MarShy? Shymar? Shymark? MarkShy?

One time, I asked my assistant to look for a Youtube video featuring Mark Neumann. She complained his manager was lazy,  there was nothing interesting. I still insisted she looked some more until she finally came up with a video which she still complained might not interest much unless they just wanna watch Mark speak, stare at his face while listening to his voice.

Well, I thought, those were exactly the perfect reasons so I told her to just publish it. I decided to just title it "Mark Neumann,... just talking..." Well, what do you know? That post was our top post this weekend. Apparently, Mark is being noticed now that he is paired with Shy Carlos in a new series titled Tasya Fantasia.

 I can feel a hot new loveteam is on its way...

HOT NEW LOVETEAMS TO WATCH FOR 2016?

I asked five of my female friends who they think among certain new loveteams will shine in 2016.  Like me, they only got hooked on Pinoy films last year. All are well-educated successful professionals so not the typical showbiz hags, their choices were most likely well-considered more from logical parameters because their mental faculties normally work that way. Actually, I gave them a choice of 10 pairs. Just for variety, I juggled the pairings of the established loveteams on top of the new ones being groomed by the studios.  These were the Top 3, from the top, the Number 3, down to Number 1.

Elmo Magalona & Janella Salvador

Mark Neumann & Shy Carlos

James Reid & Julia Barreto

TV5's Teen Idol Mark Neumann ... just talking...

THE OTHER PINOY TEEN IDOLS : Mark Neumann of "I Am In Love With A DOTA Player"

DOTA is big in Peru like in the Philippines. Since I featured the trailer of the TV5 teleserye "I am in love with a DOTA Player", which was featured on many Peruvian websites and forums, a lot of Peruvians have been returning to the blog but they mostly just clicked on the trailer itself. I can guess what is happening: since DOTA itself was not shown in the trailer, there must be another reason why they are trekking back. I can see "Diary Ng Panget" being gushed over in Latin America again. What is common between "I am In Love with a DOTA Player" & "Diary ng Panget"? A cute boy. Now we know the physical type of a teen idol that is starting to be associated with the Philippine brand, and it sells. Remember, a mestizo is not treated as Caucasian in the Western world so it is not foreign, it is just an exotic concoction in a multi-racial country like the Philippines.

TELESERYE: Wattpad Presents: "Im In Love With A Dota Player"

 

Title: Estoy enamorada de un jugador de Dota

I don't know if the TV5 bigwigs were aware that their little series became trending news in the worldwide DOTA communities when it was released earlier this month. Just look at the Comments on its Youtube trailer page and 3/4 of its contents are in foreign languages, mostly Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German & even Indonesian (amazingly, its trailer had more hits in two weeks than that of the current adolescent teleserye chart-topping hit Forevermore in nearly 3 months). Especially notable was the wide online coverage in the Spanish- & Portuguese-speaking part of the world. Very telling was the fact that the Latin Americans, particularly the Peruvians, noted how similar the look of the characters are with the Peruvians. Same comments were made to Philippine films which have suddenly become hot stuffs among Asiatic film fanatics from Russia to Latin America. Many Russians actually described watching Pinoy films as akin to watching Latin American telenovelas and they even have fan clubs of young Pinoy actors in the Russian Facebook, VK.( I doubt if Pinoy teen stars James Reid & Daniel Padilla even know this?). This international fascination started with "Diary Ng Panget" late last year, which "She's Dating The Gangster" consolidated early this year). 

This cultural reconnection establishes the niche of the Philippines as a bridge between the advancing East to the rest of the world. It's a natural cultural niche which can't be filled by other Asians . I hope Pinoys, particularly Pinoy showbiz, learns how to maximize the potentials of this niche.

Especially the youth segment. It is big in the Philippines because majority of Filipinos are below 23 years old (Compare that to the aging population in many countries).. But the best thing is that the multi-racial look of Pinoys is clearly acceptable and popular in such varied markets like Russia & Latin America.