Caritas Manila continues relief efforts for flood victims

For almost a week now, Caritas Manila continues with its relief efforts for the thousands of victims of flooding in Metro Manila.

Caritas Manila’s Damayan, the relief assistance and emergency program of the Church as of August 15, 2012 has provided relief assistance to 20, 444 families in the parishes under the Archdiocese of Manila and Dioceses of Caloocan,Cubao, Pasig, Antipolo, and Malolos.

Caritas Manila so far has raised Php 2,892,635 In-Cash donations and Php. 534,618 In-Kind donations from individuals, organizations and parishes for the flood victims.

Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon will still continue to experience intermittent rains according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

For Donations in kind, please call Caritas Manila at telephone numbers 5620020 up to 25 local 22 to 24.(please see attached list)

For Cash Donations, you may deposit to:

Account Name: Caritas Manila, Inc.

Peso Bank Savings Account:

BPI S/A 3063-5357-01

BDO S/A 5600-45905

Metrobank S/A 175-3-17506954-3

UnionBank C/A 00-030-001227-5

Dollar Savings Account:

Account Name: Caritas Manila, Inc.

BPI Dollar Account: 003064-0033-55

PNB Dollar Account: 252-703687-1

Open Photo-shoot: 800PhP lang Sexy & High Fashion theme…

HAVE YOU FED YOUR BRAIN LATELY?

Have you ever wondered what happens to the food we eat every day? Vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from our diet help to nourish our body, passing through blood vessels to our internal organ and skin.

But how about our brain, our body’s nerve center, and the main organ that controls the body’s activities? The human brain is made up of about 100 billion neurons or nerve cells. Each neuron functions by receiving and conveying signals to other neurons. Like the other cells in your body, the brain cells need energy to function properly. If we are to feed our body with all essential nutrients to keep it in tip-top shape, we also cannot neglect the brain for it to remain healthy.

Just like our body, the brain experiences strain every day from many lifestyle factors, with stress being a major culprit. Chronic cumulative stress of normal everyday life can cause a gradual decline in the levels of a particular brain chemical known as serotonin. Healthy levels of serotonin are required for the brain neurons to communicate with each other, improving its ability to perform at its peak. Suppression of serotonin levels is associated with poor memory, depression, anxiety, fatigue and sleep problems.

Given these scenarios, it is important to always keep our brain not just healthy but also fit at the same time. A healthy brain is free from diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease while keeping the brain fit improves its ability to perform at its peak and maintaining it this way for as long as possible.

Scientists at the BRAND’s® Brain Research Center have recently discovered two peptides, Carnosine and ProBeptigen found in BRAND’S® Essence of Chicken which help to keep the brain healthy and fit. A special manufacturing process extracts these two peptides from chicken and makes them as a health food drink to complement one’s diet and nourishes the brain.

Carnosine protects our brain against cellular damage that accumulates as we age, keeping our brains healthy and free from diseases. Absorption of Carnosine into our bodies is best in the morning. Dr Paramjeet Singh, Chief Scientist and Head of BRAND’s® Brain Research Center says: “You may want to take BRAND’S® Essence of Chicken after breakfast or mid-morning to reap optimal benefits.” Researches also showed that Carnosine can suppress secondary complications of diabetes, cancer and other age-related concerns for the brain. The other peptide ProBeptigen®, sustains serotonin levels in the brain. It promotes brain fitness so that peak performance is possible, even when one is under stress.

BRAND’S® Essence of Chicken was discovered in 1835 by Henderson William Brand in order to reverse the failing health of King George IV. With over 176 years of heritage, BRAND’S® has earned the loyalty of many. In the health food industry BRAND’S® has pioneered in investing on scientific and clinical research to prove its product benefits and investigate the mechanisms behind how the products work.

BRAND’S® Essence of Chicken is a health food drink that is free of fat, cholesterol and preservatives. It is an extract of fine quality chicken in easily digestible form and hygienically processed under high temperature that gives it a unique flavor and is best consumed when chilled.

BRAND’S® Essence of Chicken is sold at Mercury Drug stores and is available in 42g and 70g bottles. For more details, visit www.brandsworld.com.

RUBY SPARKS: REAL-LIFE SWEETHEARTS PAUL DANO & ZOE KAZAN TACKLE SURREAL LOVE

“Ruby Sparks” is the story of a novelist’s vision who inexplicably comes to life, only to prove far more complicated than even he could have imagined. With a light touch and a dash of magical realism, the first screenplay from actress and playwright Zoe Kazan attracted the attention of Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, the married team who directed the run-away hit “Little Miss Sunshine.” The film takes an unpredictable route into fantasy, identity and the ways we invent love – and how love can re-invent us.

ZOE KAZAN and PAUL DANO in RUBY SPARKS

Paul Dano plays Calvin, a celebrated author in his younger years who hasn’t had a follow up novel years after his first breakthrough novel. Struggling with writer’s block, disappointed and unfulfilled, his close relationships are with his dog and his brother. Calvin who is cut off and isolated is constantly being urged by his married brother Harry (Chirs Messina) to get out, live, date and write. Finally finding in his imagination a muse for his novel and with his old typewriter, he creates the perfect girl he named Ruby. Barely done with his first chapter, to his astonishment that his character, Ruby (Zoe Kazan) has magically sprung to life and arrived in his kitchen where she is cooking eggs.

Life changed as Calvin believes that he willed the perfect woman into his life by the sheer power of his imagination. Ruby leaps off the page and into the kitchen of his house, filling it with her warm and joyful personality. Is he hallucinating? Is this a fantasy? Or is the lovely Ruby Sparks a flesh and blood girl: the girl he has been waiting for? Whether real or imaginary the delightful Ruby turns into a muse who helps Calvin rekindle his passion for writing and his passion for life.

Joining the incredibly talented couple Dano (“Little Miss Sunshine,”“There Will Be Blood”) and Kazan (“Revolutionary Road,” “It’s Complicated”) in the movie are Annette Bening who plays Calvin’s free-spirited hippy mother and Antonio Banderas plays her artistic and flamboyant lover.

Find out what will happen to “Ruby Sparks” when it opens September 19 in select theaters from 20^th Century Fox (Fox Searchlight Pictures) to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Check out 20^th Century Fox’s YouTube http://www.youtube.com/20thcenturyfoxph for the trailer.

LIAM NEESON BACK IN “TAKEN 2”

Shot in Istanbul, Turkey and directed by Olivier Megaton , “Taken 2” reunites Liam Neeson with his co-stars Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace in this rocket-paced action sequel that rivals some of the greatest gun-handlers in cinema history.

Neeson reprises the role of Bryan Mills, a father and an estranged husband who would do anything for his family in the movie. Mills’ daughter having been kidnapped the first time. But he faces a different kind of conflict in “Taken 2.” Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent with a particular set of skills who stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim from Albanian kidnappers. When the father of one of the kidnappers swears revenge, and takes Bryan and his wife hostage during their family vacation in Istanbul, Bryan enlists Kim to help them escape, and uses the same advanced level of special forces tactics to get his family to safety and then systematically take out the kidnappers one by one.

“In the first movie he's really a guy with nothing to lose. He's divorced, he's lost his daughter, and you see his reaction when she's kidnapped,” explains Megaton. “In this movie, he's got that relationship back and he's even flirting with his ex-wife. It's almost cheesy, but that makes him all the more human at the beginning of the movie, because he's not thinking about his training, he's thinking about his family.”

But being kidnapped once is unfortunate; twice is just careless. Rest assured, then, that things play out differently in this sequel. “The powers-that-be–namely our gracious leader Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen—have come up with a much better plot than that,” assures Grace. “Someone has the notion of attempting to abduct Bryan. It's a personal vendetta; someone bent on extracting recompense from a man with a particular set of skills, as ill-advised as that might be. So it's not a random second abduction of my character, Kim, which I think would be everyone's first concern.”

“Taken 2” opens October in theaters from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

BEN STILLER’S “THE WATCH” TO OPEN SEPTEMBER 5 IN (PHILS.) CINEMAS

Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade and Vince Vaughn

Meet the neighborhood watch: civic-minded Evan (Ben Stiller), fun-loving family guy Bob (Vince Vaughn), tough-talking “wild card” Franklin (Jonah Hill) and the looking-for-love divorcé Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade). In a seemingly serene suburban enclave and safe haven, Evan Bob, Franklin and Jamarcus have decided to join forces to safeguard their community. In addition, they’re enjoying some of the perks that come with being a “Watcher”… like drinking beer and just being guys.

But when the guys’ patrol vehicle hits something that leaves behind a trail of green goo and a tentacle of some sort, and they find a strange, bowling ball-like device that emits a concentrated beam of energy – they realize that their little group has stumbled onto something bigger than a prowler on the loose.

“When they formed this ‘band of brothers’, the guys thought, sure, they might encounter some weird neighborhood stuff – maybe a burglar here, or peeping tom there – but suddenly they realize they’ve facing something extraordinary,” says producer Shawn Levy, the director of such hits as “Night at the Museum” and “Real Steel.” “And The Watch is not just unprepared or unqualified, it’s not remotely equipped to deal with this problem; yet it’s all on them to stop it.”

To play the four members of “The Watch,” Levy and director Akiva Schaffer (a creative force on several famed “Saturday Night Live” short films) tapped three comedy icons and a fast-rising talent. “We wanted the best,” says Levy,” and so we went out and got the best – three titans …together in the same movie! And then we threw in the ‘grenade’ of ‘what the hell are you going to get with Richard Ayoade?’”

The Watch

Beyond the hilarity lies a story about four guys who were not complete, or their best selves, until they joined forces. As Bob admits to Evan: “You took a ragtag group of misfits and taught us there was something bigger than a few beers and some bro-time. You taught us about community and how important it is.”

At its core, “The Watch” is a story with universal appeal, “It’s about four regular guys who might remind you of your brother, dad or husband,” Levy sums up. “Suddenly, they come together to battle something they have absolutely no clue how to deal with.”

And when it comes to friendship, marriage, career, family – or protecting the world – it’s always best to watch out for one another.

“The Watch” opens September 5 in cinemas from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

BEN STILLER VS. ALIENS IN “THE WATCH”

In the upcoming Ben Stiller starrer comedy “The Watch,” what started out as a simple advocacy by four suburban dads to protect their neighborhood becomes a global concern when they discover that aliens from another have started to inhabit the earth right at their own backyard.

Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn reunite in “Neighborhood Watch” along with Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade (whose name is fast becoming a household name for his work in the British TV show “The IT Crowd”).

Ben plays Evan, a man who moves from the big city to the suburbs, and worries that his life will be boring now he’s away from the excitement of the metropolis. But after signing up for the local neighborhood watch patrol, he’s soon thrust into uncovering a massive conspiracy on the world’s total annihilation.

Check out the movie’s trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWX9lGyFb-4&list=UU-
JrjBL_iZAn5wjEsw9nRYA&index=1&feature=plcp