Daredevil

 

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) - Kyra Sedgwick has enjoyed a long career in Hollywood since her first work in the mid-1980s in small roles on U.S. television and later in low-budget films such as 1990’s "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge."

For years, Sedgwick, 42, had seen her career overshadowed by husband Kevin Bacon, with whom she has two children. But in 2005, U.S. cable network TNT began airing "The Closer," a crime drama starring Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, an Atlanta cop who moves to Los Angeles to become deputy police chief.

Johnson has a thick southern accent (Sedgwick was born in New York) and the show was a departure for the actress whose roles mostly had been confined to small, low-budget dramas like 2002 Sundance Film Festival favorite "Personal Velocity."

But "The Closer" became a breakout hit, with last season’s finale drawing 10 million viewers — a large amount for a U.S. cable TV show. A new season begins on July 14 and Sedgwick talked with Reuters about the show, her role and her career.

Q: Brenda Leigh can be a tough cop but she also has this human side. We see her deal with her fiance and her family. Is that a key to the show’s success — that not only is it a cop drama but it also lets you inside these people’s lives?

A: I think it’s the key to the success of the show and it’s certainly the only reason why I’m in it. To me, it’s much more a character-driven piece than a plot-driven piece. I think it’s what separates us and makes people always come back.

Q: The upcoming season is the show’s fourth. How do you think Brenda has changed or grown over the years?

A: One interesting thing about Brenda is she doesn’t grow and change that much. While she is brilliantly intuitive about other people, she is completely clueless about herself and is not interested in evolving as an emotional person at all. Her resistance to that is really interesting to watch.

Q: Is that what has been rewarding, creatively, that you’ve been able to take this character and dig into her and try to figure out what makes her tick, when in fact you really don’t know what makes her tick?

A: Definitely. While I know how she reacts to things, I don’t necessarily know why she reacts. She has so many complications and conflicting parts and is such a mass of contradictions. There are so many things to play.

Q: You won a Golden Globe award for the role and you’ve called the show "a gift" many times. Why?

A: It really is the gift that keeps on giving. It’s been a surprise to live in a character this long and still be enjoying it. It was something I was never looking for and it was something I never expected. That’s why I think of it as a gift because I didn’t know it was coming.

The fact I get consistently nominated for stuff is fun and a real honor for me. That feels really good to go up there with people who are considered the very best at what they do and that feels really good and supportive for work that I would love to do and would do anyway.

Q: In Hollywood, we talk a lot about how difficult it is to get a female-driven movie made and wondering if you think that’s true and why?

A: I definitely think that’s true. For whatever reason, male-centric movies have made the big dollar amounts at (box offices).

Q: Does that same idea apply to TV?

A: I don’t think so. Right now, it’s really the place to be. Glenn Close, Mary Louise Parker. A lot of these shows are doing really well.

Q: Finally, you’re a producer on "The Closer," which gives you some creative input beyond just acting, but have you ever wanted to direct?

A: Never. But, you know, never say never. I produce periodically. But I don’t think like a director. I don’t think of camera moves or cutting or editing or any of that.

 

NEW YORK - Benjamin Bratt remembers first hearing the concept for "The Cleaner." It grabbed him, "however unbelievable I found it to be."

Months later, he read the pilot script and saw the possibilities in this new A&E drama series. He liked how it’s part serialized portrait, part procedural. As for a heroin-addict hero whose last-ditch bid for recovery calls for him to help other addicts get clean, well, this "extreme interventionism" still had Bratt scratching his head.

"In my first meeting with the co-creators, Jonathan Prince and Robert Munic, I asked them, `How do you think audiences are gonna take to the idea? It seems a little outside the realm of possibility.’

"And they said, ‘It happens to be based on a real guy’ — Warren Boyd, who happens to be a co-producer of the show."

As William Banks (the character Boyd inspired), Bratt leads an ill-assorted trio of other former users, a sort of A-Team (as in "addicts") who’ll do almost anything, even at their own risk, to save their addict-in-need.

On the home front, Banks is a veteran of jail terms and rehab who loves his wife and two kids but neglects them. He sees his mission as "the cleaner" as a pact made with God, a sacred calling that comes before everything. Maybe he has traded one addiction for another.

"A case is opened and closed each week," says Bratt, whose show premieres 10 p.m. EDT Tuesday. "But that’s not the whole thrust. It’s balanced by this idiosyncratic, complex character: As good as William Banks wants to be — and is, in his chosen profession — he’s far less effective as a husband and father.

"That’s what excites me the most, playing that home stuff!"

In recent years, Bratt, 44, has been seen in a variety of films including "Traffic," "Love in the Time of Cholera," "Miss Congeniality" and as the poet-playwright Miguel Pinero in "Pinero," which he calls his "proudest piece of work." (It’s also how he met Talisa Soto, a co-star of the 2001 film and his wife of six years.)

In 2005 he starred in the identity-muddled NBC drama "E-Ring" (which, in its few episodes, drifted from a Pentagon version of "The West Wing" to a globe-trotting thriller). Earlier this season he headlined A&E’s miniseries remake of "The Andromeda Strain."

But Bratt is maybe best known (and still seen in reruns) as straight-arrow Detective Rey Curtis on "Law & Order," TV’s reigning procedural drama.

"Audiences really like procedurals, but they often exist to the detriment of any personal life for the characters," Bratt observes. "That’s fine for viewers. But, after awhile, it wasn’t fine for me as an actor, as much as I loved that show and the people I was working with."

He left in 1999 after four seasons busting crime alongside Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe (warmly remembered by Bratt as "a magician in a lot of different senses of the word, a magical sort of guy").

A decade later, Bratt finds he’s still a fan of the show, despite having once been part of it.

"I’ve been to Oz and pulled the curtain back," he says with a chuckle. "I know what the `Law & Order’ machinations are. It doesn’t matter. Even today, if I’m running through channels and I stumble on that intro teaser, I have to sit down and watch. It’s just that good." He marvels at its 18-and-counting seasons. "There’s never been a show like it."

Recently, Bratt wrapped his latest film, in which he plays a Latino working man who learns that the teenage son he adores is gay. "Mission Street Rhapsody" was written and directed by Peter Bratt, and shot in the Latin neighborhood of San Francisco’s Mission District. It clearly was a passion project for both of them.

"I’m lucky to have my brother — an incredible talent and my best friend," says Bratt. "I’ll always make films with him."

With "Rhapsody" in postproduction, Bratt is busy on "The Cleaner" — and pleased to have a steady gig in Los Angeles, where he and Soto live with 5-year-old daughter Sophia and 2-year-old son Mateo.

"Unless I’m home, I cannot be a great husband and father — especially the father of a child with special needs," says Bratt, explaining that Sophia suffered brain injury at birth, resulting in physical disabilities.

"What my wife and I faced as parents was like being in a tunnel of darkness for the first few years of her life, because we didn’t know what to do," he says. "But we educated ourselves, and assembled the best team of therapists we could. Sophia has blown us away with the amount of progress that she’s made."

"She understands everything, she’s quick to laugh, she’s loving and a physically beautiful child," he says. "And even at 2, Mateo encourages her, pushes her along. She clearly doesn’t want to be left behind. Now she’s about to start kindergarten. It makes us fearful and excited at the same time."

His devotion to his family has served him well on "The Cleaner," where strangers’ lives are saved but Banks’ own family could be lost to him. "It allows me," says Bratt, "to understand what the character I play is going through."

 

LONDON - Christie’s auction house has sold John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance" for $833,654.

The lyrics were written during Lennon’s 1969 Bed-in protest for peace at the Queens Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.

Christie’s spokeswoman Zoe Schoon said Lennon gave the sheet to 16-year-old Gail Renard during the eight-day Bed-in.

Lennon wrote the lyrics and recorded the song in the hotel room with about 50 guests, who included singer Petula Clark and beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

 

NEW YORK (AFP) - Tiger Woods is on pace to pass one billion dollars in career earning by 2010, becoming the world’s first billionaire to accumulate his fortune by playing sports, says Forbes Magazine.

The 14-time major championship winner earned 115 million dollars in 2007 alone, said the American magazine which annually ranks the world’s richest people with its Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list. English footballer David Beckham was the No. 2 sportsman on the list with earnings of 65 million dollars.

"It will be an unprecedented occurrence," the magazine said. "There are plenty of billionaires who have excelled at sports like Switzerland’s richest man and champion sailor Ernesto Bertarelli. But there are no billionaires who accumulated their fortune by playing sports."

The magazine goes on to say in its Wednesday edition that while tycoons like Bill Gates accumulated his wealth by holding a stake in a company with soaring profits, Woods is unique because his massive fortune was earned through pay cheques.

Woods is a sports marketers’ dream, having earned more than 750 million dollars in endorsement deals to date in his career. At 32, Woods has won 50 tournaments faster than any player and is closing in on Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championship wins.

The nine-time PGA player-of-the-year is extremely popular and likeable. When he is playing in a tournament, television ratings increase by at least one third and often more—like his recent stunning victory at the US Open in San Diego.

He has lucrative endorsement and sponsorship deals with companies like Nike, Buick and Gillette which help make up nine-tenths of his totals earnings and will land him 90 million dollars in 2008, says Forbes.

Nike Golf registered over 600 million dollars in sales in 2007. The American shoe giant didn’t even have a golf line of shoes and clothing before it signed Woods to a contract in 1996.

Gatorade is also launching a new line of sports drinks, called Gatorade Tiger.

Woods is expected to miss the remainder of the golf season, while he recovers from knee surgery. He captured the 2008 US Open in a playoff despite playing with a torn ligament in his left knee.

LONDON - A discrepancy regarding the health of Amy Winehouse arose Monday after the Grammy-winning singer’s father said she had early stage emphysema brought on by smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes.
 
A publicist for Winehouse later said he had misspoken "out of his concern for her."

"She is not diagnosed with full-blown emphysema, but instead has early signs of what could lead to emphysema," Tracey Miller, her U.S.-based representative, told The Associated Press on Monday.

In an interview published Sunday by the Daily Mail of London, Mitch Winehouse said that his daughter’s crack and cigarette smoking had led to early-stage emphysema, and that the singer had an irregular heartbeat. He said she had been warned that she will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she stops smoking drugs.

"The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs, it won’t just ruin her voice, it will kill her," Mitch Winehouse was quoted as saying. "There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She has 70 percent lung capacity."

However, in an interview later with BBC Radio 1, he appeared to downplay his dire statements, and said: "Amy really hasn’t got emphysema, there’s traces of emphysema. Obviously, if she doesn’t quit smoking, it’s going to get worse, like everyone else … with patience her lungs will recover completely."

He added that she was covered in nicotine patches and is "flourishing" in response to treatments.

Emphysema is a lung disease caused primarily by smoking. It takes years to develop and is mostly seen in people over 45.

The 24-year-old soul diva collapsed at her north London home Monday after signing autographs for a group of fans and was taken to a London hospital for tests. She remained there all week.

She is still scheduled to sing at a concert in London on Friday celebrating the 90th birthday of Nelson Mandela and plans to take part in the Glastonbury music festival the following day.

Mitch Winehouse said it would be good for his daughter to perform.

"When she’s been inactive work-wise then that’s when the problems really start. The doctors have said that medically there isn’t any reason why she can’t do Glastonbury," the paper quoted him as saying.

He also pleaded with her drug-taking friends to stay away from her.

"What hope does she have if people are taking drugs around her," he said.

Miller said Winehouse still has hopes to perform at the Mandela concert.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The MTV Video Music Awards, scene of a disastrous performance by Britney Spears last year, will return to Los Angeles for the first time in a decade on September 7, the lifestyle cable network said on Monday.
 
The high-wattage event, now in its 25th year, will take place on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood, and will air on the channel that evening. Los Angeles last hosted the event in 1998. Since then, the awards have been held mostly in New York, but traveled to Miami in 2004 and 2005, and then Las Vegas last year.

MTV said this year’s ceremony would use the city streets, rooftops, and sound stages all over the Paramount lot. The host, performers, nominees, and presenters will be announced at a later date. MTV and Paramount are units of Viacom Inc.

Last year, 7.1 million MTV viewers watched the festivities, according to Nielsen Media Research. Spears, embarking on a comeback of sorts, was ridiculed for dressing as a stripper and badly lip-synching her way through her new single. Jaws dropped among mystified stars in the audience.

While viewership was up from 5.8 million the year before, the numbers are a far cry from the record 12 million viewers for the 1999 version.

 

With a lead of 32,000 plus votes to the Second Teen Placer Robi Domingo, many were surprised at the victory of Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Plus Big Winner, Ejay Falcon. This, plus a possibility of technical glitch in the voting system, make Ejay the most controversial among the winners of the reality show. Although a neophyte in the ins and outs of showbiz, Ejay couldn’t help but shrug his shoulders and charge everything to experience. Beauty Gonzalez and Nicole Uysiuseng placed fourth and third, respectively.

"I won’t let it affect me," offers Ejay. "I never appealed to pity nor played the underdog to win. As far as I know, I did everything (to carry out the different tasks inside the house). Perhaps, there were sympathy votes but I think there were also solid votes for me. I was just true to myself during my stay."

Ejay is ready to face the intrigue-infested yet happy world of showbusiness. His "think first before you react" attitude is what the University of Manila student needs to stay in the biz and to prove his critics wrong.

What will Ejay do with his P1-M prize?

"I will finance my siblings’ education," replies Ejay. "I have two sisters, one is 16 and the other is nine. My brother is 13. I will also give my mom money so she can start her own business and eventually stop working as a reflexologist."

He also took home a business package from Crystal Clear, a laptop, a kitchen showcase, an LCD TV and a condo unit.

Ejay’s win also called for a double celebration as his foster father, Tatay Erning, was proclaimed the first Guardian Big Winner weeks before the PBB Teen finals at the Araneta Coliseum.

Though the contest was already over. Ejay couldn’t get over his happiness and newfound fortune. He thanked televiewers who religiously texted for him and his kababayan in Oriental Mindoro who contributed hugely to the 620,934 votes he received during the Big Night.

Ejay, on the other hand, will continue some things he started inside the house. One is his rudely-interrupted courtship and budding friendship with Valerie Weignmann, a Fil-German housemate.

"I will still pursue her," says Ejay. "I have feelings for her. It’s intensity 100 percent. I regret that I judged her as a playgirl and maarte. I found out that she can do some household chores. She is also a strong person, considering what she has gone through in life."

Valerie suffered from depression when her dad died and struggled to fight for her half-bred identity back in Weisbaden, Germany.

In the coming weeks, we will see Ejay doing guestings and interviews on Kapamilya shows like Boy & Kris, Singing Bee and Rated K. This is a good start for Ejay, who sees a career in acting, to test the waters of the local tinseltown.

Given the chance, Ejay wants to follow in the footsteps of Jericho Rosales and Piolo Pascual, who excel in drama and recording. He also looks forward to doing action films like his other idol Robin Padilla.

Among today’s female stars, Ejay wants to be paired with Sarah Geronimo whose effortless, simple beauty has endeared her to the promdi housemate.

What are the lessons Ejay will treasure outside Big Brother’s House?

"One is to show concern for others," he answers. "And two, it is not bad to dream."

 

JACKSON, Miss. - Jamie Lynn Spears gave birth to a baby girl Thursday morning at a south Mississippi hospital, according to a friend of the Spears family. The friend, who asked not to be identified because the family had not yet announced the baby’s birth, told The Associated Press that the baby was named Maddie Briann and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces.

The 17-year-old Jamie Lynn was the star of Nickelodeon’s "Zoey 101," a sitcom about prep school friends, and is the younger sister of pop star Britney Spears. The Spears family announced in December that Jamie Lynn was pregnant. The father is Casey Aldridge, a pipe-layer from Liberty, Miss. The couple is not married but announced an engagement several months ago.

Ellen Brannan, spokeswoman for Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, in McComb, would not give out any details. "We understand everybody’s interested, but we don’t give out information on anyone. Everyone’s entitled to their privacy," she said.

The younger Spears lives near Liberty with Aldridge, 19, and has been seen around the small south Mississippi town often as her pregnancy became more apparent. Her family owns a home across the state line in Kentwood, La.

Spears announced her pregnancy through an article in OK! Magazine and was expected to receive a large payday for exclusive pictures of the newborn.

Nickelodeon issued a statement about the birth on Thursday, saying, "We wish her and her family well." Nickelodeon spokeswoman Marianne Romano said that filming of the fourth and final season of "Zoey 101" was completed last summer before Spears became pregnant.

Spears portrayed Zoey Brooks, a student at Pacific Coast Academy, a campus that had been an exclusive all-boys boarding school until Zoey and a handful of other girls arrived. At the end of the series, Zoey gets the boy _ longtime crush Chase (Sean Flynn).

 

It turned out that Dr. Vicki Belo has clinched the deal as early as a month ago but she kept it under wraps until the presscon yesterday where Ruffa Gutierrez was presented as the newest addition to the Belo Medical Clinic’s honor roll of celebrity endorsers.

No problem, though. Ruffa’s contract with another beauty clinic, closed by her mom-manager Annabelle Rama while Ruffa was still based in Turkey, has expired last March 30. It is said that "the other clinic" wanted at the last minute to retain Ruffa as endorser by offering her an alleged staggering P10-M but Ruffa politely said no.

"There’s no bad blood between me and ‘the other company.’ Nagpaalam ng mahusay ang mom ko. Besides, I’ve always been a Belo patient," said Ruffa, with Dr. Vicki nodding in agreement, giving her "prodigal daughter" a welcoming smile. "I just found my way back home. The Belo Clinic has branches all over so it’s convenient for me. Besides, the clinic is going global and that’s also exactly the direction I am going."

Anytime now, you will see the huge Belo billboards all over the metropolis, showing Ruffa saying, "…I’m back with the best!"

Panic at the Disco in Manila Aug. 14

It’s confirmed: Panic at the Disco (formerly known as Panic! at the Disco) is performing at the Araneta Coliseum on Aug. 14.

The band that originated in Las Vegas is noted for its sound that incorporates elements of pop, punk, big beat, electronica, dance, and rock, along with many other genres like psychedelic, folk and jazz. Their 2005 debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, reached No. 13 on the US Billboard 200, and has sold over 2.2 million copies since its September 2005 release. The band’s second album, Pretty. Odd., was released on last March 25.

In early 2007, Panic at the Disco began writing their follow-up album but decided to rewrite the entire album from scratch in July 2007. While speaking to MTV, Ryan Ross, the band’s guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist, explained that the album lacked a band set up "sounded like a film score" and that the new songs have "a more positive outlook to them." The band also began performing new songs during various festivals and gigs, two of them Nine in the Afternoon and When the Day Met the Night.

The band’s concert tour, their biggest overseas gig so far, also includes Australia and New Zealand.

Besides Ross, the other band members are Brendon Yrie (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Jon Walker (bass guitar and vocals) and Spencer Smith (drums and percussion).

(Note: Prices to the Panic at the Disco World Tour concert are P3,950 for Patron/VIP, P3,450 for Lower Box, P1,750 for Upper Box A and P950 for Upper Box B. Call Ticketnet at 911-5555; or Concertus, the concert producer, at 813-2612 or 813-2617.)

Warner on Rico ‘issue’: No conflict

Reacting to the reaction-letter of lawyer Harriet Demetriou (writing for her client, talent manager Lizza Nakpil) on Rico Blanco’s releasing a single, Yugto, for his company, Warner Music Philippines boss Jim Baluyot said that he doesn’t see any conflict of interest between handling Rico and at the same time having Rivermaya (from which Rico has split last year) in Warner’s stable of talents.

"We are all professionals here and I think it is but logical that Rico would want to work with us again and be his first choice as a record company since he has been our talent in the past," said Jim, reacting to Lizza’s claim that Rico’s contract with her is good for a few more years.

Yugto, the first single from his new album, Yugto was greeted with delight by members of the entertainment press who were invited to its pre-listening session recently. Rico has made his impact as one of the country’s leading vocalist as the frontman for the Rivermaya band and his latest album was a reaffirmation of his reputation as one of the bright lights in the country’s musical scene.

Though the artist was conspicuously absent from the event itself, Yugto was a hit with everyone in attendance and spoke a lot about the new sound of this highly-controversial artist. Yugto (roughly translated as "an episode or chapter") could well mean turning a new page in Rico’s career as an artist with him going solo and leaving his band that he helped build into prominence both here and abroad.

According to Jim, Warner has given Rico the leeway to work on his music and the full support needed for Rico to make his presence felt in the artistic scene as he had done so on the past.

"We have an open arrangement in terms of what he wants," Jim adds. They know Rico’s caliber as a musician/artist so they are confident that he will be a force to reckon with in the music industry.

More indie films showing abroad

Here’s more news about Pinoy indie films showing abroad, from Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondent" Ferdinand Lapuz:

Brillante (Mendoza) and I just arrived from Granada, Spain from June 4 to 7 where Tirador was shown in competition. Brillante just arrived last Sydney, (June 10-13) where both Foster Child and Tirador were shown. Both films are showing at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in the United Kingdom next week.

The Paris International Film Festival will have a retrospective on Brillante’s films (Masahista, Kaleldo, Manoro, Foster Child, Tirador and Serbis) next month. The Film Development Council of the Philippines led by chairperson Jacky Atienza and CEB chairperson and Christine Dayrit are sponsoring our tickets. Brillante and I will be in Paris from July 7 to 11.

Brillante will then proceed to Rome for another retrospective in the Rome and Asian Film Festival and by end of July he will be in Durban, South Africa where Foster Child is in competition. Cherry Pie won Best Actress last year in Durban for Kaleldo.

Tirador will also be shown at festivals in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic, July), Melbourne (Australia, August) and Fukuoka (Japan, September).

Tirador will be the opening film of the ContemporASIAN at the MoMA in New York. This sponsored by the Museum of Modern Arts Department of Film. It will have a one-week screening and the target dates are Oct. 23-29.

This group also co-presented Foster Child last March in the New Directors/New Films along with the Film Society of the Lincoln Center.

Tirador will have its regular screening at the Robinsons Indie Sine starting July 2. It stars Jiro Manio, Coco Martin, Kristofer King, Nathan Lopez, Harold Montano, Angela Ruiz with the special participation of Julio Diaz and Jaclyn Jose. It was written by Ralston Joel Jover.

Tirador is the winner of the Caligari Prize from Berlin, Best Film, Director and Netpac Awards from Singapore and Special Jury award from Marrakech. It will open in France (Equation) and the United Kingdom (Peccadillo Pictures) later this year.

 

There were cameras around chronicling every movement and action of the Kapuso stars at the eight-hectare Golden Sunset Beach Resort in Calatagan, Batangas. This time, they didn’t have to be in character but they had to be in tip-top shape to survive all the games prepared for the second annual Kapusolympics: Watermania. This year, the celebrity games focused on water sports.

About 60 Kapuso stars participated in the different challenges that put their wit and stamina to the test.

These stars were divided into six teams, namely Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Orange and Violet. Each team was supervised by an executive producer and a segment producer.

The action started with Sisid Run, an underwater obstacle, and Magulong Magulong Gulong, a plunger jaust.

Other interesting and one-of-a-kind games were Monkey Bars, Bi-Kad (Zip Bike Race), Pasa Puzzle (Tangram Puzzle), One Two Stop and One Two Go (2 Steps Forward). There was also Tuloy-Tulay (Boat Race).

Also hosting the event were Iza Calzado, Heart Evangelista, Arnell Ignacio, Katrina Halili, Raymond Gutierrez, Ariel Villasanta and Maverick Relova. They gave everyone an overview of the events like the mechanics of the games and recap of team standing. The hosts also made exit interviews of the winning and losing teams.

More than the display of athleticism among the stars, the small-scale Star Olympics sent a message of belongingness and brotherhood. They share one network: GMA 7. It was also the perfect time and venue for the stars to touch base with each other, rekindle friendships and strengthen ties. Kapusolympics was one affair stars can let their hair down and be themselves with the spotlight on.

Before the winning team was announced, special/individual awards were given to celebrity-participants.

Richard Gomez received the Clear Precision Award for efficiently strategizing and organizing his team efforts. Eula Valdez took home the Fitrum Looking Wow Award. JC de Vera won the Happee Toothpaste Smile Award. Luis Alandy, the Extra Joss Strong Performance Award for his energetic performance throughout the games. Marco Alcaraz was awarded the Wings Active Guard Performance trophy.