Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Monday, October 13, 2014

Singapore Airlines Is Official Sponsor of 2014 WTA Finals Singapore

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Singapore Airlines has signed an agreement with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to be an official sponsor of the 2014 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Under the terms of the agreement, the iconic Singapore Girl will make an appearance at the international sporting event to provide a touch of the Airline’s world-renowned hospitality. Six Singapore Girls will be featured at the prize presentation ceremony. Singapore Airlines will also be flying players and officials to Singapore.

Held in Asia Pacific for the first time in WTA’s 44-year history, the season finale of the women’s tennis tour will take place from 17 to 26 October at the Singapore Sports Hub.

“We are pleased to be an official sponsor for the WTA Finals held in Singapore, in another example of our commitment to both sports and tourism. This world-class event will attract both local and overseas tennis fans, showcasing WTA’s huge presence and growing influence in the Asia-Pacific,” said Singapore Airlines Divisional Vice President Sales & Marketing, Mr Foo Chai Woo.

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Congratulations to The Next Cucina Idol Cook-Off Challenge Grand Winners from both Culinary Enthusiasts Division and Culinary Students Dvision, namely Mercedita Madrona and Kimberly Jane Solejon respectively who both won a staggering P 250,000 kitchen showcase prize for beating other finalists from the recent Melawares Culinary Clash held last Saturday, October 11, 2014 at the Global Culinary and Hospitality Academy in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

The other finalists of the culinary competition, namely Maria Luisa Juanson, Maridel Pacleb, Ayah Potian, and Vivian Tiongkiao from the Culinary Enthusiasts Division, plus Maverick Javier and Mark Johnsent Talento from the Culinary Students Division, all went home with a prize of P 25,000 each. Not bad since all contestants were able to join the contest by simply purchasing P500.00-worth of Melawares, Bestware, Perfect Dining, and Urban Kitchen products and filling out an online contest registration found at the Melawares Cusina Club Facebook page, and submitting online the photos of their entries. Preliminary winners were chosen based on the plating, cleanliness and preparation, and number of Facebook shares.

The chosen finalists for the Culinary Students Division were asked to impress the judges with their star dish using chicken, while those in the Cooking Enthusiasts Division tried to stand out from the competition with their original fish recipe.Mercedita impressed the judges with her Adobo Marinated Hito while Kimberly Jane made it to the top with her Pan-Seared Chicken.

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In support of the LGBT community, your friendly neighborhood blogger went out of his way to attend a press launch on a Saturday night. I usually reserve my weekends for family but since it's the first time Wazzup Pilipinas was invited by the organizers, curiosity got the best of us to trek to an unfamiliar territory in Quezon City.

Coinciding with the National Coming Out Day - a civil awareness day that recognizes the bravery of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders in the face of hardships in their everyday lives, Task Force Pride (TFP) Philippines, official convener of the annual community-driven Metro Manila Pride March, launched the 2014 Metro Manila Pride Season with the Pride Press Party last October 11 at the Boho Sarapsody Bistro located in Cubao, Quezon City.

I had a bit trouble finding the place since Boho Sarapsody Bistro was a residential house in Ermin Garcia Avenue renovated as a cool crash and hang-out spot. As indicated on their Facebook page: " In our group of friends, there's always one person in the group who has the go-to house where we are all welcome to crash and hangout. We are that house." True enough, the place seems like your everyday friendly neighborhood's house perked up a bit and added with a bar that serves drinks and surprisingly great meals.

Meet the Singh Family: An Interview with the Homeowners at Lancaster New City Cavite

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Meet Mr. Butch and Ms. Marivin of the Singh family, with their grandson Patrich, proud homeowners of a 3-bedroom Margaret home at Somerset Village 4, one of the many phases inside Lancaster Estates, "a 1,400-hectare English countryside-inspired community in Lancaster New City Cavite Mega Manila, specifically Alapan located in Imus, Cavite, that is just 15 to 20 minutes away from NAIA airport." Their new home was a gift from their loving son, the father of Patrich, who works abroad for a living. Amazingly, the house cost only 1.9M which was a bargain since

Your friendly neighborhood pambansang blogger met them after lunch time at Gregoria's Kitchenette where we dined on delicious Sinigang na Baboy, Afritadang Manok and Garlic Butter Shrimps immediately after our tour of Lancaster New City Cavite.

It was an awesome opportunity to interview them about their new home which was turned over to them last January of this year. They started renovating the house from its bare form to its present state last March, and was able to move in last April. This means, as of this writing, they've been staying in their adorable new home for six months already.

What the couple liked about their new home is that "the neighborhood is so peaceful especially at night. There's also no traffic and pollution as compared to our previous home which we were just renting. We are also so happy to share that our grandson has gained lots of new friends with the neighborhood kids. We are confident that he will be safe as our village is guarded 24 hours a day. We can instruct the guard not to let the children out so they won't get into trouble outside the village."

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Are you an artist or designer facing difficulties in sustaining your business? Are you overwhelmed by business tasks such as managing production, inventory, and personnel; funding new projects; planning for expansion; or complying with government requirements?

Learn how you can break from the stereotype of the “starving artist” and become a business-keen creative entrepreneur. Yuchengco Museum, in partnership with Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) and Business and Professional Women’s Network (BPW) Makati, present “Business Savvy for Creatives,” a new two-day seminar-workshop that teaches creative industry practitioners what they need to know about basic business—from identifying the unique selling points of their work to applying for a bank loan. “Business Savvy for Creatives” runs for two days from November 6 – 7, 2014, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Yuchengco Museum.

“Business Savvy for Creatives” is a practical investment for creative practitioners, such as artists, designers, and creative professionals, who want understand the business side of art to make their artistic endeavors profitable and sustainable. Participants will learn basic business skills training through informative sessions, Q&A discussions, and hands-on workshops with successful creative entrepreneurs, business experts, and RCBC officers.

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Philippine Small and Medium Enterprise Business Expo (PHILSME) 2014 - "BOOST YOUR BUSINESS!" is the largest national business-to-business trade show conference and networking event in the country, held on November 21-23, 2014 at SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay City.

It is THE largest & most anticipated business-to-business networking event, trade show & conference for business owners, entrepreneurs & decision-makers. If you are serious about your business, this event is a "MUST ATTEND."

PHILSME is the most anticipated networking event of the year for business professionals to learn about products & services to help their business exceed its goals, network with other industry professionals & attend informative and cutting-edge workshops & seminars. If you are a business owner, entrepreneur or someone that works for a small business you should attend this trade show & conference.

Wazzup Pilipinas Original Short Stories Series: The Window

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"Julius’s ghost talked to Andrew that night and told him how he was and gave him a talk about life and sacrifice. The next morning, Andrew asked the nurse to open the window and asked her to tell him what was happening outside. The nurse said there was nothing outside but the ruins of an old school. Andrew just smiled."

Sacrifice is sometimes the “best escape route” to problems. If you can’t let go of something, let yourself go. Nothing is permanent in this world, so it means that in time, everything will fade away.

We can see in this story that the individual (pertaining to our character named Julius) decided for himself. He sacrificed himself for the betterment of others and to give importance to life. As an individual, he elaborated his core values of being a defeated person and he gave his own light to shine in others’ darkness. He is determined by his own free will and he had a choice for himself. His individuality transcends towards the bounds of dependency which can be found in the part where he was called for surgery. He did not hesitate and he knew he made a good choice for himself.

As for Andrew, our other character, he served as a contrast for Julius. He was dependent. He was in his darkness and only receives the light from somebody. His uncapability for independence was flourishing throughout the story, so as to enhance Julius’s character (irregardless of his age).

Below is our original short story for the day.

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Imagine a variety of grain that is planted only in a couple of weeks in select rice paddies in only a couple towns in Pampanga then harvested as the cool breeze of the holiday months sweep the rice fields. Processing this grain is a colourful undertaking in itself–from harvesting in early dawn, to winnowing, toasting and pounding to remove the chaff. For every hectare planted with this special variety yields a mere 4.5 cavans of grain while a harvest of the normal variety of rice yields up to 300 cavans.

Due to the limited harvest quantity, which was fortunately spared by the typhoons that hit Central Luzon this year, the demand for duman is much greater than the supply. However, despite its rather steep price, those who’ve enjoyed it vouch that it is worth every grain. It may be consumed by itself, rather like breakfast cereal, or taken with steaming gatas damulag (carabao milk) or tsokolate de batirol (frothy native chocolate).

Sugarleaf Makati shares this prized delicacy in limited quantities to residents of the metropolis. Together with La Moderna’s artisan bakery products as well as other carefully selected healthyummy food and non-food products.

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The GCN-powered AMD Radeon R9 285 graphics card enables best-in-class gaming experiences in the most demanding games at 1080p and beyond, comes bundled with new games.

AMD recently launched the AMD Radeon R9 285 graphics card, serving as the newest desktop GPU in the award-winning AMD Radeon R9 series graphics family.

The Radeon R9 285 graphics card brings the robust feature set of AMD’s Radeon R9 290 series graphics, like support for Project FreeSync and AMD TrueAudio technology, to even more gamers.

The AMD Radeon R9 285 graphics card has been designed to run the most demanding games with ultimate settings at 1080p and beyond.

AMD first unveiled the AMD Radeon R9 285 graphics card during its 30 Years of Graphics & Gaming event on August 23, 2014. It comes packed with the latest Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture³ innovations like support for the upcoming DirectX12 and AMD’s revolutionary Mantle API.

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In his second solo show and comeback exhibition, Of Gods and Patriots, artist Raymond Katawaki Go delves into the question of power and its immanent contradictions by projecting ancient and contemporary images, of the religious and the secular in an attempt to call and respond to myth and reality. These arresting images turn into a social introspection to review the historical past and institutional ideas that are so intrinsic to intervention and inquiry but with a pulse on the present based on the artist’s understanding and impressions of these realities.

After years of hiatus, Kawataki Go comebacks with a major show at Cevio that re-registers his remarkable artistic skills and passion for art and instigation of critical thoughts.

Meanwhile for his fourth solo exhibition, Messengers, Jessie Mondares personifies his work as messengers, acting as a metaphor and as a material carrier of his intentions and ongoing aesthetic actions. Mondares mixed media paintings have are rendered with palpable exploit on pen and ink and acrylic. His collocation of elements that are often layers of discernible--- figures and anatomical fragments of humans and animals with expanded limbs and exaggerated forms meshed with patterns, lines and o ther assigned elements and certain motifs morphing in shapes and reappearing liberally in his paintings.

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Celebrating its 20th efficacious year as the Asia’s largest gathering of building and construction professionals, the 2nd decade of the Philippine World Building and Construction Exposition (WORLDBEX ) will be setting its ground on March 11 – 15, 2015 and will be stretching its mark at the World Trade Center Metro Manila (WTCMM). WORLDBEX will also be occupying the WTCMMEast Wing Tents A and B, and the entire length of the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) which marks it as the grandest construction event held annually in the country.

With the theme, “Building Vision in the Realm of ASEAN Integration”, WORLDBEX is primarily recognized to fortify and develop the economic resilience of the construction and architectural industry among the ASEAN countries.

In conjunction with this resolution, the exhibition will also incorporate the 17thWORLDBEX Seminars which are held traditionally to connect altered local and international professionals in the business. A total 12 well-renowned trade speakers based around the globe, will discuss the latest trends & technologies in the field of construction running from March 12 to 14, 2015, four (4) sessions daily will be conducted at the PTTC Seminar Rooms.

Manhattan Love Story: Sony Channel’s Charming New Romantic Comedy Will Have You Smitten!

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Manhattan Love Story is a new romantic comedy based on this simple premise: The only way to maintain relationships—with lovers, spouses, family, co-workers, or friends—is to keep most of our thoughts to ourselves. Dana (Analeigh Tipton, Crazy, Stupid, Love) and Peter (Jake McDorman, Shameless) travel through the complicated terrain of modern-day relationship in this new romantic comedy.

The show has an extra dimension: the audience will hear Dana and Peter’s inner thoughts, highlighting the differences of men and women in dating and find out what they are really thinking when they say something.

Dana is from Atlanta and moves to New York to chase her dreams. When she gets a job, her colleagues started losing theirs and put the blame on her. She keeps a naive and innocent disposition despite these setbacks in high hopes that her colleagues will once again like her. She is determined to succeed in the Big Apple in both career and love.

Peter, on the other hand, is a cynical New Yorker who works for his dad at the family’s business. He has dated so many women to the point that he does not remember their names when he sees them on the street.

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Loosely adapted from a Venezuelan telenovela of the same name, Jane the Virgin is a delightful new dramedy on Sony Channel.

Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) has been convinced of two life truths owing it all to her overbearing grandmother Alba – first, that telenovelas are the highest form of entertainment; and second, that all women must protect their virginity at all costs. Now at 23, she is a driven young woman studying to become a teacher and a writer while supporting herself with a job at a new hotel in Miami.

All the years of watching telenovelas with her mother Xiomara (known as “Xo”) and her devout grandmother gave Jane a slightly unrealistic view of love – Her sexy, young-at-heart mom Xo was an unwed mother at 16 who continues to live her life as a performer at local clubs while looking for a new man. Her grandmother Alba on the other hand is a devout and prayerful lady with religion at the center of her life. Both women share a special place in Jane’s life and continue to root for her as an ambitious and compassionate woman despite their conflicting influences on Jane.

All of Jane’s meticulous life plans are turned upside down during her life-changing routine check up when she is accidentally artificially inseminated with a specimen meant for the patient in the next room. Unbeknownst to her, the specimen belongs to Rafael (Justin Baldoni), a reformed playboy and cancer survivor who is not only the new owner of the hotel where Jane works, but also a former summer crush of hers.

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Madam Secretary revolves around the life of Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni), the shrewd, determined, and brilliant former CIA analyst now working as a college professor. However, after a controversy that involves a plane crash, McCord returns to public service at the request of her old friend, and the current President of the United States (Keith Carradine).

McCord’s team includes her Chief of Staff Nadine Tolliver (Bebe Neuwirth), speechwriter Matt Mahoney (Geoffrey Arend), press coordinator Daisy Grant (Patina Miller) and her charming assistant Blake Moran (Erich Bergen). McCord’s flair for diplomacy and high standards for ethics have enabled her to take on daunting political tasks such as debating third world problems, finessing foreign dignitaries at work, as well as battling it out with the President’s combative Chief of Staff Russell Jackson. As a dedicated wife and mother, she ends each day at work going home to her supportive husband, Henry, and their two bright children, where “politics” and “compromise” take on new meaning.

Sony Channel’s new political drama stars Téa Leoni (Elizabeth McCord), Tim Daly (Henry McCord), Bebe Neuwirth (Nadine Tolliver), Zeljko Ivanek (Russell Jackson), Patina Miller (Daisy Grant), Erich Bergen (Blake Moran), Geoffrey Arend (Matt Mahoney), Katherine Herzer (Alison McCord), and Evan Roe (Jason McCord).

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Sony Channel announced today that “How To Get Away With Murder”, executive produced by Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (“Grey’s Anatomy”, “Scandal”) will premiere on October 15, 2014 at 9:05 p.m. on the Sony Channel.

Academy-Award nominee Viola Davis stars as the brilliant, charismatic criminal law professor who is everything you hope your Criminal Law professor would be. She teaches a course she boldly refers to as “How To Get Away With Murder”, choosing the brightest students in her class to join her at her firm.

"I don’t know what terrible things you’ve done in your life up to this point, but clearly your karma’s out of balance to get assigned my class. I’m Professor Annalise Keating and this is Criminal Law 100, or as I prefer to call it, How to Get Away with Murder."