Kristine graduates magna cum laude from UP

Since a few years ago when she faded out of Eat, Bulaga! (amidst nasty rumors) which she co-hosted after she relinquished her 1997 Bb. Pilipinas-World crown, nothing at all was heard about Kristine Florendo.

Has she decided to go abroad for a quiet life as a private citizen? Nobody knew. But her fans wondered, whatever happened to Kristine?

It turned out that Kristine went back to school, enjoying her newly-found anonymity on the campus of UP where she was taking up B.S. Elementary Education (major in Teaching at the Early Grades). She was a scholar throughout her stay in UP. Last week, Kristine graduated magna cum laude with a grade of 1.202 (.02 away from being summa cum laude) and awarded a Medal for Academic excellence and Second Runner-Up as Most Outstanding Student Teacher. A true beauty and brains.

In her valedictory address, Kristine recalled that she had always been hounded by fear. "I was so overcome with fear that I almost backed out of tonight’s ceremonies," she said.

According to Kristine, fear prevented her from being the best of what she could be (as if winning the Bb. Pilipinas-World title wasn’t an achievement). She worked as a restaurant waitress, a buffet waitress, a knife saleslady ("I sold only two sets, one to my mom and the other to my best friend"), a telemarketer, a phlebotomist, an emergency medical technician, a model, a beauty queen and a TV host. "I started working at 18," she added. "I am now 28, so on the average I’ve changed jobs approximately every 16 months."

Kristine first studied at a private school along Katipunan Road in Quezon City before she moved to UP. When she applied, fear again overtook her when a cranky person at the UP Registrar’s Office barked at her, "Hindi por que matataas ang grades mo puwede ka na dito sa College of Education. You have to go through me first!" That bitchy person should now backtrack with tail between the legs, ‘no?

Her patience has paid off.

With showbiz behind her, Kristine plans to teach, her first love (although she intially toyed with the idea of taking up Medicine, just like another Bb. Pilipinas title-holder, Charlene Gonzalez).

What an ideal teacher Kristine will be! Bright and beautiful, with an eternal smile on her smile.

Quark Henares’ Keka at L.A., NY film festivals

By the time you read this, direk Quark Henares (accompanied by his mom, Dr. Vicki Belo, and his Tito Joey Santos) should be landing at the Los Angeles International Airport on his way to the L.A. Asia-Pacific Film & Video Festival on May 3 where his second film, Viva Films’ Keka, will be shown (along with four other Filipino films, namely Magnifico, Noon at Ngayon, www.xxx.com and the docu Riles).

Before L.A., Keka was shown at the Udine International Festival in Italy last April 26 (together with Seiko Film’s Bridal Shower and Regal Films’ Gagamboy). In July, Keka will join the New York Asia-American Film Festival and, hopefully, the Toronto International Filmfest in September. All these filmfests are non-competition.

Enrique "Quark" Henares conceptualized Keka when he was in high school. It was originally a love story inspired by her teacher, artist Francesca Enriquez, with Jolina Magdangal and Jeffrey Quizon as lead stars. When Keka got made, Viva instead recommended Katya Santos and Wendell Ramos. No regrets, said Quark.

Keka is a black comedy about frat war. Katya plays a call-center worker out to avenge the death of her boyfriend (played by Jordan Herrera) killed during a frat war. Wendell plays a cop who’s tracking down the suspect (Katya) in a serial killing of frat members. They fall in love when their paths cross.

"Keka is my homage to Mike de Leon’s Batch ‘81 (also about frat war)," said Quark. "He’s one of my idols." (The two others are the late Ishmael Bernal and Kidlat Tahimik.)

"But my favorite film is Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction," said Quark (who finished a three-month film course at the New York Film Academy in 2001). "When I saw it, I was convinced that I really wanted to be a director." (He named three other films as favorites: David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, David Fincher’s Seven and Fight Club and Hal Hartley’s Amadeus.)

Now that his Viva contract (two years, three films) has expired, Quark is saving up to finance his next film, entitled Finals, which is about a group of teens surviving final-exams week.

"It’s a very personal film," said Quark, poised for an ego trip to satisfy his artistic urge. "I want to shoot it in digital video."

What’s Up?

• To reader Grace L. Jacob: No, I don’t know any Juanito F. Lo. But if he’s reading this, I hope he’ll get in touch with me so we can perhaps trace our roots.

• To reader Goiko Llave: I wasn’t the one who wrote about the Beatles’ Hey Jude in the mid-’60s (I wasn’t active in journalism then), although I am a Beatlemaniac.

• To the persistent reader in the US: Yes, Martin Nievera is a pure-blooded male (meaning he prefers girls). Please stop asking me about the stars’ "sexual preferences." I’m not privy to them.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])