VANCOUVEREYE ZINE

THOSE WERE THE DAYS by Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia As Neil Diamond would sing it, "LA's fine but it ain't home; NY is home but it ain't mine no more." Vancouver is fine but it's almost home; Bacood is truly home but it ain't mine no more. Bacood, Sta Mesa Manila.   This used to be my playground. Once upon a time you are young and thought that you are indestructible and forever young. Then you sang with fervor "Once upon a time there was a tavern where we used to raise a glass or two. Remember how we laughed away the hours. And dreamed of all the great things we would do. Those were the days my friend we thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day. We'd live the life we choose We'd fight and never lose For we were young and sure to have our way.." (Mary Hopkin)  ABBA's Dancing Queen was burning the airwaves then. Our Congressman Gerry Espina found home here too. The Crispa...

FROM MANILA TO BARCELONA WITH LOVE By Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia “You hit a homerun not by chance but through preparation.”    Roger Maris ZIP Mercado De Guzman   is now living and studying in Barcelona Spain. Not content with his already deep and wide academic achievements, Zip is currently taking Postgraduate studies at Conservatori Liceu in Spain, majoring in Operas. Just like millennials who are no longer happy with their undergraduate diplomas and take up further studies, Zip does it for a different reason though. He wants to be the #FILIPINO Baritone “Numero Uno.” Zip , the Philippines’ up and coming, debonair Baritone par excellence has won the First Prize of the 2016 and 2017 American Protégé International Vocal Competition at the Carnegie Hall( Weill) in New York City.   “ Zip has the ‘it’ factor in the classical opera genre,” quips Cliff Belgica of the classy Company Tribu Productions. “ Zip is not only a baritone ...

60 IS THE NEW 40 Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia “ My body is going to be 62 this year,” declares Grandmaster Datu Shishir Inocalla, 9 th degree Grandmaster of Arnis Maharlika , a school and society for Filipino Martial Arts. Shishir continues, “My heart is 26 and my spirit is 266th on my next birthday.” Shishir does not look his age. There are 40 year olds who even look older than him. What is his secret? Not only is he a grandmaster martial arts practitioner and mentor, he also believes in a healthy mind and spirit in a strong and healthy body. He smiles a lot. Smiling is one of the most potent natural medicine in the world. He just does not talk about eating right, he practices what he preaches. He is 100% vegan. Grandmaster Shishir  won the light heavyweight martial arts championship held in Ontario, Canada in 1973. He was featured in the Blackbelt  Magazine in North America. Inocalla was  bestowed  grandmaster by the Grandmaster S...

Targeting 1000 FEASTS By Tom Choy Vancouver, British Columbia “Never focus on your problems. Focus on your possibilities. The problems will pull you down. The possibilities will push you up.” Bo Sanchez Bo Sanchez, a Filipino lay evangelist, author, and entrepreneur, is looking to hold simultaneously 1,000 feasts worldwide in the future.  They do over 200 now. A feast is a weekly prayer and fellowship meeting held once a month among  their members. Most of these Bo Sanchez-led and inspired feasts (called Kerygma feasts) fill up to capacity huge and small halls including the PICC in the Philippines and the Broadway Church and St. Mary’s basement hall  in Vancouver.  Sanchez was awarded Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines in 2006. He won the Serviam Award, the highest award a lay Catholic may receive in 2007. On his spat with the Catholic Church, Bo says in his Facebook post, “By the way, just so people don’t get me wrong, ...

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...