Entertainment NEWS

It’s almost been a year since the country was put on varying levels of quarantine classifications, each one saying basically the same thing: stay locked inside your homes lest catch the deadly virus.  While such restrictions enabled most of us to somehow keep ourselves safe from the potentially lethal illness brought about by the health scourge, these also led to the rise of an equally alarming concern that threatened another aspect of our state of health—one that attacked our mental fitness.  And it spared no one.  Including people we look up to, showbiz royalties and even top hitmakers.

Before we all said goodbye to the Year of the Metal Rat and welcomed the Year of the Metal Ox last Friday, Resorts World Manila mounted an interesting online Chinese Astrology Forecast Show, which viewers found to be really interesting.   

He’s definitely a face you’d like to see welcoming your every morning and even capping the end of your every day.   Reasons why, Gab Bayan is slowly but surely gaining a loyal following especially among viewers of his daily news-oriented programs on the People’s Television Network (PTV), “Rise and Shine Pilipinas” and “PTV News Tonight.”

As screening for this year’s search for the Philippine representative for the Miss World Pageant kicked-off, members of the pageant media were pleasantly surprised to see one of their colleagues joining in the battle for the right to represent the country in the London-based pageant. 

The start of a new year always brings in the thrill of a restart—it’s as if something new is really about to happen; something that will allow you to snap out of the bad circumstance you’re facing or get you to an even higher plane of a winning situation.  For most Filipinos, the prospects for a change in luck position become even more promising whenever Lunar New Year is celebrated–which happens at about this time of every year.  Just a few days from now, the Year of the Rat will have to give way to the Year of the Metal Ox, which is said to be auspicious for most people.  The year is said to bring career advancement, business success, prosperity, and wellness for all zodiac signs.  So with the Chinese New Year celebrations just a few sleeps away, we decided to consult with some geomancers to find out fortunes await that stars in the forthcoming year.

Someone once said: “Out of adversity comes opportunity.”  This is probably the wisdom behind the success now being enjoyed by up-and-coming performer Julia Serad whose stock as an entertainer shot up, quite unexpectedly, at the height of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

In showbusiness, there will always be the one hit wonders, those people who hit mainstream popularity usually for only one piece of work and become known to the general public solely for that momentary success.  Of course, those of this type are, sooner or later, gone from the public eye and then eventually forgotten. 

Respected pageant producer and queen maker John De La Vega did his final farewell walk last Jan. 15 when he expired of cardiac arrest at the World Citi Medical Center in Quezon City at half past 4 in the afternoon.  He was 40.

Our roads first crossed back in the mid-1990s as young, promising news reporters of the Star Network, ABS-CBN.  I was covering the Malacanang beat, with then President Fidel V. Ramos, while Mon Ilagan was our eye in the Philippine Senate.  We were then both small players in the big league, but with big dreams.  When I decided to leave TV for the corporate world sometime in 1997, Mon stayed on with the station until he got part of his dreams fulfilled—getting the chance to host the morning show and even sometimes pinch-hitting in the late-night primetime newscast then known as “PULSO.” I was sincerely happy for him, having seen how he persisted on his uphill climb that started at the very bottom as a production assistant in Radio Veritas as early as 1981.  That’s hardwork that paid-off.

I am a huge pageant fan.  It is one of the things in life that gives me the biggest thrills.  Because of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on public gatherings and the mounting of events, pageant fans like me have to be sidelined for now until things are somehow back to normal.  Perish that thought—that’s rather selfish.  What about the 2020 candidates whose pageant dreams have to be put at the backburner until the virus is eventually managed?  Specifically, I am talking about the candidates of Binibining Pilipinas 2020, more than 30 of them, who have been waiting since February of last year. Since this is, by far, the longest Binibini edition, I can just imagine the anxiety, restlessness and tension being experienced by the participants because of their prolonged wait for their date with destiny.

It’s that time of the year again when we resolve to welcome a whole new year with some changes which we hope will enable us to live better lives than ever before. Some of us pursue these so-called resolutions with a passion, ensuring that they get ticked out of our lists the next time we reach another new year. Most of us start going after them strongly, wane on our commitments even before reaching mid-year, and then drop them altogether by year-end knowing that there will be the succeeding year to try and get them done.

Now that the outcome of the 46th annual Metro Manila Film Festival is finally out of the bag, with last night’s staging of the virtual Gabi ng Parangal, showbiz insiders eagerly await the consequent reactions from various groups involved in this year’s competition.  For years, the MMFF awards night, has always been a rich source of intrigues, scandals and even lawsuits, which actually make the yearly tradition not just truly colorful but also something to really look forward to.

Truth be told, Christmas is truly my favorite time of the year. Even more than my own birthday, it is Christmas that I truly look forward to always celebrating in a big way.

The country’s pioneer integrated resort, Resorts World Manila, is ushering in the new year with yet another first: a big scale, big venue live concert wholly-presented in the virtual plane. To be mounted and staged at the world-class Newport Performing Arts Theatre, the show, dubbed The Grand Countdown to 2021, will be streaming live to remote audiences on December 31, 2020.

With only 11 days left before Christmas, it should be appropriate to share this story about genuine concern, humility and forgiveness between a known Talent Manager and a multi-media artist (radio, online, television and print) who was the Manager’s erstwhile favorite ward until a misunderstanding brought them apart several years back. Christmas, after all, is also about reconciliation and the mending of broken relationships, which I’d love for these two people to finally do in this special season of love and generosity.

‘Tis the season to be jolly and sing our fa la las. With Christmas just a little over two weeks away, the mad rush of preparations for the season is starting to peak albeit in a tempered manner, thanks to the still-raging COVID19 pandemic. As what has become customary over the years, part of the yuletide excitement among TV viewers is the unveiling of the different television networks’ Christmas Station IDs (CSID).

The list of this year’s participating movies in the 2020 Metro Manila Film Festival is finally out! Through a well-attended virtual press conference held recently, the organizers of this year’s MMFF revealed the wide array of film options that are awaiting Filipino movie fans this holiday season.  Since the announcement and enumeration of qualified entries lasted a long three hours, let me, in turn, write an article that is likewise about the interesting “numbers” that are represented in this year’s film fiesta. 

As a showbiz fan, I have always loved reading blind items. It gives me a different kind of thrill guessing who the personalities are behind the often-controversial circumstances these people get themselves involved in. This time around, let me be the one to share a blind item for readers to enjoy figuring out and likewise learn a lesson from. This involves a young actor, who we shall call from hereon as “Boy Studlet” (or “BS”), and a humble and simple citizen of the land, who we shall refer to as “Ordinary Juan” (“OJ”). OJ happens to be a trusted friend of mine who works in a utilities company.