Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick is here for Penshoppe shoot

Confirmed: Ed Westwick, who plays Chuck Bass (described as “an overly confident and sexy bad boy”) in Gossip Girl, has been tapped as lead endorser for Penshoppe’s 25th-anniversary pre-Holiday 2011 to Summer 2012 Collection. He arrived late last night and will leave Friday after the shoot with Australian fashion photographer Darren Tieste in cooperation with PR Asia Worldwide, the agency owned and managed by Joyce Ramirez.

The announcement was recently confirmed by Penshoppe brand director Alex Mendoza.

“Westwick represents Penshoppe’s new and revitalized image,” said Mendoza. “His charisma will definitely prove that what is originally a Philippine-made product can also be worn proudly by an internationally-famous icon as well as other people around the world. He will embody the free and easy sophisticated casual style that Penshoppe is known for.”

British-born Westwick, 24, has been with Gossip Girl since it started airing in 2007. The hit teen drama is based on the popular serial book about privileged teenagers who attend an elite private school in New York City.

Also included in Westwick’s filmography are Californication, the 2009 Showtime comedy in which he did a guest star role as Balt, a vampire-obsessed student of Hank’s (played by David Duchovny); Son of Rambow, an indie in which he played a bully and surrogate father figure to his devoted younger brother; and Casualty and Doctors, both for BBC.

Last February, Westwick starred in the rom-com Chalet Girl with Felicity Jones and Bill Nighy, and last March he started filming Clint Eastwood’s biographical film J. Edgar in which he plays Agent Smith (Hoover’s biographer), together with Leonardo DiCaprio, Judi Dench and Naomi Watts.

Westwick was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. He has his early training at the National Youth Theater in London.

Close encounter with Kenny Loggins

SMy bookworm friend Robin Tong and Kenny Loggins, his idol

Fellow fans of Kenny Loggins will surely envy my friend Robin Tong who had the rare chance of not just watching Loggins “live” during his recent concert at the PICC but also getting his CD autographed.

This was how it happened, according to Robin (who is a bookworm):

“I tried to catch Kenny Loggins at his 4 p.m. CD-signing session at a mall but I arrived late coming from work. I spotted Kenny having a snack at a shop inside the mall and cornered him so he could sign my CD. He was surprised that I had his old albums and when I inquired about the vinyl album which had Oh Lonesome Me that I’d been looking for, he said that it hadn’t been released yet. Not only did Kenny sign my CD; he also posed for a picture with me.

“I also had another photo with Kenny taken after his concert but it came out blurred. He had a new sax from his line of saxophones raffled off that night and it was my architect-friend Weesen who got it.

“Weesen motioned for me to join him as he had been informed by the concert organizers that he’d be first in line to have the sax autographed. He was quite happy to learn that we had a camera with us. But my son who took the picture said that Kenny’s handlers kept saying, ‘No picture,’ and later on, ‘No flash photography’, thus the under-developed shot. My son said he had witnessed handlers like them abroad grab cameras abroad and smash them to the ground. Thankfully, it didn’t happen here that night.

“Anyway, what can I say? The stars were in correct alignment during those 48 hours.”

The 10 ‘most beautiful’ 2011 Miss Phl-Earth bets

The 10 finalists shown (on this page) in the 2011 Miss Philippine-Earth has been revealed by Carousel Productions, Inc.’s executive vice-president Lorraine Schuck. The winner will be known on Sunday, June 5, in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, aired live by ABS-CBN.

Funfare’s “beauty experts” Felix Manuel, Francis Calubaquib, Joey Cezeare and Gery Yumping, who filed this report, quoted 2006 Miss Earth-Water Cathy Untalan, Miss Earth Foundation executive director, as saying, “This year, the pageant aligns itself with the UN International of the Forests. Together with Haribon Foundation, the candidates are helping make the Philippines a greener nation.”

(E-mail reactions at [email protected] or at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to as[email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit http://www.philstar.com/funfare.)

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