Reliving High School: Florante at Laura (cartoon video)

My sis found this at YouTube while searching for resources in her "Florante at Laura" class. (She's an English teacher with a Filipino subject. :D)

Seems like this was a high school project of some sort. Kudos to the team for this cute ensemble. ^^ (Credits in the end of the vid.)



***

For more updates, please subscribe to my feeds via email or RSS.

Charice Pempengco Singing "God Bless America" in Obama's Pre-Inaugural Ball

Well I thought Charice will be singing in the inauguration itself. (Yeah, why did I think of that?) Instead she already sang last Jan 18. If the anonymous comment in Alex' TV patrol vid counterpart is correct and I quote...

She was invited to perform at the “Realizing the Dream Fourth Annual King Day Commemoration & 2nd Annual Realizing the Dream Award Celebration.” The event date was January 18, 2009, at Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill and was hosted by Martin Luther King III. It was not a pre-inaugural celebration of President Barak Obama, it was not even televised, and it was a private reception/event.

Either way, we're just so proud of what Charice has become from her Little Big Star roots, ei? There's no stopping her career now. God bless Charice. God bless the Filipinos. :)

***

For more updates, please subscribe to my feeds via email or RSS.

Lea Salonga Sings for Dayo, 1st Filipino All-Digital Animated Film

Dayo (Wanderer) is the first Filipino animated film that uses paperless 2D and 3D technologies. If you're a Filipino, this is really totally cool since this is not expected of us as creators but only as employed animators to the big guys like Pixar or Marvel. You can still watch it in cinemas since it's included in the ongoing Metro Manila Film Festival. (You can also get a raffle stub for watching all MMFF entries.)

Here's the MTV of Dayo with none other than Lea Salonga and the FILharmoniKA conducted by Gerard Salonga.



THE OBAMA FACTOR ON DAYO

“[...] Dayo is different, something special,” said Lea. “I didn’t have to voice any character, I just sing the theme song. The song is something incredibly inspirational, two minutes and 49 seconds long. It tells people to fly high, aim high and reach for their dreams.”

The main character, Buboy, is a dayo (stranger) in the Land of Elementalia where he tries to save his grandparents against all odds, a feat which Lea likened to Barack Obama’s landmark victory in the recent US presidential election.

“I guess that, like Obama, the song could be seen as an inspiration for our countrymen — you know, to aim high and to always look up. Don’t look down and do everything to make your dream come true.”

Source: The Obama Factor in Dayo

WHO IS LEA SALONGA AGAIN?

Everyone knows who Lea Salonga is. If not, they have probably spent the last decade or so in a deep, dark hole in the middle of nowhere. But just for the record – Lea Salonga is the first Filipina to ever star in a West End and Broadway production [Miss Saigon of course] and the first Filipina to ever win international theater accolades including the most prestigious award in British theatre, the Laurence Olivier Award, the Antoinette Perry or the Tony Awards for Excellence in Theatre, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Awards and the Theatre World Award.

Lea was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway. All these firsts make Lea a veritable First Lady in the world of theater – and I do mean world! Now this theater Titan, adds another first to her list. She is singing the theme song, “Lipad,” of the upcoming Filipino animated feature “Dayo sa Mundo ng Elementalia.” Though Lea has been the singing voice in animated films before - Princess Jasmine and Mulan in Disney’s Aladdin and Mulan respectively – this is the first time she is singing for a Filipino animated production.

Source: ClickTheCity - Another First for Lea Salonga

Related Links:

• Dayo: Official Site
  
• Dayo integrates characters from Philippine mythology
• Dayo creators learn from Urduja experience 

P.S. This is my first post for the year 2009! Let's inspire 2009. ;)

Indelible Ink Day

May 14, election. The undying question remains: So what?

I have this icky indelible ink sunk in my nail that gnaws at me.
Go figure.

Yep, I exercised my right to suffrage.
Despite the anticipated (and welcomed?) electoral fraud and violence.
Despite the hopeless situation we're mucked in.

Well, I still have hopes for good governance.
Someday.
Soon?

I believe that we have to stick it out for our country by not being passive or indifferent. Where is nationalism in our veins?
A call to Filipinos! (Here we could insert plackards calling for attention. Weehee.)

If only integrity and morality can be poured onto politics like indelible ink. That would be the time.

***

This is to remind me of my naivete:

There is no nightlife on Indelible Ink Day.

***

My sis traced back our roots by interviewing our parents for a project on family tree. I was in awe when we found out that my paternal great-great-grandmother lived till my father was 6 or 7 years old. (My father was born on 1947.) She died at the age of 110.

If my calculations are right, Lola Dorothea was even older by Jose Rizal for approximately 10 years! She lived to experience the whole colonial times! The days of Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo... There was no Philippine flag or anthem yet. Perhaps she may have passed by Cavite for the inauguration since Batangas is just a few blocks away. (Yeah, right.)

My imagination could have gone on and on. I wished she had lived to tell me of those times. Those times that are now embedded in our history books. Wow.