Octopus arms

"There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves."

~Jose Rizal (1861–1896), Philippine national hero

A couple of friends and I spent Philippine Independence Day, June 12, at the Ayala Museum. We got to silkscreen our own t-shirts courtesy of Team Manila, which brought its ScreenMachine for the event. In keeping with the occasion, the design they chose was a stylized Philippine flag with the year that the country declared its independence from Spain, 1898. The shirt in the foreground is still missing the red part, which is the pattern on the silkscreen frame on the right. Notice that the ScreenMachine just holds the tees and silkscreen frames—the printing still has to be done manually. In a country with a 7% unemployment rate and an 18% underemployment rate, I completely approve of Team Manila's production choice.

After silence

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."

~ Aldous Huxley, Music at Night and Other Essays

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) performed last night in a charity concert at the Jaime C. Velasquez Park in Salcedo Village, Makati City for the continuing rehabilitation of towns devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, which is locally called Typhoon Yolanda.

Audacious

What do you get when you put a ballet company, three choreographers, and eleven rock bands together? The most daring ballet performance Manila has seen in years!

Ballet Philippines got together with Rock Ed Philippines to put together [rock] Supremo as part of the year-long celebration of the birth anniversary of Andres Bonifacio, the father of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. Last Saturday, my husband and I watched the single show where the bands performed live. I loved it! I couldn't take photos of the actual performance, of course, and these were taken after the ballet ended. I have to apologize for their quality—the Cultural Center of the Philippines does not allow cameras inside the entire building so I had to use my phone.
  The ballet was episodic, with one song from each of the eleven bands for each episode. The last song was by Radioactive Sago Project, one of the most popular bands in the country right now, and which refuses to be boxed into a single musical genre.
  After the standing ovation, the audience couldn't let them go, and they gamely played a few more songs. And that's when things went a little riotous on stage. (Yes, that's one of the crew taking photos on the stage.)
  And the dancers of Ballet Philippines! Oh my goodness, after a two-hour performance, they still had the energy to have a pop dance showdown. (And yes, even the dancers were taking photos of each other and of the audience.)
  All I can say is, if you're going to have a dance showdown with professional dancers, you better be one yourself.

Bravo, Ballet Philippines! Bravo, Rock Ed Philippines!

But of course!

Because of the presence of the President of the Philippines during the Ignatian Festival (see yesterday's post), all participants (and the working staff too, for that matter) had to go through bag and body checks by the Presidential Security Group (PSG). There was even a special check for cameras. I just had to prove that my camera really is a camera—by taking a photo of something.
 
So I took a photo of the PSG guy checking cameras. The poor man lightly protested, saying it might end up being posted somewhere. Guess what my reply was.

Man in blue

My husband and I attended the Ateneo de Manila University's Ignatian Festival last Saturday, which was keynoted by the president of the Philippines, Benigno S. Aquino III, an alumnus of the university.
 The only other person on the stage during the opening talks was the university president, Fr. Jose Ramon T. Villarin SJ. It is widely known that President Aquino is not a morning person, so I guess it shouldn't have irritated us that he was 40 minutes late.

Go skateboarding!

When I left the Philippine Wedding Summit (see the two previous posts), I heard a funny noise to the side of the World Trade Center so I walked over to investigate and saw a whole bunch of boys and young men skateboarding on the corridor. I asked a man wearing a shirt that declared he was a bouncer what it was all about. Apparently, June 21 is Go Skateboarding Day. Skateboarding isn't very safe on Manila's streets, though, so Vans sponsored a skateboarding event on June 22 instead. The event was held in the white building to the left and the guys out here were just practicing.

As an aside, why does skateboarding seem to attract more males than females? I don't think I saw a single female in this group.

Garden weddings

Aside from the miniature Eiffel Tower at the 2013 Philippine Wedding Summit (see yesterday's post), the lobby also had sample table setups for wedding receptions.
  
I believe that they were also designed by Pido Villanueva as part of the Parisian ambiance he created for the lobby.
  
I wish I could have taken photos inside the exhibition hall (the wedding gowns were all so beautiful!), but it wasn't allowed.

Petite Tour Eiffel

Visitors to the 2013 Philippine Wedding Summit at the (unfortunately-named) World Trade Center in Pasay City over the weekend were greeted at the lobby by this miniature Eiffel Tower created by ambiance stylist Pido Villanueva. If you can't go to Paris for your wedding, you can bring Paris to your wedding instead.

New home

A young friend of ours got married last Saturday. At the reception, instead of the newly-married couple walking to each table for photos with their guests, the guests were called up to this cute stage where the couple was seated on the lovely, rustic wooden bench.

Drumming up support

I heard drums and a lot of noise out in our street yesterday afternoon, so I grabbed my camera and ran outside to take photos of whatever it was. Turns out, it was a group of candidates for district councilor and their supporters making the rounds of the barangays.
 
There were even utility vehicles equipped with speakers blaring out the campaign songs of the candidates.
 
The candidates themselves were walking along with their people, and I ended up being introduced to and having to shake the hands of three of them. The worst part was, I had to let go of my camera to do so, so these were the clearest shots I got of the sortie and I wasn't able to take photos of the candidates (who all looked exhausted after walking around all afternoon in our summer heat—one lady told me ours was their fifth barangay).

The Philippines will have its midterm general elections—national and local—on May 13.

Fans

This was the scene at Trinoma mall's Activity Center last Saturday, where the young stars of the Tagalog romantic-comedy "It Takes a Man and a Woman" were having a show to promote the movie. The rail on the second level—where I took this photo—was three people deep. I'm sure the two higher levels were too. The movie opens in theaters nationwide on March 30.

Partaaay!

Makati City has been hosting a New Year Countdown street party for quite a few years now, but it was the first time that my husband and I managed to go.
  A stage was set up at the intersection of Ayala and Makati Avenues—two of the major roads of the central business district—for a street dance competition and lots of bands. The tents at the sides of Ayala Avenue housed food stalls, and for the duration of the party (which started at 7:00pm though we only went at 10:30pm), drinking liquor was allowed on the streets.
  There were lots of projection screens for people who were far away from the stage, whether by choice (like us) or because they could no longer get to the front because of the crowds.
  At five minutes to midnight, Makati's mayor, Jejomar Erwin "Junjun" Binay Jr., and his family and political allies, were called onto the stage. Present was Junjun's father, Jejomar Binay, the current Vice President of the Philippines and the former mayor of Makati. VP Binay is reputedly going to run as president in 2016. About the only thing that ruined the night for us was the emcee introducing him as "the next president of the Philippines." A little too premature there.
  The city even had its own 2013 ball, but I don't think it dropped from anywhere—it was just hanging on the stage. Unless I missed the drop because I was looking at the fireworks.

And more lights!

The spectacular finale of the fireworks show in Makati City after the new year countdown.
 

May this year be as wonderful for you and everyone you love. 

Happy New Year!

A symphony in blue

The Ateneo de Manila University officially opened its celebrations and events for the Advent and Christmas season last night, and we were treated to a lovely performance by the Blue Symphony at the Sacred Heart Plaza of the Church of the Gesù.

The student symphony orchestra is the youngest performing arts organization in the university, and they still need a lot of support from the community. None of the students are music majors (since the Ateneo does not have a music program) and there are too many instruments that are not represented; the organization does not have production or marketing teams yet; they are trained by a conductor gratis; and the kids need a formation program set up to help them deal with the challenges of combining their love of music with the demands of their academics, not to mention the emotional drama that is inevitable in any group of artists. Despite all these, however, the young and youthful orchestra has garnered much praise from those who have heard them perform, and I really hope that the university and its benefactors can give Blue Symphony the assistance that it needs to become a full orchestra that everyone can be proud of.

Listen

Amanda Burrell, current Director of the British Council Philippines, reading poems by George Gordon (Lord Byron) at the Ateneo de Manila University's "Literature and Music" event in celebration of Philippine–British Friendship Week. The event was organized by the British Alumni Association with the collaboration of the British Council and the School of Humanities. The music was provided by the Blue Symphony, the university's student symphony orchestra.

Sink me

The Landmark Department Store at Trinoma mall has an unusual summer promotion. Spend a certain amount and you get a chance to try to sink balls in an indoor putting green and a billiard table. In the middle of the store while other shoppers watch you. I dunno…

Eye candy

Jan Leeroy New, the same artist who draped the Rizal Library Special Collections Building with the creepy, red "Balete," also had an exhibit at the 2012 Art In The Park (see yesterday's post). Aside from his booth, he had two girls walking around the park in his fluorescent plastic "Wearable Art." I can't quite decide whether they look more like flowers or underwater creatures. And no, they aren't for sale.

Bright welcome

A one day art fair open until midnight with food and drinks and live music in an al fresco setting—that's what Art In The Park is. The artists who participate in the fair are given one rule: all the pieces have to cost less than Php30,000 (about US$700). The Museum Foundation of the Philippines organizes this annual event to encourage people who do not normally visit galleries or invest in art to do so. And the artists and artist groups, whether well-known, up-and-coming or students, are given the opportunity to introduce themselves to other galleries and to a wider market. Visitors to this year's fair were greeted by Bacolod-based artist Charlie Co's colorful, cosplaying vaudeville trio (strictly my interpretation, okay).

After the party

Ateneo de Manila University's school color is blue and the Class of 1986 graduated right after the People Power Revolution, hence the name of this year's grand alumni homecoming: RE BLUE TION.

Black on silver

At the party celebrating the silver anniversary of Ateneo de Manila College Class of 1986, professional photographer David Fabros—a member of the class—took portraits of lucky early blackbirds gratis.