Pinoy fishers are back to the seas with stronger fiberglass bancas

“My father has always been a Pescador, our term for fishermen,” says Cocoy Garcia, a 38-year old fisher, as we strolled around his stilt village in Culion, Northern Palawan. “I was nine when he first took me out. We caught baskets of squid that first night, lured in by the glow of our petromax lamp.”

Two Bancas for the Philippines project beneficiaries haul up a netful of fish aboard a newly-made fiberglass boat in Busuanga, Northern Palawan. Through strong public and private sector support, the project has enabled fisherfolk to build 800 fibreglass boats across Palawan and the Visayas. 
Artisanal or small-scale fisheries employ 90% of the world’s capture fishers, providing 50% of global yields and 60% of wild-caught seafood. The Philippines has 1.3 million artisanal fishers, comprising 5% of its labour force. (Gregg Yan / WWF)

Together, Cocoy and his father fished for decades. The old Pescador taught his son the age-old skills of the sea – how to read the tide, mend nets, overhaul engines, repair boats, where to find the biggest fish.

Avengers: Age of Ultron, Cinderella, Star Wars: The Force Awakens lead Disney's 2015 movie line-up!

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Walt Disney Studios Philippines will release nine movies in 2015, led by Marvel's “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the live-action “Cinderella” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the first Star Wars installment since 2005.

Disney's opening film for the new year will be Rob Marshall's “Into the Woods,” already a December blockbuster in the U.S. and stars Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine and Emily Blunt. This humorous and heartfelt musical follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel — all tied together by an original story.

SEVENTH SON to kick-off 2015 movie blockbucters

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From Legendary Pictures, producers of “Godzilla” and “300: Rise of an Empire,” comes “Seventh Son,” the first fantasy adventure to open the New Year 2015.

Based on the book "The Spook's Apprentice" by Joseph Delaney, the film stars Jeff Bridges (“TRON: Legacy”), Ben Barnes (“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”), Alicia Vikander (“The Fifth Estate”), Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”), Olivia Williams (“The Sixth Sense”), Antje Traue (“Man of Steel”), Djimon Hounsou (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) and Julianne Moore (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1”).

Future Hunter-Gatherer interactive hologram wins the prestigious Electrolux Design Lab competition grand prize

Future Hunter-Gatherer, an educational grocery shopping experience inspired by nature, won the 2014 Electrolux Design Lab competition. The winner was selected by an expert jury in front of an audience of 150 international journalists and bloggers at the Electric Venue in Paris, France.

Pan Wang from China, a student from Central Saint Martins- University of the Arts in London, bagged the grand prize of the prestigious Design Lab competition with her design concept, the Future Hunter-Gatherer. The design projects a hologram that lets the user play a game to gather food by fishing, hunting or gathering ingredients from nature. The gathered ingredients are then communicated to and ordered from the local grocery store or market, which in turn delivers the goods to the user’s doorstep.

In line with the theme Creating Healthy Homes, the design creatively proposed solutions to healthier and more pleasant living environments for future generations. “In an educational, honest and playful way, this concept addresses issues of ecology and consumer awareness related to the food supply chain in an urban society,” said Lars Erikson, Senior Vice President Design at Electrolux and Head of Jury.

KakaoTalk offers more privacy and chat options

Daum Kakao (co-CEOs Saehoon Choi and Sirgoo Lee) introduced Secret Chat mode and Decline Invites features for KakaoTalk, adding even greater privacy and protection to the popular mobile messaging platform. Available upon updating to the newest version of KakaoTalk, the new features provide users with increased options on how communications are carried out – and with whom – resulting in a more satisfying chatting experience.

[With Secret Chat, Users Offered a Higher Standard of Privacy]

Secret Chat mode is a new type of chatroom that employs end-to-end encryption on all messages exchanged within the chatroom. Secret Chat ensures heightened confidentiality of user conversations by providing end-to-end encryption, where the decryption key for chat messages is stored in the user's device making the messages only readable by the users involved in the conversation. Since the decryption key is stored only in the device, other parties cannot access conversations through any outside point—even through servers.

20th Century Fox unveils 2015 movie line-up!

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20th Century Fox, avant-garde studio behind  breakthrough concepts in filmmaking such as the immersive 3D technology in “Avatar,” the better-than-ever sequels of franchise films such as “Ice Age” and superheroes such as “X-Men” films, non-stop heart-pounding action flicks and phenomenal book-to-film adaptations of “The Fault In Our Stars,”   “Life of Pi” and “Maze Runner” welcomes 2015 with unforgettable and highly-entertaining movies poised to set new box-office records.  

Ben Stiller and the his magical friends and new ones are back  in the third and final instalment of “Night at the Museum” franchise, “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.” The adventure begins when Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) discovers that the iconic historical heroes, seems to be out of control – fighting, brandishing guns and causing chaos at the Museum of Natural History, where Larry runs the extraordinary ‘Night Program’ and must find a way to keep the magic alive.

Catch Feng Shui 2 in SM Lifestyle's XD-4D Cinema in SM Mall of Asia!

The newest addition to SM Cinema Mall of Asia’s Specialized Theatres – the XD: 4D Cinema is a new 4D experience with enormous in-theatre effects including snow, wind, water, scent, fog and strobe/lightings. It also has seat impactors, motion seats, seat vibrators and even a leg tickler to add a breathtaking fourth dimension experience.

In this year’s upcoming 40th Metro Manila Film Festival, Star Cinema, in partnership with SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc. will feature its official entry and Feng Shui, at the XD: 4D Cinema in Mall of Asia. Feng Shui, to be shown on December 25, 2014, will be the first Filipino movie rendered in 4D.

Have your ultimate movie experience in XD-4D Cinema!

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SM Lifestyle Entertainment Incorporated (SMLEI) introduces the newest addition to SM Cinema Mall of Asia’s Specialized Theatres – the XD 4D Cinema!

This is a new 4D experience with enormous in-theatre effects including Snow, Wind, Water, Smell, Fog and Strobe/Lightings. It also has Leg Tickler, Motion Seats, Seat Vibrators and Seat Impactors to add a breathtaking fourth dimension experience.

Presenting the characters of Disney's CINDERELLA

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Walt Disney Studios has rolled out three new character posters for “Cinderella” featuring Ella and the Prince (Lily James, Richard Madden), the Wicked Stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and the Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter).

A live-action feature inspired by the classic fairy tale, “Cinderella” brings to life the timeless images from Disney’s 1950 animated masterpiece as fully-realized characters in a visually-dazzling spectacle for a whole new generation.

SPONGEBOB: SPONGE OUT OF WATER releases character posters

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Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies have just shared the character posters of the comedy adventure “SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water.”

 The upcoming sequel takes the animated characters into the live-action realm and turns them into superheroes, and these posters provide the names of their alter-egos: SpongeBob is Invincibubble, Patrick is Mr. Superawesomeness, Squidward is Sour Note, Mr. Krabs is Sir Pinch-A-Lot and Plankton is, well, Plank-Ton.

Producers announce 24th James Bond movie SPECTRE

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James Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli today announced the title of the 24th James Bond adventure, “Spectre.”

The film, from Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, is directed by Sam Mendes and stars Daniel Craig, who returns for his fourth film as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007.

St. Paul University is the 100th EMC Academic Alliance (EAA) Partner in the Philippines

ACTION & EVENT-URE:

EMC announced its landmark 100th EMC Academic Alliance (EAA) partner in the Philippines - St. Paul University.

St. Paul University has joined the EMC Academic Alliance (EAA) program to offer courses in leading areas of technology including Information Storage & Management, Cloud Computing, Data Science & Big Data Analytics and Backup & Recovery Services to engineering graduates.

KakaoTalk now available on Windows Phone 8.1 -- Newest version defined for optimal experience

KakaoTalk, Korea’s No. 1 mobile chat application, is now available for Windows Phone 8.1!  Developed specifically for Microsoft’s latest mobile OS, the new version of KakaoTalk offers a seamless and responsive user experience.

KakaoTalk for Windows 8.1 features a number of key improvements, including a fully revamped UI design. Key features such as free 1:1 and group chats, multimedia file sharing, automatic friend list, as well as emoticons and stickers were streamlined for better performance. New features include the option to pin preferred chatrooms at the top of the screen and new file sharing options that allow users to send multiple images at once and even transfer document files for added productivity.

Benedict Cumberbatch is Marvel's DOCTOR STRANGE!

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Benedict Cumberbatch has entered the world of the mystic arts.

The actor will star in Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” scheduled to hit theaters November 4, 2016 (including the Philippines). The film, directed by Scott Derrickson with Jon Spaihts writing the screenplay, will follow the story of neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.

foydi's Catch 38 - Brown Christmas

Like many of you, Christmas is also the most wonderful time of the year for me.  The moment the calendar hits the 1st of September, I can't help but get excited with the coming of the holiday season. I bet you've heard many times that the Philippines has the longest Christmas season or celebration in the world as we start it at the on-set of the ber months (September 1) up to the second week of January the following year (the week of 3 Kings celebration).

But what I particularly like about our Christmas celebration is that we were able to put  local color to something that is shared by the west.  So just like US army jeeps turned into the festive Philippine jeepney, western outfits turned into elegant but cool Barong Tagalog and Baro’t Saya, and ceremonial feasts of saints transformed to colorful fiestas, we were able to tweak White Christmas to Brown Christmas!

Join the Final Journey to Middle Earth in THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (Opens Dec. 12 in theaters and IMAX)

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New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures' “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” represents the culmination of director/co-writer/producer Peter Jackson’s 16-year journey to bring to life the richly layered universe of Middle-earth conjured nearly a century ago by J.R.R. Tolkien in his literary masterworks The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again was first published in 1937, having emerged from the revered author, poet, university professor and philologist’s imagination as bedtime stories for his children. In the 17 years that followed, Tolkien continued to develop, expand and enrich the complex mythology of Middle-earth to produce its sprawling, apocalyptic conclusion, The Lord of the Rings. Collectively, the author’s towering modern myth has had a seismic impact on world culture, becoming among the best-selling novels ever written, and sparking the imaginations of generations of readers all over the world.

Welcome 2015 with NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 3: SECRET OF THE TOMB (Opens Jan. 8)

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Gear up for 2015’s wildest adventure opener for the whole family with the world’s greatest of comic talents led by  Ben Stiller along with (the late) Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais, Ben Kingsley, and Rebel Wilson in “Night at the Museum 3: Secret of the Tomb” with Shawn Levy once again at the helm, producing and directing a pantheon of comic talent.

More than thrice the fun, adventure and thrills in the latest installment of one of the world’s most successful film franchise, Stiller reprises his role as Larry Daley,  a museum guard who travels the globe, , uniting favorite and new characters and embarking on an epic quest to save the magic before it is gone forever.

Fall in love this December with PLAYING IT COOL (Opens Dec. 17)

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In today’s status driven world, “Playing It Cool” comes at the most opportune of time with a very simple, classic yet relatable theme on love – Chris Evans plays a writer, disillusioned by love, was suddenly tasked by his publisher to write a rom-com novel.  Not only does it hamper his next book’s publication, but for one who has been avoiding commitments for so long, he’s even more surprised to realize that he’s falling head over heels to someone (Michelle Monaghan) who  is already engaged.

This generation’s signature story, “Playing It Cool,” written by Chris Schafer and Paul Vicknair have penned a story that will move audiences around the world – a material so cinematic that it demands to be translated into film.