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The Modern Girl’s Guide to Cats

Although I am an avowed dog lover, I have been known to rescue the occasional feline. Now am speaking of the animal variety but in the modern mature girl’s world there exists a whole new vocabulary.

Lets start with the obvious the cougar: The cougar is a sexy older woman, usually in her 40s or 50s, who is tired of the men in her age bracket or older. These men are usually balding, have large guts, are coach potatoes and have as much stamina as a bowling ball. Meanwhile the cougar has reached her sexual prime and knows what she wants, certainly not the bowling ball. True blue cougars are classy, dress well, have brains and have usually made it in the corporate world. They are successful in their own rights. She knows her wine and doesn’t drink moonshine. Cougars seek younger men, they don’t have to sneak up and attack…they know their younger lovers are eager to have an experienced woman who has no inhibitions and is not clingy. Being a cougar is a positive thing. Think Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher or Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry. And who can forget Cher who has dated a whole string of younger men including Tom Cruise.

Then there’s the puma. The puma is too young to be a cougar but older than the men she wants to date. Men in her age bracket would prefer to date siliconed bimbos to educated women. These stripper types (read: bimbos) in platform heels are hoping to be trophy wives where they can indulge in their fondness for plastic surgery.

Next is the bobcat. The bobcat is the baby of the group she is usually in her 20’s and dates men at least two years her junior. So say a woman in her mid twenties dating an eighteen year old.

Lets move on to the mountain lion. She is similar to a cougar but that is where the similarity ends. A mountain lion refers to an UN-ATTRACTIVE older woman however she still tries to hunt younger men and may even succeed if the bars are really dark. Cougars and pumas are sleek and attractive the mountain lion is well unfortunately not.

We end with the sabertooth. She is so old she should be extinct but still attempts the prowl. Key word here being attempt. . .

–JT

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7 Things You Need To Know Before Watching Balangiga: Howling Wilderness

Following its premiere in October 2017, controversies still creep on “Balangiga: Howling Wilderness”.

This one-of-a-kind film with surreal takes on one of the Philippines’ dark times surely deserves our time. The story is seen through the eyes of a boy that uniquely shows humanity’s cry for help.

Before its screening at your nearest cinema weeks from now, here are seven things you need to know about this morbid film about a portion of our history.

It revolves around the Balangiga Massacre in 1901.

During the American occupation in the Philippines, Company C of the 9^th Infantry Regiment arrived on the south coast of Samar Island, Balangiga in 1901. Their arrival was to cut the contacts of Filipino guerrillas to the people.

According to sources, the Americans confiscated all the weapons of the residents in Balangiga, men were detained and were treated badly. They burned down a church and its bells were taken which are still not returned to date.

Under General Jacob H. Smith’s orders, his officers burned towns and killed all who aged ten and above. For historians and people who lived there, the massacre came after the events of Smith’s orders. Americans practiced scorched earth policy and took food and killed people.

The film revolves around the journey of 8-year-old boy Kulas and his grandfather as they fled the town after Smith’s order to kill everyone over ten years old as revenge for the “rebellion” of the people in Balangiga.

Some scenes were limited especially violence on animals.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) mentioned that actual scenes of the film were limited.

The sickening scenes of animal slaughter, corpses and deaths will shock or excite us more.

Its tone will keep you interested

Even with gruesome scenes, the dreamy-feels tone with a mood that will continuously haunt you will surely keep you seating on your chair.

The film has minimal dialogues it will also show beautiful shots in the countryside.

It won awards in QCinema International Film Festival 2017

The film won Best Picture during the 2017 QCinema International Film Festival.

Following its back-to-back awards, it also bagged trophies in the 66^th Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) and Urian.

It will be a part of Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino 2018

Because of its numerous awards in different film festivals, “Balangiga” will be part of the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino 2018 as a guest entry under Special Features Section.

Under this section are best picture awardees in different independent festivals from 2017 to be shown as exhibition films.

The director of the film is also a musician

“Balangiga” was one of the masterpieces of director Khavn dela Cruz. Surprisingly, dela Cruz’s composition “Katurog Na” sang by folk-rock artist Lolita Carbon won Best Original Song in 66^th FAMAS.

It was intended to be a historical film for children

According to dela Cruz, the film is an unfinished project.

In his interview with ABS-CBN, he mentioned that he focused on adding and re-shooting the film to make it more accessible to a wider audience, especially for children.

History films show us more. “Balangiga” explained and portrayed more on the horrors of the armed conflict between the American forces and Filipino people.

More importantly, it showed that there is no good outcome from colonialism.

The film will be shown starting on August 15, 2018 in selected cinemas nationwide including Robinsons Galleria.

See you there!

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Butch Carungay’s 50th in Neverland

By Emmanuel Hamoy

Cebu’s glitterati came out in full force for Butch Carungay’s 50th birthday bash at EdenClub. It was a fun-filled night overflowing with Pol Roger, trivia games whilst traipsing the light fantastic.