The week was distinguished by:

-- Watching Metro Manila, set (obviously) in the Philippines. I enjoyed the movie, and particularly liked the twist in the tail. The director is not Filipino, and I worried a little that its "tourist gaze" was set to see Filipinos as thugs and Filipinas as prostitutes. But reviewers from the Philippines seem to approve, so I guess I shouldn't over-think it.

-- Watching Seven Something, a Thai collaboration featuring three movies on the different ages of love. The first, my favourite, explored the blurry line between love and exhibitionism in an era when even the most tender moments have a tendency to get shared. The second took a bitter-sweet look at an attempt to rekindle an old relationship, seven years later, when fame has declined and fat has increased. And the third focuses on a 42-year-old widow, unwittingly drawn towards a much younger guy who has been helping her train for a marathon. The movie achieved much resonance among bloggers, including Indonesians. I'm always impressed by their technical knowledge.

-- Attending a round-table involving our students and postgrads from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The topic: Malaysian Multiculturalism: A Global Model? It was a very genuine, insightful, polite-but-honest conversation.



-- Eating an onde-onde muffin. Only in Southeast Asia...



-- Watching another Ilham Gallery Saturday movie offering. This one was a composite of short movies called Crossroads, depicting the plight of undocumented migrants and stateless persons in Malaysia. These "foreign-currency heros" come from Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Nepal, and Bangladesh, and they live an unenviably precarious and vulnerable life. The suite of stories shines a light not only on their tenacity but also on the venality of the dishonest agents and corrupt policemen who trick and exploit them. It's a very moving compilation, lending a voice to those who are more often silenced than listened to.

-- Taking in, also at the Ilham Gallery, a little exhibition entitled JP Soetardjo Menjawab Semua Soalan (JP Soetardjo Answers All Questions) by Indonesian artist Pius Sigit Kuncoro. This is notable for a) being very endearing; b) featuring cats on a very frequent basis; and c) leaving ambiguous whether its protagonist actually existed at all. As Terence Toh puts it, the exhibition "is a blend of art and storytelling, of history and fiction... 'Fiction is at the forefront, and history is in the background, for this show. Sometimes, fiction is a door into another dimension, inviting us to new experiences'." Is Soetardjo a composite of the old guys the artist liked to hang out with? Or a projection of the kind of old guy we'd all like to have around? Well, we don't know... A thoroughly inventive little exhibition.





-- Revisiting Philippines food at Mabuhay Laguna, Jl Gereja. After Kaldereta pork (a spicy stew with tomatoes, capsicums, and potatoes), steamed rice, and kinilaw (a marinated fish dish with lime, onion, and chillies, a la ceviche), we rounded off with the creamiest leche flan imaginable, and halo-halo, that most exuberant of the Southeast Asian shaved-ice-and-coconut-milk dessert family.

-- Checking back in at the National Art Gallery, which is currently hosting, in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, an exhibition called Escape From the Sea. This features works by Japanese and Southeast Asian artists, and has apparently not been without controversy. My favourites were the huge, wall-mounted chronology of eclectic items depicting the history of Kelantan, and the collection of partially embroidered prints, mapping contemporary style onto pictures of long-dead women.





On a rather different note, Acme now has a branch in Pavilion Elite, which I much prefer to its Troika outlet. This is another good source of leafy food, and I found my chicken fajitas salad quite irreproachable. A nice little wine made from Galician Albario grapes (Torres Pazo das Bruxas, to be precise) made a very pleasant accompaniment, and cherry marzipan tea was a nice way to round off.