Legendary Filipinos: Gloria Romero and Willie Sotelo

Legendary Filipino actors during the golden age of cinema: Gloria Romero and Willie Sotelo.

Pilita Corrales Spanish song

The legendary Ms. Pilita Corrales sings in Spanish, Tagalog, and English and shows off her sexy legs all in one song: her duet with Janno Gibbs. Don't we all just love her? She's our bellisima reina de canciones, and still amazingly beautiful at the age of whatever her age is right now, which is ageless, hehe.

I was really happy because I remember that during the Latin American parade last September here in Los Angeles, Philippines was part of it, and it was televised nationally in the US, Latin America, and Spain on the Spanish language TV network Univision, which most Filipinos think, ah it's a Spanish language network, it's not important, actually it is, because regardless of it being in Spanish, it gets higher ratings than most of the major English language networks, last year it was the 3rd highest ranking network in the United States, #1 is ABC, #2 NBC, #3 Univision, and Fox, the CW, and MyTV are #4-6, so a lot of people were watching when the song during the part where Philippines was walking down the parade was a Pilita Corrales song, and the announcer said, "What a beautiful dance the Filipinos have, tan cariñosa, and what a beautiful song." I'm sure Ms. Corrales would be so happy to hear the influence she's still having on the world today.

Special thanks to Mr. Francis Magalona for the nice digital photo on the left (you rock Francis as always, you the man, compadre, keep up the great work on your music and your comedy stylings on Eat Bulaga!), which I photoshopped with an old album cover of Ms. Corrales on the right in which she looks amazingly beautiful, as always.

Tinikling in Historic Philippines

This is one of the many videos we're working on for the upcoming launch of our new website, Filipino Magazine. I hope you guys like it, the song is from the Tinikling, a traditional Filipino folk dance. There will be an online video gallery full of videos related to Filipino culture, including songs by Pilita Corrales, Bamboo, Francis Magalona, and much more.
Special thanks to Ms. Isabel Preysler and family. These childhood photos are of her and her family in this special video tribute to her home country and our home country, the Philippines.

Tinikling
Tinikling is the most popular and best known dance of the Philippines, receiving acclaim as the national dance. The dance is similar to rope jumping, but instead of a spinning rope, two bamboo poles are hit against blocks on the floor, and then raised up and hit together. Tinikling actually means "bamboo dance" in English. The dance requires one person to operate each end of the poles, and one or more dancers to move in and out of the poles.

Tinikling originated in the Visayan Islands, on the Island of Leyte. Dancers imitate the tikling bird's legendary grace and speed as they walk between grass stems, run over tree branches, or dodge bamboo traps set by rice farmers.

Different stories regarding the origin of tinikling have been passed down through oral histories and folklore. Tinikling is performed on certain Sundays in the Philippines.

Filipino singer-actor Antonio Morales Barreto "Junior" serenades Vilma Santos

Filipino singer-actor Junior (AMB or Antonio Morales Barreto) serenades Vilma Santos in Good Morning Sunshine (1980) with his hit song that he wrote and produced, Yakap.

Junior is the father of current hitmaker Shaila Durcal. Junior is 64 years old now and the oldest of 5 siblings and the Barreto sisters are 28 to circa-40 years old now (yes, they are, money does wonderful things in keeping you young looking and beautiful), and Filipino families are big so it's not uncommon to have cousins and immediate relatives that are twenty even thirty years older than you. But I don't have to tell you that, you probably already do.

Some Filipinos were comparing Claudine Barreto to Shaila Durcal, measuring their beauty against one another as if they were competing celebrities, but they're family by blood, Jesus Christ. But I guess it's normal since Filipinos always compare the beauty of Filipino actors/actresses with their sons/daughters or siblings, speaking of which, in my humble opinion, Gretchen is much more beautiful than her sisters, hehehe. I didn't like it before, but anyway I guess it's all fun, what fun is it having celebs if besides idolizing them, we can't also evaluate their beauty and compare them with each other, hehe.

Thanks to VSTProductions for sharing this great clip with Filipinos!

Antonio Morales Barreto "Junior" in Hola Magazine

So I'm finally talking about Junior, and this was my latest edit on Junior's article from that "encyclopedia" and I'm very happy about it, I added a lot of parts, a lot a lot of parts, including his Filipino movies and the tri-lingual part just because some Pinoys have this presumption that some Filipinos who have Spanish blood lived in an enclave amongst themselves in the Philippines where they only speak Spanish and drink wine and lounge at the pool, it's the image burned into their brains from the stereotypes from Filipino movies, ridiculous because Junior is as Pinoy as any other Filipino out there, and he wrote his songs in Tagalog, and speaks in Tagalog as well, and both of his parents are Filipino, it's just that his father just happens to be of Spanish descent, but he was born and raised in the Philippines making him a Filipino. It's really funny how Filipinos viewed Junior as a "Spaniard foreigner visiting the Philippines" during his popularity and didn't even realize that he's Filipino and still to this day sometimes until I posted this video of his song Yakap on Youtube, and Spaniards view him as a Filipino. It's because some Pinoys don't understand that's why, that the Spanish-speaking world is different from the English-speaking world in that their cultures and history are very, very different, so the Spanish-speaking world today doesn't really focus on race and racial fractions and quantities of a person, it's the country you were born in and your culture that determines who you are. Even though many Latin Americans and Filipinos have Spanish blood, they're not identified as Spanish when they go to Spain, they identify with the country that's close to their heart, the country they were born in. And for Junior, that's our Philippines, always. We'll post more pictures later, I'm trying to keep the posts short, which is impossible because I'm a writer and writing has always come naturally for me so I embellish a lot in what I write about, which is I guess good for a blog format, since that's what it's all about. Junior with daughter, singer Shaila Durcal: (their family is fond of stage names since "Junior", "Shaila Durcal", and "Rocio Durcal" are all artistic names, but not their real names, I guess it's a good way to keep your showbiz life separate from your family life)

Claudine Barreto and her sisters are his family by blood because his mother is a Barreto, and there's only one Barreto clan in the Philippines, and if you like San Miguel Beer, be grateful to their ancestors as San Miguel Corporation, Southeast Asia’s first brewery was established on Oct. 4, 1890 by Enrique Maria Barreto de Ycaza. A few of them have done business with and are friends of my cousin who works in Advertising and Public Relations for TV and print media, no he's not just a Kapuso or Kapamilya, that's ridiculous, and it's also a very successful marketing plan from the TV networks to draw in viewers from the C-D classes by making them feel like "family" (Kapamilya) and drawing in their "heart" (Kapuso), it's a great marketing plan for both networks, since it's obviously working considering the passionate online debates I've seen that Kapusos have versus Kapamilyas, that stuff is hilarious, anyway business is business and he works for both and has worked for both TV networks doing all that kind of stuff that he does, I don't care, hehe, anyway, the Barretos are from Manila and they own a bunch of companies, and Junior's from that one. And Junior was born in Manila. If you're confused about why his mother is a Barreto but his name is Antonio Morales Barreto, a lot of Filipinos were when I posted the video, it's because in Spanish naming conventions, the father's surname goes before the mother's. I believe that the way Filipinos do it now, where the middle name became the place to put the mother's surname, was just a clever adaptation our ancestors made to keep part of their heritage alive when they were told by the new colonizers after 1898 that you could only have one surname. So they found the loophole, "since there's no more space for our mother's surname, we'll put that in place of the middle name." And I theorize that that's how it came about. I can't be sure, because Filipino historians are so, like they don't care sometimes about researching these important things, so there's a lot of holes to fill in for us Filipinos about our history, but think about it, what other logical explanation is there for it? Putting your mother's surname as your middle name is certainly not a British or American tradition, in their middle names, they put names that are similiar to first names, but never the mother's surname because it's not the cultural tradition.

I'd also just like to say that I was really happy about what Aga Muhlach said about how the tv networks should just combine and find a way to work together, because that's what I always thought. Filipinos are always competing with other Filipinos, and we're always divided. But there's strength to be found in unity.
Junior (born Antonio Morales Barreto on May 10, 1943 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino singer and actor. He is the oldest of 5 sons. He was 15 years old when his family settled in Barcelona, Spain then in Madrid. He is tri-lingual and speaks Spanish, English, and Tagalog.

In 1957, he became part of the group Jump, a pioneering Spanish electric guitar group. In the group’s popularity, he was included in the movie Me Enveneno De Azules in 1969. His unstaked first themes Todo Porque Te Quiero (It’s All Because I Love You) in 1969 and Perdóname with English theme The Snake in 1973.

He became part of the group Los Brincos with Juan Pardo. His brothers Miguel and Ricky Morales were invited to join the group. Later, he and Juan Pardo left their group as Juan y Júnior. One of their songs include Spanish version of “Fool On The Hill” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney from LP titled Júnior in 1976.

In 1979, he stopped his career to manage career of his wife late Rocío Dúrcal whom he has 3 children, including singer Shaila Dúrcal who is dedicated not only to her mother but also to her mother’s namesake Rocío Jurado and Colombian diva Soraya who have been cancer victims.

In 1980, he starred in the Filipino movies Good Morning Sunshine with Vilma Santos, Bongga ka Day, and Disco Madhouse and released an album in Tagalog for the Philippines. One of his most popular songs that he wrote and produced was "Yakap". ^[1]

Kristine Hermosa Beautiful Filipina

Photographing around with Filipino actors Kristine Hermosa and Jericho Rosales in Manila and the Filipino Hamptons, meaning the Bundok hehe. Above, Kristine es hermosa, and ready for her photo shoot. Below, Jericho is happy about his crying ad.

Whaaa?Jericho Rosales purchasing his balls. Fishballs.Do I look handsome? I'm a hunk you know... THE Hunk

Goodnight.

The Echo exclusive photos

Exclusive pictures of Jesse Bradford, Iza Calzado, Carlos Leon, and New York City in the Hollywood remake of the Filipino thriller Sigaw, straight from Yam Laranas, the director of the film, himself. It looks like the movie is coming along well, and the movie should be out by next year.

Julio Iglesias, Jr. El Club de Flo

Filipino singer and model Julio Iglesias Jr. can add another profession to his resume - comedian. Julio Jose received rave reviews for his comedic talents one of the stars of the recent Spanish reality show "El Club de Flo."

That means that we have another successful Filipino comedian in the world besides Rex Navarrete, and it's one of those kids of Isabel Preysler, gotta love them. The only difference is Rex does it in English, Julio does his comedy in Spanish. And he's hilarious, his comedy is so funny. It takes too much time to translate everything he's saying into English, but you can ask your Spanish-speaking lola, tito, neighbor or teacher to translate it for you, because he's a funny guy. Maybe you can even make it part of your school project if you have Spanish class in school.

Julio Iglesias Jr. as a singer:


Dejame Volar (Let me fly)

Julio Iglesias Jr. as a comedian:


Julio talks about sex, and his brother Enrique


Julio talks about virginity, his parents, Isabel Preysler and Julio Iglesias, Tang orange drink, and coming home drunk


Julio talks about aging

Lea Salonga in Les Miserables

Lea Salonga, whose recent triumphant return to Broadway in Les Miserables has sparked such a great interest from the public in New York City that the show has been extended from it's original May 2007 all the way to March 2008, recently guest starred on PhilMusic.com's podcast. The Tony-award winning Filipina actress was visiting Manila for a two-week vacation from her regular Broadway gig, playing Fantine in the current revival of Les Miserables. Lea and her husband turn out to be huge fans of the OPM band scene! She talks about bands they're into like Imago, the Dawn, Sandwich, Cambio, Bamboo, and Paramita. She also gives us a peek into how she prepares for performances and recordings, and her near-telepathic musical connection with her brother, arranger/conductor Gerard Salonga. Finally, she offers inspiring tips for up and coming musicians who want to make it in the business.

Listen to the interview.
Lea Salonga looking stunning at her album release party at Carnegie Hall.

John Wayne Sace Pics

Personal photo ops on the set of ABS-CBN's hit show with Filipino actors John Wayne Sace and Erich Gonzalez.

Pilita Corrales Guiness Book of World Records

Asia's Queen of Songs and pride of the Philippines, legendary multi-talented actress, singer, dancer, producer Pilita Corrales will be one of the numerous celebrities to attempt to set a world record in dancing for the Guiness Book of World Records to bring osteoporosis awareness to the Philippines on Oct. 20, World Osteoporosis Day at the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex.

Organized by Anlene, a high-calcium milk specially formulated for women, the event hopes to gather some 10,000 participants in a dance movement.

Along with Ms. Corrales, Anlene has gathered a formidable group of endorsers --actress Dina Bonnevie, award-winning fitness aficionado Jackie Lou Blanco, dance diva Becky Garcia, former Miss Universe Margie Moran, swimming champion and television personality Akiko Thomson, and pastor/ballet dancer Rosita Gomez to promote drinking milk as an effective way to prevent osteoporosis in women. We love you Pilita! Go mama! Te queremos con todo el alma, y eres una bellísima hermosísima mujer! Mabuhay!

Sharon Cuneta Caregiver

Yes, it's true ladies and gentlemen, Sharon Cuneta has become an overseas Filipino worker in London, England working as a caregiver.

The 41-year old megastar who looks amazing by the way for her age, has started filming her movie, "Caregiver in London," with director Chito Roño before leaving for a US-Canada tour earlier this week. It’s a dream come true for the actress to work with the award winning director.

"Caregiver in London" is a production of Star Cinema and will be filmed in, where else, but the United Kingdom, just like "Milan" and "Dubai", the previous critically-acclaimed productions of the film outfit shot in other countries.

In "Caregiver in London," Sharon plays a school teacher waiting for the petition of her husband who's working as a nurse in London. Playing Sharon’s leading man for the first time is John Estrada, while Makisig Morales is playing her son in the movie. While waiting for the petition of her husband, Sharon takes a course in caregiving. When she gets to London, she immediately finds work as a caregiver through the help of Jodi Sta. Maria.

In the film, Jodi is married to Jhong Hilario. Conflict and trouble arise for Sharon and John while they are in London and they realize that life in a foreign country is not for them.

Before Direk Chito leaves for London to start filming, he is set to wrap up work on the suspense-thriller, "Dagaw," starring Richard Gutierrez and Marvin Agustin for GMA Films.

John, meanwhile, is also busy with his latest TV series. He plays contravida to Vhong Navarro in "Lastikman." He was last seen as a villain in "Flordeluna."

To find out more, just pick up the latest Manila Bulletin.