Sony ebook reader goes wireless / Techie.com.ph

Hot on the heels of the Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition, the Reader Daily Edition was announced by Sony yesterday. It will initially be available from AT&T in the US, and yes, it sports 3G.

The Daily Edition has a 7-inch widescreen e-ink display, making it the tallest of all of Sony’s ebook readers. In landscape, the wide screen lets you view two pages at a time.

The Daily Edition’s 3G capabilities are of course the biggest draw here, placing it toe to toe with Amazon’s Kindle. 3G access will be free, just like the Kindle on US telco Sprint’s EV-DO network, letting you access the Sony ebook store and purchase books wherever you are. The bad news is you won’t be able to surf or do anything else with the 3G connection.

As the Daily Edition requires telco support – and publishing rights from ebooks are another thorny issue – don’t hold your breath waiting for this product to arrive in the Philippines.

Note: I wish that they'll finally sell ebook readers here in the Philippines. i will definitely buy one! This new choices from Sony looks better than Kindle, esp since it can read different formats unlike in Kindle where it's mostly Kindle format.

credits: http://www.techie.com.ph/news/439

Japanese Sit-down Comedy to be Staged in Manila

The Japan Foundation, Manila and the Ayala Museum present a unique traditional Japanese performance art called “English Rakugo! Japanese Sit-Down Comedy in English” on Friday, September 25, 2009, 7pm at the Lobby of the Ayala Museum, Makati City. Admission is free.

Rakugo is a comic monologue in which a storyteller creates an imaginary drama through episodic narration. Dating back to the 17th century, rakugo stories are narrated humorously and usually reflect traditional concepts and values which remain meaningful and entertaining today.



The rakugo is somewhat similar to American stand-up comedy wherein there is only one performer onstage doing a comic monologue or acting out a story. However, rakugo, literally a story with a witty ending, is a “sit-down” comedy where the performer sits atop a small mattress on stage throughout his performance. Additionally, a rakugo performer wears a traditional Japanese kimono and is usually equipped with a fan and a hand cloth which he skillfully employs to express various situations.

The Japan Foundation, Manila presented rakugo performances in Manila in 2003, 2004 and 2005 that have garnered overwhelmingly positive public response.

Returning to Manila this year is Kaishi Katsura, one of the major English Rakugo performers in Japan. Although there are some 300 classic rakugo stories handed down through generations, Katsura is one type of performer who prefers to create his own original material.

Katsura has been a Rakugo performer since 1994 and, like other Rakugo performers, he underwent years of apprenticeship before being deemed worthy of performing the art. As a traditional Japanese art form, the genre requires training, discipline, and perfection to uphold its quality standards.

This is not Katsura’s first time in the Philippines. He performed in Manila and Cebu in 2003 and 2005. An international artist, Katsura has done over 180 performances worldwide. In 2007, Katsura was appointed Cultural Exchange Ambassador by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs.

“English Rakugo!” will also be staged in Cebu on Saturday, September 26, 7:00 pm at the Ayala Center. This performance is organized by the Japanese Consular Office in Cebu, in cooperation with the Japanese Association in Cebu, Inc., the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Cebu, Inc. and the Ayala Center.

While the event is open to the public, reservations are highly encouraged especially for the Ayala Museum show, as seating is limited.

For September 25 reservations, please call the Japan Foundation, Manila at telephone numbers 811-6155 to 58.

Notes: Ooh...i'm interested to watch this, unfortunately i won't be here! Dang! Hope i can catch this show next year!

credits: http://www.clickthecity.com/arts/?p=5561

more muzik!

Since I'll be out for 3 weeks, thought I'd share the new KPop videos a few days early:

f(x) is SM Entertainment's answer to YG's 2NE1. Their debut single, LaChaTa maybe a disappointment but the girls look cool and talented.


One of the older girl groups is back with their new album (6th) called "Sophisticated". This song is called Vari2ty.


4minute came out with their mini album called "4Muzik" and here's the video with the same title.

Cameron Diaz & Jay Chou: Green Hornet Hotties

Cameron Diaz and Taiwanese actor Jay Chou film an action scene for the upcoming superhero flick Green Hornet in Los Angeles on Saturday (September 5).

Seth Rogen (pictured below) plays debonair newspaper publisher Britt Reid by day and by night, he fights crime as a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet. At his side is martial arts expert Kato (Chou) and his secretory Lenore Case (Diaz).

This specific scene has Jay and Cameron walking and almost falling off a ledge.


Read more: http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/09/06/jay-chou-cameron-diaz-green-hornet/#more-438142#ixzz0QKAiUvOn

my mooches!

i received 6 new books this week! yay!

From Art Seblis:
Nora Roberts - Hidden Riches
Antiques dealer Dora Conroy's hidden riches start with the painting she bids for at a local auction, unaware of the treasure it conceals. Then there's her new tenant, handsome, brooding Jed Skimmerhorn, who moves into the apartment above her shop. Though the ex-cop and scion of a wealthy Philadelphia family first appears rude and rough, he surprises Dora with acts of tenderness. And Dora needs plenty of TLC after her shop is broken into, she's nearly raped and she learns that others who purchased goods from a particular shipment at the auction are turning up dead. Joining forces with Dora to track down the culprits behind the thefts and murders, Jed is drawn into the life of the effervescent Dora and her endearingly eccentric theatrical family.

Nora Roberts - True Betrayals
Kelsey Byden, 26, is in the throes of divorcing her unfaithful husband when she suffers a second shock. It is a letter from her mother, whom she has long presumed dead. Her father, it turns out, has been lying to her-at her mother's request, since Naomi Chadwick was in prison for murder during many of those years. Kelsey travels to Virginia to meet her long-lost parent at her horse farm. As mother and daughter get to know each other, Kelsey falls in love with horses, racing and the gambler next door. Gabe Slater is handsome, virile and unlike anyone the spoiled young woman has ever met. Their attraction is instant and explosive, but their romance triggers a chain of events that includes murder and sabotage, prompting the lovers to risk their lives as they race to clear Naomi's name and to deal with old enemies and betrayals that threaten their future.

Nora Roberts - Genuine Lies
Ever since Julia Summers became a single mother at 18, she's focused all her energies on creating a secure home for her 10-year-old son, Brandon, and establishing herself as a sought-after biographer of Hollywood stars. Now quintessential movie goddess Eve Benedict, whose 50-year career has included two Oscars, four husbands, and scores of lovers, has particularly sought out Julia to write Eve's ultimate tell-all book. But as Eve reveals to Julia her many long-held secrets, Julia realizes there's a whole cast of characters with good reasons to keep Eve silent, including Eve's well-loved stepson, Paul Winthrop, a handsome novelist whose desire for Julia is beginning to penetrate her wary reserve. Eve, still glamorous, desirable, and reckless, thinks she's set the stage for events she can direct, but more and more, it's clear that someone dangerous is out of control. Fast paced, with a good balance between suspense and romance, and with more heart than many Hollywood-set novels.
*Update: due to Ondoy, this book was severely damaged and I had no choice but to throw it away even before I had the chance to read it :(

Nora Roberts - Private Scandals
The latest from veteran Roberts ( Genuine Lies ) is set in the glamorous world of television and concerns the rise of hot new talk-show host Deanna Reynolds. Deanna, a sincere and dedicated one-time local reporter in Chicago, has moved to New York, determined to be number one in the field. This pits her against her former mentor, the high strung and manipulative current talk-show queen, Angela Perkins. Angela doesn't take well to the competition and resorts to stealing guests, blackmail and crossing boundaries of good journalism in her effort to fight Deanna's increasing popularity. Deanna's romance with the handsome and much lauded reporter Finn Riley, Angela's former love interest, only increases the tension. But the novel's main question is who will do in Deanna first, the obsessed fan who seems to know her every move, or Angela, whose bitter vows for revenge are hastening her own downfall.

From Tess Navarro:
Mary Higgins Clark - The Cradle Will Fall

A minor road accident landed county prosecutor Katie DeMaio in Westlake Hospital. That night, from her window, she thought she saw a man load a woman's body into the trunk of a car...or was it just a sleeping pill induced nightmare? At work the next day, Katie began investigating a suicide that looked more like murder. Initial evidence pointed elsewhere, but medical examiner Richard Carroll saw a trail leading to Dr. Edgar Highley. He suspected that the famous doctor's work "curing" infertile women was more than controversial -- that it was deceitful, depraved, and often deadly. But before Richard could tell Katie his fears, she left the office for the weekend and an appointment for routine surgery...in Dr. Highley's operating room.

Mary Higgins Clark - A Cry in the Night

When Jenny MacPartland meets the man of her dreams while working in a New York art gallery, she's ecstatic. Painter Erich Krueger -- whose exquisite landscapes are making him a huge success -- is handsome, sensitive...and utterly in love with her. They marry quickly and Jenny plans a loving home on Erich's vast Minnesota farm. But lonely days and eerie nights strain her nerves to the breaking point and test her sanity. Caught in a whirlpool of shattering events, Jenny soon unearths a past more terrifying than she dares imagine...tragic secrets that threaten her marriage, her children, her life.

Thanks to Art and Tess for the mooches!

i absolutely love this song!

Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" may be the longest running song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but the hippie-friendly jam has been around even longer.

Mraz has played the song on tour for five years, and he said fans at live shows always responded differently to it, inspiring him to release the song as a single.

"The song was really born into the crowd. ... I noticed almost an immediate response to it and people really celebrated in a different way during that song," he said in a phone interview. "And then by having those three years to jam to the song, it gave us the opportunity to do something simple, yet spirited" in the studio.

"And now of course, that we've been playing with people really owning it on the record, it's taken it to a whole new level," he said.

"I'm Yours" first charted in May 2008, hit No. 6 in September 2008 and has spent 71 weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. (The previous record-holder, LeAnn Rimes' late-1990s hit, "How Do I Live," lasted 69 weeks.) Mraz's tune also nominated for "Song of the Year" at this year's Grammy Awards.

Though the accomplishment is one the 32-year-old is proud of, he says it doesn't mean he's necessarily reached a milestone in his career.

"I don't feel like I crossed a finish line. I don't feel like I've sweated for 70 weeks. I feel like the song is just doing its thing and it was a real gift," he said.

Mraz has spent the last two years on the road promoting his latest CD, the platinum-selling "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things." That time on tour has been documented to "Jason Mraz' Beautiful Mess - Live from Earth," a live CD/DVD out Nov. 10.

"Before we hang up our hats for the year, I thought it would be great to capture the concert in an adventurous style so that my grandmom can see what I've been up to for two years," he said with a laugh. "She doesn't like YouTube. She says the quality ain't that good."

and it will make history for the most times getting stuck in my head.

new fall shows (part 2)

Get ready for 2009's hottest fall shows!

Melrose Place - Premieres Sept 8

The new "Melrose Place" follows a group of 20-somethings living in the trendy Melrose neighborhood of Los Angeles, where a web of scandal is ever-present. The landlord, Sydney Andrews, is back from the (presumed) dead — and beautiful at age 40, Sydney is a central figure in the lives of her tenants, especially the handsome and rebellious David Breck (Shaun Sipos). Another tenant, the high-powered publicist Ella Simms (Katie Cassidy), once considered Sydney her mentor, but their friendship was destroyed by betrayal. Sydney also played a pivotal role in the career of Auggie Kirkpatrick (Colin Egglesfield) after meeting him at an AA meeting. And 18-year-old Violet Foster (Ashlee Simpson-Wentz), has just arrived in L.A. with her own secret connection to Sydney.

The Beautiful Life - Premieres Sept 16

The life of a high-fashion model may seem glamorous, but many models quickly learn that behind the façade is a world of insecurity and competition. Raina Collins (Sara Paxton), a stunning beauty with a secret past, and Chris Andrews (Benjamin Hollingsworth), a strikingly handsome Iowa farm boy, discover this for themselves in "The Beautiful Life." When Raina makes an unforgettable impression at a Zac Posen fashion show (Posen appears in a cameo), she steals the spotlight from fellow model Sonja (Mischa Barton). Sonja has been out of the country for mysterious reasons, and is now desperate to reclaim her standing as the reigning supermodel. In the meantime, Chris is barely holding onto his position at the bottom of the modeling food chain..

Cougar Town - Premieres Sept 23

Should a woman of a certain age still be on the prowl? Jules Cobb (Courteney Cox) is gonna give it a try. In this small Florida town (aka, "Cougar Town"), the Cougars are the high school mascot, which is appropriate considering it is the natural habitat for over-tanned, under-dressed divorcées prowling for younger men. Jules desperately doesn't want to be one of them, but with her recent divorce and 40th birthday behind her, she's longing for a little more action in her life. From the goofy geniuses behind "Scrubs," "Cougar Town" offers that rare treat of smart slapstick comedy.

Eastwick - Premieres Sept 23

Did the devil make them do it? Based on John Updike’s novel "The Witches of Eastwick," "Eastwick" is home to Roxanne the flaky artist, Kat the doormat wife and mom, and Joanna the uptight local reporter. A mysterious stranger's arrival in town brings these fast friends even closer and tests them in ways they'd never imagined; Daryl Van Horne is an irresistible package of wealth, charisma, and bad-boy sex appeal. If he's not buying up a local business, he's attempting to seduce one (or all) of these ladies, physically and professionally. What's even more dangerous is that he's unleashing their supernatural powers. Eastwick will be turned upside down as these witches come into their own.

Vampire Diaries - Premieres Sept 10

Four months after a tragic car accident that killed their parents, 17-year-old Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), are trying to cope with their grief and move on with their lives. Elena has always been a beautiful, popular, and involved star student, but now she struggles to hide her sadness. "Vampire Diaries" begins when the school year starts, as Elena — and everyone else — grows fascinated by a handsome, mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Stefan and Elena are immediately drawn to one another, but what Elena doesn't know is that Stefan is a centuries-old vampire, struggling to live peacefully among humans. Meanwhile, his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is the embodiment of vampire brutality.

Flash Forward - Premieres Sept 24

What if you got the chance to see your future and got a glimpse of where you will be and who you will be with? Would you look forward to what was coming or would you try to stop it? In "FlashForward," a mysterious global event causes everyone to black out simultaneously for two minutes and 17 seconds. When they wake up, everyone is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen. No one knows what these flash forwards mean, but it’s clear that people who've never met will soon be intimately connected. Some will fear what's coming, others will be excited. But not a single person will be unaffected.

Three Rivers - Premieres Oct 4

Yet another stab at the ubiquitous medical drama, this CBS entry takes heart-stopping action literally by following three perspectives of organ donation: the giver, the receiver, and the surgical middlemen. Expect lots of racing against the clock and tearjerker storylines. The name by the way refers to the show's setting in Pittsburgh, where three rivers converge (although the drama's transplant center is actually on a LA soundstage). A bit of trivia: The uber-modern hospital’s modeled after Scandinavian medical set-ups ... and we’re not talking Ikea. Starring Alex O'Laughlin and Daniel Henney (!!!)

Wonder which shows will make it and which ones will get cancelled?

*synopsis taken from Yahoo! TV

It's TV time again! (part 1)

It's September once again and it's another season of frenzied downloads and late night watching for me! Some of my favorite shows are coming back while there's a new set of shows I'm eagerly anticipating!

This post will focus on returning shows:

Gossip Girl Season 3 - Premieres Sept 14

background: Based on the novel by Cicely von Ziegler, the show gives viewers a peek into the world of privileged teenagers on an elite private school in New York. Stars Leighton Meester and Blake Lively.

why i wanna watch: our favorite gossip gang is finally in college. I'm excited for Blair/Chuck romance, Georgina's back for revenge (be careful Blair), Nate gets hot and heavy with JoAnna Garcia (too bad, i loved Privileged), Carter is here too and he shares some secrets with Serena, my favorite couple, Lily and Rufus and the introduction of their son. XOXO!

Castle Season 2 - Premieres Sept 21

background: A younger, sexy version of Murder She Wrote. Stars Nathan Filion, a mystery novelist whose books were used as blueprints for brutal murders and begins assisting the NYPD with some of their homicide cases.

Fringe Season 2 - Premieres Sept 17

background: A female FBI agent seeks out a brilliant but unstable and institutionalised scientist and his estranged son to investigate wide-sweeping paranormal phenomena. Stars Joshua Jackson.

Grey's Anatomy Season 5 - Premieres Sept 24

background: A medical drama set at Seattle Grace Hospital which follows the lives of interns and residents in and out of the hospital. Stars Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers.

why i wanna watch: Season 4 was a rollercoaster of good and bad episodes, good being Cristina and Owen coming together, Alex and Izzie's marriage, and Meredith and Derek's blissful relationship (to name a few) and bad being dead Denny, dying George and cancer-stricken Izzie. For the coming season, I'm looking forward to Izzie battling cancer, lots of screen time for Alex Karev, the taming of McSteamy by Little Grey, more Cristina and Owen (hope that Owen finally resolves his issues), more Callie and Arizona and hopefully an actual wedding ceremony for Meredith and McDreamy. Maybe new characters to spice things up... oh.. and more puzzling and amazing medical dilemmas!

Ugly Betty Season 3 - Premieres Oct 9

background: This show centers on Betty Suarez, a not-so-pretty and smart lady who dreams of making it big in the publishing industry. She is currently working in Mode as rich playboy Daniel Meade's assistant. Stars America Ferrara, Judith Gold, Vanessa Williams

why i wanna watch: Season 2 was not as interesting and comical as Season 1 but Betty's still as charming as ever. Last season finale showed Betty beating Marc for the Features Editor promotion, she also gets dumped by boyfriend Matt (who now becomes her new boss), Daniel's wife Molly dying of cancer, Willie getting surprised by someone's arrival. Let's see what happens next in the new season.

Southland Season 2 - Premieres Oct 23

background: This show takes a raw and authentic look at a police unit in LA. Southland is a fast-moving drama that takes viewers inside the lives of cops, criminals, victims and their families. Stars Regina King, Benjamin McKenzie and Tom Everett Scott.