Catch good luck this Year of the Sheep with Kakao Talk infographic

To those born in the Year of the Sheep. Let KakaoTalk Chinese New Year Infographic on how to Catch Good luck this Year of the Sleep be your guide this Lunar New Year!

Make the best of the long weekends with Kakao Talk tips

The government has declared 8 long weekends caused by holiday this 2015. Getting to know when these long weekends will fall is important so you can plan your vacation, or staycation, ahead. With this, KakaoTalk, one of the leading messaging application in the world, comes up with an infographic that pins down these long weekends and gives you tips on how you plan these days ahead.

BINALOT GOES VISAYAN

For the Lenten season, Binalot has chosen favorite dishes from the Visayas region: Bangus Sinugba, Kinilaw and Laswa. Healthy favorites from the South will be offered at selected Binalot branches starting Feb 18, Ash Wednesday and throughout the Lenten Season.

Sinugba means “grilled”, Kilaw means “vinegared” and Laswa means boiled vegetables. The bangus sinugba is filled with chopped onions and tomatoes and then slowly grilled to a nice finish. Healthy not only for the body but also good for the soul.

Binalot recently celebrated its 18 years in the business and recently signed up a foreign franchise for Dubai, UAE. Binalot was founded by Rommel Juan and his friends in 1996 when they realized there were no real Pinoy options for dining that was fresh and portable using eco-friendly packaging.

Binalot now has 45 branches all over the country, all serving Filipino food favorites in its trademarked wrapper of banana leaves, naturally preserving the food’s freshness. It now also offers Franchising options with a number of pre-approved sites for the interested applicants. You can visit www.binalot.com for more information. Find us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, too.

KINILAW NA ISDA- The freshest fish marinated in Pinoy vinegar and Ilocos onions and garnished with red hot peppers. A favorite of our Visayan brothers, now at a Binalot near you! Perfect for the Lenten season.

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LASWA- What could be healthier for body and soul but a fresh boiled vegetable medley of local greens and other Pinoy vegetables called Laswa. BINALOT offers this Visayan favorite to start its Lenten specials. Check www.binalot.com for the branch nearest you.

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BANGUS SINUGBA- Our national fish is now available stuffed with chopped onions and tomatoes and grilled to a nice finish. Sinugba is the Visayan term for "grilled". Catch our Visayan specialties starting this Lenten season. Visit a BINALOT store nearest you. www.binalot.com. Find us in Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, too.

A true love's kiss inside the #Dentiste Box

 #DentisteKiss revealed what happened inside the #MysteryBoxinBGC last February 13, 2015.  When a couple stepped inside the shadow box and lovingly kissed each other creating a beautiful and intimate silhouette outside the box amidst the crowd's noise.

Its time for some intimate moment and get ready to kiss your partner and savor the moment. Visit the #MysteryBox and put your arms into her shoulder and let her taste the true love's kiss.

*Video courtesy of OrangemagazineTV.

The perfect getaway that is Guam

We all deserve a short stress-free weekend away from our busy work schedules in Manila. With the Christmas season already over, we look forward to the summer season to unwind and relax. Just three and a half hour away from Manila lies a destination that will surely make you fall in-love with the neo-island lifestyle. Guam offers every Filipino traveller a unique yet familiar vacation destination with its esquisite showcase of culture coupled with exotic beaches, breath-taking sceneries and world-class duty-free shopping.

Located West of the Pacific, in the Mariana Islands, Guam is the closest United States destination from the Philippines, and is also home to thousands of fellow Filipinos. It is currently accesible via Philippine Airlines and United Airlines.

The island offers a relaxing weekend getaway for friends and families that aim to experience something new for their vacation as it offers something to satisfy every visitor’s desire. With the island’s natural beauty, the best way to get to know the island is to indulge in Guam’s culture at the Lina’la Cultural Park or Wednesday Night Chamorro Market. If you wish to experience a different dining experience, you can also enjoy one of the entertaining and interactive cultural BBQ dinner shows around Tumon, Guam.


Scenic spots also await visitors around the island with Two Lovers Point, Fort Sta. Agueda, Inarajan Natural Pool and Fort Nuestra Senora de la Soledad reachable within a few minutes from the island’s main tourism hub via Southern and City Island Tours. Exotic beaches on the other hand can be located at different points of the island wherein you can relax in Guam’s sandy coastlines while enjoying the company of your loved-ones.

A neo-island experience is also instore for shopaholics with the island’s extensive line-up of luxury to budget shopping establishments for your much-needed retail therapy – all tax-free. If you’re shopping trip becomes too exhausting, you can also unwind at Guam’s luxury spa facilities for a rejuvenating mind and body experience.

With these array of acitivies, there is truly no ironclad itinerary to fully enjoy your trip to Guam. However you plan to explore the breath-taking island of Guam this summer, you’ll undoubtedly fall in love with its people and natural beauty.Stitched Panorama

Guam is truly beyond your typical paradise. It’s where the delight of sight, sound and taste, richness of culture, thrill of adventure, and pleasure of shopping all come together to give you a total travel experience. Booking your next weekend trip to Guam will definitely give you the perfect weekend getaway you truly deserve.

To get a taste of Guam’s unique Hafa Adai island experience before your trip, you can catch the Guam Visitors Bureau as they showcase the island this upcoming PTAA Travel Tour Expo from February 13 to 15 at the SMX Convention Center. You can also book your summer vacation to Guam at special rates with the hundreds of participating travel agents, or through United Airlines and Philippine Airlines.

Beyond the island’s array of activities and tourist spots, Guam also holds annual events one of which is the Shop Guam Festival, which aims to further excite tourists with additional shopping discounts across the island, on top of Guam’s tax-free shopping perks. Sporting and Cultural events are also held annually such as the Guam International Marathon, Ko’ko’ Road Race, and the Guam Micronesia Island Fair.

To know more about the latest events and news in Guam, you may also visit the Guam Visitors Bureau’s Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/visitguamusa.

The Shell Fuel Save Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge winners

Shell wrapped up the ‪#‎ShellFuelSave‬ Fact or Fiction Driving Challenge last February 11, 2015 by announcing the winners at Hotel H20. The Challengers from media won the much coveted title.  Driving the recently-launched models of the All New Honda Jazz, All New Honda City, and All New Honda Brio Amaze, the Challengers with select media personalities competed with Bianca Gonzales team on a road trip from Manila to Clark, Pampanga. In this Driving Challenge, the participants went through pit stops that revealed interesting habits Filipino motorists practice on saving fuel. The teams distinguished between fuel efficiency fact and fiction to manage their fuel consumption, coupled with teamwork and determination, to outwit each other.

Is warming up the engine or burping up before setting off will let you save on gas? This and other more interesting myths were answered during the event.

The Shell Fuel Save Fact or Fiction Report,which analyses the behaviour of 1,000 Filipino drivers aged 18 to 40, reveals that while 92%  see being fuel efficient as important, but 75% admit they don’t know how.

What’s even interesting, more than half (53%) of the drivers surveyed say they feel anxious trying to decide how best to save fuel, leading many to believe in a collection of absurd fuel saving myths. The research shows 80% of drivers believe warming up their engine before setting off will make them more fuel efficient, while 57% think filling up at night does the same trick. Shockingly, nearly half (45%) even believe ‘burping’ their cars to release air pockets in the tank will help them save fuel. Unfortunately for the majority of the Philippines’ driving population, none of these fuel efficiency myth help in reducing fuel costs.

Commenting on the findings, Anthony Lawrence Yam, Vice President for Retail of Pilipinas Shell, says: “The Shell FuelSave Fact or Fiction Report shows just how important saving fuel has become to motorists,along with the incredible ways they try to be more fuel efficient. Some of the beliefs revealed through the study were actually wasting fuel rather than helping to conserve it.”

To help sort fact from fiction, Shell is out to turn the nation’s myth-followers into fuel efficiency pros –both through using fuels like Shell Fuel Save that are scientifically designed to last longer and by demonstrating more effective ways to drive smartly.

Bianca Gonzalez says:“As young Filipino scientists and engineers prepare to compete at Shell Eco-marathon, I want to help Shell inspire all motorists to learn how to drive more fuel efficiently. Is switching off your engine in stationary traffic more effective than keeping it running? Does a warm engine equal a more efficient engine? And can a car really burp? These are the questions that we will be aiming to answer.”

TheShell Fuel Save Fact or Fiction Report also reveals that the confusion on the road is in stark contrast to what goes on inside the nation’s homes, where Filipinos conserve energy by limiting their electrical use but not their fuel consumption. Indeed, while88% of peoplesay theyfrequently turn off the lights to save energy when leaving the house, only4 in 10 (42%)will frequently remove excess weight from their boot or backseat to make their vehicle lighter and effectively helping drivers to save on fuel.

To learn more about Shell Eco-marathon and discover toptips on howto make your fuel last longer, visit www.shell.com.ph/fuelsave.

“CRAZY STUPID LOVE” DIRECTORS BACK WITH “FOCUS”

Directors Glenn Ficarra & John Requa (“Crazy, Stupid, Love”) are back with Warner Bros. Pictures' new con artist movie “Focus” starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Rodrigo Santoro (the “300” films) and Gerald McRaney (TV’s “House of Cards”).

In the film, Nicky (Smith) is a seasoned master of misdirection who becomes romantically involved with novice con artist Jess (Robbie). As he’s teaching her the tricks of the trade, she gets too close for comfort and he abruptly breaks it off. Three years later, the former flame—now an accomplished femme fatale—shows up in Buenos Aires in the middle of the high stakes racecar circuit. In the midst of Nicky’s latest, very dangerous scheme, she throws his plans for a loop…and the consummate con man off his game.

In the following interview, the directors talk about deception coexisting with love and what castmembers Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Rodrigo Santoro impressively brought to the film.

Question: This is your second film involving the world of con artists and sleight-of-hand, after “I Love You Phillip Morris.” What about it fascinates you and inspired you to make “Focus”?

Glenn Ficarra: Cons are about trust, but they’re on opposite sides of the trust spectrum—one is when you earn false trust and the other requires absolute trust—so the question is: can they coexist?

John Requa: Can you find true love and trust in this world and this currency of lies. We got really interested in exploring that concept in a movie about four years ago. We would call it ‘The Con Artist Love Story.’ No matter what else we were doing, we kept playing with it, and it evolved into this notion of having the first part of the movie being about a rookie con artist falling in love with a pro, and the second half about them coming back together when she’s not a rookie anymore.

Q: In “Focus,” the rookie is Jess, played by Margot Robbie, and the pro is Nicky, played by Will Smith.

Glenn Ficarra: Yes, Nicky is the dominant force in the first half of the movie, and Jess takes that role in the second half. They each have their hands on the control stick in different parts of the film, so you see the story from two different perspectives.

Q: Can you talk about the title, “Focus,” and how that idea is woven into the film?

Glenn Ficarra: The movie is about con artists and their ability to draw focus away from a crime towards something else, and we explore that on a number of levels. On the simple level of pickpocketing, how do you distract someone and pull a wallet or watch out of their pocket? But, in a larger sense, how do you make someone think that one thing is happening, when, in fact, another thing has already happened? On the emotional level as well: how can you use prewiring of the human brain for love to manipulate and use someone? So, that notion of focus was central to everything we’re exploring, big and small, in this story.

Q: What was it like to work with Will on this film?

Glenn Ficarra: He’s a joy. He’s a really good person, ever-interesting, ever-hungry—he’s always on the hunt to win.

John Requa: Transcendent. Not only is he a tremendous actor and incredibly professional, he’s a lot of fun. He’s like a big brother.

Q: What qualities does Will bring to the character of Nicky?

Glenn Ficarra: It’s the idea that the Will Smith we all know is this charismatic, smiling, nice guy. That’s so easy for him to embody in a character, but what if it was all an act? That really appealed to us, the idea of having that quality unfold in the first half of the movie as just something he turned on whenever it was convenient. Then, as you watch Nicky unravel over the course of the second half of the movie, you still love him, even when though he does some bad things.

John Requa: This is essentially a movie about two criminals—these fast and charming people who you’ll love even though they’re doing crimes. It’s tricky stuff, but Will and Margot fit the bill.

Q: What was it about Margot Robbie that resonated with you for the role of Jess?

John Requa: We auditioned a lot of incredibly talented women, and she came in and she just blew our socks off. Everybody. She walked out of the room and that was it. We knew our job was finished and that’s good. Hopefully she would say yes. [Laughs] It was nothing more complex than that. She blew us away.

Glenn Ficarra: And the chemistry between Margot and Will was so clear. It was undeniable. As John said, we auditioned a lot of women and started specifying types—she should do this and she should do that—and ultimately we said, ‘Look, let’s just get the best person for the part and take it from there.’

Q: You’ve previously worked with Rodrigo Santoro on “I Love You Phillip Morris.” Did you always have him in mind to play Garriga?

John Requa: Yeah, from the very beginning.

Glenn Ficarra: We didn’t want a kind of mustache-twirling Spaniard, and Rodrigo is just so welcoming and real. He’s an excellent actor, and he rarely gets to be funny, so we thought it would be fun to see him in this role.

Opening across the Philippine on February 25, 2015, “Focus” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

7-Eleven launches City Blends coffee with its Status Cups

7-Eleven recently launched its newest coffee brand City Blends at 7-Eleven BTC, Global City Taguig  last February 10, coinciding with its special Valentine promo starting February 11 to 24, 2015. City Blends lets you express yourselves honestly through the City Blends Honest Cups.

City Blends by 7-Eleven is honest-to-goodness coffee made of 100%  Arabica beans imported from India. Its madely fresh, every time you avail of the cup. You are sure to enjoy quality coffee that's both convenient and affordable. Its available for only php20. Aside from brewed coffee, City Blends also offers other flavors such as French Vanilla, Mochaccino and Hershey's Dark Chocolate.

For only php20  customers can choose from the 3 limited edition 8oz Honest cups: Single, Taken or Its Complicated. To make things more fun, the honest cups comes with a blank space where you can write your status.

Celebrate Valentines with fresh, real coffee and express your current status with friends on social media using the hashtags #711City Blends #Honestly

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PGA Cars presents the World's Super Cars at SMX MOA

Two of the world's most expensive cars presented to the public at SMX Moa during the motor show were Bentley and Lamborghini. It was a man's world as everyone's asking for the model, built, availability and price range.

PGA Cars holds the first motor show presenting the world of super cars from Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Lamborghini last February 7 and 8 at SMX MOA.  Chris Chan, PGA Cars Planning Director told that the market is growing for car buyers and the taste of the buying market is evolving. PGA Cars will definitely hold another motor show next year after this year's successful event. All the luxury cars on display inside the venue were amounted to php600 million. 

Porsche Philippines presents the Boxster GTS and Cayman GTS, the 911s in Targa, GT3, Cabriolet, Turbo and Turbo S variants and old models Panamera, Cayenne and the new Macan.  Porsche fans were all excited  for the  vintage 930 Turbo, 993 Carrera Cabriolet, 993 Turbo and 912.  Porsche Philippines accepts registrations for the upcoming Porsche World Road Show to be held at the Clark International Speedway from February 20 to 26, 2015 where participants have a chance to drive the whole Porsche model line available from the event.

Audi presents the A1 Sportback, unites all of the strengths of the brand – a progressive design, uncompromising quality and groundbreaking efficiency . This multi-awarded five-door compact model with the four rings is dynamic and high-quality, emotion-packed and individual. Its powerful engine and the agile chassis make it the sportiest car in the segment.

Some of the luxury cars on display were borrowed  although there are new cars available for sale. 

The Lamborghini's finest cars on display were the Aventador LP700-4, Huracan LP610-4. Lamborghini’s heritage cars, the Gallardo and Murcielago. The most expensive car amongst the 4 luxury cars is the Lamborghini Aventador.

Get up to 50% off on Crumpler items at the Traveltour Expo 2015

If you have travel plans this year. Crumpler's upcoming sale this weekend would be perfect for you.

Enjoy up to 50% discount on Crumpler luggage and travel bags at the Traveltour Expo on February 13-15, 2015 at the SMX Convention Center. Crumpler is an Australian brand known for producing quality bags for more than a decade. This year, Crumpler is participating at the Traveltour Expo, the largest and most-awaited travel show of the year.


Visit Crumpler booths 39 and 48 at 2nd floor of SMX Convention Center. For more information, please see attached promo poster or check out Crumpler on Facebook.

MFI Vice Chairman Alex Escano focus on Agriculture

Col. Alejandro Teves Escano or Alex as fondly called by his friends and peers.  President of Meralco Foundations Inc for 15 years,  now Vice Chairman for MFI External Affairs, founding chairman of Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI)  and Chairman/President of the Technical Vocational Schools and Associations of the Philippines.  MFI is a vocational school and skills development that  grant yearly scholarships to 200 students. The scholars should be Top 10 in class and indigent. The students then are trained in vocational courses and get a certificate after finishing a short course.

Because of his relevant contributions both in private and government sectors, Col. Escano was a recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. He was also chosen by the Lingkod ng Bayan to become one of the Most Oustanding Leaders in 2013. He bagged this award for his excellent leadership in providing programs and extensive advocacies for the general welfare of the Filipinos in the field of Agriculture, Entrepreneur, Education, Corporate Social Responsibility, Charity and Public Service. Col. Escano also offered free medical and dental missions, doing relief operations during calamities all over the country.

 Agriculture plays a critical role in the entire life of a given economy and Col. Escano believes that if our government will focus and revise our Agrarian reform we can become progressive like the  neighboring countries Taiwan and US.

Col. Escano gives importance to agriculture as an investment priority. Agriculture provides food,  raw materials, and employment opportunities.  We now have 12 farm schools all over the country. Increases in agricultural output can lead to cheaper food and would benefit both the urban and rural poor who spend more than 41% of their income on food. Inclusive growth starts with agriculture. He believes that being a farmer is an important profession. Without them he stressed that we will all die with no food to eat at the table. He encouraged the students to take Agriculture in college, as this will benefit them in the future given the time. land and dedication to farming.