Philippine Volcanoes Ready to Erupt!

Yup, the Philippines has a national rugby team! Better known as the Philippine Volcanoes, this team of half-breeds will represent the country in the international rugby union and will be competing for the Shanghai Sevens Rugby Tournament.

Just like any athlete, these young heroes aim to bring home honor and glory to the country. But before their much awaited tournament, the Volcanoes became the hottest topic among netizens and commuters because of their traffic-stopping billboards! Even Gerard admired their sculpted physique. H-O-T! (Mmmkay, that was so wrong and gay.)

Gerard was lucky to meet the some of the Volcanoes:

Jake Letts

Position: Scrum half

Jake's playing rugby since he was 6 years old. Yeah, he's REALLY good at it. It was Gerard's first time to touch a rugby ball. The oval-shaped ball is easy to throw and catch.

 Chris Hitch, Postion: Flanker

Rupert Zappia, Position: Center 

Rupert, nicknamed "Uncle Scoops", even had a dance showdown with Gerard! Uncle Scoops challenged Gerard to dance on top of his cap. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!

Oliver Saunders

Position: Fly-half

John Odulio, Position: Prop Forward

Mark Chatting

Look at these guys over here with Gerard!

Justin Coveney, Position: Center

Chris Everingham, Position: Hooker

Kenny Stern, Position: Wing

Gerard felt uneasy and insecure with these guys.

AND WHY ARE THEY TOPLESS?? The Philippine Volcanoes just finished

a new campaign for a local sponsor. They can't wait to show it to their fans! 

Behind those big, brawny and serious faces, most of them were surprisingly funny, accommodating and very down to earth. Chris and Oliver even asked for Gerard's (and Nimu's of course! haha!) twitter accounts first! Justin is very funny and smart, too! He looks like Mr. Incredible. These guys don't really take offense when others say they are not real Filipinos. We can't take away the fact that they have Filipino blood running through them and they are proud of it!

Let's all support The Philippine Rubgy team! For the win!!




Special thanks to Beverly Dalton.

Sam...Lim...Photography

At last, Hinge Inquirer hired two in-house photographers. Sam Lim is one of them. This two-syllable named guy is a young Manila-based photographer who shoots portraits, editorial, street, glamour, and, his current favorite, seminars! Check out his portfolio: http://samlim.tumblr.com/

Story: Gerard met Sam through NiMu. Sam is the boyfriend of NiMu's high school barkada Kriska Santos. Sam, Kriska and Nimu were kindergarten classmates. NiMu is currently working for Hinge Inquirer and encouraged Sam to apply as a staff photographer. Kriska was so happy Sam landed the job! Sam likes two things: photography and food. He's a graduate of culinary arts and also currently working on a food service company named Panache Catering. He's got Chinese blood, but hates Chinese food! 

Up in the Sky

Illustration by Wilver Alquino.

Gerard likes traveling a lot and wants to travel the whole world! If he gets the chance, he wants to try out sky diving or bungee jumping at Bloukrans Bridge, South Africa.

World Photography Day

August 19 marks the World Photography Day, when everyone is celebrating photography and remembers how special a photograph can be.


Photographs have a special part in Gerard's life. Photographs remind him of special events in the past. It captured his good, bad, and unpleasant moments. But most importantly, photographs inspired both Nimu and Gerard to start this blog! And what's a perfect way to show their instax camera some love? By posting photos of course!


Let's play a game called Spot Gerard. The rule is simple: find Gerard.

Celebrate photography! Register and join  World Photography Day.

Level-Up

The first time Gerard met a beautiful woman like Tweetie de Leon-Gonzales (who's a mom, model, endorser, and designer) he was stunned by how beautiful and successful a woman can become. Gerard dreams of a woman just like her. He blushed again when he met Mikaela Lagdameo-Martinez.

Gerard met Mikaela on a shoot for a magazine where she will be on the cover. Gerard first saw her on a TV commercial for a pizza chain. On that commercial, she played a typical girl-next-door, beautiful, prim and proper, but actually, she can be rowdy, fun, and out-going like the boys. And yeah..she can eat a LOT of pizza slices without worrying about the extra calories.

Just like her character on the pizza commercial, Mika is also fun, stylish, out-going, and can actually do anything! She is a model, endorser, magazine editor. She's also money broker and a food biz entrepreneur, most especially, a wife and a mom of 2 beautiful kids. Wow! Now that's a lot going on her plate, and Gerard admires her doing all that.


From meeting models like Tweetie de Leon-Gonzales, and some celebs, to going to a beach, mountain, an artsy place, and now meeting the lovely Mika, Gerard has come a long way and his adventures are slowly but surely leveling up! "LUMEVEL-UP NA SIYA!"

Cubao X

Gerard doesn't have an idea where Cubao is. According to his research, Cubao is a haven for petty thieves, a place with a number of adult movie theaters and rows of night clubs. He also learned that the very first Jollibee branch was established along Aurora Boulevard.


Just recently, Gerard also found out that Cubao is home for artists and art enthusiasts alike.

Cubao X (formerly known as Cubao Expo and, nope, it's not an adult movie house) is a compound of small two-storey establishments with everything and anything related to art and creativity. Gerard dropped by during day time, so most of the shops were closed. "The place looks like a ghost town," he thought. All stores opens at night time, though. Nevertheless, Gerard still wandered around the horseshoe-shaped compound.

He visited some stores and found shelves full of old magazines, graphic novels, vintage typewriters and cameras, random trinkets, unique clothes, shoes and accessories, and antique furniture sold at reasonable prices. Gerard was pleasantly surprised to find old original vinyl records of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He even saw vintage robots in one of the stores. "They're probably a gazillion lightyears old!" he said. Some stores host art exhibits while others serve italian food, burgers, and, most importantly, beer!

Gerard loved hanging out in Cubao X and is thinking of dropping by again soon. But this time, he'll definitely bring his friends along and put on his best "hipster" look.

Gerard, the Planker

Planking is a game or activity of lying face down stiff as a board with arms to the sides in unusual or unique places.


It is blowing up the news and internet today, and Gerard thinks "planking" is funny (and...err...the most stupid thing he ever heard of) and wanted to try some himself. But instead of placing his arms to the side the way "plankers" used to do it, he put his fists in front of his chest because he has no joints hahaha!


Note: No robots, humans and animals were harmed in the making of these planking photos.

on top of a pipeline

on top of a side mirror (this was really dangerous!)

on top of a coffee cup

There ya go! Gerard's planking photos! He felt nothing special afterward, and his foot also dipped into the coffee cup, slightly burning his metal toes. Yikes! So just a Gerard Reminder: Safety First!

Ped Xing

Look who Gerard bumped into while strolling down Rufino street on a drenched and drizzling night: Beverly Dalton.

Gerard hasn't seen Bevs in a long time. He missed her terribly. They chatted and exchanged random stories and shenanigans like postcards, dreams of becoming a flight attendant, french vocabulary, facebook, twitter, diet myths, yoga, zits, Casa Manila, music, Astronomy, and Kirsten Dunst. 

There nothing like enjoying the night with a dear friend. :)


Hooray for a full-body shot! More post on Bevs soon!