Berlin Stories: Part 1

“I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking. Recording the man shaving at the window opposite and the woman in the kimono washing her hair. Some day, all this will have to be developed, carefully printed, fixed.” – Christopher Isherwood, 1930 Waiting. That’s what happens when you get older. When [...]

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The God of Small Things begins with a quotation from the writer John Berger: “Never again will a single story be told as though it’s the only one.” Thus, even as the novel dives into non-linear, multi-voiced perspectives, it is built around the experiences of the twins, Rahel and her brother Estha, the “small things” [...]

New Wave Revolutionaries: The Sleepyheads

Orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski once said, “A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” While most people see music and visual art as separate entities, The Sleepyheads, often serving as the opening act in Manila’s premier galleries such as Silverlens and Mo’s space, construct their songs to serve as the [...]

Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes

In his first poem, Fulbright Scholars, Ted Hughes predicts the wonderful disaster that would be his romance with Sylvia Plath: It was the first peach             I ever tasted             I could hardly believe             how delicious             At twenty-five I was dumbfounded             By my ignorance of the             Simplest things Published in 1998, [...]

Friday Finds to Get You Through This Complex Sphere of Life 05/21/2010

Hey folks! Here’s to another set of Friday Finds! It will have to be a bit of a mashup today since I’m off and running! Sorry to have missed last weeks finds. But I have a good excuse! I traveled to the “Pahiyas Festival” in Quezon. It was a feast of food, frolic and fun. [...]

A Heritage of Smallness by Nick Joaquin

“Society for the Filipino is a small rowboat: the barangay. Geography for the Filipino is a small locality: the barrio. History for the Filipino is a small vague saying: matanda pa kay mahoma; noong peacetime. Enterprise for the Filipino is a small stall: the sari-sari. Industry and production for the Filipino are the small immediate searchings of each day: isang kahig, isang tuka. And commerce for the Filipino is the smallest degree of retail: the tingi.”

Friday Finds to Get You Through This Complex Sphere of Life, 05/07/2010

Another long weekend? Yessirreeee, Ronald McBebot! The Philippine election season is coming to a head. Filipinos will decide on the future leader of the country on May 10, 2010. Well, IF their votes actually get counted, that is. (And yes, people would say I’m cynical…but I say, I’m realistic.) As each day passes, the candidates [...]

Friday Finds to Get You Through This Complex Sphere of Life (04/30/10)

Wohoo! Welcome to another long weekend. “Dancers Among Us” by Jordan Matter (“Photographer Jordan Matter took still frames of dancers from the Paul Taylor and Martha Graham Dance Companies performing interesting moves all around New York City.” via NBCNY ) Tomorrow is May 1. The date close to my heart. It’s the day I fell [...]

Friday Finds to Get You Through this Complex Sphere of Life

Well, hellloooooooooooo there…….. (pornstache photo via www.latfh.com) Watch Homer’s life flash before your very eyes with this video — PICTURE A DAY FOR 39 YEARS. Join the battle for the MOST AWESOMEST THING EVER!!! (And no, that wasn’t a typo.) You can also kick your favorite videos into Mortal Combat…yes, it’s a waste of time. [...]

On Film and Culture

Pablo Picasso once wrote “Everyone wants to understand art, why not try to understand the song of a bird?” Like Picasso, many follow the school of thought that art should be done for art’s sake. However, when it comes to film, the search for a deeper message is much stronger. The call for intelligent and [...]