Aga Muhlach's action-packed birthday bash

Plus: Lady Gaga’s Pinoy connection; Darna’s high-flying start

Looks like Aga Muhlach is really hooked on wakeboarding. And there’s only one place where he gets his thrill – Pili, Camarines Sur. It’s no surprise, therefore, that on his birthday last Wednesday, the actor and his wife Charlene Gonzales packed 80 of their friends and drove them to Pili for four days of fun, food, and of course, wakeboarding.

Among them: Aga’s son Luigi, who came with his non-showbiz girl friend; the family of Arlene Muhlach, Albert and Liezl Martinez, Mons and Sander Tantoco, Serafin Pua, Fr. Tito Caluag, Director Joyce Bernal, Joross Gamboa ace photographer Raymond Isaac, and many more.

I was amazed at how good a wakeboarder Aga has become. I understand that sometimes he stays at CamSur for as long as one week. Charlene is no pushover herself as a wakeboarder.

Does that mean that Aga would soon move to Pili to be closer to his beloved sport? Not likely. The couple still prefers to spend their free days at their vacation house in Mataas na Bato in Batangas.

Aga is in the middle of shooting for his movie with Regine Velasquez under Viva Films, and is due to start another movie, with Angel Locsin.

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Lady Gaga packed the Araneta Coliseum full last week. The concert, which was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., opened almost an hour and a half late because some fans scrambled towards the front of the stage even before the curtain went up and had to be restrained.

The coliseum thundered with applause and screams when the pop star strode on stage and opened with her hit, “Paparazzi.” The roar was so loud I could hardly hear the song. She followed it up with “Love Game,” and the crowd went wild.

“My best friend is from the Philippines,” proclaimed Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, and once again the fans roared their approval. She wore her trademark outlandish outfits that look like plastic sheets. She played the piano for “Brown Eyes,” announcing it was the first time she was singing that song in Asia.

Lady Gaga sang about 10 songs before saying goodbye to her fans, who were shouting for an encore.

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“Darna” was off to flying start last week. GMA-7’s newest primetime fantasy offering. Its pilot on Monday soared to a 44.1% rating, as tracked by AGB Nielsen, leaving “May Bukas Pa” of ABS-CBN far behind.

Curiosity could be a big factor for the new show’s initial success. Viewers might be interested in how Marian Rivera would be as the newest reincarnation of the superhero created by Mars Ravelo.

So are we in for a ratings showdown between Darna and Santino? Stay tuned.

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Star Cinema’s “And I Love You So” started screening last week, but many are wondering why the film is not being shown in any SM theater.

The film, which stars Bea Alonzo, Sam Milby and Derek Ramsay, even held its premiere at the Trinoma, a rival mall of SM’s. The buzz is that Star Cinema and the SM management are arguing over “collection and computation” of earnings from the showing of the film. Executives from the two camps are trying to thresh out the problem late last week.

Could this be the offshoot of the intense “mall war” between the Ayala Group and the Sys of SM?

The same thing happened to “Oh My God.” The Regal Film offering premiered in Trinoma reportedly because the venue was offered free to Regal. That prompted the SM management to stop the showing of “Oh My God” in its malls. Regal execs persuaded SM to reconsider.

If “And I Love You So” isn’t shown in SM theaters, it could result in a “lose-lose” situation. Star Cinema won’t earn as much in the box office, while SM misses the opportunity to cash in on a potential hit movie.

“And I Love You So” got a “B” rating from the Cinema Evaluation Board.