That Hiroshima, My Love

FLASHBACKS AND FORGETTING. Skin, ash, hair and balding. A lost love, a lingering pain, a deepening desire, disclosed over a 36-hour conversation between Japanese architect lui and French film actress elle.

Him and her. And Hiroshima. C'est l'amour!

Hiroshima Mon Amour, 1959. Directed by Alain Resnais, screenplay by Marguerite Duras.

That Fall Fantastic

EQUESTRIAN MEETS UTILITARIAN MEETS HANS FEURER. Bathed in the glow of absolute perfection, Marlena Szoka and Ieva Laguna trot about the rues of The City of Light, as caught on camera by the Swiss miss-ter.

And as it is the last day of the long weekend today, I will spare you my ramblings as I go off to trot about the City of Makati.

Over here, no designer capes or lace-up boots required.

Two For The Rue photographs by Hans Feurer for T Magazine Fall 2010, tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com Images from mode.newslicious.net

That August 27 Astronomy

TALK OF TWO MOONS TO SUPPOSEDLY GRACE THE SKIES TONIGHT is unfortunately nothing but a hoax. One that has been circulating every year for the past seven years.

The rumor has been that Mars is to appear to us at its most spectacular on August 27, being in a position closest to Earth and thus looking as large and as wide as the moon.

The truth however is that even at its closest ever in 2003, Mars can only appear to us as no bigger than a bright, sparkling red star.

Urban legend aside, it's hard not to get excited over astronomical occurrences. Eclipses, shooting stars, falling stars, planets; there is something eternally fascinating about the heavens. A fascination that through man's long history, we have gladly not outgrown.

Look out and wish on a star tonight!

Various astronomical images from en.wikipedia.org commons.wikimedia.org silver-rockets.com www.departments.bucknell.edu scienceblogs.com www.prints-4-all.com www.old-print.com www.ccsd.edu

That Favorite New Foodie

AS IF THE NATURALLY SCRUMPTIOUS FOOD SHOTS aren't enough, Paris-based pastry chef David Lebovitz's sweet life, as documented in his food blog, never fails to make me say "I want that!" practically every single day.

The blog is a great guide to food and food places, with a great big plus being a great guide to dining and touring in Paris.

Oh, Paris.

Our plans feel like a bit of a mess right now with visa application procedures getting in the way. I don't get to go on my interview until ten days before my flight, and by protocol, my visa -if approved- is released ten days after the interview, falling on the actual date of my scheduled departure.

Not sure how it -with all the booking and purchasing and planning and packing- will work out. I've been stressing about it. But well, what can I do but wait right?

And if it all falls apart, c'est la vie I guess. Better yet, c'est la visa. Death.

Images by David Lebovitz, www.davidlebovitz.com

That Ink Appeal

QUIET, CAREFREE AND INTROSPECTIVE. Tessar Lo depicts with ink and watercolor, the kind of break I hope to have tonight amidst this very busy week.

Was just chatting to a co-worker about how I think the concept of rest does not really exist anymore. At least not in this day and age.

We sleep, we read, we watch DVD's, go on Facebook, go on Twitter, go to dinner with friends. We shop, we drink, we play, we talk, we worry, we plan, we think. But we never just rest.

How do you -just- rest anyway?

Two Thousand Nice illustration by Tessar Lo, www.tessarlo.com

That Nostalgia

IT HAD NOT OCCURRED TO ME, until we drove by a banner announcing it the other day, that August is Buwan ng Wika; a month we celebrated every year for fourteen years back at school with big elaborate festivities that make you think it would stay as memorable to students even after graduation.

Oops, guess not.

So before the month ends, I thought I'd post something nationalistic in theme somehow, as I obviously take most of my inspiration from cultures outside of my own.

Kitschy, nostalgic and quite comical, Simon Santos showcases a brimming well of vintage Pinoy film posters and news clippings on his Video 48 site. They take me back to warm weekday afternoons off school, to my lola sitting by the fan and in front of the TV, to back-to-back matinee screenings of Filipino classics before the 5:00 news.

Thanks Simon for the images!

Video 48 blog by Simon Santos, video48.blogspot.com