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Showbiz Online: Showbiz Netizens On The Rise - Part 2
It's Cool Similarly, Sharmaine Arnaiz (www.stormviz.com/sharmaine) has found connecting to people the most satisfying part of being online. It's no surprise that it was Internet junkie Dawn Zulueta who first got her interested in the new technology, and later convinced her to have a site made. Sharmaine enumerates the reasons for having a Web page, as taught to her by Dawn two years ago: "No. 1, it's a portfolio; No. 2, you do it for your fans; No. 3, if you're on the Internet, you're a cut above the rest, you're cool. (To cybercynics, she clarifies, `Remember that this was two or three years ago'); No. 4 it's cool to get e-mail." Scanning her guestbook entries, one can see that Sharmaine is big or reason No. 4. A lot of the people who sign in seem to be repeat visitors, thanking her for replying to an e-mail or otherwise granting a request. One visitor from Mandaluyong seemed particularly smitten-and who wouldn't be, after the girl went to all the trouble to send him all the nine photographs he had asked for?
But given the Internet's culture of democracy, Sharmaine sometimes gets more than she bargains for. "Once they begin to feel comfortable, they'd begin arguing with me about what to do with my career," she relates, amused. "One guy who was a marketing specialist was even trying to convince me to change the look of my Web page. He said that the black background that I used was too AB; that I should use white so it would be more masa. He said more things. He was really analyzing it!"
Ariel Rivera is one of the few local celebrities who has a cybershrine dedicated to them by a true-blue fan. In the singer-actor's case, the fan is Aileen Dayao, a 22-year-old Filipino who lives in Australia. Aileen says. "The first time I heard Ariel's music was in mid-'93 when my friend Rjay Rosales compiled some Filipino music on a tape for me. It included about three to four songs of Ariel's from his Simple Lang album. I think I became a fan there and the! Back then, whenever I searched for any information about Ariel Rivera on the Net, I could never find anything except for a couple of lyrics here and there." So last year, she put up "Just Meeh: Dedication to Ariel Rivera" (www.cit.nepean.uws.edu.au/-adayao/arielr/). Building on information found in the program of a concert Ariel did in Australia last year, and adding lyrics from his album inlay cards, plus other information e-mailed by visitors, the site is understandably sparse. Aileen has asked Ariel, who established e-mail communication with her soon after she put up "Just Meeh," to provide her with more information. But the famously private Ariel replied with this gracious note: "Unfortunately, I have nothing to contribute to the Web page you made. To me, it doesn't really matter whether or not the page is nice. Just the gesture of somebody making a page for me with their own time and money. It's really something. I can't thank you enough!!!" His girlfriend, Gelli, says that although she has an official Web site and he doesn't, it's really Ariel, with whom she shares a computer, who's more interested in the Internet. "I log on almost everyday, but mostly to check e-mail. Si Ariel does it mga once a week, but he'll stay for hours. Ako, tamad ako sa ganyan e. Gusto ko click lang ako nang click," she says. But sometime ago, Gelli found herself staying online for hours at a time, transformed by a recent event into a fan of sorts, searching the Web for information about a figure that so captured her imagination. Animated, she says, "Remember when Versace died? Naku, gusto ko talaga malaman kung sino ba talaga 'yang si Andrew Cunanan. Hanap ako ng hanap ng information tungkol sa kanya sa Internet. The result? Ang dami kong nakuha. Gusto mo, ikuwento ko sa'yo ang buong buhay niya?" |
Sharmaine laughs. "Some people find it hard to believed
that I answer my own e-mail. They'd write back and say "Thank
you for e-mailing me back,' and then they'd go, `but I think
you're just Sharmaine's secretary. So I'd write them back
and try to convince them it's really me. I don't find it
tedious. It's fun."