Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 384

Sugar Pie de Santo née Umpeleya Marsema Balinton

Rhythm and Blues pioneer Sugar Pie de Santo was born in Brooklyn in 1935 to a Filipino father and an African-American mother and christened Umpeleya Marsema Balinton. (Umpeleya from 'ampalaya'?) As a kid 'Peliya' hung out with a neighbor named Jamesetta Hawkins, who became the R&B legend Etta James. Peliya took to entering singing contests [...:]

88*. The perils of being a ghost writer

* Meaning it is the 88th movie I've seen this year. I am up to 98, the most recent being Moon by Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie who sang Space Oddity, so there's a symmetry there). Each movie is counted only once, and the favorite movies I watch all the time can only be [...:]

It's sale season at the bookstores.

Everything is on sale at Powerbooks and National Bookstores. Twenty percent off on these, and up to 80 off on books in the bins. The Story. In the late 18th century young Jacob de Zoet travels to the Shogunate of Japan to make his fortune so he can go back to the Netherlands and marry [...:]

How to entertain yourselves

You will need Paper dolls 3 or 4 gay or female friends Nothing to do Like many little girls I loved playing with paper dolls. I would expand their wardrobes with my own crude designs—I've always been partial to capes, armor-like shirtwaists and long coats that could carry a sword. Do kids still play with [...:]

Anthropology of Preppy

Soon to be reissued with English text: Take Ivy, a book of photographs that is also an ethnographic study of Ivy League campuses in 1965. The book was commissioned by Kenzuke Inshizu, who founded an Ivy-inspired clothing line called Van Jacket. So the preppy uniform gave rise to a passionate Japanese fashion cult. Clearly preppy [...:]

LitWit Challenge 3.1: The Staircase

Is it August already? Then it's time to launch the third cycle of LitWit Challenges, brought to you by our generous friends at National Book Store. This week your LitWit Challenge is this. "Huh?" you exhale, squinting at the screen, "What is that?" Why, it is a staircase. Not just any staircase, but the setting [...:]

Epic, the epic, Part 3

The next morning after breakfast we resumed our tour of the Norwegian Epic. A thorough tour of the ship and all its facilities would take about a week; we had 36 hours. The Epic has all the facilities and conveniences known to woman and man, including a barbershop/beauty salon. The portraits hanging on the wall [...:]

The cat who ate string

Hello, I am Matthias. My human has just finished reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and she says it is horrible and beautiful, like the most brutal parts of the Old Testament except that there is no god to oversee it all, and now she will take the day off to recover. Haha! I have [...:]

Sentenced to read

Photo: British Museum Novel approach: reading courses as an alternative to prison In Texas, offenders are being sent on reading courses instead of prison. Could it work in the UK? With one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and the death penalty, the US state of Texas seems the last place to embrace [...:]

Wednesday lunch with Chef Jessie, the conclusion

Salad was followed by Chef Jessie's famous bread rolls and the special dip, an alternative to delicious, evil butter. "We had a regular at Le Souffle, Mr. Jose Periquet, whose diet did not allow butter. So I made a dip out of the stuff in the cold kitchen, and he liked it, and now we [...:]