Best Of The Week: Of secret sisters, supermodels and smooch scandals

The Diet Of All Diets Award: The Machete Diet

MANILA, Philippines - Yes, we all get it. Aljur Abrenica is the new Machete and his abs are so rock hard Chuck Norris is afraid. As if flashing Mr. Abrenica’s abs every five seconds on TV (primetime news included) isn’t enough, GMA is promoting the teleserye by introducing a new diet. The network recently released “The Machete Diet” as part of its promos for the TV remake of the naked-statue-brought-to-life love story. The diet consists of a high-protein diet (read: meat, lots of it) and a new substitute to rice: kamote. Now we know why rumors of bad air are circulating on the set.

Farewell Of The Week: Jack Lalanne

Generation Me might not know Jack LaLanne anymore, save from those few who either own his brand of power juicer or watch the Home Shopping Network. Known as the great American bodybuilder who explored and pushed the limits of the human body to uncharted muscular heights, LaLanne passed away this week due to respiratory failure. He was 96. Looking back at his life, some highlights include him doing 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes; and swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco while handcuffed, and towing a boat. Now if LaLanne only made it to 96, then what hope is there left for us couch potatoes? As he says, “The only way you can hurt the body is not use it.”

Pinoy Pride Of The Week: Danica Magpantay, Ford Supermodel

Jumpstarting the Philippine takeover of the world this year is Danica Magpantay, 17, the first Filipina to win the title Ford Supermodel of the World. Danica is the daughter of Supermodel of the World–Philippines 1990 winner Lala Flores, while her sister, Danielle, also made it to this year’s finals. On its blog, Ford Models announced that Danica will be staying in New York for the 2011 Fashion Week, as part of the $250,000 contract she won, meaning she won’t be home anytime soon.

Shocking Family Secret Of The Week: Oprah’s Secret Sister

After launching the Oprah Winfrey Network, the media mogul has done and got it all. In a much publicized self-disclosure, Oprah revealed in an episode of her daytime talk show that she’s been keeping a “shocking family secret” that shook her to the bones: she has a secret sister. Patricia, living in Milwaukee, found out that she is Oprah Winfrey’s half-sister years ago, but decided to contact her instead of going to the media and making money out of the connection.

Viral Video Of The Week: The Elevator Scandal

Now that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, instead of celebrating with Daniel Matsunaga on her birthday, Heart Evangelista might just get a double whammy. CCTV footage of a man with an undeniable resemblance to her Brapanese boyfriend has been circulating on the Internet, and Daniel’s manager has already acknowledged that he’s talked to his ward already about the video. However, they did not deny or admit that it was him in the video. Heart Evangelista meanwhile tweeted her fans not to worry, saying “If you saw the video, something’s cooking.” We sure hope Daniel is a good cook.

Snub Of The Week: Christopher Nolan

We should be used to Oscar snubs by now. From Grace Kelly beating Judy Garland to last year’s Dark Knight cold shoulder, disappointment is nothing new to the Oscars. This year felt particularly painful. After failing to recognize Nolan for Inception and The Dark Knight, arguably two of the last decade’s best movies, the academy chose to ignore him again for Inception. We don’t know about you, but a movie that manages to balance artistic ambition and box-office expectations? Shoulda been golden.  — Raymond Ang

Other Snub Of The Week: Ryan Gosling

Seriously, who else can play a cross-dressing rich brat who ends up murdering his wife and the male half of a tragic love story for the ages in the same year? Ryan Gosling handled both more than ably and still ended up with no nominations. A Best Actor favorite for Blue Valentine, the usually uncooperative Gosling actually did the press rounds this year, with public appearances and a GQ  cover. Seriously, Oscar, I don’t even know.  — Raymond Ang