Christchurch Children Tell Their Story in New Zealand Earthquake Photo Exhibit

Tom Hoare, 11 years, Mt Pleasant School
 “Driving in my community is a lot harder than usual.”

The New Zealand Embassy, in cooperation with UNICEF, is bringing to Manila the photography exhibition entitled “Christchurch: See Through My Eyes”.

The exhibition showcases photographs taken by 24 children from Christchurch, New Zealand, and illustrates how the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes affected their lives and communities.

New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Reuben Levermore said: “We hope that the exhibition will encourage people to reflect on how best to prepare for disasters, including here in the Philippines.”

Freedom Rocks at Araneta!

Last Independence day, the Araneta Center made sure that Filipinos will enjoy and appreciate the historical date with an one of a kind event that happened in the new Gateway Park located beside the big dome, the Smart Araneta Coliseum, which is also where the big Christmas Tree is located. Freedom Rocks is a free concert offering to the public together with great variety of food from the merchants of the Food Bazaar at the venue.

MUSIC LYF: Domino - Manis (Album)

The artist: This woman’s music career started in grade school, when she sang a Filipino folk song on stage. A few years after, she then recorded her first album “Fair Tales”, in which she realized that music was indeed her lifelong calling.. She’s definitely no diva or pop princess though. If you see Lally Buendia aka Domino in person, you know that with her leather-wearing vibe and blunt, edgy ‘do, she’s sharp and feisty and she surely won’t sing you any love song. But worry not because she just might, in her latest album Mantis.

On Mantis : Two years in the making, Lally would write songs on days when she was on either side of her emotional spectrum. She believes this album is her unabashed attempt to come out and kick ass. She was also tremendously lucky to have worked with a motley crew of brilliant artists in the music scene – Ely Buendia (Pupil, The Oktaves), Pat Tirano (TOI), Jerome Velasco (Daydream Cycle), Jazz Nicolas (The Itchyworms), Mikey Amistoso (Ciudad, Hannah+Gabi), and Eric Perlas (COG) who co-produced the album. Japs Sergio (Peso Movement, Daydream Cycle) co-wrote 2 songs and Aldus Santos (The Purplechickens) wrote a track and recorded guitars and vocals for it. Clem Castro (The Camerawalls) and Wendell Garcia (Pupil) also played on a couple of tracks. Having grown up in a family where everyone’s into music of all sorts, you’ll be able to hear strains of these genres in all her songs. And as she is never one to box out her band in one category, she defines Domino’s music as a fusion of everything, easily one that she would like to listen to, just probably with more bits of pop in it, as this is her biggest influence.

REEL DEAL: The Wolverine New Trailer

A new Trailer for THE WOLVERINE starring Hugh Jackman is out! The definitive story about the hugely popular adamantium-clawed hero. From director James Mangold, this thrilling, 3D epic adventure is set against a backdrop of intrigue and betrayal in Japan.

At his most vulnerable,Logan/Wolverine travels to Tokyo, reconnects with a mysterious individual from his past and faces a host of deadly enemies.

"THE WOLVERINE" opens July 25 (Thursday) in theaters nationwide from 20th Century Fox.  Available in 3D and 2D format.

MANILA IMPROV FESTIVAL 2013:PERFORMANCE SCHEDULES JUNE 26-30

In celebration of its 11th year anniversary, the Silly People’s Improv Theater (SPIT) and the PETA Theater Center proudly present the Manila Improv Festival 2013 from June 26-30, 2103.

The theme for this year is “Follow Your Feet”, an improvisational theater concept which also ties in with the art form’s return to PETA - the group which first introduced improvisational theater to the country in the early 1970s. As SPIT takes on a new decade of laughter and innovation, the group decided to take a bolder step in sharing the art of improv to bigger audiences through the festival and its partnership with PETA Theater Center.

Gabe Mercado, artistic director of the festival and founder of SPIT describes the vision of the festival: “SPIT was founded back in June 2002, because I saw the need for a new kind of comedy—one that differed from the usual stand-up comedy routines that we are used to seeing on TV and comedy bars. Improv appealed to me because of its grounding on truth, the magic of spontaneity, and the fun that on-the-spot creation brings about. We hope events like these help build the improv community of the country and the region.”

Being the country’s premiere improvisational theater group known for their smart and incisive brand of comedy, SPIT has represented the Philippines in numerous international events such as the prestigious Los Angeles Comedy Festival in 2004, and more recently, in the Hong Kong and Beijing Improv Festivals.

Last year SPIT celebrated their ten-year anniversary as a group, and staged the 1st Manila International Improv Festival. The festival was an overwhelming success with sold-out performances at Quantum Café in Makati City. Furthermore, the exciting improv workshops held at the College of St. Benilde facilitated by renowned improv veterans Shaun Landry and Tom Farnan from Los Angeles, created a clamor for another festival. And since SPIT wanted to continue propagating improvisational theater in the ASEAN region, the group decided to do it again this year. The 2nd Manila International Improv Festival promises to create a new, fun, and exciting theater experience for improv enthusiasts and generally anyone who wants to have a good time and learn something new.

The 2nd Manila International Improv Festival promises to create a new, fun, and exciting theater experience for improv enthusiasts and generally anyone who wants to have a good time and learn something new.

The participating improv groups: People's Liberation Improv and 3 Dudes Improv (Hongkong), Beijing Improv (Beijing), Taichung Improv (Taiwan), Xiamen Improv (Xiamen), Zmack (Shanghai), Pirates of Tokyo Bay (Tokyo) and Silly People’s Improv Theater (Manila). For each set, three improv groups will perform a variety of long form and short form improvisational shows.

Schedule: June 26 (8 pm) PERFORMANCE 1 (SPIT, Taichung Improv, Switch); June 27 (8 pm) PERFORMANCE 2 (Beijing Improv, Xiamen Improv, SPIT); June 28 (8 pm) PERFORMANCE 3 (Pirates of Tokyo Bay, 3 Dudes, Plus 1) ; June 29 (6 pm) PERFORMANCE 4 (Zmack, Plus 1, Pirates of Tokyo Bay) and (9 pm) PERFORMANCE 5 (Taichung, Beijing, People’s Liberation Improv); June 30 (1 pm) PERFORMANCE 6 (PLI, Xiamen, 3 Dudes) and (4 pm) PERFORMANCE 7: INTERNATIONAL IMPROV JAM.

Ticket price per show: P 400.00. Venue: PETA-PHINMA Theater. For more details and updates, you may check out SPIT via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spitmanila Twitter: @spitmanila; Website: http://spitmanila.com. Tickets are available at Ticketworld or the PETA Theater Center.

Julia Baretto Shares A touching Family Story in "MMK"

Julia Baretto shares a touching story of a daugther in conflict this Saturday (June 15) in her episode for ABS-CBN's longest running drama anthology "Maalaala Mo Kaya." The rising Kapamilya teen star will give life to the character of Alex, a young teenage girl who grew up in a complete and happy family. Her life reaches a turning point when her mother leaver them for another man because of her father's drug addiction. Before her family get even more broken, Alex eventually decides to forgive her father. She works hard to prove to her mother that their family will still be happy without her. Will Alex find it in her heart to forgive her mother for abandoning them? Together with Julia in this episode are Ara Mina, James Blanco, Jacob Dionisio, Tommy Abuel, Manuel Chua, Kristoff Meneses, Marikit Morales, and Yda Yaneza. 

This episode was researched by Akeep Jordan del Rosario, written by Mark Angos, and directed by Dado Lumibao. Don't miss Julia's first-ever "MMK" episode this Saturday after "Wansapanataym" on ABS-CBN. For more updates, log on to www.mmk.abs-cbn.com, and follow @MMKOfficial on Twitter and visit the official facebook page: www.facebook.com/MMKOfficial.

MUSIC LYF: Alden Richards Goes Personal in Debut Album

Alden des not need to be controversial to be noticed by the public, his charm as the boy next door and charisma works silently as his career buds into a whole new level with coming up with his own self-titled album under Universal Records.

We got a copy of his album which will be part of Listening Room soon, and also we loved the magazine-like album design which stands out among the OPM albums launched this year. 

GMA's young leading man Alden Richards admits that his debut album under Universal Records speaks a lot about him. The album, which includes his cover of memorable hits - Shamrock's Haplos, Rey Valera's Naalala Ka, Ichyworm's Akin Ka Na Lang, among others, is a testament to Alden's young romantic side.