Hannah and Vince invited friends from the online community in the recent launch of the hottest upcoming restaurant bar in San Juan.  Luna Resto-Bar is located right smack in the busy street of Wilson –which is now becoming a booming foodie town as well.

(Photo source: www.flaircandy.com and http://cushee.multiply.com)

On the Table

Luna Nachos PHP 220

Fried tortilla chips loaded with scrumptious chorizo, chili con carne, cheese and Luna’s pimiento mayo.  This was a great appetizer and gathered a lot of raves from the big group.

Paella de Carne PHP 200

My favorite part of the paella is the toasted crunchy crust at the bottom of the pan.  I love scraping it off and munching on the toasty flavorful rice!  Toppings were generous.

Luna Sisig PHP 195

Size is good to share –really good bar chow for a drinking group!

Flaming Chicken Wings PHP 240

This was also a surefire hit on the table.

More Photos from the Luna Scene:

(Photo source: Hannah, Carlos, Mica, Jane)

Thanks for the invite, Hannah and Vince!

Luna Bar

220 Wilson St.

Greenhills, San Juan

Luna Bar Album

Related Post

Flaircandy’s

Tanggera’s

Carlo’s

Frannywanny’s 

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Music and Wine Presents

Do you know what the Russians are doing this week?

They are celebrating “Old New Year”. In Russia and in many other Eastern European countries, New Year’s holidays follow the Orthodox calendar, and festivities last for ten days. Amongst the most popular New Year symbols is a New Year’s Tree called Novogodnaya Yolka, which is topped with a bright star and decorated with various sweets. Another popularly celebrated New Year tradition is the arrival of Ded Moroz (or Father Frost) and his granddaughter Snegurochka the snow girl.

Here in Manila, we plan to party it up Russian-style this Saturday at Martinis with specials on Russian-themed cocktails and our signature brand of smooth house grooves.

 Jan 16 | 9pm | Mandarin Oriental

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There’s going to be a fight on March 14, 2010 (Manila Time).  Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao will stand at one corner.  The question is, who will stand at the other corner?  Will it be Ghanaian Joshua Clottey  or Floyd Mayweather Jr.?  After weeks of negotiation circus, Top Rank’s Bob Arum finally decided to set the WBO welterweight title fight against Clottey.  The negotiation fizzled out between the two dominant American boxing promotional companies when Mayweather Jr’s camp demanded for a rigorous drug testing procedure –random examination like the Olympics that can be really close to the fight night.  

The boxing commission only requires urine testing but the stringent drug testing will call for random blood and urine sampling prior to and after the proposed fight.  Team Pacquiao couldn’t agree to the blood testing 30 days before the match concerned that this might affect Pacman’s performance.  Pacquiao filed a lawsuit against Mayweather’s camp last month, claiming several members had defamed him by intimating he uses performance-enhancing drugs.

The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight was supposed to be one of boxing’s biggest revenue-generating fights.  There’s still time before March to reopen talks but Arum has closed his doors to Mayweather for March, more especially that he feels Mayweather will start the nonsense media talk again about the testing and regulations.

Pacquiao’s new opponent in Clottey is a strong, aggressive African that beat Zab Judah of the United States for the IBF Welterweight title in August 2008 and lost a split decision to Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto last June.

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December 13 –Bubba and I traveled all the way to the south of Manila to watch Samsung unveil its latest game and phones.  Samsung launched Corbyville at the Mall of Asia and had different schools participate in the event.

Corbyville is a game that is played like SIM City.  Build your own Corby village with your friends and get to win amazing Samsung phones!

1. Invite your friends
2. Build your city (of rock and roll )
3. Win Samsung phones

MECHANICS FOR CORBY VILLE:

Starting A City: 

1. Each participant must register by clicking on the Corby ville banner on ph.samsungmobile.com.

2. The first registrant is automatically appointed as the team leader. He will be given the title, “Corb”, the mayor of his city.

3. As the Corb, he/she has the responsibility to lead the group in conceptualizing the city name, writing the city description, choosing the terrain, uploading of the city thumbnail image, naming the streets in the city map and aligning the design of individual villes of his/her members with in the city.

4. The chosen terrain will be the default terrain of all the members of the group and thus, can not be edited/changed once the city is created.

5. The team leader is required to invite a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 25 of his friends to join his group. The 26th friend who confirmed last can not join the group, however, he/she can create a new city or join in other existing cities as well.

6. All invitees will receive an email. To confirm their acceptance to join, the invitee is required to click the link indicated in the email invite.

7. Upon clicking the link, invitees will be required to register. Afterwhich, they may start contributing to the group’s city by naming their own ville, designing their avatar, and writing a brief description of their character’s role in the city.

8. Participants who are currently a member of one group may opt to join other groups as well. However, the Corb of the city they wish to join will need to confirm their membership.

9. An initial amount of 250,000 monetary units called “Corbies” will be issued to the team leader which he can share with his team members.

10. Corbies can be used to buy structures to build individual villes/cities.

With Fritz of www.fritzified.com

Other than the program happening on stage (including a dating game), the whole event was like a simulation of the game.  It was so fun to play some fair games and win Corbies (Corby money).  Now, you can try the actual game for yourself.  Just visit http://corbyville.com.ph/index.asp 

*Thanks to Ms. Odette Velarde of Samsung for inviting us to the event. 

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Like most people living in Manila, I am part of the working community.  On the side though, I am part of the Philippine blogging community.  Maintaining a blog is not an easy walk, despite the love of writing and blogging.  Online presence is key to sustain content on a blog, particularly with the incredible growth of online communities and social networking sites.

Samsung joins today’s youth in acknowledging the need to be constantly connected to their circle of influence.  Recently, Samsung introduced three new phones that can capture the connection seekers in us.

Welcome the CorbyTXT (B3210), B3410 (SRP PHP 7,590) and the CorbyPRO (B5310) in the Samsung family.  Patterned after the successful launch of the Samsung Corby (S3653) in the third quarter of 2009, these new phones are designed to enhance the young consumers’ messaging experience.

Image grabbed from Ajay

Built with QWERTY keypads and pop-up social networking site messaging, these new phones allow for quick and easy messaging online and status updating.  Plus, updates posted online by friends can be automatically pushed to a user’s mobile.  Now, stay connected with friends even if you’re not plugged in!

The new Corby line also boasts of enhanced instant messaging capabilities. These phones provide for multi IM so that contacts from different instant messaging portals like Google Talk, AIM and ICQ can be pooled into one chat session.  Isn’t that fantastic?

And, for SMS fanatics, the new threaded message feature of these phones allow for viewing the entire SMS conversation on the screen.  This is what I really need for work because most discussions should be documented.

And as if these were not enough, the New CorbyTXT, B3410 and CorbyPRO phones are all equipped with either a 2 or 3megapixel camera and communities application that enable the capturing of photos and instantly uploading to one’s Facebook, Friendster, Flickr and other popular online communities.  I personally love my new CorbyTXT B3210 (PHP 6,990) with smile, panorama and continuous shot option.

Image grabbed from Ajay

Last but not the least, the new Corby line also provides for mobile entertainment with their music player so users can listen to their favorite MP3s or radio DJ (FM radio capability) anywhere they go. 

Stay connected with friends and the online world while enjoying your favorite music, grab the latest CorbyTXT phones or watch out for the release of the CorbyPRO (PHP 11,990) in January 2010!!!

Related Post

Ajay’s Samsung Corby Phones for the Youth

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Top Rank promoter Bob Arum made a trip to the Philippines to talk to Manny Pacquiao, who broke records of being the only champion with 7 world boxing titles under his belt.  After Pacquiao’s clear welterweight win over Miguel Cotto last November, everyone is slating Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the next in line to face the formidable Filipino boxer.

March 13, 2010 is the date they are eyeing.  This can be the biggest boxing event of next year since people have been anticipating this match-up.  Pacquiao is the top pound-for-pound fighter while Mayweather is currently No.2 –although the No.1 position is not new to Mayweather since he was No.1 before he retired in June 2008.

The public has been clamoring for this fight to happen but according to Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s coach, March 13 is too fast a turnaround.  Remember that Pacquiao suffered a broken eardrum during his duel with Cotto.  Roach wants Pacquiao to be in his best possible shape before he steps again in the ring.  Roach is looking into a May 2010 bout but that will coincide with the election month.  Pacquiao already filed his Certificate of Candidacy (COC) this week to run for Congress.

Ticket for the live fight is expected to cost around $2,500 (P117,500) while the cheapest seats at around $500 (P25,000).

Will Schaefer and Arum get this deal done and set a fight date before the 2^nd half of next year?  The public will have to wait and see.

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Where are you doing your Christmas shopping?

Drop by Status Magazine’s Christmas Yard Sale for some interesting finds.

The Pacman still has the hand and foot speed and the left big swing to grab another belt –his seventh world title across several weight classes.  He proves once again that he is the best pound for pound fighter of his time.

The MGM Grand was packed to the roof, with seats all sold-out; the anticipating crowd inside the arena watched one of the best matches of Pacquiao as of late (Pacquiao supposedly got a 13 million dollar purse.  Add the endorsements to that and you have the richest Filipino boxer of all time…). 

Round 1 appeared to be Cotto’s round throwing more punches and with them landing on Pacman’s head and body. 

Round 2 was clearly Pacquiao’s round scoring a knockdown from Cotto.  Cotto showed ferocious counterpunches.  The Pacman was too quick to sustain serious damage.  When Pacquiao unleashed a leftie, Cotto fell to the floor, dazed.  Since then Cotto didn’t look like he was the same fighter that stepped in the ring barely 5 minutes that passed.

Rounds 3-7 were all in Pacquiao’s favor marking another knockdown from Cotto in Round 4.  Everyone held their breath predicting that the bout will end soon with Pacquiao unleashing the deadliest that will bring Cotto down for the third time –and for good.

However, the 29-year old underdog from Puerto Rico didn’t relent so easily.  He got pumped up with his second wind and worked the ring, letting Pacquiao run after him.  He released a few jabs and body shots that connected.  It seems like he was back on his strategy of attacking Pacquiao’s body.

Judging from Pacquiao’s cauliflower ear and minor cuts under his eyes along with some bruises, Cotto did land some heavy shots of his own.  It was definitely a toe-to-toe match than Pacquiao versus Hatton or Dela Hoya.  You definitely got your money’s worth watching the fight.

Despite a puffed and brutally bruised face and spitting blood, Cotto stayed in the game, unyielding, hanging on to every round, surviving.  He earned my respect with his athleticism -I heard he’s also loved like Pacquiao because he’s really a very nice guy outside the ring.  Rounds 9 and 10, he looked hopeful to land a devastating left hook that can knock Pacquiao out.  But Pacquiao just wouldn’t have it –and he also didn’t want the fight to go to scorecards even if it was clearly his arm the referee would raise at the end of the day.  He wanted a knockout that his coach, Freddie Roach predicted.

Referee Kenny Bayless stepped in for the boxer’s safety and waved his hands to put an end to the fight after Cotto received a big left to the head and looked like he couldn’t defend himself intelligently. The end came in the 55-second mark of the final round.

Pacquiao has successfully stripped off Cotto his WBO welterweight belt.  Pacquiao’s speed coupled with throwing many punches from different angles is a firepower that is tough to extinguish -plus the fact that he has the unwavering heart of a champion.

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Due to the onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy last Saturday, the first game between the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the University of the East Red Warriors in the best of three finals for the 2009 UAAP men’s basketball crown on Sunday was cancelled.

It has been rescheduled to October 1 (Thursday).  Tickets that have been sold would still be honored on Thursday.  The UAAP announced that the women’s and juniors finals were also cancelled and reset to next week.

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The biggest streetdance event returns, better and hotter

The grandest stage is ready…are you?

The long wait is finally over, as Skechers brings back the biggest streetdance event in the Philippines, the Skechers Streetdance Battle Year 5. Expect intense back-and-forth action as close to 100 dance crews from top high schools and colleges battle each other for streetdance glory.

The most-anticipated streetdance event in the country opens with a kickoff party at SM Mall of Asia Music Hall on September 19, Saturday, at 4 pm with special dance numbers, surprise musical performances, a dance fashion show featuring Skechers’ hottest new products, and fun games. You’ll also get to know more about the competing dance crews who will battle it out in six elimination legs for coveted slots in the Final Battle.

With even more teams joining this year’s line-up of competing schools, will we see a new set of faces dancing to the tune of the P100,000 grand prize? And who will have the bragging rights as the country’s best streetdance crew for 2009?

Defending champs Miriam Sayawatha (high school category) and DLSU’s La Salle Dance Company–Street (college category) will surely have their hands full in their quest to repeat their wins.

Witness intense showdowns from the country’s baddest dance crews as they battle for ultimate streetdance supremacy. With an intense and grueling elimination period from September to October, only the most creative, skilled, and technically talented dancers will emerge to perform in the grandest stage in Philippine streetdance history, the Skechers Streetdance Battle 5 Final Battle on November 21 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Filipino dancers are fast gaining recognition as among the best in the world in streetdancing. The immensely popular Jabbawockeez of America’s Best Dance Crew fame is composed mostly of Filipinos, and the world renowned Philippine All Stars are a perennial powerhouse in the annual World Hiphop Championships.

In fact, in this year’s World Hiphop Championships, another Filipino crew—Legit Status, who is composed mostly of participants from the Skechers Streetdance Battle— placed 7th in the varsity division of the event, from a field of 30 competing crews from all over the world.

This year’s Skechers Streetdance Battle is your chance to see just how much the country’s streetdancing scene has evolved. Without a doubt, this is one competition you wouldn’t want to miss.

For more details on the Skechers Streetdance Battle Year 5, visit www.skechers.com.ph.

The Skechers Streetdance Battle Year 5 is brought to you by Skechers, in cooperation with ETC, Skechers Time, PunkRose by Skechers, and Shape-Ups from the Skechers Fitness Group. Its media partners are Fudge, Stella, Chalk, Clavel, Manila Bulletin, Magic 89.9, Wave 89.1, and Jam 88.3.

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