Monday, January 26, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Russians and Ukrainians sign Gas deal, ending dispute finally
And what better way to do this in style than have the 2 heads of both countries' gas companies sign the deal witnessed by Mr. KGB himself, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko (Now world famous for her trademark medieval braided coiffure and her cutting edge medieval retro fashion sense). They had to make a grand entrance in a long hallway to complete the dramatic effect.
I guess all is well now.
Cheers! clap clap clap!
MOSCOW (AP) - The Ukrainian prime minister arrived in Moscow on Monday as Russia and Ukraine prepared to sign a deal ending a contentious dispute that cut off Russian natural gas shipments to Europe for nearly two weeks.
Yulia Tymoshenko and her Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, reached a preliminary agreement over the weekend to restore gas supplies to Europe and Ukraine. Tymoshenko's office said a formal deal would be signed Monday by Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz.
Naftogaz says it would take up to one and a half days to pump gas to its western border once Russia restarts deliveries.
Russia stopped shipping gas to Ukraine for domestic use on Jan. 1 in a dispute over prices. It then halted all gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine on Jan. 7, alleging that Ukraine was siphoning off Europe-bound gas. Ukraine disputed this, claiming that Russia was not sending enough "technical gas" to push the rest further west.
The confrontation has deeply shaken Europeans' trust in both Russia and Ukraine as reliable energy suppliers, as more than 15 nations have been forced to scramble for alternative sources of energy. The dispute was further complicated by geopolitical struggles over Ukraine's future and over lucrative export routes for the energy riches of the former Soviet Union.
After weeks of frustration and dashed hopes, the European Union responded cautiously to the news.
"So far, they have been unable to do it and of course this raises serious concerns about their credibility as our partners," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Monday.
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of the gas is in the flowing," EU spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said.
Tymoshenko and Putin negotiated a preliminary deal for Ukraine to get gas with a 20 percent discount from this year's average European price, which Russia says is $450 per 1,000 cubic meters. That would double the price Ukraine paid in 2008.
However, natural gas prices for Europe are expected to fall sharply later this year, due to the fall in oil prices. By midsummer, Ukraine could be paying as little as $150 for 1,000 cubic meters, said Ronald Smith, a strategist at Moscow's Alfa Bank.
Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said Monday, citing Naftogaz and Russian officials, that the average price Ukraine will pay this year will be around $240 to $250. He did not elaborate.
Russia won a key principle, however, that Ukraine must pay more for its energy supplies. Russia also won't have to pay higher transit prices to Ukraine to use its pipelines.
Putin said in 2010, Ukraine will have to pay full price for Russian gas, and Russia will pay market prices for transit.
In the long term, it is not clear how Ukraine will pay for the huge amount of Russian gas needed to run its outdated factories and heating systems.
Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych said any gas price higher than $250 would be mean a "collapse" of the economy, which is already coping with a collapse of the national currency, a drastic fall in exports and a shaken banking sector.
___
Associated Press writers Yuras Karmanau and Maria Danilova in Kiev, Ukraine, and Aoife White in Brussels contributed to this report.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Dream last Night (part Nth of Series)
I found this out when a sort of a poodle-terrier mix , black and white in color, happily greeted me when I entered their gate.
I was kinda tiffed that he bought more and more dogs when he already had a lab and a rottweiler and a lhasa apso, and was asking him how he'd find the space and time to give these dogs a comfy, healthy life.
Then I went to the guestroom and I found two of our friends snickering and laughing at me, because he actually got one more dog - A cross between a Labrador and a pig. It had the body of a well-built labrador retriever with the snout of a pig. Boinks!!!!!
A Labra-pig was too much, I had to wake up.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Dealing with Post-Holiday Blues
And they're not just your ordinary post-holiday blues, it's something bordering on depression really especially if you just came back from the tropical paradise and metropolitan city all in one you call home back to a cold, dark and dreary wintery city on a weekend
This one is trial and error, but if you're too low to go cook for yourself and if your fridge is running out of supplies, because you've been spoiled rotten with the resident cook at your parents' house or the relatively cheaper but excellent restaurants back in Manila . . .
Try a bowl of minute cream of veggies soup and baked mac (served nuked from a frozen box), a box of brand new DVD movies from back home (ooops), perpetual and fast Wifi connection for your laptop and an ipod to keep you connected on cam with family and dear friends back home . . .
It worked for me, a little wee bit . . . Not! we'll at least it helped . . .
I wanna go HOme!!!!
Aaaah Belgie! spreekt u het Vlaams? (Ah Belgium! Do you speak Dutch?)
"Aaaah Belgium, do you speak Dutch?" looking at my diplomatic passport and card.
I answer, "Nein, Not at all"
"Nein? "
"Nein."
then they ask me if I speak french
"Parles vous frances?"
"Oui, Un petit peu . . . pour quoi?" (in my street french, A bit, why?)
then she gave a nervous laugh.
I dunno if it's sensitivity towards self preservation of their language, but I must be offending their sensibilities everytime I say no. I don't speak Dutch, but yes, I speak French.
the last immigration person on my way to Manila a month ago also asked the same.
geeez
Friday, January 09, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Time flies so fast when you're having a great time . . .
Monday, January 05, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Don Miguel bids goodbye to Roxas City . . . till February again!
With mah fat face after all the binge feasts spending, bidding adieu, and one last look at Roxas City in 2008, I step into my waiting plane. I'll be back home soon, in February, and I'll always keep coming back . . . Home!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
About this time last year . . .
Don Miguel and the Roxas City Squall . . .
http://weather.weatherbug.co.uk/Philippines/Roxas%20City-weather/local-forecast/weekend-forecast.html?zcode=z6286
A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed which is usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to an increase in the sustained winds over a short time interval, as there may be higher gusts during a squall event. They usually occur in a region of strong mid-level height falls, or mid-level tropospheric cooling, which force strong localized upward motions at the leading edge of the region of cooling, which then enhances local downward motions just in its wake. - ( www.wikipedia.com )
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Don Miguel wishes everyone . . .
"A happy New Year! Grant that IMay bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year."
Greetings from the mall in Roxas City . . .
Mom and I decided to test her new laptop at the mall after siesta today and Dad decided to come along for some coffee while reading his National Geographic.The mall in my city, Gaisano, is fast deteriorating. And I don't know why the airconditioning is not working at all. The shrewd business people who own the mall probably wanna hike up their rental earnings by scrimping on the airconditioning but the entire mall has become an entire concrete hellhole. It's so Dang hot and it's irritating. I wonder how the mall lessees put up with this Sh*t and pay the rent for such a shitty mall.
Gaisano, I heard had an agreement with the local government before and they're locked in. Meaning, no other mall company can come into the City for X number of years. They put up another mall near my family's ancestral street a couple of years ago and I guess we're stuck with putting up with this poor excuse for a mall . . .
Sigh . . .
To the operators of Gaisano mall, if you happen to read this, please do something about the airconditioning. A/C is one of the points of going to a mall after all.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
MILF kills 9 villagers in Christmas eve raid - Philippine Daily Inquirer newsfeed
Sad sad sad . . .
=================================
MILF kills 9 villagers in Christmas eve raid
By John Unson And James Mananghaya Updated December 26, 2008 12:00 AM
Nine people were killed and eight others were wounded after Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels attacked three towns in the provinces of Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat on Christmas eve, the military reported.
The fatalities and wounded have not yet been identified. The rebels also took hostage farmer Ramil Vicente, his wife and their two children.
Col. Julieto Ando, Army 6th Infantry Division spokesman, said troops have been sent to the scene to pursue the rebels.
Residents of Ninoy Aquino and Kalamansig in Sultan Kudarat province and Alameda in Cotabato province were preparing their noche buena or Christmas eve dinner when the MILF fired a continuous barrage of mortars at the three towns at around 7 p.m. Eight residents were reportedly killed.
Three barangays in Ninoy Aquino and two barangays in Kalamansig remain under MILF control, according to Ando.
In Alamada town, an elderly woman was killed when the MILF fired 60 mm and 81 mm mortars at Barangay Dato at about 10 p.m.
“This is an atrocity against innocent civilians,” Ando said.
At 9 p.m. the MILF fired mortars continuously for 15 minutes at a military detachment in Barangay Gayunga, Northern Kabuntalan town in Shariff Kabunsuan province.
Barangay Gayunga is on the border of Cotabato and Shariff Kabunsuan provinces.
Almost at the same time, the MILF unleashed 17 rounds of 60 mm mortars at a military outpost in Barangay Puyon, Pigcawayan town in Cotabato province.
No injuries were reported in the attacks on the military installations.
Cotabato Gov. Jesus Sacdalan said residents of a barangay fled their homes when armed men attacked Aleosan town in Cotabato province at about 9 p.m. on Christmas eve.
“The attacks came while the people were setting off firecrackers. The attackers timed their attacks during the revelry,” said Alamada Mayor Ernesto Concepcion.
Eight people living near the military detachment in Alamada were taken to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center after they were hit by flying shrapnel.
However, Eid Kabalu, MILF civil-military chief, denied the military report that they attacked the three towns in Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato provinces.
“All these incidents took place because the MILF were subjected to attacks by the military,” he said.
Kabalu said the MILF had not launched a coordinated offensive on Christmas eve as the military claims.
“In all incidents, we were on defensive mode,” he said.
As many as 400 families fled their homes after the MILF attack, according to social welfare officer Edmund Cordero.
More than 600,000 people were displaced in the fighting, he added.
Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman, said the attack on barangays Midtungok and Kiadsam in Cotabato province were spearheaded by Guiabar Datu Kali alias Commander 511 and Commander Maxs4.
“The 601st brigade already launched combat operations in the area,” he said. “They have also requested for an air strike against the rebels.”
The MILF is starting to withdraw from the occupied communities, according to Col. Marlou Salazar, Army 601st Infantry Brigade commander.
This was the second time that barangays Midtungok and Kiadsam were occupied since the attacks in Cotabato and Lanao del Norte provinces last August. – With AP
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Don Miguel Greets y'all this Holiday Season . . .
from Brussels, Belgium all the way to Roxas City, Philippines where Don Miguel spends Christmas at home, here's wishing you a Wonderful Christmas and a Great New Year ahead.
Cheers!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Getting bumped off your flight in style
Then we were informed that they overbooked the dang flight and that all seats were full dammit.
They offered to reroute us via the flight to Iloilo. and I replied that they need to book us in Business Class, provide a private limo service from Iloilo to our home in Roxas City.
And before I even began to raise hell and high water, they gave in and here's what we got:
a) Business Class seats to Iloilo
b) Free Breakfast at St. Cinnamon
c) Business Lounge access (free food, wifi, and massage chairs - it ain't the Marco Polo Lounge I'm used to but hey, it'll do)
d) Free limo service from Iloilo Airport to our home in Roxas (2 hours away)
e) and Free Roundtrip Business class tickets to anywhere in the Philippines valid for one year for each of us.
We should be having breakfast in our home with the Mom and the Dad by now and our rottweiler napoleon too, but hey, i guess it'll do!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Family Lunch at the Acevedo's 2008 December
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Gotta earn it
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Lawyers hit ‘Koreanization’ of RP
inquirer.net
BAGUIO CITY – Lawyers attending a Supreme Court-mandated legal seminar here took to task the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its alleged failure to act on the proliferation of corporations suspected to be dummies of Koreans.
The lawyers said there is a growing public clamor for the investigation of corporations formed by local incorporators who actually fronted for enterprising Korean businessmen.
This is in violation of the anti-dummy law and the constitutional prohibition on the ownership of lands by foreigners, they said.
The lawyers, who attended the mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) at Hotel Supreme here, tagged the problem as “the creeping Koreanization of the Philippines.”
But the SEC told the Inquirer that the lawyers were barking up the wrong tree since the power to prosecute dummy corporations belonged to the Department of Justice.
“The DOJ has jurisdiction over violations of the anti-dummy law since they are classified as criminal offenses,” lawyer Annie Tesoro, SEC director for the Cordillera, Ilocos and Cagayan regions, said.
What the SEC can do, she said, is to check and monitor if registered corporations complied with their articles of incorporation.
“We can file administrative cases against erring corporations en route to the cancellation of their registration,” she said.
She said the SEC has limited powers and thus, a criminal case filed at the DOJ could hasten the SEC’s administrative proceedings against dummy corporations.
She said the SEC had heard of bogus corporations purportedly put up by Korean dummies but the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should conduct the probe.
The Korean topic was an offshoot of former Dean Merlin Magallona’s discussion on the Spratly Agreement and the baseline bill in relation to the definition of the country’s national territory.
Magallona said the Korean issue was an “expansion that has become alarming.”
Baguio is one of the cities in the country that hosts a lot of Korean schools, restaurants and other businesses, which grew over the years, mainly due to the influx of Korean students who wanted to learn English here.
But lawyer Galo Reyes, a former law dean, said the SEC appeared to have been lax in its campaign to stop dummy corporations from buying land.
“From San Fabian, Pangasinan to Pagudpod, Ilocos Norte, these corporations had acquired beach lots, home lots and condominiums,” he said. “What is the SEC doing?” he asked.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Air Asia X launch Stansted to Kuala Lumpur flights for 99 pounds sterling!
===========================================================
Air Asia X launch Stansted to Kuala Lumpur flights for 99 pound
Tuesday 25th November 2008Budget Malaysian airline Air Asia X has announced that flights from London Stansted to Kuala Lumpur will start in March.
The services will run five times a week, with fares starting at £99 each way for economy and £549 per trip for premium.
£99 flights from Stansted to Kuala Lumpur
Air Asia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said: “AirAsia X’s London-Kuala Lumpur route is the realisation of a long-held ambition to open up affordable access between Malaysia and Europe for both ASEAN and European communities.
"We have an incredible route network and at £99, the opportunity for Londoners and Europeans to explore the ASEAN region has never been greater.
“Being a truly ASEAN airline, we are committed to promoting tourism and travel throughout and beyond that region. This new route will benefit everyone, enabling magnificent holidays in beautiful locations, encouraging economic and tourism activity, bringing in revenue and creating job opportunities.”
He also revealed that a new fleet of Airbus aircraft with leather seats and spacious cabins would be available.
The new route will be flown by an Airbus A340 aircraft, with space for 286 passengers including 30 premium seats.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Don Miguel's 1st Snow Day in Brussels
Friday, November 21, 2008
JP Morgan sees no recession in the Philippines in ‘09
November 21, 2008 03:37:00
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Investment bank JP Morgan said the Philippines would manage to survive an anticipated global recession next year and post a relatively decent growth of 4.0 percent.
“The Philippines is in a relatively strong position to weather the global downturn with the economy driven by private consumption and services, which are less vulnerable to external shocks,” JP Morgan said in a report titled “ASEAN Year Ahead 2009: Philippines Well-Positioned to Withstand the Downturn.”
It said there would be no recession in the Philippines next year despite a global downturn, as there were still bright spots for the economy, including the business process outsourcing industry, which will remain profitable.
It forecast Philippine growth this year at 4.6 percent.
The government’s estimates are 4.1-4.8 percent this year and 3.7-4.7 percent in 2009.
The government says the Philippines will likely have a slowdown next year but a recession is farfetched. It says that although the export sector is expected to suffer from weakening global demand, the Philippines will benefit from other factors, like easing food and fuel prices and a 20-percent increase in the national budget for infrastructure projects.
JP Morgan also said foreign exchange remittances of overseas Filipinos—one of the growth drivers for the Philippines—were likely to remain strong, contrary to speculations that these would suffer from job cuts in Western economies.
“We expect remittances to remain resilient due to the growing proportion of permanent overseas workers and deployed white collar workers,” the investment bank said in its report.
It said easing inflation, which could hit single-digit levels by the first quarter of 2009, would allow for a looser monetary policy, which in turn would support growth. Michelle V. Remo; edited by INQUIRER.net
(thanks again to my multiply buddy Rye the Man, xxxriainxxx for the forward)
Mellon: Philippines may gain from crisis
November 21, 2008 03:37:00
Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Bank of New York Mellon, a global leader in asset management and securities servicing, sees the Philippines to be in good shape, capable of hurdling, and even profit from, the global financial crisis.
“The Philippines is inherently strong, a potential beneficiary of these financial woes,” BNY Mellon’s chairman for Asia Pacific, Christopher Sturdy, said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Thursday.
Sturdy, who assumed the post in June and is visiting the Philippines for the first time, cited the country’s adequate foreign exchange reserves, a sustained current account surplus driven by remittances from overseas Filipino workers, and its robust business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
“It’s one of the havens for BPO, and as people come into tougher times, you need to be able to cut costs. Many people are looking at BPO, so fundamentally, you have some good things to trade on I think, in this country, in this economy,” Sturdy said.
“Having said that, nobody is immune from the foreign exchange volatility that’s been going on,” he said. “But it can be good for this country [which is] getting US dollars in remittance, so it can cancel out the negative side.”
BNY Mellon, which follows a “bank for banks” model, is a big global player in asset management, issuer services and treasury services. The US bank divested its retail banking interest in previous years.
Amid the US financial meltdown, it has been tapped to service the US government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which is meant to take out toxic assets clogging the financial system.
Asked on whether a program similar to TARP could be applied in Asia, Sturdy said it would be good for the region, depending on the extent of the asset clean-up needed.
But he said banks in the region, especially within Southeast Asia, were in a better position now, having learned their lessons during the currency crisis of the late 1990s, particularly those on risk assessment.
“I think I’d like to be in the position of the Philippines, if I were a country, because you have some natural advantages and some track record in areas which may be important going forward,” Sturdy said.
BNY Mellon executive vice president Jai Arya said a crisis is often triggered by liquidity, not by capital structure. And contrary to the credit crunch now crippling the West, liquidity is not much of a problem in this region, he said.
“Asian financial institutions are far, far more liquid because they’re paranoid about liquidity,” Arya said. “As a bankers’ bank, most of the banks [in the region] have dollar accounts with us, and looking at the balances that they keep with us, it’s amazing how much liquidity they have and how important liquidity is to them. Even if it will cost them earnings, they are willing to keep high liquidity.”
In the Philippines, where it maintains a representative office, BNY Mellon’s biggest business is the servicing of remittances going through banking and non-banking channels. For remittances coursed through banks, it has a market share of 20-25 percent.
BNY Mellon has 16 offices in 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific, and has been doing business in the region for over 50 years.
It provides services in asset and wealth management, asset servicing, as well as issuer clearing services and treasury services.
It has more than $23 trillion in assets under custody and administration worldwide.
Copyright 2008 INQUIRER.net and content partners. All rights reserved.
(a look on the bright side: thanks to my multiply buddy xxxriainxxx, Rye the Man)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Orgy: a Reality TV (posted by my buddy Kupao!)
ORGY
click the O-Word to get to his entry., Crazy navy guy this Kupao!
(the clip is fake, there's no such reality show, but whaddaheck)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Lost Luna work found
Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 17, 2008
MANILA, Philippines - A work by the Filipino master Juan Novicio Luna (1857-1899), believed to have been lost and missing for over a century, has surfaced and will be auctioned off by Christie’s during its Fall sale of Southeast Asian Modern & Contemporary Art on Nov. 30, in Hongkong, the auction house has announced.
“The recovery of an important and beautiful Luna will surely cause a stir on our art scene,” Ramon Orlina told the Inquirer. (Orlina’s sculptures are among those to be auctioned off.)
The found work is “Las Damas Romanas” (Roman Maidens), which will have a floor price of HK$8,000,000-10,000,000 or US$1,025,600-1,282,000).
Christie’s says the auction of the painting will surely be one of the highlights of the bidding.
“This extraordinary work was, until only recently, presumed lost as its whereabouts were unknown over a century since it was painted,” the auction house notes. “Its reappearance on the market now makes it one of only a small number of drawings, watercolors and oils by Luna that have surfaced in the past quarter of a century.”
Documentation on the work is scant. It was noted in the 1957 biography of Luna by Carlos E. Da Silva, and appeared as a faded black-and-white photograph from the file of the prewar art dealer and historian Alfonso T. Ongpin, which was reproduced by art historian and teacher Santiago Pilar in “Juan Luna: The Filipino as Painter,” published by the Eugenio Lopez Foundation in 1980.
The painting is an oil on canvas, 100 x 170 cm (around 39 x 67 inches). It is signed and dated “Luna Roman 1883” at the lower right.
Like “Spoliarium,” Luna’s most famous mural showing the corpse of a Roman gladiator being dragged in a chamber under the coliseum, “Damas” is also drawn from ancient Roman history but its elements are cheerful.
It shows two maidens on the steps of a building, one with her back reclining on a Roman pillar and the other, partly supine, holding on her leash, two frisky dogs trying to chase doves which are all around them, creating a merry scene of rest and languor. In the background is what appears to be a small shrine with incense smoke rising.
Allegory?
In his notes to the Christie’s catalogue, Ambeth Ocampo, Inquirer columnist and chair of the National Historical Institute, notes: “Should ‘Las Damas Romanas’ be seen at face value? Is it but a typical domestic scene in ancient Rome or does it have deeper, hidden meanings?”—much like “Spoliarium,” which Filipino propagandists and contemporaries of Luna in Madrid said was an allegory of the sufferings of
Filipinos under colonial Spain.
Ocampo takes particular note of the probable symbolic value of the doves, which he says, in ancient Rome, were given erotic connotations. “So, is this an allegory of restrained lust?”
Ocampo adds that there have been observations that the dark woman with the leash resembles Paz Pardo de Tavera, Luna’s wife whom he shot and killed in Paris, in 1802, in a fit of jealousy.
Is the painting, despite its cheerful scene, Luna’s way of painting his perception of his wife as a flirt?
“(B)ut unfortunately,” Ocampo notes, “Luna was not married when he painted ‘Las Damas’ in 1882. He had not even met his future wife at the time.”
Luna did the work while he was a student of the Spanish Academy in Rome. It was completed between his prize-winning works “Death of Cleopatra,” a silver medal in the Madrid Exposition of 1881; and “Spoliarium” which garnered the first gold medal in the Madrid Exposition of 1884. “Las Damas Romanas” itself won a Diploma of Honor at the Munich Art Exposition of 1886.
Against the dark interpretation of the doves, some observers have noted that the doves in Roman mythology really symbolize the divine. The fact that the two ladies seek to restrain the dogs from attacking the birds appear to highlight the sacredness of the divine. This makes it really a picture of the abundant richness of life, with humankind shown in harmony with Nature.
Perhaps it couldn’t have been otherwise. As a student in Europe’s classical academies, Luna was supposed to observe and sketch classical Roman architecture and artifacts as studies and the work may be a culmination of these observations.
“Christie’s is delighted to play a role in the recovery of ‘Las Damas Romanas’ and is honored to present this tour de force to collectors this season,” the auction house says. “This extraordinary work will be offered alongside 120 other works of Southeast Asian Modern & Contemporary Art, a category that provides a distinctive element in the art market of Hong Kong, and contributes to the full richness and flavor of the art from Asia, that Christie’s offers each season.”
Aside from the Luna and Orlina works, to be auctioned off are works by Antonio Blanco, Lao Lian Ben, Gabriel Barredo and National Artists José Joya, Ang Kiukok and Bencab.
But works by younger Filipino artists dominate the auction: Roland Ventura, Rodel Tapaya, Kiko Escora, Geraldine Javier, Renato Orara, Lena Cobangbang, Kawayan de Guia, Nona Garcia, Yasmin Sison, Wire
Tuazon and Lirio Salvador.
Christie’s Hong Kong Southeast Asian Modern & Contemporary Art Auction: Sunday, Nov. 30, Grand Hall, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.
Viewing: Nov. 27 and Nov. 29, Grand Hall, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.
©2008 www.inquirer.net all rights reserved
Monday, November 17, 2008
ABS-CBN buys 5% stake in Multiply
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., through its unit ABS-CBN Global, has purchased five percent of global interactive website owner Multiply Inc. for $5 million in a bid to boost advertising revenues ahead of a projected economic slowdown next year, a company official said.
ABS-CBN Broadcasting is looking at raising its stake in Multiply, the operator of the social networking website Multiply.com, to about 10 percent over the next two to three years, for a total investment of $9-$10 million, ABS-CBN Interactive head Paolo Pineda said.
The initial purchase of five percent involves 2.5 million shares of Series P common shares at $1.9 per share.
Pineda said Multiply.com increased its membership to three million Filipinos worldwide this year from 1.5 million last year, and generates 400 million page views a month.
ABS-CBN Global distributes TV programs produced by ABS-CBN Broadcasting, and other Filipino-based content, outside the Philippines, principally on The Filipino Channel.
Multiply is a privately owned corporation based in Boca Raton, Florida. Its flagship website, which was launched in 2004, allows users to share pictures, video and music, and a venue for generating discussions, feedback and interest from and among its users.
Campos Lanuza & Co. said in a daily research
Filipino Debut in Belgium: Ina at 18!
I was the default photog at Ina's Debut last Saturday here in Brussels. The Belgian youth didn't have a clue what a Debut was, and they got a taste of it here.
Dream Last Night
The first part was about my apartment here in Brussels. I just woke up and was about to leave when i noticed that something was wrong with the key on the keyhole. it wasn't the right key and it was sort of dangling from the keyhole. The right key was nowhere to be found. It's a good thing i locked the door that leads to the hallway, from the inside, because when I opened the door to the elevator lobby, there was a knapsack full of tools and a tool kit. Someone obviously is trying to break in, and just left for a moment, maybe to get more tools. Maybe he thought I was out of the country again.
I called security, (which must be the cops, because residential buildings in brussels don't have security guards 24/7 like we have back home). They arrived quickly and we were able to corner this bloke. The corridors of my apartment building changed to a tropical setting complete with plans and i barged in onto the guy and punched his face 5x, before the cops stopped me.
I woke up and it was only 5am. I thought i already had a complete night's sleep. So I went back to bed.
My next dream was about my hometown, Roxas City. We were having the famous barbeque of my childhood, Marc's barbeque by it's seaside restaurant at the 2nd floor, and all of a sudden we noticed the tide go up so fast. The water from the sea was reaching the entire floor of the restaurant, on to the street and continued to cross the street all the way to the bowling alleys. People were running away from the water. I remembered seeing one of my dad's collection volkswagen beetles parked near Marc's offices. (In my dream, I kinda remembered that they were away on vacation elsewhere, and probably left this car with their friend buddy, who lives beside Marc's resort) I ran up to the desk to get the keys to my Dad's beetle to save it from the water, but the resort people told me the keys were with Munich or Jack.
I decided to sprint all the way to my parents' house instead, thinking I have been running at the treadmill regularly anyway. (My childhood house is about a kilometer away from the beach, and hopefully the water doesn not get that far). Anyway, I was running along Arnaldo Boulevard and I remembered that some people invited me into their pick-up truck. They did not stop to drop me at my parents' house and continued on all the way to Tanque, a residential zone in my city.
I honestly don't know what happened next, hopefully the water did not flow all the way to my house. That would have sucked big time.
is all, folks haha. thanks for wasting your time reading all the way to here.
cheers
