STILL on Marian Rivera, the raging talk in Tinseltown is her video on YouTube titled with the word “scandal.” But it shows her not in some—God forbid—lewd copulation scene or anything of the sort.

Instead, it shows her fuming mad against some man whom she caught taking a video with a hand-held camera. It was in the midst of a shoot of GMA’s top-rating Dyesebel and, according to Marian and GMA execs, it’s a strict on-set rule—which applies even to the staff—not to take videos or pictures of the artistas.

Marian is shown barking at the culprit for making like a video documentarist, or something to that effect. The guy with the videocam, who we shall not name because he might get another 15 minutes of fame, retorted to Marian in a nasty tone: “Wala kang pakialam, hindi naman ikaw kinukunan ko ng video,” or something to that effect.

Now, anybody who gets that kind of treatment, even if you’re not artista, would naturally have blood rushing to the head. Marian explained later on TV that the guy was caught during the taping of a crucial scene in Dyesebel.

“So it’s prohibited to do that because the episode won’t be airing soon. If someone posted that on YouTube, people will know what’s going to happen to Dyesebel, which would be a huge spoiler,” said Marian in Filipino.

But she added that this shouting incident ended well and peacefully. According to Marian, the guy came back the following day and apologized for what he did.

Of course, there are conspiracy theorists out there who are citing how everything unfolded so well, it seemed to have been planned by experts. People are wondering why the confrontation scene between that guy and Marian was caught by a separate videocam? Did someone have prior knowledge of what was going to happen? And why was the scene with the guy apologizing to Marian not videotaped and posted as well?

Conspiracy aficionados speculate that someone could be behind it—or, worse, something as big as a multimedia corporation with more letters in the alphabet to its name than GMA.

With this, Marian’s manager Popoy Caritativo reportedly advised his alaga to be cautious next time when dealing with fans, and to toughen herself up to such schemes. “They’re part of show biz, these ugly orchestrated paninira,” Caritativo was quoted as saying in several print media outlets.

Meanwhile, all of Marian’s coworkers on the set rallied behind her and defended her. Someone even heard her leading man, Dingdong Dantes, advising her, “Sana sinapak mo na lang.” Now that would have been an even bigger tabloid fare.

Richard the lady’s man

WITH Richard Gutierrez and KC Concepcion each having signed one-picture contracts inside the premises of both the Kapamilya and Kapuso playgrounds on two separate occasion it would appear that the nasty war between the two giant multimedia companies has come to an end. Or, at the very least, a truce.

A few days before these signings, there were Gabby Concepcion and the executives of GMA Films agreeing to push through with a movie for which the comebacking actor had earlier signed on the dotted line and had already been partially paid.

But our real concern is that Richard seems to be getting not only the big projects but also the biggest leading ladies old and new. Besides KC, there’s also Heart Evangelista, whose upcoming return to primetime, Codename:Asero, has Richard as her leading man. 

Richard has also romanced Marian Rivera on the big screen via the megahit Valentine offering BFGF. Now with KC, he is on his way to making a reality what must be any high-school boy’s dream.

What’s happening to Dennis Trillo, who is now paired with Katrina Halili in the top-rating afternoon soap Magdusa Ka? What’s happening to JC de Vera, who seems to have lots of promise as another prime male lead but remains to be waiting in the wings?

If Trillo and de Vera are Nos. 2 and 3 in the Kapuso kingdom, naturally there’s nowhere to go but up.

With regards to leading ladies, it seems there are also some spaces to fill up. If not Marian, it’s...who else? No wonder, Judy Ann Santos is aching to cross over. What with the word war happening inside the Kapamilya backyard involving her manager Alfie Lorenzo, Johnny Manahan and Claudine Barretto on the alleged gamitan issue. It might not be long before Judy Ann is paired with Richard.

On that note, all we can say is: Richard, you’re one damned lucky bastard.

Blu-ray awaits its spoils

Blu-ray may have won the format war, but it hasn’t won over many consumers. Now was supposed to be the boom time for the young video technology, pitched as a high-definition replacement for the DVD.

Help file: Sluggish Mac

MY G5 iMac is slow as a dog these days. I have a gigabyte of memory on it, and about 2 GB of space left on its 250-GB hard drive.

A gig of memory should be enough for that computer. It’s the hard drive that’s the problem: It’s not giving the computer enough room to manage its memory.

F&B attendant crowned Ms. Bikini Philippines World

There were 300 aspirants screened nationwide that vied to be the first Slimmers World Ms. Bikini Philippines, who would go on to represent the country in Europe and in China for the world and international competitions, respectively.

Diving into the river

HOW do you keep the flow? How do you go on if people keep on leaving? How do you last longer than your detractors expect you to? For a while, these questions—which sound like addressed to minimum-wage earning Filipinos contemplating on working abroad—kept on pounding the present members of Rivermaya.

Show &Tell: The mermaid flaps her tail

STILL on Marian Rivera, the raging talk in Tinseltown is her video on YouTube titled with the word “scandal.” But it shows her not in some—God forbid—lewd copulation scene or anything of the sort.

The Cordilleras in Black and White

IT was the stunning landscape of Mount Pulag that made Tommy Hafalla decide to pursue photography way back in 1978.

Bencab at Silverlens

Silverlens Gallery is proud to present Related Images, an exhibit of new works by National Artist Benedicto R. Cabrera that opens on May 31, Saturday.

Sydney Pollack, 73; Oscar-winning director and producer

Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of Out of Africa who achieved acclaim making popular, mainstream movies with A-list stars, including The Way We Were and Tootsie, died Monday.