ความคิดเห็นที่ 101
จูจัง ... พี่ไปเอาข่าวมาแปะคะ มิได้แปลเองแต่ประการใด ชื่อผู้แปลอยู่ข้างล่างข่าวคะ
Bench, F4ever!
LOVE LUCY By Lucy Gomez
The Philippine STAR 09/26/2003
Mommy, you still love David ba?" "Shhhhh, Juliana
thats our little secret, Daddy might hear us." "Me also, Mommy, I love Dao Ming Si
thats our secret, dont tell Daddy, ha?"
And so goes an almost nightly conversation between Juliana and me, just as we are getting ready to turn in for the night. All this, of course, takes place within the earshot of an amused Richard whos trying to keep a straight face and act like he has heard nothing.
David is none other than sexy soccer star David Beckham while Julianas beloved Dao Ming Si is Jerry Yan of F4 fame.
It took the constant prodding of my then two-year-old daughter to make me aware of who exactly Dao Ming Si was. Truth be told, I initially could not tell one from the other. I had no particular opinion of them, they were but a group of young, good-looking Asian guys who had similar hairstyles. But my Juliana ably and consistently pointed out to me who her "love" was on TV as well as in magazines and pictures. Add to that was that she once received as pasalubong from her tito Jerry Olea a whole shopping bag full of F4 products, from notebooks to pencils, stickers, bandannas, bags and mousepads. The latter even spawned a crying fit one night when she insisted on having a Jerry Yan computer mouse to match her Jerry Yan mousepad. It did not seem logical to her little mind that one could exist without the other.
After around 30 minutes of trying to divert her attention, I finally got the bright idea of covering the mouse entirely with stickers of close-up shots of Jerry Yan in all sorts of poses. She looked at my labor of love smugly as if to say, "Thats more like it, Mom." Necessity, after all, is the mother of not only invention but improvisation as well.
She has since moved on from her Dao Ming Si computer mouse fixation to what is now her prized possession a Dao Ming Si folder/envelope that she brings to school almost on a daily basis and a pink Bench bandanna signed by the main man himself, right before her amazed eyes. How did that happen?
Thanks to Bench, it just did.
Just when everyone thought Bench was done springing surprises for the year and when all seemed quiet in the forefront, they have once more succeeded in snagging another casting coup, signing up no less than Jerry Yan, better known in the Philippines as Dao Ming Si as the newest, freshest face of Bench.
When the public got wind of the deal, the reaction was a resounding Wow, how did they do that?
I was at a gathering shortly after the news hit the stands and the guests present had nothing but praises for what they said was the "consistent marketing savvy of Ben Chan." And like a broken record, I always say that competent as he very well may be it is because he is such a good person that breaks such as this always comes his way.
Although the feat was entirely possible it was, to say the least, a bolt from the blue. Jerry Yan, after all, is Asias brightest star now. And Bench did not fall prey to the get-a-Hollywood-star-and-boost-sales-even-more bandwagon early on. Instead, they chose to sit back and wait it out, getting a wider perspective of things.
When the time was right, they tapped the hottest star of Asia and everything just fell into place. Who better to pick as foreign celebrity endorser for a local clothing company than one who has almost effortlessly endeared himself to a country full of adoring fans who havent even seen him in person yet? Such is the charm of 26-year-old Jerry Yan, who via the phenomenal chinovela Meteor Garden, has made fans of grandmothers, mothers, and daughters alike not to mention men and everyone else in between. Go to the malls and you are bound to run into or meet, maybe not a Dao Ming Si look-alike but at the very least, a Dao Ming Si hair-alike.
Suffice to say that it was through a series of overseas phone calls that the deal was clinched and before we knew it Richard and I (but of course with their No. 1 fan Juliana) were scheduled to fly out to Hong Kong, where Jerry was to have the one-day fashion shoot, to join Ben and company and officially welcome Jerry as part of the Bench family.
Being the big star that he is, Jerry Yan operates in a structure that is understandably Hollywood-ish. By that I mean it would be much more difficult for local fans, who are used to having easy access to their favorite local celebrities, to expect the same when it comes to Jerry. For local fans who are oriented with local celebrityhood it is a given that local stars will accommodate ambush requests for autographs and pictures with nary a second thought. In his case, everything has to be structured and professional. Conditions for the shoot were pre-set and strictly followed, one of which was the exclusion of press people.
His handlers reasoned out that Jerry, as a professional, could not be expected to entertain the press at the same time that he was supposed to be in a fashion shoot. Doing so would be counter-productive; he would not be able to give his undivided attention to the press and as a consequence he might end up being misunderstood and taken for someone snooty.
That was a point well taken. But on the other hand, his signing up for Bench is big news in the fashion circuit and it is but fair that the shoot be at least documented in some way.
At that point, a compromise was set and it was agreed that although presence of the press would be allowed, their number would be limited. Observing the actual shoot was not allowed either and Richard, together with cameraman John Darjuancruz of GMA 7s S-Files, were the only ones given the go signal for a one-on-one interview, primarily because of the Bench connection the first face of Bench welcoming the newest. Because of the language barrier (Jerry speaks very little English), an interpreter was present and questions had to be screened.
We took a bus from the Marriott Hotel on Hong Kong Island for the one-hour ride to Shing Fung Studio where the photo shoot was to take place. We were a group of 10: Richard and I with Juliana and her yaya Lita, John Darjuancruz and Gigi Santiago of GMA 7, Tito Dougs, Igan DBayan of The Philippine Star, Beia Formoso of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and publicist Keren Pascual who throughout the trip provided comic relief and entertainment.
When we got there the shoot was well underway. Ben Chan, Brian Lim and Miguel Pastor were there with Patrick Uy, who was documenting the happenings behind the scene, Jojo Liamson and Stephen Sevilla of Bench and Don Sevilla of Jimenez-Basic Advertising. Also present were a whole slew of stylists, makeup artists, dressers, and assistants from the party of Jerry Yan. Stylist Patty Chou who has worked with the F4 for approximately a year now tags Jerry as her personal favorite simply because he not only registers very well in pictures but he is also "kind, sweet, and a real pro." Also present was Kevin Lee (the editor of Hong Kong-based fashion magazine WestEast) and Melvin Chua. We were ushered into a waiting area directly across Dao Ming Sis dressing room, and adjacent to where the actual shoot was taking place. The official photographer was a young, hip Singaporean named Chuando who does photo shoots for such exclusive brands as Hugo Boss and Ralph Lauren.
Our first view of Jerry happened in between costume changes as he was walking towards his dressing room. He was looking straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to the people around him. The second time he passed by though, the group saw a flicker of a warm albeit shy smile, flashed together with one hand held up in the peace sign.
จากคุณ :
เพื่อคุณ (kung_04ka) 
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29 ก.ย. 46 16:39:26
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