my wishlist 2011

1. doc martens monkey boots. dr martens is opening its first flagship store in the country soon in fort bonifacio.

2. High Sierra 55 litre backpack. im planning to do longer backpacking trips next year and theres no way my daypack can accommodate weeks worth of stuff. availabe here: amazon

3. value time. armitron digital watch sa halagang 22 dollars only (tax and shipping not included). available here: amazon

4. No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War by onoda hiroo. you know how much i love reading world war 2 stories. i have to read this while onoda is stil alive! hehe


5. ricky lee's second novel "Si Amapola sa 65 na Kabanata". ricky lee wrote the screenplay for Aishite Imasu 1941 (pink world war 2 movie!!) and the iconic Himala, these are two of my favorite local films. at dahil jan, i want to buy this novel. photo by http://www.panitikan.com.ph

6. my rickety japan made bike has to retire. i need a new handsome mountain bike as a replacement. i usually go biking on weekends when im at home in the province.

7. im drooling over this simple shirt by canadian clothing label Complexgeometries. ive been a fan of their avantgarde-ish but very wearable designs. available here: http://complexgeometries.net


8. huge headphone. AIAIAI TMA-1 DJ Headphones.. so mahalia jackson! available here: amazon

9. RuPaul's Drag Race: Seasons 2 & 3. yes! i love drag queens! LOL! what they do is like a living art form. available on amazon.

10. and lastly

i want to start all over again by going back to school.
im wishing to receive a scholarship or grant to pursue a design course in a prestigious art school. prestigious jud? hehe theres no way i could afford.. ambitious noh?

any design school in scandinavia
RMIT University - Furniture Design and Technology
Pratt Institute


sponsors .. benefactors!? helloo!!!

fashion: yohji yamamoto

yohji yamamoto spring/summer 2012 menswear. LIKE!!!

this is my favorite look! i can pull off this outfit minus the hat.

the model reminds me of van gogh. google his self portrait.

i want to wear something like this to office. rain or shine minus the cap.

photos by: http://sewmanstore.com

art, history: tash aw, raden saleh, modern art

Capture of Prince Diponegoro (1857) - Raden Saleh

"Executed with great assurance and in a style that is unmistakenably Western, it is easy to see this painting as yet another scene from the annals of European history: the conquer of a foreign land, the easy subjugation of the natives by the sophisticated, upright officers of a Western power. But look again. There is something unusual about these Westerners. Are their heads too big for their bodies? Almost certainly, they are. And now that you've noticed these, don't they look gawky and ill at ease? This isn't due to lack of painterly craft, because the Javenese people are beautifully rendered, full of humanity, grace and pride. They do not confront the beholder as the big-headed Dutch characters do, but form part of the landscape; they are dressed not in rags but in sarongs and head-dresses of batik. They may be deafeated in this battle, but it is they, not the Dutch, who remain human."

- Tash Aw

and i painstakingly copied this excerpt from the novel The Map of the Invisible World by tash Aw. he said it best!

its so clever and genius how raden saleh expressed his sentiments without being so obvious about it. if u only look on the surface level, u only see the aesthetics. if u dig deeper beyond the colors and strokes, u see the soul of the art.

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im not a fan of classical paintings but dont u jus love art that makes so much sense rather than giving u so much room for deciphering what its all about? sometimes we think thers nothing to decipher coz it looks something we could also do when we feel bored. and then we wuld simply say to hell with meaning if we dont get it. many young artists today seem to be fooling us with their works of rehashed rubbish turned into so called 'modern-avant-garde--installation abstract performance watever art... i loove modern art but im not sold to most of it. some are really good but the rest are jus plain rubbish. but then again, who am i to question when beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

beauty breeds appreciation. a good purpose gains respect. but sometimes there is no purpose. if there is a purpose, it is oftentimes hard to understand. but not all art is suppose to be understandable.
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ive come across the name Raden Saleh a few times everytime south east asian masterpieces are on sale at auction houses like christies. his works are among the highly valued. i think raden saleh is like the indonesia's equivalent of our juan luna.

more Tash Aw on my next post.

music: yoshihiro akiyama, con te partiro, andrea bocelli

i dont watch UFC coz its too brutal for me but i hav to give this fighter a thumbs up for choosing this beautiful song for his entrance.

yoshihiro akiyama got fine taste in music! beat that manny pakyaw!

con te partiro - andrea bocelli and sarah brightman

With you I'll depart to countries I never saw and shared with you,
Now, yes, I will (live)experience them
With you I'll depart on ships across seas that I know that
No, they no longer exist, with you I will (live) experience them.

geography, history: battle of morotai, ternate, maluku island

my fascination with this eastern group of islands in the indonesian archipelago begun in elementary when we wer taught that magellan sailed westward to find an easier route going to the Celebes - Moloccus (or Spice Islands, now known as Maluku Is.). i would then consult the map to locate wer these islands are and my imagination would run free.. theres jus somethng about remote places that i find so fascinating.

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i stumbled upon this info about the Battle of Morotai that took place in the northern part of the Maluku Island.

"The Battle of Morotai, part of the Pacific War, began on September 15, 1944 and continued until the war ended in August 1945. The fighting began when United States and Australian forces landed on the south-west corner of Morotai, a small island in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), which the Allies needed as a base to support the liberation of the Philippines later that year. "

heres a trivia about the city of Ternate

".. The Spanish presence lasted until 1663, when the settlers and military were moved back to the Philippines. Part of the Ternatean population chose to leave with the Spanish, settling near Manila in what later became Ternate, Cavite."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maluku_Islands

i dont know about u but i find those info very interesting!

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there are fragments of history that seem to be forgotten by time. the farther it seems to fade into oblivion, the more i want to know. do people nowadays realy care about history? why bother knowing about this battle that took place in a remote island? would it matter knowing about it or not?

last week while watching Poland being featured in Globe Trekker, the travel show visited the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp wer a great number of Jews were executed during the war. a tourguide in the auswitz said something to a group of tourists about the atrocities committed by the Nazis, wat he said struck me.. it goes like this "to forget is to repeat. not to know is to condone.."

faith: missionary, jesuit, tibet, st francis, crab

continuation...

the letter written by Cavacella to the Bishop of Goa mentioned a missionary based in Tsingrapo (western tibet). curiosity led me in knowing this missionary named Father Antonio de Andrade, the 'the first European to cross the Himalayas and reach Tibet'.

on the other hand, another jesuit missionary Bento de Goes took a different route before reaching the much fabled Cathy.

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1602 - Bento de Góis : Agra - Lahore - Peshawar - Kabul - Pamir Mountains - Yarkand - China (Gansu Province)...

1624 - António de Andrade and brother Manoel Marques : Agra - Delhi - Tibet via the himalayas - Tsarapang (Western Tibet)

1626 - Father Cacella and Father João Cabra: - Cochin (Kochi) - Bengal - Bhutan - Shigatse (Tibet)

if u you want to know more about these missions, you have to read Cornelius Wessels' Early Jesuit travellers in Central Asia, 1603-1721. the book is available online!

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honestly, im not so interested about the evangelical aspect of these missions. its the adventure of exploring unknown lands that captured my imagination.

ive read an account on early spanish missionaries reaching the far corners of the cordillera mountains. these missionaries intruded into the native's way of life. they tried to eradicate their "pagan" (or is it "animistic"?) beliefs by burning their "bulols" and banning their ancient rituals. they even forced the natives to leave their mountain settlements for the lowlands. some of these missions succeded, others failed.

in Cavacellas letter, he even referred to those non christan religious objects as the "devil".

its dissapointing to know that these things happend, that there were servants of God who employed damaging and offensive methods in order to preach a faith that is all about being good. the use of force and the denouncement of indigenous practices is an act of sacrilege and disrespect, insensitive to culture and to the feelings of others. its a classic example of the West displaying its superiority complex. im catholic. theres nothing wrong with preaching as long as it doesnt offend people in the process.

im torn on this issue because without force and violence, me and million others would not probably become Christians. but of course, it would have been more acceptable if the seeds of faith were planted without any coercion.

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sad to know that some of the memorable missionary stories ive read are those that ended in a tragic way.

perhaps u are familiar with the logic game "the missionary and the cannibal problem". i think this game has a historical basis.

Island holds reconciliation over cannibalism

John Paton - Missionary among the Cannibals of South Pacific. ( was he Anglican?)

Both missionaries were killed and eaten by cannibals on the island of Erromanga on November 20 of that year, only minutes after going ashore.

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The Miracle of Saint Francis Xavier and the Crab
Francesco Solimena

st francis xavier died on a shipwreck.

in one of st francis' journey to malacca, st francis prayed to God wen their ship was caught by a fierce storm. legend has it that he tossed his Cross into the sea and miraculously the waters calmed. when he reached the shores safely, he found a crab with its pincer holding his cross.

i come from a town known for its crabs. theres a variety of crab with a distinct cross shape mark on its shell. people believed its the cross of st francis imprinted on the shell so they call this variety "francisco".

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i hav an uncle who is a priest. he used to be assigned as a missionary in a remote mountain area in southern mindanao dealing with indigenous peoples.

image source: http://dalihouse.blogsome.com/

travel, film: india, the darjeeling limited

sad to say that india is often associated with oppressive poverty, but u see none of this in the movie 'the darjeeling limited'. it depicts the india that i want to see: colorful, spritual, beautiful.

the culture buff in me wants to visit this country someday. its a must! i want to explore the entire country from the southern state of kerala, all the way north in the foothills of the himalayas.. to Ladakh in the west and going east to the state of Assam. ive always wanted to see those ancient temples and palaces adorned with intricate embellishments. i'l stay in a real palace turned hotel in rajasthan, or if get lucky, maybe i'll be granted an audience with the Maharajah of jaipur. and crazy as it may sound, my india experience wont be complete without riding on the insanely crowded trains of mumbai during rush hour! yeah! but of all the things to do in india, on top of my list is a visit the holy city of Varanasi. i want to witness thousands of hindu pilgrims doing their rituals along the banks of Mother Ganges.. wat else, uhm maybe learn the basics of sitar.. and of course, watch a bharatanatyam dance!

someday someday, i'll hav my passage to india!

music: baleleng, southern

Baleleng. im familiar with this song coz an unmarried drunkard who lives near our house would often sing this everytime he is intoxicated. oh the way he slur the words! his voice echoes so heartfelt while indifferent that he is actually murdering the song. i wanted to shut him up but makatawa nalang ko..

"Sitangkai ba Leleng pa Sibutu"

ayyyy! how romantic lang!
i love the geographical references of the southern seas! for those unfamiliar, sitangkai and sibuto are adjacent islands in the sulu archipelago. i know someone who is named Baleleng. strictly speaking, her parents got it wrong in choosing the name coz the song actually refers to a girl named "Leleng" and not "Baleleng". the word "ba" in tausug means..uhmmm i forgot! hehhe!

who brought this Tausug song to the rest of mindanao and the visayas? maybe the nomadic badjaos who are scattered almost everywher?

i wouldnt mind if a lover would sing this to me. the melody is so sweet and soothing like gentle waves reaching the shores in a windless night. makes u want to fall in love.

look wat i found on youtube!


mahal ko na this foreigner guy! i'l give him 10/10 for effort! hhehe!

music, history: dayang dayang, sulu princess, pakiring

‘Dayang Dayang’ is a popular dance song in a language that is unfamiliar to many. i dont know wer u from but u jus cant miss this song specially if you grew up in the province. i remember this was like a staple song in every 'disco' events in provincial places. do they still play this?

i first thought that Dayang-Dayang is a Bahasa song popularized to the rest of the philippines by filipinos living in the sabah-sulu region. i assumed that it is wat they call in indonesia as ‘Dangdut’ music.. i was wrong! jus recently, a friend and i wer debating about its origin. me thinks it came from malaysia or indonesia, he on the other hand says its a badjao song. so we consulted the internet and discovered more than jus its origin! this song is very steep in history.

take a look of this video

Dayang Dayang Hadji Piandao Kiram (1884)
some interesting facts about Dayang Dayang

Hadji Dayang Dayang Piandao is the first lady of Sulu. The title Dayang Dayang, by which she is popularly known, means "princess of the first degree", a title given only to the daughters of the Sultan.

...Five women slaves were needed to give her a bath, one takes care of the soap, another of the towels, a third cleans her hands, a fourth her feet, etc. Five sleep by her side as special maids.

Before the abolishment of slavery the Sultan used to keep as many concubines as he cared for, usually twenty or thirty at a time who are calculated to have numbered at least 500 in all, and all of these were Dayang Dayang's slaves.

Intelligent as she is, and she proved to be an excellent executive and administrator. By common consent, Dayang Dayang is the most progressive of the Mohammedan women. She believes in the friendship and ultimate assimilation of Muslims and Christians, and is exerting all her influence and efforts to bring about better relations between them.

read the rest here: http://suluprincess.blogspot.com/

a royal background! amazing!
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A modern variant of this dance (Pangalay) popular among the peoples of Mindanao, Sulu and Sabah is called Pakiring, and emphasizes movement of the hips (kiring-kiring) more than the traditional dance. It is performed to electro versions of traditional songs and is fast overtaking the traditional Pangalay in popularity at weddings.

source: wiki

Dayang-dayang is not my type of song but upon learning its story, im starting to appreciate it.

books, south east asian novels

i consider myself 'asian centric' wen it comes to my choice of books. i dont know why im not so keen on reading stories that didnt happen in asia.

my growing collection of books set in south east asia.
the tesseract - alex garland (philippines)
the beach - alex garland (thailand)
bangkok tattoo - john burdett (thailand)
map of the invisible world - tash aw (indonesia)
the harmony silk factory - tash aw (malaysia)
the gift of rain - tan twan eng (malaysia) currently reading
incident at badamya - dorothy gilman (burma-myanmar)
saving fish from drowning - amy tan (myanmar)

its hard to find my type of books in local bookstores. either i buy them on ebay or find it by luck in secondhand bookshops. so if u find an asian novel at booksale, pls text me i might buy it, specially vietnamese as long as its not some vietnam war memoir.

to buy:

brownout on breadfruit boulevard by timothy mo (philippines!)
renegade or Halo 2 by timothy mo (philippienes, main character from cebu)
the Sonchai Jitpleecheep Series by john burdett (thailand, nepal)
the temple of dawn by yukio mishima (thailand) the third novel in the Sea of Fertility tetralogy. i have read the first two.
No Surrender - My Thirty-Year War by lt. onoda hiroo (philippines) THIS IS A MUST HAVE!!!!! but its so expensive on ebay!
....

i havnt read oriental themed classics by joseph conrad and somerset maugham.

philosophy: james huneker, nihil 3

Life is like an onion: you peel off layer after layer
and then you find there is nothing in it.

- James Huneker

emptiness 1
emptiness 2