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When I went back to Cagayan de Oro last month, I failed to take pictures (although some kind soul from the Development Communication program of Xavier University's College of Agriculture did take some photos of the discussion with DevComm majors I took part in, including the first one below). In October 2006, however, when I spent considerably more time in … [Link]
Newsstand » Column: On peace, we are all experts
Published on August 19, 2008Last week, I found myself in Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, attending a thrilling forum on population and development hosted under the auspices of Archbishop Antonio Ledesma. Afterwards, I met with a group of earnest Development Communication majors, to talk shop about journalism. While waiting for the students to arrive from another building, I … [Link]
Newsstand » Column: Sex in Beijing
Published on August 12, 2008It was already spring, but at night the wind was sharp, even wintry. Leaving the Foreign Languages bookstore after finding all three volumes of “Three Kingdoms” (I had been looking for this classic Chinese novel for a long time), I started to cross Wangfujing street, all bundled up in my suddenly inadequate suit. A lovely lady … [Link]
Newsstand » Another reading of Solzhenitsyn
Last month, I marked the passage of a writer for the ages by appropriating a line from one of his novels and applying it to the ancestral domain controversy in Mindanao. But I was working in the office with a quote from one of the many wire stories on the death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. When I got home, I looked … [Link]
Newsstand » Stunning
Caught much of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony last night. Except for a couple of "scenes" that did not work as well as the others (notably the Peking Opera episode), and one reminder of China's totalitarian past (the goose-stepping soldiers who hoisted the flag), the ceremony was a stunning spectacular. I remembered my friends in China, and though they must … [Link]
Newsstand » Column: A secret government
To be published August 5, 2008Even in some of the world's best blogs, the comment threads can sometimes get snagged in the bramble of insult. It was therefore with a sense of relief, thickening into joy, that after venturing into “Humanae Vitae” territory two weeks ago I received feedback that was, and continues to be, carefully thought-out and deeply reasoned.Many … [Link]
Newsstand » Dear Nick (and other unconscionably late replies)
Nick, I'm glad we share the same regard for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I wish I could remember who it was who led me to Plato's new Academy. (I tried commenting on your blog, you know, a few times, but each time I get a funny message, telling me to quit fooling around and go on my merry way.) … [Link]
Newsstand » The Trojan horse
I'm not sure if I read my friend Manolo Quezon correctly. He seemed to be more categorical in his appearance Monday night on the Korina show; his thoughts as written up are expectedly more nuanced. But if my Inquirer colleague is saying that President Arroyo's eighth State of the Nation Address sent a coded message to her congressional allies to … [Link]
Newsstand » Column: Lords temporal
Published on July 29, 2008I thought the President looked unusually haggard yesterday, at least at the start of her speech. It wasn’t until her mention of the jeepney driver whose daily income rose from P200 to P500 because of a crackdown on “kotong” (a protection money racket) that she started to beam. It was a good choice, even an inspired … [Link]
Newsstand » Qantas video
I can't find it now, but I believe Tarra Quismundo's story was the first to break the Qantas emergency landing, at least in the Philippines. (I think the Melbourne Herald Sun was the first to break it, worldwide. Take a look at this listing of stories, which indicate the time.) Tarra's story has since been incorporated into this Agence France … [Link]
Newsstand » Column: Worrying "Humanae Vitae"
To be published July 22, 2008. Here's hoping I won't get hit by lightning, here in Zamboanga City! The most vexing papal encyclical of modern times marks its 40thanniversary on Friday. Recent events have certainly conspired to spirit“Humanae Vitae” back into the news. Only the other week, Ozamiz ArchbishopJesus Dosado issued a pastoral letter asking the priests in hisarchdiocese to … [Link]
Newsstand » What was the country's population at the time the Noli was published?
Just under 6 million, according to a census taken in 1887. (To be sure, the figure excluded non-Christians, an unfortunate head-counting practice that lasted until the end of the 19th century.)The information comes from a charming table available on the eminently useful National Statistical Coordination Board website, which tracks the population of the Philippines from the "census years 1799 to … [Link]
Newsstand » Not a red Haring
Quite a number of readers have raised the question: Who is this "great theologian Bernard Haring" you mentioned in passing in last Tuesday's column? One answer is in this tribute written by another theologian who got in trouble with the Vatican, Charles Curran. His remarks first came out in the National Catholic Reporter. Excerpts: Haring's moral theology was based on … [Link]
Newsstand » Batman and the Joker
I saw the movie Monday night, at the biggest press screening I've ever been to.Two-thirds of Batman: The Dark Knight make for a terrific movie. Then it repeats itself. The ending is unnecessarily didactic: too many speeches, in the age of Obama. The criminal genius of the Joker is unexplained, a given (except for his first heist), while Batman's dark … [Link]
Newsstand » Column: "Are you a Catholic writer?"
Published on July 15, 2008Some readers had a ready question after they read last week’s criticism of the GMA network’s “proud to be Kapuso” tagline. What about “Team Kapamilya”?, they asked.I haven’t seen many of ABS-CBN’s new in-house plugs, but I think I do get the drift. They illustrate the difference between identification and promotion. Journalists who identify themselves as … [Link]
Newsstand » More popular than Jesus?
He was, he said, misunderstood. A 39-year-old interview with John Lennon, broadcast for the first time ever only this weekend, on BBC Radio, tries to contextualize his infamous quip that the Beatles had become "more popular than Jesus." "It's just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ," he says. "Now I … [Link]
Newsstand » Tasting freedom
I've been doing a lot of research on the use of audio slide shows, loitering in the digital corridors, so to speak, of the Guardian and the New York Times, among other multimedia laboratories. I like the new format's many possibilities, but I do agree with conventional wisdom: Any show longer than two minutes becomes difficult to follow, falls down … [Link]
Newsstand » The color of occupation
If you like the novels of Alan Furst, or just find the existential allure of Paris under the Occupation hard to resist, you may find yourself dawdling over Richard Brody's latest blog post. He writes about a controversial exhibit featuring 270 color photographs of wartime Paris (by Andre Zucca), apparently the only color photographs from that time. I find the … [Link]
Newsstand » Notes on torture
Three weeks ago, I joined a panel discussion on torture, in a daylong forum organized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. It was really an opportunity for me to listen and learn (my co-panelists, for example, were Carol Arguillas of Mindanews, Caloy Conde of the New York Times/International Herald Tribune, and Ed Lingao of ABC News). My … [Link]
Newsstand » "Does Iran's state media use Photoshop?"
That is the question raised by The Lede, the New York Times media blog. Apparently, the photo which showed four Iranian missiles being launched the other day (a calculated counter-move to Israel's war games last month) had been doctored. [Link]
