Jessica Rules the Universe
subscribe RSS: Jessica Rules the Universe
JessicarulestheUniverse » How to have even more fun in this archipelago
Get a copy of Linamnam by Claude Tayag and Mary Ann Quioc. Linamnam, Php395 at National Bookstores Proceed to eat your way around the Philippines. This culinary travel guide is arranged by region for easy reference: now you know exactly where to go and what to order. What! You’ve never had the Crispy Itik and [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Red shoes and the politics of shopping
While broiling in the heat of the Melbourne summer I realized I was wearing the wrong shoes. My thick-soled tennis shoes might have been useful for chasing a down-the-line forehand by Nadal, except that there is a zero probability of me chasing a down-the-line forehand by Nadal. They were too heavy in the heat; at [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Great Expectations: The Tagalog translation so far (Raw and unedited)
Chapters 3 to 5 were translated by the members of our Dickens Translation Group oberstein, chigaune, Akyat-Bahay Gangster, PinoySpag, girlfriday0104, goneflyingakite, cdlaclos, giancarlo, jaime and kotsengkuba. Let’s give our other volunteers till Thursday to submit their pages. Then we can proceed with the next chapters (The new volunteers will also get their assignments). One page [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Save the crocodile, not the corrupt politician
Crocodile, meet shirt. Chris Banks, Melbourne Zoo’s director for international conservation partnerships, introduces a baby crocodile to David Celdran, Philippine endorser of the Lacoste Save Your Logo project. Unless you are cut off from civilization you have probably heard about biodiversity loss and its impact on the environment. The International Union for the Conservation of [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Living with Pusakal
Mat adopted us. “What breed of cat do you have?” I am frequently asked. The long answer is: Cats don’t need to be purebred. Pedigree is redundant in their case because they’re already a super-species, i.e. vicious killing machine in adorable package. The short answer, delivered proudly, is pusakal or pusang kalye. They came from [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Damien Hirst as a bedtime story
Put Me in the Zoo is a famous children’s book by Robert Lopshire, originally released in 1960 on Dr. Seuss’s publishing imprint. It tells the story of a spotted leopard who can change his spots and their colors, and can even juggle them. He fails to convince two children that he is special enough to [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Dickens’s people: Pip
Douglas Booth as Pip in the 2011 BBC adaptation of Great Expectations. Sometimes the hero of a Dicken’s novel is amongst its least colourful and dynamically interesting characters but Pip is a portrait of real psychological depth and complexity. His slow journey towards self-knowledge is a masterpiece of first person narration, the sound of someone [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Auntie Janey’s Old-Fashioned Agony Column # 43: “Separada in heat”
Dear Aunt Janey, I have recently separated from my husband when I found out that he had an affair with a married ex-girlfriend. The affair started shortly after we got married and ended when the lecherous ex-girlfriend had a miscarriage. It is unfortunate though that I only found out about it after the fact. I [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » They had us at the opening credits.
Fincher and Reznor (and Zeppelin)! What are the chances of Peter Jackson using Misty Mountain Hop or Battle of Evermore in The Hobbit? Our friend has a serious beef with the way Steven Zaillian’s screenplay has futzed with the source material. We’re delighted that the movie does not sound like the book. (Granted it may [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Happy tennis fan
My knees hurt. My legs are cramping up. It’s 11pm and I need a drink badly. The crowd is yelling in my ears. Do I have the strength left to finish this match? Could I possibly hold out for another set, then probably another one after that? And all I’m doing is sitting in the [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » The Weekly LitWit Challenge 8.4: Which is better, the book or the movie?
You picked the winner of the Weekly LitWit Challenge 8.3: Cruel Rejections. It’s VenusdeSupsup! Congratulations, Venus—it appears you voted for yourself more than twice; fortunately other readers agreed. You may claim your Carson McCullers hardcover any day starting Thursday, 2 February 2012, at the Customer Service counter of National Bookstore at Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Kawawa naman ang bobo
From the Coens’ Blood Simple, a smart movie about people doing stupid shit. That title goes out to our friend The Bone. What’s our one movie of the year this year? * * * * * There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » We walked out on an epic
What kind of a dolt would leave in the middle of the epic Djokovic-Nadal match, the longest men’s final in slam history? Raise hand. There’s only one flight to Manila on Monday and it leaves at 0030. We had to retrieve our bags from the hotel and get to the airport by 2230. So shortly [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Like Roger for Chocolate
We missed seeing Roger Federer at the Australian Open. Our Roger substitute: the Lindt Cafe. As you probably know, The Fed endorses Lindt’s Lindor Truffles (and Jura coffee makers, Rolex and whatnot). While walking up and down Collins Street in Melbourne yesterday, wondering what stores were open, we saw the Lindt sign. Chocolate! They also [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » What the Dickens? Ask Teddy Boy Locsin
Phiz illustration for Dombey and Son Q. What are your favorite Dickenses? A. I do not like A Tale of Two Cities because it is the one Dickens novel, aside from A Christmas Carol, that everyone’s read, and I resolved as a young boy to sneer at the popular taste, haughtily confining myself to Nicholas [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Close enough to get hit by an ace
Novak Djokovic Andy Murray We were rooting for Djokovic but then Murray started making amazing shots so we switched camps and then Djoker raised his game and he’s in Nadal’s head so we’d prefer that he be in the final and then Murray totally disproved our assessment that he lacks nerve and then Djoker revealed [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Oh great we missed it.
View from the 20th floor of the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne, 27 Jan 2012 Flew out of Manila at 9pm Thursday, landed in Oz at 7:50 am Friday (Melbourne is three hours ahead) to the news that The Fed lost to Nadal in 4 sets. Aaaaaaaaa we thought we were going to watch that semifinal, [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » This week at the movies: Actual choices!
Contraband, a remake of the Icelandic film Reykjavik-Rotterdam, directed by Baltasar Kormakur (who starred in the original) and starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Diego Luna, Kate Beckinsale. A smuggler turned legit businessman (Wahlberg, mwah) is forced to do another run after his idiot brother-in-law (the guy who played Banshee in X-Men: First Class) [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » Roger vs Rafa: Your predictions
Tennis Mike (het): The Fed in 4. Runaway first two sets, cliffhanger in the third, a rout in the fourth. Tennis Mike (gay): Mercedes Benz over Kia in straight sets. Whoever posts the most accurate prediction gets a copy of Bossypants by Tina Fey. (Thanks, National.) * * * * * Bonus question: What would [...] [Link]
JessicarulestheUniverse » The evolution of Yucch, plus your other 5 senses
Illustration by Srinivass. In India, the power of disgust to improve villagers’ hygiene is being tested. Center of Gravity, a Bangalore agency working with Valerie Curtis, a disgust researcher, created skits including this role, Laddu Lingam; he makes treats of mud and worms and never washes his hands. Another character, Supermom, shows the proper behavior. [...] [Link]