LOVETEAM WATCH: Derrick & Bea in "Hanggang Makita Kang Muli"

It's turning out that the cutest part of local showbiz is the loveteam thing. Pinoys have always been nosy on who was doing it with whom. The movie idols are definitely not exempted.This nosiness triggers the magic to the whole thing. But can it be sustained?

There's an endless supply of loveteams. Thus, our Loveteam Watch. We'll start monitoring the progress of each team as it hurtles down Pinoy showbiz lane.

 GMA has been prolific in creating cute loveteams lately. The Tisoy-native combination has become a Philippine brand, & GMA has them plenty: Aldub, Anbie. Here's the latest one: GMA has a stable of cute mestizos & 20 year old Derrick Monasterio was available to counterpoint 18-year old Bea Binene, a petite Anjanette Abayari-ish wisp of a girl. In their first teleserye together, she reprises  the role of a feral child who was brought in from the wild and taught to adapt to a new civilization where she later would find love.

A feral child is a human child who has lived away from human contact from a very young age, and has little or no experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language.

‘Mamboboso’ skills: Target Kim Domingo

STILL CURIOUS: The Break Up/ One More Chance- Kathryn Bernardo & James Reid

To tell you the truth, this team-up is growing on me.

Îndrăgostiţi: Pinay Biritera in ROMANIA GOT TALENT 2016, Resciebelle Santiago

The Pinoy boys have been winning the biggest international musical competitions in Germany & Australia, but the girls are not about to lock themselves in a kitchen somewhere. One of them visited her  Romanian boyfriend's family in his country but she ended up not only joining Romania Got Talent, she also ended up being unexpectedly hounded in a beach by the Romanian paparazzi. Her boyfriend, Sorin Dumitraş  was  formerly a reality talent in the Romanian version of The Bachelor.

Pinoys do get around. Didn't I hear somebody said it's more fun to be Pinoy?

Sam Concepcion - Kalsada - (Official Music Video)

PINOY DIASPORA: Hailee Steinfeld - Love Myself

Pinoy mestizos are already  all over Hollywood. Very big names, in fact- Bruno Mars, Enrique Iglesias, Nicole Scherzinger, Roy Scheider, many more but it would be too long to type them all. But I would like to feature one because she has been conducting a series of concerts in Manila since late March. Hailee, a former Oscar Best Supporting Actress nominee in 2010 for the movie True Grit, has turned into a successful pop singer.

This video is interesting: Who among our top teen idols would she KISS, MARRY or KILL?

KATHNIELAMES, the First Triangle Loveteam?: "Dahil Mahal Na Mahal Kita"

DI BALIK LAYAR: Teejay & Jessica dancing scenes in "Dubmash" movie

Dancing in old Batavia in the forthcoming movie of Pinoy actor Teejay Marquez and his Indonesian leading lady Jessica Mila.

CYRNELLA, CYNELLA, JANYRUS, JANERUS?

We received a curious email from a Pinoy-Aussie reader in Sydney. She mentioned one of the comments in one of our previous posts where it was stated that  a shortage of really cute leading men in the present batch of stars resulted in pretty Janella Salvador not having the appropriate loveteam. Inasmuch as Pinoy stars are starting to make their presence felt in many parts of the world, why should we not accelerate the process and recruit expatriate Pinoy mestizos who are already making their mark in their home countries. Definitely, these kids are ready-made connectors to a wider international audience.

These kids have been winning in many parts of the world. We just featured Pinoy-Austrian Lukas Janisch winning the Voice Kid in Germany.

Our Pinoy-Aussie reader wrote we should not forget another mestizo,  Pinoy-Aussie Cyrus Villanueva, winning the X-Factor last year in Australia.

Our reader asked, Don't you agree 19-year old Cyrus is very bagay with 17-year old Janella?

She had a point, didn't she?

Marlo Mortel and Janella Salvador - Mananatili (Official Music Video)

MarNella. There's a little thriller cutely swirling around this loveteam: their last film together Haunted Mansion suddenly clicked at the box-office just as they seemed to be ripped apart and Janella paired with somebody else in an upcoming TV serial. Then they were paired anew for this cute song. But wait, the teleserye (starring Janella & Elmo Magalona) is still to be shown. Hmm...

 What do you think? How would our little thriller end?

SEXY ROM-COM (Shaved Frontal Nudity FOR ART'S SAKE?): Kim Domingo & Ellen Adarna

I don't know if the Philippine film industry is in the dawn of another Golden Age, but if the economic growth holds up, the box-office cash register will certainly continue ringing, and there's no reason why film offerings shouldn't cover more genre. People have been returning to the cinema in droves.

Many might not know it, but we already have a certain reputation for good rom-coms ("master" of the genre was a strange adjective used in some of the forums). So why not sexy rom-coms too? Sweet rom-coms mostly appeal to the female audience, the men shoud be thrown some bones too. Perhaps if they learned loving going to the cinema again, it would be easier to capitalize on the more expensive action films in time.

I learned that the Liberated 1 & 2 films of Diana Zubiri & Francine Prieto in the early 2000's were not only hits in the Philippines but in our neighbors as well (they have stricter cultures - and censors, obviously). Perhaps we can update the level of the sexiness to the times? I recently watched  an old  film where Ina Raymundo showed her pubic triangle. If they could do that then, why not now? FOR ART'S SAKE, sans pubic hair this time?

Having been desensitized by too much internet porn, we need real beauties & real rom-com expertise to entice  the audience. I am sure Ellen Adarna & Kim Domingo are up for the job. They could be the present Diana & Francine. Ellen already has a frontally-nude photo (sans pubic hair to boot) , I bet Kim won't let herself be left behind. What do you think?

UNGLAUBELICH: Lukas Janisch, Grand Champion, Voice Kids Germany 2016

He's just 13, and he's Fil-Austrian but he just won the recently-concluded Voice Kids of Germany. More importantly, he looks perfect to be a future Pinoy teen idol. Now, there are three male kids who look really cute enough to take over the baton from Kathniel's Daniel Padilla,  Lizquen's Enrique Gil & Jadine's James Reid. Juan Karlos Labajo, Bailey May & Lukas Janisch. We know there'll be more, but it's always nice to confirm, Pinoy showbiz is even now sure to shine still brighter going forward.

Of course, the best thing with Lukas is he also sings so well. Unbelievable!

FIGHT FOR LOVE: Philippine-Cambodian co-production finally shown in Manila

The Cambodian version has been featured in this blog when it was shown in Cambodian cinemahouses last year. GMA will finally show it in Manila, but only on TV in these parts.

SEGERA DI BIOSKOP: Teejay Marquez & Jessica Mila in "Dubmash"

Belated Jodian

Last Sunday, I did what was then unthinkable. The first time I watched a teleserye continuously up to  the 10th episode. 5 hours, in one sitting.  I clicked the first episode then I lost track of the time. That confirmed  a lot: in  the previous teleseryes that I tried to watch, I mostly got stuck at the pilot or second episode.

I was talking of the recently-concluded teleserye Pangako Sa Yo.

Anyway, this post is about the Ian Veneracion & Jodi Santamaria team-up. I wasn't a fan of Jodi before after I have seen only her carelessly prepared publicity photos which shouldn't have been released in the first place because they were really unflattering. With Ian, it turned out we have a leading man who can give any of the Latin American telenovela actors a run for their money. It's unfortunate their blossoming team had to be lumped with declining cast members in  a lackluster smorgasbord film in the last Metro Manila Film Fest  (including a budding loveteam in a cast with stars who had recent histories of box-office disasters & bad ratings  was really unfortunate). Hopefully, that fiasco won't dim the lights of the team.

I think they still have the magic to have suckered me to watch them that long. A melodrama at that (Another first). Incredible!

Tight script in the first 10 episodes, nice production values, fantastic score btw...

រឿង សេ្នហ៍តែអូន/MULING BUKSAN ANG PUSO & រឿង ព្រះនាងអារីយ៉ា/THE PRINCESS & I: Pinoy Young Stars @ MyTV Cambodia

CUTE PINOY MONITOR: Juancho Trivino of "Ang BF Kong Dwende"

Kinda too obvious already, but I would want to highlight it anyway: the wonderful resurgence of Pinoy young stars from the illegal pirate sites to the primetime hits in varied parts of the world. James Reid & Daniel Padilla started a one-two punch  in 2014 in the pirate sites and Enrique Gil unleashed the upper cut later in 2015 for the primetime wrap-up. The Cute Pinoys never looked back, and they are definitely  the cutest Asian young stars there right now.

We know we have a deep bench of cute Pinoys to replenish the supply, I can see them on the mall everyday. That ridiculous campaign to hilariously confuse racial perceptions and degrade what we could display has finally been laughed off. However, I noted that not a few comments in our posts  have mentioned the ordinary looks of the upcoming stars who are next in line after our current hot line-up. Will we backslide to the ordinary faces of yesteryears, sacrifice our advantage & return to irrelevance again? Can we maintain the interest and continue uplifting the image of the Cute Pinoy star instead?

 I checked, and indeed, except for probably a handful, the others make you pause & wonder: Why are they even there? It might be a comfort nobody is duling among them so there's no danger we will have another duling, but still, we can no longer afford to be ordinary after being noticed. Really, why give these hapless kids  the illusion they could even be stars when they would be better off going to school?

We'll start a series  featuring some of the upcoming stars who caught our attention. I have an ad-hoc committee of friends to do the spotting. I give the final approval, of course.

Juancho Trivino is a 22 year-old actor of GMA who is about to be launched in his own loveteam in the new teleserye Ang BF Kong Dwende.

"ANG BASTOS": Kim Domingo

The Pinoy cyberspace has become a recruiting ground for the latest hot items in Pinoy showbiz. Maine Mendoza opened the gates, so-to  speak. Kim Doningo, who I first noticed with her sexy Dubmash clips last year (lower video, see below), fortunately was one of those who were pulled through.

Pinoy TV is definitely sexier with her around.

Donnalyn Bartolome - Maniwala Ka [Official Music Video]

</

Jona - Maghihintay Ako (Official Recording Session with Lyrics)

Juan Karlos Labajo - Di Ka Man Lang Nagpaalam

Kenangan Cinta: Teejay dan Jessica

Sekarang Teejay telah kembali ke Manila tapi ia telah meninggalkan banyak kenangan di Indonesia. Saya yakin dia akan kembali ke sana untuk lebih banyak filem ... dan cerita cinta? 

A cute clip showing Pinoy actor Teejay Marquez with her pretty Indonesian leading lady, Jessica Mila.

Dolce Amore: Cute Pinoy Transformation

VERY CURIOUS: Kilometro - Kathryn Bernardo & James Reid MV (KathReid/CatWolf)

I don't know, but it appears the best Pinoy fanmade videos seemed to be those pairing this  two. They were really very cute in this one. My assistant said somebody might be out to shatter two of our hot loveteams but I don't think it would shatter anything- it will only add spice at this point of the game. As it is, Kathniel has been going strong for years, & Jadine is just about wrapping up their fourth film together.

It now appears, this loveteam thing has this particular magic that catches your fancy suddenly. To tell you the truth, I kinda enjoyed this one, actually.