Pinoy Blog Machine (Beta)

Pinays (and some Pinoys, actually) - BEWARE. There’s going to be competition. Over Bruce Quebral, that is. Filipino hunk and house mate at the second season of the Pinoy Big Brother reality series, Bruce was sent to Slovenia in exchange for Tina Semolic, for a week’s cross-cultural immersion, and had won the hearts of viewers, particularly women, of the Slovenian counterpart.

A comment on the Slovenian website says:

“Many mothers would want him to be their son-in-law.”

The show never got me interested earlier, not until I read about the swap at Tingting’s blog and by chance got to see an episode while having dinner with my family. Too bad I only saw too little, too late. It was the second show prior to their goodbyes. They’re on their way back to each other’s homes as of writing.

What did I find interesting about it? Brief it may be, it gave a slight but engaging study of contrasts between these two cultures. It had me looking for Slovenia in Wikipedia, as did with a lot of Filipinos I am positively sure.

Big Brother on the other end may have chosen Bruce over his other house mates purely for his exotic looks. This former Mr. Philippines’ brown and brawny features made for eye candy to compete with the Slovenian hunks. But he seems to have delivered more than what was expected of him. In the few video clips shown on their web page, and on PBB, Bruce proved to be sensitive, gentle and compassionate with the ladies, while humble and considerate with the guys. He cooked them adobo and taught them tinikling. There are comments that the other men had been aloof with him, and I did notice he seemed to have bonded more with the women. It must be the language barrier, among other things. And yes, he was competition, after all. We can’t know for sure how he measured up to them and to other Slovenian male viewers. It seems that most of those actively involved in the forums are female.

At our end, too, Tina was well received. She was made Reyna Elena, taught to twirl the baton (not THAT, you guys. Hehe!) and treated to anything and everything with a hint of Philippine fiesta. I cannot be sure whether she was enjoying, she seemed to have had a hard time adapting to the heat. But she was sweet, adaptive and game, and noticeably appreciative of the hospitality.

If anything, this gimmick got viewers from both parts of the globe connected and may have easily forged optimistic images about each other. Hopefully so. It can’t be all bad news about the Philippines, right?

Here are 6 new “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” images. Fantastic!

Enjoy the pics! Click on the image to enlarge…