Almost all person I know who have gone to Manila Ocean Park are saying that it was a good place and you learn a lot while enjoying at the same time. The only comment they made was the admission price which was P400 for adults and P350 for kids. The Manila Ocean Park is an oceanarium in Manila, Philippines. It is owned by China Oceanis Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of China Oceanis Inc., a Singaporean-registered firm that has operated four oceanariums in China. The Manila Ocean Park (MOP) is currently under construction behind the historical Quirino Grandstand at the Rizal Park. Still incomplete, the Manila Ocean Park nonetheless is now partly open, as of March 1, 2008. The (8,000 square meters) oceanarium is said to be bigger than (6,000 square meters) Sentosa's Underwater World oceanarium in Singapore in terms of floor area but its 25-meters underwater acrylic tunnel is far shorter than Sentosa's 83-meters with moving travellator. Together with the Ocenarium, there will also be a Marine Theme mall and the hotel, theme park, out door pools, restaurants which are soon to open in mid to late 2008 and an open marine habitats which are set to open in the second quarter of 2009.

The main objectives of the Manila Ocean Park are the following:

• To provide Filipinos and foreign tourists a premium place that showcases the beautiful flora and marine fauna species found in the Philippines.
• Committed to educate the public and to promote awareness on the conservation and preservation of Philippine flora and marine fauna.
• Offers the public an innovative shopping experience with the country’s only marine-themed mall, housing selected premium branded stores.
• Provides the consumer a truly unique dining and social experience with its distinctive F&B outlets and function facilities.
• Provides an ideal location for memorable corporate events.
• Offers world-class accommodation in its one-of-a-kind, marine-themed boutique hotel.

Thanks to Allen for this wonderful images. The last image was is a foot under spa.  Small fishes eats dead cells on your foot.  Nice nice nice.   If you want to learn more try visiting Manila Ocean Park and Wikipedia.

It has been 17 years had passed since the destructive explosion of Mount Pinatubo.  The volcano's eruption in June 1991 produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century.  The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide. It ejected roughly 10 billion metric tons of magma, and 20 million tons of SO2, bringing vast quantities of minerals and metals to the surface environment. It injected large amounts of aerosols into the stratosphere—more than any eruption since that of Krakatoa in 1883. Over the following months, the aerosols formed a global layer of sulfuric acid haze. Global temperatures dropped by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F), and ozone depletion temporarily increased substantially. 

Many structures and livelihood were destroyed.  Nearby towns were burried from the ashes.  But now, you can see how nature heals itself.  These images were taken by Teng.  In her pictures which you can see how the once ash covered Mount Pinatubo is now a serene, calm and peaceful place.

Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, at the inter section of the borders of the provinces of Zambales, Tarlac, and Pampanga. Ancestral Pinatubo was a stratovolcano made of andesite and dacite. Before 1991, the mountain was inconspicuous and heavily eroded. It was covered in dense forest which supported a population of several thousand indigenous people, the Aeta, who had fled to the mountains from the lowlands when the Spanish conquered the Philippines in 1565.  If you want to learn more check Mount_Pinatubo in Wikipedia.

I have only posted once about kitchen and that is about kitchen lighting 101.  but this one is so cool that I cannot help but share it with you.   The above image of a kitchen was designed by Bruce Bolander Architect.  The combination of acid green and baby blue colors blends well in this one. 

With this, I guess I will be posting more on about kitchens thinking it is important to all of us especially to those who love cooking.

After knowing how to spruce-up your bedroom and have ideas from creative hotel room, here are great bedroom inspirations when you are about to change or have a newer bedroom.  These designs are from  Tomasella, an italian furniture brand.  Tomasella quoted:

 “Nowadays, Tomasella Industria Mobili is a company that spreads out over 100,0000 m2. Always staying at the forefront of technological and creative innovation, and perfectly in tune with the tastes of our times, Tomasella has led Italian furniture, both classic and modern, for the daytime or night-time area, to write an important chapter in its history.”

 

This is the newly renovated Cascais Music Conservatory in Cascais, Portugal.  At first glance you will see the new windows and the gray stucco.  For me this is a great example on how you could use not so vibrant dark colors to your structure.  Sometimes we are mislead on not using this types of color because of the effect it could bring on the structure.  But in this structure, there is lot to it.  As if you are looking for some more which makes the building be more interesting.  The result of the windows makes the gray color be the more of a background because of the contrasting effect it brings.  So next time remember to include this kind of colors in your choice for exterior look. 



That renovation is only a tip of the iceberg.  The main big renovation was at the rear of the existing Boaventura boarding house where the extension and the architecture happens, on an adjacent lot purchased for what is also the headquarters of the Cascais and Oeiras Orchestra. The one-story extension engages the existing building and follows the curve of the road towards a stepped garden and pool at the far end of the site.



This is an architectural intervention of the minimalist sort, with the occasional flourish, be it the patterned perimeter wall or the ceiling and operable cabinets of the main space overlooking the garden.  Look at the ceiling and lighting design made on the room below. 



Great isn't it. From Archidose

PAL Express is the low-fares unit of Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Last May 5, 2008 Philippine Airlines commonly known as PAL have launched PAL Express.  It is the new low-fares unit of PAL win which it will serve mainly domestic island points throughout the Philippines from hubs in Cebu and Manila. Their current promo are as follows:

Manila to Boracay and vice versa - as low as 588 pesos

As low as 88 pesos (exlusive of insurance, fuel surcharge and taxes) you could travel from Manila - Busuanga vice-versa (v.v.) - Cebu - Bacolod v.v. - Cebu - Boracay v.v. - Cebu - Butuan v.v. - Cebu - General Santos v.v. - Cebu - Tacloban v.v. - Cebu - Davao v.v. - Cebu - Iloilo v.v.- Cebu - Puerto Princesa v.v.

Selling Period: Until May 25, 2008
Travel Period: May 19 to August 15, 2008

Book and buy now at palexpressair.com.  Happy tripping.

Did it crossed your mind that you could do better commercial compare to the ones you see on TV? Here is your chance to prove your point. Dockers is having this Dockers contest and all you have to do is make them a 30 seconds TV commercial for Dockers and send it to www.nbc.com/Dockers. The grand prize winner will have the chance for his/her video commercial to be aired on the popular The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tentatively on 13th June 2008. Better get yourself busy making the greatest commercial video and you might come up with a brilliant one that'll make you famous!

Be sure that your 18 years old or older and a legal resident of the 50 United States or District of Columbia before entering or your entry is voided. Please read the rules or the mechanics of the contest on the given link to ensure winning. Failure to do so may disqualify you from joining.

Of all the submitted commercials so far, there is one video that caught my attention and its title is Define Pants but all of them are good actually and maybe you could do better. All of them looks like where created by a real pro. I like that video because of its straight to the point direction. It is only 30 seconds so better get to the point in order for the commercial to be notice and effective.

If you think you are qualified for the contest and you think you can do better than the ones already submitted, join and prove yourself. Who knows? Your video will turn out to be the best. Start filming and submit your entry before the dateline on 28th May 2008. Take note that pornographic, offensive, and political videos are not allowed. Join now and have fun.

Looks like giant eggs have landed from the universe stating free breakfast for all.  But kidding aside, it is the work of Dutch artist Henk Hofstra and he has done it again with a new environmental art project called ‘Art Eggcident’ in Leeuwarden, a city in the north of the Netherlands.

Several large eggs (each 100 feet wide) were spread on th Zaailand, one of the largest city squares in the Netherlands and the eggs’ will remain in Leeuwarden for the next six months.

His attempt is to make an urban installation art visible on google earth.  His previous works is called Urban River.

from Wooster Collective.

I am hoping you have already heard of SocialSpark which is the latest offering of IZEA. If you have not heard of it and I may say you are left behind in the online marketing. It is much better with other similar website covering the same service and the thing that makes it unique is that it is interactive. It has become more of a social network where you could interact and socialize other bloggers/advertisers. Everyone gets to set up a profile and included in your profile are the blogs you have submitted so anyone can see your blogs, which is great for gaining exposure! Here is my Socialspark profile.

An exciting feature about SocialSpark is the number of ways you could participate.

• Paid Opportunities - Sponsored posts; advertisers set a price range and their specific requirements for the post. The paid opportunities have dynamic pricing, which means the amount paid will fluctuate based on the demand for advertising. If an opportunity has many bloggers in line for it, the price may fall a bit as opposed to a time period where not many are interested in doing it.
  
• Blog sponsorships - a banner appears across the bottom of the blog on every page load and payment is based on a per day requirement. You are paid a certain amount each day this is active on your blog. This is shown by having a banner appear across the bottom of the blog on every page load.
• BlogUBack Opportunities - You blog on the suggested topic and in turn, the advertiser will write about you!
• Sparks - a great way to get an idea to blog about. You're not paid to write about a spark, it's just a great way to get ideas for blogging if you should find yourself with writer's block!

Now I have been using using it and I may say it as a non-friendly interface. It takes me amount of time before to know it.  You have to do several clicks before you could go to the page you want to go.  An example is there is no specific link for all your opportunities taken and finished.  You have to find them in marketplace before you could know you have been awarded the slot or before you could re-edit your post.  But there is one good thing  about  SocialSpark that I like is that they will put you on que for the opportunity you wanted.  Meaning if there is an open slot, the next person to be given that slot is whoever first in the que or waiting slot.

So if you still do not have an account with SocialSpark, this is the time to get one.

-- This is a Sponsored Post.

The Wall Street Journal Asia, the leading Asian business paper, in its April 26 to 27 issue reported that ABS-CBN is the seventh most admired company in the Philippines.

ABS-CBN also ranked third in the Innovation Award category (for TFC Now) ahead of Banco de Oro, Ayala Land, Ayala Corp., PLDT, Universal Robina, BPI, and SM Prime. ABS-CBN is the only media and content company that made it in both categories. The survey “Asia’s 200 Most Admired Companies” was conducted by research firm Colmar Brunton on behalf of the renowned business paper and covered 2,477 executives and professionals as respondents.