Catherine Zeta-Jones is one lucky lady these days!

Last May 23, Zeta-Jones won an Outstanding Actress in a Musical for her role as Desiree Armfeldt in the musical play, ‘A Little Night Music’ at the 2010 Drama Desk Awards in New York City.

Then, not even a month old from her triumph in 55th Drama Desk Award, the gorgeous Welsh actress bagged again a top honor for the same musical at the 2010 Tony Awards (Best Performance by a leading Actress in a Musical) last Sunday, June 13.

And lastly, as of press time, the beauteous Hollywood royalty can now officially put the letters CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) after her name as she has just been awarded in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Zeta-Jones was honored by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to the film services to the film industry and charity. She received the CBE Royal Honor alongside actress Sophie Okonedo and actor John Nettles.

Wow, Catherine Zeta-Jones has indeed come a long way right after her Hollywood break in ‘The Mask of Zorro’.

Congratulations, idol!

Cheers,

Photo Credit: Whyfame

I respect Manny Villar when it comes to political advertisement as his campaign team never runs out of creative ideas and easy to remember slogans.

However, I was dumbfounded when Barrio Siete uncovered that his new political ad campaign ‘Scroll’ was just a sheer copycat of a political campaign ad entitled ‘Upside Down’. The ad was used by presidential candidate Lopez Murphy in Argentina. The campaign ad even won him a silver lion award in the Cannes Lions Contest in 2006.

Check out what the readers are saying about the uncanny resemblance of the ad campaigns ‘Scroll’ and ‘Upside Down’ here.

Photo Credit: Photo Travel

Move over, Elvis Presley!

Looks like your former son-in-law will take the royal crown from you as he is poised to become the top earning dead celebrity!

King of Pop Michael Jackson, even when dead is still breaking a record as the administrators of his estate have just signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment for ten albums over the next seven years. Sources also said that the contract will be until 2017 and could net the Jacksons up to $250 million.

John Branca, the forefront of record-breaking transactions negotiated the deal along with John McClain, a co-executor of  the Jackson estates.

This is definitely good news for his Mom and kids as the music legacy he left behind will make millions and most likely, will earn more than enough to secure the kids a brighter future.

Long live Michael Jackson! Long live the King of Pop!

Cheers,

Photo Credit: Last.fm

Listed below is official list of Top Universities in the Philippines for 2009. The results are based according to the recent study conducted by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED):

1. University of the Philipines-Diliman
2. University of Santo Tomas
3. Mindanao State University- Iligan Institute of Technology
4. University of the Philippines-Los Banos
5. Mindanao State University- Marawi
6. Ateneo de Davao University
7. Ateneo de Manila University
8. Silliman University
9. University of San Carlos
10. Saint Louis University
11. University of the Philippines-Manila
12. De La Salle University-Manila
13. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
14. Xavier University
15. University of Negros Occidental
16. University of Southern Philippines
17. Polytechnic University of the Philippines
18. Mapua Institute of Technology
19. Central Mindanao University
20. Adamson University

The university ranking is based on the average passing rate in the board examinations of all courses.

So, is your school included in the list?

What do you think of the rankings?

Cheers,

Photo Credit: Heritage Conservation Society

Curious to know if you have a celebrity look alike? Then, you can use a celebrity look alike generator to find out!

Luckily, there are a number of celebrity look alike generator applications available on the world wide web to help you select your celebrity double. These kinds of websites explains who is your look alike in the most fun but accurate way.

Here are some good websites to find your celebrity doubles:

My Heritage is an application that you download to your computer and it is fast and free. It claims that it will find the celebrity in you.

The website Picitup is another celebrity look alike generator but their website has some trouble loading on occasion. Patience is needed.

You can also use Face Double to know if you have a celebrity doppelganger in Hollywood.

Have fun and don’t forget to share it in your Facebook account!

Cheers,

Photo Credit: My Heritage

Neopets: The World of Neopia

Do you still remember the first thing you did when you started using the Internet?

As for me, I can still vividly recall it because my internet moments all started with Neopets! Yep, this is where I learn how to play A LOT of online games. I did that by playing Neopets’ virtual games while on a long break. My favorites were the Destruct-O-Match, Pawkeet Slots, Chia Bomber and Meerca Chase 

Long before I discover social networks such as  Friendster, MySpace, Facebook and before I try my luck in blogging – yours truly has been actively playing Neopets for almost 3 years.

Actually, I still play once in a while because my pet yellobelle is so dear to me. Her Neopet specie is Usul and she’s 3,144 days old.  I’m also at Level 31 at this point.

Here are some facts about Neopets courtesy of Wikipedia.org:

• Neopets (originally called NeoPets) is a virtual pet website launched by Adam Powell and Donna William on November 15, 1999.

• Viacom bought Neopets Inc for US$160 million on June 20, 2005.

• The site has been translated into ten other written languages: Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Dutch and French.However, Neopets announced on 1 January 2009 that the Italian, Japanese, and Korean areas of the site would no longer be updated.

• Neopets is set in the themed lands of the fictional world of Neopia, which has its own calendar and timezone running concurrent with the real-world Pacific Time. It also has its own economy and stock market based around the Neopoint. Players earn Neopoints through various means including playing games and selling items. Once earned, they can be invested or used to buy various goods and services.

• Neopets has a community in which users can chat with and contact each other. Users may request other users to be “Neofriends” or block other users from contacting them. Players are represented by small icons known as avatars that are provided by the website, as players cannot upload their own.

• Each user is given a customizable profile page. In addition, a profile page is also given to each Neopet. The default style of the pet pages differs according to the pet’s species, but they are editable in the same way as user pages

So, what are you waiting for? Why not try playing Neopets when you get tired of playing with your virtual farm and restaurants for a change? I can assure you guys and gals that you will enjoy playing Neopets like I did!

Cheers,

Photo Credit: Neopets.com

Michael Jordan

Photo Credit: MJ Fan Site

Hail to Air Jordan!

Michael Jordan was elected to the to the class of 2009 into the Basketball Hall of Fame last Friday night.

Humble and reflective Michael Jordan clears the air through his heartwarming speech on why his competitive fire never will be extinguished as he officially entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. In fact, MJ’s gratitude list went well beyond friends and family as he thanked all those people who added ‘wood to the fire’ and motivated him throughout his amazing career.

Interestingly, Jordan was honored at the ceremony along with David Robinson, John Stockton and coaches Jerry Sloan and Vivian Springer.

Please check out Michael Jordan’s emotional acceptance speech right after the jump.

Photo Credit: Azrael

Two years ago, Janette Toral of Digital Filipino initiated a ‘Writing Project’ about the first ever Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in the world wide web. Just like this year, the 2007 candidates for the writing project is not only exclusive to the  Philippine blogosphere but from all over the world.

The aim of the writing project is pretty simple. The top 10 nomination coming from the fellow bloggers must identify blogs that inspire them and could provide something worthy to the readers.

So, have they lived up to the expectations?

Let’s see…

Top 1:  Tied on the top spot were:

An Apple A Day by Aileen Apolo

Aileen Apolo’s blog currently have 140 feedburner readers and 909 twitter followers. Her blog is still rocking steady as she have ‘captive readers’ with her daily musings about everything. I think she is worthy of the title because the journal life approach give readers a feel that she really enjoys sharing her life in the blogosphere.

The Philosophical Bastard by Paolo Mendoza

Lo and behold, this top influential blog of 2007 is no longer accessible to the public eye! Yep, even the domain name is for sale!

I guess the blogger behind this great blog will no longer let us read his humor and philosophy in life as he also decided followers to read  his blog entries via invitation. Hmmm, what could have happened along the way?

Too bad really as I have a glimpse of his blogs in social networking Blog Catalog and the entries are worth reading.

Top 2:  The D Spot by Dine Racoma

Dine Racoma‘s blog still continue to gain readers as she shares her life and parenting experiences in the world wide web. Racoma’s blog currently have 175 feedburner subscribers so I believe she will stay solid in the blogosphere and will continue to give insights on every issues that matter.

Top 3:  CokskiBlue

CokskiBlue (now named ThisisCoy.net)  is owned by Coy, a Pinoy video blogger who has collection of video which covers just about anything – from travel, events and various reviews. He is also an avid supporter of the Filipino vloggers. Interestingly, Coy is again nominated this year (Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009) for his vlog, Video Chops Dot Com.

So what differentiate Video Chops from Cokskiblue? Coy pointed out that the new vlog is not just another blog about video blogging but rather a QUICK CHOP on his unused video clips and footages which make it downloadable to the viewing public for free! Oh well, see for yourselves and check it out…

Top 4:  Make Money Online with a 13-Year Old

Carl Ocab is probably one of the most successful teenage bloggers on the blogosphere at this moment. Carl, now age 15, is a truly one of a kind as this internet celebrity holds a remarkable position of being on the top spot in Google for the keyword “Make Money Online” after only seven months of optimization. He also deserved the accolades as he was been featured on the national newspaper twice, been interviewed by some of the top notch internet marketers in the blogging block like Joel Christopher, Jack Humphrey, Rosalind Gardner and Nick Marks!

So, what can I say about Carl? Whoa, you are definitely one influential kiddo! Kudos to you and keep up the good work!

Top 5: Tied on the fifth spot were Culture Shiok! and Utakgago

Culture Shiok! is a blog of an Overseas Filipino Worker in Singapore. So, what happened to this influential blog?

The blog which currently hosted at Blogger/Blogspot is noticeably not up to date. Sadly, the last entry from this blog was March 2008 with an astonishing total blog entries of 4 in the same year.

Was it the end of this blog?

Well, I don’t know – but from the looks it, the blogger still has no intention of updating his bloggy soon.

Utak Gago

The domain is currently parked because the Swedish host of his former website has been pulled off without any notice. Anyway, blogger Kevin hasn’t stopped blogging ever since as he still continue to let subscribers read his impressive writing skills to this url link (http://seriouslie.wordpress.com/).

Kudos to you Kevin for not getting frustrated with what happened to your original blog!

Top 6:  Kubiertos

Kubiertos is a blog of ApplesH a food enthusiasts. She blogs about food, eating, recipes, dining and restaurants in the Philippines. The blog currently has 249 feedburner subscribers and still making waves in the Philippine blogosphere when it comes to food blogging.

Top 7: Tied on the seventh spot were FruityOaty and PinoyBlogero

FruityOaty

FruityOaty is a blog of  Massa P, a Filipino-Canadian who writes about her views and reviews of life, food, current events, blogging, gadgets, and technology. Unfortunately, this award-winning blog is also on a hibernate mode as the owner posted her last blog entry in January 30, 2009. What happened? *puzzled* Darn, it was an uber good blog!!!

Oh well, she could have been very busy or…

I guess she is really not on her ‘blogging mode’ up to this point!

PinoyBlogero

Juan Karlo Licudine, the author behind PinoyBlogero is undeniably still active in the blogosphere nowadays. The blog which boasts of his impressive artwork before will now be reinvented to a more personal journal pretty soon.

I guess this ‘personal move’ was to make way of his new blog, BlogComics.net as he actively updates comic fillers there more often.

Top 7: Tied on the eight spot were The Dork Factory and The Anitokid Chronikos

The Dork Factory

Unfortunately, I can not access this blog as of this writing. The url site: http://jhed.asteeg.net/ is giving me a ‘problem loading page’ message so I can not say much about this influential blog of 2007.

The Anitokid Chronikos

This influential blog of 2007 ‘blogging heart’ is all about the Philippine pool scene but it also has diverse thoughts oil and gas, financial services, information technology industries, electronic gadgets and motorcycling. What a diverse insights, huh?

The blog currently have an extensive interview of Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes on Probe Profiles  and it’s definitely worth the read!

Top 9: Gibbs Cadiz

Gibbs Cadiz is a personal blog of a man regarding travel, movies, books and mostly about theater. The blog has good niche because I haven’t seen bloggers passionately writing about theater so no wonder it has 344 feedburner subscribers.

Top 10: Confessions of a Hopeless Romantic

Based on my research, Jake the Miserable, the blogger behind the ‘Confessions of a Hopeless Romantic’ is no longer active in the blogosphere nowadays. Hmmm, again – I wonder what happened? Sayang naman…

I mean, with a blog title just like that – I bet he can still make a buzz in the blogosphere should he want to resurrect his blogging career.

So, what can I say???

To those still active: Congrats to all of you for giving us an inspiration to blog! You are already ‘experienced’ in blogging so we really appreciate the fact that ‘newbies’ are given a chance to showcase our stuffs.

To those ‘inactive influential bloggers’: I can understand you perfectly kasi hindi naman talaga madaling mag-blog eh! Bloggers like us are supposed to be giving informative and interesting entry in every single posts so it is no wonder you suddenly take ‘a blogging holiday’ for now or forever.

And to those who will win this 2009:

May you continue to light up the torch in inspiring fellow bloggers and make a positive change in our blogosphere.

Related posts:

• My Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009
• A big ‘Thank You’ to all who have nominated Dear Bloggery!

Happy 4oth Anniversary to Apollo 11!

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin forever inspired a generation of scientists when they became the first humans to land on the moon. In fact, their famous ‘moonwalk’ (yeah, these guys were the ‘original’ moonwalkers) still captures the imagination of people until today.

So, in commemoration of their 40th anniversary, let me share to you some interesting facts about the Apollo 11 moon landing:

• U.S. astronauts landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

• An estimated half billion television viewers–at that time, the largest audience ever-watched.

• Neil Armstrong descended from the lunar module and became the first person to walk on the moon.

• As Armstrong walked on the moon he declared “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

• A massive three-stage Saturn V booster rocket launched Apollo 11 on its lunar mission on July 16, 1969.

• After orbiting the earth for several hours, the third stage of the Saturn rocket was fired, sending Apollo 11 toward the moon.

• The spacecraft, which now consisted of a command and service module (CSM) and a lunar module (LM), orbited the moon for a day before the LM, with Armstrong and Air Force Colonel Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin on board, was separated from the CSM and began its descent to the moon.

• Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Collins, the CSM pilot, remained in lunar orbit.

• The LM, dubbed “Eagle,” touched down on the moon’s surface on July 20.

• About 6 hours later, Armstrong and Aldrin donned their spacesuits and exited the LM.

• After practicing walking on the moon the astronauts deployed various equipment for scientific experiments.

• The astronauts collected about 50 pounds of lunar rocks and soil.

• Television cameras that the astronauts had mounted on the moon’s surface broadcast live images of their activities to viewers around the world.

• Following their 2.5 hour moonwalk, Armstrong and Aldrin blasted off from the moon on July 21, leaving behind a U.S. flag and a plaque bearing the inscription: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

• In a lunar orbit rendezvous, Armstrong and Aldrin joined Collins in the CSM and set the LM adrift in space.

• The Apollo 11 crew safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

• U.S astronauts would return the moon’s surface five more times through December 1972.

Congratulations America for the Apollo 11 moon landing! Whoa, what a splendid memory of its 40th Anniversary!

Cheers,

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Move over, Moxie CrimeFighter and Pilot Inspektor Riesgraf-Lee!

Claire Forshaw, a care assistant and an artist from Manchester, has officially changed her name to Princess-Rainbow.com, making her the first person to change her name by Deed Poll to a Web domain. The name change cost less than $20!

The 24 years old newly named Princess-Rainbow.com told the press that:

I knew that if ever I got the chance I would change [my name] to a web domain, to hopefully become the first. My boyfriend has always told me it cost hundreds of pounds to do, so I just forgot about it….

When I realized it actually cost as little as £10 my boyfriend said that Princess-Rainbow.com was ideal for me because I am mad on rainbows!

Owning and naming herself Princess-Ranbow.com is definitely a dream come true for the former Miss Forshaw as she plans to use her namesake web domain to set up an online business selling artwork.

And I quote:

With her boyfriend buying the web domain – she surely had a lot of moral support!Hmmm, now I am wondering what is the middle name of their children if ever! Would it be .com?!?!?

Oh well, it is not my problem anymore!