Fil-Am tops Yahoo talent show

Zambales-born Rex Hermogino, a Filipino-American from San Diego, California, is the grand prize winner of the 1st Yahoo! Talent Show, garnering 40 percent of all votes cast in the online voting for the music video contest.

Hermogino was known in the contest as the "guy who brought love in the Internet," referring to his now famous music video, "Love in the Internet," the video that placed him among the five finalists in the contest.

Hermogino, a 31-year-old singer and songwriter, was the liveliest of the five finalists in the contest. He edged out Justine Ezarik, a filmmaker from Pennsylvania, to earn $50,000. He will host his own show on the popular Yahoo! website.

The Yahoo! Talent Show was open only to US citizens 18 years and older.

The announcement, made online yesterday morning (Thursday evening in the US) was met with cheers from Filipino Internet viewers.

"Pinoy Power to the People," announced online viewer im2flip, after the announcement.

"Am overwhelmed that you got it! Another feather in a cap for us Filipinos. Tho you are from the US, you still can’t forget to say you’re Pinoy," added online viewer les29ph.

"Hey, all I can say is that Rex’s talents improved with each video. He had a great attitude about what people had to say and he used it to his advantage," viewer caneracantus said.

Hermogino’s six videos got more than 215,000 hits while Ezarik’s work got over than 140,000 hits. Third place went to Chicago filmmaker Stanley Sowa Jr., who does stick figure comedies.

The other finalists were Rob Ray, representing Renzhe Parkour, an urban ninja group, and 28-year-old filmmaker Ben Grinnel from Seattle.

But it was Hermogino, the unassuming Fil-Am, who earned the hearts of the Yahoo! viewers.

Hermogino was born on Oct. 8, 1975 in Candelaria, Zambales. When he was seven, Rex’s family migrated to Dededo, Guam, where his parents taught in an elementary school.

On his website, Hermogino said that he came from a musical family, adding that his father started the first drum and lyre band in Wettengel Elementary School in Guam. Hermogino played the xylophone in that band and went on his own musical journey.

After first dabbling in New Age music and electronica, Hermogino went pop last year with six new compositions.

"Love In The Internet" also won Second Place in the 2006 San Diego Composers Guild Song Contest. His other compositions include "Downtown," "Piano Boy," "City Lights," "The Cheezy Song" and "It’s Raising Me Down."

Hermogino seems to be an unassuming man, but he has a lot of talent and humor, like pop superstars Jason Mraz, John Meyer and Jack Johnson.

His video, "Love in the Internet," was done at home, with only a guitar and laptop computer as props. In the video, Hermogino even uses a vacuum cleaner as a microphone.

His style is similar to Johnson and his voice may be described as a deadpan Weird Al Yankovic.

"He put his heart on the line, his camera on the floor, and his pride in the toilet," joked AskANinja, one of the three judges. "I want this guy to get a show just so he can get a tripod. Even if he doesn’t win can we send him a tripod."

Hermogino’s other challenge videos have him on his bed with his holiday survival tips and a road video of San Diego.

He used Filipino-Americans as his actors and most of his fans are Filipino-Americans.