YOUR FACE SOUNDS FAMILIAR : FINAL FOUR ANNOUNCED!

After 12 intense week of competition, the newest hit reality show "Your Face Sounds Familiar" announced the final four celebrities that will battle it out live next week for the chance to be the first celebrity winner of the show.

The final four celebrities are:

NYOY VOLANTE

Acoustic singer Nyoy topped the elimination round with a total of 257 points. He won twice, first when he impersonated Justin Bieber and during the last week when he impersonated Luciano Pavarotti. Nyoy has been the most consistent contestant in the show.

JAY-R

R&B singer Jay-R got second place after the 12 week eliminations with 246 points. He also won twice, during the first week when he impersonated Pinoy rock legend Pepe Smith and during the fourth week when he impersonated Kenny Rogers. He is the only finalist that never got the last place.

MELAI CANTIVEROS

Pinoy Big Brother big winner Melai Cantiveros is the only female finalist in the show. She is tied with Edgar Allan at 3rd place after the elimination round with 202 points. She won once during week 9 when she impersonated Elizabeth Ramsey. She never fails to entertain everyone week after week in this show.

EDGAR ALLAN GUZMAN

Indie Prince Edgar Allan Guzman is the biggest revelation in this show. The winner of Eat Bulaga's Mr Pogi in 2006 is tied with Melai after the elimination round with 202 points. He won once during week 10 when he impersonated Vice Ganda. He has impressed everyone with his dancing and even his singing skills.

The show will have its live finale next week.

Images are from the official website of Your Face Sounds Familiar Philippines.

2015 SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES : PROMO FOR GILAS PILIPINAS CADETS

With a few days left in the preparations, here is a short promo published by Sports 5 in their YouTube channel for the Philippine basketball team, the Gilas Pilipinas Cadets, for the 2015 Southeast Asian Games who are targeting to defend their title that they won in 2013 in Myanmar :

The team will be composed of the following players: Baser Amer, Mac Belo, Kevin Ferrer, Jiovani Jalalon, Glenn Khobuntin, Kiefer Ravena, Prince Rivero, Troy Rosario, Earl Scottie Thompson, Norbert Torres, Almond Vosotros and naturalized veteran Marcus Douthit. They will be coached by Tab Baldwin.

The team will be playing in Group A and will start their campaign on June 10. Here is their game schedule:

June 10 - vs Indonesia (1pm)

June 11 - vs Malaysia (4pm)

June 12 - vs Timor Leste (6pm)

The semi-final matches will be played on June 14 and the finals will be on June 15.

2015 SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES : PHILIPPINE VOLLEYBALL TEAM RECOGNIZED DURING THE SHAKEYS V-LEAGUE FINALS

The members of the Philippine Volleyball National Team for the 2015 Southeast Asian Games was called and recognized during the finals of the Open Conference of Shakey's V-League. All 13 members of the team was present and were called out before the awarding ceremonies where PLDT got the championship after winning over Army.

Here is a glimpse of the national team from Tiebraker Times Twitter account :

#LabanPilipinas PH WVT SEA Games team present earlier. pic.twitter.com/HqVziijpeU

— Tiebreaker Times (@TiebreakerTimes) May 31, 2015

The team will join other athletes during the opening ceremonies on June 5, where Alyssa Valdez will be the flag bearer, and will start their quest for a medal after a decade long absence on June 10.

Here is a promo released by Sports5 in their YouTube channel:

The team will start their campaign on June 10, their schedule is as follows:

June 10 - vs Indonesia (12pm)
June 11 - vs Malaysia (10am)
June 13 - vs Vietnam (10am)

Semifinal matches will be played on June 14 and the finals on June 15.

Wishing good luck to Team Philippines and I am hoping that everyone will cheer for them, politics aside.

PINOY BIG BROTHER : SOME HOUSEMATES ALREADY CONFIRMED

Some of the housemates of the upcoming new season of the reality show Pinoy Big Brother has been confirmed this weekend. As revealed by Direk Laure Dyogi in his Twitter account, 6 housemates has been confirmed as of yesterday :

last night anuska and i already confirmed 6 housemates for season 6.

— Direk Lauren (@direklauren) May 30, 2015

After this announcement, some pictures were also posted in his and PBB's official Twitter account :

Another confirmed housemate: Mindanao represent 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/NzXXB7Puls

— Pinoy Big Brother (@PBBabscbn) May 30, 2015

Visayas represent 🙌🏼 #PBB737 pic.twitter.com/zJQfWb9BcX

— Pinoy Big Brother (@PBBabscbn) May 30, 2015

A girl from Luzon 👌🏼#PBB737 pic.twitter.com/dQPCahWl2q

— Pinoy Big Brother (@PBBabscbn) May 30, 2015

We've got one global housemate! Any guess which part of the world? #PBB737 pic.twitter.com/k2ajVJdX8N

— Pinoy Big Brother (@PBBabscbn) May 30, 2015

The show is expected to premiere sometime in June.

PINOY BIG BROTHER WILL PREMIERE IN JUNE 2015!

After 10 years when it first opened, the doors of the Pinoy Big Brother house will again welcome a new set of housemates next month. It was announced in the show's official Twitter account that the new season will premiere in June 2015:

#PBB737 ngayong June na 🙌🏼 http://t.co/Tpr0cMAr9V

— Pinoy Big Brother (@PBBabscbn) May 28, 2015

You can watch the teaser posted in ABS-CBN interactive's YouTube channel here.

As of the writing, the final casting is also being done tonight as posted in the show's Twitter page. Can't wait for the new season already!

PHILIPPINES SET TO JOIN THE FIBA UNDER-18 3X3 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Team Philippines once again will join the FIBA Under-18 3x3 World Championship. It will be held at the Kossuth Square in Debrecen, Hungary next week, from June 4 to 7, 2015.

Philippines will be in Pool A with top seed Hungary, Poland, Kazakhstan, Uruguay and Russia. Here is the complete list of pools in the said tournament:

Team Philippines will be lead by the defending slam dunk champion Kobe Paras and he will be joined by Richard Escoto, Michael Nieto and Ricci Paolo Rivero.

Each country will play in a single round robin format in their respective pools. The top 4 teams after this will advance to the knockout round where an eventual champion will be crowned.

Here is the schedule of Team Philippines in the first round:

• June 4, 4:50pm - vs Poland
• June 4, 7:20pm - vs Hungary
• June 5, 5:10pm - vs Kazakhstan
• June 5, 7:40pm - vs Russia
• June 6, 2:10pm - vs Uruguay

All the games of Team Philippines will be played at the Main Court. Games of the Last 16 will be played on June 6 and the quarterfinals up to the finals will be played on June 7.

NBA : RILEY CURRY IS JUST THE CUTEST!

Look at how Riley Curry, the daughter of Golden State warrior star Stephen Curry, stole the show from his dad at the post game interview after Golden State won their semi-finals series to barge into the NBA Finals :

Video is from the official YouTube channel of NBA

BUZZFEED FEATURES FILIPINO FOOD AGAIN!

Buzzfeed again featured Filipino food in its new video released today in its official YouTube channel :

Hopefully they can also feature Americans trying to say Filipino tongue twisters too sometime soon!

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFIER : AZKALS ANNOUNCES 23 MAN TRAINING POOL

The Philippine Azkals announced the 23 names that it called back for the training camp for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifier. The pool is consists of a mix of veteran Azkals campaigners, youngblood that has been competing with the Azkals for the past years, returning players and even new faces but veteran players from international leagues.

The 23 names that has been called are as follows:

AGUINALDO, Amani Manuel
BAHADORAN, Misagh
DANIELS, Kenshiro Michael
DEYTO, Patrick Phillip
ETHERIDGE, Neil Leonard
GIER, Robert James
GUIRADO, Juan Luis
HARTMANN, Mark Andrew
INGRESO, Kevin
LUCENA, Jerry Ruben
OTT, Manuel
PALLA, Stephan
PATIÑO, Javier
RAMSAY, Iain
REICHELT, Patrick
ROTA, Simone
SATO, Daisuke
SCHROCK, Stephan Markus
STEUBLE, Martin Markus
TRIGO, Tomas Angel
VILLANUEVA, Dennis
WOODLAND, Luke
YOUNGHUSBAND, Philip James

Notable returnees are Neil Etheridge and Stephan Schrock, who already apologised to the team after some misunderstanding with the coaches. Javier Patino was able to clear his schedule with his Chinese club team and will be able to suit up for the national team

New recruits included in the pool are Stephan Palla, Iain Ramsay, Luke Woodland and Kevin Ingreso, most of which are from Australia.

Training camp will start on June 1. The first qualifier match will be on June 11 at the Philippine Sports Stadium in Bulacan against Bahrain and the next match will be against Yemen on June 16 in Qatar.

PROJECT RUNWAY PHILIPPINES SEASON 4 PREMIERE ON JUNE 14

After being on hiatus for 3 years, the local franchise of the popular fashion reality show, Project Runway Philippines will premiere its 4th season on June 14, 2015 on ETC.

Model Tweetie de Leon will still host the show and will judge as well, together with fashion designer Rajo Laurel and model and writer Apples Aberin. The aspiring designers will still be mentored by Jojie Lloren.

Here is the teaser for the new season:

Video is from ETC's official YouTube channel

SEA GAMES 2015 : PHILIPPINE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM LINE UP ANNOUNCED

The final line up for the Philippine Women's Volleyball Team for the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore next month was announced by Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. last Friday.

Amidst controversy on the volleyball federation, players attendance and schedule conflicts, the final 12 girls who will carry the flag are the following :

1. Daquis, Rachel Ann
2. de Leon, Bea
3. Dimaculangan, Rhea
4. Gonzaga, Jovelyn
5. Lazaro, Denden
6. Marano, Abby
7. Morado, Jia
8. Ortiz, Maika
9. Santiago, Jaja
10. Santiago - Manabat, Dindin
11. Soltones, Gretchel
12. Valdez Alyssa

Aiza Maizo, who was the last person cut from the roster, will serve as a reserve player and assistant coach. The team will be mentored by Coach Roger Gorayeb and Coach Tai Bundit as his assistant.

Alyssa Valdez will also serve as the flag bearer of Team Pilipinas in the opening ceremonies on June 4, 2015.

Before the announcement, Gorayeb expressed his dismay on the poor attendance of the players in last Wednesday's practice, where the official line up was set to be announced. After the announcement, the players was in full force for the first time:

Perfect attendance brightens mood as PH team buckles down to work By @meilinspin http://t.co/Ru2PB2LZRQ via @spinph pic.twitter.com/JpC1zk059b

— SPIN.ph (@spinph) May 22, 2015

Hope this girls exceed their target of a bronze medal after being absent in the SEA Games for a decade. The last time that we participated was in the 2005 Manila SEA Games where we got the bronze. The last time we got the gold was more than 20 years ago.

Good luck Team Pilipinas!

Image is from the 2015 SEA Games website and the tweet is from the Spin.ph official Twitter account

FIL-AM JORDAN CLARKSON DUNKS OVER A LUCKY KID IN TAGUIG

Filipino - American Jordan Clarkson of the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA is in town for the launch of NBA Philippines and for the NBA Cares charity event. It is his first time to be in her mother's home country. In a surprise visit to a shelter in Taguig City, this video was captured as he dunks over a kid.

This. Just. Happened. @jclark5on dunking on a lucky kid! #tenement @pinoyhoops @iammikeswift @jinoboy5 thanks #Nike! pic.twitter.com/zYFJMcJynR

— TJ Manotoc (@tjmanotoc) May 23, 2015

This is one lucky kid!

Video is from TJ Manotoc's twitter account

SURVIVOR CAMBODIA SECOND CHANCE : CAST REVEALED

The cast of the next season of Survivor was revealed during the reunion show of the recently concluded Survivor : Worlds Apart. Now at its 31st season, the show will film next in Cambodia and this season will be dubbed as Survivor Cambodia : Second Chance.

This season will feature 20 former castaways that did not win in their season and will be given a second shot to win this game. The fans voted from a pool of 32 players and the top 10 males and top 10 female with the most number of votes will be included in this new cast (see this blogpost).

Here is Jeff Probst revealing the 20 castaways of the season during last night's reunion show:

The new cast includes :

• From Survivor Borneo - Kelley Wiglesworth
• From Survivor Australian Outback - Jeff Varner and Kimmi Kappenberg
• From Survivor Pearl Islands - Andrew Savage
• From Survivor Panama - Terry Deitz
• From Survivor China - Peih-Gee Law
• From Survivor Tocantins - Stephen Fishbach
• From Survivor Samoa - Monica Padilla
• From Survivor Philippines - Abi Maria Gomes
• From Survivor Blood vs Water - Vytas Baskauskas and Ciera Eastin
• From Survivor Cagayan - Spencer Bledsoe, Tasha Fox, Woo Hwang and Kass McQuillen
• From Survivor San Juan del Sur - Jeremy Collins, Keith Nale and Kelly Wentworth
• From Survivor Worlds Apart - Joe Anglim and Shirin Oskooi

Based on this cast list alone, this will be a great season! The new season will premiere this fall.

Video is from the official YouTube channel of Survivor

SURVIVOR WORLDS APART : MIKE WINS!

Mike Holloway, a 38 year old oil driller from Texas, is the official winner of Survivor : Worlds Apart, the reality show's 30th season. Mike is originally part of the blue collar tribe that went up against a tribe with white collars and another tribe of no collars.

Mike won via a 6-1-1 vote from the jury, winning over white collar Carolyn Rivera and no collar Will Sims.

Mike simply dominated the last parts of the game, winning all of the last five challenges - 2 reward challenges and 3 immunity challenges. When he won the last immunity challenges, I think it was quite obvious that Mike is a sure winner, having played both a very physical and strategic game.

I think what Mike has that sets him apart from the other past winners in the show is that he was an outsider in the tribe. The majority alliance has been targeting him for a long time but he just played his hidden immunity idol and won challenges enough to keep him in the game.

With this win, he was disqualified from the voting for the next season of Survivor, dubbed as the Survivor : Cambodia - Second Chances.

It was a well deserved win - Congrats Mike!

Image is from the official CBS - Survivor Worlds Apart website

SURVIVOR : SECOND CHANCE : CHOOSE YOUR CASTAWAYS NOW!

For the 31st season of reality show Survivor, they will be bringing back 10 male and 10 female castaways and give them another shot to win Survivor : Second Chance which will be filmed in Koh Rong, Cambodia.

None of the pool of 32 former castaways won their season and this season will make one of them the Ultimate Survivor. The lucky Survivor players that can be given a second chance are the following:

MALE CASTAWAYS

• Jeremy Collins - 10th place, Survivor San Juan del Sur
• Jim Rice - 12th place, Survivor South Pacific
• Keith Nale - 4th place, Survivor San Jual del Sur
• Shane Powers - 5th place, Survivor Panama
• Stephen Fishbach - Runner up, Survivor Tocantins
• Jeff Varner - 10th place - Survivor : The Australian Outback
• Joe Anglim - 10th place, Survivor Worlds Apart
• Max Dawson - 14th place, Survivor Worlds Apart
• Mike Holloway - TBD, Survivor Worlds Apart
• Spencer Bledsoe - 4th place, Survivor Cagayan
• Troyzan Robertson - 8th place, Survivor One World
• Woo Hwang - Runner up, Survivor Cagayan
• Terry Deitz - 3rd place, Survivor Panama
• Andrew Savage - 10th place, Survivor Pearl Islands
• Brad Culpepper - 15th place, Survivor Blood vs Water
• Vytas Baskauskas - 10th place, Survivor Blood vs Water

FEMALE CASTAWAYS

• Ciera Eastin - 5th place, Survivor Blood vs Water
• Kass McQuillen - 3rd place, Survivor Cagayan
• Monica Padilla - 7th place, Survivor Samoa
• Natalie Tenerelli - 3rd place, Survivor Redemption Island
• Peih Gee Law - 5th place, Survivor China
• Sabrina Thompson - Runner up, Survivor One World
• Stephanie Valencia - 14th place, Survivor Redemption Island
• Tasha Fox - 6th place, Survivor Cagayan
• Teresa "T-Bird" Cooper - 5th place, Survivor Africa
• Carolyn Rivera - TBD, Survivor Worlds Apart
• Kelley Wentworth - 14th place, Survivor San Juan del Sur
• Kelly Wiglesworth  - Runner up, Survivor Borneo
• Kimmi Kappenberg - 12th place, Survivor : The Australian Outback
• Mikayla Wingle - 14th place, Survivor South Pacific
• Shirin Oskooi - 8th place, Survivor Worlds Apart
• Abi-Maria Gomes - 5th place, Survivor Philippines

If you have noticed, Mile and Carolyn are still competing in the on going season, Survivor Worlds Apart. If one of them is declared the winner, he or she will be disqualified from this new season and if he or she is in the Top 10 of votes, the 11th male (if Mike wins) or 11th woman (if Carolyn wins) with the highest votes will have the slot.

You can vote thru the CBS website.

Images are from the CBS Website

AMAZING RACE 26 : BLIND DATERS RULE, LAURA & TYLER ARE THE WINNERS!

After 12 legs, blind daters Laura and Tyler or Team SoCal (Southern California) are declared the winners of the 26th season of The Amazing Race:

The pair wins $1,000,000. Fellow blind daters The Legal Team Jelani and Jenny finished 2nd and Team Rx for Love Hayley and Blair came in 3rd. The only remaining dating couple, Mike & Rochelle were eliminated midway in the last leg.

I really think Team SoCal deserves this win because they really compliment each other and they were both relaxed in the race. Congratulations Laura and Tyler!

BUS RAPID TRANSIT : IS THIS THE SOLUTION TO OUR TRAFFIC PROBLEM?

The Bus Rapid Transit System that is being implemented in more than 100 cities worldwide will soon be implemented in Manila and in Cebu. Will this solve of traffic crisis?

ASIA'S GOT TALENT : EL GAMMA PENUMBRA IS THE FIRST GRAND WINNER!

After 10 gruelling weeks of competition, the largest talent search in Asia, Asia's Got Talent finally crowned its first grand winner at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore last Thursday, 14-May-15.

The show started with all the 9 grand finalists, Talento from Thailand, Triqstar of Japan, Gao Lin and Liu Xin of China, Khusugtun of Mongolia, Dance Thrilogy of Singapore and the 4 Filipino acts El Gamma Penumbra, Junior New System, Gwyneth Dorado and Gerphil Flores performed together for an amazing opening number:

As the show goes on, some of the acts were eliminated until the top 2 acts remained. Surprise finalist Khusugtun from Mongolia and Philippines' El Gamma Penumbra shared the stage and performed their grand finals performances again. In the end, Asian viewers chose the first grand winner of the show, and it is El Gamma Penumbra from the Philippines!

The shadow play act, who also joined season 1 of Pilipinas Got Talent, won $100,000 and a chance to perform in Marina Bay Sands. They also received a hero's welcome in their homecoming in Tanauan City, Batangas.

Meanwhile, the judges performed during the finale. They sang "Let's Groove":

The song is now available for download and all proceeds will go to a charitable institution for the benefit of the victims of the earthquake in Nepal. Here is the link if you are interested to download.

It was also announced at the end if the show that there will be a season 2! You can now pre-register if you are interested to join next season through their facebook page.

Can't wait for season 2!

Images are from the official Facebook page of Asia's Got Talent.

AVC UNDER 23 WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : TEAM PHILIPPINES GETS 7TH PLACE

Team Philippines finished their campaign with a win and gets 7th place amongst 12 countries in the first staging of the Asian Volleyball Confederation Under-23 Women's Champonship at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Bannered by the top collegiate volleybelles in the UAAP and NCAA, this is the first team that competed internationally in almost a decade. The last one was during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in Manila where the team placed 3rd.

Team Philippines got a sweet revenge from their first group stage loss to Iran and beat them in the classification rounds in straight sets: 25-15, 25-21 and 26-24.

With this win, Team Philippines officially announces that we are back in the international stage. Considering that the team is only formed 3 weeks before the start of the tournament and has been turned down by some of the players that were invited, this is a good performance from a team with very minimal international experience.

Team Philippines were represented by top volleybelles Alyssa Valdez, Jaja Santiago, Jia Morado, Gretchen Soltones, Myla Pablo, Risa Sato, Bea de Leon, Riri Meneses, EJ Laure, Ella de Jesus, Jhoanna Maraguinot and Tin Agno. The team is coached by Roger Gorayeb and assisted by Tai Bundit.

It will be a busy month for volleyball. The Under 23 Men's Team will be competing next in Myanmar starting May 12, followed by the Asian Seniors Women's Championship in China this month. The men's and women's seniors team will also participate in the SEA Games in Singapore in June.

Pic is from the Volleyball PH Photo Album Facebook Page

ASIA'S GOT TALENT : FILIPINO ACTS DELIVERS ON THE GRAND FINALS

No less than a standing ovation was awarded to all the four Filipino acts that performed during the grand finals of the talent show Asia's Got Talent last Thursday at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

Out of the 9 grand finalists who performed, four are from the Philippines, with 3 of them having a golden buzzer performance in the previous rounds. This only shows how talented the Filipinos are.

Here are the performances of the four Filipino acts during the grand finals:

GWYNETH DORADO

EL GAMMA PENUMBRA

GERPHIL FLORES

JUNIOR NEW SYSTEM

These four acts now needs your votes. To vote for them via SMS, you can type:

AGT3 - for Gwyneth Dorado

AGT7 - for El Gamma Penumbra

AGT8 - for Gerphil Flores

AGT9 - for Junior New System

Then send this to 2929 for Globe and Smart Subscribers. You can also vote thru Facebook and the Asia's Got Talent mobile app.

The act with the most number of votes will be declared on the finale on May 14. Hope we can all vote and support our Team Pilipinas!

All videos are from the official YouTube channel of Asia's Got Talent

ASIA'S GOT TALENT : EL GAMMA PENUMBRA GOES STRAIGHT TO THE GRAND FINALS!

The shadow play act of the Filipino group El Gamma Penumbra was picked as the golden buzzer act for the 3rd semifinals night of the talent search Asia's Got Talent.

Being the only Filipino group in the last group of semi-finalist, El Gamma performed first and gave a great performance that tackles war, peace and love. All the judges were in agreement that the group gave a superb performance and has even surpassed their audition. Anggun, who gave her golden buzzer to the group in the auditions, was moved into tears after the group's very emotional performance.

Here is the group's performance during the semifinals:

El Gamma Penumbra now joins three other Filipino acts in the grand finals - singer Gwyneth Dorado, dance group Junior New System and singer Gerphil Geraldine Flores. Other finalists are dancers / acrobats Gao Lin and Liu Xin of China, dance group Triqstar of Japan and musical group Khusugtun of Mongolia. Two other acts will join this elite group after the results of the voting this week.

These acts will perform on Thursday, May 7, and the winner will be announced next week on May 14.

Video is from the official YouTube channel of Asia's Got Talent