The AFI Top 100 Revisited: Memories of a 3-Month Movie Marathon
I was 13 when I learned about the AFI Top 100. Before then, my exposure to the classics were limited to what free TV had to offer on Sundays and posters on Pancake House’s walls. It was a formative period, … Continue reading The AFI Top 100 Revisited: Memories of a 3-Month Movie Marathon
10 Years Since My Saturn Return: 39 Realizations
There’s a reason No Doubt named their 2000 album Return of Saturn. Gwen Stefani was 29 at the time of recording. It was a period she characterized with a strange fixation with Sylvia Plath and the gloomy implications that lurked … Continue reading 10 Years Since My Saturn Return: 39 Realizations
Of Bears and Beef: A Succession of 75th Emmy Highlights
The Diamond Edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards faced a major hiccup late last year when the Hollywood Double Strike marred the ceremonies initially slated for September 2023. The delay moved this edition to January 15, 2024, coinciding with the … Continue reading Of Bears and Beef: A Succession of 75th Emmy Highlights
My Boracay Year-Starter, Part 1: Samplers and Throwbacks
It was a little past sunrise and I was running on a shallow nap. I couldn’t remember the last time I was surrounded by that many foreigners. All I know was, it was the first in a while. A few … Continue reading My Boracay Year-Starter, Part 1: Samplers and Throwbacks
Miss Universe 2023 Candidate Round-Up: THE AMERICAS
ARGENTINA – Yamile Dajud. The Land of Tango may have only placed thrice since 1979, but it still sent us strong contenders from time to time. This multi-hyphenate rose in contention as days progressed, but might have been overpowered in … Continue reading Miss Universe 2023 Candidate Round-Up: THE AMERICAS
Miss Universe 2023 Candidate Round-Up: AFRICA & ASIA PACIFIC
ANGOLA – Ana Barbara Coimbra. This year marks the silver anniversary of this country’s entry into pageantry, and since then, it’s given us three Miss World finalists and one Miss Universe winner. This afro-sporting advocate joined under the radar but … Continue reading Miss Universe 2023 Candidate Round-Up: AFRICA & ASIA PACIFIC
Miss Universe 2023 Candidate Round-Up: EUROPE
ALBANIA – Endi Demneri. This country’s pageant year went off on a shaky start, with its Miss Supranational contestant withdrawing days after arriving in Poland, and its supposed Miss International debutante being a no-show in Japan. Props for this menstrual … Continue reading Miss Universe 2023 Candidate Round-Up: EUROPE
Miss Universe 2023: A Prelude
When JKN Global Group, headed by Anne Jakrajutatip, took over the Miss Universe franchise in late 2022, we assumed Thai stagings as the future norm. We don’t discount that possibility just yet, but one of the bigger surprises in the … Continue reading Miss Universe 2023: A Prelude
My Monthly Dig: Stevie Wonder’s “Innervisions”
It’s not common to be called a veteran at age 23, much less a living legend. But Stevie Wonder was always a clear exception. After all, he practically dominated the Motown era in his teens. He had also already surpassed … Continue reading My Monthly Dig: Stevie Wonder’s “Innervisions”
40 Years of Madonna: “Like a Virgin”
MTV was only three years old when the 1st Annual Video Music Awards Show aired in September 1984. The affair was hosted by Dan Akroyd and Bette Midler, who in hindsight, were far from the target demographic. But consider this. … Continue reading 40 Years of Madonna: “Like a Virgin”
“Oppenheimer” Review, Or: How We Learned to Stop Worrying About the Running Time and Love the Bomb
Many things in Oppenheimer can’t be absorbed upon first watch, or, for that matter, written about in first writing. Such is the Christopher Nolan Experience. It can’t be wholly captured in one go and by no means does it end … Continue reading “Oppenheimer” Review, Or: How We Learned to Stop Worrying About the Running Time and Love the Bomb
Woke in Plastic, It’s Fantastic: A Review of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”
It was easy to take the animated route, much like the home video fluff of the 2000s or a substantial chunk of Netflix’s children’s section. They could have even given the Toy Story incarnation a spin-off and have Woody and … Continue reading Woke in Plastic, It’s Fantastic: A Review of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”
40 Years of Madonna: The First Album
Madonna Louise Ciccone only wanted to be a dancer. That was initially the plan when she dropped out of college at age 20 and moved to New York City in 1978. While her terpsichorean skills did earn her breaks, her … Continue reading 40 Years of Madonna: The First Album
Blur’s “The Ballad of Darren”: A Delightful Downer
Just to get it out of the way, the Darren in question is Darren “Smoggy” Evans, Blur’s longtime bodyguard, who once urged frontman Damon Albarn to complete an unfinished song in 2003. That song eventually became “The Ballad”, originally conceptualized … Continue reading Blur’s “The Ballad of Darren”: A Delightful Downer
My Monthly Dig: Arlo Parks’ Collapsed in Sunbeams
Just like any recent debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams was completed over quarantine. Surely, the circumstances influenced the mood and Arlo Parks confirmed as much in interviews. In a December 2020 Billboard feature, the British singer of Chadian-French-Nigerian lineage shared: “I was mining these deep-rooted, sometimes traumatic places … Continue reading My Monthly Dig: Arlo Parks’ Collapsed in Sunbeams
50 Years of Margie Moran
“Athens welcomes the Universe, and Miss Universe welcomes you to Greece” It was the first Miss Universe held in Greece, and for that matter, the first outside American soil. Before then, the first 20 editions had been staged in the … Continue reading 50 Years of Margie Moran
When Partial Feels Complete: A Review of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Pt.1”
First things first, expect loose ends. “Part One” in the title should provide enough hint. But those loose ends don’t mean you won’t have your fill. Besides, it’s Mission: Impossible. It’s a franchise built on excess, spectacle, and sensory overload. … Continue reading When Partial Feels Complete: A Review of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Pt.1”
Fantastic Friends: A Review of the “Wham!” Documentary
It was 1975 when Georgios “Yog” Panayiotou, then 11, and Andrew Ridgley, then 12, met as schoolboys in Hertfordshire, England. What then felt like a random connection later unfolded into a deep kinship. Because, besides having immigrant dads (one Greek-Cypriot, … Continue reading Fantastic Friends: A Review of the “Wham!” Documentary
Supra-Surprises: A Review of Miss Supranational 2023
For the third time this decade, the Supranational pageants took place at the Strezelecki Park Amphitheater in Nowy Sacz, Małopowska, Poland. As usual, the female contest kicked off the two-day affair, with the male counterpart happening a day later. Production-wise, … Continue reading Supra-Surprises: A Review of Miss Supranational 2023
Miss Supranational 2023: The Final Wishlist
The Preliminary Competition for Miss Supranational 2023 has taken place. Inevitably, this causes a shake-up in fans’ and followers’ lists. In what’s easily the most competitive batch since the pageant’s inception, more than half of the roster have valid reasons … Continue reading Miss Supranational 2023: The Final Wishlist
Planet Chuckie 