A metaphor for human greed and self-destruction Zombies are no horror genre, they’re a social commentary, maybe a study of hunger or greed. Food is an underlying, if not a central, theme to any zombie story. Like a shadow, it follows every character or, to be more precise, every character follows...
Cheers to the best of this year’s Ternocon—grand winner Yssa Inumerable and runners-up Gabbie Sarenas and Gladys Rose Pantua Images NOEL PABALATE KERCHIEFS AND APRONS Balintawak by Yssa Inumerable. The designer received the highest citation, the Pacita Longos Award Vladimir Nabokov would have...
This obsession for youth is old. As Pablo Picasso once said, “It takes a very long time to be young.” We might have been obsessed with youth since the beginning of time, or at least on record since Herodotus wrote about the fountain of youth in the fifth century BC, but as a cultural...
FIRST TIME IS THE SWEETEST Clockwise from top: Lifestyle personalities and first-timers trying authentic La Paz batchoy are Tim Yap, Tessa Prieto, and Karen Davila As a sidelight to the just concluded Dinagyang Festival over the weekend in Iloilo, SM City Iloilo, this year’s main supporter of...
SM Group throws massive support behind Dinagyang, the mother of Philippine festivals MERRYMAKING ON CALLE REAL Contingents from different tribes of various barangays in Iloilo City presenting their dance in the Dinagyang Festival 2023 celebration at the Freedom Grandstand (Juan Carlo de Vela) Over...
In the spirit of Dinagyang, that concluded over the weekend, here’s a reprise of something I wrote a while back on Iloilo’s signature dish. THE SWEET SIDE Popoy's batchoy at the Iloilo Central Market Some sophisticates might harrumph, “There’s got to be more to Iloilo than batchoy.”...
Or why we can find answers in feng shui RUN, RABBIT, RUN An artwork that depicts The Year of the Water Rabbit, which begins today, Jan 22, 2023 and ends on Feb 9, 2024 I used to be a feng shui extremist. I didn’t think of it as a science or as an art. I didn’t...
Make room for good writing even when the times make bad sentences seem good enough “I am a complexly horizontal author,” says Truman Capote. “I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy.” It’s never...
At its core, through trials and errors, our desire is to elevate our world to the level of utopian science fiction. Other than inhabiting, possessing, and controlling it, we have reshaped it, but here we are. Can we get it back in shape? Its growing catalog of ills notwithstanding, I think the...
Poetry does make better writers and also better people Illustration by Oteph Antipolo In 2011, at exactly 8:58 p.m. on Dec. 31 the year before, English author Neil Gaiman wrote in his digital journal, “May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you readsome fine...
Or why we must swallow our regrets like a bitter pill Eat your words. As an idiom, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Because it means you’re wrong, take back what you said, admit to have had your foot in your mouth. But regret is food for thought. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow it...
Illustration OTEPH ANTIPOLO In 2011, at exactly 8:58 p.m. on Dec. 31 the year before, English author Neil Gaiman wrote in his digital journal, “May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and...
