VANCOUVEREYE ZINE

VANCOUVER’S PREMIER CULTURAL CONNOISSEUR By Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia “It’s not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts.”   ADLAI STEVENSON Mel Tobias, the consummate culture and arts connoisseur and patron, breathes, lives and personifies the Vancouver’s Filipino-Canadian  arts and cultural life. He was a perennial participant in the Cannes Film Festival in the South of France. He wrote for international publications like Variety and the Philippine Star in Manila. Mel is no longer with us and is now on” the other side.” Mel may no longer be around, but his influence and impact on the promotion of Pinoy content in Fil-Canadian arts and culture in Vancouver are still quite felt by a lot of people he came across. " I owe Mel the success of the Dahong Pilipino Directory (which featured a lot of Tobias articles and writings about the success stories of Pinoys in Lotusland) to Mr. Tobias," proclaims Leo "Jun" C...

"CARDINAL TAGLE DOES A LOT OF THINGS FOR THE HOLY SEE" Archbishop Michael Miller by Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia His Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila recently visited the Catholic faithful of Vancouver. Praising the young performers in a musical before his keynote speech at a Catholic rally held at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Downtown Vancouver, he said  " Isn't it wonderful when it is sung, when it is danced...?," referring to the mini-musical show the young people of Vancouver just performed.  The Cardinal prefers to be called simply Cardinal Chito. For tonight's rally, don't expect Cardinal Chito to be quoting  chapter and verse numbers   of the Holy Bible. . He would rather tell stories and weave the gift of faith and God's love through stories of people he encounters everyday from anywhere in the world. The whole night, Cardinal Chito told stories upon stories of the people he come across in the ...

XFACTOR ISRAEL WINNER ROSE CROONS LOTUSLAND by Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia " Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but playing a poor hand well."   Robert Louis Stevenson When  Rose Fostanes won the XFactor Israel a couple of years ago, she was still a caregiver for an adult client. The country was strict when it comes to having a licence to earn money for foreigners. When she won the singing contest(on TV), she was initially not allowed to earn any money except being a caregiver. In the end, things worked out well for her when the country issued her singing licence. Rose or Osang, just like a lot of Pinoys or people with Pinoy blood simply blessed with the gift of music like Bruno Mars and Apl D Ap, is herself a magical singer. Osang, now 51, ever since she was 3 years old has been singing. She has competed in various amateur singing contests in the Philippines. When she won some amateur singing contests in the Philippines, she brought home th...

RIP:BILLY GRAHAM--PINOYS' DEAR FRIEND by Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia Reverend Billy Graham, passed away at age 99. He is one of the most popular Christian evangelists of all times. He spoke to over 400 million people in over 150 countries in his events worldwide. No one compares closely to his acomplishments as a preacher and evangelist. This is not to include the number of people he touched via the modern-day internet, radio and television. Pinoys consider Billy a great dear friend. Billy declared, "I want to bring the Filipino people closer to Christ." Graham visited the Philippines in 1977 and spoke to over 400,000 Pinoys. In 2006, his son Franklin spoke to over 317,000 Pinoys. Later on Graham's grandson Will spoke to over 97,000 Pinoys in Bicol, a southern Philipines province. Predominantly Catholic, the Philippines and Pinoys looked up to Billy and his relatives for prayers, blessings and guidance. According to Pew Research,  the Philippin...

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CANADIAN by Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia Having lived in Canada for a couple decades, Canada becomes home for me and my family.  You appreciate how lucky you can be living in one of the best places to live in the world. Canada gives you comfort and honor. In return, we have to make Canada proud of us too. You feel welcome here in Canada despite some instances when people notice your colour is different from theirs. Sometimes you have to work doubly harder to prove you deserve to live in this wonderful country who embraces people who have chosen to stay here for good. When people tell me that Canadians contributed the insulin, blackberry, basketball and ice hockey and poutine, it gives me enormous pride and honour. Even if I have not invented anything huge, I love possessing the uniquely Canadian aura of being helpful to other people. I love volunteering in the soup kitchens of Vancouver Eastside. There is nothing embarrassing to be...

URBAN LEGENDS ABOUND by Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia W hen you find out from the internet or in your email that somebody famous passed away, just before you share it on FB or Twitter, check first the accuracy in Urban Legends or scopes.com or Google it. Or, it can be damn embarrassing to say the least. Sometimes if you get sued it will deplete your pocketbook. And it applies to me too. Recently, a famous actor and TV host Hugh Laurie was rumoured dead on a tweat I read. While chatting with a friend in person about recent news, I mentioned to him that Laurie is dead. I told him "Laurie tried a Viagra-like tablet and even shared it with Dr. Phil, the medic on TV." And I told my friend I better check first if this is just a hoax. I googled it on my Smartphone.  Lo and behold, the hoax verifier  websites say that it is not true. I had to say "sorry" to my friend. Just last year some famous people rumoured dead on Snopes.com included Kirk Douglas...