Friday, April 13, 2012

...the Canadian theater world


Fil-Canadian shines in theater industry


CANADA – Filipino-Canadian Joseph Sevillo from Winnipeg is one among the few who is able to break into Canada’s competitive world of theater.

“I first tried singing, dancing and acting when I was 13 years old in high school. My choir director pulled me out and told me I had a really good voice and pushed me to audition for my very first professional show at the Rainbow Stage which is an original theater company here in Winnipeg Manitoba," said Sevillo.
 
Sevillo has toured major cities in the country through memorable performances and hits like Rent, Evita, Miss Saigon and his biggest break so far, Mamma Mia in Toronto.
 
But Sevillo remains grounded and visible in the community.
 
Despite a vibrant career in his hands, Sevillo still sees plenty of growth opportunities in his career--one that takes him beyond theater to the new generation of the web.
 
Sevillo's latest project is a web series filmed with YouTube sensation Mikey Bustos.
 
“Prison Dance is an all new Filipino musicale inspired by the viral event, the dancing inmates of Cebu. In this competitive industry, I was lucky enough to be selected as the only Winnipeg Filipino to land in one of the supporting roles in the show,” he said.  

...the Peri's snake Eel

Newly-discovered eel species named after Pinoy diver


 
April 10, 2012 

There are only eleven known species of snake eel in the world —and one of them is named after the Filipino diver who helped scientists identify it.
 
The new species of snake eel, commonly known as Peri's Snake Eel (Myrichthys paleracio), was named after Christopher “Peri” Paleracio, dive guide at a diving resort in Anilao, Batangas. Paleracio (the person, not the fish), collected the species and submitted it for examination at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2009.
 
Photo credit: Mark Atwell
 
The snake eel M. paleracio was first seen in the shallow-water coral reefs of Verde Passage, located between Batangas and Oriental Mindoro. 
 
“Having a snake eel named after me is something.  I feel really lucky than honored actually,” said Paleracio.
 
Peri’s snake eel
 
According to the International Journal of Ichthyology, published in California, USA, M. paleracio differs from all known Myrichthys in its vivid brown and white coloration; its body elongation; and the number of vertebrae in each segment of its spinal column. 
 
“I’ve been seeing that particular kind of eel for years. I thought that it was just a color variation of the other snake eel that was already identified,” Paleracio said.
 
Based on studies, M. paleracio is most closely related to the dark-spotted and banded Indo-Pacific species M. maculosu and M. colubrinus, both also occur in shallow water within the Philippines Archipelago. However, none were observed at the locations where M. paleracio was captured.
 
Internationally-renowned marine scientist Dr. John E. McCosker and Dr. Gerald R. Allen, an expert on the classification and ecology of coral reef fishes in the Indo-Pacific region, received the specimen from Paleracio. 
 
McCosker is a senior scientist and the current chairperson of the Aquatic Biology Department of CAS in the state of California, USA. Allen of Perth, Australia, on the other hand, served as the Western Australian Museum’s Curator of Fishes for 25 years and is now working as a full-time consultant of Conservation International, an organization dedicated to protect the Earth’s richest regions of plant and animal diversity.
 
Catching and naming the eel
 
In 2009, when Allen and Roger Steene, also a known Australian underwater explorer and photographer, went for a dive with Paleracio, they realized that the particular snake eel has not yet been identified.
 
The fish experts decided that the snake eel should be caught for identification.
 
Paleracio recalled, “I tried catching it with the net that we are using to other fish but this one is not that easy.  It is very slippery, and can escape from your grip easily.”
 
In an effort to catch the snake eel alive, Paleracio had to struggle staying underwater with barely enough air to breathe.
 
“It was a struggle for me to get it alive. When I caught it, I barely had enough air in my tank to reach the surface,” he said.
 
In 2011, the California Academy of Sciences arranged its biggest expedition, composed mainly of marine biologists and other fish experts, in the Philippines to find and get the eel. McCosker interviewed Paleracio for the needed data in their study.
 
McCosker and Allen decided to name the species in honor of Paleracio, as the person who collected the specimen. 
 
Fish and sea slugs guru
 
Every year, Paleracio also contributes an average of five unidentified species of nudibranch (a form of sea slug). The Philippines has been tagged as the “Center of the Center of Marine Biodiversity” by scientists since 2005, making the country a magnet for marine biodiversity explorers.
 
Dr. Terry Gosliner, also from CAS, called Paleracio “the best dive guide in the Indo-Pacific” in his book “Indo-Pacific Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs,” published in 2008.
 
Paleracio is also an avid naturalist and photographer. 
 
His photo titled “Ocean Trash” won first prize in a National Geographic-sponsored photo contest in November 2011. — TJD/HS, GMA News

...the Pinay parliamentarian in Korea


Filipina Jasmine Lee wins seat in S.Korea parliament

04/12/2012

MANILA, Philippines - Filipina TV host and actress Jasmine Lee has been elected as a lawmaker in South Korea's parliament. This makes Lee, a native of Davao, the first naturalized Korean citizen to win a seat in the National Assembly.




Lee was a candidate for proportional representation for the ruling Saenuri Party, which won a majority of 152 seats in the 300-strong assembly, election results on Thursday showed. The conservative party is headed by Park Geun-hye, daughter of the late Korean president Park Chung-hee and one of the leading candidates in the presidential elections in December.

The 35-year-old Lee was number 15 in the Saenuri Party's list of candidates for proportional representation. The party had included a naturalized citizen high on its list of proportional representatives, to gain the support of the majority of 110,000 foreigners who are now Korean citizens.

South Korea's National Assembly is similar to the Philippine Congress, where most of the members are elected in districts across the country. However, some 54 seats are elected through proportional representation, similar to the Philippines' party-list system. Political parties come up with a slate of candidates for proportional representation.

The Filipina-Korean's rise in politics has not been smooth, as anti-multicultural groups in Korea have raised criticisms against her.

Lee is an advocate for multicultural families and the Filipino community in South Korea.  She met her husband Lee Dong-ho when she was still a college student at Ateneo de Davao, and moved to Seoul in 1995. She became a naturalized Korean citizen in 1998.

Her husband died in 2010 while saving their daughter from drowning in a mountain stream in Okcheon-dong, Gangwon province.

Lee is secretary general of Waterdrop, a charity formed by foreign spouses of Koreans and the team manager of the city government's Seoul Global Center.

Last year, Lee co-starred with Korean heartthrob Yoo Ah-in in the blockbuster hit "Wandeugi" (Punch), where she played the role of a Filipina married to a Korean. Since 2006, she has appeared on the KBS program "Love in Asia" and a Korean language program on educational channel EBS.

In December 2011, she was the first recipient of the Korea Image Millstone Award from the Corea Image Communication Institute. She was cited for her volunteer and charity works for foreign immigrants in Korea.

Earlier, Vice President Jejomar Binay said Lee “gives hope not only for Filipinos but for all migrants and immigrants”.

"We are all very proud that a full-blooded Filipino is being given the opportunity to be a member of the Korean Parliament," Binay told South Korean media. "It shows that Korea is prepared to extend the opportunity to become a public servant even to those who were not born here."