DiCaprio here in August

BREAKING NEWS: If you’re watching the Bench UNCUT show tomorrow night at the Big Dome, don’t blink or you might miss a fleeting glimpse of the “innermost” person of Wendell Ramos. That’s the strict reminder of Mr. “W” who adds that, besides showing his bare butt (as he did in a previous Bench underwear show), “Wendell will show something more; it will happen so fast that if you as much as blink, baka hindi n’yo makita.”

As you must know by now, Wendell is so proud of his well-sculptured body that he takes off his shirt every chance he gets on television (Bubble Gang, the Friday night gag show on GMA where he’s a regular, and in his guestings on other shows like German “Kuya Germs” Moreno’s Saturday after-midnight show Walang Tulugan.) Among the many stars walking down the Big Dome ramp in revealing Bench outfit is Georgina Wilson, ex-girlfriend of Richard Gutierrez.

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MORE BREAKING NEWS: Leonardo DiCaprio is coming for a visit early next month. This piece of good news was confirmed by DiCaprio himself through his Hollywood agents and publicists.

According to earlier reports, DiCaprio was arriving in early 2011.

“It turned out that he’s arriving earlier than expected,” said Joyce Ramirez, director for International Publicity at PR Asis Worldwide, who invited DiCaprio not to promote his new movie, Inception, but to spearhead an environmental-awareness project in cooperation with a huge conglomerate in Albay. “DiCaprio will be here for one week. He has chosen to stay at the Misibis Bay, an ultra-luxurious resort. It’s not yet sure if he will make a stopover in Manila or fly straight to Legazpi City on a private jet.”

It’s Joyce’s brainchild to bring DiCaprio to the Philippines to help boost our tourism industry especially in Albay, with Legazpi City as a world-class eco-tourism destination.

It’s not DiCaprio’s first trip to Asia. After starring in the all-time hit Titanic, DiCaprio went to Thailand to shoot The Beach, his follow-up starrer. The STAR did an exclusive interview with DiCaprio in L.A. for that movie in late 1999.

In Inception, a sci-fi action adventure distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in IMAX, Digital 2D and regular format, DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a skilled thief who is an expert in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in the treacherous new game of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved.

Inception is showing nationwide soon.

QC court dismisses Norcio’s multiple case vs Vicki Belo

The Office of the City Prosecutor in Quezon City recently dismissed the multiple complaints filed by Josephine Norcio against Dr. Vicki Belo and two other cosmetic surgeons.

Norcio, who underwent hydrogel butt augmentation at The Belo Medical Clinic in December 2002, with a similar procedure in June 2005, filed cases of “reckless imprudence resulting in serious physical injuries, estafa, tax evasion and false, deceptive or misleading advertisement” against Vicki last year.

However, in a resolution dated last May 17, 2010, Assistant Quezon City Prosecutor Romana Lindayag del Rosario ruled there is no sufficient proof presented that Vicki was the one who performed the surgery on Norcio. As such, there is no basis to hold her liable for the crime charged.

The resolution further stated that the test conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Forensic Chemistry Division yielded positive results for infection. Unfortunately, the complainant failed to establish a direct link between the infection and the hydrogel injected into Norcio’s butt, which was performed four years ago.

According to the resolution, “Taking into account the time or period that has elapsed since the butt augmentation procedure and the manifestion of the alleged infection, there is no doubt as to whether the said procedure is indeed the proximate cause thereof.”

It was explained in the resolution that “proximate cause is that which in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient, intervening cause, produces the injury and without which the result would not have occurred.” Many things could have occurred on the elapsed time of four years.

Vicki’s co-accused, Dr. Ronaldo Cayetano and Dr. Francis Decangchon, both of whom are no longer connected with the clinic, were likewise cleared of the charges. The court “finds no probable cause to hold the two doctors liable for reckless imprudence resulting to serious physical injuries, since the complainant herself admitted that she felt no discomfort or pain until after seven years from the first procedure and four years after the second.”

All the other charges filed against were also dismissed.

Groban says thank you to Christian

In an effort to stretch the time of Pres. Noynoy “P-Noy” Aquino at his inaguration as the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines at the Quirino Grandstand yesterday, the Presidential organizing committee went up to Christian Bautista backstage and asked him if he could sing another song to fill the time since everything in the agenda ran so quickly. Christian replied, “Why me?”

Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez pushed Christian into doing it. Although unprepared, Christian proceeded to sing the Josh Groban song You Raise Me Up a cappella.

Twitter and Facebook comments were mixed. Some people were asking, “Why did Christian have to sing in English?” Or, “Why did he have to sing extemporaneously?” But many others commended Christian for “a great performance.”

After leaving Qurino Grandstand, Christian tweeted, “Proud to sing Josh Grobans’s You Raise Me Up for the Aquino-Binay President and Vice President Inauguration here in Manila!” Moments later, he got a Twitter reply from Groban, “Thanks very much. I’m sure this is a huge day for the great people of your country. Enjoy!” Christian immediately tweeted back, “Thank you for your message! This is a great day for my country and your song is now part of Philippine History!”

Incidentally, last June 26 Christian sat as guest judge in Indonesia Mencari Bakat, Indonesia’s franchise version of Britain’s Got Talent. Thirty minutes during the show, (worldwide) Twitter Trending Topics showed Christian’s name in the Top 10 trend. By the time the show ended, Christian’s name was on the No. 1 spot and remained there consistently for two hours. Christian’s name was in the top 10 for a total of five hours. The Twitter Trending Topics reflect what new or newsworthy topics are occupying the most people’s attention on Twitter at any one time and the trending system records worldwide.

In spite of the language barrier, Christian, with the help of the three female celebrity Indonesian judges (Rianti Catwright, Sarah Sechan and Titi Sjuman) helped him along the way while he gave constructive comments to the contestants.

Other contestant that night were three children, among them two solo dancers and a drum player.

There were also singers, a fire dancer, traditional dances mixed with contemporary moves, street musicians, and a sasando (traditional musical instrument) player.

The other night, Kris Aquino took the No. 1 spot in Twitter Topic Trends shortly after the announcement of her break-up with James Yap. Christian placed third for his other TV appearance in Jakarta.

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)

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