December 2017 in "Newer"

Dateline: 30 December 2017, Manila, PHL

Rizal Day and last culture hop

Going out of commission (due to sleep debt and high sugar and cholesterol food) threatened me to end the year bed ridden. Had to be reminded to take it easy. Recovered thankfully this weekend, and made good on a promise to self to really do a culture hop in honor of Filipino hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

Wasn't able to push with original plan to do National Museum, then Rizal Park, then Fort Santiago -- squeezed National Museum a day before, then just Luneta (the monument and the execution site) on Rizal Day.

Did two Youtube videos of my Rizal themed year end culture hop:

• Gallery V at the National Art Gallery of the National Museum
• Rizal Monument and the "Martyrdom of Dr. Jose Rizal" (sculptural memorial at the Bagumbayan execution site)

Dateline: 24 December 2017, Kawit, Cavite, PHL

Caviteño Christmas pageantry

Spent Christmas Eve with the family at our maternal ancestral place in Kawit, Cavite. Family decided on a very informal buffet-style noche buena as we waited for the passing of the Maytinis float parade. After the parade, we walked to the Saint Mary Magdalene parish church to witness the culminating drama of the Maytinis, and attend the Misa De Aguinaldo.

Merry Christmas to all!

Dateline: 23 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

WOFEX, woof!

Squeezing in some time for one more bazaar before Christmas Eve festivities with the family. Went to the SMX Convention Center beside SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City to catch the last day of the World Food Expo (WOFEX) Food Bazaar. Saddened, though, that despite the so many holiday shoppers, the WOFEX activity did not have much as the crowd crunch you'd expect in bazaars on their last day.

Smoothly sailed in and out then, my arms filled with biscuits I plan to contribute to the Yuletide outreach of some friends to Bataan indigenous children and families before New Year's Eve.

Dateline: 16 December 2017, Manila, PHL

Groove

(Late post.) Detail of one of the works in Waterways by Caroline Ongpin at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. More info from CCP Visual Arts' Tumblr.

Dateline: 16 December 2017, Manila, PHL

Weave in

Habi ng Pagkakaisa: Weaving the Multi-Cultural Filipino Together is the winning design for the 2017 Holiday Light Installation of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila. Designed by Rochelle Ong and Louie Suico of WTA Architecture and Design Studio. Read all about it on CCP Visual Art's Tumblr.

Dateline: 16 December 2017, Manila, PHL

Angsty adolescence

Muhon: Traces of an Adolescent City had a homecoming at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila after a run at the 2016 Vienna Biennale -- the homecoming is featured on Philippine Tatler online. The Met online also has an article that explains the concepts surrounding the exhibition -- Metro Manila as a megalopolis built upon the World War II ruins of a colonial city, and like an adolescent, struggles for its identity.

Dateline: 16 December 2017, Manila, PHL

Countdown begins

The traditional countdown to Christmas began today with the first Simbang Gabi, or dawn mass. Christmas lanterns are festooned the inside and outside of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. I don't see much of this type of deceptively simple, white lanterns anymore. Deceptive because when lit up and up close, you'd get transfixed by the intricate white and gold paper cutout patterns, some mounted delicately on thin, taut strings.

Dateline: 16 December 2017, Manila, PHL

Accent artifact

The Metropolitan Museum of Manila in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas compound, Roxas Boulevard held its Christmas Open House this weekend. Finally had time to visit "Framing the Spectacle of Space," an exhibition about architect and painter Juan Arellano, and which included Metropolitan Theater (one of Arellano's masterpieces). Several artifacts were included in the exhibit, including this light accent that was salvaged when the Theater's restoration work began.

Dateline: 15 December 2017, Makati, PHL

Traffic jam hallucination

I was between skepticism and fascination with this. Skeptical at how in many places in this humid, tropical country our Christmas decorating seem too obsessed with arctic imagery. Fascinated as I was half fantasizing this LED ensemble of a reindeer.

Maybe I was hallucinating that a "spirit animal" has come to save us from Metro Manila's yuletide traffic jam. The 15-kilometer bus ride from Quezon City to Pasay City took three hours long.

Dateline: 12 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Wheelin' weaves in color

A day before the illness-inducing World Bazaar, I also went to what could likely be the last Sikat Pinoy trade fair at the Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City. Was hoping I could finally buy those stuff I couldn't a month ago. Sadly, the vendors were not there. Still, the trade fair was ablaze with color, the sounds of Christmas tunes mixed with wholesome haggling between buyers and sellers.

Dateline: 11 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Shopping wonderland

(Warning: Despite the cheery photo, this post isn't)

World Bazaar running at the World Trade Center until the 22nd I learned from the seemingly fun pictures shared by a friend on Facebook. (I would find out later that he got his wallet stolen there.)

Going there on a Sunday was a mistake. Too many people, vendors and shoppers alike were either desperate or irritable. Didn't stay for more than two hours; relieved there were stalls of the Department of Agriculture, where I was able to buy from startups. When I got back home, I got knocked down by the flu.

Dateline: 10 December 2017, Pasay, PHL

Monochromes concluded

Last three days of the black-and-white Facebook challenge, back in the Metro, stuff displayed on different shelves at home. This includes one picture I decided not to post: a view of the plane that was to take me back to Manila from Davao City, taken from the boarding area at Francisco Bangoy International Airport.

Dateline: 07 December 2017, Manila, PHL

Seven days in monochrome

Facebook is rife with gimmickry. Only a matter of time 'til one gets hooked by one. I was on my way to Davao for a seminar when I finally got caught -- a challenge to post photos of objects, no people, in black and white for seven days. Each day you pass on the challenge to someone else.

First four posts: at Istorya ng Pasko fair, in SM Lanang Premier while waiting for check-in, reading materials while checked in at Park Inn, and the Christmasy hotel lobby.

Dateline: 02 December 2017, Makati, PHL

Decor rush

In different stores, shoppers are ransacking stalls and bins for Christmas decor. I went out to just buy one or two pieces to add to last year's. At the Landmark Department Store in Makati, I got a scrubby Christmas lantern (which I've wanted since last year but ran out of), and holly designed throw pillowcases. This Old Saint Nick wall decor caught my attention, too, but it didn't quite fit the "theme" I'm working on.

Dateline: 02 December 2017, Makati, PHL

Memories shared

At the Istorya ng Pasko Vintage and Antique Fair held at Warehouse 8 in Makati, the items displayed by collectors, restorers and upcyclers surely brought a lot of nostalgia and lively conversations. Interestingly, some vintage items displayed are actual tools that either held or transmitted memories - cameras and film rolls, telephones (rotary dials), stamps, typewriters, letterpress.