Celebrity sighting

The nice thing about Kdramas on Netflix is how they feature themes and subjects that are attuned with the current times.

Saw this trailer for an upcoming series called "Celebrity." Based on the trailer, it seems to be about online influencers and celebrities, and the power they suddenly yield.

Aside from the characters being online celebrities, I'm not sure what the series will be about just yet. It looks like there's drama, mystery, intrigue, maybe even a murder.

Of course, the fact that Park Gyu-Young is one of the reasons why this will be on my watch list. She was such a joy to watch in "Dali & Cocky Prince," and I'm excited to see what she brings to these series.

It's going to be a month before this "Celebrity" sighting happens. Until then, I'll be excitedly waiting.

Je ne sais quoi!

While we were having our presentation, we could hear sporadic bursts of cheer outside the conference room. As it turns out, Miss Universe was on-going and being followed by the people outside.

Yup, I've been living under a rock and wasn't really following this whole Miss Universe thing. While I've seen an article here and there, everything else was alien to me. Including today's finals night.

Just as meeting wrapped up, so did the contest. And this year's Miss Universe is from France!

My colleagues were watching a replay of the crowning moment, and I must say, Iris Mittenaere deserves the crown. She has beauty, intelligence and poise.

But more importantly, she has those very French qualities of joie-de-vivre and je ne sais quoi. She looks very natural, spontaneous and unrehearsed, which makes her a breath of fresh air.

Vive le France!

Oh, Donna!

Admit it. If you're a 90s kid, you know Donna Cruz.

Chances are, you also sang "Kapag Tumibok ang Puso." You also saw "Do-Re-Mi" and your heart melted when Donna-Regine-Mikee sang "I can."

And admit it, you still get giddy whenever you see Donna on TV, looking like she hasn't aged, and sounding as beautiful as ever.

Heck, I know I did!

Cara mia

Judging by its current choice of endorser, it looks like Penshoppe isn't taking the H&M invasion sitting down.

They upped their endorser ante by signing up fashion's current it-girl, Cara Delevingne.

Cara has the same I-can't-be-bothered-by-fashion and devil-may-care attitude that most of the H&M models do. Heck, if I didn't know this ad was for Penshoppe, I'd think it was for H&M. I don't know if that's a good thing, though.

I think Penshoppe should support this campaign with a lower price strategy. Imagine, if you can get the H&M look for less than H&M prices, I'm sure that'll be a hit.

Yes you Ken!

The shrieks were so loud, I heard it from over 30 feet away!

As I entered SM Megamall from the St. Francis side, I could already hear the deafening screams from the Entertainment center at the basement. Now, I'm not a fan of crowds and noise, so I'd normally steer clear of the area. 

But when I saw the crowd, it wasn't the usual throng of people I usually see. Curiosity got the better of me, and I headed to the area to see what the ruckus was about. And when I looked down, all I could say was:

WHOA!!!

There was an on-going meet and greet for the film "Ruruoni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno & The Legend ends"! The stars of the film - Takeru Satoh, Emi Takei, and Munetaka Aoki - flew from Japan to Manila for their first overseas press conference ever! As Emi mentioned in her interview, this is the first time their promoting the film overseas, and she's glad they did it in the Philippines because the reception was awesome.

Mark and I are both big fans of the film. In fact, when the first installment came out, we were in Tokyo that time. They were preparing for a press conference for "Samurai X" in Roponggi, and we saw the stage while we were walking through Roponggi Hills. We weren't able to stick around for the actual event though.

So, it's a pleasant and welcome surprise that I got to see the cast up close-ish.

When they were about to wrap up, Munetaka shouted "Mahal ko kayo," and the crowd went wild! Taking this as a cue, both Emi, Takeru and the director - Keishi Ohtomo, took turns in shouting "Mahal ko kayo," and it felt like the area would collapse from all the stomps and shrieks from everyone there. The energy was amazing!

The event wrapped up and everyone was psyched! Too bad we have to wait 2 more week before the actual film is shown.

In the meantime, I'll have to be content with the fact that I actually saw the cast of Ruruoni Kenshin in person.

More celebrity confusion

After the Jennifer/Ginnifer/Jamie confusion that I lamented about a few years ago, yet another pair of Hollywood celebrities is leaving me feeling a bit destraido.

This time, it's Minka Kelly and Olivia Wilde. 

At least, their names are very much different from each other. But their faces are so similar that whenever I see them in films or on TV, I usually scratch my head and ask: "Is that Minka? Or Olivia?"

Confusing indeed.

Jenner-ation Gap

Upon opening my internet, the yahoo webpage greeted me with this very nice and very nostalgic photo.

Way back then when athletes weren't as commoditized and commercialized, and there were no supplements, steroids or performance enhancing drugs to speak of, athletes were looked at with admiration, respect and reverence.

When they perform, when they win medals, it's largely because of discipline, skill and determination. No human or scientific intervention whatsoever.

In the 80s, Bruce Jenner was one of the most famous athletes and olympians, along with Greg Louganis, Mark Spitz, Nadia Comaneci, Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton. What they all had in common is the fact that they not only excelled in their chosen sport, they also had matinee idol-quality looks. 

This was - of course - an Olympic medal winning combination.

It's hard to believe that Bruce Jenner - the Olympian - has morphed into an odd looking stepfather and character in "Keeping up with the Kardashians." Heck, when I saw that show and found out that a guy named "Bruce Jenner" was there, I had to research and make sure that they're the same person.

Unfortunately, they are the same person. 

There's such a big gap between the Bruce Jenner of the 80s and Jenner now. And you can call me old-fashioned, but I like the 80s version a lot, lot more.