2nd #GlobeColdplay Sessions Happening Soon!

The 2nd #GlobeColdplay Sessions will give everyone a sky full of stars, with rockin' performances of the epic duo-- Leanne and Naara, along with the legendary combo of Bullet Dumas, Johnoy Danao and Ebe Dancel. They are set to serenade everyone with Coldplay favorites such as Fix You, A Sky Full of Stars, Up&Up and Magic. It will happen on January 20, 2017 at the Bonifacio High Street Activity Center. This event is free for all, and Globe customers can get a chance to win concert tickets and exclusive Coldplay freebies if they complete all the activities in the Globe booth.

Travel Tax payment now easy and hassle free

Standing in line is something that nobody likes. This is why TIEZA, the government arm tasked with the collection and allocation of Travel Taxes; that formerly had to be settled either at a TIEZA office or at a dedicated queue at the airport, has now rolled out the Travel Tax Online Payment System. No more falling in line at the airport just to pay your travel taxes, now it can be done via this simple procedure: Go to the TIEZA website at http://tieza.gov.ph/ (or: http://www.phtraveltax.com/cgi-bin/tieza.cgi) , from there you can open an account via a short registration procedure. The default home screen is the Travel Tax Online Payment System, to begin the process, simply click “click here”. The TIEZA home screen is not static, and the main image changes, should the main image cycle to different image, you won’t need to wait for it to cycle back, just click the “Travel Tax” tab, and select “Pay Travel Tax” in the dropdown, this should bring you to the login screen. First timers should click on “Don’t have an account? Click here”, this will bring up the registration screen. The registration screen will ask for very basic information, including your email address. Be sure to fill in an address you have access to at the moment you register, as you will need to confirm your registration via email. Finally, you will get a pop-up summary of the information you provided, and be asked to click “OK” to confirm.

"Arrival" Gets Nine British Academy Award Nominations

Columbia Pictures' provocative science-fiction thriller Arrival continues its illustrious awards season run as the Denis Villeneuve film has just scored nine British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.

It also landed Best Adapted Screenplay nod for screenwriter Eric Heisserer and Best Actress for lead star Amy Adams.

Rounding out the categories Arrival got nominated for are Music, Cinematography, Editing, Sound and Special Visual Effects. The winners will be known on February 12, 2017.

Disney to Offer Seven Event Films in 2017

After a record-breaking $7-billion haul the global box-office for 2016, Disney proudly announce its formidable slate for 2017: seven titles that have the potential to make it another landmark year for the studio. A live-action fairytale, two Pixar adventures, two Marvel superhero films, a highly awaited Pirates sequel and the eighth episode of the Star Wars saga. Everyone's invited to be Disney's guest, indeed.

Beauty and the Beast. The story and characters audiences know and love come to spectacular life in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated classic Beauty and the Beast, a stunning, cinematic event celebrating one of the most beloved tales ever told. Beauty and the Beast is the fantastic journey of Belle (Emma Watson), a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast (Dan Stevens) in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart of the true Prince within. (Opens March 15).

The Critics Agree: "Split" Brings Shyamalan Back to Fine Form

With a 78 percent Fresh rating at reviews-aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Universal Pictures' new suspense thriller Split starring James McAvoy has undeniably marked the official comeback story of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.

As critic John DeFore writes in The Hollywood Reporter, “genre fans should embrace what is arguably the director's most satisfying picture since The Sixth Sense. In some quarters, it will generate talk of a comeback for a filmmaker who has suffered both critical drubbing and box-office humiliation over the past decade.”

Peter Debruge agrees in his review in Variety. He shares, Spit is “A welcome return to form from Shyamalan whose unhinged new mind-bender is a worthy extension of his early work.

University of the Visayas wins SBP-Passerelle Sportsmanship Award.

The University of the Visayas (UV) got to take home the much-coveted Sportsmanship award in the SBP division of the prestigious SBP-Passerelle Twin Tournament. This award is based not only on the fair play shown by the players, but also among the coaches, school officials and parents, and aims to develop values, discipline, team work and sportsmanship among all participants. 

The SBP-Passerelle Twin Tournament is organized by the multi-awarded school for basketball and volleyball, BEST Center, sponsored by Milo, and supported by Chris Sports and Rain or Shine. Now on its 31st year, SBP-Passarelle is the longest running and most prestigious annual interschool basketball competition for children where students ages 9-11 compete in the SBP division, while students ages 12-14 compete in the Passarelle division. For more information about BEST Center’s classes and tournaments, email bestcentersports@gmail.com or follow its official Facebook page BEST Center Sports Inc.

"xXx: Return of Xander Cage" Launches Main One-sheet Art

Paramount Pictures has just launched the new posters of xXx: Return of Xander Cage starring Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson and Donnie Yen.

Check out the main one-sheets below and watch the film in Philippine cinemas starting January 18, 2017.

xXx: Return of Xander Cage, the third explosive chapter of the blockbuster franchise that redefined the spy thriller finds extreme athlete turned government operative Xander Cage (Diesel) coming out of self-imposed exile and on a collision course with deadly alpha warrior Xiang (Rogue One's Donnie Yen) and his team in a race to recover a sinister and seemingly unstoppable weapon known as Pandora’s Box. Recruiting an all-new group of thrill-seeking cohorts, Xander finds himself enmeshed in a deadly conspiracy that points to collusion at the highest levels of world governments.

Ben Affleck, a Gangster with a Conscience in "Live by Night"

Two-time Academy Award-winner Ben Affleck – most recently seen in the critically praised The Accountant and in early 2016 playing crime fighting icon Batman/Bruce Wayne in the global blockbuster Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – now directs and stars in Warner Bros. Pictures' new gangster film Live by Night.

Affleck plays Joe Coughlin who went overseas to fight valiantly for his country, but quickly found himself utterly disillusioned by the war. He ultimately finds himself back home in, as he tells us, a life he didn’t expect…paying the price for the American dream.

“Joe fully acknowledges that he’s chosen to be an outlaw in a town run by gangsters, with the Irish and Italian mobs at war,” offers Affleck. “What I find most intriguing about him though is that, while he breaks the law and makes his own rules, it’s his own morality that prevents him from considering himself one of them, a gangster.”

"Game of Thrones" Star Pedro Pascal is Bound to "The Great Wall"

Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal (Netflix’s Narcos, HBO’s Game of Thrones) stars in Universal Pictures' new fantasy adventure The Great Wall as Pero Tovar, a tough, sword-wielding Spaniard who has become a brother-in-arms to Matt Damon's William Garin.

Directed by Zhang Yimou, the epic film tells the story of Garin, a battle-scarred mercenary in China and master archer taken captive by a secret army of elite warriors known as The Nameless Order. In a vast military outpost called the Fortress City, they fight to protect humanity from supernatural forces upon one of the greatest defensive structures ever built: The Great Wall.

Vivo Launches Stephen Curry-endorsed 20MP dual front camera V5 Plus

Basketball superstar Stephen Curry is the face of
Vivo’s newest flagship model, the Vivo V5 Plus.

With the ‘selfie’ phenomenon at its peak and its popularity growing unabated, smartphone manufacturers have been producing phones with camera-focused features that can create the selfie worthy of being called ‘perfect’.

In fact, Vivo, one of the top five premium global brands according to data from the International Data Corporation1 is set to launch a smartphone equipped with the most advanced selfie technology to date: the Vivo V5 Plus, to be officially unveiled in a consumer and media launch on January 21, Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Atrium.

The Vivo V5 Plus is endorsed by basketball superstar Stephen Curry, who earlier said that he shares the same core values with the brand: energy, professionalism, and pleasure.