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'Spring Awakening' fizzles, 'They're Playing Our Song' sparkles
My review of Ateneo BlueRep's "Spring Awakening" and 9 Works' "They're Playing Our Song" is in the lifestyle theater section of today's Philippine Daily Inquirer - here!* Â Â * Â Â * Â Â * Â Â *Â In...
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Fat, Lazy Women (A Rant)
We officially have two weeks of lectures and non-final exams left before LU4 ends. Unfortunately, my mind is already in summer mode. Studying has suddenly become a chore, more so if I call to mind the...
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"Half-Mast" in March
Today is a day of mourning for UP Manila. But in truth, it's not just for the campus, but for the whole UP system and yes, for everyone who cares for education in this country. And you know the reason...
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A Most Heinous Literary Crime Twice Committed
A man of privilege but without any appreciation for the humanities is not worth knowing. He's a walking piece of rock, a machine who sees the world as black and white. He can be the businessman who...
View ArticlePost-Holy Week, Post-LU4
Went home for Holy Week. First time since Grandfather's birthday last July that parents had all three of their kiddies under the same roof with them. Swear, the house was subtly bursting with life...
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China 2013 Part I: By the Numbers
Last time I was in China, Kim Jong-il was still alive, and so were Margaret Thatcher and Roger Ebert. How the world changes in a span of six years! It was actually just a day-trip to Shenzhen, where...
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China 2013 Part II: Playing in Pudong
Some twenty years ago, the eastern side of the Huangpu River that cuts right through the heart of Shanghai used to be an undeveloped agricultural and manufacturing area. Now, Pudong (literally, East of...
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China 2013 Part III: Age Matters
A Hindi-Urdu word of Persian origin meaning "embankment" or "levee" is now used to describe the mile-long riverside strip of well-preserved buildings that once formed part of the Shanghai International...
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China 2013 Part IV: High in the Hyatts
I've mentioned in previous posts that weather took a turn for the wondrously better on our last day in Shanghai, providing the perfect opportunity to finally ascend one, possibly two, of the three...
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China 2013 Part V: The Most Epic Bicycle Ride in the World
The title is in reference, of course, to what is possibly the most rewarding endeavor one can ever undertake in Hangzhou - once the capital of China under the Southern Song Dynasty, now the center of...
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How to Get Your Driver's License at the Iloilo City LTO
LTO stands for Land Transportation Office.1. Office hours begin at 8, but consider arriving at 7:30 because professional and non-professional licenses are issued only twice a day (arrive at 12:30 for...
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China 2013 Part VI: Suzhou in Slices
Suzhou is a conundrum. It's what you're offered when a city gets trapped in the black hole straddling the past and present. It's a teenager facing for the first time the inevitability of hair in weird...
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China 2013 Part VII: In Shanghai, A Piece of Paris
Attention: Lovers of Culture, and also, but to a lesser extent, architecture buffs and people watchers. And might as well include the folks who feel suffocated by Pudong's overreaching...
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Oscarthon Year Three I: The Films
This had to be one of the better Oscars seasons in recent memory. Eight of the nine nominees actually deserved their spots in the Best Picture roster. (The subject of Les Miserables is hugely...
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Oscarthon Year Three II: The Results
In the previous post - right here - we tackled the eighty-five films we saw as part of our third annual Oscars marathon. Now it's time to play Academy member and/or film critic extraordinaire: These...
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China 2013 Part VIII: At Cannon Bay
Back in March, I entered "Shanghai best secrets" as a late-night assignment for the Google search engine. The top result was a CNN Travel article entitled "5 ridiculously beautiful places right next to...
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For the 21
Some summer days, he just feels empty, weak, like the pervading prickly heat picking on browned grass, whose best defense is to stay put and await disintegration. The grass, on cooler mornings,...
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China 2013 Part IX: The Bitch at the Business Center
This post is dedicated to everyone who makes Shanghai Pudong International Airport look like an architectural giant with a pea-sized brain and zero understanding of courtesy and manners.April 8, 2013 -...
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China 2013 Part X: The People of the Republic
The conclusion of my ten-part documentation of the Great Mother China Homecoming of 2013, featuring Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou, in the company of Terence Kua (of Terence Travels), and dedicated to...
View ArticleAn Affair and an Inheritance
I'm putting this here for safekeeping: The speech that won 2nd place in the English Speaking Union Search for the Philippine Representative to the International Public Speaking Competition in London,...
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