Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 72

Monday Morning Vent: Bitch bank better have our money.

We never wanted to be rejected by a taxi driver again. Life has enough indignity, disappointment, and misery for us to endure flagging down a taxi, telling the driver where we’re going, and watching him drive away without a word. Screw that. Yes, we would miss the bizarre stories and the interesting cabbies, but we’ve […]

Our favourite books of 2015

In alphabetical order. Explanations to follow. Family Happiness by Laurie Colwin. Bought at an online store. The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector. Confiscated from Jedi Master. Slade House by David Mitchell. Bought at National Bookstore. The Love Object, Selected Stories by Edna O’Brien. Bought at National Bookstore. (Photograph to follow because we can’t find our […]

The absolute last-minute gift guide

You have just realized that it’s less than 48 hours before Xmas and even if you’re an atheist you like giving and getting presents (or at least not being the buzzkill). Go to the nearest National Bookstore and get these. Black sketchbook, Php599. Give with gold and silver Sharpies or Dong-A metallic gel pens. Pierre […]

Urgent Miss Universe question (plus proof that in the Phl you don’t have to watch the news to get the news)

From juror RickyV: If you were Miss Colombia, what would you do? We know what we’d do if we were the host: Enter the witness protection program. Proof that in the Philippines you don’t have to watch the news to know the news. At 1124hrs we wake up (we slept late because we’re binge-watching Fargo) […]

Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Hard-boiled detective noir with a side order of superpowers

Superpowers are one of the less interesting elements in Marvel’s Jessica Jones. They’re very useful, and they account for the heroine’s ability to sleep soundly despite having a broken front door, but they don’t protect her from life itself. No wonder she’s so pissed off. She certainly doesn’t need superpowers to intimidate people. As played […]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens From a 30-Year Coma

…and retrieves our childhood from the garbage bin where it has languished since those prequels that we never have to mention ever again because it’s like they never happened. If you’ve been curbing your enthusiasm until the reviews come in, this is all you need to know: It doesn’t suck!! We want to see it […]

Fashion to the rescue: A solution for senior citizens with bladder issues

Introducing On-The-Go, the cargo pants with a secret, created by Dennis Lustico, Mon Pineda, James Reyes and Noel Orosa. Read the feature at InterAksyon. On-The-Go retails at PHP 800.00 and comes in three colors: navy blue, black, and khaki. There are five waist sizes for men: Extra Small (29 inches), Small (30-31 inches), Medium (32-33 […]

Creed punches the Rocky movies back to life

Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa again, and Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed. Creed goes back to the things that made the original Rocky work: the intimate human drama of a sweet loser who suddenly gets the chance to be somebody, plus that musical score by Bill Conti, anchored by Stallone playing a human being […]

Benedict Anderson, a scholar who loved the Philippines, 1936 – 2015

According to his colleague Coeli Barry, Ben was in Jakarta on December 10 for the launch of the translation of his book, Under Three Flags (where he traces the influence of anarchism on the work of Jose Rizal and Isabelo de los Reyes). Afterwards, he went to Surabaya in the eastern part of Java, then […]

Serial, season 2 has begun

In May 2014, a U.S. Special Operations team in a Black Hawk helicopter landed in the hills of Afghanistan. Waiting for them were more than a dozen Taliban fighters and a tall American, who looked pale and out of sorts: Bowe Bergdahl. Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier, had been a prisoner of the Taliban for nearly […]