Independence Day

The Novo Concertante Manila performing during the Philippine Independence Day Celebration at Eastwood Mall

June 12 marks our Independence Day, when, after 400 years of Spanish colonial rule, the Philippines became a free nation at last. The group is wearing Filipiniana, or traditional Filipino wear. Novo is a chamber choir established in 1998. Since then it has won numerous awards, including a gold medal at the 2nd Choir Olympics held in South Korea in 2002.

I didn't notice it then, but looking at the picture now, I just realized that one of the members there is a classmate of mine in grade school and high school. How about that!

Smart is sexy

I was invited to the launch of HTC's HTC Smart, a new type of smartphone (my first event as a "blogger" yay!) Along with TechPinas, who is the premiere tech blogger in the Philippines today, I got up-close-and-personal with HTC's new line of smartphones that promises to "put people at the center" and to "integrate an intuitive user experience". The line includes the HTC Smart, HTC Legend and the HTC HD Mini.

HTC's brand new line of Smartphones

The phones are actually pretty sleek and sexy and I like the little touches, like that single tap that enables you to turn your web browser to landscape mode, or that smart zoom which enlarges and reflows the text for easier reading.

Everyone was allowed to test the phones, which was a nice feature of the event.

Rhian Ramos, an actress and the host of the event

Now I must say I'm thrilled to be invited to an event as a blogger. It was fun and I met other prominent bloggers. Being a blogger definitely has its perks. Thank you TechPinas and HTC!

* Photos courtesy of: Jaime Martinez

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Speaking of blogging, I'm sorry for the intermittent posts. I've been incredibly busy lately. Hopefully my schedule eases up a bit this week so I can go back to regular programming. Thanks for staying tuned folks!

A Day at the Museum

This is Daisy. She's one of the 50 kids from an orphanage who was given a Day at the Museum. It's a project by the Ayala Foundation that aims to give poor children a free trip to the Museum. For only 500 bucks, or about 20 dollars, you can send a kid to Ayala Museum, one of the country's premiere museums, to experience art and history and see things they might never otherwise get to see. They're given free meals and an art kit consisting of crayons and pens and coloring books too. It's not a bad way to spend the day, no?

Giant

Running is a popular sport here in Manila. Practically every weekend there's a running event, usually sponsored by one big company. If you're into running (or any kind of sport actually) you've probably heard of Mizuno, a sporting company that makes one of, if not the, best running shoes in the market today (Incidentally, it's also the brand I use, and I must say they're very, very comfortable). Every year Mizuno sponsors a running event around April, and this year was no exception. Runners get freebies like shirts, bags, magazines and of course, the thrill of finishing a race with thousands of other running enthusiasts.