The Nora Aunor today

Anyone who has any interest in local show business should have already devoured completely by now the October issue of Yes magazine with Nora Aunor on the cover. It’s a must-read even for Nora non-fans.

I always await with eagerness Yes magazine’s every issue, but the tightwad that I am, I usually just borrow the one in Celeste Tuviera’s Symmetria salon every time I get a haircut there.

But since that was the time I decided to keep my hair long and skip my regular monthly haircut (I went without it starting June and had one only recently), I had to buy my own Yes magazine copy.

When I found about Nora’s tell-all interview, I went out of the house at past midnight to look for a copy in every branch of 7-11. I ended up getting one in Mercury drugstore along E. Rodriguez.

While it was undeniably delicious read, not everyone, as expected, was pleased with the magazine feature. The anti-smoking advocates, for one, was up in arms because the superstar had herself photographed smoking. She was setting a bad example, the anti-smokers howled.

For an avid anti-smoking activist that I am, I have to admit that I wasn’t bothered by Nora’s photo with a stick of cigarette lit in her hand. Perhaps I was looking at it from a journalist’s point of view. The message Nora probably was sending there was: This is me  take me for what I am, vices and all.

Of course, even more displeased where the camps whose reputation she tore to bits. Oh no, not again! Showbiz observers cried out: She’s in trouble for the nth time. That was cause for worry again for Nora fans. But so far, we have yet to feel the repercussions, but I am hoping everything will be ironed out between her and all quarters involved in the end.

And now, here is a piece of good news for Noranians: Just when everyone was saying that she’d go back to her old habits (showing up late or not showing up at all), the production people behind her TV5 series Sa Ngalan Ng Ina are all praises for her.

I would not have believed it had I been talking to the network’s PR staff. But here was an insider who would never lie to me and with whom I can freely discuss secrets.

Nora, the production insider couldn’t believe herself, is such a darling to work with. In fact, their problem with her is that she wants to work even if she’s sick and everyone around her had been telling her to rest so that she’d be in an even better condition the next time she is scheduled for taping.

That’s your Nora Aunor today. Isn’t this piece of news a wonderful Christmas-in-October gift to her fans?

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Another good news is Bessie Badilla’s winning the Most Outstanding Filipina in New York (arts and culture category).

Bessie Badilla is Most Outstanding Filipina in New York

The former mannequin/TV comedienne garnered almost 3,000 votes (she topped her division) in the online voting and beat 53 other nominees. The awarding ceremony is scheduled on Oct. 29 at the Carnegie Hall.

She was cited for producing Bakal Boys (with Gina Pareño and a cast of mostly untested actors from the depressed Baseco compound), the indie film that won the most number of awards the year it was released.

A music aficionado (a trait not everyone knows), she is also being honored for her contributions to Brinoy music, which is a fusion of two cultures  Brazilian and Filipino.

To think they did not even include Bessie’s other achievements as an East Coast resident. For one, she reigned emperatriz in two successive carnivals in Brazil when she was almost 50. What about her winning the gingerbread house-making contest year after year after year? That to me is proof of her creativity as a baker and cake decorator (another one of her facets generally unknown). Her most impressive winning entry is still her re-creation  in gingerbread  of the Bronx zoo.

In recent years, she had also been authoring children’s books under the pen name Mary Castle.

And what about for being a devoted wife to the late businessman-husband Bambi del Castillo? With her loving support, Bambi was able to focus on his career until he became the first Filipino president of an American company.

However, I praise her most for being an outstanding mother to three daughters  Isabel, Blanca and Inez. Yes, one of them is Bambi’s child by Hilda Koronel, but Bessie loved the kid like her own. I saw that for myself.

 To Bessie, congratulations and I am so proud to have such accomplished friend like you.