Not as Hot 03: Diether Ocampo.

It has been a surprisingly good start for local stars this 2008 in my blog. As I previously wrote, I am not a movie fan. And I don't go out of my way to rub elbows with celebrities either or to approximate their airbrushed lives. Yet this year I have featured a number of our local luminaries such as Iza Calzado (To Bi For 26), Alvin Patrimonio (The Captain Goofs in My Space), newly-single Martin Jickain (The Last of Delio), Men's Health cover boy Aga Muhlach and Andrew Wolff (Must Blow 49). I even have Jake Cuenca's pic of "fixing" himself (i.e. adjusting or grabbing his cock) on the ramp as my latest Hotshot photo.

And I also ended last year blabbing about the physical gifts of model Einar Ingebrigsten.

Today I am featuring another local actor-model-celebrity, though not quite on a positive aspect.

Every night as I drive home from work I pass by the huge billboard in EDSA of Diether Ocampo modelling a fresh line of collared shirts.

I like the ad. It is very simple. Diether is pictured half-body wearing the designer shirt and staring directly into the camera. The kicker in the image is the fact that he has one arm raised, a clothed armpit facing the audience. Sexy. Really sexy. I have tried to find a picture online since late last year but my googling has not yielded any positive result. Darn.

The billboard strikes me everytime. I love looking at it. The sexiness that it conveys far outshines the other naked or near-naked billboards that hover the skyline.

But it is purely the image, its suggestiveness, that attracts me. Not Diether per se. There was a time when I liked this guy, way back when he was introduced as a matinee idol in Gimik. I followed the show every Saturday because of him, Rico Yan and G Toengi.

Nowadays, whenever I see Diether on TV, he doesn't evoke desire in me. He even annoys me at times ---especially when he opens his mouth to explain himself on showbiz (non-)issues or attempts to give an opinion on matters that are of national or civic significance. I just want to throw the remote at him, yelling him that he is pretty but never nearly intelligent. Smile for the cameras, dude and shut up. No one buys an empty shell. Except for decoration.

When did Diether lose his appeal? I can say about the very time that he took himself very seriously, thinking that he is a "serious" and "talented" actor. He made one ---just one--- movie with Rosanna Roces in which critics lauded his performance. Diet's acting was not really award-winning in that film but the industry celebrated the fact that he could already convey more than three facial expressions and that he could deliver his lines without mumbling. Thus, the praises that he received. But he must have believed himself to be Sean Penn, able to risk on roles, play on them as he will, and make himself heard on political and international affairs.

Diether, not!!!!!

From then on, his career went downhill. He had to play supporting roles to actors who are far younger and less experienced than he was. He had to join a boy group in order to be marketable, or just stay in the business. He had to bare his body in order to take public notice.

But I must concede that Diether remains handsome and he still has the matinee idol looks. (Just that he doesn't connect with me anymore.) He also has one of the best bodies in showbusiness nowadays. His pecs and abs are well-defined. Reamining slim, he has refused to muscle up. I remember when my personal trainer asked me whose celebrity body I aspire to have, I gave Diether's name in response.

And most importantly, Diether remains a survivor. He started his acting career more than a decade ago and in spite of the dwindling projects that have come his way, he has stayed in the industry. This is remarkable considering that nearly all his contemporaries could no longer be seen in the limelight.

Maybe the only thing he needs is to be reinvented. Diether, go find someone who will think what and how it would be for you.

Copy and related rights to photographs and digital images appearing herein pertain to their respective authors, photographers and copyright owners. No commercial purpose or financial gain is intended by their inclusion in this blog. All accompanying texts are protected by copyright and related intellectual property laws in favor of saturdayconfessions.