Weekend Sunstar

[email protected], February 19, 2011

feature

3An old sound reawakened

movies

4The Mechanic

Love is in the HairWhile getting a new haircut, Jigs Arquiza makes a new friend. Join him as he gets to know the artiste who’s fast becoming Cebu’s most popular hairstylist.

Sun.Star Weekend | Saturday , February 19, 20112C

cover story

RALPH RHODDEN C. CAVERO Graphic Designer

CHERRY ANN LIM Managing Editor, Special Pages and FeaturesJIGS ARQUIZA Editor CLINT HOLTON P. POTESTAS Writer

“I want a new look, but don’t make it too outrageous,” I tell Philip S., master hairstylist and creative director of Space 8 Hair + Nails, just beside the flyover at the turnoff to Maria Luisa Village.

He takes a look at my mop of hair and starts snipping a bit here, trimming off a lot there, while we chat about art, love and hairstyling in general.While doing so, I comment on his arms, which are partly covered by tattoos. Philip S. explains, “It’s actually part of my personality, I wouldn’t be me without them.” He then adds, “I’m not being trendy by getting tattooed; it’s just something that I like. It’s me.” Philip S. then ponders aloud, “I’d like to get my whole body tattooed. Someday.”Tattooed hairstylists aren’t very common in Cebu, especially not with tattoos like Philip’s. “They’re called sleeves,” referring to the designs on his arms, which look like patterned shirt sleeves from afar, but are actually intricate black-and-white patterns up close. “I’ve been trying to convince the other stylists here to get tattooed, even the assistants!” Philip S. exclaims, and then says something about being a living, breathing piece of art.

Loveis in

HAIRthe

“I ’ve been cutting hair for more than a decade now and I’m sti l l trying to learn new things, new techniques!”

Sun.Star Weekend | Saturday , February 19, 2011 3C

feature

Incidentally, Space 8’s managing director Steve Figueroa also sports a lot of tattoos. “It would be interesting to have a subculture here in Cebu, of hairstylists with a penchant for tattoos,” Philip declares.It wasn’t all about hair and tattoos for Philip, though. Though born in Davao, he spent his formative years in Vancouver, Canada. There, he studied and graduated with degrees in Political Science and Art History. “Maybe that’s what influenced me to get tattooed!” he wonders, referring to his art studies while still working on my hair. Philip then recalls, “I started working as a receptionist in a salon back in 1994. I didn’t like the job so much. I wanted to cut hair!”According to Philip, he “sort of” did badly at work, until the owner of the salon took him aside and asked him if he wanted to cut hair. Philip answered in the affirmative, and became a hairstylist. Asked if he ever regretted not going to law school, he says “no regrets!”Finishing college in 1997, he decided to travel, living the next four years in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, all the while working as a hair stylist in those countries. In 2008, fate brought him to Boracay, and then to Cebu. In 2010, Philip decided to hang his hat in Cebu permanently, and upon meeting Steve Figueroa, decided that Space 8 would be a good place to practice his craft. “I found a home in Space 8 because of the creative atmosphere. People who can do amazing things with hair are always welcome here.”He then tells me about the ups and downs of being a hairstylist. “You have to be ready to accept rejection,” Philip advises, “If someone doesn’t like the haircut you did, it feels like you’ve been punched in the face.” He adds “Creating a form that will last for six weeks, that’s difficult. You gotta have the touch. It’s not something you can learn overnight. I’ve been cutting hair for more than a decade now and I’m still trying to learn new things, new techniques!” And the upside? “Seeing my clients happy after getting their haircut!”With Valentine season still in the air, one wonders what Philip has to say about love. He responds “Love is fleeting, but I haven’t given up on finding the right person.” Philip then admits “I’m a hopeless romantic. I love the idea of being in love!”Then with a flourish, Philip finishes up, applies some styling gel on my hair and whisks off the white sheet, exclaiming, “Voila!” then asking me, “Do you like it?”I take a look at my reflection at the mirror and answer, “Yes, very much.” Philip thanks me with a smile, and then prepares to work on another customer. As I walk out of Space 8, I reflect on Philip’s words. “Love is fleeting,” Philip said, but for me, it seems Philip S. has found his one true love.

The last time these guys were playing in these bands together, none of them had cellphones, and the internet was virtually unheard of. The time was the mid 90’s, and Cebu underground music had finally reached the mainstream. New Cebu Music was born in the early 90’s, with pioneering bands performing in successful music festivals such as the landmark Local Ground and the equally successful Showdown.

Almost two decades before American Idol became an international multimedia phenomenon, Cebu had arrived at a similar formula, a talent show that came out week after week, with phone-in votes, and a dramatic build-up to a grand finale.

But this was a different time. Instead of TV, Showground relied on radio. Every Saturday night, a concert was held at the old Philcite auditorium along Osmena Boulevard, introducing a different set of bands. Then, from Monday to Friday, a morning show would air the original songs of those bands that performed, and listeners would call in to vote on who would stay and move on to the finals.

Showground was championed by A. Salonga Music School and 99.5 RT’s popular DJ “Ka Pedro.”It

was at Salonga’s recording studio that the bands were given the chance to record their songs, and it was through Ka Pedro’s show that their music was heard by thousands of Cebuano rock fans every morning.

Sometime in 2010, over a round of drinks, Keith, Lorenz and Marc, former members of bands Moby Dick, Invictus and Militia respectively, talked about the good old days, and wondered if they still kept in touch with the members of their old bands.

In 1995, the bands were composed of college and high school students. Invictus, composed of Michel Yeto, Lorenz Ostrea, Jan Michael Leung, and Gus Basa were from Sacred Heart. Moby Dick, whose members were Matt Ventura , Jerome Tantiado, Keith Omega minus original Bassist Barok aka Junjun Edilion and Jerome Basolina were from UC and USJR. Militias’ members, Joey Echevarria, Erlyd Don2 Ortiz, Carlo Borromeo, Marc Nadela, Vince Villarino and Luke Carniga went to the school of hard knocks.

Now, except for a few, such as Keith, who went on to pursue music full-time, they had day jobs, some were married and with children. But the idea was hatched to try and see if they still had the chops. It took them only a few months to organize, an endeavor that was aided by another tool that did not exist in 1995: Facebook.

The point is no longer the adulation of large stadium crowds. In fact, on February 19, they chose the small, intimate restobar Handuraw in Lahug as venue. Their hope is that this first mini-reunion will bring the other bands out of semi-retirement and reawaken that old sound once again. (Carlo Borromeo)

An Old Sound Reawakened

Steve Figueroa and Philip S.


movies

IMAGES FROM THE INTERNET

It’s probably blasphemy to even think this, much less say it out loud, but here goes: The remake of “The Mechanic” starring

Jason Statham is better than the 1972 original starring Charles Bronson – and Statham is better in the lead role than Bronson was.

So there.Now, “The Mechanic” may not have been

one of Bronson’s stronger films during this era but it has achieved a certain following among genre fans. In retrospect it was a bit languid, it meandered here and there with its groovy vibe – although it did feature a breathtakingly wordless, 15-minute opening as Bronson’s assassin character laid out the works for an elaborate kill in a seedy, downtown Los Angeles apartment building.

That’s the whole point of both films: The hit men at the centre of them pull off assassinations that don’t look like assassinations. They’re unfortunate accidents, untimely illnesses, anything else. Both men function in a world where morals and rules don’t seem to apply, where law enforcement is practically nonexistent and the relationship between

a hit man and his mentor is meant to seem as touching as the one between a father and son.

Director Simon West (“Con Air”) and screenwriter Richard Wenk have taken those core concepts from Lewis John Carlino’s original script, moved the action to steamy New Orleans and pumped out a movie that’s slicker and sleeker, leaner and meaner – not in an idiotic way, although characters do walk away from explosions without flinching, but rather to reflect the actor and the times.

Statham, the British star of the “Transporter” and “Crank” films and an old favourite of Guy Ritchie, has a quietly fierce physicality, a stylish masculinity that makes him appealing to both men and women. He’s a modern-day bad-ass, and “The Mechanic” plays up the best of his attributes. He’s coolly efficient but also clearly longing for human contact, something that’s impossible for him given his profession – hence, his

relationship with a French Quarter escort who’s so impossibly gorgeous and leggy, she could be a Victoria’s Secret model. But she has a heart of gold, of course.

At the film’s start, Statham’s Arthur Bishop has pulled off his latest assignment and returned to his mid-century modern hideaway in the swamps; the house is among the names, details and plot points carried over from the original. Upon the murder of his mentor and close friend, Harry (Donald Sutherland in a graceful cameo), Arthur seeks answers, and revenge.

But he’s also saddled with Harry’s screw-up of a son, Steve (Ben Foster), who’s fascinated by what he perceives as an exciting and glamorous lifestyle. Arthur reluctantly takes Steve under his wing, shows him everything he knows and even lets him try out an assignment on his own – which is hugely suspenseful and goes horribly wrong.

While we’re making comparisons, Foster is also preferable to Jan-Michael Vincent in this part. He’s got a volatility to his demeanour that makes him riveting and dangerous at once, whereas his predecessor played the role as more of a laid-back California dude. Again, a product of the times.

Tony Goldwyn co-stars as the head of the shadowy company that employs Arthur; the second you see him, based on his demeanour (and filmography), you know he couldn’t possibly be a good guy, which drains “The Mechanic” of some of its mystery and tension. The question then becomes not whether Arthur will get his man, but when, and how clever the kill will be when he does. (AP)


audiosyncracyshort reviews

IMAGES FROM THE INTERNET

Experiencing New Zealand

Judging from “Bella,” Teddy Thompson’s unlucky at love, even when he tries courting through his compositions.

“I know you’re hoping to move on, but now I’ve written you this song,” he sings on “Take Me Back Again.”

That approach should work, because “Bella” is irresistible. Thompson has written 11 pop jewels that sparkle thanks to fetching melodies, inventive arrangements and his versatile vocals.

Thompson sings mostly about the resilience and persistence required in the pursuit of love, and he chronicles

a series of setbacks with wit while exploring a variety of musical settings. They include the baroque ballad “Home,” the Roy Orbison-style drama “Take Me Back Again,” a couple of catchy rockers and “Tell Me What You Want,” a twangy duet with Jenni Muldaur.

There are cameo contributions from the world’s greatest guitarist, Thompson’s dad, Richard, and much of the material benefits from cinematic string arrangements by producer David Kahne. Love’s not always pretty, but these songs are. (AP)

CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: On the beautiful breakup ballad “Take Care of Yourself,” Kahne’s strings sound swell when they swell. And Thompson intensifies the melancholy mood with an octave leap to sing the final verse. Don’t try it at home.

Bella, Teddy Thompson

Part biopic, part concert film and all crowd pleaser, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” is a big, glossy celebration of the musical phenom that knows exactly what it needs to do to send its target audience of ‘tween girls into a tizzy of giddy screams. That includes an unusually effective use of 3-D from director Jon M. Chu (“Step Up 3D”), so get ready for plenty of shots of Bieber looking longingly into the camera, reaching out to grab your hand while singing one of his infectious pop tunes. (And parents, get ready for temporary hearing loss.) Bieber would be an easy target for anyone who’s graduated from junior high school: He’s 16, smooth and pretty, with an androgynous look that recalls Hilary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry” and a playful, non-threatening way about him. And that hair ... that famous mane that flips back and forth and always lands just right in a soft, feathered swoop. (What he wears on top of his head – an ever-present New York Yankees cap in his favorite color, purple – is more troubling. Given his ubiquity and influence, he could be molding an entire generation of unsuspecting young Yankee fans. And that would be bad.) (AP)

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

The poster asks, “What if a little lie kept getting bigger?” More like, “What if the people telling the little lie kept getting dumber?” Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston’s romantic comedy, idiotic even by their usually low big-screen standards, is stuffed with unpleasant narcissists saying and doing the stupidest, often cruelest things in hope of cheap laughs. They fail. There’s barely a titter’s worth of humour in this bloated mess that drones on for nearly two hours. Director Dennis Dugan, whose many collaborations with Sandler include “Big Daddy” and “Grown Ups,” lets scene after unfunny scene linger painfully as the characters blather dreary nonsense for minutes on end. Based on Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn’s 1969 comedy “Cactus Flower,” the movie casts Sandler as Danny Maccabee, an unmarried, well-off plastic surgeon and supposedly nice guy who has spent two decades pretending to be a mistreated husband so he can score with sympathetic women (yeah, real nice guy). (AP)

Just Go With It

‘Experience New Zealand’ in the Philippines kicked off with a bang last Tuesday at the Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu where New Zealand hosted an exclusive gala evening. The event showcased not only the best of New Zealand food and beverage but also a taste of what’s in store for visitors to New Zealand in September, as it hosts Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011).

New Zealand whetted the spirit of competition with a glimpse of the world-class tournament. Beyond celebrating the sporting side of life, New Zealand highlighted the significance of the business and festival events taking place alongside RWC 2011.

“Guests were blown away by the images and sounds of New Zealand presented at the gala night,” says New Zealand Ambassador to the Philippines Andrew Matheson. “The show gave people a real taste of what’s in store when they visit New Zealand during this Rugby World Cup year. Centre stage was a traditional Maori performing group, showcasing our indigenous

culture that makes visiting New Zealand a unique experience,” he added.

During the six-week tournament, New Zealand will showcase the best of its arts, heritage, entertainment, produce, experiences and lifestyle.

“Rugby World Cup offers overseas business people an

exciting opportunity to explore the trade opportunities that New Zealand has to offer particularly in fast-growing sectors such as food and beverage, clean technology, ICT, education and training, and more,” says Alan Koziarski, Regional Director of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

The seventh Rugby World Cup will take place from 9 September to 23 October in New Zealand. It is expected to draw an estimated 85,000 fans, and will be broadcast worldwide, attracting a television audience of around four billion.

Cohen’s Lifestyle Centre offers an individually tailored Rapid Fat-Loss, Weight-loss and Wellness Program that is formulated by Dr Cohen, based on your specific blood test results. The blood tests allow an analysis of your unique body chemistry which in turn indicates what is required to get your body back in balance and unlock the tools needed for weight loss. Dr Cohen believes being overweight is a result of a medical condition that can be effectively controlled by achieving metabolic equilibrium and changing your lifestyle.

The Cohen program is based on internationally accepted research and sound facts, and has been available for over 25 years with over 25 000 success stories worldwide. Over

a number of years, Dr Cohen tested thousands of foods to develop a clear understanding of what foods affect and correct underlying imbalances of the hormones involved with fat loss, for example Human Growth, Insulin and Serotonin.

Weight-loss and wellness using food as your medicine is a lifestyle decision that will set you on the path to regaining your energy and quality of life.

Cohen’s Lifestyle Centre consultants will hold free info sessions on Feb 25, 12 NN and 4PM in UCC, Ayala Center Cebu. Please tell your friends and relatives who may want to learn how to achieve weight-loss and wellness through nutrition. Please call 5021090 or 0917-8926436 to book into these info sessions.

Cohen Lifestyle comes to Cebu!

Kapuso dramatic actor Dennis Trillo renewed yesterday his exclusive contract with GMA Network. Dennis currently topbills the top-rating primetime drama series Dwarfina with Heart Evangelista. Present in the contract signing were (from left) Popoy Caratativo (Dennis’ manager), Dennis, GMA Chairman and CEO Atty. Felipe L. Gozon, and Senior Vice President for Entertainment TV Wilma V. Galvante.

Dennis Trillo renews exclusive contract with GMA Network


crossline

The movie I was watching, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” where the starving Charlie is dining on one of his boots, boiled and served steaming hot on a plate, suddenly disappears from the screen. “Brownout,” I mutter. Or browndown, as I prefer to call it.

My phone rings; it is my son informing me that the brownout – or browndown – will take the rest of the afternoon. I stare at the blank TV screen. My mind, like everyone else’s, has a life of its own. It goes back in time more than half a century to a place I used to know and love.

After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese also bombed the Philippines, our little town meriting a few small bombs that served only to pockmark the concrete walls and bash in some glass windows of the Municipal Hall.

Our little town, now a city, is nestled just behind the scrotum of the Zamboanga peninsula, that flaccid appendage dominating western Mindanao.

The War had turned our world upside down and inside out. Many grownups, purporting to show that they knew more than they really did would spout such newly-minted words like “PT boat”, “divebomber” and “radar”. But there was one other new word that my mother and her charge of six children and two domestics had to live with, that became an insidious companion throughout a goodly part of the war.

I was six then, and fifth in the brood.Mt father, a captain in the Constabulary, had since

gone off to take command of Company K, 31st Division of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East to help repulse the invaders, vainly as it turned out, in what we later knew as Bataan.

Every family, at least in our neighborhood, was prepared to flee at a moment’s notice. In the absence of established law and order, the townspeople had not only the Japanese to worry about, but also Moro bandits, marauding guerilla bands and the occasional looter.

A well-meaning Filipino urged each household to fashion small Japanese flags to display on the front of their house and to cover every window and opening with opaque materials at night to preclude light to the outside. This novel nocturnal exercise was called “blackout”, the other new word we had to live with. To us kids, it was just the name of a game. Then the novelty wore off, and the game became a burden that also bred a deep anxiety and a dread of the hideous fiends that we “knew” were lurking out there in the thick of the Stygian blackness.

After a cold supper, prepared in the daytime, my

elder brother, my sisters and I would cautiously take a peek and see, except for the few stars of early evening, an overwhelming blackness such as we had never seen before. How eerie the feeling was to see not a flicker of light anywhere, even from the closest neighbor!

I rouse from my reverie. It is late afternoon. The room has become quite stuffy. After a brief phone call, I decide to pay my old friend Orly a visit. I pick a bottle from the armoire in the small room I call, in fancy, my sanctum. I take leave of my wife and depart. I enter without knocking. I do not wish to disturb Orly for he is at the piano playing “Moonrays”, a delightful favorite from the past, returned to haunt the present.

Orly and I have a lot in common: music, literature, good Scotch, and our birthdays. “Happy birthday, you too!” is the customary greeting between us on that day.

We are ensconced in our accustomed spots; he on the chaise lounge with the adjustable headrest and I in the overstuffed easy chair and ottoman. He pours from the single malt I brought while we listen to the Second Movement of the Mendelssohn violin concerto playing on the expensive but discreet stereo. The fine speakers are installed behind handsome oil paintings on the surrounding walls.

We are in Orly’s spacious and well-appointed den, taking sips of the smoky liquid, and I am impatient to unburden myself of the incubus that is weighing me down.

The last strains of the Allegro Molto Vivace, the Third Movement, fade away.

“So,” Orly says, picking up from where we left off, “this thing about blackouts and brownouts, what’s with it?”

“Well, like I said, I can understand ‘blackout’ but I have a problem with ‘brownout’,” I reply.

“And the problem?” my friend prods, selecting an almond from an ornate silver dish filled with mixed nuts, keeping company with the fifth of Scotch and drinking paraphernalia on the inch-thick gray smoked glass coffee table between us.

“As you know,” I begin, “the power is down in my part of town, so we have what is commonly called a ‘brownout’. Now, if the power is down in the whole of the town, we’d have a ‘blackout’, right?”

“Uhm-hmm,” my friend replies, chewing on the almond.

“Now,” I continue, “if the power is down in only a part, or parts and not the whole town, that should only be a ‘browndown’, right?”

“Brownout,” he correctd, picking another nut from the dish.

“No, no!” I protest, “a ‘brownDOWN’!” I emphasize.“Why?” my friend inquires, popping a cashew,

while Rachmaninoff’s lovely “Vocalise” plays in Dolby surround sound in the background. Outside, the day has aged into twilight.

“Because,” and I’m determined to defend my theory to the death, “because the suffix ‘OUT’ in both ‘blackout’ and ‘brownout’ implies a totality, a completeness. As the suffix in ‘blackout’, it performs its function perfectly, but for ‘brownout’, it’s a square peg in a round hole, an abomination!” I exaggerate a bit for emphasis.

“Why?” Orly asks. I’m beginning to think I have a losing battle on my hands.

“Because ‘BROWN’ in ‘brownout’ implies only a diminution in intensity, a lessening of a condition, from total to partial, from darkest to lighter,” I explain.

“Ah!” my friend exclaims, freshening our drinks as the last notes of the enthralling “Vocalise” fade away, “I have never thought of it that way. Just went along with the crowd, I guess.”

“Browndown,” Orly tastes the word, as if savoring a dram of exotic liquor.

“I like the sound of it,” he says, “and it has both rhyme and reason!”

Then Orly, who has a really good singing voice though a bit rough around the edges, bursts into song, singing “There’ll be a brown-down in downtown tonight!” to the tune of “And the Caissons go Rolling Along”.

I applaud a bit to be polite but mostly because I am pleased that my little postulation has my respected friend’s approval.

“Okay, let’s go down to the Electric Company,” he says, putting his feet down, as if to rise.

“What for?” I ask in all innocence.“Let’s trade in your new word, ‘browndown’ for a

lifetime supply of electricity!”“Can we do that?” I ask, though I know he is pulling

my leg.“Sure, we can, but we must stipulate that we, you

and I, will be exempt from blackouts and browndowns for the rest of our lives!”

We have a good laugh and look forward to another of our get-togethers where we usually discuss and formulate solutions to domestic, and no less, global problems. Over half a bottle of choice Scotch, just half. No sense wasting good stuff.

Orly and I, we call ourselves “Solutions ‘R’ Us”, tongue-in-cheek, (No problem big or small, we solve ‘em all!” and we don’t give a hoot if it’s much ado about nothing at all.

Brownout? Or “browndown”?By Tony Lasola


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BED & BREAKFAST

books

scribblings

IMAGE FROM THE INTERNET

From New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter comes a thriller that plunges deep into the world of high-tech national security, the hearts and minds of those who kill for duty, and the latest mission for veteran sniper Bob Lee Swagger – who may have finally met the only man who can outshoot him. Who killed Whiskey 2-2? And why won’t it stay dead?

A marine sniper team on a mission in tribal territories on the Afghan-Pakistan border, Whiskey 2-2 is ambushed by professionals using the latest high-tech shooting gear. Badly wounded, the team’s sole survivor, Gunnery Sergeant Ray Cruz, aka “the Cruise Missile,” is determined to finish his job. He almost succeeds when a mystery blast terminates his enterprise, leaving a thirty-foot crater where a building used to be – and where Sergeant Cruz was meant to be hiding.

Months pass. Ray’s target, an Afghan warlord named Ibrahim Zarzi, sometimes called “The Beheader,” becomes an American asset in the region and beyond, beloved by State, the Administration, and the Agency. He arrives in Washington for consecration as Our Man in Kabul. But so does a mysterious radio transmission, in last year’s code. It’s from Whiskey 2-2. MISSION WILL BE COMPLETED. CONFIDENCE IS HIGH. Is Ray Cruz back? Has he gone rogue, is he insane, or just insanely angry? Will he succeed, though his antagonists now include the CIA, the FBI, and the same crew of bad boys that nearly killed him in Zabol province? Not to mention Bob Lee Swagger and a beautiful CIA agent named Susan Okada who gives Swagger more than just a patriotic reason to take the case.

Swagger, the legendary hero of seven of Hunter’s novels from Point of Impact to last year’s bestselling I, Sniper, is recruited by the FBI to stop the Cruise Missile from reaching his target. The problem is that the more Swagger learns about what happened in Zabol, the more he questions the U.S. government’s support of Zarzi and the more he identifies with Cruz as hunter instead of prey.

With its hallmark accuracy on modern killing technologies, Dead Zero features an older, more contemplative Swagger, but never lets up on the razor-sharp dialogue, vivid characterizations, extraordinary action scenes, and dazzling prose that define Hunter’s landmark series. And with this installment, the stunning revelations – both political and private – will leave readers begging for more long after the last bullet finds its way home.

Dead Zeroby Stephen Hunter

Albert Padin is to Albert Einstein? You can begin by suspecting there must be

something mysterious about being named Albert ,pre- and post Facebook days, for that ability to transform old ideas into fantastic ones. Thinkers, doers, shakers – why, yes of course – but this Albert knows how to take it fast and easy, that at a press of a button, you’ve got everything you need for free. A genie in a bottle?

“Aren’t we known by our names?” he begins. “I believe that the most sensible way to connect with each other is by using names.”

“Businesses are known by their names, and therefore, they also ought to be reached by their names, not through a hard-to-remember number. Names just make more sense. Why do we let people contact us through a number when we have a name?” Albert emphasizes his point on creating SpellDial, the first-in-the-Philippines on-line directory.

The subscribers (individuals or establishments) would register their name and contact details on www.spelldial.com to avail of the service. Once enrolled, clients can automatically access them directly through a mobile phone or computer. No fees – phone calls and text messaging services are charged by the network provider.

“It improves lifestyle because you can easily remember how to connect to businesses. What if your brand is the only contact information people need in order to connect to you? Wouldn’t that increase

your leads? Yes, it would. And that’s what SpellDial does,” says the 23-year-old graduating Information Technology student at the Center for International Education in Kasambagan, Mabolo.

The concept comes from his own experience years back when he organized a concert while his SIM card broke down. He had to change his phone numbers, and had a lot of trouble contacting people, informing them of his new contact details. He also had to spend a lot to buy load for the cellphone, in order to reach the people he had to contact.

“The first time I lost my phone, it burdened me because I knew that people would not be able to contact me because my number changed. The second time I lost my phone, it burdened me because I couldn’t contact the people I knew because I couldn’t remember their numbers,” he explained. “That’s when I started to realize how inconvenient it was for us to be using numbers to contact one another.”

“The most challenging part of making this website is not in the coding, but rather in the design of the system. We needed a design that would be stable enough to serve the entire world’s connecting needs – how do we address language issues, legal issues, and cultural issues altogether.”

In three years’ time, Albert sees his concept as a necessity, believing “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” Didn’t Einstein once say that? (Clint Holton P. Potestas)

The right spell

feature

EYES

For what I see is personality.

We can tell in their eyes if they say lies.

For what I see can be a great study.

For the love I find is just purely blind.

She was born like this, it’s the way life is.

She didn’t look for a sign, she just didn’t mind.

She gave me a kiss, (sigh) that’s what I’ll miss.

She moved to Toronto , that’s where I’ll go.

I’m not stalking, so don’t find it shocking.

I’m running low, so I’ll put on a show.

I was just joking, there she was watching.

Alejandro Esaias P. Garcia, 14 yrsBright Academy


peeps (people, events and places)

LUXX, VUDU celebrated the weekend leading up to Valentine’s Day with two back to back institutional events – The Annual Singles Black Ball and the 5th Traffic Light Party. Guests on Friday came all decked out in black and celebrated the 80s and 90s as dished out by lady DJ Nana del Rosario and Marlon Orellano at the Main Room, with the latest R&B tracks at the second level with Kutlfyle. On Saturday, The Bounce and Rebel Street Wear invaded LX’s Traffic Light Party with VUDUphiles making fun and bold statements by wearing their hearts on their sleeves – red if they were taken, green if they were single and ready to mingle and yellow if it was complicated. Joining the resident DJs behind the decks was special guest DJ straight from Los Angeles, DJ Jedi.

A VUDU ValentineRebel's Patrick Rizarri, LUXX VUDU's JP Chiongbian & Meyen Baguio and Joevince Canizares

Erica Neal Torralba and Menchu Antigua

Ira Kiener with friends Daniel, Belle and Jackie.

Pia Mercado (center) with friends May and Cherry.

Brothers Ira and Paul Kiener

Darleen Hopkirk and Irena Byriel

Pazu Eteve and Paolo Manalac

Mina Padilla and Danessa Onglatco

Amanda Booth, Nika Miranda, Patricia Heredia and Mark Lotzof

New hot spot in MactanDays Hotel, along Airport Road in Mactan, held a small post-Valentine get-together at Santiago, their new restaurant featuring Latin American dishes. Days Hotel Food and Beverage manager Mario Benitez outlined his plans for the coming year, which would include more events geared toward the young crowd. True to his vision, there were a lot of young people that night, and the Days Hotel management are certainly hoping that more and more of Mactan’s younger crowd would begin to see the hotel as a new “hot spot”.

Chacha Arquiza and Paul Kiener

KC and DIvine Maitland-Smith

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Weekend Sunstar