In your neighborhood

These are places close to the house, but I only saw them recently.

A building on Peerless Street, off Bath Street. The colors gradually change from bottom up. But it's hidden away and nobody can see. Too bad, since the building probably consumes a lot of energy for nothing.

Cairo Studios on Nile Street. I think that's funny! Sweet as Candy is Jamie Oliver's holding company. I still haven't seen him, though.

Will be on blog leave this weekend. Off to a seaside town for a visit to a host couple.

Another way to learn languages

Try Mango to learn Spanish, French, Italian, German, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Greek.

This is my 500th post. Woohoo!

Tuesday talks: Seneca

As is usual in the house, there is an after-dinner talk given by an expert on Tuesday night. This term, the first one is by a classicist, on the life of philosopher Seneca the Younger. We enjoyed reading the Stoic's quotes. Here are some of them:

A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.

A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.

As long as you live, keep learning how to live.

As was his language so was his life.

He that does good to another does good also to himself.

I don't consider myself bald, I'm just taller than my hair.

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.

It is pleasant at times to play the madman.

Life, if well lived, is long enough.

The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.

We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.

Last few days + Gallery News

Our group art show Efflor:Essence is only until the 27th at Renaissance Gallery, SM Megamall. Come and have a look.We were mentioned in yesterday's Philippine Star. I am thrilled that there was also a photo of one of my pieces there.

A new way of listening

Am I a year late or what? Musicovery is often compared to Pandora. It's accessible from anywhere, and has a non-linear approach to song recommendations, so you can personalize it according to your liking.

Speaking of Pandora, it's been several months since I last tried to access it, and it worked. The interface has changed a bit, but my stations are intact.

Listening regularly to new indie music has tweaked my taste. Though I'm not averse to mainstream, I feel shortchanged when stations only offer artists signed to the big transnational conglomerates. Either that or all this globalisation readings are affecting me. Agh. How can I just enjoy music now?

Let's Play

Remember flickrvision? Now there's Blogger Play.

7km in a gorilla suit

No, I didn't do it. But these guys did! It's the Great Gorilla Run for the benefit of the 700 mountain gorillas left in the wild. Most of them really put effort into dressing up and accessorizing their inner/outer ape with tutus, swords, viking helmets, bikinis, top hats, giant bananas, gold lamé, Borat swimsuits, Union Jacks, umbrellas, and even a baby pram (with a baby). They posed for photographs, It was fun for the passersby as well.

OneWebDay

It's OneWebDay. Celebrate online life. Because the Web has changed your world.

Remember when we all had watercolor sets?

10 300gsm cold pressed sheets
16 half pans
3 tubes
#3 brush
HB pencil
sharpener
kneaded putty rubber

Teaching yourself watercolor. It's not as simple as it was back in preschool.

The Mayor's Thames Festival: Night

The Illuminated Night Carnival has something that Notting Hill doesn't: lanterns! The Paraiso School of Samba does a smaller-scale repeat of their Notting Hill performance.

The Fireworks over the river were beautiful, but it made me think of the Mayor's environmental policy.

Last weekend's photos are here.

The Mayor's Thames Festival: Day

Everybody loves a good festival. The Mayor's Thames Festival was an eclectic mix of world music, world food and world performances. Yeah, London is a world city and let's celebrate.

As if Open House wasn't exciting enough, the Thames Festival happened on the same weekend.

The Feast on the Bridge was crazy. Sand, turf, sofas, Victrolas an Indian tent, candelabra on a long table, hay, a gingerbread house, cart of pumpkins, and three colorful musician playing Amy Winehouse's "Rehab".

All over the riverside were musicians from all over the world and stalls selling everything from the usual organic food to Tibetan t-shirts.

One weekend, 600 possibilities

London Open House gave us a chance to enter buildings that are normally closed to the public. Here's all I had time for.

Bank of England

• waiting time: 90 minutes


• tour given: yes


• in brief: what you'd expect from a mansion, not a bank

City Hall

• waiting time: around 15 minutes


• tour given: no


• in brief: Mayor Ken Livingstone calls it a "glass testicle" Norman Foster's unconventional design isn't as impressive as the Reichstag, but has impressive views

Guildhall Art Gallery

• waiting time: none


• tour given: yes


• waiting time: none


• in brief: Great stories and an interesting ampitheatre

Apothecaries Hall:

• waiting time: none


• tour given: none


• in brief: not large, but still very Hogwartsian

Middle Temple Hall

• waiting time: 35 minutes


• tour given: no


• in brief: lovely hall with a new cloakroom

HQS Wellington

• waiting time: about 30 minutes


• tour given: yes


• in brief: excellent stories above the only floating livery hall

Guildhall itself was open and three tours given by London guides started from there. I took the Alleyways West tour that winded down to Blackfriars.

...doesn't exist

At times too witty for its own good, An Ideal Husband(1999) is funny, more smart-aleck than smart, replete with one-liners you wish you could use in real life. With Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver and Cate Blanchett. Rupert Everett is superb, thoroughly upstaging Jeremy Northam in the title role.

Geffrye Museum

Going to the Geffrye Museum felt like trespassing. For a few minutes, the gardens were my own secret gardens, with the carpet of fallen leaves making them look even more untouched. The spell was broken when other people came, but it must have looked funny, the way I moved about so carefully when I was alone.

Once almhouses (homes for the elderly poor) founded in 1714 from a bequest from Sir Robert Geffrye, the museum features rooms modelled after the interiors of houses of "the middling sort" from the 17th century onwards. The interactive displays are interesting and the reading rooms are really nice places for reading.

Greenwich

The March girls (not Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth but SiJin, Miho, Momoko and myself, by virtue of birth month) trooped to Maritime Greenwich by DLR, passing by the Manhattan-like Canary Wharf.

With the Cutty Sark all covered up, we first took to the Pepys building of the Old Royal Naval College for our fill of tourist brochures. Then we passed through the Grand Square of what is now the University of Greenwich.

We went to admire the late 18th century Chapel with the most exquisite ceiling, then crossed over to the Painted Hall, the ceilings and walls of which took 19 years to complete.

Then we stepped into the Queen's House, now a repository of art. A simple lunch at Paul cafe at National Maritime Museum followed, calling for a bit of sunning at Greenwich Park while enjoying the view.

The short hike up to the Royal Observatory rewarded us with nice views and allowed us to straddle the meridian of the world and set our watches to Greenwich Mean Time.

Passing through the town, we took the Foot Tunnel to Island Gardens for another view.