My Wild Guesses in the World of Local Celebrities and Sightings

These are only my hunches and “kutob” with the current issues that I keep on reading about certain celebrities and recent showbiz happenings.

** Break na si Cristine Reyes and Rayver Cruz. Cristine, oh dear, you better shape up or you will regret being such a prima donna when the glam is over, the beauty has faded and you have no one left but yourself.

** The new show of Ms. Sharon Cuneta on TV-5 will fail to succeed. The concept is old and now that the Megastar is part of a new station, many people, this blogger included, want to see reinvention.

** The Coco Martin-Angeline Quinto movie will flop, as well as the Coco-Judy Ann Santos and Coco-Marian Rivera. Coco may be cute and he is lucky to have TV shows that rated quite well on TV. But does he have enough fans that are willing to pay to see him on the big screen? I want to be proven wrong.

** It’s Showtime will be axed soon. From the time that Vice Ganda dropped Ogie Diaz as his manager, many people have realized that fame has indeed gone on his head. Most people watch Showtime just because of the fun that Vice is able to provide. The show is lame without him. But with negative intrigues thrown his way, how long could he keep his composure to make his audience laugh still?

** SIR or Showbiz Inside Report, the showbiz oriented talk show (na nagpapaka-investigative journalism) hosted by Carmina Villaroel, Janice de Belen, Joey Marquez and Ogie Diaz, will also be axed soon. Ogie Diaz may be an effective comedian, but he is no longer a credible showbiz talk show host. He doesn't do his research and say his opinions about anything based on popular beliefs. As for Carmina and Janice, they are good in hosting talk show of different variety, but with pending issues still hounding their showbiz careers, they are not fit to be seen on shows like this. Joey Marquez, well, this is not his forte. This is one boring show na nagpapaka-intelehente, but fails miserably.

** In the reunion movie of Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz with working title, The Mistress, si John Lloyd ang kabit and si Bea ang nangangaliwa. Star Cinema is very fond of twisting the twist, like what happened to My Amnesia Girl na si John Lloyd pala ang may amnesia. The theme, by the way, if it will really focus on infidelity, is still “gasgas” at this point, after the success of No Other Woman.

** Lorna Tolentino may have realized now that money is not everything in showbiz. You have to take care of your staying power, hence it is a wrong move that she moved to TV-5 and did various series that look cheap, when she has always been given great roles when she was still at ABS-CBN. Look at what happened to Dawn Zulueta and Richard Gomez now. Even Helen Gamboa is now more recognizable than the Megastar, whose career is also suffering like what is happening with LT and will soon happen to Derek Ramsey.

A Recap of the Past and Recent Showbiz Scoops

I know, I know, I have been slacking around towards the end of 2008 up until the start of this year. To all of you who loves the showbiz world and of course the gossips, belated Merry Christmas and New Year as well!

In Hollywood, John Travolta's teenage son was laid to rest. The 16-year-old boy had a seizure that caused his death.

Locally, while everybody was cheering for Manny Pacquiao's win over pretty boy Oscar dela Hoya, the family, fans and friends grieved for the sudden death of young TV personality, Marky Cielo.

Up until now, Marky's death is still a popular subject on text messaging. There are many speculations with regards to the cause of what happened. And people want to hear one voice in this matter, LJ Reyes. Is she pregnant? Did Marky get death threats that caused whatever has happened? There are yet so many unanswered questions. But if the actor chose to forever hold his peace regarding the issue, let us respect that and stop all the hush-hush. I won't talk about it anymore, promise =) … well, not unless something big comes up that has to be blogged.

Brad Pitt in a recent magazine interview acknowledged that he still keeps in touch with Jennifer Aniston. He came on her defense with the negative opinions that Jen received with her "uncool" statement in a magazine interview that was blown out of proportion. As for Jen, she seems to be going fine and happy with her current flame, John Mayer. She shocked us all when she did a sexy GQ magazine cover. I wasn't ready to see my favorite "Friend" too adult and far from being Rachel Green. But she was also shocked because she admitted that it wasn't supposed to be like that. The concept that was presented to her was different from the end product.

Hmm, so what else did I miss? The local news was filled with deceits, lies and cheap issues. First up, Dingdong Dantes and Karylle split. Karylle was asked by Boy Abunda on "The Buzz" if she thinks that Dingdong's rumored girlfriend is pregnant. Karylle smiled while thinking. I was also thinking that time, where did that question come from? There wasn't even a hint or a bit of smoke regarding that. Was Boy testing how Karylle would react? Before the latter could finalize her thoughts, Boy ended the interview, making it look like the poor girl actually hinted that Marian was pregnant.

And then we saw Marian Rivera on the presscon of their movie, crying her heart out and stealing the scene from her co-stars. Was it really Karylle that brought her frustrations? Or was it the reporter who told her upfront that she is "plastikada," meaning that she is really very far from what she's trying to portray in front of the cameras.

Well, as for me, Angel Locsin looks better than Marian who looks old for her age. And Karylle seems to be smarter than her. But Marian is simply lucky. She became her home network's most precious last year. Let's see if she can hold it up to this year when Heart Evangelista appears to be a big threat to her throne on the Kapuso side of the warring networks.

As per the Kapamilya, they retained Deither Ocampo who had almost jumped over the fence last year. They still got Judy Ann Santos, but why are they hiding her? The young superstar isn't visible on any of their shows. They got Karylle… hmm, I still think that she lacks the X factor to be famous like her mom.

Oh God, I refuse to blog about the Vicki Belo-Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili circus. I'm sure you have heard of it. This is just how I look at the matter. Katrina is easy to get. Hayden is a gold digger. And Vicky Belo is very willing to be a sugar mommy (wag lang papahuli)!

Did I miss out on anything? That is the recap of the recent and not-so recent showbiz scoops since the last time I posted till this day. I hope that there will be more blog-worthy events and tsismis in the coming days. Oh please, stop featuring the broken hearted Hayden Kho and don't make him sing his sick composition to his "Vicks." If they have a problem to solve, don't let the public know about it. I'm sure they won't mind. I won't! =)

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.

MARIMAR, OUCH!

Its full-blown promo didn’t fail its mother network, Marimar was well-accepted by Filipino viewers (or at least, the Mega-Manila viewing public). And alas, despite all the Angel Locsin brouhaha, a star has evolved in the persona of Marian Rivera.

But it is too soon for the local Marimar. The show is all about hype, hype and more hype. Watch it and you’ll soon find yourself saying “Marimar, ouch!” The acting of all the contemporary leads is all bad. They are acting, yes, to the extent that they can, yes, but I cannot feel their characters. Marian is still Marian, Dingdong Dantes is still Inaki (he has never outgrown his TGIS character), and Katrina Halili is just a sexy star wannabe, but still very young to be one.

If only this is not a remake. If only so many people didn’t know how Thalia gave life to the role. How she became Marimar on screen that those who were watching it thought that she really was her character. Watching the local version makes one feel like Marian is so trying hard to imitate Thalia’s performance, but as a new star, failed to do so that everything becomes crap.

All the actors need more workshops. Or else, just call it a reality show where all the actors are playing themselves.

Marian has a lot of potential to become a big star. This may be the right vehicle, but she was just not prepared. This was also the perfect project for Dingdong to do away with his wholesome image, to become disassociated from Inaki. But sadly, he has achieved the right “Sergio” body, but when it comes to acting, it still is raw, it still is “muntik na pero hindi pa rin.” As for Katrina Halili, the role isn’t right for her. It needs someone so attractive, more seductive than the female lead, as to make one believe that the Sergio character is still so much into her while the latter’s father is a fool to believe that she’s also into him. And Katrina, for me, doesn’t fit the role. Despite the “pa-sexy” image, she still has the innocence that couldn’t justify a “kontrabida” role like what she’s playing in this soap.

But what makes it click? The freshness of Marian is the main factor, then Dingdong’s well-appreciated transformation from being the always chubby one to this leading man material and, of course, the story itself. Marimar is something that many Filipinos had loved when it first aired in the country. And this is the sort of story that most Filipinos crave for, the Cinderella, rags to riches type.

It still ain’t over. The actors can still improve on their performance. Forget the hype. Work hard on your craft. Make the viewers sing to the tune, “Marimar, aw!”