From the monthly archives:
Amado V. Hernandez’s novel “Mga Ibong Mandaragit” (Birds of Prey) is required reading for third year students in the school that my daughters go to. When my younger daughter first brought home a library copy of the book, the author’s name struck me as familiar. I did a little research and found out that the [...]
Continue reading 'The birds of prey and Batjay' →
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I’m sure you’ve seen one of them at one time or another — the ceramic cat with the raised paw on display in many business establishments. The symbol is found in both Chinese and Japanese cultures. Some say that when the cat’s left paw is raised, it is an invitation for customers to come in. [...]
Continue reading 'Maneki Neko, the beckoning cat' →
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She’s 14 and she’s going to be an artist. Her dream is to be able to do what they do in Pixar and she diligently practices everyday. She reads her daily dose of Naruto then draws what she sees on the manga pages.
Published with Alex’s permission.
Above, Ino and Sasuke.
Continue reading 'Art work inside a sketchbook' →
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This entry consists of two parts. The first part is my column today in Manila Standard Today; the second is the full text of an e-mail forwarded by my brother-in-law, Buddy.
First, the column.
Conversation with the househelp
WOW Philippines describes the province of Zamboanga Sibugay as “blessed with an impressive range of excellent tourist destinations—interesting mountain formations, [...]
Continue reading 'It’s matter of attitude' →
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When publicists of businesses e-mail me with invitations to take part in this and that event, I rarely respond. On those rare occasions that I do respond, I say no thanks. There’s a new one in my inbox about the launching of a restaurant. Give it up, people, I’m the wrong person to invite.
But when [...]
Continue reading 'Look at Laguna Lake now' →
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Pop culture has given a new meaning to the word “toxic” and Britney Spears’ 2004 hit written by Bloodshy & Avant, Cathy Dennis, and Henrik Jonback has not dampened the use of its colloquial meaning. Toxic means poison but, today, it is commonly used to describe work-related hyperactivity. Toxic is also the word used to [...]
Continue reading 'Toxic colors' →
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I may have mentioned it before, or I may have not, but Astro is not our first dog. Sam’s first dog was a mongrel named Rajah (after Princess Jasmine’s pet tiger in Disney’s Aladdin) who cried incessantly probably because he was separated from his mother much too soon. Rajah died and we buried him in [...]
Continue reading 'Why I don’t want to have the dogs’ ears cut' →
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Fifty-two pesos and eighty-five centavos, to be more precise, if you like your bananas with four legs and an ear-splitting growl.
Astro was reaching for the bananas but the price tag was all he got.
Yes, this pit bull likes — and actually eats — bananas.
Continue reading '12 kilos of lacatan bananas for 52 pesos?' →
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Just a couple of weeks ago, while reading up on digital virus in brand new iPods, I was reminded of stereotypes of creators of computer viruses. But all this virus talk reminded me of the popular belief that computer viruses are created by geeks and nerds who have nothing better to do. You know, as [...]
Continue reading 'The Olympic torch hoax' →
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First, you have to read about anesthesia awareness because that is where the story revolves around.
‘Awake’, starring Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard, opens with a doctor (Howard) thinking about the patient that he lost. The patient is 22-year-old Wall Street wiz kid Clay (Christensen) who had been in line for a compatible heart [...]
Continue reading 'Must see: ‘Awake’' →
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