MEDIUM RARE I, too, have a story to tell about the image of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo church. Watching last Tuesday’s TV coverage of the Traslacion, or procession of the miraculous image from Quirino Grandstand at Luneta Park to Quiapo church, I could not help remembering how my mother...
MEDIUM RARE The more things change, the more they stay the same... You’ve to give it to the French, for stating a fact of life with such savoir faire. So the new year is now nine days old, but what did we get after welcoming 2024 with a bang? On Jan. 1, a deadly earthquake that killed nearly 100...
MEDIUM RARE Certain days and hours of the week are set aside for senior citizens to enjoy movies free, minus the popcorn. It was an aha! moment when the producers of Monday First Screening, a movie about second chances for senior citizens, struck gold with their first wide-screen obra. Last we...
MEDIUM RARE Having been reassured that we SSS pensioners would be getting our 13th month pay aka Christmas bonus, I rushed out to the bookstore to see how many titles I could afford. True enough, books may now be considered the latest luxury. A pocketbook priced at US$16.99 costs ₱951....
MEDIUM RARE New Year’s resolutions, anyone? A list of to-do’s that happens mostly in the imagination. Are they still fashionable? Are they doable? Just like the fireworks that streaked the dark sky in electric colors and the noise created by firecrackers last Sunday, the last day of 2023, those...
MEDIUM RARE My introduction to the 49th Metro Manila Film Festival came by way of the waiter who seemed to know I was in his restaurant to feed my tummy before watching a movie. Without any preamble, he offered, “You here for ‘Rewind’? It’s good.” When I told him the movie was a...
MEDIUM RARE Nobody sings “Touch Me in the Morning” like Marissa Sanchez, whose bouncy charms and full-throated voice add up to a stage presence that has endured and endeared her to fans of at least two generations. She’s a singer, all right, and a well-rounded one, but entertainment...
MEDIUM RARE Of all the people in the world, who should remind me that it’s been years since we’ve known each other – you know, like an anniversary – but my dentist? “Don’t you remember, when my first clinic was at the clubhouse?” he asked, referring to the...
MEDIUM RARE One more day to go and it’s Christmas Eve, the pinnacle of the season’s anticipation of joy to the world! The experience of Christmas, as universal a holy day as it is Christian by tradition and ecumenical in practice, is a personal one, like DNA. Your experience or...
MEDIUM RARE There we sat, a group so motley no other word could describe us. A retired banker (VP, no less, of one very big bank); an astrologer; an aunt of a wealthy Cabinet secretary; a civilian lawyer with a heart and two ears for soldiers in need of advice on matters of defense, security, and...
MEDIUM RARE She’s known as the happiness giver because her parties are designed with a theme, a motif, and fun in mind. What better reasons than a belated birthday party on Dec. 10 and the imminent arrival of Christmas? Friends of Mellie Ablaza received invitations along with a Barbie doll...
MEDIUM RARE When I called the bank to ask if they had crunchy new bills to sell, the reply was that there was no indication that this late in the day BSP would be printing new money, ergo no good news for Ninang and Ninong and their godchildren at gift-giving time. But when I showed up in person...
