Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 108

Kindle a blaze in this dark world.

It’s the Winter Solstice, which is not a mysterious super-soldier revealed to be someone from Captain America’s past, but the point at which the North Pole is tilted farthest away from the sun. Druids marks it as the sun’s “rebirth” for the New Year. Fine, we don’t have winter here in the tropics, but we […]

Holiday presents for completists

We feel about the limited edition The Hobbit Moleskine clothbound notebook the same way we feel about the third episode in The Hobbit trilogy: We’ll get it because we have the previous editions, and we kind of like it, but we acknowledge that it doesn’t have to exist. This one is boxed and clothbound. Yay. […]

Grantland’s Pulitzer-winning film critic Wesley Morris names Norte his #1 movie of 2014

1. Norte, the End of History Lav Diaz’s contemplation of life after someone else’s death taxis a runway for the first 35 of its 250 majestic minutes. Once it takes off, you can’t believe you’re flying. You don’t want to land. The story, set in the Philippines, of a man wrongly imprisoned for murder, the […]

Hannibal: Artisanal, organic, absolutely not cruelty-free

Television is so overpopulated with serial killers, you have to wonder how there’s anyone left to make TV shows, much less watch them. There are misogynistic serial killers (the British series The Fall), Lovecraftian serial killers (True Detective season 1), serial killers coveting other people’s families (Those Who Kill), serial killers seeking revenge (Wallander), and […]

A French-Filipino bistro in Paris

Cuttlefish in ink and spicy cabbage at Le Servan. Credit Edouard Sepulchre Restaurant Report: Le Servan, Iya’s daughter’s restaurant.

How can we get any work done?

You’re looking for something? What? What? Can I help? Have you looked in your bag? I’ll find it, I’m very helpful. Maybe it’s on this shelf. Ooh, books. Will you read a book to me? I love stories. Are you writing your column? Can I write it for you? Look, I can hold a pen. […]

Maratabat, Memory and Maguindanao

Photo from InterAksyon.com In Maratabat, the first film by journalist Arlyn de la Cruz, one family—Abubakar—rules a fictional yet familiar province in Muslim Mindanao. The father is Governor, the eldest son Congressman, the younger son Mayor. Their power appears to be absolute; they don’t so much govern the province as hold it hostage. Early on […]

Helping the Hackers: Media should stop doing the Sony hackers’ work for them. Update: Sony, theatres fold completely. Cyberterrorists win.

Update: Sony Pictures cancels holiday release of The Interview after threats. That’s great, chicken out after weeks of free front-page and viral publicity, when people now want to see The Interview. * * * * * While we enjoyed the confirmation that Hollywood is run by horrible people, the confidential reports of forthcoming projects, and […]

Helping the Hackers: Media should stop doing the Sony hackers’ work for them

While we enjoyed the confirmation that Hollywood is run by horrible people, the confidential reports of forthcoming projects, and the appreciation of Michael’s Fassbender, that information came from a crime perpetrated by a group that wants to stop the showing of a movie. They want to gag free speech. The news organizations who used the […]

Haircuts for the Homeless: A haircut does make a difference

Mark Bustos. Credit: Ramsay de Give for The New York Times Every Sunday, Mark Bustos, 30, a hairstylist at Three Squares Studios, an elite salon in Chelsea that charges $150 to clients like Norah Jones, Marc Jacobs and Phillip Lim, hits the sidewalk and provides free cuts to the homeless. Mr. Bustos often wanders around […]