Maniolas

John Lloyd considers himself a “young art collector” as he started acquiring painting in his late 20s.

Edgar Allan Guzman (MNS Photo) Aware of the competition that he will face by joining the star-studded talent pool of ABS-CBN, actor Edgar Allan Guzman said his decision to be a Kapamilya is the right step in bringing his career to another level. The award-winning indie actor said it has always been his dream to be part of the Kapamilya network. “Bilang isang actor, gusto ko pong i-explore ‘yung passion ko sa pag acting. Mahal na mahal ko po ‘yung pag acting and gusto ho magkaroon ng growth as an actor. And matagal ko na pong gustong lumipat at ngayon na nakalipat na ako, it is a dream come true po,” he said. Guzman, who has drawn comparisons to Coco Martin, is part of the ongoing feel-good drama “Oh My G!,” which stars teen actress and singer Janella Salvador. The 25-year-old is also set to appear for the fourth time on the country’s longest-running drama anthology, “Maalala Mo Kaya,” alongside veteran actor Nonie Buencamino and Shamaine Centenera. When asked on why he seemed to be a favorite casting choice of the series, he shrugged and said that he was puzzled himself. “Pero dream come true pa rin para sa akin,” he quickly added. He said that the series has been generous to him with past roles, casting him alongside the likes of Kim Chiu and Jessy Mendiola. (MNS)

Kanye West performs at the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. John Shearer/Invision/AP LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kanye West almost pulled another Kanye at the Grammy Awards. West briefly popped up on stage as Beck accepted the album of the year award on Sunday for “Morning Phase,” beating out expected victor Beyoncé. West smiled and quickly jumped down, but not before getting guffaws from Beyoncé and Jay Z. Kanye famously got involved in an award presentation in 2009 when Taylor Swift beat Beyoncé at MTV’s Video Music Awards. Beck seemed as surprised as the rest of the audience when he won the award Sunday and appeared to be looking around for help. Recording academy president Neil Portnow said the almost-Kanye moment was part of the excitement of a live television show. “It’s unpredictable,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen. … That turned out to be a fun moment at the end of the day.”

James Reid, Matteo Guidicelli, etc. at Yamaha’s Tricity LMW launch; Thomas Torres’s passion for basketball

I spent the past two weeks as a Pacific Leadership Fellow at the School of International and Pacific Relations of the University of California, San Diego, and the highlight of my fellowship was a 40-minute talk I gave on the general topic of “Democracy and Cultural Expression: Confronting Modernization in the Philippines.” The PLF — usually a government or business leader from the Asia-Pacific region — is asked to make a public presentation to a large audience composed of academic and community representatives, to introduce and discuss major issues facing his or her society. I felt it safer to presume that the non-Filipino members of my audience last Jan. 28 knew very little about Philippine history and politics, so I began with a broad overview of that history, bringing things to the present and the medium-term horizon, considering both our strengths and resources — noting the robustness of our recent economic growth — but also the longstanding inequalities and structural weaknesses that continue to hold us back. Here’s a slightly edited excerpt from the rest of my talk: We have to pause and wonder exactly what kind of democracy we have in the Philippines, and what needs to be done — particularly on the cultural front — to achieve a fuller sense of the word. I wouldn’t go so far as to call Philippine democracy a sham, because most Filipinos enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms absent in patently undemocratic societies —freedom of expression, of association, of mobility, of enterprise; the Read More …