No flood here

I've always admired this house at the end of my sister-in-law's street. I like the wooden gate, the stone walls and accents, the landscaped gardens and the two story-high living room and windows. They can't be seen very well here, but it also has a magnificent chandelier and a grand curving staircase. I think it's a very lovely home.

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Moongirl, a Filipina currently living in California, has compiled all of the different ways of giving to help the victims of typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) if you're abroad. I've shamelessly copied the online routes below but she also lists cities and towns that are accepting donations for the Philippines. Read her "Donating to Manila from abroad" article to learn more. Wherever you are, I hope you can find it in your heart to help the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who have just lost their homes and everything else, and who still do not have power, water and food in their areas. And if you have already given, many, many thanks and may God bless you for your generosity.

• ABS-CBN Foundation
  
• Ateneo Alumni Northeast, Inc.
  
• Australian Red Cross
  
• Ayala Foundation – select AFI-Typhoon Relief Fund in drop down menu
• Barrio Siete – via PayPal
  
• eBay
  
• Gawad Kalinga
  
• Global Giving
  
• HOPE Worldwide
  
• PhilippineAid.com
  
• Philippine National Red Cross
  
• TXTPower – via PayPal
  
• Xoom
  
• World Food Programme
  

Appropriate light

The head office of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) is located along Roxas Boulevard in the City of Manila, right across Manila Bay and its beautiful sunsets. Their buildings (this is only one of several in the compound) are all unremarkable gray concrete blocks, but a golden sunset can make them look almost beautiful.

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Relief operations for the victims of Ondoy are going on all over the metro. I've been to two already, one for a large poor community just down our street where the waters reached at least chest-high and a much larger operation in my own university for the hard-hit cities of Marikina and Cainta, Rizal and other areas. For those abroad who wish to help, the Fil-Am website Barrio Siete has started a "Barrio Bayanihan for Ondoy Victims" and is accepting donations through PayPal which will all be turned over to the Philippine National Red Cross.

He doesn't use a phone booth anymore

About ten minutes away from our house, there is a street corner that used to be notorious for purse-snatching. The robber was on a scooter and had victimized several people, including a friend of ours. Because of this, the barangay decided to put a security outpost on the corner. I have never actually seen a security guard posted there since it was finished, but neither have I heard about new purse-snatching incidents. I think the gaudiness of the outpost was enough to turn even the thief away.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

Pierced heart

The San Agustin Church in Intramuros, built from 1586 to 1607, may have survived the ravages of time and war but the convent originally built beside it was completely destroyed during WWII. It was reconstructed in the 1970s as a church museum and is another must-see for those interested in church history and religious iconography. This is the doorway to the museum and the carved wooden arch ornament looks old enough to have been salvaged from the ruins of the original convent. The pierced heart of Jesus figures prominently in the symbol of the Augustinians. The banner for Urdaneta 500 is a holdover from 2008 when the Augustinians and the town of Ordizia, Spain celebrated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Andres de Urdaneta, the explorer, navigator and Augustinian friar who was among the first five Catholic missionaries to arrive in the Philippines with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

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Whatever your religion, faith or belief, please say a prayer for all those who lost loved ones, their homes and possessions during the terrible floods in Metro Manila and Luzon yesterday. Tropical storm "Ondoy" (international name "Ketsana") lashed the northern part of the Philippines for more than twelve hours. Ondoy's winds were relatively weak but the rainfall was staggering, resulting in extensive flooding in the metro. Many people are still stranded because the flood waters in certain areas haven't receded yet. The Philippines experiences devastating typhoons every few years or so, but no matter how often it happens, coping with the destruction and losses never gets any easier.

Across another street

A view of the front of the Quezon City Hall compound from inside the Quezon Memorial Circle. I call this 8-lane road the wild, wild west (imagine trying to cross it!) and is the reason why I love Mayor Sonny Belmonte for creating the pedestrian underpass which links city hall with the memorial park. Of course, there's no way to hide that huge eyesore of an unfinished building behind city hall. Architect Reena of Reena's Thoughts said that she heard that the developer has a pending case in court over this building because Quezon City has a law which states that no structure at a given area around the Quezon Memorial should be taller than it. I've looked at the memorial, city hall and the eyesore from afar and I think she's right. City hall's tallest building is shorter than the memorial but the unfinished building is definitely taller than the memorial. Now I want to know who in city hall gave the developer a permit to build in the first place.

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I recently found out that My Manila made it as a finalist in the Best Photo Blog nationwide category of the Philippine Blog Awards! Whether I win or not, I'm just happy to have made it that far, especially considering the fact that many of the finalists are professional photographers or serious hobbyists. For me and my itsy-bitsy camera to be counted among them is a great honor.

I hope you can visit all the finalists but if you only have time for one, then I highly recommend the blog of Dennis Villegas, my favorite among the ten (yes, including mine—if I were a judge, he'd be the winner). I don't know who he is or what he does but his photo essays are an amazing, though very gritty, look at Manila.

Across the street

Taken around noon from the roofdeck of the Loyola School of Social Sciences of Ateneo de Manila University looking east towards Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City. The clouds are just beginning to gather in preparation for the rains that we experience every afternoon. Some of the university's roads and parking areas can be glimpsed through the acacia trees. The tallest building in the photo is Xanland Place, a residential condominium. It's the same building in my Evening sunlight post back in February when summer was just beginning.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

Not quite

The Greenhills Promenade in the City of San Juan isn't quite a mall. It has too few shops to be called such. What it does have is three cinemas, a theater and lots of restaurants. Except for the bookstore (another branch of Fully Booked), it doesn't really need stores. Promenade is in the same complex as the oldest and most famous tiangge (bazaar) in Metro Manila.

Heirlooms

Adarna Food and Culture is a restaurant that specializes in Filipino historical, regional and heirloom recipes. It is located in a refurbished Spanish-style house along Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City and the interior is full of beautiful heirloom furniture and decor. It's like having dinner in a mestiza grandmother's house. The food is not as good as Crisostomo's but neither is it as expensive, and when it comes to ambience, Adarna is definitely much more wonderful.

Mangue séchées

Made mostly in the province of Cebu, dried mangoes are one of the Philippines' export products. This particular brand seems destined for France or Canada. If you ever see any in your country, grab a pack. It's a real sweet treat, even for us when it's not mango season.

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How time flies! Only one more week and it'll be CDP Theme Day again. The theme for October 1 is contrast. Don't forget to vote for the November theme too!

Keeping things cool

The Humanities cultural gala Magis was staged at the Henry Lee Irwin Theater in the Ateneo de Manila University. Named after the American Jesuit priest from Connecticut who first came to Manila in 1921, the theater sits 1,100 people. I wandered behind it during the intermission and saw the compressors of the airconditioning system that keeps the place cool. There were four of these huge structures and the noise they created was tremendous.

Find more Odd Shots—or post your own—at Katney's Kaboodle.

Spanish courtyard

Plaza San Luis in Intramuros is a small courtyard in the middle of a reproduction of a 19th century Spanish mansion. Fountains became a feature of these grand homes when running water came to Manila in 1882. During the Spanish colonial era, the entire complex would have belonged to one wealthy family with living quarters for their servants, a garage for a carriage or two and storage rooms. Today, the Plaza San Luis complex is a mix of cultural and commercial establishments. It has a small art gallery and souvenir shop, and the restaurant Barbara's, popular as a wedding reception venue for those who get married in the Manila Cathedral or San Agustin Church, is on the third floor and roofdeck. A large part of the building is occupied by Casa Manila, a colonial lifestyle museum which recreates a home of the privileged class of the era. It's a must-see for anyone interested in antiques, home design or the history of Manila.

Urban or rural, natural or man-made, take a sightseeing tour of our world's diverse scenery!

An homage to the humanities

As part of the Ateneo de Manila University's 150th anniversary celebrations, the Loyola School of Humanities staged "Magis" (Latin for "more," which summarizes the Jesuit ideal of the pursuit of excellence) on September 9. It was a three-hour cultural gala that celebrated and paid tribute to Philippine national hero Jose Rizal, the university's most eminent alumnus, and to the Ateneo's performing artists, composers, filmmakers, popular entertainers, journalists, outstanding teachers, National Artists, and recognized figures in Philippine theater, literature and visual arts. The show ended with a procession of the images of the Immaculate Conception and St. Ignatius, after which everyone, from the performers to the audience, stood up to sing "A Song for Mary," the Ateneo de Manila's alma mater song.

For my soul

After spending almost the entire week indoors at the Ateneo Art Gallery looking at some very strange artwork, let's step outdoors for a breather, shall we? Just another beautiful day looking at the boats docked at the Manila Yacht Club. This photo is from the archives. After three weeks of almost constant rain, my soul is yearning for some bright blue skies.

Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page and tour the skies of our beautiful world.

AAA 2009: Precious junk

I've already shown you all three winners of the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards in the three previous posts. Now let me show you my favorite out of the twelve short-listed artists. Michelline Syjuco's "Armadillon" was originally exhibited at the gallery of Mag:net Bonifacio High Street from August 8 to October 8, 2008 and the entire piece is currently on display at the Ateneo Art Gallery although in a more compact version. The two winged figures are made out of wood and beaten rusty scrap metal. In the display case are mannequin's hands carrying various kinds of handcrafted jewelry made not only out of precious metals and semiprecious stones, but also ordinary metals and rocks, and even hardware. Michelline caught many of my favorite things in her piece: science fiction and fantasy, earth tones, chunky jewelry, wood, stone, metal and texture—so it's little wonder why I immediately fell in love with it. I've again written the gallery's notes of the artwork below but this was one piece where I didn't need to read the notes to know that I like it.


The problem with modern art pieces like this (and those of the three winners, actually) is, I can't imagine them outside a gallery or museum. If the artist is willing to break up the parts though, I wouldn't mind having this spiky, rusty winged warrior in our living room. My dear Dogberry just might protest though. 2009 ATENEO ART AWARDS SERIES #4 OF 4



Design and merchandise are part of the language of function, and they figure prominently in this installation of hand-crafted objects. All pieces are molded or else made for the functions of the body. Or so it seems. Syjuco proceeds to subvert our ideas about functionality foremost by addressing the divide between precious and 'worthless' materials. These are exquisite pieces of jewelry rendered from gold, silver, coral and amethyst, but also common metals, stones, flawed pearls and even hardware materials. What she achieves is design informed by conversation, where the quality of each element is brought out in contrasts and combines of intricate yet hard-edged details. Even rust is employed here, its color adding depth to embossed and beaten metal plates.

Syjuco promotes "Armadillon" as her own imaginary world. It is sheer baroque extravagance recalling the grandeur of churches and church ornaments, but clearly she is most inspired by the production design of epical fantasies, drawing on themes of magic and warriorhood.

What Syjuco attempts in her ornamentation are translations of beauty and danger; avid introspections on material and spiritual flight.