At about 12 noon today, a loud crashing sound was heard by people along Plaza Cervantes street in Binondo. Stunned on-lookers watched as a portion of the old abandoned Banco Filipino Building between Philtrust Bank and Metro Bank fell, destroying several parked vehicles.







This happened one block away from my work place, so I went to check it out. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the damage to the vehicles looked irreparable. The biggest casualties were 2 cars and 1 pick-up truck, the car in the middle took the most damage.


A closer look at the section that fell off.

(Photos were taken a few minutes after the incident)

Photos from the Lineage II Game Girls Cosplay Competion held last Sept. 17, 2007 at the SM Manila Activity Area.


I read about this Monday morning at work and thought that it would be fun to try to cover the event. Until I got there, I hadn't realized that this was going to be another one of those "worst case scenario" for my point & shoot camera where the place had little lighting, moving subjects, etc., similar to the band I shot the week before, and this time, with no tripod or gorillapod to assist me.





Fortunately, the girls were very game to pose for the camera or else I might not have brought home any decent shots at all.







[THE FINALISTS POSING WITH THE JUDGES AND COSTUME DESIGNERS]





The Game Girls search is a joint project of Philippine online game publisher Asian Media Development Group and record label Sony BMG. The Game Girls will promote Lineage II and other games from Asian Media, while also receiving a recording contract from Sony BMG.


The winner of the cosplay competion, also best in ramp modelling and best costume design - ARIANE

Address: 1313 Adriatico St., Ermita Manila (just across the PAL Training Center)

Formerly Mamma Maria's Pizza, this small pizzaria I discovered early this year serves gourmet pizza using local ingredients on a crunchy thin crust at a reasonable price. Sounds like just another pizza place. Yes, but this pizzeria is known for one other thing - being the home of the super sized 30" pizza.



I've already sampled 5 of their 20+ flavors so far, and I have yet to be disappointed. ( I love thin crust pizzas ) And compared to most pizza places out there, their pizzas are not oily.


Last Sunday, the gang and I went to celebrate an old classmate's birthday. All of which had been here already since I introduced them to this place sometime ago. We ordered the 30" Primavera pizza and had it sliced ala square pizza.


After almost an hour, lets just say, we need not eat breakfast the next day.

Here are scans of the menu. Enjoy.

NEW UPDATED FLYER AS OF 2011



(Click the picture to enlarge)

After covering the book fair, I headed to Harrison Plaza to grab a quick bite before going home. I passed by Shakey's and saw an ad for their new pizza called the Super 7. I just had to try it out since I was already craving for pizza the whole week. And boy am I glad I did!


Super 7 was delicious! Mozzarella cheese topped with shitake & oyster mushroom, marinated beef, Italian sausage, onions and crunchy potato strings. The potato strings made the thin crust pizza even crunchier. It was a great meal indeed. It looked good and tastes great. Am definitely coming back for more.

August 29 to September 2, 2007 the biggest book event in the country once again brought together hundreds of local and foreign exhibitors featuring hundreds and thousands of book titles and readers, filling the halls of the country’s premiere exhibition venue located at the heart of Metropolitan Manila - the World Trade Center.




Here are more photos from the event.



(Big discounts from big bookstores.)



(Major publishers feature new books.)





(Reading materials for the young ones)



(The "Read or Die" book club and the "Chopsticks" book launch)


(Comic books)

Robofeista held last August 25 & 26 at the Grand Atrium of the Shangrila Mall featured the best in Philippine robotics. Various science schools participated in the educational and entertaining event.





These talented students, most of which were from elementary & high school levels showcased their creations, some of which had competed and won international competitions.



Other events included sumo, line trace and maze-navigation competitions just like the ones we see on TV and also featured a display of vintage toy robots.


A bird's eye view of Robofiesta.