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Do you know where’s the Capital City of Cebuano Poetry? With no doubt in mind, it’s Cebu. Unofficially, of course. For the past few weeks, Cebu City has been filled with Cebuano poems locally called as balak being posted in random corners like the street walls, electric posts, skywalk, and other public places! Here are some places that Cebuano poems were posted: 1. Water Drum A photo posted by Kristia Bait-it (@imkristia21) on Sep 30, 2015 at 12:36am PDT This poem of Melquiadito Allego, BATHALAD (a Cebuano literary community) founder, is posted in of one of the most obscure places in Cebu City. Do you find this romantic in any sense? 2. Truck Tire A photo posted by Gwyneth Rule Estenzo (@gwynethestenzow) on Sep 29, 2015 at 5:21am PDT This artwork of Marjorie Evasco is sitting on an abandoned tired somewhere in Lahug. Seeing this will prove that poetry is indeed becoming part of our society! 3. Side Walk A photo posted b

Blogging is may be difficult for people who aren’t used to speedy writing. As a blogger, you may have hundreds of ideas in mind but what if you don’t know how to arrange your thoughts? The solution: a blog outline. In blogging, if you don’t have a structure of how your blog will look like, you’re dead. Writing freely may be efficient for some people but not for everyone. Using an outline, on the other hand, will give you more rooms for shorter but concise content. Did you know that a number of your readers will not read kilometric paragraphs. Unless of course you have that kind readers, you should consider a better way to arrange your thoughts. With using an outline, here are the advantages you will enjoy: 1. Get to the point in a just few words. Do you enjoy reading a wordy blog with no new ideas shared to you? What if reading a 1000-word blog with oversimplifying a simple idea but all the points raised can still be summarized in a more meaningful but shorter m

TIPS. Here are some tips on how to survive a 30-day Blogging Challenge. As of this writing, I have yet to survive the 30 Day Blogging Challenge of Cebu Blogging Community. Will I survive? That is the question. Confession: It’s just the fourth day of the challenge and while I have a list of possible ideas already, I haven’t fully written down these blog posts yet.  For other bloggers who wanted to survive this challenge, I have here some tips on how to achieve this. 1. Read Tips Online Before starting to write your first blog post, you should at least consider reading some tips online. Searching for “blogging challenge tips” or “how to survive blogging challenge” in Google will yield relevant results. Keeping an editorial calendar for your future content is the most generic tip you’ll get. Given the fact that blogging daily is a definitely a challenge, planning your future content and not anything-you-feel-to-write on the day itself is what you need to do.

FOREVER. Where to next? (c)  @collinz88 The search for forever is on!  Let us tell all the advocates of #WalangForever that forever can be found in Cebu. The Queen City of the South is not only popular as a tourist destination but also a home of things forever. 10. UP Cebu. Forever ang internet. If you’re a student of UP Cebu, don’t mind connecting to the wifi of the university. Either it will take forever for you to connect or if you successfully passed the first test, forever man sad ang pag-load sa mga website. 9. Ayala ug SM. Forever ang linya sa taxi. If you don’t have a smartphone, taking the taxi especially on a Friday night will be forever. Tip: download a booking app like GrabTaxi or Cebuano-owned startup called miCab. Welcome to team #WalangForever. 8. Casa Verde sa IT Park. Forever ang kagutom kon Friday. Have you been craving for pork ribs on a Friday night? Don’t plan to go Casa Verde in IT Park if you want to avoid the long queues.

VISPOP. Let's expand the world of OPM! We’ve heard 18 songs from Visayan Pop (Vispop) Music Festival from 3 seasons, and some of these Vispop songs have actually hit the top spot in several local radio station countdowns. Isn’t it great to know that Vispop has successfully filled the gap of some Manila-based music artists!  The history of Vispop is that Jude Gitamondoc, the brainchild behind this music campaign, wanted to let everyone know that Original Pilipino Music (OPM) isn’t just about the Tagalog songs. The vision of Vispop is create hit songs in the local tongue, Cebuano or Binisaya in general.  Fast-forward to three years after the first Vispop in 2013, we now have several songs that are played in various radio stations and media outlets, most especially in the social media. Interestingly, social media played a major role in the success of Vispop. The new media format was able to reach a wider market in no time. Imagine, after an hour posting the officia

Upon hearing that the community of Cebu bloggers formally known as Cebu Blogging Community will conduct at 30-day blogging challenge this October 2015, I didn’t hesitate to participate.  Joining such an activity is definitely a challenge to me since I haven’t successfully done a 30-day challenge prior to this one. I attempted to do several challenges before like reading one literary piece per day or jogging everyday but failed due to my busy schedule and, honestly, I had some problem with commitment due to my dramatically diverse lifestyle. If asked why I decided to participate this 30 Day Blogging Challenge, here are the reasons why: 1. More Posts Blogging, especially for neophytes, is definitely a tedious challenge. Starting a blog is so easy that keeping it alive after years, or even just months, may not be possible for those people who are too busy to focus on other things.  Thus, joining this 30 Day Blogging Challenge will definitely benefit me as a n

Do you love watching movies and TV series? (photo from HOOQ.tv) I've been asking this question since I got hooked into watching Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory.  I have found a place with over 30,000 hours of awesome movies and TV series, including Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. They have international blockbusters, timeless classics, and local favorites! The good thing is you can download it or stream it for an incredibly low, low price. Did I mention they also have Filipino movies and TV soap operas? That's actually unlimited entertainment on any smart device: either Android, iOS, mobile, tablet or computer! Go watch these movies legally for only P149 per month! That's nonstop comedy, endless drama and infinite adventures!  DISCLOSURE: Thanks to HOOQ  and Globe for giving me one-month access to its subscription service. All the best from Cebu Blogging Community !

Since Cebu Blogging Community is already a year old, the Community Leads planned to have a humble celebration over dinner. When they started planning, sponsors from different private establishments poured in and the humble first anniversary dinner turned out into one of the biggest event of the community yet.  Last July 4, 2015, Cebu Blogging Community gathered as one and it was a night of fun, prizes, and surprises. The Community Leads Chanel, Mary, Jeff, Gay and Jhanis was able to invite and convince our sponsors to spend for our dinner, venue and countless surprises.  On that night, everyone was in black and wore endless curves in their lips.  Yamba , our main sponsor, was generous enough to spend for the party's venue and the food we ate. They approached CBC and offered to sponsor our event when they heard were going to have our first anniversary event. Yamba, a social media platform that aims to connect the world through hashtags, is a startup company that as

CONGRATS, ISKA! Lourdes Maglinte topped the Vispop 3.0 with her song "Buwag Balik." In the days when foreign songs reign in the radio station countdowns and where the this generation rely their music choice on the internet, the future of OPM (Original Pilipino Music) may be at risk. Yes, this generation idolizes Taylor Swift, One Direction, or even Justin Bieber. Yes, we know Sam Smith, Echosmith, and The 1975. Let us not forget that this generation also knows Himig Handog and Vispop. Yes, I may have some weird taste of music. In fact, my Spotify playlist includes Vispop, along with other Cebuano songs, and Himig Handog, along with other songs in my #Hugot playlist. Forget Taylor Swift ignoring Spotify. Spotify has been my daily source of good music. While writing this blog in the middle of the night, the #Hugot playlist from Spotify is playing in the background. It gives me the ability to turn my thoughts into words. Also, it helps me concentrate more. OPM,