Archive - Arts & Culture

By JOHN PAUL ECARMA MAUNES CEBU CITY— It is a typical morning rush in a community public school in Barangay Bulacao, Pardo in Cebu City. Students lugging heavy schoolbags head towards their classrooms in a hurry, some with parents in tow. In one particular classroom, the scene is even more chaotic: 15 students, aged 14

[metaslider id=30618] FILIPINOS braved the crowds and the rain to visit the graves of deceased loved ones over the weekend. By night, cemeteries still buzzed with life. It was a common sight to see children during the day and on to the night scraping wax off candlesticks and the pavement. The collected wax gets sold by

  By NORMAN SISON WOULD you get married at a centuries-old cemetery? That may sound macabre, but couples who get hitched at Paco Park in Manila do just that. Weddings are about living happily ever after till death do they part. So, the usual venues are beaches, gardens, poolsides and other romantic places. After all,

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN “IT takes a lot of diligence and insight from both the conductor and the choristers. It all boils down to finding that meaning in the material and to be able to transfer it through sound that makes a winning performance, whether in a competition or a concert setting.” Thus said

  By NORMAN SISON IT was during a vacation in New Zealand when Lydia Paredes noticed a concave indentation on her left breast. After procrastinating for months, she finally saw a doctor. The diagnosis: invasive ductal carcinoma — a malignant tumor. It was at stage 1, very survivable, but the fact that it was cancer

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN THE Atchison family in London is a classic case of devoted performing artists managing between engagements and parenting. Six times a week, Gia Macuja Atchison is singing the role of the former first lady’s maid, Estrella Cumpas, in the rock musicale, “Here Lies Love” at the National Theater while her

    By HAZEL P. VILLA ILOILO City – The Philippines has a big market for books, with 88 percent of Filipino adults reading non-school books. Still, the Philippine book industry continues to lag behind its Asian neighbors and cannot fully serve the needs of the local market, according to the 2014 State of the

  By WINNIE VELASQUEZ AMID the aggravations that make living in Manila a daily test of human endurance, there is a group of kindred spirits on Facebook crusading to bring back memories of happier times and provide netizens a welcome respite from all the bad news. Called the Music Reminiscence Soapbox (MRS), it was established

    By NORMAN SISON For tourists traveling to the southern Philippine island of Leyte, a must-visit site for photos — and selfies, of course — is MacArthur Landing Memorial Park in the town of Palo, a short drive away from Tacloban City. The monument marks the spot where American general Douglas MacArthur landed with

  By PABLO  A. TARIMAN IT is probably a good idea to mix popular grand pas with new works. Indeed, contemporary works need focus not just from the dancers but from the audiences as well. If the subject dwells on the philosophical and the existential, the more you need more receptive mindset. You trust your

By PABLO A. TARIMAN FOR a change, actor John Lloyd Cruz departs from his ‘kilig’ movies to offer something different for Filipino moviegoers. He figures in a new Chito Roño film called “The Trial” and it is about a young man with mental disability  who finds himself in trouble in a world dominated by so-called

  By PABLO A. TARIMAN AS the celebrated EDSA ‘huli-dap’ and the lifestyle check for police officers continue to hug the headlines, here comes an action film with characters consisting of heist victims and police officers out to re-enact a tale straight out of the country’s slow justice system. Michael Tuviera’s “The Janitor” — which