MEDIUM RARE The best laid plans of mice and men don’t always pan out. Like assassination plots. CNN’s coverage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a rally last weekend turned out to be a riveting live action show complete with an array of rifles, a huge crowd of...
MEDIUM RARE On the surface, another eating club sounds like something nobody needs, like two extra inches around the waistline. And yet, eating clubs like the one of David, Ading, VS, Julian, Charlie, Wicky, aka “Divisoria Mafia,” have lasted 40 years. No dues, no fees, no rules except to...
MEDIUM RARE Try digesting this. If you’re earning a minimum daily wage of ₱600 and you have three children to feed, the logic behind the math (or the math behind the logic) is that each child gets ₱200 of food for two meals in one day. What’s ₱200 in terms of food prices? Based on...
MEDIUM RARE For the longest time, the man’s name was preceded in media stories by the title “cashiered Colonel” – as in former Dr. or disbarred Atty., distinctions never used before. “Cashiered Col.” Greg Honasan, better known as Gringo – he’s not American, but of Armenian descent...
MEDIUM RARE You are not allowed: Soldiers and policemen; government officials and employees; minors under 21 years; and those barred by their family and licensee exclusions. (Wigs and disguises haven’t been reported to work.) If you have no idea what you are barred from, you’re a true...
MEDIUM RARE Magic all the way. A “sarimanok” – the legendary fire bird – plus a moon goddess, dancing fireflies and silvery nymphs everywhere, with original music and choreography – what was not to like and love? The lure of romance in a dimension that felt like silk after you’ve been...
MEDIUM RARE The sun also shines in the north, now that Solaire the Second is on our soil, all 30-plus stories and a high-end hotel (cum casino), at that, in Quezon City. The original Solaire in Entertainment City, Parañaque, now has a twin, but if you know its owner, Enrique K. Razon –...
MEDIUM RARE We were classmates a hundred years ago, i.e., during the last century, in a class of 20, 25 journalism majors, of whom less than a handful actually ended up as journalists. Strangely or not, the ones who became my closest friends after college were/are the nonjournalists. They are...
MEDIUM RARE When I complained to our theology teacher that the grade he gave me was unfair because there were no corrections on my test paper, he replied, “One hundred is for God, 98 is for me, so 95 for you.” 95. A good number for those leaving their 94th behind. Today is the 95th birthday of...
MEDIUM RARE Season’s greetings! ‘Tis a sensitive, sensible radio dj who knows what music to play on a station that prides itself on touching those sentimental souls who have enough memories to sing along with Tony Bennett, Jerry Vale, et al. If you like old songs, you’ll like DWWW, late...
MEDIUM RARE Sandee S. Masigan gathered us Bulong Pulungan originals for what she called a reunion at Sofitel, our once-a-week home for 33 years whatever the political weather, the climate, or the whims of its members. Sandee being her mother’s daughter – mother being Bulong’s law...
MEDIUM RARE There we sat, around a round table that the Chinese call a lauriat table, “lau” and “diat” meaning a celebration. With Ray and Auntie Baby Arleen Fernandez presiding, we took our seats – Dr. Nemi Platon and her husband Johnny, who drove all the way from the family-owned...
