Best Of The Week: Banksy, Maria Ressa and the Emancipation of Xtina
“I Quit” of the Week: Maria Ressa
MANILA, Philippines - After spending six long years as ABS-CBN News’ bigwig, Maria Ressa finally called it quits. In a statement she published Monday night on the news website, she said she had no plans of renewing her contract when it expires in January 2011. She also stated that starting November 15, she’d be taking her terminal leave to make up for the six months of unused leaves of absence. The announcement’s surprising, especially when she gave no reason as to why she suddenly said “tah tah” to her news team. Maybe she’s had enough drama? After all, being grilled by the Senate for having a “conflict of interest” during the August hostage drama is enough to make anyone nuts.
But now that she isn’t editing the headlines anymore, it seems she’s bound to make them. Iconic men’s mag Esquire recently called her one of their “Sexiest Women Alive for 2010,” joining the ranks of Friday Night Lights minx Minka Kelly and curvy Mad Men pin-up Christina Hendricks. A nice send-off for who is arguably the best thing to happen to Philippine broadcasting in recent years.
Widow of the Week: Yoko Ono
In honor of what would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday, his widow, Yoko Ono, threw him a birthday concert in Reykjavik, Iceland. She and her son, Sean, performed as the Plastic Ono band together with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. They sang Happy Birthday with the crowd before lighting up the Imagine Peace Tower which Yoko had unveiled back in 2007. In addition to that, Yoko made YouTube videos of herself—donning a plunging black shirt—encouraging fans to spread the love in memory of her deceased husband. For a 77-year-old, the woman’s still got no shame in showing some skin. You go, Yoko!
Artist of the Week: Banksy
Notorious British graffiti artist Banksy put down his spray paint cans to help create what The New York Times calls a “button-pushing” opening sequence for The Simpsons. The show’s creators invited the artist to do the storyboards for one of their episodes’ iconic couch gag. The intro starts off with Banky’s signatures spray painted on billboards and signs while Bart writes sentences on both the chalkboard and the school walls. The seemingly light and comic sequence suddenly turns depressingly dark when the final gag reveals a South Korean animation studio — resembling a concentration camp infested with rats and toxic waste — where workers are forced to produce The Simpsons merchandise. Talk about meta.
Store of the Week: Muji
After Forever 21 milked the wallets of your wife, sister, and girlfriend dry, here comes iconic Japanese lifestyle store Muji to take the rest of your mortgage. Yesterday, Muji opened on Bonifacio High Street, on top of Gap, across Fully Booked. Fingers crossed for Uniqlo in 2011?
Fail of the Week: The Gap Logo
So after a legacy that gave rise to a generation of jeans and fashion icons, American brand The Gap last week decided to remodel their age-old and market-tested logo, exchanging it for a more conventional one. Written in plain Arial with the staple blue pushed to the upper-right, the new Gap logo met much disappointment from loyal consumers and logo geeks. Petitions on Twitter spread like wildfire and not one Gap customer thought twice to express dismay. Before American Eagle boosted its sales, The Gap decided to revert to its original logo.
Retaliation of the Week: The Itgetsworse Campaign
In answer to the well-received ItGetsBetter channel on YouTube, humorist Carl Paladino opens his own channel in the video-sharing site. Named ItGetsWorse, the former bully made a sort of answer video to the series of encouraging videos posted on the ItGetsBetter channel. In ItGetsWorse, he testified that it gets worse for bullies like him, while the underdogs and outcasts from school flourished.
Bachelor of the Week: President Noynoy Aquino
Patricia Ann Roque? Liz Uy? Barbie Palagos? Who’s next? Rumors of the break-up between President Aquino and Valenzuela councilor Shalani Soledad spread like wildfire over the course of the week. Although the two were mum about the issue, the frenzy circulating the President’s love life didn’t stop. Last Friday, PNoy was linked to TV5’s 22-year-old reporter Patricia Ann Roque. A couple of days later, he was supposedly seeing celebrity stylist Liz Uy. Both women casually brushed off the news reports as gossip. P-Noy was then snapped by the paparazzi while having dinner with a certain Barbie Palagos. According to his Excellency, the chances of seeing her again are slim since she dislikes the attention of the media. Too bad, but we guess it’s really awesome that the President would rather be married to his job right now.
Where Did the Love Go? Award:The Cox-Arquettes and The Aguilera-Bratmans
Perhaps as a result of exposure to cougars and their young, nubile cubs, Courteney Cox and David Arquette announced the end of their 11-year-old marriage this week. David Arquette admitted that they are already under trial separation, and that he has since started dating actress Jasmine Waltz. In a radio interview, Arquette quipped, “She has been the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met... I am a f*cking champion.” Uhm, okay.
And in case Christina Aguilera’s year couldn’t get any worse, she follows up the flop that was her “Bionic” album with news of her marriage heading to the dumps. Five years after the onetime Dirrty girl was made into an honest woman by Jordan Bratman, the two have separated. If her movie Burlesque flops (and you know it will), watch out for a Glitter-like breakdown. Don’t worry, Christina. There’s always the eventual emancipation of Xtina to look forward to.
