Are you nodding, ladies?

Eat, Pray, Love. C-c-c0mmit? by Tweet Sering

Read this on the flight back to Manila. I so agree.

See you all at the opening tomorrow!

Reads

I both these two books in May for two reasons:
1. critical acclaim
2. discounted price


I found Miguel Syjuco's Ilustrado a fun read, with its share of laugh-out-loud moments. I brought it with me to Shanghai and it helped speed up the waiting time at the airport and while in the queue for pavilions at the World Expo. I set about listing the unusual words Syjuco sprinkled into the text, but they ran out early on. The book has an amazing beginning, a somewhat lackluster middle and a good ending. Anybody who has lived in the Philippines will be able to picture it as an interesting film. Having the photo of the author (whose name his protagonist shares) on the back cover makes it easy to visualize.


I felt I needed a bit of magic realism in my life.

A Hundred Years of Solitude is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's epic novel about the Buendia family. The family tree is essential. I do wish they had an updated version of it after every chapter, to prevent spoilers from looking at the complete one. I'm not yet through with the book, but I should get there soon. I'm taking it with me to Busan today.

Burnham Park

I don't think Burnham Park is nice anymore. It's too crowded.

This seems to be the one of the city's best known brands: Clean Comfort Rooms.

Good Shepherd Convent garden

Good Shepherd Convent is walking distance from Mines View Park. I appreciated the contrast between the two places. Good Shepherd is known for its food items produced at its Mountain Maid training center. I got myself a container of Alfajor, upon the recommendation of a friend. If you've never tried it, it's worth a taste. That sounds wrong. If you've never tasted it, it's worth a try.

The past: AWOL for a few days.
The present: the blog lags three months behind my real life.
The future: posting less regularly.

I do think of you, dear reader. I'll be here when I can.

Para sa lahat ng nagtiyatiyaga para sa kanilang sining

Watch until the end.
[via Digital Buzz Blog]

Tourist trap: Mines View Park

I no longer understand why people still visit Mines View Park in Baguio, the country's summer capital. The park is full of vendors and people charging you for taking photos with ponies, dogs and indigenous people in costume (I'll spare you those). The view is no longer breathtaking (unless you ran up the steps). It made me very sad.

Words

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

What's the word? The many definitions of common words.

[via Radiolab]

Seen in Wallpaper September 2010: the old Cebu Pacific cabin crew uniform

In Wallpaper's "cheekiest issue yet", the old Cebu Pacific flight attendant uniform is among the female crew uniforms being modeled from a uniform collection. The current uniform by Bench doesn't stand a chance.

The blog equivalent of the drunken text in the middle of the night (except half-drunk and aware I shouldn't post this)

I suck as an _____ ____________.
I now have a renewed appreciation for you.
I think of you every time I go to an _____, which is pretty often.
I miss you.
But I don't want you back.

Can you spare five minutes for an Italian romance?

It's an ad, yes, but a beautiful one.

And oh, my work is starting to creep in on the way I write post titles. Yaiks.

"Back so soon?" you ask. Yes and no. There's no way to be sure.

Counterpoint

There is way too much work than I can handle, so you'll have to excuse me until I recover from the load (can't say whether it will take longer than a week or two).

We have another show coming up. See you on August 31 at The Crucible Gallery, SM Megamall.

Design a Poster, Win a Trip to TEDxChange

And because Manila Design Week starts today, here's a design competition for the graphic artists out there: GOOD magazine's poster contest.

Stawberry fields

Everything is real. Except for this.

Benguet State University runs this souvenir and food production center in La Trinidad Valley. There's strawberry picking and strawberry ice cream. I opted for the latter.

BenCab Museum: a museum with a view

Just as impressive as the art on view is the setting.

National Artist's residence

Weird Wednesday

Today started terribly and ended terribly. I was supposed to work from home but the DSL connection was down. My call to PLDT was so important to them that they put me on hold for 20 minutes before I could talk to a customer service representative.

I ended up working at a cafe because I needed wi-fi. I spent the equivalent of my day's salary in the 10.5 hours I was there because I dare not commute with a laptop.

Why so long? It rained heavily in the afternoon, causing massive traffic jams that lasted until late. Three kilometers took us nearly an hour, and that was already because we went off-road.

"See Abs, life is never fair," said my brother. And he was right. People were walking along the highway because they could not get a ride.

"I've never been as happy to see X-Factor," said my brother about one of the shady clubs on our way home. "I can't wait to get to Nevada (the next shady club)."

"There are stars!" he remarked when we got home. "The rain was there to piss everyone off." And piss everyone off, it did.

But the Internet was restored, I did a fair amount of work and we are all safe and dry. It's just another weird Wednesday.

BenCab Museum: a preview

BenCab Museum is well outside Baguio City proper, but it is easy to get to via public transport. The Km 6 Asin Road jeeps from the police station stops a hundred meters from the museum entrance. If the driver is nice, he will take you all the way there.

I didn't take many photos of the art and wasn't diligent about titles and artists. You have to see the pieces (and if you're lucky, the artist) for yourself.

Bawal ang manyak at bawal umutot!