Jordin Sparks and Whitney Houston in Sparkle. Photo from Sony.

Yes, that is the talk going on nowadays that superstar Whitney Houston, who has battled with cocaine addiction, is already broke. She is just relying on the financial support of her record label Arista, but this is going to be deducted from her next contract.

Imagine that. On the height of super stardom and now broke. Who would have thought? But I guess nobody is just too rich that he will remain wealthy even without proper financial management. We just have to manage our resources well, whether we have little or a lot.

I am not sure about this story but Whitney became addicted because her husband Bobby Brown was also in the bad habit. Is that true? Who got became an addict first?

It is just too bad to be in this spot. But it is a reminder to all of us that we should be good stewards of our resources. If ever we want to splurge on something, that should be to help others. The rewards are far greater.

Whitney Houston has a comeback movie, Sparkle, which stars Jordin Sparks.

The diva superstar Whitney Houston during her heydays and with her husband, Bobby Brown.

In the Land of Blood and Honey opens December 23.

Angelina Jolie on the cover of Newsweek

Angelina Jolie was recently interviewed by Newsweek and she landed on the cover for this prestigious current affairs magazine. Here she talks about her new film, In the Land of Blood and Honey, which is her directorial debut.

Jolie reportedly wrote this story in two days while being quarantined in the attic of their French home as she nursed a flu.

The problem is, a Crotian journalist is claiming that the Hollywood actress stole the concept of his story, which he wrote in 2007. James J. Braddock claims that Jolie has read his article and used it as an inspiration for the storyline of In the Land of Blood and Honey.

The movie is a love story set in wartime 1990s Bosnia where a girl named Aija falls in love with Daniijel–a Serb. She was raped and abused in prison. Or something to that effect.

Again, I don’t know the real story, but honestly I think that wartime stories like these are not uncommon. I think these have all happened in wars all over the globe. It even happened to Filipinas during the Japanese regime.

And also, many writers and artists have been inspired at one point in time by different people so it may be what happened to Jolie when she wrote the story.

I thought it kinda cool that a premier actress like Angelina could also write a screen play as well as direct a movie. But anyway, these things happen.

This is the second legal battle for Jolie. Earlier, her former nanny living at their French estate sued them for dismissal compensation after two years of service. The 45-year-old Ana Charlotiaux was fired for allegedly making too many sick leaves.

Last month, Jolie’s name was also dragged in murky waters when it was reported that she dealt with a mass murderer in Cambodia when she bought her properties there.

Tinkerbell Mysterious Winter Woods

We already have the first three TinkerBell videos and we have memorized the songs and the speaking lines because Dindin always wanted me to play it over and over again. We also have a number of TinkerBell merchandise–thanks to friends and family who are very supportive of Dindin’s interests. LOL

What we like about the TinkerBell videos is that these are products of modern animation techniques. Aside from the more precise movements that are needed as the fairies have very flitting gestures, there is panning, zooming in, and zooming out, much like a real movie. And it has more effects than a movie.

The songs are also very engaging and “singable” so we like singing them. That is no wonder why aside from Dindin, Papa and Mama also like TinkerBell videos. And well, she doesn’t have a prince–just a BFF and barkada, which we like very much. LOL At least, she is not exposed to the concept of having a prince and living happily ever after.

Photo from Zimbio.

Ryan Dunn, star of MTV’s Jackass series, died early morning Monday in a car crash. The accident happened somewhere in Chester County, Pa.

There is not much information about the unfortunate event, but it is believed that Dunn had companions. The details are still being withheld until identities are confirmed. MTV has confirmed this news in their Twitter account. Hours before he died, Dunn had reportedly posted a photo of his drinking spree. Up to now, it is not known whether Dunn was behind the wheel or not during the accident.

Dunn has starred in all of the three “Jackass” movies, the latest being “Jackass 3D.”

The writer of this blog condoles with his bereaved family.

Well, the MTV Music Awards 2011 came to a close. The star-studded event was held at Universal Studios’ Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, California. But perhaps the highlight of the event was the groping session of Justine Timberlake and Mila Kunis who were both presentors. They were promoting their new movie, Friends with Benefits, so what better way to promote it than to grope each other on stage while in full view of the audience and people all over the world, right? Oh well, they really did make quite a stir.

We just watched Tangled at the Robinsons Cinema. We actually went to SM but it is no longer being shown so we went to Robinsons instead. This was the first time that our daughter Dindin went inside a movie house and she is 1 year and 11 months old.

Thankfully, she did not fuss inside the theater but there were times that she got bored. I am not sure if it was because of the movie or because we ran out of milk. weeee hehe We had to rush from SM to Robinsons so we no longer had the time to refill her bottle.

Anyway, the movie tangled was loosely based on the fairy tale, Rapunzel–the girl with very long hair who got locked up in the tower by an evil sorceress. When Rapunzel got out, there were several scenes where she was scene boating with the male lead character in the person of Flynn Rider.

I just loved those boating scenes, especially when Rapunzel was already taken to the lake near the castle in order the flying lantern spectacle. I wish I could also go on boating holidays and experience the magic.

Sure I had gone boating before when we would ride a pump boat in order to get to an island but I think it is a different experience to just have a boat ride at night and just enjoy the stars. Ahhh…I am dreaming while I am awake. hehe But I hope it is not far from coming true.

I am quite excited with the new movie by Angelie Jolie with Johnny Depp because of the stir that it caused. It seemed that Johnny Depp’s long time lady love Vanessa Paradis got scared that the screen goddess Angelina would also steal her man. Well, her fears are not unfounded after all, Angelina is known to “steal” men, the latest of whom was Brad Pitt.

Well, anyway, I am just sharing here the official trailer of The Tourist that I got from You tube. I wanted to see what Vanessa was fuming about.

But as with any Angelina Jolie movie, I am sure that I am going to love this. I just wonder though, it seems that her lips are much thicker here, much pouty? I mean we all know the Angelina Jolie lips are something that women are trying to copy, including Megan Fox, but I think her lips in The Tourist are more pronounced. Or she is much thinner now? Crazy.

I never did understand the relationship between Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson. Were they really a couple? I always thought that they never were a lovers, just you know–love team on screen but there was no real romance between them.

Now it is rumored that Gerald is seeing Bea Alonzo and fans of the Kimerald loveteam are threatening to kill Gerald and splash acid on Bea’s face. Now I think that is too much.

But I really wonder, were they ever a couple? Oh well, I guess only they can answer that.

But they are teaming up for another movie “Till My Heartaches End” under their mother studio, Star Cinema. I am thinking of watching this. I think I can relate. But I am pretty sure that a lot of tears will come pouring forth. hehe

We were on a DVD mood a few nights ago and so we browsed through my father-in-law’s DVD library and found a movie of Lindsay Lohan when she was still sober, Herbie.

On eof the scenes took us to an auto wrecking site, like in Auto Wrecking Seattle because that is where LiLo’s character got Herbie in the first place.

Anyway, I just marveled at the piles and piles of wrecked cars. Herbie was supposed to be in line to be smashed, but somehow it was able to cajole the characters into buying it. I like this feel good movie. I like movies like this because I feel good afterwards.

I have remembered the song “I miss you like crazy” when I was I think in high school. I kept singing it. I cannot remember the singer or to whom the song was dedicated (or maybe I just have a bad case of LSS or last song syndrome), but I can very well remember the lyrics.

Anyway, I brought it up because today I saw the movie trailer of the new Star Cinema movie entitled “Miss you like Crazy”, starring John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo, his long-time ka-love team. While I am not really excited with their love team because I am more kilig with the John Lloyd-Sarah Geronimo tandem, nevertheless, I was struck with the trailer of this movie. Hmmmm….I just might watch this film after all. The last Tagalog movie that I watched was Mano Po 6, and would you believe, that was my first? I am not very fond of Tagalog movies except the John Lloyd and Sarah starrer.

Will let you know how I like it.

By the way, speaking of Star Cinema, I just remembered Rubi, the new teleserye in ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida. I was really excited to watch this. As in I asked my husband to take care of my baby while I watch the show. But I was disappointed. I could not establish the story at all. Okay, what else is new because Filipinos like to re-do the scripts of foreign soaps. But why adapt them anyway if they are going to change the script. The first part was very dragging. I wanted to see more of Rubi.

I hope things will change in the coming days. As such I have stopped watching Rubi after two episodes. But I think I will resume watching it because I want to see Angelica Panganiban in action.

I became sentimental last time and asked my husband to show The Sound of Music on DVD. Yes, even in turning on the DVD, I ask my husband to do it.

Anyway, I was not able to watch it in its entirety in one sitting because of my baby, so I was able to complete the viewing of the film in two installments.

As always, I love this film. I love their singing, their songs, and the story. It is a wonderful story of romance with a touch of history. And filmed in the 60s(?) I believe, you would not think that it is an old film because of the excellent direction and cinematography.

It is the kind of film that I would watch from time to time and not grow tired of. Actually, I had it on because I wanted to expose my baby to their kind of music. But she was only interested in the movie during the musical part and she would fuss when there are speaking lines. I guess she is not ready for it yet.

I would just like to announce that ABC is showing it.

So much has been said about the Twilight Saga  and now it is the New Moon part. I would not really know about it because I have not seen any of the movies. I guess I am not just into vampire stuff. But I have friends raving in Facebook that tickets are sold out, etc. And they are so excited to see it. Why the hoopla? I don’t know.

Because of other people raving about it, I just might watch it. If I can find the time, that is. I will be having a busy week next week you know.

Anyway, there are people who claim that we can watch this saga online for free without having to download it. But I doubt it really because this is a blockbuster movie, why would anyone leak it online? So I wouldn’t believe it. Sometimes, when things are just too good to be true, they must be. So if we really want to watch it, let us go to the movies.