Hors d'oeuvre + Dr. Horrible + The Guild

And what a fine platter it was. Was I really not in a Mediterranean country?

===

If you haven't heard of Dr. Horrible yet, you're missing out. Hurray for Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris and this musical penned during the WGA strike!

The web series is a great new form for the media/cultural studies scholar to look at. Here's an excellent example: The Guild (also with Felicia Day). Gamers can be too immersed in their WoWorld.

Eurotrip, one year later

Dear Ate Inds,

Remember the budget airlines and the hostels, the art museums and the food? It's been a year. I wonder if I'll ever have an adventure like that again.

Always the pesky travelholic,
E

Proud of wo de didi

My Chinese "little brother" Li successfully defended his memoire in Grenoble. I didn't expect to encourage friends to undertake Internet research, so I was touched by the mention in his acknowledgments.

A change in scenery

Inside the polo club, your view of the world changes. Or should I say, inside the polo club, the world views you differently?

Steady as we go

Tetz and Dan with John Manalo; Maui's head, Bab's hand,
Bobi and his Nikon D40, Jess with his Canon 40D

The Huling Pasada gala premiere at CCP is the first Cinemalaya screening I've ever been to. Reconnected with the Tiny Dinosaur Media people.

I was told the funniest rumor about me that I've heard in a long time. I had a good laugh.

Phrase of the day: "naliligo sa art" (Bobi)

Rizal, masked + An Ideal Husband

near Katipunan/Aurora

Manong Jose, have we let you down?

Unrelated, but feel free to make the connection...

I was wondering why this particular article has been high on the most-emailed list of the NYT. It turns out that it makes perfect common sense.

Thali set + Lead India

roti, rice, pineapple chutney, mixed vegetables korma, red lentils

For a moment, I was back on Brick Lane.

On a related note, be inspired by Lead India. Idol! Media outlets, are you listening? [via Team RP mailing list]

Baby steps + Matt's FAQ

Years from now, I'll be laughing at this first serious (meaning finished with certainty) attempt at watercolor since starting to learn it last month. Yes, that's me, aged five.

My classmate T: "Cute ka pala nung bata ka." Those were the days!

===

I first saw Matt Harding's old video some time ago. Glad he's updated it and that people are still talking about it. His website FAQ is a great read. Case in point:

Why is the world so screwed up?
Men.
How do we fix it?
Women.

Still can't believe a guy said that.

La Paz, faster

Jollibee's new La Paz Batchoy style noodle soup (P28 solo, P25 with value meal) introduces La Paz Batchoy to a generation unfamiliar with Filipino noodle soups. The serving is small, not much bigger than a cup of rice, but the presentation is effective because of the specially designed serving bowl. The requisite slice of egg is there, along with a good amount of chicharon bits. I wouldn't say it's much different from the instant variety taste-wise, but it beats boiling water and waiting for three minutes. One look at it and you will already feel warm, a nice treat for a cool rainy July day.

Media Heroes + An observation :)

Hurray for Robert McChesney, CTW and Indymedia for being named Media Heroes by Reclaim the Media! There must be more new media heroes waiting in the wings. And while you think of a media hero to nominate, scan their reading list of interesting titles.

[via Boing Boing]


In the last couple of weeks, I've received an unusual number of compliments from friends of different genders, supermarket baggers and security personnel. My favorite moment was what the cafeteria server said after he nearly gave me french fries with salad when I asked for half rice and mixed veg: "Sorry, ma'am. Natulala lang sa iyong kagandahan." (Lame excuse? He certainly looked like he won some kind of jackpot when he was preparing the food.) Then I realized that the song from Annie is true: you're never fully dressed without a smile. Don't leave home without it.

Eiga Sai 2008

[Click to view flyer]

Celebrate Philippines-Japan Friendship Month through film.

Shangri-La Plaza Cinema 3, Edsa, Mandaluyong City July 9 to 13, 26 and 27
CCP Dream Theater, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City August 7 to 10 2pm
UP Film Institute, Diliman, Quezon City August 11 to 14 and 16

Screening schedule here

Watercolor postcards

Finally used the blank postcards my Secret Santa gave me last Christmas. Any takers for the striped ones? Email me your postal address and I'll send you one. Good while supplies last (I can still make a few more).

Saturday art stroll

A quick but pleasant walk along the Megamall art corridor.

The Crucible Gallery organized Homage to Malang at the Art Center. I was too fascinated with the on-the-spot still life session by The Saturday Group that I failed to jot down the artworks I liked most. The session had six women artists (or perhaps one or two more), which made me happy. It's not even one-fourth of the total number, but it was a better ratio than the last sitting I saw. There was a lot of bread to paint and to eat, courtesy of The French Baker. Mental note: muffins are better eaten than painted.

Pacing down the hallway, the gallery that sucked me in for all of two seconds in was the big & small art co., which had Froilan Calayag's Here Comes the Black Clouds [sic]. Whimsical and dark. Or maybe if I wasn't in such a hurry, I'd stay longer and say more.

Yesterday's news

Do you still have yesterday's Inquirer? Turn to page A11.

The bad: I reveal my age.
The good: I am still young enough for Youngblood.

I didn't think it would see print, but as it seems, they must have timed it to coincide with the festivals in Europe this week. Not exactly op-ed material, more like to 2bu! or Super, but worth telling anyway. Thanks, PDI!

[update 07/11]
You can read it online in Youngblood and in Global Nation.

Is it time?

It has been two years and one week since I started this blog. In the beginning, it was meant to chronicle my postgraduate journey, but it grew to have a life of its own. Now that my studies are over (for now) and I'm starting a new chapter, I feel that perhaps I can let go. I can un-learn the blogging habit, but only if I want to. Do I? I can always start over, but I know it can never be the same again if I stop now. Let me think about it.

For your mp3 collection, part 17

You can now listen to all the songs without leaving this page. Just click the play button and the media player will automatically move on to the next song and skip over broken links. Check back on the other music posts. Yay!

Bufi:"Homeless Hero"-favela indiedance




Dada Pâte:"Princesse de poche"-in-game princess?

Drip:"To You (Acoustic Demo Mix)"-Pinoy triphop pride

Elvy:"Walk Away"-wistful ramble

Frank Molder:"Orbital Movement"-earth-centric turns




Hafdis Huld:"Tomoko"-don't be that girl

The Heavens:"This Beautiful Machine"-Britrock fun

Jason Cole:"Antarctica"-beautiful serenity

le zero:"can you hear the distant call?"-dancing in the sunlight



Nuuro:"Waiting"-more mature than most



The Wind Whistles:"Man by Name of Denver"-the chorus line

And I am telling you...

I'm not going (to London this year). Perhaps next March for the presentation ceremony, but even that is doubtful. I'm actually relieved with the turn of events because the developments of the past two months would have given me a massive headache if I had to leave. At the same time, it bugs me that I have to break the news to so many people who were expecting me to go and they will be disappointed. But I'm not losing out at all-quite the contrary. Something similar happened years ago, and it turned out to be for the best. I'm still living my dreams. And I am telling you... that I'm still very lucky and I am thankful.

In the Heights OBC

I will admit it: the opinion leader when it comes to soundtracks is my brother. When he loves a song, I start to love it too because he keeps playing it over and over. When I heard that In the Heights won Best Musical in the recent Tonys, I asked him to find me the cast recording. "I've only heard two songs, but I like it already," he said. Latino Rent, he called it. A song with numbers, a character named Benny, many people with dreams. You get the picture.

Composer Lin-Manuel Miranda is reported to have made a Filipino song for Marie-France Arcilla in the reworking of, er, Stephen Schwartz's Working. I think it's exciting news because one, it's in our language, and two, I've always liked Marnie. Yes, since her Ang TV, A Date with Jao Mapa and Twelfth Night days (hindi ko raw sinundan ang career niya, no?).

Ah yes, atchara

I've been making sandwiches for lunch except occasionally when I'm not working and I feel like making pasta. I've been craving for Pret's Mature Cheddar and Chutney sandwich, but since I'm in the Philippines, I can use "Cheddar" (the brand name of pasteurized processed cheese spread--deception, really) and pickles or papaya atchara. Not very appetizing, is it? But I promise it's just as good.

Ah, atchara. Remember high school, girls? You could tell which class was making atchara because the classroom would smell of vinegar, though the work was done in the kitchen. Was it Sir Mitra who sniffed and wrinkled his nose when he came in for class? I remember that Jamie Anne, Anne Marie, Marie Bianca and I (a wonder my first name isn't Bianca) were divided between the atchara lovers and... I don't recall what the other camp was.

The memory of smelling sour can also be sweet.

Transnational transgressions

In Clean (2004), Maggie Cheung is Emily, an unsmiling junkie who changes her ways to be able to see her son. The film begins with so much noise that French subtitles actually helpful. But the camera learns to focus; the overdosing quickly ends. There is no French until 30 minutes into the film. But the film is really less French than a transient, not-wanting-to-be-anchored piece that speaks to the multi-lingual, multi-location, multi-ethnic amongst us. Cheung's character becomes less of a bisexual heroin apologist than a woman with another shot at a better life, the opposite of the dead end she started out with (of which the shot of the lone car facing the oil refinery was a haunting symbol). Nick Nolte as a grandfather plays it effectively low-key. The score is great, but the singing is something else. Cheung won Best Actress at Cannes for this film, which was directed by her ex-husband Oliver Assayas. Better collaborators than husband-and-wife, no?

[image from outnow.ch]

Seen and heard #5

Anyone bother to translate from Nihongo?

I found this and these funny, too.

Thanks to the people over at Sandemans New Europe tours, especially those from Berlin and Amsterdam, for linking to the blog. (Paris and London, you ought to do the same.) I'm sure to take the free walking tour if I go to Edinburgh and Munich. Hey, I'm pretty nice when giving tips!

France loves our Dante. [via Variety]

Return of the gamer girls

Initially, I wanted to play a cute MMORPG that's combat-oriented but not violently scary. But because the game clients of my first two choices wouldn't download, I ended up in Perfect World.




These are my girls--Rain, Rina, Rian and Rani--as they appeared at birth (level 1) last month. Funny that even in a world where you can be anybody you want to be, I'd still want to look like myself (I tried, guess which one). But I went wild with the others, just for kicks.

My mom saw me playing and exclaimed "Gusto ko rin niyan!" (I want that, too!) She's a Yu Mang names huntrees (not a typo) with the biggest physics-defying hammer you've ever seen. Then we couldn't find the flying hotkey so I suggested that she start over (only to find the hotkey later). She named her second character Ulster, after the Uni of Ulster, which is printed on our mousepad. I get stressed watching her play because I end up reprimanding her.

Two things are not so perfect about PW: one, you're always called young man even if your character is female, and two, the camera control is tricky. There ought to be a camera lock somewhere. Other than those two, is it really a perfect world? I don't think that's possible.

Anthology shoes

Saw anthology's lovely ballet flats at The Ramp and sighed. I adore them but I know that I can wear out the sole in a day (trust me, it's happened) and my budget for this type of shoe is a third of the P1495 retail price. Still, their men's collection coming out end-July is something to watch out for.

Spark and Style is a Bangkok-based online store "brought to you by four friends from Ateneo". Reasonable prices, but the range from women is limited at the moment. More dresses, please!

Another CC

It won't make you feel good.

I hate to say this, but the Copenhagen Consensus has a point. Are economists the right people to ask about which problems of the world we need to solve first? There are economists working in every field who understand the issue, so I would say yes. In an ideal world, there would be no need for priorities. The real world being a different story, we have a duty to this generation as much as to the next.

Flash flood Frank

our backyard, the street, and the sparrows taking refuge on the bathroom window

Nonstop rain all Sunday long. There was no electricity when I woke up. The creek overflowed and there was water on the highway, in the village, on our street, and in our backyard. My dad, wearing a worn-out Collezione shirt he bought in 1975 (I counted three holes) said, "parang masarap mag-halohalo". I seconded the motion and we went to Chowking.

I will be blogging daily again. Can't help it. Besides, even when I blog every other day, I have twice the content, so what's the point?

French eyes + Chinese tummies

I was joking with my mom that taking half a day off to watch the French film fest was pagbubulakbol (playing hooky). "It's not pagbubulakbol," she corrected me. "It's intellectual development."

I wanted to see the musical film Les Chansons d'Amour, but it was pulled out of the festival. Fortunately, there was enough satisfactory music-making in Qui m'aime me suive (If you love me, follow me), a title I did not find apt for a film about a doctor who wanted to be a rock musician. I liked the casting and the lighting, which made me want to paint the scenes. The POV of one of the supporting characters is pas mal. The predictable ending is just like a certain Hollywood movie. But the realism and the film's message--that you can't please everyone--is sobering.

Ma preferred Ah! Si j'etais riche (If I were a rich man). The wife of the salon product salesman protagonist looks like Gillian Anderson, especially evident as the trailer of The X Files: I Want to Believe was shown before the movie started. Throw in a philandering boss, a pretty prostitute, a lottery ticket, and some old salesmen and you've got--no, not a PCSO-funded tearjerker--a comedy which was sometimes crude, though not entirely brainless (but does not stimulate intellectual development, either). It opens with a bird's eye view of Paris and a lively orchestral score, probably a reference to Fiddler on the Roof, otherwise not quite fitting.

Father's Day at King Bee, a fairly new but very popular Chinese restaurant between Masinag intersection and the Kingsville Marcos Highway gate.

Solidarity with ma's toothache: congee and lobster roll at Mongkok, Shangri-La Mall.

History of Art, Art in History@the museum, DLSU-Manila

Twelve artists, mostly from the later decades of the 20th century, are featured in this exhibit, which combines older work with more recent pieces representing the progression of Philippine art. Informative as it is important, Alice Guillermo looks at the importance of art not just for beauty's sake but art as a chronicle of the social ferment of recent decades.

Most striking to me are Neil Doloricon's rubber cuts and wood cuts, Edgar Talusan Fernandez's Martsa ng Bayan Para sa Kalayaan, Jose Tence Ruiz's Mga Alamat ng Manananggal. His Kompromiso: Mona and Kompromiso: Lisa are in woefully delicate physical condition for works just 15 years old.

The museum itself as an exhibition space is ideal as a gallery: climate-controlled and in no way cramped. It also houses the Wili and Doreen Fernandez Art Collection, 416 pieces which ought to be Ateneo's. Wouldn't the Fernandezes be similarly biased if they were alive?

until August 22

Jeans treated against rain and mud + The trouble with freelancing

And in case it doesn't rain during Roskilde Festival this year, you can still wear it the 358 other days of the year. I wouldn't pay DKK1,199 (~P11,000) for a pair of jeans. I haven't even bought jeans over P1,000 for years. But if I were to buy expensive jeans anyway, this would have to be it. Roskilde Festival-branded Diesel jeans--subtly hip classy rocker chic.

[via Springwise]

What's the worst thing about being a freelancer? Having no rights. I just did a full week's work (part-time but 40 hours cumulative) only to find that I will not get paid because the project was finished and I was not told about it (don't blame me--I reported regularly). Hmph.

Para sa kaarawan ni Jose

Tayo na! [via Team RP]

Shall We Kiss?:

Bien sûr! Just kidding. Un baiser s'il vous plait was the opening film of the (free) French film festival at Shangri-La Mall cinema, part of the annual French Spring in Manila. The festival features love stories that capture the modern-day practicalities of love (and a little of its magic). For the first time, I went into the cinema thrice in a day--a great way to spend the entire afternoon. The films I saw, Changement d'adresse, Je crois que je l'aime, and Ma Vie en l'Air transported me to the streets of Paris and kept me thinking that they could be true stories.

You have until June 22 to go on your own French movie marathon. I'm itching to do it again myself. Check out alliance.ph for schedules. Bisous!

GIF giving

Warning: makulit post.


Too much fun with my camera and gickr.com. People I can count on to pose: my cousins. We're still shy at this point. How fun it would be if we were complete and everybody understood why the camera keeps flashing!

Above: Would your mom do this in the CR of her office? (It was a Saturday, but still...)
Below: Caught in the act!

Seen and heard #4

There's always something worth talking about at SM Megamall.


Corona, Agua Fresca or Obama? Near the cashier in Mexicali.


Inanimate low-maintenance pooches so you cute you cannot squeeze them. Air pets, Toy Kingdom.

Why they blog + Viva remix culture!

Two of my favorite people who blog and write for the dailies weighed in on why they blog yesterday in their respective broadsheets: Gibbs Cadiz in PDI and Jim Paredes in Philstar.

Total Recut has everything to get you started on creating content. Or is it re-creating? Appropriating? It's been done before on YouTube, you say. But there's still so much more you can do. Here's the inspiration and here's the wish list. Go!

Ice cream Sundays + podCrafting

The simple joys of my Sunday routine. After doing the groceries with ma in the supermarket, we have lunch. And then, before going home, we buy P5 ice cream from the mall. That's about 6 pence for a small scoop and a wafer cone. Not-free tryvertising from Nestle and Selecta, which have their freezers back-to-back. For less than the local price of gelato, you can have a taste of each of the six flavors of the two brands. Now that's cool.

Because I love Common Craft and dream of podcasting:

Dailywikimail + WED 2008

What happens when you get a topic, plug it into Wikipedia and have it sent to yourself by email once a day? This is what you get.

Today is World Environment Day, with the celebrations centered in Wellington, New Zealand. The UN Environment Programme has a WED Alphabet and a number of personalities endorsing the cause, including these two:

Click on the images to see what they're doing to cut down on C0₂ emissions.

There's a term for it + handwriting comic

I've got it. And no, it's not schaudenfreude, but it is such a relief to know that I'm not alone.

This blog comic based on danah boyd's post about writing applies to me, too. [via apophenia]

That looks familiar + reading list + string theory idol

Found a couple of pages with my photos in the European Young Journalist Award website. One is on the human towers and the other is on being an Erasmus Mundus Journalism student. Although I'm not credited in the text, I'm credited in the source code. Fine by me.

Sanaz Raji of SOAS made a top 10 list of books with the migration/identity theme, leaning towards the Iranian diaspora.

Brian Greene looks like a young Bob Dylan, but when he talks, he is nothing like Bob Dylan. He's been on the Colbert Report twice. See the clips on the World Science Festival blog. From his TED talk alone, he became my string theory idol.