• Careful... You’re on (hidden) camera! • Sarah & Mark in L.A. Lunar Parade

Modern technology has deprived everybody of privacy, especially the stars. You can’t blame the stars if they get paranoid these days, suffering from the "Big Brother syndrome" (remember George Orwell’s novel 1984 – you know, "somebody" is forever keeping track of you?), what with sleazy photos and video clips spreading via cellphones and the Internet like the dreaded HIV.

Nothing new, really, since as far back as two decades ago when cellphones were not part of everyday life like they are today, a Betamax tape of a sexy actress and her politician-lover became a smash hit among voyeurs. Who can ever forget the Betamax tape showing Anjanette Abayari in bed in all her naked glory, with her partner (a retired actor, not seen in the videotape) suspected to have "conceptualized" the whole thing. Those prize tapes were not easy to acquire.

These days, however, they are as easy to get as a "load," passed around by a simple touch of the cellphone and/or computer keyboards.

Check out what everybody is feasting on (with glee):

• A starlet fast asleep, obviously drunk, her skirt lifted up to her neck to reveal her rich natural resources. It was foul, a below-the-belt act, arousing not lust but pity for the poor girl whose only undoing was perhaps falling into the wrong company. Suspected to have taken the shot with a cellphone was a basketball player.

• A veejay, almost in the same pose as the starlet and also seemingly drunk and in sweet slumber, shown with a bushy portion of her body exposed. Your heart also bleeds for the poor girl and you curse whoever took that (also cellphone) shot, said to be a sweet actress who once worked with the victim.

• Actor Zed Carrion is shown lying in bed – naked – smiling at the (cellphone) camera as it pans down his body. Zed told Funfare that that six-second video was taken in the spirit of fun by a girl (whom he didn’t identify).

• Ethel Booba and her boyfriend, Alex Crisano, are all over the tabloids and national television, denying to death that they are the ones in another circulating video (and still shots), even if the couple looks suspiciously and unmistakeably like them (the guy has tattoos on his upper arms). In a TV interview, Crisano said that he expected to spend a long time in jail as soon as he pinpointed the culprit who took that video – meaning, he would "kill?" Anyway, whoever the culprit is must now surely be tormented by his own conscience (I wonder if he’s able to sleep without being rudely intrerrupted by nightmares).

So what do we do in dangerous times like these?

Here are tips:

1. Don’t trust the person next to you.

2. When you go to sleep, make sure that you have your "chastity belt" on.

3. Don’t smile; you may be on (hidden) camera.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

* * *

KSCI Free TV-18, the leading Asian-language television in the US, and the law offices of STAR columnist Michael J. Gurfinkel (the leading US immigration law firm) have teamed up anew to bring a day of family fun and entertainment at the Fourth Annual Lunar New Year Parade and Festival on Sunday, Feb. 13, in Pasadena, California.

Sarah Geronimo and Mark Bautista, together with Muñoz brothers Leandro and Carlo, will lead the Philippine participation this year. Sarah and mark will ride on the Philippine Float while Leandro and Carlo will ride in a convertible. The Lunar Parade will follow the route of the world-renowned Tournament of Roses Parade held annually in Los Angeles (every Jan. 1st).

Sarah and Mark will also perform in the musical festival after the parade. The very first Filipino artist to perform in this event was Regine Velasquez, Sarah’s idol.

The Lunar New Year Parade will be covered by ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox nd Warner Bros.

Fil-Am actor Lou Diamond Philips is the grand marshall. Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Mulan, Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel, along with the USC Trojan Marching Band and our very own Kultura Pilipino Group, are also joining the parade.

The Gurfinkel offices will sponsor free concerts for the Filipino community as a way of "giving back to our kababayan." Michael’s wife Millie is a Filipina.

Incidentally, Funfare would like to congratulate Leandro Muñoz’s 10-year-old daughter Francesca for being an honor student and Student of the Month the second time around at her school in Sierra Vista, Fullerton, California, she’s in Grade 5. When she was in Grade 4 Cheska was twice named Student of the Month.

Carlo himself will be a father first week of April when his wife, Meg Reyes, gives birth to their first child.

The Love Songs Of Jose Mari Chan

In the last few years, Jose Mari Chan, popularly known for his original love songs, has been doing Valentine shows abroad.

This year, he’s back on the local stage for the Love Day, at the Grand Ballroom of the Bellevue Hotel in Alabang on Saturday, Feb. 12, which he will share with Janet Basco, "his girl, his woman, his friend."

It’s their first time onstage together after many years. Music fans will recall their platinum hit My Girl, My Woman, My Friend and the magic that sparks between them while their voices beautifully blend.

Recapture that magic during their Bellevue concert.

Meanwhile, music lovers in Cebu will have their own chance to enjoy Joe Mari’s love songs when he performs in the concert Moonlight Serenade on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, at the Ayala Mall lagoon. There won’t be any moon nor stars that night but who knows, Joe Mari’s mellow voice might just work wonders.

Show Must Go On For Tirso — And Boyet

Tirso "Pip" Cruz III was in Brunei for an all-star basketball exhibition game (against a Brunei team) when his father, Tirso Cruz II (widely known in showbiz circles as Daddy Groovy) succumbed to emphysema at age 75.

Bedridden for more than three months, Daddy Groovy "saw" son Woody last Feb. 1st, Woody’s 20th death anniversary, and, according to Pip’s wife Lyn, Daddy Groovy was saying, "Sinusundo na ako ni Woody." Woody, Pip’s only (younger brother), was bumped by a wayward car in a nothern province and died on the spot.

His father’s death will not, however, affect Pip’s concert Cupid’s Tender Mess with Christopher "Boyet" de Leon on Monday, Feb. 14, at the grand ballroom of the Dusit Hotel (Makati City), As the popular showbiz line goes, the show must go on! (For tickets, call Lyn at 825-8592.)

Daddy Groovy’s remains lie at the Cruz’s residence at #148, 9th Street in New Manila, Quezon City. Burial will be tomorrow at the Himlayang Pilipino, Novaliches, Quezon City, beside Woody’s grave.

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