Merry Dabarkads!

MERRY DABARKADS

-ryandgreat, ortigas center, pasig city

first of all, thank you Lord for allowing me to do the things that i want to do

and i can probably say that i have the best job in the world because i don't feel that i'm working everyday and because everyday is a happy day at work?!

June 2007 | before the live show (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

July 4, 2007 | Eat... Bulaga! production staff night out! (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

we're on the home stretch already!

but truth be told, we've already taped the remaining episodes last week that will be aired this week!

i'm just too happy to spend a break before going back to work on the 1st day of 2008 next week!

as i reviewed some of the events from my work in the past months, i came to realized just how much fun it really was

never mind the long hours at work for as long as i'm with my co-workers until the wee hours! and we're always loud and noisy at that very late hour! 

by being together most of the time, i think, by now, we've built a comfortable work atmosphere already and that we've become familiar to one another

and broadway studio and tape office, by way, serves as our second home because of the continuous work load

that extends until the following live airing of the show where we're completely sleep deprived!

April 2007 | during the break (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

July 2007 | after the show at the old set! (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

August 2007 | Eat... Bulaga's new set! (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

August 2007 | wide and awake! (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

September 2007 | at the TAPE office (photo: Tonette Aduna)

October 2007 | at the Broadway Studios (photo: Terrence Tagorda)

December 2007 | with our Taktak Master Joey de Leon (photo: Abbey Bambao)

December 2007 | our bossings! Mr. Antonio Tuvierra and Vic Sotto with Pia Guanio  

December 2007 | Kuya Bitoy! Yari Kaaaa!

December 2007 | Christmas Dabarkads! (photo: Abbey Bambao)

December 2007 | New Year Dabarkads! (photo: Terrence Tagorda)

December 2007 | the Eat... Bulaga staff night out! (photo: Apple Sarmiento)

December 2007 | with Rod, Apple and Jas (photo: Apple Sarmiento)

and working for a live tv show could bring out so much of stress, from physical exhaustion to short tempers and many sleepless nights

and the many last minute changes and the complication of the preparation up to the point of execution during the live shows!

but this is the most fun and fulfilling experiences for someone who wants to be in this business as you'll learn a lot from this!

i'm also thankful for the opportunity to work with people that are already an institution!

they've been in this business for so long before i even came in this world! and i look up to them as my mentors

being part of a daily show again, is not easy but whenever i realize how much of happiness we bring in to every filipino mula batanes hanggang jolo

and that we give an opportunity to everyone, i'm more than fulfilled and all the chaos was all worth it!

this tv show, is never lacking of fun and laughter and i’m only happy to do whatever i'm doing right now with the rest of my eat... bulaga dabarkads!

by far, this is the biggest break that i've been waiting for so long

and it's amazing that everything has fallen into place after all the waiting, rejections, frustrations that i've been through during the half of 2006!

i am just grateful more than anything else. indeed it's a lucky and merry 2007! thank you Lord!

Sila nAPO Muna Ulit

SILA nAPO MUNA ULIT
-ryandgreat, gma broadway studios

2006 was indeed a banner year to opm and opm bands!

we've seen the rise of hale, cueshe, orange and lemons, shamrock, sponge cola, brownman revival, imago and others to greater heights!

with phenomenal hit songs and record awards!

i've a copy of apo tribute album entitled kami nAPO muna, released exactly a year ago

it was launched at asap with the trio buboy, danny and jim

together with parokya ni edgar, orange and lemons, kamikazee, itchyworms, sponge cola, imago, sugarfree, barbie almalbis, kitchie nadal, top suzara and the dawn and others

my own personal favorites are, the version of rocksteddy’s blue jeans and sugarfree’s batang-bata

the songs were beautifully arranged and was tailored-fit to modern rendition and well performed!

i still love the original version of all their songs and i truly appreciate these young musicians has given a new life to these opm classics

and just recently another apo tribute album was launched! titled kami nAPO muna ulit that hit the gold mark today

congrats apo! and mabuhay ang opm!

BancKo De Oro

BANCKO DE ORO
-ryandgreat, makati city

last week, i went to banco de oro to report my card that was captured by the atm and as the bank manager checked on my records,

she found out that i'm already 20 years old and should be taken out of the banco de oro power teens account

and on-the spot she asked me to sign-up for a regular savings account because i'm teenage no more!

2002 | My Banco De Oro PowerTeens account that comes with ATM card

2007 | Banco De Oro Regular Saving account

but before this, i'm a banco de oro client at the tender age of 4!

under junior savings club in SM Makati branch from 1990 to 1997

but how did i manage to save money at the very young age?

my mother did collect all my christmas gifts from ninongs, ninangs

and relatives, that mostly were in cash form! and then we deposited or put to time deposit

i also remember we won a grand prize, a walkie-talkie! we went at their then main office in cubao to claim the prize!

and walkie-talkie was such a big deal at that time :)

and then during high school, my savings was transferred to bpi family for my first, atm card,

it was a joint account with my mother because i was only 13!

and then in college, i went back to bdo and independently managed my own bank account through bdo power teens account

2007 | my Banco De Oro passbook through the years!

and now as an adult, i hold a regular savings account and hoping this could help me save for my future

especially now that i am working already

having started at the very young age has helped me to become thrifty and wise

so my history with banco de oro or now bdo is quite long already, i'm sure that when i retire, they'll welcome me to their senior citizen 60 club!

maraming salamat for taking good care of my childhood savings and my hard-earned money throughout the years! baka naman!!!!

Hangga't May Bata, May Eat.. Bulaga!

HANGGA'T MAY BATA, MAY EAT... BULAGA!
-ryandgreat, broadway centrum, quezon city

after 14 weeks! here comes the finals of little miss philippines 2007!


as we all know, little miss philippines or lmp of the longest-running noontime show eat... bulaga! has been around for so long

it aimed to gather the most adorable and talented young little girls from all over the philippines with auditions held every summer  

in the competition, each kid would sing or dance to showcase their talents

and then there's question and answer portion and then the daily winner will join the callbacks for either weekly or monthly finals

April 2007 | at the set of Little Miss Philippines 2007 (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

camille pratts, pauleene luna, donna cruz, jessa zaragoza, aiza seguerra and many familiar names all became little miss philippines

last week, during the elimination round of taktak mo o tatakbo, ellawyn and i were handling the idiot boards for bossing vic sotto

unwittingly, i flashed the wrong idiot board and he read it out loud and he immediately noticed that there's something wrong

and he turned to us and said "children of the world" prompting a sweet warning on-air! we responded "ay sorry po" and the show goes on! hehehe

April 2007 | the group behind Little Miss Philippines 2007 (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

July 2007 | after that Saturday Kids Edition of Eat... Bulaga! (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

July 2007 | the studio is our playground (photo: Lawyn Cruz)

and earlier we just had this special saturday treat to those birthday celebrants that turns 7 years old today! 7th of July 2007 that's 7-7-7

we've invited 25 children to actually celebrate their birthdays with eat... bulaga!

and we've prepared an actual birthday celebration with food, mascots, clowns, gifts, cakes and the culmination activity is to play for on the spot jackpot!

this goes to show that eat... bulaga! maintains to be a child-friendly show

and live up to its slogan hangga't may bata, may eat...bulaga! and continue to give laughter and fortune to every juan!

Sem In Are

SEM IN ARE

-ryandgreat

hellow first week of june! oh how i've missed going to school!

but truth of the matter is, back then, this is the month that i don't look forward to! especially in elementary days and high school!

but i remember getting really excited every year of my college years!

in college i've had the opportunity to be involved in many school seminars not only in letran and outside letran

representing my school in various national conferences

and later on becoming one of the pioneers for the adspeak annual advertising seminar for advertising and communication students

January 2003 | Vision 2020 program and itinerary guide

January 2003 | our workshop resolution

on january 2003 i was selected as one of the student-leader to participate in the first ateneo de manila university-harvard project for asian and international relations national forum held at the ateneo de manila university

only few students were selected for this

the process of screening include a written essay about sustainable development of our country

representation came from all over, students from feu, de la salle, ua&p and other universities nationwide that had their own representative

Vision 2020: Designing the Blueprint for Philippine Sustainable Development

there were breakout sessions with leaders from the academe, industry and government officials

who impart insights and experiences that will enable solutions and understanding

there were five clusters:
the politics: a critical perspective on philippine democracy
the economics: resolving the philippine gnp equation
the business: thinking big, starting small, 
culture and society: tatak pinoy, what will it mean to be a filipino in 2020?
health, environment and technology: living it up until 2020

i'm with the politics cluster and that our discussion focused more on the voting system and the political dynasties and all

we've had a more than back and forth critical deliberation on the persisting issues of politics and shared creative ideas with each other in our various discussions with our resource speakers,

oh we had senator miriam defensor-santiago and kit tatad where they gave their own insights and later on we listed things on how to resolve some issues and made our own resolutions

meanwhile in my school, we organized the annual

Adspeak: A Student Convention on Values Advertising it's spearheaded by advertising lecturer ms. eleanor agulto

my Adspeak badge 

this is where we invite some of the prominent advertising people that are movers and shakers in the industry and they share their insights in advertising

on its first year as a national convention,

we invited emily abrera of mccann ericsson and minyong ordonez chairman of basic advertising and later on we had david guerrero of bbdo guererro

i headed the promotional campaign for adspeak in 2003 and 2006

where i am in-charge mostly for the information dissemination of the event, writing and sending press releases for radio, tv, print and on-line and coordination to student leaders of different universities

and as part of the letran integrated media organization for the school year 2005-2006 we organized these seminars:

TV Documentary Seminar
26th January 2006 | Mabini Hall

howie severino, is one of the hosts of gma-7's i-witness an award-winning tv show in the last 6 years on tv!

he's the sole speaker of the day and that he gave description of what a documentary is and its present condition

he said documentary is one subset of news and public affairs and a tool for journalism

he also stressed that it's important to keep in mind the goal of journalism which is to make the important interesting and relevant and should always be attention-grabbing

he then presented some his documentaries, the he added that the level of skill, presentation of a good story and the different approaches are the key factors of a documentary. 

Media Management
31st January | TVS

jim libiran of abc5 is the guest speaker, he started to create a group activity for the students to conceptualize a news and current affairs program to include budget for the entire expenses of the show

he also identified the differences between a station-produced programs and a co-produced program and a blocktime program

he said that planning is important in having a good budget for a program where producing a quality program should have fewer expenses.

Broadcast Practices:
6th February 2006 | TVS

director wenn v. deramas is a popular tv and film director of abs-cbn. his works includes tv series: mula sa puso, marina and hanggang sa dulo ng walang hanggan

he said graduated at ust with a degree of hrm and began his career as a waiter and then a production assistant in tatak pilipino

he said that work values such as determination and punctuality are important factors and the brainstorming, casting and planning of the production design is also important discussion among tv shows

he also gave a quick overviwew on the programming and staffing where staffing has creative and production

he also gave some some helpful points in directing that the motivation of an actor begins in the story conference that the time management skills helps a lot in the broadcasting industry and the more characters being added in the story to stretch the script


Some Hidden Truths In Advertising:
8th February 2006 | Quezon Hall

marie grace garci is on of the speakers of the seminar where she discussed more on radio and print ads and gave some pointers in creating a radio ad from voice characterization to content

joselito ortega is the chairman and chief executive officer of brand land where he presented some humor-based tv ads from 100 best tv ads in the world

the most important note he shared is according to him getting notice is the primary rule in advertising

Terrific Traffic

TERRIFIC TRAFFIC
-ryandgreat, starbucks intramuros

traffic in metro isn't new to us! mmda has been doing their best and ways to at least reduce traffic in metropolis

there were newly installed pink waiting sheds along edsa and solid yellow lines along pavement, as well as new signages

i think bus drivers wouldn't take so much effort to read all those sign boards 

and the new waiting shed is eye-catching and unique 

the problem is, hundreds of waiting sheds were placed at the wrong spot and away from the passengers

as a result, bus drivers load and unload at a non-bus stop area where they block one another and taking over the entire lane to embark passengers

that caused jam-packed traffic along major roads and the traffic flow slows down because of the volume of buses in that same spot

to address these problems, mmda should stop spending money in installing waiting sheds instead they could've impose a strict traffic rule for bus drivers 

just like in ayala avenue that manages the influx of traffic flow to include separate bus stops for the loading and unloading of passengers

it's to have a strict implementation of the rule and it's not plain enough that those offensive bus drivers sing the national anthem

and or humiliate them in public every time you catch them

Graduate Yon

GRADUATE YON

-ryandgreat, gma broadway studios

this is the day (and moment) when parents are the most excited and proudest human being on earth

and the immeasurable joy they feel on our graduate yon (graduation) day

i reckon having five graduate yon in my entire school years of nursery, kinder, elementary, high school and college!

1991 | my grade school graduation

2002 | my high school graduation

i dedicate and owe my diploma and education to my parents, more than for my own fulfillment

this means a lot to them not only because their investment in my education pays off and because it's a major accomplishment!

to papa and mama thank you for sending me to school,

for my baon, for being my first teacher, for encouraging my aspirations and for absolutely everything that i have in life before this

April 7, 2006 | my college graduation

April 7, 2006 | graduation day!

beyond the learning process it's the excitement, adjustment and transformation and pushing myself to the limits

and and the feeling of being happy, sad, lonely but in the end, these are all rewarding

it was joyous but it's momentarily because after graduation, i knew now that life outside school is difficult

Extra Ex Na!

EXTRA EX NA!

-ryandgreat

in 1998 extra extra, a daily magazine-news format show was introduced by gma-7

it's a pre-programming of their prime time newscast saksi!

it was hosted by paolo bediones and karen davila and the counterpart of korina sanchez's balitang k!

after a year, karen davila moved to abs-cbn but extra extra remained as magazine show and eventually was expanded to a lifestyle show

with miriam quiambao, right after her miss universe victory

Extra Extra 1998 (photo: GMA-7)

Paolo Bediones (photo: GMA-7)

Karen Davila (photo: GMA-7)

Extra Extra 2000 (photo: GMA-7)

Extra Extra 2001 (photo: GMA-7)

a magazine and lifestyle show from 1998 to 2003 (photo: GMA-7)

 

a magazine and lifestyle show from 1998 to 2003 (photo: GMA-7)

a magazine and lifestyle show from 1998 to 2003 (photo: GMA-7)

a reality show from 2003 to 2006 (photo: GMA-7)

but it was in 2003 when meteor garden became a huge hit as well as the rising popularity of reality-based tv shows

extra extra evolved to another format and turned itself to be a reality show!

and it becomes extra challenge derived from it's segment

every week, there were series of tests that featured celebrities partnered with non-celebrities doing an extra ordinary challenges

this redefines the program to the highest level!

and viewers cannot seem to get enough of the real drama on the edge of seat,

that's equally captivating from the scenes of telenovela, that comes right after the show

Extra Challenge Opening (photo: GMA-7)

Extra Challenge 2006 (photo: GMA-7)

Extra Challenge World Tour (photo: GMA-7)

Thailand Episode (photo: GMA-7)

Dubai Episode (photo: GMA-7)

it's consistently on top of the ratings game and while it's gaining popularity, miriam quiambao left the show in 2003

and was replaced by phoemela baranda and ethel booba in 2004 thorough a series of tests

and in 2005 mariel rodriguez became an additional host that replaced phoemela baranda

notable extra challenges were:

the asian invasion:

thailand with manny pacquiao

bali indonesia with willie revillame

japan with francine prieto
hong kong with gladys reyes and rosanna roces

around the world:
canada with toni gonzaga and lorna tolentino

dubai with rufa mae quinto and ara mina

the 2 million peso challenge luzon, visayas and mindanao leg

and after 8 years, the show bid exit and gave way to the fantasy series genre, re-runs of extra challenge is now on channel 11