It’s Valentine Week.
Do you know where your heart is? Will it be a red-hot or a red-alert day?
Pinoys celebrate Feb. 14 with so much fervor that it could very well be a national holiday. While we are caught up in the love month frenzy, here’s the second part of my forum on celebrities’ favorite romantic movies and the lessons they’ve learned from it.
I love “500 Days of Summer.” It’s not your typical cheesy movie, yet it touches you in all the right places.
The Joseph Gordon Levitt-Zooey Deschanel starrer shows us that there’s a thin line between friendship and love. And there are feelings that may seem wrong but are nonetheless real.
We all have our own love stories to tell. It doesn’t just happen in the movies. In our minds, we are either Romeo or Juliet. Here’s to happy endings long after V-day is over!
Vilma Santos
“Love Story”
It teaches us about unconditional love. Who can ever forget the classic line from the film, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry?” Sometimes even before our partners say sorry, we already forgive them because we love them. If love is true, apologies are unnecessary.
Martin Nievera
“Bruce Almighty”
I hate romantic movies. They always make me cry for reasons that I can not explain in one article. But in the movie, “Bruce Almighty,” I was slapped in the face with the reality that love cannot survive in a relationship where (in this case) the man is more in love with career, ambition and dreams. The adventure of life should be shared and love should grow and survive from there. Men especially in our business forget that the women in our lives have dreams, too. We cannot always dominate a conversation by belly-aching about dreams not yet fulfilled. Their dreams and even their stories should matter to us. Not even the magic of the Almighty can keep you together if you keep yourselves apart by putting pride above passion.
Lani Mercado
“Titanic”
Love is saving the one you love, being able to sacrifice your life for the one you love. Funny, I watched this movie before March 25, 1998, my church wedding. I had second thoughts about getting married. Wedding jitters, I suppose. But through the years, Bong (Revilla, her senator-husband) has proven how much he loves me. It’s not perfect but who says love and life are perfect? What is important is what a person can do to prove their love just like in “Titanic.”
Eugene Domingo
“My Valentine Girls”
Allow me to love my own. I did a comedy film for V-day, “My Valentine Girls.” I was the leading lady of Richard Gutierrez in the third episode, “Gunaw” by Chris Martinez. When you feel like it’s the end of the world, it’s never too late to find your Prince Charming and when you do, he would truly make you feel that you’re the only girl in the world. Like Ivy, I learned that one should never give up.
Tintin Bersola-Babao
“Casablanca,” “Father of the Bride,” “Love Affair” and “The American President”
I love these films because they talk about many kinds of love. “Father of the Bride” focuses on parental love. The protective dad lets go of his daughter in order to give her the happiness and freedom she deserves. My other three fave films are about undying love. It shows that love transcends time, age and political affiliations.
Grace Lee
“Sweet November”
It taught me that love is selfless in giving. That we should love not because we expect something in return but simply because we need and want the happiness and betterment of the other. Also, it’s a choice we make every day after falling in love. It requires constant effort, sacrifice and understanding to stay with those we truly love.
Marvin Agustin
“50 First Dates”
It taught me how to value love each day you are together no matter how difficult the situation is. Give everything you’ve got. Love conquers all.
Pinoy Media Congress
Beyond information and education, the role of media is to serve and love the country. This was the key message imparted to about 700 student delegates at the 8th edition of ABS-CBN’s “Pinoy Media Congress.”
Top-billed by Kapamilya Network chair Gabby Lopez, the congress featured 20 industry experts explaining the essence of media work to young mass communicators.
It coincided with the launch of “EL3: In the Service of the Filipino Worldwide,” a collection of speeches and stories by Lopez.
The book is now available at the Studio Tours & Shop inside the network’s compound. Patriotism was emphasized as they urged Pinoys to upload their videos and photos about the country through www.choosephils.com.
The annual congress, a joint project with the Philippine Association for Communication Educators, has been awarded by the Philippine Quill Awards and the Anvil awards for helping mold the next generation of mass communicators in the country.
Here’s to media that’s not “medya-medya.” The ABS-CBN congress is meant for media to reach its full potential.