I am very excited about the Kadayawan Festival this year because I'm actively participating in promoting it. The emotional investment is just way up there when you're doing the dirty work yourself. That said, I got the chance to join a colleague from Davao Digital Influencers, Dave of Tellpenpen, who happens to writes for Davao Eagle as well, in attending a press conference from one of this year's Kadayawan highlights: the Invasion Tour!

I've long had this fascination for Invasion because my first music festival ever was their Buglasan 2014. It was one of the more memorable experiences in my life: I met DJ Jet Boado up close and have been crushing on the guy ever since. As I real-time posted on IG my Invasion experience, the Spectrum team were sending me love, leaving Spectrum "loves you" comments on my posts, which you'd love too if you were just getting over a 6-year relationship. I also was able to make friends during and we're all still friends until now.

It was such a feel-good event, the memory simply stuck with me. This is why I'm always excited when they're in town or in the town I happen to be visiting at the moment. Other than Davao, the Invasion Tour also stops in major cities like Bacolod, Cebu and Iloilo.

Invasion is more than just a musical production. While promoting musical acts, they also help boost interest in local tourism since they organize their Invasion Tour around a city's major festival such as Cebu's Sinulog and, well, Davao's Kadayawan. As someone who's always seeking for a more profound reason for doing something, their mission strikes a chord with me. I'm very proud that I chose to go all out with my support for the Spectrum team.

Spectrum Philippines produces the Invasion tour. It is a Philippine professional full-service events and entertainment company that provides innovative production, and media and consultancy for artists, brands, and consumers. They are at the forefront of technology and trends so you know your senses are in for a real treat when you're joining one of their shows.


The Venue

For this year's Kadayawan Invasion, the venue will be set up like this:

There's lots of space to chill with your friends and plenty more to make new ones. The food park is also unique in that they've picked out only those that will highlight Davao's food culture. You can count on plenty of fruit varieties to choose from as well as some familiar street faves. 

The Music

This year, the Spectrum team will showcase in its massive stage an international-standard show production that includes a world-class, all-Filipino DJ line-up. Young actor turned international DJ, Tom Taus, will be headlining the show. Check out his Ultra Korea gig in this vid:

Joining Tom are the duo Motherbass: Nix Damn P! + drummer Macky Brillantes, it'll be their first time to perform on Mindanao soil. Talents Inno Naugit, Funk Avy and 3x hypeman of the year Mc Paolo will be there too. Davao's very own Jack Ripper will be setting the mood. I think it's wise to try and make it there when gates open at 5pm. It'll be the best way to make the most out of the event. (Actually just a note-to-self as I'm notoriously known for not making it to a party until around 11pm-ish. I've a good feeling that this time around it'll be different.)

That said, I'm really looking forward to how everything pans out. The brothers Onozawa said they've upgraded the technical side of their production and that security will also be very stringent. We were informed there won't be any opportunity for party crashers to make their own little festivity outside of the site. I know how that goes. My friends and I have done that on one too many occasions for other similar "rave parties" They want to make sure that those within the vicinity will be safe and the best way to ensure that is to only allow ticket holders to pass.

There's also this cool, uh, feature, if you will, of the Invasion Tour: they'll have Spectrum Cares deployed in the area. This is a team of Spectrum insiders in party-goer disguises looking out for guests so the latter won't have too much fun that they won't have a memory of their experience the very next day. The whole team wants to make sure that each guest's Invasion experience will be a safe and memorable one. Again, I couldn't be any prouder.

Spectrum aims to give those who do not live in the capital city an opportunity to experience a festival that is aligned with the higher standards in Manila. This covers not just the meticulous technical production but also the well-planned security measures. 

I hope to see you all there and have us all share Invasion moments together! Get more information about the event at http://www.spectrum.ph/invasiondavao. You can also follow their social handles and get to know their hashtags to get ready for the events. Click on the links spread out in bold all over this article.

Lastly, and I know it's worth mentioning, there will be FREE WIFI in the whole event area thanks to Smart! I hear two huge antennae will be setup. Just don't forget to say 'Hi!' to the people at the Smart booth to get the passwords.

I've always wanted an iPad. I've never actually owned one. I always thought a phone with a huge screen is just the better option: You only need one device for everything - scheduling, reading, communicating. Until last week. When I almost had the chance to own one. When it would have been handed to me by no less than the drool-worthy singer Michael Pangilinan. When it could have come with a peck on the cheek.

It should really be illegal to have that much talent in all that hotness.

But I missed out.

Kissey was lucky enough to get handpicked. *sniffles*

Michael asked if there's a working female in the audience who wanted to go on stage and have the honor of standing right next to him. I'm sure that's not what he said but that's what I heard. 

I missed out because the thought of falling flat on my face when I go up was unbearable. My knees get all wobbly around pretty boys.

That's Khel Pangilinan's hanky.

Thankfully, all is not lost. I can still own one. You can own one.

Smart Bro, the leading mobile broadband brand under Smart Communications Inc, invites us to welcome change with their best deal ever. Enjoy high-speed surfing on your own iPad Mini 2 for only P599/month. Just in time for Kadayawan 2016, this exclusive package includes 1.7GB data of their fast and reliable LTE technology plus the iPad Mini 2. If you spend around Php100 for load every week, then switching from prepaid wouldn't feel much of a switch with this plan.

The monthly service fee is actually just Php299. The Php300 is the installment for the iPad. I think that's a really good deal. I'm not sure what happens when you reach the max data. But I don't think you'll have to worry about that - at least not for the first three months of your subscription. During those months, you'll get to enjoy free 1.1GB of video streaming for YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. 

Learn more about this amazing offer here: http://smart.com.ph/Bro/plans-and-devices/appleipad/mini-withretina

The product launching was held at Home Crest Hotel last August 6, 2016. This was just one of many stops for the Smart Brokada road trip across the country. They've already been to Manila, Baguio, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Ilocos and as of that launching day, are set to visit Olongapo, Zamboanga, Bulacan and Iloilo. We had the pleasure of meeting Bb. Pilipinas-Universe MJ Lastimosa and singer Michael Pangilinan.

The arm-grabbing got me reeling, I kid you not. (Image: Jojie Alcantara)

The rest of the cities might get the chance to meet the other Brokada celebrities as well: athletes Gretchen Ho, Michelle and Mark Gumabao, singer Christian Bautista and Ms. International 2013 Bea Santiago.

Here are some more snaps from the event. (Images: Jojie Alcantara)

About a week after my very first taste of what it feels like to be a part of an actual and legit blogging community, I now have my back against the wall in terms of deadline. "We don't want a stale blow-by-blow account of an event", I was informed. So here's a rundown of what happened on that very lucky 6th day of August 2016.

Pokemon Go PH launched. Finally. 

I made the fortunate decision to wear something similar to a Pokemon trainer avatar. I swear it wasn't premeditated. I only realized how awesome my timing was when I stepped out the door. Props to the brother for indulging my spur-of-the-moment idea to OOTD. He took this photo:

I met my forever. For that week. Hello, Michael Pangilinan! I swooned far too many times. Thanks, SmartBro for the bringing the SmartBrokada ambassadors to Davao, Queen MJ Lastimosa included. She is drop-dead gorgeous. But since I've always been open about how boy-crazed I am, I'm sure my unflinching fascination with the male singer is forgivable. About 90% sure.

Image: Jojie Alcantara

I got major flashbacks of some of my best times in college - thanks to no less than the Asia's Songbird herself, as well as PLDT Home, for bringing her here.

It was my mom's birthday, which sadly became just an afterthought because of everything else that was happening. She decided to spend her birthday weekend in Manila with the sister and the Dad. Boo. But then again, it was probably for the best. I would have been pestered to make a collage (which she does year after year) and I wouldn't have had the time to oblige.




The 3D Museum made her forget that all I did was sent her a quick text. Thank goodness.

I met the wonderful people that make up Davao Digital Influencers, Inc. I only had the pleasure of getting acquainted with them through Facebook until that day. Shout-out to the beautiful Jean of palraine.com for inviting me to join. I fangirl-ed a bit especially when I met the vloggers Kissey and JLab. I had never actually met vloggers in person until that day so I was gushing. Mostly though, I just wore a dumdum look on my face for not knowing who's who. Someone has been living under a rock.