Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza was crowned Miss Universe 2008

In the recent Miss Universe 2008 that was held in Nha Trang, Vietnam, Dayana Mendoza (Miss Venezuela) emerged as the winner among the 80 contestants who competed in the event. Dayana Mendoza is already a crowd favorite during the early part of the competition and many already assumed that she will bring home the prestigious crown. Her winning answer to the question "What is the difference between men and women?" is this:

"Men think that the fastest way to go to a point is to go straight. Women know that the faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves."

Actually, I find her answer a bit absurd but maybe it was the way that she answered the question that gained the approval of the judges.

Miss Universe Crowning Moment

The event was hosted by Jerry Springer, host of NBC's America's Got Talent, and Melanie Brown, member of the UK pop group Spice Girls. Of course the event will not be complete without a performer, for this year it was Lady Gaga who spiced up the stage with her single "Just Dance".

Miss Universe 2008 Opening - Delegates in National Costume

Another noticeable part of Miss Universe 2008 was when Crystle Stewart (Miss USA) slipped and fell down during the evening gown competition. If you'll recall, Miss USA Rachel Smith also fell butt-first during the Miss Universe 2007's evening gown competition. It was evidently a deja vu! But compared to Crystle Stewart, Rachel Smith was able to gain back her poise and just smile as if nothing happened.

Miss USA Crystle Stewart's stage slip (Miss Universe 2008)



Miss USA Rachel Smith's infamous stage slip (Miss Universe 2007)

Here is the final result of the competition.

Miss Universe 2008 - Dayana Mendoza (Miss Venezuela)
1st Runner-up - Taliana Vargas (Miss Colombia)
2nd Runner-up - Marianne Cruz (Miss Dominical Republic)
3rd Runner-up - Vera Krasova (Miss Russia)
4th Runner-up - Elisa Najera (Miss Mexico)

Miss Congeniality - Rebeca Moreno (Miss El Salvador)
Best in National Costume - Gavintra Photijak (Miss Thailand)

Unfortunately, none of my favorites had made it to the top 5 but I'm glad that at least Miss Japan Hiroko Mima managed to made it to the top 15 :-) Congratulations Miss Japan!

Wu Chun and Calvin Chen in the Philippines

Wu Chun and Calvin Chen finally arrived in the Philippines last July 12. Upon arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, their Filipino fans were already lining up in front of the airport holding up their corresponding banners. They had such a hectic schedule promoting their TV Series Romantic Princess in various shows in ABS-CBN. In particular, they had TV guestings in Pinoy Dream Academy 2, ASAP 08 and The Buzz wherein they were interviewed by Mr. Boy Abunda and Ms. Ruffa Gutierrez. Wu Chun and Calvin Chen were both so adorable whenever they said "Mahal ko kayo" to their screaming lady fans from different parts of Asia :-)

Wu Chun and Calvin Chen guested @ Pinoy Dream Academy 2



Wu Chun and Calvin Chen guested @ ASAP 08



Wu Chun and Calvin Chen guested @ The Buzz

"My Monster Mom" Movie Review

Last Saturday, my younger sister and I watched the much-awaited film of Ms. Annabelle Rama entitled My Monster Mom. The said movie was produced by Regal Films and GMA Films and it also starred Ms. Ruffa Gutierrez (Annabelle's real life daughter), JC de Vera, Mart Escudero, Michelle Madrigal, Iwa Moto, Eugene Domingo, Rhian Ramos, among others. Annabelle's husband and son (Eddie and Richard Gutierrez) also had a cameo appearance in the movie.

Actually, I seldom watch Filipino movies but after watching the trailer of My Monster Mom in GMA 7, I found it so amusing that I decided to give it a try. And guess what? I have no regret watching the movie because it's really GREAT! The story is simple yet very humorous and family-oriented. I find Ms. Annabelle Rama's Visayan accent really entertaining and her acting is really so natural especially in the way that she delivered her dialogues. Her dialogue "Batuhin kita ng brilyante ko!" (I'll throw you my diamond!) is my favorite line in the movie. Ms. Ruffa Gutierrez's acting is also superb! After watching her in Desperadas early this year, I realized that Ruffa can also do comedy and she didn't fail me in My Monster Mom. Her Americanized way of speaking Tagalog is so contagious that sometimes I wanted to sound like her :-) Their mother-daughter chemistry is indeed well-shown in this movie. I also give two thumbs-up for Rhian Ramos for playing the younger Annabelle Rama. She said in one of her interviews that she studied how to speak Tagalog with a Visayan accent as preparation for her role in the movie. She played her role really well you'll never notice that she never speak Visaya in her entire life. The movie is trying to tell us that no matter how much we sometimes hate our mom for interfering with every aspect of our lives, they are still our mother and they know what is best for us. I'm going to rate My Monster Mom 4/5 and I hope that there will be a sequel to this movie next year. How about My Monster Mom Goes to New York? :-)

Here is the trailer of My Monster Mom.

Miss Universe 2008 National Costume Show

Aside from the swimsuit and evening gown competition, another must-see part of Miss Universe is the national costume presentation. For this year, 80 beautiful delegates will compete for the title of "Best National Costume" and an online voting will determine the winner for the said title. I notice that most of the delegates wore flamboyant costume (including Miss Philippines). I bet it's really not easy to walk on the stage with BIG ornaments on top of your head but still they manage to do it with poise.

Brazil to Cyprus

Panama to Serbia

Spain to Thailand

My Top 3 Favorites in National Costume

1. Miss Puerto Rico
2. Miss Korea - I love her sword dance!
   
3. Miss Thailand
   

Unfortunately, none of my picks had made it to the top 10 finalists in National Costume. They are the following:

1. Miss Albania
2. Miss Colombia
3. Miss Dominican Republic
4. Miss India
5. Miss Kosovo
6. Miss Mexico
7. Miss Peru
8. Miss South Africa
9. Miss Venezuela
10. Miss Vietnam
    

Wu Chun will visit the Philippines on July 12

My sister and I were watching TV Patrol World (ABS-CBN) last Friday when Phoemela Barranda suddenly announced that Wu Chun is going to visit the Philippines on July 12 together with his fellow Romantic Princess star and Fahrenheit member Calvin Chen. My sister can't help herself from screaming to the top of her lungs when she heard about this good news because she is really a fan of Wu Chun even before Hana Kimi was shown on ABS-CBN. For those of you who don't know, Wu Chun is one of the hottest heartthrobs nowadays not only in Taiwan but also in other parts of Asia (including Philippines).

Wu Chun was born on October 10, 1979 in Brunei Darussalam from a wealthy family who owns Goh Hock Kee which is the distributor company of Mitsubishi in Brunei. He graduated from the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. Aside from being an actor and a singer (he is a member of the Taiwanese boyband Fahrenheit), he was also a former model and gym instructor (that explains his super sexy body). Wu Chun can speak English fluently which is also a plus factor!

Oh boy, Filipino fans are already looking forward to see Wu Chun :-)

Pic Credit:
Asianpopcorn

My Top 3 Delegates @ Miss Universe 2008

Miss Universe 2008 will be held at the Crown Convention Center (Diamond Bay Resort) in Nha Trang, Vietnam on July 14, 2008. There are 80 contestants who will compete for the very prestigious title. My top 3 favorite delegates for this year's Miss Universe are (in no particular order):

Miss Philippines - Jennifer Barrientos

Jennifer Barrientos is a Tourism graduate at the University of Sto. Tomas. She is 22 years old and stands at 5'8". I bet that she will take home the Miss Photogenic award this year, don't you think so? Just take a look at her smile, it's so charming. Unfortunately, her butterfly-accentuated-national-costume for the pageant is a disaster! Even her hairpiece for the costume made her look like having a flower pot on top of her head. In spite of that, I still believe that Ms. Barrientos can make it to the top 5 :-)

Miss Korea - Lee Ji-seon or Sun Lee

Sun Lee is 25 years old and stands at 5'7". She is a student of Parsons School for Design but currently on-leave to concentrate for her pageant training under the tutelage of the renowned French beauty pageant trainer Ines Ligron. FYI, Ines Ligron is the same woman behind the success of Miss Universe 2007 Riyo Mori. Sun Lee is often being compared to the very beautiful Miss Korea 2006 Honey Lee who ended up third runner up in Miss Universe 2007. But in my opinion, Sun Lee has a great chance to surpass Honey Lee because of her confidence, charm, wit and sexiness (I envy her super toned legs).

Miss Japan - Hiroko Mima

Hiroko Mima is a student of Nihon University with physical education as her major. She is 21 years old and stands at a towering height of 5'10". She is a self-confessed sport addict who especially loves to play basketball and high jump. Just like Sun Lee, she is also being trained by Ines Ligron. If you're going to visit Ines Ligron's blog, you will see Hiroko's great transformation. She has poise and knows how to carry her dress well. Is she going to be the next Miss Universe after Riyo Mori? Who knows :-)

Pics Credits:
Miss Korea 2008 - OPMB Worldwide
Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2008 - Angat ang Pinoy
Miss Japan 2008 - Japan Probe

Featured Website: Rent A Coder (RAC)

Are you a skillful programmer who wants to earn extra money online? If that's the case, then sign up now to Rent A Coder (RAC), post your resume and start earning money by accepting bid requests or by bidding on the projects that interest you. Rent A Coder was founded by Ian Ippolito who is also the CEO of Exhedra Solutions, Inc. (the parent company of Rent A Coder). It is one of the most popular and reputable freelancing sites on the Internet. This site is an advantage to both the buyers and the coders. The buyers can post their project requirements on RAC and can select from a pool of talented programmers from different countries to work on their project which proves to be more cost-efficient. On the other hand, the coders are given access to thousands of available projects and can work on their desired project at the comfort of their home. Rent A Coder is also not limited to programming projects, they also have projects for content writers, virtual assistants and even language translators.

I am a member of RAC since 2004 and it was only March of this year that I won my first project bid. Well, it's really worth the waiting because I worked on two more projects after that. I worked for a maximum of three days on each project. I received my first paycheck on the second week of April worth $19, unfortunately I was not able to encash it because the bank requirement here in the Philippines is to open first a dollar account with a minimum deposit of $200 before you can encash your dollar check! Luckily, Rent A Coder has a Western Union payment option, so for my two other projects I selected this option and I finally received my earnings in cold cash. I hope to get more projects in RAC. However, the competition is really tough but I believe my effort will pay off someday :-)

Sun Tech Days 2008

To all Java developers out there, ATTENTION:

The annual Sun Tech Days will be happening in the Philippines from 17-19 June 2008 at Makati Shangri-La Hotel. This is now your chance to update your skills and to know the latest trends in Java as well as in other Sun Microsystems products. Since this event will be attended by developers from all over the Philippines, you are also given a chance to share programming knowledge with fellow Java developers and gurus.

Among the topics to be covered in this event are Java FX, Java SE, GlassFish, MySQL, Netbeans, OpenSolaris and many more. What's more? I believe there are many freebies awaiting participants plus if you refer a friend to this event, you'll have a chance to win PSP2!

The last time I attended Sun Tech Days in Manila was in 2004 and I was still a college student at that time. Unfortunately, I got sick the next day (the foods served were so delicious, I'd eaten so much to the point of having EXTREME stomach ache) that's why I missed the chance of getting more freebies and demo CDs :-( This time I'll make sure that I'll get all the freebies I deserved hehehe, just joking :P

For more information about the event agenda and the registration, click here.

Featured Website: Pinoy Money Talk

Pinoy Money Talk (PMT) is a blog and discussion forum that provide information about different ways of making money online and offline through banking, stock trading, mutual funds, Google Adsense, etc. The site was established on March 1, 2005 by James Ryan Jonas who is also known as FutureGizmo among the forumers. Because of the popularity of the site, it received the People's Choice Awardee for Blogs in the 10th Philippine Web Awards and even ranked 8 in the Philippine Top 100 Blogs by BlogJuice (March 2008).

Homepage of Pinoy Money Talk

I stumbled upon Pinoy Money Talk when I was doing a research about top mutual funds in the Philippines. I joined its forum last week and in just one day of reading its posts I already gained a good insight about mutual funds and other forms of investment. So if you're looking for the best personal finance blog/discussion forum for the Filipinos, I highly recommend this site.

"Aking Mundo" - Dyesebel OST

I really fell in love with the theme song of the newest GMA Telefantasya - Mars Ravelo's Dyesebel starring Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes. The song was entitled "Aking Mundo" and was sung by Sugarpop's Julie Ann San Jose.

Here are the music video and the lyrics of "Aking Mundo"



Dagat man ay naiiba
Sa lupa n'yang mahiwaga
Ang nais ko, sana'y minsan pa
Makita sya't makasama pa
Tahakin ang kanyang mundo
Na hawak sya habang tumatakbo
Sa puso ko ay nadarama
Na sa piling n'ya bawat sandali'y malaya.

Paano kaya'ng mabuhay?
Mundo n'ya kaya'y makulay?
Puso'y taglay ang tinding saya
Sa t'wing makikita sya.

Dagat man ay naiiba
Sa lupa n'yang mahiwaga
Ang nais ko, sana'y minsan pa
Makita sya't makasama pa
Tahakin ang kanyang mundo
Na hawak sya habang tumatakbo
Sa puso ko ay nadarama
Na sa piling n'ya bawat sandali'y malaya.

Paano kaya'ng mabuhay?
Kung sa iyo'y mawalay?
Ikaw ang daigdig ng aking puso
Ikaw ang aking mundo.

Dagat man ay naiiba
Sa lupa mong mahiwaga
Ang nais ko, sana'y minsan pa
Makita ka't makasama pa
Tahakin ang iyong mundo
Na hawak ka habang tumatakbo
Sa puso ko ay nadarama
Na sa piling mo bawat sandali'y malaya.

Global Warming Awareness

Global warming is considered as the most alarming problem that we are facing nowadays. In fact, it's already evident in different parts of the world. In the Philippines alone, the weather temperature is EXTREMELY hot ranging from 37 to 40 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, other countries are experiencing frequent typhoon and earlier start of spring. The most shocking part is when I saw on the news that some icebergs in Antarctica are already melting, thus affecting its native animals like the penguins and the polar bears. So what causes global warming?

The main culprit behind the global warming problem is the continuous emission of heat-trapping gases (e.g. carbon dioxide) into our atmosphere. Whenever we burn fossil fuels (e.g. petroleum) to have our daily supply of electricity, we are actually releasing tons of heat-trapping gases which destroy our ozone layer and these gases remain in our atmosphere for decades. Some of the applicances that we are using are also emitting CFC (another form of heat-trapping gases). Among these appliances are airconditioners and refrigerators.

What can we do to solve or at least minimize global warming?

• We must minimize the emission of heat-trapping gases by reducing our usage of fossil fuels. Some countries are already using water and wind as natural source of electricity.
• We must plant more trees around us. Why? It's because trees absorb all the carbon dioxides that are released by our cars.
• We must use CFC-free airconditioners and refrigerators.

If each one of us will cooperate to alleviate the problem of global warming, then we can assure our children and future grandchildren a healthier environment to live in.

For more information about global warming, you can visit Union of Concerned Scientists.

My First Attempt to Cook Seriously

My mom is a great cook. My younger sister also has a talent in whipping any kind of dishes, particularly in baking homemade cookies. On the other hand, I considered myself as one of the worst cooks in the world. I tried to cook twice or thrice during my teen days and it ended up as a kitchen disaster. I recalled frying hotdog without removing its plastic (because I thought it’s similar to longganisa) and cooking gelatin that never formed. Due to those incidents, I promised to myself that I’ll never cook again.

I never thought that I’ll break that promise when I met my very loving boyfriend who really loves to eat and whose mom is also an excellent cook. He inspired me to learn how to cook and that’s one of my goals this year. So with the help of easy-to-follow recipe books and cooking blogs on the Internet, I’m now ready to start my cooking adventures! Here is the first ever recipe that I decided to make.

Tuna Sandwich adapted from Nestle Philippines Recipe

Preparation Time: 00:05

Cooking Time: 00:05
Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1 cup CARNATION Evap
1 cup water
2 tbsp flour
200 g tuna flakes (drained)
1 tbsp butter
4 tbsp pickle relish
salt and pepper to taste

Procedures:

1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan or kawali.
2. Cook stirring constantly until thick. Cool and use as filling for bread and crackers.

Note: I didn’t include the pickles because I don’t like its taste. I also made the flour 3 tbsp instead of 2 tbsp because after stirring for a few minutes I noticed that the mixture didn’t thicken.

Verdict: My first ever attempt to cook seriously is a success! I used the filling on toasted bread and it tastes like tuna carbonara sauce on bread. It’s yummy My mom and my sister also like it and they finished everything. By the way, pardon me for the low quality of my photos, they are just taken using my cellphone camera. I can’t wait for my next recipe