Friday, September 26, 2014

Japanese Occupation Money

I found some samples of some Filipino Japanese Occupation Money in an antique store. It's interesting how the style mimics the US Dollar of the times. After the Japanese took over the Philippines in 1941, they brought hundreds of propaganda experts to "asianize" the population through theater, movies, radio and newspapers. The picture on the right hand side of the note is of the monument to Jose Rizal, a Pinoy patriot. The idea was that the Filipinos would reject western influence and embrace "The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." In other words, the United States of Japan, which included every Asian country from China in the north to Indonesia in the south, and ALL of the countries in between.
As inflation grew worse during the war years, the Japanese simply printed more money when they needed it. It became utterly worthless, yet they forced it on the populance. The Filipinos refered to these banknotes as "Mickey Mouse Money."

Monday, April 21, 2014

Easter in Manila 2014

Just a nice picture of my mother-in-law, taken by my nephew, Kong. She in her late 80s and as beautiful as ever. Some of you may already know that she was my inspiration for Imang in The Yellow Bar. We don't have any pictures of her as a child in WW2, but you can click here to see her as a young lady.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Now Available! ARTS DECO






A dark little comedy set in America’s Bicentennial year: Art Silver loves his bimbo actress wife, Kitty, which is why he consents to rent a penthouse apartment in the heart of old Hollywood while their home in the suburbs is being built. Large, glamorous and with a storied history, the place seems to be the perfect spot to for their tenth anniversary party. That is, until Kitty hosts a seance-gone-wrong and inadvertently opens a portal to the netherworld. Now long-dead celebrities are walking the halls. Far from being scary, Art finds that live-in spooks come with some amazing benefits. But is it too much of a good thing? And what's the ghost of JFK doing here with his wife behind closed doors?

Ghosts. Hollywood. 1976. What's not to love?


(And it's only 99 cents!)

NOTE: Contains adult themes. Not too graphic but a very different story from The Yellow Bar. To preview on Amazon, click here.