Juliana Gomez & VJ Marquez: The little scene-stealers - FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo

Richard Gomez and CJ de Silva, the Promil girl, just came back from Singapore where they joined other select Apple Masters from the Far East in a five-day seminar that involved filming and editing.

Richard and CJ joined the elite group of Apple Masters from all over the world, chosen and screened thoroughly for their achievements in their respective fields. Richard has been an Apple computer buff since 1987.

"Point of view ng isang bata ang ginawa namin ni CJ," Richard said. "It was a learning experience. It was not like I was acting with a child actor; I was curious to find out how a child’s mind works, and I guess our thesis turned out okay."

Interacting with children is important to Richard these days. His daughter Juliana is now three-months old and, pretty soon, she’ll be bombarding her dad with sentences that begin with "why?".

Little Juliana – or Yana – continues to charm her dad. "Did you know that when she has her moods, the only way to make her quiet is to put on Martin (Nievera’s) CD? Fan na fan yata ni Martin ’tong anak ko."

And how is baby Yana?

"She’s okay. She was born with jet black hair. Now her hair is turning soft brown, just like Lucy’s. She’s beginning to look like her mom. Pero pag nakita mong salubong ang kilay, Richard na Richard naman. Ang tangos ng ilong, bilog na bilog ang mata."

Since it’s Lucy who’s mostly at home, their friends believe that Yana will grow up to be very religious, too. May rosaryo sa kanang kamay. Pero may hawak na golf club sa kaliwa, ha! ha! ha!," Richard quipped.

He arrived with just his yaya, a small backpack carrying his Game Boy and a small tube of gel.

All of four years, Vittorio Joey Marquez informed Lucy Torres-Gomez who was having a pictorial for Her Bench that he was going to have his pictures taken too.

"Model ako," the precocious little kid said. "Saan?" Lucy asked, amused. "Sa Bench."

Vittorio Joey – or VJ as everyone calls him – was speaking the truth. He probably does not grasp yet the importance and responsibility of being a Bench image model. All he knows is his dad, Mayor Joey of Parañaque, asked him to be in Ben Chan’s house for some test shoots with Ronnie Salvacion who was then shooting Lucy. It did not take Ben a long time to convince Joey to let VJ join Bench. After all, Ben is ninong to Yeoj, VJ’s kuya.

Ben, visibly amused, too, by VJ’s confidence and discipline (he just sat in a corner playing with his Game Boy), approached the young kid. "O, VJ, ready ka na ba?" he asked. "Opo, may dala akong gel." he then proceeded to open his bag. Ben again asked him, "O, anong bayad mo dito?" VJ’s answer floored everyone: "Pizza."

VJ Marquez joins the select Bench family as its main endorser for Kinder Bench, the new line of Bench wear for kids, which will be launched early next year. VJ is not just cute, he’s handsome as well. More so when he talks to you with an occasional lisp.