Yap: What a prick

Alexis Yap Lex in the city

IT IS our Sunday habit to hear mass at the Basilica del Sto. Nino. We always choose to go at 7pm because it does not get too crowded and too humid. We used to go to the 5:30pm mass but I always get claustrophobic walking out of the church when the mass ends. The crowd is literally skin-to-skin and I always have morbid thoughts in my head of a possibility (God forbid) of a human stampede (I know, right?).

Arquiza: Burger Brawl

Jigs Arquiza Eat's my life

FIVE people. Five burgers. One heck of a good time. This was what happened last Friday, July 6, as Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa held their first-ever Media Burger Cook-Off. Five representatives from the media faced each other and attempted to make the best burger they could.

Your Cool Summer Experience-Year 2: Awarding of winnes

SUMMER is more fun in Sun.Star!

Winners of this year’s Sun.Star Vacation 2012 campaign, who submitted on Facebook photos of their cool summer escapades with friends and families, were gathered at the Sun.Star office on Friday. The simple awarding ceremony was graced by Julius Neri Jr., president of Sun.Star Publishing Inc., and Nini Cabaero, editor-in-chief of the Sun.Star website.

Coffee and dreams

Jigs Arquiza shares a cup of coffee and his dreams with a businessman who dreamt of coffee chains and making dreams come true.

Fifteen years ago, together with two friends, he opened a small coffee cart on the fourth floor of Ayala Center Cebu, where the movie theaters were located. Now, his dream of a coffee chain seems to have been fulfilled, with over 40 company-owned and franchised branches, but it doesn’t really stop there.

At CebuTechJobs

I HAD conditioned myself for an afternoon of serious talk. With my mobile phone’s recorder on standby and a mental list of all my questions, I made my way to the eighth floor, assuming that what awaited me was a “board meeting-esque” interview.

Imagine my surprise upon stepping out of the elevator, I saw our photographer coolly strumming a guitar inside their lounge – a scene quite far from what I had in mind.

Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger

Christopher Andersen

IS HE Jumpin’ Jack Flash? A Street Fighting Man? A Man of Wealth and Taste? All this, it turns out, and far more. By any definition, Mick Jagger is a force of nature, a complete original - and undeniably one of the dominant cultural figures of our time.

Camera Equipment Overload

Albert Pedrosa Photo mania

FEW days ago, I accompanied a friend to buy some camera accessories. From the time he bought his camera, he’s been always asking me on what to buy next and often times, my answer was “don’t buy until you’ve reached the limits of what you have now”. Although I understand that there are essentials or “must have” accessories when shooting a particular genre, there is no better teacher than frustration.

Writing Rain

Lawrence Ypil Dog-ears in the wrong notebook

WHEN I think of rain, I think of writing. When I think of the months, June, July, August, when the rains start, and the typhoons come, leave, storms start, stop, gutters fill with water, water levels rise and then recede, I think of the days and nights of writing. I think of the hours whose distinct pleasures lie in staying indoors, sitting on a chair at the desk by the window writing.

Smile

Ranulfo L. Visaya Jr.

“Smile though your heart is aching” So goes a well-liked line in a song you’re singing Smile so hard when in grim desperation But let your heart shout for long-sought liberation.

Arquiza: Amicos di Mangata

Jigs Arquiza Eat's my life

“Fratello, tell us about the food,” Charle’s Osmena asked Italian chef Moreno Benigno during an intimate dinner at the newly-renovated restaurant The Loft, at the CJRS building in IT Park. “Si,” Moreno answered, and all of us, amicos di mangata Charles Osmena, Dr. Nestor Alonzo, Doyzkie Buenaviaje and I, listened intently. As each plate came to our table, chef Moreno explained what the dish was, with some anecdotes thrown in, spoken in that Italian accent most of us associate with the mob. Of course, Chef Moreno is also part of our brotherhood of foodies, hence, fratello.

High five

Architect-writer Karl Aries Emerson F. Cabilao shows us his perspective on a board topnotcher in the same field as he is.

It’s almost a common refrain when board topnotchers are asked about how they felt when they knew about their momentary drift to “Cloud 9”. They would often recall those junctures they are completely caught off-guard, although with a wide grin on their faces, upon seeing their names not just in the list of passers but on the upper echelon of such list.

No challenge too much

HIS long day starts as soon as morning breaks. Although weary from the previous day’s load, he manages to wake up with a bit of anticipation for the day ahead. He showers, gets dressed, gathers his things, and gets ready for court.

He is Francis Michael Abad, 29 years old, a lawyer.

Chris Cleave

WHAT would you sacrifice for the people you love?

KATE AND ZOE met at nineteen when they both made the cut for the national training program in track cycling – a sport that demands intense focus, blinding exertion, and unwavering commitment. They are built to exploit the barest physical and psychological edge over equally skilled rivals, all of whom are fighting for the last one tenth of a second that separates triumph from despair.

Pedrosa: Photoshop Tutorials Over The Net

Albert Pedrosa Photo mania

My first experience with Photoshop was way back 1994. I remembered working with Aldus Pagemaker and Corel Draw at that time. These were the softwares that gave birth to desktop publishing and the digital age of digital manipulation was born.

Arquiza: One night. Three dishes. One word: Fantastic!

Jig's Arquiza Eat's my life

I’VE been writing about food more than a third of my stay here at Sun.Star, and over the years, I’ve made some pretty good friends. One amico di mangato, a brother in eating, stands out in particular. He’s a veterinarian by profession, but a food enthusiast by choice, a gourmet if you will. Dr. Nestor Alonzo has been a foodie far longer than I have been, and a card-carrying member of the Chaine des Rottiseurs, a prestigious gastronomic society known all over the world.

Yap: Sta. Cruz

Alexis Yap Lex in the city

JUST last month, I was visiting family and friends in California and Florida. I must say it was one of my best holidays ever because this time, I had a taste of a little bit of everything and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Today, it will be about Sta. Cruz in the state of California.

Memento Mori

Bernard Inocentes S. Garcia

I’VE never been to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada and witnessed the spectacle of a live boxing match. I could only imagine people shouting and the ladies dressed to nines, waiting to be entertained by fistic violence.

Push it to the limit

“LIFE does not tell you how to live, we tell life how we want to live,” the charismatic young man told me, and thus the tone of the interview was set. Looking at the Malaysian-born Indian gentleman seated across me, I could see that he was no ordinary person. Exuding an aura of peace, happiness and success, Amar Delon set me at ease as we chatted at the Lobby Lounge of the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.

Pedrosa: Photoshop CS6 Going to the Darkside

Albert Pedrosa Photo mania

I’VE been using Photoshop since 1995 starting with the version 3.0. Although there were many breakthroughs in the previous upgrades, the CS6 blew me away. The entire experience using the application doesn’t only feel like driving a new car but comparable to an upgrade from a sedan to an Audi R8.

Beautiful Inside and Out

WHEN the cameras started flashing and the crowd huddled outside started moving, we knew she had arrived: the lady who had made Cebu proud by bringing home the prestigious title of Binibining Pilipinas International.

Twenty-four-year-old Nicole Schmitz has everything one would expect from a beauty queen. She has a statuesque figure, a magnetic doll-like face, and an evident knack for style.

Arquiza: Lounging Around

Jigs Arquiza Eat's my life

AMONG the underrated food establishments are the lounges in hotel lobbies. You could often see people just sitting at the tables, but at most, you would see them just having a cup of coffee, a beer, a soda or a glass of wine. People seldom eat at the lobby lounges, but why shouldn’t you?

She and He

Nian Baring

IT LASTED 3 hours and 46 minutes, but it felt like the longest wedding she has ever attended.

Confessions of an Overprotected Daughter

Therese Marie A. Villarante

THE only thing standing between me and bachelorette bliss are parents who cannot sleep unless they know I’m under the same roof.

Walk with Rowan

SUN.STAR Weekend writer Fiona Patricia S. Escandor walks the walk with a dashing (or is it walking?) young man who’s soon to be seen on the streets and television screens of Cebu.

The best way to appreciate the wonders of a place is by experiencing it firsthand. Mere observation, reading about it on tour books - those could also work, but it certainly won’t be as fun as you going out there and simply living it.

Color Temperature

Albert Pedrosa Photo Mania

LIGHTWAVE is actually a wide range of electromagnetic waves. This includes the UV, gamma, infrared, microwave and of course a very small part which is the visible spectrum. Given the right combination of lightwave, we should be able to see the entire visible spectrum through the Red, Green and Blue channels.

The Last Breath

Soliemae C. Bantilan

I AM A part of the CODE TEAM & I am a Code Nurse. We basically revive and bring back dead people to life or give that last string of hope and breath to human life. Allow me to oblige you of what I have felt last night and how I offered a fervent prayer.

Thanks To you

Erwin S. Cajes

THANKS To You are the best words I will tell you, The untiring support that you gave to me, The advice, guidance and motivation, And the importance of having me in Your Team.   It is really a hard thing to do, To say goodbye and go, But it’s my heart that tells me so Even if it means hurting both me and you   We’ve been together a long time Seeing each other grow Helping and understanding our differences In happiness and even in sorrow.   You inspired many others Because of your good leadership; You are one in a million, Keep it Up.  

A new addition

IN HER younger days, she never saw herself working in the food and beverage industry.

She had pursued a bachelor’s degree in education at the University of the Philippines Diliman; but as fate would have it, a different career path was waiting for her.

Bursting with song

MUSIC lover Fiona Patricia S. Escandor listens to a famous songstress as she bursts into songs about life and love.

She began the interview with a melodic “hello,” and I cannot imagine anyone else who can pull that off except her. A lover of song, a lover of life – this you would quickly realize once you meet her. She has a personality so bubbly and so contagious, that you cannot help but likewise move along to her tune.

Ready, set, skate!

Fiona Patricia S. Escandor

IT IS said that skateboarding was started by Californian surfers back in the 1950s.