JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Personal blog of Jessica Zafra, author of The Collected Stories and the Twisted series
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Archive for December, 2009

From our far-flung colonies

December 31, 2009 By: jessicazafra Category: World Domination Update No Comments →

We asked for pictures of wherever in the world you happen to live, and you delivered. Here are a few entries for our World Domination Tracker:

Arianne Angela Solis is in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by Arianne Angela Solis

Ellen Beronio is a chemist in Singapore.

Singapore Art Museum by Ellen Beronio

“The Singapore Art Museum, where there’s a big Philippine Art exhibit called Thrice Upon A Time. The show runs until the end of January 2010. It’s ironic that I only got to see and admire our artists’ works in another country. The best part: Admission is free from 25 Dec 2009 to 3 January 2010 (and every Friday from 6 -9pm) so I just go there during my free weekends.” Pinoys in Singapore, check it out.

Carl Mañoso is in Mauritius.

Mauritius by Carl Mañoso

Practically the only thing we know about Mauritius is that Miss Mauritius Viveka Babajee tried to get into show business in Manila and became embroiled in the filmfest scam. Her immortal line: “Take it, take it!” Another factoid by way of Wikipedia: It was the only home of the dodo, which was first sighted there in 1600 and became extinct 80 years later. It’s a beautiful place, we gather from Mark Twain, who said “heaven was copied after Mauritius”.

Thanks for sending in your photographs. Keep emailing them to koosi.obrien@gmail.com.

Coffee: Good news, bad news

December 31, 2009 By: jessicazafra Category: Coffee 1 Comment →

WSJ/Good news in the daily grind

Good News in the Daily Grind by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal.

8 1/2 + 5 years

December 31, 2009 By: jessicazafra Category: Movies 1 Comment →

When I first saw 8 1/2 five years ago, I admired it without quite understanding it. The other day, after reading many terrible reviews of Nine, the movie based on the musical based on the movie, I watched 8 1/2 again.

Bang! Every scene affected me on an emotional/visceral level. I think I actually get it.

So I have learned something in the last five years. What it is exactly, I have no idea.

Marcello Mastroianni was one of the first actors I ever saw on the big screen. My mother snuck me into a movie theatre to see Vittorio De Sica’s Sunflower—she used up a whole box of tissues, she cried so hard, especially when Sophia Loren walked across Russia looking for her lost Marcello. I remember the first scene in which Sophia and Marcello are snogging on the beach and he swallows her earring. (Hmm, this movie may account for three of my fixations: Russia, Italy, and earrings. If anyone’s seen Sunflower lately, please confirm my memory.)

I liked Sunflower a lot better than Love Story, which my mother also took me to see (The ushers did not dare argue with her). That one also took up a whole box of tissues, but I was less impressed since no one trudged across Siberia.

I wonder if my childhood associations with the cinema account for the fact that I hardly every cry in real life, but have no problem with weeping buckets at the movies.

Dispatches from our outposts

December 30, 2009 By: jessicazafra Category: World Domination Update 1 Comment →

We asked expatriate Pinoys, our agents of world domination, to send us pictures of their locations. Voila!

Catherine Batac Walder is in Berkshire, England.

Berkshire, England by Catherine Batac Wilder

“This frozen lake is a 10-minute walk from our house here in Berkshire, England. I uploaded this picture in my blog, as an answer to Holden Caulfield’s question about the ducks.”

Nelson Macaalay is in Mystic, Connecticut, home of Mystic Pizza.

Mystic, Connecticut by Nelson Macaalay

For very young readers, Mystic Pizza inspired the movie of the same name, where viewers first saw Julia Roberts.

Rondell Torres was at school in London.

Behind Prince Albert by Rondell Torres

“During a bike tour of London, I spied on The Albert Memorial in the afternoon light. This photo is in defence of English weather – it can be wonderful sometimes.”

Email photos of your locations for our World Domination Tracker to koosi.obrien@gmail.com. By emailing you agree to have your photos posted with your names on this site. Thanks.

Stars

December 30, 2009 By: jessicazafra Category: Books, Movies 3 Comments →

Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly backstage at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1956.

Found this photo here.

Anthony Lane on the legacy of Grace Kelly, in the New Yorker.

Wherever you go, there you are.

December 30, 2009 By: jessicazafra Category: Places, World Domination Update No Comments →

Rome. Photo by Ige Ramos, 2009
Photo: Rome, September 2009, by Ige Ramos.

Time to check in on our Agents of World Domination. Where in the world are you? Take a picture of your adopted city, town, or hamlet, send it to koosi.obrien@gmail.com, and we’ll post the interesting ones. Fine, you can be in the frame, but the place has to be the focus.