Ok, so for some reason this awesome jumpshot didn’t make AXN-Asia head hunters swoon and pick us as one of the twenty-four (24) teams for the AXN Asia Big Challenge so I had to make alternate plans for the weekend. Instead of running around inside a mall built on shaky foundations that may be claimed by the sea any minute now,  my teammate Angel and I will be going scuba diving off the coast of Anilao, Batangas this weekend. You see Angel recently graduated from PADI’s Basic Open Water Diving Course so he’s still really excited to go diving week after week. It has been months since my last dive as well so it would be great to be reacquainted with the denizens of the deep. Anilao boasts what it said to be the most biodiverse marine ecosystem in the world and as if that’s not enough, whale sharks – the largest fish in the world — have been spotted swimming in the area the past few weeks!  I’ll take this over AXN Asia Big Challenge any time.

And no, we’re not bitter. Good luck to all those who made. I’m sure we’ll be having more fun that you guys. Take care and stay safe throughout the race!

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Here we go!  I just sent my application to AXN-Asia’s Big Challenge and now, all I can do is to cross my fingers that my team will be one of the twenty-four (24) teams who will be competing for the top prize two weeks from now. We were required to submit a group picture so we whipped one out real fast during the last time we met. All three of us are members of the Couchsurfing project so it’s understood that we all like to travel.

Here are the members of the team – I will informally dub our trio as The Couchsurfers!

The guy on the left knows what’s best for your money… and claims to be real good with visual puzzles (he is after all an amazing multimedia artist).

The guy in the middle is a jet-setting blogger… who obviously can’t really jump that high. He may also be the shortest but he’s probably the strongest.

The last guy is another blogger who loves to do jumpshots. Printed on his shirt is NO RELIGION. He will screw up his team’s chances if there’s a bike leg involved in the race. Haha

Wish us luck! 

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Later tonight in Imbestigador, GMA 7 will once again make television history for being incredibly stupid. They would sensationalize how a baby’s head was severed from the rest of the body during delivery and at the same breath, blame the doctors for that event. The teasers are pointing towards that direction.

Can you imagine someone ripping off a baby’s head to sever it along the base of the neck? That would require tearing skin, flesh, tendons, muscles and ligaments. Even if it’s just a baby, it JUST doesn’t happen. In the operating room, we are instructed to lock our fingers – forming a diamond shape — under the baby’s chin and PULL as hard as we can. We get screamed at for not pulling hard enough. It takes a lot of effort to assist in childbirth.

The head will simply not snap off… unless the baby has already been dead for quite some time. Of course, that would be incompetence on the doctors’ and nurses’ part to have not monitored the fetal heart tones and movements, but that’s a lesser crime. Claiming that they did something to sever the head of that baby and implying that they killed the baby only makes me believe that GMA 7 is simply living up to their slogan.

.

Yes, Imbestigador. You are not using your heads – just your heart.

 Note: Did anyone watch this? I was out with some relatives when they aired this.

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Boy, I guess these are my two favorite shows now! It’s even more  enjoyable to watch because both shows have a Filipino cheftestant  in the cast.

Hell’s Kitchen is in its fourth season and for this particular installment of the show, Chef Gordon Ramsay is using the  program to look for his first executive chef for his new restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles. After seven episodes,  Filipino Louross Edralin  is still on the show and is one of eight contestants who could ultimately land the job. Malicious intent to mock aside, I seriously didn’t know if he was a Pinoy or a butched up Pinay the first time I watched the show. The show is basically a simulation of the restaurant working environment – a lot shouting, crying and cursing. It airs every Tuesday night (US).

Top Chef is also in its fourth season.  Awaiting the winner is a handsome cash prize, a luxury vacation, top-of-the-line cookware and a chance to showcase one’s dishes in a high profile event in Aspen, Colorado. Each week, there is a short quickfire challenge and an elimination challenge. The former is a very fast task (usually less than an hour)  wherein the winner gets  immunity/ a special advantage for the elimination challenge. The elimination challenge decides who gets the  boot per episode. Filipino Dale Talde has won five of the twenty challenges this season – he won the last aired elimination challenge and he also won after wowing judges with his halo-halo. It is the highest winning percentage to date. With just six contestants remaining, Dale could be headed to a very rewarding pay off in the end. The show airs Wednesday nights.

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Dale Talde once again referred to his Filipino roots during the most recent episode of BravoTV’s Top Chef. To emphasize tha he was a well-rounded cook, he said that despite his Filipino background, he was willing to step out of his comfort zone (Asian Cuisine). He also hinted on his frustrations for his short stature. Talde initially wanted to be a player in the NBA but after realizing that he wasn’t going to grow bigger than 5’5″, he gave up on the dream and decided to be a chef instead.

Dale was named as one of the top three cooks in the quickfire challenge along with Richard Blase and eventual challenge winner Antonia Lofaso. Talde prepared Pineapple Fried Rice With Grilled Scallops and Chinese Long Beans.

For the elimination challenge that required the contestants to make a healthy dish for the family on a 10 dollar budget, Talde’s went with Turkey Bratwurst with Potatoes, Onions, Red Cabbage and Apples. This dish was neither in the top 3 or bottom three. Prior to this episode, Talde has been one of the more consistent cheftestants on the show.

Another frontrunner, Richard Blais , likewise missed being called in the top three for the first time since the season began.

The top three for the challenged comprised of Andrew D’Ambrosi, Nikki Cascone and Antonia Lofaso. Former frontrunner Stephanie Izard, Lisa Fernandes and Mark Simmons were in the bottom three. Simmons was the one asked by host Padma Lakshmi to pack his knives and go.

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I appeared on a live edition of Media In Focus on the ABS-CBN News Channel (Channel 27 on cable) yesterday at 6PM and the replay at 11PM. There will be replays on Saturday at 6AM and 5PM. Cheche Lazaro talked to guests about their thoughts  on downloading copyrighted material off the internet – specifically music.

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Dale Talde is not the only Filipino currently competing in the a reality cooking show. Louross Edralin gave a shout out to all the Filipinos at the of Season 5 of Hell’s Kitchen. He didn’t strike me  as Filipino during the first few episodes. Actually, I couldn’t really make out whether he was a guy or a girl. I only found out when he was assigned to the men’s team. Five cheftestants have already been eliminated and Edralin is still in the running for the grand  prize of  being the executive chef in Gordon Ramsay’s new Los Angeles restaurant.

Louross is very annoying. I don’t see myself rooting for him at all. Hell’s Kitchen airs after Tuesday Night’s American Idol on Fox.

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I’m a big fan of reality TV and this year, the show that has kept me entertained the most has been BravoTV’s Top Chef. The show is currently on its fourth season and the initial crop of 16 cheftestants have been reduced to nine. The current season was filmed in Chicago and the who’s who of the culinary world has appeared on the show to judge – Anthony Bourdain, Ming Tsai to name a few. Top Chef is not available on local TV so depend on torrents to keep up with the series. Since I love to cook myself, it’s great to see the contestants whip out greatly plated dishes despite an unrealistic time frame. I know it sucks that we can’t really taste the food as we’re watching the show and we have to rely on the judges’ comments, but seeing good food and the drama behind the preparation still strikes me as something interesting – even more interesting than seeing who gets the ax next.

This season has been special because the cheftestants have been a mixed bag. There are obvious frontrunners though. Richard Blais has won the most challenges and is a self-professed molecular gastronomist who has whole bag of tricks up his sleeve. He has appeared previously on the US edition of Iron Chef. Stephanie Izard, a Chicago native, have also been consistently producing good dishes for both the quickfire challenge (that’s the pre-elimination challenge where the winner gets immunity) and the elimination challenge. The most interesting character of them all is probably Dale Talde. Dale Talde is Filipino and was born and raised in Chicago. He can be a bit confrontational and rude at times, but he has always performed well in the kitchen. Before being on the show, he was a sous chef at Buddakan, an Asian restaurant in the New York City.

If you’re getting the arrogant vibe from this photo, then it’s a very accurate description of what he has been edited as in the show.

For the seventh episode (S04E07), the cheftestants were asked to make a dessert in 90 minutes. Dale was very perplexed but he knew what he wanted he to do. He claimed that he only knows one dessert and that dessert was halo-halo! He further explained that he used to have it all the time as a kid. During judging he said that he was bringing something that we do in our culture. It felt great that the humble halo-halo was represented on Top Chef! Hehe

Don’t get the wrong idea that Dale sent a glass with gulaman and sago. (interestingly, somebody else has done tapioca balls and passed them off as faux caviar lol). As you could read on the caption, Dale made “Halo-halo” with shaved ice, avocado, mango,kiwi and nuts. That’s hardly the halo-halo we know, but come on! This is Top Chef! I guess this is the fine dining interpretation of the pedestrian dish we have grown to love and enjoy.

Dale looks like he has a good chance of winning it all. I hope he continues to do well. I hope the Philippine media picks this story up because unlike Ramiele Malubay, this guy has talent. Being Filipino is just one of the cool things about him, unlike in Ramiele’s case wherein it was the only thing that was going for here (from our perspective).

Here’s the recipe from the Top Chef website.

DIRECTIONS (copied from the Top Chef website)

Lemongrass Young Coconut Water Brother:
Pound lemongrass and ginger with sugar and coconut juice and coconut meat.
Place young coconut meat and water in pot and add lemongrass and ginger. Bring to a simmer and let steep for 10 minutes.

Braised Mango with Coconut and Chilies:
In a pan combine all ingredients, let simmer until mango is soft, then cut into strips.

Avocado Shake:
Add avocado to the blender with condensed milk. Turn blender on low then gradually turn to high slowly adding ice. Blend until smooth.

Bruleed Mango:
Dice mango, dust with sugar and brulee with a torch.

Kiwi Caviar:
Cut kiwi into quarters and remove white center, then cut out center seeds.

Five-Spice Cashews:
In a pot, add sugar (reserve two tablespoons), water and cashews. Boil until liquid becomes syrup. Let cool and strain out liquid, then deep fry cashews. When cashews are golden brown, remove and toss in remaining sugar and five spice blend.

Assembly:
Mix ice and lemongrass liquid well and add to glass, then add 3 ounces avocado puree, braised mango, bruleed mango, chopped candied cashews, young coconut meat, Rice Krispies, cilantro leaves and chili rings.
Here’s another blog entry about Dale.

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I-witness is probably the best show on Philippine television. Their documentaries have kept legions of loyal fans into the first few hours of the next day just to see a new take on things.

That’s the reason why news regarding the First I-witness Docu Seminar has been greeted with much anticipation and enthusiasm from fans and amateur documentary junkies alike.

This is the announcement as it appears on Howie Severino‘s blog:

1st I-WITNESS DOCU SEMINAR!
(scheduled for April 5 in Quezon City)

To apply, submit your resume
and a 300-600 word essay in
English or Filipino
about your
favorite I-Witness episode
by email to
iwit.docufest@gmail.com

or snail mail to –

I-Witness, GMA Network Center
Diliman, Quezon City

or drop your resume and essay off at the
I-Witness DVD signing event on March 2 at
Powerbooks Trinoma Mall North EDSA Quezon City.

A total of 80 participants will be chosen for this free seminar.

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Just mere hours after I left my post at the Philippine General Hospital Pediatric Emergency Room, I found myself walking to the National Commission For Culture And The Arts in Intramuros. I signed up for a taping of the NBN 4 show Youth Voice. I’ve been to Youth Voice before but nothing would have prepared me for last Saturday. Instead of shooting at the studio, we were asked to go on location. I’m not really that familiar with Intramuros so it did take a while before I found the NCCA.

It was around the time of the EDSA Revolution anniversary so the organizers were keen on focusing it on that particular part  of history and whether or not the lives of Pinoys were uplifted because of it. UP Manila was set to duke it out with UP Diliman, but as always the case with this show, we’re not really keen on knowing who’s better in debating – its more  of a talk show set in a debate format. No formal winners are named, but the great thing about is they give considerable honorarium for showing up on the set (Hurray!).

But something was different that Saturday. There was an actual audience! A group of about 200 high school students from Araullo High School showed up to watch the show as part of a field trip. These kids weren’t around during the first EDSA  revolution so this puts extra pressure on us to give them the information that would likely mold their perceptions of what that momentous occasion really was. That’s also ironic considering that I wasn’t even a year old during that time.

After the taping, the kids literaly mobbed us. For a moment there, I think I had an inkling of what a celebrity feels while being swarmed by fans. LOL. It definitely caught the six debaters off guard. Debaters are not used to this level of attention. It is only now through shows like Youth Voice and Square Off that debaters are given the chance to appear on TV for their fifteen minutes of fame. The high school students asked us to sign autographs, pose for pictures and even requested for our e-mail addresses (for Friendster purposes)! It was a complete half hour of total chaos of being tugged and shared like a hot commodity.

And of course, I loved every second of it.

They didn’t even need to pay me.

Youth Voice airs this Saturday, March 1, at NBN (Channel 4 – formerly PTV 4) from 7 pm to 8 pm.

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I know this is getting old, but I’m going to be on TV tomorrow – this time for ABS-CBN News Channel’s SQUARE OFF DEBATE CHAMPIONSHIP: THE A.U.D.C. UP Manila will be squaring off with top seed Ateneo de Manila University for the right to an all-expense paid trip to the Asians Universities Debating Championship to be held this May at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

First year  med students Lee Yarcia and Carol Tan will be joining me as the official representatives of UP Manila. Please watch Square Off at ANC (Channel 27 on Sky) from 8 PM to 9  PM. There will be a vote for the texter’s choice award so please vote for me. Hehe.

Wish us luck.

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It’s really hard to not pass judgment on this particular clip.

From the looks of it, the footage seems to have been taken while the people responsible for Wowowee were rehearsing parts of the show. Of course, there’s nothing unusual with people making sure that everything goes smoothly, but you got to admit, if the so-called rehearsal exposes the various ways wherein people can be cheated out of a win, this sort of clip could definitely cause irreparable damage to a show and host’s credibility.

Youtube Link

The most dubious part of the clip shows that the contents of the circular boxes could be changed whimsically. If the content of the box could literally changed from ZERO to 0.5 in plain view of everyone. From the looks of it, it seems like that was the desired effect of the entire exercise. Now what could really warrant that type of rehearsal?

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In one of the best kept secrets since Clark Kent’s secret identity, cable provider SkyCable can be treating its thousands of subscribers to a surprises that none of them are expecting. The prank’s magnitude is so vast that it’s going to be akin to a grand April Fools’ Day joke. The only difference is that a) it’s not funny and b) it’s never a good thing to start the year on a sour note.

Starting January 1, 2008, SkyCable will no longer carry BTV, Solar Sports, ETC, 2nd Avenue, Crime/Suspense and JackTV. Yes. Isn’t it crazy that with just less than a month to go before a drastic change in their channel roster, a lot of people are still in the dark regarding this inevitability?

Let’s put this into perspective. Clearly, people (like me) who are basketball crazy would lose their minds on the prospect of not having Basketball TV. BTV shows NBA games on a daily basis. No matter what time of day it is, you will see something basketball-related.

If you’re into pro-boxing, billiards or other sports, not having Solar Sports would be disastrous. Solar Sports holds the exclusive rights in showing all of Manny Pacquiao’s matches and they have also recently won the right to show the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and 2012 London Summer Games. Could you imagine watching these events on Youtube due to the lack other networks that would be allowed to legally show them.

Without ETC and 2nd Ave, one wouldn’t be able to watch the latest episodes of Conan, Leno and the various hit series and reality shows that both channels carry. Crime/Suspense was the first channel to bring breakthrough series like Heroes, Prisonbreak and THE SOPRANOS (!) to Philippine TV and with efforts to synchronize the programming schedule (i.e. watching the same episodes being shown in the US), the potential of this relatively young channel is looking up.

JackTV features a lot of quality programming too. This was the channel that was brave enough to show South Park, Family Guy and American Dad to a very conservative viewers base.

Imagine losing all those channels in one fell swoop. If your imagination isn’t that good, you don’t really have to think that hard. You’ll be experiencing it if you survive the New Year’s Eve merriment.

As for Skycable’s side of the issue, they said this:

This new channel line-up was developed as a result of consumer feedback, ratings and commercial consideration, and designed to ultimately benefit SkyCable subscribers. With the entry of these new channels in January 2008, SkyCable will no longer carry the following channels: Basketball TV, Solar Sports, Jack TV, ETC, 2nd Avenue, and Crime/Suspense.

I have no idea if there are actual idiots who would petition to remove the Solar channels from the roster and the internet has been a breeding ground for a lot of hypothesis-generating and conspiracy theories regarding the reason for Skycable’s bonehead decision (the Pacquiao issue being the most popular angle), but it’s really immaterial and moot at this point. The bottom line is that you’ll be saying goodbye to a lot of shows.

If you’ve seen new channels on Sky lately, congratulations, you have now been acquainted to the “substitute” channels that Sky will push for after Solar shifts out. Enjoy watching  cricket on Balls, I Want To Be A Hilton on Velvet and a host of other shows we all love on Maxxx. Ok, that just about fulfills my sarcasm quota for the next two weeks.

So if you’re a Skycable subscriber, it’s time to take action! Move out and send a strong message to the management of Skycable!

Other people have spoken up (will be regularly updated):

Skycable Ka Ng Ina Mo

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If seeing me for 3 seconds in this NBN telecast of the PIDC Finals left you wanting to see more of me, please leave a comment and I’ll have a restraining order furnished first thing in the morning.

If you would prefer something else other than that option, try this one for size. I (yes, Benj of Atheista.net) will be on the Square Off - that debate show on ABS-CBN News Network on August 8 and August 22. Both shows will be live. If you want to see how my 3 seconds of fame extends to about 45 seconds or so, watch it from 8 to 9 PM. Barring disability, death or an attack from a rabid groupie, I will be there to adjudicate two rounds of heart-stopping American Parliamentary debate.

Again, it’s going to be live. Benj on live TV does open the door to a lot of possibilities right? Haha. Of course, I’m haggling with the people behind the show to show my URL instead of my real name when they introduce me.

And oh, good luck to everyone who’s taking the Medical Board Exams starting today!

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The show is still on. But here’s what I captured using my mobile phone’s camera. haha

I raised a cornu but the camera didn’t catch it Woohoo! My name was mentioned by ANGELIQUE LAZO! WOOHOO!!!

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