The Carver's House

Long live the memory of Corazon Aquino. It's too bad that she did not stay with us long enough to see the Philippines reach the height of greatness. Over 20 years after EDSA, we are still a damaged society. Let her story, that of a simple housewife who decided to bear the weight of a nation, remind as all that true change starts with the individual. Carlo J. Caparas ought to say, "Thanks, but no thanks." Caparas can be credited with significant contributions to Philippine pop culture, but not the visual arts, and the artistic merits of his film work are highly debatable. If any comics personality should be given the title National Artist, it should be those who have established the trademark "Filipino komiks art style," a style which eventually gave these thespians recognition abroad. For film, we have a lot to choose from--Dolphy, Gloria Romero, Mike de Leon, etc. Another person who ought to say, "Thanks, but no thanks," would be Lani Mercado, who was...

If there was one song that I believe had sealed Madonna's then already indelible place in pop music, that would be Vogue . Released in 1990 as the carrier single of her I'm Breathless album, Vogue was one of those dynamite chart-toppers destined to be a classic. According to Wikipedia, Vogue is Madonna's most successful single of her career prior to the advent of digital distribution. When the song was featured in the film The Devil Wears Prada , it still sounded very "now" despite the fact that it came out 18 years ago. Here's one of the Madonna's first public performances of the song, from the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards. I find the performance simply brilliant, even though Madonna lipsynchs the entire time. Just recently, Rihanna performed the song during the Fashion Rocks special. I love the arrangement--very Rihanna--but the last quarter of the song needed more oomph. The performance could have been a little more hard-edged, but maybe I'm biased...