First, let me ask this question. Where in the world is Gretchen Espina? I don’t watch GMA 7 much but the last time I saw her on TV was during the Pinoy Idol Finale. I did hear that she’s currently finishing her studies in UP Diliman. She’s in Fourth Year College now taking up European Languages. So, maybe I can stalk her in the campus? Kidding. I’ve heard about her concert with Ogie Alcasid, Ramiele Malubay and the other Idols last year too. Is her debut album under Sony BMG out already?

Anyway, let me answer the numerous comments asking for the audition schedule of Pinoy Idol Season II. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think there’s an audition schedule already. It seems that GMA 7 has no plans of producing the second season of the show. When the first season ended, it was so clear to me that there would be no second season of the show at least in the early future. The first season received so many negative comments and Idol finalists weren’t given enough exposure.

Philippine Daily Inquirer published an article last January 22, 2009 entitled, “Wherefore, Pinoy Idol?” The article reported:

“Wilma Galvante, GMA 7 senior vice president for Entertainment, had no news about a new edition of “Pinoy Idol” when asked during a press conference last week for the network’s show fare this year…. TV5 (formerly ABC 5) is reportedly prepared to snap up the franchise, should GMA 7 decide to pass up this year.”

Let’s see what happens next.

Actually, it is only this week that I’ve found time to watch a movie or two. I’ve seen two movies this week alone, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and W.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of the very few films that made me cry. I cried, really. Watching this film wasn’t really part of my plan until I’ve heard and read a lot of positive reviews about it. Well, I don’t regret watching the film. In fact, I loved it. Although the movie is a bit long than any other full-length film, this one didn’t bore me. The clock maker’s story at the beginning of the movie touched and moved me. Gateau, the clockmaker made a clock that intentionally runs backward in the hopes that it would bring back those who died (including his son) in World War I. If only we could turn back time.

The special effects used in the film were great especially the transition of Benjamin from being a baby boy with an appearance that of an 86 year old man to being an adult and back to being a baby. It is also fascinating that the story is being told in Benjamin’s point of view. In this way, the inner thoughts of the main character is also narrated and relayed to the audience. As with the cast, I can’t say anything but praises for they did a wonderful job in portraying their respective roles.

W.
W, on the other hand is fun movie to watch. No, it’s not a comedy film. It’s a film about the 43rd President of the United States of America, George W. Bush. The film showed how Bush goes from being an alcoholic bum to being the most powerful figure in the world. A friend was talking about this film a couple of nights ago. I was curious and decided to give this movie a shot. The movie didn’t disappoint at all. Why is it fun to watch? The cast is outstanding, really! Josh Brolin’s (the one who played the role of George W. Bush) performance is the bomb! It was like Tina Fey portraying Sarah Palin. There are many instances in the film that it felt like I’m watching the real George W. Bush, the real Condoleezza Rice, and others. I don’t know if this film would have a theatrical release here in the Philippines. But if you really want to watch the movie, I know you that you know where to score a copy (wink, wink). It is also in this film that you’ll learn where George W. Bush’s nickname, “Dubya” originated.

And those are the two films I’ve seen for this week. After writing this post, I think I need to go back and attend to the things I need to do (school-related or not). Finals would be on the last week of February so there are just too many things to submit in the coming days. But I can’t really focus on school stuff right for the news about Ugly Betty getting shelved is really bothering me. Why Ugly Betty? It’s the only show I watch on ABC aside from Grey’s Anatomy. Ugly Betty has been interrupted many times in the past. Please, please shelve / pre-empt any other show but Ugly Betty.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Stick around

Anyway, congratulations to Gretchen Espina! She would be receiving a recording contract from Sony BMG, a talent contract from GMA Artist Center, a brand new car worth 1 million pesos, 1 million pesos cash from SM Supermalls, and a condominium unit from Avida amounting to 2.2 million pesos.

The second season of Celebrity Duets will replace Pinoy Idol.

Tonight, two of Pinoy Idol’s Top Five Finalists are sent home. Despite giving the best performances last night, the voting public decided to send Daryl Celis and Kid Camaya home. The Top Three finalists are Jayann Bautista, Gretchen Espina and Ram Chaves who will battle it out to be the very first Pinoy Idol.

Disappointed with tonight’s result? Post your comments below! Next week, we would be witnessing a star-studded finale show at the SMX Convention Center. I just don’t know if this would be a live show or a delayed broadcast.

I want Jayann Bautista to win!

The fans of Pinoy Idol expected that two of the remaining finalists would be eliminated tonight. In fact, an article came out on a newspaper stating that two of the finalists would be sent home tonight.

“Tomorrow night, there’ll be a huge shock that will change the competition forever,” said Pinoy Idol host, Raymond Gutierrez during the Basil Valdez Gala Night. However, all were disappointed that only one was eliminated a while ago.

Warren Antig

Nevertheless, the voting public of Pinoy Idol made the right decision tonight. Tonight, Warren Antig ended his Idol journey after giving a not so good performance. During last night’s gala performance, he received a very negative comment from judge Wyngard Tracy. The elimination of Warren came out as a relief because many people think that he should have left the competition long ago.

Next week, two of the remaining finalists would be eliminated from the competition. Come August 17, we will have our first Pinoy Idol.

The remaining finalists are Kid Camaya, Jay-ann Bautista, Ram Chaves, Gretchen Espina and Daryl Celis. In the end, three finalists would be competing for the Pinoy Idol title. The Pinoy Idol Finale would commence on August 17, 2008 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia.

The first Pinoy Idol would be receiving a recording contract from Sony BMG, a talent contract from GMA Artist Center, a brand new car worth 1 million pesos, 1 million pesos cash from SM Supermalls, and a condominium unit from Avida amounting to 2.2 million pesos.

Post edited as per waah’s comment.

The runway is finally here in the Philippines! Filipino designers are now given a chance to break into the Fashion industry with this franchise of Bravo’s hit reality show.

Project Runway Philippines on ETC

The talk about the local adaptation of Project Runway, a reality TV show that aims to find for the best fashion designer started way back October 2007 when ETC announced auditions for Project Runway Philippines. Well, if you loved the American version of the show, you better watch out for its local counterpart!

Project Runway Philippines will premiere on Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 10:00PM through ETC and SBN 21.

Project Runway Philippines is hosted by Teresa Herrera while Jojie Lloren will serve as the designers’ metor. Apples Aberin-Sahdwani and Rajo Laurel complete the judging panel of Project Runway Philippines.

It was reported that the winner will receive Php 500,000 in cash, a start-up business package, and an editorial spread in Mega Magazine.

I do hope that this shown won’t be a flop just like what happened to Philippine’s Next Top Model. Check out the Project Runway Philippines teaser below:

I believe that Warren Antig should have left the competition earlier. Warren’s supporters are not that visible in the Internet anymore. During the early stage of the competition, a lot of Warren’s supporters are visible in forums talking about Pinoy Idol.

I’m sorry but I really don’t have a thing for rock and rockers. I just can’t appreciate those kind of music. You can agree and disagree with me. But I think, Penelope deserves to stay in the competition longer. Sadly, she didn’t have enough number of votes to make her stay in the competition

If I heard it right, Basil Valdez would be the finalist’s mentor next week. The Top Six Finalists are Jay-Ann Bautista, Warren Antig, Daryl Celis, Kid Camaya, Ram Chaves and Gretchen Espina.

And yes, my prediction was right! Toffer Rei one of the rockers in the group ended his journey tonight. Daryl and Ram joined him in the bottom three. Are you satisfied with the results?

I’m fine with tonight’s result but it would be better if Warren or Ram got booted tonight. Toffer Rei was just okay throughout the competition. I’m sorry. I can’t come up with a more substantial post because I wasn’t paying attention to the show. I just waited for Raymond to announce the results.

So now, we’re left with seven finalists – Penelope, Jay Ann Bautista, Gretchen Espina, Warren Antig, Daryl Celis, Ram Chaves and Kid Camaya, . What’s the theme for next week? I hope that Penelope will choose the perfect song that would really showcase her talent.

I’m a fan of your show especially the first season. In fact, I bought different Pinoy Dream Academy memorabilia like jackets, notebooks, pin buttons and even stickers. I would sometimes drop by the PDA Concert Hall just to hear the scholar’s performance live. I was very satisfied in how you handled the show last season. But come the second season, I can’t help but feel disappointed especially with PDA II’s Primetime episodes. I believe that your show’s tagline is, “Ang Drama sa Likod ng Pangarap”. I know that a lot of Pinoy Dream Academy fans would agree with me that the recent primetime episodes of Pinoy Dream Academy focused on too much drama. “Scene-stealer scholars” would cover almost the whole airtime of PDA. I believe that it should be the mix of both – the training with a larger percentage of the show’s airtime and the little excess should go to the drama. Lately, I’ve been intentionally missing the Pinoy Dream Academy’s primetime episode because of greater disappointment on how you are handling the editing of the primetime episodes.

Please do something about the editing of your primetime episodes. LESS DRAMA MORE TRAINING! Bring back the fitness class! I’m so fed up with some crazy thingamajig you’ve been showing in your primetime episodes. Stop exploiting the scholars’ lives and start showing on how you are training these scholars to perform better on stage. I do believe that Teacher Monet isn’t helping the scholars to deal with their own problems. In fact, he got the worst temper! Why not put a guidance counselor inside the academy to replace Teacher Monet? And please bring back the vocal coaches – The CompanY!

I hope I made myself clear.

Brinknotes.ORG

I believe that the voters of Pinoy Idol are now awake from a horrible nightmare and chose to vote out Sue Ellen Cubing from the competition. Last week’s results show was a relief for me. If you’ve read my posts about Pinoy Idol, I have been consistent with my statement that I really don’t appreciate Sue Ellen’s talent.

What can I say about the “Regine Velasquez Week”? It was boring. In fact, I didn’t pay much attention to the show.

I wasn’t even impressed with Penelope’s performance. The song choices were bad, if not worse. They all sounded like singing inside a KTV bar except for Warren Antig who sang Urong Sulong. What to I mean by KTV Bar? The singing was too ordinary and of course, the audio quality is bad. Maybe, I could have appreciated their performance if I watched it live instead of watching it in TV. I’m still hoping that tonight’s show would be better.

By the way, I saw the Pinoy Idol Mall Show at SM The Block but wasn’t able to catch the real show because I have a class. If I’m not mistaken, the Top 8 was there.

This week, ONE ROCKER SHOULD GO HOME!