I’m excited to hear that Sharon Cuneta, the Philippines’ megastar, has a new movie. And it’s about an elementary school teacher in the Philippines turned caregiver in the UK. It’s a sad reality that Filipinos have to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles away from home so they could earn a living. My family is not an exception, my brothers and a sister went to the USA as workers at first.
The last Sharon Cuneta movie I saw in the theatres is the award-winning Crying Ladies. It’s been a long time since that film.
I like to watch movies that are based or inspired by true life stories, specially ones dealing with the adventures of being a student. Just like the box-office hit 21 Movie starring Jim Sturgess with the award winning actors Kevin Spacey (loved him in “American Beauty”) and Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, and the Filipino-American Liza Lapira.
Jim Sturgess plays the role of Ben Campbell, the MIT student who is the protagonist in the movie. He’s “pretty good in numbers” which impressed Kevin Spacey’s character, Micky Rosa, the professor who is also the leader of the Blackjack team. Wanting to save $300,000 for medical school, Ben joins the team and travels to Las Vegas every weekend to count cards and win money at the casinos. The rest is an exciting adventure. Find out how Ben and Micky parted ways. I found this trailer on Youtube:
Spacey and Fishburne are both good actors and it’s so good to see them together on the big screen. Jim is a cutie and the role fits him well, while Kate is definitely not a dumb blonde in this film (when was she ever?). I love that scene shown at the last part of the trailer. That alone makes me want to see this in theatres when it’s shown here. In addition, the movie has a very cool soundtrack. After all, a college movie isn’t complete without a groovy line up of songs to go with it. If you want the songs on your phone, 21 Movie Ringtones are available on the net.
The trailer of the Hollywood remake of the hit Korean movie “My Sassy Girl” is out! It stars Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford. How does it compare to the Korean original? Sorry, it’s really hard to compare since I love the original “My Sassy Girl” (and it’s really too premature to compare since I haven’t seen the remake). I love Cha Tae Hyun and Jeon Ji Hyun in the original… but let’s just wait and see. Oh well, I don’t think I’m gonna spend on this one. Judging from the trailer, Elisha is not sassy enough and Jesse, not that geeky.
I saw Meteor Garden almost six years ago when it shown on ABS-CBN in the Philippines. A few years later, I saw the better Japanese version and fell in love with the series once again.
Korean version? Soon. Production for “꽃보다 남자” (kkot boda namja) or “Hanayori Dango” will start by the second half of the year. Excited? You bet. However, I’m not gonna expect something like the Japanese version. It will be produced by Group Eight, the same company that brought us “Fantasy Couple” (Oh Ji Ho) and “Goong S” (Se7en).
Korean netizens are busy doing their own casting for the series. Hehehe…
Last night at 11:30 PM, KBS showed a special documentary on Filipinos love for singing. It was an hour long program where they interviewed popular singers like Sarah Geronimo, Charice Pempengco, Singing Cooks and Waiters as well as the ordinary Pinoy. The title of the program is “노래로 희망을 부르는 필리피노” (nore-ro heemangeul bureuneun pilipino) or “Filipino’s hope to sing a song”.
Sarah Geronimo and Charice Pempengco both joined singing contests on TV. The first emerged as the champion while the latter only placed third. However, Charice has been “wowing” fans both in the Philippines and abroad. She even guested on the popular US television show “The Ellen Degeneres Show” were she received a standing ovation from the mostly caucasian audience.
It’s common knowledge that Filipinos love to sing and many do so well. For us Pinoys, singing is a way to celebrate life, forget all our problems momentarily and for the lucky few, to earn a living. (Yes they are lucky who loves to sing and are earning from it too!) In almost every corner of the world, we are represented by our professional singers. Even my friend, Jasmine (who incidentally translated for this TV show), had seen Pinoy singers in North Korea’s Geumgangsan.
Here are some clips of the special documentary co-produced by Korea’s KBS and by the Philippines’ NBN.
Three years ago, actress Kim Sun Ah starred in the hit drama “My Name is Kim Sam Soon” with Hyun Bin and Daniel Henney. She gained seven kilograms for the role of a thirtyish old maid. This year, moviegoers will see a sexier Kim Sun Ah in the movie “Girl Scout”. The poster for her new film is out and she’s showing an S-line!
I’ve seen Kim Sun Ah in the flesh and she really seems to be big-boned, not fat or flabby. I’m sure a lot of folks out there are excited to see her again.
Woohoo! I wonder how much these Korean actors and actresses pay for their taxes. Ordinary salaried workers pay about 3.3% for their income tax. And my husband said that more than 60% of Korean salaried workers earn less than 20 million won a year (and could only afford penny stocks for investments)! Here are the top 7 Korean drama stars and their income (per episode):
