Gaby Espino: Pregnant and Out!

The telenovela media is awashed with the news that actress Gaby Espino alias 'Princessa Izaguirre' of Rebeca telenovela fame, has joined the league of Jeniffer Lopez and other celebrity 'moms-in-waiting', as she she took a gracious bow out of her current Telemundo telenovela (El engaño) where she was playing the leading role of a.k.a "Andrea Robles Conde".

The reason for this noble decision was to give more attention to and nurture her pregnancy. Remember I shared her testimony when she got hooked and walked to the altar with fashionable Cristobal Lander mid last year? She was recently quoted by Venezuelan press saying: "... I'm pregnant. We're very happy. I'm going to be a mom..."

We wish her a rotund and blissful time in her 'new club' of celebrity baby boomers. She wins my heart as a mother and wife. This is one sacrifice too big that many actresses on screen would not want to make because of pursuit of fame. Salute to you my dear telenovela sister.

Jennifer de la Vega - Desperate Housewife!

Actress Gabriela Vergara a.k.a Jennifer de la Vega, of the gardener's daughter (la hija del jardinero) telenovela fame has bitten the apple of success, as she shot to stardom provided on the platter of Univision in the Spanish version of "Desperate Housewives".

She is to play the leading role in this very popular American soap opera. We have missed the antics of this sparkling actress,since the end of that telenovela two years ago. She is sure to act well because of her vibrant antecedents.

In that telenovela she played the role of a jilted former Miss Universe who lost her lover to a gardener's daughter - Mariana Ochoa "Luisa Fernanda". Nigeria has missed the desperate housewives soap, but we are hoping to get a friend out there to help us share the snippets from beginning to date.

To Gabriela Vergara, we say a big congratulation, in her big deal role in 'Desperate Housewives', which she just landed.

Her Majesty's Visit

Guess who 'walked' through our telenovela love garden here this weekend... Her 'blogoscopic' Majesty, Jane May. She is one resourceful blogger with an astonishing grasp of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

I have decided to take a LEAP - to make more money online this new year than all my incomes of the last four years put together! So it is a great omen to have great online money earners visiting my blog to kick off my money-making adventures this first month... and you know what? The rain has started 'falling' (Joel 2:23) early enough!

(Yours truly just grossed over $2,500 Dollars, half of which was transfered by wire or SWIFT to my GTB account from one of the networks and content provider that I partnered with). If this is the emerging financial picture of the first two weeks of 2008, imagine what awaits me in the weeks and months ahead.

90% of success in life is determined by positioning. I have decided to attract and magnetize successful friends online this year. You won't find me in the company of fools, because a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Jane May was voted last year as one of the Top 10 Sexiest Bloggers. That is not the real news, the news was that she sold one of her blogs for $20,000 by mid year 2007. Jane has more than proved her mettle in the career blogging niche, where she showed the secret of how to coast home an income of over $300 daily with her blog.

Remember that she also broke the news about the successful sale of Kumiko Suzuki's blog (CashQuests) for $15,000 late last year. I consider it a privilege to have Jane visit us.

Jane has since those meteoric news of last year moved into affiliate marketing, which is 'quieter' but heavy bucks earner. A visit to her Daily Web Ideas blog showed that she has not posted more than four times since September 2007. Nonetheless, Jane is a highly respected mentor on the web and friend of mine since the days on the controversial master rambler, where we met.

We were also privileged to have my Forex mentor, Grace Cheng, the Forex queen and blogger, who Make Money Trading Money, visit us too in this season. Grace, whose name is almost synonymous with FOREX, is a Singaporean, blissfully married to an American, Pedro.

She is also the author of that popular book called: "7 Winning Strategies For Trading Forex". She has being on a trip with her two loves (husband and Forex), round the world since mid-2007. What a way to combine business with pleasure.

Until I met Grace last year, I have consciously steered clear of the disgraceful scam called Forex in Nigeria. Every online scammer have suddenly taken refuge in the so-called "Forex Seminars", and being Forex 'tutors without futures' because they did not have proofs.

These funny fellows (my husband call them 'Knowledge Dupes' make money only from the scam forex lectures, and not from actual Forex trading. They don't even have any sterling results there, so they can't give what they did not have!

Grace Cheng changed all that for me with her PowerFX course. Many of my students in the 'Blogging-For-Money' class were former victims of Forex scammers. I would be speaking more about Grace Cheng and Forex in another post. Suffice is to say a telenovela 'Thank You' to Grace for engracing my life, and finding the time out of her global tour to visit my telenovela blog.

If you want to follow trails of this prolific Forex blogger from Asia to America, (she is now in Chicago), Do so on her World Wiki blog. I pray that may your life too be a celebrity palace that enjoy the visitations and impartation of kings and queens this year.

El Cuerpo del Deseo: Final Episode

The 'Second Chance' telenovela (El Cuerpo del Deseo) ends in this chapter. Yes, this is the end of the great story. If you have been following from my telenovela stories sitemap, then, you can 'flow' into this grand finale now.

Philippe was loading his paintings in the car, and Valeria, Antonio, Simon and Angela pleaded with him to help them to take Salvador home. Philippe said that he never again wanted to hear about Salvador. Antonio, Simon, Angela and Valeria continued pleading with Philippe.

Philippe gave up and told them that he could tell them where his nephew Father Giacomo lived as Salvador lived in a remote place but they would have to take Salvador themselves. Valeria agreed and Philippe gave them Father Giacomo's address.

Back in the Donoso house, Vicky informed Abigail and the maids of the newspaper headline, where Rebeca had been found in a hotel room having committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope. They decided not to tell anybody as the news was just too horrible.

Angela, Antonio, Simon and Valeria arrived at the Donoso house and called out to Salvador. Salvador warily came out. Antonio and Angela asked Salvador if he wanted to go back home to Las Crustas. Salvador happily said yes!! Antonio told Salvador to get ready and for his belongings to be packed as he was going that very evening. Salvador was ecstatic.

Later, Salvador's belongings were put in the car. Outside the house, Salvador apologized to Abigail and Vicky for the chaos he had caused. Vicky and Abigail told him that they had not minded at all and told him how much they would miss him, even if he did not know them well. The two maids asked Salvador if they could hug him as even if he did not remember or know them, to them he was the most important person to them.

Salvador happily agreed and the two maids hugged him. Angela told the maids to look after her baby son as he was the most precious thing/person she had. Salvador asked her for the name of the baby and she told him the baby's name was Pedro Antonio Dominguez. Salvador finally entered the car with Simon, Angela and Antonio drove them away; for the last time we say goodbye to the Donoso house and Abigail, Vicky, the maids and baby Pedro. ('Babatunde' as the Yorubas of Nigeria would call him 'father-has-returned').

Antonio drove all night and the very next day, they had reached Las Crustas. Antonio asked Salvador to guide him as from where they were he did not know the road or way to follow. Salvador told Antonio to follow the road where the priest with the bicycle was on (The priest was Father Giacomo).

Antonio drove past Father Giacomo. Father Giacomo saw Salvador in the car and made the sign of the cross as he could not believe that Salvador had come back to town! He called out to Salvador and cycled faster than ever before trying to reach Salvador (It looked funny as Father Giacomo was much lager than the small bicycle he was ridding).

Antonio reached a rough road. Salvador asked Antonio to pull-up the car as the car could not move further on the rough road. Simon wondered if they had to remove Salvador's belongings but Antonio told Simon that they first had to gauge where Salvador was going so that they did not take him to a bad place. Salvador, Antonio, Simon, and Angela walked the rest of the way.

In a short while, Salvador saw his wife and son working on the farm. He called out to them and ran to greet them. Cantalicia was so shocked and happy to see her Salvador and she ran to meet him. The two met in a hug. Salvador then hugged his son Mancho.

He told Cantalica that she had no idea of what he had been through or the things he had done. He said he could not even tell her some of the things he had done as she might not accept him and would be annoyed at him. Cantalicia gave him a look that clearly said that (she knew and) she had forgiven him.

Salvador showed Cantalicia the shoes he had been given. Removing the shoes off his feet and showing it to Cantalicia on her face.. He said that he had been with the very nice people that included Mrs. Angela who had given him the shoes and other nice things (some or most were Salvador/Pedro's belongings).

Antonio told Simon that they had to leave Salvador in Las Crustas as obviously he was happy there and later they would take his belongings from the car and give it to him.

Salvador looked back while hugging his wife Cantalicia and his son Muncho. He then waved to Angela, Antonio, and Simon and told them, especially Angela to look after themselves and especially the little baby, and he would look after his wife Cantalicia and son Mancho.

Angela, Simon and Antonio waved back. The scene ended with a bird's eye view of Salvador, Cantalicia and Mancho, walking away from the camera on their farm.

********************************

Fin.

The end.

*********************************

Or is it really the end? Telmundo have released El Deseo Ajeno (Possessed By Desire), which is a book that tells of when the dead spirit of Rebeca enters Valeria's body. Rebeca in Valeria's body goes to seek revenge on Salvador, back in Las Crustas, for taking all the Donoso fortune (Poor Valeria).

The story will follow everybody's life: Antonio and Angela with their son Pedro 'babatunde' Antonio, Simon, Vicky, Gaetana and Evaristo, etc. You can get it from Amazon here:Telemundo Presenta: El deseo ajeno (Telemundo Presents: Possessed By Desire): Novela (A Novel)

Kenya, Telenovela and Political Crisis

What we all thought was the grand finale of the Second Chance telenovela (El Cuerpo del Deseo), was not. The real grand finale became a casualty of the political turmoil that has consumed Kenya in the last three weeks.

Our dear telenovela friend, Tessie, just sent in the last three episodes of this telenovela to me. It was the crisis that prevented her from completing the full story, but thank God, she found time, out of the crisis to send us the final and ending chapter of el cuerpo del deseo. Here the rest of the story from her mouth:

"Hi Philomena!

I wish you a happy new year!! I know you will not be happy with me, and I am deeply sorry, but more happened after the grand final. I was not able to write earlier but below is the summary of the last three final episodes that happened after the car sunk out of sight.

I hope you are all doing well! We had a hectic end of 2007 and beginning of 2008 as you may have already heard and seen. Even though most media is saying we have ethnic clashes, it instead should be 'Political Leaders Exploiting People (Ethnicity) to Gain More Power', because as Kenyans we have always lived together, but some political activities causes friction against some radical people.

Since the 1982 attempted coup, things have never been so bad (Though I am told the attempted 1982 coup was worse). Sadly since 1990's there has been ethnic tensions and clashes, usually activated by various political leaders across the divide, but in the end of 2007 and January 2008, the issue blew up on our faces, due to allegations of cheatings in the elections, and due to us supporting leaders who are not credible and openly lie to us (we did not learn from our past mistakes). The issue was more political which turned tribal eventually.

My Prayer for Kenya, the rest of Africa and the world in general, we should remember that no political leader is bigger than the country, that we should kill for them or kill other people who were opposing us when our candidate looses or wins. Because who would the leaders be without us? Who would the leader lead without us? They obviously cannot grow the economy without us.

A leader is there to serve the people, without the people there is no one to serve. Most importantly, stop relying on the Political leaders so much, there is a much more powerful leader, who is mightier than any political leader and can even Move Mountains when we put our faith in him - God! Surely such a Mighty Leader will meet our needs more than any political leader can. So we should beseech God together.

I pray God brings peace to our country as politics is not a reason why so many people should die and that Nigeria continues in its good health and this never ever happens as it is an ugly experience.

The lesson is never to ignore the small problems as they can escalate, and never to make the same mistake twice (even if given a bribe) as it can cost you dearly! Be honest in everything that do, and no matter what tribe, race, religion you are we are all made in the image of God. Also, do not be so quick to judge and condemn others.

Here is the summary of the last three episodes...

Endorsed By Nairaland King!

The pulse of what is coming ahead of us this new year has begun its rhythmic beats. After ten days of being off-line due to Yuletide festivities, I opened my mail this morning to see a "love mail" from nobody else but the king himself.

I am talking of Seun Osewa, the founder of Nairaland Forum, the number 2, most trafficked and most-popular (according to Alexa Rankings), indigenous website in Nigeria!

This popular forum is grossing almost a million page-views monthly. This is an incredible result that proves that, with original ideas, one can excel, and become a global web spectacle, even in this jungle called Africa. Seun has proved that something great can come out of this "African Nazareth".

I can't stop loving this young lad of 26 years old, for his meteoric and superlative achievements on the web. My husband calls him (Seun Osewa), "a bundle of entrepreneurial exploits".

Seun is a youth ambassador and web leader, pointing to the unmatchable opportunities available and obtainable for Nigerian and African youths on the internet. In the last 12 months, his subscriber base leaped by over 100,000 registered users, to the current 161,000+ members.

Seun is my forerunner in this web business, and I am sure he makes more than 3ce what I currently earn online from my blogging activities... (leave that out of speculation), he would tell us the true figure anytime soon when he grants us an interview.

On a lighter and festive mood, to you ladies out there, if you are in your mid 20s, watch out for this most eligible bachelor and web entrepreneur. Larry Page just moved out of that club, handing over the baton to the likes of Seun, here in Africa.

What started like a another 'experiment in failure' in April 2005 (he has had 2 modest attempts before Nairaland), has today become a chronological web success story, that silenced every mockery and doubts. Between that time and now, many copy-cats (I have counted and lost count of over 15 mediocre attempts now), tried to copy his web success but ended up a dismal failure.

Seun was one of the foremost crusaders against the 'Yahoo-Yahoo' scourge among Nigerian youths. He took the battle to the most reputable forums like Digg, and won support and sympathy for that cause, in an attempt to cleanse the rest of us who were newly coming onto the cyberspace, from the shameful antecedents of internet scammers, who painted our fatherland in cyber crime colors. Thanks brother, for this noble cause.

This is the excerpts from his mail to me, which he titled: "So Proud of You":

"Hello, Just wanted to say I think you're a true web business success story and I'm proud of you. I'm sure what you do feels like a dream job - being paid to watch TV shows you love and write about them! One would think only really young people can embrace the web enough to achieve what you've achieved, but you've broken all the rules. In fact, I might be a bit jealous because writing is more flexible and fulfilling than forum moderation. Please keep it up, and thanks for being an inspiration! -- Seun Osewa
http://www.nairaland.com [vast Nigerian forum]"

Thanks, Seun, for the endorsement and compliments. I am proud of you and also inspired by your web exploits too. You are one of the 'web monuments' (as my husband used to say), that plant the lovely and industrious banner of Nigeria on the web space.

Thanks again.

STOP PRESS! Africa Independent Television (AIT), has started airing Second Chance (El Cuerpo del Deseo) telenovela yesterday 1st January, 2008, when it showed the first episode of the story. We are however proud and fortunate to have the full story completed and posted the site map at Telenovela Stories Dot TV. That is where to go, to read the full story from snippet 1, to the grand finale end.

2008: A New Beginning!

Happy New Year to all telenovela fans world wide. I have deliberately been off-line in the dying days, when 2007 gave up the ghost. Some things had to die with that year... so that our destinies may resurrect with power and explosive revival as we march on triumphantly throughout 2008!

Figure 8 symbolizes NEW BEGINNING. A spiritual cycle was completed in 2007. It is now time to deliver the perfected works of that cycle. Indeed, it is a year of "Next Level" (apologies to Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye).

It has been variously called a year of New Directions, New Regeneration, New Resurrection. A year of explosive growth for small businesses. A year of Unprecedented greatness and Unmatchable Increase! Oooh... the euphoria is still thick in the atmosphere... I am still drinking deep into what the year promises to deliver and MUST deliver, by God's special grace.

For me, as an internet entrepreneur, I am going to the market place, before mid-year with some of my sites, and I would not return empty. The telenovela 'food' I have been 'cooking' all this while is done now, it's time to sell. The irresistible aroma has been bringing 'loaded' and dignified web merchants to my sites and also a lot of new visitors, something great is about to happen on the blogosphere from Nigeria!

Many many thanks to all fans who further propelled our feed Subscriber from 1,007 on January 1st 2007, to 2,833 telenovela subscribers today, exactly 12 months later. Yes! You were there! When the book called "2007" was closed, you occupied a memorable and sweet chapter for me. As 2008 opens, may that record activate your explosive harvests and catapult you to your desired 'haven'.

A tree cannot make a forest. It was your robust patronage that fetched me those thousands of Dollars. Your seed would speak for you this year. Your seed shall defend you against wants and lack in 2008. You will be adored and favored, the same way you have done with me in 2007.

You shall be dearly beloved at home and at your work places this year. You shall leap over shame and reproach into honor and glory this year. That is the agenda for this year, and you are a special item on that agenda. You shall leap into Joy and peace!

Let me share the reason for my excitement for this year 2008. God is the creator of times and seasons. He is also a God of patterns. He specializes in concealing mysteries, because His glory is wrapped in it.

It is a great honor if we can search out and locate the mysteries hidden in this year. There is a 'leap factor' hidden in this year. It comes only once in every four years. If you can locate that 'leap factor', you will be catapulted beyond your dreams.

By the time you land, you would have overtaken every setback you have suffered in the last four years. It would be a stupendous recovery that would be delivered to your life this year. May you find that 'leap factor' right early.

I have operated that revelation for the past 12 years and it has worked explosively for me, three times (1996, 2000, and 2004). This year would follow that divine pattern, get ready and line up your life with God, the Author of true promotions and restorations.

May God help me to unravel this mystery to you in the course of time. Amen.

One other great desire of mine that I would love to dwell a little here is a personality of immense worth to me. He is a gift unto men and unto nations. Ahh, I would be showcasing him too in the course of time. My husband and mentor- Aderemi Ojikutu.

Don't worry if you have nothing to do with the web. He is sent to only 1.2 Billion internet users. If your work or career has something to do with the web, then watch out for this man who will bring great web glory to Africa and Nigeria in 2008. He is a 'prophet' of the web. One prayer I fervently hold unto, and continue to pray for him is: "He Must INCREASE..."