Vina to perform at NY Int’l Musicfest

Curtain-raisers:

• Cesar Ramirez, local movies’ Mr. Muscleman in the ’50s (noted for strong-man roles like in the movie Bernardo Carpio, produced by Sampaguita Pictures which discovered and groomed him), died at dawn the other day, July 17. Two of his children with the late Alicia Vergel are Ace and Beverly. The other sad news is that the life-support system that has been keeping Vic Vargas, another Sampaguita star, alive though in coma after he suffered from a stroke two weeks ago was scheduled to be removed Thursday (July 17) night.

• Fresh from abroad: Besides Lea Salonga and husband-to-be Robert Chien, here for a well-deserved vacation and to finalize negotiations with ABS-CBN for the exclusive coverage of their wedding on Jan. 6 next year, also back home is Rio Diaz-Cojuangco who is as good as new after springing back from a 10-day coma only three months ago at the Stanford Hospital in San Francisco where she went through yet another round of chemotherapy. Rio is sustained as much by her unwavering faith in The Lord as by modern medicine.

• Two days ago, Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos and her husband, Sen. Ralph Recto, came back from a two-week European holiday that brought them to several cities in Spain and Paris where, Vilma told Funfare, "I lost my cellphone." First thing Vilma did after she recovered from jet lag was to reconstruct her new cellphone’s new directory. "I felt that I was disconnected from the rest of the world when I lost my cellphone," said Vilma. "Iyak ako nang iyak when we were in Paris."

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Vina Morales will score a "first" for any Filipino artist when she performs at the New York International Music Festival next Wednesday, July 23, in Las Vegas which was chosen as the venue of this year’s musicfest. Vina will do a showcase of five songs at the Brenden Theater at the prestigious and ultra-trendy Palms Hotel.

How was Vina chosen for this singular honor?

"The festival organizers were impressed by Vina’s show reel," said Vina’s manager Joji Dingcong who’s leaving ahead of Vina to pave the way for his alaga’s Brenden Theater performance and her scheduled US tour soon after. "In fact, the organizers scheduled Vina’s performance on prime time, at 8:30 p.m. This is crucial because the show starts at 1 p.m. and ends at 12 midnight. According to one of the organizers, and I quote, ‘It’s rare for us to see a new face who is really beautiful and whose looks can cross borders. She seems Latin... Asian... Spanish. She has a very international look and she sings very well. She can dance. She’s comfortable and confident with her body when she moves onstage.’ O, bongga, di ba?"

From Las Vegas, Vina will go on her Vina... Revealed (The US Tour), starting with a show at the Gateway Theater in Chicago on July 26 (Sunday) with Aga Muhlach, Randy Santiago and Carlos Agassi as co-performers. (Aga is leaving on July 23, Thursday, with his wife Charlene Gonzalez and their twins. The family will be based in Los Angeles where Charlene’s mom, Elvie Gonzalez, will look after her apos.)

Vina’s itinerary also includes Virginia Beach (Philippine Center), July 27; San Francisco (Nob Hill Masonic Center), Aug. 1; Los Angeles (Orpheum Theater), Aug. 2; Jacksonville (Florida Theater), Aug. 9; Portland (New Hope Theater), Aug. l6; San Diego (at the San Diego Convention Center), Aug. 17 or 23; and possibly in Houston, Texas (still being worked out).

Then, Vina will rush home for the taping of her ABS-CBN soap, Darating ang Umaga, and the recording of her new album for Star Records which has commissioned Ogie Alcasid as the record producer. (Ogie should by then be back from Australia after bringing his wife Michelle van Eimeren and their two children to settle down there; the Alcasids have a brand-new house in Sydney.)

Maritoni not pregnant

Although she and boyfriend Hans Montenegro have made public their relationship (yes, they’re living-in at a cozy house in Ayala Heights, Quezon Cityt), Maritoni Fernandez is extremely careful about getting pregnant not because of anything "legal" but because her doctor has advised her not to –not yet, please! As everybody knows, Maritoni is on remission from breast cancer.

You see, there’s a rumor that Maritoni is pregnant and she’s vehemently denying it.

"I’m not allowed to get pregnant until after my five-year remission is over," clarified Maritoni. "It’s been only two years since I was declared cancer-free. It would be stupid of me to take a risk. As much as Hans and I want to have a child of our own, I just cannot – yet – because it’s hazardous to my health; it’s life-threatening."

Maritoni is separated from her businessman-husband while Hans is divorced from his first wife, Cara Subijano (one-time Bb. Pilipinas-World), with whom he has a daughter who’s now on vacationing in Manila and staying with him and Maritoni (who herself has a daughter by her estranged husband).

Because of some legal impediments, Maritoni and Hans are keeping "on hold" their marriage plans.

Whatever happened to Viva Cinema?

A few weeks ago, the widely-followed Viva Cinema went off the air, leaving its avid viewers wondering, "What happened?"

That question will soon be answered when Viva Entertainment launches PBO (Pinoy Box Office), the "reincarnation" of Viva Cinema.

The PBO is a 24-hour, non-stop movie cable channel created to fill in the demand for a true Filipino channel in the global community.

You can watch as many Tagalog movies as you can have the time to on PBO which is preparing a program line-up tailor-made for the movie-loving Pinoy family.

Local movies of all genres, from the classic ’80s flicks to today’s blockbusters, will form the main bulk of the PBO line-up. The PBO Senti, for example, will feature love stories and drama movies, while PBO Presents will showcase the best of action and comedy films. PBO Classics is a time capsule of Philippine Cinema’s best treasures while PBO Hot Nights will air "for adults only" fare. Other programs include hot concerts of OPM (Original Pilipino Music) concerts and monthly sports events.

Stay tuned. Don’t switch channels.

Top heroes, top villains

A few issues ago, Funfare published The 100 Greatest (Hollywood) Movies of All Time as compiled by the American Film Institute (AFI), the most reliable source as far as film is concerned. At the same time, the AFI also came up with the list of The Top 100 Heroes and Villains of All Time. Here are the Top 10 of both categories:

• Top 10 Heroes

1. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird

2. Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark

3. James Bond in Dr. No

4. Rick Blaine in Casablanca

5. Will Kane in High Noon

6. Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs

7. Rocky Balboa in Rocky

8. Ellen Ripley in Aliens

9. George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life

10. T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia

• Top 10 Villains

1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs

2. Norman Bates in Psycho

3. Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back

4. The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz

5. Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

6. Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life

7. Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction

8. Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity

9. Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist

10. The Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs