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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

BISAYAA UY! Catch the Vispop Music Festival this September 13 in UP Cebu. (photo from Vispop) Are you planning to attend Vispop Music Festival this September 13, 2015? If yes, great. See you! If you’re still a bit hesitant, here are 10 awesome reasons why you should attend the first major Vispop concert event! 1. Most popular Vispop songs from 3 seasons will be played during the event. If you’re a loyal Vispop fan since the first season, you should definitely attend this event! This is an avenue for you to listen to the Vispop songs in Spotify and SoundCloud live! Isn’t it great to listen to “Duyog”, “Labyu Langga”, “Balay ni Mayang”, “Bok Love”, and “Buwag Balik”? Of course, there are more Vispop songs that will be played for the Cebuano audience. 2. Missing Filemon will be there to serenade us. Cebu’s premiere Bisrock band will be performing during the Vispop Music Festival. Insoy Niñal, the band’s vocalist, is popular in social media since he’s behind Si

CEBUANO POETRY. Check out Balakista for fresh Cebuano poems . Are you searching for Cebuano poems either because you are required for academic research or you simply want to read modern, fresh Cebuano poetry today? You should definitely check out Balakista: Tingog sa Batan-ong Bisaya . This is a site that publishes Cebuano poems or locally referred as "balak bisaya" but did you know that it should have been "Balak Binisaya"? Bisaya refers to people while Binisaya is to the language, Cebuano. Mistakes like this is normal for people who have no thorough knowledge about Cebuano identity. Balakista publishes mostly free-verse Cebuano poems. This is the type of poetry that most young poets embrace in their writing. Balakista has about more than 50 contributors and has been around for nearly four years . If you're a newbie poet or if you are someone who wants to publish your own Cebuano poems, you can also submit it to Balakista, in their Facebook p

Candidates for Miss Cebu 2015 are officially announced earlier today in the Miss Cebu Facebook account . Miss Cebu 2015 pageant is one of the highlights in the Sinulog 2015 Celebration . To know other events for the Sinulog Festival, check out the Sinulog Festival schedule here . The Pre-Pageant Night will be on January 10, 2015, Saturday, 7 pm, at the Ayala Activity Center. The Coronation Night of Miss Cebu 2015 will be on January 14, 2015, Wednesday, 6:30 pm, at the Pacific Grand Ballroom, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino.  Please see the candidates vying for the title below: Candidate No. 1: Hanica Rachel Arshia J. Ong She is from Mandaue City and currently taking up Law at the University of San Carlos. Candidate No. 2: Febb C. Flores She is from Talisay City and is a Nursing graduate from Cebu Velez College. Currently, she works in Cebu Velez General Hospital as an OR Staff Nurse. Candidate No. 3: Mary Cyrielle A. Wong She is from

For UP students, summer of 2014 is unlike the previous years. Students miss their alma mater more because they’ll be spending extra two months in their homes. As most students leave the university early April, they’ll be back sometime August since academic shift for the entire UP System from June to August was already approved and implemented this academic year 2014-2015. Despite the opposition of some students, the new academic calendar will be taking effect in all campuses of UP including the University of the Philippines Cebu .  For UP Cebu , since I graduated last year, a lot of changes has been taking effect. The administration of Dean Corro has continuously done great things to improve the facilities of this university. When the visited the campus last week, I roamed around and noticed these notable changes: MORE. There will be additional tambayans in front of CSO. The renovation of the UP Cebu Library building is now ongoing. To add the good news, there will

LITERARY. Celebrate #CebuLitFest on your social media by using the hashtag. JUNE 27, FRIDAY. It's a day about everything literary at Ayala Center Cebu! Discover the beauty of words in literary talks, moderated conversations, exhibits, demos, presentations, a book launch and a music and poetry jam at end of day during the event. The bonus: enjoy all of these treats for FREE! Cebu Literary Festival 2014 is presented by Little Boy Productions and the Cebuano Studies Center  in cooperation with the Arts Council of Cebu, Ayala Center Cebu, 22 Tango Records, Happy Garaje, Kenneth Cobonpue, Style Assembly, Steven Atenta, East West Café at the IT Park, Pepper Lunch, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Shakey’s. For details, call (032) 233-0452 or join this public event in Facebook . PROGRAM 1030am - Opening Remarks – Mayor Mike Rama 1045am – Talk: Ten Things You Need to Know about Being a Cebuano Playwright in NYC by Linda Faigao Hall 1145am – Pres

TRAVEL. A free lecture about travel writing in UP Cebu. Are you a Cebu-based travel writer? Are you a travel writer whose currently in Cebu? Do you want to learn more about travel writing? Are you planning to document one of our future travels? Do you want to learn techniques  on how to be a better travel writer? If you have a YES answer to any of these questions,  we are pleased to invite you to the " UP Cebu Creative Writing Program Lecture Series.” This is a three-hour lecture from a renowned Asian travel writer Shivaji Das . He has given several talks on travel writing in Singapore, China, Indonesia and Brazil. This Singapore-based author of " Journey With the Caterpillar " (a humorous travelogue in Indonesia) will be having a lecture on Travel Writing on June 28, 2014, Saturday from 1:00-4:00 PM in UP Cebu AVR-2 . Admission is free. The novelist and PEN Awardee Gina Apostol and New-York based playwright Linda Faigao have previously conducted lec

ADVENTURE. Off to an adventure by visiting Medellin's Funtastic Island! I’ve heard of Gibitngil from my UP Cebu freshmen friends since they had an NSTP community outreach on that island. It’s in Medellin where the people in the community don’t have their own tap water (only one, at the Mayor’s) and their electricity is solar panel-generated (which was Earth-friendly!). It was my first time to hear of the name of Funtastic Island; I didn’t even know that it was located in Gibitngil. First off, the spelling of ‘Funtastic’ is incorrect. Well, I had that confusion at first when I tried to Google and spelled it as ‘fantastic,’ only then I realized it’s Funtastic (please don’t let me explain that they’re trying to link fun and fantastic, but there I said it already). Starting my indefinite summer by travelling to Funtastic Island isn’t a bad idea. It’s actually a stroke of a genius on-the-spot traveler! My friends-of-a-friend are on a weekend vacation and I decided to join the