Should I tell or should I not?
After more than a year of hiatus in writing for my blog, (the main
reason was because of basher-phobia--yup, my unknown blog this side of the
earth received a few hate comments, thus, the temporary retirement from
blogspot), I am once again sharing my humble opinion to the blog world. And all
because of this thing called Kalyeserye.
Opo. Ako po ay isang ALDUB fan.
 |
| Screen grab from Youtube |
It has been a secret I have only revealed to my immediate
family. And all of their reactions kind of scream to me how bakya I am for
being one. As a backgrounder, please know that I don’t have a habit of watching TV. I have already
accepted to myself that I could live without a TV in the house. But after I saw
the video of how Yaya Dub fainted in one of their episodes on the internet, I got
curious. The fainting looked real. I started digging on Youtube. Unexpectedly,
I got hooked.
Even my sister Ben, after I told her I am gaga over ALDUB,
jokingly told me, “Ate, nilagay kita sa pedestal…pero bakeeet?” Of course, I
know the reasons. Allow me to count the ways.
1. Maine Mendoza a.k.a. Yaya Dub is a breath of
fresh air. She is not your usual pa-cutie pie-star-wannabe. She is not afraid
to contort her face, show her molars, and act silly in front of the camera and
a live audience on the street. She has real comedic timing. I’m often surprised
to see her react spontaneously to the feeds of her veteran counterparts, Wally
Bayola, Jose Manalo, and Paolo Ballesteros. ALDUB would not have been big if the camera hadn’t caught her raw kilig reaction when
she saw her crush, Alden Richards, on July 16, 2015 2:47 p.m., (naks,
memorize—e fan nga e!)
 |
| Screen grab from Youtube |
Suddenly, Yaya Dub became the reflection of every ordinary woman in the planet--for how could a poor nanny be noticed by a
popular, good-looking TV star? Whether you are a young student who has longed
for your crush to notice you, or a middle-aged married woman (eherm!) who has forgotten
how your first love felt, or especially if you are a real yaya who have been
told by your amo that it is a taboo to fall in love, we all have our insecurities in our
being loved as we are. Yaya Dub shows us that we can find our ideal soul mate
even if we are lowly and humble in status, even if we are not a beauty queen in
stature, and more importantly, even if our real voice cannot be heard by the
society.
2. Alden Richards is gwapo, which is a given, for probably
Maine would not have a crush on him if he were not. But what is unique about
him is that he is also a real good boy, a genuine gentleman, if you please, and
it oozes out in the way he interacts with Yaya Dub. His clean-cut good looks
match his ability to shed tears on cue.
It may have been acting on his part at first, but in the latter part of
the Kalyeserye episodes, his reactions have become more and more spontaneous and
natural. In fact, he was overwhelmed by his emotions and cried buckets when he sang Lola Nidora's requested harana song God Gave Me You last Saturday. Tinamaan na rin nga, sabi nila!
 |
| Screen grab from Youtube |
Come to think of it, Yaya Dub could have
chosen another fetching celebrity guy to have a crush on, and maybe the result could have been
phenomenal too. But Alden’s personality matched the Tisoy Prince Charming any
Pinay Cinderella dreams of—handsome, respectful, and a true-blue gentleman. So
it was a match MaiDen heaven. (Eep! Sorry, I had to squeeze that in!)
3. The formidable support of the Eat Bulaga cast and
crew, especially Wally, Jose, and Paolo made the skit credible, most especially Wally a.k.a.
Lola Nidora. Wally’s comedic instincts have given meat and bones to this Aldub
Kalyeserye. The Dubsmash portions sometimes become repetitive, but the
hilarious antics and side comments of the three veterans made every day
unpredictably funny.
 |
| Screen grab from Youtube |
Not to nitpick though, I find the side
comments of Joey de Leon sometimes border on double meaning, which is quite
off-putting. I must admit that he is a genius in the play of words, after all
it has been said that he coined the show’s name Eat Bulaga, and has penned a
lot of classic Pinoy pop songs. But still, with the portion’s take on Filipino good
manners and right conduct, his hirits are sometimes out-of-place.
4. The traditional Filipino values that the show
wants to impart, especially to the Digital Babies, is really the star of the show. I think that it was just an
accident that they discovered a gold mine in injecting good pangaral, and so
they rode on the netizen’s wave of approval. Old practices such as pagmamano, saying po and opo, no touch, dressing appropriately made it more justified for
the fans to be giddily addicted to the Kalyeserye. At the end of 2:00
from Monday to Saturday, we have laughed, have felt kilig, and have learned a
lesson or two from Lola Nidora.
 |
| Screen grab from Youtube |
To those who have not experienced ALDUB, sabi nga ng friend
kong si Atty. Noriz, “try mo lang. Promise, masaya, record-breaking.” (We're talking to you, Lowell!) I’ve heard of a lot of sossy people being hooked
secretly and not so secretly--Chuvaness, Daphne O, and did I see Patty Betita in the audience last Saturday? It just goes to show that the theme of innocent
love and Filipino values transcend all economic and intellectual status. Sometimes,
these comedic breaks, (kababawan to those who are clueless to all the hype, di ba, Ms. Lea?), may be the elixir we need
from the political toxicity we encounter in the media everyday.
A flash in the pan? It might be. Ang mahalaga, napapatawa at
naaaliw nila ako ngayon. This has brought happiness to my mundane existence, and
surely to the millions of ALDUB fans out there.
After all, 25.6 million tweets on September 26 don’t tell a lie, right?
Hindi pa nga ako nagtu-tweet nyan!
P.S. Fresh from a "loud and proud" fan. If you are clueless and want to catch up with this craziness, watch this short video about this phenomenon made by Cosmopolitan Magazine. Three minutes lang 'to, sige na!
And for good vibes, let's listen to the song Jimmy Bondoc composed for ALDUB entitled "Yaya".
P.S. Fresh from a "loud and proud" fan. If you are clueless and want to catch up with this craziness, watch this short video about this phenomenon made by Cosmopolitan Magazine. Three minutes lang 'to, sige na!
