Right-Footed Jessica is Right-ful Modern Day Heroine

As working days go, August 20 was a pretty unremarkable, ordinary stressful working day.  My meeting began as early as breakfast, continued through to a mid morning huddle, then led to a noonday board meeting, and finally straight through to a brainstorming session for a new enterprise till sunset. The end of the day initially looked to be a five thirsty type of unwinding and de-stressing affair with a frosty cold beer...but it was not to be.

Instead, sunset unveiled a film showing at the RCBC Plaza Theatre, that turned out to transform an otherwise ordinary day into an extraordinary, and inspiring memory!!!

The film is called "Right Footed", and it is a documentary about one Jessica Cox, an attractive, accomplished and vivacious married young woman who was an honors college graduate of a psychology degree, a licensed pilot, a taekwondo black belter, an inspirational speaker, a seasoned swimmer, and a UN ambassador, who also tried sky diving.

So what was so outstanding about a film like this? The world is full of attractive, accomplished, and vivacious young married women who did all that, maybe even more!

Yes, but Jessica Cox IS different and unique because due to a rare birth defect, she was BORN WITHOUT ARMS!

Yes Jessica Cox amazes one from the moment the film opens to a shot of her applying blush on onto her cheeks with her nimble toes steadily clutching the brush!

She continues to overwhelm the audience as the documentary professionally directed by Nick Sparks and co produced by Filipina Mona Lisa Yuchengco, chronicles her life since birth through her childhood years, her school years, and her adult life, as she grabbed life uncompromisingly, and learned to do practically all the things that children, teens, and adults with complete arms can do.

She learned to ride the swing as a little girl, learned to defer her wish to play on the slide, learned to dance expertly in school Christmas pageants, learned to write with her feet, and went to college, learned to drive a car, learned to apply make up and dance with other teenage boys, learned a martial art and became good at it, learned to fly a plane, learned to swim....

In short, she learned that there was almost nothing that she couldn't do if she put her mind to it...and she never used her physical disability as a n excuse not to do anything.

She credits her mother, a Filipina originally from Tacloban, with raising her as an ordinary, normal child.  Sure, that she had no arms was an accident of birth...but to be able to enjoy life was her birthright.

As she hurdled challenge after challenge, and achieved one milestone after another, she resolved to do two things.... One was to honor her mother and father with their incredibly nurturing rearing style; and two, was to use her accomplishments to advocate that nothing was impossible for other individuals born with physical handicaps, especially without two arms.

The first she did by continuing to care for her mother even after she was stricken with cancer.  She further honored her mother by visiting the Philippines especially after Typhoon Haiyan and trying to raise funds and awareness for the plight of people whose lives were destroyed and ravaged by calamity and disaster!  The second she did by openly and eloquently sharing her story with the rest of the world, one small group and community at a time, ultimately going to far flung continents like Africa to share her story of hope.

She married her Taekwondo instructor, Patrick Chamberlain, who was so smitten with her courage and determination, not to mention her charms, that he proposed and she accepted.  They sealed their vows with an anklet to replace the ring, and they celebrated their wedding with a specially choreographed first dance number.  And he has set aside his own career and other plans to help her in her mission to share her story and advocacy with the rest of the world! Now that's a real honest to goodness love story!!!

Jessica Cox reminds one of Nick Vjucic, the extraordinary young man born without arms and legs and limits, and the artist Christie who was immortalized in the film My Left Foot by Daniel Day Lewis.

"Right Footed" is the title of the documentary to dramatize her equanimity in accepting her condition, and making the most of it by saying that she could only write with the right foot, hence she was right footed, the way most other people say they are right handed!

The film has been entered into and honored in a number of international film festivals.

For me the moral of this film is that we are all born the same, each one of us has his and her own share of abilities and disabilities, some open, otherwise undiagnosed.  We should embrace all individuals with disability as fellow human beings and give them e respect and dignity we demand, and that they deserve, being children of God and the universe.

In a world otherwise preoccupied with the material and the worldly, seeing this film, and being reminded that there is more to life...and that heroes and heroines are found in our midst, people like you and me...that kind of inspiration could only have been divinely intuited and heaven sent!

Frazzled Cook: New Look at an Old Friend

Being just across the street from where I work, the Frazzled Cook Restaurant on Luna Mencias in Mandaluyong quickly became a watering hole  and go to resto for me and my ilk in the ad agency.  That it was quaintly put together in contemporary shabby chic, with mismatched crockery and knick knacks and odds and ends, was a pleasant bonus.  That it served below zero ice cold beer especially after a long and stressful day, was a game changer. That its chef cooked very delectable fusion dishes such as Wagyu Salpicao with garlic rice, for example, sealed the deal! Frazzled Cook was officially an excellent default choice for treating clients, staff, the self!

But it could not survive on my habits and the discernment of a handful of loyal customers alone.  The ubiquitous traffic problem of the curiously one-way street, the limited parking spaces available, and the occasional flood that resulted from a sudden downpour, forced it to close after five years.

Down...but not dead, definitely NOT!

Happily the Frazzled Cook, with its unique je ne sais quoi flavors and dishes, reopened this April in Quezon City, on 78 Scout Gandia to be exact, and from all indications, unlike its stop-and-start beginnings in the other location, it is gearing to be an unmitigated success!

Consider the following factors...

Parking is NO PROBLEM!

The entrance way is a geomancer's dream: it's shaped like a circle, like money money money!

There are FOUR, count 'em FOUR function rooms in addition to the main dining hall.  The whole restaurant can seat 60 comfortably, and each function room can seat from 12-24 just as well.

The shabby chic signature in decor and crockery is still there, albeit cleaned up and toned down.

The cutlery and flatware are still imprinted with Hello Kitty....

And despite the rains that came and went this past quarter, it was FLOOD-FREE!

But most important, the cooking was as good as I remembered it, if not better!  The storybook menu revealed that the old time favorites were still there...but there were new dishes besides...all put together in the unique frazzled fusion fashion that it was known for.

Must try the Sizzling Squid served in a cast iron skillet... The ole'-picante buffalo wings... The Pizza Caprese in the easy size... And of course the melts-in-your-mouth Wagyu Salipicao!  My companions tried the Lamb Shank(veddy good)...and the fried cheese...but these were gobbled up before I had a chance to snap up a picture.

Kudos to Zzelleen Lee, a successful investment analyst-adviser at SunLife, and her equally young, equally sassy partners who knew they had a good thing and refused to give up the ghost to see this dream resurrect and come true...to the delight of gourmands like me and you!!!


Photos courtesy of http://preen.inquirer.net/6633/regular-gives-shuttered-restaurant-a-second-chance

Make Your Own Pizza...

Well, Almost...!

I have long been intrigued by a sign that says "Project Pie". So one day I saunter in with a group of young 'uns, who despite their age, were totally acquainted with this place, and were literally savvy about their savories!

So in I walk...and find me a cantina style table and chair in the main dining hall.  After no pleasantries, i proceed to a winding cafeteria style food service module, where I am asked a series of questions designed to make me my dream pizza pie!

Everything on it! Or Nothing on it! First there's the crust...thick or thin? Then Start with the sauce --- tomato or agli oglio? More caramel iced onions por favor! Five kinds of cheese, please! Mushrooms, more! Shrimp, sure! Anchovy, just for me! Olives...what gives! And so it went.  

My choice looked suspiciously like a Shakey's Friday Special,with enough ingredients to make it more special for a whole month of Friday's instead of just one.

Now that I have sufficiently confused you with a multiple of brands...here's the kicker.  Project Pie,creatively and discombobulatingly labelled as Artisanal Pizza, is a special brand of Shakey's, the one brand in the country known for its amazingly crunchy thin crust! So my Friday Special preference was not too far a stretch after all!

And the perfect companion to this pizza pie for the intelligentsia? Bottles of Brew Kettle beer, the surprisingly delectable beer from Asia Brewery that looks like it's a micro brewery concoction, it looks so cute and tastes so fresh.  But eh, choose your poison...there was Corona, Heinecken, Asahi Super Dry too.

So the next time you want some control in the taste of your pizza...the next time you want to feel as though you practically made it, even if merely voice activated...the next time you want something different, you just have to try Project Pie!!!

A Piano Art Night...Gems in the Dark

I was invited to a very special and very different show recently.  It was entitled "Piano Art Night...Gems in the Dark".

Held at the Tiu Theatre in Mile Long Arcade on Amorsolo Street in Makati, formerly the Louie THX Theatre, "Piano Art Night" headlined the piano playing prowess and musicality of a winsome Japanese girl by the name of Kanako Hara, as she performed music with two other soloists, Kota Yoshida on guitar, and Beatrize Ricana on cello.  Together they played musical accompaniment to two equally winsome young Japanese girls who did live painting Atsuko Yamagata and Marie Ikura.

Except for the grand piano and the screen, the stage...and all the outfits of all performers were white.  All performers were very young and energetic.  All performers were very creative in each of their respective art forms and genres.
The whiteness of the set and the outfits contrasted well with the resulting visual creations that resulted from the inspiration provided by the music.

This form of live painting to music is new in Manila...and rare.  The audience, half Filipino and half Japanese, were mesmerized into quiet applause by and for the very concept of the show.  It was a unique experience...and the energy of the performers was electric, refreshing, and contagious.  Quiet applause turned into more robust appreciation as the night wore on.

Kanako Hara is a powerful pianist...and though she played some jazz numbers, she played a lot of her own compositions.  It was syncopated pleasure to hear her speak volumes with the keys and the chords.  Kota and Beatrize, were no less striking performers, though more reticent than the vivacious Kanako.  Atsuko and Marie could have been dancers, the light and lissome way they moved their bodies while painting images from their soul onto all the surfaces found onstage...from window to steps!

This type of energy and 360 creative experience provides an interesting context in which to enjoy and appreciate art in its various forms.  Words appear unnecessary as music and paint reveal rhythms of a different level...for both artists and audience.

Bravo to the youthful and courageous artists for daring to showcase and express their creative impetuses in this way.  It is a powerful initiation for the Filipino art lover.  More! More!

New York Reprise... A Springtime Birthday Portrait

I am back in New York, for four unforgettable days again, just eight months after I came in the autumn of the year before.

This time I am back for the 80th birthday of the mother of my dearest friend. 

It is like a dream, and a bit of déjà vu, this trip, as I reprise the 21 hour flights from Asia...and step out in the chilly night air to the airport to meet the welcoming faces of husband and wife from home...and enjoy the drive to Scarsdale, punctuated by the electronic voice of Waze as the couple maneuver...and argue...and ultimately find their way to the house...and walk in to the warm and snug 1911 house atop a hill and see the same patio, eight months ago framed by the change of colors...now draped by a verdant cloak of spring!

My friend is away from home, but in her element, surrounded by the family she loves and grew up with...two sisters and two brothers, all ridiculously successful in their fields like herself, unbelievably busy in their worlds like herself, yet at the moment affectionately preoccupied with making their mother feel ultra-, uber-special as she marks this milestone.  

It is a ten-day birthday party, across two continents, between two states, and a grand production involving six families brought across the miles to join in...no, to BE the celebration itself.  

The celebrant, a beautiful, formidable and intrepid officially octogenarian lady, is all smiles, taking in voraciously, the sights, sounds, and scents of this unique and protracted commemoration, bottling it in her heart and mind, to enjoy even years after.  She states calmly but happily, "This is the longest birthday anyone has ever had..."

 And she deserves it.  A widow, who lost her husband of over fifty years just a few years ago...who is also a woman ahead of her time.  No glass ceilings could have stopped her from raising her brood almost singlehandedly as her beloved mate worked on providing for the family, and she concentrated on shaping and molding their bodies, their values, and their characters.  In good times, she would insist that her children travel the world to get the education of a lifetime.  In hard times, she would do everything by hand, and created dishes, experiences, and lifestyles for her children so they would not want for anything. She could cook up a storm, whip up a gourmet meal, cure and roast ham, bake cakes to die for...and still drive her children hard...to do the same and then some.  It is almost as if, she wanted her children to be the complete individuals, the Renaissance people of old, who could cook, sew, clean, raise families...and still be successful professionals.  And through it all, she offered her children and their fates and futures to a God that she proudly says has always listened to her, heard her prayers, and never forsaken her.  I personally know her as a lady who has done astonishing things in her senior years, from building a memorial to her late husband, to managing multiple households, to trekking through the rice terraces and exploring the caves in Sagada, to travelling to and from Baguio in the same day!  All these and more she has done, as she often reminds me, "on her knees", as in prayer!

Did I mention how strikingly beautiful and elegant she is? Whether she had her lush long hair held up in a chignon, or the short cropped bob that she now favors, she is always impeccably dressed and incredibly put together.  I know I would love to be her, at any age, I imagine.

Her daughters are beautiful women too, but still do not hold a candle to their mother.  They are all, as I said, ridiculously successful women...one a Chief Medical Officer of a prestigious and respected medical institution in the US, the other a social entrepreneur who helps raise funds for worthy and accredited causes all over the world, and the third, my friend, the managing director of an inclusive international school in Asia.  The sons are no less stellar, and handsome...one son is an entrepreneur ten times over, the other is also a sought after doctor in the midwest.

Thank you for the pleasure of joining this amazing family celebration...and for the privilege of calling you Tita.  Happy birthday...and may you live another eighty years!!!

New York Reprise... Helen Mirren in The Audience

What's an affair without the secret pleasures daringly exposed in public for a grand moment? and what's New York without the guilty but delicious pleasure of a fabulous Broadway play?

It was June, the month that commemorated and celebrated LGBT Pride...weeks, no, days before the landmark US Supreme Court decision that legalized same sex marriage all over the great United States.  Up and down 42nd street were plays that proudly explored the sensibilities, promise, even humor of this gender preference...immortalizing this mindset and inspiring so many others.

Amid the din, one little play stood out, the surprise show of the season, in the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on West 45th Street.  It was The Audience, a new play by Peter Morgan, starring the legendary Helen Mirren, and ably supported by an excellent Anglo Saxon cast led by Dylan Baker, Geoffrey Beevers, and Michael Elwyn, to name a few, with just one other lady actor Judith Ivey as Iron Lady Maggie Thatcher.

Not being a critic, I dare not attempt to review the play.  I did what any starstruck member of the audience would do...I read the playbill, listened to the dialogue and remembered it as best I could, then afterwards researched the history.  What follows is what I have found and experienced that overcast afternoon in the theatre.

Peter Morgan's humor-rich play is about how Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has from the start of her investiture and coronation as monarch, met with each of England's Prime Ministers( from Sir Winston Churchill to David Cameron) for an hour, once a week, over the decades, to discuss matters of state, share opinions, consult on matters of import and consequence to the seat and heart of the Commonwealth.  Helen Mirren scintillates as Queen Elizabeth, a role she has played on the big screen, through the years, through many ages...from her first years as a child playing in the hallowed halls of Buckingham Palace while her father, King George, reigned...to being a young queen not so many years after her debut, mourning the untimely passing of her beloved father, the quintessential, famous Bertie...to being a married monarch torn at times between her devotion to the family and commitment to duty...to being the enduring, steady if sometimes steely, but secretly mirthful monarch not without a sense of humor even as she seems to have been born with a sense of true destiny.

Peter Morgan is also not new to this setting, having written the screenplay of the movie The Queen in which Miss Mirren also starred and captured the world's imagination.  It is said that Peter Morgan found an outlet to express the fun, if sometimes wickedly funny, moments that he imagines the Queen must have had in all these decades of rule.  Admittedly, the vignettes and dialogues are fictional, enriched only by the spot on characterizations of the cast from the Queen's secretary to the Prime Ministers.

The unnerving thing about The Audience is that it is not presented in chronological order...challenging both the audience' mastery of English and world history, and Helen Mirren's heart wrenching portrayal of the many faces and ages of Queen Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor.  In one scene, she is girlish; in another, she is motherly almost; in yet another, she is majestic, as she should be. She also shows both strength and vulnerability, courage and compassion, occasionally revealing her Achilles' heel(a possible dearth of political wisdom and savvy), and then surprising with a keen if intuitive insight.

Given the many and quick costume changes, the wide gamut of ages she portrays the Queen in, it is small wonder Mirren won the Tony award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Comedy.  Mirren was so heartbreakingly believable, Judith Ivey, the only other adult female actor in the play, paled pathetically.

Mirren was not the first actress to play Queen Elizabeth in The Audience.  The play first opened in London a couple of years ago with British thespian Kristin Scott Thomas in the leading role.

I caught The Audience in its last week in New York... and felt like I had won the lottery for having the opportunity to find tickets and catch it!

Chris Brown in Manila... Finally!

What is it with artists surnamed Brown?

Decades ago controversy surrounded the irrepressible James Brown and his rhythmic screech. Next it was Whitney Houston's ex, and certified BI (bad influence), Bobby Brown.  Now it's scandal magnet Chris Brown, Rihanna's ex love-hate beau.  They all portrayed and projected a bad boy image and persona, on stage and off.  They all earned millions with their irresistible and irreverent music. They all have people hating them.  Yet they also all have women screaming for them and fantasizing about doing unspeakable things with them!

And what is it with beautiful women and bad boys?  A case of support for the underdog? Or misplaced feminine nurturing instinct tantalized by their fearlessness to shock and awe?

Whatever it is, Team Breezy PH, Boardworks and Pinnacle Live Concepts can now breathe a sigh of relief...and irate fans disappointed with his no-show last New Year's Eve can now prepare to have their irritation melt away...'cuz American RnB star Chris Brown is FINALLY coming to Manila!

Slated for Tuesday, 21 July at the Mall of Asia Arena, the concert is actually promoted as his FIRST full fledged live solo concert in Manila.  Yup he's been here before...once with ex-squeeze Rihanna...but as a surprise guest performer. This time, it's HIS show...and no one else will share his limelight except for a brief front act by Philippine "Prince" of RnB Jay R with Mica Javier.

The centerpiece of the concert should be songs in his latest album "X". Chris Brown has had celebrated collaborations before with Nikki Minaj, and of course Tyga. And he brings to each collaboration as well as solo performance, an energy that is ruthlessly exciting, dangerously, seductively rhythmic.  Yet occasionally he surprises with a tempo that is easy, casual, almost laid back.  His music drives you to dance...yet his lyrics sometimes move you to think, perhaps, even dream.  The result? is a sudden rush of adrenaline, then ebbing and flowing till the next rush! Exhilarating...but debilitating!  Erratic, idiosyncratic even...but genius!

So, Ladies, the Bad Boy of Rhythm and Blues is back, and ready to drive y'all mad with his "X" factor, pun intended.  Tickets selling briskly at relatively competitive prices for VIP Lounge, VIP Floor, and Lower Box at SM Tickets.  

I don't want to miss this show...to find out once and for all, will it be worth the wait?