Illustration by Joon Mo Kang
Something very important and very weird is happening to the book right now: It’s shedding its papery corpus and transmigrating into a bodiless digital form, right before our eyes. We’re witnessing the bibliographical equivalent of the rapture. If anything we may be lowballing the weirdness of it all.
Read From Scroll to Screen by Lev Grossman in the NYT. Thanks to Bernard-Henri for the alert.
Acclaimed Italian filmmakers Bernardo Bertolucci, Dario Argento and Marco Bellocchio, along with actress Asia Argento, will be visiting Manila for the Italian Film Festival set at Greenbelt Makati from November 9 to 13. The Italian artists will be conducting workshops and interacting with Filipino artists during their visit, according to Emanuela Adesini, cultural attaché of the Italian Embassy in Manila.—Bayani San Diego Jr, PDI
We love The Conformist. And we can hum the entire score of The Last Emperor. And we can’t look at butter without thinking of Last Tango in Paris. Where do we line up for an interview?
So while the former US Ambassador to the Philippines was appearing on variety shows and dancing on local TV she was firing off cables to the State Department full of nasty putdowns of Filipino officials.
And you’re surprised?? It’s her job! Join me in a great big DUH.
Since the media is all over the Wikileaked documents re the Philippines, let’s jump in! Your assignment for LitWit Challenge 6.9: Write us some secret dispatches from Manila assessing the Philippine political scene and its leaders. Cables marked “For Your Eyes Only” because you’re not supposed to say those things about your “friends” in public. (Basically it’s your chance to say awful things about the people who were/are in power, through a ventriloquist’s dummy!)
1,000-word maximum, in Comments by Saturday, 10 September 2011 at 11.59 pm. The prize is highly-appropriate reading:
The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to you by our friends at National Bookstore, and that’s no secret.
Martin Escudero is brilliant and Roderick Paulate reminds us that no one can remake genius. Kumander Gringa and Petrang Kabayo forever!
By the way that la-da-dee-da-da-da is finally out of our heads. It has been replaced by “Charoterang sprikitik, umapir ka vakler! Magpa-feel, magpa-sense ditey sa balur.”
This arrived from our friends at Campaigns & Grey and Pantene:
A line drawing made of a single strand of healthy hair 78 cm long. In a market saturated with images of beautiful women tossing their straight hair, blinding the audience with their impossibly shiny locks until we can’t tell one hair product from the other, a clever way of touting the virtues of Pantene Hair Fall Control.
And for those of us who have so much hair that we can stop a drain just by looking at it, a great idea for an art project!
Dear Auntie Janey,
My close friend, let’s call her Suzanne, migrated to the US 10 years ago. She and her folks visit Manila from time to time. Recently Suzanne’s mom was in town so I went to see her.
The mom, let’s call her Tita Betchay, texted me to drop by their house so I could pick up the pasalubongs from Suzanne. When I got there we chatted for a bit. She asked me, a workaholic geek, if I have any plans of going to the US for work. I said No, seeing as there’s a recession on. Tita Betchay refuted that and said I would not starve to death in America because I am hardworking and smart. She added that only lazy and unmotivated people starve in America.
“But you know dear,” Tita Betchay said, “Only US citizens or permanent residents can hold high- paying jobs there”. I nodded but at this point I had tuned out because I was so sleepy. Then she said, “In order for you to become a US citizen quickly, you can do these fixed marriage arrangements with Suzanne’s friends for a price.”
I sat up as if I’d been slapped in the face. “What do you mean Tita?”
She said I had to pay around 30,000 USD to marry a US citizen so I can be a US citizen. After 2 years I can divorce my faux hubby and be free. Right there she called Suzanne and said, “Oh, your friend wants to go to the States pala, you don’t even help her out. Let’s fix her up with what’s-his-face so they can get married and she can be a citizen and work there”.
But I never said anything of the sort, Auntie Janey! I wasn’t asking for “help” but Tita Betchay just shoved it in my face like it meant life or death for me. I have a stable job and I’m very happy with my career. Yes, I have been single for the longest time and it’s by choice and I enjoy it very much. Tita Betchay, whom I consider family, thought I needed to be saved from a terrible situation. I know she meant well but her timing and delivery were waayyy off.
Auntie Janey, does this mean that I walk around like I have a sign on my forehead that says “Help me, I’m over 30, single, I have a mediocre career and the only way to solve this is to get married and go to the US”? How can I refuse Tita Betchay’s offer without offending her or causing any unwanted tension between me and Suzanne, who has been my friend for 18 years?
Thank you,
Single & workaholic but not desperate
Ikaw bata ka, paglaki mo magpapakasal ka sa taong di mo kilala para makapagtrabaho ka sa Amerikah! Oy nanood na kayo ng Zombadings 1: Patayin Sa Shokot Si Remington? Dali!! Kahapon inulit namin sa Glorietta. Nung opening day andoon siya sa maliit na sinehan, pero second day inilipat siya sa dalawing malalaking sinehan! Yung kalaban ang inilipat sa maliit na teatro. Yung lang.
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