A Revelation of a Secret ALDUB Fan

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!

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!