Love Teams

Tuesday 26th Jan

The love teams that were being presented were Paolo Contis and Desiree del Valle, John Lloyd Cruz and Kaye Abad, Baron Geisler and Jody Sta. Maria, Paula Peralejo and Patrick Garcia.

The press conference itself took place in the "Cilantro" restaurant, owned by Dieter Ocampo, who we had seen only that morning at the Mula Sa Puso press conference.

The food here was excellent too, although much of it went untouched as many of the press had just come from the Mula sa Puso press conference and had eaten a big meal there. So had I, but then again I'm a pig... I think if I was with the press I'd be hugely fat by now ;)

This press conference had a much more relaxed air to it than usual. I guess it's because, unlike most other press conferences, they weren't plugging an actual product so there was less to actually present to the press before the questioning began.

Also this was different in that they were just a series of couples, rather than representing one single venture. Because of this, right from the start each of the couples split off into small groups around the tables. The one absentee from the event was Baron Geisler.

At this point I had not quite come to grips with the concept of loveteams, so much of the conversation that went on was lost on me, even the few bits that were in English.  The questioning from the press seemed to go on for a long time, as each of the members of the various loveteams swapped tables to chat to another few members of the press.

Eventually it was time for the Showbiz Lingo Plus team to interview the couples.  Many of these press conferences take place in restaurants, and that usually means that the crew have to pick out the best spot to hold the interview - which often means commandeering a corner of the room and making the best of it.   This one was different however. Perhaps Deiter Ocampo himself realised the need, but for whatever reason there is a small area against the wall halfway inside the restaurant which seems tailor-made for interviewing.

A small sofa and armchair are placed at right angles, crying out for an interview to take place, and has a background which is much more lively than the rest of the walls in the place. It was therefore here that the crew set up for the interviews. this seemed to take a long time, possibly because they had to wait for each couple to become available between interviews.

Once the interviews started it soon became difficult to spot the difference between each of the couples.  With four pairs of actors who are essentially doing the same thing and aiming for similar targets, each of the interviews seemed to be rerun of the previous one.  Of course this is the view of someone who didn't understand much of what was said, and knows nothing of the past work of any of the actors, but the whole way that they seemed to projecting themselves was the same.

I found it quite difficult to change position while taking pictures during this series of interviews. In order to move to the other side of the camera I would have had to weave my way through a lot of tables, and by the time I'd done that the interview would have been over!  photographer's job isn't always easy...

At least this time I had the chance/courage to ask for a posed shot at the end of one of the interviews. I quite like this one :)

Tuesday 26th Jan

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Jan-Feb 1999

Tuesday 26th Jan