Miss Universe – Philippines 2012: #18 JANINE MARIE TUGONON

Binibining Pilipinas – International 2012: #8 NICOLE SCHMITZ

Binibining Pilipinas – Tourism: #13 KATRINA JAYNE DIMARANAN

1st runner up – #15 ELAINE KAY MOLL

2nd runner up – #29 ANNALIE FORBES

The 12 Semi-Finalists:

• #30 Sherlyn Gonzales
• #16 Liezl Alcantara
• #7 Patricia Lae Ejercitado
• #29 Annalie Forbes
• #26 Angelee delos Reyes
• #9 Mary Jean Lastimosa
• #13 Katrina Jayne Dimaranan
• #18 Janine Marie Tugonon
• #15 Elaine Kay Moll
• #14 Gina Joy Howell
• #8 Nicole Schmitz
• #1 Karen Gallman

First Set of Special Awards

• Best in National Costume – Nicole Schmitz (#8)
• Miss Friendship – Giselle Angelica Muñoz (#21)
• Miss Talent – Katrina Jayne Dimaranan (#13)
• Manila Bulletin Readers’ Choice Award – Roxanne Tadique (#20)
• People’s Choice – Giselle Angelica Muñoz (#21)
• Best in Swimsuit – Nicole Schmitz (#8)

Second Set of Special Awards.

• Miss Photogenic – Karen Gallman (#1)
• Miss Philippine Airlines – Mary Jean Lastimosa (#9)
• Miss Avon Philippines – Mary Jean Lastimosa (#9)
• Best in Long Gown – Roxanne Tadique (#26)

The Bureau of Internal Revenue or BIR has recently released the Top 500 Individual and Non-Individual Taxpayers for Tax Year 2010. And one of the highlights of this statistics is the inclusion of the names of Philippine celebrities who made a remarkable contribution to the Philippine Government in terms of tax payments.

Who are they?

1. Carlo J. Caparas (3) – P65,669,980.00
2. Kris Aquino (17) – P32,309,962.04
3. Willie Revillame (21) – P26,522,527.80
4. Michael V. (40) – P20,941,407.00
5. Sharon Cuneta (58) – P16,629,438.00
6. Sarah Geronimo (67) – P14,831,724.98
7. Piolo Pascual (76) – P13,052,096.00
8. Marian Rivera (86) – P11,889,852.84
9. John Lloyd Cruz (95) – P10,925,516.81
10. Claudine Barretto (99) – P10,656,340.00
11. Kim Chiu (131) – P9,311,536.81
12. Boy Abunda (134) – P9,246,729.00
13. Manny Pacquiao (135) – P9,190,691.00
14. Bea Alonzo (151) – P8,238,635.08
15. Judy Ann Santos – Agoncillo (211) – P6,344,529.81
16. KC Concepcion (229) – P6,038,765.59
17. Jericho Rosales (236) – P5,972,052.00
18. Dingdong Dantes (237) – P5,965,127.12
19. Ai-Ai delas Alas (319) – P5,306,178.00
20. Gerald Anderspon (336) – P5,136,697.16
21. Carmina Villaroel (357) – P4,956,130.11
22. Chris Tiu (370) – P4,875,696.51
23. Mel Tiangco (379) – P4,818,647.00
24. Maria Ressa (451) – P4,222,920.00

In 2009, only 12 celebrities were on the top 500 individual taxpayers. 2 out of these 12 celebrities – namely: Vic Sotto and Vilma Santos – did not make it to the 2010 statistics. For the complete list of 2009 Top Celebrity Taxpayers, please click here.

For the complete list of Top 500 Individual and Corporate Taxpayers, you may download them using the link below:

2010 Top 500 Individual Taxpayers

2010 Top 500 Corporate Taxpayers

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey revealed Thursday last week that he used iPhone to shoot footage for the upcoming high-budget film “The Avengers” (will be released on May 4, 2012).

“On ‘The Avengers,’ I did a couple of shots on the iPhone and they are in the movie,” McGarvey said. “In fact they are in the trailer!”

McGarvey did not specify, though, which shots were taken by the iPhone handset and which model was used to record the scenes. However, only 2 iPhones with video recording capabilities were available during the shooting in April – either iPhone 3Gs which has a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera or the 5-megapixel, 720p HD-capable iPhone 4.

Moreover, McGarvey explained that he didn’t make a compromise when choosing the handset, saying that “every piece of kit should be tailored to what you’re trying to achieve.” He goes on to underscore that camera equipment does not define a film, but rather the decisions made with what is available.

“I understand that sometimes there is no choice and you have to go for the cheapest option, but if you are limited for choice, you can still make poignant decisions that will affect the look of the film,” he said.

McGarvey’s previous films include relatively low-budget dramas like ‘Atonement,’ ‘Charlotte’s Web’ and ‘The World Trade Center.’ According to him, The Avengers was a big different from his previous work, bringing more money and more sophisticated equipment to the project.

Below is the official trailer of The Avengers movie. Can you determine the scene which was taken using the iPhone?

[via Apple Insider]

Black Eyed Peas is coming once again to perform live in Manila on October 25 at Mall of Asia Concert ground.

I’m not a fan of BEP. I just made this post to inform that McDonald’s has their promo on giving free tickets to the BEP concert.

For P250 minimum purchase from McDelivery, you’ll get a chance to win tickets for two to the Black Eyed Peas concert on October 25, 2011. The promo runs from October 10 to 17, so you still have 2 days to join. Mc Donald’s delivery number is 8-MCDO or 8-6236.

Please read full promo mechanics in their Facebook fan page.

Enjoy!

Having read this statement coming from Oprah Winfrey is delightful:

I have reservations with the results. If the only basis is the Q and A portion…, after having been trimmed down to 5, Ms. Philippines deserved to win. What made her different from the rest is that she had no seconds to rethink of heranswer as she had no interpreter to break the ice. The rest had their interpreters and having breaks on seconds to think about their answers. Hands down, Ms. Philippines answered straight to the point.

This alleged statement from Oprah has been circulating a lot of channel after the winner of Ms. Universe 2011 had been announced. Of course, as a Filipino and a “fan” of Ms. Shamcey Supsup who won the 3rd Runner Up slot, I felt delighted because an Oprah Winfrey is making side to our candidate.

However, the Community Manager/moderator of Oprah.com clarified that the said statement is NOT TRUE. This clarification was done after a certain user, “chadpink”, asked if the statement is true last September 13. See image or screenshot of the said conversation from http://www.oprah.com/

Screengrabbed from oprah.com

Still, congratulations to all the winners of Ms. Universe 2011!

Roughly 7 hours before the start of the most awaited beauty pageant of the year, the Miss Universe 2011 and roughly 7 hours before it becomes a trending topic in Twitter, be it here in the Philippines or Worldwide, I decided to write a post regarding the latest update of the Philippine’s bet Ms. Shamcey Supsup on the online poll conducted by the Latin American TV network, Telemundo.

As of September 13, 1:17 AM (Philippine time), our very own Ms. Shamcey Supsup is still on top garnering a total vote of 2,082,809 votes followed by Ms. Venezuela and Ms. Mexico, respectively.

Screengrabbed from msnlatino.telemundo.com

Online voting was closed at 6PM of September 11 Eastern Time (ET). So it’s 6AM here yesterday, September 12. So it means, Ms. Shamcey Supsup will automatically get a slot in the semi-finals.

On the other hand, Ms. Lea Salonga was chosen to judge the pageant. So we have 2 things to be proud of: having Ms. Shamcey Supsup in the semi-finals and having Ms. Lea Salonga as judge of one of the prestigious beauty pageant in the whole earth.

Ms. Universe 2011 will be televised today in ABS-CBN at 9:30 AM following Kris TV.

God bless you, Ms. Shamcey Supsup. Break a leg and bring home the bacon!

Got no Facebook account?

This one’s for you (?). Lol.

Has it become really odd not to be on Facebook?

Some creative guys took that concept and created a movie trailer parody, based on the movie trailer for, ‘The Man Without a Face.’

Posted below are the movie trailer parody, “The Man Without a Facebook” followed by the original movie trailer, “The Man Without a Face”.

Hope you enjoy the parody version. What is your favorite line?

[via All Facebook]

We would like to congratulate our kababayans who made it to the top at the recently concluded 2011 World Championship of Performing Arts:

• Joshua Pineda – Junior Grand Champion Performer of the World & Junior Grand Champion Vocalist of the World
• Joshua Rafael Davis (Yoyo Tricker – Talentadong Pinoy‘s 1st Grand Winner) – Junior Grand Champion Variety Artist of the World

Joshua Pineda is a Kapuso child actor and is a regular cast member in the comedy “Pepito Manaloto” which airs in GMA Channel 7.

Joseph Valerio, also known as Joseph the Artist, Talentadong Pinoy’s 2nd Grand Winner, bags 2 gold medals under Male Variety Act Without Assistant and Male Variety-3 and Under Props categories.

Here are the complete lists of winners or grand champions:

2011 SENIOR GRAND CHAMPION PERFORMER OF THE WORLD

Hano Janse Van Rensburg (Actor – South Africa)

2011 JUNIOR GRAND CHAMPION PERFORMER OF THE WORLD

Joshua Pineda (Vocalist – Phillipines)

Romi Garduce is on his way to Indonesia to continue his quest of becoming the first Filipino to reach the 7 Summits – seven highest mountains in the seven continents.

Garduce, who became popular in 2006 when he reached the summit of Mt. Everest, continues his quest by climbing  4,884-meter Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia. He is two summits behind before reaching the “7 Summits” record in mountaineering.

Here are the six summits that Romi Garduce has successfully climbed:

By December, Garduce will finish his record of reaching the 7 Summits by attempting to climb Vinson Massif, a 4,892-meter mountain situated at the Antarctic Peninsula in harsh below zero temperature.

You might be confused because there are 8 summits mentioned and actually 6 geographical continents on the earth. Yes there are 8 summits and 6 geographical continents. But why 6 continents only all we know is that we have 7 continents. Geographically speaking, Europe is just a peninsula of Eurasia continental platform and is not a geographical continent. The six geographic continents are: Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Eurasia, South America and North America. However, Europe is considered continent on a political perspective.

Why 8 peaks are listed above and not seven? We will better understand it by reading the History of 7 Summits Project.

For the meantime, while waiting for the update on Garduce’s quest, let’s take a look on the faces of Carstenz Pyramid (photo by JahodaPetr.com)

Carstensz Pyramid – Snow face

Carstensz Pyramid – Ice face

Carstensz Pyramid – Sun rise face

Carstensz Pyramid – Night face

Photo from comingsoon.net

In his interview with BBC Network Monday morning (June 27), Tom Hanks, who voiced Woody’s character, was asked if there would be another installment. He said he thinks there will be and they (Disney PIXAR) are working on it now. Although there was no confirmation yet coming from Disney PIXAR.

This could be puzzling to all Toy Story fan out there who thought that Toy Story 3 was the last installment since it provided a sort of closure for the story.

Toy Story 3 won two Oscars for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song.

What do you think of this? Are you ready for the next installment?