Kris Aquino courts controversy again

Despite her vow to remain tightlipped for the sake of her brother Noynoy, our next President, Kris Aquino can’t seem to shake off controversy.

The actress/TV host announced last Friday she is laying off Twitter for a while to avoid another hot issue from getting hotter.

It began when someone tweeted Kris, asking why she doesn’t mention her husband James in her tweets. She said she replied to the tweet “with honesty.” She didn’t elaborate but it’s a broad hint that all is not well with her marriage – again.

"My attention was called by Noy about this," Kris wrote in her tweet. "So in the interest of keeping what is left of our privacy -- I will suspend being active on twitter."

Noynoy has said he won’t intervene in his sis’ marital problems and would rather let Kris and James settle their differences.

But wait, there’s more. Rumors were abuzz that Kris wasn’t getting along with Junjun Binay, the son of Vice President-elect Jojo Binay. The rumors came at a time when Noynoy is trying to maintain cordial relations with Binay, who belongs to another political party. To head off another controversy, Kris and Junjun appeared on TV together, denying to high heavens that there’s a rift between them.

Will Kris keep her promise and zip her lips? Stay tuned.

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The father-and-daughter team-up of Gabby Concepcion and KC Concepcion in I’ll Be There holds up pretty well. Gabby tries just hard enough not to upstage KC. To her credit, KC does well on her own, portraying a character that’s close to her heart.

I’ll Be There follows the well-worn formula of a girl bitter at her father for leaving her when she needed him most. (Hmm. Sounds familiar.) But the movie develops a charm of its own, thanks to fine performances from the lead stars and the firm hand of Director Maryo delos Reyes. At first KC appears to be tentative, not convincing enough as the girl out to pressure Gabby into giving her share of her mom’s property. But she quickly redeems herself and gets in stride.

Jericho Rosales merits special mention as KC’s love interest.

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Don’t you wish you had Oprah Winfrey for a boss?

The media megastar has given each staffer in her magazine O, The Oprah Magazine, $10,000 plus an Apple iPad, “as a thank you for their hard work and dedication.”

The gifts were given out to commemorate the magazine’s 10th anniversary.

Oprah herself got a gift of sorts when she was given her own star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood .

Also given stars by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce were 29 other celebs including Penelope Cruz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Donald Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, Danny DeVito and Tina Fey.

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Rain ruined my visit to Universal Studios in Singapore last week. It was pouring so hard I was reminded of Typhoon Ondoy. I was looking forward to a tour of Universal because I had been told there were Filipinos working there.

The rain had also closed down the rides at Universal, so that was another damper.

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The following day, we were treated to lunch at a Japanese restaurant by Mr. Raymund Miranda, managing director of Asia Pacific Universal Networks International, which runs Universal Studios.

Raymund was a top executive at GMA-7 before he moved to Singapore five years ago.

A Filipino bigwig at Universal Studios! Now that's something to be proud of.

However, I missed the dinner hosted by Hanzel Villafuerte, a former talent manager and publicist in the Philippines. Nyoy Volante was one of his wards. Hanzel moved to Singapore in 2006. Guess what, Hanzel is now a chef at a French-Italian restaurant. He told my friends who savored his dinner that he’s so happy in Singapore returning to the Philippines and reentering showbiz never entered his mind.