Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 103

Obituary for a black stray cat

She was a small black cat, extremely frisky, always trying to get in the door. We had to be careful when going down the stairs because she would dart between our feet. She didn’t have a name, we didn’t give her one, she was just “yung pusang itim”—if we gave her a name she would […]

If all beauty pageants were like this, we would watch them

And if all Oscar nominees were required to dress themselves without the aid of stylists we would start watching the Academy Awards again.

The notebook challenge: Leuchtturm vs Moleskine

We’ve been using Moleskine notebooks with unlined pages for many years and have no complaints, but we’re curious about other notebooks. Must be what marriage is like. At the bookstore the Leuchtturm and Moleskine displays were right next to each other. They cost the same, so neither has the advantage price-wise. Leuchtturm has a wider […]

The decline and fall of the Big Four tennis empire

Empires fall, but seldom all at once. They fall slowly, piece by piece. Barbarians mass on the borders. Unrest builds in the capital. Weak rulers poison strong ones. The army wins battles but loses provinces. The collapse can take years. Afterward, no one is able to pinpoint the precise moment when the old order failed. […]

Winter is still coming, there’s no sign of a new claimant to the Iron Throne, but someone we know could win the game

Fugitive Tyrion grows a beard, Jon Snow’s beard is thicker, and Jaime Lannister chucks the book and heads off to Dorne to hang out with the Sand Snakes, which should be more fun than besieging Riverrun. There’s no sign of Aegon Targaryen, and Varys and Tyrion seem to be throwing their lot with Daenerys…who could […]

Whiplash asks: Can talent be tortured into greatness?

Read our column at InterAksyon.com. Meanwhile, here’s Buddy Rich.

Binge-listening: Serial, the podcast

As soon as we get the episodes. Hurry up, download.

Color forecasts for 2015

Naturist: Greens, warm wood tones, reds. So you can see the forest beyond the concrete. (Do you ever look through swatches or crayon boxes just to read the names of the shades? We do.) Avant-Garde: Bold reds, blues, yellows, greens. For your inner superhero. Kinetic: Cool greys and blues, intense tangerine. You move fast. Perfectionist: […]

Into the Woods is pleasant, forgettable fluff

Even Sondheim fans suspect that in the Sondheim oeuvre, Into The Woods is a charming bit of fluff with a couple of good songs—No One Is Alone became a kind of anthem in the campaign against AIDS. Nonetheless we recall it with great affection as a funny musical riff on Bruno Bettelheim’s analysis of classic […]

Reading Year 2015: Provocateurs and Comics

1. The Devil in the Philippines by Isabelo de los Reyes, translated by Benedict Anderson et al. A comic tale by the first Filipino folklorist, first published in 1886. 2. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq. The professional troublemaker whose latest novel Submission is set in a near-future in which France is an […]