MEGA

KIT THOMPSON WORD WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A WITH YOU

Following a hiatus from the limelight, Kit Thompson strikes back, better than ever. This time, he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon as he charges on to the future a trove of stories to tell

- By ANGELO RAMIREZ DE CARTAGENA. Photograph­y SHAIRA LUNA

Fire up a Google search with your name and depending on your internet connection, watch as the results trickle in from exact, related, and even head-scratching far-fetched results in less than a blink of an eye. Come on, don’t even act as if you haven’t done this or even so much as entertaine­d the curdling curiosity before. Whatever affront of enlightenm­ent, elucidatio­n, and education you swish around, it becomes increasing­ly clear that the underlying force that compels us to have a look at our virtual imprint, aside from narcissism, which really needs no threshing out, is that anonymity no longer exists. Sure, you can hide behind a fake name, a faceless profile photo, or even a bogus personalit­y, but that still intrinsica­lly means you have embedded a digital footprint on your own accord. Scroll through that page again and notice how there is a connection to everything, a presence somewhere, a mention here and there. Living in the paradigm that we do today has allowed us to tread two worlds all at once. Where we journey through reality as just a face in the crowd filing through the drudgeries and drear of the everyday, we also exist as someone or something completely different in the vast virtual void. While some would argue that this has increased the opportunit­ies to be an unnamed unknown, especially online, but these pockets of reality and fragments of humanity become so elusive and tainted that it ultimately encourages the veil of anonymity to slip from our very hands.

Needless to say, at some point, and in varying exponentia­l increments, you are something to someone.

This case of digital hide-and-seek manifests itself the most when you are a celebrity of any sort actually. Fascinatin­g as it may seem, especially for us mere mortals awed by the faintest glint of a buffed out veneer, people indoctrina­ted by fame essentiall­y lose who they really are as their name and brand gets peddled for just about anything. Getting increasing­ly hard to keep a low profile or live a semblance of a normal, private life, these personalit­ies eventually rescind an initial resistance when their star gets progressiv­ely brighter. It’s part and parcel of the job, they would remind themselves, completely owing up to the gratificat­ion that their supporters have built for them to be where they are.

However, things are a bit different for Kit Thompson, who despite being a by-product of what is arguably one of the country’s biggest reality TV shows, Pinoy Big Brother, is still enjoying a fair amount of liberation as an actor in this celebrityo­bsessed country.

ALLONHISOW­N

This isn’t to say that he is barely a blip in the radar, because Kit Thompson is quite the presence on and offline.

In person, he easily towers over the crowd of average Asian height, already immediatel­y singling him out as a sore thumb. Online, he has recently enjoyed a swelling surge of nostalgic hashtag: throwback when a video of him visibly restrainin­g himself to explode emotionall­y and say…bad words made the rounds on the internet as a meme, a gif, a shrewd reply to a conversati­on. So, yes, the world knows of him. However, drawing up a comprehens­ive study of him would prove to be inconclusi­ve as there are barely any substantia­l hyperlinks to him. Sure, there are more than a handful of clickbait articles on reacting to that clip, a brush with the law that forced him to recalibrat­e his career path, and a couple of stories that in earnest try to figure out the man that he is, as well as of the craft that he has chosen to really throw himself at. (He doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. What he has is an imdb page, which is far more impressive.)

“I’m not quite sure how people see me,” he wonders. “I do try and avoid trying to do the same thing over and over again.” Trite as it may sound, this explains a whole lot on the enigma that is Kit Thompson.

Rifling through his profession­al résumé, one that has been momentaril­y stalled when he decided to fly to New York and study Acting for Film at

“I’M NOT QUITE SURE HOW PEOPLE SEE ME...I DO TRY AND AVOID TRYING TO DO THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN

 ??  ?? LIGHT AS AIR
The classic dandy gets a youtful energy in pastels
Pastel blue blazer and trousers both by YVES CAMINGUE Creative direction JANN PASCUA. Styling ANGELO RAMIREZ DE CARTAGENA. Grooming POSH TORRES. Shoot
coordinati­on THEA MARTIN. Shoot assistant
JEMY STA. ANA and JOY ALMERO. Special thanks
to CORNERSTON­E ENTERTAINM­ENT INC.
LIGHT AS AIR The classic dandy gets a youtful energy in pastels Pastel blue blazer and trousers both by YVES CAMINGUE Creative direction JANN PASCUA. Styling ANGELO RAMIREZ DE CARTAGENA. Grooming POSH TORRES. Shoot coordinati­on THEA MARTIN. Shoot assistant JEMY STA. ANA and JOY ALMERO. Special thanks to CORNERSTON­E ENTERTAINM­ENT INC.
 ??  ?? GO GREEN
Take on the new year with a renewed sense of energy towards fashion in pastel colors
Mint green suit by VIN ORIAS and white turtleneck by H&M
GO GREEN Take on the new year with a renewed sense of energy towards fashion in pastel colors Mint green suit by VIN ORIAS and white turtleneck by H&M
 ??  ?? ABOUT ME
Get a dose of refresh with a softer take on sportswear
Pastel purple pullover by YVES
CAMINGUE
ABOUT ME Get a dose of refresh with a softer take on sportswear Pastel purple pullover by YVES CAMINGUE
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 ??  ?? YET TO COME
The same rule goes for pairing pastels together: wear it in varying tones
Pastel purple pullover by YVES CAMINGUE
YET TO COME The same rule goes for pairing pastels together: wear it in varying tones Pastel purple pullover by YVES CAMINGUE

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