Hey, MAN.
If only we can all grow wings, like the man in the picture DIRECTLY above.
We can then take flight and soar to another realm of surreality.
Life can be so unreal sometimes, so to speak.
CELEBRITIES?
OH YAH, we all know that CELEBRITIES have their heydays.
That's pure bliss.
But just like all of us, they have their downslides too.
Don't we all?
Everyone has problems. You have yours, They have theirs.
CELEBRITIES are as human as we are.
They eat, sleep, poop and love like we all do.
Their careers could escalate and soar one moment.
And maybe nosedive the next.
Who knows really?
NOT all celebrities lead charmed lives.
They are what you called public property and the paparazzi stalks them all the time.
AND NOT EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT THEM IS TRUE. Poor souls.
But they have to keep a straight face through it all.
They race through hectic filming schedules, never missing a cue.
But the more exciting their public personas are, the more anxiety they are facing from celebrity burnout.
Plus, facing an ongoing influx of competitors threatening to knock them from their hooks, being a star is hardly fun.
They have latent insecurities to deal with from malicious people who are trying to eclipse them every time they turn your backs.
They are in a world which sometimes threaten to tear them apart.
And they dread the paparazzi or news hounds, because you wouldn't know if they are going to slam you with some hurtful rubbish.
Gossip sells the magazines, at your expense.
Take, for example, some of these ASIAN ARTISTES and their hazy dazy tales of Summer:
- JULIAN HEE (TV ACTOR from SINGAPORE) -
Poor JULIAN.
He's good and can be even better.
He's tall, strapping and a celebrated hunk. And he apparently must have stepped on somebody's toes.
Because he's a much misunderstood, misquoted and underrated actor who only want to prove his worth.
True, he has taken some unfair "bashing" from bad press and vile gossip from spiteful colleagues, who rather see him being torn apart than helping him grow.
Politics or jealousies?
JULIAN is a pretty nice guy, lah, if you get to know him better.
Life's not easy and he has to grin through all the grind as a contracted actor from Singapore's only TV Station, that monopolizes ratings and the careers of all their contracted artistes.
After some "not so happening" years at the TV station, JULIAN decided not to renew his contract in the third quarter of 2008 and opted for a freelance status to focus on a new business venture with friends.
JULIAN A COMPETENT ACTOR?
SURE, and why not?!!
Anyone can excel in this trade, given time, opportunities and experience - coupled with a good script and an understanding director who can get "the best" out of any artiste. This is patience.
Take MAGGIE CHEUNG from Hong Kong and IVY LEE from Singapore. Weren't they really blasted when they first ventured into acting? Look at their collection of accolades now.
JULIAN has received some bad vibes, but he has proven himself aptly in his latest drama series PERFECT CUT, a NIP/TUCK genre about the profundity of plastic surgery in Singapore.
FREELANCING A BETTER OPTION?
Yeah, he gets to choose his roles and focus on his new found business venture as well.
In fact, JULIAN's absence is felt and he's now back to the TV Station to freelance on a long haul ENGLISH drama series to be followed by a second season of PERFECT CUT.
- HUANG BI REN (TV ACTRESS from SINGAPORE) -
In Singapore, it may NOT pay to be a veteran actress, as in the case of HUANG BI REN who has bagged numerous accolades for her acting ability.
After 20 years as a SINGAPORE TV actress, HUANG BI REN has gracefully decided to call it quits.
She is almost hitting 40, a precarious age for an actress.
When advertisers do not knock on your door as they used to, and when you are slipping into "auntie" roles, you then become very much dispensable.
AWARDS or no awards, her beloved employer the TV STATION has decided to pay tribute her to two glorious decades of brilliance by slamming her with a beautiful contract stipulating a notable pay-cut, no annual leave, no CPF and no medical benefits.
Such heartfelt gratitude.
Would you have stayed if you were her, when everything is a "no-no" ??
It goes to show that as you grow older as an actor in Singapore Tinseltown, your sense of security is thwarted as your value drops .....
When something as unnerving as this happens, where is your mentor?
HUANG BI REN has screen presence and is really good as an actress, mind you.
- PIOLO PASCUAL AND SAM MILBY (ACTORS/SINGERS from the PHILIPPINES) -
From the shores of the Philippines, another kind of problem is brewing.
The paparazzi there deems to have the assumption, that if you are a pretty boy, then you must be pretty gay.
Such is the hapless case of A-listers PIOLO PASCUAL and SAM MILBY, both household names in the Philippines.
They are pretty boy hunks, nice guys, bosom buddies, until renowned Pinoy talent manager LOLIT SOLIS "espied" them in a lovey-dovey tryst at the Manila Sofitel's poolside cafe last October 2007.
LOLIT went on to spice up this "scoop" through her regular show biz column creating controversy and fodder for vicious gossip shaming the two buddies....and in return LOLIT was bestowed with a prize of a 12 million peso lawsuit.
Sometimes, genuine friendships can be destroyed by rumor mongers, as in this case.
The matter was finally amicably settled out of court, but the dent was too deeply entrenched.
Was it worth it, this cheap scoop at the risk of the celebrities' reputations?
Whether it was fact or fiction, this piece of juicy news have caused extreme anguish and anxiety for a platonic friendship that has gone awry since the hurting news leaked out.
Sometimes it goes to show that CELEBRITIES do have every right to their own privacy and we must respect this.
Would you want to take a dump in a public toilet with the paparazzi waiting for you to finish your business outside the cubicle's door? Or worse still, they climb up and take pictures of you in your moment of "release"?
Do not unto others as others would do unto you.
- EDISON CHEN and his BEAUTIFUL MAIDENS -
From HONG KONG, EDISON CHEN the perennial bad boy rocked the BIGGEST boat hell-out-of-everyone in early 2008, when lurid pictures of his famous dainty ladies and himself having explicit sex were leaked on the internet for downloading.
NO HOLDS BARRED, this guy is proven to be a sure dandy and good at the sexual stuff.
Some stars just love "lollipops", as in this case of EDISON CHEN and his beautiful friends.
And we all know that he loves to be "blown" in his favorite standing up position and gets extra mind tingling thrills by filming his sexual romps on camera.
WE are also treated to a glorious peek at "mounds" of pubic hair on his nubile leading ladies and himself.
And surely GILLETTE or some notable brands could have reaped a fortune, if they had known earlier to take an advertisement or two extolling the art of waxing, hair removal and shaving, before the pirated DVD highlighting his bedroom farce was released to the world.
Look at what EDISON's "fetishes" had got him into.
Tons of inexplicable problems and career destructions.
Worth it?!!
Sexual conquest or not, we surely know that GILLIAN CHUNG, CECILIA CHEUNG and BOBO CHAN must have loved him a lot to give him such delicious "blowings".
You'd risk anything for the one you love, won't you?!!
Now ICE CREAM, anyone??!!
