Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 110

Museums in the movies 3

We just realized that we never finished this series, which we started over a year ago. (Some of the links no longer work; we’ve updated them.) Part 1 Part 2 7. The International by Tom Tykwer Shootout at the Guggenheim New York. The movie stars Clive Owen and Naomi Watts and is about shenanigans in […]

Every movie we see #123: Eyes Without A Face is the most gorgeous horror film

119. Playing It Cool. We’ll assume Chris Evans (Captain America) had a huge personal debt of gratitude to the filmmakers, which is why he agreed to star in this romcom. It’s not terrible, but there is no particular reason it must exist. The movie’s conceit is that it is an anti-romcom. If it’s anti-romcom you […]

The winner of the Favorite Book of 2014 contest is—

november26, who has convinced us to read the spy thriller I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. Congratulations! Please email saffron.safin@gmail.com to claim your prize. And congratulations to all our contestants for finding books that you love; we’re adding many of the titles to our own to-read list. Honorable mention goes to ruth, for finishing Swann’s […]

Lydia Davis has a new book

We wantsss it, preciousss. If you spot it anywhere, give us a holler. * * * * * A Story of Stolen Salamis My son’s Italian landlord in Brooklyn kept a shed out back in which he cured and smoked salamis. One night, in the midst of a wave of petty vandalism and theft, the […]

The Binge, our column on TV, starts tomorrow

Cats watching TV This year we realized we watch at least as much television (though not on television) as film, so we figured we’d write about it. The Binge appears every Friday at BusinessWorld. * * * * * I watch a lot of television, but I haven’t always respected the medium. Even if it […]

Want some pi? The Count recites it to the 10,000th digit

Drive co-workers insane!

Naked Headhunters and Dogeaters: The Filipino Freakshow of Coney Island

“The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and The Man Who Pulled Off The Spectacle of The Century” by Claire Prentice is the story of 51 Igorots shipped to the US by impresario Truman K. Hunt to perform “native rituals” in a mini-tribal village at an amusement park in Coney Island. These included […]

Chris Rock gives the best interview of the year

What would you do in Ferguson that a standard reporter wouldn’t? I’d do a special on race, but I’d have no black people. Well, that would be much more revealing. Yes, that would be an event. Here’s the thing. When we talk about race relations in America or racial progress, it’s all nonsense. There are […]

Historian Resil Mojares lectures on Class, the Santo Niño, Headhunters and Noir at Ateneo

Aargh, we missed Resil Mojares’s lecture on Andres Bonifacio yesterday. He’s giving a series of lectures at the Ateneo de Manila as part of the Master Teacher Visiting Program of the School of the Humanities. Professor Mojares is the author of Origins and Rise of the Filipino Novel (1983), The War against the Americans (1999), […]

Drogon puts on airs

You’ve met Drogon (full name Drogon Targaryen-Targaryen Hiddleston-Cumberbatch), who moved in with us in September last year. He just turned up on our doorstep, looking adorable. When we hesitated to invite him into the household, he developed a respiratory ailment and refused all food, so we took him to the vet and before we knew […]