ANOTHER 'Survivor' AND 'Smaller Transformers'TO SHOWCASE THE PH ISLANDS

MANILA, Philippines -- After the recently released action film "The Bourne Legacy," which featured numerous scenes in Manila, another Hollywood production is set to film in the Philippines, according to the local producer of the Jeremy Renner hit. Lope "Jun" Juban, Jr., the Philippine producer of "Bourne," said an upcoming Hollywood movie, which he described as similar to the blockbuster film franchise "Transformers," will be shooting scenes in the country. "[It's] a smaller version of 'Transformers,'" Juban told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "It will probably be shot on location, in Subic or Clark." Juban expressed mixed emotions, following recent criticisms hurled at "Bourne" for showing the poverty in the Philippines. "I'm happy and worried at the same time. I hope the Filipino audience will like 'Bourne Legacy,'" said Juban, who is part of Philippine Film Studios, Inc.

Lope "Jun" Juban, Jr., the Philippine producer of "Bourne," said an upcoming Hollywood movie, which he described as similar to the blockbuster film franchise "Transformers," will be shooting scenes in the country.

"[It's] a smaller version of 'Transformers,'" Juban told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "It will probably be shot on location, in Subic or Clark."

Juban expressed mixed emotions, following recent criticisms hurled at "Bourne" for showing the poverty in the Philippines.

"I'm happy and worried at the same time. I hope the Filipino audience will like 'Bourne Legacy,'" said Juban, who is part of Philippine Film Studios, Inc.

'Big league'

While critical reception to "Bourne" has been mixed, Juban has fond memories of being part of a "big league" movie production.
"This is the big league. In basketball, this is the NBA. I learned a lot from the experience," he said. "I was just a small speck in the whole production; I felt flattered that [the foreign producers] listened to all my suggestions."
One such suggestion resulted in a scene in "Bourne" showcasing the beauty of El Nido, Palawan.
Seen as a tourism endorsement of sorts, this closing scene in the film won't be the last international audiences will see of the Philippine's natural treasures.
According to Juban, another international edition of the reality competition "Survivor" is set to shoot in the Philippines in 2013.
The US version of "Survivor" recently shot two seasons in Caramoan Islands in Camarines Sur.
"Our company just did two seasons of 'Survivor US.' We will do 'Survivor Israel' again next year," Juban said.

SOURCE: ABS-CBN NEWS

MOTORIST SLAPS MMDA ENFORCER

A raging motorist Robert Blair Carabuena Mauls, Bullies & Slapped MMDA Enforcer Saturnino Fabros in the corner of Capitol Hills Drive and Tandang Sora in Quezon City.

Carabuena, an alumnus of Ateneo de Manila Univerity and a resourcing supervisor at Philip Morris International was caught on tape by producers of Broadcast entity TV 5. 

In an interview with T3, Fabros explained that Carabuena's lane was on stop to let the opposite side proceed. But Carabuena still crossed and was asked to pull over.

"Nagpapa-GO ako dito kanina, eh sila naman, dumiretso. Tapos nung sabihan ko bakit sila dumiretso, Sila pa nagalit. Ayun na. Bumaba na sila. Sinapak ako," said Fabros.

MMDA  officials are helping Fabros to file appropriate charges against Carabuena. 

Carabuena on the other hand is filing counter charges to the enforcer.

Netizens reacted violently after the video circulated the web.

@meganbata saw that vid too. asshole guy
— Jan Enriquez (@JanEnriquez) August 15, 2012

TV5, GMA7 MERGER -- NO DEAL! YET

MANILA, Philippines - There are kinks in the ongoing negotiations for a deal between the country's second and 3rd largest media groups. Owners of GMA-7, operated by GMA Network Inc., and the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, who chairs TV5, are currently in talks for a possible deal that both camps aim to finalize before 2012 ends. "There are outstanding issues other than pricing. Right now, we are not moving in the same direction," GMA-7 chair and CEO Felipe Gozon told reporters at the August 14 briefing on the network's financial performance in the first 6 months of the year. "We have not issued a joint statement that we are terminating talks," he added. This is the 3rd time the two groups are negotiating since about a decade ago.

 Source: RAPPLER

HUGE PYTHON CAUGHT IN THE EVERGLADES

There's some Florida records no one wants to see broken, but apparently the exotic snakes invading the Everglades weren't informed.

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey captured a state record-breaking Burmese python that was not only a whopping 17 feet and 7 inches long, but carrying an also-record-breaking 87 eggs.  

The massive gal weighed 164 pounds, according to staff at the University of Florida, who said the previous records for length and fertility were a measly 16.8 feet and 85 eggs. 

"She was a beast!" USGS research ecologist Dr. Kristen Hart, whose team caught the snake, told HuffPost. "She was really impressive."

The massive python was nearly a foot wide, said the Florida Museum of Natural History's herpetology collection manager Dr. Kenneth Krysko (hear him describe her in the video above). The python was sent to the Gainesville museum so UF staff could perform a necropsy for research before mounting the body, which will eventually be returned to Everglades National Park. And then, presumably, there's a party to be had.

"When you find something outside the known or expected range," said FMNH's Ichthyology collection manager Rob Robins, "it's exciting."

Hart said the huge python was initially spotted in March when a "judas snake" -- a male python outfitted with a transmitter for tracking during mating season -- led USGS biologists Thomas Selby and Brian Smith straight to her. Getting the snake from the brush to the office was no small feat, though the very fit Selby and Smith are roughly 6' 5" and 5' 10", respectively.

"She was tired from pulling against them, they were tired from wrestling her," Hart said. "They were just exhausted but also excited: 'You're not gonna believe how big this snake is!'"

The pythons have become such a problem in the Everglades that the plus-sized slitherer wasn't immediately euthanized, but instead put to work as an informant. The USGS team inserted two radio tags and a GPS inside her during surgery, along with a small motion detector about the size of six stacked quarters. The fancy accelerometer records fine-scale activity data four times per second, assembling a wealth of information that would tell researchers at every moment whether the python was right-side up, rolling, killing, or coiling.

For 38 days, the snake was at large in the Everglades again while Hart and other researchers kept careful track of her and their expensive equipment. But the python's shift had to end, so to speak, before the gadgets' batteries ran out, surveillance budgets ran over, or the big girl (gulp) reproduced. A female Burmese is capable of laying 50-100 eggs at once, a huge problem when pythons are making exponential and unwelcome gains in one of the world's most fragile ecosystems.

No one knows for sure how imported pythons first made their way into the Everglades, South Florida's long-suffering and slow-moving economic engine. Popular yet unproven theories involve a reptile house destroyed in Hurricane Andrew, sending serpents slithering into the wild, or lazy exotic pet owners who dumped their former charges near Everglades National Park.

Though there hasn't been an attack on a human, the headlines have been sensational: not only has at least one python-vs-alligator battle left both combatants dead, but anentire deer was recently found inside the stomach of a 16-foot snake. Bomb-sniffing dogs have even been employed in an attempt to root out the scaled invaders.

Most alarming are the decimating changes in the delicate Everglades that have accompanied the explosion in invasive snake populations. Biologists and researchers including those at USGS and UF are working to not only limit the snakes' takeover but determine whether or not the pythons are responsible for the near-total disappearance of native mammals including raccoons, opossums, and bobcats.

Source: AP/ HUFFPOST MIAMI

2 CEBU PAC FLIGHTS CANCELLED

Due to Bad weather caused by TS Helen, Flights from Manila to Caticlan and vv. were cancelled. No information yet on when the flights will resume.

2 Biyahe ng Cebu Pacific (Manila-Caticlan-Manila), kanselado dahil sa masamang lagay ng panahon | via @johnsonmanabat
— DZMM TeleRadyo (@DZMMTeleRadyo) August 14, 2012

TROPICAL STORM HELEN TO MAKE LANDFALL

weather: TS Helen changes direction, will make landfall in cagayan tom. Signal 2 raised in isabela and cagayan. Very rainy northern luzon.
— kim atienza (@kuyakim_atienza) August 14, 2012

PAGASA's 5 am Bulletin

At 4:00 a.m. today, Tropical Storm "HELEN" was estimated based on satellite and surface data at 310 km East of Casiguran, Aurora (16.6°N 125.4°E) with maximum sustained winds of 75 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 90 kph. It is forecast to move West Northwest at 15 kph.
Public Storm Signal number 2 raised over Isabela and Cagayan and Signal Number 1 hoisted over Quirino, Aurora, Nueva, Vizcaya, Ifugao, Mt., Province, Ilocos Norte, Abra,, Kalinga, Apayao, Babuyan & Calayan Grp. of Islands and Batanes Grp. of Islands

FORECAST TRACK

LRT 2 HIT BY LIGHTNING/ Update 1

LRT 2 operation is now up from RECTO to ANONAS

LRT2 operation restored up to Anonas. Trains now running Anonas to Recto and back. Katipunan and Santolan Stations still closed.

— Hernando T. Cabrera (@attycabs) August 13, 2012