Jennifer Aniston – On Brad Pitt and Everything Else that Came After

Both their films are set to open come Christmas day. So it is just very natural for us to hear about Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt more and more before their films hit the big screen. And also be prepared to hear more about Angelina Jolie. She's part of the equation now and she will always be, whether we like it or not.

After Jolie gushed over how her romance with Pitt bloomed at the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith while the latter was still very much married with Aniston, it was expected that people would wanna hear about Jen's reaction. And what she said, of course, toppled off all news about the new US president.

Jennifer told in an interview with Vogue magazine that what Angelina said regarding the issue was very uncool. When Jen sat with Oprah for the promotion of Marley & Me, she explained that she was asked a question that she answered as honestly as she could.

During the Oprah interview, Jen was asked about her former husband. She said that she is happy for him. She appreciates the amazing things that Pitt was able to do for the last couple of years. She exclaimed that she is happy for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, er, Mr. & Mrs. Pitt (or Mr. Pitt & Ms. Jolie?). And she also said that she is over with Pitt and feels like the separation happened 100 years ago.

Oprah was also able to ask Jen about her current flame, John Mayer. Her reply was, "I've been unbelievably lucky in love… It just might not look the way it's supposed to look at this point."

Since Jen's very public split with Brad Pitt and the circumstances that brought the incident, people have been wanting to see her happy and settled. Well, as a fan, John Mayer was not exactly the kind of guy that I imagined her to end up with. But well hey, if he makes her happy, so let it be.

As for the clash of her film with Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Aniston joked if they can just have a tie. Well, it will be up to the viewing public now. Both films have promising premises. Pitt's movie deals with a man who ages backwards. And Jen's film is about how the world's worst dog was able to change the life of the people it dealt with for the better.

There is Hope for My Only Hope

Okay, so I am still watching My Only Hope, Sundays after ASAP 08 at ABS CBN. First of all, thank you for the obvious effort to bring kilig to the fans. But what used to be a promising start seems to be dwindling to the sloppy-story road.

Come on, creative peeps of ABS CBN, you know you can do better than that. The latest episode seemed to be done on a rush. Yeah, people would love to see the main leads fall in love, kiss, hug and everything else that was shown on the latest episode. But this completely shattered the good foundation of this Sunday drama series.

The show has already set up so many good points.

• Gerald’s emo character has paved the way for this kind of get-up and attitude to become popular and known to this day’s generation. I wasn’t really paying attention to such before My Only Hope aired. And Gerald was good playing the role of Keeno. He really has done a lot to make the character very convincing.

• The Boracay setting for the show’s first airing was a sight of fresh air for weekends’ couch potatoes like me. It was new and it contributed to the excitement over the progress of the story.

• Gerald and Kim have shown lots of improvement in terms of acting. And Enchong Dee must not be overlooked. He is also beginning to show signs of progress by portraying his role the best he can.

• Tomy Abuel, being the veteran actor that he is, showcases what old school and powerful acting is all about. He sets a good example to the younger casts of the show.

• The new guy who plays the role of Rick, Keeno’s brother, is also promising. But he still has to overcome some apparent shyness and learn how to act tougher.

• Kudos to Miguel Escueta for a very fresh, innovative rendition of the main theme. This was like what David Cook has done for Always Be My Baby. Miguel was able to make me forget about the original version of Mandy Moore.

Let’s go to the negative points.

• The story is becoming too predictable. It’s like showcasing the best or memorable scenes from both local and foreign dramas and collating them all on this one. So Keeno was the one who accidentally killed April’s (Kim’s character) father. Jessie (Nina), who already died, has a twin who looks exactly like her. The rich family of Keeno will not approve of his relationship with poor girl, April. Yang (Regine), who has owned up to the responsibility for most of his boyfriend’s expenses, is actually a call girl (oh wow, very 80s eh?) I am just waiting for an amnesia element and I’ll conclude that the creative team for this drama is composed of 50 to 70 year old folks.

• When I watched My Girl, I thought that David Chua who plays April’s brother on this one was only faking his enunciation to make people believe that he cannot speak Tagalog. But hey, he still sounds like he cannot speak the language on this one even if his role is very much a Filipino.

• Another character that wasn’t able to come out of her My Girl’s character is Alex Gonzaga. She was funny at My Girl because she sounded gay and she was supposed to be comic. But now, the manner that she speaks is already becoming too irritating since she is not a funny one in My Only Hope.

The latest episode brought many disappointing turns with regards to the flow of the story.

• After one date, April loves Keeno already. Um, this can be true, I don’t doubt it. I am a believer of true love, naks! But we must remember that April is only recovering or is actually in the process of forgetting about her feelings for Jhun (Enchong’s character). Keeno’s presence must cause her to be very disturbed and lost for rational explanation why she’s all of a sudden feeling the way she does whenever this emo guy is around.

• And Keeno is also recovering from a loss of a loved one and guilt for what happened. It will be better if we will see him fighting his real feelings for April and thwarting her from becoming too close. Rather than saying that he used to dislike people like April who has so much happiness in life, he must have demonstrated that first before becoming involved with her type.

• The Jhun-April story should have been given more depth. It couldn’t end one night after April’s first date with Keeno. It would really be hard to decide, especially when the intention of June (Keeping his promise to April’s dad) was so pure. At June’s proposal, April should instead have said that she’ll think about it. And then she will be torn between the two.

This is the problem when you put in too many details, too many conflicts and loads of characters that have lots of emotional baggage with them, in a series that will only be watched once a week.

Kim, Gerald and Enchong are becoming too good as actors for the confused story that they were made to portray. The creative team should focus more on fixing the story of these three and making it more believable and well-thought of. Forget about the twin of Nina’s character. She shouldn’t be given too much exposure. She might cause a little jealousy between April and Keeno, then she should be out of the scene completely.

While I am on my Kimerald addiction last Sunday, I also saw the trailer of the upcoming primetime teleserye of the two, Tayong Dalawa. They will be with my most hated Kapuso transferee, Jake ‘Yabang’ Cuenca. Oh please, there is no hope for this guy. Throw him back to GMA or to your Kapamilya freezer and thaw one talented actor to hone for the role, just like what you did with Enchong.

As for My Only Hope, I really wish that they can still fix the script before the story becomes too predictable and too old as a concept. If that’s the case, ABS is only proving that they are running out of good creative talents, reason why they have to resort to remakes of hit TV series from other countries. But I know that this is not true, so prove me wrong, will you?

The News that Hit and Failed the Spot

Big News: Barack Obama was elected as the US' 44th President.

Sad News: Jurassic Park author, Michael Crichton died of cancer. He was 66.

Intriguing News: "I'm off women now." That is according to Idol judge, Simon Cowell, after it was reported that he has broken up with long time girlfriend, Terri Seymour. Let's just wait and see if Cowell is bound to the direction that Clay Aiken has gone to.

Get your pillows ready, for here are some boring news:

As for the local showbiz scene here in the Philippines, nothing much is happening. The pages of the dailies as well as online showbiz magazines like PEP, are bombarded with showbiz tidbits about stars who aren't really worthy to be read.

• Karylle and Dingdong breakup. Honestly, when they were still on, did you even follow what was happening to their relationship? Now that they have admitted that they have broken up, after so much beating around the bush, Tsismosa says, SO WHAT?
  
• Marian Rivera's breakup with her non-showbiz boyfriend and her non-involvement with the breakup of Dingdong and Karylle. Yeah, yeah, you know, these people are not using such issues for the promotion of their upcoming boring movie (but I am open to be proven wrong). Believe it or not, Tsismosa says, NEXT!


• Jennylyn Mercado continues to hate Patrick Garcia and she's being very vocal about it. Yeah, it is understandable for this girl to feel that way. But can't she just keep it off the record? It is becoming a redundant issue that no matter how I may sympathize with the girl at first, even if I don't really know her and haven't seen any of her projects, I am just getting too fed up with this. Tsismosa says, ENOUGH ALREADY!


• The Yasmin or Jasmin-JC something calling names or not calling each other by their names hehe! Confused? Me too! I don't even know who these people are. Tsismosa says, SINO DAW!
  
• The sikuhan issue of 2 GMA starlets, Jewel and Bubbles. Owkay... so whose elbow hit what, where and when? Tsismosa says, NEVER MIND!


• Becky Aguila vs Mel Pulmano. The issue? Money! Becky accused Mel of stealing big amount of money from her roster of talents. The controversial manager made it appear that Mel would release some negative publicity about her prized talent, Angel Locsin, if the issue would come out in the public. But have you seen Mel? You know how Becky looks like, eh? I know, a book must never be judged by its cover. But just one look at these 2 and you will get a feeling of who is really telling the truth. As for Ms. Aguila, she has proven how greedy she can be when she chose money over loyalty in the case of Angel when she made her jump off onto a lonelier fence. Tsismosa says, WHAT'S NEW?


• The continuous domination of GMA 7 on Mega Manila's ratings game. I can't really appreciate their shows. Most of them, especially on the primetime block, are too un-original and nakakasawa na! It's not enjoyable to watch stars who lack the needed X-factor to shine. But it's becoming more painful as you get to see them perform in a mediocre way, makaraos lang! Tsismosa says, WORKSHOP YOUR TALENTS, GMA!


• Criselda Volks admitted that she was the girl on the sex video. Um... okay. This girl has done enough damage to her life. She should start cleaning up her acts before it becomes too late. Hay, Tsismosa says, NEXT!


• Snooky Serna has a new man in her life. Okay, good for her, end of issue.


• Willie Revillame's house was robbed. Tsismosa says, DO NOT DO UNTO OTHERS WHAT YOU DO NOT WANT OTHERS DO UNTO YOU.

There are some stars that people love hearing about even if the news is only about their usual day-to-day activities. And there are those who are becoming involved in complicated situations but yet, fail to catch the interest of the viewing public. This only means that not because you are in the news, not because you've got the most headlines on PEP, or your manager is writing about your feats in showbiz columns at Pilipino Star Ngayon or even The Philippine Star and Inquirer, means that people actually care about you.

Showbiz news, especially on the local scene, can never be the measurement of who is hot and who is not in the industry. There are really those "stars" who fail to hit the spot no matter what they do for the sake of being talked about.

Prove Me Wrong, Marian and Dingdong

GMA network is confident about their newest gems, Marian and Dingdong, enough to produce a film for this love team. The two rose into fame when Angel Locsin decided to leave GMA to what she (or her pa-kontrobersiyal manager) thought would be a better choice (but is proving to be disastrous). The team-up was warmly accepted by the public via the TV show "Marimar," despite their lack of good acting abilities.

Through time, the two keep on proving that they really have captivated the hearts of the boob-tube fanatics. They have been trusted with product endorsements as well. Their latter venture hinted that they are not that picky with the projects that they get. Marian looked like a bold star with her last ad for a soap or something. I can't recall because I always change the channel whenever she's on. And they have done ads for liquors and alcoholic beverages. I will not be surprised if they will agree on endorsing condoms in the coming days. But this is just my take on this.

Personally, I don't like Marian. There is something about her that turns me off. I stopped buying the products that she endorses. As for Dingdong, I used to like him way back his TGIS days. But through time, I still haven't seen him grow as an actor. He seems to be following the career path of Piolo Pascual. But one thing that he has to improve on is the reality that Piolo can act while Dingdong still has to do a lot of catching up.

I hope that Dingdong will really take his profession seriously. He will not forever look like a hunk. He has to show some real tears and poignant emotions before he loses the body that he is becoming more known for.

I cannot blame Dingdong though, or Richard Gutierrez for this matter. These two are popular stars of these days that lack the ability to convince people about what real emotions are all about. They are not still being given the right roles to hone their craft. They are continuously pampered with the kind of roles that their network thinks they can handle. Richard's non-acting prowess isn't that much obvious with fantaseryes or action fantasy series. Dingdong can just flaunt his hot bod and no one would mind if he is carrying out a sloppy performance.

GMA still has a lot to learn from ABS CBN in handling talents (but do not follow their lead in freezing their careers), especially those who are on the rise. John Lloyd wouldn't be where he is now had ABS CBN did not plan his career right. This also goes for Lloydie's team-up with Bea.

Unlike the Marian and Dingdong love team, John Lloyd and Bea took calculated steps in order to become successful multimedia artists. ABS planned what roles they must play, when they would be allowed to kiss on TV, then on films, when they would be given more matured roles, etc. This way, the two are becoming prepared and honed for the next roles that come their way.

With the Marimar duo, people have already seen them do everything on TV. They kissed, made love, kissed, shown off some skin, kissed and well, this is where they are good at, kissing.

What more can people expect from their film that they still haven't seen them do on TV? The only thing that is left for them to do is frontal nudity that I don't think they would be willing to do just yet. And knowing GMA Films' track record when it comes to love stories, the soon-to-be-released Marian-Dingdong film will be a familiar one and something that will not prompt the non-fans to pay at the cinemas just so to catch the film.

The non-fans are the people behind the success of films like "A Very Special Love." These are the people who are only waiting for good movies and do not really care about the stars. Yeah, Sarah Geronimo and John Lloyd Cruz already have a following of their own. But the non-fans helped the movie hit its blockbuster status.

And how is GMA going to promote the film of Marian and Dingdong – Kakaiba? Maraming halikan? May bed scene? GMA may appear to be the number one network in Mega Manila. But Mega Manila is not the whole Philippines. And the sources of ratings are only composed of few households. Are these people who brought the pair to stardom on the little screen will be willing to pay their hard-earned money to see the team-up on the big screen?

I doubt it. But I am very much open to be proven wrong.