You may not have come out of the well—I mean your mother’s womb—yet, but once you do, I will be right here waiting for you with open arms so I can envelop you in my arms that’s going to say it all: no one’s going to harm you, not while I’m around; I’ll be there for you; and I will always love you.
The Concepcion clan was on vacation in Tokyo when the earthquake struck. This is what they saw
IT WAS a wonderfully crisp, clear day in Tokyo. My husband John and I had just walked through Takeshita Street in Harajuku.
This comics retelling was awesome, but much too short
I GREW up watching the many reincarnations of Darna, from the very young Vilma Santos, to Nanette Medved, Anjanette Abayari, and the more recent Angel Locsin and Marian Rivera.
Next time you are talking with a potential mate, listen up and you might just hear their cheating heart. Researchers have discovered that people can tell how likely a person of the opposite sex is to be a cheater, just by listening to their voice.
PARIS: Two studies released on Wednesday highlighted the risks and benefits of lifestyle choices in combating cancer, showing the dangers of smoking for post-menopausal women and exercise's protective effect on the bowel.
A 17-year-old student of the University of the Philippines, whose body has been described as the "perfect designer's body" - 30 (chest)/ 22 (waist)/ 30 (hips) - has been chosen the World SuperModel 2011 in New York over the weekend by the iconic modeling institution, Ford Models.
Danica Flores Magpantay bested young aspiring models from more than 40 countries. This is the first time a Filipino was named World SuperModel - a much-coveted title that carries not only a US$250,000 modeling contract, but also the chance to model for the world's top retail brands and fashion designers and work with leading photographers.
It is ironic that Magpantay, strictly speaking, isn't a model. Except for a brief stint in Philippine Fashion Week late last year in Manila, she hasn't really modeled, neither on the runway nor for advertising campaigns.
This, even if her mother, Lala Flores, was a top model in the '90s and was a SuperModel winner herself in 1994. Her mother is now a leading makeup artist for advertising campaigns, whose clients include Filipino stars like Sarah Geronimo.
Unusual, striking look
Asked what made Magpantay bag the prestigious and lucrative title, SuperModel Philippines executive producer Joey Espino said: "Mr. Rowland (Paul Rowland, new head of Ford models) and the rest of Ford found so striking the fusion of feminine and masculine features on that face. Hers is a very unusual facial bone structure - squarish on top, but softer toward the chin. And this is the time when Ford, under Mr. Rowland, is going for the unusual, striking look."
Espino added a crucial bit of precedence - "It was Mr. Rowland who discovered Kate Moss."
Global beauty
Indeed Magpantay, who is 5'8 3/4" tall, couldn't have gone to New York at a better time.
In an interview last year with New York Times' T Magazine, Rowland, who had just been named head of Ford Models and tasked with reinventing the "venerable institution", explained where he was coming from - "...the idea of beauty (is) not only being classic but being, you know, global. I'm just obsessed with finding these amazing creatures in all these exotic countries." (Rowland, according to T, even opened a scouting centre in North Africa.)
In such a short time, Rowland, it is said, was able to move up Ford among the top model agencies in the world, from the fifth to the third (the first being IMG who handles sports celebrities, like Tiger Woods and Roger Federer).
It is interesting to note that the two runners-up in the World SuperModel 2010 are from Lithuania and Poland.
Serendipitous
Magpantay's journey from Makati City, where her family lives, to the world's modeling capital, wasn't dramatic, but it was serendipitous. She is second in a brood of five.
One day, her father, Pogs, a businessman, was clearing up some house stuff. He found the Betamax recording of Lala Flores when she was named 1994 SuperModel of the Philippines. He had it converted into DVD, and his two eldest daughters Danielle and Danica got to see the DVD.
It was after watching the DVD of their mom that the two approached their parents to say that, yes, they, too, wanted to be models - to be SuperModels. Until that moment, Espino said Lala never really pushed her daughters into a modeling career. They had to want it first, Espino recalled Lala's stance.
Scout
It was then that Lala turned over her two daughters to Espino, who has been the top models' scout in the country for more than two decades now. He and his brother Audie have put up the industry leader, CalCarrie's, which fields models all over the world.
Espino unerringly saw Magpantay's potential. The older Danielle, 19, and Danica joined the Philippine search for SuperModel 2010, which Danica would win in October last year.
Intense screening
Unlike in previous years, there was no runway show in New York this year to proclaim the SuperModel. Instead, of the SuperModel winners from various countries, five were chosen, Magpantay among them. Only the five were flown to New York.
Magpantay, who graduated high school from Colegio de San Agustin, flew to New York last week. Like the four others, she came upon intense screening, from body measurements to how clothes would fall on her, to how she photographs.
The other four are Kristina Gromovaite of Lithuania, Zuzanna Bronczyck of Poland - the two became runners-up - Rufina Rudenko of Estonia and Natalia Haiden of Brazil.
While this is the first time a Filipino became World SuperModel, the Philippines had runners-up the previous years - Charo Ronquillo in 2006 and Charlene Almarvez in 2009.
Lucrative job
Just how lucrative is a SuperModel contract?
Ronquillo now struts among the world's best in New York, and has worked with top photographers, like Bruce Weber, for the American Living campaign of Ralph Lauren, Vogue photographer Arthur Elgort and Walter Chin.
She has done advertising campaigns of the world's top brands, such as Lacoste, Tory Burch, Armani Exchange, Kenneth Cole, DKNY, and retail giants, such as Macy's.
In short, it's a full-time lucrative job. And if one pursues it with passion, it could be a glamorous life.
Not bad at all for a 17-year-old on a Monday morning.
But one more thing, even as you read this, she'll already be in the salt mines early Monday morning in New York, working the SuperModel job.
Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Molecular biologist Custer Deocaris intends to convince young Filipinos to eat more vegetables, fruits and grains to reduce the incidence of obesity and eventually raise students' brain power.
How will he do it? By explaining his dishes' ingredients, and making a nation so used to fast food aware of healthier, and possibly life-saving, alternatives.
Toward dawn last Friday at the just concluded Banchetto night bazaar in Ortigas Center, Deocaris found the time to explain the properties of his main ingredients more thoroughly.
His fat-burner meatless burger is made from yakon, mushroom and soybean and served on a country-style malunggay coco-flour bun.
Yakon is a low-calorie root crop known for its copious amounts of oligofructans that regulates fat metabolism via the L-carnitine pathway.
Mushrooms are excellent sources of protein, dietary fiber, potassium and vitamins B2 (riboflavin) and B3 (niacin). Shiitake mushrooms contain lentinan, a chemical that boosts the immune system and protects against various types of cancers.
Soybeans are rich in protein, dietary fiber, calcium and magnesium. "According to the American Heart Association, just 25 grams of soybeans per day is sufficient to significantly lower the risk for heart disease," he said.
Deocaris described his lugaw made with Gaba brown rice as the first "functional" porridge in the country.
"It reduces the risk of heart disease and lowers blood pressure by inhibiting a protein called Angiotensin H. The pregermination of the brown rice increases the levels of Gaba and steryl glucosides that help prevent diabetes, enhance fat metabolism and even improve brain function," he said.
For his desserts, Deocaris uses coco sap sugar.
He described it thus: "It's healthy sugar from coconut inflorescence (flower cluster). It helps improve glycemic and weight control. It is also rich in amino acids, dietary fiber and minerals."
SINGAPORE: Residents in Tampines can look forward to a Town Hub by 2015 - touted as Singapore's first integrated lifestyle hub in the heartlands.
The size of seven football fields, the Tampines Town Hub will bring key facilities together.
This includes bringing together the community club, sports and recreation centre, Tampines Regional Library and HDB branch office.
The project will be managed by the People's Association (PA).
The Town Hub was announced by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan as part of the Tampines five-year masterplan.
Mr Mah, who is also an MP for Tampines GRC, said the project aims to bring residents together.
"In the old days where life was a bit more relaxed, people had more time to talk to one another, you had this natural community spirit building up. In a more hectic, faster paced lifestyle, it's harder to build. So you need to have places and spaces which will facilitate this community spirit.
"In today's world, where there are so many different interests, I think people have many different places to go to. What we hope to do with the Town Hub is actually to gather people back together again."
The Town Hub is the centrepiece of the Tampines masterplan for 2011 to 2015. Other initiatives to improve the quality of life in the town include building more and better parking facilities.
The Town Hub will take over the space currently occupied by the Tampines sports complex and stadium and it has not been decided if the existing sports facilities will be demolished, or integrated into the Town Hub.
To minimise inconvenience to users during the construction phase, PA is in talks with nearby schools such as Simei ITE to open their sports grounds to the public.
Minister Mah declined to put a price tag on the project as plans have not been finalised.
Residents will be able to give their feedback on the proposal at a two-day roadshow in the estate this weekend.
"We're going to take this feedback, and rework it together with PA, and together with our other agencies, then talk to the architects and then finally, come up with a more finalised proposal, and then go to Ministry of Finance and ask for money, ask for budget. That's the reason why I can't tell you at this stage how much it will cost," said Mr Mah.
When asked if the Town Hub will bring in more votes at the upcoming General Election, Mr Mah said this is just one project and he should be judged for his work in the last 22 years.
With a jacket casually draped over a T-shirt and sporting stylishly cropped hair, 49-year-old Leslie Lung looks markedly different from his younger self.
"It's been a journey from that all the way to where I am today," the advertising creative consultant said with a slight smile as he pointed to two photographs taken when he was 20.
The pictures show Lung made up as a woman in a form-fitting black tube top, long wavy hair tumbling over his shoulder and a glittering choker adorning his neck.
They are among the illustrations in a hardcover book written by Lung titled "Freedom of Choice: Short Stories of Freedom from Sexual Bondage."
Describing himself as having spanned "the entire gamut" of relationships, Lung is now the executive director of Liberty League, a controversial support group which says it aims to help people who want to overcome "same-sex attractions".
"We think that it is something that can be managed, it can be something that can be overcome, and there are people who have successfully come out of it," said Lung, who considered sex-change surgery when he was younger.
Set up in 2004, Liberty League is staffed by 10 volunteers and financed by grants from the government and private donors.
Singapore gay rights activists object to Liberty League's activities.
"They present the idea that being gay is bad and therefore you should change to straight," said Alex Au, one of the founders of gay rights group People Like Us.
"But that already is creating stigma. Why do you even present the message?" Au said Liberty League's ideals were "suspiciously similar" to those of Exodus International, a US fundamentalist Christian ministry actively involved in reforming homosexuals.
Lung says Liberty League is secular and not against gays, bisexuals and transgender people, but he draws the line at men having sex with men.
"It is a biological impossibility. It is impossible for two people of the same gender to consummate physical relationship," he insisted.
Despite greater tolerance for gays in recent years Singapore has refused to rescind an old law making consensual sex between men a crime.
"Singapore is basically a conservative society. The family is the basic building block of this society. It has been so and by policy we have reinforced this and we want to keep it so," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told parliament in 2007.
"By 'family' in Singapore, we mean one man one woman, marrying, having children and bringing up children within that framework of a stable family unit."
Lung says Liberty League only caters to people who seek help.
"We're not here to go and convert people, we're not here to say 'oh you must not do this and do that,'" he said.
"Some people who want to continue with the lifestyle, that's fine with us. Some people who don't want to, I think that there should be opportunities for them to explore the other option."
Liberty League conducts weekly group sessions where participants speak about their sexual preferences and dilemmas, said Lung. It can also refer participants to professional counsellors.
Group members typically consist of people attracted to others of the same gender, but those grappling with other problems such as sex addiction are also allowed to take part, he said.
"We find that this has been very, very helpful in opening up people's minds," Lung said.
"So often when people come, they think, oh this is a male issue, this is a female issue, but when they hear different perspectives then they come to understand actually it's a very universal thing."
Lung refused to reveal client numbers, but said "there's more than enough to keep us occupied and busy."
