If you ask me which local pop band today is the most innovative, without batting an eyelash that so needs extensions, I would say it is Bamboo.

Although it has been months since its latest album hit music stores, I’m still not tired of listening to We Stand Alone Together.

This is the third outing of Bamboo and it features a lot of remakes, including “Tatsulok” (originally done by Buklod), “Umagang Kay Ganda” and “Probinsyana.” Bamboo also borrowed songs from other celebrated artists across generations for this third album, as evidenced by the band’s versions of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave a Lover,” Pearl Jam’s “Alive, Carole King’s “So Far Away,” Seal’s “Prayer for the Dying,” etc.

This album has definitely gone to places that the band has never reached. The members slyly fuse rock, funk and jazz in this album. They have originality, boldness and individuality that speak to the innermost dreams and desires of their listeners. Dare I say it that they can even tug heartstrings and inspire awe?

With their music so distinct, it came as no surprise that lifestyle label Penshoppe tapped Bamboo members as its newest endorsers, tagging them as the brand clothing’s Ambassadors of Music and Style.

Penshoppe’s newest campaign with Bamboo is titled “What Did You Learn Today.” It presents Penshoppe and Bamboo as icons of independent thinking and self-expression among the Filipino youth.

This campaign follows the success of 2006’s Denimlab Rockfest, where 20 of the hottest Pinoy bands came together at the Araneta Center. Part of the “What Did You Learn Today” campaign is a promo that for every P1,500 worth of purchase, you can get a free lunchbox. The promo is only available until July 8 at the Penshoppe outlets in Glorietta, SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, TriNoma and Robinsons Ermita branches. 

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After months of deliberating and looking all over the world for inspiring stories about the Global Pinoy, movie channel Cinema One has finally chosen five finalists for the third annual Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival.

When Cinema One announced the opening for submissions for the much-awaited digital filmfest, with the theme “Ang Kuwento ng Pinoy sa Buong Mundo,” Filipinos here and abroad eagerly participated.  From 130 entries, the selection was cut down to 22 semifinalists who went through several screenings and presentations, until the five promising finalists were selected. 

Viewers are up for an exciting lineup for this year’s indie festival. Lawrence Fajardo of Raket ni Nanay fame makes an entry with Sa Ikawalo that tells the heart-wrenching story of longing and obesity involving an OFW and the daughter he rarely sees. A collaborative effort of commercial director Ruel Antipuesto and musical composer Jerrold Tarog (Kubrador, Masahista), Confessional is also one of the finalists, a dark comedy about a small-time filmmaker about to witness a life-changing confession from a retired politician. 

Inang Yaya codirectors Veronica Velasco and Pablo Biglang-awa come up with another beautiful story as one of the entries, Maling Akala, a romantic comedy with a twist of drama coming from the lead role’s pressing homosexual issues.  Giving a different take on Philippine horror and the supernatural is Rico Maria Ilarde’s Altar, a terrifying movie about a retired boxer working as a carpenter in a haunted and cursed mansion.  Finally, fresh from his victory via the film Donsol, veteran writer and director Adolfo Alix Jr. gives us a raw drama about poverty, guilt and redemption titled Tambolista, an intimate portrait of two brothers struggling with deprivation.

“After a successful series of Cinema One Originals for the past two years, the third annual digital movie festival is set to be bigger, starting with the budget of P1 million for each film, as compared with the P700,000 in the previous years.  So expect better, more exciting and more magnificent films with this year’s Cinema One Originals Digital Movie Festival,” says Cinema One channel head Ronald Arguelles.   

The third Annual Cinema One Originals Digital Movie Festival is set to run in November.

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If you ask me which local pop band today is the most innovative, without batting an eyelash that so needs extensions, I would say it is Bamboo.