Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 75

Cumberbatch is an androgynous supermodel in Zoolander 2

APECked

What is our takeaway from the ongoing APEC Summit, apart from the smooth traffic away from the conference venues and the unusual cleanliness and order? (Kasi may bisita, baka akala nila wala tayong modo.) That the presumptive winner of the national leader beauty contest Justin Trudeau of Canada is not a shoo-in for the title. […]

It’s our biennial Taking a Whack at Proust day. Update: Screw you, terrorists, now we’re going to finish Proust.

Update: We’re up to Combray, chapter 2, past the madeleine stuff. Warning: Profanity You just brought a philosophy of rigorous self-abnegation to a pastry fight. You are fucked. John is the new Jon. * * * * * We’ve got the new translations in good-looking editions (lucky the three other volumes haven’t appeared or we’d […]

Confirmation that Drogon is a royal cat, as if we weren’t sure.

Kneel before us! How did he wind up on our doorstep (and we live on the second floor)? He could’ve jumped out of a moving vehicle (like Mat) or jumped over the wall of the posh ghetto not far from where we live.

How Could You Like That Book?

We often think it, but don’t say it. How Could You Like That Book? by Tim Parks in NYRB I rarely spend much time wondering why others do not enjoy the books I like. Henry Green, an old favorite, almost a fetish, is never an easy read and never offers a plot that is immediate […]

The Other France. Are the suburbs of Paris incubators of terrorism?

Although the alienated, impoverished immigrant communities outside Paris are increasingly prone to anti-Semitism, the profiles of French jihadists don’t track closely with class. Many of them have come from bourgeois families. Photograph by Arnau Bach for The New Yorker. Fouad Ben Ahmed never paid much attention to Charlie Hebdo. He found the satirical magazine to […]

It’s our biennial Taking a Whack at Proust day

We’ve got the new translations in good-looking editions (lucky the three other volumes haven’t appeared or we’d be even more behind than we are already), the tea and the madeleines, now all we need is the stamina to climb all those words.

LitWit Profiles: Krip Yuson on his Great Philippine Jungle Energy Cafe

Beginning our monthly series of Q&As with Filipino writers Great Philippine Jungle Energy Cafe, first published in 1988, has been reissued by Anvil. Available at National Bookstores, Php375. Alfred A. Yuson a.k.a. Krip has authored 26 books thus far, including novels, poetry collections, short fiction, essays, children’s stories, biographies and coffee table books, apart from […]

Spectre is an elegant, grown-up James Bond movie.

James Bond movies have always opened with thrilling set pieces, and that’s even before the credit sequence/music video for the theme song. When we first see Daniel Craig (who should probably enjoy doing what he is extremely good at, that has made him a global star, instead of wanting to get out of it) as […]

Saffy the cat reviews our column.

She’s a harsh critic.