Movie Review: Us Becomes 2019's First Bonafide Movie Awards Contender

 If you are still planning to watch the horror movie, 'Us', do not proceed to read because I might have spilled some beans which might spoil your viewing experience.

As soon as I learned that Jordan Peele's 'Us' was opening today, I immediately rescheduled my day's activities as I wanted to see what this Oscar-winning writer-producer-director had as follow-up to his intriguing debut horror movie, 'Get Out'.

I know Olivia Colman just won the Oscar's Best Actress a few weeks ago, but Lupita Nyong'o's performance here should start the conversation THIS early for award derby pundits - me included.

Her ability to use her assets - her eyes, her voice, her body, her vulnerability - she plays two people here - and it's the physicality of her performance which clearly distinguishes who is who.

And she's not the only one great in this movie.

I find this one even more terrifying than Get Out in terms of acting, story, execution, costume design, editing, cinematography - and Jordan Peele is one of those horror directors who can make audiences laugh - I mean laugh uneasily with his witty script.

That bit about 'Home Alone' truly spoke volumes of how two generations relate to a movie classic! "What's Home Alone?" said the wide-eyed daughter.

And "What is the song about?" "It's about drugs" "Nooooo, it's not about drugs, and DON'T do drugs!" got the audience laughing.

What a way to set-up a horror movie!

Anyhow, the action starts almost immediately and it continues to be relentless after that. The Handmaid's Tale's Elisabeth Moss is also here in a creepy all out freakish role! I love how she does it!

This movie will allow you multiple interpretations especially that there is a dramatic twist in the ending which the son's expression in the last frame truly catches!

Reviewers have said the movie resembles 'The Shining' the most - and it's easy to spot those - the twins, the drive around the mountains, the way they walk similar to Jack Nicholson's drag - yet this is not 'The Shining'.

It is a movie that can stand solely on its merits - and that it is compared to 'The Shining' shows how much it is appreciated by horror movie fans.

Art Exhibitions: Gold in Our Veins - Mark Lewis Lim Higgins

My camera can't do justice to these paintings done by Mark Lewis Lim Higgins which are currently on exhibition at the Ayala Museum.

I didn't know he was a painter, but it easy to glimpse how running a fashion school has influenced even his art.

The title of the exhibit is Gold in our Veins and I think it wants to dispel the fact that our countrymen were just a bunch of monkeys on a tree before the Spanish came and supposedly 'discovered' us.

We HAD a thriving culture before them white people came and enslaved us.

And you can see it in how skillfully we used gold in our jewelry, in our fashion, in our daily items.

It shows a very sophisticated group of Filipinos who traded well with many of our Asian neighbors like the Chinese and the Arabs and the other Malays.

Higgins' paintings though veer more towards the Chinese look because of the prolific trading, commerce and social contacts we had with them.

I like his work! It's like a costume designer deciding to paint portraits of pre-European Chinese who came to our shores.

The looks he created can easily be an award-winning portfolio for a movie like The Last Emperor. It's like meeting the court of a dowager Empress.

It's like each portrait can be a character in the scheming courts of royalty.

Book Review: Chris Kenry's 'Confessions of a Casanova

I feel lucky if I read one or two gay fiction books a year. It's just that there aren't too many sold here - and usually - the movie version comes first - before the book becomes popular (Call Me By Your Name and Love Simon).

I would rather prefer reading the book first then see what Hollywood has done about it.

Anyhow Chris Kenry's Confessions of a Casanova details very well how a goodlooking gay man would act - at least the sexually active type.

I like the way the main character has no issues about sex or making out or hooking up which I encounter so much nowadays among young gay millennials.

The story is set in Denver, Colorado (the second time I meet this setting this year - Cold Pursuit the movie - was the first one), but it flies abroad to Denmark - of all places - as one of the main characters is Danish.

The main character is definitely sluttier than me in my real life - and it's amazing he just gets boys and tosses them after getting bored with them.

I've seen that happen and as in real life and as in fiction - it leads to a sad existence - an emptiness I guess once the thrill of chasing the boy wears off.

In a way, the book is as masculine toxic as you can get. Yeah, gay people can have toxic masculinity as well.

Who wants a faggotty acting boyfriend anyway - everyone loves their bf to be butch - or move like a straight man - so definitely the irony of that is not lost on the author.

This is a book though of redemption and true love which the main character eventually finds after being whacked on the head by everyone else.

It's the classic -'why are you looking around for true love when he's been right in front of you all your life' - type of story.

For Now: No Water at Night due to Manila Water's Genius Forecasting Abilities

Water for brushing my teeth tonight. Thank you Manila Water for making this our new normal.

How could you not possibly have forecasted that your side of the water distribution channel would need more water every year?

It's unthinkable that an Ayala concessionaire can commit a major blunder like this. So who now can ordinary Filipino turn to if the bright employees of an Ayala company cannot even predict this?

And please, just tell us the whole story of what to expect in the next two months.

No water for two days next month? No water for one week? Is this going to happen every for the next ten years - till your lazy pompous asses find another water source?

Just come clean and STOP bullshitting us. You have just given privatization of utilities a big blackeye.

Book Review: Reading an Anita Shreve book is like visiting New England

One of the few remaining things in my bucket list - is to drive through New England, starting from Maine, passing through New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts - all the way down to Connecticut.

My brother though says it's a bad idea and I asked why - he said 'You're not white. They'll shoot you there."

Anyhow, my love affair with New England started a long long time ago - loving it's quaint towns and the marked changing of the seasons and it has continued to this day.

Anita Shreve is one writer who sets most of her novels in New England - and this one, Sea Glass - she puts in New Hampshire.

I think this is the fourth novel of hers that I've read - Weight of Water, Resistance, The Pilot's Wife - and once again, she writes women characters who are strong and have a mind of their own.

What I thought was just another love story turns into a bit of a political thriller as the lives of the main characters are turned upside down due to a catastrophic economic slowdown.

Vivian, is the character I love most here - because she resembles me. Tough, caring, intuitive and a realist. She also has money so it's good that she helps some of the characters in the book.

I also love McDermott and he reminds me of me sometimes - kinda slow in love, a little naive - but sure about his feelings.

The confluence of real life events - the mill strikes - and the violent clashes between the police and the striking workers - remind me of the days when the Philippines was still in economic doldrums.

The clash of the have's and the have-nots reach tragic consequences and the new bonds that form afterwards show you that life moves on even after so much death and strife.

Exquisite Pre-Spanish Era Gold Jewelry at the Ayala Museum

I attended a lecture on French Cultural Landmarks last weekend at the Ayala Museum and because of it, I was able to check out the latest exhibits that they have.

I particularly like the permanent exhibition on the Gold of our Ancestors - because it belies the perception that our forefathers were just simpletons wearing the bahag with no contributions to the human race.

In fact, the gold ornaments on display show the fact that as early as the 10th century to the 13th century - while Europe was engulfed in the Crusades and religious wars and the Dark Ages - our fellowmen were trading actively with the Chinese and the Malays and gold was one of the things we traded.

The collection has very exquisite jewelries - and many of them had intricate designs - showing a high level of craftsmanship among our people.

The clothes our ancestors wore complimented nicely with the gold finery they had in their collection. Just goes to show that even during that time - we already knew how to appreciate the finer things in life.

A Treasure Trove of Philippine Abstract Art at the Ayala Museum

There's a wealth of abstract art in the Ayala Museum which I never noticed before. They also have several Amorsolo's but picture taking was prohibited on those paintings.

Anyhow, I've always loved abstract art and to discover that we have a deep bench of talented artists from the last century showed that our local artists were developing their own styles apart from what the world was doing.

Arturo Luz's 'Juggler' and 'Black and White Still Life' are my favorites along with Ang Kiukok's 'Fish' and Hernando Ocampo's 'Abstract 153'.