Summer reality

It’s really been sizzling these days in Manila as we hit the middle of summer. In the daytime it’s sometimes hard to even look out the window, because your eyes hurt from the intensity of the sunlight.

It’s also the peak of election fever as we head to the polls tomorrow, and candidates wait with bated breath over the next 48 hours, when the Comelec promises to announce the first batch of winners. Just remember please to vote for those candidates who will serve the people with honesty and sincerity.

When we were kids many, many, many summers ago, we had to do a report on what we did during the summer as our first assignment when classes started in June. Of course we couldn’t say we did nothing but play – which was what we did for most of our summers – so we had to come up with something more interesting to report, like learning how to cook or crochet (really!).

We didn’t do much of it when we were kids, but over the past few years we have been traveling around the country, seeing for ourselves how much fun it really is in the Philippines, and how beautiful. From the verdant mountains of Benguet and Ifugao to the beaches of Quezon and Cebu, and even Tawi-Tawi; from galletas and batchoy in Iloilo to curacha in Zamboanga; from rich malongs to the most exquisitely embroidered piña and jusi, the Philippines is a treasure trove of surprises and delights waiting to be discovered.

With the days remaining in this sweltering summer – and the rest of the year too – take some time to discover the Philippines... You won’t be disappointed.   

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The new buzzword is “AR” – augmented reality – that nifty little app that makes the paper literally come alive. Who’d have thought that you can watch a video clip or listen to an interview in a newspaper?

It took us techno-idiots a while to get into the swing of things, and even now we have had to, on occasion, call in the techies to deal with an uncooperative phone or tablet. But we’ve been playing with the app for the past two weeks, and we hope our readers have been enjoying it too.

If your reality still has not been augmented, here’s what you can do: First you need to have a smartphone or tablet with a Google Playstore or appstore. Then download The Philippine Star app by SVEN Ingenuity. When the app on your phone or tablet is up and running, click on the LIVE IT! icon on the upper righthand corner of your screen to activate augmented reality (AR). Hover your phone or tablet over the image with the LIVE IT! badge, then wait for your paper to come alive!  

With this issue we bring AR to STARweek, as we reaffirm that it’s really more fun in the Philippines. In succeeding issues we will continue to bring our pages to life, as we LIVE IT! We hope you will be part of our reality.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. Romans 6:1-5