So, I’ve been toying with the idea of selling stuff I make online. I’ve been working on some badges/buttons (like the ones I used for my thesis, but also another new ‘set’ that, in my humble opinion, is pretty exciting), since people seem to love those. But then, I’m thinking of making some prints as well.

These are A5 in size (or half of A4) and 3/4 are references of things dear to my heart.

Yes/No? What do you think? Should I make more or should I just stick to my day job? (LOLJK, I don’t have a dayjob.) Let me know what you think, please. I’d really appreciate it.

Suggestions (of what else to make—as in, shirts, tote bags, etc?) are also most welcome.

Love,
Carina

P.S. Sorry for the stupid title. I haven’t even read that play.

In which we talk about goals.

Now, there are many types of goals. I, for one, have a variety of them, falling into a variety of categories including health, organization and personal growth. But I suppose being a recent graduate, what seems pressing to me are the goals that fall under the career variety. Having graduated in March, a lot of my schoolmates are now in more-or-less stable jobs, and some are in careers that they more-or-less like.

I took a job in May, found out, quite unfortunately, that it wasn’t the path that I wanted to take… and I quit it a month after. Kind of a sucky story to tell, but it must be told. Now, to avoid similar career blunders that I foresee in my future, I’ve been trying to narrow down my “action points,” choosing to concentrate on the ones that will lead me to the things I most want to be.

Which brings us to the first step…

ONE: Outline Your Goals. The simple task of listing down major goals is a big help. Personally, I feel like something is way weightier if I commit to it, and write it down on paper, instead of having it float around in my head. For this blog post’s intents and purposes, my goals involve a) Being a Writer, b) Being a Designer (Also), c) Working Primarily From Home, d) Learning How To Paint, and e) Selling Stuff. Learning How To Paint seems a little out of place in this list, but I suppose I put it down so that it would seem more urgent. I find that writing stuff down really works better than thinking about them, no matter how well-meaning the intent is. Ink on paper is a glaring reminder, whereas fleeting thoughts are not.

TWO: Produce Attainable Steps For Each Goal. Brainstorm and write all of the tiny steps you could take that you think will eventually lead up to the attainment of your big goal. Just write down whatever you can think of, that will help you achieve said goal. For this example, I used goal a) Be a Writer, and have outlined the following steps.

The possibilities are basically endless (unless you run out of them LOLJK), so list down everything you can think of that might help. If it turns out to be a bad idea, you can cross it out anytime, anyway.

And lastly, a bonus step involving…

See which goals go together. You might be able to kill birds with one stone. All the goals are related to goal c), for example. You can be a writer, a designer, a painter and a MERCHANT (I just wanted to use the word, sorry), while working at home. You can e) sell stuff that you d) paint. And so and so forth. This way, there is a quicker progression, and you end up really getting down to business. (Or something.)

My actual list is pretty scary and ambitious and I have weird-ass diagrams and lists and things. Maybe I can post that some time, when I’ve polished it. There are just so many things that I want to do, and too little of time and too little of me to go around. And then I end up really just wanting to do nothing, but feeling bad because I know in my heart that I want to be somebody great.

Is that lame? That’s kind of lame. But, it’s true. So, here’s an attempt at putting the more important goals first, and maybe actually getting them done.

While I am a firm believer in the age-old adage, “There’s something about Sunday night that makes you want to kill yourself,”¹ this Sunday night was pretty good. First, even though I had no money, I got some books from the Powerbooks sale:

“Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life” by John Sellers (I have no idea what this is about.)
“The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet” by Reif Larsen (Mikka lent me her copy and I needed to have my own.)

“Akimbo and the Elephants” by Andrew McCall Smith
“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Díaz
I peeked inside the second book and it is… pretty much amazing. I’m excited.

We also went to Nona Garcia’s house. Pretty sure I’m not allowed to post photos of the works (for the upcoming exhibit this week; troop down over to West Gallery, y’all), so here are nondescript photos of things around her house, and exhibit-y things up-close. Oh, and of her cute (but snobby) little dog, Jacob.

Also, got this on Friday, from the Meiday gig/Hato send-off over at The Collective.

Also, today, my sister and I got a session of IPL Hair Removal done. But there are obviously no photos of that. Unless you want to see my kili-kili… in which case, I will probably not show you, anyway.

———
¹ OK, not age-old… more like, from 1994, as articulated by Angela Chase. (back to top)

Was supposed to post the winners yesterday, but I had server issues, so apologies for that!

Anyway, because my parents are amazing people, I have drawn 5 names, instead of 2! So, I’m giving away 5 pairs of tickets to the ManilArt 10. I used http://random.org to draw the names.

1. #2 Mara
2. #8 Krinessa
3. #23 Jeric Rustia
4. #25 Nante
5. #29 Tim

Because I drew Tim’s and Krinessa’s names first (so they are, technically, the original winners), they will be the only people I can probably LBC/mail the tickets to. Please send me an e-mail to yankee@nothingspaces.com. To the rest of the winners, let me know if you can pick up the tickets from West Gallery, 48 West Avenue, Quezon City. Gallery hours are 10am – 5pm, Monday to Saturday. If not, send me an e-mail so we can arrange something.

Yay, congratulations!

For other ticket concerns, please send an e-mail to jonsy@manilart.com. I’ll ask about the tickets (if they will sell onsite, etc) and make an update for everyone else interested.

… LOL not really. But this post is about a fantastic book, so the title half-counts! So, I’m sure that y’all have books that you love so frakking much, but come by so infrequently, that whenever you see them, you buy it and think of a wayward soul to give it to. A friend of mine buys Franny Billingsley’s “The Folk Keeper,” and he gave me a copy a few years ago. (It’s a gorgeous children’s book, really.)

While I do have a lot of books that I feel this way towards, I’ve only done it twice, and both times, I bought the same book. It’s not “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” because, while that is My Favorite Book In The Entire World, it’s not that hard to come by. Also, for some reason, it is expensive. But anyway. The book I am talking about is John Green’s “Looking For Alaska.”

“Looking For Alaska” kind of shot up to Internet popularity, when this particular quote invaded Tumblrverse. I was floored, and I wanted to read it immediately, but couldn’t find it anywhere. I found Green’s “An Abundance of Katherines” and “Paper Towns,” no problem, but I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for “Looking for Alaska.”¹ Finally, however, out of the kindness of his heart, Armando who is a Tumblr friend from the UK, sent me a copy of “Alaska” and okay, finally, I understood what the fuss is all about. It’s overposted, and has somewhat reached a “Perks”-esque² notoriety, but I get it.

Anyway. I gave the book away on this site, when I first found a copy here in Manila. (Still haven’t figured out what to get the runner-ups, oops.) And I found another copy of the book two weeks and sent it to Raymond. He got it earlier this week and has been reading it and is reportedly liking it so far.

Because it had a dinky, girly cover, I made a sort of book sleeve that I held back from posting until the book got to him. I’m posting pictures because I worked hard on it, damn it. Behold, my masterpiece!:

Looking like a serious craft project with a cutting board. It wasn’t. I just needed to cut stuff.

Close-up of the lettering! Kinda badly rendered, but at least it is not pink.

The back!

The quote on the back goes: “I’m not going to be one of those people who sits around talking about what they’re gonna do. I’m just going to do it.” And, you know, it’s a promise I intend to keep.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you had any books (or anything, really—albums, films, what-have-you) that you love so much, you’re willing to shell out a few bucks or spend some time to let someone know about them? Would love to hear about them, if you please.

———
¹ See what I did there? (back)
² Where haven’t you heard, “And I swear, in that moment, we were infinite”? Stephen Chbosky’s book, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” is really, honestly beautiful, so it’s kind of sad how this quote has turned into a little joke. I still love it, though. (back)

I’ve got four extra tickets to ManilArt 2010 that I’d like to give away to 2 lucky art-lovers. (2 tickets for each winner, so you can bring a date, or go on two different days, if it turns out that you have no friends.)

What is ManilArt anyway? MANILART10 is the second international art fair hosted in the Philippines, featuring the country’s leading art galleries. This is a place where art collectors and enthusiasts can view some of the finest examples of Philippine Contemporary Art today. (Here is a confirmed list of exhibitors.) There are also lectures and talks held over the duration of the art fair.

MANILART10 will be open to the public from 11 am to 8 pm, from July 30 to August 1, 2010. Admission tickets are priced at Php200 or approx. US$4.50 each. (You can buy tickets by e-mailing jonsy@manilart.com.) It will be held in SMX Convention Center.

Well, what’s so great about this? Well, my cynic-friend, the excellent thing about this is that you will be able to see some of the best works of art made by some of the best Filipino artists, curated by the some of the best galleries in the country today. That’s what’s so great about it, man-friend¹. You don’t even have to buy anything (but buying art is good for the soul—both yours and the artists’, since they get to eat and live another day); you can just go there to see all the pretty things!

SOME IMPORTANT NOTES:

• You can use the tickets on any day of the exhibit duration, but they will only be valid once.
• They are complimentary tickets and cannot be sold. (Don’t be a douche!)
• You must be in Manila at the time of the exhibit, or else we are just wasting time.
• You have a valid mailing address. Gon’ ship these tickets to you, if you win, is why.

So, just leave a comment, and I’ll use an Internet randomizer to pick the winner. Since the event is going to be in a few days, I’m going to leave this post up until the weekend (July 24th, 3pm Philippine time!) and announce the winner then.

Yay for art!

Click to visit their Facebook page, where there is a gallery of some of the featured art. Here’s a few:

Kapitbisig” by Elmer Borlongan, 60″x48″ , oil on canvas, 2010 from 1/of Gallery

“After Yves Klein” by Annie Kabigting, 48″ x 72″, Oil on Canvas, 2010, courtesy of Finale Art File

“Growing A Peach Tree” by Amy Aragon, 36″ x 60″, Oil on Canvas, 2010, courtesy of Manila Contemporary

Please comment if you have questions, etc. I’ll be glad to answer them if I can. For basic information about the event, visit their official website.

———
¹ If you get where this is from, then you are automatically cool in my book. Unless you are an asshat.

NO THOUGHTS is an alternative photography magazine dedicated to showcasing new and emerging talent from around the world.

Here’s a list of the featured photographers with links to their websites:

• Corey Smith | http://highpoweredstreetdrugs.com/
• Kelley Smith | http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelleynsmith/
• Jamen Lee | http://www.jamenlee.net/
• Jeff Luker | http://www.jeffluker.com/
• Alyssa Noches | http://www.alyssanoches.com/
• Michael J DeMeo | http://www.michaeljdemeo.com/
• Tamara Lichtenstein | http://www.tamaralichtenstein.com/
• Virgina Del Rio | http://www.flickr.com/photos/virginiadelrio/
• Ariane Geffard | http://ritavogt.free.fr/
• Cuathemoc Suarez | http://www.c-suarez.net/
• Ryan Paonessa | http://www.ryanpaonessa.com

For $5 US, you get a 36-page black & white zine filled with fantastic photography. This fee includes shipping. Hurry up, because this issue is limited to 300 copies. Here’s a bit of sneak peek:

Still not convinced? Here’s a flip-through, so you can see what you’ll get for a measly fiver:

Money goes to funding for the future issues, future issues, which judging from the contents of this one and the one I already have, should definitely happen. You can purchase the zine by going to this page. There’s a buy button somewhere in there.

on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wearenowinspace
the blog: http://www.wearenowinspace.com

Since graduating, my life has pretty much been haphazard and disorganized, no matter how much I make it appear otherwise. Recently, I’ve been thinking about ways through which I can try and “hold the reins,” so to speak. Not a lot of changes, but then I suppose most things take a few tiny first steps before incredible things are expected to happen. Anyway, here are a few of my mostly organizational steps. Over the next few days, I will try to document and report (!) the steps I have been taking towards being less of a bum. The thought is at least already there, right?

• Cyan July Moleskine Daily Planner — I got the stupid idea to use a daily rainbow planner, which has resulted in several failures at organization. (Here are the ones for January – June.) I have since found a use for them, which is planning my day. It works because I get pressured to cross off things by a certain time. Sometimes, results are disastrous, though, and I don’t cross any items off at all.
• Field Notes notebook — for when I don’t want to bring big notebooks. That’s it, really.
• Dark Blue Moleskine Blank Cahier — for sketches! I draw raw sketches here, scan them and tweak on my Mac. Sometimes I just try to sketch out ideas for layouts, etc. This mostly stays at home.
• Large Muji Lined Notebook — I have drawn on this cover! (See below.) In lame lettering. This is mostly for notes and plans… I find that I process things I read better if I take down notes. I have been using 43Folders.com as a guide, for example, and it just translates better when I take notes.

As an extra organizational procedure, I caved in and bought myself an 18-month Moleskine Weekly Planner + Notes. I know this sounds like rationalizing and justifying a probably-indulgent purchase, but I really have been more productive ever since I got this planner. I have been using this format since freshman year of college, so I suppose that has something to do with that as well:

Okay, so I’ve been meaning to make a stronger portfolio… and I’m going to do that by actual reading up on design. Not to dis anyone, but I really felt like my formal education is lacking, in terms of preparing me to take on actual design jobs. Talent and skill can only get you so far, I think. So I’m going to try to learn stuff.

Currently concentrating on absorbing information from Ellen Lupton’s “Indie Publishing,” which I actually have had for a long time. I’ve only just browsed through some sections, though. I also hijacked my brother’s copy of Timothy Samara’s “Making and Breaking the Grid.” I think this will really be useful to me. And then, there’s magazines I can flip through for inspiration… or you know, to read when my brain needs a break.

And then I cleaned my Desktop, which still features Sara Frakking Quin, because she is an amazing human being:

Click for full size, Nosy McNoseface.

This post was actually laid out much better in my head. This is all probably just useless information for you, whoever you are, reading this. You’re lucky this is a series! The next one will be more insightful, I promise.

(It really did come off as a better post in my head, though. Apologies.)

P.S. One of my goals is to make five or so posts under this series. Fingers crossed and stuff. That I actually stick to this goal, and also that the posts will be useful and, at the least, make sense.

This is a super late picture post of the last Daylight Saturday, because of life getting in the way, and the storm and the power outage. I got there pretty late, and I didn’t know a bunch of people. But here, a few meager photos of some friends, new and old. It was such a pleasure. :)

Cel.

Tim & Solo. He gave me film that day. :D

Gabby.

Pasha, sweetface.

Kris’.

Blurry, mustachioed Rob.

Laurine.

Anna.

Kris.

And because this has been both beautiful and sad, here’s a song by The National called “About Today.” This version is the one from the Cherry Tree EP

Tim’s.

More photos under the cut.

Rothko-esque window I passed by on the way there.
Is it just me?

Foooooood.

Haha just wanted this on my blog. <3

Gabby & Kris.

Pau & Clark.

Ice cream/yogurt from Ritual. They mixed these flavors with honey.

Testing the Olympus Pen EP-1 features.

Anna & friend.

Becca.

Pashaface with Carla. <3

Dinner. :)

Last Friday, we have discovered the wonder that is Friday Night Traffic. My family and I don’t really like going out, unless we absolutely need to, or if we are suffering from too much hermity behavior. Usually, these excursions don’t fall on Friday nights. So, when we went on our merry way to Makati for these shows, we had no idea what kind of traffic we were in for. But the shows and the late dinner made it worth the two-hour travel time.

Entering Warehouse 17 of the La Fuerza Compound along the Pasong Tamo Ext., which is where Finale’s base of operations is located, you are first greeted by a massive diamond suspended from the ceiling. This is the moment that you know that you are about to experience something really massive.

Not just in terms of scale, either. Nilo Ilarde’s show, Painting as Something and as the Opposite of Something, seems to be a commentary on art and how it is made. I don’t really want to put any meaning on something that might have other meanings that have nothing to do with my interpretation, or none at all. All I know is that there is a lot of thought put into his pieces. There’s a little bit of humor, wordplay, and I suppose it’s really hard to think of anything else when you’re faced with works as enormous as Ilarde’s pieces.

Mounted in Finale’s Tall Gallery are the following, among other pieces: a Hulked-up Beetle, an actual boxing ring and a wall of used up paint tubes.

I think that the question of what art is is still brought up by his show. At least, that’s what it made me ask, in the end.

(Click here for some detail of the middle painting.)

In the Upstairs Gallery is Paulo Vinluan’s Heads Will Roll, featuring works that have adopted an amalgam of very distinct styles. I haven’t been to any of Vinluan’s other shows, so I can’t really assess this show in terms of his style (i.e. how it’s progressed, how it hasn’t, etc.) but I see that his style is very uniquely his, and the overall effect of his works, to me, is that: “Yes, these parts belong where they are.”

I can’t explain it quite so articulately, but I just felt like his pieces, together and individually, worked. No idea what the message of the pieces are, unfortunately… I liked them a lot, though.

This particular stretch of works, I liked. From the left, I went, in my head: “Oh, this is really nice,” and then I moved to the one beside it, “Oh, wow, I want this in my house,” and then I moved on to the next one and went, “Oh, this is really, really nice, too.” Turns out my brother went through the same thought process. (Pictures of the individual works after the jump.)

Inside the Video Room is Jonathan Ching’s Where in the World is Botero’s Leg. According to a write-up on the Finale website, this exhibit toys with the idea of the fallibility of human memory, and how perspective touches a memory’s meaning and truth. Ching is very liberal with the use of symbolism, using a lot of seemingly random imagery to convey his message.

I admire Ching’s work because his strokes are so bold, and so heavy. It adds a feeling of depth and tension to the work, and not just aesthetically. I really feel frakking hopeless, at times, when I look at his work. The palette is a little Stygian, the strokes, bold; the imagery, dark.

I’m pretty glad I went to this exhibit (even though I missed my nightly viewing of Magkaribal). Gave my mind a lot to chew on.

More photos under the cut.

Nilo Ilarde

Wall of paint tubes!

My face!

Car detail.

This was written next to the car.
I suppose it’s the title. (I giggled.)

This hole was cut into one of the walls. It “leads” into the stockroom. See?

Top View!

Paulo Vinluan

Jonathan Ching

fin.