Philippine International Cartoons, Comics and Animation (PICCA) Festival 2010

The Philippine International Cartoons, Comics and Animation (PICCA) Festival is all set in inviting members and the public to join the PICCA main event on October 22 to 25, 2010 at the SM City North EDSA.

PICCA will have rundown of activities and showcases like cartoon and comics exhibits, comics drawing contests, animation creation contests, talks by local and foreign guests, book launches, workshops for children, caricature sessions, game demos and animation showing.

PICCA will also hold a trade exhibit and showcase at SM City North Annex. Participants will be comics publishers, content creators, animation studios, mainstream and indie comics artists, gaming producers and multi-media schools. Booths and displays will also be set up in the CyberZone floor.

The four-day event is open to the public except the talks and the showings where PICCA members will have the reserved seats. In addition, PICCA members will be have draw of raffle tickets, awards night party and discounts on special skills training.

The annual event is dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of creative content generation in the Philippines, particularly in the fields of comics, animation and also gaming.

Resource persons will come from the US, Canada, China, Japan, Israel, Singapore, Australia and Pakistan. PICCA members are expected to benefit from the talks.

PICCA is presented by Mango Comics and SM malls. Partners include Japan Foundation, CITEM, Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas, Cosmopolitan International Institute of Technology, Seventoons, UP College of Fine Arts, Creative Media Professionals Guild of Asia and the Pacific, Holy Cow Animation and Design Plus Printers, Panda Travel Service and Derwent Art Supplies.

For details, contact PICCA Secretariat at (632) 403-8681 or log on to www.piccafest.com.

1st Philippine Digital Publishing Conference

With the rise of electronic books, e-readers, and the magnitude of information available on the Internet, fears have arisen that the old-fashioned book might go permanently out of style.

To address this, members of the local publishing industry came together on September 13 and 14 for the country’s first Philippine Digital Publishing Conference at the UP-Ayala Technohub. Entitled “the Future of the Book,” the two-day series of talks covered the changing landscape of publishing, the rise of e-books, and how Filipino readers, writers and publishers can make the best of these changes.

Sponsoring the conference were the National Book Development Board (NBDB), Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP), Filipinas Heritage Library, and Vibal Foundation, Inc.

An exhibit right outside the session hall also featured the evolution of e-readers through the years, from readers on the laptop, up until the recently-released Apple iPad.

Keynote speaker and BDAP president Lirio Sandoval said, “The public and private sector of the Philippine book industry are very much concerned about the future of the book industry in this digital generation, and it affects publishers, book sellers and readers alike.”

“This conference is the latest in many such conferences around the world, asking what the future might hold for [books and traditional publishing],” he said. “Some say the digital age will be the end of the book, others say it will be another chapter in the long and illustrious history of the book.”

For further information, contact Vibal Foundation at (632) 712-9156 to 59 loc 343 to 344, fax (632) 416-8460 or
visit their website at www.vibalfoundation.org.

7-Eleven Tour 500

In celebration of the opening of their 500th store, 7-Eleven gave back its success to the Filipino community, who has remained faithful and staunch customers since the launch of its first store in 1984, through a special biking tour named the 7-Eleven Tour 500. The tour was held at the 7-Eleven Market Drive in Filinvest Corporation, Alabang last August 8, 2010.

This inspiring advocacy was created to provide a safe and fun venue for biking enthusiasts of all ages (experienced and non-experienced bikers alike) to enjoy the world through two wheels, while helping those in need and the less fortunate by giving back to chosen charities.

Open to all biking enthusiasts who want to enjoy the thrills of riding in a safe environment while helping your chosen charities, the 7-Eleven Tour 500 will commence on August 8, 2010 at 7:30am at the 7. The event was joined by various biking enthusiasts who want to complete their first 60km ride in serene and supportive surroundings, as well as those who wish to test themselves in a competitive environment. The first 37km of the route took riders through Daang Hari, Molino Drive, Paliparan Road and Governor's Drive. There were also choices to turn into Amadeo Road or finish at the Tagaytay Convention Center.

The first placer got P25,000 donated to a charity or NGO of his choice, while the second and third placers got P10,000 and P5,000 donated to their chosen charities, respectively. Proceeds from the biking tour will also go to Bantay Bata.

Ms. Irish Valenzuela, a 24-year-old pride of Asingan, Pangasinan took top honors in the 90.4- km. race from Alabang, Muntinlupa in a time of three hours, 18 minutes and 16 seconds.

For more information on the 7-Eleven Tour 500, contact the Philippine Seven Corporation at (632) 726-9968, (63920) 950-8651 or (63917) 871-1475, email franchising@7-eleven.com.ph or visit www.7-eleven.com.ph.

15th Graphic Expo and Photo Video Expo 2010

The 15th Edition Graphic Expo 2010 celebrated back to back with this year’s Photo Video Expo last June 17-19 at the SMX Convention Center.

The three-day expo presented seminar topics including Desktop Publishing, Digital Photography and Imaging, Pre-Press Print Production, Large Format Printing, Sign making, Out-of-Home, Web Publishing, Multimedia, and Animation and Video.

The first day of the expo focused on Advanced Photoshop and discusses on other Adobe Programs’ tips and techniques. The second day is more on Color management and studied some of the business side of creativity which also discusses more on photography and event coverage. The last day is more focused on the moving pictures like video clips and animation, which uses Adobe After Effects.

The event was organized in cooperation with its sponsors: Canon, GPI, the Philippine Star, Business Mirror, adobo magazine, Inquirer.net, ComputerWorld, PC Buyer’s Guide, PC World, MediaG8way, sulit.com.ph, i-mag, Jam 88.3, Wave89.1, Magic 89.9, Techforge, Enterprise, and FISSI.

For more information, contact Fiera de Manila at (632) 896-0639, 896-0637, 899-6216 or e-mail fiera@info.com.ph. Visit the website at www.fmi.com.ph.