Back to work

Sure, let's use a generic blog post title from time to time. It's easier for me. Plus it's postmodern practice to have a title totally unrelated to the content.

Now that everything's going back to the weekday-work norm, I should be blogging regularly again. But we'll miss the holiday food. And no regrets. Some can afford weight gain after all.

Food photos from mimimayhem's holidays, to give Mr. Scrooge an idea of what he's missing.

We don't have Thanksgiving, but with chicken like this, who cares?

A snowman made of oranges perched in salad. Genius.

Burgers with grilled patties with Worcestershire sauce with love. A bite is full lunch enough.

Yours truly, wearing some ugly watch, carving out stars from potatoes ...

One for Obama country!

Bacon in vegetable = a kid's dream.

Happy and back to work. #

Angles of the Manila Cathedral

For the past couple of months, I've been spending an awful lot of time in Intramuros. The walled city, aside from its thick history, is also the seat of important government offices that run the country. There's COMELEC, the star (infamous or otherwise) of every national elections, and the Bureau of Immigration, where I've been hanging and playing the familiar bureaucratic waiting game in the 4th floor. I'm quite lucky, I guess, now that the building has been redesigned and renovated, with professional spaces and 21st century equipment. It's what the contemporary government agency should look and feel like.

Despite the 3-hour collective travel time daily, I find going to Intramuros for field work instead of reporting in the office preferable. And the main reason has got to be because the Manila Cathedral, less known as the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, is a few-yards walk from the Bureau. What's so fascinating about it is how much it attracts foreign tourists and local visitors such as moi not only by its history but by its imposing structure. I, for one, love that there's something new I discover about it everyday - a hidden statue, an intricate carving on wood, a Latin aspiration.

As memento of probably my last official work day in Intramuros, I took several photos of the Cathedral, and some vain attempts to translate some inscriptions into English.


Flags lined up by its curtilage marking the liturgical season of Advent.

Tibi cordi tuo immaculato concredimus nos ac consecramus, or roughly, "To your immaculate heart we commit and dedicate" written at the facade. Okay, so I'm missing a pronoun.

The lovely belen or nativity scene at the side.

An almost-exact copy of Michelangelo's Pieta in one of the Basilica's side chapels.

Praying by the foot of this life-sized statue of St. Peter as Pope holding the keys to the kingdom

of Heaven is most inspiring.

A verified copy of the original Our Lady of Guadalupe in one side chapel.

A Latin phrase in a mosaic I gave up trying to translate. I think it's an address, something like, "You, my beloved, shall be mindful of your words foretold by the apostles."

The grand pipe organ played by international masters through the years.

The main altar with the image of the Immaculate Conception atop the tabernacle adorned with beautifully-arranged, fresh poinsettias.

A dome reaching out to the heavens, with stained glass windows unseen by human eyes dedicated to God alone. #

Woods revisited

The point in my last post about the Tiger Woods controversy was, in a word, hypocrisy. While today's mediated culture promotes the bed hopping-materialist philosophy, it has looked at Tiger Woods with disdain after that one unfortunate night. I have not changed my mind, but I've just become more optimistic.

"What's scandalous is that he has that good boy image," a friend says. Precisely. Even with fame and money, he is one of those we least expect to misbehave. So there's hope after all. We still have a sense of the objective sexual morality and get scandalized by violation. Though it's only by unexpected violation that hype is created, we still sort of know it's wrong. We're just inconsistent, with case-to-case opinions as if ethics is relative. #

Google Chrome evangelist

So many conversions, so little time.

It's not easy to convince people to shift from Firefox to another platform. After all, Mozilla saved our web browsing souls from the hell that's Internet Explorer. Sure there also came Opera and Safari that bore good news and free hope, and loyalists of such sects embarked on verbal crusades to promote and defend their browsers. I'm not saying they're false prophets, more like St. John the Baptist or Elijah, maybe, preparing the way for the coming of The One.

And Chrome, that's the one.
It's fast, smooth and easy, like Bond 007. It syncs bookmarks in the office computer and your personal laptop. It employs real designers to come up with kicking skins to brighten your Internet-surfing day. It's user-friendly, ready to be your BFF. And! It! Almost! Never! Hangs!

Sure it's not perfect, like I can use some easy editing option for the default favorites page. But that's about it.

Our company's web developer, our marketing officer, my friends and housemates have been convinced. Google Chrome rules the kingdom of the Web. #

AAAOAAOA

Still uncomfortable with the new title of this de facto website. I'm not very literary, but I'm obsessed with rhymes, postmodern forms, indie verses and yes, alliterations. I can't even justify the name. But since I refuse to call it a personal blog, or a blog mainly about one certain topic, or a niche website looking for fanatic followers enough to found a cult, I had to think of a low-profile, general-enough name to be reflected on the banner.

I must admit though, my friends liked that "Mimimayhem" title, 'cause it has been cute and high schoolish for 6 years. Now that someone's trying to be mature and make ends meet by self-marketing, let's give it an 8-word title that confuses the heck out of everyone and one which every one would not remember ever. Awesome way to start.

But we know Shakespeare, and we know that famous line:
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

So yes, "a rose-colored blog by any other name would still be a rose-colored blog." #

Woods on the rocks

Tiger cheated on his wife.

So what's new?

As if the world is surprised at all. Isn't it the club-hopping culture the rich, the famous and the young (and all wannabes) promote? Sign of the times.

Marriage, out of love, is about exclusivity and commitment. But it's the obvious that's hardest to understand and apply. Staying with one person for life, c'mon! Marriage has rules, the rules are strict, and when feelings and moods don't go with the rules, the rules are adjusted in the name of "equal" rights and freedoms. Or marriage isn't made an option at all. It's a no-brainer.

The values of our parents and their faith are part of the past for many, and for an increasing majority of young people. Living in the present, it's the Lady Gaga burlesque lifestyle that wins. Tiger Woods is just one of many. We are scandalized 'cause we profess to acknowledge these values and "rules" but scoff at them in reality. No matter how reasonable and just, we can set them aside temporarily, and in the end blame it on the a-aaa-a-alcohol.

So we continuously enjoy pretense. With ears open for celebrity infidelities fanning our egos, we go on jumping from one express relation to another as if we're any different. We go through life in pursuit of burgeoning career, wallet size, primitive instincts and reputation, while stomping through morality and adult reason if that's what it takes.

And call this a closed, conservative rant-preaching. 'Cause we're also fond of name-calling. #

Photo credit: intherough.co.uk

Oh the freelance life

When someone asked me once what I planned to do right after graduation, I said I'd do freelance work. She dissuaded me from doing it, thinking my name has to be on the map first before I can land projects bankable enough to avoid 3-in-1 coffee. Hesitantly, I fumbled into Job Street.

So I've been employed, and the few months so far have been sufficiently rewarding - meaning unexpected, rough and at times slipshod. Got my hands on soft sell aka internet marketing, leading a team of creative newbies experimenting with crude push and pull strategies. Bought a book, read up for a week, and applied the tricks as if I had a related degree. Then came pseudo-project management that required brain cells to load process flows, tech terms and bureaucrats.

I learned that everything can be learned. Whoever said our left-right brain prejudices can't be crossed?

On the side though, I'm paid to write and design. Write and design. It's fast and happy and colorful. I'd pass up on most potential projects, and pick a few smaller ones that can be squeezed in between work and modern philosophy. I call the shots, I scold at myself, I work whenever and wherever, and there's creative freedom. The so-called life.

I'm still employed, but I can't wait to have my hands completely free to take on small and random writing and designing (and the occasional PC-virus cleaning) challenges I always resent turning down. Channeling my limited math skills, I calculate I can live off from them for at least a month. And the best thing? I can stay home, be the boss and secretary of myself, eat meals in peace, pray conveniently and just chill. A month doesn't hurt, plus hey it's December. Viva liberté. #

MOMAster Storyteller

Tim Burton is lucky to be Tim Burton. Not all Hollywood directors get the freedom to make every little aspect of every film freshly and precisely out of his personal vision, and then get the needed funds to sustain them.

His works are "dark" and "quirky" (Wikipedia, 2009), and although he is less known to be an artist and a writer, he is as good in these crafts as he is in filmmaking. I mean, his work reminds one of Dr. Seuss'. And it's already weird enough that Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Danny Elfman are his kind of muses, but now that his versatility as an artist is being showcased to the high art world, given his mainstream identity, it's even weirder.

Since I've been a subscriber of the Museum of Modern Art weekly newsletter announcing the latest exhibitions and events, it's surprising - and surprisingly refreshing - to have received one on Tim Burton > Visit his website, it's awesome.

"MoMA explores the extraordinary inventive world of Tim Burton with an exhibition of 700 works - from drawings, paintings, to photographs and costumes, puppets and cinematic ephemera - that reveal his talent as an artist, illustrator, and writer working in the spirit of Pop Surrealism."

I've been reading up on modern art for years, but I've never heard of "Pop Surrealism" before, and it's troubling to think the so-called movement can just as easily be identified with any manga, graffiti, random uncirculated comics and tattoos (googling it results to mentions of "lowbrow"). If Burton would be the artist who'd make it a legitimate fine art movement, then let's embrace it as we did Impressionism, and make him Manet.

Above is an amazing promotional vid. I wish I was anywhere near MoMA. #

Nose in the books

Study time for me.

Here we go philosophy.

---

Oh Brothers!

Again with the Natalie posts. I guess one never really grows up as a fan.

The object of my fanhood though, is all grown up, playing motherly and wifey roles in the big screen. Oscar contending film Brothers by Jim Sheridan (In America, In the Name of the Father), tells the story of Grace (Portman) who has to endure the loss of his Afghanistan-lurking husband Sam (Tobey Maguire in a strong performance, says critics) when his chopper was gunned down somewhere in the Middle East, supposedly leaving him dead. His black-sheep brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), steps up as the family man, comforting grace and the children. When Sam returns to the surprise of everyone, like some kind of a resurrection, tension arises and thus the conflict of the story.

Even with all that brilliance, I only care about seeing Portman in the role, and the little girl who plays her daughter Isabelle, who looks like a cross between Maguire and Katie Holmes. Besides, I've nothing interesting to say. #

Heil Hillary!

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to visit the Philippines "to show solidarity" this week to the storm-battered country. The main purpose, for sure, is to reaffirm diplomatic ties and discuss shared issues, such as the Mindanao peace process, disaster management and the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Sounds good and innocent but beyond closed doors are the almost-forgotten, globalizing policies such as the CEDAW agenda and its local precedents i.e. the loud and funded Reproductive Health Bill campaign, which the current President is (thankfully) openly against but may change her mind given American political rhetoric.

So we're trying to trim down the homo sapiens race and at the same time satisfy hormonal urge for what, for what? Ostensible economic growth, material welfare and preservation of swell individualism which are all temporal and temporary rationales that can't anymore be justified after two generations upon seeing a problematic demography with an aging citizenry and a crippled labor force. That's when they'll say, "Bring in some fertility benefits!" when it's already too late.

Without seeking to judge the (mainly good) intentions of individuals pushing for the policy to be formally enacted -- since in this beloved land of ours, the signing into law is not the definitive start of implementation, believe it or not -- the overpopulation scare and all the cacophony about the need for less people are in their very core a form of under-the-table imperialism veiled as goodwill.

Don't believe me? C'mon:

Because America’s population will still be growing when that of most other developed countries is shrinking, America will be the only developed country that still matters geopolitically.

~survey on global ageing by The Economist

If we don't stop being unreasonable, it might be World = America. I mean I love McDonald's and all, but I would always still be going back to Jollibee.

See you soon, Hillary. #

Related posts: http://mimimayhem.blogspot.com/2008/09/kill-bill.html

Photo credit: http://gooseradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/hillary-clinton-10.jpg