Sampaloc around UST (University of Santo Tomas) was the place to be right after Liberation. It was the first area to be liberated because of the concentration camp at UST where Americans caught in the war were held; the environs teemed with GIs, schools converted into hospitals, night spots for war-weary GIs and WACs, and army vehicles.
From the window of her apartment along Roxas Boulevard, artist Betsy Westendorp would spend many hours looking out on the view of Manila Bay, contemplating the sunset, and sometimes sketching what she saw.
IT STARTS with questions: Why me? Why not me? How can I? What can I do? Artists, more than people of other callings, are most familiar with rejection. Whether our art is that of the word, the stroke, the note, or the stage, there are as many talented ones as there are stars. [...]
A country’s cinema should encompass the aspirations and experiences of its people. And to be truly representative, a country’s cinema needs to be sufficiently geographically diverse. This is still to be desired in the Philippines, where the theaters, when they aren’t saturated by Hollywood blockbusters, are by and large dominated by the products of monolithic Metro Manila studios. To be sure, independent filmmakers are making a dent, and their works, long or short, fictional or documentary, have reached an impressive level of quality. Still, when one considers the major film events, by CineManila, Cinemalaya, Cinema One Originals, or the tellingly named Metro Manila Film Festival, it becomes obvious that the Philippines’ filmic output remains largely Manila-centric.
Forthcoming this May is the country’s celebration of National Heritage Month. What’s that? With a surfeit of national this-or-that month, few are able to distinguish one from the other, like the National Fire Prevention Month or the National Arbor Week. What happens is unintended obscurantism that defeats the purpose of achieving public focus.
“Yoga, Yoga,” my son proposed as he stood on one leg, arms outstretched. I realized the other week that the kids’ summer break was coming up, and I had a mild anxiety attack wondering what to get them to do. I take summer activities seriously, knowing how we all grow up with the best, and [...]
At the Kapihan Sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday, it was a case of beauty and the…well, not beast actually, but politician, which, some people will swear, is almost the same. Anyway, the guests were Miss Universe Margie Moran, who talked about ballet, being president of the 42-year-old Ballet Philippines, and Muslim leader [...]
TWO STORIES in yesterday’s issue struck me, not only because they held rich human interest, but also because they reminded me of family members. Tooling around in an ukay-ukay tie, starched shirt and cap on his second-hand bike, “diaristang sosyal” Carlos Antolo is surely a sight to see on the streets of Lucena. I can [...]
