Get to know the 9 finalists in the search for Aliwan Fiesta Digital Queen 2020

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Candidate #1 Jasmine Omay of  Tarlac is a willowy 5 feet 10 inches stunner, who plays the violin and guitar, and loves to sing.  The 21-year-old took up business management and entrepreneurship at Tarlac State University and is now studying to be an aviation pilot.  She holds  a special spot in her heart for cancer patients through the Kythe Foundation.

Bianca Wilhelmina Willemsen of Consolacion, Cebu is candidate #2.  She is 21 years old and studies at Cebu Technological University.  Bianca is into karate, baking, and designing clothes.  Half-Dutch, she also loves to read, sing, and dance.

Candidate #3 Jannarie Zarzoso of Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte is 21 years old, and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting technology (magna cum laude) from the Fr Saturnino Urios University and in accountancy from the Surigao Education Center.  A psoriasis warrior who loves public speaking and travelling, Hannah plays the piano and runs a small business in her hometown called Nami, which specializes in milk tea concoctions.

Alana Monica Rhedey of Baguio City is candidate #4.  Monica is 20 years old and studies at the University of the Cordilleras.  She is into belly-dancing and painting, and is very interested in the arts and photography, apart from being active with the Baguio Animal Lovers League.

Candidate #5 is Nicole Angela Crescini, who carries the torch for Boracay, Aklan.  Nics is 20 years old and is a student at Far Eastern University.  She loves gardening, cooking, and also sings.  This island girl has chosen the Malaynon Ati Tribe as her special charity.

The sixth candidate,  Katrina Anne Johnson of Davao,  holds a degree in Pharmacy from the University of the Immaculate Conception.  A spoken word enthusiast, Kat is 22,  indulges in live poetry,  and is heavily involved in community service via the Maharlika Foundation, which offers free medical assistance to those who cannot afford nor access health care facilities in their region.

Esperanza Francisco, in turn, is the standard bearer for Bicolanos as candidate #7.  The 25-year-old manages the Front Office at the Avenue Hotel in Naga City.  A tourism graduate of the Mariners Polytechnic Colleges, Bem loves watching documentaries.  She joined the contest to prove that beauty is not just in a woman’s physical appearance, but more importantly emanates from within.

Candidate #8 is Sharon Idone, 19 years old, representing Iloilo City.  A freshman financial management student at the University of San Agustin, Shawie was born in Italy and loves to act and dance.

Finally, there is candidate #9 Alyssa May Nicholls of Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.  The 18-year-old senior high school student is into singing, sports, nature, and cycling. She is batting for wildlife preservation in her province.

These nine lovely young ladies will compete in three successive weekly episodes streamed live on MBC’s social media platforms via the Facebook pages of Aliwan Fiesta, Love Radio,  Yes The Best, Easy Rock and Radyo Natin.  The competition segments will also be aired over DZRH News Television.  On September 12, the candidates will manifest Pride of Place as they show how well-versed they are in the culture, customs, and traditions of their respective regions.  On September 19, they will showcase their talents in the visual and performing arts, or special skills in athletics and the culinary arts.  On September 26, following the modelling competition, they will be grilled by the jury in the much-awaited question-and-answer portion.

The winners will be announced and awarded on October 3.  The Aliwan Fiesta Digital Queen 2020 will receive P50,000, first runner up P25,000, and the second runner up P15,000.  All three will likewise receive the counterpart amounts for their respective chosen charities, while the six other candidates will take home consolation prizes.  Special awards for Netizens Choice, Miss Unique Smile, Miss Tibay Tanduay, Miss Charm, and Miss White Rose are also in the offing.

The search for Aliwan Fiesta Digital Queen 2020  was made possible with the generous support of  Unique Toothpaste, White Rose Kojic Soap, Charm Fabric Conditioner, Tanduay, and Palmolive Naturals Ultra Smooth Shampoo.

Aliwan Fiesta Digital Queen 2020 is a title distinct from Reyna ng Aliwan, which will continue to be part of the mammoth festive convergence which ties together the country’s tourism efforts, but which was cancelled this year due to the pandemic.

Instituto Cervantes presents an online discussion on "Extraterritorial" Writers

Wazzup Pilipinas!

On Wednesday, September 9, 2020, the Instituto Cervantes centers in Madrid, Manila, Beijing and Shanghai will present “Extraterritorial”, a webinar on Literature. At the event, the writers Elia Barceló (Spain), Daisy López (Philippines) and Siu Kam Wen (Peru) will talk about their literary relationship with the Spanish language, as authors who reside and produce their literary work in countries with other linguistic realities. The discussion, moderated by the Peruvian writer Fernando Iwasaki, will be conducted in Spanish with simultaneous translation in English and Chinese.

This is a discussion about writers who developed their literary career in a language other than the mother tongue or the official language of the countries where they are living. Classics like Conrad, Beckett, Nabokov, or Kundera, among others, migrated in their literary production from their mother tongues to other languages. This tradition of exophone writers has increased in recent years, for various reasons. In this discussion, moderated in Spanish by Fernando Iwasaki, three writers who have chosen to embark on a literary production in Spanish will exchange views on how their "border" condition influences their respective works.

The moderador of the discussion, Fernando Iwasaki, is a Peruvian writer and historian. Born into a family with multiple roots (Japan, Ecuador and Italy). He worked as a University professor in Peru. Since 1989 he has been living in Sevilla, Spain. Iwasaki has published more than 20 volumes of fiction and non-fiction. He contributes regularly to various newspapers and magazines. His works have been translated into half a dozen languages, including Russian, English, French, Italian, Romanian and Korean.

Spanish writer Elia Barceló has lived in Austria since 1981, where she was a professor of Hispanic literature and studies at the University of Innsbruck until 2017. Except for a few publications in English and German, all her works - thirty novels, a literary essay, articles and more than sixty stories - have been written in Spanish and later translated into nineteen languages. “I am my thoughts. My thoughts are made of words and those words are the ones I learned in my childhood, in my country, in Spanish; They are my mother tongue, an inalienable treasure. "

Filipina poet Daisy Lopez, a Spanish & Italian professor at the University of the Philippines, has written poetry in Spanish that was published in Spain, in Argentina and in the Dominican Republic. She is a member of the Academia Filipina, corresponding to the Royal Spanish Language Academy.

Siu Kam Wen (Xiao Jinrong) was born in Zhongshan, Guangdong, China, in 1950, but grew up in Lima, Peru, where he learned to speak and write in Spanish. He has published the collections of short stories El tramo final, a landmark in the history of Peruvian literature, and La primera espada del imperio; and the novels La estatua en el jardín, El furor de mis ardores, La vida no es una tómbola, El verano largo and Viaje a Ítaca. Two of his books have been translated into Chinese and are awaiting publication in 2020. He has been living in Hawaii since 1985.

The online discussion, presented by Instituto Cervantes de Manila in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes centers in Madrid, Beijing and Shanghai, and the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines, will be conducted on the Zoom platform in Spanish, but simultaneous translation in English and Chinese will be provided. The audience will be able to interact with the speakers by submitting their questions during the event. Admission is free on a first-come, first served basis. To access the webinar please click here: https://zoom.us/j/91563161528

For further information and updates on this event, please check out http://manila.cervantes.es or Instituto Cervantes’ Facebook page: www.facebook.com/InstitutoCervantesManila

Ron Perlman For Horror and Sci-fi Movie Lovers

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Horror and action films are a big market in the Philippines as well as in other parts of Asia. Asians are always looking for great stories with power packed acting. We always seek for something unique and that is found in the Hollywood setting, well aside from watching local Pinoy horror action drama film, which is quite very far when it comes to global cinematography and quality. In this articIe I am only writing about Ron Perlman and some of his best works.

Ron Perlman is an American TV, film, Theatre and voice actor, popularly known for Hellboy. He played the Hellboy in Hellboy and Hellboy2 sequel. He played Amoukar in Quest of Fire, way back in 1981. His role as Vincent in TV series Beauty and the Beast was highly acclaimed. The series Beauty and the Beast even won the Golden globe award.

It is difficult when you have to write about only a few movies of an actor who has probably done 90+ movies. Here is a list of my most favorite of Ron Perlman Movies.

1.      Hell Boy 2 - Perlman joined Guillermo del Toro for another round of supernatural fun — and while the original Hellboy, this was four years after the first Hellboy movie.

Hell boy earned decent reviews, however the sequel was an even better and bigger winner. You will love Hellboy II for its thrills  and unique Del Toro visual style. The movie is about a wae between humans and the elves. While the release coincided with The Dark Knight and Iron Man, the movie still earned over $160 million at the BOx office.

2.      Pacific Rim-  If you like watching Sci-fi action you will love Pacific Rim. The movie is based on monstrous creatures known as Kaiju, that came from the sea. To fight the Kaiju, Humans developed giant, enormous robots called Jaegers that are designed to be piloted by two humans together in a neural bridge. Ron Perlman plays a very different yet interesting role of Hannibal Chau, a smuggler of exotic animals and their organs. Chau operates anonymously and continues to harvest body parts from dead Kaijus.

3.      Hell Boy- His performance in Hellboy 2004/2008 was amazing - Imagine that large red skinned adult with a tail, cut horn and smoking fictional superhero created by writer artist Mike Mignola. Hellboy was sent from Hell to Earth as a baby by Nazi occultists. A demon look- alike with ironic sense of humor.

4.      Blade 2- Again a Del Toro and Ron Perlman movie that you shouldn’t miss. A 2002 Hollywood release, it is a superhero film based on Blade, a fictional character from Marvel comics.  In Blade 2, Blade is looking for his mentor who is said to have been dead in an attack by Deacon Frost and his vampires. He was however turned into a vampire and not killed. Ron Perlman plays Dieter Reinhardt in the movie, he is  a member of the Bloodpack, who is typically against Blade for some reason.

5.      Cronos - Cronos is Guillermo del Toro's first feature film, and also the first of many films on with Perlman.  It is a Mexican Horror film that was released in 1993. Very interesting plot where an antique dealer discovers 450 years old object that makes him healthy and youthful. The real story begins when an old affluent businessman and sends his nephew ( Ron Perlman) to get this object. If you like horror movies, don’t miss Cronos!

To sum things up, if vampires, super powers and horror are your things when you look for entertainment, then these are some real cool movies that you should watch.  Just like when you think about action Ethan Hunt and James Bond comes into your mind as a great brand. But if you are thinking about horror action drama  then Guillermo Del Toro -Ron Perlman duo comes to the top of my list.