Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao was recently involved in a controversy because of his alleged anti-gay remarks saying that gay people should be put to death. The world boxing champion clarified that he did not say those things.

In an interview, Pacquiao said,  ”I’m not against the gay people.  I’m not condemning them. … I have a cousin (who is) gay. I have relatives (who are) gay. I have a lot of friends (who are) gay, so I’m not condemning gays. What I said is I’m not in favor of same-sex marriage. That’s the one thing I said to the guy.

Pacquiao added, “I told (the reporter) I’m against same-sex marriage. He said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘It’s the law of God.’ That’s all I said.”

In response to this trend, Pacquiao’s arch-rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. posted his beliefs on Twitter saying ”I stand behind President Obama & support gay marriage. I’m an American citizen & I believe people should live their life the way they want.”

I have been quite hooked on Game of Thrones, a TV series based on a series of novels written by George R. R. Martin, A Song of Fire and Ice. The television series is rich in visuals, violence, and sex, which make the entire franchise very popular. Season 2 Episode 7 is entitled The Man Without Honor, which tackles on these events:

Tywin Lannister begins searching Harrenhal for an assassin. Ygritte continues her attempts to seduce Jon and, after a momentary lapse in Jon’s concentration, she escapes him and leads him into a trap. Still shaken from the riot, Sansa is horrified when she awakens to find that she has had her first period. In Robb’s camp, a failed escape attempt by Jaime leaves a guard dead and Catelyn worries about the camp’s desire for retribution. In Qarth, the warlock Pyat Pree reveals to Danearys that he stole her dragons, but gives her the opportunity to reunite with them before slaughtering the Council of Thirteen and establishing Xaro Xhoan Daxos as king of Qarth. – (Wikipedia)

My favorite character is Tyrion Lannister played by Peter Dinklage. He may be an imp but he is calculating and manipulative enough to be considered a formidable opponent. Of course, the most hated character is King Jeoffrey and anyone with direct tv setup would agree with me on this.

The series is totally a winner in terms of story, visuals, and character development. Can’t wait to watch the next episode.

I have written a personal review on The Avengers in my other blog. You might wanna check out The Avengers movie review and see if it might convince you to watch this film if ever you are still in doubt if it is worth spending for movie tickets.

I watched the movie with my friends and we surely had a great time witnessing how Director Joss Whedon managed to combine all these interesting characters and make the combination work. I must say it is very difficult to give each of these characters a piece of the limelight without sacrificing something else. I am glad nothing major was sacrificed in the process and the film was able to deliver what it is supposed to.

These were my sentiments right after I have seen the film. True, Jennifer Lawrence is gorgeous and she has the makings of a heroine. But, she is too pretty and ‘big’ for Katniss Everdeen, a role that portrays a supposed-to-be skinny 16-year-old girl who lives her life in constant bouts of starvation.

And Peeta Melark, yes, played by Josh Hutcherson. The book says he is a wrestling dude whom I imagined to be buff and certainly taller than Katniss. But alas, that wasn’t it. Perhaps, my imagination is flawed.

The movie tried its best to stick to the book’s promising storyline but the important details are just too important to eliminate. Gary Ross could have gone deeper with the portrayal of the main characters. Katniss was no fun at all in the film. She was stiff and almost robotic. That’s not what the book projects.

And the scenes at the Capitol! I mean these kids were supposed to be starving, weren’t they? How on earth could they afford to leave a dining table filled with delicious treats over a slight emotional issue? That didn’t strike me as sticking to the original storyline at all. Not even to a realistic standpoint.

I have a lot more but I guess The Hunger Games fans would torture me with more hate comments if I continue to bash the film. There were good moments though but I just couldn’t get over the missing important details.

If only I hadn’t read the book…

I got this really nice camera for myself for Christmas and I’ve been using it nonstop since then. I’ve just been so excited about it and I’m having a whole lot of fun with it. But I’m so tired of carrying around my chunky and plain camera bag. It definitely makes me look like a tourist and I’m simply sick of it. So I decided that I would convert a cute purse into a camera bag. But also there will be room in there for the stuff that would normally go in my purse anyway.

I looked online for some tips and tricks about how to do that and while I was looking, I saw some information on wireless internet service providers in my area. I read through it and after that I decided to change over my home internet service to a package from one of the providers.

I’m using basically all the stuff from my regular camera bag and sewing it into the inside of my new camera handbag. It blends in just like a regular bag, so it isn’t obvious that I have an expensive piece of camera equipment with me.

It looks like Star Cinema is on the roll with its successive box office hits with No Other Woman starring Derek Ramsay, Ann Curtis, and Cristine Reyes, and now Praybet Benjamin starring Vice Ganda whose horse-jokes I prefer much more than this duckface. If the ridiculously long queues in the movie theaters is any indication, this film is set to break box office records, even beating the one set by NOW.

Vice Ganda is enjoying a massive support from folks who believe he has what it takes to WOW the crowd with his punchlines. However, Iafter Petrang Kabayo, which I thought was a slightly funny film, I still do not have that needed push to make me watch Praybet Benjamin on the big screen. Though I still have a fill of comedic stunts that will hold me for a while like these funny Photoshop Fail and funny autocorrect pics.

I might just hold out for a bit and wait for the DVD.

I just recently watched the animation film Megamind and I was smitten by the work of some great voice actors of this generation. Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and Brad Pitt are enough reasons to make this movie a hit, which I believe it was, when it first came out of the theaters.

The movie is not your typical animated superhero movie or video production. The fact that it centers on the supervillain drives that point home sweet home. The storyline is interesting and the sense of humor is slightly above average but it is the voice acting that really does a huge amount of difference. It’s like the vocal wit behind the silver screen has taken the whole movie into another level. And that’s saying something about an animated film that relies on its voice actors to give life to the characters.

Will Ferrell is spot-on. I couldn’t think of anybody else to do voice acting on Megamind’s character. It was a flawless choice. Tina Fey and Brad Pitt are also excellent voice actors, which greatly made the film’s premise and hilarity both believable and enjoyable.

I am not a photographer and I only brought with a mobile phone with a crappy cam so just bear with these images I let Alma took during the event.

Pepper and Peppers served Iberian Chicken, Caesar Salad, Pumpkin Soup, Beef Salpicao, Crispy Fried Steak, Bagnet, Seafood Pasta, and Baby Back Ribs, and Brownie Ala Mode for dessert.

I am allergic to crustaceans and some seafoods so the pasta is out of my list. I was kinda intriqued with the bagnet since Kathy also told me that that dish is something I should not miss. Chef Chiqui, the store manager, then revealed to us how this recipe is done and the process is quite challenging. No wonder the taste is just exquisite. It’s deep fried pork belly with a unique kick. I am not a food critique so I don’t know the proper terms.

And on to my faves. Aside from the bagnet, I also looove the pumpkin soup. I just couldn’t get enough of it. That is probably the first thing I am gonna order when I go back to Peppers. The Iberian Chicken, Caesar Salad, and the Brownie Ala Mode were all caressing my palate in a good way. They were uber-delicious.

The activity was not just about digging in though I know we were all excited to get to that part. Ria, the VP of Davao Bloggers also shared to us some tips on how to create a kick-ass food blog. All in all, the activity was both filling to our grumbling tummies and to our hungry blogger instincts.

You can visit Pepper and Peppers online through their Facebook page or contact them at 082-2211396. They are open from Sundays to Saturdays, 10 AM to 10 PM.

There’s a lot of danger associated with the heat of summer. But, I don’t just worry about myself and my kids in this heat. We have three dogs and I also worry about them getting too hot during this type of weather.

I’ve been getting lots of tips from pet websites and blogs about keeping them cool and safe and while I was doing that I found some new internet packages. While I was doing that I found some More info on that and ordered one of them.

I saw this fun idea to fill up one of our old kiddie pools and reserve it as a dog kiddie pool. Well they were so excited by it and had so much fun. Then teh kids got in there with them and had a lot of fun. I’m definitely going to do that a few other times this summer. It’s not exactly something I want to do every day, but I could tell that they really enjoyed it then.

The Nokia Dual SIM Press Launch took place at the Apo View Hotel, Davao City. The event was organized by PRworks Online (thank you Stef for the invite) and was participated by various journalists for both broadcast and print media. Of course, the Davao bloggers were also there to grace the event. With me are my friends Mary Grace Ignacio, and Alma Ritchel Merin, who won a brand new Nokia X2-01 during the raffle.

Nokia’s newest models of low-budget phones that offer a dual SIM feature are the Nokia X1-01 and the Nokia C2-00, both candy bar phones.

Nokia X1-01 is generally a music phone that has a dual SIM feature. It can store up to 16 GB of your favorite music and play them over a loudspeaker that is the loudest and clearest every produced by Nokia. It also features dedicated music side keys and a battery that will last for up to 36 hours of continued music playback. It comes in dark grey, red, ocean blue, and orange colors.

Nokia C2-00 is feature-rich phone with an Easy Swap mechanism. This feature offers convenience of changing SIM cards without having to turn off your phone. Not only that, the phone can support up to 32 GB of memory for your photo, music, and video storage needs, while also offering internet browsing capability. It comes in dynamic grey, jet black, magenta, and snow white colors.

Nokia believes that though they may have come in late with the dual SIM trend, Nokia users who have swayed to other brands for dual SIM capability will switch back to their trusted brand with these two babies coming soon in the mobile phone market.

More pictures on the Nokia Dual Sim Phone press launch at Apo View Hotel, Davao City after the jump.