And now, is it Piolo and KC?

Of course, today’s headline is purely speculative, although it’s not far-fetched for Piolo Pascual and KC Concepcion to fall in love with each other, never mind the slight age-gap between them. After all, Piolo is fancy-free (even if he’s an unwed father) and so is KC who turned 18 only last April 7.

It was at that memorable event at The NBC Tent where Piolo was observed to have been "mesmerized" by the radiant KC in her Joe Salazar gown. Now, did the "fascination" start that night?

Funfare DPAs have been saying that Piolo and KC are "textmates," although we can only surmise what messages they are swapping. If the messages are too private for any outsider to read, they can always "erase" them after reading, since "saving" them can prove to be "incriminating" later on.

Thus, when our group bumped into Piolo and KC together at Greenbelt 3 the other night, we started putting two and two together and making "hasty" conclusions – are they or aren’t they? Sure, the two were with companions (among them JM Rodriguez and talent manager Joji Dingcong) but you know how celebrities sometimes try to hide a budding(?) romance by first going out in groups. Piolo and KC were on their way to, according to Piolo, "a bar" while our group was on the way out after a dinner at Sentro hosted by Nellie Yu, the dermatologist who, as I’ve been saying, is so beautiful, with skin so flawless (to borrow Rosanna Roces’ favorite adjective), that she’s the best "walking advertisement" for her clinic (one in Makati and another one in Binondo).

But then again, maybe Piolo and KC had nothing to hide at all because wouldn’t they have chosen a private place if they were? Greenbelt 3 is as public as public can be, you know. I’m sure that, if and when, KC’s mom Sharon Cuneta would have no objection to having Piolo as her daughter’s boyfriend because Sharon herself has been vocal about her admiration for Piolo.

Piolo is a prize catch and so is KC who was once was romantically linked to Billy Crawford, the Pinoy pop star making great waves in Europe (and now, the USA) and a never-publicized handsome Korean guy.

If ever, imagine what beautiful children Piolo and KC would be producing. Imagine!

The ring that scares

After watching Colin Farrell (the newest Hollywood sensation "imported" from Ireland) in Phone Booth, I’ve become even more scared of a ringing phone.

As it is, I already have such a phobia. You just don’t know how I hate it – and how very scared I am – when the phone rings especially after midnight. You can’t blame me. One midnight in October last year, the phone at home rang at past midnight. My sister was calling from the ICU of the nearby FEU Hospital and, in a trembling voice, told us – nay, "ordered" us! – to rush to our mother’s side because, according to the doctors, she only had barely three hours left.

Since then, everytime the phone rings at midnight, I break into a cold sweat, expecting the worst. Thank heavens, the call is always only a "crank" one.

During the one hour and a half (30 minutes short of a movie’s usual running time) that I was inside a cinema at SM City Manila, I hardly blinked, I held my bladder as well as my breath – I didn’t want to miss a single moment of the nerve-shattering suspense unfolding on screen.

Farrell plays a slick New York publicist whose only "crime" is to answer the ringing phone at a booth on 53rd Street in Manhattan, only to discover that the guy at the other end is a sniper ready to pull the trigger if he hangs up. The movie was panned by some US critics but I don’t care; I enjoyed every second of it and I liked Farrell here more than in The Recruit (with Al Pacino).

I take my hat off to director Joel Schumacher (whom I interviewed during the Batman and Robin press junket in Hong Kong a few years ago) for effortlessly keeping me glued to my seat, most of the time with mouth agape, waiting what would happen to the publicist now caught between the sniper and the New York cops summoned to arrest Farrell after he was mistakenly accused by street-walkers of killing their burly pimp who was trying to harass the already harassed-to-death Farrell.

Of course, I won’t spoil the fun by even as much as hinting at the surprise ending. Phone Booth is still showing in some Metro theaters and I urge you to drop whatever you’re doing and catch it. Farrell turns in a superb performance reminiscent of the award-winning acting of Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. Only a gifted actor like him could have acted so well and so convincingly in such a tight script – and tight situation – confined to just one setting… yes, the phone booth.

In the movie, Farrell’s character drops the "F" word so casually that after the movie I was tempted to sweep the theater floor. In an interview with US magazine, Farrell said, "For 12 straight days, from sunup to sundown, I acted in that one little space. I got a lot of gray hair on this gig. It was the toughest job I’ve ever done. It was emotionally gut-wrenching to be bullied every day while filming. I say ‘f- - -’ about 120 times in the film. Only two of them are scripted."

Meanwhile, excuse me while I watch Phone Booth for the second time. See you at a theater near you.

But when I get home tonight, I’ll never, never answer the phone. I’ll just leave it ringing and ringing until it rings off the hook. You can never tell, you know…

A poem by a young cancer patient

I got the following poem, entitled Slow Dance, from my e-mail. The sender (who didn’t identify himself/herself) wrote that it was written by a young girl in a New York hospital who is dying of cancer in barely six months. You are supposed to send the same poem to as many people as possible and with every name that you send it to, the American Cancer Society will donate three cents to the girl’s treatment and recovery plan.

For whatever it is worth, here’s the poem:

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last
Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say, "hi"
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift….
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

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