The Phantom of the Opera came to Manila, and I was lucky enough to catch its last performance. It was mind-blowing. I’m still basking in the glow of the sad love story told through the acting of the cast of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions. Its different kind of compassion you have for a man with a face half-burnt but half handsome, compared to the skin-on-the-bones monstrous genius written about in the book. Nonetheless, I’m grateful for the gift of a powerful story tonight. The set design and costumes were impressive. The candelabras could mechanically compress! I couldn’t help staring at the brilliant, ruby red curtains during intermission. And I couldn’t help smiling when the curtains opened to the masquerade scene (one of my favorites) where so many costumed people decorated a grand staircase. My favorite Phantom of the Opera songs are Music of the Night and Masquerade. Even though Masquerade sounds like a happy song, it’s actually sad. “Hide your face so the world will never find you.” For the movie version, another song that stuck …

Camote (Filipino for sweet potato) is an expression used to say that something’s a failure. It could be the Philippine equivalent for lemon. My most recent kitchen escapades were blech. (excluding one that would hardly count) (it involved making a pretty decent lemon miso butter, which is just mixing lemon juice to this) The recipes turned out to be sucky camotes. First was my attempt at making a too-easy-to-be-believably-good sweet potato ice cream. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been making late night trips to the convenience store for lots of chocolate. I’ve also been stuffing my face with alternating tastes of salty, sweet, salty, sweet. I wanted a sustainable sweet dessert to help me slim down. This ice cream recipe came from a fitness/nutrition/macho expert friend, who ate a lot of it to shed fat for a body building contest. I don’t think I did it right. Sorry, beautiful heap of camote. I mixed some Jell-O cheesecake flavored powder into steamed-then-mashed sweet potato, then placed the mixture in the freezer to achieve an …

It’s sad and embarrassing that while other countries have reproductive health bills, we’re taking more than a decade to pass one. And while we’re still battling for the RH bill to be passed, a cybercrime prevention act with oppressive and vague cyber-libel provisions is being processed more quickly. And to think that the cyber-libel provisions were stealthily placed in the bill (according to this recommendable article by Raissa Robles, it was still an amendment and was not reflected in any legislative document that was made publicly available) by a man who is criticized for plagiarizing three different speeches given on the Senate floor. And that this cyber martial law bill was signed into law by a man whose parents fought against oppressive dictatorship. I agree that the use of information on the internet should be regulated, especially when it comes to circumstances like child pornography and computer-related identity theft. I agree that people should be personally accountable for what they post on the internet. But cyber-libel with vague and scary provisions? Aren’t we allowed to …