Caparas on stamps

Curtain-raisers:

• This puzzle is as tricky as Rubik’s Cubes and even harder to solve, so you better be sharp, perceptive and smart in reading between the lines: Ingrid Santamaria is a famous pianist while Nina is one of the country’s fine singers. When you want anything printed, you go to Bustamante Press or a similar company near you. Since Francis Magalona is battling the Big C, we should pray for his speedy recovery. Angeli Pangilinan, a devout Born-again Christian, should lead a prayer brigade for him. You’re asking: When will Sharon Stone do another “revealing” scene like the one in Basic Instinct? If she does, could it be true that Faith Cuneta will gladly sing the movie’s theme song? By the way, if you want to invest in a restaurant, why don’t you try Boracay?

•  When the cat is away, the mouse does play. Case, rather mouse, in point: Although tightly-guarded by his jealous wife, a celebrity (it’s up to you to guess from what field) manages to sneak out with his, well, “other girl” when he’s abroad. The girl is as angelic as her name, young and sexy, who hails from Davao. Funfare’s L.A. DPAs said that she was the one who gave the celebrity his favorite blue shirt, the one he was wearing when he came home triumphant. The girl actually mixes with the usual crowd around the celebrity and the poor, unsuspecting wife doesn’t know. Better that she doesn’t, according to the DPA. “Or else, baka maghalo ang balat sa tinalupan.”

• When you are a journalist visiting California (or any part of the USA), you get horror stories about a singer-actress without your even asking for them. They are the same old stories and only the names of the people involved (the “victims?”) change. Yes, the singer-actress is notorious for putting one over her kababayan, mostly her fans still “blinded” by her fading glory, and the bottom line spells F-I-N-A-N-C-I-A-L. The victims end up cursing the singer-actress. Will a prominent lawyer and his wife be the next ones to cry, “Foul!”? The singer-actress should be careful, or she might end up in deeper trouble.

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Congratulations to Komiks King Carlo J. Caparas for the new feather on his already well-decorated cap (it’s inseparable from him like his dark shades, or haven’t you noticed?). Anytime now, the Bureau of Posts will issue two stamps, one featuring Carlo up close and the other him with Gagambino, one of this classic komiks novels-turned-movies now being aired on GMA with Dennis Trillo in the title role.

As far as I can remember, only very few celebrities have been honored — nay, immortalized! — on stamps, among them Gloria Diaz when she won the Miss Universe crown (in 1969). But Carlo is the only arist so far with a street (in Pasig City) named after him.

The stamps are a collectors’ item just like the komks magazines carrying Carlo’s stories.

A Presidential Medal of Merit awardee in 2007, Carlo has received a load of other awards/citations for propagating the National Language. He and wife Donna Villa (“The wind beneath Carlo J.’s wings”) launched what they called the Komiks Caravan several months ago, calculated to revive interest in the komiks that made Carlo (and a dozen other colleagues) household names.

Carlo has risen above the protracted network war. His komiks masterpieces have been made into telemovies by rival stations GMA and ABS-CBN which is airing Pieta (the movie version of which stars the late Ace Vergel and Vivian Velez) starting this afternoon. On its initial airing Monday last week (Oct. 20), Gagambino posted a high of 34.5 percent. Pieta is predicted to be another rating-chart-buster.

Other Caparas novels/movies that have crossed over to television include Ang Panday (ABS-CBN, the FPJ starrer with Jericho Rosales topbilled in the TV version), Bakekang (GMA, with Sunshine Dizon stepping into Nora Aunor’s movie role), Joaquin Bordado (GMA, with Robin Padilla in Ramon Revilla’s movie role), Kamandag (GMA, with Richard Gutierrez) and Tasya Fantasya (GMA, with Yasmien Kurdi in Kris Aquino’s movie role). Coming soon on GMA: Totoy Bato (the FPJ starrer) with Robin Padilla in the title role.

Himala among Asia’s 10 best

Here’s a piece of good news from Mel Caparas, brother of Funfare’s “other beauty expert” Celso de Guzman Caparas (who is working in Saudi):

Himala, the classic 1982 Nora Aunor starrer directed by the late Ishmael Bernal is competing for the CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award against nine other “best films of all time” from Asia and the Pacific, namely: China’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), South Korea’s Oldboy (2003), Australia’s Gallipoli (1981), Japan’s Spirited Away (2001), Iran’s Gabbeh (1996), India’s Pather Panchali (1955), Japan’s The Seven Samurai (1954), China’s Chungking Express (1994) and Hongkong/China’s Internal Affairs (2002).

The short list of 10 films was drawn up by critics, industry insiders, stars (including India’s Aishwarya Rai, one-time Miss World) and CNN viewers.

You can help Himala win by voting. How? Visit the CNN website: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/14/apsa.vote/#cnn.STCOther 1. Hurry! Voting deadline is Oct. 31.

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