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PDI Review: 'The Quiet Ones' by Glenn Diaz
In today's paper, my first book review! Glenn Diaz's "The Quiet Ones" will be launched on Nov. 10. Also, I'm a cover blurb! *   *   *   *   *In 'The Quiet Ones,' Glenn Diaz pulverizes banality...
View ArticleIn brief, a death in the family
There was hardly any time to mourn.The preparations required to put on a funeral fusing both traditional Chinese and modern-day sensibilities were draining. A mind-over-matter sort of thing: One must...
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New river, full moon
Finally got back to walking today. Used to run the Iloilo Esplanade--twin trails on the banks of the city's river, an outdoor recreational attraction modeled after Singapore's Clarke Quay, but without...
View Article'Flat Places'&'Good Vibrations'
I'm finally--finally--in the Philippines Graphic. The day my dad died, I received the acceptance letter for two of my poems. One's inspired by Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese," which we briefly tackled...
View Article'Geography'&'Shapes'
A little background: Back in 2014, I submitted some poems to Sentinel Literary Quarterly, an online magazine based in the UK, and two of them got accepted. Part of the deal was a contributor's copy...
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The Best of Manila Theater 2017
And so we're here: my fourth year-ender. Only months ago, I'd been contemplating on not writing this, because I actually hadn't seen many of the smaller shows. Credit goes to that twister of fate that...
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The Year in Film (2017)
What follows are lists of films and performances from this and last year (but which I only saw this year) that touched me, moved me, changed me in some way--more an enumeration of favorites than a...
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Screen Log 1: Angels in America; A Ghost Story; Deadma Walking; Mudbound
"Mudbound."I won't be in Manila for most of the year, which means theater reviewing shall take the back seat. Figured resurrecting my TV/movies log would be the best way to keep my non-literary writing...
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Screen Log 2: A Quiet Passion; The Crown Season 2; King Charles III; Jumanji:...
"King Charles III."I was always on the verge of giving up on Terence Davies'A QUIET PASSION, always tempted to tell the movie to drop its stilted nonsense, but then I'd stop myself because of a passage...
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Screen Log 3: The Killing of a Sacred Deer; Detroit; All the Money in the...
"Thelma."I loved Yorgos Lanthimos' last two films--"Dogtooth" and "The Lobster," the latter being my favorite film of 2015. His latest, THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, left me baffled the way an otter...
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Screen Log 4: Fresh Off the Boat Season 3; Maze Runner: The Death Cure; Lady...
"Columbus."I was so happy with FRESH OFF THE BOAT's Season 3. I had written it off as just another one of those so-so comedies that I might have to drop after maybe one more season (okay, fine, so I'm...
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Screen Log 5: Mr. and Mrs. Cruz; The Handmaid's Tale Season 1; Wind River;...
"The Handmaid's Tale."Sigrid Andrea Bernardo's follow-up to her popular (but problematic) two-hander "Kita Kita" is MR. AND MRS. CRUZ, and exiting the cinema, I realized this new movie was everything I...
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Screen Log 6: Big Little Lies Season 1; Our Souls at Night; Meet Me in St....
"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."A week later, I am still not over the spell cast by BIG LITTLE LIES, which, trashy as it supposedly was in the way the best pieces of gossip are, was nothing if not...
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Screen Log 7: Black Panther; Marrowbone; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing,...
"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."What a feast for the eyes BLACK PANTHERÂ was! The visual spectacle of those costumes alone should more than justify a ticket. But then you also have the...
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PDI Review: 'Nang Dalawin ng Pag-ibig si Juan Tamad' by Tanghalang Pilipino
I'm back! First theater review for the year! On my recent trip to Manila, I also saw The Sandbox Collective's staging of "Himala"--this early, already a frontrunner in many awards categories--and...
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Tres Amigos
From The Star Online.In high school, pretentious art snob that I was trying to be (some would say precocious, but let's stick to my words), I came across two movies that shookt me to the core at a time...
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PDI Review: 'Ang Dalagita'y 'sang Bagay na Di-buo' by Dulaang UP
The last UP production I saw was "Angry Christ"--yes it's been that long--so I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I mean, what the hell, this show just knocks it out of the park. Total slam dunk....
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Screen Log 8: Call Me by Your Name; I, Tonya; Darkest Hour; Get Out; Mozart...
"Call Me by Your Name."I finally saw CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, which would probably have won Best Picture if it were up to Twitter or the Internet. But my, what a beautiful, beautiful film. I loved...
View ArticlePDI Feature: 10th Gawad Buhay! Awards milestones
Today, I become impure. Meaning, I make my non-review writing debut in the Inquirer. In this issue--the online version here--I explore an alternative career as archivist and data analyst. See you at...
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Screen Log 9: The Shape of Water; Loveless; Wonder Wheel; RuPaul's Drag Race...
"Wonder Wheel."Was THE SHAPE OF WATERÂ the so-called "best" among this year's Best Picture nominees? No. But was it a deserving winner? Yes. I've read some complaints online about the movie's loopholes...
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