All Amateur Advice on an Array of Angles

Panagbenga 2012 without a proper camera

2012-02-03T00:13:00.002+08:00

You saw the photos in the major dailies today, but here are a couple of shots editors didn't publish.

Military guys in full battle gear were among those who marched at the opening parade of this year's Panagbenga Festival. Gnawing at Skittles for breakfast and trying to quit blaming myself for not having brought a proper camera, I overheard the reactions of my fellow spectators:

"Bakit may Abu Sayyaf d'yan?" "Hala, magkakagulo ba?" "Grabe, may kanyon pa yatang dala-dala." I also wondered at first, and then it hit me. It's simple. Those soldiers, subjects of endless prejudices, were parading with other sectors of the community because they are part of it.

After all, every Filipino festival is by the collective effort of members of the community. Baguio City's Flower Festival, though obviously a tourism scheme, didn't just draw tourists and crowds, but also local folks who labored to put on a nifty show for a shared goal.

Every child who marched down the city roads has a story to tell. The hours of practice. The determined and creative school teachers who directed every dance step and every gimmick. The colorful attires and props that cost families some hard-earned income. The draining heat despite the cool breeze and the hours-long smile to keep.

These were unsaid, leaving the rest of us to watch in fascination from our comfortable spots under the trees' shades, flashing our cameras at the uncanny characters marching past us.

But the performers and the people behind them did their part for the common good. That's the way of the world. And it's the way we can make the world better.

The Panagbenga is a great reminder of the requisite sportive attitude amid adversity. A massive earthquake hit the Cordillera region and neighboring towns in 1990, causing the untimely deaths of over a thousand people. Several non-for-profit organizations then started an event to celebrate the year's blooms.

Turning their attention to the brighter things in life rather than dwell on the memory of nature's atrocity, the people of Baguio eventually developed it into a full blown, month-long festival of flowers--a major product of the city's economy.

A solid example of the festival's spirit is this young boy who kept that smile even after having repeated the same routine while marching under the scorch, serving as an inspiration to his companions who were getting tired of flashing those whites for wire photographers and viewers.

This adorable little girl, too, who's probably no more than 3 feet tall kept the native Benguet moves throughout the duration of the parade, heroically scaling the lengthy streets like a sturdy athlete.

Sure I didn't bring a nice enough camera with pricey lenses to take better photographs, but my eyes luckily captured worthy lessons of cooperation, solidarity and dedication from the town's communities to take home to chaotic Manila. #

All photos by Camille Diola. Please cite Creative Commons license for use.

No hunger games in Naga: Go global

2012-01-28T13:47:00.001+08:00

Tired feet brought us to the best-looking restaurant around the block. We wanted to go somewhere that at least looked familiar, and it wasn't hard to spot this well-lit place that looked like just another American food franchise. At the same time, it didn't seem to be an ordinary fast food.

Bicol-based food chain Bigg's Diner brings its customers back to the unforgettable 1960s, though I'm sure we've nothing to forget since our parents were just born at that time.

But we won't talk much about the food here. Though it tasted better than the more genuine but way pricier T.G.I. Friday's, the dishes offered at Bigg's were still commonplace. But what sets this resto apart is its attention to design details and the spot-on service of its staff. And these, my friends, are what make this merely American-inspired spot wholly Filipino.

The diner makes more than a few pop culture and lifestyle references on its walls. One corner has photos of John Lennon, Elvis and the eternal James Dean.

Above our heads was Audrey Hepburn's iconic Holly Golightly lighted with colored LED and enhanced with psychedelic patterns.

There's even a life-sized replica of the frigider and an old Caltex fuel dispenser by the counter--wherever the owners got those.

Go to Bigg's not mainly for the food, but the experience. #

All photos by Camille Diola. Please cite Creative Commons license for use.

No hunger games in Naga: Go local

2012-01-23T15:25:00.000+08:00

The day my friends and I were leaving Naga for Manila, I texted Mom to report briefly on the trip, knowing how worried she gets whenever I fly. "Mom, I think I'm Bicolana because I can't get enough of the food here. I remember how I've always loved Lola's kandinga (bopis in Tagalog, a spicy dish of beef lungs), and I just discovered I like every Bicolano dish there is."

Camarines Sur's Naga City, though physically like other urbanized areas in the country,
still stands out for its untainted provincial life.

Though I didn't mention it anymore, I also recalled my unexplained fondness for pili tarts, made of the "rarest nuts in the world," as my native Bicolana companion Clarice boasted. Mom replied in a few seconds along the lines of: "Are you kidding? You are Bicolana. Your grandparents hail from there. And can you get me and your Lolo a jar of balaw?"

Thus began my short-lived quest for an alien delicacy, finding out afterward from a nearby stall that balaw is just what Tagalogs call Bicol Express, a fusion-type spicy stew. I was floored but pleased to learn I have Bicol roots. At the same time, with or without Bicolano blood, any Filipino must love Naga.

The historic Saint Francis Church, erected in 1578 in Nueva Caceres, is the first in Naga.

The central figure of Jesus Christ on the cross reaching out to the saint is a Franciscan trademark.

Besides the slow-paced city with a small town feel and the natural piety and warmth of its people, Naga is readily fascinating for its daring dishes. Food, after all, is the most obvious cultural encounter tarrying tourists on a work-related mission can get.

Red Platter can be found along Magsaysay Avenue, Naga City, CamSur.
Sorry for the low-res photos. Taken with cellphone camera.

Red Platter's Bicol Express and pinangat made from freshwater shrimp and taro leaves, topped with thick coconut milk.

The restaurant serves classic Asian dishes, and carries the best of Bicol, too.

Red Platter, with its artistic but homelike interiors, is a bit pricier than the average Naga restaurant, yet still cheaper than similar places in Manila. It's a family dining venue that's perfect for newbie taste buds who want to experience the best of Bicol cuisine.

Mainly serving traditional Filipino dishes with a twist, the resto also innovates in some of its offerings. Below is a creamy, uncanny Malunggay Cake at Php75.00 that looks exactly like the one pictured in the tabletop ad.

Malunggay (moringa oleifera) cake topped with white chocolate roll.

All photos by Camille Diola. Please cite Creative Commons license for use.

It's more fun in the Philippines?!

2012-01-08T17:46:00.004+08:00

First off, applause to Team Manila for the refreshing look of Tourism department's newest campaign for our beloved country, "It's more fun in the Philippines!" (But I still refuse to support your firm's merch for your RH bill backing). Who knew there's any good in that typeface? It's genius. And of course, BBDO Guerrero for the concept. Add a hashtag to that and you've already joined the most recent Internet meme embraced by both former DoT cynics and the usual warm bandwagons of cyberspace.

Screen capture of itsmorefuninthePhilippines.com by popular design firm Team Manila.

A few weeks ago, one of our more esteemed journalism professors Luis Teodoro from my alma mater criticized the appointment of the new tourism secretary Ramon Jimenez for being a former advertising executive whose profession, he says, consists in "hyping" virtues and "concealing" vices. I admit that most of my ingrained prejudices against marketing, advertising and public relations were borne from this very education in independent and adversarial journalism, but the It's More Fun campaign is when I'd have to disagree with one of my educators.

Prof. Teodoro's views remind me of the problem in David Hume's empiricism that emphasizes what's seen and touched and denies other realities, especially the invisible ones. The Philippines does have its vices--terrorism, traffic, red tape, the list goes on--but there is profound benefit in making the public perceive virtues. Highlighting the positives does not make the negatives non-existent, nor does it mean denying them. And it's not as if we don't continue to seek cures for those negative traits.

Perceiving virtues, the public are encouraged to emulate and reinforce these good qualities to make them truer. They also foster a healthy pride in their home country--an attitude that precedes real patriotism.

Tourism after all is driven by positives. Tourists don't choose to travel to a place for its drawbacks. DoT does have to work with national government to eliminate the Philippines' frailties, but its foremost job is to contribute to the economy by making travelling thrive. There's also a sense of fulfillment borne from marketing something one believes in wholeheartedly such as this dear nation. It is then just proper for Jimenez, a rockstar ad guy with political savvy, to occupy that cabinet seat.

An appeal to the Department of Tourism:

Given all that praise for the new campaign, I do hope, however, that DoT does not compromise on the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" slogan. Fun, after all, is so easily misconstrued. It can refer to pleasure, even its less dignified forms. I gotta be straight to say that it might lead to attracting tourists for the culture of the night, the bingeing, the consumerist environments, and even for the more sensual vice crimes.

Please stick to what is principled and honorable in selling "fun," or the benefits I've mentioned above will just be for naught. #

Design, deadlines and destinations 2012

2011-12-30T04:00:00.000+08:00

Twenty-twelve is the Year of the Golden Dragon in the Chinese calendar, and I'd like to note that since my age is divisible by 12 from 1988, this coming year is our year.

A classic Chinese decorative dragon.
I splashed the other colors for study.

In the Orient, dragons are placed the highest in the animal hierarchy (what's ironic is that they're the only ones that don't exist), and is the symbol of the universe, life and imperial power. Who doesn't like these mythical creatures, anyway? They are fiery, colorful and boast of much tradition and art.

But we dig contrasts, too, don't we? As much as I like visual depictions of dragons, I find the black and white versions more appealing. So for 2012 I customized a noir-et-blanc template to have a burnt orange, pthalo green and teal scheme for the New Year.

I'm also working on revising this blog's old school sidebar bit by bit to eventually agree with the new look. And I also matched the portfolio sub-domain which I upload things to for a much improved user experience.

And our tech team's prepping for our last web client projects early this year, so I'm still going to design two more exciting! digital domains which readers of this blog probably won't ever know about, wrap up a standing e-commerce project, and after those wired jobs--a grand battle offline. Not to mention a brand new portal gateway and mobile web for ze Dragon University without fail, and other things that might still crop up that we've to welcome with open arms. All's well that ends well.

And then, whether you win or lose, you will always triumph in the end, because you will have carried out your work with Love.

Hope y'all like the blog's new look, and merry Christmas, still! #

Far from perfectionism

2011-12-28T14:44:00.002+08:00

This is what you call impulsive blogging. I hope I don't end up deleting this again. Just want to share a quote on writing from one of our favorite stops on the Web.

"Writing Postcards" (2008) by Robert Marschelewski.

The price of learning to use words is the development of an acute self-consciousness. Nor is it enough to pay attention to words only when you face the task of writing—that is like playing the violin only on the night of the concert. You must attend to words when you read, when you speak, when others speak. Words must become ever present in your waking life, an incessant concern, like color and design if the graphic arts matter to you, or pitch and rhythm if it is music, or speed and form if it is athletics.

JACQUES BARZUN

Besides writing, isn't also true about upright action and desire? That we must always be conscious of wanting to do good and be good in our thoughts, work and behavior. We can also attend to the built-in goodness of things we read, watch, or listen to by asking the question "Will this make me a better person?" because if not, it can reverse the process of our growth. #

No other greeting

2011-12-24T20:17:00.001+08:00

These are reason and faith-driven holidays. There won't be deeply cherished holidays for nothing if time and eternity didn't meet 2,000 years ago, besides the historically preparatory Hanukkah and Yule. "Don't let Grinches steal your Christmas by substituting meaningless slogans." And this occasion isn't the most joyful and the most inspiring one for families and friends throughout the world by accident or by sentiment, but by reason and reality. Otherwise, we wouldn't know how to explain it.

And even children know why:

Don't replace the decorative stars and parols with neutral snowflakes to mark the season. The most beautiful greeting cards are still those that depict the child in the manger. Keep the "Christmas" in your salutations.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Climbing the Ivory Tower

2011-12-12T13:53:00.001+08:00

So I've worked in the University for almost two years now (and see that I type the word with a capital U by default), and every single week--and I'm not exaggerating--amazing things are discovered and learned in campus. Many of them are newsworthy, some are groundbreaking, while a few are gems waiting to be weighed.

Towers at the University of Bristol. Photo by James F Clay.

The questions in my mind linger: Why don't the public know about them? Is it really hard to sit through a talk on a discovery on Rizal, report on it, publish it, and make people appreciate the patriot's message more? How about turning a jargon-heavy research that contributes to the search for cancer cure into a news piece for the regular lay reader?

Although our job, and my joy, is to turn "high-nigh, hoity-toity academic papers with bulky paragraphs into digestible news stories," there is a limitation here. Sure, many university-based communications teams do this job quite magnificently seen in the grand quasi-journalistic examples of Bostonia, the Harvard Gazette, and Columbia Magazine, but they don't seem to be making great strides in bringing these valuable information to wider audiences--a power naturally belonging to the mainstream press.

Besides, what corporately-established campus reporting lacks is the key journalistic principle of independence, that its loyalty lies in the campus and most of the exposure remains there.

Columbia Magazine's summer 2011 issue.

Acknowledged: We have what you call media liaisons that serve as channel between these so-called Ivory Towers (cough: "academic elitism") and media organizations to bring content to the masses, but what gets carried isn't usually the story most useful to public, civic education. Note that this is due to a loss in translation when political and relational decisions come into play. To put it simply, there is a lack of disinterestedness in both parties.

Another problem: Mainstream media haven't really done a very good job in educating its audiences. Most of these outfits just live on day-to-day reporting or rewriting of press releases or, well, fluff (cough: entertainment news, many lifestyle pieces and gossip). What they seem to be feeding us on a daily basis is Dingdong's latest object of gratitude or updates on Kris Aquino and Vicki Belo's friendship.

Political news reports are, of course, the bread and butter of journalism, but whatever is written about the arts or our history as a nation or scientific innovations usually lacks depth, breadth and height. Not to mention studies and research with potential social impact almost never get to the pages of our dailies.

The people are journalists' bosses (cliche, I know). Their job is to bear the truth and even, whenever possible, to deliver the best of truth. Setting aside ethical dilemmas for argument's sake, this obligation to the people is fundamental. This is sacred.

And isn't the best of truth what universities are on a quest for?

Now let's bridge this gap: What our people need is education. Ivory towers are in the business of education. So let's make the media the ladder between the two. That's it. (Or read a similar article I wrote for TNGG.)

While we dream of widespread university accessibility in the name of social justice, or integral community participation of academic institutions beyond CSR, we can establish and strengthen that "ladder" by making changes in journalism structures and practices.

And the change I propose is simple, but admittedly unorthodox: A university beat. Higher education reporting. Academic journalism. Call it whatever you want. But it's something we need today. #

Paradoxes of creative people

2011-12-03T11:48:00.001+08:00

Thought of reblogging something originally from a longer article on Psychology Today by Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi. Don't ask me to type that name again. But I hope this will help us know ourselves even just a little better, "to make more understandable the mysterious process by which they (we) come up with new ideas and new things," wrote Mr. Csik~, who sadly also makes psychic apparatus remarks in the article.

Since creative personalities can get more complex than others, it helps that they check themselves more often and ask whether they live a coherent (ergo, more heroic) life. Never mind psychology, and never mind that Walt Whitman said in one of my loved/hated poems, which any student of anthropology or philosophy or the humanities would find very amusing, annoying and baffling at the same time:

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"

Photo of our Secret Santa draw the other night
by @_claireness.

So here are the ten paradoxical traits of creative people:

Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest.
Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time, with contrasting poles of wisdom and childishness.
Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.
Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted.
Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.
Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping, more likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender but those of the other one, too.
Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.
Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
Creative people’s openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.

Colors of impunity

2011-11-23T13:26:00.001+08:00

Pictured above are well-designed posters made for this day, when the Ampatuan massacre becomes a "global rallying cry for journalists," according to news reports. Today is the International Day to End Impunity.

The Inquirer also reported: "Of the 57 killed, 32 were media workers, making the massacre the worst single attack on the press. (Only 57 bodies were found. The remains of journalist Reynaldo Momay have yet to be found.)." #

Slideshows as art: The new presentation

2011-11-20T17:29:00.001+08:00

Originally published on The Next Great Generation. Credits to our awesome Arts and Entertainment editor Alex Gomez.

Powerpoint, Keynote, Slide Rocket, or Prezi–no matter which tool you use to dazzle and win over audiences from the podium, it should be yielded like a paintbrush in the hands of an artist.

A masterpiece does not depend on the tools used, but on the creativity, process of discovery, and expression achieved with the final form. No matter how simple the tool (as shown by the famous Google Doc slideshow) or complex the idea, an awesome presentation must:

Communicate effectively
Deliver the right message
Follow a keen aesthetic

A deck by presentation guru Jesse Dee talking about decks.

Blog posts and websites such as Note & Point have come up in recent years dedicated to showcasing the best looking slides around. Without speakers to deliver them or accompanying audio, these slides are appreciated by themselves and are expected to convey complex ideas through the use of visuals alone.

What is unique about the slide presentation as an art form–if art scholars would allow me to call them that–is its hybrid quality. Universal design principles and graphic design elements are used to make the decks pretty and the messages more tangible.

A film professor I had back in college called movies the “ultimate art form” for being hybrids. Films combine composition techniques, performance, audio and musical artistry and even computer graphics and graphic design methods. Slide decks, though far from allowing the artistic versatility found in films, are the next best thing.

Slides I used in a recent talk for students in Marikina.

That being said, think outside of the slideshow box and treat your next presentation with the same entertainment value as a favorite movie or video. Photographs are often used in slides, but some prefer to mount their decks purely with illustrations or graphical typography.

Audience snoozing from so many still images? Some presentation tools and websites such as Slideshare also allow video and audio embedding within the slides. FlikrSlidr allows you to embed a slideshow into your blog or webpage as an easy way of showcasing your presentation prowess.

While great presentations also package and visualize data and heavy information to make them easily digestible, some would even want to push the visual aspect of slides by making them text-free.

Remember that a presentation per sé is sometimes meant to function like a children’s storybook whose pages can be shuffled through to convey thought after thought or scene after scene in the story. Think: this should be simple enough to be understood by many. Jesse Desjardins of Slideshare does this job quite neatly.

Text-heavy and bulleted presentations are slowly becoming a thing of the past with new slide design practices such as the Zen presentation to a point of making the slides meaningless without the speaker’s narration.

There are indeed numerous creative (and artistic) possibilities within the realm of slide presentations. Lucky for us, Mashable compiled a list of the 30+ Best Presentations and Slideshow Services.

The story of a film and the fans of its story

2011-11-10T17:37:00.000+08:00

The mission: Create buzz for the non-Hollywood, not-exactly indie film There Be Dragons, which I first mentioned on this blog in my 2011 Films to Catch post earlier this year. I never imagined I'd really get involved in this picture's affairs -- at least from a distance, and through my much-preferred medium: the Internet.

I'm guessing that there should no place in this blog for professional matters outside the realm of the humanities, which I've deliberately forsaken while time and space are dedicated to a few, small "personal" projects and to helping manage an online community around the Philippine release of Roland Joffe's film. So I'll talk about the cultural products--the film, the people and the concept--and not the work involved. But before I do that, I'll let you in on a little backgrounder ...

When There Be Dragons was finally released in the United States in May (pre-prod is another inspiring story altogether), it ran like a cult film, with a rather indifferent critical reception and unremarkable commercial achievement, but with moved and driven sets of moviegoers.

As a film industry observer, I don't think this turnout is disappointing, because loyal followers never fail to turn some odd limited-release films into cult classics. And Joffe's "epic" creation has the look and feel of a sleeper. And so, inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's essays on sleepers, we realized that, in a nutshell, there really is one big solution for this movie's Philippine screening: Mobilize a niche.

Actor Rodrigo Santoro playing the role of revolutionary leader Oriol. There Be Dragons regular Philippine screening starts on November 9 in SM Megamall, SM North, SM Southmall, Trinoma, Glorietta 4 and Festival Mall.

It would be a rather dumb move to make a local official website for the film 'cause that's short of innovative. Even if the picture is nothing extraordinary in terms of filmmaking (while its technical qualities are worthy of note), what makes it outstanding is its simple but timely message: Forgiveness. And the idea that dragons dwelling within each one of us have to be slain, especially when caught in tumultuous periods in history as wars.

And this is stuff enough for an advocacy--a purple cow--and a community site to go with it. Thus Dragons.ph was born, and to gather a niche that would rally behind its message.

"Slayers Speak" is a collaborative microblogging feature where site visitors can contribute dragon slaying tips. The format was patterned after St. Josemaria Escriva's classic book The Way on how ordinary Christians can find God in their everyday lives.

In a week's time, we've gathered enough entries from random "slayers" or site visitors who gave tips on how to conquer a dragon, whether it be doubt, anger, fear, lust or sadness to truthfully call it a collaborative blog. It was amazing how the contributions related users' personalities and ways of thinking, and maybe even spoke of some personal dragons they have successfully slain. What made these blog posts livelier were the public domain images curated by the Team.

Things got more and more exciting on a daily basis, especially when some users got addicted to sharing their entries via social media for the overkill--which eventually led them to win a gadget and a limited edition shirt, but that's beside the point. The site even got written about in the Inquirer and in Bulletin, and then later on in Catholic News Philippines.

It was a lot(!) of work but it was also like working in a creative playground with space enough to roam and play. Best of all, it brought out something good in visitors. They weren't used to achieve our own goals for the bottom line or analytics, because in the end they benefited from the on-site activities. Some even submitted entries more than once.

When most productions today are made solely to entertain, this film must stand out for its power to inspire initiatives as this site that are autonomous enough to be taken on its own. You see, the site was for a film, but it wasn't exactly about the film. After all, a film as a mere medium can point to larger realities and reach out to the human spirit.

Works of art soar in this way when they were not created just to earn and ride on the vicious wave of consumerism but to carry a message beyond itself. And isn't this film's noble achievement enough to make you watch it? #

View showtimes of the Philippine screening of There Be Dragons »

Day after day after day after

2011-10-20T17:23:00.000+08:00

Though the eyes are tired and fingers overworked from writing, researching, accounting, taking photos and being steward of three, bright-eyed younger characters while touring around one of my favorite cities in the country, I'd hate to skip a blog post on diverse, cultural encounters this past week.

Given this state of an over-caffeinated mental anxiety over deadlines and Davao trip tasks, I will just post photos for the rundown.

The start of the week was utterly toxic, like the chemicals in this lab. Rested all day, but punctuated it by visiting the Manila Water compound for an adventure. For a while, I stood just watching Fernando Zobel de Ayala watch someone work in a sparkling new, impressive water facility in Diliman.

Acosta

Also met environmental adviser Neric Acosta, who is surprisingly not the typical politician who can only muse about the conditions of the country. Pleased to find out he's also a waxing humanist.

"(Storytelling) is how Rizal became a hero. He understood it from the level of the human experience, and the human condition is the most enriching, actually. You see human folly, but you also see human greatness. And that's why I'm a frustrated writer," Acosta said, answering my nosy question on why he can quote Balagtas and Shakespeare from memory.

The crew from Ortigas: Gino Bonifacio, Jess Orleans and Ila Perez.

Having Filipino tea at Cafe Laguna, which regrettably doesn't have a branch in Luzon. And it's cheaper than it looks.

Now I don't know if my friend was taking my photo, or the food's. After all, any place is always also about the food.

And any place is always about the incredible people.

But the core of it is about work.

And I'm happy to be also working on something really awesome these days. Here's interviewing broadcaster Mike Enriquez with a student trainee. Check out dragons.ph! I'll write about the film we're promoting soon. After I see it myself, of course. Geez, marketers. #

All photos by Camille Diola. Please cite Creative Commons license for use.

Bite-sized mental exercises

2011-09-30T22:39:00.000+08:00

Your blogger has been exercising a lot these days, in both body and mind. Mental exercises (aka studying) are infinitely more enjoyable, of course, but building up brawn makes mental chores more in force. Besides being endlessly grateful to be working in a university with a rich, welcoming library, it has been a recent pleasant discovery that the Internet is also a source of oft-forgotten treasures of spirituality, history, and philosophy sans the usual costs.

So in the process of a personal renaissance, so to speak, I leisurely collect quotes that may guide us by. I've clipped maybe a thousand from Frank Furedi's Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone the past month, and now I have the late Norris Houghton's whose eloquent, humanistic introduction to an old compilation of Russian short stories has kept me from picking up the book in fear of finishing it at once. Don't you feel sometimes when you're reading something so wonderful, a hope that it doesn't end?

Okay, so this photo is a little too literal.

So here's the part where I share with you, in bites, things worth reveling in:

"The great test of social ideas is the crucible of history, which, after a time, discloses a one-sidedness in the best of human generalizations." -- E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

"Modern societies are being submerged under an ocean of commercially driven, soulless mass culture that meet none of the deep needs of human beings." -- O'Conner & Downing, from Questioning the Media, commenting on Frankfurt school communication theories

"[The] ideal of peace cannot be obtained on earth unless the welfare of man is safeguarded and people freely and trustingly share with one another the richness of their minds and their talents." --quoted in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, from the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes

"That what we do for a living now, all of us, I think, is find something worth changing, and then assemble tribes that assemble tribes that spread the idea and spread the idea." -- Seth Godin on the tribes we lead

"Does respect for the audience involve appealing to the lowest common denominator, the least demanding performance, the most untaxing pleasure, or does it mean crediting the common reader, the concert goer, the civilized citizen, with some intelligence and appetite for invigorating artistic experience?" --Nicholas Murray, Culture and Accessibility

The CBCP-CCP-Politeismo debate: Another look

2011-09-23T18:25:00.001+08:00

Here's posting a concise review and attempted think piece of what recently happened over at CCP and Mideo M. Cruz's work.

First published on The Next Great Generation, then revised for this blog.

Cultural Center of the Philippines by doth101 on Flickr

A heated controversy over a postmodern art installation entitled “Politeismo”or polytheism recently rocked not just the Philippine art community, but many embattled sectors of a predominantly Catholic nation churned up by issue after issue that challenged their faith. Ad hominem attacks against artist Mideo M. Cruz have been launched online and offline for his piece that -- to put it mildly -- juxtaposed revered religious images with phallic symbols and condoms while exhibited in the foremost art venue in the capital, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

The furor consisted of expressions of insulted sensibilities and included threats against the life of the artist who sadly isn’t eloquent enough to defend his work. The outrage spurred the President of the Republic himself to order the closing of the entire exhibit, and not just the subjected installation.

As if to balance the opinions of Church supporters, mainstream media came out with obviously partial news reports (such as this one by reporter Sam Marcelo) that side with the contemporary artistic community clamoring against what they call “censorship” of “freedom of expression.”

The country’s most respected culturati also had to speak up. Literary figure Bienvenido Lumbera condemned the “attack against creativity” and arts professor Cecilia de la Paz called the closure an effect of a lack in art education. While more decried yet another victory of religion over secularity and drawn arguments for artistic freedom, some saw the work as unworthy to champion.

Respected Filipino writer F. Sionil Jose called the artwork “immature and juvenile” and celebrated multidisciplinary artist Abdulmari Imao, a Muslim, also frowned on the anti-Christian piece. Critic Lito Zulueta commented on how the work is a “liberal cliché” that is “not art” but “a mess.”

Even with contrasting opinions, no one so far has stepped forward to dub the work ingenious. And it seems this is the one sentiment both sides share.

Sure, we also have to give the artist credit for intending to spark off intellectual inquiries the way excellent, unifying art forms do. But what his work mainly aroused is the public’s sense instincts to use aggression and threats against life and property, in ways that cheap, violent films and horrible rock lyrics inspire.

Freedom against freedom, definition against definition

If we talk of the issue as a matter of religious freedom versus freedom of expression, it is necessary to ask which is weightier, and it’s even more complicated to defend the artist’s individual liberty when they say it has already stepped on others’. In the end, these liberties are conceptually equal and are meant to be complementary. There’s no logic in trying to make them clash.

We can also talk of any personal work of “expression” versus the morale of the majority, but this, too, is faulty. There’s logic in knowing that the majority, though powerful and legitimate, may not always be right, in the very sense of the word.

Redefinitions of what is “art” will also take bloody and lengthy exchanges, and given today’s relativist mood, such debate can just settle with a “that is your opinion” ending. This obviously doesn’t solve anything.

Artistic excellence for solidarity

While everyone certainly has a moral or political stand on the issue, one possible way to merge these points of contention is through a shared commitment to uphold aesthetic standards and to reward products of culture for their excellence.

Photo by Marc Falardeau

A mouthful? Let me explain.

All of us surely intend to look at artistic presentations as expressions of our common interests and values, or common consciousness. Given our varied differences, it seems the only point of agreement left is our desire for growth as a people living the same culture and under one nation. This is something any well-meaning, thinking Filipino can respond to. We should then measure the value of any product -- any work of “art” -- based on its contribution to this tie that binds us.

Far from being utilitarian, this “quest” toward solidarity, if you’d allow, may test artistic standards of cultural institutions that claim to preserve a certain accessibility or to further false empowerment. This doesn’t even touch on any aesthetic theory.

We can achieve greater unity by rewarding and supporting cultural products that strengthen our common worth as Filipinos, while maintaining a healthy plurality. In this way, an art installation such as Cruz’s that challenges moral attitudes and divides a nation must not be given space in the public forum, especially in a prestigious, publicly funded gallery as the CCP. #

Up goes the crowd

2011-09-20T17:57:00.001+08:00

Isn't this a sight? Students and alumni from my alma mater cheering for the cheering squad. I guess, no matter how plural we are, we're all living one University culture, sharing a common (physical) ground, and hoping for a better state system and a grown nation.

I guess, that's really the way it should be -- to always try to seek for what unites, rather than what divides. It's not just about letting the majority decide or representing small sectors by giving them voice, as in a superficial democracy.

Democracy is in protecting what belongs to everyone and each one, what is therefore indivisible and immaterial: Freedom with all its value and limits. Rights based on the demands of being human worthy of respect.

No one person, nor group, nor self-proclaimed identity should claim more or exclusive rights than what is accorded to another, or else that requires all of us to just bend our wills for each of their personal whims, and heck, imagine the kind of inhibitory society to come out of it.

And, well, sometimes, a cheerleading event can lead to a reflexive discourse in social thought like this one. You're reading this, don't complain. #

Photo credit: University of the Philippines System Information Office

Classics by the covers

2011-09-09T16:37:00.000+08:00

Dry week for blogging, really. But just a few design sightings. Anyone who has gone to any commercial bookstore the past years might have noticed how design firms and publishers have placed an effort to redesign our great classics.

While walking through a lane of books, I noticed several covers of Jane Austen's Emma are displayed on the same shelf. One literary masterpiece, several publishers, different design treatments. And readers are expected to choose? Talk about not judging a book by its cover. But if this would encourage a return of readers to the classics, by all means, we shall support!

Emma by Vintage Classics

Emma by Collins Classics

Emma by Harper Perennial

Emma by Oxford World's Classics

Ateneo Art Awards: Questionably "unbound"

2011-09-01T18:31:00.000+08:00

The mid-August Ateneo Art Awards exhibition "Anatomy of Autonomy" at the Shangri-La Plaza was obviously a tough show to pull off. The MRT-gateway Shang with its upscale, commercial stores and visitors from mixed demographics is not an ideal place to house contemporary art pieces detached from their "natural" environments, i.e. their original galleries. But the curators' best was manifest, especially in the way they included as many components of the pieces from their locales in this temporary area. It also drew the most unexpected onlookers, and made art a wee bit more accessible.

Ateneo Art Awards 2011 at the Shangri-La Plaza Grand Atrium.

Whether this whole attempt does something to promote well-defined standards in art, however, is arguable. This description of the recognition, with the use of the phrase "unbound by ... dogma" makes my judgment tentative.

On its eighth year, the Ateneo Art Awards takes the theme "Anatomy of Autonomy," dissecting and surveying artistic thought in the contemporary Philippine art scene. Unbound by any cultural, social, academic or even aesthetic dogma, the creative spirit of young Filipino visual artists is duly recognized.

Call this question amateur (see the title of the blog), but if it would not be governed by any sort of criteria, which creed would the jury follow? The dogma of no dogma at all? I'll leave that open.

But when I heard this year's exhibit of shortlisted nominees which included now-awardee Kawayan de Guia (whose works are ever so clever), folk visual narrator Rodel Tapaya and Bembol dela Cruz was about to be in the area where I live, I knew I had to see it no matter what.

Renato Barja Jr (2010) Life in a Suitcase. Found object and oil on board

MM Yu (2009). A Few of My Favorite Things. Print

Bembol dela Cruz (2011). from House Blends.

Rodel Tapaya (2010) Baptism, detail. Acrylic on canvas

Nona Garcia (2010). One Off. Oil on canvas

Kawayan de Guia (2010). Bomba. Mixed media & multimedia

Other works not pictured above that were also fascinating were Olivia D'Aboville's depictions of deep sea creatures made of plastic spoons and nylon and Frank Callaghan's dreamy photographs that transform how we can look at the Pasig River. And a few were either unsightly or too disparate from their original settings to be fully appreciated. The rest of the nominees are listed here. #

All photos by Camille Diola. Please cite Creative Commons license for use.

Review of the IMMAP Summit 2011 The Digital Shift

2011-08-20T17:00:00.009+08:00

Like any other cultural product, the biggest event of the Internet Mobile and Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) this year is subject to constructive criticism AND praise, especially by a blogger recently charmed by Furedi's search for public intellectuals.

IMMAP's The Digital Shift was an international powerhouse of speakers, personalities and practitioners of this quasi-world we call "digital" that has sifted some of the blue advertising blood to adapt in the real world where virtual has thrived. The sessions can collectively make muscle and teeth to duel with and engage a newly empowered market. After all, "the shift is digital" and the "shift is real," as the event's tagline goes, though it was needless to say. They didn't have to convince this perennially connected crowd about it, but anyway, we like being affirmed.

Secretary Sonny Coloma at IMMAP Summit
speaking about "Philippine Government 2.0"

The digital summit gave us requisite data, trends and case studies to fill our heads and hard drives with. It has also filled two Rockwell movie theaters with gadget goers attending parallel sessions, caffeine-armed and awake from free flowing Starbucks coffee served outside. There's talk after talk on CRM, social, banning "campaigns" to take on "projects," metrics, integration, and the uptrend of mobile as the potential #1 screen.

I do admit there's no way anyone can give a fully legit review on the event since delegates, moi, could only choose one session at a time to attend. At least I never once left the Advanced Track that focused on "the shifting digital trends, both local and global, and how these shifts affect the market."

After listening to digital thought leaders for two days, it occurred to me that the summit, though with muscle and teeth as I've mentioned, lacks wings and a fixed ground to steadily take off from. While the speakers deconstructed consumer insights and "shifts," and generously gave away pragmatic digital points in styles that are TED-worthy, the overall content is a bit short of intellectual rigor and theory.

Are they just consumers?

The general public was referred to as "consumers" armed with digital technologies and a voice to either support or ruin brands. The overall goal is "to engage them," or to digitally interact and experience products and services in most creative ways. This is basically the motherhood idea I took home, and it left me rather starved.

A speaker who advocated Groupon even explained that collective action could topple presidents but can also be transformed to "collective buying power" to demand for discounts--a habit-forming consumerist setup. An agency guy also downplayed the social impact of a successful Miracle Machine outreach campaign for a branded salad dressing. A tech geek also talked about Search Engine Optimization and how Google wipes off listings when sites engage in "black hat" SEO practices. "Gray hat" techniques in the shady side of ethics, are acceptable as long as Google, with its "Don't do evil" policy, doesn't catch you. But ethics or related words, were never referred to, not even a mention of Google's golden rule.

Barney Loehnis in "The Digital Shift" sharing his thoughts on pervasive connectivity and the disadvantages of having empowered consumers. Besides having the potential to become brand advocates, digital consumers can also "spread malice," he said.

Ogilvy's Barney Loehnis almost covered the ground I hoped for, but somewhat fell short. While he emphatically mentioned that "pervasive connectivity" can be "exhausting" and even "inhuman," he did not propose solutions for this. Instead, he championed the use of mobile for the same blurry end.

These and many other sessions left me asking, where's the soul of digital here? Before I got started on a "bring back Jeremiah Owyang" trend of thought, I recalled Will Sansom saying, "The person is in the middle of it all," and this is why digital professionals have to make the technology seamless and the individual experience "transformative of feeling, emotion and behavior."

They are also individuals

"People don't need marketing," Sansom also said early on. What they need is "education and entertainment," he added. His argument relates what people are as individuals, and not just as consumers who can "buy, buy, buy." With this, the Justin Timberlake dead ringer expressed in a few words my qualm with marketing as a field and its relevance to the human condition. Whereas independent journalism has the clear-as-day objective of finding truths and delivering them to people, marketing seems to just highlight the good stuff and understate the unattractive facts.

Keynote speaker Will Sansom of Contagious Communications
sat across me on Day 2.

So to bring in value in marketing, Sansom added that brands have to embrace "the power of philanthropy" and be "out there with a commitment." Being the cynic, I thought consumers can just hope afterwards that a brand's commitment--and intent--is not just to sell to them.

Australian ad man Neil Hudspeth, however, urged (and correctly) that digital content should not be limited to making a brand known and getting people to participate in it. Brands, in the first place, should act with "deed" instead of just giving "word" in aiming to become "purpose brands." Sansom and Hudspeth's talks obviously had the depth to set the tone, but their message didn't fly to permeate the entire event. And sadly.

The talks seemed to me too segmented. Maybe what the yearly summit needs is a lineup that can approximate Clay Shirky or some idea that can take it to the air. Or a fixed, binding, almost idealistic theme that serves as a worthy common ground.

Now, I wasn't expecting such a practice-driven conference to be as profound as the university events I usually report on, but the IMMAP Summit experience was like eating in a fast food chain. It provided an enjoyable, easy venue to spur and explore ideas and learn about the latest tools and trends. At the same time, it made delegates momentarily satisfied. But at the end of the day, we've really missed out on essential nutritive elements most of us wouldn't bother looking for as long as there's food on the table. #

All photos by Camille Diola. Please cite Creative Commons license for use.

On the CCP-Politeismo-CBCP outrage

2011-08-09T16:36:00.008+08:00

Because I'm an arts and culture blogger, I've had the utmost temptation all week to add my comment to the ongoing cacophony on Mideo Cruz's Kulo Exhibit installation, but I'm reserving my energy for an upcoming TNGG Arts and Entertainment section post on the issue I'm about to contribute.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines by dawn. Photo by Juan Tan Kwon

As a loyal follower of better columnists, writers and journalists, I recommend an article written by Philippine Daily Inquirer Lifestyle section's Art and Books editor Lito B. Zulueta headlined "Shock for shock's sake." It explains what the exhibit aims to do, but how it also falls short. I'd also like to mention that what he has written here is similar to and more eloquent than what I've had in mind the past few days.

The furor over Mideo M. Cruz’s “Polytheism” is understandable. In the true spirit of contemporary art, the work is calculated to be offensive; it is blasphemous and sacrilegious.
If modern art has the shock of the new, contemporary art has the jolt of the jugular. If modern art is art for art’s sake, contemporary art is shocking for shock’s sake.

Now we can’t get over the shock. And if “Polytheisms” is to be faulted at all, it is that its shock value has largely detracted the public from the larger picture of the exhibit, “Kulo.”

Curated by multimedia artist Jaime Pacena and Fine Arts professor Jocelyn Tullao-Calubayan, “Kulo,” ongoing at the Bulwagang Juan Luna (Main Gallery) of the Cultural Center of The Philippines (CCP), gathers artists and writers who have studied at the University of Santo Tomas, the cradle of modern art in the Philippines.

But may I also add that I think shock value in art is already too cliché and too passé to even be used over and over again. We've already gone through an entire era of modern art that cinches on the absurd and the appalling. Can we redefine and revolutionize art as we've known it? And I do believe that particular artwork and the curatorial decision involved in this recent Cultural Center of the Philippines exhibit are not bound to. If we ought to uplift and promote Filipino art, we can't rely on an exhibit that divides a nation and insults its faithful to push toward the same goal.

Read my take on it » #

Appassionata

2011-08-02T12:15:00.007+08:00

I'll let you in on something I'm working on today, to keep myself from useless, indistinct mutterings caused by petty issues of the daily grind. So this draft is something inspired by a guy who worked for one company all his life but still made it to the top of his game. Many times, really, stalwart loyalty is the best kind of service. No use biting the hand that feeds us, or has nurtured us, 'cause it always backfires. Keep that in mind, job seekers and alumni, of whatever history and form!

Havinden

So Ashley Havinden (1903-1973) was a British advertising designer who said, "Designers are problem-solvers." Obvious? Sure. But some people don't really get that. Havinden also authored the book "Advertising and the Artist" based on his experiences working for one ad agency for 45 years. The cover of the 1956 version of the publication is the inspiration for a poster I'm designing for an academic wing's series of education-related events.

First, they wanted a lighthouse in the poster. And some stairs. I'm not taking that latter suggestion 'cause it's a whole lot of imagery I can't deal with yet. Self-knowledge is important in any creative task, since it brings one to consider even subjective setbacks besides the limitations of resources and time.

Okay, so those clouds don't really look as good when the poster's minimized. Let me do something about it. As usual, I'll only post the final version with the complete copy in the portfolio. Meanwhile, it's raining cats and dogs outside, and I'm tuned in to Beethoven's Appassionata, one of his most "tempestuous" piano sonatas. How very apt in a charged environment. But then again, we all have to be lighthouses amid raging waves. #

Horror classics: Scary but sensible

2011-07-30T10:49:00.004+08:00

Thought of re-posting something I wrote for TNGG a month ago in celebration of this week's theme Book Week. To be fair though, I've read all of the books listed below except Henry James' and part of Dante's. Don't even try to look for Shelley's Frankenstein here. Do you really think it's very sound and well-written when it was severely panned by critics during its time? So here are those horror classics that should be worth more than Meyer's Twilight or Stein's Goosebumps.

Photo by My Name is O on Flickr

Originally published on The Next Great Generation Arts & Entertainment

“The Classics” are categorized as such for a reason, and though it can take considerable effort (gasp, Victorian English!) and some acquired taste to pick up Dickens, Dostoevsky or Shakespeare, they’re the best of what the written word has to offer and, therefore, well worth the toil.

Reading these works, though, may remind one of the horrors of high school literature classes that combined the pressure of getting As with saving ourselves from the embarrassment of not knowing the answer to the simplest plot-related questions. Now that we can admit to having survived through Spark Notes and minimal wit, I recommend an easier way of getting started with the Classics. And this time, with less realistic terrors.

Horror tales, for me, are the most neutral literary genre. They catch the attention of both sexes, the young and the old, the cultured aficionados and the lowbrow fans, which is why I find horror, ironic as it might sound, the least frightening road to the world of classic works from which we might otherwise close ourselves.

Here are some of the best Horror Classics to start your reading habit:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897)

Forget Stephenie Meyer and Anne Rice — it was this Irish guy who created the vampire to end all others. Lawyer Jonathan Harker gets trapped in his client Count Dracula’s Transylvanian castle, luckily escapes and finds himself involved in a web of events indicating the Count’s presence in London.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)

A profound reflection on the false duality of human nature, Stevenson’s novella reveals the alter ego of an enigmatic physician, Henry Jekyll, whose last will, which leaves everything to his young assistant, Edward Hyde, puzzles his lawyer Utterson.

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)

Wilde’s only published novel is, like Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, an account of the horrific consequences of one man’s sensual, egoistic worldview. Dorian Gray, a gentleman as beautiful and as vain as Narcissus, decides to gamble his soul to be immortalized in a portrait that would age in time instead of himself.

Poe and Dante. AAoAAoA image under CC BY-NC-ND license.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1840-1850)

Short, sweet and scary, Poe’s macabre stories capture curious readers in one sitting. The Tell-Tale Heart, one of his shortest prose works, has a narrator who tries to prove he is not mad for having murdered an old man. The Cask of Amontillado is a tale of the revenge of a resentful Spanish nobleman who lures his enemy into his wine vault. And The Fall of the House of Usher, a generically Gothic narrative, occurs in creep house where a weakly Roderick Usher watches over his cataleptic twin sister.

Dante Alighieri’s Inferno (14th century)

This book doesn’t exactly fit our contemporary idea of horror, but Dante’s first installment of the Divine Comedy is arguably the closest to a horror story that a literary work could get in the Middle Ages. The epic poem tells of Dante’s journey around the the nine circles of Hell, each representing the gravity of every immoral act men commit on Earth.

Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw (1898)

A ghost story crossed with a psychological thriller, James’ novella tells of two orphan children under the care of a young governess who discovers the presence of ghosts, to whom she attributes the children’s difficulties, around their estate. #

Photo credits: Dracula photo by Sweet Mustache on Flickr under CC BY-NC-ND license,

Philippine flag in minute form

2011-07-12T20:03:00.003+08:00

There have been more than a few reminders today to manifest ye old abstract construct of love. Someone also had the brilliant idea of reversing four letters in the word "revolution" making it "reEVOLution" in one of our editorial design e-brainstorming sessions. I also just discovered a soon-to-be launched campaign and documentary on the value of love in work through a series of testimonial videos of people of diverse nationalities.

Love -- and love of country -- was also something brought up by a student I was having a conversation with over lunch. The freshman wondered why a flag ceremony is not regularly held in the organization I work for. Great thinking. I more than acknowledged her suggestion, and even encouraged her to write a formal proposal to management. After all, this sort of institutional, patriotic gesture should not only influence the aspirations of those making up the ranks, but also the mission of any business to contribute to the nation.

But most moving of such reminders perhaps was a classic piece of reading this morning that, in an inexplicably convincing manner, pointed out how many forms of love of country, of nationalism, can actually be alienating and twisted:

You must reject that form of nationalism which hinders understanding and harmony. In many moments of history it has been one of the most evil of barriers.

A simple display of the Philippine flag on my bookshelf a few months ago.

I pocketed this little flag stuck on a pineapple for dessert way back. It just seemed so symbolic in its minute form, maybe alluding to how little concern and appreciation we have for our nation and people. And why do we always have to constrain it in material, economic matters (symbolized by the pineapple) if love for country, or love in itself, is an intellectual, spiritual concept (symbolized by the books above)? #

An attempt at visual note taking

2011-06-29T12:25:00.008+08:00

It's as simple as making classroom, meeting or seminar notes more appealing to the eye by translating words and phrases into amateur doodles. And in this post, I'm including evidences of my initial attempt at carrying out visual thinking methods that help the formation of ideas and facilitate the mental processing of information.

My summer visual notes in philosophy class.

Making theology typographical.

Plato: Highlighted.

Camping: calendared.

The difference between philosophy and religion. Chart!

Moses carrying the Ten Commandments.

One of the main challenges in visual note taking -- or making "sketchnotes" as some like to call it -- is the envisioning of random abstract statements and putting them on paper with less use of words. Using our good old school writing way, we jot down as much verbatim as we can place from our short term memory and leave them for future reference. And this is how learning can become drab and even routinizing.

The compromise in visual note taking is the investment of time to already visualize concepts, draw them on paper in charts, maps, images or spot-on layout while listening to the speaker. They can be reviewed easily in the future since the images make the reader capture the thought in a glance without having to go through lines and lines of gray text.

In this way, learning does not just involve the sense of hearing and memory, but the powerful sense of seeing as well. Sketchnoting engages multiple senses and makes memory more powerful, and thus also readily transforms mere information into true knowledge. And this is not something I just made up, several studies (such as this) have come up with bits of proof.

Discovering a more effective learning style

Sure it takes loads of practice to sketch and listen to the ongoing lecture at the same time, but it also comes naturally to many people. I encountered some difficulty at first when I tended to concentrate on my notes more than the speakers' flow of words. But once I discovered my own doodling techniques, the habit has gone from distraction to petty sleep prevention to a considerably helpful technique.

Now that I've sufficiently learned how to take visual notes, I'm convinced that the technique follows human logic than the regular note taking does. In the first place, people are inherently more visual than auditory. Just consider the success of TV over radio (remember the Buggles' hit "Video Killed the Radio Star"?) and the much-preferred YouTube medium over podcasts.

You can argue, however, that reading text is also a visual activity. Of course it is, there's no contention there. But there's truth in the adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words" and it's also true that great speeches have moved history and peoples into action because of the imagery these speeches create in listeners' minds.

Well-documented

Many internet articles have been written on the topic, and several how-tos are also available. In my case though, visual note taking is a rather novel discovery, without having read anything on the topic. I just explored at first knowing that I'm a visual learner more than an auditory one. To my surprise, Google results have also yielded so much content about it, most interesting of which are those by Austin Kleon and Mike Rohde. There's also Eva Lotta-Lamm's fine slide presentation that's unmatched by anything I've seen.

It is slowly becoming a popular step in the design process, especially when coupled with mind mapping.

Core77 has also a curated thread on sketchnotes-related articles, and many other newbie visual notetakers who blog about their first few decent pages.

But I can't draw! Whoever said we had to be Da Vincis to take visual notes? All we need are pen, paper, some intuition and imagination. We're not trying to create a masterpiece here, only a tool to help us form more coherent ideas. Stick figures are as effective, promise. If not, arrows, boxes and shapes can do as well. #

Angono resto, a looker

2011-06-14T15:54:00.001+08:00

An antique entryway in Balaw-Balaw Restaurant, Angono.

Of course we didn't have to sit down and try out local, exotic and Filipino cuisine in Balaw Balaw Restaurant in Angono when we last visited it. There was so much to see in the same location other than dishes, and this lovely door that seems to be an entrance to the world of Philippine folk tales is just a sampler of its exquisite collection of antiques and sculptures.

There were snakes preserved in large jars, a corridor that reminds one of childhood nightmares, a room with wooden articles from different parts of the globe, and most notable perhaps is a sculpted religious reredo imported from Indonesia perfect for solemn devotion in a small chapel. I wonder if they'll ever try to donate it to the church? I do hope so.

Then there's a rather thick roof deck garden overlooking the mountains and forests of Rizal. It was the perfect time to thank God for having this as my hometown. #

Roof garden.

My friend Calai Clarino exploring the various antiques and sculptures.

A huge woodwork of a balanghai.

Detail of balanghai carving.

A Roman encounter

2011-06-02T08:45:00.004+08:00

It began with a fascination with Yo-Yo Ma when I first watched him perform on YouTube and after downloading a couple of tracks. His music is spellbinding, and his talent unparalleled. It's only with these kinds of people that I violate the "show don't tell" good writing mantra. After all, I only know a little about music, and the little I know can't even be put to words many times.

Cellist Joshua Roman. Photo by Jeremy Sawatzky.

Then there's this guy. Joshua Roman. An international cellist in his 20s, with a style and flexibility rare for someone his age. I saw him again play recently on TED with Robert Gupta on the violin, and the music hit me many times over as relatively untapped by larger audiences obsessed with the pop scene. I guess, this article explains my sentiments, but I wonder how much more frustrated genuinely talented artists can be about the business and the industry that see culture mainly for its economic promise.

Roman himself spells it out rather casually:

I wonder sometimes if two of those practice hours every week back in (the conservatory) could have been more useful spent at the nearby cafeteria eavesdropping on the the MBA students. Or better yet, in an actual business class!

But don't accuse me of another pessimistic post just yet, 'cause you see, maybe there's always something to light up the dark corners of the world. And the Internet can be another light on culture, with qualifications of course, by providing roads and connections between different communities and users who can collaborate to promote that very culture. Joshua Roman observed one such phenomenon:

The YouTube Symphony brought attention to the center of the Classical Music Pyramid by honoring the tradition of classical music performance and pioneering a new form of musical community through one of today’s most powerful tools for sharing: the internet.

And he continued:

Open source sharing, rather than diluting, can even strengthen skills by exposing vulnerabilities, which brings an honesty to musical communication.

Perhaps the "cult of the amateur" does have its benefits. But maybe I've also been repeating myself many times over along these lines since the post "Yes to design democracy." #

Graphic design principles for beginners

2011-05-25T08:47:00.004+08:00

It has been, what, a month and three weeks since the last post. Quite enough to make this space derelict. I've a lot of interesting content to share the next few weeks, but for now I think I would like to start with something that took me a lot of time preparing for: A presentation I made--based on the belief that everyone can have that design eye--for a design training course for employees I conducted a couple of months back.

Design for beginners: The universal principles

People who admire aesthetically pleasing products sometimes ask how artists can come up with ideas for the final design. Actually, there is nothing exact step-by-step creative process, only an instinct turned into a discipline and eventually into a serious profession.

Sometimes though we ask, where do these principles come from? Surely they're not inventions of the gurus of the field. These are discovered, revealing facts about man and the natural world. Good design is good design because it follows an innate criteria of beauty approximated in these principles that will forever be there. #

2011 films to catch

2011-04-07T10:58:00.004+08:00

Why is it that other "2011 upcoming films" posts and articles only list mainstream Hollywood flicks and commercial sequels that usually turn out celebrity vehicles or unimaginative ripoffs anyway? For this week's post, let's go a little out of our way and try to look at some films not listed by your typical movie site.

So there's no way we can say how the following films will do, but basing on trends, trailers, credits of the cast and crew as well as the apparent value of the released plot, we can somehow gauge their critical or commercial success, not to mention value other than money and credible vox populi.

There Be Dragons by Roland Joffe (May)

Charlie Cox as Josemaria Escriva in There Be Dragons. Photo by Michael Lichtenstein.

Can we expect any less from the filmmaker who brought us Killing Fields and The Mission? We actually can, considering his subsequent streak of so-so films like Fat Man and Little Boy and City of Joy, not to mention the overwhelmingly awful The Scarlet Letter and Captivity. If There Be Dragons can be anything for Joffé's career, it's redemption and forgiveness. And that's also true plot-wise.

"This movie has been made for all human beings, with the sure knowledge that all human beings count, and all human beings have value, and all human beings ... are capable of being saints," Joffé, an agnostic, said in a behind-the-scenes video. The film tells of a fictionalized account of Manolo Torres, a tempestuous soldier, and his childhood friend Saint Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, caught in the middle of war-torn, anti-clerical Spain.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn by Steven Spielberg (December)

Property of Dreamworks

If there's just one reason to watch this movie adaptation of a Belgian comic book, it's the motion capture technology by the joint forces of Spielberg and Peter Jackson. But of course, fans know there's more about to this movie than mocap. Comic book hero Tintin, a young reporter, has been followed by self-dubbed Tintinologists since the 1930s and artist Hergé went on to influence visual artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois (February 25 in the US)

Original French title: Des hommes et des dieux

Property of Sony Classics Pictures

After an alarming incident, a group of Trappist monks is urged by their government to leave a community where they have long lived in harmony with its Muslim residents. The persistent Christian brothers are torn between the ongoing political conflicts and the spiritual mission that sent them there. The film brought home Cannes 2010 Grand Prix and has received generally rave reviews. If you're in it for a foreign film night, this is the title to see for the year.

Tree of Life by Terrence Malick (May)

screenshot from trailer of The Tree f Life distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Official plot reports have been scarce and its teaser trailer whets our curiosity by limiting itself to montage sequences and a grandiose score. And with a poster looks like a Flickr gallery as this, it just makes things worse for us prying movie fans. But there are several things to be expected here: Sean Penn level acting, Brad Pitt in a period film (again?!), and a soul-searching theme. Malick himself points out the role of the family in the life cycle of human beings, and those other things that do not change, "the eternal scheme of which we are part." Interesting, huh?

Water for Elephants by Francis Lawrence (April)

Property of Fox.

If we're really expecting something big from director Lawrence this time, let's not. Sure he has done an adaptation before in Constantine and I am Legend, but reviews were so-so. But there's hope in the visuals of Water for Elephants, even though the trailer makes the film look like a ripoff of Tim Burton's Big Fish and the romantic twist brings to fore what Moulin Rouge! was acclaimed for, and yes, I'm not just referring to the elephant love.

Kung Fu Panda 2 by Jennifer Yuh Nelson (May)

Property of Dreamworks.

Po, now the Dragon Warrior, loves kung fu, and kung fu loves him back. But now an evil one wants to take kung fu away forever. I trust Dreamworks to follow through their successful prequel as the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior would in defending the weak and Chinese world. With new characters and a website of awesomeness, this sequel is not expected to suck more than anything in the history of sucking. It won't be as good as the prequel, as always, but the first sequel usually turns out better than the succeeding ones. And I won't even start talking about Shrek series just yet. Ska-doosh!

The Hobbit by Peter Jackson (December)

The Hobbit fan art.

I'm a late bloomer in Tolkien. I've only just finished the Hobbit when I heard that Jackson was on his way to making a movie and had just chosen an actor to play Bilbo Baggins. This is exciting. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has just made film history and it won't be surprising to see a well-placed mention of The Hobbit as unofficially part of the Tolkien film series when it's shown.

War Horse by Steven Spielberg (December)

Property of Dreamworks Pictures

Adapted from the stage play that adapted a novel, War Horse is now in post-production and is set to be a family-adventure war film just right into the holidays of this year. Film editor Michael Kahn has been heard gushing while in the cutting room about "gorgeous" shots of "beautiful scenery" and "beautiful" horses. And that's just about enough quote needed to get us watching it. #

Extra wrong

2011-04-06T13:35:00.002+08:00

A quick post to make up for last week's non-post.

At the March 25, 2011 interfaith rally at the Quirino Grandstand.

Industry fails the best musicians

2011-03-21T17:42:00.001+08:00

Published on the Next Great Generation »

We’ve all witnessed frustrated yet gifted contestants get kicked out of TV talent shows on which the guy or girl with personality, fans and some guile — though not necessarily the better artist — goes on to take the top prize.

This non-correlation between talent and achievement doesn’t only apply in reality shows, but in the music industry at large. I’ve noticed that my favorite folk rock artists unwillingly follow the same frustrating trend, even though I find these little-known musicians way better than the Gagas and the Biebers.

Folk rock also happens to be one of the few genres that requires real talent to combine ethnic sound with recognizable rock elements. Folk rockers must be artful, savvy and possess distinct and unfailing vocals. But those who love the artistically glorious but commercially abortive folk rock scene might be wondering, where’s our audience? Isn’t their talent enough to bring in crowds?

Teddy Thompson. Photo by Martin Palmer.

The “New York Times” called artist Teddy Thompson “one of the most gifted singer-songwriters of his generation.” A descendant of folk rock nobility — Thompson’s folks (pun intended) are celebrated ‘70s musicians Richard andLinda Thompson — he has looks that can draw fans of both sexes, young and old, across cultures. Yet even after ten years in the business and five studio albums, he only has a meager thousand followers on Twitter today.

Patrick Park. Photo by Sherman W on Flickr.

In perhaps the same streak of talent and hampered success is Patrick Park, whose voice “recalls an older tradition of musicianship that translates across generations.” Despite a short stint contributing to “The O.C.” soundtracks, a contract with Hollywood Records and great reviews, his albums haven’t made it mainstream.

Ever heard of William Fitzsimmons? “The Guardian” described his record as “one hell of an album,” but right now, he is only as big as his beard and negatively compared to the more successful indie folk rock act Sufjan Stevens.

For these folk rockers, it’s not record labels that are to blame; rather, it’s the pop music world, in which they just can’t seem to find a place. “(The label) had no idea what to do with me…they were always trying to fit a square peg in a round hole,” Park says. Thompson agrees: “Even for the people in the business who are the real music lovers, it’s really about putting things in the right boxes, and my style doesn’t fit into a box,” he said in the same “Times” article.

But if it’s the hybrid genre that’s holding them back, one has to wonder why folk rock greats like Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Young and (if you agree) Ray LaMontagne maintained a huge following for so many years.

William Fitzsimmons. Photo by Yuhei Fujiwara

We can only guess, then, the reasons why these young, talented, folk rock musicians haven’t made it big: an unwelcoming market of mostly pop music consumers, their record labels’ lack of marketing and PR efforts and, maybe, because the personalities themselves ironically lack charisma, which can’t be taught. In other words, what they need is more than just a lucky horseshoe or Irish blood.

Malcolm Gladwell confirms that genius alone — and, in this case, musical prowess — doesn’t necessarily make one a winner. It starts with natural talent, then one lucky break after another, sustained discipline and hard work, a “cultural legacy” and the world’s support.

“We overlook just how large a role we play — and by ‘we’ I mean society — in determining who makes and who doesn’t,” writer Gladwell wrote in “Outliers,” a book that debunks fly-by theories of success.

“To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages today that determine success — the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history — with a society that provides opportunities for all,” Gladwell wrote.

Music fans among us cannot be spared the guilt of keeping ethnically rooted artistry like that of Thompson, Park and Fitzsimmons from blooming. Instead, we back variations of formulaic pop music by our zealous devotion to commercial achievers like Rihanna and Katy Perry without trying to explore indie labels or even our own community’s traditional tunes.

Music has become an integrated art form that gives premium to stage presence, packaging and performance, making us associate good music today with a seductive dances or outlandish costumes. But we also tend to forget that music is fundamentally auditive — that is, meant to be heard without our eyes playing a part.

If only we first listen to lesser-known artists whom we don’t see on TV and whose faces aren’t framed posters in record bars, I think we’ll find the kind of music that genuinely speaks to us as individuals simply by its pure form. This is how we help give such talents a fair chance, and, in turn, we discover the musical aesthetic that appeals not just to our senses but to our minds and souls, free from dictates of popular opinion. This is how I found folk rock. #

Botong Francisco's house in Angono

2011-03-09T00:24:00.002+08:00

The entire span of Poblacion Itaas Street in the art town of Angono is lined with relief works done in tribute to the legendary Filipino muralist Carlos "Botong" Francisco. Not many people we asked knew where the painter's house is, even though it has been known as a tourism spot.

Is this ignorance on account of people having grown used to living next door to one of the greatest artists who ever lived in the country? Or have they deemed it worthy to be ignored? Or maybe they just simply didn't know? Whatever the reason, it's unfortunate, though a simple signpost or landmark could have helped clueless tourists.

My friend checking out the museum's displays in Botong Francisco's house in Angono.

We were welcomed by his grandson Totong Francisco and told us how his famous predecessor would use the small door to go in and out of the main room and how he liked spending his time painting by the river near the house. Like other Filipino painters I've encountered (Pitok Blanco and Bernardo Duldulao), Francisco started in the mainstream industry working for media companies to design film posters and ads.

Totong, also a painter, has converted part of the house into a studio that showcases contemporary art by him and his colleagues. He said that his father, his uncles and his siblings all grew up practicing painting, but he's one of the few who pursued it as a profession.

Some fading photographs and dusty displays

In the wide room downstairs were photos and sculptures of the National Artist's original murals and works which range from his own mural technique to pop art for films.

A relief displayed in the basement.

Totong also showed us a commemorative coffee table book of the life and art of his esteemed grandfather. He said he helped write and collect materials for it, and its relatively pricey worth is to partially cover the maintenance of the museum-residence he watches over. We wanted to get a copy, of course, if only it were more timely. After all, it's always a good idea to display a book on Filipino genius in our living rooms for guests to browse.

But what's the better idea? To help in art causes as this. As young Filipinos, there's a heritage we have to preserve, and a culture to enhance. #

TV's not for the techie and tame

2011-03-07T09:25:00.005+08:00

Published as "True life: I don't watch TV" in the The Next Great Generation »

Whenever I find myself asking TV-related questions (Is “True Blood” the TV version of “Twilight”? What’s “Glee” all about? How’s Rihanna’s latest music video? And I hear MTV isn’t on air anymore?), I always have to follow with a rather defensive, “Sorry, I live in a cave,” or, “I’m really a 70-year-old in a 22-year-old’s body.” Acquaintances stare at me puzzled, but a few of my friends aren’t surprised.

I don’t watch TV. Not on weeknights or weekends. I only occasionally watch TV serials and BBC documentaries on DVD. And whenever I glimpse local TV shows in buses, I prefer to take a nap. In fact, I’ve had this (anti-)habit for four years now.

I live in the middle of a metropolitan capital city. I don’t belong to an Amish-like cult, nor am I an extreme leftist boycotting “the boob tube” for being a capitalist medium. I’m not work-obsessed, and my friends can testify that I’m no social freak. And we do have a TV set at home — HD, huge, cable enabled and complete with a second sub-woofer.

Oh yeah, and I have an academic degree in mass media.

Still, I don’t watch TV.

For the techie and tame

We’re in an age when people spout opinions on the growing influence of digitization and the Internet left and right. Television now shares its clout with social media and the Web, and it doesn’t allow control the same way our mobile devices and laptops do. New media could easily replace the original functions of TV, only the latter has become the more convenient and developed option.

But TV, for me, is not the wisest way to get information these days. When I have unlimited online reports and the major dailies to read everyday in the office, waiting for the more valuable news on TV poses to be a waste of time. I’m over the days when I’d flip through channel after channel to look for a show with substance and depth but also entertainment value. The first two seasons of “Gilmore Girls,” about a fast-talking, lovable mother-daughter tandem, topped my list, and the early seasons of “Lost” unfolded a fascinating puzzle that made a curious university student probe into the hidden meaning of the characters’ philosopher labels.

The boob tube’s capacity to positively influence ethical sensibility has also steadily dipped. Shows for young people today are nowhere near generic, but they seem to promote social and intellectual values below those in the ’90s. One recent TNGG post explains: “The difference between ‘Buffy [the Vampire Slayer]‘ and teen shows today is that it wasn’t about gossipy cliques, sex or melodrama. Buffy was about friendship, courage, love, sacrifice and, of course, lots of action.”

Van Gogh over Gaga

Comedian Groucho Marx once said, “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”

We can better understand this non-viewing habit if we see the downsides as positives. Surely it’s hard for kids and teens to feel left out whenever classmates talk about a much-awaited episode from the night before, but yuppies can easily adapt this lifestyle.

Now, I’m not saying everyone should quit watching TV, but it’s definitely worth a try. From my experience, I’ve found that other activities prove to be more essential.

Going to the latest exhibit, watching a comforting indie film, exchanging opinions on current events with (equally geeky) friends, visiting church for prayer and its architecture, reading a well-designed coffee table book and seeing live musical performances in a nearby park are options anyone can readily look forward to after a crazy day in the office.

Another thought to consider: In a philosophy class I took, a professor once revealed that within one 80-year lifetime, we won’t be able to see all the films we want to watch or read all the books we want to read. We then have to choose the best of what we can get so that at the end of our lives, we can say we’ve only seen the best of what the world has to offer.
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Photo by Lubs Mary on Flickr under CC BY-NC-SA license | by Zoltán Horlik under CC BY-NC-SA license

Paete's dying art

2011-02-28T08:35:00.003+08:00

Mag-ina. Benjamin Dailo. wood

Since meeting Paete artists who gave me a sculpted duck as a souvenir, I'm joining in a Revive the Art advocacy campaign, if it ever existed. If it hasn't, let my two-part series of posts on the town and its people be the start of it.

Benjamin Dailo, a sculptor from Paete, talks about how their town sees the difference between arts and crafts and the hope of encouraging young people to continue the art that made their town distinct. I edited this video using Adobe Premiere Professional. Clips of works are from the Banhay-Kulay exhibit in UA&P.

Video from UAPChannel on YouTube

Paete artists in one corner

2011-02-13T13:23:00.006+08:00

After Sweet Home Angono, Paete is perhaps the most fascinating art town in the country because of its local creative folk whose craft has gone from their grandfathers to Gen Yers. And who knew they're also gifted in classical and modern techniques of painting? Say it's inevitable, but for a town more commonly known for its woodworks, it's fascinating to discover a multiplicity of talents in one corner of Luzon.

And to talk of corners (a pun in The Corrs lingo), the men and women of the Paete Artist Guild led by Angelo "Lito" Baldemor exhibit their recent works from Laguna all the way to Pasig City in a university's lovely lobby. There's no uniting artistic theme except that they all hail from a Laguna locale, and I mean, that already says a lot. These artists usually come from creative families who had nurtured their youngsters to grow up surrounded by brushes and chisels.

A wall transformed for the Banhay Art Exhibit at UA&P for the National Arts Month.

Odette and Christine Cagandahan although sharing a last name and similar physical features seem to possess distinct tastes in art. Odette creates paintings of children's faces with all their lines and peculiarities, which easily remind me of photorealistic profile works, but at the same time literally emotional in a cheerful, refreshing way.

And who said this age's paintings should always be emotionally shocking and averse? We are some of the happiest citizens in the planet after all.

Odette Cagandahan. Various paintings.

Christine's abstract works stand out for their simplicity amid the numerous complicated imageries found in the room. Her works explore form, as if balling up Malevich's suprematism. Its gradients are refined and shapes are textured, making me think of culinary plating techniques (yum!) but applied on canvas.

Tin Cagandahan. Black and White. mixed media

Tin Cagandahan. People and Places I. mixed media

But how does she translate this aesthetic on 3D? In the most unexpected manner, methinks. Her religious sculptures of metal and wood are deeply expressionistic. Jesus on the cross is scaled into an anatomy similar to General Grievous', though not sinister, drawn-out in a protracted pose and in terrible suffering.

Tin Cagandahan. Crucifix I. wood metal epoxy.

Felix "Kid" Baldemor does two Santo Niño figures dressed in peasant clothing, one of them varnished and another painted. It's most possibly symbolic that the child has the stance of the priestly Christ with the idiomatic gesture for the sign of the cross and the torn garment suggesting a pierced heart.

Okay, so I just shot that halo into the photo, so don't think it's organically part of the work. Could've been providential.

Felix "Kid" Baldemor. Santo Niño Palaboy. Narra wood

Doctor and artist Nilo Valdecantos, owner of Kape Kesada Art Gallery & Cafe, channels interior spirituality to render the bloody face of Christ in expressionist fashion in Black and White and Life.

Nilo Valdecantos. Black and White and Life. oil on canvas

Benjamin Dailo and Lamberto Baldemor carve out characters as if borne from wood and moving through seemingly natural transition.

Benjamin Dailo. Mag-ina.

A Moses by Lamberto Baldemor.

Looking at such works and passing by this exhibit daily for the entire month made me more certain that today's art need not be irreverent and lurid to be recognized. Why do more contemporary artists try so hard to be strikingly original to the point of desensitization from what's aesthetically pleasing? Is artistic peace so hard to go back to?

Paete needs a push. A town with rare lineages of artistic blood and an economy run by creativity would be an enormous lost if the young ones don't carry it on and forward. Sure, art is transcendent and lasting, but it's also preserved by material and emotional value that needs nourishment. #

Awesome art blogs to look at

2011-02-07T11:38:00.002+08:00

Museum station by Alex T.

People call Gen Y so many names, but perhaps one of the most likable that also strikes true is "the visual generation."

In fact, a new kind of “literacy” has been identified in digital natives who grew up immersed in visually-dependent, multimedia environments. Young people today respond more to imagery than any other generation before them, perhaps because new technologies have allowed more dynamic graphics on our screens, and these Photoshop amateurs have cultivated a more refined popular taste in design.

And when has photography been more accessible than it is now, when anyone can come up with the best-looking compositions from their Canon digital SLRs? It’s only on rare occasions that we still call hired professionals to snap our precious moments.

Despite this budding golden age in visual communications, the visual arts remain outside the mainstream. A select few spend their Sundays going to contemporary art exhibits, galleries and museums, yet thousands from my country visit DeviantArt daily.

But because this is “the visual generation,” I also think we have more potential to appreciate art, traditional or otherwise, even in its most academic forms, if only we try to explore it. For beginners in the intellectual-creative world of visual arts, here’s a list of some well-written, insightful, bookmark-worthy art blogs for your regular fix.

The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones on Art. Unlike many critics who scorn most art pieces they feature, Mr. Jones, a veteran of the UK daily, persists as the optimistic, laudatory type. He writes about the old masters as frequently as he does up-and-coming artists, and his reflections are accessible and unpretentious--such as when he candidly explains why Pollack is a "rock and roll master" and why Van Gogh couldn’t have won The X Factor. He’s also my personal favorite.

Read full story on TheNextGreatGeneration.com »
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Edru Abraham: An artist's profile

2011-01-26T17:33:00.005+08:00

AAAoAAoA Rewind: September, 2007. Warning: this is a 1,300-word story based on my interview with a fascinating character. A worthy read nonetheless. Enjoy!

Edru Abraham. Photo by Jerome Cruz

The performance just ended, and a man in native Manobo costume bowed and acknowledged the audience’s applause. The next performance was about to begin.

“Yeeehh! Bravo! Yehhh!”

Another man in the audience in white polo shirt and a kerchief around his neck shouted praises on top of his voice while clapping enthusiastically. Other people were applauding too, but he stood out from the small crowd. It was famed Professor Pedro “Edru” Abraham Jr., known for his contributions to indigenous music and Filipino performing arts – and his energy.

That day at the modest lobby of the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater in the University of the Philippines Diliman, students played rare Chinese and Japanese instruments like the yangqin and the koto, and Filipino agung, kulintang and Muslim drums. When the artists and students started to chant, Mr. Abraham grabbed some drums and improvised backup music.

It was a glimpse at a world of music, dance, and performance where someone like Mr. Abraham thrives. He was as if on a high with the beat, bobbing his head and stomping his foot along with the rhythm. He would be the first one to applaud and the last one to stop, and after every performance he requested the musicians to play another piece.

“How astounding this music is, and how diverse the sounds we can make from these instruments,” he told the audience, making waving gestures.

Mr. Abraham is best known as the founder of the Kontemporaryong Gamelang Pilipino, popularly called Kontra-Gapi, an acclaimed neo-world music ensemble based in the U.P. College of Arts and Letters where he is also an associate professor in Art Studies.

Mr. Abraham had his training early on as a dancer, musician and mime actor of the Filipinescas Dance Company in the late 60’s under the wings of National Artist for Dance Leonora Orosa Goquingco.

“All the dances we were doing were stylized and outgrowths of the indigenous community and the new theater and art,” he said in an interview after the event.

During rehearsal breaks in Filipinescas, he “fooled around” with indigenous instruments using them to play rock tunes like “Hard Day’s Night” using the agung, a set of wide-rimmed gongs from Mindanao.

“I just fooled around, little realizing that I could draw from this fooling around to create new music,” he said.

Years after his stint with Filipinescas, he went on to found Kontra-Gapi in 1989. “I didn’t really set out to found a group like that,” Mr. Abraham said. “But I think we found acceptance of people from all walks and ages.”

“Acceptance” could be an understatement. Kontra-Gapi with its eclectic, improvisational and even experimental music now performs at least twice a week all over the country and does concert tours abroad. It was honored with Outstanding Achievement Award in Performing Arts by the University in 1996 and has so far produced two albums “World Beat / World Music – Filipino” and ”Gong at Ritmo, Lunggating Pilipino.”

Mr. Abraham’s expertise in this branch of the arts not only grew from something he took interest in while growing up, but is rooted in his very ethnicity.

“I would know more about the Comanches, the Apaches and the American Indians, but I knew nothing about the aetas in the Eastern Mountains, in Sierra Madre and in the Cordilleras who would come visit our town from time to time,” he said, describing the stirring of his awareness as a child growing in an Ibanag-speaking town in Tuguegarao.

“I was just any ordinary Filipino. I grew up in the Methodist Church and was part of the choir and played Bach and Beethoven and followed pop music,” said Mr. Abraham, who eventually decided to explore his and other local ethnicity and culture.

“All these other Filipinos who are marginalized in the consciousness of most Filipinos got me to start considering the state of my own experience,” he said. “And my awareness was amplified, affirmed and deepened by my stay in the University as a student and later as a teacher.”

Another integral influence to his art and approach is the people’s reaction to the martial rule in the ‘70s. “I would lead in rallies and chant in the streets, and I would invent indigenous chants and I also thought it was very empowering for people to make creative noises and scream out their frustrations together,” Mr. Abraham said, reclining on his creaking chair in his faculty office.

Kontra-Gapi performing at the UP Centennial kickoff. Photo by Jerome Cruz.

This explains Kontra-Gapi’s bearing a political statement in its very name (which literally means “to counter defeat” in Filipino) and as a group being founded post-martial law. It shows the artist’s concern not just for music but also for social issues like empowerment and the value of expression.

“My background is very rich indeed, but I also love reading about political issues, current events, things about what makes a Filipino tick.”

And with Kontra-Gapi, he does make people tick. After some performances, people would gather around the instruments and try playing them. “Children would start banging away and I remember one kid said, ‘Alam mo paglaki ko gusto ko tumugtog din ako.’ It’s interesting how even kids like (the music),” Mr. Abraham shared.

For someone not trained in a conservatory, it’s a wonder how Mr. Abraham possesses considerable knowledge in music and a vast experience in the performing arts. He experimented extensively, took every opportunity offered, recorded everything, and brought different instruments together to create new tunes.

And that is, after some sort of brooding, characteristic of moody, artistic types.

“When I do something, I have focus. People couldn’t talk to me when I'm in this level of consciousness. Even at home, when I'm in that creative mood, I'm like in a cave, I'm not even aware people are talking to me,” Mr. Abraham said.

The diverse music and creativity are a trademark of Kontra-Gapi, to whom he imparted his knowledge to hone not just the skills of its members but also their values.

“In Kontra-Gapi, (performers) learn how to do be professional, be conscious of the time, do their best even under the worst circumstances and take responsibility for somebody,” Mr. Abraham said. “I always tell them not to limit their capabilities.”

In fact, a Kontra-Gapi member could play up to fifteen instruments. “Not that specialization is wrong, you need that as a base, but you should expand and learn everything,” he added.

And coming from someone who is an actor, director, dancer, choreographer, musician, composer, voice talent, teacher, writer and producer in one body, this is an honest, tried-and-tested advice.

But among all the adjectives and titles, Edru, at age 70, simply wants to be known as a “person who strives to find his own authentic voice -- a voice that is pure and true.”

“And if other people discover that they could identify with (that voice) too, in expressing their own Filipino-ness, then I'm happy,” he said.

And his dream? For public schools to have their indigenous music groups, loyal to their lineage and rooted in culture.

“Why shouldn’t there be some kind of native, indigenous ensemble as part of our schools? For the most part, it’s all Western – drum and lyre bands, choirs. But why not make it Asian?” he said. “Kahit naman anong gawin mo, dun ka rin naman pupunta. Pilipino tayo eh.”

“It’s an ideal that they’re ashamed, not of their own culture, but the fact that they ought to know more of that and they don’t,” he continued.

Looking at his life, one could make out that Edru Abraham is a man who has decades full of honors and achievements, but he says there is a single reality he is most proud of:

“My children and my grandchildren.”

With that Mr. Abraham paused in thoughtfulness, and then went on talking again about art. #

Immediate future plans

2011-01-20T12:57:00.011+08:00

Someone has to piece some puzzles and trace patterns around here. Photo by Raul Arantes.

One: To really find time to religiously write these weekly upcoming posts:

a book
~~an exhibition coverage~~
a play, cough cough
an interview with a young author
~~a profile of a musical artist~~
an encounter with a late painter
my first encounter with an HTML5 interactive movie
eating Japanese design
dining in Bohemian interiors
a student writing workshop I'll be conducting. All exciting.

Two: Expand AAAoAAoA to include writing, design and web portfolios instead of hosting them in other, unnavigable sites. So this is basically another way of documenting some kind of a career.

Three: Get the Cooked project prototype off the ground!

My top films of the decade (2001-2010)

2011-01-12T20:32:00.007+08:00

A post 7 days in the making, given the writer's limited blog time. And now, finally!

This abandoned blog's largest section comprises of ravings on films. And I realize it's 2011, and for the first blog post of the year, I decided to write about my favorite subject again. So this is a list post, on which I think are the best films of the decade. By best, I mean considering everything valid: mise-en-scene, script, cinematography and even emotional (entertainment) and intellectual value. So don't expect any dense chick flick or The Royal Tenenbaums in here.

My reluctance about the credibility of any top films list is that before anyone can even truly pick certain best films, they should have watched all of the films screened within a determined period. That's the only arguable, right way critics can even choose. But to redeem herself, a critic can say, "The best films among those I've seen are ... etcetera." But that's my point, critics never say that.

So the best films I've seen from 2001 to 2010 are, given I'm not missing out on something I truly thought was great:

25th Hour (2003) by Spike Lee

While using expletives in every other sentence, Edward Norton's anti-hero character channels the style of de Niro-and-the-mirror in Taxi Driver, delivering his convoluted insights on life and the human race. An expected ending, but one leaving characters --and viewers--with noble aspirations beyond screen time.

About Schmidt (2002) by Alexander Payne

"We're all pretty small in the big scheme of things ... what kind of difference have I made?" And this small movie lies mostly forgotten in the big world, but its difference lies in compassion, Jack Nicholson and the quirky screenplay's quiet charisma.

Before Sunset (2004) by Richard Linklater

Eighty minutes, two characters talking, a walk around Paris nine years after they first met. No one else could have pulled off such a Hollywood indie feat in the style of French quasi-intellectual, hyper-realistic cinema. Before Sunset only poses as a romantic flick and delivers the genre so subtly.

Big Fish (2003) by Tim Burton

Tim Burton's surrealist-expressionist film about a dying old man's tall tales of his adventures while his journalist son listens on, hoping that for the last time, his father would tell him the truth. Though not a truly great film, not even one of Burton's better creations, Big Fish is a memorable visual, family feast.

Crash (2005) by Paul Haggis

With a surprise Oscar best picture win over crowd favorite Brokeback Mountain which no one but Ebert and me (really, now?) predicted, Crash has a deserving, absorbing charm, not only by an all-star ensemble but by clever, convincing script defining racism in its many forms. While watching this, you'd forget what the word "predictability" means and characterization is thrown out the window: "Who needs it?" After all, even with characters' clashing differences, they share a common humanity.

The Departed (2006) by Martin Scorsese
After watching this, I right away read Ebert's review. "(This Scorsese) movie is not what it's about, it's about how it's about." Take that from a man who wrote an entire book about the director. It's fascinating to watch di Caprio as the good guy pretending to be bad and Damon as the bad guy pretending to be good. And these pretensions cause real tension to viewers who spend the entire screen time knowing, "Oh no, he's just saying that."

Far From Heaven (2002) by Todd Haynes

Haynes resurrects Douglas Sirk's 50s genre-defining melodrama films in a way that's too authentic that film geeks won't miss the late director's shot after shot of symbolism and satire. Forced to convey real human problems, issues and emotions such as class, gender and race. But over Far From Heaven's attempted resolutions, I'd still prefer Sirk's fair, convenient endings.

Finding Nemo (2003) by Andrew Stanton

So many of us probably saw Nemo and Marlin's adventures over and over again, the same way one should repeat things for Dory to remember. A film buff's standard for any children's flick is if grown-ups don't have to grin and bear it as they would sitting through Barney. And Nemo is not just an entertaining, witty treat, but a technological and artistic feat as well.

In America (2002) by Jim Sheridan

A migrant family finds themselves disillusioned in the land of their dreams. Old storyline with an exceptional delivery. In America is a film that reminds me why drama is my favorite genre in the first place, but not that it's generic. Sure the emotional struggles of characters are moving and heavy, but the plot also has grit and carries hope with it. Best of both worlds?

Insomnia (2002) by Christopher Nolan

Nolan may well be on his way to becoming (and I hesitate) today's Hitchcock, but it's still a long way. An Inception or another The Prestige here and there won't earn him the rep. Personally, I think another Insomnia would do it for him, if only audiences would take time, and if Nolan stops deceiving us with quasi-cerebral plots and actually delivers non-Freudian, realistic, understandable, (but still thrilling) think piece of a film. But then again that's boxing him in Hitchcock too much.

In the Mood for Love (2001) by Wong Kar Wai

I wrote a freshman's take on Wong Kar Wai a few years ago, and he could always redeem himself for My Blueberry Nights (which turned out to be "trifle") with another Chunking Express or Happy Together. But Wong would always be remembered for In the Mood because of its experimental style, like a glorified, feature-length music video relying on non-verbal expressions and score to project the tensions of adultery.At the same time, there's a well-placed moral commitment which makes it tops.

The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003) by Peter Jackson

I gotta be honest. The visualized versions of Tolkien's masterworks weren't my favorites, and it's probably 'cause I was too young to make sense of such long screen times with fantastic characters and hazier plot. Really, there's a difference between dwarfs, elves and hobbits? After just having read Tolkien, I looked back to remember the film trilogy and realized Jackson's almost as wise as Gandalf for pulling it off.

Matchstick Men (2003) by Ridley Scott

Matchstick Men is probably the next best movie about con artists after The Sting (1973). Scott playfully combines the hero's psychological idiosyncrasies--stuff of comedic relief--and crime thriller-drama thematic. And its visuals are not too bad, too. I can still remember one scene which plays like an expressionist work to introduce the hero's OCD. The film, in the end, is about finding a family--literally and existentially.

Mystic River (2003) by Clint Eastwood

When I saw Gone Baby Gone '07, I thought this has got to be a rehashed, minor version of Mystic River. And why not emulate it? In a fine example of his mastery of the craft, Eastwood creates a heavy, sulking crime drama and makes use of ace actors to craft real emotions in audiences.

No Country for Old Men (2007) by the Coen brothers

Okay, okay, so I hafta be honest. I've only seen the first few scenes in this film, and I'm looking forward to finishing it before I die. BUT. It's that good. Bardem is horrific, and this film relies on his character's authenticity. Ty Burr praises the Coens' filmmaking, "The brothers don't make movies 'about' something. They tell stories and they let you do the math."

The Passion of the Christ (2004) by Mel Gibson

Most of the film commentators I've read through the years wrote lengthy reviews on this film in an attempt to reflect not only on its technical qualities, its intentions and issues, but its effort to deliver a message so powerful that it had to justify its use of gore.

The Pianist (2002) by Roman Polanski

Polanski (whom I wrote about a year ago) is undeniably one of the better filmmakers around.It's easy to place this film next to the greatest films on war and redemption ever created, as it triumphantly exhibits the power of evil and shows how a singular human craft and transcendent goodness can overcome it.

The Queen (2006) by Stephen Frears

I've never seen Her Majesty the Queen, whoever she is through the years, being portrayed so humanly than in Frears' account of Britain's Royal Family. Helen Mirren is convincing as the matriarch monarch (as if she's born to be Queen), and Michael Sheen fooled me into thinking he's the actual Tony Blair. Looking at the surface, a viewer might at first wonder whether this is a critical work against the Windsors, but in the end it urges one to be sympathetic to them.

Rescue Dawn (2007) by Werner Herzog

By a director who can easily be found in film theory books and starred by the actor who played Batman in another life, Rescue Dawn was an unexpected treat. But as expected, Herzog shoots a part-fictional film like a non-fictional, real-time documentary. It doesn't really try to express a profound message of survival, good vs. evil, hope or whatnot, only of a reality--dirty, hungry prisoners in the jungles of Vietnam, parched from the humidity and literally scarred by genuinely harsh surroundings, trying to escape.

I'm very much tempted to include the following films, but for one reason or another, I hesitate:
Adaptation (2002), The Dark Knight (2008), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Chicago (2002), Children of Men (2006), The Constant Gardener (2005), Sideways (2004), The Bourne Trilogy, Julie & Julia (2009), 21 Grams (2003), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

I regret not having seen the following films, which I think could well be included in the list above:
Spirited Away (2001), Inception (2010), Donnie Darko (2001), The Fighter aka I bet Bale will be with Uncle Oscar this year (2010), The Hurt Locker (2009), The King's Speech (2011), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Moon (2009), Bowling for Columbine (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Grizzly Man (2005), Brick (2005), Synecdoche, New York (2008)

How to spend New Year's Day like a culturati

2010-12-30T17:35:00.001+08:00

Since how to's are such a web phenomenon that teach a wide variety of activities such as how to swim, how to speed read and how to annoy people at the movies, I thought I'd give it a shot and put my first instructional list here. As always, let's pretend I truly know these things:

1. Learn that January 1 is not just New Year's Day, as in the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. It also happens to be the anniversary of the success of the Cuban revolution, the founding day of Taiwan, the octave day of Christmas and the solemnity of Mary as mother of Jesus -- a holy day of obligation for Catholics. Meaning, it's like a Sunday, and St. Peter's flock should head to Mass today.

2. Have some serious breakfast. If you still have some holiday ham in store from that hearty Christmas dinner, this is the best time to rethink its purpose. Check Serious Eats' what-to-eat-for-breakfast-on-Christmas list or Andrew Scrivani's breakfast and brunch recipes and see if there's anything else worth trying.

Don't forget espresso shots to jerk you up from last night's countdown party. The Philippines' own liberica coffee (kape barako) has the one of the most appealing aromatics and flavors around, not to mention the local industry needs support to keep up production.

Hot espresso for the first morning of the New Year. Photo by Fredrik Selander under CC BY-NC-SA license.

3. Get a well-designed coffee table book and listen to glorious music by Leonardo Leo, Vivaldi, Mozart or Corelli smooth streaming via SkyFM to set the mood for the year. Lore has it that whatever you do on New Year's Day will determine whether the rest of your year would be as auspicious, and nothing like classical music to makes things right, at least emotionally.

I embedded a classical music channel below. Click that big blue button if it annoys you, though it shouldn't.

4. Don't whine, have some wine! Some genuine French fizz will do, and several good bottles below Php1,000 such as Feuillatte, Lanson Black Label or the Louis de Sacy Brut Grand Cru are available. Say you have a non-alcoholic ring to swear by, reconsider it! Watch Heather Johnston demonstrate the art of wine tasting and see what you're missing.

Key is temperance, temperance, and we won't have problems. (Getting drunk makes the entire affair aesthetically and sensibly ugly, so don't.)

For starters, cocktail choices range from Agent Orange to Zombie. Personal favorites are light martini and strawberry daiquiri. Photo by D Sharon Pruitt.

5. Spend time with family and friends (real culture lies in love and friendship. Whoa, that's deep.), go buy books, hunt for a DVD of your favorite classic film or BBC documentary, or take photos of people having a swell time at the park. This is the kind of rest that should make the rest of the year as fruitful as the last. #

Spectacular, spectacular

2010-12-27T23:08:00.011+08:00

AAAoAAoA Rewind (from J117 January 5, 2009)

It rained lightly on Christmas day and the yearly perya at the heart of Antipolo City was deserted except for a few souls who braved the 20-degree weather to enjoy some rides and games.

A thrilled overgrown man was in a kiddie elephant, small children sharing a single carousel pony constantly waved at their beaming parents by the fence, and a teenage couple screamed and laughed aboard the dizzying Octopus. These were the few, isolated scenes in the amusement park that could have been more alive if only the sun chose to shine.

The Mendozas opened the gates at nine o’clock in the morning, way earlier than normal days when business hours would start at five in the afternoon. It was the day of the year when they expected the fair to get most crowded with families willing to splurge on amusements.
But this year, it was not as opportune.

“Last year was definitely better,” owner Cristy Mendoza remarked in Filipino. She could only describe the usual Christmas frenzy in her perya, and for someone who grew up in and inherited the business from her parents, she’s one person who could tell.

“People would always leave (the park) on Christmas eve to be home for noche buena and then return the morning after. It would get so loud around here, (there would be) so many people. We won’t be able to hear each other at all.”

Cristy, known to carnival operators and ticket vendors as “Aling Tilay,” is the owner of Andaya Amusements contracted by Ynares Center, the city’s coliseum, for the past three years in time for the holidays.

“Since way back, we’ve always spent Christmas eve and the day itself camped right here,” said Cristy, who permanently resides in Marilao, Bulacan with her husband and three daughters. “It’s our unique tradition.”

On an ordinary day, one would see Cristy and her daughters managing a small sari-sari store within the park. The store proper displayed various brands of junk food, sodas and instant noodles. Inside the shack were makeshift beds, a small kitchen and a television set – all partly hidden from public view by multi-colored drapes drawn like room dividers.

Although brought up adopting such atypical, nomadic-like lifestyle, Cristy’s 16-year-old daughter, Michelle, does not feel shortchanged.

“We’re used to it. Anywhere is home,” the high school student said in Filipino. “The perya is always fun and Christmas day has never been drab because there are always people around even when it’s raining and I feel like we’re sharing (the occasion) with them.”

There were always people, indeed, and the perya environment is festive even in the middle of the year. Every night, the park was bustling with crowds visiting from nearby towns. The noise from the rides’ engines, karaoke machines in every corner, and cheering bettors reaches its loudest that visitors could only communicate by signaling with their hands or shouting.

The spacious walkways were either mobbed by children running around and parents running after them or by slow-strolling adolescents grouped by their favorite music genre. Those in their twenties and thirties lined up for their turn on the karaoke microphone while mothers placed bets to win plates and casseroles and fathers stayed for the bingo.

It was a welcoming, albeit deafening, atmosphere, and that was just on a normal, average day. Imagine how much more it could have been if it didn’t rain on Christmas.

There are ten amusement rides in the fair, the most popular of which are the nerve-racking Octopus and the children’s Merry-Go-Round. Most of the mobiles look old and crude, with their paint chipping off and safety devices at a minimum. Based on the numbers, however, they are surprisingly secure.

“I’ve been in this business all my life and I haven’t seen a single casualty,” Cristy, who is in her forties, said. She used to enjoy the rides herself but now that she’s more mature, she admits getting sick after a round.

“Even if the rides were handed down from my parents they are well-maintained and they function like new.”

Cristy is not the only perya veteran in the park, though. Octopus operator Jonie Rivera has also been in the business “forever.”

“I don’t recall being trained to manipulate these machines,” Jonie said in Filipino. He was shouting at the top of his voice to be heard amid the loud whirring of the engines. “I’ve been doing this all my life, and I make people happy in the process.”

Like the Mendozas, Jonie also spends Christmas at the fair. “But everyday here it’s like Christmas,” he said, beaming. “There’s always music and laughter around.”

Aside from the rides, numerous concessionaires offered games and prizes to daring bettors. For a one peso wager, a lucky contestant could win kitchen wares, toiletries, umbrellas and junk food.

One boy was on a winning streak in the pellet gun game, toppling toy soldiers and plastic ducks every time he pulled the trigger. He had filled a small plastic bag with acquired goods.
Jonie’s right. It needed not be Christmas to receive gifts.

For Sgt. Semiliano Vocal who is in charge of security in Ynares Center, the perya had become a valuable part of the community because of its cheap, wholesome entertainment for the masses.

“It’s no Enchanted Kingdom, but it’s definitely a refuge,” the officer said in Filipino. He continued to look around, his eyes alert. For him though, one of the greatest rewards is how the perya makes Christmas more special to those “who can’t even afford a decent meal for noche buena.”

“Even if they have nothing to eat, then can enjoy much for a fifteen-peso ride,” he said. “Christmas, you know, is something that doesn’t have to come with a hefty price.” #

Photo: Dizzying Carousel by Swamibu on Flickr

Give us news to think about

2010-12-23T10:09:00.002+08:00

I interrupt our usual cultural programming to deliver a think piece (or so I attempted) on an advocacy close to my heart: the cross between journalism and education.

Not everything we read off our favorite news sites and blogs makes us think — most sites give us bits and pieces of things that are meant to be taken as they are.

How many “OMG!” Yahoo articles, snarky opinion pieces and arresting news stories actually make you smarter? Aren’t we often more inclined to just pause and say, “This writer’s right,” than to question her?

Then we go around carrying our day’s fix of info, parroting the written facts as if they’re all that’s true. And therein lies the danger, especially now that information is more accessible than ever – now that it’s social, mobile, dirt cheap and democratic.

Some would even say we Millennials are “the smartest generation” because of this access, and teachers are already asking how they can adapt instruction to our unique learning skills. But the trouble comes when we fail to draw the line between information and education.

While it’s easy to agree we have too much of the former, the latter is inarguably more valuable. Education, after all, is a fundamental right and key to full human progress. If we call for quality, accessible education from our social institutions (government, schools, church, family), I don’t think we should demand anything less than that same quality and accessibility from the media, the so-called “Fourth Estate,” as providers of information.

Read full story on The Next Great Generation >

Photo: I'm thinking of by David Restivo under Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 license

Van Gogh in the office

2010-12-20T12:12:00.071+08:00

A Van Gogh is in my workplace. I stare at this painting several times a day. And though it doesn't ease chronic eyestrain caused by the lovable LCD computer screen that doesn't love me back, it's comforting to look at great art while next to some industrial business furnishings such as a boxy, anachronistically-designed Lenovo CPU and mismatched desk and chair.

A reproduction of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" (1888) hanging on our office wall.

This particular work is the third in the series of sunflowers Van Gogh completed and displayed in Munich. Van Gogh loved sunflowers and considered them his. It also caught Paul Gauguin's attention, as he wrote in 1889:

"Gauguin likes them extraordinarily. He said to me among other things - 'That...it's...the flower.' "

I wonder why contemporaneous modernist works are the most accessible that they can just be hung in informal, personal spaces without any hesitation. Maybe because they're not as heavy in thematic as Renaissance works? Or is it because their artists also intended these to be works for their own? Van Gogh himself instructed that the painting be kept by his brother alone, and not be sold to anyone else.

The original Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Munich, Germany.

Vincent also wrote:

"You will see that these canvases will catch the eye ... It is a kind of painting that rather changes in character, and takes on a richness the longer you look at it."

True for me, too. These flowers have new life everyday. They never wilt, and they just stay there against the wall. #

The you-are-invited subject line

2010-12-06T13:09:00.003+08:00

Received several invites last week to theater shows, new museum exhibits and an awards night. May I say that all of them sounded tempting? If only I had more time, I'd be around all those, but this is wishful thinking.

To make up for my lack of presence virtually anywhere except the office, the house, and some select place, there's the hapless blog that can make one ubiquitous. As if she'd been there.

First up, the Pinto Art Gallery in sweet home Antipolo. My friends and I visited it twice last year, but there's something about its air of mystery and seclusion that can make even art newbies want to return. The gallery reopened yesterday and its invite promised the graces of the likes of Anthony Palomo, Gilda Cordero Fernando, Mark Justiniani and Plet Bolipata.

The map to the Pinto Art Gallery, Silangan Gardens, #1 Sierra Madre St., Grand Heights, Antipolo City.

Then of course my alma mater bias. The Vargas Museum at the University of the Philippines Diliman has a used book sale at its west wing porch until the 9th. Sales shall go to the museum's upkeep and projects. The Vargas is perhaps the art destination with the cheapest rates around. So we're looking at Php20.00 to Php30.00 here, okay? With that coveted UP identification card, entrance is way cheaper than chips.

Some ongoing exhibit at the Vargas, "Doll Eyes" by Joy Mallari. Opening and launch of the children's book by Eline Santos who adapted Mallari's work is on Friday at 4:00pm.

"Doll Eyes is a story of Tin who searches for her missing friend Ella through the busy and treacherous streets of Quiapo. The author, Santos, initially wove the story from the first large-scale painting created by Mallari, and in turn, Mallari again painted another set of works that best expresses Doll Eyes, thus the conversation between literature and the visual arts." --from the Vargas Museum Blog

What does art feel like?

2010-11-30T08:29:00.004+08:00

Venus de Milo, public domain photo

Been checking out the website of Hong Kong Museum of Art lately, and a sculpture exhibit is ongoing. Pieces from France's Louvre Museum were replicated and transported for this season's "Touching Art" thematic exhibition. And the title says it all. These valuable sculptures (their originals, at least) such as Michelangelo's The Rebel Slave (1513) and the famous Venus de Milo (2nd c.BC) will not just be there for visual show, but to be literally felt, touched.

What is most notable about the Hong Kong Museum of Art, for me, is that it always presents interactive art as this. I remember visiting it last year to witness the "Charming Experience" exhibition. Even my younger sisters who don't know much about art were able to appreciate it.

My sister Kim Diola enjoying an installation.

Curator Grace Cheng successfully executed to create an experience of art "with different senses" instead of isolating art forms into visual, auditory and written. The exhibition provides answers to some curious questions: How can we see and feel sound?

"Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No.5 in C Minor, First Movement" (2009) by Otto, Li Tin Lun. Mixed media and video installation.

This sculpture by Otto visualizes Beethoven's piece that demonstrates the rise and fall of notes and rhythm. It makes possible for the hearing and visually impaired to experience the virtuoso composer's work in their own way, though not the way Beethoven intended it to be.

I hope next time they can do a sculpture for film, which is primarily a visual and auditory combined form. It can give an altogether new meaning to 3D cinema. #

Mimimayhem by the fountain outside the museum, with McDonald's bag in hand.

A Pacquiao culture?

2010-11-29T13:56:00.004+08:00

Crime across the Philippines’ 7,000 islands reportedly plummets to zero every time champion boxer Manny Pacquiao fights in the ring. It’s as if every single soul in the country is glued to their screens to see him win yet another title.

Although a single criminal offense (a jewelry store heist) broke this trend last November 13 while Pacquiao was beating up Mexico’s Antonio Margarito in Texas for the WBC World Super Welterweight title, it’s still astonishing how some boxing match can even triumph over hunger and poverty that fuel crime.

The fact that he does a better job than police forces in controlling crime is just one piece of proof. Pacquiao, who’s now among history’s greatest boxers, enjoys not only considerable celebrity in his homeland, but also bridges economic classes, religious denominations, cultural gaps and age groups.

Read full story on theNextGreatGeneration.com >

No blank stares at the Blancos'

2010-11-23T12:58:00.010+08:00

The house I grew up in lies right at the border of Angono, Rizal and Antipolo City, the first is famous for its artistic locals and another for its pilgrimage sites and native food. I never realized that just a few meters away was a colorful art district where every block has a worthy gallery and chance exhibits. It took me 15 years before I discovered it, and that's when I'm already living in Quezon City. Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

First stop: The Blanco Family Museum. I swear they'll get you wishing you had some of their genes.

The Blanco Family Museum in Angono, Rizal looks unassuming from outside.
Inside, it's a maze of passages lined with works of prodigious skills.

It's amazing that when the Blanco kids were only 6, they could draw better than you do now. I mean, I'm not the stick figures level type at least, but the Blancos' work made me feel like mine's enough to be on tissue paper.

"Yakan of Basilan" (1990) by Peter Paul Blanco when he was 10 years old.

"Panag-arawan" by Jan Blanco, when he was only 13 years old.

Peter Paul, Michael, Jan, Glenn, Noel, Gay and Joy's earlier creations seem to be on modernist canvas, although of course they weren't aware of it then. Their later works are realist. They even go as far as photorealism, like their works depicting China.

Okay, so this one's not quite photorealist yet, but we're getting there.

The guide said Jose "Pitok" Blanco, would require his children to complete a thesis, or a mural-sized work like this one.

We met Michael Blanco, one of the children of the late great Jose "Pitok" Blanco. He welcomed us into their museum, which they also turned into a school. He talked about his parents, and how they were fond of each other even in old age, and that they couldn't eat without the other.

The elderly Blancos retired in Batangas till the end of their lives. The children now have their own professions, but also return to painting from time to time. Michael paints and teaches art full time, while refurbishing and expanding the museum. "Nakita n'yo na ba yung mga paintings ng tatay? Ang lalaki, 'di ba? (Have you seen father's paintings? They're all huge!)," Michael asked, enthusiastically. It's amusing to hear him talk about his dad, even after he passed away, like an keen fan would.

Detail of one of Pitok Blanco's paintings. Recurring themes of his work are rural life and religion. And how the heck did he make that hay? Hey!

"Fiesta sa Angono" by Pitok Blanco is an enormous realist work. Characters in the scene are real town folks at that time. Many faces are also of his wife and children, especially the youngest son, Peter Paul, who appears more than 4 times in the painting.

Jose Blanco, who worked in an advertising agency for a time just like other great Filipino artists, wanted his children to have the discipline he acquired in the corporate-creative world. He discouraged waiting for artistic moods or inspiration before they can create something of value. Michael said his father, while kind, is stern in training them. Whenever Michael and his siblings looked at mediocre artistic works to imitate, their dad would ask them to check at Rembrandt and the old masters instead.

"He wanted us to learn from the best," Michael recalled. And among the best are what they became. #

Smash it! Grab it! Leap higher!

2010-11-11T07:22:00.053+08:00

I'm not sure whether kids today still play the games we used to enjoy. Being a '90s baby who has grown up with digital technology and cable TV, I'm still fortunate to have had street life (or school corridor life) back in early elementary. Though I haven't had the chance to climb trees and pick fruits, my playmates and I still surely smelled of sun after afternoons spent playing outside.

Seems like city kids today, outside varsity affairs and PE classes in their respective schools, rarely explore Filipino-Asian kiddie games that require as much energy and skill as Western parlor games and Plants versus Zombies. Also, they can be missing out on more than a few aspects of our culture that teach various virtues, and it's some sizeable lost.

Good thing my friends and I just had the opportunity to rediscover our natural Pinoy party instincts that have been tucked away for some years now. Do you still remember them? I sure can help you with that.

To help your team win a Chinese garter round, you have to leap as high as you can. This should help train you for the pole vault event at the Olympics.

You'd need a considerable amount of willpower, an I-don't-care-what-I-look-like attitude, and luck to uncover the mysterious coin underneath that mound of flour or gawgaw.

Make sure that after participating in a longest line game, you could still find those valuable items you parted with. But don't worry, used socks rarely get lost. Surely this is an exercise of giving up personal things for the common good. (No allusion to communism here).

Channel your inner Hercules sinews and Superman x-ray vision to smash that palayok! Keeping in mind that there are mouths waiting for candy teaches selflessness and generosity.

It doesn't matter if you get trampled on, elbowed or kicked in the process. Pabitin definitely gives a lesson in fortitude, precision and determination.

Hope and ordinary work in 6 minutes

2010-10-26T19:58:00.003+08:00

Sharing something humanly and spiritually uplifting before my silent hiatus.

Stop motion animated film by Jeremy Casper, Isaiah Powers and Stuart Bury tells the story of an old guy Cecil who lives in a seemingly hopeless, dreary town. He sets out daily to labor after making sure his bow tie is neat and presentable. He goes about his work quietly, full of hope and without complaints. In a remote, inconspicuous way he tries to reach out to the town's apathetic but equally impoverished folks. Thanks to his a day-to-day ordinary heroism, he changes their world.

Cecil is true to what a saint calls "our mission to transform the prose of this life into poetry, into heroic verse."

Story and message aside, the film's visual imagery is consistent and convincing, and the score splendid. Technique and level of professional quality are unquestionable, well-deserving of the Student Oscar it just bagged.

Alex Pushkarev on Vimeo put it as "fantastic. The atmosphere is so perfectly conveyed that my mouth went dry." Head on over to http://vimeo.com/5086128 to read comments of indie filmmakers and enthusiasts.

Till next time, guys! #

"Visions" on an unlikely canvas

2010-10-24T19:15:00.069+08:00

Many a gallery this month. I've been dying to blog all about them chronologically, starting from earliest I visited to the latest. But the time element's tricky in reporting, so I decided to write about this one-man, one-night exhibit last October 15 -- "Visions" featuring "surface wearable art" by Angelo Magno. The invitation says, "printmaker," but when I got to the the posh Shangri-la Place hall where his works were displayed, I wasn't quite sure I'd still believe that.

It's probably not my job to be an art pundit, but if it's for artists to challenge established definitions, then maybe I can object. First of all, Magno uses shirts and bags as his canvas, and paints directly on them (as far as I could tell). Nothing new in that, school kids going on camping express team spirit on their white cotton shirts. Still, the exhibit openly proclaims this as "printmaking." If it's not mediated by technology, then where's the "print" in that? Why not call it "usable painting" or something else? Unknowingly though, all this must really be part of the trick, the artistry of it.

The artworks show no coherence that the styles range from Kandinsky to Adarna children's books, except that they're all on textured, white surfaces. The one above, "Mother and Child," is one of my personal favorites. Being exclusively black, it stands out from among the colorful, varying other displays. Its pattern is almost abstract, but more characteristic of printmaking traditions. But if the criteria is if this would still look like a valuable piece when worn and taken for a bus ride, I doubt it would be noticed.

This one with the girl playing guitar is most attractive due to the vivid colors and pattern detail. The genius of it is in the close-up, when the viewer leans over and tries to appreciate its craft. But as an image, it's hardly moving, even emotionally neutral. It is, however, characteristically Asian, and that has credit for me. Many other displays also speak of Philippine history, at least from its captions, though I wish someone didn't write such lengthy descriptions.

I admire the idea of painting on an uneven fabric that loops, bulks and is crude, making the level of difficulty high for the artist and audience alike. The display above could have elicited bravos if it were covered all throughout and placed in the center of the room for audiences to view 360 degrees. That would be a real showcase of skill. Nevertheless, the attempt is of its own worth.

This is one work I can say that capitalizes on size, texture and "wearability" of the bag. The vertiginous imagery, especially when worn on the back, impacts the viewer with the intense colors and tempered lines.

"Visions" was organized by students of UA&P's Entrepreneurial Management program We've got to give it to those guys for pulling off a fleeting city cultural experience.

And by the way, the food was great, too. #

Backtrack reviews 2009

2010-10-18T23:23:00.008+08:00

Reviews generally rave about DisneyNature’s Earth as “beautiful” and “breathtaking.” Top critics commended its visually stunning portrayal of Mother Earth and her constituents, while audiences appreciate its matter-of-fact statement against climate change. The James Earl Jones-narrated film is a feature length adaptation of TV documentary series Planet Earth that follows three animal families of bears, whales and elephants in seasonal migration.

Boston Globe’s Janet Page, however, sees Earth as a picture without anything new to say, even though it presents “some newly entertaining ways of saying it.” Former journalist and blogger David Etlin also feels it is some quite old film hyped up as a novel spectacle. He writes, “the script and editing let the (photographers) down.”

Even with Darth Vader’s voice commenting on live animals in their natural habitats treated anthropomorphically in description, Earth broke new ground in visual storytelling and in effectively presenting an environmental advocacy known to all but envisaged by only a few.

Photo by DisneyNature

Newcomer Justin Chatwin stars as Goku, a young martial artist, in a quest for the seven dragonballs that possess the ultimate power of the universe. He teams up with master Roshi (Chow Yun Fat) and friends to save the world from evil Piccolo who is also in search for the legendary dragonballs to destroy Earth. Adapted from iconic Japanese animation franchise Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, Dragonball Evolution fails fans outright, even months before its theatrical release, with the exception of a handful of people who hoped for its faithfulness.

Sarah Cada, a blogger, gives it some credit in saying it is actually more enjoyable and comedic than it is a terrific movie. Too comedic maybe, that even the serious parts are funny, she says. Another blogger writes, “At least the kids in the theater enjoyed."

But it still sounds as if it never really satisfies. Zac Berthschy of AnimeNewsNetwork.com highlighted its “cheesy” dialogue (calling it an “absolute, unmitigated disaster”) and “nonsensical” storyline (“Kids aren’t dumb enough to fall for this.”).

Those outside the circle of followers of the original series also say that even if the audience knows nothing about the original material, it still “stinks” as a movie, “in pretty much all areas." #

Photo by 20th Century Fox

Postcard study

2010-10-14T17:23:00.003+08:00

Some postcard I made for a university. I don't think it's ever going to be used--change of minds--so I'm posting it here instead and adding to that abandoned portfolio.

Those Dante tickets were a lot of work, but my favorite item is the dragon pennant. While working on this, I discovered the easy advantages of using the Burn Tool to make surfaces realistic. Also really put a lot of thought into those shadows, but I'm still not happy with the auditorium Polaroid photo flap which looks a little fake. #

View from Ortigas

2010-10-13T19:15:00.002+08:00

After a heavy previous post that scrolls down a mile, here's how I recommend we take a break from long hours in front of the office computer and from heartbreaking news from the wires.

A few months into the job, this worker bee has found her occasional solace at the roof deck where it's closer to the heavens and far from the bustle of mankind.

Cityscape photography only rarely beats the natural aesthetic of landscapes. But if the view outside your office window is like these, who's to complain?

Hooked and bootlegged: Story of a piratess*

2010-10-05T08:11:00.003+08:00

* Reposted from TwentyFourProject by Camille Diola, Claire Jiao and Jovan Cerda

There is no such thing as overtime in her line of work. Twelve hours in the office is a daily affair, even on weekends and holidays. There is also no such thing as illegitimacy. After all, times are hard.

“It’s for the kids,” said Airah, a mother of six, who wakes up at seven in the morning and works from 9 AM to 9 PM. Every day, she sets up stacks of pirated DVDs and groups them into the most recent releases and the high quality, Blu-ray versions of classics and months-old movies in her stall at the Metrowalk.

"We always have time here, at home we don’t,” Airah, who is fluent in Maranao, said in Filipino. For others with a regular job, working until 10 in the evening is beyond overtime, but it has been a way of life for her. Vacation time? Airah hardly has one.

“We only close when all other establishments (in the area) close,” she said, explaining that she only gets to rest whole days once or twice a year.

Not only is her work schedule tight and demanding, her meals are also irregular. Airah has breakfast and lunch at noon with four of her relatives who also man the booth. They take turns in entertaining customers who usually arrive two hours after the open for business. They end the day with a quick dinner before finally heading home.

“My husband, who has another job, takes care of the kids until I get home,” Airah said. She cleans the house for the next day before she goes to bed if her family doesn’t watch DVD movies first.

Airah’s youngest child is four years old, and her eldest is 13. Only three of her six kids go to school though, while the rest alternately help her in the store and take care of house chores.

Given rather difficult circumstances and economic conditions, Airah finds selling bootlegged videos – technically a criminal offense in the country – a safe and a profitable means of livelihood.

“Whenever we hear we are going to be apprehended (by authorities), we always discover beforehand,” Airah said. These unnerving instances only happen rarely though, in fact they are considered contractual concessionaires.

“We pay for our posts here, and we have a management,” said Airah. She explained that all other DVD storeowners in the area purchase from a common supplier and pay monthly fees for the space. “(Retailers) actually don’t have competition here because we’re all similar (in endeavor).”

Around 80 discs are sold on a good day. With each DVD costing Php40 to Php50, Airah and her team earn around P3,500 daily. They divide this sum between the five of them and contribute equally in paying the P6,000 rental.

Long hours on the job are highlighted by loyal customers who buy 10 to 20 titles all at once and doubtful ones who complain about their last purchases. Airah encounters different personalities and consumer behaviors each day, and her cheerful disposition helps her deal with them.

“We try to be understanding,” Airah said. Knowing some of the copies she sells might be defective, she accommodates her customers’ requests to exchange as often as possible. “If they are rude, we wouldn’t sell to them anymore. Sometimes we give their money back, depending on their attitude. If they are nice, we readily return the money.”

Being a businesswoman, albeit an illegitimate one, she makes sure she gains the trust of consumers. She offers to demonstrate selected DVD titles with a television set and a disc player to new costumers to ease their doubts.

“Loyal costumers don’t try the DVDs anymore, they only return the copy (when it has defects),” she said.

After all, Airah is also a costumer. Every two weeks, they order titles from a bulk supplier and acquire ones. Titles of new movies are sold to them at P10 a piece while copies of original DVDs cost P20 to P30 each.

Some new copies are recorded from cinemas but despite their poor quality, people still buy them. “There are really those who can’t wait for better copies,” she said. In any case, Airah is not the kind of seller who recommends titles to the indecisive ones. Lying, for her, is a business strategy.

“When they ask if a film’s good, of course we say yes,” Airah said. “In the end, we just want it sold.” #

photo by Andres Rueda on Flickr

Not only remote controls can change channels

2010-10-03T20:54:00.006+08:00

Okay, so that's such a pathetic title.

After roaming around a whopping number of four art galleries today, I realized, and this is some splayed consideration, that I have several short feature articles in the past that can be uploaded in AAAoAAoA. After all, it's disguising to be a culture blog run by some rookie. This gives us an opportunity to widen our horizons, speak in the third person, and be read in a more detached fashion.

Gets? Never mind. We're starting today with a review of a book my boss in a tech firm I used to work for asked me to read in a week.

Book review: Changing the Channel

by Michael Masterson and Mary Ellen Tribby

Agora Publishing

Changing the Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business covers 12 of today’s most influential marketing channels in detail, describing how each one can be used to deliver messages that bring clients and consequent profits to businesses. From traditional channels such as the radio, television and public relations to new media like online social forums and e-mail, Masterson and Tribby's hardback discusses how to execute successful multi-channel marketing campaigns by not only creating effective sales offers but by building relationships with potential customers.

The book, however, insufficiently presents the disadvantages and needed investments in each marketing channel, and fails to even succinctly include crucial ethical practices concomitant with its use. As suggested by its kicker title, the book evidently upholds the accumulation of profit as the end goal of marketing campaigns, with occasional insinuations on the so-called value of downplaying truth behind media messages to maximize outlay and attract leads.

Changing the Channel, on the whole, is an accessible, handy reference in studying how business-to-customer relations have shifted with the dawn of the Internet and Web 2.0 in the 21st century. #

Solo piano tracks when you're ridin' solo

2010-09-18T15:38:00.011+08:00

So I've been looking for an Internet radio since Yahoo! Launchcast closed its doors on my region. These are the moments when you'd wish everyone's generous enough to have a Creative Commons license, but then again that's not entirely possible. And so my hunt began.

Last.FM doesn't really give listeners random tunes as our good ol' radio stations do. It favors personalization, like every other product in the market today, but doesn't quite bail you out from nostalgia for the old ways. There were also those unsure streaming stations which cut you off once you start downloading something else. And so there was almost no hope left to find another Internet radio much like Launchcast, until last Monday.

Since I'm usually a grateful interestingness curator, I'm sharing one of my greatest finds: Sky.fm I discovered it accidentally while googling for free streaming classical pieces for early morning design inspiration. I didn't want any surprises like rap verses in the middle of a serene love song, so I chose the Solo Piano channel for ambient music.

The small pop-up Chrome window first played "David Nevue - Song for Noelle." I wanted to cry. It's soft, slow and quiet. Something a father would play for his little daughter. True enough though, the entire album was written "to express the life-changing magic of fatherhood."

Just last week when I visited home, my sisters and I half-viewed The Last Song, which is pleasantly more than just another love story. The title relates the dying Greg Kinnear character who writes a song / piano tune for his rebellious Miley Cyrus kid. Nevue's "Sweet Dreams and Starlight" solo piano album could have been the perfect soundtrack for the flick.

This is why the old radio way is still so charming. Listeners discover tracks they've never listened to before, and not only those they choose to catch. It's not always that everything newer and shiner is better. Moral of the story is, "old things are old because they're good."* #

*Above quote from current read http://bit.ly/d7bqCO
Photo 1: Two girls and a piano by Jessie Lyn McMains on Flickr

The Language of Print

2010-09-13T08:35:00.004+08:00

News Writing Basics

I'm sharing this short presentation I made for a talk given to some student writers where I work. Copyright goons, spare me. I did my best. #

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

2010-09-08T20:08:00.003+08:00

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
~Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899

Seriously, he must have been dain bramaged to have said that.

Just some interesting finds yesterday. Relogik.com showcasing designs by Damjan Stankovic of everyday objects made much funkier.

This is Twister, a piece of cutlery for those who don't have much skill (cough, clumsy) eating pasta. I wonder if the customer should carry this around with him or have it requested from the maitre d'? Talk about adding insult to injury.

Mark Night Light Bookmark looks amazing on your bedside table. Cover it with the book you can't wait to finish the moment you wake up and it shuts off by itself. H0w about, say, if I have this precious, thick Dickens paperback whose spine I don't want notched? I doubt real readers and book lovers would find Mark remarkable.

But let's give credit. Even though when my colleague at work who saw it on screen exclaimed, "That's the most useless thing I've ever seen!" I'm still awed.

Eko Traffic Light is perhaps the best of Stankovic's inventions. This should be his flagship product. See those strips around the red light? They work like a loading timer that tells you when the other lights will go off. Useful for eco-conscious drivers who want to cut engine power while on a halt. #

Mayer the Force be with you

2010-09-06T19:49:00.011+08:00

One of the more entertaining and impressive concerts on DVD I've seen the past years is John Mayer's Where the Light Is, a copy my friend Claire and I picked up from Ortigas after one of our countless working sleepovers back in college. Hard for me to remember details now that I haven't watched it for over a year, but I won't forget the explosive solos, surprising band sets and Mayer's flexibility in delivering messages in a range of genres.

The thing about Mayer, he's not just pop and bubble scoffed at by discriminating critics. He's ultimate. But I'd rather separate Mayer the person and Mayer the artist. It's more comfortable that way. I can follow the tunes without trying to keep up with the personality to the point of creating a hoax Twitter account with potential for psychotherapy studies.

And there would be no more listening to scandals and involvements. It's just his designer guitar and pure music. This way, Mayer is where the light side of the Force is.

Also a must-watch, John Mayer Trio with bassist Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan. One YouTube user commented on their performance: "I can't imagine the level of difficulty these guys are playing at." With Trio, Mayer finds his place in blues rock and veers away from acoustic pop. Their beats set the heart pounding with thunderous drums and angelic electrics at 2:35.

He even makes that a rose red guitar with swirly teen graphics look wicked. Hendrix can't beat that. #

Photos blu-ray.com

From now on

2010-09-06T11:48:00.002+08:00

I will just post chill. #

"Accidental Billionares": Fiction disguised as journalism

2010-08-05T13:26:00.018+08:00

This is when non-pro journalism fails ethically, but wins readers.

Ben Mezrich's bestselling book The Accidental Billionaires, loosely based on the exploits of Facebook founder and supergeek Mark Zuckerburg, was passed for non-fiction when in fact most of its narrative segments are made-up. Mezrich sure has been transparent about writing a fictionalized account out of interviews with Zuckerburg's frenemy who co-founded the online brand with him back in Harvard. Thing is, people have been eating up the book as if the story's for real.

And now they've made a movie generically entitled The Social Network and they're marketing it with this fugly poster:

There's no stopping contemporary lowbrow culture. Consumers embrace them because of entertainment value and word-of-mouth enthusiasm. Some 35-hour reading time plus a 4-hour movie night equal to around thoughtless 40 hours, while publishers and big-studio moguls get to eat the last olive.

When it's about a famous guy who's the envy of many, when it's about college and relationships and drinks and bucks and bed-hopping, it's a hit. No matter what the educated critics say. No matter what the firsthand truth is. Mezrich succeeds in getting the readers, the film contracts, the adaptations, the popularity. And he gets to be called non-fiction.

And the thinking, valid media products by real artists don't get the same score. Life's unfair.

What I love and hate most about marketing is it gets to call the shots even if it isn't entitled to, like something that's remotely journalistic is labeled based on real events. Counter-marketing rarely prevails, and it even fans the fire by making more people curious. But when it comes to such non-ethical, epic franchises, it's perhaps the only (practical) hope of the light side of the force.

It worked against Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, now sold off National Bookstore's racks for 49 pesos. It can work again. #

Cover: BenMezrich.com
Poster Sony Pictures, TM

Google Images' new format. That's what I'm talking about!

2010-07-22T12:24:00.000+08:00

A screenshot says a thousand words. Image searching is better, faster and easier than ever. We can just imagine how they went about the design process and integration, genius!

Mouse over on this report for more detailed descriptions of features. #

Absolutely loving Blogger, but

2010-07-08T15:38:00.003+08:00

... I have a journalism training and even though I recently got into marketing communications, objective reporting is a professional discipline I can't part with.

Therefore, I resolve to share unbiased judgments. Blogger is wonderful, especially with its new themes, friendly and simple CMS, easy design and layout manipulation and almost universal compatibility. But more and more developers and web designers find Wordpress the more flexible and professional platform. It was the first to feature pages and menu options other than posts, and its themes have been the edgier ones around. It is a little more expensive to integrate and institutionalize though, but when one gets it going, it's tops.

I, for one, used Wordpress to develop Tanglaw University Center's new website, keeping in mind that someday I won't be around anymore to keep it up to date. Someone else has to take over, with or without techie skills, and I figured Wordpress is easy enough to learn when it comes to adding content. One problem solved.

Blogger's amazing layout and design GUI was its best advantage. But not anymore.

Hello Wordpress 3.0 Thelonious.

Because we don't just adore Comic Sans

2010-07-04T11:36:00.009+08:00

I don't think that type should be expressive at all. I can write the word 'dog' with any typeface but it doesn't have to look like a dog. But there are people that [think that] when they write 'dog' it should bark.
--Massimo Vignelli in Helvetica (2007)

We Filipinos should seriously rethink our typographic sense. I know several good designers who can whip up a couple of amazing posters in an hour but using typefaces that shout or jump. There is almost no grid discipline and no respect for spaces. And there's ubiquitous clip art, an abuse of Photoshop brushes and simplistic vector elements.

A design should breathe easy, but we sense either hyperventilation or asthma.

Perhaps the best examples I can give to prove how much this developing part of the world has to improve on typography are some aesthetically bereft signage.

Introducing ultra thin, overly scaled type with uneven bars and stems.

Inconsistent tracking! Sponsored by Coca-cola

It's so against pink and irregular that it's deadly.

Philippine Airlines for the win. Designer was a non-Photoshop, Notepad-user who doesn't know that small caps exist and that it's a sin to impulsively resize an uppercase letter like lowercase ones. #

What I loved about freelancing

2010-06-28T12:18:00.003+08:00

Half a year is half a year, and for many workers that translates to regularization, promotion or even instant celebrity. But for those who can speak out, six months of freelance work is something they would want, to just try it out, see what happens, earn a little less or even a little more and have something they'd get excited to do every single waking day.

Sure it was cluttered and spontaneous and a little reclusive, but it was not necessarily so. I could've shut down computer twice a day to meet people and clients more often.

No boss, no charts, no checklists. Only tight deadlines and clients always trying to be nice to get a discount. There were days when work was zero, by choice, but there were also packed weekends to try to squeeze in the smallest projects for almost naught. Hectic. But fun fun fun.

The downside? Minimal team work, the inhuman feel of interacting through chat interfaces and text messages and the haunting uncertainty of whether this suspicious client would lay down what was agreed upon after the work is done. Not to mention, the burden of paying taxes and having no one else to deal with BIR.

Next time, I'll write about what I'm into now. But as someone has already noticed, I hardly fulfill my promises in this blog.

Photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sstrudeau

Next in line

2010-06-12T11:33:00.003+08:00

Three blog posts are in line for the following days, and I'm beginning to see blogging as a serious business, a part of my to-do list outside paid work. 'Cause blogging is work too, and more of an initiative, playing some itsy bitsy part in that much-talked about plan to change the world and contributing to the public opinion-media agenda dynamics beyond communication theory books.

Thing is, I have only written about one sentence for each of them, even though I find the topics real interesting. I guess there's virtue in waiting for some more writing space and time. Will publish soon. Thanks for virtuously waiting, too. #

Quite misguided use of "quite"

2010-05-10T16:26:00.005+08:00

Several people I've talked to or I've heard use the adverb of degree "quite" to mean "slight." Although it's just a little bit bothering, it's quite wrong. Completely wrong.

Let me demonstrate.

When someone says, "The taste is bitter but I'm just quite used to it." She's mistaken. She wants to say that she is only a bit accustomed to bitter melon but uses the adverb to describe her degree of adaptation to the activity. WRONG.

I remember looking up the meaning of quite as a 13-year-old student of English. Right there, right after the word quite listed in good ol' Webster, it says "completely."

I looked it up again for the sake of supporting this post of mine. From WordWeb dictionary:

Adverb: quite kwIt
1. To a degree (not used with a negative)
"quite soon"; "quite ill"; "quite rich"; "quite tasty"
2. To the greatest extent; completely
"you're quite right"; "she was quite alone"; "was quite mistaken"; "quite the opposite"; "not quite finished"; "did not quite make it"
3. Of an unusually noticeable, exceptional or remarkable kind (not used with a negative)
"her victory was quite something"; "she's quite a girl"; "quite a film"; "we've had quite an afternoon";
- quite a, quite an
4. Actually, truly or to an extreme
"was quite a sudden change"; "it's quite the thing to do"; "quite the rage"; "Quite so!"

Nuff said. #

On the iPad

2010-04-14T09:17:00.005+08:00

I honestly want to comment on it at length, but I'm on a seven-week "leave" and I can only afford quick, short posts during this time.

Let this comic strip from FreelanceSwitch.com, the site that has been helping me keep my sanity for the past months, do it for me:

iPad is too much of a luxury, but it's the future. #

"Wimpy" is in

2010-04-06T09:14:00.007+08:00

A flick with mixed reviews is more interesting to evaluate than those that are largely critically acclaimed. There's less pressure to like it even if you didn't.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is one such film. Ebert, whom I'd rather believe than others, says it's "nimble, bright and funny. It doesn't dumb down. It doesn't patronize. It knows something about human nature." The others, meanwhile, are mean.

Judging the book by its cover, or a movie by its poster, I think Wimpy is something I'd like to watch and anticipate. Its posters, after all, are the most amusing and loyal (to original material) I've seen in a while. It should make for an amusing movie as well.

Clean, witty and cute. And as I said, faithful. Here's the cover of the book it adapted from:

The Hurt Locker won't feel hurt

2010-03-05T14:35:00.008+08:00

at all.

Isn't that an awesome shot or what?

This is not a fearless forecast. There's nothing to fear or not to fear about knowing for sure that Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war film The Hurt Locker would land the Oscar. Avatar has been reaping the audiences and the money, right, but history says Oscar voters don't usually go for big box-office epics (with only five exceptions). And as an Oscar offshore observer, I wouldn't want to see an immensely commercial but typical Pocahontas tale such as Avatar in the Academy Award list of best films in history.

Sure, the Academy has had its mistakes in the past of choosing How Green Was My Valley over Citizen Kane and Annie Hall over Star Wars, but never mind, the Oscars still spells movie fate. And remember when I predicted Crash to win over crowd favorite Brokeback Mountain in '05? Who knew.

Bigelow is a rare director. Her last film was K19 The Widowmaker with Nicholas Cage (?) back in '02. But hers was a smashing comeback project with the Oscar best picture contender, which is just great action filmmaking by a woman director. About time the Academy recognizes a female Best Director awardee. Hello, it's the 21st Century, and we're supposed to feel emancipated. #

photo 1: Summit Entertainment

photo 2: http://www.expressnightout.com

Thunderstanding

2010-03-03T09:41:00.006+08:00

Am I missing out on the world? Or at least on the basketball world? Sure I do.

Oklahoma City Thunder has been in the game for two years now and I've been sleeping. The guys are playing with my boys from Sacramento who are trailing by two points so far right this very moment. Can this be true? There's a new NBA team beyond my knowledge? Wikipedia says the Thunder became the new identity of the Seattle Supersonics after a rift back in '08. Lead scorer is Kevin Durant with 29 points per game, the guy's my age playing for $4.8 million a year. If only we could dunk like this, we'd be rich:

Light sleeper

2010-02-28T22:09:00.000+08:00

Some random abstract JPEG 'cause I'm feeling creative and rare tonight. #

Uncle Kracker is back

2010-02-26T00:59:00.007+08:00

We follow and we drift away, but now let's all smile like the sun, fall out of bed, sing like a bird. #

Dreaming about drums

2010-02-22T11:05:00.000+08:00

So there's this awesome yellow shiny drum set idling by at home. I figured I've been musically challenged virtually all my life, except at age 5 when I had piano lessons twice a week. Though I'm old to learn and master a musical instrument and am pathetic in reading notes, much less in reaching them, maybe there's hope. Anything to contribute, right?

For a week now, I've been watching drum lessons online and trying to catch up. My fave teacher is Jared Falk who talks like he never reached his adolescence but has a collection of newbie-friendly videos instructing drummer wannabes a beat at a time.

All by myself and now playing eighth note rock beats. Should be doing better soon. #

Nosebleed

2010-02-19T10:59:00.007+08:00

A writer's work means writing intensely for 8 to 9 hours a day for almost two weeks. And she still has to finish a take-home exam for Contemporary Philosophy tomorrow.

And The New Republic magazine calls her kind "The New Proles." It can be acknowledged as form of flattery based on realism and a slightly leftist orientation that blames the system for taking away her dignity.

That's writing for 40 hours a week for next to nothing. And if it isn't for love, it's disillusionment. #

Vector art in propaganda

2010-01-20T11:26:00.007+08:00

While I was reading week-old International Herald Tribune issues the other day, I chanced upon an article by Alice Rawsthorn on the problems of today's typographers when dealing with pixels. While typography is such a fascinating field that combines technique, technicality and artistic touch, it finds fast-paced advancement in technology threatening. Pardon the alliterations yet again.

With the prominent but unacknowledged digital movement in 21st century art, professional and starter designers must keep up and learn new skills to apply trends. But I've always hesitated liking primarily vector-based art. They all look alike, heck. Argue that they have had 3D and shadows lately, and Web 2.0 has changed interface upon interface on the Internet, and almost everything can be turned into vector. Thing is, today's scattered communities of designers haven't really come up with real art out of vector graphics.

And what is real art anyway, you question? I think I'm talking of standards here. And I realize that although graphic design has always been distant from the highbrow appeal of painting, it at least had personality. Think art deco days of Lautrec, or even a more contemporary Leonardo Sonnoli. There's discipline and texture and character -- all of which I think vector-based posters today are short of. There's no identity and no signature, and no one is steering it towards a more disciplined direction.

Or maybe I just haven't heard of anyone doing so.

Posters, the integral medium of visual communication, have inherently had political motives. So I don't know why the Times still had to entitle one of its slideshow presentations on this article "The Poster as Propaganda," as if it's anything novel. Too much stating the obvious.

Some propagandistic vectors in abundance. You judge:

This next one is way better, don't you think? It has the appeal and directness of early propaganda art, even though it's vector.

More vector! And cartoons!

But then, who am I to make appraisals? I can only comment on form. Function-wise, these posters lived up to their purpose as as effectively as a well-oiled machine:

A poster was widely cited as having galvanized votes for the Swiss measure but was also blamed for exacerbating hostility toward immigrants and instigating a media and legal circus. #

Back to work

2010-01-03T09:54:00.005+08:00

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. #

Google Chrome evangelist

2009-12-19T11:30:00.001+08:00

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

2009-12-17T12:36:00.006+08:00

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." #

Oh the freelance life

2009-12-03T10:50:00.015+08:00

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 or two won't hurt, plus hey it's December. Viva liberté. #

Angles of the Manila Cathedral

2009-11-23T07:41:00.001+08:00

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. #

MOMAster Storyteller

2009-11-21T16:52:00.008+08:00

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

2009-11-12T14:36:00.003+08:00

Study time for me.

Here we go philosophy.

---

Oh Brothers!

2009-11-12T12:37:00.005+08:00

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. #

I'm saving Post Its, so.

2009-10-27T00:24:00.006+08:00

To do list before going on 2-week hiatus:

1. Print and submit activity forms, 4.65 years in the making.

2. Print and submit plans, so I can sleep sound at night.

3. Meet with project people, don't doze off, flash a smile, coffee binge a mugful.

4. Refill house printer ink - an excuse to walk 2 blocks away from the office in an attempt to be healthier, yo.

5. Write 10 text messages to Mom, time their delivery for twice a day - after breakfast and before bedtime daily - so she won't feel I'm not checking my phone.

6. Buy laundry powder and a week's worth of midmorning cookies to be a healthy kid.

7. Delegate printing press tasks to someone who's out and about in the world on Wednesday.

8. "Say what you need to say," John Mayer said.

9. Find out why sales people hand out business cards using both their hands.

10. If not recovered, write second copy of a wishlist provoking Santa's generosity ... and love. #

Of all the slaves of social media

2009-10-22T17:44:00.001+08:00

and marketing and self-marketing,

I might be the only one not on Twitter.

And I'm not planning on signing up any time soon.

After all, I write awful pseudo-poems

that are more than 140 characters,

'cause that's the least I can do.

Thank you. #