HERBO OR HIDALGO? In the column titled “The curious case of the doppelganger paintings” on Sept. 24, 2016, Lead revealed that the oil on canvas of the same size as Leon Herbo’s painting Fillette au chapeau (Girl With Hat) bears a strong resemblance to Una Damita (Portrait of Ana Maria Gonzalvez) with a flesh-colored background by Félix Resurrección Hidalgo (1853–1913) dated 1901. It was put on the block in Salcedo Auctions’ Important Philippine Art as Lot 144 with the estimated price of P7,000,000 to P9,000,000 on September 17 at 2 p.m.
This column asked the Salcedo Auctions to clarify the issue and on its Facebook page read: “The high horse has been forced to address its mistakes.” Lead believes it deserves a more detailed explanation on why it happened as the case has the ability to affect the national auction business. But this approach is understandable based on the public relations principle that the less said, the less damage. But it does point out how the controlled reporting of art Philippine deals with important truths about it.
TASTE BUDDIES. Showbiz’s classy ladies, bosom buddies Georgina Wilson, Solenn Heussaff and Isabelle Daza, can now post on Instagram their slim left digits similarly manicured in chic white edged in black their magnificent wedding bands. Previously, Isabelle was the odd one out, wearing instead a huge diamond encrusted teardrop style engagement ring.
But why the three weddings in a row to gorgeous European businessmen — Georgina to British Arthur Burnand in June, Solenn to Argentinian Nico Bolzico in July and Isabelle to French Adrien Semblat in September? What are entertainment’s well-acknowledged “it” girls up to?
More than a dictate of age group, it would appear they married one after the other for the pilot of their new reality show appropriately entitled It Girls with stylist Liz Uy on E! Philippines to narrowcast in 27 countries this October. Imagine the glam, glitter and gloss of three weddings in foreign locations with showbiz royalties and blue-bloods entering and exiting in and out each sequence!
Count the rare small screen appearances of Anne Curtis and the kilt-wearing Erwan Heusaff, teased by Tim Yap as next in line. Boyfriend Jeff Ortega escorted Anne Curtis-Smith. Taste buddies Lovi Poe, Bea Soriano, Raymond Gutierrez, Rajo Laurel, Liz and Carla Humphries provided company. Now that’s a guaranteed audience grabber!
Their credibility high, the It Girls are certified best friends hooked on twinning as trendspotted by Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner. With their flair of identical dressing, the pals step out in capital cities in this-is-me dresses, from rocker chic to deconstructed jeans, unlike the identical dresses of twins but in similar style.
The way it evolved, twinning is more than fashion sense as it is a lifestyle choice that maintains the “twins’ individuality. They show off their friendship by maintaining similar lifestyles. Sounding off the hackneyed quote of “bird of the same feather flock together,” twinning is the urban version.
It refers to having the bearing of twins as in matching patterns of beliefs or behavior, even braininess. It subscribes friends or even relatives put together for a period look basically like twins over time. Most likely, they’d style their hair to the same cut and dye it in a similar shade.
Since they are probably of the same height and build, they also wear each other’s clothes, or turn up separately at an events dressed identically. They think it’s coincidence, but force of habit has mildly crept in. The dynamics have developed and evolved so twinning is mirroring one another as the valid expression.
It Girls is our double twinning version. No wonder Lovi posted a cruising photo with Fil-French guy Chris Johnson.
OCTOBER SHOWS AT HARD ROCK CAFE. Come and see the exciting shows at Hard Rock Café (HRC) this October. Leading the pack of performers is the country’s premier band Side A, set to perform center stage on October 15 and 22. Acoustic balladeer Nyoy Volante performs on October 21 and 28. Hard rockers can look forward to unforgettable evenings of great music with Side A and Nyoy as they dish out live their greatest hits plus a s sampling of today’s hottest chart-toppers, homegrown favorites, and most well-loved party anthems.
Other featured artists at HRC this October are Part 3 (Sundays and Fridays), Kudos Love 80s (Mondays), Red Picasso (Tuesdays), Arpie & The Multivitamins (Wednesdays), Access All Areas (Thursdays), and Verse 2 (Saturdays). All shows start at 9 p.m.
NOSTRADAMUS PREDICTED THE ELECTION OF DUTERTE AND HAS A SHOCKING REVELATION FOR THE WORLD. NEWSPH, Satire News For Your Entertainment, posted an item on Facebook that it prints verbatim. Here is the original, unedited copy:
“The power of sixteen million forsaken souls will give birth to a messiah in the pearl of the orient seas.
“A shocking prediction made by Nostradamus during the fifteen hundreds baffled historians on how they accurately predicted what is currently happening in the Philippines.
“We all know that Pearl of the orient seas refer to the Philippines. It is the sobriquet of the Philippines. The term originated from the idea of Spanish Jesuit missionary Fr. Juan Delgado in 1751. In his last poem ‘Mi último adiós,’ Dr. José Rizal referred to the country with this name.
“They said the sixteen million forsaken souls represents the 16 million voters of Duterte, which are all hungry and for change after decades of abuse by the government.
“Nostradamus said that Duterte will be the new age messiah based on his other prediction.
“The millenial messiah will question GOD himself as a representation of his own frustrations to save the world”
“Just recently, Duterte questioned GOD himself ‘Where are you when a baby is raped and killed?’
“Which is simillar trait of the late Messiah Jesus Christ. On a desperate time, Jesus also questioned the lord ‘Father. why have you forsaken me?’
“History is repeating itself, people!”
This is an attention grabber. But which of its contents is for information and/or entertainment, the reader has to determine. This is entirely different from the approach of traditional journalism where the assumption is objective reporting that readers can understand as true.
This is the present predicament of social media where the content is polluted, causing them a serious credibility problem. Facebook has recognized this as it is studying with other social media platforms ways to solve it by weeding out unreliable content.