Your Future Beach Home: Hamilo Coast Pico Terraces

Things are certainly busy and traffic has been at an all time high especially over the holidays. Ever thought about getting your own home away from the city? I bet you would love to have sand on your feet, a huge coastline you could walk on during sunset and a few hours of listening to crashing waves, changing your mood like a vacation... but you actually live there. Well, that can happen to you at Pico Terraces, Hamilo Coast's latest development at Pico de Loro in Nasugbu, Batangas.

It's a quaint residential community, carefully planned by Costa Del Hamilo Inc. under SM Prime. They made this especially for those who think about their mental health, and overall well being because Pico Terraces can certainly do wonders for that. They've got available units at the second building, and those who currently reside there love the positive impact it has been able to give while being there. The property spans 2.3 hectares, lots of room to walk around and appreciate mountain views, outdoor spaces and nature.

Pico Terraces also has lots of amenities like pools, cabanas, clubhouse, places where kids could roam around and play, several nature trails, outdoor fitness spaces, and barbecue areas. These are all dedicated to Pico Terraces home owners, a treat for those who want to live comfortably. Their units come in 1-3 bedroom arrangements, to fit different family sizes, with large windows and ventilation to make the space brighter and fresher. If you get a unit, you also get to be a member of Pico De Loro Beach and Country Club and get the perks that go with it.

Pico Terraces certainly would be a good future beach home, if you fancy or get the urge to live here, get more information from the Hamilo Coast FB page or hamilocoast.com.

OPPO Starts 2024 with OPPO Pad Air

Looks like our friends from OPPO are starting the year fresh with the new OPPO Pad Air. It's their newest tablet made with entertainment and productivity in mind, plus way more storage than usual. I'm going to give you more reasons to have it.

Tablets certainly have been useful for so many things. Watching movies, streaming videos, and putting in a lot of work for office or creatives. The bigger display gives it more flexibility because you can see things even more than the usual smartphones we carry around. The OPPO Pad Air gives you a balance of both work and play. It also doesn't shortchange you on processing power, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chip, 8 CPU Cores, and an AI System Booster 2.1, you can make work quite smooth and add social media, movies, and a little gaming when you want to get less stressed. 

If it ain't enough there's also space for a 512 GB sd card for more storage if your internal one doesn't cut it. Battery life is amazing with its 7100mAh which can last you the whole work day. You can also do 18W fast charging and not wait too long when you need to go out with it. It's also light, designed slim, easy on the eyes with the 2K HD Eye Care it does when you take it out of the box.

They also made it affordable, so make sure you wait for updates at their website oppo.com.ph or their social channels when it gets out on February 1st. I'll update you soon about it!

Bistro Group Opens SARAP Bistro Filipino and Xi Nen Hot Pot at MY SOUTH HALL

 

After a long time, it was certainly nice to journey down south and have a good meal at My South Hall, Bistro Group's line of concept restaurants at Conrad S'Maison. Got to eat there a few times, and each time, I'd try to order something new because it houses Fish & Co., El Pollo Loco, Modern Shang WCKD, and cult hit Randy's Donuts. 

They had something new up their sleeve when I got there a few days ago. The first is called SARAP Bistro Filipino and the other is Xi Nen Hot Pot. These are two new brands they've conceptualized for My South Hall to add to the already great selections that they had. This is quite fun for restaurateurs since you can pretty much test the waters if people love the new dishes. I had my eyes on a few especially the Filipino dishes from SARAP because even if some were traditionally prepared, it felt new for me.

SARAP Bistro Filipino specializes on Filipino comfort food, the classics and those that were made with a twist. They are served family style so you can order a few to get a taste of the new viands. I like those with sauces that I can smother over hot Garlicky Rice. What's special about MY SOUTH HALL is that you can order from other restaurants without going too far because they are in one place. SARAP Bistro Filipino had Sinigang, Bopis (which doesn't taste organy), Fried Tawilis (eat it while it's hot!), Lumpia (they make a mean one) and Ginataang Kuhol.   

Xi Nen Hot Pot serves Taiwanese inspired hotpot dishes. You just need to choose our protein and they'll cook it for you on the table (yes you don't have to cook!) which is quite different than usual hotpot restaurants. Their broth can be adjusted to taste as they'll give you sauces to adjust the flavor, and since I did like it a bit more intense, I put in the whole plate in because I like it savory. Here's what it looks like on video a few days ago.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Bueno (@kumagcow)

See, there's more where this came from and if you're a person who couldn't choose where to eat or what to have for lunch or dinner, this place is perfect! 

This is again located at the Conrad S. Maison. Walk to the far right at the back (when facing Mall of Asia) and look for the MY SOUTH HALL sign. Ask the friendly hostess to have you seated as there are instances it gets quite busy during those peak hours. Take home desserts, drinks and donuts before going home, you're going to love it!

DONNY Proves Actors Bloodline: GG (Good Game) The Movie Out in Theaters Today!

Just got out of the cinema after the premiere night of GG (Good Game), the movie starring Donny Pangilinan. It's a film about eSports, but right off the bat they made the presence of drama felt in this movie by Director Prime Cruz. The film also stars his Mom Ms. Maricel Laxa, Baron Geisler, Johannes Isler, Igi Boy Flores, Gold Aceron and a throng of gaming and streaming personalities too.

To tell you honestly, I was looking forward to see this during the Metro Manila Film Festival but fate had other plans. Now that it's going to be released this January 24th, but something tells me it is going to be big because a LOT folks were at the rails of SM Megamall's Cinema 2 when I arrived, I was even early in fact. For me, that was the measure for how excited folks are (and hopefully translate to box office success) and I think with Star Cinema distributing this particular movie in the country, they'll be successful putting this in around 198 cinemas today (if I heard it right during Donny's interview). 

The movie will start to get you to think about the dynamics of the family, and the pressures of studies, the expectations of some, and spending time for passion. The film has excellent production value, they got Metasports create "Requiem", a 5x5 FPS game for the PC. 

The color grading, the stitching of the plot, and the reveal of the twists, was given a lot of time to mature before letting it all out. Can't say much, but one thing for sure happened during the screening... I felt the urge to say that the apple certainly doesn't fall far from the tree. This is certainly an acting challenge for Donny, and having Ms. Maricel Laxa as his Mom in the film must have certain expectations (for most people, to be on the level of his Mom). He didn't disappoint, because from where I was sitting in the balcony, there were several people already crying from simply understanding the trials they were going through. Boy had so much emotions bottled up especially towards the end of the film.

 

They made this for a whole year, so you could see how it wasn't rushed post prod. I've seen films joining festivals in the past that felt clumsy, unfinished, and had so much loose ends. They don't have that, and I hope you see how a LOT of people worked tirelessly to put these together despite being an indie film... and how they did production work personally to make sure you get your money's worth when it hits cinemas. 

Here's a glimpse of the red carpet premiere, please enjoy!

 

 I've played a lot of games, I'm sure some of you do too. You don't even have to be a gamer to understand the film, because yes, it breathes family, love and camaraderie. It's best to bring family, friends and peers to get your movie fix. Watch GG (Good Game) The Movie, out now on theaters!