‘Suklay’ cast and crew (www.dfa.gov.ph)
A musical featuring Pinoys has premiered in central Seoul last week.
According to a report posted on the site of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the 55-minute multicultural musical dubbed “Suklay” deals with the challenges that multi-ethnic children, particularly Pinoys, face in Korean public schools.
Directed by Filipino Lorna de Mateo, “Suklay” (“Comb”), opened at the Seoul Mullae Youth Center on Nov. 14.
Other Filipinos involved in the production are assistant director Nash Ang, composer Gil Hizon, and actress Glaiza Valdez.
It is the third musical featuring the lives of migrant families in Korea that the country’s first multicultural theater, Salad, has produced since 2011.
“Marina and Vijay,” which opened in Nov. 2011, portrayed the rivalry and eventual friendship between a Filipino girl and Nepali boy studying in a Korean school.
“Secrets Inside the Mask,” which took the stage in November 2012, tells the story of a migrant Chinese child discovering his cultural identity while working in a restaurant.
“We feel it’s important to depict the different stories of migrant families so that we could help the development of a more global consciousness in Korean society as well as satisfying a growing curiosity toward Asian culture, especially among Korean children,” said Park Kyong-ju, president of Salad.
“I believe ‘Suklay’ is an important work for Salad in the group’s evolution as a theater production company,” said Philippine Second Secretary and Consul Aian Caringal.
“Before they had Korean directors in charge,” he said. “It’s the first time for them to ask an immigrant artist to take creative control.”
Salad will tour “Suklay” in various elementary schools in Seoul and Gyeongi Province.
James "Bimby" Yap Jr., son of host-actress Kris Aquino, said he is not jealous of Comedy Prince Vic Sotto, the love interest of her mother in his debut film, "My Little Bossings."
This image released by Sotheby’s shows a page from a handwritten manuscript of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 hit “Born to Run.” (AP Photo/Sotheby’s)
NEW YORK (AP) — A handwritten working manuscript of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 hit “Born to Run” will be offered at auction on Dec. 5, with a presale estimate of $70,000 to $100,000, Sotheby’s said Wednesday.
The seller was not revealed. The auction house said the document used to be in the collection of Springsteen’s former manager, Mike Appel.
Sotheby’s said most of the lines in this 1974 version, written in Long Branch, New Jersey, are apparently unpublished and unrecorded, but the manuscript does include “a nearly perfected chorus.”
Springsteen’s thought process, written in blue ink on a sheet of ruled notepaper, looks like this:
“This town’ll rip the (out your) bones from yourback / it’s a suicide trap (rap) (it’s a trap to catchthe young) your dead unless / you get out (we gotto) while your young so (come on! / with) take myhand cause tramps / like us baby we were born to run.”
“The imagery and tone are constant from the present manuscript to the final song,” the auctioneer said.
There are also some words in the margins: “Wild” and “Angels” and a word that looks like “velocity,” with the letter “t” in Springsteen’s curlicue cursive.
“Although Springsteen is known to have an intensive drafting process, few manuscripts of ‘Born to Run’ are available, with the present example being one of only two identified that include the most famous lines in the song,” Sotheby’s said.
The document will be part of a Manhattan sale of fine books and manuscripts.
Pop rock Princess Yeng Constantino made a guest appearance on"Umagang Kay Ganda" on Thursday.
Justin Bieber. (Reuters)
SYDNEY | Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber was Thursday told to clean up his mess after the pop star was accused of spraying graffiti on the wall of an Australian hotel.
Furious Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate said the Canadian had been disrespectful and “really, really silly”, and sent a graffiti removal kit to the exclusive QT Hotel on the Sunshine Coast so he could repair the damage.
“If a normal person did that they’d be serving 80 to 100 hours of community service,” Tate told the Nine Network.
“Just come and clean it up and we’ll be happy with you.”
In a separate interview in the Brisbane Courier-Mail, Tate said: “We’ve all been young once. But by the sounds of it, he’s gone and done something really, really silly.
“But he’s got an opportunity to make good … I urge him to treat this city the way Gold Coast fans treat him.”
Bieber’s handiwork includes a Pacman ghost, which was reportedly painted in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the star’s sell-out Brisbane show.
Pictures of the graffiti were posted online, including on Instagram, with reports saying Bieber and his entourage left the cans of spray paint behind for staff to clean up.
Bieber was believed to have left the hotel for Sydney, where he performs later Friday and Saturday, with Tate demanding he return.
“I know he’s got beautiful eyes. I’ve got some goggles for him, and some gloves because I know he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty,” he said.
“Do your business in Sydney and come on back and I’ll give you a chance to clean it up.”
Brisbane was the first of eight shows by Bieber across Australian cities.
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. (Reuters file photo)
LOS ANGELES | Actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have finalized their divorce two years after separating, bringing official closure for one of Hollywood’s most prominent couples.
The end to the eight-year marriage was made final on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, with both actors agreeing not to pay spousal support.
In March, Moore, 51, had asked the court to grant her financial support from Kutcher, an unusual move for one of the top-earning women in Hollywood during the 1990s.
Kutcher, the star of CBS television comedy “Two and a Half Men,” filed for divorce from Moore in December 2012 after more than a year of separation. He cited irreconcilable differences with the “G.I. Jane” star.
The 35-year-old film and TV star has been the highest-paid actor on television for the last two years, earning an estimated $24 million annually, according to Forbes magazine.
Moore began dating Kutcher a few years after her split from actor-husband Bruce Willis, when Kutcher was a young star on the TV sitcom “That ’70s Show.”
The relationship became tabloid fodder because of their 16-year age gap, and the couple married in September 2005 in Los Angeles.
Moore and Kutcher separated in November 2011 after six years of marriage, after a San Diego woman said she had a brief affair with Kutcher.
Kutcher is currently dating his former “That ’70s Show” cast-mate Mila Kunis.
The poster for the documentary 'The Search for Weng Weng'.
No longer a work in progress, Andrew Leavold’s “The Search for Weng Weng” will finally have its world premiere this Friday, November 29, at the UP Film Center in UP Diliman.
This was announced by Leavold himself on his Facebook page and in a subsequent communiqué with InterAksyon. In his own words, the eccentric Australian filmmaker who worked on the project for the last seven years described his completed tribute to the late Filipino actor and martial artist Weng Weng as his “obsessive quest to find the two-foot-nine Filipino James Bond”.
In several notes that he posted on Facebook, Leavold said watching Weng Weng in the latter’s now classic James Bond parody “For Your Height Only” was a “life-changing” moment for him.
“I was immediately hooked, but wanted to know more. Who was Weng Weng? Where did he come from, and what happened to him. Were there other Weng Weng films, and — was he still alive? Not even the internet could shed light on what appeared to be a forgotten life,” he wondered.
Director Andrew Leavold at the recent Cinema One Originals awards night. (Photo courtesy of Don Gordon Bell)
His obsession grew even stronger when he was invited to a film festival in Manila in 2006.
“I went with a video camera in one hand, determined to uncover once and for all the mystery of Weng Weng. Eventually I found the complete story, but not before the adventure of a lifetime — and it’s all caught on film! Refereeing a dwarf boxing match…boots-deep on the set of a Bruno Mattei zombie film… guest of honor at Imelda Marcos’ birthday party …and finding myself face-to-face with the only person in the world who could piece the puzzle together,” he recalled.
That only person turned out to be Weng Weng’s surviving brother who revealed to him more astonishing things about the legendary actor, who passed away in 1992.
“Weng Weng’s story, it turns out, is even more extraordinary than I could have ever imagined: real life secret agent, international superstar beating George Lucas at the box office, and the rest — heartbreaking, bizarre, exhilarating,” Leavold further enthused.
Earlier this year, a rough cut of the documentary entitled “The Search for Weng Weng: A Work in Progress” was screened in exhibition during the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival last August at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
In addition to Weng Weng’s brother, Leavold also interviewed an eclectic mix of personalities that included Tikoy Aguiluz, Rez Cortez, Roland Dantes, Celso de Guzman, Celing and Editha de la Cruz, Nick Deocampo, Dolphy, Jim Gaines Jr, Peque Gallaga, Rene Gracilla, Franco Guerrero, Tony Maharaj, Imee Marcos, Imelda Marcos, Eddie Nicart, Nick Nicholson, Rusty Santos, Richard Suarez and Edgardo “Boy” Vinarao for his documentary.
Leavold promised that most of the interviewees will grace the UP Film Center screening. Whether those interviewees will include former First Lady and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, who is reportedly ill, remains unknown.
'The Search for Weng Weng' comics. (Photo from author Ronald Tan's Facebook page)
Weng Weng’s family will attend the premiere along with the film’s creative team, including co-writer/producer Daniel Palisa and soundtrack star Roy Arabejo from Australia, editor Jim Scott from the United Kingdom, line producer Kristine Kintana, cinematographer Jordan Arabejo and cartoonist Ronald Tan, who created a very limited edition souvenir world premiere comics that features a tribute cover to the victims of typhoon Yolanda.
Yes, part of the proceeds of the screening and sales of the souvenir comics will be donated to the typhoon victims.
As to what are the new things that people, especially those who have seen the previous cuts of the film, can expect from the final version, Leavold revealed a few spoilers in an earlier interview with InterAksyon also last August.
“For the final cut, we shot some amazing stuff at the Redemptorist Church in Baclaran where Weng Weng’s mother used to pray. Also those stories about Weng Weng believing himself to be the Santo Niño, I’m also saving them for the final cut,” the filmmaker revealed.
Regardless of what eventually made it to the completed version, Leavold promises a night to remember at “The Search for Weng Weng” world premiere. Tickets are priced at P143 each and may be reserved by clicking at the film’s event page.
(From left) Lee Seung Yeon, Park Si Yeon, and Jang Min In Ae (Photo by www.newsen.com)
A Seoul court has convicted three Korean actresses for the illegal use of the substance propofol, an injectable anaesthetic and sedative.
In its decision, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Park Si Yeon, Lee Seung Yeon and Jang Min In Ae to eight months in prison suspended for two years for abusing propofol in the last few years.
In addition, the judge handling the case ordered Jang Min In Ae to pay 5.5 million won (about P226,000) while Lee Seung Yeon will have to shell out 4.05 million won (P167,000) and Park Si Yeon about 3.7 million won (P152,000) in fines.
The three and their doctors were present in the courtroom when the sentence was handed out.
The doctors were also found guilty in the case.
They were charged last March of abusing propofol many times. Lee Seung Yeon was accused of using the substance 111 times, Park Si Yeon about 126 times and Jang Min In Ae about 95 times.
The stars denied the allegations, claimed that they were administered with propofol for medical purposes.
According to the judge, the defendants are celebrities loved by the public. As such, what they do will have a profound impact to their fans.
The judge believed that the three had already become dependent on propofol.
In giving them suspended sentences, the court acknowledged that the three did not administer the substance themselves, it is their first offense and that Lee Seung Yeon and Park Si Yeon have children.
Park Si Yeon gave birth to her first baby last September.
TV personality Hyun Young, who used propofol 42 times and one of the celebrities investigated in the case, was summarily indicted and fined last March.
Propofol caused the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson in 2009.
