Choose Philippines

I was lucky enough to come home twice this year. On my most recent trip I decided to take a chance to fly with a low-cost Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific where I paid half of the usual fare of the other alternative for a direct flight.  I'm used to travelling on a budget so I don't mind the fuzz free deal, and the lack of leg room is not a much of a problem for petite girls like me. 

I had a great book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) to keep me entertained, and when I wasn't reading I was sleeping. Over all it was a smooth ride, but what struck me the most was the flight back to Dubai. I was seated near the cockpit, and I thought I saw a glimpse of a woman on the control boards, and when the Flight announcement came on I got the confirmation, a woman's voice came on. The captain was Filipina, her name was Mayra Florencio and here I was reading about the abused women in Afghanistan. At that moment I just felt so grateful and blessed to have grown up in a country where Filipinas can choose to be a Pilot if she can and wanted to.

Elated, I shared the story with pinoy friends, a lot of them are surprised, many of them are dubious about taking a Philippine carrier and surprisingly having a woman pilot. I can't blame them. Years of sub-par standards have plagued the Philippines, and no one I know has really flown with a female pilot, filipino or  otherwise, but as they say – “if you never try then you will never know.”  The irony is despite our so-called "Pinoy Pride" A lot of us who have left the country are stuck in this belief system of a hopeless Philippines. 

Going around Manila in 2014 I saw usual problems of traffic jams and poverty but there was also a lot of construction going on, mostly prime condominiums, shopping mall extensions, a lot of new restaurants, and a lot more foreign expats working in the city. Things looked positive. Above all, I flew to Dubai on a low-cost Philippine carrier with a Filipina pilot. I think that alone is PROGRESS.


Dubai may have their high-rise buildings and everything money can buy, but I still think the Filipinos, our people, are leagues ahead, If only we learn to give ourselves credit, if only we can be free of this old "colonial" mentality that everything else from “abroad” is better.

The real revolution begins in the mind, we should break free of the old chains and believe that the Philippines can soar to greatness if we wanted to.

Let’s choose Philippines. Happy Independence Day!

Brownmonkeys leads a Street Art Renaissance in Deira

Despite the seeming contradiction of street art and the strict anti-vandalism laws in the UAE, the urban art movement is slowly creeping its way into the heart of Dubai, lending a voice to a new generation of settlers and creating a counter-culture bent on exposing the soul of the city. 

At the forefront of this creative revolution is a group of Pinoy artists collectively known as the
Brownmonkeys, who were commissioned for Street Connection, a 10-day Art festival held  recently at the Al Ghurair Center aimed at reviving the city’s pioneering roots.

Ground zero to Dubai’s very first metropolitan center, Deira continues to be among the handful of old neighborhoods in the city that offers a real sense of urban community drawing in a diverse mix of nationalities, including a significant Filipino population. 

Busy, vibrant and pedestrian friendly, very few areas in Dubai can rival the authentic street cred of Deira such that various art installations, creative displays, live exhibits, graffiti, music, and street performances fell right at home in its inner city streets.

Visual artist Mark Ganzon shares his thoughts on the current popularity of Street art and takes their group’s involvement at the recent Street Con as a sign of good things to come.

“I feel that it (Street Art) is getting slowly accepted by the city which is good. At the moment the art scene in Dubai is a bit locked down in sterile environments of galleries. Street art is for the people.  It's for the average person walking down the street, for them to find something interesting other than just advertising billboards that they can relate to.

Rollan Rodriguez, founding member of the Brownmonkeys and curator of Street Con says they chose the venue in Deira because most people don’t realise “how rich Deira is in terms of culture and diversity – it’s a perfect incubator for art”. Describing it as the “original urban community”, Rodriguez also noted that the Street Con aimed to expose urban art to the wider public.

“Urban art is created by artists living, depicting or experiencing city life,” he explained. “This may be the illustration on your T-shirt, the design of your sneaker or the shape of your toys. The artist’s responsibility is to amplify these visual cues and reinterpret them.”

Indeed, the community in Deira has been very receptive, with the Street con gallery conveniently hosted just beside the grocery and the right across the mall. It served as a great platform for the artist to communicate their ideas and engage audiences of all ages and from different background. 

Locals, tourists, laborers, regular office workers, passersby, were treated to a burst of creative energy. Everyone was welcome to take part in the graffiti, toy decorating, sticker-making and even the live performances.

Filipina artist Victoria Viray-Ganzon describes the experience as enthusiastic.

“I loved the whole vibe, how it was very down to earth and very approachable. Unlike the typical gallery scenes, there were no high-brow art critics to ruin it for everybody else. You don’t need any knowledge of art history or to be an art buff to be able to participate and enjoy. It’s a fun activity and for us artists, it was a really good way to give back to the community.”

Victoria who is known for painting strong female characters was invited to work on a mural that would be the only permanent fixture in the Street Con exhibition. Her work showed off a stunning tribal goddess in a huge space, 6 x 4 meters, the largest piece she has have ever worked on in her career so far.

“I prefer to portray strong female characters in various states of emotion. The centerpiece lady in my mural is one of those characters. I imagine her as a goddess of sorts, watching over Deira.” 

Pinoy revelers were happy to see her working on her wall, with some referring to her as “Chichay”, a character from a famous teleserye. Victoria takes no offense though, as this can only mean that our kabayans are connecting with art based on their daily life, whether they were art enthusiasts or not.

 

Expressive and passionate, Filipinos are natural trendsetters who somehow tend to bring in the cool and happy vibe wherever we go. The Brownmonkeys bringing their urban art explosion to an old community is one example of how our creative pursuits always lead to a role as agents for social change, or simply to connect, to bring fun and color to the otherwise mundane world of the daily grind.

Here’s hoping to see more of our Brown and Proud art all over the city!


All Photos stolen with permission from Joseph Manata. xoxo 

Sandstorm Troopers

It's official, the Geekdom has expanded its empire in the Desert city. As the 3rd year of Middle East Film and Comic Con concludes this month at the Dubai World Trade Center, kids of all ages, shapes and characters came to celebrate what is turning out to be the biggest pop culture festival this side of the world.

I love seeing the Arab geek crowd, they're awesome.  

Like most things in Dubai, it didn't take the organizers much time to step up their game, the Comic Con grew from this mid-size-day-in-the-marina event mostly showcasing homegrown stuff, to this proper huge convention with international players bringing in the big guns, and by big guns, I mean the full set of official Iron Man costumes in a gallery that greeted us at the entrance.

With the international panel led by Hollywood boy wonder Seth Green, who I know from Buffy, the Vampire slayer days, (yes I’m that 90s-kid), it will be no surprise if next year’s con will bring in more A-list geekiness.

Stark enterprises has opened a branch in Dubai. 

Sandstorm troopers! 

Of course, no Comic Con in any galaxy will ever be complete without a trace of the legendary Star wars.  Stormtroopers were everywhere this year, turning into sandstorm-troopers, and the rest of crew like good ol’ Darth Vader and Yoda found themselves right at home in traditional ghutras and kanduras, that you would think maybe George Lucas spent some lost years of his adolescent in the Middle East.

Arabization of Star Wars in full swing. 

I can go on and on about all the cool things about the comic con, but what I find interesting in the Middle East Film and Comic Con is how they seem to have adopted a western concept and neatly folded it into their own unique identity so seamlessly (and so quickly) that even though it might not be in the same league (yet) as the original San Diego convention, it will always be a unique affair, and somehow we are all lucky to have it right next door.

Gundam as Dubai Police by Brownmonkey's Dogboy.
Coolest toy at MEFCC 2014.  

Master Yoda by Filipino artist Lewis De Mesa.
He was actually one of the first few who came up with
Arab Star Wars prints back in MEFCC 2011.

So as I contemplate on wearing a costume for next year, (the way I always do every year but never really get on it), I also realize the greatest part of this whole thing for me, and perhaps all the other kids-at-heart  out there, is the opportunity to forget about being an adult for a while, put on my favorite sneakers and play outside with the strange kids from the neighborhood.

Hello old friend. Till we meet again!

Till next year MEFCC! May the force be with you.

Food for Aliens

Nowadays it is very easy to learn anything that there's really no excuse for anybody not to learn something new everyday except extreme laziness. In fact, all you need to do is go online, ask Google for a step-by-step video demonstration on Youtube and voila, you can be an expert at anything.

Three minutes. That's how long it took to learn how to make Sushi. It's so brilliantly simple that the whole process just felt so beautifully zen, so wonderfully Japanese.

Sushi 101. Sticky japanese rice+salmon+carrot+cucumber. 

When I think about Japan and the Japanese, I always have this idea of them as kind of an alien race. How they always seemed so mentally advanced, coming up with out-of-this-world ideas like Ultraman or Tamagochi, Casio watches, Sadako, Hello Kitty, Hentai, Harakiri, Harajuku, Dragon Ball Z, Yoko Ono, the list of perverted pleasures go on.

Yoko Ono at her performance art, "Cut piece." 1965. 

Even their flag is so strikingly strange and elegant that only they could possibly think of putting a bloody red circle smack in the middle of a white cloth and pull it off as their national identity. Of course it might also trigger a vision of fresh white panties and the first blood stain of a 14-year old Lolita, but isn't that kind of the point?

What does this remind you of? 

Anyway going back to Sushi, I start to think of the Japanese and how far ahead they seem to be from the rest of us. I mean just think about it, you're one of the first few people in the world, and you're sitting alone trying to figure out what to do with fish, seaweed and boiled rice. Would you really think of rolling your food and cutting it into pretty little round pieces?

It sounds so easy but would you really think about doing it? I bet, being the sensible (and lazy) human being that you are, you will do the right thing and try to stuff them all in your mouth with your hands.

Fat sushi vs. slim sushi. 

As I stare at my sushi, I think to myself that THIS is where the genius of the world lies. THIS is what separates the artist from ordinary everyday people. The discipline and the ability to create sushi, to find something neat and meaningful in a world of chaos and mediocrity. Maybe sushi is the answer to life's biggest question and the Japanese - with advanced chip processors lodge in their brain centers since the 8th century - knew it all along.

Okay, maybe this also means that I have watched too many X-Files episodes and have spent a major part of my adolescent years thinking about aliens and existence, but damn you Japanese and your Sushi. You are weird, and you are awesome.

It's 2014, and I made my first-ever sushi. Evolution. 

Staring at Walls

Before I came to Dubai  I had this bad idea of a fake city devoid of any art, culture, history or inspiration. All I ever knew about it were all the superficial superlative stuff - the tallest buildings, the gold, the Louis Vuittons, the Ferraris and Lamborghini’s of the affluent Arab masters. 

Perhaps in some ways, on the surface it is true, but I would now rather reserve judgment. The truth is Dubai, of all places, has gotten me face to face with Art, as much as it did with consumerism.

Unimpressed with the grand shopping festival culture, I was drawn to the inner dungeons of the city, and pretty soon found my way to the backstreets of Al Quoz, in spacious empty warehouses converted into comfy loft galleries.

"Saying goodbye means forgetting." This sculpture reminded me of Peter Pan.

A collection of war portraits painted based on real photos.

Growing up in the Philippines, where much of high-brow art was reserved for the buyers or the academe, my initial idea of art galleries was synonymous to my idea of museums, which is pretty much lethargic, confined to memories of boring school field trips.

By this I mean, staring at hanging paintings on the wall didn’t really appeal to me as a cool activity until Dubai, where the galleries have more to offer than any mall, and where staring at art seemed more interesting than  staring at people getting drunk in a bar.

To its credit, in a few short years, Dubai has managed to attract a bustling creative scene, that after three years of hosting the annual Art fair every March, it apparently has become one of the major avenues for showcasing the region's best on a global platform.

Filipino visual artist Mark Ganzon was commissioned to paint the Art Bus
that can take you to all the Galleries around the UAE for 50dhs 

Women behind bars, ignoring the open door.  

The Conductor.

Art as therapy.

My favorite author Kurt Vonnegut once said that “the arts is very human way of making life more bearable.” He couldn’t have said it better.  Perhaps I will never learn enough of art history, or be anywhere close to drawing a straight line, but what I’ve seen is enough to compel me to write and drag people out of their comfort zones into a strange world of walls that talk.

More my style. A collection of woodworks by
Spanish grafitti artist Ruben Sanchez.

Threads and tongues.

Where are the superheroes? A bold statement by FN Designs.

Don’t take my word for it! Check out the interesting exhibits at the Sikka Art Fair at the old Dubai Museum,  Al Serkal Avenue in Al Quoz, the Gate Village in DIFC and Madinat Jumeirah. Art Dubai opens every second week of March. For a full calendar of activities log on to : https://www.facebook.com/DubaiCultureArtsAuthority

Manila is not just a Brown Envelope

An old blog entry. January 2008.

It is a Sunday, the lazy sun is about to set here in Manila as I type this down on my old room where its never quiet, honks and engine roar from the jeepneys below, bells from the ice cream vendor, endless murmurs of passersby, kids playing outside...all these while sunlight strikes my window and a cool breeze blows from the curtains.

Manila Bay Sunset. (Not my photo, grabbed from Internet)

I am here and I still feel homesick, like I haven't been living in this town, or in this country ever since, or as if I've already left. It's funny coz I started this year feeling I should be somewhere else, doing something else. I don't know. I still feel that way most of the time, but right now I am sitting here, typing with my coffee and the classic egg pie from the bakery right across -  and I'm good. Sometimes this is all I need. A moment. A still frame that delays the passing of time, even for just a few stops.

I've realized that I will always long for Manila, especially the city, the old Manila where I used to live with my parents, where I studied high school, took up university, where I landed my first job at fledging PR and events company run by obsessive compulsive people.

It was in a house in Malate, I had this one corner where I wrote about all kinds of stuff, from furniture, to Chinese cuisine, Macanese festivals, hotel promos, budget travel, rubber shoes, grilled burgers and even yatch spare parts, name it. After work, I'd walk around the cultural center and breathe some badly needed air, badly polluted but who cares, watch the sun go down on Manila Bay, with joggers, lovers and sea leeches all in tow.


Last week I took a trip down there, old Manila, with some business I had to attend to, but still it was refreshing to be walking down its streets again. The orange jeepneys, crowded Taft avenue, the LRT, the old buildings, 3-star hotels brimming with all sorts of foreigners, bars in Nakpil, all kinds of bars, the streets lined with money changers, 7-11s, government agencies, employment agencies, internet cafes, Starbucks filled with med students who treats it like its their school canteen, fish balls and cigarette stands, an occasional kalesa (horse carriage), cheap paintings portraying rural scenes, all side by side in the streets of Manila.

Kalesa on the main road. Taken with my Holga 2008.

Of course I am aware that there are cellphone snatchers, sleazy pimps, swindlers and street garbage lurking in the background as well, but its all part of the chaos, so i swing my bag in front of me the way any street-smart Manileña would. It was a breezy afternoon like this, I look around, the crisp air whispering stories at me. In fact, every corner, every nook had a story to tell, just lying there waiting for scavengers like me to pick them up.

Somewhere near Binondo. Holga 2008

Carriedo LRT station. Holga 2008. 

But all is not lost, because I know someday these scenes will somehow find its way here and reappear in another world, fictitious or not. For now, I just want to share this feeling of homesickness, and the joy of finding those lost streets again, and maybe share with friends abroad, those thinking to go abroad, or even those just thinking of going on a vacation tour to some other country, or those who have never been here, that there is really so much of life here in Manila. It might not be the clean, progressive, chewing-gum and smoke-free city or the peaceful away-from-everything else paradise island that they have out in the south, but if you're looking life and stories like I do, I have to say, Manila will not dissapoint.

Ssssh. Manila Motel Rates. Holga 2008.

Burj Khalifa says F*&ck You.

To be a tourist in your own city is one thing, to be a tourist in a city that has adopted you is another.  I have lived in Dubai since March 2009, a bad time, a time when layoffs and salary delays were common, jobs were scarce, abandoned cars were plenty and the Burj Dubai (now the mighty Burj Khalifa) was pending completion, with rumors that Dubai, the once glittering promising metropolis was sinking in debt. It wasn't really the most ideal time to look around aside from the fact that my early paychecks could not afford going on tours (this was during pre-Cobone and Groupon discount voucher deals).

I spent most of my time working. The Burj Khalifa was eventually completed, the metro was finally up and running, and things started to bustle again. I got a new job, I did get to go around more often than usual, but I no longer had the "tourist eyes". You know those fresh eyes that light up with wonder upon seeing something for the first time?  I was a semi-local, and pretty soon the Burj was just another tall building and the Dubai Mall was just another tiring walk, everything in the city was becoming a hyperbole bore, with only one exception, - the Dubai Fountain, swaying to Bocelli, that's the one thing that never fails to amaze my jaded city heart.

So this year,  as it was bound to happen, I had to play tour guide to a visiting friend and pretend that I know my city. It was the week before the big EXpo 2020 announcement and UAE National Day so there couldn't be any better time to get to know Dubai.

Golden City Dubai, as seen from the Dubai Metro.

My favorite building - the Twister at the Dubai Marina. 

A view of business bay from the Atlantis Monorail. 

Sunset at Jumeirah Open Beach.

From Jebel Ali to Rashidiya, Old Town to New Town,  from Burj Khalifa, to the Atlantis, from Irish Village to Global Village, from Souk Madinat to Bastakiya, we went to explore every nook and canny, with me struggling to explain the way of life, picking up interesting realizations along the way.

These walls could talk. Anonymous Grafitti artist "Arcadia blank"
captures the inner city soul.

Every day a different story, every day the city that I had grown indifferent to was looking better. I was like this bored boyfriend who was suddenly seeing how lucky he is to be with a nice beautiful girl everyone would want to have.

Of course Dubai is not without its faults - the silly rules, the annoying people, the expensive arrogance and daily luxuries, the lack of alcohol, real music and street life, but overall there is just this unique air of confidence, this overwhelming sense of pride coming from an accomplished, self-made, half-crazy, half-obsessed City who beat the desert odds.

Airshow at the Dubai Marina
celebrating Dubai's 42nd anniversary and Expo 2020 win. 

Young Camel Dancers chilling outside before the show.

What is Dubai if doesn't have a Gold Plated Mercedes
parked outside the Mall ? 

Dubai and the whole UAE may just be 42 and way too young to be in the 1^st world champion league, but what it lacked in history and experience it certainly made up in steel determination and discreet charm. I think of the UAE and of Dubai, and I think of Leo Di Caprio in Titanic or The Wolf of Wall Street. I see a young and ambitious first-time Wall-street hack daring to make a million on his first year, with many people envious and challenging, waiting for him to fail, but he goes around making it happen anyway.

I heard an old joke before that the BurjKhalifa is middle finger of the UAE. After winning the Expo 2020, I think it could very well be that fitting gesture from the Middle East to the rest of the world - and maybe, just maybe, there is rock and roll in this town after all.