More Fuel, More Chow in Caltex-Chowking Promo

Motorists! Keep those Caltex receipts and exchange them for free Chowking items!

Press Release:

Manila, Philippines  – The journey just got way happier for motorists who will fuel up starting July 15 to September 30, 2014 at any Caltex station. Aside from getting maximized power, improved fuel economy, lower emission, smoother drive and reliable performance in every Caltex with Techron fuel purchase, Caltex customers can also enjoy a free Chowking Halo-halo, Chinese-Style Fried chicken, Pork Siomai Chow Fan and more. 

Motorists can get free Chowking food items for every single or accumulated fuel transaction worth P2,500 using their locally issued credit and debit cards, cash, StarCash or StarCard. A maximum of five combined receipts from one Caltex station can be exchanged for a single food coupon. Exchange period is until November 30, 2014. Promo coupons are valid for one year from date of issuance and can be presented to all Chowking branches nationwide. 

Caltex customers with Happyplüs cards can also avail of the promo and earn points at the same time to grab more free meals at any Chowking, Jollibee, Greenwich and Red Ribbon store. To become a Happyplüs member, membership kits are available for only P100.00 in Caltex stations and any branch of the four fast food chains.

Caltex-Chowking Fuel for Chow is part of a promotional campaign introduced by industry giants Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), marketer of the Caltex fuel and lubricants, and Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), owner of Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich and Red Ribbon brands. CPI and JFC kick-started the campaign with the Free Jollibee treats promo last year followed by the Happyplüs loyalty program launch last summer. 

Per DTI-NCR Permit No 5254, Series of 2014. See flyers for more details or visit www.facebook.com/CaltexPhilippines for updates on other Caltex promos and activities. 

KidZania Manila Introduces The Educational Entertainment Concept To Filipino Academe

Kids! Get ready for KidZania Go! this August to October! I hope your schools will get a visit :)

Press Release:

KidZania Manila formally introduced its unique educational entertainment concept to teachers, educators and other members of the Philippine academe during the KidZania Educators’ Pod held at The City Club in Alphaland Makati recently. More than 90 child education experts from over 30 schools and learning institutions across the metro learned about the innovative indoor play city, which aims to help students reach their full potential through interactive role-play. 

Kids can be anything they want to be -- teacher, doctor, firefighter, and chef --
at KidZania Manila

“We look forward to supporting and complementing our teachers’ efforts to help Filipino children and their parents discover the amazing power of role-play as well as the fun ways children can explore and discover their gifts,” said Maricel Pangilinan-Arenas, President and CEO of Play Innovations Inc. and Governor of the State, Philippines.

Pangilinan-Arenas added that at KidZania Manila, children can learn to work with others, practice being good citizens, and work together to build a real sense of community. “We aim to create one of the most memorable and enriching KidZania experiences in the world, cognizant of both the universal and unique needs of children in a developing nation such as ours,” she said. 

Maricel Pangilinan-Arenas

The global leader in children’s educational entertainment, KidZania Manila recognizes the power of role-playing and activates this concept to empower kids so they can learn through personal experience and, ignite their imagination, as they learn by doing. Set to open at the Bonifacio Global City in early 2015, the indoor play city features over 100 role-playing activities in different establishments supported by real-world brands.  Depending on their interests, children can choose from a wide range of jobs – be a Cebu Pacific pilot or cabin crew, ABS-CBN news anchor or correspondent, or a McDonald’s burger chef apprentice.

At KidZania Manila, kids will have hands-on experience through role-play of different careers, discover how a city works, and learn economic fundamentals - the concept of earning and managing money.  Each experience provides contextual learning experiences about teamwork, independence, self-esteem, financial literacy, and other valuable life skills.

Get set for KidZania Go!

During the event, the KidZania Manila team also unveiled KidZania Go!, the mobile extension of the kid-sized city which will give a foretaste of in-park activities. The traveling educational entertainment platform will tour different schools in Manila from August until October 2014, allowing children to get a glimpse of the KidZania Manila experience before the play city opens in early 2015.  

KidZania Manila and KidZania Go! have been developed under the supervision of child educators and psychologists, promoting values, self-discovery and life skills development in a fun and entertaining way. “The KidZania experience complements what kids learn in school and makes the concept of authentic assessment come to life. It enhances and extends the learning objectives and methodologies of K to 12 by providing powerful experiences that are not always possible in the formal schooling environment,” said KidZania Manila Minister of Tourism Rudy Villar. 

Rabbit Hole Launches Red Turnip Theater’s Second Season

Last March, I got to watch Red Turnip's first offering for 2014 and it was really, really good! Read my review of Cock here. This coming August, they're staging another production that is bound to be talked about again. Read more about it ...

Press Release:

In the span of a year, Red Turnip Theater has made its mark in the Philippine theater scene. The band of five actors that make up Red Turnip (Ana Abad Santos, Topper Fabregas, Jenny Jamora, Cris Villonco and Rem Zamora) wanted to come up with a maiden season that would re-introduce Philippine audiences to the straight play while putting their own stamp on the theatrical experience. Their first production, “Closer”, was a bruising and honest take on modern day relationships and their follow-up, “Cock”, was a biting comedy about sexual identity. Both productions went on to acclaim with critics and audiences alike. 

The five are back with their second season and are excited to kickstart it with the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner, “Rabbit Hole”. Written by David Lindsay-Abaire, “Rabbit Hole” was a Broadway hit that garnered several Tony nominations and a win for its lead actress, Cynthia Nixon. It was then adapted into a critically-acclaimed film with Nicole Kidman in 2010 and earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. 

The story revolves around Becca and Howie, a couple who lose their four year old son to a car accident, and the grief that slowly threatens to tear them apart. Shifting between humour and heartbreak, “Rabbit Hole” explores the way people deal with loss and how this affects those closest to them; their families. Variety calls it “an intensely emotional examination of grief, laced with wit, insightfulness, compassion, and searing honesty”.

The Manila premier has film and television star Agot Isidro in the role of Becca, with theater veteran Michael Williams as her husband Howie. This production marks Agot’s return to theater after notable turns in Tanghalang Pilipino's "Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah", Atlantis Productions' "Baby" and Trumpets' "Honk!". Williams' long list of credits include starring roles in "Jekyll and Hyde", "Les Miserables" and "Man of La Mancha" for Repertory Philippines. 

Agot Isidro: I'm a little nervous about going back to theater 'cause it has been seven years since my last production (Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah). But I am excited at the same time, because I know it will be a welcome and enriching break after years of TV work. I am especially on the edge about 'Rabbit Hole' because this is my first straight play. With musicals, there's a certain comfort in knowing that, at some parts, I burst into song. So a straight play is all new to me. But I am looking forward to the process.

Michael Williams: I am very much looking forward to working with Red Turnip on their production of ‘Rabbit Hole’. It’s an amazing script and based on their previous productions, no doubt this one will also be handled with a high degree of sensitivity. 

Joining Isidro and Williams are Che Ramos-Cosio (Tatlong Maria, Dogeaters) as Becca’s sister Izzy and Sheila Francisco (South Pacific, August Osage County) as their mother Nat.  Dulaang UP's Ross Pesigan (Ang Nawalang Kapatid, Titus Andronicus) rounds off the eclectic cast as Jason, the young boy responsible for the tragic loss of their son. 

Topper Fabregas makes his directorial debut: Apart from it being a brilliant script, we Turnips also chose ‘Rabbit Hole’ as our second season opener because we're hungry to show a different side to us. ‘Closer’ and ‘Cock’ defined our first season as these fantastic, in-your-face experiences. ‘Rabbit Hole’ takes the (deceptively) gentler approach but will knock you out just the same. It’s also a great showcase for its cast, and you don’t get any better than these five actors. We are excited to have them on board. We are also very thrilled to be back at Whitespace!

"Rabbit Hole" opens on August 1, 2014 and runs all weekends of August. Log on to https://www.facebook.com/RedTurnipTheater for complete show schedules.

Tickets are available through TicketWorld (891-9999 or www.ticketworld.com.ph) or Red Turnip Theater (redturniptheater@gmail.com or https://www.facebook.com/RedTurnipTheater)

CREATIVE STAFF

Direction: Topper Fabregas

Technical Direction & Lighting Design: John Batalla

Set Design: Faust Peneyra

Sound Design: Jethro Joaquin

Venue: Whitespace is located at 2314 Chino Roces Ave. Extension (formerly Pasong Tamo Extension), Makati.

9 Works Theatrical Presents "The Last Five Years" Starring Nikki Gil and Joaquin Valdes

Sometimes, love is a matter of WHEN, not WHY …

Press Release:

On its fifth year, Philstage Gawad Buhay award‐winning theater company, 9 Works Theatrical, invites you to look back, and move forward, with one of the greatest and most poignant musicals of all time, Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years.”

In a heartbreaking and moving tale of “he says, she says” told forward and backward, we meet rising young, novelist Jamie Wellerstein and struggling young actress Cathy Hyatt. She begins at the rueful end of their marriage and moves towards a hopeful beginning. He begins as a giddy, young 20‐ something who has just met the girl of his dreams but winds up making less than favorable choices – a story all too familiar but structured in a way that is unique whilst set to Brown’s emotionally raw and honest music.

An intimate two‐actor musical which won Jason Robert Brown Drama Desk awards and nominations following the show’s Off‐Broadway premiere in 2002, “The Last Five Years” has been dubbed as one of the best shows of 2001 by Time Magazine, contrasting grim endings with promising new beginnings.

Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote, “Brown captures the delicious, embarrassing energy of being young, gifted and meteoric in New York City” – infusing musical styles that exact from a number of musical genres: pop, jazz, classical, folk, rock, Latin, and even klezmer.

The show couldn’t have been a more fitting choice to kick off 9 Works Theatrical’s fifth year. “Five years na tayo? Eh ‘di let’s do The Last Five Years!” quips 9 Works Theatrical artistic director Robbie Guevara. One of Manila’s most exciting theater companies that brought you “RENT,” “Wedding Singer,” “Sweet Charity,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “They’re Playing Our Song,” and most recently, “Grease” (which bagged the 2013 Philstage Gawad Buhay award for Best Musicale of an Existing Material), 9 Works Theatrical returns to its humble roots. “I meant that as light joke but my partners took it seriously and liked the idea so much. And since I love the musical, I didn’t object at all when they agreed to do it,” he adds.

For the much‐awaited return of “The Last Five Years” to the Philippine stage after more than a decade since it was last performed at the RCBC Theater, 9 Works Theatrical welcomes a new Jamie and Cathy in two of Philippine theater’s brightest young stars – Nikki Gil and Joaquin Valdes.

Returning to the stage after her PMPC Star Awards for TV win for Best Single Performance by an Actress and 2013 Philstage Gawad Buhay nomination for “They’re Playing Our Song,” singer‐actress Nikki Gil will be playing the role of Cathy Hyatt, an ambitious, fresh‐faced girl in a new relationship who is stunned by a betrayal that she is only beginning to come to terms with. As with the deterioration of most relationships, however, there are two sides to every story.

Bagging the 2013 Philstage Gawad Buhay award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in “Red,” actor and commercial director Joaquin Valdes returns to his musical theater roots to play the role of novelist Jamie Wellerstein, an ambitious lad who is lovable yet makes unintentional choices that sabotage his own happiness.

“9 Works Theatrical began by showcasing the brilliance of Jason Robert Brown’s music in ‘Songs For A New World.’ Our last five years have been nothing short of remarkable and as we celebrate our anniversary, it’s but fitting to mark this milestone with the staging of what is arguably Jason Robert Brown’s most popular musical. ‘The Last Five Years,’ is an apt title to match our special occasion,” says executive producer Santi Santamaria.

Santi, Joaquin, Nikki, and Robbie

A limited number of performances are available for fundraising and block‐ buying. For tickets and other inquiries, please call 586.7105 or 0917.554.5560 or email info@9workstheatrical.com. Facebook: 9workstheatrical. Twitter & Instagram: @9WTonline. Hashtag: #L5YManila

“The Last Five Years” is presented by 9 Works Theatrical in partnership with The Rockwell Club.

***

“The Last Five Years” is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI, 421 West 54th Street, New York, New York 10019 USA.

Come and Play with Your Friends in Dora’s Best Friends Picnic

This sounds like fun! Save the dad moms and dads!

Press Release:

A different kind of adventure awaits kids at Dora’s Best Friends Picnic, happening on July 20, from 2 to 6pm, at the SM Megamall Event Center. Little Nicksters aged 2 to 7 are sure to have a fun-tastic time learning and playing with their families and fellow Dora the Explorer fans.

To kick things off, friends of Dora and Boots can challenge one another to a game of ring toss in the Dora & Boots Friendship Rings booth. Kids can also hang out and visit Diego’s Face Painting corner, Benny’s Smart Art Balloons station, and Isa’s BFF Looms factory for a more creative playtime. 

And since young explorers are always ready for a challenge and looking for new escapades, Nicksters can participate in the Kindermusik Philippines segment and be part of a one-of-a-kind musical play adventure. 

With other Nick Jr. enthusiasts joining in the fun, little tots can make new friends and bring home cool prizes from the sponsors and Nickelodeon by joining the exciting games. They can also share a picnic blanket with other adventurers as Nickelodeon treats them to a special Dora the Explorer episode.

As an added treat, everyone’s favorite explorers, Dora and Boots, will make a special appearance and have everyone up and dancing!

Kids will definitely not want to miss going on an adventure jam-packed with exciting activities and awesome surprises. So, round up your friends and see you at Dora’s Best Friends Picnic!

Nickelodeon’s Dora’s Best Friends Picnic is presented by Alaska NutriBuild 345 and co-sponsored by Purefoods Fun Stuff Nuggets and Zesto Juice Drink, and official venue partner SM Megamall.

Help Save Lives! Support Aid Couture Happening this August 2-3, 2014!

This is a good and very sensible cause! Please support!

Press Release:

Due to the success and support received during the first round of the fund raising event, Aid Couture, in November last year, the Philippines Red Cross, in partnership with Procter & Gamble Philippines, will be staging a bigger and better second run to help save more lives.

 

Every year, donors all over the country and the world donate piles and piles of clothes to the Philippine Red Cross. However, a good number of these donations are too extravagant/fashionable and may not be appropriate for donation to victims – victims who have lost so much in calamities and the simultaneous monsoon rains. Aid Couture is a fashion show and clothing sale event that aims to turn these designer/branded clothes into funds for Red Cross. These clothes will be washed, dried, styled and sold to the public via a two-day selling event. Proceeds from each item sold will be converted to first aid kids, food supplies, blankets, stretchers, etc for use in times of calamity and natural disasters.

 

Aid Couture will have its second run this August 2-3 at the Glorietta and Market! Market! Activity Center. The venue will be converted to a unique selling stage where we will showcase and sell handpicked clothes, styled by some of the country’s most fashionable stylists. Our partner celebrities and endorsers will also donate several of the clothes there.

 

Having said this, we would like to invite you to be part of this worthwhile cause through any of the following ways:

 

1.  Donation in the form of usable, resaleable, pre-loved and/or out-of-season clothes that we can wash, style and sell during the event.

2.  Encourage others to participate in the event by posting about your personal donations.

3.  Help call Filipinos to action and to take part in this noteworth cause by using any form of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, Blogs, etc) to encourage others to donate, to buy and/or to attend the event.

4.  Live and actual participation on the dates of the event itself.

 

Get Ready For More Fun and Action with Jollibee Kids Meal’s Jollitown Super Games

Moms and dads! If your kids love watching Jollitown, they'll surely want to have these collectible toys from Jollibee that will develop their hand-eye coordination skills! 

Press Release:

This July, boys and girls can get their hands on everyone’s favorite friends – Jollibee, Hetty, Twirlie, Popo and Yum – with the latest Jollibee Kids Meal (JKM) offer, the Jollitown Super Games!

With the Frisbee Shooter, little ones can practice their aiming skills by locking the frisbee in place and adjusting the launcher’s direction before releasing for a sure hit. Try your best to hit the three targets and watch them spin when you do. 

Kids looking for a different challenge with their friends will surely enjoy the Star Launcher, where the first one to shoot three chips inside the tower wins. Players can do this by simply placing the chips on the launcher and propelling them towards the tower one by one.

Action-packed playtime awaits young gamers with the Top Spinner as they try to land the spinning top into one of the holes. To get things spinning, all kids have to do is wind up the launcher clockwise, position it on top of the ramp and press the button to release. The player who lands his or her top on the hole with the highest score wins!

Have a blast and collect all three Jollitown Super Games toys with every purchase of a Jollibee Kids Meal. Take your langhap-sarap pick among the Yumburger Meal (P80), Jollibee Spaghetti Meal (P83), or 1-piece Chickenjoy Meal (P100). As an added treat, every purchase of a Jollibee Kids Meal comes with one FREE Vanilla Twirl. Hurry as these collectibles are available until July 31, 2014 only!

Trade In, Trade Up with Dunlopillo

If you are a regular reader of my main blog, Write, Breathe, Live and have seen my post last May about the launch of Dunlopillo mattresses in the Philippines, you already probably know the good qualities of this product. This July, the top name in quality sleep solutions is offering big discounts with the following incredible deals. Read more …

Press Release:

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Trade the mattress you have for the mattress you want! Dunlopillo is offering the exchange everyone has been waiting for with their new swap promo. Customers can take their their old mattresses to select Dunlopillo outlets and get up to 50% off on a new Dunlopillo mattress.

Offer lasts until July 31, 2014 at Dunlopillo showrooms: Libis - #16 Acropolis Commercial Area, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave. Libis, Quezon City, Phone: 911-1672, Fax: 913-1072, EDSA Cubao, Phone: 913-1975, Fax: 913-1072, and Ital Design MC Home Depot Fort, Phone: 815-6217, Fax: 815-6218. 

Follow DUNLOPILLOPH on Facebook and Instagram for more information and updates. 

TakBohol: Boholanos Run To Build A School

Sports enthusiasts! Please consider joining this race for a good cause. Let's not forget the children and our kababayans in Bohol who still have no decent schools nor homes …

Press Release:

Hundreds of Boholanos will unite for a fun run to support the construction of a school building in the earthquake-hit province of Bohol. On Sunday, July 27, 2014, Tapok- Tapok Bol- Anon, Inc., an organization of Boholanos based in Manila, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Philippines will gear up towards the race for a brighter future of the youth of Bohol. The fundraising marathon is expected to be one of the biggest gatherings of the Boholano community in Manila this year.

Doing the Habitat Philippines re-build pose are (L-R) Aris Jim Jimboy Sarmiento, Event Coordinator;
Ret. Lt. Gen. Calos Holganza, Deputy COO for Disaster Response, Habitat;
Charlito S. Ayco, CEO & Managing Director, Habitat;
Ret. Gen. Leo Olegario, AFP, President, Tapok-Tapok Bol-Anon, Inc.;
Manuel Omictin, Board of Director, Tapok-Tapok Bol-Anon, Inc.;
and Mayor Manuel Molina, Vice President, Tapok-Tapok Bol-Anon, Inc.

Habitat is a non- profit organization which envisions a world where everybody has a decent place to live,. Habitat is committed to addressing the housing backlog in the Philippines, where millions remain in substandard housing.

In October last year, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocked parts of Bohol and the Central Visayas, destroying infrastructures and leaving hundreds of people dead. Just 3 weeks from the quake, the region was not spared from the path of the super Typhoon Yolanda (international name “Haiyan”) which sent some 40,000 Boholanos homeless. With these figures in mind, the Tapok- Tapok Bol- Anon Inc. saw the great need to partner with an organization to help their fellow Boholanos rise from the tragedy.

Today, more than six months after the earthquake, many families in Bohol remain homeless. In response to this need, Habitat targets to rebuild over 8,083 homes in 17 badly affected municipalities across the province providing decent, earthquake-resilient shelters to families still living in tents and make-shift houses.

All funds raised from the fun run will help fund the construction a school building in one of the worst hit barangays in Bohol. Tapok- Tapok Bol- Anon, Inc. hopes to help school children still holding their classes in tents and makeshift learning facilities. Registration fee is P300, the run categories are 3k and 4.5k. Participants will run around the Veteran’s Memorial Hospital grounds.

Habitat Ambassador Tonipet Gaba hosting the press launch
of TakBohol Run for a School 2014

Tapok- Tapok Bol- Anon, Inc.  was formed to further enhance the camaraderie and leadership of mid-level Boholanos based in Manila and contribute to Bohol’s well-being. Over the years, Tapok- Tapok Bol- Anon, Inc., has partnered with various government agencies and private organizations for programs to help support the needs of the Boholanos.

Today, Habitat for Humanity Philippines aims to rebuild the hard-hit areas in the various Visayan islands. It has continued to raise funds and gather volunteers in its goal to build 8,083 homes in 1,059 barangays of the 17 municipalities of Bohol. Habitat continues to seek  the support of groups and individuals in building a better future for  the Filipinos. To know more about Habitat and its programs, or to volunteer log on to www.habitat.org.ph.

To know more about “TakBohol, Run for a School”, please contact Mr. Aries Sarmiento at 0915-4079217.

Date: Sunday, July 27, 2014

On- site Registration:  4:00 A.M.

Race Start: 5:00 A.M.

Venue: Veterans Memorial Medical Center, North Avenue, Quezon City

Registration fee: P 300.00

Registration Sites: On- Site

Registration Starts: Ongoing until day of event

Donations may be coursed through:

Bank Name: BDO

Account Name: Tapok- Tapok Bol- Anon, Inc.

Account Branch: Richville Branch (Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa)

Savings Account: 47300-36460