The Search for the Sound of Seven Thousand Christmas Songs

LA, Gretchen and Iman. Photo from Gretchen Ho's FB page.

It was an awesome night of music as the people from up and coming music label 7K showcased their talents and introduced a new show called “The Search for the Sound of Seven Thousand Christmas Songs.” They're no stranger to making music but doing this so they would be able to discover more talent and good Christmas music in the country is such a noble act.

For those who don't know, “The Search for the Sound of Seven Thousand Christmas Songs" is an online reality show in the search for talent and music that embodies how hopeful we are as Filipinos in this time of pandemic. Last October 16, we have had the chance to listen to legendary Jett Pangan (whom I listen to when I was a kid) and Gretchen Ho who gave much inspiration to us, the artists who plan to join and the other talents of 7K who were there that evening.

7K Sounds founder and artist LA Santos will be hosting the show together with Gretchen Ho and vlogger Iman Franchesca. They will also be joined by singer-songwriter and former frontwoman of General Luna Nicole Asensio. They will be also sharing their experiences so viewers, not just contestants, would be able to learn a thing or two about the music industry. The show ill be aired every Friday at 7PM on the official 7K Sounds Facebook Page. So if you are looking for a avenue to get into the music scene, “The Search for the Sound of Seven Thousand Christmas Songs" might be a good place to start.

The music label 7K Sounds wishes to get talent from across the country, they also do music production and distribution. They also ventured into creating online content and events, if you're interested in joining the competition, they listed the requirements here.

Good luck, and don't f it up!

FamiLIGTAS: Stand Against Gender-Based Violence

Speaking out and speaking your mind these days can get you red tagged, abused, violated, which is such a sad state in the country.

They can either be women, children, the elderly or part of the LGBTQ community, but they all experience supposed violence in one form or another. The problem is, most of these incidents come unreported or never gets surfaced more so during the pandemic. The psycho social, economic and mental state attribute to its worsening, but is should never be a reason or excuse ro why it should happen.

This afternoon, I got to join a press conference hosted by the one and onlyMs. Karen Davila about “FamiLIGTAS” which is a campaign against Gender-Based Violence spearheaded by RTI International, USAID Philippines and supported by government and NGO’s, as to also learn more about the situation in the country. 

Ms. Michelle Lang Alli the Director of US AID Philippines says “Your support against Gender violence requires more. It has affected 2.5 Million people nationwide including women, children, the elderly and LGBTQ sector. The pandemic has affected us all, but there is no excuse for gender based violence. We need to make available our programs for equality, to reduce GBV and its harmful effects socially and the marginalized. Recent surveys 2 in 5 women never sought help from violence, and the PNP has recorded 19.5 incidents per day in the Philippines. By forming new and enriching existing partnerships, we can help change policies, raise the volume with GBV so they can have better options now, to keep our homes and community safe, thank you!”

Lolito Tacardon of POPCOM says “This is an important campaign and it currently, homes are places for perpetrators for violence, in imbalance for the basis of gender, it affects the victim, the children, even in this pandemic. The good news is we can break that, take it out of our culture, save people from oppressive violence. We have a joint statement to support vigilance and protect families from any forms of violence. We harness our website, to encourage our followers about GBV. We recognize the raise in pregnancies of minors, to move institutions and have access to facilities of care. Our strongest weapon is our belief that we can break this cycle of violence, we will provide the platform for every Filipino woman and child, Popcom will support to further empower families.”

Dr. Carolyn of UP adds  “We commit to explain and carry out this campaign effectively. You can call on us anytime, even if we are bashed right now.”

Dana Aduna from Luna’s Collective says “Quarantine data shows Violence against Women and Children have gone down, but this doesn’t mean it is happening. It has been difficult to report crimes since everyone is in isolation. Gender inequality exists, between intimate partners, and inequalities can be related to social class, religion, women can be oppressed, some interlocking forms of violence. Seeking help, it shows 34%  do not seek help or talk to anyone at all. Luna’s Collective wants to be involved to make people talk about psychosocial support, legal, health services and is volunteer powered. Our core belief is that everyone should be comfortable about our bodies, make the community informed and live fully. We understand that gender and power relations should not dictate class and importance in society. We are at our homes with a huge amount of time and if is in a violent setup, we have women come to us, not just first timers, even repeat instances. We remind them it is not their fault, but again this is not an excuse for violence. Similar with men, women or children, even LGBTQ experience it. We need to build a support system in order to stop this.“

Patrizia Garcia adds “GBV happens and so does its effects on mental health. This cause is very close to my heart, we can encourage them to help, our communities.”

Our share of the burden is to support victims of violence, help them get the help they need, and give them access so they won’t experience this at all.  Even at these times, there should not be any instance where GBV Is justified. The state also has a role to protect these rights, which is the right thing to do. Economic, Physical, Psychological, all Gender Based violence should have no place in a progressive society. 

To know more about the cause or if you need help, visit their Facebook page at Familigtas PH as everything is there.

 

A Full Online December MMFF this 2020

MMFF is the annual festival that is held every year and this Christmas, MMDA and their partners would want to end it with a happy note. There are other opportunities and platforms so they partnered up with Globe and make it possible for them to pursue showcasing our movies to a worldiwde audience via Upstream and pay via GCash for the tickets in G Movies. 

Danilo Lim the MMDA Chairman says “The MMFF is part of Christmas, a tradition and in this pandemic we will never let it not happen. We got 5 outfits who sent their plans and Globe is the most attractive one. The plan is not just to make the Filipino homes happy, but bring this worldwide! What we have been doing will now be virtually done, from premieres, launches, with health protocols observed. We can watch these films at home, to present these movies online.”

Ernest Cu the Chairman of Globe says “We almost didn’t experience this year’s MMFF as audiences await their favorite artists to appear on screen. Movie houses may not be the best place to gather and in Globe we try our very best to provide solutions, to recreate the Christmas we love digitally with our partner Upstream so millions of Pinoys around the world can access it virtually, and access it on Video on Demand. We also are fighting online piracy, illegal streaming and copying of content, but on our campaign we try to educate more. To not affect the livelihood of content creators, film makers and their families, to lose that and not be able to put out good quality films today. We are one of the first companies to promote great Filipino films to the global audience through GMovies. We thank the MMDA and we hope to bring more cheers to Filipino homes and keep the spirit of the holidays alive. Globe has always been able to deliver like GCash in the market, it will also have gaming, goods through the app itself. Using our technology of Gcash, GMovies and Upstream, we can now watch in our homes bringing solution to Filipinos for their everyday needs. The MMFF is important to not deprive our industry of an outlet, a medium to also earn a living. We try to bring also our film makers to a global stage, to make them thrive and grow. We can bring the Filipino content to the likes of South Korea, it all starts with a dream!”

Quark Henares says “You will now be able to watch through Upstream all the content til the MMFF season. To signify the signing of these documents, we raise our mobile phones on screen to officially start it.”

“G Movies now has a new feature, the new platform initially just offer tickets. This pandemic, we offer new ways to access content by using a few taps starting November 14, we partner with Globe, Upstream and MMDA to make this possible. We spent with the Upstream team to discover content, make this seamless and easy to use. We will also be using Gcash for payments to make it more accessible to the public. Potentially to pay everything over the counter.”

Dondon Monteverde says “We are happy that amidst the uncertainty, we opened up this venture to connect with Globe’s infrastructure to now be able to stream it here in the Philippines and abroad! This is a big deal to entertain our audience, this platform was made for content producers. To bring it abroad. For those who are excited we are bringing this to you, we hope for your support in the continuance of MMFF 2020, right at your own homes. Right now we are attacking things differently, with the strong infrastructure of Globe our material is already going out to our audience. We are taking it a step at a time, to bring it all to Filipinos.” 

According to the MMDA “We have 4 official entries per script but deadline has been extended to finalize everything mid November. The price of tickets will be 250 pesos and the whole family can watch in one device without going out in the cinemas. Also, there will be a virtual parade of stars so you won’t miss anything at all. So guys, are you ready for the new December MMFF 2020? 

This will be good!

 

Shopee Endorsed by Kris Aquino

I had my heart on my sleeve when I saw a silhouette quite familiar to me... but remained a mystery to some of my blogger and media friends one morning. I am sure they wouldn't be able to guess who this is, but at that time I already had a pretty good hunch. The holidays are of an important part of the Filipinos lives and Shopee is launching 11.11 and 12.12 in a big way. They got the one with the huge personality, the one that got us all in the edge of our seats when she opens her mouth, she's a source of happiness and a ball of fun, speaks of truth, classy, with an impressive command of English and hell of a lot tactless at times, much like me, and I love her for that. She is no other than Kris Aquino.

The mother of Kuya Josh and Bimby is now the official endorser of Shopee. What I felt during this time was an OMG floating on top of my head. I couldn't believe they got the queen of all media doing the best job this season, but in hindsight, I couldn't blame them at all. I was excited, to say the least, to see her doing what she does the best, and she hosted the online media conference's games to give us a taste of what's going to happen this November and the Christmas season. 

11.11 and 12.12 was also explained to us briefly by the Shopee Country Head Martin Yu. In a nutshell, Shopee is growing and so is the trust of the Filipino consumer with their app. They showcased how they have given access to e-commerce to everyone and will continue to do so in the coming years. Now that everything is online, they even got necessities like groceries in the app making it easier for consumers to repeatedly use the platform and make it part of their daily lives. Making sure also that it is safer, from shopping, shipping to receiving the packages and I can attest to its convenience (oh I always Shopee). Ms. Kris also told us of her different purchases during quarantine which includes all pink items, pink surgical masks, knick knacks and a lot of other items in the same color shade (not surprised, it's why I love her!). During 11.11 and 12.12, they will have FREE Shipping Days, a Flash Sale Day (Nov 4), ShopeePay Day (Nov 5), Games Day (Nov 9), and my favorite Voucher Day (on November 10th). Not only that, they'll be having special brand sales which includes top ones in the country, they made it bigger for you because Shopee is a huge partner.

Kris also told us that there will be several opportunities to also help. Organizations and charity institutions will have direct channels on the app where consumers can directly help so it would be easy for them to do so. It will include Digital Charity Sales, Co-Branded Livestream with Brand donations and an in-app donation drive which I find so endearing. Imagine, they took time and effort to do this so they could help causes which are also close to Kris Aquino's heart, which is such a noble cause. They call it Shopee Bayanihan Pamaskong Pambata.

Kris will also have participation not just in the commercials, but also in a big 11.11 Christmas Special which will happen on November 11th in Wowowin. They will also be having a whopping Php 1 Million worth of Daily Cash Prize in the 11.11 and 12.12 Christmas Millionaire special which will happen soon, so stay tuned for that!

By the way, we got first dibs on the new Shopee commercial and all I can say is, that Kris Aquino you miss will be so much fun to see. I don't want to spoil it for you, but all her iconic acts will be involved in it. Shopee also promises there will be more in store for you this 11.11 and 12.12, and I can't wait for you to find out more about it. Make sure you download the app on Google Play or the App Store. 

Kris also said not to call her Ms. Kris anymore, as it is one of her pet peeves. She also says "Shopee came in when I was in one of the lowest point in my life and I am thankful for the trust they've given me!"

Congratulations Kris! I am so happy for you and your whole family!

Check this out!