Eight Years and Onwards

Here at UNO magazine, we basically get paid to enjoy ourselves. Make no mistake, it is a job, and not an easy one at that: what with all the setbacks, drawbacks, unforeseen reversals, late nights, last-minute disasters, and just typical day-to-day difficulties of putting out a worthwhile monthly print magazine, sometimes we work so hard at this that our pets don’t recognize us any more and our personal hygiene suffers (I won’t name names).
Read more…

Teresa Herrera: A tribute to one of our greatest supermodels and style icons

UNO Magazine presents a short tribute to one of our greatest supermodels and style icons. Included in this gallery are photos taken from our past shoots with her in 2005 and 2007.

[Show as slideshow]

Click on any image to enlarge. Click on the image once again to return to regular browsing.

(Trivia: UNO editor-in-chief Erwin Romulo worked as a writer on the first season of “Project Runway Philippines” along with Editorial Consultant Mihk Vergara, who was the show’s head-writer. It was directed by Marie Jamora.)

The Future of Live Music

Virtual J-pop idol Hatsune Miku performs live

“As you can see she is a 3D projection but that doesn’t keep keep her show from being sold out. This tech and execution of a music performance is pretty innovative. I wonder if we’ll be seeing more of this outside of the Virtual J-pop world. It would also be cool to incorporate into a live human music performance….This is less threatening than making robots. At least these 3D projections can’t hurt someone physically =P. It could possibly damage an industry though lol. More videos HERE“ (from Population GO)

Guys, where can I get these?

Women Who Love Their Poles

I was very curious when I was asked to judge the Second International Pole Dancing Competition in Divino Men’s Club, especially since pole dancing is lobbying to be the next Olympic sport (and maybe yoga, cosplay, and competitive texting). Of course, curiosity killed the cat. To prevent any deaths, this cat made sure he went to the pole dancing competition with his wife.

I thought that the judging would be a relatively simple affair as it had similar regulations that you would find in most Olympic-level sports: no vulgar music, no nudity, no thongs, and no tassels. But right before the competition, Ania Przeplakso, the head judge and designer of a unique fitness program called “Sensual fitness” (a regimen well known to many teenage boys), pulled me aside to explain the criteria for judging, which seemed slightly more complicated than rocket science. The scoring sheet had a total of 22 categories that included horizontal maneuvers, fluidity of transitions, foot positioning, and the all-important poise. On top of that, you had to score from a scale of one to seven with one being “basic” and seven being “worship my throne.”

Since the judging seemed more difficult than most national licensing exams, I did the smartest thing that I could do: I had my wife judge on my behalf (also because she blinders installed in my eyeglasses that she could operate by remote control).

A couple of minutes before my wife activated the blinders, I had a chance to speak with judges Ania and Lala Ilao-Dinglasan, pole dance teacher and choreographer, and their love affairs with polished stainless steel.

How do you qualify as a judge for the Second International Pole Dancing Competition? Aside from aesthetic considerations, is it desperation? The Dirty Old Men of the world want to know.
Anya: Experience (laughs).

Well, a lot of Dirty Old Men have had extensive experience with poles.
Anya: It’s not really desperation (laughs). It’s more of being stubborn and following your dreams. When I started pole dancing ten years ago, it still wasn’t acknowledged by anybody. It was a challenge, and I loved it!

Lala: Aside from that, your dance background is also important, And knowing the art itself is important: from how it started out as a show in a strip club to how it became an alternative exercise, and to how it is turning out to be a competitive sport.

That’s true. Men can be very competitive with their poles.
Anya: Most people think that pole dancing came from strip clubs. But it actually came from India.

They have strip clubs in India?
Anya: Pole dancing started in the twelfth century in Maharastra, India as the Indian sport of “Mallakhamb.” It was actually used to train wrestlers to gain more gymnastic skills. At the time, it was only performed by men.

I always thought wrestling with poles came intuitively to men.
Anya: In China, you have Chinese poles, which used a different type of material. I believe that is how pole dancing started progressing. Then, the women took over. They started to put on lipstick, high heels, and started dancing with the poles.

Women, they just take what is rightfully ours and make it more socially acceptable.
Anya: That’s because their male partners wouldn’t go and dance with them so the women found a partner that would never run away (laughs).

You would think that men would make better company than poles.
Anya: Women turned pole dancing into exercise. But of course, gentlemen’s clubs have made a big mark in the history of pole dancing. Why? For a majority of the girls who worked in the gentlemen’s clubs, pole dancing was only one form of exercise they could do at night.

I have a one-liner for this, but I am afraid to use it.
Anya: A lot of men and women noticed how these pole dancers were in such good shape and wanted to know what was their secret to keeping fit. I think this is how the popularity of pole dancing started to grow.

Lala: It’s a total body workout. Especially for people who are tired of going to the gym because of all the repetitive movements.

I for one have had enough of these repetitive movements
Lala: In pole dancing, you are focused on learning the skills, picking up the tricks, and having fun. The toning of the muscles and losing weight will just naturally follow.

Talking about having fun with your poles, you said that men can be good at pole dancing, and especially if they can’t find any partners?
Anya: What I love about pole dancing is the difference in performance between the men and the women. There is both a very feminine and a very masculine way to pole dance, just like regular dance. In last year’s pole dancing contest held in Tokyo, the women danced like water around the pole. They were spinning and flowing. But when you see the men perform, they attack the pole. While they are performing, you can see the muscles in their body fighting to keep their positions.

Lala: The good thing about men is that they are already innately strong. So it’s just a matter of how you are going to use your pole, how uniquely you plan to do your spins and tricks on your pole.

Some men have had more practice with their poles than others. Here is a more practical consideration: Won’t it be more difficult for men to work on the poles when their own, ehem, poles get in the way?
Anya: (Laughs) Well the techniques in pole dancing for a woman and for a man are different. For guys, they love grabbing the pole and then hanging.

Lala: The men don’t do as much squeezing and clamping as women on the pole.

I am glad to hear that our poles are safe from harm. Earlier this evening, we were treated to a special performance by a professional male pole dancer who performed to “Beautiful Girl.” I will not question his choice of music but rather his choice of clothes. Did he really need to wear those sequined armbands and speedos? That is an image that only copious amounts of alcohol can erase.
Lala: (Laughs) That’s really important in pole dancing: the less clothing, the better.

Anya: I have heard the same advice from many a DOM. But I’m not sure if this advice was meant to be unisex.

Lala: Because it has to be your skin to the pole. Or else you won’t be able to mount the pole to do some tricks.

Skin on the pole to mount some tricks, got it. And what are the other practical applications you can use pole dancing for aside from fire fighting?
Lala: Aside from private moments (laughs)?

You wouldn’t say?
Lala: Stamina and flexibility. (Laughs. Somewhere in the distance, her husband laughs.)

Anya: Well, after giving birth, many women have a hard time regaining their pre-pregnancy figure. Pole dancing is one of the most effective fitness routines that can shape the body in less than one month!

The three women reading UNO are having customized poles installed in their bedrooms as we speak. Speaking of stamina and flexibility, I hear that pole dancing might become an Olympic sport?
Anya: (Laughs) The media frenzy (over pole dancing as an Olympic sport) started during the Winter Olympics.

It must have been rather difficult to do pole dancing in the Winter Olympics what with body parts getting stuck to the pole and all.
Anya: Then we started the male categories for the pole dancing championships. After that, we put in an application for the pole dancing in the (2012) Olympics (as a test event). We are still working on it; we hope it will be acknowledged in Brazil (Olympics in 2016).

Then we must brace our wallets for the onslaught of new athletic products that will come about from this emerging sport, like fishnets from Speedo, 7-inch high heels from Adidas, and sport poles from Nike—so everybody can just do it.
Anya: And you may ask who the winner was of the Second Leg of the International Pole Dancing Competition? After watching thirteen candidates: nine from the Philippines and one each from Belarus, Japan, Malaysia, and Moldova, I can safely declare that the true winner for that evening was the pole.

First published in our August 2010 issue

UNO Online: At Your Service

We here at UNO would just like to thank all of you who bought our August issue and sent us so much great feedback and praises. Yup, we serve at your pleasure. And we can promise you more adventures in the coming issues. We hope you continue to fly with us.

(And, Phoemela is just so gorgeous, isn’t she? Book us for a return flight!)

No Fun

Sometimes working on an issue you really love can only be described with a song (and a live YouTube video)

This August: Phoemela Baranda In Flight

Starring Phoemela Baranda

In this issue:

Award-winning writer Angelo “Sarge” Lacuesta gives us two stories about desire and flight, accompanied by an airport shoot starring the lovely Shawn Yao and Annicka Dolonius.

Kristine Lim Spoor writes about life in New Zealand, Denise Mallabo pays a visit to Ilocos Norte, and Yvette Tan writes about destinations unusual and foreboding.

Menchu Aquino Sarmiento tells us about the gender-transcending Transpinays. Sylvia Mayuga pays tribute to aviation pioneer Capt. Bobby Lim.

Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon lets us into the mind of a Japanese porn star. Andrea Go gives us the Divino experience from a girl’s POV. We count down hentai’s greatest hits. And Armi Millare of Up Dharma Down eats organic with us.

Fallout Boy: An interview with Atom Henares

With a name like Atom Henares, you can’t expect anything less than explosive

By RJ Ledesma

After working as an SGV management consultant, our favorite unit of matter pursued his MBA at Harvard Business School. He has diverse business interests in the country that include: palm oil, power plants, a pulp and paper, a cable television and radio station, and real estate. He sits through three meetings a day, leaves work at around 7 p.m. to work out for about an hour, then heads out for dinner at half past ten. And then he (as the young ‘uns call it) makes “gimmick.” This building block of matter also scuba dives and races cars, and he does all this while employing his secret identity.
Read more…

King of Pawn: Jean Henri Lhuillier

Photos by Carina Altomonte

Jean Henri Lhuillier, president and CEO of the Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop companies, the largest pawn brokering chain with 4000 employees, serving 30,000 customers daily in over 1200 branches around the country

He is also president and CEO of Cintree Management Services, Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions, Netword Capital Ventures, Inc., Le Soleil de Boracay Resort, Inc., P& EL Realty Corporation, Just Jewels Diamond Boutique Corporation.

Add to that lengthy list: director of Enderun Colleges, DFNN.com, Hatchasia.com, Intelligent Wave Philippines, director and chairman of Global Restaurant Concepts (Philippine Franchiser of California Pizza Kitchen), and Exteriur Resources Worldwide, Inc.

It doesn’t end there. He is also former manager of the Philippine men’s national basketball team that won a gold medal in the 2003 Southeast Asian Games; team manager of the RP Davis Cup since 2004, and current president of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines.

I shouldn’t neglect to mention that he is also Honorary Consul of San Marino to the Philippines.

Finally, most importantly, husband to the former Bea Lucero (former Olympian, commercial model, and insanely popular host of a late ‘90s show called Teen Talk), and father to four impossibly adorable kids.

Here’s the question: What does Jean Henri Lhuillier not do?
Read more…