Flicker shots

GRANDE. No time to waste. AFP PHOTO

Youth is of the essence in the entertainment world, so Ariana Grande isn’t wasting any time! She’s aiming for stardom while still quite young.

To make sure that she’s good and ready when her big break comes, Ariana’s been taking all sorts of lessons for years. So, when she recently guested on US TV to plug her latest recording, she amazed viewers with her precociously professional song-and-dance performance.

Clearly, Ariana is the latest Latina talent headed for the top, following in the footsteps of Jennifer Lopez and other, older comers.

In fact, her ascent to stardom has been even more impressive than theirs, because her latest single became a certified hitjust hours after it was released!

FERRARI. Will he get his own cooking show?

Good looks

On the local show biz scene, there are many number of tween and teen talents similarly trying to make itbut, the one who caught our eye recently hasn’t even made a formal bid to join show biz! Well, she should, because her good looks and strong and textured singing voice could make her a standout.

We’re talking about Samantha, the young daughter of Sunshine Cruz and Cesar Montano.

Recently guesting with her mom on TV, Samantha was prevailed upon to sing just an excerpt of a song, and she bowled us over with her very interesting vocal timbreand her dusky complexion also makes her stand out in a field of boringly tisay starlets.

Let’s hope that a savvy producer launches Samantha as a singer this year, because her unique persona and talent make her a good bet for stardom in 2015. As for mom Sunshine, her marriage to Cesar is history, but she isn’t moping about it, and has definitely moved on. We see her acting on the small screen from time to time, and we hope that she will also revive her singing career.

SALDANA. Distinct possibilities for “Avatar” sequels. AFP PHOTO

New chef on the block

Cooking shows are popular on TV these days, so many chefs now strut their stuff on the small screen, with Chef Boy Logro pacing the field in terms of masa popularity.

But, don’t look now, the “comical” cook has new competition in young and good-looking Chef Dino Ferrari, who recently came up with a new “sinigang con piña” recipe that he cooked on the morning show, “Unang Hirit.”

The program’s female cohosts were visibly tickled pink to interact with a young chef who spoke well, obviously knew what he was doing, and looked good, besides!

GERONIMO AND MARTIN. Team up in “Maybe This Time.”

Will Chef Dino get his own cooking show on GMA Network channel soon? That’s a yummy proposition. . .

Guinea pigs

The “Unang Hirit” telecast was also made interesting by the show’s hosts’ readiness to become “guinea pigs” for two new “apps” that comically fiddled around with their looks.

The first app was called “Uglify,” because it aged the hosts’ faces to a really “ancient” extent. The hosts were both shocked and tickled to see themselves as they would look maybe 50 years from now!

Some people can’t handle this: Many years ago, Manila Chronicle art director and cartoonist Liborio Gatbonton was tasked to do a “future imperfect” sketch of the then first lady as an old womanand all heck broke loose! It’s such a relief to see that the “UH” hosts don’t take themselves quite as seriously!

‘Avatar’ sequel

Zoe Saldana made fans of “Avatar” happy recently, when she shared on TV that there are firm plans to shoot another “Avatar” film, still with James Cameron on top of things.

In fact, she even intimated that a third and fourth “Avatar” spectacular were distinct possibilities“crazy-making” news for the hit film’s many avid fans!

After all, it didn’t end up as the top-grossing film of all time just by whistling Dixie! So, the sci-fi franchise’s fans are over the moon with the yummy prospect of watching “Avatar 2”perhaps as soon as two years from now?

Anthony Benedetto

Our recent piece on celebrities who are also visual artists has elicited a request for more details on veteran signing icon Tony Bennett’s burgeoning art career. Happy to oblige:

It turns out that Bennett loved sketching even as a kid, so when his performing career started to slide into more easygoing maturity, he focused on his “alternative” artistic impulse, and came up with paintings that are so good that they fetch top prices, and some of them have even ended up in prestigious collections.

Bennett’s name as a painter is Anthony Benedetto (his real name, in fact), and Benedetto canvasses have been bought by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton and Donald Trumpand some have even ended up in the National Portrait Gallery and the United Nations collection! Bennett may already be in his 80s, but his artistic expressiveness is clearly not going to dry up tomorrow!

More movies

On the local entertainment scene, the good news is that more “combination indie and maindie” films are being made and shown these days. This month alone, we’ve caught the Tom Rodriguez-Carla Abellana starrer, “So It’s You,” and Sarah Geronimo and Coco Martin’s rom-com, “Maybe This Time,” is about to start its run.

Add to them other new productions like “She’s Dating The Gangster,” “Once A Princess” and “Lumayo Ka Nga Sa Akin” and you’ll be convinced that the “slumping” local movie industry is finally getting over its decade-long decline!