HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL XXIII Philip Cu Unjieng When Senator Manny Pacquiao was in the prime of his boxing odyssey, an oft-repeated phrase during his Sunday morning fights (Manila time), was ‘Nag umpisa na ba ang boxing?’ Fast-forward to the last months of 2020, and if...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE: OUR NEW ABNORMAL XXII Philip Cu Unjieng Once upon a time, in a kingdom across a vast, Pacific ocean, there was a ginger-haired, Senior Citizen, reality TV-show star who lorded it over his kingdom. For three years, his show was a certifiable MAGA-hit, and no matter...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng We Filipinos are a peculiar, imperturbable, funny bunch. Beyond the oft-repeated remarks about how we’re so forgiving, forgetful, musically inclined (I missed out when that was being handed out), and resilient in the face of disaster and...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng I’ve been an orphan since September 2013, the year my father passed away. My mother left us in July of 1996. My Dad was 83 when he succumbed to various old age ailments; but especially painful to this day, is that my Mom was only 62 when cancer...
In the world of fashion, of rich fragrances, and luxury goods, Count Hubert de Givenchy was always a name to reckon with. Beyond the fact that such luminaries as Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis could be counted as his regular fashion clients, his fragrances were always considered...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng With apologies to veteran British R&B singer Maxine Nightingale, best known for her radio hits in the 1970’s, let’s rephrase one of her classic disco songs; “Do you remember that day, (fateful mid-March day) When you first came our way, I...
You just ‘Juana’ eat healthy Juana Manahan-Yupangco There’s a new Cookbook in town, and it’s Juana Manahan-Yupangco delivering on her promise to go beyond her website, FB, and IG platforms, and gifting us with a “hold it in your hands” Mesa ni Misis Cookbook. Honestly, if Juana hadn’t...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng 1) In the Eat of the Moment If there’s an industry hard hit by the COVID virus and community quarantines it would be the restaurant industry. Food in itself is still a mainstay of our consumption patterns, so those who offer deliveries and...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng Our Big Online Learning Experiment has truly commenced. Several private schools had a head start a month ago, but early last week, the 2020-2021 school year officially begun in earnest. Whether it’s Blended Learning or the other hybrid modalities...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng While my sister was compiling research material for her Assumption velada (and all Assumption alumni, and their husbands, will attest to just how seriously they take these veladas); she stumbled upon an archival photograph of the very first Earth...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng Don’t look now, but all the talk and fears of a global COVID second wave look very real – and this second “alon” should make us all count ourselves lucky, and extra vigilant, that we’re in a part of the globe where things seem to be...
HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRIPE-VINE Philip Cu Unjieng My three sons are all in their 20s; and the middle boy left for San Francisco early February to start a year-long internship at a Bay Area hotel as part of completing his H&R Hospitality degree requirements. By mid-March, the hotel had gone on...
