Living Batangueño: Palaspas (Palm Sunday)

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Here is a back post I should have published a month ago but wasn't able to. It is part of my Living Batangueño series.

I was in Batangas during the Palm Sunday weekend this year and attended the 6AM mass at the Santissima Trinidad Parish (the one beside the SM Batangas Mall).

Here are some of my favorite photographs from that day. You can click on the photos to see them full sized.

The early Palm Sunday morning

I'm not used to waking up early, but I did that day. I'm not sure why. My whole life I've only been to a Palm Sunday mass maybe less than 5 times - or at least that's how many I remember....

"Earning 10 in 2010" - April Online Earnings Update!

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Earning 10 in 2010

Click image to view full size

"Slam! Bam! Pok! Pow!", echoed as my monthly blogging target was pummeled by my actual online earnings this month. Lol! Not really. :p

But for the third month in a row, I've surpassed by $10 per month target in the heels of my joining a news website, plus new opportunities from Sponsored Reviews.

Oh, and Blogvertise finally paid me my $2! woot...

Name the Souvenir Magnets Contest

Collecting Souvenir Refrigerator Magnets

I'm a confused collector. Whenever I travel, I always try to get a Souvenir Refrigerator Magnet, but I also get snow globes, keychains, T-shirts, mugs and whatever else I can afford. :p Well, so far, my ref magnet collection is the biggest one.

Below is a photo of our old refrigerator door with the Souvenir Magnets I've collected over the years. It is a mix of local and internation travel destinations. There are 32 magnets here - can you identify where all of them come from? (Not counting the black GE logo!)

Identify all 32 magnets! Click the photo to view full size.

Join the contest...

Book Launch of “Balik-Tanaw: The Filipino Movie Stars of Yesteryears”

The Filipino Movie Stars of Yesteryears, a book launch

Mark your calendar, on May 22, the movie icons of the Golden Era of Philippine Movieworld will descend upon the Traders Hotel, Roxas Boulevard for an afternoon of singing and dancing, and most of all, reminiscing of about the lives of these elegant men and women of the Philippine movie industry.

Lets us join in celebrating the launching of a book, “Balik-Tanaw: The Filipino Movie Stars of Yesteryears” a compilation of snippets of the lives of actors and actresses who illuminated the silver screen from the 1930s to early 1960s.  It was written by Dr. Romy Protacio, an aficionado of Philippine movies who had the rare chance of sharing friendships with most of the stars in his book....

NBA player BJ Armstrong meet & greet at Velocity Bar

Last week, thanks to Marriott Hotel Manila, I got the rare opportunity to meet one of NBA's legends, former Chicago Bulls basketball player, Benjamin Roy Armstrong Jr., or B.J. Armstrong, also referred to as "B.J., The Kid."

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The event was held in Marriott's Velocity Bar, the Philippines' first and only 5-star sports and entertainment bar.  The meet and greet was relaxed and casual, with people taking turns asking for autographs and taking photos with the basketball star. It lasted about half and hour and was adjourned with B.J. Armstrong giving an autographed basketball as a gift to Marriott Hotel.

Wonderful Family Movies from Disney Exclusives

Growing up to Disney Movies

I've always love Disney movies. As I child I enjoyed movies like "The Lion King" [Oh I just can't wait to be King!], "Alice in Wonderland" [the animated version - and then later on the 3D version!], "The Little Mermaid" [The seaweed is always greener...], "Alladin" [A whole new world...] and "Beauty and the Beast" [Tale as old as time...].

Then came more wonderful movies like the "Toy Story" series, Quasimodo as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Monsters, Inc." lovable characters, "Mulan" a wonderful story set in China, the incredibly entertaining "The Incredibles", these are movies I've watched over and over again that I've half memorized the lines.

Even as an adult, I still enjoyed Disney movies like the "Pirates of the Carribean" franchise, "Up!", "Chronicles of Narnia", "High School Musical", and so many others.

Disney's Movie Treasure Trove

And so I invite you to dig into the treasure trove of Disney movies, with a huge library of features and short films available though Disney Exclusives.

There is a long list of Family friendly movies like "Condorman", which tells the story of a comic book writer who, by a twist of fate, lives the life of the characters he wrote about.  I also recommend "Ducktales the Movie", a fast paced adventure featuring our favorite ducklings Huey, Dewey and Louie.

Just in time for Mother's Day, get "A Mom for Christmas" a heartwarming tale about Family and Love, and stars Olivia Newton-John.

Quality time with the family is priceless, and I always enjoy watching Disney movies with mine. What is your favorite Disney movie?

Lyrids Meteor Shower!

Lyrids Meteor Shower peaks on April 22

Figure 1. Photo credits to meteorshowersonline

I have featured several meteor showers on this blog, like the annual Perseid Meteor Shower in August, and the November Leonids Meteor Shower.  This time around, another faithful meteor shower, the Lyrids, invites us to make a wish upon a falling star.

From the PAGASA Website, it explains...

How will you choose your next President?

I am reposting this blog post in preparation for the coming Elections. I am hoping you all have internalized how you will choose your next President.

How to choose the next President...

Different people would have different basis for choosing a President.  Some base it on a candidate's opinions on issues relevant to them, some base it on character, personality or even religion. Some base it on popularity, plain name recall or even looks. Some are in denial about that last one. :p Haha. Then again, c'mon really - who wants an ugly President?

Kidding aside, since I am voting for the very first time in the last decade that I have been qualified to vote, I really want to put a lot of thought in this process of choosing who to vote for. I refuse to vote for a Presidential candidate with nothing but empty promises and motherhood statements. I want at least a hint of a detailed plan - a strategy if you may - of handling this huge undertaking. 

Being President is a tough job no doubt: you have millions of stakeholders who need assistance and support, you are accountable for their lives, their security, their access to health benefits, you are accountable for the economy, and you need to find the money to fund all of your plans. Aside from that you also need to be a shining symbol of hope and prosperity for a country constantly battling poverty.

In an ideal world, the following are my criteria in choosing who should be my next President...

Charice releases "Pyramid" video, album on Oprah

Charice releases "Pyramid"

Filipino pop sensation Charice (or Charice Pempengco) has released the video for "Pyramid", the first song off her album due to drop on May 11. The video was released through Oprah.com on April 11, 2010.

She will be announcing the release of her album via her 5th guesting on The Oprah Winfrey Show on May 11, 2010, a day after her 18th birthday.

As of today, April 15, 2010 - Thursday, "Pyramid" had spent 8 weeks on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs Chart and is current at #7.  It has also entered the Canadian Hot 100 at #98.

I do like the song and think it is a great way for her to enter mainstream US pop music arena. I have to admit, the first time I heard it on the radio, I thought it was Jojo. But the more I listened the more I realized their differences.

"Pyramid" Official Video

The video is embedded on this post after the jump, but before you watch I want you to watch out for the following amusing things in the video...

Google Trends on 2010 Philippine Presidentiables - interesting!

Interesting how Google Trends the May 2010 Philippine Presidential candidates in the past 12 months (March 2009 to March 2010). See the actual Google Trend here.

Please take this with a grain of salt. I have no intentions of campaigning for anyone here - I just found it interesting to share. See, Google trends would probably also translate to popularity among a certain demographic - Pinoy Google Users. :p

click the photo to see more clearly

Sen. Manny Villar

Sen. Manny Villar leads the pack by a wide margin - notice how his Google searches surged in January 2010?  It's when he revved up his campaign with "Akala Mo" and his viral theme song that begins... "Nakaligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura?" Any marketer's dream haha! In March, his searches dropped off very steeply but remained at the top of the heap.

Sen. Noynoy Aquino

As a relative comparison, giving Manny Villar 1.0, 2nd placer Sen. NoyNoy Aquino gets 0.74. Notice where NoyNoy's Google searches peak (marked by the letter A) - it was in September 2009, when NoyNoy announced his intentions to run for President. The smaller peak before that was in August when his mother, the late President Cory Aquino, died. He remained high in the searches but was not able to catch up to Villar's Google glory.

Singing for iBlog6: The 6th Philippine Blogging Summit - see you there!

When I found out that iBlog6 was going to be held at the University of the Philippines Diliman - College of Law, an idea struck me - it would be really easy to get one of the many excellent UP performing groups to do an intermission number for this blogging convention. Why not?

I've been to numerous corporate conventions and private events and they always had some sort of entertainment for the guests - so why not here? Hehe. I'm sure it will be good diversion from the series of speeches to hear some good music...

"Earning 10 in 2010" - March Online Earnings update!

Happy Easter! My monthly post about my Online Earnings was delayed because I was on vacation for the Holy Week. It was 4 vacation days well spent with my loved ones. Now, back to what you came here to read about! 

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October 2008 to March 2010 Online Earnings

Oops! I did it again. I exceeded by $10 a month goal for March! I earned a total of $15.02 for the month despite the lack of sponsored posts from Sponsored Reviews and an overdue unpaid post from Blogsvertise. Whoops. Read on...

Kyla, the Philippines' R&B Princess

Last November, I posted my first celebrity photo on Reyjr.com featuring Pop Princess, Sarah Geronimo. Now, moving over to the rival network, here is the lady "dubbed as the country's "R&B Princess" and "Soul Princess" in a "vintage" photo with me (haha - circa 2005) - Melanie Hernandez Calumpad, or the singer more commonly known as...

"Kyla"