'Despacito' is most-viewed YouTube video

"Despacito" -- the racy Spanish-language global smash hit throbbing with sexual innuendo -- racked up another record Friday, supplanting "See You Again" as the most watched video on YouTube.

As of early Friday afternoon on the US East Coast, "Despacito" had logged 2.995 billion views on YouTube, ahead of rap ballad "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth at 2.994 billion.

The triumph of Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi's song crushed a short reign for "See You Again," which only clawed into the number one spot last month topping the extraordinary four-and-a-half-year run of Korean artist Psy's "Gangnam Style."

"Wow," Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee, who is featured on "Despacito," said to his nearly 17 million followers on Instagram. "Thank you all for supporting since day one!"

"Despacito" has already been named most streamed song of all time.

On July 19, the song's label, Universal Music Latin Entertainment, said "Despacito" in its original and remixed versions had reached 4.6 billion streams across platforms including YouTube and Spotify.

The track with its reggaeton beat went viral soon after its January release and found an even more colossal audience in April when pop star Justin Bieber appeared in a remix.

The Bieber version has logged 12 weeks at number one on the US singles chart, the first Spanish-language song to reach the top spot since "Macarena" in 1996 and matching the 12-week reign earlier this year of Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You."

"Despacito" means "slowly."

"See You Again" was featured in the 2015 action movie "Furious 7" and intersperses scenes from the film with Khalifa rapping and Puth singing as they overlook a sandy coast.

The song was a tribute to Paul Walker, an actor in "The Fast and Furious" film franchise who died in a car wreck.

In YouTube record terms, Psy's "Gangnam Style" was left in the dust Friday with 2.92 billion views.

The satirical take on the nouveau riche residents of the Seoul district by the same name found an avid fan base with equestrian-style dance moves set to an infectious pop beat. Few outside Korea had any idea what the lyrics meant.

That video became the first to reach one billion views on YouTube and caused the site's engineers to scramble to make changes when it topped 2.1 billion views, previously thought to be the maximum possible.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Makati resto serves authentic Spanish flavors

MAKATI CITY - Pasta lovers can now get a taste of authentic Spanish pasta served according to your taste.

A make-your-own pasta restaurant, Trufa pasta bar serves a piece of Barcelona with hints of Pinoy flavors.

Owner Patricia Espino said the idea of the restaurant came from Spain where meals are usually cooked fast but fresh.

Though Trufa is a self-service restaurant, Espino said they provide customers with a list of suggested meals to satisfy their various cravings.

Best-selling pasta dishes include the restaurant's signature "Trufa," made with truffles, and the "Gambas," an olive-oil based pasta cooked with fresh prawns and Spanish-smoked paprika and garlic.

Apart from pasta, Trufa also serves snacks and appetizers such as the "Huevos Estrellados," a typical Spanish dish made with fries and eggs but given a Pinoy twist using Filipino tapa and Ilonggo chorizo.

For those who want a light meal, Trufa serves salads such as the "Asiatica" which is prepared using red cabbage, romaine lettuce, bits of crispy fish and queso de bola.

A no-fuzz and no-frill restaurant, interested customers can visit Trufa at 109 Esteban Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Bond baddie Javier Bardem gets Hollywood star

LOS ANGELES, California - Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who plays the villain in the latest 007 movie, got his own star on the storied Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, two days before the US release of "Skyfall."

The Oscar-winning star was joined by director Sam Mendes, who lavished praise on him, while Bardem paid tribute to British fellow cast member Daniel Craig in his latest turn as James Bond.

"You will not be disappointed. The great Sam Mendes has done an amazing movie... Daniel Craig is, as you know, an extraordinary," he told reporters at the star-unveiling ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard.

"I had a lot of fun playing Silva because he's a fun character to play," he said, referring to his blond-haired baddie character in the new movie, which came out in Europe last month.

Also on hand were Bond girls Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris, who co-star in the new Bond movie, which has won rave reviews.

Bardem was the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Academy Award and the first to win one, for best supporting actor in the 2007 film "No Country for Old Men."

Married to actress Penelope Cruz, he got his first English-speaking role in "Before Night Falls" by director Julian Schnabel in 2000, and has since made his mark firmly on the big screen internationally.

"I'm really embarrassed... especially now that I have to speak English with all these people looking at me and taking pictures, hoping for me to say something brilliant, which I'm not gonna say," he said.

Mendes recounted how Bardem was chosen for the Bond villain role.

"I said well maybe, I thought, 'It's crazy, look at him, he looks fantastic,'" Mendes recalled. "But I said OK, let's have a look, let's pre-test it.

"He came in a week later and not one person recognized him.

"He walked to the camera with different hair, different face, different eyes... he just looked to the camera and he was someone else.

"And all that work is crystallized in one second, and that really is what it is to be a great actor," added the British director.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

FOREX-ASIA: Euro steady but debt crisis overshadows sentiment

TOKYO — The euro steadied against the dollar in Asia on Friday but sentiment remained sour after Spain and France faced a sharp spike in borrowing costs as eurozone sovereign debt fears deepened.

The euro traded at $1.3468 and 103.66 yen in Tokyo against $1.3457 and 103.60 yen in New York late Thursday.

The dollar was flat at 76.96 yen compared with 76.98 yen.

Aggressive euro selling took a pause in Asian trade. The current sell-off feels like "it may just be a little bit over done in the near term," BNZ FX Strategist Mike Burrowes told Dow Jones Newswires.

Everyone is "bearish euro and talking about European breakups and bailouts and it feels like the news is all very negative," Burrowes said.

Investor concerns over the debt crisis gained momentum overnight in the wake of troubled new Spanish and French bond issues and rising borrowing costs for under-pressure countries such as Italy to dangerously high levels.

In a poorly received auction, Spain's treasury had to pay a record 6.975 percent when it raised 3.6 billion euros in a sale of 10-year bonds.

'Little reason for euro optimism'

France, the eurozone's second-largest economy, also was forced to pay sharply higher rates to raise 7.0 billion euros in new bond sales.

"Spanish and French government bond auctions Thursday provided little reason for euro optimism," Credit Agricole strategist Adam Myers said in a note to clients, adding that "they indicated a growing level of market stress".

Despite new governments taking over in Italy and Greece to push through key reforms, Italian benchmark 10-year bond yields once again topped 7.0 percent, a level considered as unsustainable.

In Italy, Prime Minister Mario Monti laid out radical economic reforms on Thursday aimed at cutting Rome's huge debt mountain, boosting growth and preventing Italy from dragging down the eurozone.

Fears of that the debt crisis may engulf bigger economies in the continent sent global stocks sliding.

The euro may remain downwardly biased against the dollar given ongoing worries about the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, said Osao Iizuka, head of FX trading at Sumitomo Trust and Banking. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanews.tv