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If you live in an apartment in this city and you keep cats, you know that finding a reliable supply of kitty litter is a problem. One day the supermarket has plenty, the next day nada—because people like me know that the supply is inconstant, and we buy six sacks at a time.

Then there’s the problem of variety—some groceries only sell Arm & Hammer litter, which is a very good product, except that my cats don’t like clumping litter and a box costs more than P900. Some stores only have scented litter, which my cats and I hate, not to mention that they usually cost more than the unscented and I’m not paying more for a smell I can’t stand.

Yes, society has more pressing problems than my kitty litter supply, but I still need a regular source of plain, non-clumping, unscented stuff for my cats to poop on. Fortunately SM has caught on that there is a lucrative market for pet products, and they now have a store for dog and cat supplies, plus a salon.

Recently I visited Pet Express at the newly-renovated SM Cubao and found many brands of kitty litter. I hope they restock frequently.

They also carry many brands of cat and dog food, at prices lower than other pet stores, plus carriers, toys, bowls, containers, etc. And costumes. (My cats will shred anyone who tries to put them in a costume.)

While you’re shopping for pet supplies, your dog or cat can get a bath, shampoo, blow dry, ear cleaning, nail trim, toothbrush, de-matting and massage at the Pet Express Salon. Teeth brushing, ear cleaning, and nail trim costs P100 each, a bath and blow dry P200. The full package (from bath to massage) costs P600 for small breeds, P700 for medium-sized breeds, P900 for large breeds and P1,200 for extra large breeds.

Pet Express is opening on Friday, March 26 at SM Makati (Yay!) and SM Mall of Asia. The SM Cubao branch is on the upper ground floor, facing Farmer’s Market. Their number is 9125924.

I’m reading two short novels in beautifully compact hardcover editions. This is the best size for a book: just a little bigger than your hand, so you can easily hold it open at face level. Course if you’re Shaq an atlas is portable.

Ransom is the Australian novelist David Malouf’s powerful rendering of an episode from the Iliad: King Priam’s attempt to recover the mangled body of his son Hector, viciously murdered by Achilles.

My reading buddy and I have agreed that after The Brothers Karamazov next week, we will take a short break from old man Dostoevsky to read the Greek tragedies. We are now haggling over whose translations to use. Also, our reading program has been expanded to include authors no one seems to read anymore (Roger Martin du Gard), authors required in lit courses, new translations of important works, and obscure texts. Yes, since Demons was a hard slog, we are ratcheting up the degree of difficulty. So far I’ve managed to keep George Eliot out of the list, but I had to agree to Fernand Braudel’s three-volume The Mediterranean in the Age of Philip II, in which he discusses in eye-crossing detail bills of lading from ships of the period. The Russians are still the main course.

I first heard of the Hungarian author Sandor Marai a few years ago from Jose at Instituto Cervantes, who called it an absolute must read. Marai was a leading novelist in the 1930s, an anti-fascist who survived WWII but had to flee his country because he was hounded by the communists. He moved to Italy then to the US, where he killed himself in 1989. His books are now being translated into English; Embers was done by Carol Brown Janeway.

Both books are available at National Bookstore, Ransom on the shelves for P1005, Embers in the bargain bin, P99.

On Monday, Karamazov.

Some of our favorite Barbies from the auction for Ballet Philippines last Wednesday:

Contravida Barbies by James Reyes.

Look at that detail: she has tights under her gown.

This brilliant piece is by Joey Samson; I call it Scarlett O’Horror.

Barbie as Dulcinea from Don Quixote, dangling by a lance from a windmill, by Joji Lloren who collaborated with sculptor Ral Arrogante. (The lance was supposed to go through her breast but that idea was deemed too violent.) If this doll had been available when I was a child, even I might’ve wanted a Barbie. I might’ve become a “normal” girl. Hahahaha!

Pitoy Moreno’s Barbie in an intricately-embroidered baro’t saya in lace, pearls and beads was the star of the evening, going for P100,000 in the live auction.

The deadline for our LitWit Challenge 2.3: Bad, Bad Barbie is at 11.59 tonight, so if you haven’t sent in your warped Barbie story, put on your thinking tiaras.

Russian special forces training in arnis

Filipino martial arts master the great Dan Inosanto, filmmaker Jay Ignacio, and Hollywood fight choreographer (the Bourne movies) Jeff Imada

The Bladed Hand, a documentary on Filipino Martial Arts by Jay Ignacio, in Emotional Weather Report, today in the Star.

Thanks to Gabe Mercado for telling me all about his cousin Jay when I ran into him last week. Does anyone have a line to Matt Damon or his agent? Could you send them a copy of the column? He has to be in the movie.

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1117. Matt’s agent finally emailed! The request is now with Matt’s assistant. Anyone know Matt’s assistant?

Mary Tompkins Lewis on Velazquez’s Las Meninas: The Power, and Art, of Painting, in WSJ.

Las Meninas by Velazquez

T.J. Clark, On Bruegel, in the Threepenny Review.

Dakota Fanning is what, 15? but she’s a Hollywood veteran way ahead of her time. In recent years she’s played a rape victim, an ancient vampire, and in the new movie about the 70s bad girl band The Runaways she plays self-destructing rock goddess Cherie Currie.

Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie in The Runaways, a film by Floria Sigismondi.

“Next year she’ll be playing a cougar,” Noel pointed out. “In the nursery. Watch out, Dame Judi Dench, she’ll be competing for your roles soon.”

The real Runaways: Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, Sandy West, Lita Ford and Jackie Fox.

The Runaways: The Girls Who Kicked in Rock’s Door, in the NYT.