‘Affirm the good and inspire people and affect them with the way we think, behave and with the energy we put into our work, relationships, and life.’
It was a pre-planned two week break that we took as a breather to just be with our core self and our family in the US and Canada. This coincided with the school break of my pamangkins – but ooops, our reflections on that packed and memorable trip is for another piece.
Today we share our quick takes on the things and events we had a major Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO-ing) with The Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors’ EDDYS
It was so good to hear very good feedback for this well-staged awards ceremony with our dear entertainment editors coming together, all glammed up, trying to come up with a respectable event all by their sheer hardwork and clout in the industry.
May the event set the standard for an elegant and still fun undertaking bringing together all the important stakeholders in local showbusiness. The bigger challenge here is maintaining the good discourse, very much like the heated but still very cordial deliberations because it is there where film reviews, criticism and development thrives. Bravo!
Cinemalaya XX launch
Very significantly, we celebrate 20 years of Cinemalaya, the biggest independent film festival in the country. A lot of its alumni has become the best practitioners that our industry have today. Cinemalaya is also proof that government and private sector collab can spell a lot of difference. Thank you to the Cinemalaya Foundation and its patron-founder Tonyboy Cojuangco and president Laurice Guillen for carrying the torch, along with the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
While we miss the CCP edifice which is under renovation now, news about the recent fire in Ayala By The Bay kind of alarmed us a bit. But everything is a-ok, so we look forward to a successful Cinemalaya run starting next week!
MMFF50 launch
While we were constantly in touch with our Chairman Don Artes and Executive Director Rachelle Ona during the whole planning of the ceremony, we can only laud our execom and selection committee for such good work! Thank you, too, to advertising and marketing guru Doris Jimenez for helping us and of course, the members of the press for the extensive coverage.
When we get back, a lot of things will be happening – the Sine Sigla sa Singkwenta MMFF Classics film showing, the short film caravan, and even the production of the MMFF 50th anniversary book. The MMDA will top themselves by painting the walls of Metro Manila with memorable MMFF movies and more! This is truly an exciting golden year for the premier and most popular film festival in our country, and we can’t wait for things to unfold.
Authentically Ayala
This is celebration of the 190th Anniversary of Ayala and a tribute for Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala on his 90th birthday.
This project was conceived by the late genius Floy Quintos and Janice Dee and her very able production team along with Direk Pat Valera, and gathers the likes of Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Kuh Ledesma, APO Hiking Society, Martin Nievera, Gary Valenciano, Regine Velasquez with Arman Ferrer, Bayang Barrios, Bituin Escalante, Menchu Lauchengco, Poppert Bernadas, Rachelle Gerodias, Myramae Meneses and Nohmer Rival with the Ramon Obusan Dance Company and Maestro Ryan Cayabyab with the 50-piece Manila Symphony Orchestra.
What a feat really! These by-invitation performances were well received and may not happen again, but thank you Ayala and the group of Chris Mohani for mounting this!
David Benoit’s concert with The Company
We make it a point not to miss any David Benoit concert here in the Philippines. We remember having promoted one of his concerts in Sharon Cuneta’s musical talk show in ABS-CBN and made the megastar sing “When the Winter’s Gone” which has become one of my favorite anthems.
Too bad, this wasn’t part of the repertoire done with our beloved friends from The Company which did “Promise Me a Carousel,” “The Key To You,” “Take a Look Inside My Heart” and our perennial favorite, “Land of the Loving.”
As to when the next David Benoit concert will be? We still look forward to watching this 70-year-old excellent and very kind and pleasant musician perform as he has this undeniably keen connection with the Filipinos. Bravo Sir David!
We would have also wanted to cover the star-studded GMA Gala, Dingdong Avanzado’s 37th anniversary xoncert and the recent Star Awards for Movies; along with our dear Dulce’s concert in celebration of her birthday yesterday but we are already enroute back to Manila.
So the valuable lesson here is making every moment count. Affirm the good and inspire people and affect them with the way we think, behave and with the energy we put into our work, relationships, and life.
