Tough, smart & pretty Jewel

Jewel Mische is very happy these days. She is now a Kapamilya and will soon star in a new TV series opposite Gerald Anderson titled Bagwis. She also appeared in the first Maalaala Mo Kaya episode for 2011 opposite Baron Geisler.

Her childhood dreams were to be a singer and to be able to fly a plane. She is now one of today’s most exciting young actors. People remember Jewel as the special girl of Richard Gutierrez. And for a while they were an item. Jewel was born Jewel Fatima Avedage Mische to a Filipino mother and German-American father. She grew up in Bulacan, along with her three siblings.

“What was she like?” asked one of my friends referring to my encounter with her on The Buzz. “Tough, smart and pretty,” I quipped.

RPG: Metanoia a success

Congratulations of Robert Chien of Ambient Media for the success of RPG: Metanoia, the first Filipino-made full length 3D animated movie. It made good at the tills and earned the Best Theme Song, Best Sound Recording and Gender Sensitive Award (Special Citation for Animation) from the Metro Manila Film Festival. RPG: Metanoia features the newest superhero named Nico. Director Luis Suarez said, “The positive response to the movie really uplifts the spirit. I am very happy for our team and everybody who believed in us.”

Bravo!

Doubly proud of her award

Ai-Ai delas Alas, Best Actress winner for Tanging Ina Mo... Last Na ’To, was forthright when she admitted she was hoping to win the award. In the Dec. 26 episode of The Buzz, Ai-Ai pleaded half jokingly, “Parang awa n’yo na. Deserving po naman ako manalo ng Best Actress.” And on that evening, she was declared the winner.

But not everybody was happy when she won the award. Those who were not hoping that she would bag it, thought, she had previous knowledge that she would win and that there was a leakage of the winners. Ai-Ai refuted this.

What triggered the controversy was when while accepting the award, she mentioned that ABS-CBN president Charo Santos-Concio had told her that she was a winner. Ai-Ai explained, “English kasi yong text message. Ang sabi, ‘what ever happens tonight you will always be a winner.’ Ako tina-translate ko sa Tagalog yong sinabi, ni Ma’am Charo. Sa dami dami ng sinabi ko at pasasalamatan ko, nasabi ko nga yon. But what Ma’am Charo meant was, kahit ano ang mangyari, panalo ako sa puso nila.”

Ai-Ai thanked everyone, including Jennylyn Mercado who it turned out was not even nominated. “Hindi ko kasi alam. Ang alam ko lahat nominated, pero iba ngayon.”

As a proud winner, Ai-Ai really did her best in the movie. “In fairness to me, magaling talaga ako doon sa Tanging Ina.” She is doubly proud of her award because she is the first comedienne to have won the Best Actress award in the Metro Manila Film Festival.

On the allegations that she bought the Best Actress Award, Ai-Ai reasoned, “Kahit loka loka ako, kahit may pambili ako, ayoko naman ng ganoon. Ayoko ng binibili. Masama yon. At saka, bakit ka bibili, libre naman?”

Dolphy also made a record of having won both the Best Actor (Father Jejemon) and Best Supporting Actor (Rosario) awards. He was also the first comedian to win Best Actor and Best Actress for Markova at the Brussels International Film Festival.   

The novel is now a play

The Joy Luck Club, the best-selling novel by Amy Tan, which was also made into a movie directed by Wayne Wang, is now a play. Repertory Philippines is staging The Joy Luck Club from Feb. 4 to 20.

The play is a chorus of eight voices of tightly woven stories. It tells of the lives of four Chinese immigrant women and their four American-born daughters. The four mothers create a mahjong group called the Joy Luck Club and audiences will see the stories of the members of this club unfold.

Adapted by Susan Kim and directed by Anton Juan the cast includes Rebecca Chuaunsu, Jay Glorioso, Frances Makil Ignacio and Pinky Marquez as the mothers; and Ana Abad Santos, Lily Chu, Jenny Jamora and Cris Villonco as the daughters.

Costume design is by Eric Pineda with set design by Ohm David and lighting design by John Ilao Batalla.

(The Joy Luck Club will be staged at Onstage Theater, second floor, Greenbelt 1 Mall, Makati City. For details, call Repertory Philippines at 571-6926 and 571-4941 or e-mail [email protected]. Tickets are also available at Ticketworld at 891-9999 or www.ticketworld.com.ph.)