Tag: Zsarlene B. Chua

WHAT do Ben & Ben’s song “Pagtingin” and the podcast Boiling Waters PH have in common? They are among the most popular items listened...

The 12th Gawad Buhay Awards, which honors excellence in theater, has announced its nominees with Tanghalang Pilipino’s Lam-ang and Sandbox Collective’s Dani Girl leading the group with 12 nominations under each of their belts.

FILIPINO auteur Lavrente “Lav” Diaz has added yet another trophy to his already full shelf as he won the Best Director Award in the Orizzonti section of this year’s Venice International Film Festival for his film, Lahi, Hayop (Genus Pan).

SIX MONTHS into lockdown and traditional cinemas are still not open because of health risks, but SM Cinema, arguably the largest cinema operator in the country, has found a modicum of success in introducing a new way of watching films outside one’s home in the relative safety of one’s car as after a pilot launch in SM Pampanga in late July, SM Cinema’s drive-in cinema has found its way to SM Mall of Asia (MOA).

TWO years after entering the e-commerce space, American beauty brand Kiehl’s is now expanding its online presence by entering Lazada in a bid to introduce more customers to its products.

IN A BID to expand the reach of its content worldwide, ABS-CBN will be streaming select films from its library on Singapore’s StarHub TV-on-demand (TVOD) platform.

THE FILM Development Council of the Philippines’ (FDCP) annual Film Industry Conference (FIC) will be held online this year, from Sept. 11 to 15, and will feature several discussions and masterclasses with film industry experts and stakeholders.

FOOD companies are always looking for ways to fill the needs of their customers, looking for new niches that they can satisfy. One company decided to tackle a perceived need for a healthy cracker for mindful snacking, while a milk giant now offers an “organic” product for parents looking for healthier options.

FACEBOOK has launched Messenger Kids in the Philippines, an app that allows children six to 12 years old to use video chat and messaging features in a parent-controlled environment, to provide children a safer avenue to communicate with their peers during the pandemic.

THIS writer was sent a couple packages of Tiger Crackers to sample and upon tasting all three variants — ensaymada (a sweet bun), leche flan (creme caramel), and plain — the clear winner is the leche flan flavor because it really does taste kind of like the custard flan with its milky sweet taste. The ensaymada variant is okay, though it only tastes like the cheese topping on the ensaymada.

CLOUD COMPUTING and enterprise software solution company VMWare has introduced updates to their workspace and cloud portfolios to help businesses “as they adapt to a digital-first economy.”

FILM producer and Philippine film industry stalwart Maria Azucena “Marichu” Vera-Perez Maceda, affectionately known as Manay Ichu, passed at the age of 77 on Sept. 7 due to “an ongoing illness.”

EXPERIENCE Southeast Asian music from Sept. 19 to 20 as the ASEAN Music Showcase Festival holds its first run digitally via Facebook and YouTube, featuring 20 artists from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

THIS year is vastly different from the last but one thing remains true: come September (the start of the “ber” months) Filipinos, like clockwork, will start to prepare for Christmas. In anticipation of the holidays, e-commerce platforms Shopee and Lazada are holding huge sales featuring major brands until Wednesday, Sept. 9.

YOUTUBE has updated its policies surrounding hate speech and misinformation in light of worldwide scrutiny of social media giants over their responsibility to curb abusive online behavior and getting the right information across, especially about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

VIDEO-SHARING website YouTube has partnered with Filipino media companies to launch Super Stream, a month-long effort to allow Filipinos access to select content including movies, series, and sports events.

SONGWRITING competition PhilPop has announced the finalists from the Visayas and Mindanao clusters which will be included among the Top 15 contestants who will battle it out in the finals on Nov. 14.

JAPANESE clothing brand Uniqlo has unveiled its Fall/Winter 2020 collection, which revolves around having clothes fit for the “new lifestyle,” with longtime collaborators British-Japanese designer Hana Tajima and French designer Ines de la Fressange introducing new styles for their respective lines.

LAST year, I started wearing face masks. It feels like a lifetime ago today, but I decided to wear face masks because having to deal with pollution during my daily commute was triggering my allergies. But while I did not get allergies as often thanks to the masks, I also had to deal with a downside, acne, because the moist environment inside the mask allows bacteria to grow.

TWO films, an action TV series, and an offshoot of the Survivor reality show franchise were announced as the first recipients of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) film incentive programs meant to encourage more producers to shoot their films in the Philippines.

RENOWNED writer and publisher Gilda Cordero-Fernando, known for her musings on Philippine arts and culture and a great supporter of the arts, passed at the age of 90 on Aug. 27.

HISTORIAN and economist Benito Legarda, Jr., a man widely known as the authority on the Second World War and the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines and former Deputy Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, died at the age of 94on Aug. 27.

IF THE TIMES were normal, the first Teatro Europa — a festival featuring plays from all around Europe — would have been staged by theater companies in Paco Park, Manila. With the country (and much of the world) grappling with a pandemic, such performances are not possible because of limitations on gatherings and movement. But the show must go on, and go on they will, digitally.

MORE THAN a month after being denied a franchise, network giant ABS-CBN has pivoted and shifted its focus to expanding its distribution of shows to countries in South America, Africa, and Asia.

TO CLOSE both the celebrations of the One Hundred Years of Philippine Cinema and National Language Month, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) is holding a short film competition focusing on Philippine sayings (salawikain).

A YEAR AGO, a video promoting tourism to a certain country or location would have been intended to lure people to the place — showing its amazing scenery, its friendly people, and good food. Switzerland’s most recent video includes the usual, only this time, the country is encouraging potential tourists to stay home, be safe, and travel later.

4LIFE RESEARCH Philippines, the local branch of a Utah-based direct-selling company focused on food supplements, has launched its newest product: a hydrolyzed collagen drink meant to promote healthy aging by slowing down the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

THESE ARE uncertain times with a pandemic wreaking havoc on people’s health and the country’s (and the world’s) economy, but uncertain times notwithstanding, Filipinos will do what they are best at doing: adapt and endure. The same goes for the music industry which at first was halted by one of the longest lockdowns in the world as it is an industry that thrives in front of a live audience, but it has since adapted and re-programmed to be visible digitally.

BEFORE THE COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, delivery services were slowly, but surely becoming a fixture in the retail space. When the pandemic struck, these services became a necessity instead of just an option as restrictions on movements and gathering made it nearly impossible for people to go to stores physically. And while the need for delivery options cuts across almost every retail segment, it is most apparent in food and groceries.

CANON PHILIPPINES has launched two new entries to its full-frame mirrorless camera line, the EOS R5 and R6, promising quality for those who want to “future-proof [their] creative expressions,” according to a Philippine executive.

CHINESE smartphone brand OPPO has launched two new products — their newest flagship phone, the Reno 4, and the company’s first smartwatch, which took years of development, a company representative said.

THE FIRST fully online Cinemalaya experience has surpassed its target of earning P2 million during the festival’s week-long run, a feat its festival director signaled that the “online digital future of Cinemalaya has arrived sooner than later.”

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3t9x11XaZBZgR8GJPqurky The latest official labor data showed that the jobless rate shot up to double-digits, as millions of Filipinos became unemployed. The Philippine Statistics Agency...

FIVE MONTHS into quarantine, people have more or less settled in the new normal — staying at home or working outside while taking the necessary measures to protect themselves. This also means that more people are taking self-care seriously, even if it’s just to lessen the stress of living in such a volatile world.

FILIPINA filmmakers took the majority of the awards at the 16th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival with Carla Pulido Ocampo’s Tokwifi winning Best Film.

THE country’s largest independent film festival opened its 16th installment on Aug. 6 — a fully online, short film bonanza with a collection of 30 short films, 10 of which are in the competition section.

ART GALLERY Pineapple Lab will be closing its doors at the end of August as the pandemic and subsequent technical recession claim another victim.

AFTER several years of not producing entertainment content and banking on sports and news for the network’s content, TV5 is poised for a comeback with a new setup: buying shows from producers such as APT Entertainment and having its pay TV sister channel Cignal TV block time in the network.

THE Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival opened its 16th iteration online on Aug. 6 with a main competition focused on short films instead of its usual full-length features. But with a surfeit of short film choices — 10 in the main competition and another 20 in the exhibition section — Cinemalaya remains successful as a celebration of Filipino independent filmmaking.

DURING its early days, online shopping was straightforward and uncomplicated — one would search for an item, click on it to add to the cart, pay, and wait for it to be delivered — but today, online platforms like Lazada have found that by providing entertainment within their app via games and livestreams is an effective way to engage with customers and turn their clicks into sales.

CINEMALAYA, the country’s largest independent film festival, is back for its 16th year though unlike other years where it was held in the halls...

VETERAN BROADCASTER and one-time senator Edgardo “Eddie” Ilarde died at the age of 85 due to natural causes on Aug. 4. The announcement was made by his daughter Liza Ilarde via a Facebook post on Tuesday afternoon.

THE grand prize winner of Popeyes’ online talent competition is now under fire after his winning video montage of Eraserheads songs was called out for allegedly ripping off the musical arrangement of Ang Huling El Bimbo: The Musical.

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) is holding its third outreach apprenticeship program for regional artists and cultural workers, but this time everything will be held virtually.

ABS-CBN’s failure to renew its broadcast franchise may have stopped it from showing its programs on free TV but it didn’t stop the embattled network from airing its programs online, doubling down on its online presence via Facebook and YouTube.