When your favorite team wins the biggest prize in the game after 24 years of hard luck and near-tragedy you’re supposed to rejoice, get smashed, and bask in the knowledge that at least once in your lifetime the universe gets it right.
You’re not supposed to be sitting there wondering why you’re less happy than you thought you would be. What is wrong with you?
The All Blacks of New Zealand have just won the Rugby World Cup they have long deserved, defeating Les Bleus of France. The final was so tense that in the last 40 minutes the sinking feeling in your stomach made its way to your soles, anchoring you to the floor like a pillar of dread. You thought the All Blacks were going to lose the World Cup again, and even after the horn had sounded to confirm that they’d hung on by the skin of their bleeding teeth, you’re not entirely convinced that they won.
And it was always going to be the All Blacks, but Les Bleus got all French and did the last thing we wanted them to do: nearly win. Not a fun game to watch, we were too tense to shriek, and our favorites were outplayed individually but were too strong collectively. (Uhh…that’s why it’s a team sport?) That is the end of our Fremen field trip among the Sardaukar, we are officially rugbied out. Back to Books, Movies and Cats!
Best post-RWC final dinner: Andresa’s ostrich cheeseburgers and Cabernet.
The world is especially awesome because the All Blacks defeated the Wallabies 20-6 in a ferocious semifinal at the Rugby World Cup. How vicious was it? We’ve never seen so much blood in a match. For sheer drama you can’t beat the sight of Cory Jane and company with blood streaming down their faces. It was literally a matter of life and death.
New Zealand meets France on Sunday (1600 Manila time), while Australia battles Wales for third place on Friday (1530 Manila time). It’s a repeat of the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, which the host New Zealand won.
Regatta and the Discovery Channel have teamed up to produce “The World Is Just Awesome” shirts. Six designs in 2-3 colors, all proclaiming your appreciation for our planet. Yeah they look better on Jon, we have no complaints.
by the Gaz News Network. Please link to this page; do not copy/paste.
Last Sunday at the GMA studios we gave Gaz a short history of Philippine television. “See that? That’s German Moreno. He’s an institution. Many of the biggest stars in the Philippines got their break on his TV shows. In the 80s he was host of GMA Supershow every Sunday and That’s Entertainment every day. People thought ‘GMA’ meant ‘German Moreno & Associates’. Also, the National Museum should do a retrospective of his outfits.”
Caption this. Best caption gets a prize. (It’s a surprise!)
We watched Party Pilipinas live in the studio, close enough to the stage to feel the heat, literally. There were flames shooting out of the stage.
Cute guy alert. He can dance. Hey it’s hotdog pitchman Aljur Abrenica.
Then we waited in the upstairs dressing rooms as Gaz was interviewed on the entertainment talk show Showbiz Central. Here is the boss of Team Gaz looking on.
Straight from the studio we rushed to SM City in Masinag for his meet-and-greet and rugby demo for the kids of ChildHope Asia. ChildHope is a non-profit organization securing social justice for children and young people in Africa, Asia and South America.
The event was hosted by Mico Aytona, who is recording his first album. It will contain original material and remakes of OPM hits. We recommended that he sing those Hajji Alejandro Pinoy versions of American pop hits like Panakip Butas and Tag-Araw. Special guest Ogie Alcasid sang a song.
The kids had a great time, and so did Gaz who would rather teach rugby to kids all day than appear in a musical number. Thanks to Team Gaz and ChildHope Asia for making this happen. After this very long day we all had dinner at Max’s Fried Chicken and Gaz learned what “bagoong” is.
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Gaz factoids
1. His favorite clothing brand is AllSaints.
2. World Cup prediction: “Wales has an even chance against France.”
3. He can sing “Chim chiminey Chim chiminey Chim chim cher-oo” from Mary Poppins.
Gaz is flying back to Japan this morning to prepare for the next round of matches with his team, Kyuden Voltex. “I had a great time in Manila. This is all new to me and I’m actually sad to be leaving. Thank you everyone. See you soon.”
Have a safe trip, Gaz! See you very soon, on a billboard if not in person.
by the Gaz News Network. Please link to this post; do not cut and paste.
We’re having technical problems so the photos will be posted later. Here’s the trailer.
Last month when the Gareth Holgate media blitz was being organized we informed Gareth Holgate of the planned guest appearance on Party Pilipinas, the Sunday variety show on GMA-7.
“Can you sing with Solenn Heussaff and Lovi Poe?” we asked.
“No way I’m going to sing on TV,” Gaz said.
“Can you dance with Solenn and Lovi?”
“No way I’m going to dance on TV.”
“Can you play guitar while Solenn and Lovi sing?”
“I’m not good enough to play guitar on TV.”
“What are you going to do, stand there while Solenn and Lovi sing at you?”
“I can do that!”
And that’s what he did today.
The wonderful choreographers of Party Pilipinas devised some very basic steps for him which he could execute easily enough in rehearsal, but he did not feel comfortable doing anything that might be construed as dancing on national TV. As we do not wish our friends to hurl on-camera, all hip-centric movements were removed, leaving a literal walk-on. Solenn, Lovi, the Party Pilipinas dancers, fire and smoke did all the work; Gaz’s assignment was to stand there in a tank top and jeans and smile.
And that is how Gaz Holgate was introduced to the general Filipino public.
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We’ve acquired a new respect for our homegrown performers after seeing Party Pilipinas live in the studio. Clearly the days when you could plonk a random good-looking mestizo/mestiza in front of a camera and make them move their lips to a recorded track while shuffling left and right are gone.
These guys can dance. Not all of them have great voices, but when they have to sing they do it with verve and conviction. Hard work overcomes all deficiencies. They’re professionals. (Fortunately Gaz is not going to do this for a living. He already has a career.)
So showbiz is no longer the quick and easy way for the pretty and white to make big bucks. You’d better have something extraordinary. You’d better be compelling. You have to sing and dance better than the average Pinoy on the street, and you know Pinoys rule at this. We are the people who watch American Idol and X-Factor and say, “Ha? Yan lang? Mas magaling pa yung tindero ng kwek-kwek diyan sa kanto.”
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Conversation of the day
Them: I would never do anything like that (i.e. Appear in a production number on a variety show with the two hottest women in showbiz).
Us: Yeah, who asked you?
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The We’ll Make This About Ourself Department: Any day that requires us to crawl out of bed 3 hours early after a day of hurling our guts out (food poisoning) in order to assuage people’s fear and doubt while missing two quarterfinal matches of the Rugby World Cup is a hellish day. This is why we work alone, as we keep reminding people and they keep not listening. We would have imploded without the help of Bubbles Magpayo, Leo Dominguez and his staff, JJ Henson, Jon Morales, Noel Flowers, and our super-cool BFF. Thanks.
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