The clip has been viewed over 100,000 times in the first 24 hours it was posted on August 3rd and is spreading virally on blogs, email and social media. Only three days later today, it has already garnered over 700,000 views and counting!

I say timing is everything because upon further research on YouTube, this kid has been around in the popular uploading site being filmed by others who were also clearly impressed by his singing voice. This year and the video above may just be the key to get him noticed by Hollywood or who knows record labels! We expect this kid to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres show soon just as when Charice exploded on YouTube and she was flown from the Philippines to appear on the Ellen show not too long ago.

Here below in a 2008 video, the same boy is identified as that from an Aeta descent*, Arjohn Gilbert, singing the Coblie Caillat hit “Bubbly.” In another 2008 video, he is singing “Always be my Baby” by Mariah Carey.

In this 2010 video, user Jothan Gaetz is urging people to repost the video he took of Arjohn with another kid. His description explains his ultimate goal- to get Arjohn discovered:

” The boys in this video go by the name DJ Ryan, and Arjohn. Both of them are street kids in the Philippines. My wife and I befriended them recently, and Arjohn asked us to help him get discovered. Arjohn wants to be the next Charice. You can help him pull himself up out of poverty by reposting this video and watching it as many times as you can. If you are a record producer, please contact me, I can bring you to him. Find me on facebook under “Jothan Gaetz” “

This kid has been featured in a TV news program in 2009 channeling Rihanna and Mariah Carey!

Yet again in a 2009 short TV documentary, this kid’s talent is featured and highlighted. Why is this kid NOT discovered yet by record producers?! Timing is everything…

*Aeta: an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines. They are thought to be among the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, WIKI

At one point in his life, Arnel Pineda made twenty cents a day gathering scrap materials at a pier in the Philippines. Eventually he made ends meet singing for cover bands in a few marginal bars. Born into poverty and raised on the streets, Arnel abused drugs and alcohol to escape the turmoil of his everyday life. But he never stopped singing and believing in his talent – even when he almost lost his voice for good on two separate occasions.

Following a haphazard decade of singing in various bands, Arnel decided to clean up and follow his dreams. He formed a new cover band called Zoo and performed as much as possible to raise the band’s profile. As the band progressed, an admirer of Arnel’s began posting clips of the band to Youtube in hopes of spreading the word to potential new fans.

Little did he know he’d find one in Neal Schon, lead guitarist of the iconic American rock band Journey. Nor could he have expected that Arnel would be asked to audition to be lead singer of the band! Our independent film Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey intimately chronicles the amazing true story behind Arnel’s overnight rise to international stardom. As media hype starts to mount worldwide, we follow Arnel as he deals with a new set of obstacles and pressures – which push him further on his personal journey than he could have ever imagined.

Arnel’s story is a fascinating look at how fame and celebrity have transformed in our super-connected Youtube age. Like fellow Youtube sensation-turned-pop icon Justin Bieber, Arnel was catapulted to stardom after being “discovered” by sheer chance. Our film follows him through this uncharted world of democratized media, where a celebrity’s fame is fueled by viral hype and destroyed by short attention spans and fickle opinions.

Do you want to be part of a real-life rock’n’roll legend in the making? The good news is that the film has already been shot. We now need to raise $50,000 to kickstart the editing phase and need your support! Whether you’re a Journey lover, an Arnel follower, a documentary buff, a fan of inspiring true stories, or simply want to get involved, we are looking for “Believers” to help us finish our film. Join us! Thanks in advance for your interest and support.

VISIT THIS PAGE TO CONTRIBUTE…

Sign up for updates and view the teaser trailer, full synopsis, filmmaker bios, at the official website: http://everymansjourney.com/.

Join on Facebook by “liking” the fan page and adding as a friend on their official page.

If you tweet, you can follow them at their official twitter page. Please tweet about the film, and be sure use the hashtag #EverymansJourney.

Be sure to check out on imdb.com as well.

The ‘future’ of instant fame happened six years ago when three cool geeks from California invented YouTube in 2005. Since May 2010, YouTube exceeds 2 billion views a day. 2 billion. Since March 2010, there are 24 hours of video uploaded PER minute. I thought there should be more but over the years, there have only really been a few breakout artists who attribute their good fortune to YouTube: Arnel Pineda, Charice, Greyson Chance, Kina Grannis, Marie Digby, and Justin Beiber comes to mind.

That’s what is special about Maria Aragon, a Filipino-Canadian 10-year old girl from Winnipeg, Canada. NOT everyone gets their chance! Her simple video of her covering Lady Gaga’s new track “Born this way” stood out from the hundreds of cover of the same song. She wasn’t trying to be anything. She wasn’t trying to copy Lady Gaga, she was just doing her own interpretation of the song!

Her charming, innocent rendition, subtle nuances, powered by talent–she can sing and play the piano– set her apart, out of the pile of millions of videos on YouTube.

What is most special about this fantastical story is Lady Gaga herself and what THE Lady did for Maria Aragon. I don’t have to tell you that Lady Gaga is considered to be among the most powerful and influential celebrities in the world and the top selling artist of 2010, do I? Show me one person in the world who hasn’t heard of Lady Gaga!

Sure, someone sent Lady Gaga the video but she could have ignored and passed on the video. Instead, she spent three-minutes of her time to watch the recording. Not only that, on February 17th, she sends a Twitter message to her 8 million followers that the video made her cry.

“Can’t stop crying watching this. This is why I make music. She is the future,” she tweeted with the link to the video.

Just like that, the video has gone viral in a Justin Beiber fashion. In less than a week, the video garnered over 19 million views! But Maria’s legendary luck doesn’t end there. She receives a telephone call from Lady Gaga!

“Not only do you have such a beautiful voice and you are so joyful to watch, but every once in a while, whether people believe it or not, I have a very bad day,” Lady Gaga said to the shocked Maria.

Next thing you know, Maria Aragon goes flying to the United States to perform for the Ellen DeGeneres show! On March 3rd, she was on the stage of Lady Gaga’s “Monster Ball Tour concert” performing with the pop star!

I wish I had the same enthusiasm and drive as Maria. When I was 10, all I did was play and sleep! Heck, I’m old-er and all I do is play and sleep!!

It’s 2011 and fairy tales do happen and dreams do come true. The world has embraced technology and the internet, take the good with it and make something happen…

Timeline:

February 16, 2011: Maria Aragon’s “Born this Way” was uploaded on YouTube.

February 17, 2011: The video has gone viral after Lady Gaga’s tweet.

Somewhere in between, the telephone conversation between the two.

February 21, 2011: Ellen DeGeneres meets Maria Aragon

February 25, 2011: Maria Aragon visits “Good Morning America” on ABC

March 3, 2011: Maria Aragon performs with Lady Gaga in front of a packed audience at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada.

Photo by Tara Salt.

March 4, 2011: Lady Gaga tweets a photo of her and Maria writing: “Myself +10 year Old Lady Maria of Winnipeg. She signed my t-shirt, she ate my heart, just like you.”

March 5, 2011: Lady Gaga tweets a link to her and Maria’s ‘concert’ together. “Maria and I singing Born This Way together. She (You) is why I wrote the song. Thanks for making it #1 for a 3rd week…”

Kudos, Thia! Will be following your long career…

-0-

I called it in 2009 that with the right break, Thia Megia could have a place in the music industry!

Her America’s Got Talent stint seem distant now, seeing her again at 16 years old on the American Idol stage looking grown up and blooming beautifully.

Fil-Ams on Idol

On March 3rd, 2011- Thia became the only fourth Filipino-American to ever make it into the finals of American Idol in ten years. She is one of the Top 13 finalists currently competing for the title and a recording contract.  Six years since Camille and Jasmine took the Idol stage and three years since Ramiele’s time.

In 2004, Camille Velasco and Jasmine Trias both of Filipino descent, sailed through what could be the most controversial season on Idol history. Season three was the year, Fantasia won. The year La Toya London and (now Academy Award winner) Jennifer Hudson were booted off ahead of Jasmine! While Camille finished early in the 9th place, Jasmine held on for weeks and weeks way into the Final three!!

Ramiele Malubay auditioned for Season 7 in 2008. She finished 9th in the competition and secured a spot to go on a nationwide tour with the Top 10 finalists for the Idols Live Tour Summer concert that same year.

… And truth be told, one can not underestimate the power of support from one’s own. Even Jasmine’s Wiki page acknowledges that her Idol success was “due in part to tremendous call-in support from California, New York, and her native state of Hawaii.”

The Filipinos and Filipino-American community did it three times in the past, we can do it again this year! We can do it for Thia Megia!!

History unfolding

I am very excited to watch Thia’s journey as she makes history happen!! She is making the entire Philippines proud and giving the Filipinos worldwide something to brag about. This is a good time to be a Filipino!

With so much happening around the world, entertainment is our only ‘escape’ from reality if only for a moment. Thia gives us something to look forward to on Tuesday Wednesday nights and forget about our worries!!

I am calling the 2.8++ million Filipinos and Filipino-Americans living in the United States to support our very own. She, along with Charice (and recently Maria Aragon) are representing the Filipino youth of this generation with charm, smarts, talent and beauty worth emulating.

Most importantly, to everyone comprising the majority- the American voting public– please give Thia Megia a chance to shine. Discover her talent and vote for her! 

American Idol is on every Wednesday & Thursday nights on FOX at 8/7pm (central) until May 2011. The performance night is Wednesdays and that is when you vote. The results show follow the next day.

Get your Thia Megia fix from this website.

This is a first for American Idol! One of its TV promos, “10 reasons to watch American Idol Season 10″ mentions a contestant’s name.

Incidentally, the name mentioned is that of 16 year old Filipina Thia Megia. She makes it to number 5th reason to watch Idol this year! When Thia says her name, new judge Jennifer Lopez quips, “that’s a movie star name…”

I first heard about Thia in 2009 when she made it to America’s Got Talent Top 40. I made a featured post about her here and was really impressed then. I went as far as saying that she is going to be bigger than Charice given the right break!! American Idol might be “it”! (finger’s crossed.)

Her Wiki page has already been deleted but her Youtube account and MySpace page is still active. She’s rumored to have made it to Top 40 on Idol (why else would they feature her on the ad if she didn’t right?).

I’m psyched! I hope she makes it far on Idol.

You have my vote Thia!! Let the Idol season begin…

Watch the Idol promo:

American Idol season 10 premieres on Wednesday, January 19th and Thursday, January 20th at 8/7c

Last month, BBC World News broadcast the final of the World Challenge 10 series. The winner was ‘The Only Way is Up’, the ram pump project from the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation (or AIDFI).

I called on readers to join me in voting for the Philippine project last year. Read more about the project here.

The Philippines-based initiative – which won an Ashden Award in 2007 – uses the power of a river’s flow to push water uphill. AIDFI has introduced the pump to over 170 villages.

There were 800 nominations from over 70 countries, from which 12 projects were selected. More than 167,000 people round the world voted online for their favourite. ‘The Only Way is Up Project’ received US $20,000 prize from Shell.

News from Ashden Awards

At the outset, it was impossible not to notice the significant size difference between the two: At 5-foot-11 Margarito is five inches taller than Pacquiao, and HBO said Margarito weighed 17 pounds more than Pacquiao when both stepped on the scale on Saturday night.

But once the action started, it was impossible not to notice the significant advantage in hand speed of Pacquiao: His punches were a blur, and Margarito was simply powerless to react.

By the end of the fifth round, Margarito’s right eye was almost swollen shut. By the end of the 10th, both of Margarito’s eyes were a mess. Pacquiao buzzed around the ring with ease and peppered Margarito’s face with punches whenever he wanted to hurt his outclassed opponent.

It would have been completely reasonable for Margarito’s corner or the referee to stop the fight early, but Margarito insisted he wanted to keep going, and he was allowed to take a beating for 12 rounds. By the end, Pacquiao looked like he may have been taking some sympathy on Margarito and easing up, rather than following through and potentially seriously hurting Margarito.

“I did my best to win the fight,” the soft-spoken Pacquiao said afterward. “I can’t believe it. He’s very tough and strong. I never expected that.”

The judges scored it 120-108, 118-110 and 119-109 for Pacquiao. I scored it 120-108 for Pacquiao, who said after the fight that he slowed down a bit in the final rounds because he felt sorry for Margarito.

“I felt pity to my opponent, looking in his eyes and his bloody face,” Pacquiao said.

The win improves Pacquiao’s professional boxing record to 52-3-2 and earns him the WBC light middleweight title — the eighth different weight class in which he has won a championship, an all-time boxing record. (Margarito falls to 38-7.)

This was Pacquiao’s night to shine, and to show once again that he’s the best.

via FanHouse, By Michael David Smith

The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. (AIDFI) based in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, is the lone Philippine finalist, for its perfected model of the hydraulic ram pump that has brought water to numerous remote barangays in Negros and various parts of the country.

The online voting process is fast and easy. The winner of the World Challenge 2010 will receive a grant of US$20,000. The second and third Finalist will each receive a grant US$10,000. The grants are awarded to projects/small businesses for their own use and furtherance of their enterprise only. The Winner and two runners up of World Challenge will be announced in an awards ceremony held in the Netherlands. The awards ceremony will be broadcast on 4th December 2010 on BBC World News and announced on the website on the same day and profiled in Newsweek magazine in the 21st December issue which will be on sale on 14th December 2010. There are 12 countries vying for the financial grants that will help in their various causes.

I invite you to vote for the Philippine entry so the foundation can continue its mission of bringing water into more homes in isolated mountainous areas in the Philippines.

VOTING ENDS at midnight of NOVEMBER 12th, 2010.

From the World Challenge Voting Profile of AIDF Philippines:

It’s baffling how some inventions fail to achieve a tipping point. The hydraulic ram pump – which has been around for a couple of centuries. falls into this category. The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. (AIDFI) is determined to see the ram pump finally come into its own. Using the power of a river’s flow to literally push water uphill without any other energy input, it’s proving to be a boon for poor villagers living in mountainous regions.

The ram pump can save both hours of back-breaking work carrying water and cash where expensive water pumps are replaced. AIDFI has introduced the ram pump to over 170 upland villages, and has plans to spread the benefits far and wide among poor communities.

This season couldn’t get any harder than the six previous seasons combined. This year, the producers introduced huge changes that’s never been done on the show.

Among the variations– instead of the usual Top 20 (Top 10 guys, Top 10 girls) they slashed it to half! So there are only 5 girls and 5 guys competing for the title “America’s Favorite Dancer.” Instead of the contestants being partnered with one another, they will be paired with an all-star cast from the favorite finalists from different seasons. Such tremendous challenge and Alexie Agdeppa is one of the “it” girls!!

READ ALEXIE’S OFFICIAL PROFILE on SYTYCD HERE.

SYTYCD 7 Cast, who she’s up against! Yay

Out of the hundreds who auditioned, she stood out and impressed all the judges in the grueling Las Vegas callbacks where 122 contestants fought for a spot; eventually trimmed down to only 10. What is more inspiring is Alexie never gave up on her dream to be on the show. She tried auditioning 4 times!

She was close last season but a Top 20 spot was given to another Fil-Am 20-yr old Pauline Mata, who is from the same dance studio as Alexie in Walnut, California. Pauline finished 16th with her dance partner.

I didn’t cover Season 6 because it was on the same year as when Fil-Am Karla Garcia made it to top 20 in Season 5, like a few months apart and I was on and off watching the show when Karla left. I wanted to boycott the show for a little while! GRRRR!!

I have had a great time covering Karla who unfortunately wasn’t given the spotlight she deserved on the show. Finishing 14th with her partner, I still firmly believed, she could have stayed longer on the show had the producers given her more airtime from the very beginning like some of the contestants! Karla is such an amazing and beautiful dancer. To know more about Karla and what this reality dance show is all about, read here.

I will be covering Alexie’s run on the show so tune in! Meanwhile, enjoy her audition story: (FYI: Karla never had her audition featured!!)

The world Premiere of Charice’s Music Video “Pyramid” debuted at Oprah Winfrey’s official site a few days ago and I’m pretty excited to blog about it. Didn’t realize her album is set for release on May 11th already!

To those unfamiliar, Ellen DeGeneres ‘sort of’ discovered the then 15 year old girl with the big voice from the Philippines known as Charice Pempengco. Charice made her first US television appearance in the popular daytime show two years ago. Oprah Winfrey, the queen of television and considered to be the most influential woman in the world happened to notice her too. That encounter began a wonderful journey for Charice toward making it as an international artist! The rest is history.

Oprah called her one of the most talented girls in the world. Now, just known for her first name, Charice is getting ready to release her self-titled debut album. Watch the world premiere of the video for her song “Pyramid” (feat. Iyaz)

PRE ORDER “Charice” at AMAZON.COM

Track Listings
1. Pyramid
2. Reset
3. In This Song
4. Nobody’s Singin’ To Me
5. Thank You
6. I Love You
7. In Love So Deep
8. All That I Need To Survive
9. Nothing
10. The Truth Is
11. Did It For You
12. Note To God

A year ago, Charice released her very first international single entitled “Note to God.” The song is included in the 12 track self-titled cd. Two years ago, I had a chance meeting with Charice at the Philippine airport and I could still picture her very low-key and almost shy child-like demeanor. I hope she stays grounded even with all the success.

As I did the last time, I urge everyone to support Charice by buying a legitimate copy of her songs/album. It’s the only way her CD and songs will move up the charts. Let’s support our very own. Her success will be the Philippines’ pride too…

The Studio recording video:

PRE ORDER “Charice” at AMAZON.COM