‘Quickie’ (well, almost!) at midnight

It happened one night – at almost midnight – while residents of Quezon City’s "scout" area were in slumber-land, not knowing that something exciting was going on in their midst. Nothing less than a real-life love scene inside a car parked in the dark, that is.

The protagonists (do I make it sound like a wrestling match?) were a character actor, virile and goodlooking, and a pretty young actress noted for her "lovable weirdness." The actress was taping a TV show at that time and the character actor dropped by at almost midnight, staying inside his car parked in a safe, dark corner.

"Soon," reported the DPA who lives in that area, "the actress came out of the condo where they were taping and casually walked (half-running) to the car. In an instant, she and the man were locked in an embrace, kissing so torridly that I thought they would set the car on fire. After a few minutes, she came out of the car and returned to the set. Then the man drove away."

What a delicious "midnight snack" that was, no!

(Postscript: Wasn’t it in a way "polluting" the same environment that both of them have pledged to protect?)

Second choices better choices

Second – or even third or fourth – choices always turn out to be better choices as have been proven several times. In fact, second choices go on to win awards to confirm that they are the right choices.

Name one example?

Yes, Eula Valdez, the beautiful and powerful Ms. Powers no less in the hit ABS-CBN soap Pangako Sa’yo, named Best Actress in the recent controversy-ridden (not to say "dubious") PMPC Star Awards for TV. There was a report that the first choice for the Ms. Powers role was Lorna Tolentino but according to Eula, "There were several choices and I was among them." After the deliberations, Eula bagged the coveted role. "My manager, Tita Angge, called me at once. She announced the good news almost screaming, ‘We won, we won!’ So I’m not really a second choice, although mayroon talagang ibang choices."

Eula denied that after her Star Award victory, she had decided to raise her talent fee, saying "ganoon pa rin ang presyo ko" without revealing how much it is. But since her Pangako stint, her biggest TV role so far, Eula said that her personal life has been greatly affected because she would tape/shoot three times a week and go home early mornings, turning her house-mate Ronnie Quizon into a "house-band" taking care of their love child Miguel (eight years old).

"We have fights just like any couple but they are not serious enough for us to break up, contrary to rumors," clarified Eula (who is, in case you’ve forgotten, a granddaughter of Vicente Manansala). "Ronnie is talented in his own right; he writes well (having done the screenplay for Pagdating ng Panahon which his brother Eric directed and starred in with Aiko Melendez) and he sings well. I even volunteered to finance an album for him but Ronnie didn’t have the guts to go into professional singing yet."

Although they’ve been living together for nine years now, Eula said that she and Ronnie aren’t planning to get married yet.

"It will happen in due time," she said, "when both of us are ready."

* * *

But the second choice who’s happy being one is Carlo Muñoz who has replaced no less than Piolo Pascual in the P80-million Regal project The Lost Treasure of Yamashita intended for the Metro Filmfest in December. Piolo begged off due to other pressing commitments. His loss has turned out to be Carlo’s gain.

Directed by Chito Roño from a screenplay by Roy Iglesias, Yamashita is about the search for the lost treasure (consisting mostly of gold) of the Japanese General who fought in World War II. Like the fabled Marcos Gold, the Yamashita Treasure has become legendary, too good to be true, which continues to intrigue Filipinos (and some foreigners besides) more than half a century after the end of the war. Carlo plays the young Armando Goyena whose character holds the key to the Yamashita Treasure being hunted by a gutsy group of teenagers led by Danilo Barrios competing with bounty hunters from the underworld.

For the role, Carlo has been darkened a bit, so he might look somewhat different from the way he does in the PLDT commercial that marked the turn (for the better) of his career, with a new episode showing Carlo and his gay friend Joey wondering who’s spreading the rumor that Grasya (played by half-Filipino, half-Norwegian Gina Celso) has been kidnapped just before their impending wedding. (Joey’s enigmatic smile as he puts down the phone reveals who the "culprit" is.)

How does he feel being a "second choice" (for Yamashita)?

"Okey lang," said Carlo. "What’s important is that I’m the final choice. But being a second choice challenges me to do even better."

Well said.

Rustom is Wheel host

In case you haven’t noticed, the new network war has become some kind of "war games" – a war of game shows, that is.

It has been spawned no doubt by the phenomenal success of the Viva-produced IBC 13 game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (hosted by Christopher de Leon), prompting other channels to jump into the game-wagon. Last night, Viva premiered (also on IBC 13) yet another game show, The Weakest Link, hosted by Edu Manzano. ABS-CBN has its own, Game KNB, hosted by Kris Aquino, aside from the game shows incorporated into its noontime show MTB.

Soon, GMA will wean Korek Ka Dyan as an independent game show from Eat, Bulaga. Who knows, GMA might also cook up other game shows.

Three popular US game shows will soon be shown on ABC 5, namely Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right and Family Feud (in which Hajji Alejandro and Rio Diaz, with their kids, competed in California a few years ago).

Tapped to host Wheel of Fortune is Rustom Padilla who’s "debut" it is as host of such a show. Rustom was chosen because of his wholesome, winsome and winning personality which is a "must" in shows of that genre. In Rustom’s case, it’s "win some, lose some." He lost his Singapore TV show Paradise (discontinued after only one season) but he won over other candidates for the Wheel hosting plum.

Incidentally, Rustom is also in the cast of Yamashita, playing a modern-day Japanese soldier. Rustom looks the role, doesn’t he?

There’s a late-breaking report that Ogie Alcasid might host Family Feud (good choice!) but nobody has been named yet as host of The Price is Right. (I wonder, are they still haggling over the "asking price"?)