• Funfare-friendly Dr. Henry Yu (of Cebu) texted this correction: Paolo Bediones, having been born on March 17, is a Pisces and not an Aries as you wrote in Conversations last Sunday. Aries is the zodiac sign of those born between March 21 and April 19. I should know. I am an Aries.
• Kris Aquino happily reported that she and estranged home companion Phillip Salvador are "friends again." Kris even complimented Phillip for being slimmer now, 10 pounds lighter. Phillip’s new girlfriend is reportedly a Kris look-alike. But Kris insists that if she ever finds a new boyfriend, she’ll see to it that he doesn’t look like "Joshua’s father."
• Carlo Muñoz could have been but wasn’t nominated as Best Supporting Actor (for Yamashita, The Tiger’s Treasure) in the FAP Awards this Saturday, March 23, simply because he isn’t a member (yet) of the Actors Guild. Same case as that of Jeffrey Quizon (Markova, Comfort Gay) who was nominated in all award-giving bodies except the FAP. Sayang, ’no?
If you, too, watched the 2002 Bb. Pilipinas Beauty Pageant in the cool comfort of your room last Saturday, telecast live from the Big Dome by GMA 7, you must have squirmed under the sheets as many of the 25 hopefuls gave answers that would have made your high-school English teacher (how are you, Mrs. Fidela Fernandez? It’s been a long time!) bump her head on the blackboard. It’s excusable because most of those girls were facing such a huge, formidable and frightening crowd maybe for the first time. But when you join a contest as prestigious and as tough as the Binibini, you do so well prepared, don’t you?
How come the three winners – Karen Loren Agustin, 19, for Miss Universe in Puerto Rico this May; Kristine Alzar, 20, for Miss International in Japan in October; and Katherine Anne Manalo, 22, for Miss World in South Africa – sounded very smart and very intelligent, giving satisfactory answers even if they, too, were presumably just as nervous?
But things became utterly unforgivable when the ones committing those booboos, those atrocious grammatical errors, were the hosts who were not supposed to, and were expected not only to be sartorially impeccable but also grammatically correct and accurate.
Memo to Derek Ramsey: You don’t say "The winner for Miss Talent goes to...," but "the Miss Talent winner is..." For an MTV-Asia veejay to commit that blunder is downright embarrassing. Ask Donita Rose, your MTV colleague. Next time – if there’s a next time – please wear clothes that don’t distract from what you’re saying. Keep that trench coat in your closet because it doesn’t look okay in this hot and humid country.
And the winner for the Best Close-Up Smile, his grammatical faults notwithstanding, is – take note: not goes to – Derek Ramsey!
Derek’s misuse of verbs is reminiscent of the way winners during awards nights (Star, Urian, FAMAS, etc.) confuse their prepositions, thus saying "I want to share this award to..." instead of "I want to share this award with..." Or "Thank you at the bottom of my heart..." instead of "Thank you from the bottom of my heart..." It’s awards season again, so you have a chance to find out for yourselves not only the prepositional errors but also, just like Derek, how the presentors sometimes also say, "And the winner goes to..." instead of "And the winner is..." or "And the trophy goes to..."
Derek’s co-host Miriam Quiambao looked like she was more nervous and more excited than the contestants. Miriam was tripping on her own tongue, several times pronouncing Binibining Pilipinas as Binibinang Pilipinas and eating her words (burp, burp, burp!). Did Miriam feel like she was competing for that title once again which she already bagged in 1999 (ending up as first runner-up in the Miss U contest a few months later)? At one point, Miriam (who was speaking oh-so-fast that she sounded as if Extra, Extra! co-host Paolo Bediones was chasing her with a molotov bomb) announced that a "special award" winner would go home with, among other prizes, P10,000 cash only to correct herself seconds later, "Sorry, it’s P10,000 worth of clothes, not cash."
I can’t make any comment about Charlene Gonzalez (1994 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe and fourth-placer in that year’s Miss U pageant held here) because in the few times she appeared on the screen for some recap, I was making quick trips to the bathroom. But like Derek and Miriam, co-host Charlene did change attire thrice (and she looked slim now, minus post-natal avoirdupois). If I were one of the judges that night, I would have voted Miriam and Charlene winners. I’m serious!
Anyway, two of the three winners were actually discovered by The STAR through the STAR Mode section, Katherine Anne Manalo (World) who was once a Face of the Week beauty and Kristine Alzar (International), featured as a Dream Girl. Here are sketches of the two:
• Katherine – A Mass Communications cum laude graduate of Assumption College, she is a commercial and ramp model. The daughter of Rodrigo and Norma Manalo, she also plays the piano and is adept in writing (she was a features writer of the Assumption Times and keeps her 5’8 1/2 frame fit by dancing). "Maximize the gifts God has given you and share it with others," she says. Katherine was active for Youth for Christ (YFC) for six years and is now involved with the Singles for Christ (SFC). "If you put God in the center of your life, just believing and trusting in His Almighty power, everything will fall into place," she says.
• Kristine – The daughter of Oscar and Belen Alzar, she is a BS Hotel and Restaurant Management student at De La Salle Lipa. She loves traveling, playing tennis, swimming, watching movies, using computers and surfing the Net. She says, "I believe it is important to love your work. I’m the kind of person who makes sure I enjoy what I’m doing and that I put passion into it for the best outcome. Kristine believes that "the greatest loss is not having tried at all." She likes trying new things whenever she can.
"To me," she says, "experience is the best teacher. That’s why I try to engage in new things I believe will make me grow and develop into the best I can."