Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 305

Smiley face-off!

One of our favorite books has been adapted for film (again)! The cast is amazing! We can't wait! Excuse the exclamation points!

Auntie Janey's Old-Fashioned Agony Column # 22: Who wants to be a writer?

Editor's note # 1: This letter was emailed to Auntie Janey by one of the many readers under the mistaken impression that Auntie Janey is the author of this website. Auntie Janey is not the author of this website, I am. The misimpression has been corrected and the letter rewritten. Dear Aunt Janey, My problem [...]

Blasphemous humours

In medieval times it was believed that there were four cardinal humours in the human body: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. To be healthy one's humours had to be balanced; otherwise you were melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic or sanguine. MANILA, Philippines – An art installation that mixes Christ with kitschy symbols of pop culture [...]

Everything we've always wanted to say about poverty porn. . .now in movie form!

Thank you Marlon Rivera (director), Chris Martinez (writer), Eugene Domingo (star) and everyone involved in the making of Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank, the box-office hit and awards juggernaut at the recent Cinemalaya festival. You have saved me the trouble of letting off a rant that might've spoiled my mood and that of the sensitive [...]

Hoarding

We dropped by the annual Cut-Price Book Sale at the nearest National Bookstore. As usual we weren't looking for anything and we ended up buying something. This was too good to pass up: A Taschen book featuring works by Caravaggio, Claesz, Dürer, Arcimboldo and others. Beautiful full-color plates. Original price P735 (which is low for [...]

The Weekly LitWit Challenge 6.6: Let's hear from the villains.

Interesting entries for LitWit Challenge 6.5: Make rust beautiful. crucial would win if this were a high school honors class. red the mod would win if this were a purple-ness contest. theOrbiter would win if this were an art criticism class. fishy would win in a rhyming competition. sad_ism wins for sheer geekiness. Congratulations, sad_ism! [...]

Etiquette for Expats and Extraterrestrials

Close-up of a sunspot from the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive. 2. It is hot and humid in Manila so we sweat a lot. In order to stay cool and refreshed we take baths or showers every day, if not two or three times a day. If those of us who were born [...]

Captain America: Not bad for a 2-hour trailer! (Updated)

What could lure us out of the house on a rainy Sunday afternoon best spent at home in bed with the NYRB edition of Fortunes of War, The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, with breaks for ensaymada and hot chocolate? Chris Evans, that's what! We're all Chris Evans fans—some of us since Cellular, some since [...]

Captain America: Not bad for a 2-hour trailer!

What could lure us out of the house on a rainy Sunday afternoon best spent at home in bed with the NYRB edition of Fortunes of War, The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, with breaks for ensaymada and hot chocolate? Chris Evans, that's what! We're all Chris Evans fans—some of us since Cellular, some since [...]

Dr Freud, Dr Jung, I have a problem. I've just seen your trailer and I can't stop thinking about it.

Off the tops of our heads, Reasons to see A Dangerous Method 1. Director David Cronenberg 2. Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud 3. Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung (Pretend this is not reason #1) 4. Writer Christopher Hampton 5. Vincent Cassel as patient 6. Keira Knightley as patient (She's excellent at playing neurotics) While you [...]