Frisco and Caffeine, a couple of old friends
I miss my blogging days—not so much the writing, since only my laziness and other distractions prevent me from that, but more the camaraderie of the mini-blogosphere that was around when we early birds started out in the early years of this century. I recently revisited two bloggers I have always had a close affinity for, frisco dude and caffeine sparks. I dunno why I stopped visiting them, just general overload coupled with my return to books over the past few years. Anyway, I am going to try to keep up with frisco and caffeine as their s

The Clash—live
Many of the most intense moments of my life have been at live music events, none more so than the Clash at Brighton Top Rank in early 1980. London Calling, their highwater mark, had just been released and my mates and I had played it non-stop for weeks. I’ve never loved a product so

Will Erap’s name appear on the ballot?
“The Philippines seems like the sort of country where anyone can do anything” a friend said on hearing that Mae Paner, the pleasantly plump actress known as Juana Change, is featured in an exhibition of nude portraits (a performance described by Jim Paredes as “fearless … a must see”). However, there is a downside to the disregard for rules in the Philippines, especially in the electoral season. What has surprised me about Estrada’s declaration that he intends to run for reelection is not just that it is obviously unconstitutional and violates his pardon (which prohibits h

Cinemanila 2010: Tulpan, Pandora’s Box, Hunger
The great Kazakh steppe saga, Tulpan Cinemanila 2010 closes today. Although the standard of films has been extremely high as usual, the showings have been sparsely attended. That’s a great shame and I hope organizer Tikoy Aguiluz who does such a fantastic job every year of bringing the very best international art films to Manila, doesn’t give up. I know the poor guy has received a lot of unsolicited advice on how

Estrada and Maradona
As long as I have a drop of blood left, I will