Empress Of Drac, A Cebuana Blogger

Catch one of Cebu’s most talented singer and songwriter, Cattski Espina, in her 10th anniversary concert dubbed as “Cattski 10” this 20th of March at the Outpost.  She will be performing along with other famous local bands and musicians like SHIELA & THE INSECTS, JUDE GITAMONDOC & Friends, HASTANG, LUI CASTILLO and 22 Tango Artists ZAFRA and UNDERCOVER GRASSHOPPERS.

In this concert, Cattski Espina will be launching her first album for 2010 which is dubbed as TEN.  It’s composed of her most memorable songs from her previous four albums. The main purpose of this is to acknowledge her 10-year contribution to Cebu’s local music scene.  This album release also aims to promote her tracks online.

Cattski Espina is the vocalist of the popular Cebu band “Cattski” which has been around the local music scene since 2000.  The band has already produced four albums: CATTSKI EP, VACUUM MY INSIDE, SOUND MINDS SPEAK VOLUMES, and KISMET The Singles.  Other band members include Anne Muntuerto (guitars) and  Junnell Codilla (drum).  You can listen to  Cattski’s songs and music videos in the following websites.

http://www.reverbnation.com/cattskimusic
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CATTSKI/61804610273?ref=mf
http://cattskisings.multiply.com/

Cattski also maintains the following blogs.

http://cattski.blogspot.com/
http://cattski.tumblr.com/

In lieu with the Cebu Bloggers Society’s advocacy, to promote Cebu thru blogging, we(I, X, Aileen and Atty. Ethelbert) went to the The CompanY and Aiza Seguerra’s Mother’s Day concert in Waterfront Hotel, Lahug, Cebu City.  The concert presentation was specifically held in Teatro Casino of the said hotel.  MJ, the event’s production coordinator, invited us to attend the concert and blog about it.

Though we missed half of the show, we still thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the presentation.  We arrived at Teatro Casino around quarter to nine, and it was Aiza Seguerra’s very melodic, enchantingly soothing and soul captivating voice that greeted us as we were making our way to our seats at the back portion of the venue.

I’m really not that familiar with her songs, but all I felt while listening to her voice lulling the whole crowd, is that somewhat very refreshing feeling which penetrates your soul, though its lyrics is somewhat melancholic.  The tenderness of her vocal softly embraced my tired mind and body, and as I closed my eyes to fully enjoy the moment, it seemed like a cold breeze of summer wind subtly kissed my haggard cheek…or is it just the “aircon”? Hahahahahaha!

On the other hand, The CompanY had definitely delivered a very exceptional performance through out the whole concert presentation.  The blending of their voices was splendidly perfect.  Their solo performances were unique and flavorfully seasoned with faint humor.  Their stage presence was omnisciently beautiful.  And the lighting effects complemented the rhythmic velocity of their vocals.

Hahahaha!  Please give chance to a non-experienced music critic’s way of describing a concert performance.  I’m not really knowledgeable when it comes to this kind of stuff.  Anyways, after their performance, Miss MJ personally introduced us to them(The CompanY members).  She also introduced us to the production staff of the concert especially to Mr. Joey Nolasco(a fellow Cebuano), one of the producers.  And later, we had our picture taken with the performing artists.

N.B: At the center of the Queen City of the South is Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino, one of the Philippines’ famous landmarks. Located 30 minutes from Mactan international Airport, and a stone’s throw away from the city’s financial district and best attractions, Waterfront Cebu city Hotel & Casino is the place to go and stay. (Source: Waterfront Hotel Cebu)

Tonight, 16th of May 2009, a gala concert of The CompanY with Aiza Seguerra will be held  at Teatro Casino, Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, Cebu City at exactly 8pm.  For those people who are avid fans of the performing artists, this is your rare chance to show your support to your favorite music icons.  And for those people who wanted to give their mothers a belated Mother’s Day treat, then, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bond with them along with the Philippine’s Premiere Vocal Ensemble.

This special concert presentation is brought by Over Coffee Management, Inc. and JCI Cebu North Chapter.

Ticket prices are available at Php 1,500 (VIP seats) and Php 750 (General Admission).   Ticket outlets: Gaisano Metro Ayala Customer Service, Casino Filipino Admin office (phone: 032.2329888) and KFC Parkmall and SM City branch. Please contact; Norman (032.2362901 / 0915.4990101), Weng (032.4237647 / 0917.5010501) or Joey (032.5151550 / 0927.5202416) for reservations.

Proceeds of the concert will go to The Rise Above Foundation Cebu (Formerly Channel of Hope).

Before anything else, I need to thank Miss Aileen Estoquia, for her help during our stay inside the UP Diliman Village. Xie xie ni for the very affordable, yet, very great accomodation. I also want to mention Mr. Xerxes Aaron Chua Bernades, my ultimate travel companion. Without him, my journey to Manila wouldn’t be that exciting.

I think, I’m the kind who expect too much, but has very low acceptance. I mean the summit is okay, but it is not what I expected it to be. This may sound unfair to the organizers who had shed rivers of sweats to make the event successful, but this is only my personal observation. This doesn’t necessarily reflect the majority’s impression. To make this review not so bias, I will enumerate first the positive stuffs.

PROs:

1. It was held in a very comfortable venue.
2. The activities started on time.
3. Free snacks and lunch.
4. Presentation equipments were all ready.
5. Some nice speakers(i.e. those ones who tackled Photoblogging 102, Video Blogging…)
6. Nice Q & A facilitation.
7. Great after party treats.

CONs:

1. There were no ice-breakers in between the talks.
2. A certain speaker didn’t discuss well the topic assigned to him. He seemed like he was just talking to himself and was talking about how people treated him because of the peculiarity of his blog. I don’t even think he’s aware of the audience’s reaction while he was there on stage. Good thing his partner saved the topic.
3. A few speakers were just merely reading from their power point presentation. Tsk…tsk…
4. A certain speaker was out of his mind. He suggested a system of leveling among bloggers, which I find unrealistic and should only remain a theory. From an artist to a maven? What is that? Jeezzz…
5. IDs were only given to the first 300 web registrants. This actually made me feel alienated. I’m soo weird. Haha…
6. Some of the participants had no free lunch(mostly those late ones). This is understandable since the event had a limited budget.
7. Siopao tragedy. I didn’t even bother to continue eating that thing. Haist…the prize of freebies…I sound sooo pathetic. I know. Hahaha!
8. There’s no getting to know each other activity or program during the after party. Bloggers from Manila stayed with their crowd, and bloggers from the south…well, had also obviously stayed with their own crowd. There were only a very few bloggers who made efforts to reach out to other bloggers. Everyone was very comfortable with their own beloved minions. Or, is it just me? Hehehe!

Lastly, to be fair, I did enjoy the overall event. I also learned a lot of new things and had also met few interesting people. Btw, here’s a CBS group pic during the after party at Katips.

Photo Credits: lord_dracula and vanjahnn

Related Posts(Copied from Ceblogger’s post)

Hidden Soldiers!
Ang sagot ni Manny Pacquiao
nang tinanong siya kung ano
ang World’s Number 1 anti-dandruff
shampoo.

The text message above is definitely funny, but it is an ugly reflection of how most Pinoy discriminate someone who doesn’t speak fucking English fluently. This, also shows how narrow-minded most of us when it comes to how we measure intelligence and capability. No wonder we are still living in a developing country until now. Hypocrisy dominates most of our central traits which has blinded us to see genuine talent and ability. We always assume that when someone is good in speaking english, he or she is smart and intelligent and everything. How pathetically wrong!

Well, this post is definitely not intended to rant about how pathetic most Pinoy are. This post is intended to praise Manny Pacquiao, Oscar Dela Hoya’s new idol. The golden boy in the boxing arena who has been a reigning champion and living legend bowed down and surrendered to Pacman at the start of the ninth round in their recently concluded Dream Match at MGM Grand, Nevada, USA.

I never thought the game would end that way. Dela Hoya has more fighting advantages compared to Pacman. First, is the height advantage. Pacman is only 5′ 6″ tall compared to Dela Hoya’s 5′ 10″. Next, is the reach advantage. Dela Hoya has long arms compared to Manny which means a high hitting probability. The Golden Boy is also famous of his powerful left jab and has more fighting experiences compared to our pambansang kamao. But all of these expected advantages had been easily vanquished by Pacman’s agility, good footworks, lethal throws and punches, and a combination of consistent offensive and defensive moves.

Manny Pacquiao dominated the whole game from round one to round eight. He threw the first few punches in the first round and managed to avoid Dela Hoya’s. The Golden Boy was reduced to a mere punching bag in round four to eight. Pacman emerged victorious after Dela Hoya accepted defeat with an injured face and a black eye. Pacman, on the other hand, accepted the victory unscathed along with millions of victorious Filipino around the world. Our Pambansang Kamao has clearly obliterated USA’s Golden Boy after 8 rounds due to technical knock out. Yeeeyyyyyy!

N.B. Have you noticed that the background music played after each round was of Rammtein’s? I’m referring to GMA 7’s game coverage. Hehehe.

Photo Credits: BatchLinks

Well, if she has, she must be under a really good medication, for she’s kicking  her ass off again in the recently held 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.

In the recently concluded video awards, Brit made a victorious comeback. She just won three Moonmen. These includes Video of the Year, Best Female Video and Best Pop Video. These are all for her hit “Piece of Me“. These are actually her first wins in VMA history.

Aside from that, she had also delivered high ratings to MTV. According to LA Times, Britney Spears worked her magic for the show even without a performance. More than 8.4 million viewers watched the three-hour music event, which is a 19% increase over the last year’s viewership.

Britney has just made her real comeback, and there are no other people who are more delighted, than her fans. She actually dedicates her awards to them. But, some are still wondering if this will be for good. Is she psychologically sound enough to handle her career? How about her rumored mental illness? Is she really a bipolar?

According to John M. Grohol, a psychologist, Britney Spears may have a Bipolar Disorder. A bipolar disorder is a serous mental disorder characterized by mood swings between extreme depression and mania (i.e. from extreme happiness to extreme sadness). When this is left untreated, those people with this disorder can go back and forth between these two extremes.

This rumored mental illness actually appeared after the dispute over Brit’s custody of her sons against her ex-husband, Kevin Federline. I think she’s just being over emotional because her ex-hubby is trying to take her children away from her. Federline took advantage of her ex-wife’s weakness, and may had invented stories that could give him more authority over their children. And he did succeeded. Well, he should do his best to maintain a connection with Britney, since without her, he will lose his status as a celebrity.   And mind you, Brit is filthy rich.   And having her children in his custody means a stable fountain flow of dollars.

I guess people should not believe everything they read or watch in the news right away. Popular people like Britney Spears, is the media’s favorite target of topic exaggeration, for they can attract massive attention, which means higher profits and income. We should be more vigilant on how we process the informations we receive everyday, because not all of them are based from facts.

Bipolar or not, Britney has proved her prowess once and again in the pop music world.

N.B: I wrote this topic due to Maybel’s request.

Photo Credit: oxygenchunks.blogspot.com
You can download Britney’s Piece of Me mp3 here

Mein Teil(My Part) is one of my fave music vid from Rammstein(a popular rock band from Germany). A friend of mine introduced me to this band since he knew about my obsession of twisted and bizarre stuffs. I fell in love with the band the first time I saw one of their music vid “Du Hast”, and a few of their concert videos.

In Mein Teil(music video) homosexuality has been shamelessly portrayed in coordination with brainsick and savage characters you can only see in serial killer films like SAW, Hannibal, WAZ, and a few good zombie movies. If you’re a first timer and a moralist you will be appalled of how the video brutally illustrated the Fellatio(oral stimulation of the penis or in short the blowjob). Some said that Mein teil also means My Penis in the German sense. Every Rammstein video I’ve watched is well coordinated and well-budgeted. It seems like when you watch their music video you’re watching a short and savage film and taboo is their common denominator. If you like to read the english version of Mein teil click here.

You can download their discography album here