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Photo: Matthias Eomer Octavian

The Pacquiao-Hatton bout was over so quickly we had to entertain ourselves by discussing Pac-Man’s youngest daughter, Queen Elizabeth.

– I’m sure the Brits get a kick out of it. Their boxer lost, but Pac-Man named his kid after their monarch.
– Imagine when she gets a little older. “Queen Elizabeth huwag kang makulit, papaluin kita!”
– The names Filipino parents give their kids. “Nina Ricci”.
– Yes, but Nina Ricci carries it well.
– You should call your kid Coco Chanel. “Coco Chanel, naglaro ka na naman sa putikan, ang bahu-baho mo na!”
– “Coco Chanel, tingnan mo nga yang suot mo, ang dungis-dungis!”
– I know someone who named his kid Dracula. He should get a perpetual visa to Transylvania.
– “Hoy Dracula, nagsimba ka na ba?”
– “Dracula, first communion mo na, male-late na tayo.”
– As we speak, there are people out there who plan to name their future children “Wolverine Sabertooth Wraith Gambit Deadpool”.

The new Philippine passport—the red one—requires your photo against a background in a specific shade of blue. My current passport expires in eight months; since many embassies issuing visas require passports valid for at least six months, and I am a neurotic, I decided to get a new passport way ahead of the expiration date.

Friends have assured me that getting the passport renewed is a lot more convenient than it used to be. You go to the official website, check the requirements, and fill out the form. Then you call the courier service to pick up the requirements from you personally. After a few days the passport office contacts you for the date and time of your appointment. You have to make a personal appearance at the Department of Foreign Affairs on Roxas Boulevard—it’s a short queue. Voila! you have your papers. I love how old Hollywood movies refer to your official proof of identity as “Your papers”…

Eyes Without A Face in Emotional Weather Report, today in the Star. Please note the correct title.

I saw my cat Saffy sharpening her claws on something at the bottom of a bookshelf, and it was a stack of old Star Trek books! Fortunately she only managed to shred the edges of volumes 11 and 12. The ‘novelizations’ were by the British SF author James Blish. I wonder where my Star Trek fotonovels are. ‘Fotonovels’ were like comic books, except that they used actual stills from the old Shatner-Nimoy TV show. The titles included the classic episodes City On The Edge Of Forever, written by Harlan Ellison, and Amok Time (the one where Spock has to go home to Vulcan for a mating ritual) by Theodore Sturgeon. My copies were bought at the Alemar’s which no longer exists, at the Rizal Theatre building on Ayala which no longer exists.

By the way the moratorium on buying books (from January to March) has turned out to be an excellent idea: I’ve never read so many books in my life. The thought that you cannot acquire any new books motivates you to deal with your stack of unread books as fast as possible, to gain a fresh excuse to run to the bookstore. The experiment was so effective, I’m thinking of imposing another ban on book-buying in May.

Chase through the Viennese sewers in The Third Man

Architecture infuses our lives — subtly and not so subtly — with emotions, ideas, splendor, and stress all the time. It’s only fitting it does the same in great movies. After the jump are eight classic films where the buildings are more than a backdrop. Which ones are we forgetting? You know what to do.

From Flavorwire: Architecture in the movies

I don’t know about architecture, but all of Woody Allen’s movies are about real estate: Manhattan, then London, then Barcelona.