Annebisyosa: No Other Woman World Tour

One of the things that Filipinos proudly claim is the fact that we are a country of great singers. A bold claim, but we Filipinos have proof that our fellow country men were able to make it big all over the world. Filipinos will always boast of Lea Salonga, who played Miss Saigon 1989 & is a Disney legend; Charice, who rose to popularity through Youtube and is now collaborating with David Foster & duets with international singers like Celine Dion; Arnel Pineda, Filipino singer-songwriter who has served as the lead singer of the American rock band Journey since 2007. Please note that I've listed just a few accomplishments of these professional singers.

Filipinos generally have this immense love for singing which is very evident with the numerous local singing competitions, the karaoke, and even actors trying their talents in singing. Piolo Pascual, Nora Aunor,Jericho Rosales,Diether Ocampo, Donna Cruz, Sheryl Cruz to name a few.

Lately, one ambitious and bold lady came out, tested the music industry and let's say tried her luck in singing. People in showbiz can say that she does love to sing. Although her love for singing is oftentimes a subject of criticism, she just has that certainty about herself that her stardom won't be fazed by her singing. True enough, she was very lucky to be given a break, was granted an album "Annebisyosa",a nationwide concert called "No Other Concert". She has indeed commanded a great following among Filipinos. The Waterfront Hotel, Cebu was jam-packed with her fans and followers.

She is no other than Anne Curtis Smith.

Above shows the description of herself from her twitter account. Apart from being gorgeous. I really love that she has that fun, wacky side to her persona.Did I mention that she is a credible and an amazing actress. She won Best Actress for her movie "Baler" with an equally great actor Jericho Rosales. During her concert Anne mentioned that she had to show off beautiful costumes to make up for her singing, really funny. 

Sue, Up for it! blogger and I took a few pictures as best as we can from where we were seated. Why I was able to sit VIP at her concert?Read here. 

Enjoy the pictures =)

Anne Curtis-Smith

singing "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang" with Luis Manzano

Luis Manzano dancing to "I'm Sexy and I Know It"

Anne Curtis singing "Alone"

Anne performing rock alternative songs

Anne singing "Super Bass"

Mark Baustista, one of her guest performers

Anne singing "Someone Like You"

I am not much of a concert goer but if I were to write a review about her concert. This is not that kind of concert that would be musically enriching but this however is the kind that would simply entertain you and would love her even more. Ironically, professional singers would be applauded when they would belt their heart out and not miss a tune but when Anne Curtis misses a a few notes she would be cheered on by her fans. An absolute confirmation on how her fans couldn't care less about her imperfections they just utterly love her to bits and pieces.

It has been reported that she would be giving up her singing career after her Cebu and Middle East concert tour. More details here.

Professional and amateurs alike share a passion for music on different levels. And, some will have the God-given talent while others can keep dreaming about it. Well, Anne is an epitome that there are things you can get away with pure charm and confidence. Don't get me wrong only a few people can get away with that! That is power! 

A special special thank you to this person who made this happen. She did this  to make my golden year a memorable one. =) Oooh a little trivia about us, we are both Geminis and are born on the same date May 27, cool right?

Sue is the author of Up for it! blog a.k.a @LilyZeta on twitter

Sue and me

ANNEBISYOSA No Other Concert

I have a couple things to share that made me ecstatic & jump like a crazy fanatic.

I just didn't not score a concert ticket, I'll be sitting VIP, watching Anne Curtis performing LIVE on stage at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

I have to thank Sue Caballes, "Up for it!" blogger http://sclilyzeta.blogspot.com/ and Katrina from Davao for the tickets.

Another thing today that made me jump for joy was Anne Curtis-Smith replying to my tweet. 
How cool is that! =) 

The concert's tomorrow but I am already starstrucked. Super excited!!!  

Will be posting updates soon

0;-)

Samsung Wave: Upgrading to Bada 2.0

I had my Samsung Wave GT S8500 for 1 year and 3 months, boy can I still remember how amazed I was when I first laid eyes on it. It was really too much for what I was willing to spend on a mobile phone but I had to replace this phone. For some odd reason, the back casing melted after about 1 month of acquiring it. 

Samsung E1080

At that time, I was just really shopping for an andriod phone, nothing very pricey but still packed with the right functionalities that any person in this day and age would want to have. I left that Samsung store will a very big disappointment to myself for not owning my limits. I already sold the idea of buying a Samsung Corby but OH BOY! did I splurge. I was splurging on impulse, if you know me, I usually do several trips to a store before I make a purchase. I didn't even know what BADA OS is. BADA? have you even heard of that. 

After owning it over a year, I would definitely say that it's hardware is a strong selling point, but I can easily say that its waterloo lies on the built-in OS, limited availability of apps & the time it took for them to develop a firmware fit to utilize the horsepower of the phone. Without the upgrade, this phone is just as good as that Samung E1080. So okay, I'm exaggerating but that is how dissapointed I was over the years. I have been patiently waiting for an upgrade from Samsung so I can proudly say that I have a smartphone.

Now, the long wait is over!

Samsung Wave GT-S8500

I've looked into Bada forums and the internet and I was very lucky I stumbled upon this on Youtube.  

"Tutorial - How to install Bada 2.0 (flashing)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbACmM-9RcA  


His Youtube video is easy to understand and the description is complete with the initial checks you should do with your phone, the disclaimers, the download links for the app and the bada files and the step-by-step guide on how it is done. The disclaimer states that this is to your own risk but I'll say that this is fairly simple. Just make sure that you have gone through the video and have everything ready in one place before you start flashing. 
 I came across a "Serial port open error" after the "Wait Reset" stage but that was because I previously had used an external drives on one of the USB ports. After restarting my system and re-executing the steps on the video. I finally got it to work and the whole process took less than an hour.
After the finger-biting experience I had flashing my phone, it's like owning a new phone. I am playing with it a lot now and I can honestly say that I kinda like what I am seeing. 
I now am a proud of owner of a smartphone =)


Here is a comprehensive look at the new features BADA 2.0 comes with. 
SO COOL ;)
BADA 2.0 SDK features
leads you to a .pdf file


The instructions on how to flash the phone are found below. 
Credits to GamingMause of Youtube for the instructions and the video. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a woman's rant

Although I would want to have some downtime on my rest days, I can't seem to find any of that lately. I half-blindedly signed the terms and conditions. What was I thinking?!? Now, I can see "sleep deprivation and wrinkle-bearing stress" right there on the fine print. That item has always been there and it will forever be; so ladies beware; I was just not paying much attention. Forgive me for taking this out on my post but this has been an ongoing feeling I have had and just didn't have an outlet. An outlet that won't talk back and say things to shut me down and ask me to suck it all in. Then I realize that I do have an avenue, I have been turning into blogging to put all my experiences in writing. This may probably cause some people to react negatively, pass bad judgement or hopefully understand where I am coming from but I really couldn't care less. The point of all this, is just really to channel my frustrations. I can certainly bullet them all out in this post but my mind is restraining that thought, for now. To those women who single-handedly raise their kids, wives under appreciated by their husbands and to all other forms of oppression you are undergoing, consider this a toast. I'm just saying! it is crazy balancing career, being a mother and etc...  To those women that are able to hold things together and carry on with life with lesser visible emotional scars, my respect goes out to all of you.

Scott Kelby Photowalk

There's this photo walk I joined back in October 15, 2011. I was no ordinary photowalk because it was one of Scott Kelby's. Here's a little fact about Mr. Kelby.

Scott Kelby (born 1960 in Lakeland, Florida) is an American photographer and an author and publisher of periodicals dealing in Macintosh and Personal Computer software, specifically for design professionals, photographers, and artists.  - Wikipedia

I'm pretty sure it was a well-organized event but hmmmm let's just say I was a non-conformist. They had organized a mini amazing race within the event; unfortunately, me and the group I was with didn't join. It could've been fun and exciting. Maybe another year? and possibly a new set of guts to join a group of competing photographers. 
Well here it goes, I just want to share it, I am no professional photographer, I am a hobbyist to be exact. Sharing with you a few of my shots. If after seeing my amateur shots LOL, I want to invite you to view my Flickr account where upload most of my pictures. I would really appreciate any comment you would leave here or on my  Flickr account. =)

http://worldwidephotowalk.com/walk/cebu-city-central-visayas-philippines-3/