Anggun Named As Global Judge For Picture This Festival For The Planet

Hi Huneybees,

Internationally renonwned musical artist - Anggun has been announced as global judge for the Picture This Festival for the Planet (www.sonypicturethis.com), a short-film competition for emerging filmmakers, everyday storytellers and changemakers worldwide to showcase the positive future they see for our planet. 

“I am very proud to be a global judge for the Picture This Festival. As an environmentally-conscious individual and artist, I believe delivering optimistic messages is the best path to creating public awareness. This festival emphasizes that creativity, imagination and visual talent can make an impact on how we can create a better and more sustainable future.” --- Anggun

Anggun, a World Music Award winning artist whose single What We Remember is currently on the Billboard Dance Charts in the US, is a judge on the hit-rated series, “Asia’s Got Talent,” and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador (2009-2017).

Also joining an esteemed list of judges announced in the past several weeks are YouTube Vloggers -Damon and Jo, who will serve as the first and only digital-native judges for the festival.

Damon and Jo, otherwise known as Damon Dominique and Jo Franco, are digital content creators, entrepreneurs, travel experts and authors who have over 1 million followers across YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. The duo are currently in production on their Facebook Watch series Damn Millennials and recently released their first e-book Woke all while running their YouTube channel and travel site, Shut Up and Go.

“In any given month, we may find ourselves in several different continents. Our passion for traveling, learning languages, documenting, and encouraging others to do the same is because we feel that the Earth's story can be told through every day perspectives. And more importantly, if people see the conditions of what's out there, and experience it either through our lens or that of their own eye, they'll be more empowered to take action and help what's important to them.” --- Damon and Jo

In addition to Anggun, Damon and Jo, the list of celebrity advocates and industry leaders who will judge film submissions includes: Megan Boone, environmental advocate and actress from the hit TV series “The Blacklist”; Elizabeth Cousens, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, United Nations Foundation; Mr. N.P. Singh, MD & CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India; Marie Jacobson, EVP Programming & Production, Sony Pictures Television Networks; Tom Bernard & Michael Barker, Co-Presidents, Sony Pictures Classics; Glenn Gainor, President of Physical Production, Screen Gems; Debbie Levin, President & CEO, Environmental Media Association; and Damian Bradfield, President and Chief Marketing Officer, WeTransfer.

Partners in this year's festival also include: the United Nations Foundation, the United Nations Association of the United States of America, WeTransfer, Sony World Photography Awards, Sony Alpha Universe, the Environmental Media Association, Connect4Climate and leaders and environmental visionaries from around the globe. SPTN launched a similar contest in 2016 across its channel portfolio worldwide, including its flagship brands AXN, Sony Channel, Crackle and Animax and those same flagship channels will participate in this year’s festival. 

Entries have already opened in January, with people from over 70 countries submitting videos between one and eight minutes in length inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global goals agreed upon by all 193 member states of the United Nations to end poverty, protect the planet and promote prosperity for all.

This summer, eight (8) regional winners will be flown to Los Angeles to attend the Picture This Festival for the Planet for a day of networking and training alongside industry leaders and social impact partners at the Sony Pictures Studio lot, followed by a screening of the regional winners’ films. Regional winners will receive airfare and accommodations for two nights in Los Angeles, along with a Sony RX0 Camera and a one year WeTransfer Plus account, with the grand prize winner honored with a Sony A6500 camera and a SEL1670 lens. 

The Picture This Festival for the Planet is Sony Pictures Entertainment’s latest project to bring awareness to the SDGs. In 2016, the United Nations and SPE launched Angry Birds for a Happy Planet, a global youth outreach campaign that leveraged online and social media platforms to encourage action to protect the planet and fight climate change. Centered on the Sustainable Development Goal #13 – to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, the campaign featured Red and other characters of The Angry Birds Movie. In 2017, supported by the cast of the Smurfs: The Lost Village, audiences were encouraged to join “Team Smurfs” for the “Small Smurfs Big Goals” campaign that inspired everyone to learn about and support the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

Submissions for the Picture This Festival for the Planet opened January 30 and will close April 30. 

The contest will be open to entrants from select countries worldwide. 

For more information, visit sonypicturethis.com and to enter the contest for free. 

You can follow the Picture This Festival on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Good luck to you and I can't wait to see the submissions!

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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Get Your Act Together For AXN's Asia's Got Talent Season 2

Hi Huneybees,

(This could be you! – Asia’s Got Talent Season 1 finalists)

Hey ASIA! Always had a talent in singing, performance, dance, etc? Wana show off those talents of yours and be Asia's Next Superstar? Well, be ready for online auditions for AXN's Asia's Got Talent Season 2 starts on April 10!

Remember the winning act last season by Filipino shadow dance group, El Gamma Penumbra? They had all of Asia tuning into that programme, it was the talk of the town and they even walked away with a cash prize of USD100,000!

So, if you think you have the talents, be sure to visit www.AXN-Asia.com/AsiasGotTalent to submit an application and audition video, which should include a short introduction of the act, and the actual performance. The videos should be under two minutes’ in duration. 

In addition to the online auditions, AXN will also hold a series of open auditions in major cities across the region next month. Cities, dates and venues will be announced in the coming weeks via AXN’s TV channel, social platforms (@AXNAsia) and website.

"Asia’s Got Talent is the world’s biggest talent competition and we encourage people of any age and with any dream to come forward and take the spotlight. Following the outstanding success of season one on AXN, and the awe-inspiring talent that emerged from 15 countries, Asia’s Got Talent has established its place as the region’s most powerful platform to launch aspiring stars.

For season two, AXN is looking for a variety of acts that span everything from thrilling, surprising and breathtaking to funny and quirky…and sometimes bizarre. Asia’s Got Talent is captivating entertainment at its best and there’s no better place than Asia to discover to the next generation of superstars." --- Virginia Lim, Senior Vice President and Head of Content, Production and Marketing, Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia.

New Ratings Records in Asia

Season one of Asia’s Got Talent set new ratings records for the English general entertainment (GE) genre during its run, taking AXN to the number one spot in its timeslot among all regional pay-TV channels collectively across Southeast Asia and Taiwan.²

In Malaysia, Asia’s Got Talent was the highest rated entertainment series on English language channels on Astro in the past two years. In the Philippines, the Grand Final Results episode of Asia’s Got Talent was the highest rated pay-TV program in the country since 2008, and commanded a 96 percent share among 22 English GE channels. ³

2. Source: Kantar Malaysia Astro DTAM, Kantar Media Singapore, Kantar Media Philippines all urban panel, 12th March to 14th May 2015, Thursdays, 8pm to 10pm, target: pay TV 4+

3. Source: Kantar Malaysia Astro DTAM, 2015-2016. Kantar Media Philippines all urban panel, 14th May 2015, target: pay TV 4+

Got Talent Globally

The Got Talent franchise was created by Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment and is co-produced and owned by Syco Entertainment and FremantleMedia. It is entered in the Guinness World Records as the Most Successful Reality Television Format in history with 70 local versions produced across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle-East, Africa and the Americas. Around the world, the Got Talent format airs in a total of 186 countries.

AXN: A leader in original productions

AXN is a leader of regionally produced original content in Asia, with notable ratings successes including five seasons of the international Emmy-nominated The Amazing Race Asia; the Asian Television Award-winning Cash Cab Asia and Cash Cab Philippines; The Apprentice Asia; Cyril: Rio Magic; Cyril’s Family Vacation: Hawaii Edition; and the Asian Television Award-nominated Cyril: Simply Magic.

So, be sure to get your act together and stay tuned to www.SonyPicturesTelevision.com for more information. Have fun and hope to see you on TV soon! =)

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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4 Out Of 5 Popcorns for Inferno !

Hi Huneybees,

Going to Cinema to watch a movie with friends or family is a favorite past-time in Singapore and if you are into mysteries and thrillers, Inferno by Sony Pictures Entertainment may be the movie you should catch next.

Based on the 2013 mystery thriller novel of the same name by Dan Brown, Inferno is the fourth book of the Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol.

Starring Tom Hanks as Professor Robert Langdon and Felicity Jones as Dr Sienna Brooks, who came together in search of the truth to the discovery of the modified version of Botticelli's Map of Hell from a medieval bone cylinder fitted with a hi-tech projector, after escaping an unexpected assassination attempt at a hospital in Florence where Robert was warded.

Believing it has something to do with Dante's Inferno, both of them travelled through Florence and to Venice, with Police, soldiers, assassin and agents all after their trails, only to uncover the fact that a billionaire geneticist named Bertrand Zobrist (played by Ben Foster) has a sinister plan to infect an engineered disease to halt human growth in the name of humanity.

Without spoiling the movie for Huneybees, I must say the movie make me wanted to travel to those beautiful places of Florence, Venice and Istanbul.

Unlike Da Vinci Code, this "Save-the-Humanity" movie is well paced with back to back actions including a twist to the plot and even a slot for humour , which is just right for a 100 minutes movie!

Overall I find Inferno very entertaining and the acting of Tom Hanks as well as the beauty of Felicity Jones certainly helps alot!

It's 4 out of 5 popcorns for me! Minus 1 popcorn for the straightforwardness or rather lack of technical finesse in uncovering those mysteries in the movie.

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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[Movie Review] The Wedding Ringer

Hi Huneybees,

From Sony Pictures, comes another hilarious comedy - The Wedding Ringer. Everything began when the socially awkward groom-to-be Doug Harris (Josh Gad) is settling down to marry his dream girl, the beautiful Gretchen (Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting). And in JUST 2 WEEKS, he has to fill up his list of best man and groomsmen, when he don't even have any guy friends!

Doug is then being referred to Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart) whose company provides best men services to socially challenged grooms. It's absolutely hilarious when they got together to work out on the big lie. I liked the part where they have to take photos with different backgrounds in order to convince that the best men are Doug's friends all along. Ice hockey field as background for snow mountain scaling?! CLEVER!!!

So, all the best men are given a new identity, though they have their own set of weirdness. They all had a great time together and something unexpected happens between Doug and Jimmy in which they build their bromance.

Everything is well-planned and working just fine till the very special day of Doug and Gretchen. Someone overheard the reason that Gretchen is getting hitched to Doug. This makes Doug ponder what he is really looking for in a marriage. Are you marrying for the sake of getting married to your dream girl? Well, well, well, I'm not gona spoil it for you, you have got to watch the movie to see whether did Doug marry Gretchen. :P
Overall, the comedy is definitely something you want to fall back into the cinema seats after a tired day of work. Some of the funny parts were pretty predictable, but it was pretty nice to see Josh Gad doing the relatively untested comedic role, since his voicing of Olaf the Snowman in Frozen.

The movie is already now screening in Singapore cinemas, be sure to ask all your friends down for a laugh too!

(This article is contributed by Xue Ling. )

About the Author

Xue Ling is a dedicated Food & Lifestyle Blogger at http://noobguidance.blogspot.sg.

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

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[Movie Review] Hotel Transylvania

Hi Huneybees,

I know this review came abit too late, blame it on my health. I know the movie is still on screens, so go catch it before it ends!

Synopsis

Dracula (Adam Sandler) has created a safe haven for all kinds of monsters in his hotel, Hotel Transylvania. He has one rule, no humans are allowed. The hotel is also the venue for the upcoming 118th birthday of his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez). Dracula is somewhat a very protective dad and he does everything that he can think of to shelter his daughter from human contact. However, Jonathan (Andy Samberg) accidentally stumbles into the hotel but was luckily intercepted at the entrance by Dracula himself. Dracula then disguises him as a monster and coerces him to keep the secret. Mavis fall in-love with Jonathan but soon everyone finds out that he’s human. Dracula must now choose which is more important, the sanctuary that his hotel provides or the happiness of his daughter.

It's a fresh new take on Dracula and the monsters that we grew up fearing. These monsters are adorable and kinda reminds me of Monster Inc, where the monsters feared human instead of the other way around (which we all know).

It's very fun to see the humane side of monsters, that they all wana take a break, hide away from human and they do have family members that they all love dearly, especially the father-daughter love hate relationship between Dracula and Mavis. Kinda reminds us of our protective dads too!

Other than the few seconds of raging Dracula, I would say kids would totally dig the movie and laughter never stops throughout the movie. Gone are the days of scary monsters!

I give the movie a 4 out of 5 popcorns.

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[Movie Review] The Amazing Spider-man

Hi Huneybees,

Yes, as you have read from my teaser yesterday, I've watched The Amazing Spider-man already and I'm loving every part of it! Even though the previos 3 movies had James Franco, the 4th Spider-man movie is well rebooted and it left me "swinging" out of the cinema.

The Amazing Spider-Man, a complete re-imagining of the Spider-Man film univese, goes back to the origins of Spider-Man as he uncovers a secret about his parents and battles with The Lizard. The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by James Vanderbilt, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

The movie is the story of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

Toby Maguire’s successor in the Spider-Man suit is the British actor, Andrew Garfield, who had just appeared in The Social Network when director, Marc Webb picked him from hundreds of actors who auditioned for the role.

The scholarly and well-spoken Garfield, who was born in America but brought up in England by an American father and English mother, could hardly be more different from Maguire in attitude, upbringing and demeanour; but he has the physical attributes and enthusiasm, plus a solid theatrical background.

“The character has meant so much to me as a boy, as a teenager and as an adult, so I was overwhelmed with the idea of playing someone I cared deeply about. I adored the previous Spider-Man movies but this one is different, otherwise it wouldn’t have been made. We obviously needed to bring something new and fresh and tell the story in a different way.” -- Andrew Garfield

You have got to watch the movie in 3D! I mean it was shot in 3D why waste it right? The angles, the perspectives were some untackled before in film making and my experience of watching the movie in an IMAX theatre woke me up from my sleepy mode, got me sitting on the edge of my seat and like I said above, left me wanting to swing from buiding to building.

I was a little skeptical before I step into the movie. I mean, we know how Peter Parker became Spiderman, Uncle Ben dies, etc, etc. But there is this uncanny story telling that draws me to the screen and especially the action scenes were something you don't want to even blink!

Another thing that made me stay glued to the screen was the flawless and gorgeous Revlon ambassador, Emma Stone. She glowed in the movie and unlike Mary Jane, played by Kristen Dunst, she was just the sweet, next-door-neighbour kind of girl. She didn't need red hair or super screams to draw attention, she simply just shone with her natural beauty.

I must say she's a great actress but very little was focussed on her and I think most of the attention was already sucked away by Spider-man and The Lizard.

This is definitely a 4 out of 5 popcorns movie. 

Go watch it when it opens on the 29th June 2012 and don't leave the cinema till the lights come on... *hint hint*

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Are you ready for a Spidey?

Hi Huneybees,

After six months of shooting, mainly at Sony’s Los Angeles studios with 3 weeks on the streets of New York, The Amazing Spider-Man, filmed in 3D and festooned with special effects, is ready for release.

The Amazing Spider-man is a reboot of the 3 prior Spider-man movies and it stars Andrew Garfield as Spider-man and the gorgeous Emma Stone as Spider-man's first love, Gwen Stacey.

As you could have seen on my Twitter, I have already caught the movie before everyone else.

Wana know what I think of the movie? How many popcorns would I rate it? 

Stay tuned to my movie review! :)

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