It was early morning and so much fun at the Watsons branch in SM North Edsa The Block when they launched "Feel the Luch with Love and Fortune" promo for all Watsons branches in the country. It's the Lunar New Year, and they're not going to make this an ordinary day because yes, various specials, great deals will happen inside every store from today til the 18th.
During the launch, several customers got the chance to have their personal one on one talk with Master Hans Cua so they could get to know what awaits this 2024. It was a limited run and only 15 individuals were allowed to do it after purchasing Php 1,500 of products that same day.
Aside from the best price on products from Watsons, Ponds, Y.O.U, Trust, and many more qualified products, you stand to get an Angpao for every Php 1,000 purchase if you are a Watsons Club Member. Once you get one and write your wishes on a paper and hang it on the Wishing Tree, you could win for yourself 1 Million Member Points and spend it on any Watsons store across the country. Th Angpao's also contiain different vouchers which you can use to take a LOT off the actual price of selected products (sans Milk and Dispensary) on the Watsons app.
So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and put those well loved Watsons products on your basket and take the chance to win, use vouchers on the Year of the Wood Dragon! This is such a huge treat for Watsons customers indeed!
Chinese New Year is quite near, approximately 5 days from now. The Year of the Wood Dragon screams of power, vigor and charisma... so lucky are those who would be born in this year.
Luck is for everybody and so here goes our lovely folks from foodpanda to make sure you get the perks you need to get that celebration started. They calle it "Feast of Fortune" which comes with tons of good things so you could take 2024 with confidence, just like what the dragon represents, and Pau-Pau too.
Tikoy in Your Area
As sticky as that sounds, a staple in every Filipino CNY celebration is Tikoy. You can get one from Pandamart for as low as Php 99. I usually do my groceries online these days because they've got promos and vouchers available that would make delivery FREE and even get a few hundred pesos off the actual bill. You can also opt for other stores in the same section and get your own Pau-Pau Ang Pau with it. This is only available from February 1-11, just hearing that date makes it so auspicious!
For the Dragon Appetite
If you want to pick up the food or have it delivered, foodpanda does it all. They've got several Chinese Restaurants, food establishments that would make your celebrations easy because you never even have to cook. This is also the time to eat tons of dumplings (for more money according to Chinese folklore) which I've been doing in the past few weeks (please don't judge lol).
From Lumpia, Pansit, Lechon Macau, and the variety of noodles, you'll get not just long life, but a great meal for family and friends.
Best of all, you can get to take Php 500 off your bill on pandamart, other shops or food delivery services by using CNY500 on February 9-11, so make sure to take note! There are other deals inside the app plus subscriptions that can get you more deals at the foodpanda app!
If you want to know more, visit their site foodpanda.ph or their social channels because everything's there!
It's almost 2024, and yes, we're raring to know what would happen to us in the Year of the Wood Dragon. In Chinese Zodiac, Dragons have the innate ability to lead, yes they are born leadeers. If you're raring to get a kid these days, this is the opportune time to do it. Dragons are also diplomatic, but they can be very funny if needed too. They have the ability to do good in business, they also don't hold back giving, the generous ones get the perks.The Queen of Feng Shui Ms. Marites Allen gave us a few things to look forward to in the Year of the Wood Dragon.
The essentials of course are all in the Almanac and Planner that they have available for 2024. It's a collectible, hopefully will have value in the near future. They also announced the Feng Shui Conference on January 14, 2024. There will also be a Chinese New Year Bazaar on February 7-9 plus more activities on February 9 as we countdown to the Year of the Wood Dragon. Here's our video coverage of the event last month, this is the media conference and launch of the books!
Dogs need to be careful especially in relationships, while Monkey Dragon and Roosters need Communication for the year but before that, make sure you do something for yourself. Risk taking and technology based businesses will be better for you. Rats on the other hand need to enhance their wealth, go get charms that would be able to help you with that. Tigers have to be open to receive abundance and miracles for the same year. For the Rabbits, this is a year of transformation so go change up when you desire it. Snakes need to be careful as illness might come. Monkeys have vibrant energy to spend, so does the Roosters. Dogs need to also change up, like jobs, looks and even your bedrooms. Horses might have a great year of wealth last year, but this year you need to enhance it. Other details will be on the books they will release for this year.
Her son Kirk Allen also introduced us to an AR feature on these books. You can scan it with the Marites Allen app and an egg will appear. It's like Pokemon, and will crack on Chinese New Year, so I'm looking forward to what it'll look like on February. There are tons more to look forward to, so make sure you get tickets to the event especially on the Feng Shui conference where things will be explained in detail. Charms and books will also be available in those events, make sure you're there!
I'd like to take this bit and thank Ms. Marites Allen and their team for having us that afternoon. It's a nice way to see peers in the industry, and friends too. Can't wait to see what's going to happen in the Feng Shui Convention come 2024!
Yes, it's going to be a year of letting it be, and letting it go, what or who do you have in mind that need to do this?
It was a little over 3pm when we got to the Bambbi Fuentes Hair and Make Up Salon in Timog Avenue, Quezon City. We got there to get to know a few people behind the film "Sugat sa Dugo" (with international title Wounded Blood) that won the Best Actress Award for Ms. Janice De Belen at the International Film Festival Manhattan 2021.
These new breed of lads and lasses are under famed Make Up Artist Bambbi Fuentes and Businesswoman Tine Areola's very own Dragon Artists Management Group. They've scoured the nation and auditioned a lot of talents to choose who to take in, and from what I've seen, they all look promising.
The Dragon Ladies
Meet Christa Jocson, Emcel K Abuso, Shira Tweg, Mira Aquino and Mosh Gerodias also known as Filipino Pop group Gandaras
Albeit new to movies, these ladies have been doing shows, pageants, showcasing their talent in different Emcel K Abuso is more of a jack of all trades and often join beauty pageants in different provinces around the country. Mira Aquino on the other hand is a very spirited singer and composer. She got us a bit stunned when she suddenly sang the soundtrack for the movie. I've observed Shira Tweg to be a little shy, but perky. She also sings and dances, I guess the requirement for them is being a triple threat. Christa Jocson has done several shows on TV, but takes this experience of doing the movie a bit educating. After all, they are learning the ropes of the business by playing different roles. Mosh Gerodias was a ball of energy, saying her role in the movie is pretty close to home.. as she likes being the life of the party. Here's our interview with them a few days ago.
The Dragon Boys
Meet good lookin guys Leonne Adriano, Khai Flores and RJ Ariar.
There's no shortage of talent with the boys from Dragon Artists Management. Leonne Adriano might be young but he's done several indie films already following the footsteps of his Grandmother, the legendary Rosanna Roces. Khai Flores on the other hand comes fresh from his stint in Kadenang Ginto and a few movies in the pipeline. The guy has good looks, very confident, and quite smart. He also plays Janice De Belen's son in "Sugat Sa Dugo". RJ Ariar on the other hand has found a new home with Dragon Artists Management. He used to be in a boy group but felt he needed to spread his wings elsewhere. He ultimately wanted growth and with the several projects he's gotten under Ms. Bambbi and Ms. Tine, he's learning more especially with the movie they made. These guys are barely scratching the surface of what they are capable of and their management knows that. Here's our conversation with them about the movie.
Seeing fresh new faces, possibly the artists that would eventually become the big stars of the future made us feel a little assured that there's a huge source of talent in the country that will continue to grow. I hope you were able to get to know these guys and gals during the small conversations we had about the movie. "Sugat Sa Dugo" will be shown in the Philippines soon. The acclaimed short film has been made into a full length one and they're raring to show this to the general public. The goal is, to let you know about the cause they discussed in the film as it's about HIV, family, and love. Here's hoping they get to follow through with making it as touching as the first so Filipinos could learn more about why they made this film. For those who don't know, this is written by Bambbi Fuentes (based on a friends account), Produced by her and Ms. Tine Areola under Dragon Entertainment Productions.
Fresh ingredients, hot out of the wok and fast service, this is how WOK2GO promises to deliver their best wok mixes to you at their newest branch in Double Dragon Plaza's Tower 4 in Pasay City. I have seen their first branch at the Uptown Mall top floor food center which mostly catered to a take out audience. This time however, they've set up a 50 seater industrial cozy restaurant at the back of the building, we took strides to get there a few days ago.
They had almost the same menu with the addition of new dimsum items like Shrimp and Pork Siomai, plus Lumpiang Shanghai. Average meal of Siomai Rice would only cost around 95 bucks and their signature wok mixes cost 120 and up depending on how you want it done. They do customize so if you are a little adventurous, just let them know how you want it done, choose the ingredients and voila! Your own perfect bowl! They say the flavor is in the putting so they have Signature Sauces from the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia, so you get a little bit of an Asian flair in each dish.
Here's what we had that afternoon:
WOK2GO Co-Founder Kim Garcia says “It took us 2 years to develop the menu. It’s our best dishes and we contributed on what we serve in the restaurant. We have new dimsum choices in the Wok 2 Go Double Dragon Plaza branch. This is their second one after the successful first one at Uptown Mall. We are also using this business to employ PWD’s which are now part of our crew. All our utensils and packaging are Earth friendly. We cook food fast as well. Right now we have take out available via our own proprietary app Grab Food, Zomato, Food Panda.”
I had my bowl customized with double beef, veggies, kimchi, green curry sauce and bits of chili. It was so good... make sure you eat it while it's hot!
If you're up to it, some of their prep time only runs around less than 3minutes because they know most workers only spend an hour for lunch or dinner, they also keep the nutrients on veggies because of the wok method of cooking.
Again, WOK2GO is located at Double Dragon Plaza's Tower 4 (Ground Floor Perimeter). If you get to the main entrance of the mall, just go inside, go out the left most side of the mall and turn right. Go take your taste buds to an exciting journey of Asia through their wok mixes, it's comfort food!
It looks like GMA is banking on a new fantasy series in the afternoon. They treat all their timeslots equal and if this is morning or night, it will all be like primetime, every time.
Tom Rodriguez says “I hope I could live up to her expectations. Janine makes it easy to jump into the scene, I am lucky to have experienced that with other actresses but the work we have done before felt like I was a little spoiled and if that was indicative of what is about to happen then I am afraid how we will have fun in this show. I am not nervous because the people we work with are very collaborative. We always try to get to the same page, we spent an entire afternoon as a group plus a familiarity workshop with each other. Even when I was starting I didn’t really stick to one partner and I get to experience working with other actors and actresses so there is a bit of a lucky thing to so that. I sometimes get too scared to share things but I did that when we talked so now we’re more of a team and that’s a good thing.”
Janine Gutierrez says “I can’t really show what the Dragon Lady looks like but it takes me three hours to do makeup and prosthetics. In the beginning she really was born with it, but not to spoil anything, it wouldn’t be told in the story yet. I have seen the heavy prosthetics and it was a little effort to do it, it made me nervous. When I saw the final product, it was something different. In real life, I am a little strict, some people may tell me I am like a dragon lady in real life. What is good about Celestina is that she is fighting for something, to standup for her family, to standup for herself. As an artist, if it’s a good story, we are game for that. This will break things that may imply I am just a sweet girl, it’s on a whole other level, it will literally be something that I haven’t done in any role. This literally will have me breathing fire, figuratively too.”
Watch out for the story of Michael Chan and Celestina as they introduce you to the Dragon Lady as their love story unfolds on GMA Afternoon Primetime.
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