Five Azkals dropped by The STAR’s Entertainment Section office a few days ago. After having their pictures taken with some members of the staff, they playfully submitted themselves to a game of “Off and On” (a variation of this corner’s broken series Sexy Talk).
They were (with brief backgrounder courtesy of a TV5 staffer who escorted them):
• Phil Younghusband (who has visited our office a few times during his pre-Azkal days), 24 (born Aug. 4, 1987 in Middlesex, England). Team and position: Loyola Meralco Sparks, forward. Twitter: @PhilYhusband. Like his brother James (who will soon host Football 101 on aktv, sister station of TV5), Phil lists Titanic as his No. 1 favorite movie (he can quote verbatim memorable lines from it). If ever he joins showbiz, Phil wants to be an action star, perhaps with his girlfriend Angel Locsin as leading lady (whose name is embroidered on his soccer shoes). His idol is David Beckham. The Younghusbands’ late mother was a Filipina.
• Mark Andrew Hartmann, 19 (Jan. 20, 1992, Southampton, United Kingdom). Team and position: Loyola Meralco Sparks, midfielder. Half-Filipino, he’s younger than his brothers Matt and Darren who are his teammates.
• Misagh Medina Bahadoran, 25 (Jan. 10, 1987, Mabalacat, Pampanga), a Dentistry graduate from CEU (he has yet to take the board exams). Team and position: Global FC, forward (has been playing football since he was seven years old). The middle among five children of an Iranian father and a Kapampangan mother, blue-eyed Misagh loves cookies, snow-boarding and the movie Tangled.
• Carli Olaivar de Murga, 23 (Nov. 30, 1988, El Puerto de Sta. Maria, Spain). Team and position: Global FC, midfielder. He used to play for third division club Racing Club Portuense in Spain. His father is Spanish and his mother is a Filipina from Quezon City.
• Angel Aldeguer Guirado, 27 (Dec. 9, 1984, Malaga, Spain). Team and position, Global FC, midfielder. He has joined many football clubs in Spain, including CE Mataro in Division B, Deportivo, and Tercera Division before joining Global FC in August last year. His father is Spanish and his mother is Filipina. (Note: All five of them were with the team that played at the opening of the United Football League at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last Saturday, covered live exclusively by aktv on IBC 13.)
Okay. Let the “game” begin!
• Lights on or lights off?
Phil: Off and on, off and on, flickering!
Mark: Lights on but dim.
Misagh: Lights on and lights off after. Hahahaha!
Carli: Of course, lights on! My girlfriend is pretty and I want to see her face all the time.
Angel: Dark, lights off!
…and with (from left) artist Emerson Salvador, proofreader Honey Orio-Escullar, Assistant Entertainment Editor Nathalie Tomada and your columnist.
• Clothes on or clothes off (when sleeping)?
Phil: Clothes on. I always turn the air-con to “high cool.”
Mark: Partly off. Underwear only.
Misagh: Clothes off.
Carli: Clothes on.
Angel: Clothes off.
• (With) music on or off?
Phil: Music on. What kind of music? It depends on the mood.
Mark: Music on…quietly!
Misagh: Music on. Metallic music. Hahahaha!
Carli: Sometimes on, sometimes off.
Angel: Music off.
• Turns on, turns off?
Phil: On, mabait, kind and loving…Off, mayabang o bastos.
Mark: On, loving and caring…Off, hmmmmm, nothing!
Misagh: On, pretty face…Off, mayabang.
Carli: On, girl with black hair, smaller than me and with big boobs…Off, girls taller than me.
Angel: On, anything that walks…Off, anything that doesn’t walk.
• On (with a girl) or off?
Phil: Of course, on…with Angel who’s very genuine, one of the most amazing persons I’ve ever met... We’re into a serious relationship.
Mark: On, with a girl who lives here; I met her here.
Misagh: On, with an Iranian girl, a dentistry student.
Carli: On, with a Spanish girl who looks like a Filipina. She’s now in Spain.
Angel: On, with a Spanish girl who’s in Spain.
Kris and company a hit among Pinoys in NYC
Here’s a report from Funfare’s New York-based “beauty expert” Felix Manuel:
Star bakasyonistas in New York City (from left) Raymond Gutierrez, Liz Uy, Kris Aquino, Richard Gutierrez and John ‘Sweet’ Lapus captured for posterity by Funfare’s NYC-based ‘beauty expert’ Felix Manuel (inset, with Sweet, his friend and former UST batchmate).
Pinoys in New York had a great time welcoming the New Year. Star sightings, both local and international, have been reported all over the city. I was with my friends welcoming New Year at Times Square where Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber performed. But the biggest thrill for me was witnessing the scene at St. Patrick’s Cathedral after the 5 p.m. New Year’s Eve Mass, where Kris Aquino, John “Sweet” Lapus and Gutierrez twins Richard and Raymond were in attendance. I was there to meet my dearest friends Sweet (a batchmate in UST; he’s an HRM graduate and I, Nursing; Sweet was a co-worker at ABS-CBN during the 1994 Miss Universe Pageant) and TV/film director Erick Salud who were billeted in the same hotel where Kris and her kids and Liz Uy were staying.
Many Filipinos were at St. Patrick’s. During the Mass and the communion, people recognized the celebrities present (thanks to TFC and GMA Pinoy TV). Minutes before the Mass was finished, our kababayan started trooping to the left side door of the cathedral where the celebrities were seated. They were all over the stars outside of the cathedral. The stars were flattered by the attention. Seeing celebrities from home made some of the older people cry. Kris was overwhelmed when people congratulated her for the success of her film Segunda Mano.
Sweet introduced me to Kris, one of my favorite stars! I regretted not being able to have a picture with her because other fans were ahead of me on the line. I was speechless when Kris told me, “Ikaw ‘yung crazy sa mga pageants; you are the beauty pageant expert!” The Gutierrez twins were mobbed as well especially by the younger women. They were accommodating and I am sure many of their fans left feeling more love and admiration for them.
Because of the big crowd following stars along the streets, I lost track of Sweet and Erick. We saw each other only two days later!
(E-mail reactions at entphilstar@yahoo.com. You may also send your questions to askrickylo@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos visit http://www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on http://www.twitter/therealrickylo.) -
