Bessie back at Brazilian carnivals

Top fashion model/comedienne Bessie Badilla will again be part of the Brazilian carnivals this year. In 2008, she joined three floats in the carnival in Sao Paulo as destaque (big star). This year she is joining only two in Sao Paulo, but will be part of another two of the bigger and more popular Rio de Janeiro carnival.

Last year, of the three floats she graced in Sao Paulo, two landed in the Top Three — the first and the third prizes (the other one ranked seventh). Here’s wishing her floats win again in both carnivals. Good luck, Bessie!

A different Balikbayan treat for Buboy

The first time I saw child star Robert “Buboy” Villar on screen was in an episode of GMA 7’s Dyesebel where he had great chemistry with Marian Rivera. Immediately I said to myself that here is a performer who may not grow up to be a matinee idol (but I may be wrong), but will definitely be an asset to the entertainment profession as a fine actor.

After Dyesebel, I saw him in two Metro Manila Film Festival entries — in Iskul Bukol and in Shake, Rattle & Roll X where he won Best Child Actor. (He actually did well in both films.)

I’ve always been curious about this kid and had long wondered about his beginnings. The answer came last Friday in an episode of Q-11’s Balikbayan where he was the featured guest of the travel program.

Instead of going to his hometown of Cebu, which Balikbayan had already featured in the past to show the roots of Pilita Corrales (as represented by daughter Jacquilou Blanco), the show brought Buboy to the fun places in Metro Manila. And so there was a game store where Buboy played with host Drew Arellano, Star City (the kid’s favorite hangout) and even Fort Santiago where you learn history.

In between their fun sessions, Drew would have a conversation with Buboy and it is here where I found out that his family sold everything they had in Cebu (their house, the father’s fighting cocks, etc.) to pursue the boy’s dream of joining showbiz. Fortunately, the gamble paid off — first, when Buboy won in a singing contest for kids. And then came the series of movie and TV offers. With that kind of talent, I believe the boy is destined for greater things in showbiz.

Even in that Balikbayan episode, you see that the boy is bright and intelligent. He had wonderful rapport with Drew, who I must say has a way with kids. Drew was witty and fast and could not be eclipsed even by a sharp kid like Buboy (as they say in showbiz: Don’t work with animals or children if you don’t want to get upstaged). But Drew, of course, gave Buboy the due importance as that episode’s guest star.

Drew and Buboy actually make a great tandem. I hope the show features the kid again — maybe in Cebu. Never mind if Balikbayan had already featured this island province in the past. This Queen City of the South, after all, has a lot, lot more to offer and these were not contained in the program’s Pilita Corrales Cebu episode.

My Dad’s exciting pilot episode

I saw the initial telecast of My Dad is Better than Your Dad last Sunday and I thought it was an engaging episode. The guests that evening were William Martinez, Lander Vera Perez, Bobby Andrews and Joshua Zamora and their respective kids. The celebrity dads and their children were made to compete against each other in various games and quizzes.

The first game they played had the daddies destroying office equipment and hauling off the remnants to a spot where these were weighed. I was a bit alarmed by this because it was all about destruction. Just think of the offices that do not have tables and other equipment. Or perhaps school children without desks.

But I do laud the quiz portion because this was about general information and that promoted reading. The best part was the final round — with Bobby and son Miguel (they beat the other father-son teams) — because it revealed how much the father knows about his kid. Bobby got only one wrong answer. The question was: What smell can’t your son take? The choices were bagoong, paksiw and oatmeal. Believe it or not, Miguel can’t stand the smell of oatmeal. (I’ve always thought it was odorless.) That segment showed how important bonding is between parents and children.

That pilot show of My Dad is Better Than Your Dad was truly exciting, but I do hope they do away with anything that promotes destruction and instead push for father-kid bonding.

Seminar on overcoming life’s obstacles

I’ve always maintained — and I have good basis for this — that if you want any kid to go wayward, send him or her to showbiz. There really is something in this business that would drive you to sin. I guess it’s all in the system and since you can’t change it, just try to go around it and do your best to survive it — whole and with your scruples intact. This is very difficult to do, which is why you need to have the proper values when you immerse yourself in the profession.

GMA Artists Center head Ida Henares apparently shares the same kind of observation and decided to do something about this for the young talents of her network.

Last Jan. 22, she made the stars under GMA Artists Center undergo a values formation seminar at the headquarters of the Campus Crusade Ministry in Quezon City. Among the speakers were the husband and wife team of Anthony Pangilinan and Maricel Laxa, Mikee Cojuangco, Christ’s Commission Fellowship’s BJ Manalo and Campus Crusade’s peer coach Orpah Marasigan.

Anthony told the GMA Artists Center talents how to overcome and hurdle obstacles in life — based on his own experiences dating back to his days as a student leader.

Maricel, on the other hand, recalled how her mother, actress Imelda Ilanan, only wanted her to finish her studies. But showbiz beckoned and that endangered her studies — causing her mother to worry. Mother and daughter would always get into an argument over this — until Maricel was enlightened when she met God through future husband Anthony. The Urian winner also talked about the trials she went through in show business and how her principles in life guided her in her every decision and encouraged the young audience to do the same.

Of course, a single seminar is not enough for these young people to imbibe the proper values in life, but at least the GMA Artists Center has already planted the seed in their young minds.