Help clean the Guimaras Waters. Donate your hair!

Recent studies show that hair adsords (not absorb) oil.

Around 1.4 million pounds of hair can adsorb 11 million gallons of crude oil.

Someone has died from inhaling too much of the fumes from the oil spill, and it would take over a year to clean it all up. Go to Reyes Haircutters and Azta Urban Salon, two of the salons involved in this movement, to have your hair cut as soon as possible and make a difference!


Reyes Haircutters
Go to any branch or The main branch: Anonas, Quezon City - 9136252

Azta Urban Salon

The Metrowalk
2nd level, Metrowalk Commercial Complex, Meralco

Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City
6317915

Katipunan Avenue
Ground level, SMRC Building, Katipunan Avenue, Corner

B.Gonzales Street, Loyola Heights, Quezon City
9284208

Robinsons Metroeast Branch (Soon to open this September 1, 2006)
Body Senses, 4th Level, Robinsons Metroeast, Marcos Highway, Pasig City

For more inquiries: Jon Bantigue - 09209089490

You've Got the Touch

And yet another forawrd. This is a demonstration of the Multitouch Screen by Jeff Han. I'm not a techie but even I found it fascinating. It's sure to make instruction manuals obsolete!

Jeff Han on TEDTalks
Jeff Han is a research scientist for New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences . Here, he demonstrates — for the first time publicly — his intuitive, "interface-free,"
touch-driven computer screen, which can be manipulated intuitively with the fingertips, and responds to varying levels of pressure.
(Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 09:32)

Dream, Believe, Survive!

This was another forwarded message. While I usually don't like forwards, be they e-mail or SMS, I do save some of the rare gems that come my way. This is one of them.

To reflect and... Act!

The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the age of the country. This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt, that are more than 2000 years old and are poor. On other hand, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, that 150 years ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries and are rich.

The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the available natural resources.
Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second in world economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw material from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.

Another example is Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa but has the best chocolate in the world. In its little territory they raise animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they produce dairy products of the best quality. It is a small country that transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the world's strongest safe.

Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual difference.

Race or skin color are also not important: immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the productive power in rich European countries.

What is the difference then?

The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by their education & their culture.

On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries, we find that the great majority follow the following principles in their lives:

1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
6. Work loving.
7. Strive for saving & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.

In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in their daily life.

We are not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature was cruel to us. We are poor because we lack attitude. We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles of rich & developed societies.

If you love your country, let this message circulate for a major quantity of people that could reflect about this & CHANGE & ACT!!!


Okay, I don't agree with the last part because I don't like chain letters, but on the whole, I agree with what the piece says. Almost every rich book worth its salt will tell you to be frugal, punctual, ethical and smart. Reading the forward just saved you a thousand bucks and a few hundred pages in reading.

Eek, IPIS!

Somebody forwarded me this message. I have no idea how true it is, but I'm posting it anyway because in the fight against the dreaded ipis, every little bit helps:

Cockroach that can fly are actually pregnant. According to the a documentary film, their ability
to fly stem from a survival instincts to protect their eggs while incubating. So its a natural progression of their ability when a female cockroach gets pregnant.

So when you do see a flying cockroach, be sure to send it flying to heaven before it spills its evil spawns out!!!

To totally eliminate their race, after killing the pregnant cockroach, use alcohol to burn it, so as to totally wipe out the eggs ( remember the movie Aliens, where Sigourney Weaver burns the eggs?? ) thats the only way to totally kill out these roaches.

Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to flush the dead cockroach down the toilet without burning it or
totally squashing it! The eggs will still hatch and climb out to spread their evil around and you'll have more to deal with in time.

Also, do not use insecticide on the pregnant cockroach cos it will only help the eggs to develop resistance against the insecticide in future.


It makes sense, in an Aliens kind of way. Hmm, maybe roaches are actually superior predatory alien life forms from space who have been inhabiting the earth for centuries who have been here for so long they think they're native. They may have lost their space memories, but they haven't lost their will to live! Strangely enough, I recall someone in college saying that cockroaches are favorite subjects for dissection because of all living things, their internal organs are the ones that most closely resemble man's. Now that's something to think about.

Ah, basta! Ibagsak lahat ng ipis!

I Wants a Hamster!

This is all Fran's fault. First, she directs me to cuteoverload.com , which leads me to looking at hamster blogs like baruchito.com and hamstertracker.com and now I want a hamster of my own! The problem is, my cat will eat it. :P

My cat is actually very good at catching mice. She's even better at eating them. She once devoured an *entire* mouse before my very eyes. It was like watching a documentary. First, she stalked it, played with it a little, then killed it. Then she started on the innards and bones before eating skin, feet, and head. When she was done, all that was left was the tail. There weren't even bloodstains on the floor. This is the cat who discriminates against certain cat food brands. She won't eat Whiskas but she'll eat a whole mouse. Go figure.

Anyways, the point of the story is if I got a hamster, that's what's going to happen to it.

When God says "Don't Work"

If you're wondering why I'm posting so much all of a sudden, it's because of noise. I was suposed to get all my transcribing done today but what I didn't count on was that maintence would use today to vacum the whole office! Now my head hurts from the noise and I can barely hear what I'm transcribing. I mean, I *want* to work (tht's why I gave up my Saturday, right?), so it's not my fault if the elements (man-made thought they may be) conspire against me. or maybe this is God's way of telling me not towork so much and to go enjoy myself once in a while.

I was supposed to put in a full day's work but now I'm going home early. Rhea called earlier and convinced me to go to Tisha and Allen's wedding (I wasn't supposed to go because I had work, but I guess the Lord has other plans). I'm actually excited to go because this will be the third wedding where I know *both* the bride and the groom. The first was Jerome and Sheila's (Jerome from UP, Sheila from ICA) and the second was Mike and Christine's (Mike from Kaisa, Christine from ICA). I know Allen and Tisha from UP, and these two have been together forever so it's nice to see them joined before God. Congrats, guys! :)

Lots of Luis

Here's a rundown of what the King of Nothing to Do has been up to:

1. This is old news but Luis was recently mentioned as one of the Most Important Young Filipinos in Erwin Romulo's weekly colum in the Philippine Star, during the paper's aniversary issue. Other people mentioned were The Radioactive Sago Project, Iya Villania, and Celine Lopez.

2. Luis' second book, The King of Nothing to Do, is out! It's his first book of essays, and has a cool cover, which was done by Elbert Or. He gave me a signed copy (dapat lang!) and -- I'm not being biased here -- it's a real good read. Go get your copy now!

3. Luis was recently interviewed as a panelist for Pia Guanio's QTV show, Ang Pinaka. The episode -- Ang Pinak: Sikat na Banda, or something to that effect. This weekly show lists the most popular, well, categories in Pinoy pop culture. Fellow panelists include Reyes of The Dawn.

And then of course, there's his bi-weekly column in the I section of the Manila Bulletin. I haven't been up to date with that *guilty, guilty* and it's apparently harder to look for on line, so it's still best to find the hard copy version.

I'm sorry if this post sounds like a press release. It isn't. It's just tha I've been doing so much copywriting over the past few weeks it's beginning to leak into my normal writing. I'll be posting about specil deals and buy one take ones next! :O

But seriously, Way to go, Luis! *clap clap* :D

Workshop, workshop

Director mark Aranal is giving classes starting this week.

Scriptwriting for TV and Stage (Th, 7pm)
Acting for Adults (Fr 7pm)Acting for Teen (Sa 1pm)

8 sessions, 2.5 hours each at Showstoppers Center for Music & ArtsDelta Bldg., Quezon Ave cor West Ave., Q.C.Tel no. 3763432

Joseph the Dreamer

“Joseph the Dreamer”: Trumpets’ longest running musical returns

Joseph’s timeless story of faith and hope has been the main inspiration for Christian theater group Trumpets to stage “Joseph the Dreamer” again and again for the past 17 years. Accomplished thespians Franco Laurel and Alvin dela Peña alternate in the lead role of Joseph on all weekends of September at SM Megamall Cinema 4.

Based on Cam Floria’s cantata, “Dreamer: What Really Happened toJoseph,” writer/director Freddie Santos rewrites the script for this particular production with a younger audience in mind, and directs a relatively young cast.

“Joseph the Dreamer” premiered at St. Theresa’s College Auditorium in Cebu amid the coup d’ etat in 1989. As fate would have it, part of the audience, in an extended run in Cebu, was a group of Manila-based journalists who were impressed by the production led by former Trumpets president Audie Gemora as Joseph. These journalists later on encouraged Trumpets to mount the show in Manila.

Two years later, “Joseph the Dreamer” opened at the Meralco Theater, which prompted the show’s phenomenal run of more than 100 performances. From simple black and white costumes and sets in the original run, the play has evolved into a spectacle of colorful costumes, stunning sets, and engrossing musical arrangements by Mon Faustino.

The show celebrated its 10th anniversary with a casting coup that had Mr. Pure Energy Gary Valenciano, sharing the charismatic character of Joseph with Audie Germora.

“Joseph the Dreamer” has had record-breaking runs despite several coup attempts, typhoons, earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions. The production has managed to pack the crowd in Manila, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Pampanga to the sheer power of its message, and soul of its performance.

For the September-slated production, Franco Laurel, fresh from his critically-praised performance in Dulaang UP’s grand musical “St. Louis Loves Dem Filipinos,” steps into the lead role of prisoner-turned-ruler Joseph. Franco won an Aliw Award for Best Stage Actor in a Musical for another Trumpets’ production, “Honk! The Ugly Duckling” in 2003.

Alvin de la Peña, new Trumpets president, shares the role of Joseph. Portraying Joseph is not really new to him since he has been essaying the role at certain performances prior to this restaging. He has been part of many theatrical productions including “Godspell,” “Les Miserables,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown,” and “Little Mermaid.”

Written and directed by Freddie Santos, Trumpets’ new production of “Joseph the Dreamer” comes alive onstage at SM Megamall Cinema 4 on September 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 at 3 p.m. and September 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 at 7 p.m. For ticket inquiries, you may contact Trumpets at (02) 635-4478 or 636-2842. Ticket prices: PhP350 and PhP250.

For any queries, you may contact Oliver Oliveros, Senior Public Relations Officer/Consultant, STAGES, at tel. no. 818-1111 loc. 225, mobile no. 0928-7725254, email add. stages_pr@i-manila.com.ph or web site http://oliverpublicist.blogspot.com

I'm Back!

I'm sure my fans (all three of you) have been wondering why I haven't posted in a while. Truth is, things have been kind of hectic, and it's only now that I'm able to take some time off to write about what's been going on. I've been:

1. Editing magazines

Gusto, Shopwise's lifestyle magazine, came out with its Nature and Wellness issue early this month. It's my first time as Editor-in-Chief of anyting, so it was a big thing for me. I'm pretty proud of the result, but that's also because I got to work with a super team (I love you guys!).

If you're a Shopwise member, you can stop by the customer's service counter to pick up your copy. The latest issue has Christan Bautista on the cover. This issue also features an interview with Bossa Nova phenomenon Sitti Navarro, tips on how to get kids to voluntarily eat vegetables, articles on Capoiera and healthy snacking, and tons of recipes from the kitchen of cool couple Sarah and Che Katigbak, the mag's stylst and photographer team.

2. Being in the movies

If you watch closely, you might be able to find me in Eternity, the latest romantic drama starring Iza Calzado, Ding Dong Dantes, Mark Herras and Jennylyn Mercado.

Mitch and I were on location conduction interviews for the wesite when I got pulled in as an extra with Mark from MTV. "You look like a Korean," said Tita Rose, the movie's location manager (and my self-appointed "manager") as told Mark and me what to do. There's a chance that my cameo might get cut out of the final product, but until then, I can honestly tell everybody that I was in a movie with Mark Herras. *squeals like a schoolgirl*

And because of that set visit, I am now a big fan of Iza Calzado, who is the sweetest, most charming girl around! When we asked her for an interview, she begged for a little time off to freshen up, then promptly went looking for us when she was done. She was also very machika, treating the interview as if she was talking to old friends instead of media peeps. Katrina Halili is like that too, which is why they're two of my favorite celebs.

3. Winning Contests... sort of

My story, Stella for Star, was an honorable mention at the 1st Philippine

Graphic/ Literature Awards. I had written that story in college and didn't really know what to do with it. It's nice to see everything fall into place.

I feel as if the college me was the one who got awarded. I don't get a prize but I hear that I get to be part of the anthology. What's even cooler is that Neil Gaiman's actualy read my work!

4. Eating santol

The story behind this is Mitch and I went to visit the set of another movie, a romantic comedy that's coming out in October. We went with TV Prod peps Paolo, Pabsy and Shi, and had to wait until in between takes to snag interviews with its stars.

One of the locations had a huge santol tree that was heavy with fruit. Sometimes, one of them would drop onto the ground and we would share it. What was freaky was that there was a guy there who would "pray" to the tree for fruit -- and one always fell when he did.

I think this is the first time I learned to really eat santol, and it's nice that the fruit I learned with came fresh from the tree!

5. Being on TV

Mitch and I have a cameo in an episode of Balik-Bayan, a travel show that showcases the hometown of some of our most beloved celebs. It's hosted by Drew Arellano and airs every Wednesday on QTV Channel 11 at 10pm.

We got to spend a day with the Balik-Bayan staff. It was fun to hang out with them because they're all like one big barkada.

I think the episode we're in airs next week.

6. Attending events

Some of them were:

a. Burn launch

The Burn magazine soft launch at Embassy Cuisine where Bossa Nova singer Sitti Navarro and electronica act Drip performed. The launch was a smashing success!

Burn kicks off for the month of August with a series of mall tours that culminates in their grand launch. The first two mall tours were in SM Mega and South Mall and featured Up dharma Down and Barbie Almalbis, respectively. The one this Saturday will be held at SM North and features The Dawn, while the launch will be at the SM Mall of Asia and will feature lots and lots of bands.

b. Dark Bulb

Graphic artist and all-around nice guy Nelz Yumul had his very first solo exhibit at Pablo gallery in the Marikina Shoe Expo. I love his work, especially since a lot of them remind me of the covers of comic books that I used to read in high school.

You can still catch his exhibit, which runs until September 13. I hear he has a second one coming son after. I can't wait for that one as well!

c. Simply Sitti

Got to attend Sitti's first concert at the Music Museum. Getting tickets wasn't easy because they were sold out. You can't even get tickets to her September 9 show anymore!

Her concert was fun, as aside from Sitti's glorious voice and wonderful presence, the audience was entertained by many Filipino-Brazilian acts like Brigada, Inky de Dios' band, Jon Santos as Bossa Nova Villa, a spanish-speaking Brazilian tourist, and lotsa salsa.

Sitti also gave one of, if not *the* most sulit encores I have ever seen, as she happily did, like, five songs after everything was over. The tone of the whole concert was very personal and intimate. Siti chatted with the audience as if they were all at a party together. All in all, it was a wonderful affair. Congrats, Sitti!

7. Surfing

I've been coming across some interesting things on line. Here are but some of them:

a. Cute Overload

Thanks to Fran Ong, I have found the joys of cuteoverload.com , a site filled with pictures of baby animals. My top two favorites are: little boy snogrling puppy and built-in blush .

I must warn you, the site is extremely addictive. Don't blame me if you're suddenly unable to do anything else but surf the site for the next few days.

b. Elmo is Evil

An article that explains why widdwl wed Elmo may lead to the downfall of mankind.

c. All the Hoff you can Eat

David Hasselhoff has been ruling the net lately. Rapgap magazine compiles 50 of his most popular videos, including the Opening Credits for Knight Rider and Baywatch, for your Hoffalicious enjoyment.

Cheese Factor: Extremely High -- but we know you love it

8. Supporting the local movie/music industry

Got to watch Tulad ng Dati, the fictional movie about the all too real band The Dawn. The film won best picture at the Cinemalaya. It's a great film, folks, especially if you grew up in the 80's. Admittedly, I was too young to have caught The dawn in their heyday but that didn't stop me from waxing nostalgic and wishing I was old enough then to have seen a Storm concert (not that my parents would have let me).

9. Eating

I've started bringing vegetable sandwiches to work with me, so I get my daily gulay and I get to save money. This doesn't mean I'm beyond the occasional steak or two (or three or four).

I also got to have lunch with Anson at Snackeroo, which is located on Kamuning cor. Judge Jimenez in Q.C. Good company, cheap steak, nice weather. Quite a good experience, except for the passers by and a neighbor's dog, who kept trying to take our food.

10. Getting published

I have an article out in this month's Entrepreneur on the benefits of Feng Shui on your business. I also had an article in Sense and Style on Cecil Licad, but I think that came out last July.

That's it for now. I hope to be able to update more often.

Greenpeace Ship in Manila

This in from Oliver of Stages. What a nice guy! :D

Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Greenpeace ship docks in Manila today

Greenpeace ship, M.Y. Esperanza, arrives in Manila today as part of its global “Defending Our Oceans” expedition: a year-long tour that aims to communicate the many crises facing our oceans.

The expedition also promotes a global network of marine reserves as a sustainable program, which shall help keep our oceans alive.

Greenpeace ship’s visit to the Philippines will highlight the Apo Island Marine Reserve (south of Dumaguete City) as one of the most successful community-managed marine reserves in the country. The ship will leave Manila for Donsol, Sorsogon on Friday, Aug. 18.

The ship opens its doors to the public on the following days:16 Aug, 9:00 AM - 12:00 NN, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM17 Aug, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, 18 Aug, 9:00 AM – 12:00 NN

For further information, contact: Grace Duran of Greenpeace at (63) 917-886 0662, (632) 434 7034 loc. 104