Pops expects Martin at her concert

Column: Freehand
Author: Mario E. Bautista

PUWEDE BA wala na lang Martin? Nakakasawa na, e. " This is Pops Fernandez's plea at the presscon for her "Divalicious" concert.

Why is her concert called "Divalicious"? "Why? Am I not delicious, di va?" she laughs.

Directed by Rowell Santiago and produced by ALV Events, "Divalicious" is slated at the Araneta Coliseum on December 8, 8 p. m. It's touted to be the country's biggest production this year and has Gary Valenciano, Kuh Ledesma, Jay-R, Kris Lawrence and Sharon Cuneta as her special guests.

For tickets, call ALV Talent at 633-9825 to 27 or Ticketnet at 911-5555.

But of course, mentioning Martin Nievera cannot be avoided since they're so associated with one another. Is it true they avoided each other at Beyonce concert and at the birthday of ABS-CBN's Deo Endrinal? "No. Sa Beyonce, talagang hindi ko siya nakita. At Deo's birthday, I was told he left when I arrived.

Hindi ko siya iniiwasan. Baka hindi pa siya ready to see me. Baka in denial pa siya. Ako, ready na to see him, kasi kundi pa rin niya naiintindihan why I felt bad dun sa sinabi about our sons, I want to explain fully. Pero ayoko nung sa text lang. "

Did she see Martin when he cried on TV about her "Yes" interview? "No, I wasn't here kasi. "

Does she regret now all the revelations she made? "No. I felt I had to do it as people thought we had a fairy tale marriage. It took me 10 years to give my side of the story so don't begrudge that against me as doing it has made me more matapang, in a good sense, huh. I'm now more assertive. I was overly submissive then, wala akong boses. Now, I have a voice.

"I only talked when I felt he did not speak for our sons, Robin and Ram. And it doesn't matter whether it took 10 or 20 years before I spoke. What matters is that I'm telling the truth. Any wife who has been terribly hurt, ganun din siguro ang masasabi. I had no plans na basta siraan siya. Ang gusto ko lang, lumabas ang katotohanan and now that I've done that, I'm ready to move on. "

How did her mom (Dulce Lukban) react after the Yes article? "She got mad at me. Magsasalita na rin lang pala ako, hindi ko pa sinabi lahat-lahat. "

So that means she has more to tell? Maybe Yes should interview Dulce next time for the Part 2 of that article? "Whatever Martin and I are going through right now, I believe this is just a phase and we'll eventually get over it, hopefully soon. "

So why doesn't she invite him to her concert so they can patch things up? "This is a concert that aims to celebrate my 25th year in showbiz. All those who I got to work with in the past are invited. There'll be a video presentation of my past work at imposibleng wala siya roon as he's very much a part of my career. "

Maybe he's afraid she might reprimand him when they see each other in person? "I don't do that to anyone. He should know me better. Never akong nambastos ng tao. "

ZARA'S DREAM

PBB evictee Zara Aldana wants to make it clear she was not kicked out from being Mutya ng Pilipinas. "I resigned," she stresses. "I felt kasi the organizers discriminated against me kasi hindi raw ako Inglesera. "

So what is her plan now that she's also out of PBB? "I want to pursue my dream of being an actress. ABC-5 got me to host 'Teens' and I hope it will prepare me for bigger things in the future. "

What did she learn from PBB? "I learned I should try to communicate better with others kasi ang complaint nila sa'kin, hindi ako nagsasalita. "

WHAT GABY LEARNED FROM PBB

RACER Gaby De La Merced left last Wednesday for the driver development seminar she's attending in Phoenix, Arizona, the reason why she made a voluntary exit from PBB.

Before she left, she took Kuya's challenge to fill up a drum with water taken from the pool using only her hands and jacket to transport the water in exchange for a 24/7 water supply for the other housemates. So what did she learn from PBB? "I learned I need to change my lifestyle and not try to do everything by myself as I'm not Wonder Woman. I learned this from my talks with Mommy Yayo Aguila and when we all worked together when our pet pig, Peggy, gave birth. I also became closer to God. "

CARLOS WANTS TO EMBARK ON NEW CAREER

CARLOS Agassi is glad to have a new show again, "Princess Sarah. " His last one was still "Palimos ng Pag-ibig" last year. While he was waiting for a new acting assignment, he enrolled at the American Council on Exercise (ACE), majoring on physical training.

"When I finish it in November 2008, I will be an official physical trainer and I can work anywhere in the world. I've finished psychology in La Salle but I now want to enroll in UP to major on nutrition. I want to be a physical trainer-nutrionist para makatulong ako sa mga health conscious na tao.

Nainip ako sa takbo ng showbiz career ko kasi madalas na walang project, kaya naisipan kong kumuha nito. Pero heto, blessing na dumating itong 'Princess Sarah' and I'm excited dahil magkatrabaho kami uli ni Diet (Ocampo) na kasama ko noon sa Hunks. "

"BEOWULF": CAMPY SHOWSTOPPER

WE remember "Beowulf," written in 700 A. D. , as required reading in our last year in high school. The epic poem is now transfered on screen by Director Robert Zemeckis through the performance-capture technology he first used in "The Polar Express" with Tom Hanks. One gets the feeling that they want to cash in on the worldwide success of another CGI action film, "300," but somehow, it's still disconcerting that what you get to watch on screen are not real flesh-and-blood performers but digital images that look more like figures in a wax museum or on a video game.

The advantage of this one is that it can be seen in 3-D and when we saw it at SM Mall of Asia's IMAX Theatre, we were overwhelmed by the breathtakingly spectacular three-dimensional effects and complex shots that assault your senses. It's the best 3-D movie we've ever seen so, if you're going to watch it, make sure you see it on IMAX so you can experience full immersion into the world of "Beowulf".

Fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman and Robert Avary (co-writer of "Pulp Fiction") wrote the script of "Beowulf" and they took liberties in making changes in the story to make it more appealing to today's audiences. It starts with a rousing party at the court of King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) in Denmark.

All the noise created by the inebriated guests who sing loudly disturb and anger the demon Grendel (Crispin Glover), who looks like a rotting hideously deformed zombie borrowed from those "Evil Dead" movies. Grendel easily butchers the men of Hrothgar but retreats when the King himself challenges him to a fight. As it turns out, Grendel's father is no one else but Hrothgar himself.

Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a Geat warrior, arrives on a Viking boat and offers to slay Grendel. The King accepts his offer and Beowulf goes nude to fight with the equally naked monster. They have a ferocious and thrillingly choreographed fight sequence where even the camera does some acrobatics. Beowulf succeeds in brutally ripping off Grendel's arm and the now simpering mama's boy goes home to die in his mother's arms.

Beowulf soon has to face Grendel's irate mother (Angeline Jolie) who also massacres his men. He then invades her eerie watery lair, but the wily she-devil has other things in mind on how to destroy him. She seduces him, promising him riches and power, and our hero's will power is not that strong to resist her deadly charms.

From this sequence, the story jumps several years later when Beowulf is already aging and he has become the King after Hrothgar left his kingdom to him. He also inherited Hrothgar's long suffering younger wife (Robin Wright Penn), but this didn't stop him from taking younger wenches into his bed. He now has to face another challenge, a fire-breathing dragon that turns out to be a product of his past sins now coming back to haunt him. The visually impressive climactic battle between Beowulf and the dragon is a protracted, mind-boggling sequence that will dazzle you with awesome 21st century cinema technology.

The film is told by Director Zemeckis with campy style, like the mother's golden getup with a lengthy devil's tail. In the show-stopping scene where Angelina Jolie emerges from the water to approach Beowulf, she is even shown walking in stilleto high heels. Even the hero's frequent proclamation "I am Beowulf" which is seconded by his sidekick Wiglaf (Brendan Gleeson) with "You are Beowulf" is actually laughable.

The film also unfolds with grisly violence (like when Grendel decapitates a man by biting its head off) but Zemeckis also tries to make it more serious by mentioning the Christ-God and by making Beowulf a flawed tragic hero guilty of the sins of lust and pride. As such, we're sure a lot of viewers (especially kids and teens) won't appreciate its doleful ending.

Source: People's Tonight