SARITA for Lancaster Estates AVP

Here is the recent AVP that I did for Lancaster Estates New City in Cavite. You can also see our printads on billboards, print materials, tarpaulins, lamp post flags, and bus wraps! This will also be shown on cinema ads. =)

Happy Birthday, Ms. Ara Mina!

We were so happy to get invited to her intimate birthday dinner with friends. Ara Mina, who has been a long-time friend and mini-me's ninang, celebrated her recent birthday at Mango Tree in Bonifacio High Street with just selected friends that she's been in touch and worked with recently. The party was hosted by her boo and the newly re-elected mayor of Bulakan, Bulacan, Mayor Patrick Meneses. It was attended by Francine Prieto (my former schoolmate), Rochelle Barrameda, Rita Avila, Jamie Rivera, Say Alonzo, Melissa Mendez, Alynna Velasquez, Lloyd Zaragoza, Violet and Manoj, Nomer Yuzon, Farrah, Ebby, and just a few more friends.

The party was held in the balcony/mezzanine overlooking the diners of the fully-packed Mango Tree. We were served with delicious Thai cuisine of Mango Tree in a buffet spread. I was in my usual videographer mode, while Marl, of course, was in his usual photographer mode (tandem nga, di ba?). There was an acoustic duo who was performing for that night, but since we were at the balcony, we felt like they were exclusively performing for us! Since most of the guests in the party can carry a tune (ehem!), we all tried to jam with the band - much to the amusement of the dining crowd at Mango Tree. Why not? We all sang our hearts out as the rest danced with the upbeat songs. Since the restaurant closes at midnight, we were cut off the enjoyment. We didn't know that it would be that fun! So we did some group shots just outside the closed Mango Tree - which was really fun! It was indeed a beautiful night with great people and awesome company. Ara Mina couldn't contain her happiness... as she is well-loved by her friends.

"Belated happy birthday to our dear friend/kumare Hazel Reyes, otherwise known as the beautiful Ms. ARA MINA, who not only has one of the beautiful faces in showbusiness but also someone who has a pure and genuine heart. Thank you for inviting us to your birthday dinner hosted by the re-elected Bulakan Bulacan Mayor, Patrick Meneses (congrats bro!). We love you both!"

Follow me on Instagram & Twitter: @saritaonline 

Working on a new website, and then some...

I know I have made some promises earlier in the year that I'll try my very best to at least post something in a day. But like all other promises, mine was broken. I've been busy with doing some new projects. So here I am, checking on my blog's stats and I was so surprised to see that my blog actually gets good traffic daily. And I owe my visitors at least something good to read and see within my blog.

Last year, when Apple's MobileMe services has finally ceased, the website which I designed has also gone to kaput. Hence, since I still own my domain www.saritaonline.com, I resorted to just redirect it here on my blog which I've had since 2005. Today, I woke up with an urge to go back to web designing - where part of my artistic and creative juices would flow freely. In fact, my schedule has been quite free for a month now.

I am also looking to updating the website that I maintain for the company I work for, www.johnchacko.com, where you can see the bands that we manage overseas.

So hopefully soon, you will see a brand new website when you type www.saritaonline.com in your browser's address bar. Have a great day!

SARiTA in UFC Spaghetti Sauce TVC

Here's the very cute UFC Spaghetti Sauce TV commercial where I played the very sweet and loving mom to my birthday boy. Sweet Filipino-style spaghetti is the best!


Watch it on Youtube!

SARiTA for the New Biogesic TVC with John Lloyd Cruz

Photo grabbed from Biogesic Facebook Page

Blessings just keep pouring. And no, I'm not complaining. =) I am sooo grateful and thankful for all these countless blessings that have been coming our way. Meeting wonderful people along the way, working with the patient makeup artists, stylists, and hair stylists, gaining great experiences from my co-talents and directors, and much more. That's why I really am enjoying myself with these projects!

My recent TV commercial is the new Biogesic Tri-media ad with John Lloyd where I played the pregnant mom with a fever. I had so much fun with the shoot as the people behind the scenes were all funny. And also, this is the first time that I got to work with a famous Filipino celebrity, one of the hottest leading men in the Philippine industry today, and my TV-crush... John Lloyd Cruz. Too bad, I wasn't able to take a solo photo with him. But I really admire his work ethics as he came to the shoot prepared.

There will be different versions of this TVC. Below is the 30-second version. I know there will also be a version focused on me as the pregnant mom, maybe one of the 15-second versions. This will also be in print ads, bus wraps, and billboard ads... as stated in my contract. Anyway, here's the new Biogesic TV commercial or watch it on Youtube.

SARiTA for Ceelin Vitamins TVC 2013 - Kundiman

What a great beginning of the year of the snake! I am so thankful for all these blessings that I have been receiving. Projects are lined up one after another. I can't explain how overwhelmed and thankful I really am. This is the recent project that I did before Valentine's Day. It's for the famous vitamins for kids, Ceelin vitamins by Unilab, which has been my daughter's vitamins since she was a toddler.

There were 5 pairs of moms and kids in this touching commercial that pays tribute to the loving and caring moms and is also a testimony of a mother's love to her child. There were different settings for every pair - and our pair was called "Quiapo". Our setting was in the busy streets of Manila, particularly infront of the Manila Post Office in Lawton. We were actually crossing the road with real vehicles passing by on the street. It was quite an experience doing that under the scorching heat of the noon sun. But we had fun doing it as the whole production and team were fun to work with. It was directed by Dragon Pineda.

My reel daughter in this commercial is the very adorable Carla Ann Dela Cruz, who's soooo sweet and so much prettier in person. We became close when we were shooting this TVC that she invited me and my family to attend her 7th birthday party fews days after the shoot.

Here's the 90-second DIRECTOR'S CUT of the TV commercial with the adaptation of the Kundiman song of Lucio San Pedro "Sa Ugoy Ng Duyan". There's a 45 second and 30 second versions that are currently airing on local television in the Philippines, however they didn't include me on the latter version. I don't know if they have a different version of the 30-seconder that has my spot, but that would be great if there is one! =)



CLICK HERE to watch it on Youtube! :)

What a Note-able week!

It's been a week since Marl and I bought our his-and-hers Samsung Galaxy Note 2 smart phones. White for me, black for him. It was my first time to use an Android phone. I remember I had a Chinese Android tablet before which only served as an e-book reader most of the time - because it was sooo slow.

But this Android experience is quite different. I enjoy doodling on it and scribbling on it. I'm very happy with it that I don't get to login on my computers that often anymore. Don't get me wrong. I'm still a full-fledged Apple user. Though I must admit that I only use my iPad2 as a lyrics book onstage only. I tried switching to my Note 2 for my lyrics but navigation was a bit confusing. But I'm gonna be giving it another try. If I get used to it, I can sell off my iPad2, along with hubby's iPad1.

I musta admit that I'm a happy Droider. Dont't hate on me, Apple fans. It does feel great experiencing the best of both worlds. ♥

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10

BRING IT ON, 2013!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! This is my first post for the year 2013 and I just thought I'd drop by my blog to leave a very short post. How was your New Year's Eve countdown? I had a blast at the countdown show at the 19th floor of Century Park Hotel last night. I performed with hubby Marl on the keyboard and Rudy Sumang on the sax. I was sooo excited and overjoyed that I even performed 80 minutes straight for our countdown set instead of just an hour. Well, the guests were having a great time and they kept on shouting "more" every after supposedly-last song for the evening. That's the kind of crowd that I'd like to perform for. And I guess it's just fitting to give back to people by obliging to their requests. Yes, I was tired after the countdown, throat was so dry, and feet were burning from the 5-inch stiletto. But I felt the sense of completeness... it was sooo fulfilling for me. And for a performing artist, that's the most important thing.

As everyone takes a break and are still on holiday on the first day of the year, I went on to do my happy-hour gig at the casino of Heritage Hotel. Yes, I still worked on the first day of the year. Friends asked me if I wasn't tired from last night's show. I sure was. But I believe that working on the first day of the year officially sparks a great new beginning. Then I went to SM Mall of Asia to have dinner with hubby and mini-me. We were supposed to watch a movie but there were lots of people so we all decided to go back home instead. We can watch movies at the nearby SM Megamall anytime we want to, anyway. :)

I'm so excited for more blessings this year. I'm gonna work harder for sure. I'm just soooo ready for this year... BRING IT ON, 2013!!! It better be great!!! =)

Celebrate New Year's Eve Countdown with me at TOC

Sarita with Arpie & The Multivitamins Band at Spicy Fingers

It's funny how nobody ever captured my nightly gigs at different venues, yet I have a handful of videos of me jamming with other bands and musicians - in my hard disk. I couldn't help but share with you this video taken last Thurday at Spicy Fingers when my favorite hilarious band Arpie and The Multivitamins asked me to jam with them. I had a good laugh watching the video esp. when they were trying to imitate me! I had no idea! Kulit nila RJ (guy wearing orange), Icee (girl wearing light blue) & Arpie (guy wearing blue) sa likod! KALOKAHHHH! Hahaha!

SARiTA for the new BLEND 45 TV commercial

It was launched at the Sunday noontime show of ABS-CBN called "ASAP" almost a week ago. I didn't see it but my friends started to text and leave messages to me asking me if it was me whom they have seen in the series of commercials. I got really excited. I've been waiting for it to come out. It was one of the memorable projects I have done, because I did this during the busy month of September. In fact, I did this around my Forever-25th birthday this year. :) Also, this is a remarkable campaign to bring back the pioneer coffee brand of the Philippines from Universal Robina Corporation (URC). All versions were directed by Direk Henry Frejas. Makeup was done by Jennie Lee.

Here's main storyboard called GISING PINOY where all the flavors are featured together with all the leads. This is the TV commercial that has been airing on Philippine TV these days. Soooo proud to be a part of it! Just in case... I'm the lady who noticed the crying baby, who bought and drank coffee, and carried the baby to make her stop crying. :)



All the lead characters in this project have our own storyboards that represents each of the 3 different flavors of Blend 45. My partner and I are featured for the Blend 45 Pula, with a storyboard entitled MALAMBING ("Sweet" in English). The setting is inside the bus, with me getting disappointed with my husband being insensitive and pulling the blanket away from me as he sleeps soundly. When the bus reached an R&R station, he invited me to have coffee but I ignored him. As he was having his coffee, I fell asleep inside the bus. He looked at my direction and saw me sleeping like a sleeping beauty. :) He then went back to the bus and offered me coffee as a "peace offering". Ending shot was us having a sweet coffee moment. :) Anyway, here it is... enjoy! :)

SARITA CARREON & CESAR CRUZ for Blend 45 Pula "Malambing" TVC


Here are the other 2 versions for BLEND 45 Puti and Barako flavors which feature the other lead talents. It was definitely great to work with these people. We had a great time bonding in the set near Tagaytay during the first 2 day shoot... then it was followed with a 30-hour shoot right after my birthday.


And here is the 15-second cut that is being aired on TV, too...

Selena sings "And I Am Telling You" for PCS X Factor

So she's got the guts and confidence to join singing contests that her mom has lost through out the years. Yes, my mini-me joined another singing contest again! Her school, Paco Catholic School, held their own version of X Factor contest where they had lots of students audition. Like the famous TV show, there had been different performances and eliminations every week for almost 2 months. And just as we guessed, she survived every week because of the judges' belief in her.

But just like the said TV show, their school also had their own version of garnering votes for their students. Since the students are not allowed to bring cellphones during school hours, they had the students pay-to-vote for 1 peso per vote. The votes became crucial and critical as the Top 10 finalists were announced... and mini-me was one of them. She was the youngest being the only representative for Grade 7. The rest of the contestants were 3rd and 4th year high school students.

We have always voted during the past weeks by increasing her allowance every voting day because she wanted to become one of the Top 10 finalists. So we thought that votes wouldn't matter that much anymore for the finals, that judges' scores would matter more. But we were wrong. Half of the overall percentage were based on the judges' score and half were still based on the votes gathered during the past 4 days before the X Factor finals. So since we realized that we've been "buying votes" for her, we didn't want to tolerate it and told her that winning a talent competition based on money is not a good competition at all. Yes, the money will be used for the school to buy new musical instruments, but as a parent who believed soooo much in their kid's talent would have thought the same way as we did. To others, yes it's just money... but would winning it really matter? We were quite surprised that the other contestants' families "spent a dime" just to see their kids win. I'm not that kind of parent. Guess, to each his own.

Anyway, here is mini-me's performance of the song "And I Am Telling You" which she has chosen to perform for the finals. Well... I might have hinted it to her since she has sung it in her first singing contest when she was 9 years old. But she wanted to sing it for X Factor. I just corrected things that are needed to be corrected from diction, delivery, blocking, and stage performance. Yes, I cried after the performance. And yes, I'm such a proud momma!

My Instagram profile

Wow! Props to Instagram for making it available on the web/browsers. Check out my Instagram profile and if you are using an Android or iPhone/iPad, follow me on Instagram: saritaonline

http://instagram.com/saritaonline

This November...

This November 24, 2012, I'm soooo looking forward to be a part of this big event organized by Mr. Crooner Arthur Manuntag for the benefit of other musicians who are in need of financial assistance for medical needs. This is going to be a very exciting event because I'm soooo looking forward to meet other famous lounge singers. This will be my first time to perform at Hard Rock Cafe Manila!

I consider myself newbie in Manila scene and I haven't met and heard most of them - of course, because I have regular gigs of my own, too (see schedule below). I have heard a lot of great things about these divas and I'm soooo looking forward to share the stage with them! :)

Here's my schedule of regular gigs in Manila for the month of November:

TUESDAYS

• PAGCOR @ The Heritage Hotel 5PM - 8PM
• Top of the Century @ The Century Park 8:30PM - 11:30PM

WEDNESDAYS

• Genting Club @ Resorts World Manila 9PM - 11:45PM

FRIDAYS

• Taberna Barcelona @ Metrowalk 8PM - 12MN

SATURDAYS

• Taberna Barcelona @ Metrowalk 8PM - 12MN

SUNDAYS

• Genting Club @ Resorts World Manila 9PM - 11:45PM

So for now, my available nights are Mondays and Thursdays which I utilize to meet friends and prospect clients for our growing business. But if there are events or reliever gigs on those days, I'm more than eager to accept them - if the budget is fair, of course. There goes the workaholic performer in me. :)

Celebrity Chef Billy Kalangi and Sarita Carreon for Royco Indonesia TVC 2012

Here's the recent commercial that I have done that has been airing in Indonesia for the past 3 weeks already. Thanks to Indonesian celebrity Chef Billy Kalangi and to his manager Rizky for providing me the link! I grabbed the video from them! =)

Apparently, there are Filipino and Vietnamese versions of this commercial a year ago which were made for Knorr. But in Indonesia, it's called Royco. Anyway, here's the project that I had soooo much fun doing! The bonding session with the rest of the casts and the kids were so memorable! =)

Here's my Zonrox Color Safe TVC

Projects here, gigs there. Events here, invitations there. I'm lovin' my life now! Anyway, here's a new TV commercial, Zonrox Color Safe with Oxygen Bleach, which I did in July. This is the 30 second version, there's a 15 second version that's currently airing on Philippine TV now. Yes, I'm the mom with the funny face at the end. Enjoy! =)


Click HERE to watch it ON YOUTUBE! :)

Quaker Oats WTW TV commercial 2012

Finally got an HD copy of the Quaker Oats TC commercial that I did a few months ago. Apparently, I worked with the same production just recently for a different commercial that is yet to be announced. Since it can't be found on Youtube, I asked for a clear soft copy of the said commercial. Of course, it made me really happy! I appreciated the commercial more now than the one I posted earlier taken by my friend Chona using her iPad. =) Anyway, here's the commercial that I had so much fun doing.

I suggest you to watch it on Youtube to appreciate it more! :)

The Main Event with Rocky Gathercole

I am sooo excited to be a part of a big fashion photography event featuring 6 models and of course, the creation of the internationally acclaimed fashion designer, Rocky Gathercole. It is a charity event, which means the money that will be gathered for the event will be for a cause. Participants will be able to shoot Nix Bennett, Paloma Esmeria, Isabel Granada, Sabrina Murphy and myself in different outfits. Makeup will be done by Barbara Bennett. So if you're a photo enthusiast or into fashion photography or simply love shooting photographic faces and sexy bodies, now is the chance for you to expand your portfolio. :) Contact my friend Gelo Bautista at 09205225665 to be a part of the Main Event at Fernbrooks Alabang on August 5, 2012.

Me, Rocky Gathercole, Mar Silverio & Gelo Bautista

WHO IS ROCKY GATHERCOLE?
When I first heard about this world-class international fashion designer, I thought that he's an American, a European, any nationality but a Filipino. Who wouldn't? Gathercole is not a usual Filipino last name. But when I researched about him and added him on Facebook, I was in total shock that he is actually a pure Filipino. In fact, he was born in Pasay City and has lived humbly in Manila before he went to seek a greener pasture in the fashion capital of Middle East. Dubai is where saw his dreams of being an international fashion designer come to life. Over the years of hard work and going through needle holes, Rocky was able to make a name for himself. And since then, his avant garde fashion creation has not only graced the big runways of Middle East and Asia, but has also made a mark in Miami and most recently has graced the Big Apple that is New York City. But despite of all these big successes and making a household name in the fashion industry worldwide, Rocky has stayed grounded and never changed a hair. This trait is what makes him loved by his dearest friends and family. Those who have widely discriminated him are nowhere but already hiding their tails in their own little corner. Nothing is stopping this Filipino pride, Rocky Gathercole! Go Rocky!