HEARTS ON ICE Cast Speak Highly of Xian Lim's Ice Skating Efforts, Excited on Ashley Ortega's Lead Role

Spent a few hours with some of Sparkle's brightest stars who's part of the cast of the new show HEARTS ON ICE. This is the first of it's kind, you could say the launching project of Ashley Ortega as she now takes the lead as Ponggay in this new series. She also gets to be paired with premier actor Xian Lim who's going to be interesting to see in a story of love, hardships, hope and perseverance. Athletes would surely be connecting with their characters as it'll be showcasing a lot of the things that are happening behind the scenes. Aside from that, they want people to get inspired about how they triumph over life's obstacles since it is a very hard sport. 

Together with Ashley that afternoon was Skye Chua, Hannah Arguelles, Shuvee Etrata and Kim Perez (which unfortunately we didn't get to take a solo shot of because he was doing interviews). Skye actually is part of the Philippine national team, very skilled and equipped to do this stint on GMA and admitted to have had trouble doing acting, and her emotions which she usually do on ice came in handy. She used it to make sure she's also going to do good as Ponggay's rival. Hannah on the other hand will be Xian's little sister, and will be doing a lot of scenes with the Viva actor as they've got family issues to take care of too. Shuvee on the other hand will play one of Poggay's best friend and will give advice as it'll be hard to go through life without one. Kim will be on Xian's side and might provide help when his best friend would get in trouble in the show.

Xian Lim who is Ashley Ortega's partner in the show impressed not just his co-actors but even the professional skating athletes who's part of the show. They were so happy about his progress in the short amount of time he spent in training, so now he's super into the sport already. He took exams and has progressed and passed, which may mean he's going to be doing a lot of his own moves in the show.

Here's my part of the interview, hope you enjoy my questions as I did asking them!

Here's a little talk about their ice skating experience and how Ashley had to go back to training just for this show.

 

Hearts on Ice starts at 8:50PM weekdays on GMA, and replays a few hours after (11:30 or 11PM) on GTV. Make sure you catch the episodes to support not just Ashley and Xian, but the whole ensemble cast that's got veterans and new artists in the mix. Congratulations, I've heard it's doing good in the ratings still! I also have a few videos of their routines on our YouTube channel so just look for kumagcow on the app!

Affordable HONOR X8a Packs 100 Megapixels

We came out to sea just to get a glimpse of HONOR's newest phone, the HONOR X8a. The device is the latest, most affordable 100MP camera equipped smartphone from the brand which boasts DSLR like photos in a 6.7 inch display which folks can use in usual work, leisure or entertainment. Here's a short video about the short trip we had in Manila bay that afternoon and a few shots I did on board the yacht.

The device also was light, thin, and doesn't need much effort to like. So for those worried about the price, don't fret because it only costs Php 10,990 and they're giving HONOR Earbuds worth Php 1,590, a steal especially since you would need that in transportation, a coffee shop or those instances you need to be an introvert,yay!

But good thing, we had so much time to take photos during sunset. I really appreciated my shots so here!

The breeze, the salty air, didn't bother us at all. It was fun to be amongst media peers, thanks to the lovely people from HONOR who did a lot of work to make that event happen. It was amazing! Congratulations on launch of the new HONOR X8a! Had so much fun there!

LENOVO Introduces 4 New Powerful and Sustainable Laptops for 2023

Looks like the folks at Lenovo are dishing out new laptops this month, very powerful ones for work, work and work because times need it. Equipped with AMD processors, it's performance will be even better than its predecessors.

First is the ThinkBook 15 Gen 4 that has an AMD Ryzen 5000 series Mobile Processors, AMD Radeon Graphics, 2 of the M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD and a huge 40GB DDR4 3200 storage. It's designed for pros who do heavy office work, and still want to be stylish plus flexible in terms of storage because we can't have enough of that. 

Second is the ThinkPad P16s Gen 1 which is built for performance and speed. It runs on an AMD Ryzen 7 PRO processor and an AMD Radeon Graphics with LRO APU Driver , a huge 32 GB 6400 MHz LPDDR5 memory and upto 2 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe storage for easy in/out access. It is also made of sustainable materials and has passed lots of certifications. 

Third is the ThinkPad Z13 Gen 1 which you can carry around when traveling. Made of recycled aluminum (75% post consumer sourced), it's very light weight so it is easy. It's got an AMD RYZEN 7 PRO 6860Z processor, an AMD Radeon 680M Graphics card , 32 Gig LPDDR5 6400 memory and a 1 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD storage which can be of help if you've got so many files or presentations to make. 

Last is the ThinkPad Z16 Gen 1 made for progressive performance. This makes you do business anywhere, work anywhere especially for people who are on the go.

Clark Popple of SMB Segment Lead of Lenovo says "Thank you for being here, you've played a lot in our success this year and we have been driven by customer feedback. We put you in our purpose, to provide things that make people save time, and be more productive. We also have AMD here who has given our products the needed boost and power so even more Filipinos benefit from it and provide technology for all!"

Francis Judan says "For 2023 we are changing the business environment, the world has jobs and careers that automate, analyze, cloud based and even entertainment via content creation. Even marketing is driving to those changes and careers have been different for Gen Z's. No one now wants to do business that is not hybrid, majority don't even want an office which changes the game. The new workforce is now wanting more powerful devices and be on the go, become smarter, sustainable which also become a basis for our products. With the heavier workload, more hard disk capacity and can relate more to users here in the Philippines. Come 2025 we want to be compliant, to last them a lifetime, they need to invest in hardware that will last and a longer lifecycle. LENOVO had been thinking of Gen Z's and Millennials that are a huge part of the workforce and relate them to the products that they make without sacrificing security, ease of use so you can have a better experience for work or play."

Lenovo is certainly on a good path in making sure their laptops become worthwhile buddies when they dish out new notebooks, ThinkPads for their intended customers.

RADYO5 Launches New Look with 92.3 TRUE FM

Spent the afternoon at Quezon City Circle for the launch of 92.3 RADYO5 TRUE FM as they roll out programs for the only news station on FM frequency. Their tagline is "Dito tayo sa totoo!", and we all got to see hosts of the several show which will comprise the programming schedule of the rebranded station.

Present during the occasion was Mon Gualvez, Ted Failon, DJ Chacha, Lourd de Veyra, Danton Remoto, Dr. Love Bro. Jun Banaag, Dr. Edinell of Healing Galing. Broadcaster Cheryl Cosym, Balita Pilipinas hosts, and several more personalities involved in the station. TRUE FM wants to provide entertainment, music, true news and public service to all corners of the Philippines. This is the first two in one station in the country, and they are putting that into good news.

Ms. Cherry Bayle says "As you all know we had a Radyo5 liner saying you have to leave the usual, that's why we did public service on FM and news too. We changed the lineup of programs and did a lot of things people can experience on the station. We came up with TRUE FM, truth in journalism, relatable stories, unwavering public service and entertainment."

 We also talked to Dra. Edinell of Healing Galing which will be back after a 2 year hiatus

In the morning Mon Gualves will do Bangon Bayan, Ted Failon and DJ Chacha will do a self named show for commentaries. Ted adds "I hope there will be more mobile journalists, we need to have citizen journalists that can do it right. Pam and Julie will be doing it on our show, like feature stories, political ones, and true news."

As for showbiz talk, there was a part where the title Queen of FM was being pitted with DJ Chacha and Laila Chikadora, and they cleared things during the press conference

 

Also, Senator Raffy Tulfo was phone patched as he was still traveling from a different province when the press conference happened. He told us why he wouldn't be stopping radio anytime soon.

There are still a LOT of things to look forward to now that they've changed their radio station's name and direction. They continue to become different, and will be making change in bringing what the TRUE people need to hear on radio, TV and online. Congratulations on the launch of 92.3 RADYO5 TRUE FM!