Thursday, December 22, 2011
Why we all need Christmas ?
MANILA, Philippines — Aside from the religious and spiritual significance of Christmas, there are other practical reasons why I and so many other people need it. The way I look at it, each year is like a chapter or a race which starts at the beginning of the year and ends towards the holiday season. Therefore, it is only fitting that we celebrate the completion of another year with Christmas and New Year back to back.
First is the holiday break adds at least two more days within a span of a week to your freedom from work. Considering that there are times when a whole year literally goes by without you being able to avail of a vacation leave, any break is certainly a welcome one. The nice thing about this is that no one, even the toughest boss, will think badly about you for not going to work on Christmas or New Year’s Day, unless of course you were previously scheduled to be on duty on the holiday shift. What to do with the time? This is the best time to spend time with your kids and loved ones since they too are on holiday, and this is one of the few times that everyone has a break.
Second is the gift giving, particularly from your employer, aside from the 13th month pay. This is also the season you get all sorts of gifts from your business associates, relatives and friends. However, what I really like about this tradition is that this is also a golden opportunity for you to give gifts to people who have made a difference in your life and show them your appreciation. When you have a hectic schedule a lot of times we forget or don’t have the time to say thank you and give a token of our gratitude. I also find that there is much less awkwardness in giving something to someone as a Christmas present than in any other occasion.
Third is all the different parties and get-togethers that seem to fill up every day in December does serve a deeper purpose. For the office parties, we use the occasion to give awards and speeches, but this is also a good time to get to know people more, and that means your peers, subordinates and superiors. With everyone in a good mood, this is the perfect time to smoothen out any rough spots by apologizing or explaining yourself. Meeting old friends this time of the year allows you to catch up on what is happening to your old buddies and talk about the “good old days”. Reunions and parties with relatives is another wonderful event in that it gives the younger generation the chance to meet up with their peer group and know who their relatives are before becoming nothing more than faint memories.
The Christmas season also gives you the chance to be in charge of being with people you like. Parties for specific groups, like your company, association, relatives, reunions and the like, gives you little leeway in who is going to be there. However, organizing your own party with your own guest list and just inviting specific people that cuts across the spectrum of your relationships can be quite satisfying. Hosting these affairs may entail some logistical challenges and some cost but it is certainly worth it since enjoying the company of the wonderful people in your life is priceless.
Finally, there are some Christmas traditions that you may have started or gotten used to. You will know if they are good ones when you and the other people involved look forward to it every year, these are the ones that you want to keep on going since it provides a foundation for stronger relationships and good memories. It could be anything from a reunion with old school mates, a family trip, putting up the Christmas tree together, visiting the oldest living relative and so many other traditions both old and new.
Remember that we are only here for a limited time and we will be remembered for the things we have done and leave behind. I think that we all want to leave good memories and a lasting positive impression of ourselves to those that we leave behind. Much like missing friends and relatives that have moved on, I too would like to be missed when I am gone. To me, that is what Christmas is for, to make new memories and cherish old ones. Not only do I need Christmas, I really want it! Merry Christmas to everyone!
No Christmas at home for Arroyo: Philippine court
A Philippine court on Wednesday rejected detained former president Gloria Arroyo's request to spend Christmas at home or use her mobile phone and computer in the hospital where she is being held.
The 64-year-old Arroyo, who says she is suffering from a rare spinal illness, is expected to be tried as early as next month on charges of rigging the 2007 senatorial elections.
She was arrested in her hospital bed at a private Manila hospital last month and held without bail, but the court later ordered her to be moved to the government-run military hospital.
"They (Arroyo's family) are allowed to spend Christmas at the (hospital) from December 24 to 26 and from December 31 to January 2," court clerk Joel Pelicano said.
But Arroyo won other concessions from the court, including an hour's walk on the hospital grounds and a visit to the hospital chapel every day.
"We respect the decision of the court if that is (the judge's) decision," said Ferdinand Topacio, a member of Arroyo's legal team.
President Benigno Aquino, who was elected to replace Arroyo in 2009, has accused his predecessor of election sabotage and of massive corruption during her term from 2001 to 2010.
He blocked a Supreme Court order to let Arroyo travel abroad for medical care in November ahead of her arrest, and has made convicting Arroyo the centrepiece of his anti-corruption campaign.
Jollibee Buying Into Restaurant Chain
MANILA, Philippines — Jollibee Foods Corporation, through wholly-owned Singapore unit JSF Investments Pte. Ltd., has formally initiated its plan to invest $60 million in the southeast Asian restaurant business of the SuperFoods Group.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jollibee said it is acquiring a 50 percent stake in the business of the SuperFoods Group consisting of a 49 percent share in SF Vung Tau Joint Stock Company of Vietnam and a 60 percent interest in Blue Sky Holdings Limited of Hong Kong.
The SuperFoods Group owns and operates various brands, including Highlands Coffee Shops in Vietnam, Highlands Coffee Packaged Products, and Hard Rock Café franchised stores in Macau, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
Very recently, the SuperFoods Group also acquired the Pho 24 brand and restaurants which have presence in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Japan. The annual sales of the SuperFoods Group amount to about $30 million.
Highlands Coffee serves Vietnamese coffee and light meals in trendy coffee shops and sells packaged coffee through retail outlets. Pho 24 serves traditional Vietnamese dishes with rice noodles as its core product.
Jollibee and its prospective partner Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company (VTI) aims to offer Asian mass consumers high quality coffee and café experience at affordable prices through Highlands Coffee Shops and Highlands Packaged Products.
They also aim to serve the Asian mass consumers high quality Vietnamese food at affordable prices through the Pho 24 brand and restaurants.
Jollibee also plans to serve Highlands Coffee in the restaurants of its various brands in order to upgrade the quality of its coffee at prices its consumers can afford.
Currently, Highlands has 54 stores in Vietnam while Pho 24 has 48 restaurants in Vietnam, 11 in Indonesia, 4 in Hong Kong, 3 in Tokyo, Japan, 1 in Cambodia and 2 in the Philippines.
In the Philippines, franchising rights for operating Highlands Coffee Shops was granted to IP Ventures.
The subscription to 50 percent of the business of SuperFoods will be an implementation of an earlier agreement under which Jollibee will invest $25 million for half of the SuperFoods business and a $35 million loan to VTI. It also advanced $5 million to SuperFoods. (JAL)
Get Paid for Playing Games
Hey! Are you a gamer? Yeah, I thought so. And you like your games a lot too, huh? I can see that. What would you say if I paid you to play games?
No, that’s not a scam. Just what the founders of Twitch.tv are saying.
You don’t have to just play games anymore. You can now potentially play games, stream it online, and earn cash from it. Twitch.tv offers a partner programme (similar to YouTube’s) for anyone who can hit 500 concurrent viewers and 25,000 views on their channel. In an interview with BusinessInsider.com, Justin Kan, founder and chairman of Justin.tv, Twitch.tv’s mother project, claimed most users hit those numbers with ease.
This might be a new dawn for gamers who like to earn some part time cash while playing games. Twitch.tv is a side venture of the popular web streaming site Justin.tv. Kan and his CEO Emmett Shear are huge gamers, and this contributed to their interest in Twitch.
Twitch.tv allows people to watch a live stream of your screen while you play, and they can chat with each other on the side, too. It was built as a way to make professional video gamers more mainstream, but you don’t have to be a pro to play. Signing up is free, and so is being made partner.
More and more professional gamers are turning to broadcasting online, and Kan believes this is because the audience for gaming prefers staying online. It’s a growing trend, especially in spectator games like StarCraft. But if you’re well loved, it might not even matter what you play. Popular StarCraft II commentator, Sean ‘Day[9]’ Plott, gets viewers even when he’s just streaming a single player game.
If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at streaming, gaming and learning how to do a little side business, Twitch.tv could be a nice place to explore all 3 possibilities. With more than 12 million unique visitors a month, and with an audience that grows by more than ten percent every month, it definitely marks a new age in broadcasting games.
Mayweather sentenced to 90 days in jail
Unbeaten American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather was sentenced to three months in jail Wednesday after pleading guilty to domestic violence charges.
Las Vegas judge Melissa Saragosa also ordered Mayweather to complete 100 hours of community service and gave him a $2,500 fine.
The guilty plea, and no contest plea to two harassment charges, means the 34-year-old boxer will not go to trial on charges he hit his ex-girlfriend and threatened two of their children during an argument at her home 15 months ago.
Prosecutor Lisa Luzaich argued the sentence was too light. Mayweather could have received a sentence of 18 months in jail.
"He just continually gets himself into trouble and he is able to get himself out of it as well," she said. "Essentially it is because he is who he is and is able to get away with everything.
"The only thing that's going to get this man's attention is incarceration," the prosecutor said.
Mayweather, who was told to report to jail January 6, declined to comment outside the courtroom.
The domestic battery charge stems from striking Josie Harris while the harassment charges come from the threats to his children.
Mayweather was accused of assaulting her after she told him she was dating another man, police said, and he reacted by striking Harris, threatening his children and taking their cell phones.
Saragosa said that the police report detailed the incident and in it Mayweather threatened to kill or make Harris "disappear".
Mayweather admitted hitting Harris and twisting her arm. Saragosa said that two of their children, ages 9 and 10, also witnessed the attack.
Mayweather, who is in line for a possible fight with Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao, is the current World Boxing Council welterweight champ and has a record of 42 wins and no losses.
Next week, Mayweather will plead no contest to a misdemeanour battery charge and pay a $1,000 fine for an altercation with a security guard in November of last year over parking violations near his mansion in a gated community.
Mayweather stopped fellow American Victor Ortiz in the fourth round in September to win the WBC welterweight title. He plans to fight again on May 5 in Las Vegas against an undecided foe.
Boxing fans have longed to see Mayweather test himself against Pacquiao, the fighter many fans consider to have replaced him as the world pound-for-pound champion.
The Hobbit Trailer Makes Its Debut on Facebook [VIDEO]
The Lord of the Rings franchise has released the trailer for its trilogy prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey slated to hit theaters next December. Although it’s not unusual for big films to be hyped this far in advance, the LOTR team has been giving fans incremental treats of behind-the-scenes footage on Facebook for nearly a year.
The much-anticipated trailer – which hit The Hobbit’s Facebook page late Tuesday night — follows the character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a Hobbit who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim treasure taken by the dragon Smaug. The film stars Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Hugo Weaving, Evangeline Lily and others. It’s once again directed by Peter Jackson, and the prequel will be made into two parts.
Instead of relying on traditional forms of media such as magazines and TV to tease the film out to fans, the marketers of the film have been connecting with its audience since February on Facebook by adding new pictures, videos and Q&A’s to its Hobbit page.
The video clips that highlight a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the film could easily have been saved as bonus footage for the DVD and Blu-ray release, but by the time the movie opens, it will have ramped up fans and generated immense interest in the film for two years.
The production videos — which have been about ten minutes in length — are easily sharable with Facebook friends and many have found their way onto YouTube. Meanwhile, the trailer runs about 2:33 minutes.
End Of The World: December 12, 2012 One Year Away
The countdown begins today and the end of the world is exactly one year away.
That’s right, we are now exactly one year away from December 21, 2012, the date dubbed doomsday. December 21, 2012 marks the end of an era according to Mayan Long Count calendar. To many, including major film producers, it has been interpreted to mark the end of humanity too.
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Many doubt the end of the world will really happen, like many other doomsday predictions including the most recent by Harold Camping. Camping predicted the world would end this past May and again in October. He also predicted the world would end in the 1990s.
Doomsayers have predicted a slew of cataclysmic events they say will go down in December including a killer solar flare and geomagnetic reversal as well as massive earthquakes and tsunamis. Movie producers have also hopped on the bandwagon, cashing in on doomsday with movies like “2012″ and “Day After Tomorrow.”
But on a series note, many others who didn’t believe the previous doomsday predictions have become believers of December 21, 2012.
So, what makes the 2012 prediction different? According to ABC, the Mayan civilizations had a talent for astronomy and created what has been called the most accurate calendar in the world that begins in 3,114 B.C.
ABC also reported that an ancient stone tablet was discovered in the 1960s in Tortuguero, Mexico, that describes the return of a Mayan god at the end of the 13th period, which ends December 21, 2012.
Still, others say the end of the world isn’t going to happen for a number of reasons.
One good reason why the world won’t end is that the prediction may have been misinterpreted. The Mayans never predicted the end of the world and some archeologists argue that the date actually marks an end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar not the apocalypse.
And as we previously reported, this April, the Mayas released a letter saying something similar.
“Contrary to popular belief, the living elders of the Maya do not agree that December 21, 2012 is the end of their calendar. A new “Sun” represents the beginning of a new Long Count cycle in the calendar system of approximately 5,200 years.” the letter reads.
'Girl With The Dragon Tattoo''s Controversial Movie Posters Raise Eyebrows
If you have not read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the first book in the Millenium Trilogy, stop reading this article right now. Hit the back button, exit out of whatever Internet browser you are using and head to the nearest library to pick up a copy. After you’ve read it, you are of course allowed to come back to this article and form your own opinion based on how you read into the events and plot of the book.
However, if you have read Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, then you’ve also probably seen advertising for the new movie coming out on December 21.
Since the announcement of David Fincher’s American adaption of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, people have been clamoring about how Hollywood doesn’t need to remake foreign movies just so people don’t have to read subtitles. But for now we’ll ignore that and focus on another more important issue, one that is being fiercely discussed right now. After all, Hollywood has a long, rather painful past of sexualizing female characters in movies they produce. Thanks to the first theatrical poster for Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, many people are afraid that the new Lisbeth Salander will be nothing more than tits and punked-up tattoos.
The offensive poster showed a topless Rooney Mara (Lisbeth Salander) wearing a pair of leather pants that are rather difficult to see and the arm of her fully-clothed costar Daniel Craig (Mikael Blomkvist) around the top of her breasts to keep the poster from getting too racy. Despite this, the poster has been criticized as “pornographic,” “titillating,” “sexualized,” and giving Lisbeth a “sexually inviting” appearance, not to mention making Craig appear more powerful by keeping him in clothes.
Firstly, glaring murderously at the camera and looking as if you would bite the face off of anyone who even glanced at you the wrong way has never really been the same as looking “sexually inviting.” There is nothing alluring about her face. If anything, the expression makes the viewer want to back away slowly and carefully. Perhaps if Mara was lying on her back in a playboy pose, fully nude and without any of Craig’s conveniently placed arms, there may have been an issue. But Mara doesn’t look like that. She’s naked, yes, but we’re not really seeing anything provocative.
Secondly, these books are about sex, and there is no other way to phrase that. The entire plot of the first book deals with incest and rape, while the second and third books focus on prostitution. Scattered throughout all three books are sexual themes such as bondage, infidelity, having more than one sex partner and lesbian sex. All of the books regularly find Mikael and Lisbeth sleeping with more than one person, and both are comfortable with the fact that sex is a big part of their lives.
The second poster to be released for the movie, from which a topless Lisbeth was notably absent.
The argument that Hollywood will sexualize Lisbeth in the movies in a ridiculous one, because a large part of Lisbeth’s personality is made up of sex. She has been raped and been accused of working as a prostitute. She has slept with men and women. She has been both the dominant and the submissive role. She has been in casual one-night stands and long-lasting relationships. The point is that Lisbeth is in control of her sex life and her sexuality. She’s aware of the fact that as a woman, she runs the risk of having her body used against her or exploited. But that neither stops nor bothers her. This then begs the question how do you sexualize a sex object? How do you turn a woman in control of her sexuality into a bare-chested whore?
The answer to that question is that you can’t.
So what if Lisbeth is naked in the film (or in the poster)? That doesn’t mean or say anything about the movie. A naked woman on a theatrical poster means that there is a naked woman on a theatrical poster and nothing more. Based on what happens in the book, we can assume that there will be nudity and sex in the movie, but that has to do with how Stieg Larsson wrote his books, not with what creative liberties David Fincher took. There is sex and nudity in most movies these days because that is what our society wants to see on the big screen.
There isn’t enough released information for people to make assumptions about the movie. Audiences will have to wait until December 21 to pass judgment on the quality of Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, and hopefully that judgment will be based on something other than if Lisbeth wears a shirt or not.
David Archuleta to embark on Mormon mission
Fresh-faced “American Idol” star David Archuleta is putting his promising career aside for a higher calling.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Archuleta – or Archie, as he’s known to fans – has announced that he’s embarking on a Mormon mission.
The 20-year-old Utah native shared his news at the Salt Lake City stop of his My Kind of Christmas Tour. “I would like to make a special announcement: That I’ve chosen to serve a full-time mission,” he told the audience.
“It’s not because someone told me I was supposed to do it and not because I no longer want to do music anymore,” the “Idol” season 7 runner-up explained to the crowd. “It’s because it’s what I feel I need to do next in my life.”
This means Archie will be sent abroad (or possibly somewhere in the United States) to proselytize his faith. He’ll have limited contact with family and friends, a strict schedule and will wear the traditional dress clothes of a missionary.
Mormon.org describes the missionary’s experience: “During their two years of full time service they devote themselves to studying, meeting people and teaching about Jesus Christ and His restored Church.”
But Archuleta won’t be trading in his tour bus for a bicycle just yet – on Wednesday, the singer will perform the last show on his Christmas tour in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Debra Messing and husband Daniel Zelman separate
Debra Messing and her husband, writer-producer Daniel Zelman, have separated after more than a decade of marriage.
People magazine has reported that the couple — parents to a 7-year-old son, Roman — separated privately earlier this year. The news was not shared publicly until yesterday.
Messing, 43, and Zelman, 44, first met when both were pursuing graduate degrees in acting at New York University during the early 1990s. They married in September of 2000
Us magazine cites an individual close to the pair who says the former “Will and Grace” star and Zelman recently moved to New York and are still living together with their son. “It’s very amicable,” the individual explains.
Messing will next be seen in the NBC musical series “Smash.” Zelman’s credits include executive producer and co-creator of the FX series “Damages” and co-writer of the 2008 Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson rom-com “Fool’s Gold.”
N.J. plane crash: Investigators search for clues in Morris County tragedy
MORRIS COUNTY — The takeoff from Teterboro Airport seemed uneventful.
Behind the controls of the single-engine, turbo-prop plane, according to friends, was Jeffrey F. Buckalew, who was flying his family — his wife Corinne, their two children and their dog — along with a colleague on a trip down to Georgia for a combination business meeting and early holiday getaway.
Within minutes, FAA officials said, there was a brief discussion with ground controllers about icing conditions ahead and an expected climb to a higher altitude. A garbled transmission followed. And then, 14 minutes after takeoff Tuesday morning, the plane dropped off radar.
On the ground, the first call came in at 10:04 a.m. Witnesses in Morris Township described a revving noise high above, and a loud whistling sound, like an incoming shell. Then a tremendous crash.
All five aboard the small plane were killed when the aircraft tumbled out of control, broke apart in mid-air, and hurtled to earth, spreading a half-mile-long swath of charred, mangled wreckage and bodies across Interstate 287 and beyond.
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The falling debris barely missed a pickup truck traveling in the southbound lane, but authorities said no vehicles were hit on the busy highway, which would have been jammed with morning rush-hour commuters just an hour or two earlier.
"It was a very traumatic accident," New Jersey State Police Lt. Stephen Jones said.
The victims were not immediately identified by authorities. However, the plane was registered to Buckalew and officials at Greenhill & Co., the Manhattan investment bank where he worked. The company reported that he and his wife, both 45, their children, Jackson and Meriwether, all of New York City, and former New Jersey resident Rakesh Chawla, 36, who also worked at the firm, were apparently on board. The two children were in first and fifth grade.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, said the 6-year-old Socata TBM-700 — a French-made, low-wing, six- to seven-seat aircraft powered by a jet turbine driving a single propeller — entered an uncontrolled spin, falling from an altitude of 17,500 feet.
"It’s too early to tell if it was mechanical or something the pilot did," NTSB air safety investigator Robert Gretz said at a late-afternoon news conference.
Gretz later told reporters a hand-held global position system device had been recovered at the scene, though it was still unclear whether it was turned on at the time of the crash and what, if anything, it might reveal.
