WARNING: This review will get personal. Back in 2013, when I was new-ish at my previous (and first-ever) job at GMA News Online, I once spent an entire day reading Manix Abrera's News Hardcore from the first strip to the latest. Concealing my laughter became a struggle. News Hardcore at first followed the adventures of a newbie journo… Continue reading Book Review: ‘News Hardcore: Hukbong Sandatahan ng Kahaggardan’ by Manix Abrera
Tag: reviews
Movie Review: ‘Aladdin’
Aladdin is special to me for being the very first Disney movie I ever watched, and perhaps the only one I--according to my parents--would cry at the end of, as I apparently wanted them to rewind the VHS tape and play it again. I couldn't tell you what I saw in it over 20 years… Continue reading Movie Review: ‘Aladdin’
Book Review: ‘Sourdough and Other Stories’ by Angela Slatter
Readers can dive into a short story collection at any point in the book--unlike with novels, which are usually read from cover to cover. Not so with Angela Slatter's Sourdough and Other Stories. You could read the 16 gems in this book in any order, but to get the full effect of her nesting doll-like structure,… Continue reading Book Review: ‘Sourdough and Other Stories’ by Angela Slatter
Book Review: ‘How the World Became Quiet’ by Rachel Swirsky
Doesn't that wonderful title just give you a sense of quiet devastation? But I'll get back to that in a bit. When reading an author's work for the first time, I usually prefer getting my hands on a short story collection of theirs, if they have any. That way, I'll have the option of looking… Continue reading Book Review: ‘How the World Became Quiet’ by Rachel Swirsky
Book Review: ‘Storyteller’ by Kate Wilhelm
I never thought I'd get to read Kate Wilhelm's Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Workshop for reasons other than a passive interest in how the Clarion Workshops came to be. But now that I actually stand a damn good fighting chance at going to Clarion San Diego, Storyteller immediately rose to the top… Continue reading Book Review: ‘Storyteller’ by Kate Wilhelm
Movie Review: ’47 Ronin’
You see that poster? Do not let that poster fool you. In no way do that tattooed guy or the iron-clad samurai have the big parts the poster implies. This is the tale of the 47 ronin...or the 46 ronin and the half-Japanese demon played by Keanu Reeves, who seek revenge for their slain master.… Continue reading Movie Review: ’47 Ronin’
Book Review: ‘Ventriloquism’ by Catherynne M. Valente
Reading Catherynne M. Valente's writing is both like taking in a slow breath and being unable to do so. Her words spiral upward, outward, then close in on you, and you will grow dizzy simply trying to keep up with the barrage of living, breathing, sensual ideas. At least, that's how her first-ever collection of… Continue reading Book Review: ‘Ventriloquism’ by Catherynne M. Valente
Movie Review: ‘The LEGO Movie’
Everything is awesome--this movie, especially. I was feeling purely cynical toward it, at first. It seemed like The LEGO Movie was going to be a promotional movie for an amazing toy I grew up with that didn't need a movie to boost its sales at all. I was thinking that the plot was bound to be… Continue reading Movie Review: ‘The LEGO Movie’
Movie Review: ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’
Spoilers and Tolkien geekery abound. I didn't exactly fall in love with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. As the first of a trilogy-that-should-not-have-been, it was so obviously padded by both material from the appendices and scenes completely made up by Jackson and the screenwriters. The music was great, the acting was more than many Hollywood movies could… Continue reading Movie Review: ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’
Movie Review: ‘Frozen’
Spoilers abound. I remember back in 2011, my college friends and I (all of us Fine Arts students) were already expressing not-so-high hopes for Disney's Frozen. Many of our complaints centered on it possibly being a bastardization of yet another fairy tale (Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," about a little girl named Gerda rescuing her… Continue reading Movie Review: ‘Frozen’
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