Entertainment NEWS

I was a college lecturer in a previous lifetime.  It was then when my path crossed with this guy who stood out in class not just for his good looks but for the way he sat on his seat oh-so-quietly.  I couldn’t possibly miss the most silent guy in class who slept through it almost the entire term! Just the same, he did manage to pass and even graduate on time.  Oh, yes.  There’s another detail that I would always remember him by: how his classmates would tease him for being the “ex” of a very popular actress who is now the other half of one of the country’s most formidable love teams!

Her rise to fame started more than ten years ago.  She was just an ordinary netizen who loved doing covers of her favorite songs, which she then uploaded on her social media pages.  More than showcasing her vocal talents, posting those videos was done all in the spirit of fun.  In fact, she even did so by poking fun at her own self, as she always performed with a trademark household item in her hands.

At this time of the COVID19 pandemic, when the numbers are rising to new highs, bringing the nation’s megacities on an Enhanced Community Quarantine, the only piece of good news, once again, came from the beauty pageant front–courtesy of the beautiful Palawena, Samantha Bernardo.

Summer is here and the days are warming up, but if you feel it’s not quite hot enough for you, here’s an idea. Follow these gorgeous men on TikTok for some quick steam. As much as you would love looking at their cute faces and sexy bodies, you might just get a little bit sweatier the moment they start showing you some hip thrusting, heart thumping moves.

‘Tis the time of year when we all go out of the house for some fun and adventure in the sun. With the holy week now in our midst, the summer of 2021 has officially begun. While the government-declared ECQ may have delayed people’s vacation plans for the season, the general intention of many is to still catch as much sun as they could the moment lockdowns are lifted. This is especially true for the country’s celebrities who, for now, have also found themselves stuck inside their homes, foregoing whatever figure flaunting plans they might have for the summer.

More than giving people the time to reflect and ponder on their spiritual standing, the holy week also signals the start of the Filipino summer. This is the season when Pinoys really take the time to hit the country’s world-renowned beaches, donned in the skimpiest suits, and showcase the fit and sexy muscles and curves they worked so hard for. While the pandemic deprived them of actually practicing this annual tradition under the sun last year, Filipinos excitedly made plans to stage their beach comebacks this year. With COVID19 cases rising to, what is now thought, as a second or third surge, and even to new record highs, the government has been left with no other choice but to keep us locked in homes again for a second summer. For now, we can only wish and dream of what ifs, for a summer we will most likely miss—yet again.

Since the pandemic started early last year, the media is one of those sectors called upon to serve in the frontlines, keeping the whole nation up to speed about the latest developments on the fight against the deadly virus. With their jobs naturally exposing them to the elements and, both unwittingly and unknowingly, even to people who are infected with the Coronavirus, they themselves fall prey to its effects, sometimes to the extent of costing them their own lives.

The country’s representative to the Miss Eco International Pageant, Kelley Day, will be leaving the country for Egypt this coming Wednesday to try and capture the Philippines’ second eco crown. Even before she had her sendoff last Thursday, I was fortunate enough to have cornered the queen (thanks to my friend Gerry Diaz) for a one-on-one conversation in a mall in BGC recently. The country’s 24-year old, half-British, half-Filipina delegate gamely answered the seven questions that I asked her, each is supposed to represent a day of the week. Based on the answers she gave, I’d say local pageant fans may have something to really be happy about sometime in the first week of April, the international pageant’s coronation day.

Miss Universe 1969 and respected actress, Gloria Diaz believes the Philippines’ delegate for this year’s pageant has the goods to bring home the country’s fifth universal beauty title.

This weekend is historic.  After more than a year of fighting and protecting ourselves from the dreaded Coronavirus, the vaccines that are supposed to be our salvation from it finally landed on Philippine shores.

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.