Help for Typhoon Sendong Victims

As you may have probably heard, flash floods has killed 133 Filipinos in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro this morning and more than 200 are still missing. Local organizations are requesting for help in cash and kind. 

Hoping for your kind generosity.

Thanks,

Aileen

Here's how you can help:

Philippine Red Cross

Cash or Check Donations

Account Name: Philippine Red Cross

Bank Name: Banco De Oro

Peso Account: 453-0018647

Type of Account: Savings

SMS Donations

Text RED<space>AMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4143 (Smart)

Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshops

Make a donation at any of the 1,500 Cebuana Lhuillier pawnshops nationwide.

In kind, through ABS-CBN

 SAGIP KAPAMILYA ABS-CBN Foundation Inc. Mother Ignacia cor. Eugenio Lopez St. Diliman, QC

Directly send through Iligan through the Iligan Bloggers Society (they are my friends)

One For Iligan

Donate $1 for the ILIGAN FLOOD VICTIMS OF TYPHOON SENDONG DONATIONS: Paypal ID: singcol.inquisitor@gmail.com BDO Account: Revilla N. Carbonell-Noel - 109451077611 Maayong Iligan in this season of giving. Iligan Bloggers Society, Inc. is humbly requesting your generous help for the victims Bagyong Sendong of Iligan City. Iligan Bloggers Society, Inc. is accepting donations in kind for the victims of Typhoon Sendong in the city. We encourage the following items for donations: canned goods, noodles, bath and laundry soaps, toothpaste, rice, used clothings, slippers, and cash donations. SENDONG DONATION DROP You can contact the following point persons for your donations and other inquiries. ILIGAN BLOGGERS SOCIETY, Inc. SITE: http//:iliganbloggers.com EMAIL: iliganbloggers@gmail.com FB Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/iliganbloggers LISA (LAI) MARIE MIRASOL | Pinay Travelista, @pinaytravelista (IBS, Inc. Web Content Manager) http://www.pinaytravelista.com/ 09062558863; (+63) 222-2117 ALEXANDER SINGCOL | iligan Inquisitor, @lexuzinquisitor (IBS, Inc Board of Trustee Member) http://theiliganinquisitor.blogspot.com/ 09053117925, (+63) 8360272 REVILLA CARBONELL-NOEL | Adventures in Life (IBS, Inc Board of Trustee Member) 092193209944, 09427009788 For more Updates on Iligan City status after Typhoon Sendong: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rmn-dxic-iligan

Musee D'Orsay Paris

I have not been really doing any sight-seeing in Singapore since I want to experience seeing more of Singapore with my family when they visit. I grabbed the chance to see the Musee D'Orsay Paris exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore during our company's holiday party. I just looked at the paintings in awe most especially since I only encountered the paintings of masters like Henri Rousseau, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Goh and many more in books when I was still in school.

Photos of the masterpieces does not do any justice to their artwork. I can probably spend hours wandering around the gallery admiring the paintings. I must have been absent when God showered people with artistic talents. I cannot draw and I really have high regard for people who can. Anyway, I was really ecstatic to have the chance to see works of the masters. Here's a few of the paintings I really liked.

More photos here.

The exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore is open until February 5, 2012.

Movie Review: No Other Woman

I'm still up coz I just finished watching "No Other Woman". This is one must watch Filipino movie. I should've watched this on the big screen when it came out, but I was terribly busy that time. Anyway, I shelled out 3x more than what it would've cost had I watched it back in Manila, but it was worth it!

 

This movie was a big hit in the Philippines. Adultery isn't a common movie topic and I was really curious at the ending (I'm not going to spoil it for you in case you have not watched it). I must say that this very delicate topic was well-played out in the movie. Both sides were shown, the grief-stricken wife vs. the seductive mistress. I loved how the writer played with words - one sample is the mother-daughter dialogue and watch out for the wife vs. mistress scenes. It was very Filipino and I'm sure it resonated well with those who could relate to the characters.

Casting for this movie was also superb. Anne Curtis has proven once again that she has evolved into a serious actress and Christine Reyes' play as the wife was believable. And Derek, wow, the abs! Oh sorry, I liked his acting too. I also hope to see more of Carmi Martin in more movies. I was hoping though that they would've picked a more appropriate song although I guess it's quite hard to find a song other than "Hiram" to measure up.

You can watch this movie via TFC Now, but it's available only until December 4. I heard though that it's out on DVD already (not sure if those have subtitles, I'll ask).

Watch. Be Happy. And Weep.

Why is it we are moved to tears when we are happy?

Watch. Be happy. And weep.



Tears welled up in my eyes half-way through the video, which was a bummer since I was at work when I took a break to watch this video which has gone viral on G+, Twitter and Plurk. I hurriedly wiped away my tears when they started to trickle down and I had to pause the video so I could compose myself (my seatmate would've probably asked why I was crying!).

Anyway, I guess the video moved me to tears because I am now an OFW too. It's really hard to be far away from your family and all you can do is hope and pray everyday that everything is doing well back at home. I'm still lucky though coz I think I can manage to go home monthly (crossing my fingers) so I could be with my family. I could not help but cry for the others working abroad who could not visit their family as often.

Dear Coca-Cola, you made me cry with this video!

BlogFest Soccsksargen, Experiencing the Funnest Bloggers in Mindanao

It seems just like yesterday when I joined DigitalFilipino's Women in Web, Wireless and Outsourcing roadshow in 2006. It was a trip where we went to Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Cebu to talk about what businesses could do on the internet. It was during that trip that I met with the Davao internet community, organized by Andrew. I was still finding my way around my job back then so I just made a suggestion that they come together as a community. They did and that community has grown throughout Mindanao.

I'm really happy that the local internet community in Mindanao thrived and flourished and I try to come and attend their events whenever they send me an invitation. And this year I was invited again to speak at the BlogFest Soccskargen. I thought I would not be able to go in person and was just planning to join them via Google Hangout, so I surprised them and told Avel that I was flying in.

True enough, the Sox Bloggers, known to be the funnest bloggers in Mindanao, put together 2 awesome events. BlogFest Soccskargen had a line-up of bigatin speakers. I hope I was able to convey a couple of opportunities for the Mindanao bloggers through my talk.

In the evening, I got to attend the Philippine Blog Awards - Mindanao leg. The ceremonies outside of the awards night in Manila are usually straightforward. We all got a big surprise though when Donna, the host, introduced each award category in the most fashionable and entertaining manner. Everyone in the room was laughing and I must say that the fatigue I was feeling was wiped away (I was already up at 3 in the morning so I could make it to the 5 am flight).

Well, I'd like to make a correction to the Sox Bloggers slogan (if I may) because they are the funnest bloggers in the Philippines!



Congratulations Sox Bloggers, especially to Avel and Orman, for another very successful event!  (I hope someone would upload Donna's fabulous performance!).

Hello Mr. Bird

I was surprised to see a bird hang out outside of my window yesterday morning while I was having breakfast. It sat there for awhile that's why I was able to sneak up and take a photo. In Manila I am always awakened by birds chirping on the window beside our bed. They like hanging out there too. 

At the DevFest Singapore

Today was my first time to attend a Devfest outside of Manila! As usual the talks were awesome! I loved the demos especially for HTML5 and the samples Amanda showed for YouTube. I'm not a developer, but I'm certainly looking forward to new apps/sites that would utilize all the fabulous technologies the Google developer advocates presented today.

Photos from the awesome day!

If you are a Filipino developer based in Singapore you might want to join the Google Developer Group Philippines - Singapore chapter! They're planning a fun meet-up next weekend!