Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

The Rise and Fall of the Blogging Community?

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The statement below is something I got from a "bubwit" (not the one who was found in a Starbucks Frap) who is also part of the blogging community. If there is any truth to it, I surely hope it's not 100% accurate as I believe we are still among the ones that publish only what we really feel no matter how others feel it as uneducated observance or lacking the critical eye to be legit and authoritative.

"Nice chat with a PR earlier about the ups and downs of the blogging community, and how the negative issues involving bloggers are not entirely different from what goes on with trad media (print, radio and TV) practitioners.

Sadly, many bloggers now exhibit the negative traits that were previously attributed to erring members of the media.

Blogging for many is no longer what it was originally meant to be.

Unfortunately, it has been tainted when bloggers started holding back or go easy on writing the truth so they can retain friendships with the sponsors and brands.

It has been ruined when bloggers only aim to get as much loot bags or tokens from the sponsors, brands or companies that they are promoting. They don't really advocate a single brand and does not stay away from the brands that they do not really like. Meaning, everyone can avail of their service in exchange for a fee or freebie.

It has been diluted when bloggers started to participate in syndicated Comments, Likes, Shares, etc., exchanges.

It has turned into a joke when brands now think that views, hits, impressions, ranking, etc., is the primary factor to determine if the blog is significant or not.

Many people used to rely on bloggers to share real reviews and information with a personal touch. Now, most of what we read are either spoonfed or posted without any personal involvement of the blogger.

Now, it has become so easy to manipulate blog rankings, but it has become so difficult to keep our contents appropriate."

How about you? Do you believe in this point of view? I would rather keep my comments after everyone else has shared their own beliefs.

But what I would not tolerate is when some would look down on others just because the person under scrutiny is part of a community. You do not generalize a group based on a few members' acts. Each one still has their own personality that is unique and never similar to anybody else. Even twins do not share the same point of views, how much more are two individuals born from different mothers.

The Arrogance of People Heightens When in Social Media

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Social media has its positive points, but many have been also using it to bully those they believe are inferior and does not meet their high standards.

Many of us believe we are faultless and fail to see that big lump of mole right smacked in the middle of our foreheads. If we really care for the community, we do not shame, harass, bad-mouth, or alienate our fellow men. Instead, we should try to work it out as decent grown-ups.

Madalas kasi, kapag inuna mo ang pakikipag-away, defensive siyempre agad ang kabilang party. So instead na magka-ayos, lalo lang nagkakagulo at lumalala.

Please do not single out a certain online community and generalize them as sole perpetrators of these acts. Even the so-called number one blog or online magazine in the Philippines post press releases as is.FYI...some PRs give options to just copy-paste or edit as preferred, but copying an "entire article" from other publications should never be tolerated unless there was permission from the original source or author. This has been debated on just recently.

I think the real reason people block you is because you confront them publicly with disrespect with the sole intent to humiliate rather than help. We can see naman that you have your own share of typos, arrogance and mistakes.

If you have a personal grudge against an individual or an entire community, talk to him/her/them privately. Peace.

Daanin na lang natin ito sa ma-boteng usapan. :)

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In order to move forward, we first need to look back to the past. This February, we look back to the past in order to move forward.

The UP CMC Student Council and the Mass Media Awareness Movement proudly bring you

‪#‎RetrospectivexProspective‬: Mass Media Awareness Month 2016

The Mass Media Awareness Movement (MMAM) is the flagship initiative of the UP College of Mass Communication Student Council.

Launched in 2010 as a month-long campaign, it now exists as a yearlong project that aims to raise awareness on different media-related issues, promote media literacy, forward the call for media freedom, and instill upon everyone our role as responsible and critical media consumers and practitioners.

Join this event as they create and raise discourse among UP students and other students from different parts of the country about Philippine media through the different events within the month:

Indak [24]7 Dance Force is Back-to-Back Grand Champion at Dance for Health 3

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"Healthway Philippines' Dance for Health 3 is more than just a dance competition but a community who advocates and inspire others to live the SEED lifestyle, which refers to sleeping right, eating right, exercise and de-stress."

True enough, all the members of the dance teams showcase physical prowess and angst that makes them all stand out despite not being professional dancers. Most of them have days jobs so it's surprising to see these teams perform like they do their dance moves everyday.

I'm a frustrated dancer myself, but since I was destined to be in another field of expertise, that frustration continued to be just wishful thinking. I keep thinking maybe when I retire and start living in our dream rest house will I probably find time to finally firm up and make some moves to change my lifestyle.

But that is not what Healthway Medical, the country's biggest chain of mall-based clinics, wants us to believe. We should start living the SEED (Sleep, Eat Right, Exercise, De-Stress) lifestyle. To take the lead in promoting clean living. One of the best ways aside from eating right, and doing regular exercise is by always sparing time to dance and celebrate life to the fullest. We only live once in this world so we better make the most of it and by leaving a memory, or a legacy, of us being healthy and fun loving individuals.

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From her teenage days as a Starstruck survivor to a celebrated Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Best Actress awardee she is now, seems like there is no stopping Jennylyn Mercado. She has been around for over a decade in the industry, but is still highly admired and sought after. With recent back – to – back TV appearances and magazine covers, topped with her latest movie that left us with so much feels, she’s definitely our #lifepeg!

Let’s have a rundown, shall we?

1. The Ultimate Survivor

Not only did she dream, she believed and is an ultimate survivor in life. Being a single mom isn’t easy, but she surely makes it seem so with how fab she is now - definitely an inspiration to women.

2. Single and Happy

Whoever said being single is equivalent to being sad needs to look at Jennylyn. She is a single mother, but she is living THE life! If you’re single and just constantly waiting for that someone, take your cue from her and improve yourself. Enough with the “Oo na, ako na mag - isa!” and stick to Walang Forever’s famous line: “Kailangan mo lang hintayin ang tamang tao sa tamang panahon, sa tamang pagkakataon”. Cheer up na, girl!

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When payday comes, there’s a life-changing investment for patients with high cholesterol.

Bad cholesterol, according to recent reports cited by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, is becoming a major health concern in the Philippines. In fact, it stated that high levels of bad cholesterol have been responsible for thousands of cardiovascular mortality in Asia.

In a separate report, the Food Nutrition Research Institute revealed that the risk of having high cholesterol increased with age, where the study’s respondents aged 50 to 58 were found to have the highest cholesterol levels at 48 percent and those aged 20 to 29 had borderline high to high cholesterol levels.

With this, Pharex HealthCorp., the most prescribed generic brand of medicines, introduces its unique 15-day Compliance Pouch to help Filipino patients with high levels of bad cholesterol improve their adherence to their therapy.

“Complying with the medication schedule prescribed by your doctor will go a long way in preventing the worst consequences of bad cholesterol,” said Tomas Luke Marcelo Agana III, president and CEO of Pharex. “However, most patients fail to follow their medication program because of the challenges that come with costs.”

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This February, let your tongue do the travelling as TLC presents a lineup that will surely indulge your wanderlust. Couple this with some fun and drama with EVE’s fresh programs, and a month of life and love it is with TLC and EVE!

Looking for something new to tickle your taste buds? Follow six of Britain's best-loved cooks as they share their passion for exquisite food and exotic flavors. Each will travel to a different country to track the origins of the dishes they love and discover how history, geography and culture have shaped what we eat today. "A Cook Abroad" goes off the beaten track to bring viewers a sun-kissed travel experience to some of the most fascinating places on the planet, making it a mission to get under the skin of cultures very different from our own. A Cook Abroad premieres on Monday, February 22, at 8 PM on TLC.

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Premier Apple reseller Power Mac Center launches Cinemansanas, a campaign for aspiring and established artists who have a vision in storytelling through film in the digital age. Cinemansanas is the second installment of Pixelworx, Power Mac Center’s advocacy of recognizing artists who break the standards of the art scene. It is celebrated with a series of workshops, live demos, and an ultimate art challenge.

This year, Cinemansanas dares artists to defy convention and create a short film using Apple devices. The digital short competition calls for short film entries with the theme “Designing for a Bold New World.” Entries may be executed in any form, i.e., documentary, narrative fiction, and the like as long as they are original and shot and edited using Apple devices.

The contest has two main categories. The Student Category is open to all officially enrolled High School and College/University students while the Professional Category is for local residents. All finalists in the Student and Professional categories will qualify to win the People’s Choice Award.

Power Mac Center aims to honor the brightest and best local talents in contemporary creativity further by participating at the Adobo Design Awards Asia (ADAA) Open/Theme category: Digital Short Film. Student entries are automatically eligible to win the much coveted ADAA recognition (Student category) while professionals will have to pay a nominal fee Php500 for their category (exclusive of 12% VAT).

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Jardine Schindler restores first batch of worn-out conveyance facilities.

All refurbished Schindler-brand escalators of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) are now open for public use, providing some relief to commuters — especially senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women — while the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is striving to modernize the system through facility upgrades.

“Passengers can expect a more convenient commuting experience with the rehabilitated escalators now up and running. The restoration of these conveyance facilities is a small step towards long-term progress that will make a valuable difference in the lives of daily commuters,” said DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya.

The P22.11-million project was awarded to Jardine Schindler Elevator Corporation in June 2015 through the Department of Budget and Management’s Procurement Service (PS-DBM). The contractor holds proprietary rights to rehabilitate the 12 Schindler-brand escalators as the brand’s exclusive distributor.

The projects to rehabilitate the other batch of escalators, which includes 34 Mitsubishi-brand facilities, and to replace 32 elevators are currently under procurement by the PS-DBM.

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"Australians have very good reasons to be proud of their country. It's a country where workers can actually live on their wages and save to have a secure retirement. Just like in the Philippines, the kids can study primary and high school for free. Young people have many options to study, prepare, and build their careers. If you move to Australia, you can really build a life there, as countless migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees have done. Truly, Australia has much to celebrate and be grateful for. Through many ups and downs over 200 years, Australians have built a fair, open, prosperous, and progressive society."

Happy Australia Day to my Aussie friends!!! or should I say, Happy Aus- Straya-Day mates? Ozzie! Ozzie! Ozzie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

We got Australia Day off to a great start when many of us jumped off the sober January wagon to celebrate with fellow countrymen and Filipino friends at Skippy's Bar and Grill at the Forum of Bonifacio Global City (BGC) last January 26!

My Radyo Inquirer friends and I got invited by the owners of Skippy's Bar and Grill themselves, namely Stephen and Cristina Bird, to celebrate Australia Day at their bar. I had an earlier event at a nearby restaurant along High Street so it was very convenient for me to drop by as early as their call time of 4 pm. Though I was a bit full already from the restaurant event, there's no stopping me from trying out Skippy's Bar and Grill's specialties.

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Hackathons have made the word "hacker" so glamorous nowadays because it now means someone who wants to change and improve the world. The numerous organizations and companies who have either organized or sponsored such events and encouraged even the youth to participate are totally making hacking a heroic act.

By 2020, the number of devices connected to the Internet is expected to exceed 40 billion and it would be awesome to get started in creating and innovating ideas that would help us lead the trend.

From the organizers of the very successful Hack The Climate events, they now also present to you the IOT Summit Philippines - An Internet of Things expo and hackathon. The event aims to introduce you to the IoT ecosystem consisting of hardware, software and cloud providers.

Our guests were Elaine Cedillo, Diego Ramos, and were joined by Chris Misola, a Technology Evangelist from Microsoft who is a major sponsor of the IoT Summit, plus the HR Head of 8Layer Technologies who shared to us some of the job opening of their tech company.

What is the Internet of Things? Internet of Things (IoT), which is where just about anything can be provided with unique identifiers and given the ability to transfer data without requiring human interaction.

Be able to drive revenue opportunities & solving business problems across multiple industries & in nearly all business functional areas. This will be very useful for technology & business decision makers to evaluate IoT and its impact on their businesses, and for you to unleash the power of IoT through cloud, big data and analytics.

If you want to collaborate / participate as an exbitor or sponsor, please email info@econnext.com

Check out their Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/iotexpoph

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Are you ready to laugh your wits out? Because the Funniest Marketing Event of the year entitled “Punchline: Funniest Road to Marketing Success” is coming this February 5, 2016 at SM City Sta. Mesa, Cinema 9 Quezon City. It will be a day full of outrageousness and unlimited Marketing knowledge.

“Punchline: Funniest Road to Marketing Success” is a one day seminar that will be all about the lighter side of Marketing, the side in which we will discover the opportunities that lie in humor and the importance of creativeness and wittiness to achieve success. The topics will be about the significance and importance of “Witty Philippine TV Commercials” and the triumph of “Humor as a Business”.

Punchline will be hosted by Bekimon a well known comedian, event and TV host and actor. Our First Speaker will be Stanly Chi, he is a stand-up comedian, a cartoonist in Manila Bulletin, a columnist, a video blogger in Spot.ph’s Suplado in the city, a radio host at UR 105.9’s, and also a renowned author of Chicken Mami For The Sawi, Men Are From QC Women Are From Alabang and Suplado Tips 1 and 2. Our second speaker is Mr. Gil Velez; He is a Strategic Planning Consultant at Domiguez Marketing Communications, Inc. and a Professor in the University of Santo Tomas, College of Fine Arts and Design. And also a surprise guest will be joining us to fill the venue with laughter.

A Weekend of Everything That Flies at the 20th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

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It was really cool to find out that there's going to be another awesome spectacle up in the air of Pampanga soon!!!!

The Baby Dino hot air balloon will be joining the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Air Force City, Clark Air Base, Pampanga on Feb 11-14, 2016!

It reminds me a game that I used to play when I was a child. It would be an amazing opportunity to ride it or at least capture it on photo while it rises from the ground up into the clouds. There were 496 sorties/flights recorded on the 19th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in 2015. I wonder how many would be up in the air this year.

Bring your family and friends. Lift off from the airfield in a hot air balloon! The hot air balloon ride tickets are at 350USD per person. There are several ways to get them! From our offices, through our online portal, through TicketNet, from selected TicketNet outlets, or at the Fiesta gates!

There are also VIP Passes at 6000Php per person that can get you Priority Entrance, Complimentary use of the Balloon Launch Patio, Air-Conditioned Lounge, Breakfast buffet, Lunch buffet, Afternoon high tea, Complimentary snacks & beverages.

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Meet Krissy the eagle of Pampanga! Unleash the animal within and watch Krissy fly with the Hot Air balloons in Pampanga! Like Jungle Circuit Party to know more about Jungle Circuit Party- Hot Air Balloon Festival Pampanga!

CUE Company x Kris Nuevo Events Managementpresents:

PAMPANGA, GET READY TO UNLEASH THE ANIMAL WITHIN!

Join us at The Mansion on FEBRUARY 12, 2016, Friday. Buy your tickets now for PhP300 only at SM Cinemas Nationwide or online https://smtickets.com/events/view/4141

Featuring Filipino International DJs DJ Toy Armada (#1 billboard remixer), DJ Jay Santos (International Circuit DJ) and DJ Brian Cuaa (award winning producer/arranger) Plus International Brazilian DJ,Roméo Cavalcante and Cosmo Bachelor Model, MC Orion.

Wazzup Pilipinas is a proud media party.

For inquiries and table reservations:
Alex Rivera of Cue Company @ 0995.537.3989

Crystal Jade Dining IN Offers New Set Menu for Chinese New Year 2016

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I'm currently flabbergasting on a tongue-in-cheek look at what the year of the fire monkey means for markets and a handful of well-known global personalities.

We all know that the monkey is an ambivalent animal that is loved for his human-like antics but mostly disliked for his lack of social grace and unpredictability. Though some find it humorous, not everyone is pleased, So, will the Year of the Fire Monkey live up to mimic its animal counterpart?

The predictions I hear lately have a state of having simultaneous conflicting reactions, beliefs, or feelings towards some object, or having an attitude towards someone or something that contains both positively and negatively-valenced components.

Will the year 2016 become not as stellar as optimists hoped it would be? I'm still hoping progress continues for the year and the rest to come even if it takes a longer wait. But who is doubting? The start of the year has been very awesome for me so whatever experts say, it all lies on our unwavering optimism and that persistent determination to rise up again after every fall. Sometimes you are at your most peak when your vulnerability is being tested.

As always, I've been very lucky to be among the few selected bloggers to get an invite to the launch of a new set menu for Chinese New Year 2016. From January 22 until February 28, Crystal Jade Dining IN will be offering the Chinese New Year 2016 new set menus. Revel in the elegance of their newest dishes as families partake of what the restaurant has to offer for CNY 2016.

"Experience the worldwide celebration of the Year of the Red Fire Monkey with Crystal Jade Dining IN as they hold a month-long celebration with four delectable treats and an enticing spread of all-time favorites highlighted by new dishes to help attract good fortune and auspicious tidings this 2016."