Guess what Rudy’s B-day wish is

Curtain-raisers:

• Guess who the next Kamiseta image model might be (after sisters Mai-Mai and China Cojuangco) – yes, no less than Alicia Silverstone, the first ever Hollywood star to be an endorser of a local product… if and when. This item came out in a recent issue of Billboard: Who is the next Kamiseta girl? Is she clueless? Is she a bat of a girl? (Alicia starred in Clueless and in Batman and Robin, remember?)

• Alma Moreno isn’t over the traditional 40-day mourning period for the death of her mother, Mama Jane, and yet she’s dancing – and trying to sing – in concerts as if she’s not grieving at all. And then, she’s complaining that "Joey’s camp" is hitting her when she’s still (supposedly still) in mourning. Incidentally, Ronald Constantino has a "title" for above-40 actresses who still dare to dance in public – The Dancing Grandmas. Ronald was speaking in general and not specifically about Alma who is actually a grandma because her two love sons, Mark Anthony Fernandez and Vandolph, have one love child each.

• Ask Jomari Yllana about his reaction to the annulment case filed against him by estranged wife, Quezon City Councilor Aiko Melendez, and Jomari will simply smile and say… Oops! Off the record!

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Funfare was among those invited to the set of Rudy Fernandez’s latest movie, Maverick Cinema’s Diskarte, his second team-up with Ara Mina (after Palaban, also by Maverick), last Sunday evening at that cluster of restaurants beside the Quirino Grandstand at the Rizal Park. It was Rudy’s sixth shooting day for the action-drama which is one of the Magic 6 entries to the just-revived Manila Filmfest in June, directed by Boy Vinarao. The restaurant, Pantalan, was also the venue for Rudy’s 50th birthday bash two Sundays earlier (March 3).

"No," smiled Rudy, "I didn’t make any birthday wish for myself. But I did wish na sana matapos na ang kaso ng friend kong si Jinggoy (Estrada) at ang Daddy niya."

Told that Bong Revilla had decided to pull out his own starrer, Ang Kilabot (with Assunta de Rossi, produced by Bong’s own company, Seven Stars productions), in deference to him (Rudy), Rudy said, "Thank you naman kay Pareng Bong" and explained that even if Bong and Jinggoy had a misunderstanding (Funfare readers know what it was all about and that Jinggoy publicly had already "forgiven" Bong early this year), he and their other bar-kada, Phillip Salvador, avoided being drawn into the conflict. In fact, according to Rudy, "Phillip and I were the ones prodding Jinggoy and Bong to patch things up."

After his failed bid for the Quezon City mayoralty in the May elections last year, Rudy said that he’s veering away from politics and focusing his time and attention to his career, with him back as host of the GMA 7 weekly true-crime drama Kasangga and Diskarte paving the way for more starrers this and the following years.

"It’s not my first time to play an ex-convict (in Diskarte)," Rudy reminded the visiting movie writers. "I’ve played an ex-convict for 10 times na siguro."

That night, direk Vinarao was preparing lights and cameras and other props for the big shootout scene in the crowded Pantalan turned into a nightclub, with Menggie Cobarrubias also around (as Rudy’s nemesis) and Viktoria as the club’s featured singer, singing her own composition.

It’s a pity we didn’t stay long enough to watch the shooting. The explosions (blank bullets, if you please) must have alarmed unknowing people in the vicinity, considering that the place is owned by the controversial Mr. Wong (who figured prominently in last year’s Senate probe on Sen. Ping Lacson whom Rudy portrayed in his last movie, Lacson, shown at the 2000 Metro Filmfest). It was all make-believe, thank you!

OM-X, anyone?

Last week, my friend Eddie Littlefield invited me (along with Bulletin’s Cris Belen and STAR Assistant Entertainment Editor Maridol Rañoa-Bismark who celebrated her birthday yesterday) to dinner with Dr. Luisito L. Ruiz who wanted to inform us – and our readers – about a pro-biotic called OM-X. I was clueless about OM-X until I read Ching Alano’s article last Sunday in The STAR Life Section about Patricia Borromeo whose non-Hodgkin’s lymphona is on remission. Patricia mentioned that her diet consists largely of veggies, plus OM-X.

According to Dr. Ruiz OM-X stands for Ohhira Mountain fruits eXtract, founded and invented by Japanese doctor Iichiroh Ohhira. OM-X is a naturally fermented concentrate of seven wild fruits, two herbs and two seaweeds gathered from the deep, cold mountainous regions of Japan.

Said Dr. Ruiz, "Probiotics (which OM-X is) will be to medicine in the 21st century what antibiotics were in the 20th century."

OM-X is just as good for sick as well as healthy people, it being a food supplement.

(For more information on OM-X, call Dr. Ruiz at 843-65-40 to 42 or 843-65-46 to 47, local 153.)