Why Alden, Maine are staying ‘neutral’ in 2016 elections

Curtain-raisers:

•  When the contract of a young actor expired, his home studio for several years was not keen on renewing it. “You know why?” the Funfare DPA said. “Mahirap kausap ang nanay n’ya. Besides, he has already been overtaken by his contemporaries.” He’s being paired with another actor’s loveteam-mate by the network he has signed up with. The big question is: Can the network pump new blood into his career?
•  A sexy actor becomes P300,000-plus richer at this time of the year when his gay benefactor comes home for vacation from abroad. “So even if he doesn’t have a project,” another Funfare DPA reported, “he has a safe fallback. Para siyang nakasandal sa pader, in exchange for...?” The DPA is letting the readers fill in the blank.
• Now playing on Broadway is the musical Allegiance, which is Star Trek’s 78-year-old star Takei’s tribute to his parents and some 110,000 Japanese-American citizens incarcerated in camps by the US government after the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to a People magazine story, before Lea Salonga signed on as lead actress, Takei invited her to his house in L.A. “to sing a few numbers around the grand piano.” Recalled Takei to People, “I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to hear her voice resounding through our home. Then we discovered that she was tweeting, ‘Oh, I’m in Sulu’s living room.” Lea has been getting good reviews since the musical opened in October.

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Nobody dares to confirm the story that multi-million-peso offer was dangled in front of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza by a candidate (for what office, it’s up for you to guess) to endorse him in the 2016 elections. Those in-charge of AlDub politely turned it down. You see, there’s a big risk when actors plunge into the murky political waters. There’s good money, all right, but their careers usually suffer and they are branded as mukhang-pera (materialistic).

When Alden guested as poem-reader on election lawyer Romy Macalintal’s radio program The Law of the Heart is Love (airing over DWBR, 104.3FM Saturday nights 8 to 9 and replayed Sunday nights 7 to 8), Romy briefly brought up the matter.

“Alden said he would stay neutral (in the 2016 elections or any election for that matter) or stay away from any partisan political activity,” Romy told Funfare. “Thanks to Sen. Tito (Sotto) for facilitating Alden’s guesting.”

In tonight’s program, Alden will read three poems of the late great American poet, James J. Metcalfe — Why I Love You, This Christmas Morn and He Walks Beside Me; and one Tagalog poem, Unang Damdamin by an unknown author.

 Continued Romy, “I was so impressed by Alden’s courteous and respectful manner during all the time that we taped his episode at the recording studio of Eat, Bulaga! at Broadway Centrum, Quezon City. Alden never forgot his opo and po before answering some questions during the interview portion of my program.”

Romy gamely added the word “Yaya Dub” into Christmas Morn to give it a more romantic undertone, thus: “Yaya Dub, God bless you on this Christmas Day/And every gift you give. And bless you every hour and/Each moment that you live.”

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