HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Filipinos who travel regularly to the USA will often make favorable remarks about their drug store chains like CVS Health, Walgreens, or Cigna; calling it a one-stop paradise for all things connected to health, beauty, skincare, and wellness. During...
Chef Rob Pengson, Discovery Primea executive chef Luis Chikiamco, and Flame’s Josper Grill are the stars of Flame’s May 19 edition of its continuing “Elements of Flavor” series. This special dinner will highlight charcoal-grilled creations of the two chefs, in each of the bountiful seven...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL One of my columns last month (April 2nd), talked about the Manila Bay reclamation projects that are presently happening; and apparently, it touched a raw nerve with some readers who messaged me, asking why I wasn’t being more “protective” of...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Let me tell you about my very first encounter with ChatGPT, the immensely popular, new AI language chatbot. My friend, who had the app, asked me to write in a sentence, just any random sentence; and so I typed in, “So many public speakers claim to...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Business start-up’s are not in themselves, rarities. Every business had their start-up period; when odds are stacked against their survival, and it’s touch-and-go as to whether they’ll live to see long, fruitful years of existence. At times,...
Two of these novels display how wry humor can be an add-on for great fiction. And there are novels that dare to expand the genre of Crime Fiction and Fantasy, with formidable results. Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes Author Rupert Holmes is best known to baby boomers as the composer of Escape...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL More than 50,000 Filipino seafarers, who are gainfully employed by European shipping lines, must have heaved a collective sigh of relief two weeks ago. In a nutshell, the report of the European Commission extending the recognition of seafarer’s...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE:OUR NEW ABNORMAL When the Manila Bulletin staged its second annual UPLIFT Awards last week, there was a strong sense of vindication for what we had inaugurated just a scant year ago. UPLIFT is an acronym for Unite Perform Lead Inspire Focus and Trend, and back in the...
The Elements of Flavor is an ongoing collaborative culinary series that Flame at Discovery Primea has been pursuing for some time. The latest incarnation happened last weekend, and showcased a four-hands dinner that highlighted the culinary wizardry of guest Chef Him Uy de Baron and Primea Executive...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL When Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco accepted the appointment, I had no doubt that Al knew that his taking on the job of heading the corporation tasked to regulate, operate, authorize and license...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL As talks swirl about a plan to merge our two state-owned lending institutions, the Land Bank and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), it may make sense to first appreciate that this is a “revival” of an old tune — one that’s brought...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPEVINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL Let’s be honest, it’s not often we Filipinos can legitimately say we’re numero uno in the world in some category. Back in the early years of this century, I would hear reports about how we were number one in “speed texting” and text...
