YouTube Community Creator’s Hub Philippines Holds Meet and Greet

Wazzup Pilipinas!

A couple of months after the YouTube Fan Fest held in Manila, a small group of individuals in the Philippines decided to organize a group for YouTube Creators to interact and meet fellow YouTube Filipino Creators. Creator is a term used to describe YouTube user who creates videos and upload them on YouTube. While YouTube Fans, as the name it implies, are the ones who uses YouTube to appreciate (or not) its content.

Despite the thunderstorms and strong winds of the Typhoon Goni (Ineng) last Friday 21 August 2015, the YouTube group of video creators celebrated the holiday by having their general meet up at the Starbucks Trinoma Mall, Quezon City.

The activity started on time at 3 in the afternoon. Participants were initially asked to tell something about themselves and what their channel is all about. Mainly bloggers, vloggers and music cover artists attended the event. Some were part of networks like ABS-CBN’s multi-channel network Chicken Pork Adobo, TMG Philippines and Viva Entertainment. It was a good time to interact as members learn from each other and others networks. Some decided to trade contact numbers for a scheduled video collaboration and cross promotions.

Dr. Joem Antonio to Conduct Master Class at Short+Sweet Manila Festival 2015

Wazzup Pilipinas!

A two-hour play seems still too short for me. If I wanted to get the most out of a story especially if it's a theater version of a popular novel, I would want more content and substance as value for my money. It really is quite difficult for the storyteller to be able to put all the ideas into just a few hours.

But wait! What is this I heard about short plays compressed into 10 minutes? Now that is mind-boggling!

A festival of ten-minute plays called Short+Sweet Manila 2015 will soon be showcasing the works of many of our talented short film makers. But if you are among the many film making enthusiasts who wants to go pro, the same event will also be offering Master Classes this September to be held at the Samsung Hall in SM Aura. The master classes will be presented by both local and foreign experts with many topics related to film making.

Dr. Joem Antonio, Storywriting School founder and course creator, will be among them to share his knowledge and experience in storywriting.  His play, "Death in Ten Minutes," garnered several awards in last year's festival and now he's ready to give back to the theater community. His class will be on September 6, 2015, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. The fee is surprisingly very affordable at only P500. To enroll, you may email divya@shortandsweet.org.

He was recently interviewed by a TV station to personally find out more about what he'll be teaching. Below is the transcript of his interview.

The Health Cost of Using Traditional Fuels

Wazzup Pilipinas!

By the time you finish reading this article, over 10 people would have died from health complications caused by air pollution.

Worldwide, over 8 million premature deaths can be attributed to air pollution every year and it is a silent killer that nobody seems to be doing much about. The burning of traditional fuels like firewood and charcoal for cooking and diesel for transportation, all contribute to what the World Health Organization (WHO) has singled out as a major health hazard - air pollution.

Ironically, the “cure” for air pollution has already been around for over 100 years, just not applied well - LPG. LPG is a clean fuel that burns without emitting noxious fumes and particulate matters that get into your lungs and causes cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases. LPG is not only clean, it is portable, versatile and efficient, and can be used for thousands of applications, including cooking, driving, generating power, and even, mowing the lawn! More importantly, LPG is already readily available throughout the Philippines.

But isn’t LPG expensive? Surprisingly, the solution is not uneconomical to implement. A 2006 cost-benefit study by the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that investing US$13 billion a year to provide LPG access worldwide would halve the number of people cooking with solid fuels by 2015 and in turn generate a return of US$ 91 billion in health and other community benefits. Not many investment projects can boast a 700% return on investment that investing in access to LPG will bring.