After Manilart, I skipped out on family-gallery duties and had dinner with Sarieface. Which is not entirely true, because we helped a little bit with the Taking Down of Stuff. We scratched off the sticker letters stuck to the wall and staple-gunned the smaller paintings (face-to-face but not stuck together) so they’d be secure and not touching each other in transit.

We attempted to do make crossword puzzles on my arm. Obviously, this did not work out very well.

And then we spelled people’s names on the actual people, in case anyone forgets.

This is the Lamb Burger. Which no one ever told me about, prior to this day. Which makes me question the friendships I have formed. But it’s OK, I forgive you. We both got this, and I love it so much. Who knew that this—lamb, pesto, feta cheese—would make for a fantastic burger? Actually, I would have thought that, had someone told me about this, but anyway.

It’s pretty price-y compared to the other items on the menu (a little more than Php 300 if I’m not mistaken), but it’s so frakking good. Also, it is huge, so you can probably split it with someone else if you have a Tiny Food Capacity. I would eat this alone (and skip the fries, etc), though. I wouldn’t feel like I was missing out or whatever. Hello, lamb, pesto, and feta cheese! I think that spells out “winner” in most parts of the world.

It was raining so hard in the area. We had to walk back to the NBC Tent to get her car, but we kept on having to talk detours because the crosswalks were flooded.

We made it out okay, though. In case you were wondering.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I just recently discovered that I actually have some followers on Bloglovin’. I don’t really know what that is, but I think it just basically alerts people who follow me there if I have a new post. I am “claiming” this blog now, with my Bloglovin’ account. It turns out, I signed up for the service over a year ago, but I just never configured the settings.

So, if you want, you can follow me there.

However, I have also set up an RSS feed, which you can subscribe to via this link. I use Google Reader myself, but I know there’s a lot of other feed readers all over the world. I just found out I hit 200 feed readers, so thank you, whoever you guys are.

I know not a lot of people really use RSS feeds, and I made this page a long time ago to sort of explain what it does. In the simplest terms, it just makes it easy for you to know when your favorite blogs (your subscriptions!) have updated. Kind of like an LJ friends page or a Tumblr Dashboard for pretty much the entire Internet.

Anyway, thank you, whoever you are, for reading what I write. I know it’s been a confusing two years over here, but I’m still glad you’ve been with me.

About a week or so ago, I tagged along Stick’s shoot. It featured a few of the Azkals representing a sports brand, and I was told it was for school. I know very little beyond that. I went along because I thought I would be able to get in a few shots of these people in a nice studio setting. But a bunch of things happened and I got there pretty late, along with Sarie and Bia.

(These photos have no captions because I have no idea who’s who. Lessons would be most welcome!)

The shoot was wrapping up by the time we got there, and I couldn’t really get much on my camera, as I brought the 35mm. In any case, I got in a few good pictures (in my humble opinion) anyway. Not of the Azkals, but of the people who were behind-the-scenes.

It turns out that the owner of ACME Studios, Sir Ocs Alvarez, has been into photography for quite a while. We were admiring his collection of vintage cameras, when he slowly started bringing out his babies.

And then we were introduced to one with a Polaroid back attachment and all hell broke loose.

(This was the first one taken.)

(This was the last shot.)

It’s kind of funny to take photos with people you don’t really know. The polas I did manage to smuggle out of there (to scan, not to steal!) are of me and people I do actually know, though, so it’s OK!

The following photos are of me, Sarie, Bia, Stick, Chiara, and her boyfriend, Jack.

Worst at synchronized jumping.

Worst at conga-lining-up.

It was a fun afternoon. We had dinner at Pancake House after and I tried their fried chicken for the first time! This is one instance where I actually enjoyed meeting new people (including a Karina with a “K”!) and getting to know some of those I already knew a little bit better. I also had fun taking photos and looking at the cameras people used to use for photography.

Did it make me feel small? Maybe a little bit. But more than anything, it just made me want to be better at taking pictures. To really learn what it means to understand light and how to react to it. I am no photographer—I get by with loads of guesswork and intuition. I think it’s about time I learned how to be better at it, though. Not for any reason other than me wanting to be.

Anyway, what I am saying is that: it was fun. It was fun & I’d like to do something like that again.

Click for more fun photos!

A friend of mine told me that he liked it best when I blogged about my day. I used to lug my (dad’s) Nikon D70 around school and would systematically pick out the day’s highlights, resize each photo and upload all 50+ of the selecteds on Photobucket, to be uncovered by the clicking of a cleverly-worded LJ-cut.

It’s safe to assume that I don’t really do that now. I actually have way too many photos that I don’t really know what to do with. I suppose I’m just saying that I sort of miss doing that, and I sort of miss updating for no reason. Having an open space like this kind of makes me want to look for something profound or intelligent or beautiful to say, and I grow silent when I don’t have any of those things to share.

But sometimes, I forget that I have also learned how to tell stories using photographs that could very well mean nothing at all. In any case, a few photographs of the continuation of this day. I spent the night at an exhibit in Pablo Gallery with my brother.

Then we went to Mercato Centrale to meet up with Sarie and Therese. After a failed attempt at getting to taste the infamous beef belly (with steak rice!) from Rodrigo’s, I was finally able to that night. I loved it a lot. Everyone ended up getting it.

… except for Sarie, who got “cheese steak.” (IDK, that’s all she told me that it was.)

I don’t have photos but the ice cream from Merry Moo (get it?) was frakking awesome. I’ve tried Honeycomb (it had actual honeycomb bits!), Strawberry Basil, Sea Salt Caramel, and Candied Bacon (which is less tasty than it sounds), but the best flavor was Earl Gray.

Sometimes I wish I could breed bees.

This is going to be the first of many (probably) posts on ManilArt 2011. For those who don’t yet know, ManilArt is an art festival in the Philippines. It’s on its third year now, and it features about half the number of participants last year. Personally, I think that it’s a good idea to pare down the numbers. Last year’s was just too overwhelming. I was there for the entire duration, so I got to spend time with all of the art and really just look at what was up for display. Some people only get a day to look around, so it’s nice that they can this time around.

Here are some photos from opening night. I’m hoping to get better photos of the pieces I loved today and tomorrow. You can click on the photos if you want to find out who the artists are and for what gallery they were made.

Please stop by the NBC Tent if you have the time! I have a few works up, if anyone’s interested in seeing them. My brother has a painting up, too. It’s gorgeous, for the record. Lots of great art up by other artists as well.

ManilArt 2011 will run until tomorrow (Saturday), the 27th. The festival is open from 11am to 8pm. Tickets are at Php 200 each but if you’re there, and I happen to be there as well, send me a text message and I might be able to get you in.

Hope to see y’all! Thanks to everyone who dropped by already. Much appreciated by the n00b. :)

(by Nilo Ilarde.)

Roberto Chabet is one of my favorite Filipino artists. I grew up around his work, with his name ringing and clanging along so very clearly in my head. Sometimes, I forget that not everyone was brought up in the same environment as I was, so I forget that not everyone is really acquainted with artists that came after the Amorsolos of the Philippines.

2011 marks the fiftieth year of Chabet’s career as an artist, so many galleries decided to mount shows in his honor. It’s a little more than halfway through the year, and so far, I’ve seen so many wonderful exhibits that celebrate Chabet’s contribution and talent, but one of my favorites is the latest one held by Manila Contemporary. It’s a group show entitled I Miss the 20th Century.

While a lot of the pieces are strong in themselves, I think that the strength of this group show also lies on the brilliance of its curation. A lot of people throw that word around these days, but I think that, to call yourself a curator, you must know and understand how works of art communicate with the space they inhabit. It doesn’t merely concern the selection of pieces, which I think is how it is being used right now.

Chabet has been (informally?) introduced as the father of conceptual art in the Philippines. I think it’s because he really tests ideas and pushes boundaries with his work. I think that the body of work presented in this show is truly strong in this respect. It is such an odd but delightful mix of ideas and experiments by people who had been inspired by the man.

This piece by Felix Bacolor, for example, is currently an unassuming black pool. The intention of the piece is to create an environment for mold to randomly grow, recreating constellations.

Yolanda Perez-Johnson’s “Pick and Throw Up” is an interactive piece, where one is invited to pick up sticks—possibly a throw-back to the children’s game—and throw it up into the netting, turning it into an almost collaborative effort between the artist and the viewer. Gerardo Tan’s “Self-Portrait” is a projected loop of his angiogram.

Lara de los Reyes’ piece is one of the most interactive ones, where everyone is invited to “set free” the balloon heads that resemble Mr. Chabet. The balloon bodies are filled with air, while the heads are filled with helium, and cutting the string causes the heads to flow up towards the ceiling.

Juan Alcazaren’s “The Guillotine Perspective” is one of my favorite pieces. It is so beautiful, and intriguing. I just love how you can look at it and keep on finding new things to be fascinated by.

(Roberto Chabet, left)

(Yolanda Perez-Johnson, above. Bernardo Pacquing, detail.)

(Soler.)

I’m so excited to see the last remaining shows. I wish I could have gone to all of them, but I’m really glad I went to this one. Try to catch it if you can. I think you’ll know what I mean about space and objects (and their relationship with one another) when you immerse yourself in the space.

I Miss the 20th Century will run from August 20-September 11, 2011.

Manila Contemporary
Tuesday – Saturday: 11am – 7pm
Sunday: 11am – 4pm
Closed on Mondays and public holidays

Whitespace 2314, Chino Roces Avenue
Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City, Philippines
+63 2 8447328