All Stories

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Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro in dark suits at The Irishman premiere in Hollywood

‘The Irishman’ Cometh: Robert De Niro & Al Pacino star in the last great mob epic

Martin Scorsese’s latest film traces the rise and fall of wiseguys and made men in a subtler, more sober, and contemplative manner.

By Igan D'Bayan · November 10, 2019
Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in dark suits in a moody promotional still from The Irishman

Robert De Niro & Al Pacino: An afternoon with the kings of New York

First of two parts: an afternoon in New York with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, the kings of New York on Scorsese, mortality and the last great mob epic.

By Igan D'Bayan · October 13, 2019
Dr. Jaime Laya stands between a blue electric typewriter and a stack of art books, in a library of carved santos and floor-to-ceiling shelves

How a bullfrog keeps Jaime Laya awake when it rains

Dr. Jaime Laya on the frogs he had shipped in from the Candaba swamp, the somber santos and vintage narra indoors, and the first sentence he labors over.

By Igan D'Bayan · August 31, 2019
Dr. Jaime Laya sits in the carved narra doorway of his library, bookshelves and santos behind him, a brass gramophone horn and a caned chair beside him

If Filipiniana is a flower, then Jaime Laya is a gardener

A morning in Jaime Laya’s Quezon City compound: a bahay kubo built without nails, barandilyas off a demolished house, books stacked as a shelter.

By Igan D'Bayan · August 31, 2019
Jun and Menchu Lopez beside a home coffee bar built like a Starbucks counter, with a life-size Predator figure standing guard at the right

At home with Jun & Menchu Lopez: Where every wall is a door and the Force is always brewing

A house tour where every wall turns out to be a door, the coffee is always brewing, and the Force runs through a home in a galaxy not so far away.

By Igan D'Bayan · August 10, 2019
Martin Honasan and Barbie Almalbis on a sofa in a warm-lit room, he looking through a large sketchpad, she playing a semi-hollow electric guitar, guitars hanging on the wall behind

At home with Martin Honasan & Barbie Almalbis: Cradle of art, love & a cat named after Vernie Varga

A house tour with Martin Honasan and Barbie Almalbis: a cradle of art and love, boxes of keepsakes nobody throws out, and a cat named after Vernie Varga.

By Igan D'Bayan · July 13, 2019
Raul Francisco and Joanna Preysler-Francisco sit close on a mustard sofa holding their brown dachshund, a framed portrait and gilded lamp behind them

Raul Francisco & Joanna Preysler-Francisco: Dark, seductive art in the house of love

A Parisian dream in the middle of manic Metro Manila: the Franciscos’ art-filled flat, and the love story beneath the chiaroscuro.

By Igan D'Bayan · May 4, 2019
Top-down view of Mark Justiniani’s glass and steel installation Island Weather, featuring lighted infinite mirrors and geometric structural shapes resembling islands

Island of souls

Mark Justiniani and curator Tessa Maria Guazon on Island Weather, the glass-and-steel archipelago built for the 58th Venice Art Biennale.

By Igan D'Bayan · April 15, 2019
Fr. Jason Dy standing inside the Jesuit Residence chapel in front of his mobile installation Propesiya at Katuparan

Fr. Jason Dy: The Parable of Dead birds & The red umbrella

Jesuit priest and Ateneo professor Fr. Jason Dy discusses community art, walking Intramuros with a red umbrella, and his custom batik polo shirts.

By Igan D'Bayan · April 8, 2019
Bigboy Cheng in a black hoodie holds a finger to his lips in front of a framed portrait of himself defaced with red spray paint

Bigboy Cheng: At home with the crown prince of Fresh

A house tour with the crown prince of Secret Fresh, where sneakers, designer toys and Filipino contemporary art end up sharing the very same shelves.

By Igan D'Bayan · March 30, 2019
Pepe Smith onstage in a plaid shirt with a white Les Paul, two bandmates and a Hartke bass stack behind him in the dark

Ang himig ni Pepe Smith

A farewell to Joey ‘Pepe’ Smith, father of Pinoy rock: Juan de la Cruz Band, the Jingle years, a shared film set, and the songs too hard to play now.

By Igan D'Bayan · February 3, 2019
Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker in a dark blazer over a charcoal polo, hands on hips with a wry half-smile, lit against a grey studio backdrop

Charlie Brooker: On designing dystopia

The Black Mirror creator on robot dogs, dark timelines, and holding an Emmy like ‘a medieval soldier clutching the severed head of an enemy.’

By Igan D'Bayan · January 5, 2019