Don’t call them mascots. Puppeteers, especially in the Avatar-inspired Cirque du Soleil’s Toruk – The First Flight, are essential members of the cast. Characters in their own right, these puppets bring the stage to life […]
Author: Chonx Tibajia
Metal Rooster born on Easter Sunday under the Pink Moon
Meet the man who trains the Cirque du Soleil acrobats
Cirque du Soleil acrobats are unique human beings blessed with extraordinary flexibility, strength and discipline, but they all had to go through the training to get to perform with Cirque du Soleil. Perhaps the most […]
Hue Hotels & Resorts are changing the game — first in Palawan, then Boracay
They’re going to be all over Instagram soon.
AsiaPOP Comicon 2017 brings back Hall M, partners with Netflix
Universal Events and Entertainment, a subsidiary of Al Ahli Holding Group (AAHG) announced today that AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2017 will take place on August 25 to 27 at the SMX Convention Center. “Things are definitely […]
Spirited away: Whisky Society Manila gets together on Ardbeg Day
Graduating from beer guzzling to refined whisky drinking is tough. Like all alcohol, whisky is an acquired taste that — as with all alcohol — you’ll only get the hang of if you really, really […]
The obvious and beyond: A fanatic analysis of the Game of Thrones season 7 trailer
HBO has released the first full trailer for Game of Thrones’ 7th season and there’s so much to unpack. Teasing “a great war,” the trailer begins with Cersei’s voice speaking of enemies coming from everywhere. […]
Daniel Crispin of Cirque du Soleil ‘Toruk’ on the crazy, fantastic circus life
We interviewed this principal character in the Avatar-inspired “Toruk,” during their promotional visit in Manila.
‘Avatar’-themed Cirque du Soleil show ‘Toruk’ presents Asian premiere in Manila
Here’s what you need to know.
’13 Reasons Why’: Get ready to cry buckets and rethink your life
Name a teen movie that left you absolutely devastated. Mine was My Girl. Nothing is more tragic than pure-love-meets-sudden-death. It’s made me wary of heartwarming movies. You know, those that begin with conflict, transition into […]
I’m going to stop making fun of Coldplay now — Love, a Coldplay fan
These are confusing times. We live in a world where it’s perfectly okay — even cool — to obsess over the lives and fashion of Auto-Tuned pop stars. I mean, I myself am guilty of […]
Where you should put your TV, according to superstar designer Genevieve Gorder
Design TV show The Apartment: Rising Stars Edition‘s judge and design superstar Genevieve Gorder is looking for the next great designer. What makes a space work and what doesn’t? GIST: When you walk into a room, what […]
Summer beauty: 11 essentials for summer
The quest for freshness is major as summer finally hits Manila — with a 31-degree sucker punch that just can’t be denied. Lucky for us the beauty industry has adjusted, bringing in this year’s summer […]
Marvel’s Iron Fist: There’s just some shit you can’t punch
Claire Temple, played by Rosario Dawson across all of Netflix’s Marvel series (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage) is the Marvel-Netflix universe’s Morgan Freeman, a.k.a. the voice of reason, packaged in a strong, incorruptible body. She […]
8 books to fuel your feminist fire
Are there born-feminists? Perhaps only Emma Watson, who, much like her Harry Potter alter ego Hermione, seems to be too intelligent for her own good — since birth. I’ve paid very little attention to the […]
What’s up with Alt-J’s 00110011 01110111 0111 0111?
English band Alt-J is on the road to becoming the next Radiohead, if only for their level of cryptic-ness (and love binary code) alone. They recently teased a their new album with a video for […]
HBO creates its first original Mandarin series, ‘The Teenage Psychic’
HBO Asia’s first Chinese language original series, The Teenage Psychic (通靈少女), jointly developed with Taiwanese broadcaster, Public Television Service (PTS), and award-winning Singaporean production company, InFocus Asia (IFA), will premiere across Asia on Sunday, April 2, […]
INTERVIEW: Samantha Sotto tinkers with time in her new book, ‘Love and Gravity’
Author Samantha Sotto is out with a new novel, Love and Gravity, which she wrote in a span of two years at home, in Parañaque. Seven years ago, she published her first book, Before Ever […]
Igan D’Bayan’s ‘Dioramas of Doom’: They’re nothing like the friendly ones from your childhood
Wherever there is a box, we’d like to see what’s in it. It’s human nature to want to know what’s hidden, as much as it is to want to press a red button with a […]
Artist’s den: Maria Jeona Zoleta’s neon chaos
“This is where I paint,” she says. We walked two and a half levels up a spiral ramp built by her engineer father, which led to her rooftop studio. Fitting — the midday light it […]
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REVIEW: Emerald City is a poppy-fueled journey through a different kind of Oz
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS EMERALD CITY SPOILERS The comparisons with HBO’s Game of Thrones were aplenty. But come its release date, it became pretty clear that NBC’s Emerald City is nothing like anything on […]
Director James Gray talks about ‘The Lost City of Z’
There’s not much hype around this film adaptation of the non-fiction book of the same name published in 2009, considering there are a lot of famous people in it: Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, King […]
Artist pays homage to David Bowie with empowering comic strip
We miss David Bowie, so much so that we continue search for breadcrumbs in the product of his last creative birthing, “Black Star.” Artist Gavin Aung Than addresses — and appeases — our sadness with […]
Crash course: 13 things about Machine Gun Kelly, writer of ‘Bad Things’
In the lone season of Cameron Crowe and JJ Abram’s Roadies, Wes was easily my favorite character. Uncomplicated, no drama, just “guitars, people and coffee” — in that order. When that episode with Halsey came […]
Rico Blanco on his favorite concert, being friendzoned and embracing music for good
Rico Blanco says Rivermaya — one of the most successful and iconic bands to emerge from Manila — probably was annoying as hell back then (and some might think he’s right), but admit it or […]
For everyone who’s been tormented by Nightmare on Elm Street and loved it
“It’s like boot camp for the psyche. In real life, human beings are packaged in the flimsiest of packages, threatened by real and sometimes horrifying dangers, events like Columbine. But the narrative form puts these […]
We’re calling it: 2017 is the year of the soundtrack
The air inside the Stillwater tour bus is thick with resentment. The band is a mess, spirits are low, and everyone is wrapped in some kind of fleece blanket of isolation. Tiny Dancer plays on […]
Look away from ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ if you don’t like shows that make you smarter
“Look away, look away,” the show’s theme goes. “The Bad Beginning: Part One” starts off with Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton) in a dim tunnel, delivering an intro with a lighted match. The flame exhausts — […]
Ryan Phillippe: The last Nineties heartthrob standing
What did it take to be a heartthrob in the ‘90s? The qualifications were polarizing. On one hand, there’s Freddie Prinze Jr., the squeaky clean nice guy who will promise to be with you even […]
Baker & Cook: A cool new breakfast spot by the bay
Somewhere inside S Maison in Conrad Manila is a spot that opens as early as 7 a.m., serves the softest, most addictive breads, and is beside pretty much the only thing that reminds those of us who live […]
REVIEW: Anne Heche makes ‘Aftermath’ uncomfortable to watch — and 100 times better
Before I discovered Tilda Swinton, Anne Heche was my favorite onscreen weirdo. Robert Zemeckis’ Romancing the Stone is one of my favorite action-adventure, all-over-the-place love stories, so naturally, I liked Six Days, Seven Nights, where […]
6 new beauty products to start your 2017 right
New year, new regimen. It’s only right. That saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” only applies to those who have the EQ of Hillary Clinton on a presidential debate. For beauty junkies, there’s no […]
Everybody’s raving about Mighty Quinn’s Brontosaurus
Have you ever had a Brontosaurus before? Not the extinct prehistoric creature, no — I mean the dish. Or rather, the humongous slab of delicious, jiggly, fat-interspersed meat that you can only find at Mighty […]
REVIEW: Samsung Wireless Audio 360 R1 speaker
While many audiophile friends have introduced (and ruined) me to the wonders of high fidelity sound, when I’m alone at home watching The Crown on Netflix, I couldn’t care less about the sound quality of […]
REVIEW: And Then There Were None
While there is nothing funny about getting trapped in a mansion, on an island, by the sea (because islands tend to be by the sea), the premise of 2015 British TV mini-series And Then There Were […]
Benedict Cumberbatch on being an unhuggable superhero in Dr. Strange
From Marvel Studios comes Doctor Strange, the story of world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails […]
What ‘Younger’ teaches us about thinking young
If you’re ever looking for a more adult, less neon alternative to The Carrie Diaries — because you’re not a twenty-something Carrie trying to find her voice in New York, but a more mature, accomplished, battle-scarred […]
Pariwara: Get lost in Ely Buendia and the Itchyworms’ latest collaboration
Never meet your idols, they say. That’s always a recipe for disaster. And yet when Jazz Nicolas, Jugs Jugueta, Chino Singson and Kelvin Yu, known collectively as the Itchyworms, got the chance to work with theirs, […]
Steady lang: Basti Artadi is chill AF
When you are about to meet a rock star, certain thoughts circle your brain: Is he going to be mean? Will he be mentally present? Will he be wearing black — or eyeliner? Is this going […]
The 30 stages of falling in love with vinyl
The love-hate relationship between vinyl and collectors is full of ups, downs and a whole lotta IDGAFs in between — and it starts way before you get your first record. As a child: Buys first […]
Why I haven’t written my novel — yet
Some time between getting kicked out of Accounting class and serendipitously finding a flyer for the school paper land on my lap, I decided I was going to be a writer. I dislike the predictable word voracious, […]
