Viva and TV5 Launches "Born to be a Star!"

It's the first presscon of the year and we're glad VIVA invited us on their new show called "Born to be a STAR!". It's a reality singing contest showcasing the best of the best singers in the country. They also introduced the judges none other than Rap Legend Andrew E, Acoustic Superstar Aiza Seguerra and the one and only Concert Queen Pops Fernandez.

"I'm always grateful in all the things that come my way, this is a new year and a lot of new things are gonna happen and we believe everything will happen. It's a break from boyfriend questions. It was so hard to do this in the past because we didn't have the Internet. There were only a few people given a chance and this time we're looking for that one person. It depends on how lucky you are, the face and the voice, there's that IT factor that is needed also for you to be a star! I thought it was easy, I've gone through tons of hardships and I hope this also gets us the star we're looking for."says Pops Fernandez. 

Aiza says "Maybe I was really born to do this, not everyone is given chances twice but I was. I'd like to think I was born to do this."

"The show hasn't started yet but I'm so glad Boss Vic and Viva trusted me with this. This is going to be one of the toughest shows, we're already saying there will be a star and I'm honored to be part of this show." says Andrew E.

Mark Bautista says "First time to cohost and it's kinda reminding me of the previous competition I was in with Sarah Geronimo. I can't wait to see how this show goes. I'm not tied up to any network but I'm still with Viva Artists Agency and we're looking for the next star!"

Yassi Pressman added "I feel so lucky to have been given opportunities by Viva and this is one of it. From Diary ng Panget and other shows, it's a good feeling they continue to trust me."

"Viva plus the expertise of TV5 is gonna be in one show, so just imagine. I'm happy and optomistic. My expectations are very big and the fact that this is here, I'm so thrilled about it. The brightest stars only get proper names, but it's not always easy to be a star. We're looking for that one person who wants to make a name for himself and how he gets to embody that. There are only a few who want to get it for themselves." says Ogie Alcasid.

"We went to the previous format, auditions, weekly and monthly finals, a whole year of searching for that one star. So we're going to have a great run. The program is made to find that person, it's been a few years already and it's time."says Direk Monti Parungao.

"There are things that are discovered, there are some manufactured and some are really born with it. We've done really good things in the past and this is the next one, hopefully we'll find more!" says Boss Vic Del Rosario.

Auditions for male and female applicants (13-18) will be in SM CITY Bicutan on January 9-10, SM CITY Sta. Mesa on January 16-17, SM CITY San Mateo on January 23-24, and SM CITY Novaliches on January 30-31. There will also be other legs in Cebu, Davao, Batangas, Dagupan and Metro Manila on March so watch out for that. This will be aired on February 6, 2016 on the happiest network in the country, TV5!

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New Year, New Smartphone: The MyPhone My28 from Smart!

Starting the year with a crazy offer is our lovely friends from SMART. What do I mean?

It's a really good smartphone, a MyPhone My28 that they're offering for only Php 888.00. Nope they're not joking and it's only a one time fee! They're also throwing in a Smart Prepaid SIM bundled with a one year free data up to a 100MB per month. If that ain't cool, they're also giving you 7 days of FREE Facebook, Twitter, Viber and a rebate of P30 if you load up P100 minimum. Isn't that crazy?

More crazy because in the MyPhone website it actually costs almost Php 2K, Smart is offering this though for only Php 888.00 and is only exclusive on this awesome network. If you think about it, the Android 5.1 Lollipop OS, the Spreadtrum SC7731 chipset, the 1.2GHz Quad-Core Processor, 8GB internal storage and Dual SIM capability can't be matched hardware wise at this price point. You also have iFlix and Spinnr pre loaded so you don't have to waste your precious MB's for downloading them. It's super affordable, then you have all the perks that comes with the Smart Prepaid connection, how can you beat that?

You just can't, you just can't *SMH in disbelief*. All you need to do now is hurry and go to http://smart.com.ph/smartphonekit and get one now! It's like a late Christmas gift waiting to happen OMG! This is the real #SmartPhoneForAll!

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Sykes Grand Year End Party

My sister works for Sykes and I don't, let's get that out there. I don't know much about the company but I've heard good things about them. Especially the guys from my old company who transferred there for greener pasture and professional growth. They've been working hard, and every year Sykes makes it a point that Sykesers (as they call em) get a little bit of reward. A little in the tune of Php 2 Million worth of prizes.

This happened last December and they dubbed it “SYKES FUTURE FORWARD: The SYKES 2015 Year-End Celebration”. Since they were on the futuristic side of things, they got all 5,000 Manila based employees to play dress up at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. They also raffled off prizes like a 32 inch Samsung LED TV, Ipad Mini 3, Mac Book Air, FujiFilm Instax Mini 8, an iPhone 6, Go Pro, and the latest Samsung smartphones. Since that is small (oh yes I kid), they took the liberty of having their main man VP and Country Manager Dean Van Ormer to give away the grand prize of Php 150,000 plus 2 more Php100,000 winners just because they liked it. That's one of the things they did to make them happy since they've worked so hard this 2015.

They also had fun with employees strutting out their stuff, holding a competition to see who the best company based dance group is. The winner declared was "True Sight of the Kaleidoscope". They also didn't forget to award Rich Dingding (Male Category) and Gemma de Lima (Female Category) for the garb they wore as they declared the most "Fashion Forward".

The work life balance they want each Sykes employee to have looks but a reality. They also rewarded “SYKESClista”, an employee based organization as “SYKES Choices Club” awardee for 2015. They have a lot and not many BPO offices have that. I'm sure some of you can tell, and it is essential to make the employees happy. If that ain't enough, they threw in Parokya Ni Edgar and had the greatest concert of their lives in the venue. That's just fun! Now I want to be with Sykes. Can they take me in? LOL!

Congratulations Sykes and your 13,000 employees, you did good!

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Tasty Dumpling in Binondo

We braved the streets of Manila again to get to Binondo, one of the city's great food destinations. I rode the MRT2 which is bigger and wider compared to the sardine can like MRT3 in Edsa. It's pretty convenient, but like any public transportation you must be reminded to take care of your belongings since there are a lot of crooks when traveling here.

It's nice and roomy, and the coaches look good too as they've got advertisers covering them up as moving billboards. Like this one with AlDub on them!

Which I know you'll find cute too. After going down on the Recto station, I rode a jeep to Divisoria. I never bought anything the first time I shopped there and unfortunately, I didn't find anything interesting again so I went right across the street and walked a bit further to the Binondo district where most restaurants were still open even on holidays.

I saw a small bridge in the middle (I forgot the name) but it made me cross the street easier and didn't have to go around the area. There was also a small dumpling seller on the street right after this which I'm going back to soon. It's cheaper I think and most of the Chinese people in the area bought their dumplings there too. I will go back definitely.

I was gearing towards having dinner in Eng Bee Tin the famous hopia shop which consequently also had their own Chinese restaurant too right beside it. I bought hopia, peanut ampao, white tikoy and corn tikoy for take out then walked a little more towards the Binondo Church.

It was a little funky there because they had horses manure and piss on the road which I think should be something the local government should probably do something about. This is the San Lorenzo Ruiz Minor Basilica. Then there's a nice spot across the street.

The Plaza San Lorenzo Ruiz is nice but there were tons of street kids that would spoil the view, they'll keep asking you for change so don't do that as they'll get used to it. I saw some of them using rugby, not a good thing..

Anyway, I walked on the left side of the church and saw Tasty Dumpling. It's not my first time because I've been to their Banawe branch, but first time here in Binondo. It's a bit small, can fit around 20-30 people and most locals have dinner or lunch here I think. They have a huge sign not to bring BAON because students probably do that on regular days LOL!

I ordered two drinks. One is the Wintermelon Juice (that tastes like sago without the actual sago part) and the best seller Dalandan Juice (which tastes like the fruit, a little tangy but sweet).

I also got two types of dumplings. The original one is just pork, the other is called Kuchai which means it's pork and spring onions on it. They have light soy and vinegar plus home made chili which you can dip the dumplings into. Make sure you eat it while it's hot because it's just gonna be better.

For those looking for something filling, Tasty Dumpling has the BEST Pork Chop. It's served as Pork Chop Rice with  some really good sweet and savory sauce over it. It's like the Taiwanese pork chop but I guess it's their version. It's huge too and probably good to share. If you're a bit hungry, I suggest you order more rice from their menu as they've got that too. Service was also fast, they got my order fixed in as short as 5 minutes I think. How's that for fastfood no?! They are located at 960 Ongpin Street right beside Binondo Church so you wouldn't really miss it.

I want to see more hole in the wall restaurants in my next posts. Stay tuned for that. As for now, I'd like to wish you guys a very happy new year! Thank you for reading this and thank you also for making my 2015 a good one. Let's make 2016 even better!

Ciao!

KUMAGCOW

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