After the Good Housekeeping Family Fun Run, we’ll head straight to Red Box Eastwood for Bactidol’s event, The 12-Hour Sing-a-thon! This is going to be fun. 21 groups of 10 people each will sing for 12 hours non-stop! We’re also hosting this event so we’re really stoked. See you guys there as well!
Events
We’re hosting this tomorrow! And if it isn’t raining, I’ll bring along my dog Siam to co-host with Delle and I. I’m especially excited about the dog and human category, because I want to see all the different types of dogs running with their humans. Hope to see you guys there!
Happy end of the world celebration: The Axe 2012 Way
The World Trade Center in Pasay recently transformed into the hottest party destination as AXE 2012: The Final Edition set heartbeats racing towards a pleasurable end of the world at the Halloween Cream Ball ¾the ultimate venue for hottie-collecting from dusk ‘til dawn.
AXE turned male guests from being on the prowl for hot girls to those being hunted as AXE girls sprayed them with the fragrance at the entrance of the venue. With its cool citrus scent blended with metallic notes and sensual woods, AXE 2012 rendered the ladies powerless over the alpha male appeal of the testosterone-driven party goers.
Celebrating a happy end of the world through trailblazing beats, the party organized by Big Fish Manila, featured a phenomenal line-up of music masters oozing with Axe confidence, including DJs MC Lavoce, John Paul Lee, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Dutch trance duo W&W and UK newcomer Ashley Wallbridge.
AXE also rewarded men and women who unleashed their wildest fantasies as the winners of the Best Pair Costume award took home two brand new iPads.
The party was punctuated by an electrifying stage performance from sexy female dancers who pumped up the mood.
Armed with AXE 2012: The Final Edition, there’s no stopping guys everywhere from fulfilling their deepest desires and wildest wishes¾not even the end of the world. So spray on the sexy and face the apocalypse head on with AXE 2012 – your only hope for a pleasurable survival before the end of the world.
AXE 2012: The Final Edition is available in leading supermarkets, department stores, and drugstores nationwide.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
Sexy ladies keep guests’ adrenaline levels going during the AXE 2012: Final Edition launch.
Vivacious vixens in all their costumed glory strike a pose at the AXE booth before giving their guy-hunting activities a go.
AXE unleashes guests’ inner party animals till the wee hours of the morning at the Halloween Cream Ball.
Warm-blooded dudes looking to score before the end of the world are off to a good start at the AXE booth.
Female dancers rev up the crowd with their tantalizing moves during the AXE 2012: Final Edition launch.
Male guests spray on the sexy with the AXE 2012 fragrance at the AXE booth.
Surviving the end of the world is a pleasure with AXE 2012: The Final Edition.
I will be hosting the Good Housekeeping Family Fun Run 2011 tomorrow, April 3, 2011 at the Manila Ocean Park! Actually, when we had our pool party yesterday at Liquid bar, I already saw the preparations underway for the Fun Run, so it got me stoked on the hosting tomorrow. As you can on the poster, it’s got a 300 meter dash for kids, a 1k run for a human-dog pair (this is my favorite!), a 3k and a 5k run. So I’ll be busy hosting these different categories, and call time for everyone is 5:30am! I really hope to see you guys there. Even if you guys don’t join in, hope you could drop by to see watch all the fun. Now here’s the thing: what’s EXTRA special about this hosting, is that I have a SPECIAL co-host for tomorrow:
Yup, Cairo, my Yorkshire Terrier, will be co-hosting the event with me and hopefully he’ll be helping me out with our canine guests. And to those bringing dogs, let’s not forget to bring our stuff (tissue, plastic, etc.) for picking up after our companions’ inevitable “accidents”. I usually bring tissue and sandwich bags for my babies’ #1 and #2.
Hope to see you guys tomorrow!
This coming Sunday, me and my Yorkie, Cairo, will be at Bonifacio High Street (in front of Hobbes and Landes) for Dog Wash Weekend. I’ll be doing some hosting duties around 3pm, then Cairo will be washed and groomed as well. Then, we’ll have our picture taken, after he’s all cleaned and groomed. I heard fellow RX jock Gelli Victor and her Pomeranian, Colette will also be there. So I’d like to extend the invitation to you all in case you’d like to join us. We’ll be there by 3pm, but the event is a whole day thing, starting at 10am and ending at 6pm. If you’re an animal lover, you’d might want to have your dog groomed. Or if you’re pet-less, you might want to just look at some amazing dogs who would probably be there with their humans.
Why join us when you can just bring your dog to your regular groomer? The money you’ll pay for services rendered will go to a good cause. Proceeds will be donated to Animal Kingdom Foundation in their efforts of rescuing and rehabilitating dogs bound for the slaughterhouse. As described in their website, “AKF’s mission is to support, protect and promote welfare and the rights of animals; to eliminate the practice of illegal slaughter of dogs for human consumption and to introduce legislations or amendments in the existing animal-welfare laws of the Philippines.” If you have pets you love like your own family, or any person with a modicum of love for animals will surely be disgusted at what people still do to dogs in this day and age.
Please learn more, check out their website: Animal Kingdom Foundation.
So if you’re free on Sunday, do try to check it out! Even if you’re not inclined to be a freedom fighter for animals, you might enjoy even just being around all those wonderful dogs. I also heard that the day before, Saturday, May 22, CARA Welfare Phils will be having an adoption booth for rescued animals also at Bonifacio High Street, at the same location opposite Hobbes & Landes, 4pm – 9pm. You might also want to check that one out. I know I will!
Check out CARA’s website as well: CARA Welfare Phils.
We were fortunate enough to have been chosen by Greenwich to host their first Grand Gig, which is a band competition of 8 bands from 6 schools in the Manila area. The eventual winner was Under The Stairs from the Philippine Christian University. The gig happened in SM City Manila last Friday, when the storm was in full effect and traffic was horrible. It took us more than 2 hours to get to the venue. Not to mention I was feeling ill since that morning. But we eventually made it, and the show must go on. Each band gave it their all, but in the end, only one took home the prize. Everyone had a treat as well when Calla Lily showed everyone how it’s done.
Of course, aside from the competition, the event boiled down to one of the biggest male stars today, Greenwich’s star endorser, John Lloyd Cruz. From backstage, we knew he had arrived when the walls practically shuddered with the shrieks of his fans, reaching a crescendo, from a mild buzz to a fever pitch that heralded the arrival of the star. Everyone was like, “Nandiyan na…” Hahaha, I swear, how people reacted to his arrival! So when we finally called him onstage, it was pandemonium.
Of course Delle and I were starstruck as well, this being the first time we ever met the young actor. Plus we had that brush of a meeting with him when we spoke to him on the phone for an earlier Greenwich event, where he professed to have always listened to us before. So it was really nice to finally meet him.
And when Delle pinched him to see if he was real, he said maybe he should pinch us to see if we were real. And Delle suddenly fell into a flop sweat the moment John Lloyd got on stage, so much that John Lloyd offered to wipe some of it off (yihee!).
He was really cool. And nothing seemed to faze him. Earlier, when we were talking to Lloyd Zaragoza, “Bruno” in the Greenwich Gang commercials, we asked him about his “tender” scene with John Lloyd, when they were rolling around in the grass in a tight embrace. We asked him how it felt hugging John Lloyd, and he replied, “Malambot.” So when we asked John Lloyd what he had to say about that, without skipping a beat, he said, “Mabuti nang malambot kesa matigas,” drawing hearty laughs from the crowd.
Talking to the guy and seeing the crowd’s reaction to him, it’s easy to see why he’s probably the Aga Muhlach of his generation, someone who was able to go beyond the teeny bopper mold and evolve into riskier heavier roles like his latest film, which he also plugged, “In My Life” with Vilma Santos.
There was also a cute part where we dared one of the raffle winners to stare at John Lloyd for 3 seconds without flinching, and of course he made it so hard for her by cupping her face with his hands as he stared intently into her eyes. She practically exploded.
Definitely an actor to watch for in the future. It was quite a treat to have worked with him. Even as he left after the gig, surrounded by guards, he was practically mobbed trying to get out of the mall. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Good thing he had bouncers the size of refs to keep the admiring fans from clawing at him. Wild.
Again, thank you to Greenwich for the chance to work with them again: to Luis (Happy Birthday!!!), to Francis, to Michelle, and everyone who was part of the event. Hope to work with you guys again soon. And super thanks to Alpha for taking my camera and shooting our pics with John Lloyd!
When we got the invitation from U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney inviting us to a dinner party on board the USS George Washington, we were thrilled to accept. Then, a couple of days before the dinner, we got word that they were also inviting us to a tour (which I posted about already) the day before the dinner. So Wednesday, we did the tour, and then Thursday, the dinner. Unfortunately, Delle got sick after the tiring tour and was already sick the next day, too ill to join the dinner. So I just went with our station manager, Divine Dolina, for the perfect way to cap off the whole aircraft carrier experience.
This time around, instead of in the morning, we were in Mall of Asia by 5pm. On our way to the carrier, we passed by the two Destroyers that accompanied the USS George Washington, the USS Cowpense and the USS Fitzgerald. They’re the first line of defense, so carriers are always accompanied by destroyers, usually two.
Also, this time, I was able to take a photo of the carrier from the side, something I failed to do the day before because of the angle with which the ferry approached the carrier. This time, the angle was perfect!
Even if I was just there the day before, the sight of it really still gave me goosebumps. It had a very King Kong feel, this behemoth that comes into view slowly from the misty horizon. I can’t help romanticizing it because even as a child I was fascinated by aircraft carriers. I even had all the carriers at the time memorized! As we got closer, eventually we took the same angle to dock at the carrier’s rear.
Same thing as yesterday, only this time, all the officers were wearing their dress whites and everything is a little bit formal, although the invite stated the attire as “smart casual”. Yet, despite the advisory on wearing comfy clothes and shoes, many still came in gowns and suits and barongs.
Plus, our path that night was paved with red carpets wherever we went. I felt like a delegate to the United Nations or something!
It was a bit disconcerting having all those soldiers saluting and greeting you wherever you went. Surreal!
We were greeted at the entrance by the U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney. As always, she was so warm in welcoming us and she told us she heard great things about the live feeds we did the day before. She was so appreciative, that we had to remind her that it was we, who felt quite lucky to have had the opportunity.
We also got to meet a lot of people, mostly officers of the U.S Navy, they were very much willing to engage you in conversations, soliciting any questions that the guests might have. But I was thrilled to have met one of the most popular people in the Philippines right now, or maybe even the world, the “Pambansang Kamao”, Manny Pacquiao!
Talk about starstruck!!! Wow, that guy is larger than life. He was mobbed by fans, especially the American officers! And he was so gracious, patiently shaking hands and posing and smiling for the cameras, even if he had little time to do anything else. We also got to meet Charice Pempengco, who sang a song for the crowd.
There was also a ceremony where some soldiers presented the flags in a dramatic ritual that silenced the crowd. Then after, the national anthems of both countries were played.
After the program, the guests got to go to the flight deck via the aircraft elevator. But more on that later. When we got up, only a smaller portion of the flight deck was cordoned off, unlike the day before when we got to go everywhere.
I got to talk to another pilot, Chris Moran, who flew on the Hawkeye, and I cracked the lamest joke I could deliver to a pilot. I said, “So Chris, your last name is Moran? So…do you fly a bomber?” Get it? Bomber Moran? Obviously, I realized he wouldn’t know who Bomber Moran was, the moment the punchline left my mouth. I know, pathetic. Crashed and burned. Sank like a rock.
Then, I had to go to the toilet. The entire 6 hours we were on board the day before, we never got to go to the bathroom. So I was really curious about how toilets on aircraft carriers looked like. I asked around, and they pointed me to a dark corner in one nook on the ship:
The sentry then guided me into the metal door, and down a couple of stairs and down some corridors before we finally got to the industrial-looking toilet. It was no luxurious hotel bathroom, but it serves its purpose. Just for your curiosity:
Now we come to what for me was the highlight of the evening. Like I described earlier, guests were ferried from the hangar to the flight deck and back via the elevator they use in transporting planes up and down the ship. It’s large enough to fit two F-18’s at a time. Chris Moran said that we were REALLY lucky because even he, a longtime pilot on aircraft carriers, has never ridden on those elevators. No wonder even the military men seemed excited. I tried to take pictures of the elevator, but it was so big that no angle sufficed to capture the moment. So instead, I took a video. Here’s one that showed, from my vantage point, how it was going from the flight deck down to the hangar. Incredible.
Wow, so there you go, an experience I won’t soon forget. Two days on board an aircraft carrier. Words and pictures just aren’t enough to even approximate actually being there. Grateful is the word that comes to mind when looking back. I could never thank enough the U.S. Embassy and Ambassador Kenney for the opportunity. Hopefully, against all odds, this won’t be the last time I’ll be on board an aircraft carrier. I get melancholic just talking about it. 🙂
As always, through the gracious invitation of the U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney, we were given the opportunity to tour and do live feeds from the U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington (CVN-73). It was a once in a lifetime experience since the last time an aircraft carrier was in the Philippines was 13 years ago, in 1996. Plus, the visits are always by invitation, because they don’t do open houses, not even in the U.S. So by the time we got to the Mall Of Asia, we were stoked. We got on board a ferry that will bring us 5 miles off shore to where the carrier is. It’s far enough that you can’t even see it’s outline from the MOA. We were entrusted to the media officer, Tanner Lang, who served as our guide until we got to the USS GW.
He was very gracious, even debuting his acting skills on a TV morning show, bantering with a puppet. He said he was more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. He was very willing to answer whatever question we had, trying to entertain us and crews from both ABS-CBN and GMA. Then after a 30-minute ride, we were told to take a peek outside because we were approaching the star of the show.
I had goosebumps, really, seeing it even from afar. It was like seeing a Hollywood celebrity. I only get to see this on TV or in the movies. It’s not my first encounter with aircraft carriers. My uncle was in the U.S. navy, and one time when we were in Subic (when it was still a base), the USS Kitty Hawk was also open to the families of the U.S. military. But I was so young then. This was different. Plus, we were given access to areas few civilians have had the privilege to visit.
The ferry docked by a floating barge near the butt end of the carrier. It was much bigger than any of us had imagined! We weren’t prepared for the sheer size of that thing! It was like a floating building. When on board, it felt so stable that you wouldn’t even know you were afloat; no rocking whatsoever. Our first stop was the hangar.
This is where they usually house the planes. But for that day, most of them were on the flight deck. The three teams broke up into smaller units, with the TV stations going their own ways filming in separate areas, while we were assigned to a Public Affairs Officer, KC Marshall, who kindly volunteered to take us under his wing and tour us around. We wanted to interview him, but he said he wanted us to talk to someone who really had hands-on experience with the ship. So he said we’d try to find a pilot up on the flight deck.
No fancy staircases on the carrier, this is how most of the stairs looked like on the ship. No wonder they advised us in the invites to wear comfortable shoes. We climbed quite a few of these stairs to get to the flight deck. And when we got there, it took our breaths away.
The word for it was VAST. It was just so big! I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that we were basically just on a really big boat. It felt more like a city. And to walk from the bow to the other end is quite a workout! KC managed to find us an actual pilot to interview. He was a pilot for one of the many F-18 Hornets on board the ship. His name was James Houghton or “Mud”. Here’s Mud with KC.
The interview turned out great, mainly because Mud was a natural on radio! The guy’s got jokes! He was having fun and it sounded it. He answered most of our questions, but was mum on some, I guess secret info, like if there were submarines accompanying the carrier. But we had a blast talking to him over Monster Radio RX 93.1. Turns out there could be as many as 110 planes on board, roughly 5,000 crew, and as much as 30 planes in the air at a time. Even off-air, the amount of stuff we learned from them made our head spin. Fascinating.
Mud took us on an extensive tour, even showing us the catshot, which is the thingamabob that catapults the planes from the ship. There are four of those on the flight deck, and apparently, the runway just isn’t long enough, so without the catshot, the plane would simply drop into the sea. I swear, I only got to see these things on Top Gun and Final Countdown. And of course, the planes! As far as I know, there were only four types on board. The F-18 Hornet:
Wanna see how a Hornet looks like head-on?
And a view from behind:
There’s also the EA-6B Prowler, which jams the enemy radar:
The Sea Hawk, which is the Navy version of the Black Hawk:
And the E-2 Hawkeye, which acts as the “eyes of the fleet”:
Eventually it was time to leave the flight deck and proceed to the bridge. I swear, everything on this boat was BIG:
When we got to the bridge, everything felt so important. This is where the brains of the operations sit. This is where the Captain Kirks and Sulus and Chekhovs “drive” the ship.
We got to interview Quarter Master First Class Salazar, who makes sure he knows exactly where they are. He makes sure they’re not drifting. He also gave us tidbits like it takes 15 minutes for an aircraft carrier to make a complete u-turn. There were so many gizmos and doodads on the bridge that surprisingly look quite old school, like something you’d find in Captain Nemo’s Nautilus:
Here’s a great view of the flight deck from the bridge:
By the time we were done with the bridge, we were also completely pooped. We realized we’ve been standing and walking for almost 6 hours straight! After saying our goodbyes, we boarded the ferry again, back to MOA, and it felt like we just visited an otherworldly existence, far removed from our own. We got sad and nostalgic, not even 10 minutes off the boat! Again, we could never thank enough the people responsible for the experience. Of course the U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney, for always remembering to invite us to their events, Agnes Caballa of the U.S. Embassy, for always suggesting us to the ambassador and always taking care of us during their events, and of course our hosts for the day, Tanner Lang, James “Mud” Houghton, and our guide throughout the whole time, KC Marshall. (With KC and Agnes):
Of course, this is just Day 1. The next day, we were also invited to attend the dinner party hosted by Ambassador Kenney, also on board the USS George Washington. (To be continued…)
When we did some live feeds for the Clear event last night in connection with the Pussycat Dolls concert tonight, we interviewed possibly the most interestingly fun celeb we ever met! It was the stunningly beautiful and impressively quick-witted 18-year-old Rhian Ramos. We also got to talk to the always gracious and equally beautiful Bea Alonzo, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to take a photo with her.
Rhian was hilarious! The first thing she told us was that she loved our video. Our reaction was, “Whaaaaaaat?!?” Turned out she was referring to our video for our song, yes, once upon a time we had a CD, “Friends For Life”. And when we asked how old she was when she watched it, she said, “8 years old?” Good grief.
As an interviewee, she was a live one! She never fliched at the questions, and she was quick to the draw. She was very game when we were teasing Gino to her, so she’d agree to be his date during the concert, but I did a sucky job pimping my cross-dressing, yet very much straight, friend (Sorry GQ, I promise to learn the Bro Code, which I misheard as the “broke cone”). She didn’t get flustered about anything we threw her way, and she had just the right mix of propriety and sass that makes for an ideal interviewee. I swear, she’d do great as a radio personality, because she has “it” in spades! And did I mention that she’s gorgeous?
Strange because I was just telling Delle about a couple of months ago, that I was very impressed by the beauty of this talent I saw fleetingly on TV while I was surfing. Shortly after that, she became the Clear endorser. So funny that we should end up meeting her and to be totally bowled over by this spitfire. You get the feeling like she’s so much fun to hang out with. We are sufficiently impressed.
Whattagirl.
(Thank you to Mr. Luis Velasco III and Greenwich for the pictures. All photos in this post are courtesy of Greenwich.)
Greenwich asked us to host their pizza party to launch their Xtreme Cheese Pizzas yesterday, and we were thrilled to be part of their event. We go way back with Greenwich, since they would always invite us to their events, for like talks and hostings. So we were stoked to host when we got to Greenwich Megamall, especially since we knew we were also going to meet Bea Alonzo (John Lloyd Cruz couldn’t make it since he was shooting a movie in the U.S.).
(Michelle of Greenwich)
So we hosted the event, played some games with the press folk who attended the launch, and debuted the 3rd installment in the “sobrang cheesy!” series of Greenwich ads. It was presented by Greenwich brand manager, Joseph Aruta:
The guests were also treated to a 2-song serenade by one of the Greenwich gang, “Bruno”, whose actual name is Lloyd Zaragosa. He sang a couple of R&B tunes and the guy can really bring it! HIn the ads, he plays the tattooed toughie who has a softie side, so we were really surprised that he can sing, and sing very well at that! And he’s got some major ink going on there.
And then of course, there’s the star of the event, the stunning Bea Alonzo. We didn’t expect that she would be so tall! She was so down-to-earth and unassuming, that everyone was just gushing over her and wanting a minute or two for a chat or a photo-op. Small wonder because the camera loves her:
We also had “Issa” of the Greenwich gang, but unfortunately I don’t have a picture with her, although I found one, but showing her only from the side. Too bad, because she’s incredibly beautiful, and she looks very different from how she looks like on TV. Just as beautiful, but different.
Okay, just got my hands on some pictures of “Issa”, Mika Lagdameo in real life. Pretty won’t be enough to describe her:
(with Luis Velasco III of Greenwich)
Then, the big surprise: Bea didn’t know that John Lloyd was actually on the phone from the U.S., at something like 1 in the morning, and joined us via phone patch. It was cool, and their banter was really funny. They have this cariño brutal thing going on. For instance, John Lloyd asked her how the event was, and she said, “Masaya, wala ka eh.” She admitted that whenever people see just how they interact when they’re together, everyone wonders how they ever became a love team. But she said that’s just the nature of their friendship.
It was surreal talking to John Lloyd on the phone, and hosting with Bea Alonzo, on the same day that we interviewed chef Ming Tsai over the phone at RX! We felt so starstruck with all those celebrities. We felt like country bumpkins from some hick town. It was really fun though, especially since the celebs were so disarming, none of the snooty showbiz attitude we imagine some to have. They were really easy to talk to and readily approachable. But I guess the icing on the cake was, as we were saying goodbye to John Lloyd, he interrupted us by asking if he could say something. So of course we said yes, only for him to tell us, “You know what guys, I’m a fan.” And when we laughed (since we thought, obviously it was a joke), he said, “No, I’m serious!” Hehe…for once we didn’t know what to say! It was really just nice of him to say that. He didn’t have to, but he did. And we were glad he did. 🙂
So again, thanks a bunch to Greenwich for a swell time yesterday! Big thanks to Luis, Francis, Joseph, Michelle, and everyone else who made the event such a memorable one for us! Yesterday, we didn’t find a cruise ship…we didn’t find a battle ship…what we found was…friendship. Yihee, sobrang cheesy! 😀