musamanila

It's a Trunk Show and I'll Buy All I Want to!

2012-02-02T12:34:00.003+08:00

Filip+Inna, one of my favorite brands in the world, is having a rare trunk show here in Manila. I can go on and on about how much I adore this brand because of it's distinct Filipinoness but I won't because photos will do a much better job.

Len Cabili, the designer of Filip+Inna, believes so much in the power of Filipino creativity that she's tapped indigenous Filipino people to make her clothes. These are handmade by female weavers in Lake Sebu. The clothes are so beautiful up close because you can see and feel every meticulous stitch. I can't wait for this Saturday! I hope to see you all there ;)

FILIP+INNA is coming home to Manila for an exclusive event with Maria.Maria! Please join us for the FILIP+INNA Trunk Show and Private Sale on February 4, Saturday, from 1:00 - 6:00 pm at the poolside function room of the Ritz Tower, Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

Part of the sale proceeds will be donated to Maria.Maria's beneficiary, the Payatas San Isidro Feeding Center. Join us on February 4 and help feed a hungry child!

RSVP by replying to this email, or by sending us a text message at 0906-6669590.

Filip+Inna in Lake Sebu

2011-12-26T21:00:00.002+08:00

The last couple of weeks of 2011 zoomed right past me. Slowly, I will absorb the impact of all that has happened - a lot of which were very sad. My lola passed away. Typhoon Sendong ravaged CDO. My bag was stolen on Christmas day. All of those things didn't really leave much room for Christmas. But that wondrous feeling is inching its way back to me. Late night talks with my mom. Being with friends. A hug. A happy thought. Seeing ideas come to life. There is hope yet. And today, I stumbled upon this wonderful new video from one of the Filipino fashion brands I truly admire. Filip+Inna.

The effort they put into designing the clothes and having them made by the marginalized ethnic groups of Lake Sebu is admirable. But what I love more is that the clothes are amazing. This kind of passion lights me up. I'm happy that they finally have a site up too! So now, you can easily contact and order from them. Check out their website and their latest collection here: Filipinna.com

We aim to revive and preserve hand embroidery and beadwork as a means of income generation, preventing it from becoming another lost art. We work with an amazing group of talented artisans, mostly women who have had traditional weaving techniques passed down through their families for generations.

From our hands to yours, may the beauty and depth of each garment bring a profound appreciation for what is distinctly Filipino.

The Philippines = B Movie Backlot

2011-12-14T09:30:00.036+08:00

I knew that our country was the birthplace of the first-ever midget action star, Weng Weng. I knew that our country was chosen by Francis Ford Coppola for his film, "Apocalypse Now" because it looked a lot like Vietnam. But this aspect of Philippine filmmaking, I did not know about:

Click for a clearer video on Vimeo

How shall I describe this piece of knoweledge? Funny? Disturbing? I believe this will go down in the annals of history as part of the most humiliating (yet hilarious) things we did for Americans. I would very much like a copy. For now, I'll leave you with the official poster and documentary synopsis.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! is the first detailed examination and celebration of Filipino genre filmmaking - a world where stunt men came cheap, plot was obsolete and the make-up guy was packin' heat!

From the early '70s well into the '90s the Philippines was a back-lot for a bevy of renegade B-movie makers and cinema visionaries alike. The country was utilized for its inexpensive labour, exotic locations and distinct lack of rules. A tidal schlock-wave of genre work emerged that somehow managed to capture the raw, chaotic energy of contemporary Filipino culture. These productions (a cavalcade of monster movies, jungle prison movies, blaxploitation and kung fu hybrids) were miraculously made at a time when the country's political situation was repressive at best. But, this was a revolution that even the Marcos dictatorship couldn't crush!

A big thanks to Mark Olivan for linking it to me!

"Kaninong Anino" Rock Ed Rock Rizal Music Video

2011-12-12T10:00:00.000+08:00

Despite living beside an MRT stop, I missed, "Rock the Riles" yesterday. I wish I could split myself into two sometimes. Instead of beating myself up for being busy (remember, busy is good), I'll just feel the vibe by watching this video collaboration to honor Rizal on his 150th year.

With the support of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, the artists of ROCK ED PHILIPPINES got together to produce this song. Many many artists came together for this piece. The animated video was created by Arnold Arre. The song was composed by Francis de Veyra of RadioactiveSagoProject. Lyrics by Gang Badoy of Rock Ed. The song is part of Rock Ed's ROCK RIZAL album, a collection of songs in celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Filipino hero Jose Rizal.
***
Music composed by Francis De Veyra. Lyrics by Gang Badoy. The singing by Rock Ed musicians - Aia de Leon, Vin Dancel, Ebe Dancel, Kris Dancel, Noel Cabangon, Lourd de Veyra, Gloc 9, Raimund Marasigan, Kakoy Legaspi, Jay Gapasin, Juan Miguel Lerma, Arwin Naval, Wowee Pards and more. Produced by Shinji Tanaka and Mark Laccay.

HIDE it Under the Christmas Tree

2011-12-10T21:30:00.002+08:00

I got my first big present this Christmas!

Check out my snazzy new iPad case from HIDE Leatherworks!

Ok, it's not really a big present. I worked hard for this iPad leather case. It's part of my new advocacy where I help friendly startup businesses and social entrepreneurs with their advertising. I do copy consultancy and I also hook them up with willing ad collaborators.

For HIDE, I came up with the brand name and also wrote their ideology. It came easy for me because I was there when it was conceptualized and I understood the aspirations of the makers. They wanted to bring modern leather bag design to Manila, while using Philippine leather and Filipino craftsmen. It's a very commendable idea and I'm hoping the brand flies. If so, I'll get to do more than smize (See photo above). I'll get to work on some direct marketing effort and videos. Exciting times!

So do check out HIDE for sleek and classy, genuine leather sleeves/cases that are form fitting and specially tailor-made for your iPad, Macbook Pro 15" and 13", iPhone and Amazon Kindle 4.

Photographs by the multi-talented Marlo Ongpin

Soleil Ignacio Fashionista Portraits

2011-12-01T12:00:00.086+08:00

I stumbled upon Soleil Ignacio's work on Mega. She's a Filipino illustrator with a penchant for drawing beautiful topless girls with big hair. Her words, not mine. Check out how she styled Pinoy celebrities in glamorous high fashion. It is pure eye candy- the perfect kick to get me out of my fashion rut.

The Eugene Domingo in Alexander McQueen

Sweet Anne Curtis in Louis Vuitton

Fab Jinky Pacquiao in Chanel (At first glance, I thought it was Agot Isidro though)

The young Imelda Marcos in Christian Dior.

Judy Ann Santos in Lanvin (Also a dead ringer for KC Concepcion.)

A strikingly skinny Kris Aquino in Valentino

Last but not least, Nora Aunor in Prada. Ate Guy never looked chicer.

Check out Soleil Ignacio's portfolio on Behance!

Snapshots of Siquijor

2011-11-30T20:00:00.004+08:00

The most serene vacation I've had on any Philippine island.

I don't know what everyone was so frightened of.

Siquijor provided some much needed downtime for me. I caught up on my reading and meditating in the morning. Then, I had hearty meals and lots of drinks at night. The resort was amazing. It was quiet and secluded but it had all the amenities to keep a rambunctious group entertained. By all, I mean a foosball table and a swimming pool with a bar. The service people addressed us by our first names. So if you're headed to Siquijor, I recommend Coco Grove Beach Resort.

Why Do Filipinos Work Hard?

2011-11-15T08:00:00.064+08:00

Advertising serves as the carnival mirror for our society- poking fun at us while simultaneously making us laugh. These two commercials share a real insight at how we Pinoys go to great lengths to make more money.

Cebuana Lhullier Pera Padala Raket

Sarah selling longganisa is hilarious. I too dabbled in Lucban longganisa reselling.

McDonald's McSavers Dance
This hits home because I work in advertising. I once was part of a pitch
where we sang, “Don’t Stop Believing” to win back a disgruntled client.

These spots make us smile because it's true. But do we really just take on extra work because life is hard? Or do we have an innate need to bring home more than what’s expected? Take everyone’s hardest working boxer/ congressman/ host/ endorser/ recording artist/ husband/ and father.

Does Manny do it for the money?

After the controversial fight, he was going back to opis to do some work. Never has a champion boxer uttered those words. Go back to the opis?!? This is a guy whose net worth is estimated to be in $26 million to $70 million range. Does he really need to work or does he want to work?

Filipinos are Such Hard Workers

1. We Have Big Families-

Providing for the family is the driving force for a majority of our countrymen. When your family includes your 3 sons, their families, your out-of-work siblings, your mom and your dad, there is no choice but to take on more work.

2. The Concept of Sayang-

Pinoys don’t like anything going to waste. Having a party? Pack the leftovers. Bought a can of ice cream? Reuse the packaging. If the opportunity to make more money is there, are we not wired to make full use of it?

3. We’re a Rice Culture-

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “the Outliers”, he talks about how Asians are generally more hardworking than Europeans simply because we used to grow rice and they used to grow potatoes. We worked throughout the year to yield a harvest while Europeans worked seasonally then slept once winter came.

4. Multitasking is in Our Nature-

Just look around your village and see how many home business there are. A house is not just a home; it can also be a sari-sari store, a bakery, a dress shop, and an Internet cafe. So an actor can be a politician. A teacher can be in sales. And a copywriter can be a blogger. Again, sayang kasi.

Solenn on Esquire Philippines

2011-11-14T21:55:00.004+08:00

Here's a quick plug of the new Esquire Philippines video. It's so sensual and the soundtrack is just spot on. I've never heard of the jazzy soul act- Pinoy Pasta Groove, until my boyfriend started showing me this vid (over and over if I may add). Now, that tune is stuck in my head. I want to hear more Pasta Groove. But yes, enough rambling. Please watch the video.

If you're drooling, wipe off the dribble, then please go to the Esquire Philippines Facebook Page and click LIKE. They promised to release Solenn's 2nd video if they get 5,000 LIKES. Personally, that yet-to-be-released video is my all-time favorite Esquire video so I urge you to act with haste to get a peek.

A Peak into Co.Lab Manila

2011-11-08T12:00:00.023+08:00

Here's an inspiring work-related post to jump start the 4-day work week. Meet Co.Lab Manila, an alternative workplace created to spark collaborative infusion among like-minded individuals. For people who have no choice but to work in Coffee Bean or Starbucks, try this instead. The entrance fee is around P500 (I think) and you get to meet some awesome people- as you can see from the video below.

Their company descriptor: co.lab serves as a hub to a collaborative community that share the same values of entrepreneurship, creativity, and integrity. This shared workspace is ideal for freelance professionals, home office workers, start-up businesses, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and graduate students.

Check them out at:

4/F Optima Building, 221 Salcedo Street.

Legaspi Village, Makati City 1229, Philippines

tel: + 632.759.5000 / local 115 fax: + 632.759.3270

Also related, a link on Hong Kong's 5 Best New Design Spaces . Great ideas should be replicated, experimented on, and perfected. So yes, we should do this in Manila. ASAP. This should come naturally for the people who came up with the concept of bayanihan. Give me a holler if you're interested in coming up with more interesting alternative offices/coffee shops/galleries. I certainly am.

Esquire Magazine's 2nd Issue is Out! It comes with a video of Iza Calzado.

2011-11-07T21:33:00.008+08:00

Before you proceed to the Iza video, I just wanted to take the opportunity to post pics of the epic Esquire launch. It's a month-old but everyone from the guests, to the contributors, to the writers, to the artistas glammed it up big time. I can't not blog about it.

Me with the boyf

Monica Angeles, Joey Ong, and Vince Uy

Advertising bigwigs (two of them are my bosses)

Manny Nepumuceno, creator of Dancing Asians

Wella and Budjette Tan, Marlo Ongpin, and Chris Costello

A great party and a momentous night for all but most especially for my boyfriend, Marlo, and our friend, Chris. They had their first taste of creating a girly video for a major Philippine magazine. This first month featured the lovely, Lovi Poe.

This month, they have one featuring the bubbly (and bouncy), Iza Calzado.

These boys have the best job in the world!

And for saying that, I'm expecting my boyfriend to get me this month's Esquire. Interestingly, it's a woman's issue. I'd love to see what the magazine, which claims to be for the man at his best, has to say about us girls.

Thanks to Brandie Tan for the great photos! (I need a camera that fits my purse.)

All Souls Long Weekend

2011-10-29T04:54:00.003+08:00

So guess where I'm headed this long weekend?

Why, to the beautiful beaches of Siquijor of course!

To experience an All Souls Weekend dedicated to experiencing the occult- a weekend of ghost hunting and possible interactions with aswang locals, in one of the most mystical islands in the Philippines!

I was very enthusiastic about all of that until friends started warning me with their stories of "kulam". Kulam is actually a Tagalog noun which literally means bewitchment or hex. If you irk a powerful mangkukulam (voodoo witch lady), a spell as trivial as a persistent itch and as bad as vomiting cockroaches can be cast on you . Horror writer, Yvette Tan, said that Siquijor was a lovely place but she came back with two of her fingers seemingly having a life of their own. She couldn't type properly for days. That definitely made me think twice about about ghost hunting. Also, I might just skip the town tour and stay in my comfy resort.

I researched on how to steer clear of trouble in spooky provinces, but I couldn't find anything useful. So I guess I'll just rely on the advice of my friends.

Advice from Friends:

1. Don't eat anything.

2. Try not to be touched by anyone.

3. Don't stand out.

4. Last but not least, huwag kumirengkeng!

(Meaning, don't be too flirty or flamboyant)

Real useful stuff. Wish me luck everyone!

Lee Urban Riders with Manila Fixed Gear

2011-10-24T21:20:00.002+08:00

Looking at my blog, I’m so ashamed. It’s been a month since my last post. The culprit of my lack of presence is my big move from Cainta to Metro Manila. I’ll post more on that later.

Just to get me back on track, I’m posting this awesome video on fixed gear biking in Manila, featuring some friends who are fixie fanatics. Dale and Jeck were encouraging me to get a bike so they'd have a biker girl in the office. But their fixies with no brakes just scare me silly. Seeing them ride on EDSA like this, I think I made the right choice. It's too badass!

I love biking in general, basta ba may brakes. Last year, I was able to go around Manila on Carlos Celdran’s bike tour and I agree that biking needs to be considered as an alternative mode of transportation. Cut traffic, lessen pollution, and trim belly fat! Here’s to a bike-friendly Manila!

WWF Anti-Plastics Print Campaign

2011-09-21T20:59:00.001+08:00

There are so many things I've wanted to blog about the past week, but free time just isn't on my side. I was involved in a major pitch and I'm also getting ready to move closer to Makati. Whut, probinsyana no longer! (For those who were not aware, I was originally based in Region 4.)

So in the meantime, here's an ad that I love. Yes, I worked on it! But I love it because the environment is something I care deeply about. It angers me to see trash on rivers, beaches, and even on the road. I'm sure you've witnessed a similar scene when you're stuck in traffic and suddenly a car near you rolls down a window and unloads trash on the street. I want to scream, "Hey people! The world is not your trash can!" Well, in doing these ads I learned that plastics, the most dangerous form of everyday trash, actually ends up primarily in the ocean.

This last print ad was cited by Bestadsontv.com today. Yay.

Every year, 70% of plastic wastes are dumped into the sea. Most people are unaware of the massive amounts of plastic circling the ocean. In parts of the Pacific Ocean, plastic particles outweigh plankton - the main food source for most fish. Thus, fish accidentally consume these particles. They end up poisoned or on our dinner plates. The key really is to prevent them from reaching the sea. BBDO Guerrero hopes that with these print ads featuring disposable plastic objects shaped into corals, people will think twice the next time they pick up a plastic stirrer.

Agency: BBDO Guerrero

CCO/Writer: David Guerrero

ECD: Brandie Tan and Tin Sanchez

Creative Director: Pia Roxas Ocampo

Art Director: JP Palileo

Copywriter: Knox Balbastro

Photographer: Neil Oshima and Paulo Gripo

Sculptor: Olivia d’Aboville

Partners: Photolibrary

Account Management: Carmela Quirino and Angelica Uy.

Juice.ph Article on Secret Fresh Art Toys

2011-09-14T18:02:00.001+08:00

I have a confession. Before doing this article, I never understood what the heck art toys were. For the life of me, I couldn't fathom why people collected them. I'm happy these two people from Secret Fresh enlightened me. Click this link to see full article on Juice.ph. It's a fun one I promise ;)

Artist JP Cuison and Gallery Manager Lena Cobangbang

Electromagnetic Tentacle T-Shirt Pageant

2011-09-13T22:25:00.003+08:00

The guys behind Electromagnetic Tentacle are releasing another epic set of Pinoy, pop-culture, parody shirts. Fans get to choose six out of the ten that will make the cut. Since we all know how much we love polls and popularity competitions, let us get to it. Click here to vote. Here are my personal pics:

My Little Kalesa

The Flush

This is Spartan

He-Pon

Kingkong Matsing

Yokona

.MOV Zero Degrees of Separation Begins Today

2011-09-01T20:08:00.002+08:00

I personally don't want to commemorate the death of Eggy and Nika, though perhaps not thinking about it is the same as forgetting that it ever happened and that justice has yet to be served. The cold truth- 2 years have passed and still their killers have not been found. Recently, Eggy's family released a statement offering a 1 million Peso reward for any information on the whearabouts of former household help, Criselda Gesman Dayag. I pray that she is found, if only to shed light on why this heinous crime was committed.

On a much lighter note, the .mov festival is on going in the metro. Organized by their good friend, Khavn dela Cruz, it is a touching tribute for two people who were passionate champions of films. I'm looking forward to seeing the films especially dedicated to them both.

4th .MOV International Film, Music, & Literature Festival
September 1 to 6, 2011
*Zero Degrees Of Separation*
*20 Singer-Songwriters*
*30 Filmmakers*
*150 Poets*

September 1, Thursday.1:30pm to 11pm. The Podium.
Premieres from Roy Andersson (Sweden), John Gianvito (USA), & Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
Silvershorts Finalists
DVD Launch “Cinema Is Love: Best of .MOV”
Opening Film: Tan Chui Mui’s “Year Without Summer” (Malaysia)

September 2, Friday. 6pm to 11pm. Ayala Museum.
Book Launch “Under The Storm: An Anthology Of Contemporary Philippine Poetry”
Featuring Bienvenido Lumbera, Gemino Abad, & Pete Lacaba
Live Music from Vigo, Radioactive Sago Project, & Corporate Lo-Fi

September 3, Saturday. 6pm to 11pm. Greenbelt 3 Park.
Album Launch “Songs From The End Of The World: Philippine Singer-Songwriters”
Featuring Ely Buendia, Vin Dancel, & Toi
Silvershorts Awarding

Setpember 4, Sunday. 1pm to 7pm. Mag:net Katipunan.
Free Film Workshops with Vanja Kaludjercic (Croatia), Joel Shepard (USA), & Chris Fujiwara (Japan)

September 2, 3, 5, & 6. 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, & 7pm. UP Film Center.
Films For Alexis & Nika
Premieres from Asia, Europe, & Latin America
Featuring Lav Diaz, Jose Luis Guerin (Spain), & Edwin (Indonesia)

www.movfest.org
www.facebook.com/movfest

Poster photo by Christian Yambing
Poster design by Norman Wilwayco

Two Free Tickets to MANILART 2011

2011-08-25T20:29:00.004+08:00

I went to Secret Fresh over the weekend to talk about their upcoming exhibit at MANILART 2011. I got a first-hand introduction to art toys- displayable sculptures that take inspiration from more traditional art. Think a 3D form of a painting. I think it's definitely a form of artistry worth exploring. Here are some of the local toy art figures that caught my eye.

Bochog Manster by Nemo Aguila

Rizalborg by JP Cuison

Rainbow Bringer by Bjorn Calleja

Paley Pills by Christian Tamondong

I also got to meet some very cool people. From left to right: Toy maker Rommel Chua, Artist JP Cuison, Gallery manager Lena Cobangbang, Artist Christian Tamondong, Secret Fresh owner Big Boy Cheng, and Gallery assistant Robert Dim. Of course, that's me at the end. Thanks to Marlo Ongpin (not pictured) for all the awesome photos!

They gave me some complimentary tickets to MANILART but I was able to go to the gala event last night so I've decided to give them away. MANILART is happening now until Saturday. It's something special to do this long weekend, with a friend or with a special someone. Just leave a comment on the blog (not on FB please) to let me know why you'd like to go. Best answer by 12pm tomorrow (August 26) wins it!

Sartorial Independence: Blog Feature on Inquirer

2011-08-22T12:11:00.000+08:00

This came out this weekend on the Inquirer. Ooohlahlah.

The fruition of all my kikay moments:

My Grand USA Picture Story

2011-08-21T21:55:00.006+08:00

I’m back in Manila and after posting all my vacation pics, I remembered how many times a random American stopped me to ask where I got my duds. Of course, I make it a point to wear something Pinoy everyday so that got me beaming. I would tell them proudly but politely, “I got this in the Philippines!”. So in honor of all the stuff that got me great compliments, here’s a collage of all the things they loved. It just goes to show how Pinoy craft stands out everywhere in the world.

The pants below got a lot of attention too. In one day, I got stopped thrice by women of different ages who wanted to know where they could get it for themselves. I'll let you all in on the big secret- I got it at the Ramp for P300. That's just $7 dollars!

The great thing about Pinoy crafts is that it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg. Most of the stuff here I got at Kultura with the price ranging from P200 - P1200. Except the cyan cuff (Php 550) and ring (Php 350) which I got from Maria Pilar Menendez, a designer at the Salcedo Market.

I shot it against the stuff against an American landscape just for fun and it turned out better than expected. While on the trip, I reconnected with an old friend, Michael John Sison, a registered nurse by day and a budding photographer on his off days. He edited the pics and gave it a High Dynamic Range effect. I'm really tripping on HDR- it makes all the colors pop! Thanks again Michael!

Hapa SF

2011-08-14T12:46:00.002+08:00

Yes, I went all the way to California to eat at a Jollyjeep! Well, a gourmet one created by chef William Pilz. I first found out about Hapa SF through the mouthwatering photos of Jun Belen.

I wanted to take my folks out for some Filipino food since I was nearing the end of my visit to the US. Hapa SF looked too good to resist- gourmet Filipino food at food cart prices. I checked them out on Facebook and saw that they would be in Berkeley that afternoon. So after our sidetrip to the Napa Wine Valley, we headed over. What was on the menu? Sisig, adobo, pancit, and lumpia. I had the sisig taco.

I liked how the flavorful meat contrasted with the citrusy freshness of the greens. Too bad they ran out of lumpia which I heard was their bestseller.

My parents gobbled up the sisig rice and adobo quicker the lightning. Afterwards, my mom said that her cooking is better. Of course, it’s understandable she’d say that. All Filipino moms would say that! I think she's comparing it to how Filipinos usually like their food- nanunuot sa lasa.

What I liked about Hapa SF is how it’s tempered Filipino dishes to suit a global crowd. Pad Thai from a Thai restaurant does not taste like the Pad Thai you get from Bangkok but it’s extremely popular. I want a Pinoy restaurant in every city, and although that’s a tall order maybe the best start is with a roving restaurant.

I always hear about Filipino restaurants closing down abroad so it was a nice surprise to see Hapa SF drawing in the crowds. There were 7 food carts, two of which had long lines around it. One was a burger place (how typical!) and one was Hapa SF.

Eating al fresco and seeing these Filipino dishes up in lights made my day.

Wanted: A New Rizal

2011-08-13T01:18:00.009+08:00

I've been so caught up vacationing I've neglected to plug something that was sent to me a month back: the search for a new Rizal!

In history, we look at the significance of all the people who fought for the freedom that we are all enjoying now. We look at their contributions to society, what made them distinct and what made them particularly special. Out of the hundreds of heroes, popular or unsung, who risked their lives for the country’s freedom, one person stood out with his writings and inspirational ways—Dr. Jose Rizal.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines calls for nominations to the Rizal Awards to celebrate 150 years of Rizal’s greatness! Read on if you are an individual or organization that has accomplished the following:

1) Spearheaded projects that support the Rizalian concept of love of country and fulfillment of our duties of citizenship. 2) Achieved meritorious individual recognition in various professions, which promote, teach and disseminate the same through proven competence leading to the general benefit of the individual, community, and the country at large. 3) Promoted and encouraged civic and citizenship responsibility as model citizens- incorruptible patriots with the virtue of resisting temptations and misuse of wealth, influence, rank, or power.

If you believe that a person from your community, organization, or company deserves to be a recipient of the Rizal Award, then send your nominations to the NHCP Office or e-mail them at rizalawards@nhcp.gov.ph on or before March 15, 2012. To know more about Rizal@150 and the Rizal Awards, log on to www.nhcp.gov.ph or call the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (02) 524 9952.Rizal Shirt

The Reverse Balikbayan Box

2011-07-27T18:35:00.004+08:00

Before leaving for the States, I was able to drop by the Balik sa Bayan Box: Travels of Rizal. It was an outdoor installation done by Team Manila at the Ayala Museum.

The entire thing is eye-catching- a funky display of some of Rizal's best known itineraries and famous lines. It made me wonder about what our national hero would have carried around in his suitcase as he moved around the world. What are those Filipino-made things he simply could not do without? What were the articles of clothing that he couldn't find anywhere else?Did he bring his favorite tsokalate eh from home even though he had an array of chocolates available to him in Europe?

Pondering those things, I was inspired to document a reverse balikbayan box. What are the things our many OFWs ask for from people coming to visit them? Though, there are bound to be differences- there are certain staples everyone comes to expect. Upon entering the US, my immigration officer asked me if I was bringing food into the United States, I said, "just pastries". He quickly replied, "Polvoron?".

Yes, there was definitely polovoron in there. There was also a lot of other things. Like Philippine folk tale books, back issues of Yes magazine, pork rinds more popularly know as chicharon (with laman), house slippers, Master facial cleanser, baking molds, more polvoron, Marty's vegetarian chicharon, Team Manila and Electromagnetic Tentacle shirts, Cinemalaya DVDs, Chef Tony's popcorn, and last but not least a new barong for my brother. Not shown here but definitely always requested: Eng Bee Tin's hopia and Megamelt ensaymada.

What's in your reverse balikabayan box?

The Fine Art of Neglect

2011-07-25T22:55:00.004+08:00

(Subtitle: Troubled Scenes from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1)

I usually travel abroad on Philippine Airlines so rarely do I get a glimpse of NAIA Terminal 1. On this trip though, I got a promo ticket via EVA Air. I traveled alone and I had a lot of time to look around. I just wanted to take a photo of the bathroom to see if there were positive results from the online clamor to get it renovated. But photographing that led me to inspect the stained chairs which brought my focus to the dirty carpets. After that, I couldn't stop, everywhere I looked there was soot, grime, and third-world solutions. Much has been said about the need to fix this historical eyesore, but I'll let these shots shout for me.

How to Have a Pandesal Ice Cream Birthday Party

2011-07-20T23:09:00.004+08:00

Things are whirling fast around me. Work. Vacation plans. All the things I need to fix before heading off to the States. I didn't really have time to plan a birthday party so I had a simple celebration that was in-keeping with the musamanila ideals of promoting our culture. I present to you the very Filipino way of pairing pandesal with ice cream.

My Ice Cream Pandesal Party

1. Get pandesals from your local bakery. Remember half a scoop goes into one small pandesal. Try to get colorful flavors like ube, pandan, chocolate, and cheese.

2. There are no rules. Just scoop it out and put into the bread. Best if the pandesal is warm so it contrasts with the coldness of the ice cream. Add your own Filipino toppings like Chocnut and Polvoron.

A wonderful ice cream shot that was taken by Jun Belen.

3. Enjoy with friends!

Cinemalaya Starts Tomorrow!

2011-07-14T22:25:00.003+08:00

I always hope to find some gems in the annual Cinemalaya independent film festival. It's awesome to see the support behind this project. Kudos to the festival being more organized and adding venues like Greenbelt 3. However if there's one area, they have to improve on, it's on their trailers.

I had a chance to watch all of the trailers today and I found myself disappointed. Most of them were made with too much attachment to the material that it didn't answer the question, "why would someone want to watch this?" A lot of the times, people who are not involved with the movie are asked to edit the trailer because they are able to see it from an objective distance. Without objectivity, there is a big chance to totally miss the point. Being an an advertiser, I see Cinemalaya trailers as commercials with the daunting task of enticing people to to travel all the way to the CCP, to shell out P150 (to P5000 for a festival pass) to sit through a potentially crappy (potentially brilliant) film. They have to make that choice just a little bit easier for people.

Here are some of the trailers I found intriguing - on my list of things to catch.

Teoriya

A story about a young man in search of his father's remains. It looks well made and it
doesn't seem to have that overly dramatic plot that usually turns out bad.

Isda: The Fable of the Fish

We hear about weird freakish things happening all the time. Why not make a movie out of it?

I want to see how this fable ends.

Busong

It's a look into the Palawan belief of instant karma. I'm just a sucker for films
that make a subject of culturally remote Filipino ethnic groups.
Plus, it's Alessandra de Rossi- she's awesome!

Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa (The Dance of Two Left Feet)

It's beautifully shot and the scoring has promise.

Ang Babae sa Septic Tank

Chris Martinez, Marlon Rivera, and Eugene Domingo! Talk about star power.

It's rare to find comedies in a festival like this and this one is a parody of the making of

indie films in the Philippines. How apt. Definitely, a must see for me.

To view more trailers, go to the Cinemalaya website.

For the complete schedules in CCP and in Greenbelt, click here.

Joey Gosiengfiao's Temptation Island Revisited

2011-07-11T00:59:00.003+08:00

This weekend, I watched Joey Gosiengfiao’s “Temptation Island”. A Chris Martinez remake of the 1980s cult classic. Imagine this...

Updated into this...

The remake stayed true to the original plot of four beauty queens getting marooned on an island. Practically all of the original dialogue stayed the same.

I should love this movie because it’s an unwittingly campy social commentary on the concerns of the Filipino middle and upper class. As Jessica Zafra said, “it cleverly exploits aspects of Pinoy culture: the class divide, colegialas and social climbers, the obsession with beauty pageants, and of course, bakla culture.” I should love it because it’s a dark comedy, a rarity in the land that can’t get over Tito, Vic, and Joey.

But I loved it simply because it was so bizarre and funny- the perfect movie to watch with a bitchy, gay bestie, which I did. The lines were strange, biting, and quotable. So much so that we were repeating them word for word as the movie progressed. (Yes, we had our favorites memorized from the original!)

I have to hand it to Joey Gosiengfiao, the accidental whiz, who never meant to make us laugh. But as they say, forget his original intent because the author is dead. Sadly, that's both figuratively and literally. Good thing his inadvertent masterpiece lives on. My only critique is that Chris Martinez could have injected more of his humor into it. He tried too hard to stay true to the material, but some of the best moments of the film were add-ons on by him.

Spoiler Alert!

My favorite part was when the girls were so starved they started eating sand. It was so absurd on so many levels. One, these are GMA’s most glamorous leading ladies being made to eat sand. Two, they look like they’re enjoying it. Three, this is a really long vignette and it's making me uncomfortable. At a later time, I thought to myself, “Is this the upper class version of Khavn Dela Cruz’s film about a family that’s so poor they eat soil?”

As for the cast, here are my notes accompanied by their photos on Preview Magazine.

Heart Evangelista: She has the most angelic face, but I have a hard time believing her sincerity whenever she speaks English. I don’t think she’s a bad actress though, she delivers the emotion when she’s speaking in Filipino.

Marian Rivera: She looks like she had so much fun playing the role of the strong-willed, dancing, vivacious, villain with a heart- which is essentially (if we are to believe tabloids) who she is in real life. She makes all that dancing and jiggling so very natural.

Solenn Heussaff: All throughout, my gay friends kept commenting on how she was the most beautiful. She is indeed a stunner, but again I have problems with how she talks. She’s a reverse Heart. Perhaps, they could have changed the character- made her one of those posh girls who studied abroad for 3 months and completely forget how to speak Filipino.

Lovi Poe: Lovi Poe stole the show. From her very first line, she got the original character down pat. She’s got a husky way of speaking that’s oozing with sensuality. You really want to hate her, but at the same time you want to be the one spewing those odd, venomous lines.

Rufa Mae Quinto: A true comedy queen. At first I questioned why she was getting the part of the maid, but as I watched I realized that secretly she's the star. You can’t help but laugh when she's on. The fact that she's a bombshell that can pull off the loveable idiot adds to the weirdness of the whole movie.

John Lapus: He was domineering and endearing in a very gay way. I wish they had given him more screen time. I remember the original character having a lot more to say.

Male Leads: Two were decent but generally they were all forgettable. Why couldn’t they have put Coco Martin, Jake Cuenca, and Gerard Anderson on these roles? It would have made all the difference.

I hope you all troop down to the cinemas to catch it. Read the article by Erwin Romulo on Preview too!

Juice.ph is looking for some fresh talent!

2011-07-04T17:42:00.000+08:00

What’s a blog if it isn't shared? Juice.ph can take your blog to a whole new level. We are searching for the most creative, inventive, and relevant blog; whether you're talking about food, trips, sports, music, or Pinoy pop culture, Juice wants you to share a thought or two with us. And if we like it, we can give you a whole lot more to write about. Events, restaurants, gigs, sporting tournaments... you name it, we got your back! Link your blog, make us a sample copy, and you may be one of the two winners of:

P10,000 cold hard cash;
A brand spankin' new iPad 2;
And a 3-month internship as one of the Juice bloggers.

To get a taste of what we're looking for, check out our celebrity blogs here.

Good luck and start writing!http://www.juice.ph/writesomejuice

Yes, We Cannes! The Philippines at this Year's Cannes Lions 2011

2011-06-30T19:39:00.001+08:00

Our big boss just came back from Cannes competition in France and he was all smiles. 2011 year was a great year for Team Philippines! Hauling home the most medals for the country ever, Filipino agencies had several short lists, 2 Silvers, 1 Gold, and 1 Act Grand Tribute. It's great to see the Philippines making waves in a prestigious international competition like Cannes. Once again, our young clients blazed a trail in the Young Marketers Competition with a Gold Win. Congratulations Angeline Go and Justine Ferrer from Del Monte. I hope you guys become visionary brand people one day.

Watch the video. I hope their company sees the potential in their award-winning idea. Del Monte should seriously think about implementing it to boost their brand affinity and as part of their corporate social responsibility program.

Jose Rizal as Hitler's Father and Other Mysteries

2011-06-23T20:23:00.002+08:00

I'm so happy about my latest article, "Rizal: Man of Mystery" which delves into the enigmatic rumors surrounding our national hero, Jose Rizal. It was one of the most enjoyable things I've ever written and it's my first article for Juice.ph.

Rizal Portrait

Here's an excerpt:

"The most infamous mystery is that Rizal fathered the German Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. This rumor began circulating because of an educational film about Nazism and World War II. In it, a framed photo of Rizal was found hanging on Hitler’s bunker. This poses the question, “Was Hitler a fan of our national hero or was it something more?” Jose Rizal was educated in Europe and he spent a great deal of time in Germany. To this day, he is revered with a street and statue in Wilhelmsfeld. In fact his novel, Noli Me Tangere, was first published in Berlin in 1887. "

For the complete article, click on this link.

An Homage to Rizal’s Great Love: Leonor Rivera

2011-06-20T14:24:00.003+08:00

I spent the start of my long weekend deep in Rizal research, reading about the world’s perception of our national hero. As expected, his love life is a curiosity for many.

Described as somewhat of a womanizer, some historians believed he was commitment phobic. When he becomes close to a woman to the point of "intimacy/revelation/love", Rizal runs away. But one woman one woman who seemed to have captured his heart completely was Leonor Rivera. The Filipina he was engaged to marry.

She is described as a “pretty woman” whose physical features included having a “high forehead”, “soft and wavy hair”, a face that supported “almond eyes”, “small and pensive mouth”, and “engaging dimples” in Rizal: Philippine Nationalist and Martyr. Reading this, I remembered some old photos I had. I was supposed to use them on a feature about fans but I think the mood of the photos perfectly portray the sadness of their doomed romance.

The two were in a long distance relationship as Rizal had to be in Europe for his studies. They would correspond only through letters, which eventually were intercepted by Leonor’s mother. Believing that Rizal was a subversive, her mother kept them from her, and arranged for Leonor to marry a British engineer, Henry Kipping. Leonor, thinking that Rizal had forgotten her, agreed but only on the condition that she’d stop doing the two things she loved which was to sing and play the piano. She also proclaimed that she would die young and that she did. She was buried with the letters of Rizal stitched to her gown.

Rizal immortalized her as the character Maria Clara. Click this link to see a sketch that Rizal made of her.

Thanks to Bryan, a good friend, a great tour guide, and an all-around Rizal enthusiast. Check out his blog on this link.

Outfit: Dress from Deng Tee; accessories and fan from yours truly

Photo credits: Ms. Kaity Chua

Styling credits: Deng Tee and Cay Kho

Rogue's Modern Barong

2011-06-18T15:07:00.002+08:00

I bought Rogue's June issue which had a very extensive feature on our President Noynoy Aquino. I'm reading the article now but I found this informative as well- A page dedicated to the Modern Man's Barong. This is a good guide for anyone wanting to update their wardrobe with a new Barong Tagalog.

Independence Day Fashion: The Barong Pambabae

2011-06-14T17:37:00.002+08:00

Over the weekend, I was collaborating with a fellow Inquirer contributor on an Independence Day article on fashion that's Filipino. Unfortunately, our article didn't make it in time for the weekend run. But I'm glad I got to clarify my thoughts on the importance of taking inspiration from your own backyard. The reason I started blogging is because I believe that we take our own culture for granted by following styles and trends from other countries. We have to love our own. We have to create a distinctive Filipino aesthetic.

With that, I present the Barong Pambabae.

This is the first time I've ever donned a Barong Tagalog. I must say, I felt empowered. And chic. Maybe, it's because I'm wearing something traditionally made for men. Maybe, it's because this slim-fit barong belongs to the fashion forward Sib Sibulo.

Barongs are made of lightweight, translucent material. It dates back to Spanish colonial times and was derided as Indiowear. Some historians believed that the Spanish stipulated the barong as the outfit for native Filipinos because you can see through the fabric. It made it easier to spot concealed weapons. (Now it's good for hiding jabar.)

I'm happy it became all the rage again in the late 1950s when President Ramon Magsaysay made it his daily uniform. I'm definitely going to have my own Barong made someday. I'll get the expensive one made from Pineapple fiber. I think this one is made of Banana or Abaca which is reasonably priced and less prone to tearing. I imagine wearing it to a wedding while everyone else is a long gown. Snazzy.

Outfit: Sib's groomsman Barong Tagalog; My grade school Doc Martens;

Pocket watch, antique cane, and woven hat from Chris Yambing.

Photo credits: First one by the foxy Mr. Chris Yambing.

The rest from the lovely Ms. Kaity Chua.

Styling credits: Deng Tee and Cay Kho

Special Edition Pepsi Pinas Commercial

2011-06-06T15:12:00.000+08:00

Oh my Alvarez! Bigla kong namiss si Rudy Fernandez at kanyang maong na jacket at bigote. Go Pepsi Pinas! Let's bring back good old Filipino action films where the guys being shot at shake uncontrollably before dying. Love love love the lines and humor.

This is My Modern Baro't Saya

2011-06-01T12:26:00.005+08:00

Taken by Cars is one of my favorite Filipino bands so when I heard they're releasing their sophomore album I was psyched. I haven't had time to go to one of their gigs or get their album so it was awesome stumbling upon their new video for their single, "This is Our City" directed by music video auteur Quark Henares.

I love the idea of having Intramuros as a backdrop with the girls styled in modern baro't sayas. It reminded me of the shoot I had with Kaity Chua in Intramuros. I was experimenting with the idea of creating a fashion blog solely dedicated to modern Filipiniana fashions. But I realized how logistically difficult that would be. The main problem being I don't have enough Filipiniana clothes to modernize. While I'm slowly building up my wardrobe, my goal is just to wear something Filipino made or designed every single day. Just a little way for me to support our Filipino designers and retailers.

Here are the shots of that shoot. My interpretation of a modern baro't saya.

These photos were taken on the sly because the Intramuros Administration doesn't allow photo shoots (fashion editorials or wedding photos) without a permit. But, but I'm just a blogger! I think it's silly because the more beautiful photos of Intramuros out there, the more people will be curious to see it. A lot of our countrymen are not even aware of our walled city. Start charging when the tourists are flocking in by the hundreds of thousands. For now, let us help you promote it.

Third Wave of Electromagnetic Tentacle Shirts

2011-05-24T18:31:00.002+08:00

For friends who have been asking me how they can get their hands on tentacle wares, you can order through their blog: electromagnetictentacle.blogspot.com and their Facebook page. The shirts are also available at Sputnik Comics in Cubao X, and Dragon's Keep in Shoppesville Plus, Greenhills. You'll also be able to visit their booth at most of the toy and comic conventions. Here's a showcase of their latest mutations:

Ice, man

Pac Out

Rondalia Devil

Tahooooo!

A Foray into Pinoy Geek Culture with Electromagnetic Tentacle

2011-05-23T20:44:00.007+08:00

A band of self-professed geeks and advertising super friends have uprooted your favorite superheroes and put them in ironic situations right here on our home turf--the gritty streets of Manila. They are known as Electromagnetic Tentacle.

I did an interview with them for Inquirer which was published a while back. Due to space limitations, I had to cut out a lot of our conversation. So, I decided to share the entire thing here on my blog. Perfect, since they’re celebrating their 1-year anniversary this month!

Carl “Iceman” Urgino, Janlo “Cougar” Cui, Javey “Maverick” Villones and Joe “Merlin” Dy

Musamanila: How did you guys start this venture?

Joedy: Actually, we were all officemates in JWT for quite some time. Carl, Javey and I met one afternoon in Starbucks sometime last year. We’ve been wanting to do a t-shirt business for the longest time but we’ve never taken it seriously. So we decided to meet up one day and crank out some ideas. We were all creatives and so we figured we’d never get this done so we called in an accounts person, Janlo.

Janlo: So they brought me in and we talked about suppliers and we just started. Without thinking and before anyone could back out, we were paying to have the shirts made.

Musamanila: What was the first t-shirt design? What inspired it?

Joedy: There’s a guy from Threadless, his name is Glenzz, he does particularly pop-culture inspired designs. Javey actually suggested putting a Pinoy twist into the shirts. After he said that, the ball just started rolling. One of the earliest was Aquaballs and Bakalman.

Aquaballs

Bakalman

Musamanila: You guys seem so synched. Are you guys all geeks?

Janlo: They’re all geeks. I’m married to one so I’m just a geek by assimilation. They just keep talking about it so I absorb it. One of these days, I’ll end up talking like them.

Musamanila: Is the T-shirt business all it’s cracked up to be? Are you making enough to retire from advertising?

Joedy: I wouldn’t say we could retire.

Janlo: It’s more like it goes around. We’re not losing money, we’re making enough to reinvest in a second wave of shirts. But the cool thing there was even our bosses were interested in the shirts.

Joedy: We’ve definitely profited. But, our goal is really just to have fun and to grow it.

Janlo: We need to just follow up with our five-year plan.

Joedy: Really? We have that?

Janlo: More like a dream.

Joedy: You hear about guys with t-shirt businesses that take off but we’re not harboring any unrealistic fantasies. Though it’s been encouraging because the response to the shirts is quite positive. We’ve gotten requests to open up a store but we can’t at the moment.

Batlite

Spider Fight

Janlo: The first comic book convention that we did was so encouraging because we didn’t expect so many people to buy. The best things we get from the business are the laughs of people who pass by our booth. They even bring back their friends just to laugh.

Joedy: At some point, we even thought of putting up a sign: Piso Bawat Tawa (One peso for every laugh). You laugh at it, you bought it.

Musamanila: What’s geek chic, if there is such a thing?

Javey: Geeks like to show off who we support; the rarer the shirt the better. That’s why our shirts with the Pinoy twist work, because it’s precisely the humor of the convention crowd. Sample ng geek, ako (is me). I don’t usually buy sneakers but when Adidas Star Wars came out, napabili ako (I ended up buying).

Super Tubero Brods.

Invisible Jeep

Musamanila: Why the name Electromagnetic Tentacle?

Joedy: We were experimenting around with weird names. It’s a reference to “Voltes 5,” and the “tentacle” came about because we used to play poker a lot, and we like making bad puns. And we used to say, “10 to call” which then evolved into “tentacle.” I’m tempted to say it was inspired by Hentai because that would have been a lot cooler.

Musamanila: Who would you want to endorse EMT?

Joedy: We’re happy with our current lineup of friends, like Jay Tablante, who is a famous Cosplay photographer. When he goes for interviews, he wears our shirts.

Janlo: Does he do that to support us?

Joedy: Feeling ko kasi, ‘yun yung gusto niyang pagpawisan (that’s what he chooses to sweat in). Kidding aside, he wore it to the Singapore Comic Con where he got interviewed for TV.

Musamanila: I don’t think we have a mainstream Geeks to represent the Philippines. Is there anyone you’re thinking of getting in the future?

Joedy: We’d want to get Pinoy artists; some of the top DC and Marvel artists are actually Filipinos who are based here in the Philippines. Some of them have actually expressed their delight, umm… approval, basta natuwa sila sa mga shirts (they were amused by the shirts). Budgette has a very strong following in the geek community. Also, the guys at Sputnik. We’ve gotten a lot of support from our friends, from our families, and colleagues. But we get a big kick when we see the shirts being worn by strangers, because we know that they didn’t buy our shirts because they’re our friends.

Musamanila: How many shirts have you sold so far? And are the older editions still available?

Joedy: The older editions are almost sold out. A couple of shirts are completely gone.

Janlo: I think we’ve sold around a thousand, actually, more than a thousand.

Joedy: We only produce a hundred of each design. Maybe, we’ll produce a limited reprint of each.

Vulcanizer

Green Parol

Musamanila: I want to delve more into the geek culture. Were you guys always geeks? What’s it like to grow up a geek in the Philippines?

Janlo: When I was in college, I was surrounded by guys who were all geeks. In their own circle, they were cool. They were popular in school but whey they’re together, they kept talking about those comic book characters, always drawing everywhere. They’d get popular girls coming up to them asking them, “Hey, can you draw for me?” People would see them drawing popluar characters so they’d approach them. Girls especially would ask, “Uy, pa-drawing naman ng ganito? Can you do me in this…?”

Group: (Laughter and chuckling)

Javey: It was different for me. I was a mathlete so they’d always go, “Pakopya naman ng assignment (Can I copy your homework)?”

Joedy: This is me just guessing. I’m not really an authority but I think it was in the 80s when you had all these cartoons coming in from the US and from Japan. Filbars started importing comics more. That’s actually when you started seeing more geeks. The kids of that age are the same. Even the bullies, they’d be bullying you but they’d be holding on to their G.I. Joe action figure. So geek pa din.

Musamanila: There seems to be a geek resurgence right now. I noticed that even mainstream bookstores have a sizable comic book section.

Janlo: They’re developing it because they recognize that there is market.

Javey: From personal experience, it’s easier to be a geek now, because before, your only access was the comic book store, and you really had to seek friends with the same interests which is hard. But now, with the Internet, they’re everywhere.

Joedy: Somebody said before that when the Internet boomed in the 90s, geeks just started becoming more and more relevant.

Janlo: People need them, I get that sense that when you say a person is a geek, it’s a cooler term now then it was back then. It’s not a negative thing anymore.

Kummander

Dirty Harry

Musamanila: Any advice for creatives wanting to put up a business?

Joedy: First tip- Get a suit (accounts person). Carl was my partner and he was an art director. We’ve been wanting to put up a shirt business since 2006. But being creative, walang nangyayari (nothing happened). When we pulled Janlo into it, that’s when it actually everything happened. We had all these ideas but she would set the deadlines.

Janlo: No turning back, after that.

Musamanila: Actually, creatives really need someone to reign them in.

Joedy: Once we saw the shirts printed, there was a bit of a shift in your head. Because before it was just an idea but when you see it made and made the way you want it made, may reward siya (there’s a reward) and it encourages you to do more. I still remember when it first came in. We were in a pitch in JWT. Thank God our bosses were a little bit lenient. They saw it coming in. We were hauling in a big bag of t-shirts.

Musamanial: Why did you have it delivered in the office?

Joedy: We needed an office address.

Janlo: It was a last minute delivery, the night before the comic con and we lived in different areas and the office was the most accessible. And it just so happened there was a pitch happening that night.

Joedy: But the cool thing there was even our bosses were interested in the shirts.

Musamanila: Did you guys make a sale that night?

Janlo: Actually, we did.

Joedy: I still remember holding it up for the first time, actually the test print when we met with the supplier, I got the feeling. It’s a rush knowing totoo na ‘to (this is real). It’s no longer a jpeg.

Janlo: It’s actually a shirt that someone is going to wear.

Bahala Man

Ghostrider

Musamanila: It’s cool your bosses encourage you to do this…

Joedy: It’s called daylighting. There’s a new trend where companies encourage you to work on your day job on something you are passionate about. It’s there to encourage work-life balance. But we call it, work-work balance. My boss, Dave Ferrer, would actually encourage us by saying, “Tuloy niyo ‘yan. Tuloy niyo ‘yan!” (“Continue that. Continue that.”) It’s good we had support from the boss.

Janlo: There was such big support that even their CEO shared it in a marketing convention. He wore a shirt under his suit jacket and he talked about it to hundreds of marketing people.

Joedy: Even the clients were supportive. We’ve even had clients order from us. I remember the J&J clients delayed our offline meeting because they were ordering shirts. Even the head of marketing was like, “That’s really nice. Do I get a free shirt?”. Interactions like those are actually quite rewarding.

Musamanila: Actually, a thousand shirts is a lot. It’s like having a thousand artworks out there. That's definitely something to be proud of.

Saridon Wins a Silver Clio

2011-05-22T17:31:00.005+08:00

Pain medicine is such a difficult category to do ads for because all the great ideas have been claimed, used, and beaten dead. Maybe, that's why a lot of brands just get an endorser, who can mouth of cutesy lines, to do all the work. When I first saw these Saridon print ads, I was impressed with its cheekiness. It’s a novel way to visualize a hackneyed problem. The idea is simple: a persistent headache is one that mimics your every move, detering you from the task at hand.

I just loved the gritty Philippine setting combined with the characters: a wet market vendor, a carpenter, and a labandera (laundry woman). Everyday people hard at work- not the typical “aspirational” office worker or artista (actor). These are the people that really need pain relief. They deserve to be featured on ads!

Congrats to the BBDO Team who came up with it. Brilliant. A Silver Clio is just the beginning, guys!

Were Marcos and Ninoy Friends?

2011-05-16T15:47:00.003+08:00

Registration is open for the 2013 elections and I thought posting this political video would be apt.

The vid shows an alternate way of seeing what went down during People Power. I had an earlier post talking about my thoughts after reading, American Boy, by James Hamilton-Paterson. In that book, he claimed that Marcos and Ninoy were confidantes. In fact it was Ferdinand Marcos who would supply information to Ninoy Aquino if ever he needed to take criticize Imelda Marcos, then the governor of Metro Manila. Marcos would then try to console his wife, Imelda, by saying that he'd get Ninoy the next time.

Strange.
But is there truth to it?

Good Question Willie

2011-04-24T23:29:00.000+08:00

This week, we will find out the fate of Willing Willie. I haven’t written about it for so long because his retaliation video perturbed me. Don’t get me wrong. I want these kinds of shows to stop. But I’ve realized that there is truth to what Willie is saying.

On Palm Sunday, exactly a week ago, a hard wave of pure guilt washed over. Willie’s query flooded in my brain, “Ano bang nagawa ninyo para sa mahirap?” I asked myself if I was doing my share. I donate to charities. I give to the less fortunate. I even tried to reform a wayward cousin to help him graduate from college. But still, I felt guilty. The truth is, the problem of poverty in the Philippines is abysmal. There is no bottom and thus I can never do enough.

Depressing huh?

Not really. It simply means that I have to be more vigilant and more proactive about my contributions to society. Look at what happened with Jan-Jan. I’ve always thought that show was inappropriate, but I waited for a macho dancing child to show up before I started blogging about it. I’m sure it is the same way for a lot of people.

That video was gross though.

The combination of the macho dance, the boy’s crying, and the audience laughing just assaults you. Watching that episode made me feel disgusting. It triggered the shame of a nation and the wrath of the upper and middle class. Willie might be on to something when he started making this class war. Truth be told, all his loyal viewers see is the loss of a beloved show and the chance to make money. We are not really explaining our to the innocents.

Yes, his viewers are innocent.

Innocent because just like Jan-Jan they are being exploited day in and day out, yet they welcome it. Innocent, because it’s not their fault. How can you begin to talk of dignity and self-worth when you’re hungry? When you’re down in the dumps and P10, 000 will save your life? When everyone has a TV but your family? In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, self-actualization is the last to come. There are so many more rungs to climb before they start valuing the things we do. Willie truly believes that by giving a helping hand on the 1^st level, he is doing what needs to be done. But we believe differently so we have to take responsibility to provide for those levels.

The question now is, “How?”

Honestly, I don’t have any answers. Some rough ideas but nothing concrete. But I’d like to thank Willie for posing that question, “Ano bang nagawa ninyo para sa mahirap?” It is a very a good question. I hope that this Holy Week, Willie Revillame took the time to read what was being written about him. I pray that question will lead him to lend his popularity to a show that’s truly helpful to Filipinos.

We all have to seek out a solution. In the meantime, let's put a stop tio Willing Willie.

Easter Reflections Through the Photos of Veejay Villafranca

2011-04-24T12:52:00.002+08:00

Veejay Villafranca's black and white photographs have always been powerfully captivating. He did a series on a Baseco gang that won him the Ian Parry Scholarship. He's the first Filipino to have done so and he did it at the age of 26. Here's a series he's been working on that stemmed from his friendship with the Baseco gang members. Apparently a lot of the hardened men are Black Nazarene devotees.

He has more photos on his website and on GMA News. But if you're interested to hear him speak about his love for photography, click this to go to a Ted Talk's recording on Estancabigas's blog.

Fedex Corporate Site to Win a Webby (with your help of course)

2011-04-18T21:21:00.000+08:00

Holy week is just a couple of days away so naturally, the work is just pouring in. I have no time to post even if there are so many things marinating in my wee brain. So, I'll just plug a site that was done by my agency for Fedex. It's a very interesting look at our changing world through interactive infographics.

This is how our world would if country size was based on the population living in cities back in 1975.

Now, it's based on the happiness of the people living in the country. Lookie, we're larger than Australia!

Whattup?!?! Japan is larger than the entire continent of Africa.

It's a great way to learn a thing or two about our world and yes, it was made right here in the Philippines!

If you have 5 minutes, please please vote for it at the Webby Awards. Click that link. You'll have to register, but if you tick the right box, you'll also get updates on a wealth of cool sites, apps and other online experiences. Oh, and if you want to see more of the FedEx Changing World website and hear my supposedly dulcet voice-over, you can check it out here - http://checkitout.ph/changingworld/

Thankees!

Brian Tenorio's Philippine Brand Ambassadors

2011-04-10T23:06:00.003+08:00

Last week, I got to check out an exhibit curated by Brian Tenorio. Ambassadors of the Philippine Brand is a feature on 18 personalities who represent the Philippine Brand to the World, as illustrated by several of the country’s emerging and established talent in illustration and visual design. Kudos to all the artists who worked on the portraits. AJ Omandac, Bren Baclan, Jose Daniel Castillo, Laraine Gazmen, Lawrence Anataran, Louie Lee, Meneer Marcel, and Valerie Chua. Brilliant stuff.

Scroll down to see who made the cut.

Journey songster Arnel Pineda

Filmmaker Brillante Mendoza

Little diva Charice Pempengco

Mother and son politicians Cory and Noynoy Aquino

My friend Mia with the dashing tycoon Jaime Zobel De Ayala

Furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue. Gotta love a sourpuss.

Songbird and broadway muse Lea Salonga

No need for introductions for this one

My friend Mia kissing male model Paolo Roldan

My personal favorite, the Filipino Healthworker.

A shout out to my mom and pops, both in the medical field.

I feel like this deserved a less cartoony rendition though.

I'm happy that people like Brian Tenorio are coming up with events such as these. At first glance, it is a list of famous people whose names have circumnavigated the globe. I was going to brush it off as a mere popularity contest, but then I realized the impact of the brand ambassadors around the world. Ignorant people are innumerable. Some people don't even know where the Philippines is. Some think that we all still live in Nipa huts and wear loincloths. Their image of being a Filipino is painted through interactions with domestic helpers, japayukis, Filam boys and girls who grew up in the hood. On the news and in movies, we are constantly portrayed as poor, dirty, and malnourished. KAWAWA ang dating natin in the international media arena. But slowly, with the help of the people listed here, that impression is changing.

Through these Ambassadors we are understood. Through them we live our dreams and aspiration as they bring us to the hearts and minds of people from all over the globe.

Overall, the Ambassadors of the Philippine Brand Exhibition is a refreshing new way of looking at our country-- a brand that we all have to take responsibility for. Someday I hope that we can start introducing more homegrown talent who may not be known to the world. But they embody the best of us Filipinos. At the top of my head, I have names like: Street performer and activist Carlos Celdran, RockEd Philippines founder Gang Badoy, and the T'boli dreamweavers.

The exhibit will be going to Trinoma on April 13-27 and Alabang Town Center on April 28-May 12

Manila Renaissance Movement

2011-04-07T21:46:00.003+08:00

I stumbled upon this video from my Twitter feed. It seems like a lot more people out there are clamoring for changes. Good to know the momentum is building. For the longest time, I've felt that there is something monumental on the way, a paving of the roads for a better and brighter Philippines. Team Manila said it in this shirt-- the first thing I ever bought from them.

Manila Renaissance Movement

There is a current running through particular individuals and certain groups. This electricity possesses them to ask questions like, "Why do a majority of Filipinos want to leave the country?", "Why can't we be the no. 1 tourist destination in Southeast Asia?" or "Why do we keep getting lame politicians to run our beautiful country?"

Recently, the big question for me is, "Why have our noontime shows looked the same since the 1980s?". After the whole Willie Janjan Macho Dancing Debacle, the real issue for me is not that they put a kid on to dance lewdly for money. It's the fact that it is tolerated and even enjoyed. This is the norm for our television viewing public.

I was disturbed to hear the opinions of my neighbor. She's a well-meaning housewife, who despite knowing the wrongness of the situation sided with Willie. She said, "He still gives the most money amongst all of them!". I wanted to say, "Yes po, he does. But that's not his money. Moreover, that show perpetuates the idea that you can get rich quick by sharing your sad story, making fun of your flaws, or worse sending your child to gyrate for laughs."

Where's our pride?

That's why I'm happy to see videos like the one from Meeting of the Minds Manila. It shows that the current is running wild in a lot of people. Fueled by their experiences and their desire to make a difference, they band together. And when they do, you can feel fireworks in the room. It reminds me of the Mabuhay Guides and how when we first got together, we were stunned to realize just how many of us wanted the same thing for the Philippines. This video gave me hope.

With that I also have to applaud efforts from individuals such as Monique Wilson who is calling all artists to support better programming in lieu of the Willing Willie debacle. I'm proud of influencers like Emily Abrera who retired an advertising legend but remains active on issues such as these.

Everywhere, I see pockets of hope--people coming together and finding common ground to spark a change. It's uplifting. People feel something amazing is on the way. They feel that way because they want it badly. They see the potential of the country and they're asking why it can't be.

Now it's time to ask yourself, "Do you feel it? Are you part of this?"

For the Fallen / A Poem by Ruby Veridiano from Arriane Serafico on Vimeo.

Pepper Roxas for Japan

2011-04-05T00:38:00.001+08:00

New York based Filipino illustrator and designer, Pepper Roxas, created these prints to help raise funds for the victims of the recent tsunami and eartquake in Japan. On this drawing are the words Ganbatte Kudasai or “Do your best/Don’t give up!”

First Aid I

These are so touching. If you want to help the injured Godzilla,

the prints are available on this website: Society6.com

First Aid II

I feel a little guilty that I haven't kept abreast with what's happening in Japan. In the back of my mind, I have a strong feeling that Japan has it got it covered. They are a strong, self-sufficient society that's used to picking up the pieces. My friend who was recently in Tokyo told me about how shoppers in the grocery store did not panic after the massive earth shaking. They stayed calm and when the rumblings subsided, the crowds simply returned all the goods they were supposed to buy and filed out. Truly admirable discipline.

100% of all profits from the sales of this tee will be donated through the Japan Society of New York.

Make a Kanta Call for Your Fave Filipino Overseas Worker

2011-04-03T18:09:00.003+08:00

Kanta Calls is something I'm very proud of. It's a heartwarming and funny digital effort made by BBDO- Guerrero for our 10 million Pinoys working abroad. It's also an easy way for the millions of OFW kids (like me) to send some love to their hardworking parents abroad.

So what is a Kanta Call?

Bayantel had us create an application where Filipinos in the Philippines could send a musical call to any Filipino overseas. Just go the site. Pick a genre: Hip-hop. Traditional ballad or Power ballad. Personalize your lyrics. Type in your loved one’s phone number. Then at a time of your choosing, their phones will ring and they’d hear their very own personalized song. And yes, it's absolutely free!

http://www.kantacalls.com.ph/

When we were conceptualized this, I really thought of my parents who have been working abroad for more than 25 years. My dad is a pharmacist who moved to Saudi Arabia as a young man. There, he met a bewitching nurse who captured his heart. Eventually, they wed and had me and my brother. Now, they're based in the States and I see them once a year. People who have never lived abroad can take for granted the sacrifices our overseas Filipino workers make to be able to support their families. I'm glad that I grew up in Saudi Arabia because I've experienced those things firsthand. I'm so grateful to my folks Ruben and Emma. This one's for you Poppy and Mumsky!

Try it out. My friends have been cracking up to the crowd-pleasing Rap version. But being a little old-fashioned, I prefer the Kundiman.

A big shout out to the talented people in our agency who made this possible: Pia Roxas, Corey Cruz, Karen Gosingan, Racquel Narciso, Paul Guadalupe, and Sheena Siao. I hope I didn't miss anyone.

How to Hit Willie Hard

2011-03-29T12:55:00.001+08:00

If 73 dead people did not bring Willie Revillame down, neither will a macho-dancing 6 year old. Almost anyone who has any concern for the country detests the game shows of Willie Revillame for their degrading effects on society. But he remains the king of the noontime slot because the masses love him. Why do they love him? Is it because he’s funny? Is he iresistable with the ladies (and the lolas)? Is it because he has a heart of gold? Not really. The masses adore him because they think that he’s an everyday Santa Claus. Just show Willie you’ve been good (and that you are dirt poor) and you’re sure to leave the workshop with a treat.

But Willie is no Santa Clause. The goodies he is giving are not his own. It’s coming from advertisers- the commercials that fund his show. A friend who works in media told me that a TV spot on TV5’s Willing Willie costs P150,000 on a weekday and P180,000 on a weekend. That’s right folks, every time a commercial spot airs: kaching, kaching, kaching! How many commercials do you see throughout the entire show? When you compare that to the measly thousand Peso handouts being given to the contestants, you will be appalled.

Willie Revillame has several houses, a yacht, and a luxury car collection.

It’s all good that there are letters being written to TV5. But I think it would hurt a lot more to appeal to the advertisers who fund this machine. Write to your brands and let them know what you think about shows like Willing Willie. Let them know that you are a powerful consumer and a concerned citizen. Ask your brands if they really want to be associated with a show that promotes lasciviousness at a young age.

I cringe at the sight of six year-old Jan Jan dancing this way. Remember how Rizal said that the youth is the hope of the nation? If the youth of the nation is being taught to macho dance for money, even if it is for laughs, then you know exactly where our country is headed.

I'm looking for Filip+Inna!

2011-03-23T19:11:00.002+08:00

This week started hectic and it's only now that I've gotten a chance to sit down and blog. After seething over the whole DOT "Pilipinas, tara na" logo debacle, I learned that things are somewhat getting better for our tourism industry . 26 million tourists last year and they've shelved the, "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" Campaign. Awesome!

So, now it's time to relax and turn to nobler tasks. Like shopping for Filipino designed fashion! I saw these fab pieces on this month's issue of Metro. It's listed as a Filip+Inna design but the magazine doesn't really point you to any shops in the Philippines. When I checked online it was selling in a specialty web boutique called Indagare Souk.

I've been looking for Philippine ethnic patterned dresses like this for the longest time. Actually, I didn't think they existed so I was going to go through the trouble of having placemats turned into a wearable outfit. Can you imagine these being wearable?

Ummm... good luck to me! Now that I know it's out there, I'd rather support this quirky designer. Where oh where are you Filip+Inna?

Team Manila Strikes Fast

2011-03-20T19:37:00.001+08:00

What I'd tell you? In my last post, I said there's a wealth of artistic talent in the Philippines. So much so that some top designers are willing to help out the government for free. In practically no time at all, Team Manila came up with their own versions of the "PILIPINAS, TARA NA!" logo and I am liking it.

I think they've managed to capture the fun intent of the original logo. They used a whole lot of colors, quite unusual for modern logos but essential in the Philippine market. My personal favorite is the last one. Which one's yours?

Check Team Manila's Flickr for more designs.

Note: I tried posting this yesterday but for some reason Blogger wasn't uploading pics. Gar.

Is this new DOT logo for real?

2011-03-17T21:52:00.004+08:00

As much as I’d like to support the Philippine Department of Tourism, I cannot condone the choices they’re making. We are a nation with amazing artists. We have top Marvel and DC artists based here. We have an abundance of globally awarded advertising agencies here. We have so many talented designers, a lot of whom would work for free to help the government out. And yet, we continuously come up with things like this:

This is the logo that DOT came out with to encourage local tourists to travel. According to Ironwulf En Route, “This is DOT’s new official logo for Pilipinas, Tara Na Campaign. This was made in cooperation with Smart and Perception of domestic tourism only.” Luckily, I’m always surrounded by opinionated artsy folk here and online. So I showed them the logo and here are their responses.

Art Prodigy:
“It looks like it's been done by kid who's in a public school elementary. Pang on-the-spot poster making contest”

Photographer:
"It's f*ck*ng horrible. T*ng*n*, I would rather that they steal something all over again, than put shit like that up on the net. It looks like an 80s cartoon for a gradeschool text book. And that girl on the boat looks like the scene in Titanic."

Web Designer:
“You can’t resize that. It’s not applicable as a logo.”

Creative Director (and Twitter Celebrity):
“It doesn’t motivate me to travel anywhere. It’s cheap and dated.”

Head of Design:
“Panget? Coloring book? Pambata? A logo should have flat colors as much as possible no gradient. Flat colors with dark & light background variations. Kumbaga reverse puwede mo i-apply sa dalawa.”

I kept their names hidden because I wanted their answers to be as candid as possible. My opinion on it, which I posted on Twitter: “The new DOT logo reminds me of some cartoons I saw in a Saudia Airlines giveaway. I got that more than a decade ago”. In hindsight, that was better done. It also had kids on a plane. But they didn’t look like they were attached to it.

How to Build a Bottle School

2011-03-16T15:35:00.002+08:00

Last weekend, I got the rare opportunity to take part in something amazing.

A group from our agency trouped over to San Pablo to help build a bottle school.

The school is the project of My Shelter Foundation and the social entrepreneur, Illac Diaz. The idea is to use Litro soda bottles filled with soil as a sustainable and cheap replacement for traditional cement blocks. I learned that a filled bottle is much stronger than a cement block and costs just 1 Peso, making bottle schools extremely affordable. The only glitch is that it’s quite labor intensive. So if you can, try and volunteer.

How to Build a Bottle School:

Step 1: Gather bottles. A whole lot of bottles. Pepsi helped gather 7,000 to 8,000 needed for the classrooms.

Step 2. Find a place with a lot of dry dirt.

Step 3: Sift it so that there are no roots or rocks.

Step 4. Create a mixture of water, soil, and 3% cement. Put them inside bottles. Get dirty.

Step 5: Stop for yucky photo op. (Note: Mud feels strangely refreshing on hands.)

Step 6: Break for lunch at your nearest SM food court.

Step 7: Gather bottles that have been baked in the sun for 12 hours and start stacking it up with cement.

Step 8: Pose on finished wall. Don’t you just dig how the bottles add texture to the walls?

Tadah! You have a bottle school that will last up to three generations. Here's a photo of some kids that hung out with us the whole day. The kid in pink is a boy. Such a cutie.

Please don’t try this at home kids! Contact this expert first. It was his idea and I’m sure he’ll be glad to help you get started. He’s also cooking up another project worth looking at- Isang Litrong Liwanag uses plastic bottles as an alternative light source for homes. The magic is that it requires no electricity.

Joy Dishwashing Soap Dishes Out Fashion Advice

2011-03-08T19:24:00.001+08:00

Joy to the world! Finally Joy dishwashing soap decided to deviate from their usual "most plates per floor space and Michael V's face" kinda ad. This advertising campaign builds from a truly local insight about a Pinoy's habit to wash plates with dish washing soap. The copy reads: “Yaman din lamang at nilabhan mo ang plato sa bareta, isuot mo na ito.” Roughly translated: “As you have washed the plate with a bar, you might as well wear it.” It's campy fashiony way to look at boring old soap.

Credits to the Campaigns and Grey and the team behind this:

Chief Creative Officer: Ompong Remigio
Creative Director: Noel Orosa
Associate Creative Director: Mel Aguinaldo
Copywriter: Noel Orosa
Art Directors: Gil Corcuera, Anton Panajon
Photographer: Milo Sogueco
Production Designer: Rious Caliso
Stylists: Rious Caliso, Noel Orosa

An Oscar Win for Young Filpino Students

2011-02-28T22:24:00.000+08:00

There truly is a Pinoy in every crevice of the world. While watching the Oscars today, I saw friends tweeting about Philam student producers who worked on the film, "God of Love". It won for Best Live Action Short Film. Congratumalations to Gigi Dement, Stefanie Walmsley and Stephen Dypiangco. This looks like a lovely project to have worked on. Full story on the Inquirer.

Tricia Gosingtian Tumbles Through New York Fashion Week

2011-02-25T23:45:00.000+08:00

Tricia Gosingtian at New York Fashion Week

I was reading the reactions to Tricia's little, "in the Philippines, it's not that fashion forward" slip. To start off, I do think she's extremely lucky to have gotten this gig. We should be proud that someone from the Philippines got to be part of Tumblr's influential 20. Though a lot of people are disappointed and even angered at her statement, I'm putting my poker face on. The truth is Tricia Gosingtian is not a Filipina. Her roots are Chinese. She aspires to be Japanese. She looks like she stepped off a Korean fashion catalog (the ones that tag me on Facebook) and she has a Valley Girl accent. Filipinos shouldn't be mad at her for distancing herself from her mainly Filipino fan base. The question to be asked here is why she has such a fan base.

We (admittedly even me to a slight extent) admired as she deliberately and obviously distanced herself from Filipino culture. But then why do we spark an outrage when she accidentally disses the Philippines?

"Like" duh. Poker face.

The First Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival

2011-02-23T23:02:00.003+08:00

Over the weekend, me and and a bunch of friends traveled to Puerto Galera to take part of the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival. It was spectacular see this unique concert venue situated on top of mountain. Here I am hitching a ride with wooden lizard which by the way is a work of art. We're riding down to the grassy amphitheater below.

There were a lot of interesting art pieces to be found at the festival. They even constructed a Mangyan Village where artists could sleepover for the night. Billy Bonnevie, a friendly resident artist, would sit down and give you lessons on village life and music. I dig his threads.

I wish I could look as funky wearing something like that. But I do love this sarong dress that I picked up from the market beside our resort. It's a steal of P180 plus it matches my necklace perfectly.

I was there to support one of the organizers, Olivia d'Aboville, who also happens to be an artist. She works with discarded plastics and dramatic lighting to create stunning visual statements. You can tell what these are made off. It was wrapped around a tree and lit in blue.

Olivia's family set this up to support the Mangyans, comprised of the eight indigenous groups found in Mindoro. They used to inhabit the shores of the island but were driven higher and higher up the mountains to preserve their way of life. Now that development is so widespread, it may just encroach upon them again. So where are they to go? I think some of the art tried to communicate those issues.

Serious concerns aside, the event was so much fun to be a part of. The nights were breezy, the people were warm, and the vibe was chill. On the first night, the full moon shone bright like nature's big nighlight. I loved the organic feel of it all. How I could just head over to the Tree Bar and get some drinks, lay there and take in the music, or jump to my feet and start dancing.

The only thing that I would suggest they improve on would be the music selection which had too many genres. You'd be feeling the groove of world music but then it'd be followed up by some abstract techno. It kind of killed the buzz for some music lovers. However, I discovered a new band that I liked. Kadangyan. Their sound is has that Filipino island beat but mixed in with modern music. They used indigenous instruments and wore traditional garments. Alavet.

The best trip of the year so far. It really reminded of why I loved going out of town. This is me with my half frown and the "Tibetan" bag from I got from Beijing (A reminder of the need to help our disenfranchised cultures. How apt.) How I wish I could have stayed in that hut for a little while longer.

The Story of My Tamburin

2011-02-17T22:57:00.002+08:00

On my previous entry, I proudly showed off my tamburin necklace and it made think about when my fascination with it began. I got this photo from an encyclopedia. I almost bought a cross with this "tinik" design. Instead, I ended up buying a more traditional "pineapple" tamburin.

The first time I saw a tamburin up close was when I was a Mabuhay guide. The owner of Tesoro's Handicrafts was telling us about the beauty of pinya cloth and other special finds in the Philippines. There she was standing regally, in a simple starched barong blouse accessorized with a beautiful gold tamburin necklace and matching pearl earrings. She looked so chic that the image of her and her necklace stayed with me. It looked kind of like this...

I got this off someone's Flickr. So pretty!

Upon researching, I found out that the gold necklace was no ordinary piece of jewelery. It was an antique that could cost up to P250,000. The way of making it involved techniques that are no longer used because goldsmiths don't know how to replicate it. Thus, I was ecstatic to have found my tamburin at a reasonable price. Though if you look at the photos on my previous entry, it’s quite simple compared to the ones featured here. Also, mine is gold-plated. The best tamburins are made from 100% gold. The more intricate the design, the wealthier the owner.

I’m not sure if I want to believe the saleslady who sold me mine but she said that all tamburins are atleast 100 years old. I wonder who mine belonged to. I love a good story to go with my jewelery and how I wish mine was passed down to me by my grandma. Then she would tell me of how it was passed on to her by a devout mestiza woman who wore it everyday after she was gifted it by a Spanish merchant.

I can dream right?

But I’m just happy I can pass something on to my future grandchildren. With my tamburin, I will tell them the story of how our great ancestors were gold fiends. They used to make everything out of gold: from their pots to their bangles to their chastity protectors.

Back for Love. Back to Blog.

2011-02-14T15:00:00.002+08:00

I haven’t updated my blog in forever. The culprit - a little friendly criticism. A good friend gave an honest assessment of my blog and it opened up a deep cavern of doubt on the direction the blog was taking. So I took time to try and answer questions like, “why do I blog?”, “what do I want to achieve with this? “, and “what’s my theme?”. To be honest, I’m not sure. But I realized that I’m content trying to figuring it out. I just love sharing what I find interesting about Filipino culture. This year, I resume blogging on Valentine’s. Because I'm corny and symbolic like that. And I'd like to believe that when you love something, you step up to the plate even if you’re uncertain, because you have faith that you’re leading up to something great.

(That being said, I somehow made it to finalist at the Philippine Blog Awards. Check out the snazzy banner on the right. Despite my blog lacking a recurrent theme, I think that some people enjoyed it. Thanks so much guys. Your encouraging comments mean a lot.)

I’m leaving you all with some photos that I was supposed to post last year. One of my favorite pieces of jewelery is this tambourine necklace which I bought at a shop in Megamall. It’s gold-plated silver and was all the rage for pious women during the Spanish times. I whipped up a matching outfit for it- something to carry it out from antiquity.

Tambourine necklace. A blue reworked vintage dress. Melissa Vivienne Westwood pumps. A woven beret I got from Kultura. Thank you to the uber talented Kaity Chua for the photos.

Happy Valentines everyone!

Gigzilla Posters from JP Cuison

2010-11-06T16:02:00.025+08:00

JP Cuison, advertising wonder kid, rock star, and and artist extraordinaire has released his gig posters to the wild. So now you can have a piece of his zaniness for you very own. Get it at Secret Fresh at the Ronac Art Center.

I got this Rizal Cyborg silk screen and I consider it one my best art purchases. I'm not going to say for how much but these posters are retailing for P2,500. Not too bad if you've scanned how much some art pieces are going for nowadays.

What I really like about JP (aside from his killer Robin Padilla impersonations) is that he's managed to make our Filipino jeepney aesthetic cool. The jeepney aesthetic is a fantastically confused artform that's a hodgepodge of anything and everything we like. Look at the side of any jeepney and you'll see what I'm talking about. Filipinos just have this need to put their faith, their love for anime, a portrait of their first born, and anything they fancy in one canvas for all to see. JP's work is about turning over popular symbols by infusing it with unrelated imagery. Sometimes, it turns out ironic. Sometimes, it's just plain strange. Either way, it's electric.

Oh, they're also selling toys from JP Cuison and other artists.

Mich Dulce Design Talk at Ayala Museum

2010-11-05T08:55:00.000+08:00

I'm a huge fan of Mich Dulce. She's always had a quirky distinctive style that's reminiscent of the good old days when women were proper, men smoked cigars, and tailored clothing was the norm. Not to say that her work is vintage because the structure and the cuts are very modern.

Stylish, demure, with a little wacky sewn in. That's Mich Dulce for me. One of my favorite Mich Dulce designs had this detailed print on it. (Btw, that's Bryanboy modeling it.)

Upon closer inspection, you'll see that the women are being very naughty indeed. Lately, Mich Dulce has been experimenting with hats and corsets. Her invite for Ayala defines her as designer, milliner, and corsetiere. (They forgot to put in vocalist and one time reality TV star.)

Award-winning fashion designer, milliner and corsetiere Mich Dulce invites you to her talk at the Ayala Museum this November 6, 2010.Trained at Central Saint Martins, London College of Fashion, and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Mich Dulce will take you through her design process that has produced critically acclaimed pieces that push the boundaries of creativity.
Admission to the talk is PHP 125 for students, PHP 200 for teachers, senior citizens and Ayala Museum members, and PHP 300 for other adults.

To reserve call 757-7117 local 29 or email education@ayalamuseum.org.

Ingenious Advertising Activation by St. Peter Memorial Chapel

2010-11-02T23:15:00.000+08:00

Brave Use of Coffin as Advertisement by St Peter Memorial Chapel

I work in an ad agency where we often pass around ads we think are particularly clever or insightful. Today, our big boss emailed this to us hailing it the "Ad of the Month". He was kidding. I think. Well, it made me laugh because despite its somewhat crude and morbid nature, it encapsulates how Filipinos view death. It's certainly not the end so why be so mopey about it? Most of the wakes I've been too had riotous moments of uncontrollable laughter. Even the most tragic ones had a point when we were all chugging down alcohol and recalling the funny situations we had shared. Filipino wakes are notorious occasions for gambling and karaoke singing. Weddings and deaths are really the big events that bring families together so why not make the most of it?

Our Creative Director for Digital says that St. Peter really does go out of their way to be innovative. They're the first ones to come out with the e-burol (translated to e-wake) so that loved ones from abroad don't have to miss out. Here's their website: St. Peter Memorial Chapel

Tabi Tabi Po: A List of Unusual Filipino Monsters

2010-10-30T22:33:00.003+08:00

I'm a collector of Filipino illustrated childrens' books and I was so happy to have stumbled upon this little gem entitled, "Mga Tambay sa Tabi-Tabi: Creature of Philippine Folklore". It's basically a compilation of Philippine mythical creatures and monsters. Each creature is re-imagined by an artist and is brought to life by a poem and a description. On the cover, you can see the more popular creatures like a manananggal, a tiyanak, a vampire, and a white lady to name a few. But just flip through its pages, and you'll be pleasantly surprised to learn that there are more. So much more.

Take the Alan, which I've never heard of before. It's a winged elf or a disfigured spirit. It can make babies from a drop of menstrual blood. Eeeww! But it can also bring miscarried fetuses back to life. Another version of the Alan is a winged ogre that feeds on people.

The Bakunawa is a huge sea monster that is somewhat like a fish meshed with a shark. For our Filipino ancestors, it epitomized evil with it's lake-sized mouth, gills, and coarse whiskers. It is said to be the culprit of eclipses because it sometimes swallows the sun or the moon.

An Agta is similar to a kapre. It is a giant hairy creature that likes smoking cigars on top of a tree. But the main difference is that he likes to lure beautiful maidens into the woods. The only way to be free is to poke and burn his privates. Teehee.

The Tahamaling is a spirit dweller that protects the forest. Upon entering her domain, you have to say "Makikiraan po" (excuse me) in order not to disturb her. She has reddish skin with long flowing hair and a very moody disposition making her both an ally and an enemy.

I've always been confused by the siyokoy. As a child, I believed that it was the opposite of the sirena.
Instead of having the legs of a fish, the siyokoy has the head of the fish (and the legs of a man). That seems not to be the case in this book where it is described as having a scaly torso. It surfaces during floods so beware this rainy season.

The Wakwak is like a manananggal because she can half herself. But she has a preference for eating fetuses and thus drools at the sight of pregnant woman. Her name is derived from the "wakwak" sound her wings make when she flies up to the roof of your house.

I love this book. I think some children would not dare pick up a real encyclopedia of Filipino monsters because it simply is too frightening. This book elicits more chuckles than screams. As a child, I was always more afraid of the monsters I saw in, "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" rather than from movies like "the Exorcist" or "Poltergeist". Maybe something in our psyche makes homegrown monsters more sinister. As of writing this, I just saw a friend's FB page saying that she saw something jump from one side of the road to another. It was leathery with flowing white hair. Yikes!

Happy Halloween everyone!

This Halloween Weekend!

2010-10-29T23:10:00.000+08:00

So many things to do! So many parties to go to!

Yet, why do I feel the urge to just stay home and blog...

Musamanila to Appear as a Zombie on Flow Magazine

2010-10-28T19:07:00.001+08:00

Aside from creating mind altering messages for advertising, writing for blogs, and tour guiding, I can also add modeling for graphic short stories to my list of odd jobs. I landed my first role as "fashionista zombie" in Yvette Tan's story. It's illustrated by my ex-friend Chris Costello. Ex-friend because he made me pose as a decapitated head for his art. But I may just forgive him because he fed his models pizza and made this lovely sketch of me.

The story will appear as a 7 page graphic short for the November issue of FLOW Magazine that Quark Henares is curating. He got a lot of his friends to contribute different things. There are three comic stories in it and tons on about the local scene. I can't wait to get a copy.

Btw, it's Quarks birthday today so Happy Birthday!

Scariest Filipino Monsters for Halloween.

2010-10-27T19:20:00.000+08:00

There's a Halloween party going on in our office today and so I found it apt that I stumbled upon this post about the scariest Filipino monsters. Now, I'm inspired to go out and look for costume inspirations. Enough of fairies, and ghouls, and vampires. Take a look at some of our mythical creatures. I found these from Deviant Art:

Musa's Longest Running Christmas Gift List: No. 6 Dean & Trent Men's Clothing

2010-10-24T17:36:00.002+08:00

I’ve been looking at photos from Dean & Trent for a while and I just assumed that it was a foreign brand. Everything about their image has an understated elegance, from their logo to their styling to their photos. This is helpful for girls shopping for their boyfriends who usually have a very different idea of what’s fashionable (or wearable) and what is not. I tend to buy my boyf clothes that are too colorful and too trendy. But Dean & Trent’s clothes tend to be on the classic side, nothing edgy and frilly. Basic colors and designs that any guy can pull off. Also a good idea for guys who want to complete their list of wardrobe staples.

The creator of the brand, Timmy Ang, who I heard was originally based in Cebu proclaims that Dean & Trent is proudly Filipino made. His mission is to help the Filipino man dress better one piece of clothing at a time. I'm happy that this one time bazaar brand is now being sold at Crossings in SM Trinoma, Shangri-la Mall, Glorieta, Backstage at Serendra (The Fort) and at Anthology in Power Plant Mall in Rockwell. Check them out here: Facebook page.

And they're having a WINDFALL SALE! From now until the end of October!