This Valentine weekend, variety may be the spice of nightlife but it can also lead to indecision.

IT’S VALENTINE season and love is in the air so two local romantic films are being shown simultaneously to take advantage of the lovers who’ll go out on a date on the day of hearts. Take note that what is happening is an extension of the network wars as "Let the Love Begin" is produced by GMA Films while "Dreamboy" is from its rival, ABS-CBN Star Cinema.

We wonder how ABS-CBN bigwigs would feel about this.

The local show business is going to be more exciting as another second-generation (or is it third?) royalty enters its milieu.

We were all "starstruck" at the office the other day when Lorna Jean "LJ" Reyes, one of the four finalists — and a potential winner! — to the well-followed Starstruck competition on GMA-7 came to visit. LJ captured the hearts of everyone, and it took a while before she could disengage herself from those who wanted to pose for souvenir photos with her. LJ gamely and good-naturedly obliged and for this our officemates were even more enamored with her, promising her their all-out support.

Present-day definition of matinee idol Richard Gutierrez gives it all back to most of those who have cheered Aguiluz on — the children.

We know Ogie Alcasid to be a singer, foremostly.

Marilyn Monroe. Ted Turner. Abraham Lincoln. Alanis Morisette. John Nash. Art Buchwald. And yes, even Sigmund Freud.

Vanessa del Bianco was as fresh–looking as the food in Oyster Boy, the restaurant co-owned by "Star Dance’s" host Marvin Agustin, when she showed up for the presscon of the show. She was expected to be a well from which showbiz stories could be fished out. But to the surprise of the press, she gave them the same old attitude when asked about issues surrounding her showbiz life — silence and just a shrug of the shoulders.

Clad in white T-shirt under her designer label Pipay, loose black pants and a pair of Puma sneakers, Pops Fernandez reaches out for her cup of tea as she asks Director Rowell Santiago who stands beside her, "Can I start from the top of the stairs?" Pops was pertaining to the stairs positioned at the center of ULTRA’s stage, the venue of "Queens on Fire," a Valentine concert that she shares topbilling with Regine Velasquez.

When we think of Filipino actors, aside of course from Ms. Lea Salonga, who have contributed greatly to the country’s pride in the international theater circuit, Leo Valdez would easily come to mind.

One of the factors that saves a person from mediocre existence are the heartaches he goes through in life. Heartaches help shape individuals for the better and celebrities are not exempted from this reality of loving and hurting.

GUESS WHO? this young and pretty newscaster, who doesn’t seem to know how to establish her own identity and style. We noticed she has been doing a not-so-good job delivering the news with her eyebrows curled as if in anger. She might have been copying the style of a more senior newscaster but she’s not successful. We suggest she sticks to her own style, to let it flow nicely, not at all that intense. After all, she’s got a pretty face. Loosen up, girl!

When she leaves for India today to participate in the Mrs. World beauty pageant, Melanie Marquez won’t be promoting herself but the country, she said.