Archive - Arts & Culture

Misty, the 2018 drama that marked the comeback of lead actress Kim Nam Joo, is a polished Korean gem that has the viewer hanging by a thread, unsure of the real murderer even after the 14th out of 16th episode is aired.

He plays to humongous, sold-out theaters and arenas in mainland US and Hawaii—this bald-headed Fil-Am stand-up comedian who answers to the name of Jo Koy, a pet name for Josep (pronounced with a Filipino accent and without the “ph” sound by his mother). His specials, available for streaming in Netflix, must come with the warning: Buckle your seatbelts and prepare for an hour of laughing out loud until tears are streaming down your eyes.

Luisa Aguilar Igloria, formerly of Baguio City, has just been named Poet Laureate of Virginia. In May this year, she was informed by Henry Hart, immediate past Poet Laureate of Virginia and member of the board of the Poetry Society of Virginia, that her nomination for Poet Laureate had moved forward along with two other poets to the short list.

Nobody, not even the late great Michael Jackson, has done what Barbra Streisand has: bring home the Oscar, the Grammy, the Emmy and other major awards and lasting in the public consciousness for over five decades. Hollywood may have snubbed her directorial feat (not to mention her starring role) in Yentl, but it sat up and took sharp notice when she debuted in the musical biography of comedienne Fanny Brice, Funny Girl.

Is there anything special to life, especially after one has reached the autumn and winter years? Take it from the 90-year old grandmother in the Korean drama Dear My Friends who tells her writer granddaughter, “There’s nothing special to life.”

Exactly a year after he took over as the new mayor of Pasig City, Vico Sotto made a comprehensive report on his first 365 days in office.

During the lockdown that has been a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, another monster reared its head. Incidences of rape and domestic violence went up during this period as women and girls were trapped in the home with their abusers.

Batman has his Batcave and the Avengers have the Stark Tower. Filipino artists are no different.

Singapore-based conductor Darrell Ang -- who took the Grand Prize, the Audience Prize and the Orchestra Prize at the 50th Besancon International Young Conductors’ Competition -- has lost more than 16 international engagements due to corona virus.

You can’t believe how Richard Gomez’s life looks like now.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines through its Vice-President and Artistic Director Chris Millado announced Thursday via Zoom teleconference all live concerts, ballet presentations, theater seasons and other previously planned shows will have to be cancelled this year.

The 12-year old Filipino cello prodigy Damodar das Castillo is also locked down in Salzburg, Austria where he is a scholar in Mozarteum University for almost three years now.

With the world at stand still and the main thoroughfares of the world’s greatest cities silenced by corona virus, tenor Andrea Bocelli’s lone Easter Sunday performance in Milan provided the perfect time and venue to savor sacred music.

She calls herself “a mountain girl” who never enjoyed going to the beach even as a child. What sets her apart from family and friends is her being a horsewoman, the friend of Baguio’s pony boys and the sole Filipino competitor in this year’s grueling, 1,000-km., 7-10-day Mongol Derby.

Since the enhanced community quarantine and lockdown cancelled live classical music concerts, music aficionado Richard Sy-Facunda has been uploading music videos on Facebook and YouTube every morning. He called this “the product of the blood, sweat and tears by these musical artists.”

Like it or not, CLOY has given TV viewers a better alternative to the horrific midnight appearances of the president now visibly wane, tired and out of touch.

Iloilo City is also feeling the stress of corona virus.But it is coping beautifully with synchronized initiatives from both the public and private sectors.

Beneath the silence of the streets devoid of moving vehicles, the feeling of anxiety, fear and sadness is deeply palpable. Photos by Luis Liwanag.

Carmencita Sipin Aspiras has been asked many times if she was willing to record her piano playing. Her answer has always been a firm no.

I thought I’d never live to see deserted streets and empty church and empty schools before holy week.

Artists and cultural workers in the Philippines brace for difficult times as the Cultural Center of the Philippines closed, three major orchestras on forced vacation and so did several theater companies and independent promoters of classical music.

Retired University of the Philippines professor Victoria Rico Costina is one of the most underrated literary writers of Baguio. A bit receding where her gifts are concerned, Costina returns to the scene with a second book, And God Also Made a Cat: 90 Devotions for Cat People, which is a fine partner to her first, the out-of-print Those Who Love Cats.

The detritus of human existence takes on a creative twist in an exhibit entitled Cue from Life Itself: Filipino Artists Transform the Everyday. It runs until May 7, 2020 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

Sculptor Julie Lluch apologized for her “awful habit of being preachy.” Nevertheless, her latest solo show “Irresistible Grace: In the Regime of the Plague” at Galerie Stephanie at Art Fair Philippines, The Link, Ayala Center, Makati also has a powerful political content, a protest in fact aimed at the face of strongman Rodrigo Duterte.