Apl.de.ap solo album to feature Bruno Mars, Charice

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Apl.de.ap is working on his solo album, which will count with the participation of  Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Fil-Am    Bruno Mars, International pop star Charice  and Filipino Youtube discovery Arjohn Gilbert.

Apl.de.ap gave this announcement during an interview at San Miguel Corporation, in Ortigas Center, where he formally signed a contract of sponsorship with the brand San Miguel Beer.

The deal will have apl appearing in an SMB Pale Pilsen TV commercial with TV host/actress Kris Aquino.

The agreement includes Apl’s appearance at a television advertisement, and besides, SMB and San Miguel Foundation will make a partnership with Apl at his project. Apl’s project aims to build 10.000 classrooms for Philippine poor children (We Can Be Anything).

Apl.de.ap comes back to the US on Sunday, but it’s expected that he will come back to Philippines to work at his solo album.

Check this out and enjoy this video.

WeCanBeAnything is an education advocacy campaign, born of a partnership between the Apl.de.Ap Foundation (AdAF) and the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation (NCAF).

The campaign was conceived after apl.de.ap (a.k.a. Allan Pineda), the Filipino-American member of the world-famous Black Eyed Peas, expressed his desire to help improve the education situation in the Philippines.

Black Eyed Peas - The Apl Song

Lapit mga kaibigan at makinig kayo

Ako’y may dala-dalang, balita galing sa bayan ko

Nais kong ipamahagi ang mga kwento

Ang mga pangyayaring nagaganap

Sa lupang pinangako

[English Translation:]

(Come closer my friends and everyone listen

I brought news from my homeland

I’ll tell you how we live and what goes on

From my beloved homeland.)

Every place got a ghetto this is my version

Check it out…

Listen closely yo, I got a story to tell

A version of my ghetto where life felt for real

Some would call it hell but to me it was heaven

God gave me the grace, amazin’ ways of living

How would you feel if you had to catch your meal?

Build a hut to live and to eat and chill in.

Having to pump the water outta the ground

The way we put it down utilizing what is around

Like land for farming, river for fishing

Everyone helpin’ each other whenever they can

We makin’ it happen, from nothin’ to somethin’

That’s how we be survivin’ back in my homeland

[Chorus]

Yo, its been a while but…

I been back home to my homeland, (check it out) to see what’s going on

Man it feels good to be back at home

And it’s been a decade, on the journey all alone

I was fourteen when I first left Philippines

I’ve been away half my life, but it felt like a day

To be next to my mom with her home cooked meal

Meant I felt complete, my emotions I feel!

Now life has changed for me in the U.S

But back at home man, life was a mess…

I guess sometimes life’s stresses gets you down

On your knees, oh brother I wish I could have helped you out…

"Titanic 3D" Experience it like never before

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Directed by James Cameron, the original release of Titanic remained the highest-grossing film of all time for 12 years, until Avatar (also directed by Cameron) surpassed its record in 2010.
The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Cal Hockley (Rose's fiancé)

This 1997 blockbuster film Titanic is coming back to theaters on April 6, 2012 in 3D.

Storyline:
84 years later a 100-year-old woman named Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story to her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert, Brock Lovett, Lewis Bodine, Bobby Buell, and Anatoly Mikailavich on the Keldysh about her life set in April 10th 1912, on a ship called Titanic when young Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé, Caledon 'Cal' Hockley. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets to the ship in a game. And she explains the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning. 

‘Beauty and the Beast’ 3D

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One of the most popular and enduring romantic adventures the world has ever known became one of the most ambitious and entertaining animated motion pictures ever brought to the screen with Walt DisneyPictures’ 30th full-length animated feature, ”Beauty and the Beast” which is coming to Philippine theaters for the first time in 3D.

This classic fairy tale about a beautiful young girl and her encounter with an enchanted beast has long fascinated and intrigued storytellers, filmmakers and their audiences. Through the artistry and imagination of the Disney creative team, an inspired song score by two Academy Award winning songwriters and the contributions of an enormously talented vocal ensemble, this age-old fantasy took on exciting new dimensions that are only possible through the magic of animation.

The “Beauty and the Beast” story is indeed “a tale as old as time” with variations on the central theme going as far back as Greek mythology. In 1550, Italian author Giovan Straparalo wrote the first account of the story as it is generally known. The tale grew in popularity during the 18th century with books by French authors Madam Le Prince De Beaumont and Madame Gabrielle di Villeneuve. In 1946, acclaimed French director Jean Cocteau used cinematic imagery and lyrical expression to bring this story imaginatively to the big screen (“La Belle et la Bete”).

“Doing your own version of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is as much a tradition as is the story itself,” says producer Don Hahn. “Part of the fun is that each generation and culture adapts this story to be its own. The themes––you can’t judge a book by its cover, and beauty is only skin deep–– are as relevant today as ever.”

Screenwriter Linda Woolverton agrees, “The lessons of this story are truly timeless, especially for kids growing up today. It tells them to look beyond the surface and beyond materialism and that what is in their hearts and souls are the things that really matter.”

The release of “Beauty and the Beast” in 3D comes at a time when both the art of animation and the 3D process are enjoying their greatest popularity.    

Through the magic of Disney and the leaps in modern computer animation technology developed at the Walt Disney Animation Studios, a team of artists, under the guidance of stereographer Robert Neuman, found a way to breathe more dimensional life into “Beauty and the Beast” by turning it into an eye-popping 3D experience.

Numerous and dramatic challenges awaited Neuman and his team. In discussing the complications of making “Beauty and the Beast” into a 3D film, Neuman emphasizes that because there was no dimensional reality in which to put a second camera, he and his team had to invent a brand new set of computer tools that would allow the filmmakers to sculpt depth into the existing images and thereby create a second eye in order for the 3D to be achieved.

“In making a live-action film a director could simply add a second camera to get thesecond eye view,” Neuman says of the task that he and his team faced. He explains that the 3D conversion technique they came up with – pixel displacement – enables the artists to take each image and create a “depth map” that corresponds to that image. “The depth map is simply a grayscale image that allows our artists to sculpt out a relief map – the depth map – of the image. We’re then able to take that, apply it to the original image and displace the pixels to create a second eye view,” he says.

All of the filmmakers and artists who have been involved with the 3D transformation of “Beauty and the Beast” are in unanimous agreement that they take pride in being part of the great legacy of this iconic film. As stereographer Robert Neuman says, “It’s amazing to be able to take these great movies like ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘The Lion King’ and give audiences a new way to see them again. Even if they’re seeing it for the first time, or the one-hundredth time, this is a whole new experience for audiences.”

The computer gives the filmmakers total control over that illusion. Objects that are close up, such as Belle and the Beast dancing, can create a very intimate environment, as though the audience is sitting right there in the scene. Or if a spectacular shot is required, perhaps of the countryside with Maurice going off to sell his inventions, that epic shot is given a more gentle treatment of 3D. Many factors are at play and the story is enhanced by that 3D decision-making. Stereographers like Robert are crucial to the process.

Take for example the famous ballroom sequence. Although spectacular in its original form, Neuman and his team of artists were able to enhance what was already one of animation’s most memorable scenes. “We use 3D to support the storytelling narrative,” Neuman says. “Like any other aspect of film, such as the music score, 3D is used to enhance big emotional moments and to help build up to the emotional climax. For those big moments we expand the 3D. We put more of the three-dimensional effects into it. For the ballroom scene it was vital to have the right sense of scale. We had to show the grandeur, the majesty of this ballroom. The key to it was to enforce the sense of perception of scale.”

Neuman further explains that the “Be Our Guest” number was especially suited to 3D. “Although it was a bigger challenge than the ballroom sequence because there were shots that had hundreds of levels and every level of artwork requires dimensionalizing, if you look at the original staging, the way the things are blocked and choreographed, you see that it already has a sense of dimensionality.”

The filmmakers agree that the techniques that enabled them to create “Beauty and the Beast” in 3D is so new that this could not have been done just five years ago. “The first time we ever did a dimensionalization was on ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’” Don Hahn says. “It was hard, very labor-intensive work. The results however were great, but it took a long time and was very expensive. It still takes a long time and it’s very expensive!” Hahn says.

“Beauty and the Beast” was the first hand-drawn film to be dimensionalized into 3D. Disney is the leader in the new technology and regardless of how sophisticated it is, as Hahn says, “It’s important for people to know that it’s not as simple as pushing a button or putting a quarter in a machine and a 3D movies out. It’s all about great artists like Robert Neuman and his crew who must make important creative decisions.”

Opening February 22 across the Philippines, “Beauty and the Beast” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures.

New MTRCB TV rating 'SPG' STRONG Parental Guidance

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The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board implemented the new “SPG” rating for television programs started February 09, 2012 pursuant to Memorandum Circular No. 12-2011.

MTRCB Chair Grace Poe-Llamanzares announced last Tuesday that the infomercial is in line with the implementation of a new classification rating called Strong Parental Guidance or “SPG.”The revised ratings, based on a recent memorandum issued by the review board, are General Patronage (“G”), Parental Guidance (“PG”), Strong Parental Guidance (“SPG”) and Disapproved, For Adults Only and (cannot be shown) (“X”).

MTRCB says in a press release that the new SPG rating strives to “balance the interest of the State to protect and promote the development and welfare of the youth with the interest of the broadcast industry to freedom of expression.”

“We’ve agreed not to impose a time slot for the airing of shows with ‘SPG’ classification,” the MTRCB chief said. “As a compromise, the networks will help us air the infomercial, which aims to teach the public what the new rating means. They happily obliged—they will give us a list of airtime soon. They can’t just broadcast the ad when only a few people will get to see it; They have to air it on prime time, too.”

The “infomercial” to further raise public awareness on the revised rating system for television. The infomercial aims to empower parents to exercise caution and vigilance over the viewing habits of their children.

The 30-seconder was directed by Veronica Velasco, with Vic Acedillo as creative director.

The infomercial feature Carmina Villaroel and Zoren Legaspi and their children Peter V. Legaspi and Maria Cassandra V. Legaspi. “These are hard-core movie people; they did this at no cost,” Llamanzares said. “Carmina and her family didn’t ask for talent fees, either.”

Explaining the need for a higher classification rating, Llamanzares said programs classified as “SPG” may contain “more serious topics and themes, which may not be advisable for children to watch except under the very vigilant guidance and presence of a parent or adult.”

Llamanzares noted: “The scope of ‘PG’ was so wide—from basketball to [the reality show] ‘Pinoy Big Brother.’ A basketball game is ‘PG’ since fights could break out, but PBB may be considered ‘SPG.’”

She said a dialogue will soon be held about what constitutes the sexualization of a scene.

The Cranberries are back in Manila for “Greatest Hits” concert

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THE CRANBERRIES ARE BACK in Manila for their much-awaited “The Greatest Hits Concert” on April 10^th at the Araneta Coliseum. The Irish rock band, one of the world’s biggest rock acts in the 1990s, first staged a concert in the Philippines in 1996. They attained a worldwide fan base after releasing their hit songs, which are now rock and roll classics: “Linger”, “Zombie”, “Ode To My Family”, “Animal Instinct”, “Ridiculous Thoughts”, and a lot more.

Stephanie Uy, President of Karpos Multimedia Inc., the producer of the said concert, shares that they are very excited to bring The Cranberries here in the Philippines.

“The Cranberries are going to tour starting March until July, and we’re very lucky because Philippines is the only country that they’ll visit in Asia. We can’t wait to have them here,” she says.

“So if you love rock and you miss the music of the 90’s, this is an event you shouldn’t pass up,” Uy adds.

Pinoy band Franco will showcase their own brand of rock and roll as the front act for The Cranberries.

Best-selling band

The group—composed of vocalist Dolores O'Riordan, guitarists Noel Hogan and Mike Hogan, as well as drummer Fergal Lawler—was one of the biggest rock bands in the 1990s. Aside from selling more than 15 million albums worldwide, the band has likewise produced four records that were included in the Billboard 200 chart. These are “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?”, “No Need to Argue”, “To the Faithful Departed”, and “Bury the Hatchet’.

The Cranberries started touring in Ireland and the UK in 1992; They had their North American and European Tour a few years later. They included Manila on their "To the Faithful Departed" tour in 1996. The success of their concerts paved way to a world tour in 1999.

In early 2000, however, the group went on a hiatus and its members concentrated on their own solo projects. O'Riordan launched a couple of solo albums titled “Are You Listening?” (2007) and “No Baggage” (2009), while the rest of The Cranberries became active in their other bands and music projects.

Reunion and new album

The Cranberries reunited for a successful North American and European tour in 2009. They also recorded their sixth album, “Roses”, which will be officially released worldwide on February 27^th.

In an interview with Billboard.com, O'Riordan shared that making the newest record was a great experience for every member of the band.

“It really came together really nicely. A lot of the tracks were written without really thinking about it. They just came. I suppose we had more respect for each other and what we were doing.”

The track list for “Roses” includes: "Conduct", "Tomorrow", "Fire & Soul", "Raining In My Heart", "Losing My Mind", "Schizophrenic Playboys", "Waiting In Walthamstow", "Show Me", "Astral Projections", "So Good", and "Roses".

You can get updates as well as pre-order the album by visiting www.cranberries.com.

The lingering is finally over as The Cranberries will be here once again soon. Get your tickets now at TicketNet (911-5555): Patron VIP (First 10 Rows 101 & 103 - Reserved Seating) - P7420; Patron (Reserved Seating) - P5830; Lower Box (Reserved Seating) - P4770; Upper Box A (Reserved Seating) - P2650; Upper Box B (Free Seating) – 1590; and General Admission (Free Seating) - P530.

If you are interested in sponsoring this highly anticipated rock event, you can contact Chris Cahilig by sending him an email at chriscahilig@gmail.com or calling at (02) 664-7213.