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My Best is What Comes Next: BTS’s Latest Power Moves

21/10/2022

On October 17, the internet broke when Big Hit, the company of the K-pop juggernaut BTS, announced their plans for military enlistment. Since 2013, the group has gained worldwide attention through its music, talents, their personalities, and dancing. BTS achieved outstanding achievements such as Grammy nominations, won in US-based awards such as Billboard Music Awards and the American Music Awards, and to date, had 66 Daesangs (Grand Prize) among Korean award-giving bodies. Apart from their musical influence, the group had the opportunity to speak in front of the United Nations as Korea’s Special Presidential Envoy for Future Generations and Culture, and worked with UNICEF for the Love Yourself Speak Yourself campaign. They were invited to the White House to address Asian hate crimes and discrimination. Their massive influence through music and inspiring love messages marked them as the most prominent musical group in this digital age. A fandom called the BTS Army is estimated at 40 million or more worldwide. They can be described as the most organized and largest fandom, with records of high engagement through social media and fan engagement platforms. Let us look at how influential BTS has been so far in 2022. 1. Release of Artist-Made Collection In January of this year, BTS released the Artist-Made Collection, a set of merchandise designed and made by its members. The merchandise sold off quickly, making the ARMY demand more production. Allkpop reported that BTS’ Jimin Artist Made Collection, With You Hoody and Red Carved earrings, became the first to sell out for the second time minutes after restocking. Jimin is consistently number one in South Korea’s Brand Reputation Ranking. 2. Permission to Dance Concert Las Vegas BTS held a four-day concert at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The show was attended in-concert, live play, and online. According to Touring Data, the group recorded the #2 highest-grossing Boxscore report of all-time in the US, with $35.9 million in with only four Las Vegas shows only behind Bruce Springsteen’s concert but with 10 shows at Giants Stadium in 2003. 3. Proof Album Proof is the first anthology of BTS, a three-CD album that contains songs from their rookie year to the present. It peaked at Number 1 at Billboard top 200 and in various countries in Europe and Asia. Proof came with a compact and standard versions and a collectors edition. Apart from the curated songs from previous albums, Proof also featured three new songs, Yet to Come, For Youth, and Run BTS. Also, the third CD is composed of unreleased demo songs. 4. Weverse live of Jungkook and Jin Kpop artist-fan engagement is through a platform called, Vlive or, recently, Weverse Live. Jungkook’s live during his birthday on September 1 is the fastest to reach 10 million viewers. On the other hand, Kim Seokjin’s live streaming of the game, Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, lasted three hours and had 11.3 million views on the Weverse platform. 5. Jhope’s JITB BTS Jhope released a solo album, Jack in the Box, showing a different and darker side of BTS’s sunshine dance leader. Alongside this solo album is Jhope’s headlined the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, USA on August this year. According to Bandwagon Asia, Jhope’s stage had more than 150,000 attendance and 14,5 million streaming views worldwide. 6. V as fashion influencer; RM as art patron BTS Member V proved himself as a fashion icon when he was invited by Celine’s creative director, Hedi Slimane, along with actor park Bogum and Blackpink Member Lisa, to appear in the Celine Fashion Week in Paris, France. V’s posts on the Celine event on his Instagram gained more than 13 million hearts out of his 57 million followers. BTS RM on the other hand, is one of the art world’s biggest and youngest influencers. His art influence gave boost to South Korean artists. His Instagram account, with more than 38 million followers is filled with museums visits and artworks posts. 7. JK’s Left and Right, Bad Decisions, Psy, Crush, Sexy Nukim Collaboration with artists from the United States, Charlie Puth, Ben Blanco and Snoop Dog and Korean artists Psy, Crush, and Sexy Nukim proved that BTS was not on hiatus but actively making music with various artists. BTS Suga’s collaboration with Psy That That has more than 375 million views to date. 8. Festa Dinner Group Break announcement One of the more powerful moves by BTS is taking a break during the peak of their career. After the very successful series of Permission to Dance concerts and the record-breaking Proof album launch, they announced they needed to push for personal pursuits. The group has been doing things together for the last 10 years and now wanted to prioritize individual activities. That said, BTS still has group activities such as their variety show Run BTS and promotions for brand endorsements and online games such as In the Seom. 9. Yet to Come in Busan Concert The City of Busan in South Korea is bidding for the World Expo 2030. Amidst the group break, BTS held a large concert for the bid of the City of Busan in the Expo. The free show had more than 50,000 attendees onsite, with around 10,000 for live play and 50 million online viewers. With the demand for 50 million, the Weverse, Naver, and Zepeto servers had difficulty streaming. BTS turned the whole city to Borahae land, with the color purple everywhere, together with their hospitality industry. ARMYs from all over the world went to Busan to witness the concert and the different activities highlighting BTS and Busan, South Korea. 10. Military enlistment On October 17, Big Hit announced that BTS would push for their military enlistment. Instead of following the postponement of military service until December 2022, BTS Jin opted to apply for the standard enlistment procedures on October 30. Other members, Suga, RM, Jhope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, will enlist on their own time until they reconvene in 2025. Jin promised to give a lot of content and release

10 Weird Names of Bread Loved by Pinoys!

21/10/2022

Bread or ‘tinapay’ is a staple food served and consumed in every household, market, and bakery almost everyday in the Philippines. It is considered one of the oldest foods served since pre-historic era, an essential source of carbohydrates, and a partner to our favorite morning or afternoon coffee. While we couldn’t ignore the aroma of freshly-baked bread and pastries along the streets, coffee shops, and malls, can you name some weird bread names we’ve found? Let’s cite some! @popbitsph 10 Weird Names of Bread Loved by Pinoys! ♬ original sound popbitsph Putok Putok might be associated with new year’s paputok or human body odor (whew!) but this one is an edible dough called ‘Star bread’ or ‘Exploding crown’. It’s a sweet dense bread with crown-like on top sprinkled with sugar. An explosive bread that melts in your mouth! Pan de regla Known before as ‘Kalihim’, Pan de regla is a soft bread with red filling or pudding peeking out of its end, that tastes like vanilla. In Tondo, they call it pan de regla because of its sanitary folded-pad look; in Marikina, it’s called bellas while in Quezon City, it’s associated with floorwax or pan de red. In Pangasinan, it’s known as kabukiran while in Bicol, it’s ligaya or maligaya. Too many names to remember but when you saw that bread with red filling, you know it’s pan de regla! Other variations include pan de ube and pineapple. Pagong or Pinagong Pagong or pinagong is literally a sweet turtle-shaped bread that originated from Sariaya Quezon. A must-have pasalubong with different versions in Metro Manila and nearby towns. The shape and size depends on the versions of many bakers, not forgetting the look of a turtle shell and its tail. A must try! Sputnik o PacMan Sputnik is a golf-ball-like bread that looks like a baby monay with splits on the sideways. The name came from the series of robotic spacecraft missions launched by the Russians in the late ’50s–The Sputnik Program. That split line also looks like Pacman, the iconic video game in the 1980s, with its mouth ready to eat or crush its opponents. 5.Lechon bread High cholesterol and deadly bread? Nope. This bread does not contain cholesterol or any real lechon content, only lechon-like bread from Antipolo and Cebu. But it’s the same shiny, sweet taste best served when hot. A good alternative to the actual lechon. 6. Pan de siosa Its cheesy, buttery, sugar-y flavor on top can be associated with the ensaymada clan. The only difference is the baked-cluster-pull-apart style of pan de siosa. Cheesy! 7. Everlasting From the name itself, it’s a flower-like bread topped with sugar and best partnered with coffee. It has six cuts or a petal-like look on the surface making it an everlasting quality of bread. 8. Pianono Pianono is a soft, pillowy sponge-y type of cake with margarine filling, a Filipino dessert or merienda loved by many. Other pianono variations include ube, mocha, and mango. What a sweet filling! 9. Binangkal To those who haven’t tried it yet, binangkal is fried dough balls coated with sesame seeds that originated in Visayas and Mindanao. Best to eat when hot! 10. Bonete Bonete or Pan de bonete is claimed to be a common bread in Yucatan Mexico, and Costa Rica, where a story of “bonnet” or hats used by priests during the Spanish era came from. The bonete bread in the Philippines may not look like hats, instead it’s more of a chef’s toque. It’s probably cool to look for these unique bread names in bakeries to see and taste it for yourself, right. As we celebrate World Bread Day every October 16th, may we continue to be invited by the freshly-baked aroma of bread everywhere we go and appreciate one of the most important staple foods in the world, everyday. Get your daily dose of bread now! #

Most Haunted Places in the Philippines

07/10/2022

Most Haunted Places in the Philippines If the walls of Philippine historical buildings could speak, they would have been telling us, until now, a tapestry of bloodcurdling tales that occurred many years ago–the country’s rich history from pre-colonial times, the Spanish and American colonial periods, as well as the Japanese occupation. In the second world war alone, the country bore witness to a million Filipino deaths. Behind the beauty of our pristine beaches and lush forests are stories of suffering under colonizers as well as tyrants. Urban legends claim that the tired wandering souls of soldiers and victims of war still walk the Earth. Who knows, maybe there’s one walking you home at night. Top 10 Most Haunted Places in the Philippines 1. Diplomat Hotel (Baguio City) Wonder what this Diplomat Hotel looks like way back? The Dominicans built the Diplomat Hotel in 1911 as a seminary. Then it was converted into a school, eventually ended up as a hotel. Rumor has it that when the Japanese conquered Baguio, the nuns and priests who helped Filipinos to flee were all killed and brutally decapitated. As years go by, residents and visitors report hearing screams and seeing ghosts with headless bodies. To add to the scare, the hotel’s manager, Tony Agpaoa, is a known psychic healer who performs operations on his wide awake patients using bare hands , no tools, no anaesthesia. I recall watching some tv segments about it which seems to be doubtful. Showing people that he can take away the tumor by his bare hands and the flesh wherein he digs in with his fingers and will suddenly heal as he touches. He died in that place, from a heart attack. I wonder? Hmmm, a real ghost appeared holding his heart? 2. Fort Santiago, Intramuros (Manila) Dare to roam to a historic site that turns into something spooky at night? Before the country was liberated, Fort Santiago was the center of both the American and Spanish colonial governments. The city’s historic walls still stand tall and proud during the day, but when evening crawls, they take on a dark, spooky air. Those walls seem to be the haven of some relentless spirits. There have been reported sightings of ghosts of Filipino soldiers in the area. Locals also claim to hear screaming and echoing voices from the dungeons. This isn’t surprising, given that the Japanese tortured and killed countless Filipino soldiers and guerillas here during World War II. 3. Manila Film Center (Pasay City) Have you heard this story when you were young? About this film center that was built and morethan dozens were buried alive. There were people practising offering chicken blood mixing it with cement. Duh? Let’s take a step inside, and see why people think this would strengthen their walls, where did they get those creepy ideas. What would you do if you were watching films and something cold brushed on your neck? Will you run? Scream? Waaa! Imelda Marcos was the first lady during that time; she envisioned having a Parthenon-style cinema center built for the 1st Manila International Film Festival in January 1982. The construction of the Manila Film Center was reportedly rushed by hiring 4,000 laborers to work around the clock. One eerie night, the film center’s ceiling caved down around 3 a.m. on November 17, 1981, trapping dozens of workers beneath its rubble. No one seems to know whether all workers were rescued or retrieved, not even the film center or the Pasay City police. Lots of people believe that the building is haunted by the ghosts of construction workers who died in the rubble as work proceeded on the Film Center in order for it to be completed on time. One survivor claims that many workers were unaccounted for and supposedly buried alive in wet cement. There was even a tell tale from old folks that you need blood to beef up the walls of your house. Many doubt project contractor Eliodoro Ponio’s claims that he and his team were able to recover the remains of each victim. 4. LAPERAL Mansion (Baguio City) Before it was owned by Lucio Tan, the now known site of the Philippine Bamboo Foundation’s Ifugao Bamboo Carvings Exhibit, the Laperal White House was shrouded in mystery. Caretakers reported seeing a woman dressed in white staring outside, Sadako is that you? and a small child standing on the steps of the stairs. Same like the Grudge? It was built by the Laperals during the American occupation. Then Japanese reportedly used the mansion as a torture chamber, a garrison, during World War II. Countless Filipino women were abused in the bedrooms, while spies were tortured in the living room. A worker reportedly even lost his sanity and committed suicide. This is enough reason for caretakers who claimed to have seen apparitions several times to stay vigilant while inside the house. Even cab drivers and passers-by avoid travelling down Laperal Mansion’s road at dark because of the uncanny sightings which caused a lot of road mishaps. Imagine you’re driving and there you suddenly had a glimpse of a woman in white staring at you from the window. Would you dare to pass by? 5. Lambusan Public Cemetery (San Remigio, Cebu) As a public cemetery, it is reportedly a favored haunting place of the dead. When the family members of the departed can no longer afford to pay the rent on the graves, their loved ones’ remains are placed in a communal space, or much worse in a sack. It’s known as one of Northern Cebu’s most desolate and depressing cemeteries. It’s impossible not to see skulls and bones just scattered in the area. This one, most likely similar to the rest of graveyards here or any part of the country, remains of those tenants whose relatives are no longer interested to pay the fee, are placed inside a sack. Imagine your loved ones placed inside a sack. That’s why I prefer to be cremated, imagine my head and