Let’s Hangout in Iloilo and enjoy the 2011 Dinagyang Festival!

October 14, 2010, Friday
2:00 pm  LOCAL LAUNCH Iloilo Dinagyang Festival 2011 – Freedom Grandstand

December 16, 2010, Friday
2:00 pm PAMUKAW Assembly Area: Promenade passing Iznart, J.M. Basa to Freedom Grandstand

January 4, 2011, Tuesday
2:00 pm  Model Ati Dinagyang Warrior 2011 Presentation

January 7, 2011, Friday
2:00 pm  Model Ati Dinagyang Warrior 2011 Talent Competition

January 9, 2011, Sunday
1:00 pm Model Ati Dinagyang Warrior 2011 Finals

January 14, 2011, Friday
2:30 pm  Mass for Opening Salvo of Tribe Dancers – San Jose Parish Church
3:00 pm OPENING SALVO -  Judging Area

January 14-16, 2010
Iloilo Dinagyang Golf Competition 2011 – Sta. Barbara Golf Club

January 15, 2011, Saturday
7:00 am SQUEAK Parade Route

January 16-23, 2011
Dinagyang Photo Exhibit

January 16, 2011, Sunday
10:00 am – 3:00pm DRESSING UP DAGOY

January 19-23, 2011
2:00 pm -12 mn Iloilo Hotel Resort & Restaurant Association (IHRRA) Food Festival  – Delgado St., Iloilo City

January 21, 2011, Friday
8:00 am TAMBOR TRUMPA MARTSA MUSIKA  – Freedom Grandstand
7:00 pm LUCES IN THE SKY Part I

The following two days are the highlight of the whole festivities

January 22, 2011, Saturday
7:00 am Mass for Kasadyahan – San Jose Parish Church
8:00 pm 2011 KASADYAHAN Competition -  Freedom Grandstand and other stages
2:00 am SPONSORS MARDI GRAS – Judging Area #4 to Freedom Grandstand
7:00 am LUCES IN THE SKY Part II
7:00 pm Religious Sad-sad to Sr. Sto. Niño -  San Jose Parish Church

January 23, 2010, Sunday
6:30 am Concelebrated High Mass for devotees, Tribes, Gov’t. Officials, LOMAS in attendance -  San Jose Parish Church
8:00 am 2011 Dinagyang Ati CONTEST – Freedom Grandstand and other stages
7:00 pm Awarding Ceremonies – Freedom Grandstand

January 24, 2011, Monday
5:30 PM Thanksgiving Mass with all members of 2010 Iloilo Dinagyang Festival Working Committees – San Jose Parish Church

Read the History of Sto Nino

Read more about Iloilo’s Dinagyang Festival

Source:  http://www.dinagyangsailoilo.com

Photos courtesy of RRGenciana Photography, Iloilo City

Freddie Roach found Glen Tapia  20-year-old, Dominican-American power-puncher, Junior-middleweight, with a professional boxing record of 7-0 (5 KO), has been a high-profile sparring partner for world champions Joshua Clottey and Yuri Foreman as the prepared for Miguel Cotto.

Manny Pacquiao Vs Antonio Margarito

Tapia acknowledges that this will be a vital learning experience for him as he attempts to start his own legacy. One of the reason why Roach pick him because he has right-handed, he throws a lot of punches and he’ll give it his all.

Manny Pacquiao Vs Antonio Margarito

Both Pacman and Margarito are legends which make it hard to decide or predict who will come victorious in WBC 154-pound title. However, we can take an in depth look at how both these legends handle a fight. Let us start with Margarito . He’s advantage is both his height and reach. This gives him a larger reach over Pacman on long distance boxing . However, if the fight will stay short distance between them, Margarito will certainly lose the fight. Pacman’s left-cross strength and footwork technique will lead him victorious. Pacman’s left-cross and footwork expertise will certainly come in handy. If Margarito gets Pacman with his straight jab and upper-cut to the jaw then that is another story.

According to Bob Arum

“Cotto was beaten and even with [Hall of Fame trainer] Emanuel Steward now with him, I don’t think people believe that it’s enough to make a difference and I’m not sure they would buy it as competitive,” Arum said by telephone from his vacation home in Los Angeles.

“But putting aside the controversy about the wraps, the one thing you know for sure with a Margarito fight is that it will be a hell of a fight for however long it lasts.

“Margarito knows only one way to fight and that’s coming forward. They’re going to get in there and fight. That’s what people want to see.”

Basing from there record it seems that Pacman may have the edge over Margarito but these are only speculations and opinions. On November 13,2010 all of our questions will be answered when one of these legends come out victorious over the other.

Watch Opening Ceremony Youth Olympic Games 2010

The Youth Olympic Games 2010 (YOG) is an international multi-sport event first held in Singapore opening August 14, 2010 and scheduled to last 12 days until August 26. The games are planned to be held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consistent with the current Olympic Games format. The Youth Olympic Games will feature athletes between the ages of 14 and 18. The idea for such an event was introduced by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge in 2001. On July 6, 2007, IOC members at the 119th IOC session in Guatemala City approved the creation of a youth version of the Olympic Games.

Watch Free Online Stream Youth Olympic Games 2010 Opening (YOG)

presents…

“Street Wave 2″

Please come and join us in our up coming car show this August 14, 2010 at the Boardwalk Parking Area, Diversion Road, Iloilo City.

Entrance is 50php with one free drink. Car exhibit and contests the whole afternoon and car audio sound off in the evening.

Hope to see you there!!!

The Celtics were coming out of a timeout with 38.9 seconds to play and clinging to an 87-82 lead when Pierce ran up the sideline and caught a long pass from Kevin Garnett, and without so much as a hitch in his throw as he was falling out-of-bounds, Pierce fired a bullet pass to a streaking Rajon Rondo, who finished the play with a reverse layup.

“I was just showing off my Randy Moss and Tom Brady in one play, that’s all,” Pierce said after torching the Lakers for a team-high 27 points on 12-for-21 shooting. “Going up to catch it, then I went to my Brady move when I was falling out-of-bounds to find Rondo on the receiving end.”

Watch NBA Lakers Vs Celtics Game 5 Live Online Free

It was the game-clinching play for the Celtics on a night that saw them make dozens of crucial hustle plays that helped them survive Kobe Bryant‘s offensive onslaught.

“It was all instinctive,” Pierce said. “I took off long, and that was part of the play. We tried to get Ray [Allen] the ball and I think Kevin saw Derek Fisher was on me so he just threw it up. I know I was on the sideline falling out and I turned and I saw Rondo streaking and I was able to it to him and he made a great play.”

Pierce might not have a career as a travel agent, since he’s botched the Celtics’ last two trips he planned — he promised they weren’t going back to LA in this series after they won Game 2, and yet here he is ready to head back to Los Angeles for Games 6 and possibly 7.

But there might some football in his future, if you let him tell it.

“Paul has said for years that he can play for the Patriots,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers joked. “Maybe we might have to believe him.”

Watch NBA Lakers Vs Celtics Game 5 Live Online

Source: NBA.com

Colorful Lakers forward Ron Artest introduced a new candidate for debate Wednesday, when he spent six confusing minutes trying to explain why he’s so impressed with Glen “Big Baby” Davis, the Celtics’ 6-foot-9, 289-pound bulldozer in baggy shorts.

The gist, after three rugged games in these NBA Finals of trading elbows and body blocks with Big Baby, is that Artest swears he’s never seen a man this big, this nimble, this skilled or this versatile on a basketball court or anywhere else.

“He should have been a football player and a basketball player,” Artest said before going on, “basketball, too, and a boxer. What about rugby? Tennis, a bodyguard, a bouncer, he definitely should bounce … he’s just a great athlete.”

And unique in a league filled with versatile athletes.

NBA Lakers Vs Celtics Game 4 Online Streaming

Davis is also a great fit for the Celtics off the bench. During a series in which the Celtics haven’t had their celebrated Big Three-plus one of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo put it together simultaneously, Davis has led a bench crew that’s kept the Celtics in the thick of all three games.

Averaging 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in his 20 minutes per game, Davis has provided the kind of energy and production off the bench that has helped sustain the Celtics through a series they trail 2-1 heading into Thursday’s ultra critical Game 4 at TD Garden.

He’s come a long way from the struggles he experienced earlier this season. Celtics’ management and coach Doc Rivers were upset when Davis broke his right thumb fighting with a childhood friend just two days before the season opener, a transgression that earned him a suspension.

This is the same Davis who barked at a heckling fan during a road game in Detroit in January and was suspended for a game by the league and admonished by Rivers for being childish. “Glen Davis has to grow up,” Rivers said then.

His performance during this postseason, and particularly these first three games of the Finals, is proof that Davis is ready to permanently retire at least one of his nicknames. (”Big Baby” has to go. but the “Ticket Stub” must remain.) Davis continues to serve as the rock on the court and the surprising voice of reason off of it. He’s doing it in the midst of a wicked rivalry capable of consuming even the most level-headed of participants, too.

How’d he deal with the disappointment of the Celtics dropping Game 3 on their home floor?

Watch NBA Lakers Vs Celtics Game 4 Live Online Free

“I got some sleep,” he said. “I watched the film over and over again, I kept rewinding it. I didn’t make bedtime until probably like [3 a.m.]”

What Davis said he saw on film would have been fodder for disciplinary action against the Big Baby. But not the new and improved Glen Davis.

“The refs are some special people,” Davis said smiling. “They’re one of a kind, and it’s hard to be them. I wouldn’t want to be them at all … there’s a lot of things that come into the game of basketball that you have to deal with, but the refs have to take it from everybody.”

Davis is getting universal love these days from just about everybody; friends, foes likes Artest, and even his own coach.

With Game 3, and potentially this series and the Celtics’ season on the line in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, Rivers went with Davis instead of Perkins. Davis responded with a team-high eight points, making all three of his shots, though he was unable to outduel Lakers’ late-game hero Derek Fisher.

When asked if there was something wrong with Perkins or if he just liked what Davis was giving his team, Rivers didn’t hesitate.

“Baby was playing well,” Rivers said. “No conspiracy. Baby was playing well.”

Fine, so maybe we won’t retire the nickname. But all the baggage that comes with it appears to have vanished for this one-of-a-kind young athlete.

Source: www.nba.com

Flores de Mayo and Santacruzan are two of the most colorful religious-cultural Filipino festivals celebrated every month of May all over the Philippines.

Flores de Mayo

Flores de Mayo means flowers of May. It is a month-long flower Festival celebrated in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the time of the year where kids, while enjoying their 3-month long summer break from schools, are given a chance to learn Catechesis and develop their love of the Blessed Virgin Mary by daily devotions, prayers and floral offerings.

Origin

The Norther Illinois University, in one of their web publications about Southeast Asia (www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Cynthia/festivals) cited two reasons for the origin of this devotion. It may have started on the mid-1800s when the Immaculate Conception was solemnly defined as a dogma by Pope Pius IX in his constitution Ineffabilis Deuson 8 December 1854. And after the publication in 1867 of Mariano Sevilla’s translation of the devotional Flores de Maria or Mariquit na Bulaclac na sa Pagninilaynilay sa Buong Buan nang Mayo ay Inihahandog nang manga Devoto cay Maria Santisima (The Flowers of Mary or the Beautiful Flowers that in the Meditations During the Whole Month of May are Offered by Devotees to Mary the Holiest).

Santacruzan

The Santarcruzan is the Filipino version of the principal feast of the True Cross. This is the celebration depicting the search of the Holy Cross by Emperor Constatine’s mother, Queen Helena. www.seasite.niu.edu described the Santacruzan as a “religious-historical beauty pageant held in many cities, towns and even small villages throughout the Philippines during the month of May. One of the most colorful May-time festivals in the Philippines which commemorates the search of the Holy Cross by Queen Helena (Reina Elena) and her son, the newly converted emperor Constantine. After the Holy Cross was found in Jerusalem and brought back to Rome, there was a joyful celebration for thanksgiving”

“Nine days of prayer (a novena) in honor of the Holy Cross precedes the Flores de Mayo or Santacruzan. This festival was introduced by the Spaniards in the Philippines and has since become part of Filipino traditions identified with youth, love and romance.”

Origin

The Feast of the Cross like so many other liturgical feasts, had its origin at Jerusalem, and is connected with the commemoration of the Finding of the Cross and the building, by Constantine, of churches upon the sites of the Holy Sepulchre and Calvary. In 335 the dedication of these churches was celebrated with great solemnity by the bishops who had assisted at the Council of Tyre, and a great number of other bishops. This dedication took place on the 13th and 14th of September. This feast of the dedication, which was known by the name of the Encnia, was most solemn; it was on an equal footing with those of the Epiphany and Easter. (www.newadvent.org)

Why, then, the Filipinos observe the Santacruzan in May and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in September? There may be no accurate answer to this question. But one of the most logical may be found in Catholic Encyclopedia’s Archaeology of the Cross and Crucifix: “Constantine’s vision of the Cross, and perhaps another apparition which took place in Jerusalem in 346, would seem to have been commemorated in this same feast. But its chief glory is its connection with the restoration of the True Cross to the Church of Jerusalem, after it had been carried away by the Persianking, Chosroes (Khusrau) II, the conqueror of Phocas, when he captured and sacked the Holy City. This Chosroes was afterwards vanquished by the Emperor Heraclius II and in 628 was assassinated by his own son Siroes(Shirva), who restored the Cross to Heraclius. It was then carried in triumph to Constantinople and thence, in the Spring of the year 629, to Jerusalem.”

This could had been the springtime in Constantinople since Jerusalem has only summer and winter seasons. And the springtime in Constantinople (presently Turkey) is from April to June. The Philippine Santacruzan may had been a celebration of the restoration of the True Cross to the Church of Jerusalem.

Veneration of the Holy Cross

The Cross to which Christ had been nailed, and on which He had died, became for Christians, quite naturally and logically, the object of a special respect and worship. St. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 1:17: “For Christ sent me not to baptize; but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christshould be made void”; in Galatians 2:19: “With Christ I am nailed to the cross“; in Ephesians 2:16: Christ . . . . “might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross“; in Philippians 3:18: “For many walk . . . enemies of the cross of Christ“; in Colossians 2:14: “Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he hath taken the same out of the way, fastening it to the cross“; and in Galatians 6:14: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world”.

It seems clear, therefore, that for St. Paul the Cross of Christ was not only a precious remembrance of Christ’s sufferings and death, but also a symbol closely associated with His sacrifice and the mystery of the Passion. It was, moreover, natural that it should be venerated and become an object of a cult with the Christians who had been saved by it.(www.newadvent.org)

Article sources: filipino.com.au, seasite.niu.edu, newadvent.org . Photo source: duszmtorres

Placido Domingo – Amore Infinito: Songs inspired by the Poetry of John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla)

La Tua Semplicitá one of the songs present on Amore Infinito, the new album by Plácido Domingo, who calls it one of the most important recordings of his career. Before Karol Wojtyla became Pope John Paul II, he began writing poetry during years as a quarry worker, playwright, actor, seminary student and priest. Now Domingo, out of deep respect and reverence for “the greatest human being I have ever known,” has created this collection of settings as a personal affirmation of faith and tribute to the late Polish pontiff.