Who’s writing the songs, who’s singing them

EVERYTIME Mr. Ryan Cayabyab opens his mouth, the country’s music buffs listen. They know that if they don’t, there’s no more reason left to respect each other. “Hey, we just snubbed Ryan Cayabyab. Now let’s snub Levi Celerio, too, and Jose Mari Chan, and Rey Valera.” And so on, and so forth, until the younger […]

Ahem… FAMAS :)

The 2008 FAMAS Awards was held last Saturday, November 29, 2008 at the Manila Hotel. Katas ng Saudigrabbed most of the awards, followed by A Love Story, Ataul for Rent and Resiklo Here are the official list of winners from the 56th FAMAS Awards!

Toyang from outside the wall

I was cleaning the toilet bowls of the San Carlos Seminary College in Mabolo, Cebu City in 1993 when I heard a song by the Eraserheads for the first time. The music came from a house just outside the seminary’s west wall, from a room where the owner’s daughter would sometimes treat us seminarians to […]

PARES

By going to the event, you are helping poor talented students get a two-month free art education. See you.

‘If you want to serve the age, betray it’

I first read this in Pambie’s blog. It’s an old piece. It’s a Commencement Address by Bono, co-founder of DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa), and lead singer of U2, at the University of Pennsylvania, May 17, 2004. Our new graduates – and you who have chosen to forget what education is for – might want […]

Festival madness

WHILE you’re reading this, presumably over froccino and choco chip cookies, school children elsewhere in the province are being made up in the image and likeness of mermaids and fairies and ogres in a bucolic dream of placing their barangay in the self-conscious map called tourism. We’re becoming an island of festivals and all you […]

What the quirky shopper wants

The mall claims to offer everything. But the quirky shopper soon feels cheated after finding nothing there to satisfy his eccentric needs. (In one’s eccentricity, one’s identity is defined. The more a person bares his idiosyncrasies, the more he stands in the crowd. He’s an eyesore, an irritant, but a character nevertheless. In contrast, people […]

Talking animals

check this site out at mananap nga mosulti.

Habal-habal espisyal

I’VE BEEN IN many death-defying rides my whole reckless life, but nothing comes close to the habal-habal experience. To those who don’t know what a habal-habal is, it’s a beastlike, three-legged, hairy creature that crawls on its belly, ready to devour snobby urbanites like you. So stop reading this column, finish your orange crème frappuccino […]

‘Soundtrack of a Nation’

Duha ka klase ang musikerong Pinoy karon – katong nagtabang pagpalambo sa lokal nga musika (bisaya, tagalog, ugbp) ug katong nanglawgaw lang ug nagduso niini paubos. Asa ka sa duha? Thanks to former Sun.Star colleague Aledel Gonzalez for emailing me about this article.