Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 44

Weekly Report Card 8: Hidden Figures remembers, Modiano forgets (again)

Movie: Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi Hidden Figures is the rousing true story of three African-American women (played with maximum warmth and badassery by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae) who were vital to the success of NASA’s programs at the height of the space race, who did their jobs at a […]

Benedict Cumberbatch is adapting our favorite books, what an excellent idea

He stars in the BBC adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (Hated the fourth season, by the way, frantic and incoherent) and is the screen incarnation of Stephen Strange. We first noticed him as the villain (Not Briony Tallis) in the film of Ian McEwan’s Atonement. He was Peter Guillam in the 2011 version of John Le […]

When we start colonizing other planets, what are the rules?

What are the protocols? Will we abide by the Prime Directive? But there’s no United Federation of Planets yet. Ugh will orange billionaires get their little hands on the new worlds? An artist’s interpretation of a human colony on Mars. (NASA AMES) If humans were to land on Mars and were somehow lethally threatened by […]

Against Amnesia

Thirty-one years ago we were part of something so extraordinary that it ignited movements for freedom in the rest of the world. We didn’t do it for any families or personalities; we did it for ourselves, to reclaim the dignity and the rights that had been denied us for so long. It was the right […]

Weekly Report Card 7: Nothing much happens in Paterson, and it’s transcendent.

Here is a poem by William Carlos Williams, the guiding spirit of Jim Jarmusch’s movie Paterson. This Is Just To Say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold Williams wrote a very long poem […]

Back from the land of K-Pop

Drogon is not amused at his human’s constant absence. Just returned from a week in Korea, the land of K-Pop, Koreanovelas, kimchi and general kookiness, where the toilets have settings that never occurred to me and everything is good for you (They’re not just stairs, they’re the Stairs of Longevity leading to the Gift Shop […]

A few of many reasons to go to Art Fair Philippines 2017

Thanks to Solana Perez for the photos. Art Fair Philippines opened today, 16 February, and is on until Sunday, 19 February at the 5th, 6th, 7th floors and roof deck of The Link Carpark (across from Landmark) in Ayala Center, Makati. It’s open from 10am to 9pm. Entrance fee: Php250, Php50 for students with valid […]

Weekly Report Card 6: The harrowing beauty of The Pier Falls and Manchester by the Sea

Mark Haddon’s first book for adults (which children also loved) was The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time, which by being deliberately affectless (the narrator-protagonist has Asperger’s) reduced us to puddles of tears. The Pier Falls, a collection of stories, employs a similar very clear, pitilessly detailed style to destroy the reader. The […]

Here are the writers and their stories from Writing Boot Camp February 2017

After one Saturday afternoon of discussions, readings, rough drafts and outlines, the ten participants in our just-concluded Writing Boot Camp got to work on their stories. This last weekend, nine read their stories to the class. The more I do these workshops, the more I realize that there is no shortage of writing talent out […]

The stray cats of Istanbul star in their own movie

I was just talking about the street cats and dogs of Istanbul. We were interviewing the director of Hagia Sophia for the travel show when a very self-possessed cat walked over and sat between my co-host and myself, to remind us who the real boss was. Now there’s a documentary about the Turkish felines. If […]