By Reyshimar Arguelles Obsessive is an understatement to describe my love for the BBC-produced series Peaky Blinders. Comparable only with Breaking Bad and The Sopranos in terms of narrative complexity, the show has cultivated a devoted following on account of its impressive production value, impeccable writing, and stylish costume design juxtaposed against the abyss that
April 28, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles Before the CoViD-19 pandemic forced us all to stay indoors, I had not been a Netflix subscriber. The idea of paying for a monthly subscription just so you could be with the “in-crowd” is insane. But then you have to do what is humanly necessary to keep yourself from dabbling in social
April 23, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles When you are stuck in a strange place, you wonder how you got there. Were you conscious? Were you not tied up, gagged, and squeezed into the trunk of a car bound for God-knows-where? Or did you agree to a friend’s crazy advice to “loosen up” and “live a little”? In between
April 21, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles It only took four hours to reach the town of Kalibo. We had dodged buses, pickup trucks, and other creatures of the road when we neared the town’s border. The landscape gradually turned festive as we began hearing drum beats and deep heart-pounding disco bass emanating from gigantic speakers. It was the
April 16, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles Quarantine fever is just as bad as any kind of modern illness. In your third week, you lose track of time. The days are stretched into eternity and you start to question if the City’s streets would look the same the last time you walked along them, under clouds of dust and
April 14, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles It is not until you are put on a hospital bed when the thought of your own mortality dawns on you. For all the talk of being courageous and living “life to the fullest”, nothing prepares you for an extensive stay at a white room that reeks of disinfectant, with nothing but
April 7, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles Health experts in the country warn that the war against CoViD-19 would drag on despite an increase in the number of tests the past week. We have barely reached the peak and local governments are scrambling to “flatten the curve” and prevent the disease from overrunning hospitals stretched thin by a lack
April 2, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles Thousands have died since SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in Wuhan, China last December. And as the city eases its quarantine measures after two months of fighting the virus, the rest of the world now has to confront this menace with varying success. Italy suffered tremendous losses with over 10,000 deaths (mostly comprising
March 31, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles With the whole country under a state of emergency due to the CoViD-19 pandemic, Congress has given emergency powers to Duterte in a bid to fast-track crisis response, allocate funds for frontliners and implement stricter containment measures. We are, after all, at a critical juncture where the pandemic has yet to reach
March 26, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles It is only during crises that moral creeds are put into action. We get to discover (at times, unsurprisingly) a person’s actual capacity for selflessness and piety. On normal days, there exists the tendency to put on a mask and do “good deeds”. But it is only in the darkest days that
March 24, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles Yesterday, we commemorated the Liberation of Panay, Guimaras and Romblon. It was on March 18th when the 40th Infantry (“Sunburst”) Division of the United States Army landed on the town of Tigbauan unopposed amid the welcoming smiles of the natives. Pockets of resistance were virtually wiped out when American forces crept towards
March 19, 2020
By Reyshimar Arguelles A large part of the world is locked down or at least in a heightened sense of vigilance as the nCoV-19 pandemic has disrupted daily life almost instantly. Stock markets are tumbling, educational institutions have closed down, and major events have been cancelled, all thanks to a virus that is thought to
March 17, 2020