By Jon Verzosa

In May 14 of 2011, PINOY POP BIZ was born.  For that alone, we have all the reasons to thank our lucky stars for being here.

Also, 2011 has been a year of infinitesimal details in entertainment, politics, newsmakers and the total outlook of Filipinos living inside and outside the country.

If there was anything more ironic than two government epoch fist fighting and dirt-digging to show the entire country whose muscle can flex harder, then, in my own inference, the year 2011 restrained the Pinoy attitude of being creative in terms of solving the real problems.  Or perhaps, sardonically, it has served its creative purpose as the entire Filipino nation either agreed or disapproved the day-by-day issues surrounding former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s plunder cases brewing in the Supreme Court and President Pnoy’s seethe towards a former leader who brought the entire nation to its all-time low as graft and corruption sashayed its way to defy his tenure alongside killer typhoons, unresolved murders, landslides, a senator stepping down from his position, a shocking suicide in the PNP and his Vice President, Jejomar Binay called for the re-imposition of death penalty to give Filipinos a “discipline”.

In April, when the whole world temporarily stopped, including the Philippines, to watch the live broadcast of the royal wedding, gawking to Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the country also had to deal with young actor AJ Perez’s untimely death, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez’s controversial resignation and veteran journalist and University of the Philippines professor of Mass Communication department Chit Estella was reportedly killed in an accident of a bus and a taxi that she was riding on.  Of course, soon after that, Typhoon Bebeng leaves the country, along with billions of dollars in property damaged.  Again, Pinoys dabbled on elemental scrutiny; are we cursed? Will we have 3,700 typhoons in a year?  Are we stupid?  Are we simply malas?

Not quite.  Manny Pacquiao retains his welterweight crown in lieu of a very controversial fight to which even Pinoys thought that it shouldn’t have been his triumph but his opponent’s.  While the misfits of nature crowd our conscious existence and traffic in EDSA got more nerve-racking, Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 2011 Shamcey Supsup, was the 3rd Runner-Up at Miss Universe 2011 held at Sao Paulo, Brazil in September.  A month later, Gwendoline Ruais, Miss World-Philippines 2011, was crowned the 1st Runner-Up at Miss World 2011 held at London.  We also placed as finalist in Miss Inernational and Miss Earth – superstitious news was also believed that these wins were started by the Venus Raj cult who, in 2009, broke the pageant drought when she rocked the Miss Universe 2009 as fourth runner up.  Also, 4 – Philippine Football Team placed Second in 2011 Long Teng Cup held in Taiwan and exultantly, The National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines, the highest governing body on issues and policies relating to science and technology, spearheaded a roundtable discussion on “How Sustainable Is Organic Agriculture?”.

Top showbiz newsmakers include the much-talked about KC Concepcion – Piolo Pascual break-up following a very nasty fiesta on Pascual’s sexual preference.  Rhian Ramos and Mo Twister’s very ugly split with Rhian’s alleged abortion of their baby.  Jennylyn Mercado was purportedly beaten by boyfriend Dennis Trillio, hence the break-up.  Months later, Luis Manzano admitted being Jennylyn’s current boyfriend.  But as the issues become more itemized as they did, Ram Revilla’s death, perhaps the biggest news ever to rock the entertainment industry came into the Pinoy’s consciousness – in full frontal.  It has triggered the insightful arena of family, conspiracy and the power of money.  It involved a very powerful family and the entire nation watched with skilful eyes, detailing every inch of its drama on television and on broadsheet.  Overall, I just had this thought:  The taste of intrigue is sweet and sour because stars and famous people are involved.  What is the word of intrigue?  Murder.  Consequently, any form of intrusion is murder.  Too bad stars are public properties.  And my Pinoy standpoint is still obsessed with its minutiae simply because it is electrifying or perhaps because the year 2011 sparked off a year when Filipinos are assessing angles in anything that happens to the country.  Or maybe we are all snoopy by nature, please help me decide.

And here comes 2012.  The Year of the ‘Water Dragon’ as feng sui experts say.  By far, they are saying that the coming year might usher in a chaotic period for the government, with the last half of 2011 wrought with accusations of and retribution for wide-spread corruption. However, with the dragon embodying luck for the Chinese, it is also believed that the New Year would be generally trouble-free for the country, which has been hounded by disasters.  Perhaps I can say that amid it all, Pinoys are known to be very positive even in knotty situations, so I guess, we will survive 2012.

At dahil diyan, THANK YOU 2011 !  We (hopefully) learned a lot from you.

Old news?

Well.

At least there is hope.  At least, in any year that became shockers and sleepers, Pinoys always had hope. Even in sadness, we can party all night and sing our videokes.  We have always survived because of hope.

And believed in hope.

Easy on the paputoks, fellow Pinoys.  Enjoy your New Year’s.

• Next >

By Jon Verzosa

Who has a perfect life?

I don’t.  And I certainly hope you don’t have one or I’d be selling my soul to the devil to exchange my life with yours.  Truth is, through the years, I have come to love my life the way a father would love his psychotic son.  After a tumultuous time constantly looking for some sense in this life, I simply stopped asking.  This is probably why, amid all the imperfections and flaws of my life, I managed to put a smirk on my lips – if that would be some quirk of fate then let it be – because I have wasted a good amount of time worrying rather than actually living my so-called life.

When I met Mommy Elvie Villasanta that very hot afternoon for a quick talk, I was in the process of degenerating to my wild submissions.  I woke up cranky, inviting a depressive monster to chew my day away and my friend (name withheld) who was supposed to meet me in Makati changed venues on the last minute and I had to walk five blocks under the blistering Ayala sun to grab a bus that would transport me to Ortigas.  I was soaked with sweat and even more soaked with my own bullshits to boot.

Writing this now, I am much enthused with telling a story that should stir my current negativism and somehow ignite once-canopied realm of living a life.  An unfeigned life just as much as Elvie Villasanta has.  A life of comedy – a life of effervescence – a simple life dedicated to career, wifehood and being a mother.

We sat and talked.  My recorder was on but as I am writing this, I needn’t not to open it to reassess what went on a couple of weeks back.  Her words are inculcated vividly.  I simply had to restore the images as I spoke to the mother of comedian Ariel Villasanta, and the aunt of showbiz icon, Joey de Leon.  Both of whom admitted that they’ve gotten their comedic skills from this 84 year old woman sitting next to me.

“What is comedy?” I asked.

“Life itself,” she began, “We’ve all been paralyzed with everyday challenges and somehow forgotten that we all just need to laugh at it!”

Her statements were sturdy and I was enjoying myself.  She continued, “Every time I am asked by reporters what’s my secret to life, I always tell them to simply enjoy it and to be kind to yourself, meaning, if one knows how to forgive someone, then it is also wise to forgive one’s self.”  She continued, “I have state of mind that believes in tradition but also has this belief that everything is changeable and that we all commit mistakes.”

Mommy Elvie had a lengthy career in the government back in the days.  She began as a stenographer at 21 and has rubbed shoulders with political friends in the likes of Justice Davide and so on.  She worked for the COMELEC and told me that she learned a lot from that, especially in dealing with people and their idiosyncratic grooves, “We all have problems,” she said, “The entire country is filled with problems but I guess as Pinoys, we have suffered long enough to know that we can always laugh at our problems.  We have mastered that.  I have lived this long and has outlived presidents who administrated our country.  I am not sure, but I think I have survived 6 (six) presidents already! And the greatest lesson there is to survive!” she mocked, chuckling to her might and covered with much-needed angst that in fact won her an award as Inspirational Artist recently.

When I asked her if she was a political person, she said, “No. Politics is close to me but I am not close to politics.  I even have relatives who are in public office, but I’d rather be me.”

“What is love to you?  And how was your marriage like and raising your only son, Ariel?”  I asked.

“Diyos ko!” she sighed with a smile, “Like I said, I am all for tradition.  The tradition that doesn’t just bind the family but keeps the family together.  Marriage for one is something that you fight for.  It shouldn’t be ended when problem arises.  Problems need to be solved and with everything that comes out of marriage like jealousy, financial challenges and the like, partners should learn how to adjust to it, work out the problem and DEAL with it.  Your love for each shouldn’t be compromised by the demands of life.

When Bienvenido, my husband, was alive, I would tease him and ask him, ‘Who runs the family?’ and he would say outright, ‘You!’ but in reality we both run it together.  I had a good marriage.  A very sweet one.  In the late 50s and the 60s, we both painted the town red! We loved dining out and being with friends.  Ariel, on the other hand, being the only son, had his own wicked time but generally was a good boy.  He studied well and had chosen a career path that he truly liked.”  Mommy Elvie’s son Ariel Villasanta is a TV/radio personality, comedian, actor/producer and a businessman and married to real-state mogul, Cristina Decena.

“Love, I guess, especially in marriage, should have friendship and trust and tons of laughter.  The kind of life that rocks your boat and it does rock your boat when laughter in any relationship exists!”

I was half-numbed listening to her, a comedienne at that, ranting about the serious side of life.  Or maybe it is not that serious after all.  In many ways than one, it may have been my calling to do the interview that day to rid of my own dramas and to laugh at myself for simply – being me.

“Are you religious?”  I asked.

“Yes.  I am devoted to novenas and my favourite saint is Saint Anthony.  Dahil siguro makakalimutin ako at madaling mawalan!  I call on to him to make me remember where I lost a thing that I am looking for.  And it does show up!” We both laughed.

“Mommy Elvie, what can you impart to all the readers out there who want to learn something about life?”  I asked.

“Well, life is a gas, so again, LAUGH!  It will make everyone reach my age of 134 !” She beamed and continued, “It is also all about patience.  There was a time in my life when I was down because my husband and I can’t have children.  Ariel was born when I was almost in my 40s but we were patient.  Everything happens at the right time.  God is good all the time and if it takes patience to live as long as it did, then I guess that’s the best life lesson that I can ever pass on.”

“How will you be remembered?”

“I should be remembered as someone who believed that love can be revived.  In my marriage I learned that when you say through thick or thin, that also means knowing what’s in between that phrase.  Life is stressful as it is but you just have to believe in love.  It may have more than four seasons but love is always around.  It is changeable but it is there.  It can be recycled.

Also, I want to be remembered as a celebrity, who, even in her 80s can still do her own eyebrows.”

A few minutes after the interview, my friend who had around the metropolis (name withheld) and I discussed in random his penchant for Korean telenovelas and declared that they make the best storylines, the best biting wit and plot twists, and they know how to formulate migratory subjects that their soaps are being watched all over Asia, if not the whole world.  I agreed.  My friend ranted on about his current favourite, Pure Love, and how much its posthumous trinket serves to celebrate life in a form of a ghost who wants to become human – and a human pessimist who would rather die because of world-weariness.  Where is Mommy Elvie here?  I am not really sure, but somewhere in between life and being an inspiration to life itself.

So I figured I should be ‘that’ as well.  Well, at least, for now.

MOMMY ELVIE @18, the third season will air back on January 28, 2012 on GMA NEWS TV CHANNEL .

The Writer with Mommy Elvie

By Jon Verzosa

THE YOUNG MAN OF MY HOUR

I spent a few minutes with Kapuso star Mikael Daez at the marvellous Mercator Christmas slash Thanksgiving party held at Casa Pura in Timog a few weeks ago.  I’ve always thought that Mikael is a fresh young lad who graced the boob tube and can call it a day afterwards.  He is pretty, articulate and can sweep a lady’s feet off the ground with just one smile.  Also, his perfectly chiselled facial bones can substantiate any endorsements that may come his way.  He’s got a face that can be remembered.

A pure-blooded Atenean, he graduated college with a degree in Business Administration.  Before hitting mainstream cinema and television also appeared in television commercials for Jollibee Champ, Yogurt, Dole Juice and SM.

“So how have you been?” I asked.

“It has been a great year!” he began. “I feel so fortunate and thankful for GMA for giving me a kick-start off the hit movie Temptation Island, and then the epic-serye Amaya, which is a big TV production.  It was an opportunity for anyone who is as new as me and a big one too!  I couldn’t be luckier!” he enthused with a whopping smile on his face.

He continued, “As much as it gets to be hectic, I have enjoyed every moment of it.  It all happened so fast too!  Like I said, it was a enormous year for me. When I decided to give it a go, I’ve had doubts too, but alam mo ‘yun, my first impression ko with the industry was sobrang ganda.  And it gets better and better.”

FUN IN ACCIDENTAL BEGINNINGS

Mikael dipped into the glare of publicity one day in October of 2009, at Fashion week.  It was an effortless story about him needing cash at the time and then a friend recommended that he should appear in the goose.  “My friend said the, ‘Hey, it’s Fashion Week.’ I said, ‘What is that?’ My friend said, ‘It’s a fashion show; you can join and earn money.’ So I tried. That’s where somebody from Mercator saw me.” he said.

Mercator, headed by Jonas Antonio Gaffud, is the Philippines’ chief talent agency today with an A-list of prominent clients that include beauty queens Venus Raj, Shamcey Supsup and Gwendolyn Ruais, models and actors/models that include JC Tuiseco, Daniel Matsunaga, Akihiro Sato and Fabio Ide.

“What makes it all exciting for you?” I asked.

“Oh production itself!  You truly become a big family.  It’s beautiful! It gets to be quite emotional after a certain project because you get attached and everyone at the end of the day would go on with their own lives, but as we all know that is a part of showbiz, everyone has to move on to the next project.  I guess I am still learning and as one colleague told me, ‘’Mikael, you make friends at work but at the same time, work is work. So, kailangan, you know how to move on and grow.’ So, I guess that’s a time when you get to look in the mirror and tell yourself that life in entertainment is a learning bit.  It is sad dahil you get to form friendships and that indeed you meet friends along the way but we all have to move on and grow.  Memories remain though and it is all fun!” he quipped, beginning to rationalize his emotions and all its differing challenges.”

Mikael will soon be seen in GMA 7’s new teleserye called My Beloved with Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera

MY BELOVED

Mikael will soon be seen in GMA 7’s new teleserye called My Beloved with Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera.  Unlike the movie Temptation Island where he played a funny probinsiyano (which I honestly found so hysterical with his surprising accent and comic timing) or in Amaya where he played the valiant warrior, Lumad, Mikael will soon demonstrate his prowess in weighty drama.

“Did you really want to do all this?  The showbiz thing?” I asked, expressing my candid estimation of placing a young man in the mirror whose background enumerates being six feet tall, a candy man, Ateneo de Manila, a promising corporate career, a well-off, business-influenced family and being an athlete throughout his youth.

“I have to admit, the money is good.  If you are starting off and building something for yourself, you should be thankful if were given the prospect of showbizness because it is the best place to be in.  More than the reward, the fun that it promises when working.  It is so rousing and it makes me want to do more.” Mikael smiled saying that.

He went on, “I guess, I can very well be in any field that I want to.  I have never really thought about being where I am at this point.  I grew up in a big family and had been used to mingling with different people, so I think everything channelled swiftly towards my passion for the arts and people per se.  I am overwhelmed but at the same time, I am happy because I am learning everyday and having a blast at the same time.  After modelling, TV commercials, a movie and then Amaya, now I am even writing . . .”

MIKAEL ON WRITING

I was almost kicked in the teeth, “Really? Writing?”

He laughed, “Yes, actually.  I have been writing blogs for a time now and when I was offered to write, I just had to leap towards it.  I like it very much.  Writing bends towards the undefined artistry of anyone who has something to say.  There are expressions that imply character, which I did recently for television and film, but my writing connoted my very own view on things.  I’m sure you can also relate when I say that it is somewhat a vocation that is not only stimulating but also freeing! And there’s just so much to write!” he gushed with excitement.

I couldn’t agree more.

YOUNG MAN IN THE MIRROR

“So, would you tap into the behind-the-scenes of filmmaking one day?” I had to ask the question because as our conversation becomes multi-layered by the minute, I was beginning to paint structures of this young talented man in front of me.  I thought then that yes, he can very well be someone who will not stop in acting alone.

“Let us cross the bridge when we get there.  In my own way, I am doing what I can, doing my best and very grateful for all the blessings.  Everything happened in one full year and the coming year is looking so good as well.  I am here to learn some more and to do the best that I can. I’m a bona fide optimist. I once said that life is good and I look at things from a bright side. Life isn’t measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away.” Mikael linked with sincerity.

“How would you want to be remembered?”

He smiled, “As Mikael Daez.”

The Writer with Mikael Daez

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,000 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

By Jon Verzosa

AMID THE RUSH…

The street was busy.  It was 6:00 PM and the inhabitants of Ortigas’ concrete jungle, including myself, was getting ready to catch their bus, train, teleserye and each praying under his breath that traffic would not be as heavy as it was the previous day.

… LIFE DOESN’T STOP

JUST LIKE A BUTTERFLY…

PINOY POP BIZ IS BORN…

WELCOME to Stars and Butterflies . . .

By Jon Verzosa

Photos by Mark Ian Verzosa

I was in Pampanga when my friend, Stephen Santiago, marketing man for the 10^th White Party Manila called me to cover their event.  It was on short notice and I was not ready at all.  To begin with, the event was already cancelled due to rains a couple of weeks back, so there was no way that I should miss it this time.  Second, I was not given prior take in of the event’s second date; as a result, I was in Pampanga covering another story to which there was no way for me to run back to Manila in such an undersized time. And third, Pinoy Pop Biz photographer was on a weekend off.  There was absolutely no way for me to cover a late night affair any longer.

But I did.

I rode a bus and did a cut trip from Guagua to San Fernando, called my brother Mark (who only replies when there’s alcohol drinking involved and so I bribed him that I will have access to drinks) to help me out with the photos.  “But my camera is bulok!” he exclaimed.  I said, “That would do! I need photographs for this!” came down in Caloocan where not-so-kind cabbies gladly take advantage of you, took a smelly cab and CF’d (control freak) the driver to go over the traffic even if it would mean running over street vendors just to make it in Malate at 10 PM.

I arrived and met Mark at 11 PM with almost no patience to overdone make-up, massive hairpieces, shemale parade and bisexualism reeking genially in the fully-packed Orosa corner Nakpil streets of the overly-gay Malate district.  But this is what bumped into us when we arrived at the coveted White Party Manila. The words screamed like a besequined, Swarovski-imbedded drag queen calling out “FREEDOM, EQUALITY, BELONGING, RESPECT, LOVE, and PRIDE!”  The smell of barbeque, tequila, hot asphalt, Elizabeth Arden and rancid sweat draped the nation’s homosexual commune and if it was not Lady Gaga I saw throwing up hours later by the side fence of the stage, I was pretty sure it was Bb Gandanghari, who I was hoping to meet before I got drunk on my martini myself.  She never showed up.

I was expecting to see Solenn Heussaff who allegedly would grace the event but it was Bekimon I saw instead.  You know him, right?  The one who decodes gay lingo all day and publicize it on his Twitter account? He was last seen in the washout movie The Adventures of Pureza.  Whatever, at least there was a semi-icon and apart from the music of DJ Thiago Vinicius and the fabulous Panty Monsters, the red-coloured whistles (necklaced by everyone) that made everyone hearing-impaired the next day substantiated the sound of gayhood far and wide.  Somebody even told me that the party was for AIDS awareness but then again, that may also just be a rumour.  I have to admit that I got a kick out of being in Gay County because it clearly meant that anything can happen in every heartbeat.

The White Party has been going on for ten years now and like guesswork, through the years, asks your psyche subliminally whether you are in fact out there or still ‘here’.  Here being the location of the said party that exalted the colour ‘white’ because as far as my eyes could see it, there were only a few people wearing white.  So I figured when you are in a white party, you must be able to accentuate (not really the colour but) white as a symbol.  If you are out there then you blotch (in Tagalog babuyin) white like a canvass to a painting – spray it with colours from yellow ochre to magenta crimson – with all your might.  And if you are still in ‘here’ then white it all up, be in the bandwagon and start purchasing your pastels the morning after.  Overall, this only means that the Philippines have arrived in terms of homosexual revolution simply because the White Party Manila arrived to express . . . and to ask.

So, what’s next?

But no, hell no, it is not all about cross-dressing although one of the most liberating scenes at the White Party Manila were (actual) straight men dressed up as gothic girls.  Again, it is not all about cross-dressing or coming in dressed ‘fashionably white’ as written in the invitation or even coming out lasciviously over-stated. For me, it is all about celebrating gay pride in different colours, dancing the night (and the heartaches) away and blowing that obtuse and irritating whistle all night long.

It was an ‘all in one’ exhausting, commonplace and blistering celebration

but

I enjoyed my two hours there and came home beautifully smashed.

*The 10^th White Party Manila was produced by New Genesis Events Production and Management.

The White Party Manila in witchy pictures and theirs . . .

By Jon Verzosa

My sister Angeline and her husband Freddi and I were awake at 2:45 in the morning of Sunday to gear up for the 35^thAnnual Milo Marathon which will be held at the Mall of Asia grounds.  It was raining, no, raining very hard, when we having our weighty carbo breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, coffee, and a litter of water apiece and corn-on-a-cob, that we all decided that rain or shine; we will run to our heart’s content.  We registered for a five-kilometre fun run and since we already paid for it and we have claimed ‘equipped’ for the run, we all backpacked our head gears and opened our umbrellas to pounce on Manila’s stubborn monsoon.  To the least, we are supporting Nestle’s 100 years in building a golden prospect to make a good cause even bigger. This year, 10,000 more shoes will be handed out to 100 public schools with 100 running shoes each. With P10 pesos out of each registration fee, every runner contributes to a fund that MILO will double amounting to a total of P4,000,000 to be used for buying shoes for the underprivileged children.  For that reason alone, the three of us will voluntarily run naked.

We arrived at Seaside Boulevard in MOA with over 50,000 people drenched and happily cheering on, notwithstanding their sodden selves piling up in line and disposed to their designated sprint as host, Pinoy Biggest Losers’ Chinggay Andrada provided the merriment in a shaded stage by the third wave starting line.  She may have felt sorry for all of us runners, young and old, who were almost looking for soap from all that bathing under the downpour.

“Have a great morning everyone!” she called out, smiling and waving at us, making me want to strangle her for being so dry as my buttocks started eating my already-wet boxer shorts.

“She is soooooo GV!” my sister Angeline noted and waved back at her.

“Yes.  That’s because she is dry as a bone!” I said acrimoniously, wiping the snot and the rainwater off my nose.  I was down with a bad week-long flu a day before the marathon and the morning I was about to run was my first day off antibiotics.  When my mother and my other sisters found out that I will be covering and joining a race, they all laughed and sardonically said that in about 200 meters, I will be carried out on a stretcher.

I’m not a runner like most of my family members.  In fact, I hate exercise.  My one-block walk to my cigarette vendor is my only form of exercise.  The only reason I maintain my lean frame is because I starve myself and can live on coffee alone for days.  Yes, I am obsessed with getting thin only because I want to look like those skeletal models and actors I work with.  Exercise is something strange to me. I’d rather have sex than exercise but even that I don’t get!

And then the sling shot was heard but I barely heard it because of the driving rain and Chinggay Andrada’s unwanted countdown yowling all mixed up together.  “Ay, game na?” I even asked Freddi.

“Yup, game!” he said on top of his ear-splitting I-pod.

And so I ran.  I ran hard.  I ran so hard that I missed the first kilometre water station.  My Nikes were sopping wet as it stomped the asphalt road that was already decorated with mud and plastic cups.  I was oblivious of the fact that I was already running intensely that my shoelaces were already untied and that I can already taste the saltiness of my mucus running down my opened, exhausted, dog-tired mouth.  In my own panic, I shouted inside and deliberately exiled my worries, fears and frustrations.  It may have been my speed or the figurative rain that made my first kilometre run so mentally rhetoric but my muscles collided with joy and I found myself airborne.

By the time I reached Macapagal highway, I was brought down to the realization that I have been running a good three kilometres already and if I didn’t stop, I would probably have a heart attack.  And so I grabbed a plastic cup, sipped water and demoted myself to brisk walking. Like my own life, I tend to govern to fast-track career, love affairs and such to a point of being on the wing but occurrences of velocity reduced me to loss of nerve and sometimes, rationality.  Water, like rain, can also give you the biggest fracture of your life if you are not cautious, therefore, stopping for water and gasping for breath is essential in any run.  I chose safety and somehow, it regained my potency and I began scurrying off once again.

Since there were a thousand runners in my troop, I had to snake my way among people who chose walking from running. It was such an impediment in my competitive, saturated run against my life and by then I was already running like a madman, quite positive I will finish off in 35 minutes.

“Ano ba ‘yan! Nakakahapo naman itong ulan!”

“Gosh where is the next water station?!?”

“I wanna quit naaaaaaa!”

“Fourth kilometre na! Matatapos na ‘din ‘lang hiya!”

I heard all these sounds reverberating accompanied by my tired senses and my inexistent legs.  In fact, as I swerved past the bushed-out bodies of people, I saw a frail man in his 20s throwing up at the sidewalk and a little boy wailing his damndest because he doesn’t want to run anymore.  I was also wondering where the hell was my sister and her husband as I marked my fourth kilometre at the red and blue detector hump speeding past media cameras and the annoying helicopter dipping down on the runners; to either wipe us all off on the face of the earth or they want to capture everyone’s beaten-out, distorted faces.  It almost felt like ‘that’ time in your life when you are so below par or struggling or caught up in a terrible secret and everyone in your life starts digging up your dirt to which you are concurrently being deafened by logic, time and decision-making.  It was senseless and yet, I was almost by the near-finish and I was excited!

But much more excited towards the addiction of what running can contribute in my life.  I may not be into running but addiction is something that I do very well.  A few days ago, I was seriously reading online articles on running and its benefits.  The following did not just make me smile but also found it similar in temperament to my list of things to accomplish; improving cardiovascular endurance, enriching an ideal sleeping pattern, improving mental health and most importantly, increasing sex drive and slowing down the ageing process.  BIG SMILEY FACE.

A few meters away from the finish line, the big FINISH tarpaulin came into view although I can only read ‘INIS’ because either I was already near-hallucination, the F and the H were blocked by the motorway trees or I was already partly inis with my co-runners who slowed down to a restrained halt to fetter my momentum.   I wanted to swim into the time-consuming sea of clammy bodies when I realized that it was not their fault at all.  At the finish line, Milo people were already handling out certificates to everyone who completed the run.  I wanted to do my ‘all-out dash towards the finish line with my arms outstretched with my mouth open and eyes closed’ like a pro but I figured, “The drama won’t be worth it because it will never happen!” as I looked towards the ocean of heads swarming slowly towards the end queue.

And so a few steps away from the finish line, just like everyone else, I walked along with hundreds of finishers, got my wet certificate just like graduation day and headed to Friday’s where my family was waiting.

The Writer flashing a ‘Peace’ sign being a self-proclaimed Anti-Runner

At 6:15 in the morning, after the Milo marathon, we all saw ourselves wolfing on heavy loads of chicken, rice, fries and soda at KFC for a well-deserved food pampering.  Then after almost exploding from all that food, I lighted my first cigarette of the day and decided to call this article ‘The Wet Run of the Anti-Runner’ knowing that in my life that is full of contradictions, I can cope, outlive its flaws and on the sly, can also run in the rain like a maniac.

Coco Martin, His generation’s finest first-rate Actor

By Xtopher Cunanan

After eight years in the showbiz industry, ABS-CBN’s “Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin” star and hearthrob Coco Martin did not stop from wowing his audience, both old and young alike.  As an aficionado of the underground arts and a self-baptized accolade in the indie-movie genre, he has not only proven his worth with critics everywhere but also in the majority of Pinoy hearts everywhere.

His bulk of work  in the Philippine cinema are ‘Masahista,’ ‘Tirador,’ ‘Serbis,’ ‘Jay,’ ‘Kinatay,’ ‘Sa Yo Lamang’ and ‘Noy.’  Along with veteran actresses namely Cherry Pie Picache and Gina Pareño, Coco is also a recipient of the prestigious Aktor ng Dekada by the Gawad Urian.

He was once an underrated actor who used to appear in independent films only. It was during his “Tayong Dalawa” stint where he shone the most as the name of the intangible villain, Ramon Lecumberri became a household name.

Coco Martin as Javier in Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin

“Isa talaga sa mga gusto ko ay ang makapag-contribute pa sa industriya sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng best ko na deserve ng manonood,” the “Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin” star said with a smile.

Coco is a self-confessed fan of Filipino films. He enjoys doing mainstream and indie films as he appeared in roughly 22 films in his eight years in showbiz.

In “Noy,” where he is one of the creators and producers, Coco got the chance to be involved in all the film’s aspects. “Alam kong kahit papaano sa ‘Noy,’ kahit hindi siya isang blockbuster na pelikula, marami akong natutunan – kung gaano kahirap maging producer lalo na sa panahon ngayon. Ang balik lang talaga sa akin ay yung ma-recognize ng mga Pilipino at ma-realize nila na kaya nating makipagsabayan sa mundo.”

On the other hand, his role in Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin is even more exigent but Coco exclaims “Maganda yung

Coco Martin as Alexander in Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin

laging may challenge yung character na bibibigyang-buhay kasi mas nago-grow rin kami bilang artista,” said Coco. He adds, “Kaya po itong papel ko dito sa “Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin,” malaking tulong po ito sa akin para mas mahasa ko pa po yung pag-arte ko. Hindi po talaga biro ang gumanap ng dalawang role sa isang television series.”

The plot of the teleserye is military life, Alexander graduates magna cum laude from the Philippine Military Academy upon the prodding of the grandfather (Ronaldo Valdez) to be a soldier like him. Alexander felt miserable all his life due to his being unloved by his grandfather and own mother. It was his father who made up for the love he was looking for.

On the other hand, Javier belongs to a community of rebel soldiers in Quezon fighting for the rebels; a very complex character that is continuously searching for his parents and for his true self.

Meantime, television views of Primetime Bida would have to guess who is the lesser of both evils.  Or the saviour among Javier or Alexander, both diverse characters played extremely well and solely by Coco Martin with depth and ingenuity that is so rare among our young actors today.  Indeed, he did not just define acting in a different perspective but redefined it as well.

Catch “Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin”, Mondays through Fridays at ABS-CBN Primetime Bida.

‘Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin’ on Primetime Bida, Mondays thru Fridays

By Jon Verzosa

Yesterday, I was supposed to watch an Ishmael Bernal film at the UPFI but I got stuck in traffic for more than an hour in San Juan where I was coming from, so, I chose KC Concepcion’s movie, Star Cinema’s Forever And A Day over what was supposed to be a review of a classic 70s film starring Alma Moreno.

OK, I have to admit that I was not expecting to somersault in my chair nor did I suppose to come home late at night last night to fervently write this review either.  In more ways than one, I must give credit the entire movie for its apt ambition to pigeonhole what is in life that there is in a love. Or vice versa.

Simple plot:  Euge (Sam Milby) comes to a vacation in Bukidnon to filter the perils of being a shoe genius, a storyline that reminds me of Orlando Bloom in Elizabethtown, by the way. But when he meets Raffy (KC Concepcion) and as they travel and go on preposterous extreme sports activities together, they start to form a friendship which eventually led to Euge falling for Raffy, against his own expectations.  Also, with Raffy, Euge begins to believe in the good in himself again.

But the story takes a turn after three days because the moment Euge expresses his feelings for her, Raffy suddenly starts to push him away. She admits that he can never have her, and she doesn’t want Eugene to hope for a happy ending with her, because she ‘cannot’ be loved.

The movie, directed by the unique and fearless Cathy Garcia-Molina then takes us to a scrupulous journey towards finding yourself in love, acceptance and loving your own life amid the add-ons like career, choices, advocacy and even, love itself.  So scrupulous, in fact, that the movie lasted almost two hours.  Yes it was quite

Sam Milby and KC Conception in the endearing zipline scene in ‘Forever And A Day’

long-winding but the gorgeousness of Garcia-Molina’s autonomous camera recompensed the excessive chow chows;Dahilayan Adventure Park’s death-defying zipline and the zorb, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, the serene waterfalls and wild rafting scenes (which takes this movie a notch up in my charts) and the actors themselves as both Sam Milby and KC Concepcion are simply so fine-looking.  Throughout the film, Concepcion is deglamourized and still she looked perfect.

Bembol Roco, Rayver Cruz, Dante Rivero and Vivian Velez, as support cast make honest actors in themselves.  Matet De Leon is certainly a great actress and should pursue in more exigent roles next time because, she is not just captivating on screen, she can definitely act!

Sam Milby’s accent is always an obstruction to his radiant acting but his interpretation of Euge’s distresses and self-loathing readies him to bigger roles in the future.  I admire Milby’s command in making the audience feel that he is imperfect and he does this fairly well, despite the fact that he is too charming to be placed on the head-chopping board.  I have never seen Third World Happy but because he conveyed an honest portrayal in this commercial friendly film, I will watch it.  The ideal note of taking much of the romance out of this supposed-love story makes Milby’s contribution to the film worthwhile.  And he is not just another pretty face. I was literally surprised.

KC and Sam with ‘Forever and a Day’ director Cathy Garcia-Molina

KC Concepcion’s last two movies taught her to be razor sharp on what she does.  She finally got me to a certain point that she is, in fact, playing a character.  Her inner beauty (more than her outer beauty which as beautiful as it is raw) and compassion exudes gently in her rendering of the benevolent but brave Raffy.  I was particularly amazed with the mirror scene; clad only in her brassiere, looking in the mirror and examining herself.  That was a moment in the film when moviegoers will have the floor to infuse themselves to a struggling character.  Also, Conception can descent a line and can make it sound riveting. When she said the ‘S’ word in a hyperventilating scene and said the word, “Tae” in one endearing portion, she absolutely brought it down.

If you think the theatrical trailer of this film is already the film, you are wrong.  That’s just ¼ of the film. Watch it for its remaining 3/4 because it will make you realize that a day in your life is more than enough to know that there is love in your life.

And by the way, it has one of the best ending segments that will make you love your own life even more. Now thatyou should see.

Watch Forever And A Day.

Photos courtesy of   http://showbiznest.blogspot.com/2011/06/forever-and-day-poster-publicity-photos.html