What to do with holiday leftovers

For Filipinos, if it’s worth doing, then it’s worth overdoing. It’s this very mode of thinking that gives us a Christmas season that starts after Halloween, and it contributes to our almost garish, overblown cultural aesthetics. And when it comes to our holiday handaan leftovers, many of us have refrigerators full of food that we don’t quite know what to do with.

When you have that much food, and you want to maximize your enjoyment, it’s useful to have a few rules of thumb that will help you with your leftovers.

"Lechon/Whole Roasted Pig," by Shubert Ciencia

Read the full article at the Philippine Online Chronicles

Children’s toys for the big boys

We all know now that many of the younger generations have a thing for collecting toys, even if they are already adults. Heck, it’s highly possible that you may even know of an older person or two who are probably into their second childhoods, and very close to retirement, who still have the love for collecting toys.
However, before you think, “hey, I should get them a nice Lego samurai figure,” you should understand that when it comes to toys, you might be very unprepared for the cost and fanaticism that the big boys have.

Photo: “Mark Brothers,” by marvelousRoland, c/o Flickr.com

Read the full article at the Philippine Online Chronicles.

Superman, Batman, The Generation Gap, and Interpretation

 

To say that my father and I do not get along well is an understatement. Although I do love him dearly, I think we both know that we have enough differences in thinking that staying in the same house for extended periods becomes a lesson in attitudinal endurance.

I've always thought about how to illustrate the big differences we have in the way we think (which is more important than opinions, as it turns out), and hilariously, the best way to illustrate our differences – and, I realized the big generation gap between the Internet and non-Internet generations – is in how we think about Superman.

The ‘Peter Pan Generation': Adult toy collectors

It’s a common thing these days for people to say that they know of an adult friend who still has a thing for collecting children’s toys and books, or has a growing collection of comic books or some other kind of collection that seems to be “not right” for their age.

And let’s be honest: for many of us, adults who like collecting toys or children’s stuff seems to really be a question of maturity, and can even be deeply disturbing. However, have we ever really asked ourselves if it’s not some sort of imposed standard on other people – one that is unfairly biased against them?

In short: why do some adults have toy collections that seem to make them some sort of “Peter Pan,” someone who refuses to grow up?

Read the full article at the Philippine Online Chronicles


Photo by Mark van Seeters, c/o Flickr.com

Vanity, thy name is Pinoy

When Pinoys talk about vanity, it’s like talking about the whole virgin and whore paradox: We seem to hold it as an essential thing, but at the same time, we think of it with disdain. It’s as if we love the idea of looking good, and yet we loathe making it obvious that we have a vain side to our personalities.
So why is it that Pinoys love to be books with great-looking covers, even if their pages are full of good content (to stretch the metaphor to painful lengths)?

Click here to read more at the Philippine Online Chronicles
“Vanity,” by A. Pagliaricci, c/o Flickr.com