Talk Of The Town

What next for Chris Tiu?

After that tearful victory of the Ateneo Blue Eagles over the La Salle Green Archers last Thursday, fans of Chris Tiu are asking: What will he do next?

The game served as the farewell performance of the Ateneo basketball superhero who  managed to be a Dean’s Lister  as he finished his Management Engineering course a year ago plus additional subjects this year, while at the same time playing great basketball for his school.

Will Chris accept offers from movie producers to star in a movie? Will he expand his TV exposure to more than just the present GMA show he does with another sports icon, Manny Pacquiao? Will he work full-time for the family businesses (which include Tagaytay Highlands, Discovery Hotels and the Mega Publishing Group) or will he go for corporate training abroad?

His sister, ate Cheryl Tiu, herself a smart and good-looking media personality(she is an editor at Lifestyle Asia), says Chris has turned down the movie offer. She says her  brother, the second of five children , is still studying his options.

“I might go pro, start a business of my own or go corporate,” Chris  told the Philippine STAR over the phone last Friday while he was celebrating with the Ateneo team at Fiamma. 

Which basketball team will  he join if he goes pro? “Whichever team gives me an offer,” he humbly said.

What line of business will he go into? ”The food business. I already have an existing food concessionaire—Chinky Chicken—at Ateneo and Miriam College, so maybe I will continue this or create a new one.”

Whatever option Chris takes, one thing is certain: he is an icon worthy of emulation by today’s generation. He has the brains, brawn, beauty and breeding.His parents, Jerry and Lianne Tiu, certainly instilled the right values in him. And Ateneo certainly has taught him how to be “a man for others.”

Last Thursday, Ateneo team coach Norman Black noted that “Chris has humility..he is a selfless person. He plays not to win scores for himself... but to make the team win.”

We need more heroes like Chris Tiu. — Millet M. Mananquil

Will Martin Scorsese come to Manila?

Remember Cinemanila last year, when director Quentin Tarantino thrilled local cineastes by screening his flick Death Proof, and prefaced it with a stream-of-consciousness-but-nevertheless-entertaining talk? Tarantino also brought personal reels of his favorite Cirio Santiago movies, which he shared with a new generation of film fans.

This year’s Cinemanila is no less ambitious. The buzz is that the legendary Martin Scorsese has been invited as guest of honor, although the Taxi Driver director is playing hard to get. Since as of last report Scorsese is only “10 percent sure” of attending, there’s an online petition by his biggest fans begging him to come over (you can add your own two cents at “martyinmanila.blogspot.com”).

Perhaps a surer thing is lesser known but no less great director Michel Gondry, he of Bjork’s music videos, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind fame. The word is that Fil-Am actress Tiffany Limos, who starred in Larry Clark’s gritty Ken Park and is something of a directorial muse, is coming to Cinemanila 2008 and bringing her friend Gondry with her. How can we say this is a definite possibility? Limos was the one who brought in her other friend, Tarantino, last year. This girl definitely travels in rarefied cinematic circles.

The 10th Cinemanila International Film Festival will be held from Oct.16 to 29. No venue has been announced yet. —Therese Jamora-Garceau

Chopsticks are for smiling

China reportedly spent $39.6 billion to transform Beijing into a modern city for the Olympics (the official cost after the games were over was $2.2 billion, according to NBC Action News website). A few cents of this budget may have been used to buy chopsticks…to train Chinese girls to smile. Apparently, Chinese women are not used to smiling in front of strangers — much less in front of foreigners — so the government stepped in and taught them how to.

In a magazine article by David Eimer about how Beijing was getting its manners ready to receive millions of visitors and millions more TV viewers, he writes that 1,250 young women, out of 800,000 applicants for the job of “hostesses for the medal presentation ceremonies,” were trained to smile by clamping a chopstick between their teeth. The training the girls — and of course all the performers at the Olympics — were subjected to included English lessons, dance, yoga, Olympic history, other etiquette lessons, and “how to bow down as one, all the time holding their smiles.” 

As for the rest of the city, citizens were warned to not spit or urinate in public, and to please not dry their underwear outside their apartment windows.

Now, if only the Chinese government paid as much attention to milk manufacturers. — Tanya T. Lara

Rico Hizon and Josie Natori, our overseas heroes

What does this news anchor for the BBC have in common with a lingerie designer? For one, both of them are Filipinos though neither of them is based in Manila.

Broadcast journalist Rico Hizon is based in Singapore (with wife Melanie and son Migo), and designer Josie Natori is based in New York (with husband Ken Natori). Both Rico and Josie are this year’s recipients of BPInoy Awards, which aims to “encourage nationalism among Filipinos abroad and to communicate BPI’s commitment to excellence in the service of overseas Filipinos.” 

Rico started his TV career covering the business beat for GMA Network and in 1995 joined CNBC Asia in Hong Kong and later in Singapore. He moved to the BBC in 2002 and currently anchors Asia Business Report and World Business Report. Rico and his wife have an impressive collection of Filipino art in their Singapore home, which includes works by Bencab, Arturo Luz, Jose Elizalde Navarro, Jose Joya, Vicente Manansala, Ang Kiukok, Onib Olmedo, Anita Magsaysay-Ho and Mauro Malang Santos.

Josie, on the other hand, moved from the finance world to fashion design. She was the first female vice president for investment banking at Merrill Lynch when she left Wall Street in 1977. Her Natori Company started with lingerie and now her designs —women’s fashion and accessories — are sold in upscale department stores around the world. In September 2009, her Natori perfume will debut.

Last year’s BPInoy awardee was fashion designer Monique Lhuillier, whose Hollywood clients include Angelina Jolie, Sarah Jessica Parker and Reese Witherspoon.

Awarding ceremonies for the 2008 honorees is on Oct. 3. — Tanya T. Lara