Wednesday, July 23, 2008

VINCENT BUENO - MORE THAN JUST A REALITY TALENT SEARCH CHAMPION

Photo from Vincent Bueno Support page on MySpace.com

I first came to know about Vincent Bueno on January 12, 2008 when I watched ABS-CBN's TV Patrol and he was in the news. He just won then the grand prize in Musical! Die Show, a reality talent competition, probably the counterpart in Austria of American Idol, although with a twist.

I was so interested in the news that the following day, when our office's copy of a daily broadsheet was delivered by the newsboy and I saw Vincent on the front page, I immediately read the news item about him.

It is natural for a Filipino to rejoice when news about a fellow Filipino, even if he is not a full-blooded one, who gained international recognition, reaches the Philippine shore. How much more when he is a full-blooded Filipino as in the case of Vincent Bueno!

The next thing I found myself doing was surfing the Internet for more news about Vincent. My effort did not fail me. So many bloggers have already written much about Vincent. Some of them even witnessed the actual competition and have accurately transformed their jubilant feelings into words and put them in print.

My interest to know more about Vincent Bueno's extraordinary talents and sudden rise to fame was further aroused by some bloggers' accounts of Vincent's stage performances as seen in video clips especially those uploaded on
www.youtube.com. Even if I had not visited that web site before and had no intention to visit it, my overwhelming desire to see Vincent doing his thing in videos brought me there. I was so impressed and delighted to see his superb performances that I even clapped my hands after each performance. They were so great they gave me goosebumps!

One blogger was justified in saying and sharing her experiences with her readers that, after watching Vincent in videos, she suddenly had a wild craving to see more of him, especially his stage performances. I share the same experience and feeling.

As more and more people had seen Vincent in videos, more and more people started to show fondness for him sending congratulatory messages directly to his web page or anywhere on the Net where their fondness for him could be expressed and, hopefully, read by him. Finding him on MySpace.com, I signed up just for the purpose of sending him a message of praise. To my surprise, he replied to my message—and quite intimately at that—addressing me "Tito Goddy", after which, I found myself exultant.

Since then, I've been frequenting internet cafes watching him on You Tube.

All of the above speak well of Vincent's inherent singing, dancing, and acting talents and skills as well as his superb performances that led him to becoming a reality talent search champion. To me, however, Vincent is more than just that for he even possesses qualities that can be attributed to a modern-day hero.

Having won his prize at a time when news on political turmoil and other negative issues dominated the Philippine print media and the airwaves, Vincent's win provided a respite from such alarming and discouraging news.

Vincent was able to lift the Filipino spirit and has become a sort of a unifying figure to what seems like a divided people.

Yes, Vincent is more than just a reality talent search champion and has, in fact, achieved what a mere reality talent search champion may not, for in a land where the citizens are notoriously known for their colonial mentality and preference for things not their own, VINCENT BUENO has proven his power and capacity to make that nation's people proud—so very proud—of their race!

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