First glance impression

February is supposedly the romantic month, the "motel" month in the Philippines. Over in Canada, it was not surprising to read the published report of Harlequin Romance Department. For the question — "What impresses men and women at first glance?", here are the results:

• 75 percent of Canadian women are more attracted to a man’s wit than his appearance.

• 60 percent of Canadian men say beauty before brains.

This means that men are attracted to what they see while women to what they hear. However, in Canada, financial status proved the least enticing characteristic in an initial encounter. I wonder if the latter is the same with Filipino social climbers, beauty queens, starlets and studlets because being attracted to somebody rich, powerful and prestigious family name work wonders in the Philippines.

The other findings are equally fascinating:

• Nearly 6 percent of Canadians interviewed admitted to lying about their job or finances to impress, while 5 percent lied about their marital status.

• At least once, 22 percent of Canadian men and 6.5 percent of Canadian women have spent the night on a first date. The highest provincial average is in Quebec (excellent place for over-active men), followed by Alberta and British Columbia.

Surrey is Vancouver’s answer to Daly City in California, near San Francisco and San Jose because the city is populated by many Filipino families. In B.C., Richmond City after Surrey is the second favorite residence of Filipinos. Previously dominated by the Chinese community or South Asian ancestry, the Asian community which include Filipinos, now account for almost 60 percent of the population.

Richmond has been associated with longevity or long life. Statistics Canada claim that people in Richmond have the lowest smoking and obesity rates in Canada and live an average of 81.2 years, almost three years longer than the national average.

March is motivation month in Vancouver as exceptional leaders congregate in the city for "The Power Within — A Passion for Life" conference arranged by Investors Group. The event is on March 10 at the General Motors Place. The leaders who will be present include former US President Bill Clinton, Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, Freakonomics author Stephen Dubner, multimedia entertainment mogul Peter Guber and former IBM Vice President responsible for a global division Chuck Martin are some of the big time speakers.

There is a month-long celebration of the arts in Victoria, in recognition of Victoria as a cultural capital of Canada. Their events in visual and media, musical arts, theater and dance are not only varied but more provocative than those in Vancouver.

One of the highlights was "Patriot In Search Of A Country," presented by Puente Theater Society. It is the one-woman show of mezzo-soprano Grace Chan. She presented in drama form her fascinating life from her childhood in the Philippines to adulthood in Canada where she "found" her voice. The play was spiced with humor, music, operatic arias, anecdotes and inspiring stories about life and family, growing up, searching for identity and finally finding a medium of self-expression in Canada.

The run of the show was cut short because Chan had to leave for Stradford where she will immediately rehearse for her roles in "South Pacific" and "Oliver". One must be an exceptional artist to be invited to perform at the Stradford Festival of Canada.

The Stradford Festival is not for the giggling singing idols, not for the likes of Madonna, Beyonce and the King Kong clientele. It is for the discriminating who are drawn to a small town in Southwestern Ontario together with over 700,000 people. They are there to see, to experience the world’s leading theatrical companies perform a repertoire of plays from Shakespeare, Moliere and Chekhov to spectacular musicals to the latest works by contemporary Canadian playwrights. Stradford gave some respectability to Canadian actor Keanu Reeves when he performed "Hamlet" and got commendable reviews. Having proven to himself that he can do classical theater he then moved on to commercial ventures to make money.

Stradford Festival celebrated its 50th year in year 2002. It continues its adventurous voyage and a future of history-making accomplishments.