New Haircuts for Christmas!

We got our haircuts together today. Methinks, Cooper needs some grooming as well......

Book Review: Anna Karenina - A Fitting Book to Read During Christmas

"I think... if it is true that there are as many minds as there

are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts." Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina

A proper 'hugot' line if there was one, yun lang, this one was written more than 150 years ago, yet it still sounds appropriate now as it did during that time - especially that many young people have embraced all kinds of love - not only that between a man and a woman.

Anyhow, one thing I failed to notice when I read Anna Karenina in college was that the book is actually a good read during the Christmas season!

Well, there is that adultery story of the book's namesake, but there is an equally powerful story of the other co-protagonist in the novel, Konstantin Levin.

This is not a book for atheists as Levin's character realizes in the end that all his actions were guided by his faith in God - and it's a beautiful message that one can learn once again, especially during Christmas - especially from this novel which delves very deeply on how the aristocracy treated the peasants, the hypocrisy of high society and the double standard between men and women.

The lessons one can learn here I have learned a long time ago - to live your life the way you want it and not as society dictates you to; that even if people tell you that you are living in sin, that you live your life with integrity and honesty; and to treat everyone you meet in life, with respect, regardless of their social status.

Tolstoy's writing prowess is definitely in display here - and the part that I liked is also the most tragic. I love the way he wrote the part where Anna Karenina's characters was slowly going into self-destruction.

It begins very subtly, and then it gains steam and ends up like a powerful landslide, smothering the heroine, quickly. The change in mood was very frightening to read, and if one was not familiar with the story, her suicide would have come as a shock - considering how out-of-character it is from the Anna that we first meet in the first part of the book.

I will go for a more frivolous fiction book after this. My imagination has traveled through time and has been enriched greatly by the clarity of the vision of Tolstoy's characters.

Albert Nobbs: Happiness and Sexual Politics

How much happiness can you possibly achieve in your life when you cannot even live it they way you were supposed to live it?

Albert Nobbs was actually a woman who decided to cross-dress as a man after she was gang-raped at 14 by five men in 19th century Dublin. After that harrowing experience, the poor orphan decided to present herself as a man so as not to experience unwanted sexual advances and to be able to work to support herself.

The movie Albert Nobbs was a passion project by six-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close, and when it was released in 2011, it snagged three Oscar nominations.

The title character was not really based on just one person but was a composite of different ordinary people trying to survive during that time.

Although the premise of the movie is a bit tragic - and the movie ends tragically as well for Albert, there are several glimpses of hope and happiness - seen from the lives of the other characters - who chose to assert themselves and not fear what other people would say about them.

Janet McTeer's character was also a cross-dresser, choosing to live as a man, after years of abuse from her husband, whom she eventually left. She was able to build a life for herself as a house painter and she gets married - to a real woman - and her life is the complete opposite to Albert.

The two will eventually meet.

Well, there are many things I liked in this movie. Seeing Aaron Taylor Johnson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers undress is one of them! God, these guys are so lean and hot - and they can act! Mia Wasikowska is also radiant and beautiful and their young characters have an important part in Albert Nobbs story.

An interesting thing I learned about the movie is how to save, funny, because Albert's character was such a penny-pincher. There are several scenes in the movie that show how meticulous Albert was with money. And she had big dreams, that's why she saved a lot!

I thought the movie would have a happy ending but even up to the end, Albert Nobb's life is filled with tragedy although in a strange twist of fate, the lives of Albert, Mr. Page (Janet McTeer) and Mia's character will be intertwined.

Miguel Faustmann Plays Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

One of the grand masters of contemporary Philippine theater, Miguel Faustmann, plays the unforgettable Christmas character of Scrooge, in the picture here with the adorable boy actor who plays Tiny Tim. It seems that in this picture, he looks straight at me taking his photo!

He, along with a big cast and a guest choir, is performing A Christmas Carol at the BGC Amphitheatre this Christmas season.

He has already played a gamut of roles including one in the gay play, Next Fall, which he did for the Repertory, a few years ago.

Celebrating Christmas with a Charles Dickens' Classic

The Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol is always a good way to celebrate the Christmas season - it being a timeless tale of forgiveness, generosity and togetherness.

The Philippine theater season normally ends before Christmas, but one of my favorite local theater companies, 9 Works Theatrical, pushes the envelope this year by staging a Christmas play in the normally busy shopping season!

This time, they are staging the play in an outdoor format, in the BGC Amphitheater, so that families can easily segue their Christmas shopping or pasyalan with watching the musical.

It is a musical and the revered Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid) provided the music for it.

It is probably the grandest production 9 Works Theatrical has ever did and the sets, the production design, and the costumes all combine to make it a wonderful theater experience!

There's a surprise in the ending where you'd wished you were seated near the stage (we were!) and I took many photographs of it and it was quite a magical experience!