JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Captive, the new movie by the prolific Brillante Mendoza, has come under fire from foreign critics. Indiewire called it “mercilessly redundant,” and “(lacking) any coherent emotional hook or worldly argument”. The Hollywood Reporter said it lacked “a spark of storytelling that would pull it out of the historical recreation category”. The Brag noted that “The monotony of life as a long-term hostage is so well conveyed…that you feel like the film has taken you hostage as well.”

We agree with the above, but we think they are actually the movie’s strong points. By cutting out artifice the filmmaker thrusts us into the thick of things and makes us experience the ordeal. We’re not allowed to remain detached observers: we’re all in it together.

Read our review at InterAksyon.com.

Almost forgot: Captive opens in theatres on September 5.

The heroine of Alan Bradley’s cult favorite Flavia De Luce mysteries is a precocious 11-year-old girl who lives in a crumbling country house with her eccentric father and disdainful older sisters, performing chemistry experiments and sticking her nose in other people’s affairs. Everyone is slightly mad and overly dramatic and all is resolved in the spirit of high silliness. It’s delightful.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, trade paperback, Php559
The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, hardcover, Php549
A Red Herring Without Mustard, trade paper, Php549
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows, mass market paperback, Php315

The Flavia De Luce mysteries are available at National Bookstores at 20 percent off during the Cut-Price Book Sale.

* * * * *

What is your favorite detective fiction series? Tell us in Comments. The lucky commenter gets a copy of I Am Half-Sick of Shadows and the graphic novel Stormwatch vol. 1: The Dark Side.

* * * * *

The cats conducted the raffle and the winner is…Ejia.

Please post your full name in Comments (it won’t be published) and we’ll alert you when it’s at the drop.

To our previous winner caltrask16: Your Batman Incorporated graphic novel awaits you at the Customer Service counter at National Bookstore in Rockwell. Just give them your full name.

We missed the Royal Style: Qing Dynasty and Western Court Jewelry exhibition at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Fortunately Leo Abaya visited the museum in June and we asked him to order the exhibition catalogue for us. After a two-month wait, the very heavy book mailed out of Taiwan finally arrived at the post office.

After poring over the catalogue we’re even sorrier that we didn’t see the actual exhibition. The pieces on display were selected from three collections: the Qing imperial ornaments from the National Palace Museum, the last emperor Puyi’s collection in the Shenyang Palace Museum, and Cartier’s modern jewelry collection. One need not be into alahas to marvel at the exquisite craftsmanship and splendor of the artifacts. Everything about them spells power.

Pair of earrings decorated with bamboo leaves in kingfisher feather
Qing dynasty, Tongzhi reign (1862-1874)
2.5 x 1.8 cm
Gilt silver, kingfisher feathers, pearls
National Palace Museum, Taipei

Pair of earrings decorated with Chinese crabapple blossoms
Qing dynasty, Tongzhi reign (1862-1874)
2.8 x 4.1 cm
Gilt copper, spinels, coral, tiny pearls, kingfisher feathers
National Palace Museum, Taipei

Pair of earrings decorated with glass-inlaid flowers
Qing dynasty, Tongzhi reign (1862-1874)
3.9 x 2.3 cm
Gilt, silver, glass, enamel
National Palace Museum, Taipei
These photos are photos of the exhibition catalogue.

Royal Style is on view until 9 September so if you’re in Taipei be sure to visit the National Palace Museum. Security is tight, understandably, and Leo reports that if you linger too long before a display a museum guard will start hovering around you.

Podcast logo by Rickyv.

We recorded the first episode with Budjette last Friday. We’re so used to the 3-hour format, we were shocked to find that the introductions alone lasted 15 minutes haha.

We were just talking about The Age of Innocence and how we love it even if it makes us feel bad—or love it because it makes us feel, period. Here’s another cruel, beautiful book: Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, reread and reconsidered by Salman Rushdie.

Anthony Hopkins as the butler Stevens: the opposite of Hannibal Lecter.

“The sweet lie is better than the bitter truth.”

Until you’re found out and the truth bites.