A great love story: What they did for love

No love is greater than that of the lovers whose story I am about to relate to you. So poignant is their romance that, I guess, only the stone-hearted will not be moved – to tears?

The guy belongs to a very rich family involved in big business. He has movie-star looks but his milieu is, besides the highly-competitive business arena, the academe. He’s very bright. Good looks and brains. No wonder all the ladies were falling all over him.

The girl is from showbiz (recruited from the fashion world), slim but drop-dead gorgeous just the same. She’s very bright, too, that’s why they hit it right off the first time they met. Beauty and brains. No wonder the son of another business magnate was rumored to be attracted to her.

But there’s a hitch. The guy’s very conservative parents disapproved of the girl and they threatened to disinherit the guy if he went ahead seeing her. He defied his parents. He and the girl left for abroad where he took up post-graduate studies. She gave up her showbiz career and went with him, also studying at a nearby exclusive-girls’ school, graduating with honors. She’s that brainy, remember?

They got married in a nearby country and spent their honeymoon at a paradise-like resort off the Pacific Ocean. Very romantic. Imagine two people very much in love with each other, lost in themselves. Who cares about the rest of the world?

He must love her so much to risk being disinherited; she must love him so much to overcome her morbid fear of getting pregnant by, that’s it, getting pregnant. (A few years ago, she saw a pregnant woman die while giving birth, thus her phobia.) That’s why I said that no love is greater than that between them – you know, a "you and me against the world" kind of love and loving.

Fast-forward: The wife has given birth to a beautiful heir, recently baptized in the same country where the couple got married in a simple but solemn exclusive affair.

Now, will this beautiful love story end on a happy note? Will the guy’s parents’ hearts soften up for the sake of their apo and, maybe grudgingly, finally forgive the "prodigal" son and give their blessing to a marriage made in heaven, sealed by true love and not by material wealth?

If it were a movie, I would title it, you guessed it, Mano Po, Too, and end it with a family reunion where the clan finally accepts the manugang with open arms while planting the clan members’ first kiss on the cute apo.

The Australian Idol Was Born Malaysian

He wears a single earring (letter "G") on his left ear and it means, he says, that he’s fancy-free, "single and available." There’s a meaning (and "message") in the way a single earring is worn. If you wear it on your right ear, it means you’re gay.

"I play safe," laughed Guy Sebastian, the Afro-haired Australian Idol who was in Manila as one of the special guests at the MTV Pilipinas Awards held over the weekend (co-hosted by Tata Young, Thailand’s counterpart of Britney Spears).

Don’t be misled by his surname into thinking that Guy Sebastian is a Filipino (he does look like one). He was born in Malaysia and he recalls that he was "just a kid" when his family migrated to Adelaide where he grew up and finished school.

He was so shy that in 1995 when he was 14, he nearly collapsed from nervousness onstage at the Adelaide High School hall where he was singing in front of his class- and school-mates for the first time.

"My hair was then closely-cropped," says Guy. "I remember my feet were shaking. The audience was laughing at me. But when I began to sing, everybody fell silent. After I finished my song, my teachers were crying, and my school-mates, too. And that’s where I learned a valuable lesson: To touch people, all you need is to give yourself through music."

Now 22, Guy is a vocal teacher and a recording engineer. He said that there were thousands from all over Australia who auditioned for Australian Idol whose winner was chosen by a weekly elimination process the same way the American Idol does it. One of Guy’s winning piece was Climb Every Mountain (from The Sound of Music), from which his favorite line is "fall every stream, follow every highway till you find your dream." After he won, Guy appeared as guest on the episode of American Idol where Jasmine Trias was voted out from among the Top 3.

Besides the MTV Pilipinas Awards, Guy was here also to promote his debut album, Just As I Am (which includes Angels Brought Me Here, the single he’s singing on his TV guestings here), released by BMG Records (Pilipinas), Inc.

Trivia From Paul Mortel

I just got a long list of trivia from Paul R. Mortel, Funfare’s long-time friend and contributor. Here are some of them:

• What is the difference between pianoforte and fortepiano?

Pianoforte is an instrument, while fortepiano means playing loudly and then suddenly softly.

• What was Bing Crosby’s theme song?

Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day

• Jimmy Stewart did not change his name when he became an actor. When a second actor whose real name was Jimmy Stewart came along, the first insisted that the second man change his name. The second Jimmy Stewart thus became Stewart Granger.

• Year 1939 is considered to be the best in US film history. At least 15 of that year’s releases eventually became all-time classics. Some of them: Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Of Mice and Men, Beau Gest, Gunga Din and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

Six Feet Under Quiz Promo

The final season of HBO’s original series Six Feet Under will premiere the last of two episodes on Aug. 3 at 9 p.m. To hype up the series before the finale, Funfare and HBO are conducting a joint quiz promo. Easy does it: Simply answer the set of questions Funfare will be publishing starting in today’s issue and e-mail your entries to [email protected]; subject: Philippine STAR-HBO SFU contest.

The first five senders of the correct answers will each receive a copy of the SFU book (very nice; "collectible"). Participants must answer all the questions (three sets each) based on 11 episodes. They should write their complete name, address and contact numbers. (Call 725-7891, 727-5251 or 726-5132 up to 30 for inquiries.)

Here’s the second set of questions (also multiple choice) for Episode 304, aired last June 1:

• What kind of food makes Ruth gassy?

1. Chick Peas

2. Dried Apricots

3. Burritos

• Where did Bettina yell at the receptionist?

1. Optometrist

2. Dentist

3. Day spa

• What does Lisa give Ruth for her birthday?

1. Moosewood cookbook

2. Scented candles

3. A foot massage

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])