Sort of a Book Review | On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
“I’m not telling you a story, so much as a shipwreck一the pieces floating, finally legible,” said protagonist Little Dog. And this couldn’t have been more true to describe Ocean Vuong’s first novel. Writing in such sublime, elegant prose, Vuong told the stories of thr…
Sort of a Book Review | Find Me by André Aciman
With the release and the success of the film screened a decade later, this moving 2007 novel by André Aciman about two young men falling in love in Northern Italy during the Summer of ‘83 found its way back to bookstores and to the hearts of new readers, mine includ…
Sort of a TV Review | Looking for Alaska (2019)
First of all, let me just say that thank God that the series was not entirely shot with the same hideous sepia color from the first teaser. I almost didn’t bother watching at all because of that. I’m glad I did watch though, because this adaptation of the John Gree…
Long Fiction | A Mother's Letter to Her Son on Surviving Manila
My dearest son, Tomorrow, you’re off to Manila and I’m terrified. I took care of you when you were inside of me, when you were born into this world, and when you grew up to be a handsome young man. I will continue to care for you until I die, that I know for sure. …
Sort of a Film Review | Parasite (2019)
Bong Joon-ho’s latest film Parasite (2019) was all the craze when it won the prestigious Palme d’Or award during this year’s Cannes Festival. The commercial release of said movie internationally only made it much more famed, and it should be. Many critics calls Para…
Sort of a Book Review | Arrival (Stories of Your Life and Others) by Ted Chiang
Confession: I purchased this book because I wanted to read the source story for the movie Arrival (2016). It was a great film that stars the inimitable Amy Adams. This collection is titled Stories of Your Life and Others which somehow put the short Story of Your Life…
Sort of a TV Review | Mga Batang Poz (2019)
Yesterday night, iWant released the TV series Mga Batang Poz , which was based on a same titled young adult novel by Segundo Matias Jr. Both the series and the book tell the life of four teenage boys before and after being diagnosed with HIV and how they found solace …
Sort of a Book Review | Mga Batang Poz by Segundo Matias Jr.
HIV remains a taboo in the Philippines. Often, this is conversed with hushed and/or seriously grim faces; sometimes, with disgust. Because of this, not everyone knows the truth about the infection. That is why Segundo Matias Jr.’s 2018 young adult novel Mga Batang Poz…
Long Fiction | The Visitor
The cemetery is almost empty when I go that afternoon. There are a couple of people standing in front of headstones; some families sitting beside one. Most look at my direction when they hear the crunching of pebbles underneath my feet and divert it back to their bel…
Long-Fiction | Mystery of Love
I don't know how it ends, but it began with the beating of drums and the cacophonous cheering of the crowd. Ian was in the middle of the court, holding the ball. He ran towards the right end, jumped mid-run, and shot it to the ring. The people on the bleachers all…
Long-Fiction | Through the Glass Window
i. I have been staring at Edward Hopper’s masterpiece Nighthawks for hours now. ii. The four characters are at their most banal and at their most enigmatic. However, I still found myself staring at it and trying to unearth every hidden symbol and meaning in this ma…
