Philippines
Having graduated AB Communication in 2016 from Ateneo de Manila, Pao now covers art, culture, and politics in the Philippines and Southeast Asia and produces for film, advertising, TV, and social media.
Also available for corporate PR projects.
ABS-CBN
MANILA -- There was a time when much prestige was given to being part of a cavalry. A quick glance at classic literature from poems such as "The Charge of the Light Brigade" to novels like "War and Peace" reveals the esteem and images of glory brought about by horsemen charging into the thick of battle.
The year was 1976 and the Mabuhay Gardens had seen better days. The Bay Area joint was a restaurant and club that hosted big-timers like Amapola Cabase, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams.
Sometimes, entertainment is a more accurate state of the nation address
Conversation starters for when you've had enough eggnog
MANILA -- One could say it was only a matter of time. The factors were all building up to it. The success of OPM-inspired musicals like the independently produced "Sa Wakas" and the Philippine Educational Theater Association's "Rak of Aegis," inspired by the music of OPM rock bands Sugarfree and Aegis respectively, proved there is an audience hankering to see the soundtracks of their lives retold through the stage.
Not pan de sal nor goto, but a Filipino spin on two Vietnamese dishes make everyday fare for this city's residents.
How a childhood fascination with audio technology contributed to a revolutionary sound system.
Amidst bottles of booze and the smell of truffle oil, Tonyboy de Leon tells us about how he got hooked on vinyl and fell deep for the subtleties of sound.
Manila Bulletin
An in-depth look at the market for collectible scale models, toys, and cards: Is it an investment or gambit? In many beginning investor's seminars, participants are told to start young. Graphs and charts are thrown up, showing that the same amount of money seeded in one's 20s is often larger by the time someone reaches retirement age, compared to the same amount's return after investing at a later life stage.
From beating the heat to representing the country, figure skater Misha Fabian is a tropical storm in a winter wonderland It was the early 2000s.
One writer reflects on how his all-boys barkada from an all-boys school has matured, revealing how larger cultural norms on masculinity have evolved Is our support of minority causes tokenistic? Driven by the fear of being canceled?
In this quarantine, something so innocuous hides both immediate and long-term dangers There was the smell of rotting gmelina fruits, a tree species oft-harvested for paper. There was the smell too of drying carabao dung as I took the footpaths reserved for park maintenance crews-it was almost a trek, watching each step, each footfall throwing up a tiny dust storm, all in contrast to the paved roads used by joggers and bikers.
For one, Korean leaders have long subsidized culture and entertainment and now the dividends are paying off The Philippine military recently celebrated its first joint-command exercises, marking a shift toward a more modern doctrine of interoperability between its three branches.