Mark your calendars! From the 12th to 16th of September, 300 exhibitors from all over the Philippines and all over the world will converge at the SMX Convention Center for the 29th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF).

With the theme “Words without Borders,” the MIBF celebrates the power of literature to cross the boundaries of time, place, and culture. MIBF showcases the largest and most varied collection of literature, textbooks, educational supplements, general references, religious and inspirational titles, self-help books, management books, Filipiniana, coffee table books, popular novels, children’s books, art books, graphic novels, rare and hard-to-find titles, magazines, audio and e-books, multimedia, teaching supplies and services, publishers’ technology, and travel materials.

The 29th Manila International Book Fair is organized by Primetrade Asia, Inc. in partnership with Asian Communicators, Inc., Book Development Association of the Philippines, Philippine Booksellers Association, Inc., and Publishers Representatives Organization of the Philippines. For details, call 890-0661 or 896-0682, log on to www.manilabookfair.com, or e-mail bookfair@primetradeasia.com.

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If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

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NAIA 3 finally had its first departure yesterday with a Cebu Pacific flight to Caticlan. Almost 5 years has passed since construction was finished on the new terminal. Currently, only domestic flights from Cebu Pacific Air, Philippine Airlines Express and Air Philippines will be utilizing the facility. Other PAL flights will still be at Terminal 2, other international Cebu Pacific flights will still be at Terminal 1 while other domestic Cebu Pacific flights will still be at the old domestic terminal. International flights from both airline companies are expected to utilize NAIA 3 later this year.

More Information:
Inquirer - Jets start flying out of NAIA 3 for 1st time

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According to a recent Business World article, Manila has the 3rd cheapest parking rates across Asia Pacific at under $4 a day (about P182). New Delhi has the cheapest at $1.87 and Jakarta goes for about $1.89 with Sydney having the most expensive rates reaching $54 a day.

Mall operators also cited that they do not earn from parking structures (yeah right) and that they charge parking so that people who don’t patronize their malls do not park at their parking structures (someone needs to go back to philo 1).

ABS-CBN News - Manila still has one of lowest parking rates

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PAGASA missed its forecast of typhoon Frank which passed Metro Manila an hour ago, despite earlier predictions that it will not hit Luzon. This in turn delayed the suspension of all sea travel hence the sinking of a Sulpicio Lines ship with 700 people on board.

While we understand that this oversight was caused by the agency’s possible lack of budget to buy better machines for predicting the weather or perhaps the outdated models that they use to predict typhoon direction, we fail to comprehend why the change in direction of the typhoon, which PAGASA can monitor, did not prompt anyone from the agency to contact the coastguard and thereby alert any ships on open water?

Blame game asides, we hope that they everyone on the ship will soon be rescued.

For the rest of us in relatively dry land, classes have been suspended tomorrow for Elementary and High School all over the Metro. College students will have to wait until 11pm tonight for the announcement. Those still experience power outages may call MERALCO’s hotline at 16211. Stay safe to all.

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Good news for everyone this June 12. Metro Rail Transit (MRT) will be offering free rides from 7AM to 9AM and 5PM to 7PM.

Get the scoop on:
Inquirer - MRT giving free rides on Independence Day

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It’s time once again for French Spring in Manila and this feast for the senses brings you the best movies, concerts, exhibits, fairs and more from France. We will be following the event all through May and June so watch out for postings.

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Chris Daughtry of American Idol fame will be playing live in Manila! Tickets for the July 29 concert are now available at Eastwood Information Center and all Ticketnet outlets. Ticket prices range from P650 to P5775.

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The annual Earth Day Jam will start at 7PM tonight at Tomas Morato in Quezon City. The street will be closed to traffic and two stages will be set up - Fire-Air and Earth-Water - so that audience can enjoy music from over 20 bands performing for free. Tents will also be set up around the area to promote environmental awareness and issues. Check out the round up of artists playing at the event from GMA News

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Manila’s Ocean Park will now be open at night. The program, called “Sleeping With the Fish” will be held every Friday from April 25 until the end of May and will start from 6:30 PM until 7 AM the next day. Tickets will be at P1,000 for adults and P750 for children and will include unlimited entrance for that period, dinner, a midnight snack and breakfast.

Inquirer - Ocean Park opens facility to overnight visitors

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Starbucks stores all over the Metro will be taking off P40.00 from the price of your hot or cold drink if you bring along your tumbler today. This is in part of their commitment for World Earth Day because by bringing in your tumbler, Starbucks can reduce the amount of disposable cups that inevitably end up in dump sites every day.

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Good news to all Manila travelers: there is now the perfect map to help you get around. And I do mean get around. As per the recommendation of city cicerone Carlos Celdran, I am buying a Groovy Map ‘N’ Guide of Manila, as should all other tourists and accidental travelers. What is it exactly? Let’s see what the official website has to say:

Designed as an ‘executive brief’, the Groovy Map N Guide has everything you need to get the most of a city in a short time. With clear maps and independent reviews, we’ll lead you to the best in the city. Guaranteed.

We list and locate places on the map in five categories: Groovy Dining, Groovy Bars & Pubs, Groovy Shopping, Groovy Culture, Groovy Clubbing. Leave the guidebook at home — and go out and enjoy a “city made simple”.

Chris Mitchell summarized in his Travelhappy blog: With a map, you don’t want a lot of information - you want the best information, efficiently organised to let you look at it and understand it rapidly - and that’s precisely what the Groovy Map does.

Mr. Celdran himself offers a quick review:

I assure you that it has NONE of the useless crap, advertising and flagrant product placements that the other city maps have. Filled to the brim with useful information about dining, sightseeing, gay and straight bar hopping, and shopping, the map gives you the insider’s view of what to expect as seen through the eyes of someone who you assume is as groovy as you might be. The choices are also rather progressive, the map features underground insider secrets like Fat Michaels, Filling Station, the Evangelista flea markets, and the fantastic Cubao X art scene among many others (like yours truly). Best of all, the map is printed on super thick lamination paper so that it wouldn’t rip or get soggy on the streets steamy ol’ Manila. Be sure to pick one up before you arrive in the city. Or if you are a resident Manileno, just buy a whole bunch to give to visiting friends who wish to independently explore Manila in a fast and funky way. No surprise, that the Groovy Guide was the 2006 Winner ‘Best Tourist/Free Map’ Award from the International Map Trade Association (IMTA) and a recipient of a 5 star rating from Amazon.com.

Groovy. Get one so you can get around.

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Apple what?

Last Thursday in Prince of Jaipur at The Fort, Dell Philippines launched its award-winning XPS and Inspiron laptop computer systems for the consumer segment.

And what an arrival it was! In a dazzling display of colors and artistry – featuring a stunning glow-in-the-dark pantomime performance and an enthralling capoeira number – Dell offered possible in-store buyers a vibrant peek of the beauty and power of its Consumer Brands. “Experience Inspiration,” went the tagline.

For the first time in the Philippines, Dell will be making available through retail partners the award-winning XPS M1330 and the Inspiron 1420 laptops, as well as the Inspiron 530 and slim-build 530s desktops. These were on display during the launch, and then later raffled off to lucky guests, which of course did not include me.

In a statement, Dell Philippines Country Manager Barry Bunyi said: “This is an important initiative for Dell and a great way for us to connect with the Philippine customers we may not have reached in the past. We have had strong success in the corporate segment and the time is right for us to allow the general populace to experience what Dell has to offer.”

For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.

Photos by Nykko Santos.

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Anime enthusiasts gathered in SM Megamall’s Megatrade Hall for O-zine Fest 2008 last weekend. I only went there on Saturday but there were a lot of people. It was a very colorful event, so to speak. And it was amusing to see twins of cosplays. For example, there were two guys cosplaying as Naruto and they were posing for a photo-op. There were also two Haruhis from the anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I also saw someone cosplay Card Captor Sakura, with a small Kero-chan on her shoulder! See the evidence:

There were other activities for those who were interested in games like fish-scooping, drawing, eating contests (Whoopee!) and there was something similar to sumo wrestling but the participants had to be in poring costumes, which was quite amusing to watch.

It’s really fun watching people who are having lots of fun with friends and fellow fans! I just wish that there’d be a better layout so that the merchandise area wouldn’t be as congested as it was during the day my friends and I went there.

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