Oct 23 weekend

Clint Holton P. Potestas talks to a certified fashionista about fashion and the weather over a plateful of Cebu’s famous lechon.

[email protected], October 23, 2010

Redmovies

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Beauty and the best

cover story

CHERRY ANN LIM Managing Editor, Special Pages and FeaturesJIGS ARQUIZA Editor CLINT HOLTON P. POTESTAS Writer

Sun.Star Weekend | October 23, 2010C2

RALPH RHODDEN C. CAVERO Graphic Designer

“Is there a storm?” she asked, gazing up at the gloomy sky through the clear glass

wall of the lounge.The rain poured hard the entire morning, and

yet, she headed straight to her 6:30 a.m. television appearance on a local channel in Nivel Hills before she dropped by at a radio station in Banilad, then off to another outlet along Gen. Maxilom Avenue. Her lunch? A platter full of Cebu’s lechon.

Quite a schedule for her second day in Cebu, but 38-year-old Pauline Suaco-Juan made it appear as if she were just in flip-flops and not in a four-inch wedge shoes, which she actually wore for this cover shoot and interview.

She arrived in a green Victorian blouse paired with a black high-waist skirt she described as “70s “sekretarya” look.”

“I am supposed to pair this with shorts, but I packed the wrong piece – good thing it still went well with the blouse, very 70s “sekretarya” look,” she laughed.

When talking about running around in sky-high shoes, she’s the right gal to ask. As the editor-in-chief of Preview for 10 years, she has learned the art of dealing with stress and tight schedules poised in a glamorous fighting stance.

A day before the event, Pauline herself made the announcement, through different media outlets, that Preview, the country’s premiere fashion magazine, had chosen to celebrate its 15th anniversary in Cebu. The publication hosted the party at the Penthouse last Saturday, Oct. 16. The fabulous party gathered a crowd composed of the likes of television hotshots Bianca Gonzales, Raymond Gutierrez, and Tim Yap.

“During Ondoy (the country’s worst tropical storm in 2009), I was here in Cebu. When I left Manila, I heard there was a storm coming,” she went on, making herself comfortable on a couch at the lobby lounge of Radisson Blu hotel. “Are you affected here? I hope not.”

She was referring to the storm this week that has already left the country’s area of responsibility.

I replied, telling her that Cebu is not directly affected when there’s a storm brewing in the capital city, although scattered rain showers might sporadically occur. But she further remarked, “It’s always the rain. I have been to different clubs here, but I have not been to the beautiful beaches that my friends are referring to. I’d make time soon – but I made sure I had a bite of Cebu’s tasty lechon at lunch.”

“The beauty editorial for this month was supposed to feature Cebu’s landmarks as background, but the shoot was rescheduled late

Beauty and the

best

C3Sun.Star Weekend | October 23, 2010

feature

“The photos that were submitted were all about the real Cebu, what you can find and see in Cebu.” That was how Icky Salazar, manager of of Cebu Photo Works, described the entries from 57 photographers submitted to the recently concluded “RCTV 7th Anniversary Photo Competition Matahum Nga Cebu.”

We caught up with Salazar and the winners at R.O.X. in Ayala Mall, one of the contest sponsors. He explained that the photo competition was designed to highlight the various shows on the Cebu-based cable channel. “What sets it apart is that aside from it being the 7th anniversary of RCTV, all the photo categories are geared behind their shows. We have seven categories... and each category is a show that’s being produced on RCTV. The themes we came up with have to fit the shows,” Salazar said. The contest was open to all, from professionals to amateurs.

Henry Yu Jr. won the Grand Prize with his touching photograph of a 96-year old woman who makes one-

peso rags for a living. “She’s really by herself... no family. She’s married but her husband left 40-45 years ago... her kids wanted to take her to the province but she didn’t want to, so ‘bahala ka na’... no communication between her and her kids,” Yu said, remembering his subject’s hardship and her determination to survive on her own. Yu had been taking photographs for less than a year when he won in the “Real People” category.

Second place went to Dexter R. Bongo, a seasoned photographer, whose long-exposure shot of the

Vision Theater on Colon Street

evoked images of a slower-

paced and perhaps more innocent city. The

monochrome, sepia-colored photograph

was actually enhanced by

blemishes, caused by “dirt

on the sensor,”

explained Bongo. “Basically this was an accidental shoot,” he said since he intended to shoot other old buildings when he saw the old theater. His photo won in the “Syodad sa Sugbu” category which features old buildings of Cebu still standing.

Third place winner Jonolyn Luab’s “Lights,” a panoramic Cebu waterfront shot”was inspired when I was in Hong Kong,” he explained, referring to the spectacular view of that city from the Avenue of the Stars. He wanted something different, however: “In most of the city scape shots of Cebu done by most photographers, the background is mostly black... I wanted to get the sky.” Luab took the shot from Mactan Island, “almost half my body was submerged.” Luab won in the “Scenic Cebu: Real Finds” category.

Salazar noted that the photos had to be shot within a specific time frame: between August 15 and September 22, 2010. “RCTV wanted the participation and involvement of the photographers,” Salazar said. With almost 600 photos submitted, the final judging took place on September 25 and the awards given on October 2. (Manny Amador)

Capturing the Spirit of Cebu in Pictures

that day because of the rain. So when you see it in the magazine, you’d notice that the background is blurry,” she explained the magazine’s October issue that featured actor Kim Chiu, a Cebuana no less, on the cover.

“Manila has become so predictable. We want to celebrate our anniversary in Cebu because we believe that Cebu has so many talented fashion designers,” she said. One surprise that the Cebuanos should look forward to is the first-ever fashion editorial on Cary Santiago and Furne One.

Beyond the visual element of the magazine, it reflects characteristics of a good editor: resiliency to carry on despite unexpected situations, and to adjust to the needs of the readers.

Under her editorship, the magazine has expanded online by launching stylebible.ph where fashion fans can get a dose of daily style and updates from their favorite designers. On the other hand, Behind the Bylines is a documentary program on Starworld, following a day in a life of a Preview editor.

“It is important to know what you want to achieve, but you should also keep an open mind for uncontrollable circumstances without losing the main gist of the story,” said Pauline. “Plus, I am working with a team who I believe are the best and the most creative in the industry – that makes my job so easy.”

“I don’t go out as much as before, but they (Preview’s editors and staff) are my eyes and ears,” she continued.

The night after, Pauline was already at the anniversary bash. I spotted her on a couch next to the DJ booth with fellow editors.

“Pauline, no rain,” I reminded her.“Oh, thank God - I know,” she rolled her

eyes and immediately changed the subject, sounding more excited. “I don’t know how it would fit on the plane, but I ordered one whole lechon that I’m sending to my family in Manila. I have not gotten enough of it yet.”

PHOTOS:DAN DOUGLAS ONG (COVER), BJ PASCUAL, PREVIEW MAGAZINE ( PREVIOUS PAGE), YAYAY DE CASTRO, STYLEBIBLE.PH (THIS PAGE)LOCALE:RADISSON BLU HOTEL, NORTH RECLAMATION AREA

movies

Sun.Star Weekend | October 23, 2010C4

IMAGES FROM THE INTERNET

Critics often gripe about the blink-and-you’ve-missed-it frenzy of

action sequences in today’s Hollywood thrillers.

The spy caper “Red” admirably rejects the trend, slowing things down to a digestible pace appropriate for vintage-bordering-on-geriatric heroes Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren.

Yet despite the impressive cast, which includes Mary-Louise Parker, Richard Dreyfuss and Ernest Borgnine, this latest adaptation of a hip graphic novel fails to fill in the spaces between the action with anything terribly interesting.

Director Robert Schwentke (“Flightplan,” ‘’The Time Traveler’s Wife”) aims for a mix of action and comedy but never quite delivers on either.

The action is OK, though nothing you haven’t seen done better a hundred times before. Some of the gunplay becomes interminable, the filmmakers turning buildings and vehicles into Swiss cheese as characters fire off endless rounds of ammo.

The laughs are slight and sporadic, sibling screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber unable to generate enough clever interplay among the story’s band of ex-CIA operatives targeted for elimination. It’s a huge missed opportunity, given Willis’ cool-under-fire comic charms and the brilliant co-stars off whom he could have been bouncing better wisecracks.

Willis’ Frank Moses is a former black-ops maestro put out to pasture, living quietly in retirement when a hit squad shows up at his suburban house to snuff him out.

Escaping his assailants, Frank reasons whoever’s behind the plot will go after the people he cares about, so he rushes off to protect Sarah (Parker), a federal pension-benefits worker he’s been awkwardly courting

by phone.With her gift for playing wily and

ditzy at the same time, Parker is the best thing about “Red” as her wide-eyed, innocent Sarah — longing to escape her office cubicle and have some adventures — becomes Frank’s gung-ho confederate on a zigzagging trek around the country.

Frank gradually reassembles his old team, including wry nursing-home denizen Joe (Freeman), trigger-happy conspiracy theorist Marvin (Malkovich) and classy but deadly Victoria (Mirren).

Together, they go up against an ace CIA hitman (Karl Urban, who brings surprising warmth to an underwritten role); his hardhearted agency handler (a badly miscast Rebecca Pidgeon, who’s about as menacing as, well, a pigeon); and a ruthless corporate profiteer (Dreyfuss, and who knows what he was thinking when he signed on to play this snarling, unpleasant, thoroughly uninteresting creep).

The 93-year-old Borgnine has a couple of pleasant moments as a CIA archivist, as does Brian Cox as an old Cold War rival of Frank and his team. Julian McMahon is suitably sniveling as the opportunistic vice-president.

Simply by showing up, Freeman and Mirren bring grace and spirit that their thinly developed characters don’t really possess. As the mad dog of the bunch, Malkovich is supposed to be the funny one, but he acts the part of the paranoiac too somberly, his rabid anger a bit too real to draw consistent laughs.

Willis does a decent variation on his “Die Hard” act, playing a supremely capable hand in gunfights or car chases but a gawky schoolboy when it comes to romantic relations.

Still, there’s just not enough “Yippee-ki-yay” to “Red.” The heroes may be retirees, but that doesn’t mean they can’t go about the spy game with a little more youthful abandon. (AP)

Sun.Star Weekend | October 23, 2010 C5

audiosyncracyshort reviews

IMAGES FROM THE INTERNET

foreview

IMAGE FROM THE INTERNET

October 23

OctoTap IIIDJs Marvin Evangelista and Jack Stone wreak havoc on the turntables once again on the third edition of The Taproom’s OctoTap series. Party starts when the sun goes down at The Taproom, Maria Luisa Road, Banilad, Cebu City.

October 24Spooky HalloweenExperience a splendid Halloween party at the Playmaze Wonderland, Parkmall, Mandaue Reclamation Area.

Ongoing until October 24Everything in Pink! ExhibitIn the Mall Paseos of Ayala Center Cebu during mall hours.

October 31Citigym Half MarathonAssembly and registration at 4 a.m. at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel Lagoon area

November 18Sun.Star SuperBalita9-Ball ChallengeThe biggest billiard tournament in the South!Registration starts at 10 a.m. at the E-Mall Activity Center, Leon Kilat St., Cebu City.

OPEN AUDITIONS FOR THE VAGINA MONOLOGUESCrystal Cavalier Productions will hold open auditions for the February 2011 staging of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES. Crystal Cavalier Productions, the VDAY Cebu City Community Campaign organizer, invites anyone who identifies as a woman from Cebu and its surrounding communities to audition for its sixth annual production of the award winning play by Eve Ensler. This benefit production is for VDAY 2011’s campaign to stop violence against women and girls. To get an audition schedule, please email the following to [email protected]: Name, gender, age, school/company, course/major/position, landline and/or mobile number, theatre experience, and one clear photograph. You will receive your audition schedule, venue, and pieces via email. For more information, please visit the notes tab of the facebook account of [email protected]. Deadline of submission is on October 30, 2010.

Pink Your Drink: Cocktails For A Cure

ConvictionHilary Swank is at her best in working-class,

little-people roles, and she’s found another one with “Conviction,” the real-life story of Betty Anne Waters, who put herself through law school on an 18-year fight to clear her brother of a murder rap. The drama is straightforward, even a bit superficial, kind of an “Erin Brockovich” on a bad-hair day — still appealing and inspiring, still ready to take on the system, though rote and predictable here and there. But Swank, sometimes adrift in lofty parts such as Amelia Earhart in last year’s “Amelia,” keeps “Conviction” grounded with blue-collar pluck and earnestness reminiscent of her Academy Award-winning roles in “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby.” Swank, also an executive producer on “Conviction,” is nicely aided by excellent performances from Sam Rockwell as Waters’ brother, Kenny, and Minnie Driver as a lawyer pal who joins the effort to free her sibling. (AP)

Hereafter“Hereafter” is a departure for Eastwood thematically as it tackles questions of what happens after we die and whether we can communicate with those who’ve gone before us. There’s an elegance and an efficiency in the storytelling that are so very characteristic of his 40 some-odd years behind the camera. It’s also an unusual offering from writer Peter Morgan, whose previous screenplays include the crisp, incisive political profiles “Frost/Nixon,” “The Queen” and “The Last King of Scotland.” Morgan says the sudden, violent death of a close friend inspired him, and his writing here is more somber, contemplative. All three of the film’s main characters are toiling within their individual states of loneliness in three different countries, even though they’re seeking or making connections to another realm. (AP)

CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: The final song, “Idea,” is a highlight not just for the infectious chorus but mainly for the best Gordon-esque line of the entire record: “I serenade you with a thought balloon.”

Phish bass player Mike Gordon has distinguished himself by releasing a stream of offbeat, but always interesting, solo releases.

Unfortunately, “Moss” isn’t one of them.

It’s not that the 10-track disc isn’t pleasant enough. The songs are generally well-crafted and easy on the ear. It’s just that for Gordon, it comes off as a throwaway effort and, perish the thought, a little boring.

That’s never been Gordon’s path in the past, whether in his own solo work that

relied heavily on instrument experimentation (“Inside In”), rocking songs (“The Green Sparrow”) or inspired musical pairings with guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke (“Clone” and “Sixty Six Steps”).

Gordon said he wanted the tracks on “Moss” to be more accessible. Well, they are. But part of the attraction to Gordon’s work has always been that he went out on a limb to produce something more esoteric and therefore more interesting, not more accessible and more forgettable.

Mike Gordon, “Moss” (Rounder)

In celebration of its 50th Anniversary, the Arts Council of Cebu presents “ONE SYMPHONIC EVENING, a Golden Celebration” featuring the MANILA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA conducted by ARTURO MOLINA and accompanied by renowned-pianist RUDOLF GOLEZ and violinist JOSEPH ESMILLA at

a Dinner-Concert to be held at 7:00 p.m., Friday, November 12, 2010 at the Santa Maria Ballroom of the Radisson Blu Hotel, Cebu City.

For inquiries please contact the Arts Council of Cebu office at Tel. No. (032) 233-0452 & mobile no. 0917-328-7917 or email at [email protected]

This October, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, FORMO, together with Gilbey’s, partnered with I Can Serve Cebu and the Rotary Club of Cebu-Fuente to increase awareness on breast cancer and raise funds for screenings in support of the belief that “Early detection saves lives. Early detection saves money. Early detection is the cure.”

FORMO, Cebu’s pioneering restaurant & lounge unveils a selection of luscious cocktails for a cause. The PINK YOUR DRINK: Cocktails For A Cure features four new specialty pink cocktail creations. The Pink Soda is a vodka-based cocktail with a dash of peach and is the perfect reminder of a beautiful day under the summer sun. The Pink Martini is a gin-based concoction with hints of refreshing orange and guava perfect for a girls’ night out

in the city. A must try is the latest addition to Formo’s famous mojito menu: the Raspberry Mojito, filled with same goodness found in your favorite Formo mojito but in a lovely,

eye candy hue. Rounding up the four pretty pink cocktails is the alcohol-free Shirley Temple, a wonderful companion to Formo’s wide array of delectable dishes. Philanthropy in a glass, these cocktails are all served with compassion as a portion of the proceeds go to the Eduardo J. Aboitiz Cancer Center. Support the advocacy, wear your pink ribbons, and savor

the flavors of these cocktails for a cure at FORMO this whole month of October, all for a good cause.

FORMO Restaurant Lounge is located at the Banilad Town Centre and is open daily for dinner and after hours with no door fee from 6 p.m. onwards.

One Symphonic Evening,A Golden Celebration

bottomsupAileen Quijano

Sun.Star Weekend | October 23, 2010C6

books

TEXT AND IMAGES FROM WWW.FULLYBOOKEDONLINE.COM AND THE WEB

A spine-chilling horror novel from a new British talent... Some doors are better left closed . . . In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes

out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever. A young American woman, Apryl, arrives at Barrington House. She’s been left an

apartment by her mysterious Great Aunt Lillian who died in strange circumstances. Rumours claim Lillian was mad. But her diary suggests she was implicated in a horrific and inexplicable event decades ago. Determined to learn something of this eccentric woman, Apryl

begins to unravel the hidden story of Barrington House. She discovers that a transforming, evil force still inhabits the building. And the doorway to Apartment 16 is a gateway to something altogether more terrifying . . .

Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill

Reality BitesAt some point in our lives, we’re

expected to leave home and be “independent”. My history teacher used to say that this period is particularly significant because it is when we learn the art of hunting and picking food on our own. In his early 20s, my older brother moved to another island and adopted the vegan lifestyle for a time. My friend Orleyne went to Saipan and trailed the path of a wine connoisseur. Two years ago, my friend MD also flew to Korea and learned to love kimchi. In my and my sister’s case, however, it was our parents who left us home – forcing us to be independent and to fend for ourselves.

By the time I graduated from college, my parents’ move to their new house by the beach was already complete. They did it so gradually over my last couple of years in school that I hardly noticed it. The way some furniture and appliances disappeared bit by bit should have sent the bells ringing. But when you have a thesis to think of, most things just fade away.

“Girls, we’ll be transferring the big TV to the new house. We’ll just trade in a new, sm aller one, okay?” I now remember Mami asking us.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go, go,go,” I mumbled as my eyes remained glued to the PC screen, trying to reconstruct bar graphs and make sense of statistical boink-ilations. “Who has time to watch TV anyway?”

Up to now I still can’t believe I said that. But my Mami swears by it so I can’t argue my way to repossessing the big TV back now that the thesis-tical fog has long cleared. Sneaky is what they are (I love you mom, pops).

And then, some of the kitchen utensils, clocks, linens, and what-else too said bye-bye. But it never really hit us until one day, my sister and I stood before our ref (thank God it’s too big to move miles away) and discovered all the food was gone!

Resigned to the fact that our Mami has defected to another camp, go to the grocery store ourselves, we did. We tried. My sister and I really tried. But our first attempt at domestic survival 101 was a disaster and that, apparently, set a precedent to our other expeditions to grocery land. I don’t know, but we always seem to end up with too much junk food and not enough ingredients for a home-cooked meal.

Okay, so we’re not too hot on the kitchen department. Good thing for us, there are still TV, billboards, and friends to clue us in on the Generation X Survival Kit.

Table of Contents: FOOD … turn to

page three. There it is! The subtitles: Instant

Cuisine (i.e. pancit canton, canned food, oatmeal, choco/coffee mix, etc.); Take-Out (i.e. Jollibee drive-thru; Dim sum and then some); Order-out (i.e. KFC, pizza, pizza, pizza); and Dining Out (i.e Welcome to Ayala Mall… I love you more today than yesterdaaaay….)

And then, when reality bites, there’s the comforting Gen-X Menu, carefully crafted and passed on from one clueless food hunter to another of this generation.

The Gen-X Menu is a product of

years of research, trial and error, and copying each other’s eating habits. For the benefit of those neophytes to independent life, let me share with you a portion of this menu. Perhaps, it’ll help make your adjustment a little easier. I make no guarantees. It may not pass the standards of today’s culinary artists but, I tell you, it’s fast and easy (Gen X’s

mantra) to put together. Just add water, chill, or simply mix and match. Some may be tempted to brand it as weird but I call it simply an exotic mix. As for side effects, all I can say is -- I still don’t have any ulcer and my bowel movement remains relatively fine. Safe enough? So go, be adventurous. Have a few bites of the Gen-X Menu at your own risk. Here are some personal favorites:

Appetizers Ripe banana dipped in yummy peanut

butter Steamed banana slathered with

cheez whiz Ripe banana topped with dried fish

(from Fritz) Green mangoes topped with shrimp

paste

SoupNesvita milk cerealFresh milk with coco crunch

Main CourseLucky Me pancit canton with

skyflakes Lucky Me pancit canton with Spanish

bread Lucky Me pancit canton with

chicharonLucky Me pancit canton with fried/

grilled fish

Milo (powder variety) mixed with white rice (from Maya and Louie)

Barbecue-flavored Chippy with white rice (from Ever)

Super cold leftover spaghettiCanned tuna with crackers

Dessert Black coffee with flavored French

fries (try sour cream and cheese) Black coffee with Cadbury

chocolates (not to be mixed) Hot tea with frozen yogurtSan Mig Strong Ice with semi-frozen

cheesecake Vodka Ice with DJ Mix

Of course, we’ll grow out of this menu eventually. Either we break down and visit our folks more often for some real food, or our bodies break down and we’re forced to submit to a healthier lifestyle. But till then, aahhh-cheeww!([email protected])

Sun.Star Weekend | October 23, 2010 C7

crossline

49 Gen. Sepulveda Street, CebuTel. No (032) 255-0105 & 412-5551

Fax No. (032) 412-5552Email: [email protected]

website: www.palazzopensionne.net

Got something to share with us? Sun.Star Weekend invites readers to contribute original, unpub-lished poems and essays or commentaries about funny or memorable moments in your life. Please

email your contributions to: [email protected]

BED & BREAKFASTscribblings

Remembering Lolo Inocen

I have nine hundred twelve friends,Eighty-three are onlineAnd among the six hundred million more usersEveryday,I only wait for you. Tonight,You are online.I will not sleepBecause you might just want to chatAnd when I hear that pop!My fingers will be swiftWhile my system runs out of air,Excited if your existence has noticed mine.

But it is never you.The people decrease to seventy-eightAnd I am less in anticipationThat you are interestedLike I am with your updates. So I change my statusTo feel that if you read it,You would know that we match.You would realize thatWith all the notes I’ve been writing,We could stop ‘liking’ each otherAnd be a page in real life. You’ve logged off,

The seventy-seven without youReminds me that I had nothing left to doWhile my notifications really don’t hold much prideWithout your name.I will rest my heart for a whileAfter I stalk you one more time,If facebook is unable to help meMake youFall in love,It will lose its reasonAnd I’ll be forcedTo give friendster the benefit of the doubt.

Facebookby Therese Marie A. Villarante

Sometimes I imagine myself living in a foreign city; the sound of an approaching train I hear instead of the guy shouting at the back of the jeepney. Sometimes I see the movement of life like the movement of trains: fast, people come and go. Inside, you are with different people, each waiting for a destination. Every time I think of riding on a train, I remember my two sisters back when we were kids, visiting our grandfather’s grave.

We have never seen him. Not one of us has seen my grandfather perform his magic tricks or heard his funny stories. As kids, my uncles said they enjoyed gathering around him as he showed them card tricks and made candies and coins appear through a handkerchief. Sadly, Lolo Inocen died at the young age of 31.

To us, he was an old tomb in a grassy, crowded cemetery in our town. His place was located at the back of a family mausoleum. On top of his grave was another tomb, and before my family could reach his place, we had to pass through a child’s tomb hidden under the grass, marked by a small cross. My father would always remind us to be careful in order not to disrespect the dead.

On All Souls’ Day my family would visit his grave. After breakfast, my two sisters and I would pick roses from the garden. Sometimes my mother would buy flowers and candles from the vendors lining the road to the cemetery. At the graveyard before prayers, my father would lead us clear my grandfather’s tomb of unruly grass and

fallen leaves. It was during these days of our childhood that we began to know our grandfather’s life.

Inocentes P. Garcia was a municipal councilor in our town, the first politician in the family, my father proudly said. Though not a lawyer, he would represent poor litigants in the municipal court. Through his instance, debts were paid and stolen goats were returned at times as meat. His sense of humor would appease feuding families, ending disputes in settlements. He belonged to a large family; two of his brothers would later become prominent lawyers and public servants.

A freak accident cut his life short. When Lolo died, my father, the eldest, was only 7 and the youngest was 5 months old. He was attending a town fiesta at his sister’s house where the cook mistook the rat poison for pepper and salt. This fatal mistake, this

absurdity resulted in people’s deaths, including my grandfather. On March 18, 1961, Lolo wasn’t being funny when he left behind 5 kids and made Lola a

widow at 29.Because

life was hard, my grandmother had to work abroad. On special occasions like Christmas and graduations she would send us “packages” of assorted goods from books and skipping ropes to Spam and towels. Lola was married to my grandfather at the age of 22.

But as to their love story, we didn’t know much.

It was much later that we caught a glimpse of our grandparents’ love. One Christmas vacation, my grandmother went home for a family reunion. Months before that, she had bought a piece of land for my grandfather. She wanted to transfer Lolo’s remains from his old, crowded place to a special place she built for him. Surely, their love did not end in death.

All my father’s siblings attended the

ceremony. We started the day in good humor, teasing Lola not to cry. With roses and candles, my aunts and uncles went to the cemetery to rebury my grandfather this time at a better place where children could sit on the grass.

A mango tree stood a few meters from the place. It was about 10:00 o’clock, and like most cemeteries in ordinary days, there was silence. As my father led the prayers, I thought of my two sisters abroad who couldn’t come. I remembered the three of us picking roses for Lolo back when we were kids. Then my grandmother leaned on my father’s shoulder and started to cry.

I tried to remove myself from the emotions unfolding before me. I looked away at the coconut trees and at the cow and her calves resting under the shade. Still I could hear her crying. As I looked farther from the place, perhaps, Lola also went back to the time when she buried my grandfather with 5 children in tow, the youngest still in her arms. That time I could feel her pain of loss as a young mother and see the confused looks of her young children.

Now that we’re starting to build our own lives, my sisters and I would often look back to the times we visited our Lolo’s grave. It was there where we began to know the story of our family and began to understand things. In whatever country or city you’d find yourself in the future, my father said in one of those visits, do not forget your roots, and take pride in the heritage of your past. I know that when my sisters would ride on that train, they’d keep their sense of identity.

by Bernard Inocentes S. Garcia

Sun.Star Weekend | October 23, 2010C8

peeps (people, events and places)

Flipflops in retrospect...

Going retroThe inclement weather didn’t stop Cebuanos from trooping to Shangri-

La’s Mactan Resort and Spa last October 9 for the resort’s boathouse party dubbed “Retro Revolution”. Songs from the 70’s and 80’s were played by guest DJs Jand and Boyet, with live music provided by Acushla Band. The Sports Car Club of Cebu also displayed their rides as an added attraction.

FLIPPING AND FLOPPING. (Clockwise from top left) Preview’s Raymond Gutierrez and Liz Uy; It Girls Bianca Gonzalez and Isabelle Daza; The ladies of A.L. Amizade Leanne Florendo and Aimil Sarmiento; Borgie Manotoc and Georgina Wilson; Taino and Judy Tenney.

IN RETROSPECT. (Left photo)The Sports Car Club of Cebu; (Clockwise from top left) Lani Pasquet and Jay Chiongbian; AUdrey Carpio and Gutsy Tuazon; Christina Schutte and Angie Burns; James Kim and Joan Zanoria; Butch Carungay and Paula Camba.

Preview Magazine, the Philippine’s fashion authority, celebrated its 15th year with our city’s fashion forward citizens through a night of revelry. And to start the night on the right foot, Havaianas, hosted an intimate cocktail party for a select few at Maya Tequila Bar.

The stylish Preview Team, led by Editor-in-Chief Pauline Suaco-Juan came with special guests Borgie Manotoc, Raymond Guttierez, Tim Yap and the country’s it girls Georgina Wilson, Bea Soriano, Isabelle Daza, Liz Uy, and Bianca Gonzales.

Our own dazzling Cebuanos arrived in style, decked out in their crystal-inspired ensembles made by some of the country’s finest designers like Jun Escario, Cary Santiago, Arcy Gayatin, Kate Torralba, Edwin Ao, Yvonne Quisumbing, and Vania Romoff.

The Havaianas Pre Event Cocktails All were welcomed

by Havaianas Philippines Managing Director Anne Gonzalez with the ladies of A.L. Amizade, Leanne Florendo and Aimil Sarmiento, the exclusive sub-distributor of Havaianas in Central and Eastern Visayas;

As the lights dimmed, and as open bar drinks flowed faster, smiles came easier and flashed brighter, new friendships

were formed, and fashion-forward secrets were shared making this pre event cocktail the most vibrant party scene this side of the country.

Ms. Teen MetroThe finalists of the search for Ms. Teen Metro

Gaisano 2010 were presented to the media last Saturday, October 16. The young hopefuls presented a mini-fashion show, and answered questions put to them by members of the media as well as the contest sponsors.