My face time with Ji Chang Wook
I actually had to blink twice and look down at the face on the magazine cover I was holding to recognize the face smiling at me, passing by as if in a whizz.
August 2, 2019
I actually had to blink twice and look down at the face on the magazine cover I was holding to recognize the face smiling at me, passing by as if in a whizz.
That was our incredulously mournful reaction as we learned of the sudden deaths of dear friends, one after the other, in just over a month: Cesar Gaupo, then James Reyes—two from fashion design in a little over a month; our own columnist George Sison, about two weeks ago; gallery founder Didi Dee; and just this week, Cathy Nazareno, whose inspiring life and battle with cancer Lifestyle wrote about last Christmas.
When you’ve been given a “good behavior pass” by your doctor, for following her orders to avoid yet another relapse from mild pneumonitis, you step out of the house for the first time in a week with heart a-flutter at the prospect of a good dinner.
Cesar Gaupo promised to attend the Lifestyle meeting of fashion designers last Monday to discuss our bridal show with Seda Vertis North. Instead, we attended his interment last Friday.
I try to imagine London now, its chilly winter that somehow is saved from dreariness by the dazzling lights of Christmas on Oxford Street—those angels as tantalizing webs of light swooping down on you from the sky as you walk the street—and then the happy lights of Carnaby. That was my London last Christmas, simply unforgettable.
In 2000, I remember, I was sitting in a meeting where a slide was presented showing the impending death of magazine publishing and the sure world dominance of the web.
Last Thursday over dinner hosted by Cultural Center of the Philippines chair Margie Moran Floirendo (aka Miss Universe), we had some juicy dish. We stayed glued to our seats in her living room, listening to Margie recount how she found the painting of her mother, which had been missing for 25 years.
When Matteo Guidicelli and Nico Bolzico posted a video in Instagram the last week of August—a funny/serious video of themselves (how else, from the two) —inviting people to a dinner the two would cook at the Guidicellis’ Da Gianni restaurant, the seats sold out that same day. The two promised to have pasta, pizza, gelato and wine pairings, and to work the grill for steaks.
We were amused by what a parent said over lunch: “Our parents’ generation lived through the world war. Our generation lived through martial law. Our kids’ generation can’t live… without WiFi.”
Why were we not surprised—that Filipinos, in Metro Manila at least, are tad short of going crazy over “Crazy Rich Asians”? It’s the talk of the town in a week that saw a rush of private screenings, including that of Philippine Tatler last Wednesday, where we went to at My Cinema at Greenbelt.
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