GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS. Iloilo City in the Philippines now holds the record for the most number of sky lanterns flown simultaneously, besting the previous record set by Romania at 12,740. Ilonggos on Friday evening lit their way into a new world record. Seyda Subasi-Gemici, Guinness official representative, said thousands of participants flew 15,185 sky lanterns at the football field of the University of the Philippines Visayas in Miag-ao town in Iloilo.

HON KONG. The 54-foot-tall inflatable bird that made the harbor its home earlier this month has returned in all of its bright yellow glory. An image posted to the Harbour City Facebook page as well as Twitter is proof that the duck is finally back in the water.
//Fans of the rubber specimen will probably never forget how the sculpture, imagined by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, abruptly deflated just over one week ago, disappointing throngs of duck disciples across the world as it went into hibernation for maintenance. The sad image of the flattened artwork bobbing in the Hong Kong waters is likely engrained in our minds forever.

The songs of George Harrison with the Beatles span the diametrical themes of materialism and mysticism, only to realize that life in a physical world revolves and reverses from cash to caring.

As the reluctant third songwriter for the Beatles, Harrison composed “Don’t Bother Me” while bedridden in a Bournemouth hotel states the writer’s book, The Beatles: Extraordinary Plagiarists: “Bill Harry, founder and editor of the Liverpool paper called Merseybeat, insisted that he write a song, to which he answered by telling the editor not to bother him. He had the motive for a song, his first which the Beatles recorded for Please Please Me album. He did not have a high regard for its quality, but he thought it was a good initial attempt that placed him in the league of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”

After managing to compose “I Need You” and “You Like Me Too Much,” getting his songs recorded by the Beatles continued to be a problem for him. He could only squeeze in a maximum of two songs per album. Beyond that, Lennon and McCartney were against it. Besides reducing the number of Lennon-McCartney songs per album, Harrison had not mastered the art of rehashing. Lennon and McCartney found the songs Harrison presented as too derivative. Having turned pros in the art and having a wide knowledge of popular and non-mainstream songs, they found it easy to identify the origin of a Harrison composition. This held him back from being more productive as a songwriter.

Like Lennon and McCartney, Bob Dylan influenced Harrison in “Think for Yourself,” a protest song that proclaims one should not trust the government but only oneself, Harrison’s warning against listening to lies. It is a fine example of the “thinking songs” that characterize this album. The word “think” in the title indicates a major shift from the romantic ideals of Beatles songs until thi...Read post

GERALD ANDERSON and RAYVER CRUZ. These best buddies of Star Magic are having a great time seeing the sights in Cannes, France. Gerald is attending the Cannes Film Festival in connection with his lead starrer, Erik Matti’s On The Job, that will screen in the Director’s Fortnight. Instead of bringing girlfriend Maja Salvador, Rayver who has no business to be there accompanied him. So its photo- op galore for the two of them. TODO! ENTERTAINMENT wonders if Piolo Pascual, who flew in to Cannes several days late, will join them in the sightseeing as he’s there too to attend On The Job’s world premiere.

MR AND MS CHINATOWN PHILIPPINES. With the addition of this search for most good-looking and the smartest young Filipino-Chinese, ABS-CBN is now the country’s Beauty Pageant network as the official partner of three or four big international beauty pageants (Binibining Pilipinas-Universe, Binibining Pilipinas-International, and Miss Earth Philippines) and their worldwide counterparts.

Mr. and Ms Chinatown Philippines candidates were presented to the media by Alexis Sy Go, former beauty queen and pageant director on May 21 at the Royale Sharksfin Seafood Restaurant in Binondo, Manila. Members of the executive board Wilson Agbayani and Tony Lim were present with Lingit Tan of ABS-CBN, the pageant’s network partner.

The nationwide search aims to enrich the culture of the Filipino-Chinese communities not only in the Philippines but around world. Winners will serve as Ambassador and Ambassadress who will receive P500,000 while the runner-ups, P200,000.

Alexis emphasized the importance of the Fil-Chinese event as part of Filipino culture, “The pageant was conceptualized to serve as a unifying event for Fil-Chinese communities. It aims to redefine Fil-Chinese beauty and pave the way for better business relations and realize cultural & artistic goals.”

To emphasize the rich Fil-Chinese tradition, days leading to the Grand Coronation Night will be filled with various activities highlighting the glorious past of Fil-Chinese communities. To be be held on June 30 at Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World, it will be telecast live on ABS-CBN.

Proceeds will go to the Miss Chinatown Philippines Foundation, the pageant organizer.

WILLIE REVILLAME . As buzzblasted by TODO! ENTERTAINMENT yesterday, the Wowowillie host/producer announced that he had filed a letter of resignation with Manny V. Pangilinan who had accepted it. With his intention to finish off the three-year contract with the Kapatid network up to October 15, 2013, Wowowillie will broadcast up to October 12, 2013 only.

Peachy Guioguio of the TV5 corporate communications department emailed this official statement to TODO! ENTERTAINMENT: "We respect the decision of Mr. Willie Revillame to retire upon the expiry of his contract with TV5. We wish him well in his new pursuits."

On the other hand, Willie has hinted that he will possibly appear on another show in the future after taking a well-deserved vacation without suggesting that TV5 is one of his options.

This is sad development as it is well-known that Willie is happy working for TV5. He has brought the Kapatid network a solid audience base that none of its past and present shows ever did. And his show is a live Monday-to-Saturday format that gives special attention to the country’s marginalized population including the elderly, the physically challenged and abused women.

One of the reasons forwarded for this drastic development is the reported low television ratings of Wowowillie. What cannot be reconciled is how such figures do not jibe with Wowowillie’s ability to fill its 1,000-capacity Wowowillie Studio. The same could be said of Talentadong Pinoy and Face to Face which are both videotaped shows with a small audience.

It will be a monster loss to TV5 if it loses Willie as he is only its audience drawer. Unfortunately, not even Nora Aunor, Megastar Sharon Cuneta, Aga Muhlach and alleged big catch Derek Ramsay were able to do or is expected to the same. The split appears like a bad business decision untypical of forward...Read post

(NOTE: Here’s an admission from the creator of Time’s “stupid” story.)

May 14, 2013

Ha,ha,ha. At initial glance, I too, was almost fooled, that this article was real. Then, I asked myself, how can even Time Magazine be faster on the draw than G.W. Bush? Further reading revealed that it must be a hoax, a clever use of irony and sarcasm, to protest the outcome of the recent Philippine Election circus.

This article, as I said in the foreword to my original posting, is a SATIRE. Meaning it's a JOKE...a tongue- "instik" (tongue-in-cheek).

So, this is never going to be published. At least, not by Time Magazine. Although, this is all over the internet, and a number of people think it's true. Like Orson Welles, when he was still a radio announcer before WWII; and he did a broadcast announcing that earth was being invaded by aliens from Mars. Historical reports say that most Americans, as well as Brits believed the hoax, and there was widespread PANIC. People then, thought it was the end of the world.

As a side note, personally, Nancy Binay (now senator of the Philippine Republic) should not be blamed. It is the voters who voted for her who should be called to task, if ever she does not perform to the traditionally very high standards, of this once august and highly respected sector of the Philippine Legislature. I don't think most, even those who voted for Nancy Binay, will deny the fact that they voted her senator, because of VP Jojomar Binay's intimate personal endorsement. The fact however is, SHE WAS ELECTED, not crowned by virtue of a Divine right.

Although her father is beset by prevalent rumors of instances of official malfeasance and is disdained by some sectors as excessively ambitious and opportunistic, politically; he seems very acceptable to his growing number and variety of constituencies. He st...Read post

GEORCELLE DAPAT-SY . Is the creative dynamo og G-Force, one of the country’s most sought-after dance companies today, performs regularly in ABS CBN’s ASAP every Sunday, and in other major TV shows. Teacher Georcelle, as she is fondly called by G-Force members, is grateful and elated by the success—though this means, of course, more hours at work and less time at home.

As dances her way through life, she spends most of her time in the studio or on the dance floor, teaching and training young men and women in the G-Force. Her hectic and often unpredictable schedule is one of the challenges regularly faced by Georcelle, who has three beautiful kids aged 12, 8 and 3. Good thing about it, Georcelle can partly do her work at home.

As with her students in G-Force, she teaches her kids the importance of passion in order to excel in their endeavors. Passion is certainly one of the main driving forces behind her own success.

“It can be difficult,” she admits, when asked about how she is able to switch between two very demanding roles. She works almost seven days a week, with the nature of her job requiring her to work on weekends, unlike most moms with regular jobs. “Every day is a challenge. One of the things I do is to devote set times entirely to each activity: when I’m working, I just work. When I’m at home with my family, I leave work behind. I devote my whole attention to what I’m doing at any given moment.”

The Sy family does plenty of things together. Dancing is, of course, a shoo-in in their list of activities, and this summer they’ve taken up swimming and soccer. They also enjoy watching movies at home, where a strong internet connection plays an essential part.

Georcelle is fortunate to have plenty of help—most importantly from her husband Angel who manages G-Force. “It’s very important for me to have a p...Read post