Stirring narratives. Shifting perspectives.
Looking at his evolution, just a couple of years young into a solo career after a departure from his previous band, growing a following on his YouTube and Twitch streams, then ultimately casting a wide net of followers with close to a million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, pocketing hits like “Car Crash” and “pacman”, it goes without saying that eaJ’s musical journey is a product of self-discovery.
As we continue with the tradition for the Hot Damn! Issue, we rounded up men in their finest forms—a collection of emerging and celebrated names—straddling one facet of their beings to the next in flying colors, and now boldly charting new waters with one creative pursuit after another.
For The Hot Damn! Issue, we present ALL men in their finest forms–not only looking their best but also making relevant use of their creative pursuits more so, the platforms that have chosen them, with merits that transcend shape, skin color, background, nationality, industry, and gender identity and expression. Headlining this year's list is model, actor, and now creative entrepreneur David Chua, whose education and evolution as an artist has traversed his life in front of the camera, and now, even behind it as producer, director.
In a freshly-released trailer, award-winning actor Tom Hanks appears in new drama-comedy set for release in 2023. Based on the comical and moving # 1 New York Times bestseller, A Man Called Otto tells the story of Otto Anderson (Hanks), a grumpy widower who is very set in his ways.
For creatives who have long been looking for a device of trouble-free lug, the looks of its surface would be the least of mind. With digitalization dominating each field of work, a small unit of technology with all the features required creates wonders. Rank Magazine spends one month with the OPPO Pad Air upon its release to see where productivity meets the gleam of new technology to see the lengths it could take on day-to-day digital endeavors.
From her early days as a wide-eyed aspirant to her whirlwind romance with national fame, and now in her continuing reign as entertainment and pop culture royalty, there remains to be an incontestable fact that Nadine Lustre is an indomitable force and she is showing no signs of slowing down. An award-winning actress, a musician, a sold-out concert performer, creative visionary and entrepreneur, fashion icon, and even a fan-anointed figure head, while cognizant to the attendant boon, curse, and responsibility of her ascent to the pantheon of entertainment greats, editor Leo Balante writes, heavy is the head that wears the crown, but Nadine Lustre has declared herself completely free from edicts on her person other than hers, and has mastered—no, lived and breathed—the art of being Nadine Lustre.
For what it is and what it represents, “Mula sa Buwan” , in all its splendor and jaw-dropping glory, transcends its very description of a “story of love and defiance”. It is not merely a story of love and loss, but a deep well of narratives that question 'what is' and shows us 'what could be' if all the man-made and socially constructed concepts on which the edifices of judgment and othering are built do not exist. In all its grandiosity and surrounding fan-clamor, “Mula sa Buwan” goes beyond a celebration of the return of theater. It is a declaration and a reminder of the strength and power of the human spirit.
Long before “drag” as an artform and a source of entertainment emerged from the underground scene to global mainstream consciousness, an unassuming but already groundbreaking resto-bar in Malate, O BAR, has long opened its doors to serve as a safe space for the queer community. Sixteen long years later—a few changes in its zip codes, and even with a few other establishments tailing its success, O Bar continues to break through the mold and redefine what a gay bar is and should be, holding itself proud not just as a mecca of talent to some of the most celebrated drag talents in the Philippines, but a heart that continues to pulsate equality, respect, and love for all.
