JAY-R Gets GOLD Record Award for ELEVATED Album

The last time I saw JayR was at the 2nd WISH Music Awards at the Araneta Coliseum. He was awesome on stage together with other RnB artists and has continually proved that since we've seen him on different prime afternoon shows. That again is going to be cemented as his recent album called ELEVATED turned GOLD status just a few days ago. He was given the award during ABSCBN's ASAP last January 22. With sales reaching 7,500 units in both physical and digital album sales, PARI and the Optical Media Board confers this award to the nation's RnP Prince. He accepted the award togethe with Homeworkz Ad Prom Officer Perry McDonald.

JayR finds this as a humongous acheivement and says "I truly feel great about receiving this gold record award under my own label. All the hard work, blood, sweat and tears that I put into it finally paid off. It was all passion which kept my drive high. I am strongly advocating for spreading original music. This just proves that originality and creativity is more important than statistics and numbers. Being an indie music label, we don't have a huge budget like other big labels. You have to do the legwork as far as distribution, promotion, recording, mixing, mastering, photoshoots (for covers), music video shoots, paperwork, permits and a lot more. I want fellow artists to realize that original music does sell. We don’t have to do remakes or covers in order to sell music. It’s proven here at HOMEWORKZ. People are looking for new creations. Classic songs will always be classic. But new songs are the future of OPM and I fervently hope they do more."

He quips "I would love for ELEVATED to hit platinum status too! I'll be promoting this at the same time as my new album this year. I hope to reach the next level, fingers crossed. I handpicked  my team at Homeworkz and we are a solid group. This is a team effort and I truly couldn’t have done it without them. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the music fans out there for keeping the OPM industry alive. We intend to make more music for your ears, hearts and souls. Thank you for allowing us artists to have the best job in the world."

If you don't know, I've heard JayR has helped a lot of artists in the industry. His music and his hunger for music has taken him to a lot of places. I fervently hope he continues to be blessed and continue to be an instrument to the industry so he could help more people... in the place he loves, the Philippines. 

KUMAGCOW
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Diabetes in the Philippines

 I live in a household where the word DIABETES is a norm. Sad but true. My lineage seemed to have all concentrated on this vicious chronic and lifestyle ailment; and it has claimed the lives of a lot of my relatives, I could count more than 10 just in my lifetime. It's scary and with my Dad and Mom's genes passed on to me, I could likely be a candidate if I don't take care of what I eat, my activities, and perhaps what I do everyday. There are various reasons on what causes this, but it is primarily a chronic disease. As some say, it is also a lifestyle disease. Just a few days ago, they announced quite disturbing data about it, which seems to confirm that it is happening in the Philippines. Just hearing that made me realize it's much closer than home, because I feel too that it is at an alarming rate. 

According to a study by the International Diabetes Federation, the Philippines is one of the world's emerging diabetes hotspots. Imagine, 4 Million Filipinos are suffering from Diabetes as we speak. That already puts us at the world stage with even a couple of million more that are unreported, or perhaps people that are unaware. IDF also reported 3.51 Filipinos at the age of 20-79 have it, and 51,127 have passed away because of it. Again, that's scary.

This chronic disease occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. So if it can't properly control the amount of sugar in the blood, you're in big trouble. It doesn't matter if you're male or female, rich or poor, everyone can be a candidate and it all boils down to one thing, you need prevention rather than cure. Data from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute from the Department of Science and Technology's 8th National Nutrition Survey indicates diabetes prevalence has risen from 3.4 percent in 2003 to 5.4 percent in 2013. You can just imagine how much that would be this 2017 if we had current data. 

What's also alarming is that a great number of Filipinos who suffer from it are ages 50 to 69. Most of which are wealthy and also living in urban communities. The Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on the other hand is both a genetic and a lifestyle disease. It is also linked to old age, unhealthy diets, lack of physical activity, obesity (oh yeah you sit too much on the couch and in front of the computer!) and urbanization, all of which contribute to this disease. To control this, Doctors would recommend insulin to take care of the blood glucose levels. If you take care of that, you can get to have a normal and healthy life. Today, there are available syringes, insulin pens and insulin pumps so people who suffer from it could do what normal people would do. Of course, it all has to be monitored regularly so you and doctors would know if you have risks of developing hypo/hyperglycemia. Make sure you ask your doctor regularly if you are at risk, and do the annual/regular checkup if you can. As they say, knowing is half the battle. Try to live healthy as much as you can, and please trust your body.

Think about it.


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DK Tijam on RESTART: The Homecoming Concert

His soulful and raspy voice has earned him a spot in the coveted Grand Finals of Star In A Million together with the likes of current stars Erik Santos, Christian Bautista, Sheryn Regis and others. He may have not won in his time but his good looks and R&B vibe was enough to record and release albums in 2003. He left for Canada in 2006 leaving everything behind and worked as a Barista and Vocal Coach for a couple of years, but managed to still stayed in touch with his fans here in the Philippines through SoundCloud covers and social media sites. He figured he needed to go back and mark his homecoming with a concert called RESTART, an apt thing to do to describe what he feels.

The concert will happen at the TEATRINO in Greenhills, San Juan City. RESTART is his first major concert and together, he wanted people to reminisce how he also did well during the Star In A Million days. He won't be alone this time because his friends will make sure you're  going to enjoy an evening of music as Tim Pavino, Froilan Canlas (of Tawag ng Tanghalan fame), Erik Santos and his fellow Star In A Million Season 1 finalists will all be there. The concert will also be graced by the R&B princess Kyla.

He will also have Soundcloud Philippines perform and Elements which of whom are DK’s voice students in Canada. The concert RESTART has been planned for 11 years and he hopes this would do good for both his singing career and the other talents who are also going to be in this show. This will happen on January 27, 2017. You may get your tickets at Ticketworld outlets via www.ticketworld.com.ph or call 8919999. Or you can just get it on the Teatrino box office, even on the day it self. DK would like to thank his sponsors VNTG Creative Photography, Star Circle Academy of Entertainment, Filipino TV and their official radio partner 97.9 Home Radio.

Good luck on the show DK!

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VIVO V5 Plus Officially Launched in the Philippines

It's a great day to talk about one of the nicest phones out in the market, this is the VIVO V5 Plus. Wanting it to be the PERFECT SELFIE phone is a tall order and needing it to be at par with the world's best means it would need to beat 4 other brands but that seems to be believable. Concentrating on one of the features so to speak seems to be the key and with how they've understood that Filipinos love taking selfies (having been named SELFIE capital of the world) might actually get them there because by far, their new phone VIVO V5 Plus would do the job.

Endorsed by no less than NBA Superstar Steph Curry, this specialized phone promise that they would be able to take that perfect shot when you need to show off that gorgeous face of yours on point. A few days ago at SM Mall of Asia, they let us take a hands on look of this particular model. It's quite light, designed with more bevels than corners, and of course an unbelievable 20 MP + 8 MP Dual Front Camera (with an f 2.0 aperture so you could take in a LOT of light) that could make you love taking selfies all over again without worrying too much about noise in dark areas or even in parties.

The phone comes with a 5.5 inch IPS LCD which is around 1920x1080 pixels resolution plus Gorilla Glass 5 screen which is quite tough for what it's worth. It's dimensions are 152.6 x 74 x 7.3 mm and can fit snug on your pockets.

This still has a 35mm jack for audio connections, completely powered by a 2GHz Octa Core Snapdragon 625 processor, added with an Adreno 506 GPU (which could perfectly handle your apps and games), a 4GB RAM (ample amount of storage) which could be expandable to 256GB using a micro SD on the SIM 2 slot and enjoy hours worth of music or videos.

The rear camear is 16 MP because face it, you need those extra MP's more for your self. It's apt for general taking of photos and landscape shots and is quite fast since they use the propreitary Funtouch OS 3.0. Takes a while to lose power too as it's got a 3160 mAh so it could last you a day or more with it's removable battery. For me, what it basically sells is the selfie feature which you can take advantage for those Bokeh or blurry background shots. It has been also tried and tested by some of Manila's bloggers, influencers, celebrities and their endorsers. Speaking of which were also there!

James and Tony from BoybandPH was also there. We also had the chance to listen to the powerful belter KZ Tandingan, whom I personally love in her emotional songs particularly "Wag Ka Nang Umiyak" which moved people and perhaps on the verge of tears.

The phone retails for Php 19,990 and os available for pre order today in Vivo Phone Philippine outlets and distributors nationwide! A dual selfie phone in this price range is already a steal and if you experience how it takes your selfie shots to another level, you won't think twice about how this could happen to be your next phone!

KUMAGCOW

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