FrancisM: Kakayanin ko ito!

It’s heartening to note that despite the daunting battle he’s waging, Francis Magalona has remained upbeat and optimistic, determined to beat the Big C with the help of The Great Healer.

Francis, 43 (born on Oct. 4, 1964), was diagnosed to have leukemia (cancer of the blood) and is confined at the ICU of Medical City in Pasig City. The symptoms, manifesting late, came in the form of persistent fever in the afternoon and dizzy spells, making Francis look alarmingly pale, and unexplained loss of weight. He has been at the ICU for more than two weeks now.

In yesterday’s edition on the GMA noontime show Eat, Bulaga! from which Francis as co-host has been absent for weeks, Vic Sotto read Francis’ official statement:

Sa lahat ng dabarkads ko dito sa EB, miss ko na kayong lahat. Araw-araw magkasama tayo at kayo’y naging second family ko na. Pati na rin lahat ng viewers sa mga bahay at sa studio.

Ngayon, meron akong isang pagsubok na dapat daanan at ang hiling ko lang ay ang inyong pang-unawa at suporta. I have been diagnosed with leukemia and I am preparing for my treatment. Sa tulong ng Panginoon, kakayanin ko ito.

Abangan ang aking pagbabalik. Di ko lang kayo miss, love ko kayong lahat.

As I was saying, besides your prayers, Francis needs blood, lots and lots of blood, and you are invited to donate some. Francis is Type O but any type is welcome to replenish the amount Francis is getting from the hospital’s supply.

“Those willing to donate may do so at the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) office in Intramuros (just across from The STAR offices),” said Rosa Rosal, in-charge of the PNRC “blood” department, who this year is celebrating her 60th year with the PNRC. (Her daughter, Toni Rose Gayda, is Francis’ Bulaga! co-host.) “We will take care of the blood that Francis needs.”

Sen. Richard Gordon, PNRC chairman, has also assured Francis of continued support.

Francis is one of the nine children of popular ’50s Sampaguita loveteam Pancho Magalona and Tita Duran. He and his wife Pia Arroyo have eight children, one of them actress Maxene Magalona.

A Pinay with the Dark Knight team

We were all mesmerized by the Oscar-worthy performance as The Joker of the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight as well as the action scenes and the special effects, weren’t we? But did you know that the movie’s visual-effects compositor is a Filipina, none other than Jo Ann Cordero-Belen or Jo Belen?

I got this interesting information from Jo Ann’s sister, Dr. Jocelyn Cordero-Bumanlag of Angeles City.

According to Dr. Jocelyn, Jo Ann is an alumna of the century-old (1908-2008) UP College of Fine Arts, batch 1992. She finished pre-school, elementary and secondary education from another century-old (1907-2007), Holy Family Academy in Angeles City, from 1976 to 1987.

Upon graduating from UP, Jo Ann worked for Basic/Foote Cone & Belding (FCB) as artist/visualizer and at Optima Studios as digital artist in the ’90s. While in the Philippines, she received several awards of distinction and excellence from various award-giving bodies, including Creative Guild and Ad Congress, either as visualizer, flame artist or broadcast designer. She migrated to Singapore in 1996.

She was cited for Director’s Special Whiskey “Highlight” Video as Best in Special Effects in March 1997 during the Awards for Excellence in the Indian Academy of Advance Film Art in Bombay, as flame artist; for the animated film The Rats, as the Best 3D Animated (long form) at the 2001 Asian Television Awards as production manager and senior flame artist; and a Gold Medal for Computer Graphics Open Category, Pilot Pen TVC The Joy of Writing, at the 2004 ComGraph, as creative director, editor and producer.

Jo Ann established her own company, Spiders-Ink, in partnership with her husband Norman M. Belen who is also a Filipino and a 3D animator and visual-effects specialist.

Jo Ann’s participation in The Dark Knight includes the composites on the ferry-evacuation sequence, on the Prewitt Building sequence (involving the SWAT, Christian Bale as Batman and the hostages) and in  Joker’s hanging sequence, plus the paint/rig/wire removal in the helicopter-crash scene.

She has also contributed to the rotoscoping/prep work in the Stone Giant sequence of Hellboy II and is presently working on the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace.

Said Dr. Jocelyn, “Seeing her name scroll up in the movie’s credits made me want to shout, ‘Hey, Jo Belen is my sister!’”

What’s up?

• Ogie Alcasid’s The Great Filipino Songbook album tour will be at Robinsons Place in Ermita starting at 6 o’clock tonight. Autograph-signing will follow the showcase.

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