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Julius Joseph L. dela Cruz for his photograph of the Negros Provincial Capitol and lagoon in Bacolod City. It stood out among the entries showing facades, facades, and more facades. Congratulations, Julius. Your Tigerair domestic ticket voucher will be emailed to you today.

We asked Ayala Corporation chair Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala to name the books he enjoyed the most last year.

A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter

First paragraphs

September. It seems these luminous days will never end. The city, which was almost empty during August, now is filling up again. It is being replenished. The restaurants are all reopening, the shops. People are coming back from the country the sea, from trips on roads all jammed with cars. The station is very crowded. There are children, dogs, families with old pieces of luggage bound by straps. I make my way among them. It’s like being in a tunnel. Finally I emerge onto the brilliance of the quai, beneath a roof of glass panels which seems to magnify the light.

On both sides is a long line of coaches, dark green, the paint blistering with age. I walk along reading the numbers, first and second class. It’s pleasant seeing all the plaques with the numbers printed on them. It’s like counting money.

Stoner by John Williams

William Stoner entered the University of Missouri as a freshman in the year 1910, at the age of nineteen. Eight years later, during the height of World War I, he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree and accepted an instructorship at the same University, where he taught until his death in 1956. He did not rise above the rank of assistant professor, and few students remembered him with any sharpness after they had taken his courses. When he died his colleagues made a memorial contribution of a medieval manuscript to the University library. This manuscript may still be found in the Rare Books Collection, bearing the inscription: “Presented to the Library of the University of Missouri, in memory of William Stoner, Department of English. By his colleagues.”

An occasional student who comes upon the name may wonder idly who William Stoner was, but he seldom pursues his curiosity beyond a casual question. Stoner’s colleagues, who held him in no particular esteem when he was alive, speak of him rarely now; to the older ones, his name is a reminder of the end that awaits them all, and to the younger ones it is merely a sound which evokes no sense of the past and no identity with which they can associate themselves or their careers.

All That Is, now available in trade paperback, Php669 at National Bookstores

All That Is by James Salter

All night in darkness the water sped past.

In tier on tier of iron bunks below deck, silent, six deep, lay hundreds of men, many faceup with their eyes still open though it was near morning. The lights were dimmed, the engines throbbing endlessly, the ventilators pulling in damp air, fifteen hundred men with their packs and weapons heavy enough to take them straight to the bottom, like an anvil dropped in the sea, part of a vast army sailing towards Okinawa, the great island that was just to the south of Japan. In truth, Okinawa was Japan, part of the homeland, strange and unknown. The war that had been going on for three and a half years was in its final act. In half an hour the first groups of men would file in for breakfast, standing as they ate, shoulder to shoulder, solemn, unspeaking. The ship was moving smoothly with faint sound. The steel of the hull creaked.

Capital by John Lanchester
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Land’s Edge, A coastal memoir by Tim Winton
Makers of Modern Architecture by Martin Filler
The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner
The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter
No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden by Mark Owen

Five months after the new cat Drogon moved in, and four months after the death of head cat and diva Koosi, order has been reestablished in the household.

Mat, the eldest boy and the one who gets along with everyone, is now head cat. He sleeps on the left side of the bed and enforces discipline among the felines. When Drogon gets too frisky and attempts to wrestle with Saffy, who is extremely antisocial, Mat boxes Drogon’s ear. Drogon may sleep on the bed, but only at the foot of the bed. If he crosses the center line, Mat gives him a little slap.

Saffy has asserted her rights as diva—including a regular supply of Fancy Feast, which the boys only get as biweekly treats. She gained this concession by going on a hunger strike, during which she refused their usual kibble and deigned to eat only Fancy Feast, and only the Classic flavors. She also refused to drink water, preferring milk (Although sometimes, late at night when she thought no one was watching, she would get out of bed and eat kibble and drink water).

It was Saffy who was most distressed by Drogon’s arrival. Drogon, being overly friendly, would insist on joining her every time she went to the litter box. Luckily he has grown tired of these toilet chats, and now allows Saffy her privacy. In return, Saffy occasionally grooms him.

Saffy sleeps on the right side of the bed. With Mat on the left, Saffy on the right, and Drogon at the foot of the bed, the human has to scrunch up in the middle and avoid moving in her sleep.

Drogon, the only sociable one, gets to go out once a month—to the mall, or to friends’ houses. Lately he has been fascinated by the kitchen faucet—soon he’ll be taking showers. He has an enormous appetite, and his hobby is sitting at the window, watching the outside world, and wondering how he can eat it.

The fabulous and generous Ito Curata has made two gowns for actress Althea Vega, star of the British indie film Metro Manila. Althea is attending the British Academy Awards, the Baftas, on 16 February. Read about it here.

With any luck she’ll be walking the red carpet and getting photographed by the global media.

Here’s the earth-shaking question: Which gown should she wear, the red or the gold?

Althea thinks she should wear the gold gown. “Won’t I look like a floating head if I wear the red on the red carpet?” she says.

Our friends say: “Red, definitely. The red brings out the duskiness of her skin. Pag napicture-an siya, may dating ang red. Kebs kung red na ang carpet. Eh di magiging train niya ang carpet. Kanya na rin ang carpet.”

What do you think: Red or Gold? Post your choice in Comments.

Our original hair-and-movie review is here.

Second viewing with Noel
– What great acting by everyone! I love how it seems so messy but the director was in full control.
– The director loves Amy Adams: what a character intro! Irving spots Sydney, music rises, aaand close-up.

Music to our favorite character intro ever

Popcorn shot out of my nose when Jennifer Lawrence was dusting furniture while lipsynching.
– I know! I love the lipsynch part—na may galit! I have a strange feeling that what Jennifer Lawrence did in the scene with Amy Adams was pure improv—how can you script that? She’s so good! And pantay sila ni Amy! Puwedeng nerbiyosin si Dakota Fanning (private joke) kung kaharap niya either of the two.
– And everyone’s hair is a character! How can Christian Bale have that hair and still be hot?
– Pareho tayo ng inisip! I still found Bale hot with a pot belly and a bad hairpiece! May laban si Christian Bale, ha! Wala nga lang siyang equivalent to Leo’s cerebral palsy sequence in Wolf of Wall Street. And also Bradley Cooper—love love love! What great actors!
– I finally get what people see in Bradley Cooper. For starters, what a dancer.
– I love how Amy Adams danced in that scene—nakuha niya ang pagmamaganda 70’s style.If it’s true that Bradley’s gay, that just makes him doubly amazing to me.
– If rumors are to be believed, Christian Bale is the token straight guy haha.
– Tama ka umaarte nga ang boobs ni Amy Adams. At ang kuko ni Jennifer Lawrence! Hahaha! That JLaw does so many small surprising things as an actress. Like the way she said, “Sometimes, I think that I’ll die before I change” is so affecting! And it’s a small acting moment that’s so sincere—ang galing niya!
– “Master of passive-aggressive karate.” Brilliant! Naloka ako when De Niro started speaking to the sheik.
– Kurak! And finally, a decent de Niro performance! Nakakatakot siya!
– American Hustle is a child of Scorsese slaying his father. I think it’s a compliment to Marty.

Opening in local cinemas today. We’re watching it again!

Life After Life trade paperback, Php755 at National Bookstores. Buy it even if you have to sell blood.

We would’ve finished sooner, but we kept stopping to give her a standing ovation. Our favorite book of the year so far.

The cover art suggests some reincarnation romance. Do not be fooled.

Full review later in the week. Listen to the first chapter while we run to the bookstore and get every Kate Atkinson book we can find. (Book moratorium suspended for this.)