Megan Young Bags Miss World Philippines 2013 Title

Miss International Philippines 2013 Megan Young (center) is flanked by the other winners.
Image: ABS-CBN News

StarMagic talent and actress Megan Lynn Young snagged the Miss World Philippines 2013 title at the glittering coronation night at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Pasay City.

Young, a 23-year-old half-Pinay half-American, is set to fly to Indonesia to represent the country in the Miss World 2013 pageant this September.

Young started out in show business after she joined GMA-7's reality celebrity search StarStruck: Season 2 in 2004. She is however best remembered for her stint at the Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2, as well as for her performances in Betty La Fea (2008), Precious Hearts Romances Presents: Hiyas (2012), A Beautiful Affair (2012) and Misibis Bay (2013).

Young admitted that joining—and winning—in the Miss World Philippines was a dream come true.

"There are many risks in joining this pageant, but it's only something that happens once in a lifetime. It's now or never!" revealed Young in an interview with ABS-CBN.

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NBA is National Bieber Association?

We've just found out that Kevin Durant and Tyson Chandler were in Justin Bieber's backyard! Why? How? TMZ gives us the full detail. 

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Yummy Recipe: Torch Marshmallow Icing

Craving for something mouthwatering?  Enjoy your cooking time with this easy-to-prepare recipe straight from the domestic diva, Martha Stewart. 

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Hollywood Movie Review: The Conjuring

The Conjuring

Everyone on Facebook and Twitter are talking about how they screamed and shouted to their lungs as they got hooked up to the horror flick The Conjuring. Directed by James Wan, the film tells the story of paranormal couple Ed and Lorrain Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) who were asked to help a family that's been under an evil speel in a secluded farmhouse. The couple did not know that they were about to face the most "horrifying case of their lives."

Critics were all praises for the plot and for the film's director.

Cath Clarke of Time Out wrote: "Wan builds mounting dread with silence and suspense, lingering the camera unsettlingly long here, creaking a door there."

Meanwhile, New Yorker's Bruce Diones hailed Wan for building "many bumps in the night into a small Hitchcockian symphony of terror by way of long, eerie tracking shots, dramatic silences, and sudden scares that are frighteningly immersive.

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Hollywood Box Office: The Butler Grosses $25 million on its opening day, lands top spot

"The Butler" opens at the top of box office: estimates (via AFP)

"The Butler," about an African American who watches civil rights history in the making as a White House butler, debuted at the top of the North American box office, estimates showed Sunday. Directed by Lee Daniels and starring Forrest Whitaker in the…

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The Voice of the Philippines Teams Assemble for Live Shows

Weeks of Blind Auditions and Battle Rounds at The Voice of the Philippines have finally led coaches to form their crop of finalists who will battle one another on the program's Live Shows.

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Free Willy Star August Schellenberg Dies at 77

'Free Willy' Star August Schellenberg Dies at 77 (via NewsLook)

Video News by NewsLook The Native American actor earned an Emmy nomination for his role in 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.' He had dozens of credits to his name.

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Chris Brown gets 1,000 extra hours community service

Chris Brown gets 1,000 extra hours community service (via AFP)

Singer Chris Brown was ordered to perform 1,000 hours community service after his probation stemming from the 2009 assault on his then girlfriend Rihanna was restored, officials said. The 24-year-old R&B star's probation was revoked last month after…

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ASAP 18 Hits 1 mn Twitter Followers

ASAP 18 hits 1 mn Twitter followers. Image: Wikimedia

The country's longest-running Sunday musical variety show ASAP 18 hit another milestone as its official Twitter account @ASAPOFFICIAL has garnered more than 1 million Twitter followers, making it the first and so far the only Pinoy TV show to set that record.

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Pinoy Box Office: Bakit Hindi Ka Crush ng Crush Mo Hits P92.6 mn in 2 Weeks

Bakit Hindi Ka Crush ng Crush Mo. Wikimedia

The Kim Chiu-Xian Lim love team has already proven it's mettle in the box office, as their first outing with moviegoers proved successful. Bakit Hindi Ka Crush ng Crush Mo is now the third highest grossing local movie for 2013. Meanwhile, Raketeros grossed P4.6 mn in 5 days since its showing last weekend.

Percy Jackson: Sea Monsters continue to dominate cinemas with a weekend gross of P78,152,539 in 5 days. Bakit Hindi Ka Crush ng Crush Mo earned 34,477,057.00 for the past 5 days.

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Why Amalia Fuentes can Afford to Back Out From a TV Soap: Lessons from the Movie Queen of the Philippines

Amalia Fuentes. Image: ABS-CBN

Note: I wrote this months ago when news surfaced that she resigned from Muling Buksan ang Puso, her supposed TV debut.

Amalia Fuentes has been a subject of my online research lately, as much as Dina Bonnevie has been the past few months. I was mesmerized by her goddess-like aura and the exotic look and Hollywood-like glamour that she projected during her heydays. To this day, she has maintained that beauty, although it’s also obvious that she has gained weight. She has indeed aged gracefully. No doubt, the Elizabeth Taylor of the Philippines never lost that title, let alone the looks that made her the Movie Queen of the Philippines (note: One movie observer way back in the 70s or 80s, if I am not mistaken wrote a magazine piece writing that Susan Roces is the Queen of the Philippine Movies. Now, there’s the difference).

From the height of her career in the 60s, until now that she has already maintained a semiretired status, Amalia Fuentes has been a constant newsmaker. In fact, such is her clout to run headlines that the ever enthusiastic press people never failed to pick up any news or scandal on which she is embroiled.

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Norma Shearer: Queen of the MGM Lot

Norma Shearer: Hollywood's First Lady and MGM's Queen of the Lot.
Image: Wikimedia

She reigned as the supreme queen of Hollywood's supreme studio, MGM, from the mid-1920s until her retirement in 1942. She was a fashion icon, darling of press, certified screen diva, and acting great, and considered one of Hollywood's most glamorous stars, appearing as one the silver screen's 10 box-office attractions in the early 1930s. She loved stardom and the man who gave it to her, Irving Thalberg. But after his untimely death in 1936, she seemed to lost interest in making picture and seven years later, she abandoned the home that honed and reared her for the past twenty years.

However, no one could forget Norma Shearer, also called "Queen Norma," who, during her heyday was peerless by any of her contemporaries, not even by her closest rival and fellow queen, Joan Crawford. No one could parallel her, such that Alfred Hitchcock later said, "Where are the Norma Shearers?" when bona fide movie actress of high caliber started to diminish from Hollywood landscape.

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