LoveYourself to Dethrone Reigning HIV with the PHL’s Biggest Testing Day Event

Wazzup Pilipinas!

On its way to dethrone HIV, LoveYourself, Inc. has sought a partnership with Mister Gay World Philippines Organization (MGWPO) to eradicate the social stigma on the disease and its relevant interventions.

Advocating for timely testing and treatment, the LoveYourself-MGWPO partnership entails the promotion of the LoveYourself Incognito 2.0, which is the country’s largest community-based HIV screening that is free, anonymous and fast, set to happen on 27 November at Victoria Court Malate in Manila.

With the aim to continuously implement HIV and AIDS early detection programs, both organizations together with the Department of Health-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (DOH-RITM) and Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. are calling individuals to have themselves tested for HIV by signing up on go.loveyourself.ph/incognito.

LoveYourself Executive Director Ronivin G. Pagtakhan said “We are trying to build as many allies as possible towards the HIV cause to make our call to action within the community more resounding and sustainable.”

Pagtakhan emphasized that “the partnership with MGWPO would greatly help the advocacy in spreading the awareness and reach the unchartered waters that only pageant organizers have an expertise on.”

Exclusive Interview with Buddy Valastro aka Cake Boss of TLC

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Social media noisily buzzed lately with the presence of the Cake Boss in the Philippines. He's in the country for the 2016 TLC Festival held on November 5, 2016 at the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) High Street in Taguig City, and from what I heard, he also conducted masterclasses for some special group of people.

Though the TLC Festival is open to the public that can experience several booths offering various activities and freebies, we were lucky to have been invited to meet him for an exclusive video interview. The time allotted for the interview was just a few minutes so we were quite nervous with the rushed opportunity.

Fortunately, my new-found friend and fellow blogger Wowie was there to help me out with the questions. He is an avid admirer of the Cake Boss so he could totally relate to what Buddy was saying and he was able to ask away easily. However, he did tell me his palms went cold from the excitement of meeting the TLC star face-to-face.

It is not everyday you get to meet a famous TV personality so even though it was totally impromptu, we ignored all our nervousness and proceeded with the interview with very little hesitation.

The TLC Festival was definitely bigger this year, but unlike last year when we had a media event at the Village Tavern restaurant featuring the TLC talents, this time there was none but arranged interviews with them at the hotel where they were staying.

For Buddy, we interviewed him at the lounge of the newly constructed Shangri-La BGC Hotel.

Objectum Sexuality Tops Short + Sweet Theatre Festival Manila 2016 Winners

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Congratulations to the winners of Short + Sweet Theatre Festival Manila 2016 who were all recognized during the gala and awards night held on November 5, 2016 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight theater located at Circuit Makati.

Since the performers for that night were all top finalists from the two weeks and wildcards groups of this wonderful festival of 10-minute plays, all of them are winners already. Thus, everyone who went on stage that night should already be proud by just being among the finalists.

Topping the list of winners is the group that did Objectum Sexuality -  an unusual psychological phenomenon in which an individual feels powerful affection toward a particular inanimate object – for all intents and purposes falling 'in love' with the object which in this case was a rocking chair. 

A psychiatrist tries his best to understand a patient with a strange affection for a 'rocking chair' he calls "Rocky." It seems this group has caught the attention and interest of the audience especially with its end scene where the psychiatrist falls prey to the tempting allure of "Rocky."

Their ultimate edge among the other finalists was obviously the rocking chair which also shares the stage with them, including during the awarding portion.  The rocking chair is an intriguing component of the story, but I would say it was also the actors' effective and convincing facial expressions, body gestures, and perfect timings in delivering their punch lines. The humor was apparently hitting their target as intended. The audience were fully focused on the scenes and all were anticipating what would happen next.