REEL DEAL: Titanic 3D - SPOTLIGHT

JAMES CAMERON AND JON LANDAU ON CONVERTING EPIC “TITANIC” INTO 3D

Take the journey and experience “Titanic” like never before as filmmakers James Cameron and Jon Landau bring back the world’s most celebrated film in 3D. 

Titanic left Southampton dock midday on Wednesday, April 10, 1912, stopping at Cherbourg, France, and finally, made her last stop at Queenstown on the south coast of Ireland. From Queenstown, with some 2,223 people aboard, she steamed at top speed for New York City.  Yet, despite repeated warnings of ice along its route, the ship fatally struck an iceberg at 11:40pm on April 14, less than five days into its maiden voyage. By 2:30am on April 15th, she lay torn in half at the bottom of the North Atlantic.  The ensemble cast of “Titanic 3d” includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bate, Gloria Stuart and Bill Paxton. 

Cameron’s inspiration for the film was borne out of his fascination with shipwrecks; he wanted to convey the emotional message of the tragedy, and felt that a love story interspersed with the human loss would be essential to achieving this.  The following q&a with James Cameron and producer Jon Landau further takes us into revisiting the voyage that took the world out of its comfort zone.

Q: What has drawn you to pursue this story in line with the unprecedented Titanic shipwreck?

James: "Titanic was the first big wake-up call of the twentieth century. Technology had been delivering a steady diet of miracles for the better part of two decades -- the automobile, sound recording, radio communication, the airplane, motion pictures. Everything was just exploding with possibilities; it was all going to be great and wonderful in the never-ending upward spiral of progress. And then, boom -- 15 hundred people die in what had been advertised as the best, safest, most luxurious ship ever built. Our so-called mastery over nature was completely refuted and forever destroyed."

XSTIG: Dell Launches 12th Generation Servers

Dell announced a portfolio of blade, rack and tower PowerEdge servers optimized for use in demanding enterprise environments. As the only one of the top five server vendors to grow server revenues in Q4 2011 with 9.7 percent year-over-year revenue growth , Dell continues to innovate to deliver features that are industry firsts and make the PowerEdge 12th generation servers the company’s highest performing, most manageable servers ever. With this new server series, customers ranging from small businesses to hyper-scale data centers can help maximize efficiency by streamlining and automating operations, help achieve better business application performance and business continuity.  

“Dell designed the new PowerEdge servers with input gathered from more than 7,700 customer interactions in 17 countries across four continents,” said Christopher Papa, Country Manager, Dell Philippines. “Our customers told us that they need end-to-end solutions to handle the complex workload problems they face every day. As such, we built our new generation of servers, systems management and workload solutions to address the needs of business end users who require maximum performance to run mission-critical applications and IT departments which demand more efficient, secure and reliable operations.” 

PowerEdge 12th Generation Server Portfolio 

The new PowerEdge R820, R720, R720xd and R620 rack servers, the M620 blade server, the T620 tower server and C6220 based on a shared Dell infrastructure server built on the Intel® Xeon® processor E5 product family are the foundation of a complete, flexible IT solution including Dell’s extensive portfolio of storage, networking and client components and professional IT services. The next-generation PowerEdge servers, along with systems management and workload solutions, are designed to deliver performance and management gains to effectively power the most demanding applications, including collaboration, IT and web infrastructure, high performance computing, decision support and business processing. 

MUSIC LYF: The Fray - Scars & Stories

Critically acclaimed Denver-based foursome The Fray are back with their third album, Scars & Stories. The album was recorded at the legendary Blackbird Studios in Nashville. 

The Fray was able to hone their sound with the help of producer Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and Neil Young). On the new recording, the band transforms their real life experiences into a collection of songs that are reflective, but still maintain a pop sensibility. The making of Scars and Stories fostered the most evolution the band has ever experienced, both lyrically and musically. "On our first record, we didn't quite trust ourselves yet," says lead-singer Isaac Slade. "We loosened up on the second album, but there was still some element of restraint. But on this one, we just stepped up to plate and swung as hard as we could."

Scars & Stories leads with first single "Heartbeat," of which Slade notes, "That song came out of a period of my life when I was trying hard to be open to whatever came my way. I traveled through South Africa and Rwanda with a buddy, and at first it was really hard to stay open in the face of so much pain and heartache. But then I ended up meeting so many cool and inspiring people, and all these ideas for lyrics and melodies just started rushing in." The inspiration specifically came from a chance meeting with an expatriate woman. Speaking of the miracle of the capital city overcoming such remarkable odds, the two held hands and Slade reveals "I felt so connected to her. I couldn’t tell if it was her pulse or mine."

MUSIC LYF: Lea Salonga - The Journey So Far

An intimate LIVE recording from Tony Award® winner Lea Salonga - Absolutely the next best thing to being there!

"The Journey So Far," the new live CD from veteran Broadway and Tony Award-winning actress Lea Salonga, is released by Ivory Music & Video. Salonga, the Filipina singer and actress who is best known for originating the lead role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon (and for which she won the Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk Outer Critics and Theatre World Awards), will accompany the release of the CD with a worldwide tour throughout 2012.

Says Salonga, "We wanted to make this recording something very personal, touching on my life as well as my career. There are songs from my homeland, musical theater, film, and the jazz and pop worlds...this is more than just a recording; it's a memento, a lasting souvenir of this very special time in my life."

Hiram na Puso Pilot a Big Ratings Success

GMA's newest afternoon drama Hiram na Puso debuted with very high ratings in both Mega Manila and in the National Urban Philippines according to data from the more trusted television ratings provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement (TAM).

Hiram na Puso’s pilot episode, which aired on March 5, led in the national ratings, gaining a household rating of 14.9 pts. and an audience share of 40.6%, while its nearest competitor ABS-CBN’s Mundo Man ay Magunaw only gained 9.2 pts. and an audience share of 25.1%.  This is based on data provided by the Nielsen National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM). 

Keds: The Original Sneaker

In 1916, Keds created an American Classic: the first shoe with a soft rubber sole, so comfortable & quiet you could "sneak" up on anyone. This original sneaker, called the “Champion” has remained a style icon for almost 100 years. Worn by legends Paul Newman, Audrey Hepburn, The Ramones, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe and Jackie O, and consistently celebrated by Vogue, Elle and GQ, Keds continues to attract fashion designers, stylists and top editors in the industry with their classic, authentic style.

Summer Fun with THERMOS!

In these days of extreme weather, a liquid container is indeed a must for anyone as it becomes very handy plus very helpful in keeping helpful liquid to keep us hydrated and sometimes perked up. But even with the very diverse and large availability of such bottles came with the treat of material contamination, rusting, and most of all quality. 

Luckily there is the Thermos brand which has gone through time and made its marks in the industry as a standard for quality containers. Using quality materials and with products that has simple yet functional design. And what it is proud today is its vacuum flask that keeps the liquid in its original temperature for about 6 hours, and we have tested that by placing hot coffee and left for some time yet still remains even hot. And same goes when used with cold beverages. Thermos products are usually available in Department stores and home centers.

This summer, get a chance to win one of 12 iPad 2 by with your Themos products by joining Summer Fun with Thermos contest. And joining is so easy, complete mechanics are shown below so read more!

Who is the Modern Day Filipino Hero?

He’s no Andres Bonifacio nor is he a Jose Rizal. But even without a sword, a gun or a pen, his sacrifice for the country is no less valiant. After all, he carries the aspirations of his family and the country’s economic security on his back.

Aptly called as the modern day hero, these 11 million overseas Filipino workers have earned the trust and admiration of employers all over the world. Something we as their countrymen should all be proud of. With this reason, the Commission of Filipinos Overseas, Duty Free Philippines, and Kraft Asia pay tribute to the Global Pinoys that have showed excellence not only in their careers, but also in the initiatives to help their fellowmen in the country, through the Thank You Global Pinoy Awards.

The Thank You Global Pinoy Awards is an initiative to search for the most outstanding global Filipino workers who deserve the gratitude not only of their loved ones; but also of the nation as a whole. It was primarily led by the Commission of Filipinos Overseas, the government agency tasked to promote and uphold the interests of Filipino emigrants and permanent residents abroad. The online nominations ran from October 2011 to February 2012, and 10 outstanding overseas Filipino workers have been chosen and will be announced during the Awards Night on March 15, 2012.

REEL DEAL: My Kontrabida Girl SPOTLIGHT

This March, GMA Films offers a one of a kind Romance comedy that bring together young and talented actors and actresses of this generation, My Kontrabida Girl. Starring Aljur Abrenica, Rhian Ramos, Bea Binene, Jake Vargas, Enzo Pineda showing on March 14, 2012. And to prepare the way to the nationwide premiere, we join the cast in one of their mall tours in SM City Novaliches.

Though I have attended a lot of mall shows before, this would be one of the biggest and craziest I have ever experienced. First it has attracted  a lot of people as the activity center is indeed a big venue perfect for these kind of occasion. 

 

KA-TALK 47: Media in Mission - An Invitation

We are inviting the youth and youth at heart to attend the first Ka-Talk Series this year. Ka-talk 47: Media in Mission. 

The forum features the role of the new media (internet and social media) in shaping the youth's mind and faith as it is state in Pope Benedict XVI message "Make good use of your pressence in the digital world".

This event will happen on March 24, 2012 at Letran College Gymnasium, Colegio de San Juan de Letran from 1-5 PM. This also involves the youth in the Archdiocese of Manila under the Archdiocesan Commission on Youth that is actively using the internet to blog and use them for social media. For more information check out the event page.