EVERY DE.CADE OR SO, A NEW VER-
--
ionof"Dama" istrouedoutbya movieor
1Vstudio,Whytheabidingpopularityof
the Pinay superheroine from her very
fimincamationasdepicredby Rosadel
Rosario inthel950s7
Through the decades, Dama has
beenponra yedbymanyactresses,in
eluding Vilma San tos, Nanette
Medved , Anjanene Abaya ri-and
eve n Dolphyl The key facto r that has
drawnsomanystarstotheiconicrole
isthefact t hatit'stheftrstFilipinosu-
perheroine character. Consequently,
it'shelpedempowertheimageofthe
Filipina,irrcvocablychangingitfrom
the traditi onal "sweer" and submis-
siveMariaC lara- typetothe moredy
namic,hi gh -flying,two-fisteddefend
eroftheoppressed.
Even Darna·s appearance was re-
garded as image-altering in the 'Sos,
withher"two -piece"costumeempha-
siz ing hercurvesand raisingtheater
temperatures a notch. When sexy
srars like Anjanette and Nanette
played Da ma, the heroine's projec-
tionbecameevenmoredaring.
Creepy villains
Now that Maria n Ri vera is the new
DarnaonTv,however,thec haracter's
lookcan'tbeallthat bare,because
•for general patronage"viewing lim-
itshavetobeobserved. Buttherela-
tivelackofvisualoomphiscompen-
satedforbythenewseries'actionse-
quencesand,evenmoreexotically,by
th ec reepyga ll eryofvillains thatth e
show has whipped up.
There"s Darna's "trad iti onal" foe,
Valentina, but there's also Kobra ,
Babaing Lawin, Babaing Tu od,
BabaingLintaandBabaing lmpakta.
Dama willdefinitelyhaveherhands
fullfendingofftheirviciousassaults
inthecomingweeksandmonrhs!
Toseehowthewholemixplaysom,
we'vebeenwatchingtelecastsofthe
latest"Darna"se ries,awaitingthebig
moment whe n meek Narda is magical
ly transformed into the all-powerful
superheroine,Darna.
Asit turned out, that key moment
wasverylongincom ing,astheshow's
initial week stretched out its story-
tellingromore"excitingly"lea dupro
the "big reveal," which finally hap-
penedroomanyepisodeslater.
lronicall y, theextendedplaythat
th enewseries'first !Oparrsweregiv
en made the mome nt anticlimactic
whenitfinallydidcome.lthappened
very slowly, with a lot of visual and
musicaleffectsbuildingitupevenfur-
ther,uptothepointofsurfeit
Before that big scene, Narda had
tumeddownthehonorofbernmingDar-
na, because she felt she was too weak
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anddidn'thavethecouragerofightall
sons of super- villains who wanted to
ho ldthecountryintheirevilthra ll.But
whenshesawhowsomanypeoplewere
suffering,shehadachangeofheanjust
inthe nickoftime,andwas,ohsoslowly
andtendentiouslytransformedimody-
namicDama-atlonglast!
Butthishappenedonly aft er Marian
hadbeenmadetocryherselfariverof
tears,asshebewailed the los s of her
be lovedheauandh e rbestfriend,
among man y other travails .
Wedon"tknowifMaria n'sextended
cryingjagslastweekwerei ntendedto
affirmheractingta lent,buttheyhad
theoppositeeffect:Theyrevealedber
excesses and limitations.
A better actress would have been
much more selective, limiting he r
emotional brea kdown s toj usttwoor
three,forbetterfocusandhigblight-
ing. Fiveormorecrying scenes done
practically back-to-back are way too
much,forcingtheactresstorepeat
he rselfandgo througbthesameemo-
tional territory -which, sadly,was
whathappenedtoMarian.
The new show's huge ratings may
beabigboosttothestar'scareer,but
he r repura1ionasa thespian hasbeen
circumscribedbytheseandotherinju-
dicio use~cesses. Jt would be great for
he r tobave t hebestofbothworlds,
butforthattohappen,shehastode-
mandmorefromherselfandhermen-
torsintermsofdramaticrathe r 1han
melodramaticperformance,andgen-
uineunderstandingofcharacter,mo-
ti vat ionandbelievableemotion.
Cinde rella
Jessie Lucas' "Cinderella," written
by Den ni s Teodosio and directed by
Tony Espejo, is now being presented
by Gantimpala Theater as a Filipino
children's musical, with Ka1hlee n
He r mosa in the title role. Call 8 19-
5745.
Lea Salonga
OnDec. llandl2, LeaSa longa per-
formsatthePICCPlenaryHa!linacon-
cen aptly titled, "Lea salonga ... Your
SOngs."Leawillsingyourrequestsasshe
performs together with the FILHannoni-
ka orchestra Ai Ai de las Alas, Richard
Poon and tbe award-winning Philippine
AIJStarsdancers.
SH@flH
_- , ----i.,
CtNEl"Ll'JI 4'
.
11~ 1'1,10, us,100
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11~,UO. l i'0,1<60,900
tDO,Ul llflUNO
t.ANOOlfllfElOIIT
12.10,l.')0
•~r,n11-.n
12:15, 220.4,2!,U5.9:00
flliAl.0£STVIATl0fU
FIIW.OES1lN"'KINt
Ul>J:15
12:~.210.4tS, l.2!1.I~
{J9i;¥.rlf~ ,.',~ ;•,•.
" LIGTAS l..ikas" aims to motivate children (and tMir pvfllts) to practice recycli"I and propN- waste managemNit.
3 channels to air toon feature
By HarinelR. Cruz andTorang,thenarureworshipper. as an educational tool.~
Together they fight enemies of the Freecopiesof"LigrnsLikas,"the
"U GTAS U KAS," AN ANIMATED envi ronment and ultimately pre- interactive game and workbooks,
fearureproducedbyCreativeMedia serve therainforestandprotecrth e willbegivento37publicelemen
andFilmSocietyofthePhilippines, ocean against pollution. taryschools,saidLegarda."lt'sa
will be aired in three animation The film wants to motivate chil- completeeducarionalkirwhichstu-
satellite 1V networks - Hero, Ani- dren to practice recycling and prop- dent.scanleaminonesemester,"the
max and Knowledge Channel, er waste management, said Marcos. senator explained.
CreaM president lmeeMarrosan- "Today'schildrenareveryinvolved
nouncedlastweek. insegregation.Whetherweadmitit Not easy
ornot,childrenareeasier toteach Marcos,whohasbeeninvotvedin
Volunteers than adults,"sheJXlinredout. animationandchildren'sshowpro-
1llesechannels volumeered to According to Marcos, the Philip- ductionsincethe 1970s,saidmak-
show the movie because they want pinesisthefirstcounrrytocomeup ingthismoviewasmugh. "Lackof
10 help promote origi nal Filipino withaninteractivepackag-•man- budgetwasourfirstconcern.lttook
content," said Marcos during the imatedmovieandacomputergame awhile for Loren to come up with
"Ligtasl.ikas"premiererecently at with the same them-for which enoughfunding.Thesecondbiggest
the Sbangri-La Cineplex in Man- China and Thailand bavealsotaken problem was manpower. Since our
daluyongCity. artdirectorsandwritersareverytal-
The25-minutefilmiswrittenby ented,foreignoompanieshirethem.
Marcos, Peter Mayshle and Ann An- Free copies Nawowolan komi ng mo. What we
gala Shy. Jt is a collaboration of "We brought this to Hong Kong donowisjustkeeptrainingyoung
CreaMandSCn.LorenLegarda,au- Filmart [in March 2009]. There people."
thor ofthe Ecological Waste Man- werealotofinquiries,"Marcostold Animated movies on agriculture
agememAcr. INQU!RF.R Emertainmem. "People and climate change are already in
"LigtasLikas"is the story of a can't believe th~t computer games, theworks,Legardaannounced.
young girl named Maya and her somerhingrhatparentsa ndreachers
friendsBobot,thecompactor-robot, haveleamedtohate,amldbeused E-mail mcruz@inquirer.rom.ph
AlZA Seguern: ln1ense NINA:Soaringsoprano
'Sessionistas' of another persuasion
ByPocholoConcepcion :~~~it:h!°:e•.!~~c:.:.r~~'.
of fun, was wholesome compared to
thecheapjokesthattheotbers, in
THE TERM SESSJONISTA REFERS tion numbers. It was a bit of a shock theirspiels,crackedaboutSeguer-
to musicians who are so good in
theircraftthatthey'realwayshired
toseefuon-hypedas"thecounrry's
number one big baOO crooner"
ra'ssexualoricmarion.
Host talented
:~J{el:!~:~~~:.;:~;~~~s~(. ~\::,?~';:t~~~·~u~~'.t~~~t In the solo spots, Seguerra
tenheardinthejauscene.Fore~ it,burifrhepurposewastoptove emergedasthemosttalemed-dis-
ample, saxophonist Tots Tolenti- his versa1iliry, the imp=ion playinginrensityonacousricguitar
whilecoveringtheEraserheadsand
no and ba ss player Simon madewassuperficial
~i;tg;i:1~~~~~~t~~;~y
1V show "ASAP," it has been
REvlEW veryN:11a::l~eli= Goog00Dollswithreal.asionis1w;
guitarist Mike Villegas (formerly of
ballads-Ninawithher soar- Color II Red and Rizal Under-
adoptedas 1hecollecrivename
ofsixindividualpopacts-
ingsopranoinHeart's"Alone," ground), percussionist Buddeths
Sittiwithhergutsytakeon4 Casinto (Kalayo) and violinist
JonathanUrbano(Mirahel).
MYMP, Nina, Richard Jwn, Aiza NonBlondes'"What'sUp?"
e SCguerra, Sitti and Duncan Ramos The crowd cheered lustily in an- ~nwasinrerestingwhcnheex-
- who perform t0gerher in a fi~ed other segment where Nina again plained hisstyle("I singstandards
segment. OnFridaynight,theyheld s1oodoutonaslowversionofLady withbigbandmusic")andproceed
aconcertattheAranetaCo!iseum. Gaga's "Poker Face," while fuon edtoweaveastorylineinhisjaued-
Viewerslovethegroup's1Vstint cruisedalongtoJasonMraz."s"Love up Engelbert Humperdinckmedley.
But how good were they on a huge Bug,"afterwhichhestoleakissfrom Still,it'stooearlytotellwhetherhe
stage?ltwas hardtotellintheearly Seguerra.Thekiss,done inthespirit can rise beyond mimicking Frank
SinatraandMichaelBuble.
Humorous bent
Asforlheothers:Wereitnotfor
JurisFcmandez'sperkyMileyCyrus
imp=ion on "7 Things I Hate
About You" and Chin Alcamara's
wailing guitar on Tee1h's "Laklak,"
MYMP would've been boring. And
for Ramos to live up to his "R&B
master"billing,hewouldneedmore
thanjustdanceandsingfalsettolike
ablackdude.
ThoughSittisportedaslightlyre-
visedtag-"bossanovadiva"instead
oftheprevious"queen"-itwasstill
hardforher tocopewiththeshow's
energy. Sheflubbedalineinher
OPM duet with SCguerra, but she
was more effective when singing
bossanovawithTagaloglyrics.
At best, !he Sessionistas of 1V
fame could likewise distinguish
themselvesasanactwithahumor-
ousbent-asaptlydemonsrratedby
fuonandSeguerra'srollickingren-
ditionof"Laklak"andthe ltchy
worms'"Beer."