Anne Curtis: Showbiz’s passion

by Nickie Wang

Anne Curtis was 12 years old when she accompanied her father, an Australian lawyer, to the Philippines, where he decided to move and settle. Her mother, a Filipina, stayed in Australia to look after the kids.

Anne was clueless of what the future awaited her in her mother’s native land, but eventually she felt comfortable and now considers the country her home.

This year, Anne celebrates her 13th year in show business with a booming television and movie career. The 25 year-old actress, host, and model admits that before she reached her status, as one of the most desired and bankable local stars, it was a tough struggle, “There were times that I had no projects and literally jobless,” she confesses.

She started as a child star (in the TV series TGIS and Anna Karenina and in a movie titled Magic Kingdom) and her transition to a serious actress was not easy. Like other celebrities who began a career at an early age, Anne had to face the reality that keeping her star bright is not going to be rainbows and butterflies.

“One of the things I have learned from my father is that patience and perseverance will take you somewhere. Everything was a trial and error but I waited for my time and worked hard,” she muses.

Anne appeared in more than 15 movies, latest of which is a film titled In Your Eyes that also features her former flame Richard Gutierrez and new Kapuso talent Claudine Barretto.

In an event sponsored by feminine napkin brand Whisper, Anne said that it is an honor to work with Claudine but failed to comment if she enjoyed working with Richard. Instead, she mentioned that she enjoys the company of Jericho Rosales and Jake Cuenca. Incidentally, she has an upcoming series with the two ace actors on ABS-CBN called Green Rose.

Her stint on television became more noticeable when she starred in a television series Kampanerang Kuba. Her role as a hunchbacked bell ringer became her ticket to other starring roles in the Kapamilya network like Dyosa and The Wedding. Although the latter’s reception was poor, Anne was still able to snatch other projects that made her ubiquitous on television until now.

In every project, she meets different people and that’s the main reason why she considers showbiz as her passion. She loves hosting, dancing, acting and interacting with people in the showbiz world. When asked if she can leave showbiz for love her quick answer was just a laugh and proceeded to one of the questions regarding her leading men, and as expected, gave a safe and very showbiz answer:

“It’s hard to compare one leading man to another. I’ve worked with many but I must say that I had a different chemistry built with every one of them. I consider Sam [Milby] as the funniest person to be with while on the set.”

Are you a mean beer drinker?

Some experts say that a beer a day may raise the risk of several cancers, some studies on the other hand, support drinking one beer per day because it may lower risk of cardiovascular diseases. I’m not an expert so I will just leave it to your judgment. But of course, we always have to keep in mind that everything in excess is bad so the caution of drinking moderately is highly advised or if you are really concerned and undecided, then better not drink at all.

Beer drinking was the center of the attention when members of the media (multi-media) were invited to the annual San Miguel Brewery National Beer Drinking Competition held in San Miguel by the Bay in Mall of Asia on Aug. 3.

Forty-five scribes, broadcasters, and bloggers pushed their limits to beat last year’s record and win more than one hundred thousand pesos worth of cash. The same competition was staged in Iloilo, and Cebu and will be staged as well in Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City on Aug. 27 and 28, respectively.

The media edition is a prelude to the 11th Consumer Edition, which attracts more 300,000 beer drinkers annually, slated late this year with more than two million pesos worth of cash to be given away. For try-outs and details, call 6322337 or log on to http://www.smbtakesyoutothephilippines.com.ph.

Revisiting Ready or Not

One year ago, singer and rapper Young JV launched the Ready or Not album in hope to be the next RnB and hip-hop sensation on the local music scene. Since then we have not heard much from the 15-track record. Now here comes the repackaged limited edition of the same album which includes an original composition inspired by the then presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino, the song is called “Lipad Noypi, Lipad Noynoy.” In addition from the bonus track it also comes with four music videos in a separate DVD.

So far, Ready or Not has produced three singles namely “That Girl, Shake Shake,” and “Can’t Get Enough,” which are actually the highlights of the CD. They were heard on the air waives for quite a while but not strong enough to make JV a certified music artist. The album didn’t even turn into a gold record (PolyEast could have given away press releases had it happened).

We revisited the album and here’s what we have found out: it has a lot of potential; the artist is a prolific newcomer; and the album should be given more attention.

Young JV’s album is highly influenced by American hip-hop, it emanates from every track. We have to applaud the young rapper for personally composing each song included in the album but he could have improved his music by incorporating local flavor. Filipinos will not buy something they already hear from foreign musicians.

The theme of the album is limited to boy and girl attraction, dancing, and juvenile swagger (now we know why Young JV settled to be a member of bubblegum boy band, A-Pop). The words shorty, dance, and club have been extravagantly used. Good thing he included two songs in local vernacular titled “Kapayapaan” and “Kaibigan Lang.”

Young JV’s vocal quality soothes the genre he chose, the tracks are easy to listen to and will definitely make someone snaps his fingers or even groove with the dancy tunes. On the other hand, Ready or Not could have been more ready if it didn’t lack the punch of a mature artist, though it’s already good enough to say that Young JV is more than ready to make a name of his own.