Dagul’s Hollywood ‘twin’

I caught him guesting in a late-night TV talk show in L.A. and I shook off my sleepiness. He was overwhelmed by the chair designed for six-footers, his legs hanging one foot from the floor. For a while, I thought I was watching our very own Dagul, that’s why I bolted right up in my bed to take a second, closer look. The dwarf bantering with the host (no, it wasn’t Jay Leno) was none other than Peter Dinklage, the award-winning star of the TV dramedy The Station Agent which was a big hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The guy has become a darling among US televiewers (just like Dagul is, to a certain extent, among local televiewers) for his role as a handsome loner seeking solitude in an abandoned train depot.

On that late-night talk show, Peter was saying, "I used to shield myself from the stares and snickers that greeted me everywhere I’d go. Now, strangers are coming up to me and saying, ‘That was funny (referring to his turn on Station). Can I give you a hug?’ It feels pretty good."

Dagul can very well say that.

Now you see, there’s hope for little people; height is not always might. There are "giants" among us who are dumb and can never hope to get somewhere, or haven’t you noticed?

The two little big men stand barely five feet (Peter, 34, is 4’5" tall; while Dagul, who’s real name is Romy Pastrana, 42, is about that, uh, short). Dagul never worked in a perya but as a construction foreman before he joined showbiz (first at GMA before he moved to ABS-CBN where he and other "freaks" co-host Magandang Tanghali Bayan; he’s also in the cast of Star Cinema’s Mr. Suave, with Vhong Navarro in the title role). He is married, with three kids (all of normal height, like his wife).

According to a People story, Peter felt at home onstage at an early age and was in fifth grade when he played his first lead role in a production of The Velveteen Rabbit. He’s a native of Morristown, New Jersey. His parents (Diane, 60, an elementary school music teacher; and John, Sr., 72, a retired insurance salesman) and his brother John, Jr., 36, a violinist, are all of normal height. Peter holds a Liberal Arts degree from Benningtong College in Vermont.

Before landing the Station role, Peter played a disgruntled actor in the l995 indie movie Living in Oblivion. In l996, he was cast as Tom Thumb in an Off-Broadway play.

Because of the jeers he got as a child, Peter confessed to have been bitter. "I was a bit more fists in the air," he recalled, adding that he’s now more of a lover than a fighter.

As I was saying, there’s hope for "little" people. Rejoice, ye "little" ones out there. Take the road paved for you by Dagul and Peter.

Go Ahead, Rita, Get Married —In Church!

A few issues ago, Funfare mentioned that Rita Avila, married in civil rites to TV director Erick Reyes, wanted to get married in church. But since she and Erick would like to have a baby first, she doubted if she could march down the aisle heavy with a child because, she said, there’s a church policy against marrying pregnant brides.

Here’s good news for Rita and other women in the same predicament: There’s no such policy.

In reaction to that story, somebody sent Funfare a clipping of the Sun Star (Cebu, this paper’s sister publication) Feb. 28, 2003 issue carrying a story titled Church won’t stop pregnant women from marrying written by Sun Star staffer Linette Ramos. Here’s an excerpt from that story:

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal clarified that the church can only advise the couple, but cannot prohibit them from getting married in church if a woman is already pregnant.

"It has something to do with decency and the great danger that such union is forced because the woman has gotten pregnant already, which may later on result to broken narriages. We will try to discourage it until such time that the couple is prepared but we cannot prohibit them from getting married," said the Cardinal.

Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay, a canon lawyer and executive judge of the archdiocesan matrimonial tribunal, said there is no church law that prohibits pregnant women from getting married in the church.

Aside from the issue on morality, the church also wants to make sure that the couple is prepared for marriage and family life to avoid broken families in the future.

"The intention is only to discourage these pregnant women from going to the altar for their wedding, not to refuse them, so they will have time to prepare for their lifetime commitment and to give them a good formation for it," he said.

Vidal and Binghay’s statements were reactions to reports that the Diocese of Legaspi was planning to refuse a marriage ceremony if the would-be bride is already on the family way.

There, Rita. Go ahead, get married! Here comes the bride, "three months inside."

Is Miss Afghanistan ‘Condemned’?

When the 55 ravishing contestants march up and down the stage of the UP Theater on Sunday, Nov. 9, at the 2003 Miss Earth grand finals (covered by ABS-CBN starting at 9:30 p.m.), all eyes will surely be focused on 25-year-old Vida Samadzai, Miss Afghanistan. You see, she’s the first ever Afghan woman to compete in years in such a contest that features a swimsuit competition, a big no-no among many Muslim countries.

Miss Afghanistan is, in fact, already creating a minor controversy which has found a space in the latest issue of Time magazine (People section). Here’s the full text (and the photo of Miss Afghanistan in a two-piece swimsuit accompanying it), titled Bod for a burqa?:

In a country where ankle baring is saucy, a spokeswoman on a red-hot bikini is a candidate for eternal damnation. Vida Samadzai, 25, an Afghan-born college student whose family fled to the US in l996, is the first woman in 31 years to compete as Miss Afghanistan. When Samadzai paraded in her native country’s sash at the recent Miss Earth pageant in the Philippines, the Afghan supreme court condemned the leggy Pashtun beauty queen to hell, calling such pageants "totally un-Islamic" and against "tradition, human honor and dignity." Ah, if only all Afghan women enjoyed the dignity Western women are afforded; to be judged not by the hem of their burqas but by the size of their breasts.

(No further comment.)

Hbo’s Little Quiz

HBO has a number of big titles calculated to liven up the viewing nights of both Filipinos and other televiewers all over Asia, starting with the premiere telecast of Avril Lavigne’s Try and Shut Me Up Tour 2003 on Nov. 10 (a Monday, 9:30 p.m.).

Described as "anything but ordinary," Lavigne is a world-class singer who, at 18, burst onto the the music scene with her debut album Let Go, propelled to stardom by a combination of punk, guitar rock and country-style melodies.

She’s described as a small-town kid who couldn’t sit still in class but had the confidence and determination to take off, virtually on her own. She honed her songwriting skills in New York City and Los Angeles at the tender age of 16.

Her Try and Shut Me Up Tour 2003 captures the sassy rock style and raw emotion that are a key to Lavigne’s success.

In connection with the telecast, HBO is running a contest with 10 denim HBO concert jackets at stake. All you have to do is answer this question When will Avril Lavigne’s Try and Shut Me Up Tour 2003 premiere exclusively on HBO? and send you answer (hurry up, now, hurry up!) to this e-mail address: [email protected] (HBO Avril Lavigne contest). Easy question, isn’t it?

First 10 winners will get their prizes from the Virtusio Public Relations, Inc. (at 810 Annapolis Wilshire Plaza, 11 Annapolis St., Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila; tel. numbers 725-7891, 727-5251 and 726-5132/30).

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])