Recently in Up Close Category

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter INQUIRER.net YOU may know her from the shampoo commercial and the February 2007 cover of FHM Philippines. Gaby dela Merced is one of the few Filipinas in the professional racing league Asian Formula 3. And it was by her admission that long before she started racing, she was a video game sim addict, both in the arcades and on consoles. "My brothers were racing game addicts, like Gran Turismo so it was then that I got really hooked into it. I caught on with the games so I tried out the real thing," Dela Merced said. In some of the racing sims she played, she would notice that some of the race tracks were the same ones on which she has competed. In particular, she cited the tracks in the realistic sim Forza Motorsport for the original Microsoft Xbox. "I'm already surprised at the level of realism in some of the games to the point that I practice there first," she shared. While most of her time is spent racing real cars that most guys could only dream of, still Dela Merced wishes that she'd have the new Xbox 360 so she could play the more realistic racing game Forza Motorsport 2. "I hope Microsoft can sponsor my Xbox 360," she said jokingly.

By Joey Alarilla, hackenslash Editor INQUIRER.net MEET Sarah Catindig, one of the four lovely models I interviewed in Plantation Bay, Mactan, Cebu last week during the 2nd RAN Online Global Conference. You've already met RAN Calendar Girl Jonah, so now say hello to Sarah. Sarah took up Journalism in college -- watch the video interview I conducted to find out why she shifted careers from writer to model. Here's a pic of Sarah in her RAN Online schoolgirl costume taken by Terence Ver Angsioco of IP e-Games during the RAN Online Global Conference. And here's a pic of Sarah and me taken by Sheila Rada of Dominguez Marketing, the PR firm of IPVG/IP e-Games, using my Nokia N90.

PLANTATION BAY, Mactan, Cebu, Philippines--What can I say? I love this job! After our "barrio fiesta" welcome dinner for the representatives from different Asian countries who are attending the RAN Online global conference, I got to talk to four gorgeous models who have been tapped for the event, including RAN Calendar Girl for the month of April, Jonah. Since it was noisy in the dining area because of the traditional Filipino dances that were being performed for the guests, I asked the four models to go with me to one of the gazebos so that I could interview them. Here's the first video interview, featuring Jonah. And here are pics of Jonah from the RAN 2007 calendar. And here's a pic of me and Jonah taken by Sheila Rada of Dominguez Marketing, the PR firm of RAN Online Philippine publisher IP e-Games, using my Nokia N90. Jonah wanted to do the V sign, heh. Stay tuned for the next video interview.