The story behind Tom’s Story

The story behind Tom’s Story

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Tom's Story. Photo by John Paul Autor

NO words are needed to weave a narrative. Guitar riffs and punctuating basslines can sail its listeners through a whirlwind of energy and emotion. This is exactly what the music of Tom’s Story proves: Instruments of equal weight, producing a smooth dynamic and youthful vibe can get people hooked.

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It didn’t even take long to get the crowds to listen to their music. Night after night their spectators’ numbers swelled, with mimicked notes rolling off their tongues.

The band began to regularly open shows, measly 15-minute affairs with the spotlight. Eventually their sets became longer, until they were popular enough to become one of the main acts.

The trio of Gabba Santiago, Tom Naval and Christer “Degs” de Guia, playing around with the post-rock and math-rock genre, had unsurprisingly grown to be one of the most sought after acts in the local gig circuit today.

We saw their name get even bigger and bolder on the posters of various indie shows. This March, Tom’s Story will be playing in the largest homegrown music festival Wanderland.

Their music grows on you—if it doesn’t grow with you. The magic and beauty of their compositions lie in its ability to diversify its message.

It holds nothing sacred—there are unexpected shifts of pace, with refreshing thrills of imaginative melody. What they have created is both an explosion and fusion of uniquely pensive drives.

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Bravo Buku-Buku

Bravo Buku-Buku

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

SIBLINGS Nico and Jessica Santiago have a mission: Bring the northern food and pop culture crazes to the south.

And the duo, with the help and support of their parents, has accomplished just that after establishing two book cafés on their turf, the first in Cavite, and, just recently, in SM Southmall in Las Piñas.

“It was a chance to give what we knew the south wanted,” Jessica said. “Not just the food but the indie scene—we wanted to bring what’s monopolized up north down south.”

The southern café prides itself with a menu dominated by Filipino and Southeast Asian fusion dishes. Offering casual dining, it presents comfort food favorites with some ingenious, if not local, twists.

And in a space full of art, books and good food—which doubles as a venue for expression and exploration for creatives—what is there not to love?

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Spot the (unfortunate) difference

Spot the (unfortunate) difference

THERE’S no stopping us from binge-watching Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

For the new twists in the show had readers scrawling back to the books’ pages, wondering if their memory had failed them or they have accidentally missed a few of the books’ chapters.

Calm down, bookworms. While the overall story remains true to the books, the first eight episodes of Unfortunate Events—which cover the first four books—all have (minor) twists that make this children’s series more interesting on screen than it is on the page.

Using the books by Daniel Handler (the author’s real name!) as the primary guide, I looked into the details that have been altered or added in the tragedy of Violet, Klaus and Sunny. Here are some of the differences I found:

   THE BAD BEGINNING   

—The short scene showing a pair of kidnapped parents made us think that Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire may not have perished in a terrible fire.

—The “flashback” revealed how the orphans ended up with literally their closest living relative, Count Olaf. Disguised as “Yessica Haircut,” Olaf poses as a consultant whose advice Mr. Poe follows.

—Justice Strauss reading the book “Adoption Law & You” is a heartwarming scene, making us wish the orphans really came to live with her. Among the books in the library is the “Incomplete History Of Secret Organizations” which also reveals very early the idea of VFD (Volunteer Fire Department).

—Klaus also has a big scene in “The Marvelous Marriage.” It explains in marvelous detail how the play was actually a scheme to steal the Baudelaire fortune. In the book, Justice Strauss is able to instantly figure it out herself.

—Jacqueline, Mr. Poe’s secretary (and a new character), and Gustav, Uncle Monty’s assistant, seem to be working as secret spies whose mission is to make sure the 

Baudelaire children are safe.

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