What is this AlDub Phenomenon?

Apparently, Eat Bulaga, a noontime show here in the Philippines, hit a jackpot to the surprise interaction with actors Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards only in the split screen. Maine was in a different location and Alden was in the studio. They are considered an accidental love team. Ever since they’ve met, they gained a sudden rise in their career, popularity and social network followers in over a month and still counting.

AlDub is a fictional supercouple pairing of Alden Richards and Yaya Dub from the Philippine daytime variety series Eat Bulaga! Its name is derived from a portmanteau of the tandem’s character names, namely Filipino actor Alden Richards, who portrays a fictionalized version of himself, and Yaya Dub, portrayed by Filipina voice dubbing actress Maine Mendoza.

First, let’s talk about the actors, I found out about Maine Mendoza when she uploaded videos of her dubbing and in over 24 hrs, her video got a million views so she was named as the Dubsmash Queen of the Philippines. She graduated in De La Salle-Benilde in Culinary Arts and took an on the job training in New York. You can watch her videos here.

Alden Richards has been an actor in Eat Bulaga since 2013. He is also a model, and host. In fact, he even won awards in the span of three years in showbiz. He was also a Business Administration student of De La Salle-Canlubang.

Eat Bulaga included Maine in one of their regular segments called Juan For All, All For Juan. Her role is a snobbish Nanny, Yaya Dub, to a materialistic grandmother, Lola Nidora played by Wally Bayola. Playing her role as a Nanny, she only talks through dubbing and her character hardly smiles.

First unscripted interaction between AlDub:

Don’t try to understand what they’re talking about, just try observe the facial expressions and body language.

When Sociologist, Bro. Clifford Sarota analyzed the video of the couple’s first interaction. According to him, noting Yaya Dub’s reaction to Alden the moment she saw him, she started acting self-conscious and cute on screen. She forgot her role and started acting herself.

Also, he included that some of the show’s formula is the Cinderella complex that gives people hope that even though they are simple people and they are in an ordinary situation, as long as there’s potential, they can get noticed by someone popular and they can be discovered too, the mutual thrill from the actors, and the spark due to their strong chemistry which is a trigger of a good relationship.

Watching the video myself, I was also captivated by their accidental interaction. It was really cute and the chemistry truly exists between them. Well, it’s only a month since they’ve become an official loveteam. Hopefully, they’ll make it because they’re the only love team I know here in the Philippines who have never met personally and who‘s been trending in twitter for more than a week now. I wonder how much the hashtag today will reach since it’s already Saturday today and it’s only a few minutes before the KalyeSerye starts. In 13 hours, the hashtag ALDUBMaiDenHeaven had reached 1.45 M tweets.

            

Body Language Expert and Psychologist, Randy Dellosa explained that the new love team, Alden and Yaya Dub, AlDub’s formula are the thrill when they dub romantic songs and when they write messages to each other, the art of forbidden love in their Kalyeserye (Street series because the venue is always on the street), and the best but not the least is the possibility that the actors may have true feelings for each other.

He added even that Maine Mendoza’s reaction after seeing Alden shows that she probably interested in him when her eyes got bigger and when she covered her lips behind the fan.

As for me, it’s too early to predict what’s going to happen to the love team, especially with the challenge of interpreting their relationship in the series because their conversations are limited and also to the actors since they only interact in the split screen.

According to Fashion Pulis, the actors may have met already in 2010. The actors didn’t confirm anything, but Maine had tweets regarding her blurred photos from the said event. So people are calling the meeting serendipitous, and that the actors are destined or fated.

Every time I watch them, yes, it makes me smile and the characters have strong chemistry, (Just not sure, what kind of chemistry yet), but I’m also expecting more. After all, chemistry is not the only factor in a relationship, there should also be some degree of friendship, intimacy, familiarity, compatibility and lovemap. Friendship is more important because it’s the foundation of a long lasting relationship while chemistry may disappear after 2-3 years. Couples should work hard to revive that chemistry.

Another thing I love about the show is the moral lessons it pushes to people who are in love especially the teenagers such as:

Love should be felt, shouldn’t be bought, should be fought for, should be taken cared of and should be given to someone at the right time.
Love shouldn’t be rushed. It’s something, anyone should work hard to earn it.
If you really like someone, woo her. And you shouldn’t just woo her, you also need to woo her family.
It’s beautiful to have a life inspiration, but you should put to good use. You shouldn’t just focus only on love all the time.
Love happens at the right time.
Everything requires patience, hard work, and effort. Everything should come at the right time.
Money is not enough to love someone.

More love lessons from Kalye Serye #KiligPaMore as enumerated below but they are explained in the link, so please check too:

• Meet each other first in person.
• Love will help you find ways.
• Love requires patience.
• Fight for your love.
• Listen to your parents or grandparents.
• Assumptions aren’t always right.
• Use love as an inspiration.
• Don’t listen to people who can’t follow their own advice.
• Control your emotions.
• There is love at first sight.

There was a rumor that they’ve met five years ago and neither of the actors confirmed it. Maybe to entice more the fans and the audience of the show.

I wish that their love team and their relationship in the future will work out and not become like those couples in other shows that I’ve abandoned due to lack of or fake chemistry and because the writers didn’t handle the relationship of the characters in the series and didn’t properly write or present the personality of the characters well.

Last, but not the least is the love team offers the fans the best of both worlds. Fans can ship, the characters, AlDub, on screen and the actors, MaiDen, off screen.

Fan, Paul Padlan showed his love for the AlDub couple by composing an original song. He based the lyrics on the storyline of Kalye Serye.

Fan, ZRRMOS26 talks about her reaction and the happenings in AlDub here.

Here is another page to follow the happenings in the show.

Another fan expressions done so much since they’ve never met is editing their pictures together. All of their clear pictures together are edited.

Fans are expecting for AlDub fans to meet on August 29, 2015. Whether they meet or not, the right time for them to meet is coming because they’re also going to start shooting for a movie on  September 18, 2015.

Episode 37: Scripted interactions between AlDub

Relationship Analysis: The X-Files, Mulder & Scully (MSR)

The X-Files is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by Chris Carter. The program originally aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox, spanning nine seasons and 202 episodes. The series revolves around FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) andDana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigating X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena.

Fox Mulder is an Oxford Psychologist holder and became famous at the FBI when the psychological profile he wrote broke the case of Monty Props. Until he came across the X-Files, FBI cases that were designated unsolved then Scully was assigned to him as his partner. Mulder also believes in the existence of Aliens because he witnessed her younger sister, Samantha, taken from their house.

Dana Scully is an excellent Medical Pathologist and a skeptic who was recruited by the FBI. Despite her background in Science, she continues to be a Catholic. Scully was assigned to debunked Mulder’s work on the X-Files so he will return investigating normal cases again.

In fact, the terms Shippers, Snoggers, Fanfiction, X-Philes, and MSR were created because of the show.

Shippers are fans who wants characters from a book, movie, and TV series to end up together. Snoggers are X-Files fans who wants Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny to end up together. Fanfictions are fictions written by fans using characters from books, movies, and TV series. X-Philes is the name of the X-Files fans, which literally means lover of X.

So what is MSR? MSR stands for Mulder Scully Romance. Below is a summary of their relationship. MSR Defined by Erockfurnia/ Erockxf.

*Intellectual Chemistry was shown right away in the Pilot episode when Mulder told Scully that she read her thesis and he was impressed that she tried to make her own interpretation of Einstein’s Twin Paradox.

*Sexual Chemistry. Well the show is full of sexual tension from the characters ever since Scully bared to her underwear in front of Mulder when she thought she had the same marks as their victims who died of exposure also in the Pilot episode.

*Empowerment Chemistry. Well, I can’t really point out each episode of the show because it’s over 202 episodes. But in the span of nine years working together as partners at work and best friends, Mulder and Scully supported, listened, reprimanded and empowered each other to never give up. They drew strength from each other. The best part is they don’t back down from each other and they voice their opinions when one of them did something wrong and when they disagree with each other’s thoughts and beliefs. They were open to each other. They just don’t have chemistry, their personalities, upbringing and experiences as an individual are compatible because they could both learn from each other because of their different perspectives. It is a very good indication of a well-matched *lovemap. After all, lovemap is not just about having chemistry, and compatibility, it’s so much more.

You see, Mulder is unconventional in investigating the cases and also the kind of person who is desperate to find out the truth. He will stop at nothing to get there and he will accept every breadcrumb of evidence to get there without analyzing the credibility of it. Scully taught him the importance of working hard for the evidence. As I’ve mentioned above, Scully’s background in Science made her a skeptic so it was hard for her to see and believe Mulder’s line of thinking and she follows the procedures accordingly. Eventually, Mulder opened up her mind to other things and according to her he taught her to be brave in believing other things that are beyond the realm of science. Despite their differences, they respected each other.

Romantic Chemistry was palpable throughout the show and even the movies. The couple got together at all, but it already ended. In the first movie, The X-Files: Fight the Future, they had this moment outside Mulder’s apartment where they almost kissed but they didn’t because of that freaking stpid d*mn bee that stung Scully. But in the second movie, I Want To Believe, they were together, they hugged and kissed, but they broke up. Also, they’ve released the kissing scene version from the first movie, where the bee did not sting Scully. It was hot and it was the time, where we, the old X-Files fans came out of our caves and celebrated a big reunion online.

The first thing I love about the show is because they were investigating weird, mysterious, and scary phenomena. The second thing is the main characters are intellectually stimulating, entertaining, even funny and very interesting. The third thing I love in the show is how the relationship between the main characters was never planned.

They were only supposed to be a man and woman who are good friends. To be honest, the show was supposed to end in Season 5 with Millennium as the finale episode and it was also a crossover of the new series at that time, Millennium. It is in the episode where Mulder and Scully shared their first kiss, but it was originally their second kiss. Their first kiss happened in the hospital when Scully had cancer in the Season 3, Memento Mori, but it was never aired.

So the writers at first did not write with the intention of putting the characters in the will they or won’t they situation. It was just something they discovered, and tried to go with it. They are not like the scriptwriters now who are trying hard to put couples in that situation who will toy with the audiences for a long time.

I’m a big fan of NCIS but what happened to Ziva and Tony was just unacceptable. I don’t blame the fans for wanting Ziva to come back to the show, after all they invested so much of themselves in the show for seven years, so expect the fans to be bitter for maybe, another seven years before they move on. With that said, I guess the moonlighting curse is real. I am a devout Densi Shipper (Deeks & Kensi), but I stopped watching when the characters got together. I’ve wanted them to get together, but I felt that their relationships was too force and wasn’t handled the way I wanted it to happen.

Also, the backstories of the characters were not good enough for me to explain the characters’ personalities and attitudes. Deep inside, I’ve thought the writers will answer my questions, but after six years, I still got nothing from them and I also felt that they should have handled the characters issues before they got together. The resolution with Kensi’s Jack wasn’t even good enough for me because there was so much build up and emotions invested in the character before.

In six years, sure, there are changes in the characters when they met each other, but it wasn’t enough for me or maybe I just want adult characters, so maybe that’s my problem. At the same time, I’ve realized that Nallen (Nell & Callen) makes much more sense to me as a couple because of their upbringing, experiences, personality, and more. I have nothing against Densi and Neric, I still enjoy them when I’m not analyzing and when I miss the show.

I’m way more satisfied with how the writers handled the relationships on Castle, Bones, Chuck, and Nikita. Wait, of course, NCIS, NCIS LA, and the others are all great shows and I will still encourage other people to watch it. All the writers are talented and worked hard to give fans something fresh and new all the time. After all, there are other reasons to watch the show, so tune in and watch.

What I mentioned above, is just my opinion. Anyway, so sorry for this commercial, let’s go back to the X-Files. Fox Mulder has an unhealthy *lovemap. It was shown through his upbringing and also some of the women he dated in the show.

For instance, Diana Fowley (Mimi Rodgers) is a smart woman, and who is also Mulder’s first partner, but when Fowley got recognition from the higher ups, she left Mulder right away. She was kind to him, but she always has a different agenda. In fact, I don’t even understand her intentions in the show, and I refused to remember anything about her anymore.

Of course, who could resist the three piped problem, presented by Phoebe Green. Mulder dated her during his Oxford days. Phoebe thinks of Mulder as a game, she knows he’s afraid of fire, and what she did is brought a case to him about arson. On top of that, while she is seducing him, she is also busy working another man at the same time. It’s funny how Mulder refer to her as fire, considering that Mulder is an air sign, and naturally it is known to gravitate toward the fire signs all the time. At the same time, Mulder already has a fire inside him so he doesn’t need Phoebe in his life because he will get burn over and over again. Just some trivia there somewhere.

Mulder has an unhealthy *lovemap. Thank God he met Scully because she set it right. She became his friend, his family and more. Scully also became the person who calmed down the fire in him, so Scully serves as one of the best things that happened to him.

Dana Scully has a somewhat unhealthy *lovemap based from her upbringing and her relationships with her parents. While I don’t remember much Scully’s dating lists. Scully is an analytical, practical, rational and sensible person in the show. She is the voice of reason in Mulder’s head. So when she met Mulder, he somehow set her lovemap in the right direction.

Scully was supposed to be dating someone in the Pilot episode, which was also never aired, but the guy is supposed to be working for the FBI as well.

Jack Willis is Scully’s FBI instructor. She got involved with him, after dating for a year, but broke up eventually. Unfortunately, it does not say much about Jack’s character. So this does not really count as something healthy.

Dr. Daniel Waterson is Scully’s former Professor. She had an affair with him and left him after she was recruited by the FBI. I guess I don’t have to explain more why it makes her *lovemap unhealthy at somepoint. One of the questions you’ll have in your mind, what’s a sensible woman doing in a forbidden love affair. There seems to be a pattern here, the fact that she got involved with older guys, but that does not make it unhealthy.

Ed Jerse is a guy she met on the episode, Never Again. It is an episode where Gillian Anderson asked the writers to write a darker side of Scully. It is in the episode where she got her Ouroboros tattoo on the small of her back. Scully strike up a conversation at a tattoo parlor where he invited her to dinner which at first she declined, but after an irritating conversation with Mulder, she went out with Jerse and stayed at her apartment, where he kissed her.

Phillip Padgett is an author experiencing some writer’s block. He is also Mulder’s neighbor. He is someone Scully did not really get involve with, but this case affected Scully in a weird, mysterious and scary way. Well, what can you expect it’s X-Files. He appeared to Scully as an admirer, he watched her from afar, and he even sent her a Milagro pendant. Padgett lured Scully to his apartment. I can’t forget the time where Phillip told her that she came to his apartment because she was curious about him so he invited her to come in and she did. Scully was somehow in a trance while she was with him and she almost slept with him until Mulder saved Scully from him.

It is somehow hard to write about lovemap considering the mysterious factors added to the show, but you will know what I’m talking about Mulder and Scully’s relationship, once you watch a couple of episodes or so.

The relationship Mulder and Scully have is ideal for me because their relationship has a good foundation of friendship. As audiences, we witnessed how they became friends, what they’ve gone through, how they became best of friends, and how they fell in love for each other. It wasn’t forced, it happened naturally. Mulder and Scully belong together because of all the factors that affect their relationship, and not just because they are best friends. Just like Gillian Anderson quoted below:

Well, it seems to me that the best relationships – the ones that last – are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is… suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with. – Dana Scully, Rain King

They are not like those couples who are targetting each other as lovers because they are best friends. I have nothing against those couples ending up together because they are best friends. I’m against those who are forcing themselves on their best friends, just so they could have the happy ending they’ve seen in those copped out movies. It’s like scriptwriters are thinking let’s make the characters best friends, so that audiences will root for them to end up together. It’s bad enough when you notice how forced it is when the characters are pretending to have chemistry or to be in love with each other, it’s such a turn-off.

Anyway, on top of having the characters great chemistry, it doesn’t hurt that the actors who played also have a great friendship that as fans we can’t stop watching. Before, I actually told myself that I’m going to write this analysis maybe next year or so and I only plan to write this analysis of relationships when series are complete. But since X-Files is going to have a new installment on January 2016 (Yey!), I have to write this now.

To be honest, I don’t know what I’m going to see on the episodes and I’m afraid that the show will because it’s too old, it may be irrelevant to other audiences, and last but not the least it may air episodes similarly written with shows airing these days. I also think that maybe Fox is using the show the show to gain something I’ll ignore it. And besides, I have faith on the actors, Chris Carter and the other staff who will work on X-Files again.

*Thusly marked words are defined on this LINK. For those of you who’ve never seen the show, but you’re interested in finding out the love story, click here and scroll down to Route 3: The Shipping News.

Relationship Analysis: Martha Rogers and Chet Palaburn

These past few days, I’ve been missing Castle, so I’m re-watching some of the episodes. I wasn’t choosing the episodes by order, I just chose episodes that I remembered watching.

Castle follows Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle, a famous mystery novelist who has killed off the main character in his book series and has writer’s block. He is brought in by the NYPD for questioning regarding a copy-cat murder based on one of his novels. He is intrigued by this new window into crime and murder and uses his connection with the Mayor to charm his way into shadowing Detective Kate Beckett, played by Stana Katic. Castle decides to use Beckett as the model for Nikki Heat, the main character of his next book series. Beckett, an avid reader of Castle’s books, initially disapproves of having Castle shadow her work, but later warms up and recognizes Castle as a useful resource in her team’s investigations.

I’ve been contemplating for the last few months, how am I going to do a relationship analysis of a TV series. At first, I thought I couldn’t because in order to do that, I figured I need to re-watch several episodes, observe everything, set aside all my personal opinions of the show and start from scratch and I can only write about shows that already ended.

Luckily, while I was watching, I was fortunate to encounter Martha’s romance with Chet from the start up until he died.

Martha Rodgers is Richard Castle’s mom and Alexis Castle grandmother. She has a free and restless spirit that is always having a hard time settling down with someone permanently. It’s not exactly her fault, her last ex-husband stole all her life savings, from what I remember I believe she had three ex-husbands, please correct me if I’m wrong. From the first episode up to the next, she’s always looking for the next one. She’s fun, and wise despite having shortcomings as a mother.

Martha met Chet again through MyFace, which Alexis helped her set up.

Throughout the episodes, I’ve noticed, she never had a permanent and guaranteed feelings for Chet, she’s fun, always flighty and unsure which is also because of her insecurities, but Castle helped her overcome those from time to time. Castle also mentioned how the Rodgers women always follow their heart. In fact, the person who accepted the invitation is Castle, not her.

They dated for a few months, and she agreed to move in with him after listing the pros and cons which I agree with Alexis that it’s too soon.

In the Season 3, He’s Dead She’s Dead episode, Chet proposed, but Martha wanted to break up because the thrill and the chemistry is gone for a while even if she loves him.

Martha doesn’t have a healthy *lovemap because she replied to Alexis line, that relationships take work. She said, “Love is not about work. It’s about passion. It’s about chemistry. Romance.”

Castle said, “It’s about your heart pounding faster because you can’t wait to see her.”

Chester Palaburn is Martha’s former boyfriend from high school. According to her, he is the star athlete, class president, homecoming king, Martha’s high school sweetheart, and her first from the episode Kill the Messenger.

Martha moved in with him and eventually proposed to her, but he suffered a stroke that night.

To Chet, Martha is the great love of his life.

The information on Chet is not enough to make a conclusion, but if Castle is right that Chet loved Martha for who she is, then he must have a healthy *lovemap because based on his actions in their relationship. He took the next level in their relationship, dating, moving in, and getting married. And also because he might not have unrealistic expectations in the relationship. Even though the chemistry, thrill, passion, and romance is gone, he still wants to be with her. So just maybe.

Alexis in the series is still young, which results in high expectations, but wise and mature beyond her years. I absolutely agree with her, and those comments from the adults hit me the wrong way.

Out of all the shows I gave up watching because of the series of lies, and craps in their scripts, Castle is the only show I stayed watching. Because I believe they portrayed the romance of Castle and Beckett just right. Their relationship is not just about chemistry, romance, passion, and thrill, it’s more.

I have yet to re-watch the old episodes and re-watch the future episodes with a critical and analytical eye and make an observation if all the characters matured with the show, and are not spouting about what love is all about.

Although, what was shared above were merely opinions of the characters, billions of people are watching this show, and some of them shares Alexis age or younger. It’s not a good show to watch for children to learn that love is all about romance, chemistry, passion, and thrill.

Of course, I know that people will eventually and effectively learn from experience, but there are people who learned by observing, watching, and lives vicariously through other people’s lives and I’m one of them. I don’t want to say this, but if people are going to watch this kind of show, it should be watched by adults, so adults can correct everything that is not true in the script.

I’ve been watching Castle for the last six years, I met the fans, spent hours chatting with them for 3-4 years, spoke with some of the writers of the show, and included in live interviews of other writers from CastleTV.net

Aside from properly writing the romance between Castle and Beckett, I also love the way the writers work together when they’re writing the scripts. If you want to know more, just go to the website I shared above.

Thank you for reading my post.

So far, this is my only complaint about the show, I still love Castle as a character, so I’ll still watch. I do remember that aside from Beckett and Castle, they also did something right with their other couples in the show.

*Thusly marked words are defined on this LINK.