Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 76

The Scariest Story Ever Told?

Illustration by Diego Patiño Or a funny story made of the scary parts of scary movies. The Scariest Story Ever Told by Colin Nissan At the end of a quiet road, behind a veil of twisted black oak trees, there was a house. A woman lived there. On bitter nights like this one, she sat […]

QCinemarathon: In Kapatiran, a sick brotherhood; in Sleepless, they’ll always have pares.

Kapatiran by Pepe Diokno We were always 30 seconds away from getting up and walking out of Kapatiran, but the seemingly random scenes of life in Metro Manila were so familiar, we stayed just in case we turned up on the screen. It’s a kind of ethnographic study with attention-deficit disorder: a week in the […]

Halloween was the night of the All Blacks

Dan Carter photo from The Guardian. Yesterday was not just Halloween, it was also the day of the Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia. So Drogon put on his costume and performed an interpretative dance in tribute to Dan Carter. Carter accounted for most of the All Blacks’ points in the first […]

Sicario: Notes on a voyage to hell

1. Sicario is by Denis Villeneuve, whose previous movies include Prisoners and Enemy. He specializes in tension. He wants to make you jump. When you hear that bass rumble, prepare yourself. 2. Sicario, the opening titles inform us, were the zealots in Jerusalem who hunted and killed the Roman oppressors. In Mexico the word means […]

Why is Downton Abbey just like The Walking Dead?

L-R: Married to each other, gay, gone, gone, gone, widow, widow, married to each other, widow, widow, married to each other, widow, widow (common-law), widower, gone. This column goes out to our friend Kevin, who will institute divorce proceedings if his husband doesn’t watch the next episode with him on Monday night. It seems that […]

There’s a hole in Black Mass and it’s in the shape of Goodfellas

Black Mass is the new film about the Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger, played by Johnny Depp. Bulger, who went on the lam in 2003 and was finally arrested in 2011, consolidated his crime empire by becoming an informant for the FBI. Depp, whose recent film output consists of flops and stinkers, has declared […]

For the serious fan of A Song of Ice and Fire: The leather-bound box set is coming.

But I already have all the books in A Song of Ice and Fire, you say. Not to mention the maps, sigil tapestries, mugs, replica swords and hoodies. These leather-bound volumes are not only beautiful, but unlike the hardcover editions which are heavy and difficult to read in transit, they are light and easy to […]

Drogon’s hoard: Taste of the Wild

Drogon thanks Taste of the Wild Philippines for the two big bags of cat food they sent over. Taste of the Wild is a grain-free, all-life stages (from kittens to adult cats) food with natural antioxidants. The Rocky Mountain Feline Formula contains roasted venison and smoked salmon so Drogon can make like he’s been huntin’ […]

The Classics of Social Climbing

We are all social climbers, though not all of us adopt it as a career. The most blatant social climbers engage in ascent by association, i.e. being seen (preferably photographed) with prominent personalities in order to be mistaken for members of their tribe. There’s no point in distinguishing between old money and new money—this is […]

Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Marple: The comfort of the British murder-mystery

Agatha Christie book covers Miss Jane Marple is a menace to society. Whenever she turns up with that handbag of hers, sniffing around in other people’s business, murder follows. Corpses turn up, poisoned, stabbed, bludgeoned, strangled, shot. Suspicions mount, terrible secrets are uncovered, threats are uttered. People are revealed at their very worst. What fun! […]