FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila Open Starts May 3

Wazzup Pilipinas!

74 teams compete at The Sands SM By the Bay

A SLEW of talented international players vying for tournament points are arriving today as they brace for the main draw of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Manila Open set to open later this week at the Sands SM By The Bay. 

Paraguay's Michelle Amarilla, who with Gabriela Filippo battled with the legendary United States pair of April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings in the first knock-out round of the 2015 Beach Volleyball World Championships, will banner the 16-pair women's cast. 

The highest rated team in the field, Amarilla will have Erika Bobadilla as her partner in the competition which the Philippines is making its hosting debut. The Paraguayans hope to bounce back in Manila after the duo failed to make it to the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Malaysia Open semifinals in Langkawi last Sunday.

Ayumi Kusano, who played for Japan that won the Spike for Peace beach volleyball crown in 2015 at the Philsports Arena with Akiko Hasegawa, will return for another run at glory, this time with her partner Takemi Nishibori.

The young Netherlands pair of Katja Stam and Julia Wouters, who lost to Russia’s Ksenia Dabizha and Daria Mastikova in the women’s gold medal match of the Malaysia Open last Sunday, will also be worth-watching in the $10,000, one-star tournament organized by the Beach Volleyball Republic

Another player to watch out in the Manila Open is Lindsey Fuller, the 2014 US NVL Most Improved Player who will be paired with Kaley Melville for United States.

In the men's division, Austria’s Simon Fruhbauer and Jorg Wutzl, who earned their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour gold medal at the Malaysia Open last Sunday at the expense Russia’s Petr Bakhnar and Taras Myskiv, will be the tandem to watch out.

The Austrian pair has been playing together since 2016.

Silver medalists Bakhnar and Myskiv will also be here in Manila along with Germany's Paul Becker and Eric Stadie, who lost to Thailand's I. Nuttanon and P. Sedtawat in the bronze medal match in Langkawi Open last weekend.

The highest-rated team in the men's division is Sweden's Martin Apprelgen and Simon Boman, who placed ninth in Langkawi. 

Among those early arrivals is Israel, which split its four tune-up sets with Filipinos James Pecaña and KR Guzman, and Ranran Abdilla and Edwin Tolentino Monday night.  Israel is among the 16 teams vying for four men's slots in the main draw.

The Philippines has entered four women's pairs in the main draw, with high-flying University of Santo Tomas standout Sisi Rondina and Dzi Gervacio leading the charge.

Rondina, a three-time UAAP beach volleyball champion, is no stranger to international tournaments, having represented the Philippines in last year's 29th Southeast Asian Beach Volleyball Championships in Singapore with Bernadeth Pons.

Other Filipinas competing are sand court veterans Charo Soriano and Bea Tan, two-time BVR national champions Karen Quilario and Lot Catubag, and wildcard entries DM Demontaño and Jackie Estoquia.

     

BVR national champions Jade Becaldo and Calvin Sarte and Kevin Juban and Raphy Abanto complete the men's cast.

     

The competition will commence with the men's division qualifiers on Thursday and before moving into the main draw for women and men on Friday.

       

The round of 12 and the quarterfinals are scheduled on Saturday with the semifinals and finals on Sunday. 

The event is promoted by E-Plus Global Sdn Bhd and organized by Beach Volleyball Republic Inc.

Damas Latinas Manila to Hold Tropicana Latin Charity Ball and Silent Auction on May 19

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Vamos a bailar!

The Latin American Women’s Club (Damas Latinas Manila) will be holding its Annual Charity Ball on the 19th of May, 2018 at the Fairmont Hotel Makati. This year’s theme is Tropicana, and it will be one of the club’s most colorful and vibrant events to date.

Excellent food and service can be expected from the chef and servers of the Fairmont hotel. Drinks will be sponsored by Coca Cola FEMSA, Bacardi, and Heineken. Other major sponsors include Santa Fe Relocation Services, Volenday, Turkish Airlines and Santos Knight Frank.

This year, the club has an exciting addition to the ball, it's host, Nico Bolzico. One of the most successful influencers from social media today. His enthusiasm will definitely add more fun and flavor to the events of the night.

The annual charity ball has become the main fundraising event of the year for the club, the proceeds from this event will go to the two causes the club has been passionately supporting for the last 20 years - The Holy Family Home Foundation and the Eugenia Ravasco Daycare Center. The Latin Ball has gained popularity and is recognized as one of the Top 20 Events of the Year in the Philippines by the Philippine Tatler. Attendance consists of some of the most exceptional members of Philippine society and the diplomatic community, along with numerous multinational executives and business owners. The presence of these people alone guarantees extensive media coverage for the club and their sponsors, which is always good leverage for them to meet their objectives and is without a doubt, a great opportunity to further strengthen the bonds of friendship and brotherhood between nations.

In addition to the ball, the annual silent auction will also be one of the activities of the night. The auction will include items such as overnight stays at The Farm at San Benito, high-end fashion jewelry pieces, different baskets featuring local items from the club’s members specific nations, and many more. The club will also raffle off 2 business class tickets to Europe care of Turkish Airlines.

Entertainment will be provided by Sabor Latino, a Latin band that will make you dance the entire night and there will also be a dance group that will perform Latin dances and not to be forgotten is the “hora loca”, the culmination of the event wherein everyone finally can let loose, take of their shoes, and dance the night away.

The club is confident that the persistent generosity of all the guests will help them continue raising funds to help and support the beneficiaries’foundations.

Please note that anyone is welcome to donate to the auction and that there are still sponsorship packages available for those interested. You can contact Roxana Muñoz at ‭+63 917 5908876 or Vanesa Villavicencio at +639178401616‬, or send an email to tickets@damaslatinasmanila.org  for more details about this.

You can also get updates through the Damas Latinas Manila website  www.damaslatinasmanila.org and FB page www.facebook.com/DamasLatinasManila‬‬


The Latin American Women’s Club (Damas Latins Manila) is a duly registered non-stock, non-profit organization founded in 1966 by a group of Latin American women seeking to establish an organization with two main purposes:

To offer a source of information, friendship, and support to Spanish speaking families who have come to live in the Philippines.

To gather forces to provide assistance to local people in need, especially children who do not have access to education, health services or a safe environment.

Our beneficiaries’ institutions are:
The Holy Family Home Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization managed by the Congregation of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. Holy Family Home provides long-term residential care, protection, and rehabilitation of over 25 abandoned, neglected, orphaned, and physically abused girls. The foundation aims to mold the girls residing in the home into socially functioning individuals.

The Eugenia Ravasco Daycare Center in Parañaque is run by The Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary Congregation. Their mission is to provide basic health care, education and a clean safe environment for children from 3 to 4 years old, so that their parents can go to work and earn a living.

The Club is looking forward to having you in the Latin Charity Ball to help, show support to the organizations and to share the Latin culture.

Avengers Infinity War: No Spoilers Here, Just Plenty of Bathos

Wazzup Pilipinas!

We are a culture adrift in bathos. The kneecapping of drama - making it dramatically nonsensical. The emotion is cheapened by the comedy. The quips from superhero movies were fun at first when no other superhero movie was doing them, but now they're all quipping.

And I'm not arguing if they are funny or not....

I really wish they pulled back on the comedy and allowed the "hero" moments to shine through. Not everything has to have a joke attached to it. Do they make jokes to undercut the drama, or accentuate it? I was very disappointed with how so many potentially earnest and emotional moments were weakened by quips, jokes, and poking fun at the situation.

Best example is the Avengers Infinity War movie. The writers keep ruining the serious heroic moments just to add humor to the scenes. How many chuckles did Marvel Studios tried to cram in that film to alleviate its dark somber tone? Did the flippant attitudes and comic timing in the movie served to reinforce the emotional weight of the narrative, and not harm it? The 'bathos' is becoming too prevalent and severely undercutting emotional impact.

I don't think Marvel Studios does what they do because they're afraid of being cheesy, I think they do it because they're afraid of being cliche.

"The superhero movie has matured to a state where the classic narrative elements, told with sincerity, are considered old hat. It's hard to innovate thematically and stylistically so filmmakers turn to irony, self-consciousness and self-referentiality in their films in order to try to freshen things up. The use of bathos feeds into this chronic knowing winking that is going on between the film and the audience, this sense of 'we all know what the tropes are, let's undermine them.' The important question that arises is: how long can this go on for? Ironic subversion is itself a form of innovation, but it can only go on for so long before it collapses in on itself without new tropes or trends to feed off. It's a dead end without other forms of arguably more substantial innovation."

So aside from Thanos, there's plenty of Bathos at this Avengers movie that the superheroes should be fighting against a character called Bathos instead. I know it's not at all realistic but at when you're at the verge of serious moments not too many could really afford to crack a joke.

The superheroes do not need to be funny for us to appreciate them more. Their heroism is no laughing matter.