrounding pollution.
5. Freeze or chill your water. Before going to work, we usually bring frozen or cold water and place it inside an insulated bag. The water can stay cool even until the late afternoon. Try it.
6. Drink water little by little throughout the day. Take some water every 30 minutes or so until you reach your quota for the day. Drinking little by little is gentler to your heart and body as compared to drinking two glasses of water straight up.
7. Check your urine color. A rough guide to our body’s need for water is to look at the color of the urine. It’s usually darker yellow in the morning and late afternoon, when we are more dehydrated. That’s why you are advised to drink a glass of water when you wake up. Try to keep the urine color on the lighter yellow side.
8. Take a break during work. This advice may not be popular with employers, but an effective way to cope with the heat is to rest more often. If it’s very hot, take a short break, and maybe eat some halo-halo, mais con yelo or just sip a bottle of chilled water.
9. You can place a cold water bottle on the sides of your neck, cheeks, forehead, and also the wrist area where the pulse is located. This can help lower the body temperature. Alternately, you can cool some stones in the refrigerator and place them over your neck and arms.
10. Find and stay in the coolest room inside your house. You can even place dark curtains over the windows to block the sunlight. Use an electric fan, air cooler or air-conditioner.
11. If you’re just inside your house, guys can wear a sleeveless undershirt to keep cool. Of course, you shouldn’t do this at work or you’ll get fired.
12. Try using a spray bottle. It’s a little trick that’s being used by athletes. Buy a spray bottle (similar to those used by gardeners) and fill it with cold water. You can gently spray your face every so often to cool yourself. Having an electric fan around also helps because this adds to the “wind chill” effect of the water on your skin.
13. Take a bath and wash your face. You can also wet a towel and wipe your neck, face, armpits, and body.
14. Get some ice chips and sip on them while working.
15. Wear your sunglasses. Think cool and you’ll feel cooler.
16. Minimize or avoid exercising. If it’s very hot and you feel kind of weak, I would advise you not to exercise for that day. Exercising raises your body temperature and makes you feel hotter. You can still exercise, however, in an air-conditioned room.
17. Rest and sleep, if the hot weather makes you feel tired.
18. To keep cool inside your car, tint your car windows or attach see-through window shades. When you have to park under the sun, cover your windshields with those large sunblockers.
19. Finally, try to lose some weight. Thinner people can deal with the heat better, while overweight individuals feel more sweaty and hot.
During the hot weather, remember to avoid the sun, rest more often, and plant those trees. Let’s do what we can to stay cool and healthy.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Russell Crowe is Robin Hood
Russell Crowe has been entranced by the legend of Robin Hood ever since he was a boy growing up in New Zealand and Australia. His latest starrer, Robin Hood, released through United International Pictures, opens in local cinemas on May 14.
But as much as he loved the story, Russell believed that as yet there hasn’t been a film version that fully does justice to it — until now.
It’s no surprise then, that when producer Brian Grazer came to Russell with the idea for a modern-day version of this classic myth, Russell was immediately intrigued and keen to commit. And to honor the story that he has loved for years.
The actor and director Ridley Scott both agreed that their version of Robin Hood would tell the story of how the myth began — how Robin Longstride, a warrior who has been away fighting in the crusades, becomes Robin Hood.
The production was based at Shepperton on the outskirts of London
and Ridley and his key crew settled on locations within a 30-mile radius of the studios including building Nottingham village on the 2,000-acre Hampton estate in the heart of the beautiful Surrey countryside, which is studded with ancient Oak trees — an iconic hallmark of the Robin Hood legend.
The one exception took them to the beautiful Pembrokeshire coastline in Wales where Ridley filmed a key battle scene. “It was incredible,” says Russell. “We had 130 horses going at full gallop on that beautiful beach and 500 odd extras on foot. The adrenaline rush was extraordinary.”
They also returned to a location that they used to great effect in Gladiator — Bourne Wood in Surrey. So it seemed fitting for Russell that some 10 years later he would return to Bourne Wood and film key scenes for Robin Hood.
But as much as he loved the story, Russell believed that as yet there hasn’t been a film version that fully does justice to it — until now.
It’s no surprise then, that when producer Brian Grazer came to Russell with the idea for a modern-day version of this classic myth, Russell was immediately intrigued and keen to commit. And to honor the story that he has loved for years.
The actor and director Ridley Scott both agreed that their version of Robin Hood would tell the story of how the myth began — how Robin Longstride, a warrior who has been away fighting in the crusades, becomes Robin Hood.
The production was based at Shepperton on the outskirts of London
and Ridley and his key crew settled on locations within a 30-mile radius of the studios including building Nottingham village on the 2,000-acre Hampton estate in the heart of the beautiful Surrey countryside, which is studded with ancient Oak trees — an iconic hallmark of the Robin Hood legend.
The one exception took them to the beautiful Pembrokeshire coastline in Wales where Ridley filmed a key battle scene. “It was incredible,” says Russell. “We had 130 horses going at full gallop on that beautiful beach and 500 odd extras on foot. The adrenaline rush was extraordinary.”
They also returned to a location that they used to great effect in Gladiator — Bourne Wood in Surrey. So it seemed fitting for Russell that some 10 years later he would return to Bourne Wood and film key scenes for Robin Hood.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
KC turns songwriter in sophomore album By Leah C. Salterio (The Philippine Star)
By this time, there is really no doubt that KC Concepcion can sing. After her debut outing, a.k.a. Cassandra, turned platinum, KC has proven that she is indeed a chip off the old block.
The 24-year-old KC has proven she could really make a name for herself in this business, rather than get her identity hinged on her famous parents — Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion.
Aside from singing, she has the acting genes to boot, with two box-office film credits and drama guesting stints on television. Her next big screen project will pair her for the first time with Jericho Rosales and she gets to pit acting skills with her dad Gabby.
The pressure of having celebrity parents may have been formidable for KC, but she didn’t buckle on the challenge. She faced everything head on until she was able to gain her own niche in local showbiz.
Her second album under Sony Music is eponymously titled, KC. The CD contains 12 original selections, written by noted local and foreign songwriters.
While other established artists opt to tread the tried-and-tested formula of recording revivals, KC takes the risk of coming out with an all-original CD for her sophomore outing. She is brave enough to show her confidence in every track.
Understandably, KC’s recording label extends its full support to one of its current leading artists. The company enlisted top songwriters and producers to work with KC. The list includes Marvin Querido, Jimmy Bondoc, Louie Ocampo, Jimmy Antiporda, Toto Sorioso, Ferdie Marquez and Jingle Buena.
While her recording debut featured varied musical genres, KC chose to stick to a singular pop sound for her second album. Her voice can be easily distinguished in tracks like Di Bale Na, Breathe You, It’s Been A While and After the End.
“This new album is very different than the first one,” insists KC, whose debut recording was a commercial and critical success. “We were more experimental in the first one because we were testing the waters. But with this new one, it’s more personal. I’d like to think I am more confident recording this new CD, although there was still that nervous feeling every time I sang a track inside the studio.”
This time, however, KC proves she does not only sing. The CD also marks her debut as a songwriter, as she penned three tunes — Magandang Umaga, Takip Silim and Worth the Wait — each of which talks about a different phase in a romance.
The lyrics of Takip Silim alone were enough to make her mom Sharon cry, even before the latter could listen to the actual track, according to KC.
“The songs that I wrote are really something that I’m proud of,” KC allows. “I’m so thankful to Sony for giving me the chance to explore my creative nature in songwriting for my second album.”
The carrier single, Not Like the Movies, has been a certified hit and has become a most requested tune on the airlanes. Even the music video has been gaining heavy play on Myx.
The said track was written by international songwriters Jaye Muller and Ben Patton, who visited Manila in time for KC’s recent album launch held at Hard Rock Café.
With Jinno Mina, KC co-produced four tracks — Hulog, Naantig Ako sa ‘Yo, Girl Most Likely To and Tayo Na.
The CD comes in a special collectors’ item packaging, like a journal where the songs chronicle KC’s life. Complementing this new design is KC’s Bohemian-inspired look in her album cover, as well as the photos in the album in-lay.
“We want the album to come out as free-flowing and honest,” KC says. “I helped in conceptualizing the design, packaging, photos and the over-all look. We really wanted to offer something new and different, something that depicts me as a person and an artist.”
KC has embarked on an extensive mall tour to promote her latest Sony Music album.
The 24-year-old KC has proven she could really make a name for herself in this business, rather than get her identity hinged on her famous parents — Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion.
Aside from singing, she has the acting genes to boot, with two box-office film credits and drama guesting stints on television. Her next big screen project will pair her for the first time with Jericho Rosales and she gets to pit acting skills with her dad Gabby.
The pressure of having celebrity parents may have been formidable for KC, but she didn’t buckle on the challenge. She faced everything head on until she was able to gain her own niche in local showbiz.
Her second album under Sony Music is eponymously titled, KC. The CD contains 12 original selections, written by noted local and foreign songwriters.
While other established artists opt to tread the tried-and-tested formula of recording revivals, KC takes the risk of coming out with an all-original CD for her sophomore outing. She is brave enough to show her confidence in every track.
Understandably, KC’s recording label extends its full support to one of its current leading artists. The company enlisted top songwriters and producers to work with KC. The list includes Marvin Querido, Jimmy Bondoc, Louie Ocampo, Jimmy Antiporda, Toto Sorioso, Ferdie Marquez and Jingle Buena.
While her recording debut featured varied musical genres, KC chose to stick to a singular pop sound for her second album. Her voice can be easily distinguished in tracks like Di Bale Na, Breathe You, It’s Been A While and After the End.
“This new album is very different than the first one,” insists KC, whose debut recording was a commercial and critical success. “We were more experimental in the first one because we were testing the waters. But with this new one, it’s more personal. I’d like to think I am more confident recording this new CD, although there was still that nervous feeling every time I sang a track inside the studio.”
This time, however, KC proves she does not only sing. The CD also marks her debut as a songwriter, as she penned three tunes — Magandang Umaga, Takip Silim and Worth the Wait — each of which talks about a different phase in a romance.
The lyrics of Takip Silim alone were enough to make her mom Sharon cry, even before the latter could listen to the actual track, according to KC.
“The songs that I wrote are really something that I’m proud of,” KC allows. “I’m so thankful to Sony for giving me the chance to explore my creative nature in songwriting for my second album.”
The carrier single, Not Like the Movies, has been a certified hit and has become a most requested tune on the airlanes. Even the music video has been gaining heavy play on Myx.
The said track was written by international songwriters Jaye Muller and Ben Patton, who visited Manila in time for KC’s recent album launch held at Hard Rock Café.
With Jinno Mina, KC co-produced four tracks — Hulog, Naantig Ako sa ‘Yo, Girl Most Likely To and Tayo Na.
The CD comes in a special collectors’ item packaging, like a journal where the songs chronicle KC’s life. Complementing this new design is KC’s Bohemian-inspired look in her album cover, as well as the photos in the album in-lay.
“We want the album to come out as free-flowing and honest,” KC says. “I helped in conceptualizing the design, packaging, photos and the over-all look. We really wanted to offer something new and different, something that depicts me as a person and an artist.”
KC has embarked on an extensive mall tour to promote her latest Sony Music album.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Bench salutes disabled and 'prime' employees
As Bench continues its tradition of employing individuals of various disabilities as well as those in their prime years, a dream almost becomes a reality for some while others seize this golden opportunity of being involved with an internationally acclaimed brand.
If you have not visited a Bench outlet recently you will not get the chance to be greeted by a senior fellow, older in age than the typical employee you have gotten used to. Nor will you be assisted by a charming young girl or boy whose only difference is the way their steps are not as perfect as ours.
Known for its charitable efforts and Pinoy pride, Suyen Corporation always finds ways to open its doors to the less fortunate, because not all companies hire disabled and “prime”-aged individuals. Bench paves the way for those who still have a lot to offer despite age or physical disability.
John Ryan Cruz, a disabled employee at the SM Megamall branch who has been deaf since the age of two, says that it is a happy and fulfilling experience at the end of every day to be given responsibility as part of the sales crew, where he has also learned to fix the store’s visual merchandise. He chooses to work with Bench because he feels that Bench is globally recognized and he loves working with the company. “I am happy to serve the company because I learn a lot of things, and I feel that I’m a much stronger person because all the employees here are giving me importance and trust,” he shares.
Licel Galgana, who is also deaf, shares her sentiments on working at Bench: “This is my first time to be employed and given the chance to work. I don’t feel different because I am inborn mute and deaf. Bench is a prestigious company to work for and I feel proud working here and very blessed, given an opportunity to work.”
She says the customers she assists never tease or discriminate against her at work. Most of all, she is happy knowing that she is able to help her family with their needs by working with Bench. Her dream is to manage her own business and being employed allows her to get close to this aspiration of hers.
Dorothy Jamilarin, or Doray to her officemates, is a janitress at Suyen’s head office and has a cleft palate. This speaking disability didn’t hold her back from getting a job even if she was aware that some people might not understand some words she was trying to say. Doray is thankful that even if she has this physical challenge, Suyen hired her and gave her a decent job. “I am very thankful that despite my disability, they gave me an opportunity to work in the company. The job is a big help to support my needs and my family as well.”
Belonging to the “prime” team comes with certain special privileges. Bench enables senior citizens to appreciate their daily lives even more, and some have admitted that their experience has changed their outlook on life.
Dolores Oledan, 52 years old and assigned to Superbench Market! Market!, said that she doesn’t feel different even if most of the people in the store are half her age. She also feels grateful because of the opportunity that Bench has given her. In the 10 years she has been working at Bench, she was able to support her family and put her children through college.
If you have not visited a Bench outlet recently you will not get the chance to be greeted by a senior fellow, older in age than the typical employee you have gotten used to. Nor will you be assisted by a charming young girl or boy whose only difference is the way their steps are not as perfect as ours.
Known for its charitable efforts and Pinoy pride, Suyen Corporation always finds ways to open its doors to the less fortunate, because not all companies hire disabled and “prime”-aged individuals. Bench paves the way for those who still have a lot to offer despite age or physical disability.
John Ryan Cruz, a disabled employee at the SM Megamall branch who has been deaf since the age of two, says that it is a happy and fulfilling experience at the end of every day to be given responsibility as part of the sales crew, where he has also learned to fix the store’s visual merchandise. He chooses to work with Bench because he feels that Bench is globally recognized and he loves working with the company. “I am happy to serve the company because I learn a lot of things, and I feel that I’m a much stronger person because all the employees here are giving me importance and trust,” he shares.
Licel Galgana, who is also deaf, shares her sentiments on working at Bench: “This is my first time to be employed and given the chance to work. I don’t feel different because I am inborn mute and deaf. Bench is a prestigious company to work for and I feel proud working here and very blessed, given an opportunity to work.”
She says the customers she assists never tease or discriminate against her at work. Most of all, she is happy knowing that she is able to help her family with their needs by working with Bench. Her dream is to manage her own business and being employed allows her to get close to this aspiration of hers.
Dorothy Jamilarin, or Doray to her officemates, is a janitress at Suyen’s head office and has a cleft palate. This speaking disability didn’t hold her back from getting a job even if she was aware that some people might not understand some words she was trying to say. Doray is thankful that even if she has this physical challenge, Suyen hired her and gave her a decent job. “I am very thankful that despite my disability, they gave me an opportunity to work in the company. The job is a big help to support my needs and my family as well.”
Belonging to the “prime” team comes with certain special privileges. Bench enables senior citizens to appreciate their daily lives even more, and some have admitted that their experience has changed their outlook on life.
Dolores Oledan, 52 years old and assigned to Superbench Market! Market!, said that she doesn’t feel different even if most of the people in the store are half her age. She also feels grateful because of the opportunity that Bench has given her. In the 10 years she has been working at Bench, she was able to support her family and put her children through college.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The difference is Kara By Maridol Rañoa-Bismark (The Philippine Star)
Kara David has never been content just being a journalist. She always aimed to be a journalist who can make a difference.
The I-Witness and OFW Diaries host takes it upon herself to change communities she covers for the better. Shooting unnerving images of want and despair just won’t do.
“After we say, `Cut!’”, pack up or leave the community, kulang ang pagkatao kung naging journalist lang ako,”she says.
So Kara put up Project Malasakit Foundation eight years ago to give poor but deserving young people she meets in her I-Witness reports the education they deserve. Some of the 15 scholars are referrals from her reporter-friends, who, like Kara, have gone all over the country.
Kara sends them P1,000 monthly allowance for food, transportation and school projects. Boyfriend and fellow TOYM awardee Dennis Mendiola created a website and monitoring system that will help Kara keep track of donations and the scholars’ progress.
“I don’t send the lump sum because they may buy something unnecessary,” explains Kara. “In return, the scholars send me their grades.”
The foundation has taught Kara that good Samaritans are everywhere. But distrust in government is keeping them from giving as much as they would like to.
“They’re cynical. They don’t know who to give the money to,” observes Kara.
Yes, she too has grown cynical about government. But her feelings about Juan dela Cruz is another story. Kara is dumbstruck at the resilience of the humble folk she meets, especially in places only the brave and the determined dare go to.
The sight of poor people temporarily forgetting their own plight to help their neighbors touches Kara to the bone.
“People in other countries are individualistic,” she observes. “But we manage to keep our hopes alive because of our Bayanihan. Pinoys are resilent, despite the poverty.”
Take Ambulansiyang de Paa, the I-Witness episode that won Kara and her team — made up of executive producers Angel Directo and Lloyd Navara, former program manager Kristoffer Brugada, cameraman Disney Carren, assistant cameraman Aldrin Lacson and researcher Wilma Sesaldo — the prestigious Peabody award.
The episode, shot in the poor Mangyan town of Apnagan, Oriental Mindoro, showed residents bringing their sick and injured to the nearest health facility, by foot. It was no walk in the park. But it’s the only way tubercular Lowen Tayo, broncho-pneumonia patient John Lloyd and badly-burned Wendy, can find relief for their aches and pains.
The message of hope amidst the squalor floored the Peabody Board, composed of TV critics, broadcast and cable industry executives, academicians and experts in culture and the arts.
Peabody jurors cited the episode for “Condemning deplorable conditions while celebrating neighborly valor and ingenuity, the report shows how people in a poor village carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using ‘ambulances on foot.”
It all started with a what-if moment for Kara and her I-Witness staff in GMA network.
What if they don’t have the ambulance they take so much for granted? Where will they bring their sick loved one in case of emergency?
Thus was Ambulansiyang de Paa born. Winning an award for the coverage took Kara by surprise.
‘I just wanted to come up with the best script so people will donate and help this sick kid,” reveals Kara. “That would have been enough to make me happy and fulfilled.”
She ended up not only happy and fulfilled. Kara also learned a thing or two about life from the people she rubbed elbows with. Kara saw people in remote barrios subsisting with P100 or less a day, and realized how lucky she is all over again.
“Before you buy a P400,000 luxury bag, think. How many school buildings can that build? How many scholars can that send to school?”
Now, Kara need not go to the classroom to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. Her classroom, she says, has become a lot, lot bigger. And her colorful students have taught her things no teacher sitting behind her desk could ever learn,
The single mom passes these lessons on to daughter, Julia, nine, The girl joins Kara’s outreach programs every Christmas. On her last birthday, Kara didn’t throw a big party for Julia, even if her mom can afford it. Instead, Kara brought her daughter to a remote community where they gave presents to the needy.
Will Kara’s priorities remain the same, even if she gets married?
The answer is a resounding yes. Kara’s boyfriend shares her compassion for the needy. Aside from being the governor of Red Cross, Dennis Mendiola runs Chikka.com, which helps OFWs keep in touch with loved ones and therefore cements family ties.
Now you know why Kara gets more inspired even as she keeps on inspiring others. She’s just returning her blessings by giving her best as a journalist with a purpose.
The I-Witness and OFW Diaries host takes it upon herself to change communities she covers for the better. Shooting unnerving images of want and despair just won’t do.
“After we say, `Cut!’”, pack up or leave the community, kulang ang pagkatao kung naging journalist lang ako,”she says.
So Kara put up Project Malasakit Foundation eight years ago to give poor but deserving young people she meets in her I-Witness reports the education they deserve. Some of the 15 scholars are referrals from her reporter-friends, who, like Kara, have gone all over the country.
Kara sends them P1,000 monthly allowance for food, transportation and school projects. Boyfriend and fellow TOYM awardee Dennis Mendiola created a website and monitoring system that will help Kara keep track of donations and the scholars’ progress.
“I don’t send the lump sum because they may buy something unnecessary,” explains Kara. “In return, the scholars send me their grades.”
The foundation has taught Kara that good Samaritans are everywhere. But distrust in government is keeping them from giving as much as they would like to.
“They’re cynical. They don’t know who to give the money to,” observes Kara.
Yes, she too has grown cynical about government. But her feelings about Juan dela Cruz is another story. Kara is dumbstruck at the resilience of the humble folk she meets, especially in places only the brave and the determined dare go to.
The sight of poor people temporarily forgetting their own plight to help their neighbors touches Kara to the bone.
“People in other countries are individualistic,” she observes. “But we manage to keep our hopes alive because of our Bayanihan. Pinoys are resilent, despite the poverty.”
Take Ambulansiyang de Paa, the I-Witness episode that won Kara and her team — made up of executive producers Angel Directo and Lloyd Navara, former program manager Kristoffer Brugada, cameraman Disney Carren, assistant cameraman Aldrin Lacson and researcher Wilma Sesaldo — the prestigious Peabody award.
The episode, shot in the poor Mangyan town of Apnagan, Oriental Mindoro, showed residents bringing their sick and injured to the nearest health facility, by foot. It was no walk in the park. But it’s the only way tubercular Lowen Tayo, broncho-pneumonia patient John Lloyd and badly-burned Wendy, can find relief for their aches and pains.
The message of hope amidst the squalor floored the Peabody Board, composed of TV critics, broadcast and cable industry executives, academicians and experts in culture and the arts.
Peabody jurors cited the episode for “Condemning deplorable conditions while celebrating neighborly valor and ingenuity, the report shows how people in a poor village carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using ‘ambulances on foot.”
It all started with a what-if moment for Kara and her I-Witness staff in GMA network.
What if they don’t have the ambulance they take so much for granted? Where will they bring their sick loved one in case of emergency?
Thus was Ambulansiyang de Paa born. Winning an award for the coverage took Kara by surprise.
‘I just wanted to come up with the best script so people will donate and help this sick kid,” reveals Kara. “That would have been enough to make me happy and fulfilled.”
She ended up not only happy and fulfilled. Kara also learned a thing or two about life from the people she rubbed elbows with. Kara saw people in remote barrios subsisting with P100 or less a day, and realized how lucky she is all over again.
“Before you buy a P400,000 luxury bag, think. How many school buildings can that build? How many scholars can that send to school?”
Now, Kara need not go to the classroom to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. Her classroom, she says, has become a lot, lot bigger. And her colorful students have taught her things no teacher sitting behind her desk could ever learn,
The single mom passes these lessons on to daughter, Julia, nine, The girl joins Kara’s outreach programs every Christmas. On her last birthday, Kara didn’t throw a big party for Julia, even if her mom can afford it. Instead, Kara brought her daughter to a remote community where they gave presents to the needy.
Will Kara’s priorities remain the same, even if she gets married?
The answer is a resounding yes. Kara’s boyfriend shares her compassion for the needy. Aside from being the governor of Red Cross, Dennis Mendiola runs Chikka.com, which helps OFWs keep in touch with loved ones and therefore cements family ties.
Now you know why Kara gets more inspired even as she keeps on inspiring others. She’s just returning her blessings by giving her best as a journalist with a purpose.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Why Nikki jumped ober da bakod By Bot Glorioso (The Philippine Star)
Just because Nikki Gil has decided not to renew her management contract with Star Magic after a four-year harmonious working relationship doesn’t mean that something has gone awry between both camps, nor she is transferring to rival station with beau Billy Crawford as mentioned in a tab blind item.
Her best friend Iya Villania and Billy, both ALV talents, have also nothing to do with Nikki’s decision to sign a management contract with Arnold Vegafria’s ALV. It’s more on how talents are being handled that convinced Nikki to jump ober da bakod.
“The change (of career management) is not an overnight thing. It has been given a lot of thought and we have been meeting with both camps — ALV and Star Magic family and we have come to agree that it would be best for me to go with ALV in order to achieve the direction that I want to take,” Nikki explains.
That direction points to an opportunity to perform as a solo artist which Nikki longs to do since she entered showbiz five years ago as a singer.
Remember that Coke TV ad where she initially let everyone hear the kind of voice first discovered by a talent scout inside a church where she used to sing as a choir member? Since then, Nikki has become a household name that captured everyone’s attention through various product endorsements. Her acting talent also paved the way for her to portray roles in the big and small screens.
But it was GMA 7’s Eat, Bulaga! that gave Nikki hosting exposure followed by a two-week stint in Extra Challenge and an appearance in S.O.P. What if there’s an offer to join Party Pilipinas as soon as her contract in A.S.A.P. XV expires in June?
“I’m a new (ALV) talent and we haven’t discussed yet as far as transferring is concerned but I will leave that to my manager. I’ll go where I’m needed.”
Is Billy excited now that they’re together in one talent agency? Are they a package deal?
“I love to be with Billy on tours but that’s just a girlfriend’s wish. The opportunity to work together is just a bonus because Billy and I try to separate business from our personal relationship,” answers Nikki who also keeps in touch with Billy’s mom.
Besides, meddling in career decisions is a no-no to both of them. But there is one thing that would make Billy frown: Seeing Nikki in a sexy pose for magazine covers. “I can wear bikini but it’s not my specialty to pose for covers. Let’s just leave it to other artists,” she says.
Singing, hosting, VJ-ing and acting, she adds, are enough to show people what she’s got. Playing opposite Coco Martin in Agimat: Tonyong Bayawak helps hone her craft while Atlantis Productions’ Legally Blonde (The Musical) which will be staged in June at Meralco Theater is another effective way to play roles that require rigid preparation because one can’t afford to have a Take 2. Nikki will be playing Elle Woods and is now attending yoga sessions and hitting the gym two or three times a week to be physically fit for the role.
“I’m not that physically active but it seems this is my season of changes — theater and a new management — so along with that transition I’m starting to hit the gym,” she says.
Her best friend Iya Villania and Billy, both ALV talents, have also nothing to do with Nikki’s decision to sign a management contract with Arnold Vegafria’s ALV. It’s more on how talents are being handled that convinced Nikki to jump ober da bakod.
“The change (of career management) is not an overnight thing. It has been given a lot of thought and we have been meeting with both camps — ALV and Star Magic family and we have come to agree that it would be best for me to go with ALV in order to achieve the direction that I want to take,” Nikki explains.
That direction points to an opportunity to perform as a solo artist which Nikki longs to do since she entered showbiz five years ago as a singer.
Remember that Coke TV ad where she initially let everyone hear the kind of voice first discovered by a talent scout inside a church where she used to sing as a choir member? Since then, Nikki has become a household name that captured everyone’s attention through various product endorsements. Her acting talent also paved the way for her to portray roles in the big and small screens.
But it was GMA 7’s Eat, Bulaga! that gave Nikki hosting exposure followed by a two-week stint in Extra Challenge and an appearance in S.O.P. What if there’s an offer to join Party Pilipinas as soon as her contract in A.S.A.P. XV expires in June?
“I’m a new (ALV) talent and we haven’t discussed yet as far as transferring is concerned but I will leave that to my manager. I’ll go where I’m needed.”
Is Billy excited now that they’re together in one talent agency? Are they a package deal?
“I love to be with Billy on tours but that’s just a girlfriend’s wish. The opportunity to work together is just a bonus because Billy and I try to separate business from our personal relationship,” answers Nikki who also keeps in touch with Billy’s mom.
Besides, meddling in career decisions is a no-no to both of them. But there is one thing that would make Billy frown: Seeing Nikki in a sexy pose for magazine covers. “I can wear bikini but it’s not my specialty to pose for covers. Let’s just leave it to other artists,” she says.
Singing, hosting, VJ-ing and acting, she adds, are enough to show people what she’s got. Playing opposite Coco Martin in Agimat: Tonyong Bayawak helps hone her craft while Atlantis Productions’ Legally Blonde (The Musical) which will be staged in June at Meralco Theater is another effective way to play roles that require rigid preparation because one can’t afford to have a Take 2. Nikki will be playing Elle Woods and is now attending yoga sessions and hitting the gym two or three times a week to be physically fit for the role.
“I’m not that physically active but it seems this is my season of changes — theater and a new management — so along with that transition I’m starting to hit the gym,” she says.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Election 2010 - City Of Malolos, Bulacan
Here's the list of candidates here in Malolos, Bulacan.
So for my fellow Malolenyo...Vote Wisely!
For Mayor
• Mangawang, Carolina Zamora "Ate Carol"; (NP )
• Natividad, Christian Dionisio "Agila"; (DEL PILAR )
• Tengco, Alejandro Hipolito "Al"; (LP )
For Vice Mayor
• Bulaong, Norberto Gallardo "Joey"; (NP )
• Gatchalian, Gilbert Tuazon "Bebong"; (DEL PILAR )
• San Diego, Dennis Domingo "Konde"; (LP )
For Councilors
• Adriano, Matias Bautista "Matt Balloons"; (NP )
• Azada, Noel Tacbad "Noel"; (DEL PILAR )
• Baltazar Iii, Carlos Antonio "Caloy"; (DEL PILAR )
• Bautista, Christian P Cañete "Toots"; (DEL PILAR )
• Bernardo, Rhommel Crisostomo "Diko"; (DEL PILAR )
• Capule, Enrico Calonzo "Rico"; (DEL PILAR )
• Centeno, Francisco Jr Adriano "Unio"; (LP )
• Cruz Jr., Ignacio Cruz "Bunso"; (NP )
• Cruz, Vinson Guillermo "Vince"; (LP )
• Dayao, Pedro Urutia "Pedring"; (NP )
• Degala, Jesus Ricardo, III Carag "Jeric"; (LP )
• Del Rosario, Ricardo Pagtalunan "Ric"; (LP )
• Diamante, Fernan Martin "Fernan"; (DEL PILAR )
• Dionisio, Roberto Santos "Robert"; (IND. )
• Domingo, Laurens Jan Garcia "Didis"; (LP )
• Erjas, Crispin Gaspar "Impin"; (LP )
• Garcia, Franklin Peramide "Frank"; (NP )
• Gatchalian, Alma Andres "Alma"; (DEL PILAR )
• Giron, Isagani Bernardino "Gani"; (NP )
• Guillena, Ruoby Manansala "Ruby"; (NP )
• Hernandez, Reynaldo Hernandez "Rey"; (DEL PILAR )
• Joson, Alejandro, Jr. Ico "Jhun"; (LP )
• Lucas, Christopher Mendiola "Chris"; (DEL PILAR )
• Maclang, Margarita Dominguez "Sis. Margs"; (IND. )
• Mangoba, Dennis Cristobal Saballa "Dennis"; (LP )
• Mateo, Pricilla Santos "Precy"; (LP )
• Nicdao, Arnelio Villena "Bonnel"; (NP )
• Ople, Bernardo, Jr. Baun "Jong"; (LP )
• Pineda, Noel Galvez "Len"; (DEL PILAR )
• Pingol, Alfredo Galman "Freddie"; (NP )
• Ramos, Alberto Quinto "Bert"; (LP )
• Reyes, Manolo Lorenzo "Bong"; (IND. )
• San Pedro, Alfredo Alincastre "Onnie"; (NP )
• Santiago, Luningning Baltazar "Ningning"; (DEL PILAR )
• Santos, Lalaine Samulde "Lalaine"; (NP )
• Sebastian, Artemio Gonzales "Tembong"; (DEL PILAR )
• Tan, Ma. Gina Umali "Gina"; (NP )
• Teodoro, Felino Magpayo "Piolo"; (LP )
• Tolentino, Jemellee Saberon "Bong"; (NP )
So for my fellow Malolenyo...Vote Wisely!
For Mayor
• Mangawang, Carolina Zamora "Ate Carol"; (NP )
• Natividad, Christian Dionisio "Agila"; (DEL PILAR )
• Tengco, Alejandro Hipolito "Al"; (LP )
For Vice Mayor
• Bulaong, Norberto Gallardo "Joey"; (NP )
• Gatchalian, Gilbert Tuazon "Bebong"; (DEL PILAR )
• San Diego, Dennis Domingo "Konde"; (LP )
For Councilors
• Adriano, Matias Bautista "Matt Balloons"; (NP )
• Azada, Noel Tacbad "Noel"; (DEL PILAR )
• Baltazar Iii, Carlos Antonio "Caloy"; (DEL PILAR )
• Bautista, Christian P Cañete "Toots"; (DEL PILAR )
• Bernardo, Rhommel Crisostomo "Diko"; (DEL PILAR )
• Capule, Enrico Calonzo "Rico"; (DEL PILAR )
• Centeno, Francisco Jr Adriano "Unio"; (LP )
• Cruz Jr., Ignacio Cruz "Bunso"; (NP )
• Cruz, Vinson Guillermo "Vince"; (LP )
• Dayao, Pedro Urutia "Pedring"; (NP )
• Degala, Jesus Ricardo, III Carag "Jeric"; (LP )
• Del Rosario, Ricardo Pagtalunan "Ric"; (LP )
• Diamante, Fernan Martin "Fernan"; (DEL PILAR )
• Dionisio, Roberto Santos "Robert"; (IND. )
• Domingo, Laurens Jan Garcia "Didis"; (LP )
• Erjas, Crispin Gaspar "Impin"; (LP )
• Garcia, Franklin Peramide "Frank"; (NP )
• Gatchalian, Alma Andres "Alma"; (DEL PILAR )
• Giron, Isagani Bernardino "Gani"; (NP )
• Guillena, Ruoby Manansala "Ruby"; (NP )
• Hernandez, Reynaldo Hernandez "Rey"; (DEL PILAR )
• Joson, Alejandro, Jr. Ico "Jhun"; (LP )
• Lucas, Christopher Mendiola "Chris"; (DEL PILAR )
• Maclang, Margarita Dominguez "Sis. Margs"; (IND. )
• Mangoba, Dennis Cristobal Saballa "Dennis"; (LP )
• Mateo, Pricilla Santos "Precy"; (LP )
• Nicdao, Arnelio Villena "Bonnel"; (NP )
• Ople, Bernardo, Jr. Baun "Jong"; (LP )
• Pineda, Noel Galvez "Len"; (DEL PILAR )
• Pingol, Alfredo Galman "Freddie"; (NP )
• Ramos, Alberto Quinto "Bert"; (LP )
• Reyes, Manolo Lorenzo "Bong"; (IND. )
• San Pedro, Alfredo Alincastre "Onnie"; (NP )
• Santiago, Luningning Baltazar "Ningning"; (DEL PILAR )
• Santos, Lalaine Samulde "Lalaine"; (NP )
• Sebastian, Artemio Gonzales "Tembong"; (DEL PILAR )
• Tan, Ma. Gina Umali "Gina"; (NP )
• Teodoro, Felino Magpayo "Piolo"; (LP )
• Tolentino, Jemellee Saberon "Bong"; (NP )
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Craig David signed, sealed, delivered
Craig David returns with a new single and album
deal with MCA Music (A Universal Music Group company). His first single, One More Lie (Standing In The Shadows), taken from his fifth studio album Signed Sealed Delivered released last month.
The album is a collection of some of the great soul hits including For Once In My Life, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and the title track by Stevie Wonder, reworked in Craig’s own style. The single, his first since 2008, takes a sample from the classic Four Tops hit (first released in 1966) and gives it a modern flavor.
From a UK Garage pioneer to a mainstream multi-million seller, Craig is so much more than your average artist. The Southampton born singer transcends the norm, consistently exceeding expectations and pushing musical boundaries. At 27, he has won Ivor Novello awards, achieved sales of over 13 million, two No. 1s, 13 Top 10 hits, huge success in America and sold out shows across the world.
deal with MCA Music (A Universal Music Group company). His first single, One More Lie (Standing In The Shadows), taken from his fifth studio album Signed Sealed Delivered released last month.
The album is a collection of some of the great soul hits including For Once In My Life, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and the title track by Stevie Wonder, reworked in Craig’s own style. The single, his first since 2008, takes a sample from the classic Four Tops hit (first released in 1966) and gives it a modern flavor.
From a UK Garage pioneer to a mainstream multi-million seller, Craig is so much more than your average artist. The Southampton born singer transcends the norm, consistently exceeding expectations and pushing musical boundaries. At 27, he has won Ivor Novello awards, achieved sales of over 13 million, two No. 1s, 13 Top 10 hits, huge success in America and sold out shows across the world.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The songs The Beatles wrote but gave away By Lambert A. Ramirez (The Philippine Star)
Years before Beatlemania became a household word in Britain, The Beatles were covering songs written and performed by their rock heroes and influences. John Lennon and Paul McCartney knew instinctively well though they could write their own materials. And so they did, first, with difficulty and, later, with fluidity from the late ‘50s. By the mid-‘60s, the Lennon-McCartney writing partnership became already a legend and helped establish the musical careers of other British acts.
Paul was always a source of challenge to John. When Paul met John in 1957 and played Twenty Flight Rock, John thought twice in recruiting Paul to the group seeing a competitor in him, whose much-advanced guitar playing was unsettling. But John dismissed this fear and saw the bigger picture with Paul in the group as an additional asset.
Another source of insecurity for John surfaced when Paul played him some of his own compositions. The first song Paul composed when he was 14 (in 1956) was I Lost My Little Girl, which officially surfaced and was given proper introduction by Paul himself in his Official Unplugged album in the mid-‘90s.
In no time, John embarked on his own project, which produced Hello Little Girl (1957), his first-ever complete composition. This creative competition will last even beyond The Beatles’ breakup, but throughout almost the career of the group, John and Paul preferred mutual cooperation. Paul claimed they never extended beyond three hours working on a song and recalled no instance when they sat down and produced no new material.
What Paul loved most about John was how John suggested alternative lyrics to his own. In a TV special in 1986, he talked fondly about this partnership with BBC’s Richard Skinner. I Saw Her Standing There was a case in point. The original first verse had the following opening lines — “Well, she was just seventeen, never been a beauty queen,” which John immediately vetoed and replaced the second phrase with the more insinuative “…and you know what I mean.”
In 1968, Paul wrote Hey Jude, this time all by himself. The Beatles had by then increasingly become individual artists, each of them nurturing different creative pursuits. Paul recalled intimating to John his plan to alter the line in the song’s refrain “…the movement you need is on your shoulder…,” thinking it meant nothing. John immediately assured Paul that was the best line of the song.
One wonders about the artists John and Paul benefited with their songwriting gift. Brian Epstein, the famed manager of the group, secured a steady supply of songs for the other artists under his management and relied primarily on the Lennon-McCartney writing team for potential singles. Billy J. Kramer is one foremost recipient. He recorded Do You Want to Know a Secret? which went to No. 2 in the British singles chart and a host of other Lennon-McCartney compositions: From a Window, I’m In Love, I’ll Be On My Way and I’ll Keep You Satisfied. John’s composition Bad to Me went to No. 1 in the UK charts. These songs earned him international fame and a favorable place in British pop music history.
John introduced Cilla Black to Brian and helped build her musical career with Lennon-McCartney compositions. Cilla remembers Paul approaching once in those early days and offered her the song. Love of the Loved. She protested knowing the song was already dated as The Beatles were singing it back then in Hamburg. She recorded it anyway as her debut single, which peaked modestly at No. 35 in the British charts. Following two chart-topping singles not written by The Beatles, Anyone Who Had a Heart and You’re My World, Cilla recorded another Lennon-McCartney original It’s For You, which enjoyed similar success and worldwide fame. Paul gave her Step Inside Love in 1968 that guaranteed her another chart hit. In between these periods, Cilla recorded covers of other Beatles songs.
Another Liverpool group called The Fourmost enjoyed access to the early Lennon-McCartney materials, which gave it modest success in Britain. The group recorded John’s first compositions Hello Little Girl and I’m In Love, which reached No. 17.
The biggest hit makers though were Peter and Gordon. Paul wrote for them A World Without Love, a chart-topping single in both the US and Britain. Other Paul-penned materials the duo recorded included Nobody I Know, I Don’t Want To See You Again and Woman. The preferential treatment from Paul was most likely on the account of Peter Asher being the brother of Paul’s then theater-artist girlfriend Jane Asher.
Most of these songs remained unrecorded by The Beatles themselves, but some came officially out in The Anthology, specifically the highly in-demand Decca audition repertoire where the Fab Four were turned down in the New Year’s eve of 1963.
The Rolling Stones got a boost in their career when The Beatles gave them a single with the Lennon-McCartney byline. One afternoon in 1963, Mick Jagger and Keith Richard, on the way to the studio, met John and Paul and asked the writing partners if they had any song for them. Entering the studio, John and Paul asked for some time to finish off a song they were working on. After a few minutes, both emerged from one corner of a room and played the Stones’ I Wanna Be Your Man, which the Stones recorded and released as their next single.
This incident was monumental for the Stones because John and Paul inspired the then-would-be The Glimmer Twins to write most of their materials from then on.
Not everyone The Beatles offered their songs to would record the Lennon-McCartney pieces. Paul, who fancied writing for Frank Sinatra, came up in the early days with Suicide, which he offered to the Chairman of the Board in the mid-‘70s. Sinatra declined probably for the same reason Paul refused to include it in his first solo album.
Much earlier on, John offered Helen Shapiro, a budding star in the early ‘60s for whom The Beatles fronted, the song Misery, which appeared in The Beatles’ maiden album, but her management turned down the offer probably seeing the song’s mismatch with her public persona and song style.
In the same way, Billy J. Kramer revealed missing out on a big opportunity when he turned down a song written by Paul. It was 1965 when, after several years, Billy again met Paul and asked him if he had any song for him. Paul played him Yesterday, but he did not dig it. Three decades later, Ray Coleman, author of the monumental Lennon biography, devoted a whole book to this most popular song of all time.
The Beatles slowed down in giving songs away when their songwriting departed from the usual dose of “poppy stuff” that typified their early classic compositions. Besides, by the mid-‘60s, most of the artists under Brian, the one egging John and Paul on to produce chart hits for these artists, had already peaked in their careers. And, by this time, artists were already covering Beatles songs as they pleased: From Ella Fitzgerald and Petula Clark to The Supremes and The Mamas and the Papas; and from The Beach Boys, Kingston Trio and The Four Tops to Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Jose Feliciano.
Meanwhile, John, Paul, George and Ringo had reached the summit of their popularity, sealed by the record-breaking audience that invaded Shea Stadium in the Summer of ’65, which ushered in what is now known as stadium rock.
Exposed to the music of Bob Dylan and folk artists that headlined the cultural wagon of the civil rights and anti-war movements in this period, The Beatles consciously left their comfort zone where they had nothing left to further prove anyway and helped write the soundtrack of this emerging counter culture. John took to introspection with In My Life and Nowhere Man and pursued Paul started experimentations with tape loops in Tomorrow Never Knows. For his part, Paul reflected about alienation in Eleanor Rigby, while George reserved acerbic remarks about taxation in Britain with Taxman and fused his interest in Eastern religion with the band’s music. All these efforts would peak with The Beatles going psychedelic in full regalia in Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. The back-to-basics approach by the group to the double-disc White Album seemed to signal, however, The Beatles’ renewed benevolence toward other artists.
It was also Brian’s departure, ironically, that drew The Beatles back to cooperation with other artists. In 1968, the group took over the management of their business and started Apple — a concept born straight from the anti-establishment venture that sought to level the playing field for artists who have the talent. The Beatles soon signed up artists including James Taylor, The Iveys, which evolved to Badfinger, Jackie Lomax, and Mary Hopkins of Those Were the Days fame.
Paul wrote Come and Get It for the Badfinger and Goodbye for Mary Hopkins. Towards the close of the ‘60s, Paul remembered writing a song in most unusual circumstances. In a BBC Radio program broadcast last November, he recalled taking a break in Portugal, which brought him one night to the bar of a famous golf club. Admitting not being in full possession of his senses, Paul remembered taking over a drum kit and singing about the name of the club oblivious to the crowd around him. Someone must have recorded this session, because Paul later received a phone call asking for permission to record the song La Penina. It was rush-recorded in 1969 by a local artist Carlos Mendez.
George, by this time a full-fledged songwriter himself, gave Sour Milk Sea to Jackie Lomax, where Paul also played bass, Ringo drums, and Eric Clapton guitars.
Apart from writing songs for their Apple recruits, George also co-wrote Badge with Eric for the farewell album of one of the best blues-rock trios in history, the Cream. George recalled Eric already figured out the chords so he just started scribbling lyrics on a sheet of paper facing Eric. Following the first verses, George wrote “bridge” to indicate the middle part of the song. In front of him, Eric looked at what George was writing upside down and asked “What’s that badge?” George laughed and Eric took that as the title of the song.
Conspicuously absent in the scene was John who was busy in his newfound world with Yoko Ono producing experimental solo albums such as the series Unfinished Music No. 1 — The Two Virgins, Unfinished Music No. 2 — Life with the Lions and The Wedding Album, and recording concert album Live Peace in Toronto featuring Eric, Klaus Voorman and Yoko.
He would write a song though for Dr. Timothy Leary, the reputed LSD guru, who approached him for a campaign song. Dr. Leary elected to run for governor of California in 1968. John wrote Come Together but opted to record it himself when the candidate did not come back to claim his song.
Despite the acrimonious breakup of The Beatles, the four remained personal friends. John, Paul and George continued writing songs for another artist, but this time it’s Ringo himself. In the drummer’s self-titled album in 1973, John, Paul and George all wrote for the album. It was actually the closest to a Beatles reunion that could happen, wrote the music critics correctly enough. John penned his semi-autobiographical song I’m The Greatest for Ringo to sing, Paul gave Six O’ Clock, while George collaborated with Ringo in Photograph and wrote two more songs for the album — Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) and You and Me (Babe) co-written with one of the Fifth Beatles, Mal Evans, a buddy closest to The Beatles.
The following year in 1974, Ringo would release Goodnight Vienna, his fourth album. John wrote the title track and rearranged Only You, The Platters’ big 1950s hit, for Ringo. Two years later, Ringo would release Ringo’s Rotogravure where he would see the other three Beatles chipping in again.
Even in the ebb of Ringo’s musical career, John, Paul and George were there for Ringo. In his 1981 release Stop and Smell the Roses, he approached his former band mates. Paul, coming on the heels of the success of McCartney II that yielded the No. 1 hit single Coming Up, gave him two songs, Attention and Private Property, and produced a remake of Carl Perkins’ Sure to Fall, part of the early repertoire of The Beatles. George, busy with his own album Somewhere in New England, made a demonstration of Wrack My Brain for Ringo to perform. Interestingly, Ringo approached John, who had then recently reemerged from retirement with a new album Double Fantasy and readily gifted him with two songs: Nobody Told Me and Life Begins at 40. Both agreed to record on Jan. 14, 1981. But before this programmed recording session could happen more than a month prior, John would be murdered.
Meanwhile, Paul supported his brother’s (Mike McGear) musical career all the way in the early ‘70s. Paul co-wrote most of the singles Mike released and gave away a song for Mike’s album Woman (1972) and co-wrote most of the materials in McGear (1974).
John did collaborate with several artists in the early ‘70s. David Bowie had his first taste of a chart-topping single in the US with Fame, co-written with John, from the Young Americans album. During his long lost weekend, an 18-month separation from Yoko, John managed, albeit in the least ideal circumstances, to produce Harry Nilsson’s album, Pussy Cats, to which John contributed Mucho Mungo.
Much earlier, he gave God Save Us to Bill Elliott/Elastic Oz, and Rock and Roll People went to blues maestro Johnny Winter for his album John Dawson Winter III.
George demonstrated generosity throughout his solo career as well. In 1970, he helped Billy Preston in his album Encouraging Words and co-wrote for him You Give Me Joy and with Ringo, Gonna Get My Baby. Ronnie Spector got from George Try Some Buy Some for his single in 1971, which George also included in his 1972 album Living in the Material World, and Tandoori Chicken for the B-side of her other single a year later. George in 1972 co-wrote The Hold Up with David Bromberg. In 1973, Alvin Lee, front man of the renowned Ten Years After, recorded the song So Sad, which later also appeared in George’s album Dark Horse.
By the mid-‘80s, George would contribute two songs, Celebration and Focus of Attention, both co-written with Jimmy Helms, to the soundtrack of the film Water. In 1989, George wrote Run So Far for Eric’s album The Journeyman. George’s version of the song posthumously came out in 2002 in the album Brainwashed. Aside from helping out on the production side of Gary Moore’s album Still Got the Blues, George gave him That Kind of Woman to be included in this highly successful 1990 album.
Ringo also contributed his songwriting talent to some artists aside from Billy Preston. He co-wrote How Long Can Disco On with Harry Nilsson in 1980 for the latter’s album Flash Harry. And in 1976, he gave Band of Steel, his own composition, for Guthrie Thomas’ Lies and Alibis.
Paul proved generous as well with his songwriting. In 1974, he wrote Fourth of July for John Christie, Mine for Me for Rod Stewart’s Smiler, and Let’s Love for Peggy Lee, probably his way of thanking her for the song Till There Was You. In 1977, Roger Daltrey, The Who’s front man, recorded Giddy for his album One of the Boys. Denny Laine co-wrote with Paul Send Me the Heart for his post-Wings album Japanese Tears.
Further on in the ‘80s, Paul would write On the Wings of a Nightingale for The Everly Brothers, John and Paul’s model for vocal harmony, for the duo’s compilation with Mercury. He would also give soundtrack composer John Williams The Honorary Consul in 1983 for the film adaptation of a Graham Greene’s book of the same title and co-wrote with country legend Johnny Cash in 1988 the song New Moon Over Jamaica for the Cash album Water from the Wells Of Home.
Throughout their musical career, The Beatles contributed willingly their songwriting talent to other artists who needed it. It served as an accessible means for them to collaborate and nurture friendship with other artists belying the common perception that The Beatles were an exclusive group. Indeed, The Beatles interested themselves in other artists’ music and, whenever time allowed, made music with them — a blend of great musicianship and generosity the Fab Four personified.
Paul was always a source of challenge to John. When Paul met John in 1957 and played Twenty Flight Rock, John thought twice in recruiting Paul to the group seeing a competitor in him, whose much-advanced guitar playing was unsettling. But John dismissed this fear and saw the bigger picture with Paul in the group as an additional asset.
Another source of insecurity for John surfaced when Paul played him some of his own compositions. The first song Paul composed when he was 14 (in 1956) was I Lost My Little Girl, which officially surfaced and was given proper introduction by Paul himself in his Official Unplugged album in the mid-‘90s.
In no time, John embarked on his own project, which produced Hello Little Girl (1957), his first-ever complete composition. This creative competition will last even beyond The Beatles’ breakup, but throughout almost the career of the group, John and Paul preferred mutual cooperation. Paul claimed they never extended beyond three hours working on a song and recalled no instance when they sat down and produced no new material.
What Paul loved most about John was how John suggested alternative lyrics to his own. In a TV special in 1986, he talked fondly about this partnership with BBC’s Richard Skinner. I Saw Her Standing There was a case in point. The original first verse had the following opening lines — “Well, she was just seventeen, never been a beauty queen,” which John immediately vetoed and replaced the second phrase with the more insinuative “…and you know what I mean.”
In 1968, Paul wrote Hey Jude, this time all by himself. The Beatles had by then increasingly become individual artists, each of them nurturing different creative pursuits. Paul recalled intimating to John his plan to alter the line in the song’s refrain “…the movement you need is on your shoulder…,” thinking it meant nothing. John immediately assured Paul that was the best line of the song.
One wonders about the artists John and Paul benefited with their songwriting gift. Brian Epstein, the famed manager of the group, secured a steady supply of songs for the other artists under his management and relied primarily on the Lennon-McCartney writing team for potential singles. Billy J. Kramer is one foremost recipient. He recorded Do You Want to Know a Secret? which went to No. 2 in the British singles chart and a host of other Lennon-McCartney compositions: From a Window, I’m In Love, I’ll Be On My Way and I’ll Keep You Satisfied. John’s composition Bad to Me went to No. 1 in the UK charts. These songs earned him international fame and a favorable place in British pop music history.
John introduced Cilla Black to Brian and helped build her musical career with Lennon-McCartney compositions. Cilla remembers Paul approaching once in those early days and offered her the song. Love of the Loved. She protested knowing the song was already dated as The Beatles were singing it back then in Hamburg. She recorded it anyway as her debut single, which peaked modestly at No. 35 in the British charts. Following two chart-topping singles not written by The Beatles, Anyone Who Had a Heart and You’re My World, Cilla recorded another Lennon-McCartney original It’s For You, which enjoyed similar success and worldwide fame. Paul gave her Step Inside Love in 1968 that guaranteed her another chart hit. In between these periods, Cilla recorded covers of other Beatles songs.
Another Liverpool group called The Fourmost enjoyed access to the early Lennon-McCartney materials, which gave it modest success in Britain. The group recorded John’s first compositions Hello Little Girl and I’m In Love, which reached No. 17.
The biggest hit makers though were Peter and Gordon. Paul wrote for them A World Without Love, a chart-topping single in both the US and Britain. Other Paul-penned materials the duo recorded included Nobody I Know, I Don’t Want To See You Again and Woman. The preferential treatment from Paul was most likely on the account of Peter Asher being the brother of Paul’s then theater-artist girlfriend Jane Asher.
Most of these songs remained unrecorded by The Beatles themselves, but some came officially out in The Anthology, specifically the highly in-demand Decca audition repertoire where the Fab Four were turned down in the New Year’s eve of 1963.
The Rolling Stones got a boost in their career when The Beatles gave them a single with the Lennon-McCartney byline. One afternoon in 1963, Mick Jagger and Keith Richard, on the way to the studio, met John and Paul and asked the writing partners if they had any song for them. Entering the studio, John and Paul asked for some time to finish off a song they were working on. After a few minutes, both emerged from one corner of a room and played the Stones’ I Wanna Be Your Man, which the Stones recorded and released as their next single.
This incident was monumental for the Stones because John and Paul inspired the then-would-be The Glimmer Twins to write most of their materials from then on.
Not everyone The Beatles offered their songs to would record the Lennon-McCartney pieces. Paul, who fancied writing for Frank Sinatra, came up in the early days with Suicide, which he offered to the Chairman of the Board in the mid-‘70s. Sinatra declined probably for the same reason Paul refused to include it in his first solo album.
Much earlier on, John offered Helen Shapiro, a budding star in the early ‘60s for whom The Beatles fronted, the song Misery, which appeared in The Beatles’ maiden album, but her management turned down the offer probably seeing the song’s mismatch with her public persona and song style.
In the same way, Billy J. Kramer revealed missing out on a big opportunity when he turned down a song written by Paul. It was 1965 when, after several years, Billy again met Paul and asked him if he had any song for him. Paul played him Yesterday, but he did not dig it. Three decades later, Ray Coleman, author of the monumental Lennon biography, devoted a whole book to this most popular song of all time.
The Beatles slowed down in giving songs away when their songwriting departed from the usual dose of “poppy stuff” that typified their early classic compositions. Besides, by the mid-‘60s, most of the artists under Brian, the one egging John and Paul on to produce chart hits for these artists, had already peaked in their careers. And, by this time, artists were already covering Beatles songs as they pleased: From Ella Fitzgerald and Petula Clark to The Supremes and The Mamas and the Papas; and from The Beach Boys, Kingston Trio and The Four Tops to Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Jose Feliciano.
Meanwhile, John, Paul, George and Ringo had reached the summit of their popularity, sealed by the record-breaking audience that invaded Shea Stadium in the Summer of ’65, which ushered in what is now known as stadium rock.
Exposed to the music of Bob Dylan and folk artists that headlined the cultural wagon of the civil rights and anti-war movements in this period, The Beatles consciously left their comfort zone where they had nothing left to further prove anyway and helped write the soundtrack of this emerging counter culture. John took to introspection with In My Life and Nowhere Man and pursued Paul started experimentations with tape loops in Tomorrow Never Knows. For his part, Paul reflected about alienation in Eleanor Rigby, while George reserved acerbic remarks about taxation in Britain with Taxman and fused his interest in Eastern religion with the band’s music. All these efforts would peak with The Beatles going psychedelic in full regalia in Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. The back-to-basics approach by the group to the double-disc White Album seemed to signal, however, The Beatles’ renewed benevolence toward other artists.
It was also Brian’s departure, ironically, that drew The Beatles back to cooperation with other artists. In 1968, the group took over the management of their business and started Apple — a concept born straight from the anti-establishment venture that sought to level the playing field for artists who have the talent. The Beatles soon signed up artists including James Taylor, The Iveys, which evolved to Badfinger, Jackie Lomax, and Mary Hopkins of Those Were the Days fame.
Paul wrote Come and Get It for the Badfinger and Goodbye for Mary Hopkins. Towards the close of the ‘60s, Paul remembered writing a song in most unusual circumstances. In a BBC Radio program broadcast last November, he recalled taking a break in Portugal, which brought him one night to the bar of a famous golf club. Admitting not being in full possession of his senses, Paul remembered taking over a drum kit and singing about the name of the club oblivious to the crowd around him. Someone must have recorded this session, because Paul later received a phone call asking for permission to record the song La Penina. It was rush-recorded in 1969 by a local artist Carlos Mendez.
George, by this time a full-fledged songwriter himself, gave Sour Milk Sea to Jackie Lomax, where Paul also played bass, Ringo drums, and Eric Clapton guitars.
Apart from writing songs for their Apple recruits, George also co-wrote Badge with Eric for the farewell album of one of the best blues-rock trios in history, the Cream. George recalled Eric already figured out the chords so he just started scribbling lyrics on a sheet of paper facing Eric. Following the first verses, George wrote “bridge” to indicate the middle part of the song. In front of him, Eric looked at what George was writing upside down and asked “What’s that badge?” George laughed and Eric took that as the title of the song.
Conspicuously absent in the scene was John who was busy in his newfound world with Yoko Ono producing experimental solo albums such as the series Unfinished Music No. 1 — The Two Virgins, Unfinished Music No. 2 — Life with the Lions and The Wedding Album, and recording concert album Live Peace in Toronto featuring Eric, Klaus Voorman and Yoko.
He would write a song though for Dr. Timothy Leary, the reputed LSD guru, who approached him for a campaign song. Dr. Leary elected to run for governor of California in 1968. John wrote Come Together but opted to record it himself when the candidate did not come back to claim his song.
Despite the acrimonious breakup of The Beatles, the four remained personal friends. John, Paul and George continued writing songs for another artist, but this time it’s Ringo himself. In the drummer’s self-titled album in 1973, John, Paul and George all wrote for the album. It was actually the closest to a Beatles reunion that could happen, wrote the music critics correctly enough. John penned his semi-autobiographical song I’m The Greatest for Ringo to sing, Paul gave Six O’ Clock, while George collaborated with Ringo in Photograph and wrote two more songs for the album — Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) and You and Me (Babe) co-written with one of the Fifth Beatles, Mal Evans, a buddy closest to The Beatles.
The following year in 1974, Ringo would release Goodnight Vienna, his fourth album. John wrote the title track and rearranged Only You, The Platters’ big 1950s hit, for Ringo. Two years later, Ringo would release Ringo’s Rotogravure where he would see the other three Beatles chipping in again.
Even in the ebb of Ringo’s musical career, John, Paul and George were there for Ringo. In his 1981 release Stop and Smell the Roses, he approached his former band mates. Paul, coming on the heels of the success of McCartney II that yielded the No. 1 hit single Coming Up, gave him two songs, Attention and Private Property, and produced a remake of Carl Perkins’ Sure to Fall, part of the early repertoire of The Beatles. George, busy with his own album Somewhere in New England, made a demonstration of Wrack My Brain for Ringo to perform. Interestingly, Ringo approached John, who had then recently reemerged from retirement with a new album Double Fantasy and readily gifted him with two songs: Nobody Told Me and Life Begins at 40. Both agreed to record on Jan. 14, 1981. But before this programmed recording session could happen more than a month prior, John would be murdered.
Meanwhile, Paul supported his brother’s (Mike McGear) musical career all the way in the early ‘70s. Paul co-wrote most of the singles Mike released and gave away a song for Mike’s album Woman (1972) and co-wrote most of the materials in McGear (1974).
John did collaborate with several artists in the early ‘70s. David Bowie had his first taste of a chart-topping single in the US with Fame, co-written with John, from the Young Americans album. During his long lost weekend, an 18-month separation from Yoko, John managed, albeit in the least ideal circumstances, to produce Harry Nilsson’s album, Pussy Cats, to which John contributed Mucho Mungo.
Much earlier, he gave God Save Us to Bill Elliott/Elastic Oz, and Rock and Roll People went to blues maestro Johnny Winter for his album John Dawson Winter III.
George demonstrated generosity throughout his solo career as well. In 1970, he helped Billy Preston in his album Encouraging Words and co-wrote for him You Give Me Joy and with Ringo, Gonna Get My Baby. Ronnie Spector got from George Try Some Buy Some for his single in 1971, which George also included in his 1972 album Living in the Material World, and Tandoori Chicken for the B-side of her other single a year later. George in 1972 co-wrote The Hold Up with David Bromberg. In 1973, Alvin Lee, front man of the renowned Ten Years After, recorded the song So Sad, which later also appeared in George’s album Dark Horse.
By the mid-‘80s, George would contribute two songs, Celebration and Focus of Attention, both co-written with Jimmy Helms, to the soundtrack of the film Water. In 1989, George wrote Run So Far for Eric’s album The Journeyman. George’s version of the song posthumously came out in 2002 in the album Brainwashed. Aside from helping out on the production side of Gary Moore’s album Still Got the Blues, George gave him That Kind of Woman to be included in this highly successful 1990 album.
Ringo also contributed his songwriting talent to some artists aside from Billy Preston. He co-wrote How Long Can Disco On with Harry Nilsson in 1980 for the latter’s album Flash Harry. And in 1976, he gave Band of Steel, his own composition, for Guthrie Thomas’ Lies and Alibis.
Paul proved generous as well with his songwriting. In 1974, he wrote Fourth of July for John Christie, Mine for Me for Rod Stewart’s Smiler, and Let’s Love for Peggy Lee, probably his way of thanking her for the song Till There Was You. In 1977, Roger Daltrey, The Who’s front man, recorded Giddy for his album One of the Boys. Denny Laine co-wrote with Paul Send Me the Heart for his post-Wings album Japanese Tears.
Further on in the ‘80s, Paul would write On the Wings of a Nightingale for The Everly Brothers, John and Paul’s model for vocal harmony, for the duo’s compilation with Mercury. He would also give soundtrack composer John Williams The Honorary Consul in 1983 for the film adaptation of a Graham Greene’s book of the same title and co-wrote with country legend Johnny Cash in 1988 the song New Moon Over Jamaica for the Cash album Water from the Wells Of Home.
Throughout their musical career, The Beatles contributed willingly their songwriting talent to other artists who needed it. It served as an accessible means for them to collaborate and nurture friendship with other artists belying the common perception that The Beatles were an exclusive group. Indeed, The Beatles interested themselves in other artists’ music and, whenever time allowed, made music with them — a blend of great musicianship and generosity the Fab Four personified.
Monday, April 12, 2010
I-Witness wins Peabody award
Living up to its title as Philippine television’s finest hour, I-Witness wins the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award with its episode Ambulansiyang de Paa. In its 69th year, the Peabody Awards shall bestow accolades to 36 critically-acclaimed programs all over the world.
Hosted by Kara David, Ambulansiyang de Paa showed how residents of a poor Mangyan community of Apnagan in upland Oriental Mindoro transport their sick and injured to medical care. It aired March 2009.
“Condemning deplorable conditions while celebrating neighborly valor and ingenuity, the report shows how people in a poor village carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using ‘ambulances on foot,’” the Peabody Awards site states.
This is the second time that the Kapuso Network was recognized by the Peabody Awards. In 1999, the documentaries Kidneys for Sale and Kamao by Jessica Soho and her I-Witness team and Jay Taruc’s child labor story on Brigada Siete brought home the country’s first ever Peabody.
“Winning the Peabody for the second time is a great honor and blessing for GMA News and Public Affairs and the Philippines,” GMA Network’s SVP for News and Public Affairs Marissa Flores said. “We are inspired to do even better.”
“It hasn’t sunk in,” said host Kara. While happy, she also admitted to feeling guilty about winning an award when “there has been little change” in the subject of her documentary. A year after the documentary aired, she said there is still no health center in the barangay.
Executive producer Angel Directo adds, “More than the honor this award brings, we hope that this will draw more attention to the plight of those without proper health care in the country so that their conditions may finally improve.”
Director Nowell Cuanang, on the other hand, said shooting in such a remote, rugged place was an enlightening experience.
“I almost fell off a cliff, almost got bitten by a snake. But we were touched by the Mangyans. Despite their conditions, they weren’t complaining, and were always smiling… Their foot ambulance required unity and team work. It was a triumph of the human spirit,” he said.
Other members of the I-Witness team are former program manager Kristoffer Brugada, cameraman Disney Carreon and researcher Wilma Sesaldo.
Being the only news and public affairs organization in the country to be awarded with the prestigious award for excellence in broadcast journalism further affirms GMA Network’s position as the country’s undisputed authority in news and public affairs.
The 69th Annual Peabody Awards ceremony will be held on May 17 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and will be hosted by Diane Sawyer, the award-winning anchor of ABC’s World News.
Hosted by Kara David, Ambulansiyang de Paa showed how residents of a poor Mangyan community of Apnagan in upland Oriental Mindoro transport their sick and injured to medical care. It aired March 2009.
“Condemning deplorable conditions while celebrating neighborly valor and ingenuity, the report shows how people in a poor village carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using ‘ambulances on foot,’” the Peabody Awards site states.
This is the second time that the Kapuso Network was recognized by the Peabody Awards. In 1999, the documentaries Kidneys for Sale and Kamao by Jessica Soho and her I-Witness team and Jay Taruc’s child labor story on Brigada Siete brought home the country’s first ever Peabody.
“Winning the Peabody for the second time is a great honor and blessing for GMA News and Public Affairs and the Philippines,” GMA Network’s SVP for News and Public Affairs Marissa Flores said. “We are inspired to do even better.”
“It hasn’t sunk in,” said host Kara. While happy, she also admitted to feeling guilty about winning an award when “there has been little change” in the subject of her documentary. A year after the documentary aired, she said there is still no health center in the barangay.
Executive producer Angel Directo adds, “More than the honor this award brings, we hope that this will draw more attention to the plight of those without proper health care in the country so that their conditions may finally improve.”
Director Nowell Cuanang, on the other hand, said shooting in such a remote, rugged place was an enlightening experience.
“I almost fell off a cliff, almost got bitten by a snake. But we were touched by the Mangyans. Despite their conditions, they weren’t complaining, and were always smiling… Their foot ambulance required unity and team work. It was a triumph of the human spirit,” he said.
Other members of the I-Witness team are former program manager Kristoffer Brugada, cameraman Disney Carreon and researcher Wilma Sesaldo.
Being the only news and public affairs organization in the country to be awarded with the prestigious award for excellence in broadcast journalism further affirms GMA Network’s position as the country’s undisputed authority in news and public affairs.
The 69th Annual Peabody Awards ceremony will be held on May 17 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and will be hosted by Diane Sawyer, the award-winning anchor of ABC’s World News.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Rico: Hello, world! By Peachy Vibal-Guioguio (The Philippine Star)
Rico Blanco’s musical journey has taken him new heights of recognition and fame in his home country and he is now ready to move into the wider musical scene overseas — with Singapore as his first stop into the burgeoning Southeast Asian market. Rico’s cross-cultural or international appeal was evident when he was asked to present two of his songs for the Singapore Radio Awards 2010 held last March 17, at MediaCorp TV Theater with Singapore’s Acting Minister for Information, Communications and The Arts Lui Tuck Yew as guest of honor.
Rico, who was prepared to perform his popular English compositions, was surprised when asked by Simon Nasser, Warner Music Singapore marketing director, to include in his repertoire Yugto, the signature song of his highly popular and critically acclaimed record album, Your Universe.
“It’s a good song with a good melody that has a universal appeal,” explains Nasser. “Moreover, it’s the most-requested song by MediaCorp, the producers of the Awards program.”
Mediacorp is the leading media company which sponsored the Singapore Radio Awards 2010 in partnership with Warner Music Singapore. The awards night became a sort of launch pad for Rico’s breakout into the regional music market considering that Singapore plays a strategic and central position not only by its geography but more because many global and regional media organizations operating in Southeast Asia have their regional headquarters there.
Flerrie de Leon, business development director of Warner Music Philippines, explains how Warner breaks new artists into the regional/international music scene. According to her, as early as January, Rico’s Your Universe album was already released in the Singapore market. Since that time, the album’s carrier hits Yugto and Your Universe have been constantly hogging the radio airwaves. Shepherding the record album from its first radio play to countrywide success is Nasser’s handiwork.
Asked for his formula in steering artists for the Singapore market, Nasser had this to say, “Initially, we try to promote the album of the artist here through traditional media like radio stations. Then we make sure we launch the artist at the right time.” Right timing means the artist’s song is already popular and enjoys a following among their target audiences.
Rico, on the other hand, feels nostalgic on this latest gig. The last time he performed in the Lion City was when he was still with his former band, Rivermaya. This time, he plays solo on center stage: The situation that has its appeals to the consummate performer that he is. “I miss this feeling of playing for an entirely different set of audience that is seeing me perform for the first time.” And Rico, who had wowed Singaporeans before, did not disappoint this time around as his high octane performance was one of the highlights of the awards program. As predicted, the hit song Yugto resonated well with this multi-cultural and international audience. Singapore organizers asked him to do a Filipino song, further reinforcing Rico’s feeling of self-fulfillment.
Nasser, who’s also credited for packaging Rivermaya and Christian Bautista for the Southeast Asian market, put forward the idea of including Rico on this show to MediaCorp because he wanted Rico to showcase his talents before this top-level gathering of movers and shakers of Singapore’s advertising agencies, biggest companies and well-known media personalities. “It is an opportunity for him to impress them with his musical genius,” he said. Moreover, he believes that one needs to look at the long-term payoff for success in the music business
, hence the need to invest the necessary talent and resources. “Success cannot happen overnight. We have to keep producing and turning out records so that he (Rico) will be established in the domestic market until such time that he is ready for an international audience,” Nasser averred. Given Rico’s dedication to his craft, Nasser believes it’ll be soon when either Rico gets a crack at the international arena or an international artist would collaborate with him.
Apart from performing at the Singapore Radio Awards, Warner Singapore also prepared a slew of radio guestings and print interviews for Rico where, in his radio appearances, he was asked to render a song. Rico, who was working the whole week of his birthday, capped his Singapore performances by doing a bar gig sponsored by Class 95FM, the No. 1 English radio station in Singapore. For this memorable outing where all of Singapore’s famous DJs watched, Rico literally brought the house down not just by his singing but by the charisma and adrenaline-pumping performance his Filipino audiences have long known him for.
If the overwhelming response of his Singaporean audiences (a racial mix of Tamil, Malay, Chinese and English) were to be used as an indicator, then Rico may be the next international star that the Philippines has nurtured in its bosom that just about now is ready to take on the world. So clearly, it’s hello world; and welcome to “Rico Blanco’s Universe”.
Rico, who was prepared to perform his popular English compositions, was surprised when asked by Simon Nasser, Warner Music Singapore marketing director, to include in his repertoire Yugto, the signature song of his highly popular and critically acclaimed record album, Your Universe.
“It’s a good song with a good melody that has a universal appeal,” explains Nasser. “Moreover, it’s the most-requested song by MediaCorp, the producers of the Awards program.”
Mediacorp is the leading media company which sponsored the Singapore Radio Awards 2010 in partnership with Warner Music Singapore. The awards night became a sort of launch pad for Rico’s breakout into the regional music market considering that Singapore plays a strategic and central position not only by its geography but more because many global and regional media organizations operating in Southeast Asia have their regional headquarters there.
Flerrie de Leon, business development director of Warner Music Philippines, explains how Warner breaks new artists into the regional/international music scene. According to her, as early as January, Rico’s Your Universe album was already released in the Singapore market. Since that time, the album’s carrier hits Yugto and Your Universe have been constantly hogging the radio airwaves. Shepherding the record album from its first radio play to countrywide success is Nasser’s handiwork.
Asked for his formula in steering artists for the Singapore market, Nasser had this to say, “Initially, we try to promote the album of the artist here through traditional media like radio stations. Then we make sure we launch the artist at the right time.” Right timing means the artist’s song is already popular and enjoys a following among their target audiences.
Rico, on the other hand, feels nostalgic on this latest gig. The last time he performed in the Lion City was when he was still with his former band, Rivermaya. This time, he plays solo on center stage: The situation that has its appeals to the consummate performer that he is. “I miss this feeling of playing for an entirely different set of audience that is seeing me perform for the first time.” And Rico, who had wowed Singaporeans before, did not disappoint this time around as his high octane performance was one of the highlights of the awards program. As predicted, the hit song Yugto resonated well with this multi-cultural and international audience. Singapore organizers asked him to do a Filipino song, further reinforcing Rico’s feeling of self-fulfillment.
Nasser, who’s also credited for packaging Rivermaya and Christian Bautista for the Southeast Asian market, put forward the idea of including Rico on this show to MediaCorp because he wanted Rico to showcase his talents before this top-level gathering of movers and shakers of Singapore’s advertising agencies, biggest companies and well-known media personalities. “It is an opportunity for him to impress them with his musical genius,” he said. Moreover, he believes that one needs to look at the long-term payoff for success in the music business
, hence the need to invest the necessary talent and resources. “Success cannot happen overnight. We have to keep producing and turning out records so that he (Rico) will be established in the domestic market until such time that he is ready for an international audience,” Nasser averred. Given Rico’s dedication to his craft, Nasser believes it’ll be soon when either Rico gets a crack at the international arena or an international artist would collaborate with him.
Apart from performing at the Singapore Radio Awards, Warner Singapore also prepared a slew of radio guestings and print interviews for Rico where, in his radio appearances, he was asked to render a song. Rico, who was working the whole week of his birthday, capped his Singapore performances by doing a bar gig sponsored by Class 95FM, the No. 1 English radio station in Singapore. For this memorable outing where all of Singapore’s famous DJs watched, Rico literally brought the house down not just by his singing but by the charisma and adrenaline-pumping performance his Filipino audiences have long known him for.
If the overwhelming response of his Singaporean audiences (a racial mix of Tamil, Malay, Chinese and English) were to be used as an indicator, then Rico may be the next international star that the Philippines has nurtured in its bosom that just about now is ready to take on the world. So clearly, it’s hello world; and welcome to “Rico Blanco’s Universe”.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Kay Susan pa rin tayo! From FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo (The Philippine Star)
What some people suspected happened to Susan Enriquez when she and former ABS-CBN reporter Doris Bigornia were “detained” for two nights by the Abu Sayyaf a few years ago didn’t really happen. That was when they were covering Robin Padilla’s negotiation with the rebel group for the release of a hostage.
“We were held against our will,” said Susan over lunch yesterday at The Chocolate Kiss (Roces Avenue, Quezon City) for her new show, Sus Naman, which premieres last April 8, on Q11. “Hindi na kami pinababa from their mountain lair. They were asking Doris and me to sleep separately pero hindi kami pumayag.”
So, contrary to the rumor, “nothing untoward” happened.
“The Abu Sayyaf were kidding us. Sabi nila, paiwanan ako but I told them, ‘May anak ako.’ Sabi nila, ‘Magkaka-anak ka pa ng marami dito,” meaning many children by different fathers. “You know what could happen kapag naiwan ka doon.”
That was one of Susan’s unforgettable experiences as field reporter of GMA for more than two decades now, starting from being a news writer (initially with D’Wan radio for one year) until she rose to become a radio/TV host, for Kay Susan Tayo (which recently ended after more than six years on TV) and for the dzBB late morning program Si Susan Na, Si Arnell Pa (co-host Arnell Ignacio is on leave because he’s running for councilor in Quezon City, with Rowena Salvacion pitching in for him).
Probably one of the, if not the most, daring woman in Philippine media, the 4’11 “tall” Susan — aptly described as “small but terrible” — one time found herself and her crew stuck in a flash flood in Nueva Ecija and, in another coverage, caught in a shootout between the police and CAFGU members in Camp Abubakar.
In Sus Naman, Susan doesn’t have to put her life on the line.
While Kay Susan Tayo featured human-interest stories, Sus Naman, a 30-minute public-service program, aims “to hear out and eventually help solve the problems of the everyday Pinoys, and to give credit to concerned agencies when complaints are addressed and solved as well as to individuals who do what is right.”
The show’s format is right along Susan’s alley. As dramatized in Mel Tiangco’s defunct TV show Magpakailanman, Susan rose from the masa. Born and raised both in Laguna and Cavite, Susan Sedillo helped her family make ends meet by selling fish in the market. After supporting herself through college, graduating with a Masscom degree from Lyceum, she worked as news writer at D’Wan radio for one year before she moved to GMA, her “one and only home” since then (1989). TV5 dangled a juicy offer before her but Susan politely said no.
Because she has the same surname as Mike Enriquez, SVP for Radio Operations (GMA Network), people think that Susan is the wife of Mike or maybe the sister?
“I just happen to be married to an Enriquez,” said Susan (who has an 18-year-old daughter, her only child), “but Mike and I are not related.” But how she wished!
And, by the way, did you know that Susan has been invited several times by different political parties to run? No way, said Susan. If she ever would, she’d have a very catchy “battlecry” — yes, Kay Susan Tayo!
To Read More: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=564273&publicationSubCategoryId=70
“We were held against our will,” said Susan over lunch yesterday at The Chocolate Kiss (Roces Avenue, Quezon City) for her new show, Sus Naman, which premieres last April 8, on Q11. “Hindi na kami pinababa from their mountain lair. They were asking Doris and me to sleep separately pero hindi kami pumayag.”
So, contrary to the rumor, “nothing untoward” happened.
“The Abu Sayyaf were kidding us. Sabi nila, paiwanan ako but I told them, ‘May anak ako.’ Sabi nila, ‘Magkaka-anak ka pa ng marami dito,” meaning many children by different fathers. “You know what could happen kapag naiwan ka doon.”
That was one of Susan’s unforgettable experiences as field reporter of GMA for more than two decades now, starting from being a news writer (initially with D’Wan radio for one year) until she rose to become a radio/TV host, for Kay Susan Tayo (which recently ended after more than six years on TV) and for the dzBB late morning program Si Susan Na, Si Arnell Pa (co-host Arnell Ignacio is on leave because he’s running for councilor in Quezon City, with Rowena Salvacion pitching in for him).
Probably one of the, if not the most, daring woman in Philippine media, the 4’11 “tall” Susan — aptly described as “small but terrible” — one time found herself and her crew stuck in a flash flood in Nueva Ecija and, in another coverage, caught in a shootout between the police and CAFGU members in Camp Abubakar.
In Sus Naman, Susan doesn’t have to put her life on the line.
While Kay Susan Tayo featured human-interest stories, Sus Naman, a 30-minute public-service program, aims “to hear out and eventually help solve the problems of the everyday Pinoys, and to give credit to concerned agencies when complaints are addressed and solved as well as to individuals who do what is right.”
The show’s format is right along Susan’s alley. As dramatized in Mel Tiangco’s defunct TV show Magpakailanman, Susan rose from the masa. Born and raised both in Laguna and Cavite, Susan Sedillo helped her family make ends meet by selling fish in the market. After supporting herself through college, graduating with a Masscom degree from Lyceum, she worked as news writer at D’Wan radio for one year before she moved to GMA, her “one and only home” since then (1989). TV5 dangled a juicy offer before her but Susan politely said no.
Because she has the same surname as Mike Enriquez, SVP for Radio Operations (GMA Network), people think that Susan is the wife of Mike or maybe the sister?
“I just happen to be married to an Enriquez,” said Susan (who has an 18-year-old daughter, her only child), “but Mike and I are not related.” But how she wished!
And, by the way, did you know that Susan has been invited several times by different political parties to run? No way, said Susan. If she ever would, she’d have a very catchy “battlecry” — yes, Kay Susan Tayo!
To Read More: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=564273&publicationSubCategoryId=70
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