TOPAZ HORIZON

Okay, I know I still have to continue my Uniquely Singapore Series but let me get these out of the way first. I had promised to announce some promos, events and contests and you may be interested to support them...

You can help out and rock out at the same time! Join my friend Kate Torralba and her other fierce musician pals tonight for Girls Go Tik Tok Rockin', an evening with some of the finest femme-fronted acts in town: TECHY ROMANTICS, SARAH of TAKEN BY CARS, DUSTER, UP DHARMA DOWN, TURBO GOTH and of course KATE TORRALBA!

Pass-the-hat and in-kind donations welcome! Proceeds go to typhoon victims via Rock Ed Relief. Kate will tell you more about the Tik Tok Pilipinas Campaign and how it can help mitigate Climate Change. This event is presented by KT Designs and Cafe Saguijo. In cooperation with Rock Ed Philippines, DAKILA Philippines, Tik Tok Pilipinas, Stylebible.ph and Jam 88.3 FM.

God bless you, Kate, for doing this. I'd love to go but I'm down with a really nasty bug. But I'll be sending my warmest thoughts your way!



These newlyweds are finalists in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers: Ultimate Travel Competition. Michael Paul and Jennifer have the cutest long-distance relationship love story ever! I, for one, don't believe in LDRs and then these two came along and my faith is restored! Reward their love by giving these two adventurers the ultimate honeymoon. And your good will may just win you $2,500, a Thailand travel package and HTC phones. Vote now!

I haven't gone to Thailand myself but Vince and I are planning a trip. Watched Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations visit to Chiang Mai and my mouth watered just looking at all the food he ate! Ya, I'm a food and culture traveler. Not a shopping person at all.

• Food bloggers! Share your best yummy discOVIry! Email it to fooddiscOVIry@ovi.com.
• Fashion and beauty bloggers! Share your most fashionable and beautiful discOVIry! Email it to fashiondiscOVIry@ovi.com.
• Tech bloggers! Share your best tech/gadget/game discOVIry! Email it to techdiscOVIry@ovi.com.

You'll have to create an OVI account first, though. Register here. Contest period is from October 27 to November 20. There will be 10 winners per category and each wins P1,000 Ayala e-GC. That's not a lot, if you ask me. Come on, Nokia, you're so rich, you can give more--perhaps P5,000 each?

Did you know you can now enjoy free downloads of Asphalt 4, Prince of Persia, and other premium games on your Nokia device? Ovi Store lets you download up to 10 premium games for free! These games have never before been made freely available, but you can download them for a limited time only! Too good to be true? It's possible now thanks to Nokia's partnership with Gameloft, the maverick creators of unrivaled gaming experiences. Game for it? Check out the Ovi store now!

I don't have an OVI phone but I do play Asphalt 4 on my Samsung Omnia, which I won in a contest and am loving now. Anyway, Asphalt 4 is such an annoying game! Cars... I'll never understand them!

Well, that's that. Regular programming commences tonight. Or tomorrow. I'm kinda sleepy... need to rest. Must get well before my 33rd birthday!

In response to some OK! magazine readers who want us to print sensational stories, I want to share this video to give them and you an idea of how I run my magazine:



I know that creating sensational stories and scandals will definitely boost my mag's circulation. We're doing very well, sure, but stories like "Stars and Their Cellulite Revealed!" will get people's attention and their money. But I have directed my staff that we will never print anything ugly. For some celebrity watchers, this means we're not showing the whole truth. But do we really need to see these people naked in every possible way? Well, if you do, there are a lot of magazines out there that will satisfy your curiosity.

Every day, we get photos of the stars and a lot of them are not flattering. Some of them are alarming. I've seen some stars naked or canoodling with someone they shouldn't be canoodling with. These never see print. Do we Photoshop? Yes. A stray hair, a powdery armpit, a sanitary napkin that got displaced, a pimple, a visible panty line. My policy with Photoshop is if it's not a permanent feature, then we can gently remove it. But if she's really fat, wrinkly, veiny, then we choose the photos that show a star's best angle.

Sometimes we really do need to report on something ugly (panty-less outings anyone?) but we carefully choose photos and we carefully choose words that will still treat the star gently. If we must raise an eyebrow or tease, we draw attention to the star's choice. For example, "The red dress is not flattering on her" is loads different from "Her fashion sense is clearly terrible."

Why do I do this? In Spanish/Tagalog, it's called delicadeza. Conchita Razon defines it as thus:

A deliberate effort to forego one’s pleasure to avoid someone else’s pain. When I look at an incriminating photo, the question is "Do we print this, destroy this star and sell copies or do we protect our investment?"

Investment. As you all know, I earn my living from these stars and their work. Yes, I also make money from their lives. Some people think my job is despicable. They're certainly entitled to their opinion. My opinion, however, is to treat the stars with respect. As public figures, they've allowed us to pry and, yes, we do see some things that are not for public consumption. When this happens, we respectfully withdraw. For allowing us access, our response should be respect.

In today's society where ravenous curiosity cannot be sated thus the popularity of venomous celebrity blogs, reality shows and tabloids, it seems the response should be to satisfy the demand. My response is, OK!'s response is: Dear celebrities, thank you for letting us in your lives. For that, we repay you with the respect that you deserve.

The reason I got to be in Singapore in the first place was because of the first ever Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards. Nuffnang is an advertising platform for blogs and I've been a member of Nuffnang for less than a year but already I've enjoyed a lot of things from them: bags, trips, educational excursions and income, of course! If I weren't so busy, I'd be more involved in all their activities. Hmmm, perhaps I'll start doing just that...

Anyway, back to the awards! I'll just be posting fashion shots here, okay? I think you'll enjoy those more! That's me and my fellow Summit Media friend, Franny Haw.

Nuffnang was founded by two really fun guys, Timothy Tiah Ewe Tiam and Cheo Ming Shen. Or Tim and Ming. Don't ask me to pronounce their full names! In just two years, their little online venture has become a lucrative advertising business straddling four countries, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia, and with almost 100,000 bloggers registered in the Nuffnang community.


Ming said, "Bloggers today are getting recognized for their work, invited to events and offered product or service trials--all in a bid by companies to woo the Internet generation." Ten thousand blogs were nominated and about 60 blogs made it to the finals. Nope, Topaz Horizon didn't make it; that wasn't why I was there--I came as a member of the media so thank goodness for my job!


Anyway, after meeting the finalists from the Philippines and reading the blogs from the other countries, I am really beginning to think of taking this blogging thing seriously! Some bloggers earn thousands of dollars. That's insane money for just typing away your thoughts. Journalists--usually following a strict code of journalistic ethics--don't even earn that much. I'm not complaining, being an earning blogger myself, but I do have reservations about financially rewarding bloggers who are not guided by journalistic principles. Just because your blog is popular (usually through controversy) does not mean it's the authority on certain issues.


Ming understands this and says, "Bloggers need to carry the responsibility that comes with the power they have over society's opinions and day-to-day decisions. We hope that through Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards, bloggers will realize the importance of quality content in blogs. Tonight's winners are great examples of blogs which attracted a huge following through uploading quality content."


So congratulations to the 12 winners:
Best Blog Shop: Bonito Chico
Best Food Blog: I Eat, I Shoot, I Post
Best Fashion Blog: Lady Melbourne
Best Parenting Blog: Childhood 101
Best Travel Blog: En Route
Best Celebrity Blog: A Jolly Affair
Best Entertainment Blog: Kenny Sia
Best Geek Blog: Mr. Gadget
Best Hidden Gem: The Doodle Blog
Best Original Blog Design: Xia Xue
Most Influential Blog: Xia Xue
Region’s Best Blog: Xia Xue


And did I mention the fabulous prizes? Anywhere from top-of-the-line Canon cameras to a whopping SGD 5,000 from Pringles! That's PHP 169,971.75 (USD 3,573.43), people!

I did enjoy the glamorous awards night and I laud the efforts of Nuffnang to honor quality content--I do hope that they will truly recognize quality content more than just popularity but I don't want to talk about that. As for my opinion on advertising on blogs, well, let me get through this entire series first before I talk about that! More tomorrow!


More awards night photos here. I would like to thank Nuffnang and the Singapore Tourism Board for this Uniquely Singapore Series.

This week will be all about my trip to Singapore last weekend. That will be October 23 to 25. If you recall, an all-expense-paid trip to anywhere abroad (but near enough since I dislike long hours on a plane) was on my birthday wish list. So imagine my surprise when Nuffnang Philippines invited me to Singapore for the first Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards! 

Recently, Penelope Cruz sparked frenzied rumors of an engagement with longtime love Javier Bardem when she was spotted wearing this huge sapphire ring:I don't know why that would cause a flurry when Penelope's been wearing loads of fabulous jewelry every time she makes a public appearance.

Fine, it is on the right finger... or rather, on the left ring finger. And it is very similar to Diana's engagement ring. But until Penelope and Javier confirm an engagement (oh, I'd love for them to get married!), we will assume it's just another ring in the Spanish beauty's collection.

Recently, I've also been spotted with a huge sapphire ring. Similar to Diana's engagement ring and to Penelope's alleged engagement ring. It, too, has caused gasps from everyone who's seen it.

I assure you all I am not engaged. Still very happily married, in fact. I'm just very happy I'm turning 33 in a week! And this blue bauble is my birthday present to myself! What's that you said? You want to give me a present, too? Well, go here now for my requests! Or you can help replenish my seriously depleted bank account and buy these shoes! Thank you!