I Subtract Nineteen Eighty Three with the Present.

I have aged another year. Although it doesn't matter much, aging. Because I stopped counting since I was about 17. Even now when filling out forms, I pause to think, to calculate, before filling in "Age".

It seems strange, when you think about it: they say youth is wasted on the young. Conversely, I suppose that old age is wasted on the elderly. We spend most of the beginning of our lives being too young for things, most of our twilight years being too old for them. In between is that narrow path in which we be what we want to be--and even then we hurry about doing this and that and ignore the possibilities nested in the tiny gap between here and now.

Pupulutin ka sa kangkungan (Your corpse will be found in a spinach pond).

Philippine cinema has long been out of business since dog-knows-when. Most of the film productions that get funded nowadays are either about comedy, romance, rom-com, or some occassional horror. But it's very rare to see good films or least to say, a variety of, released in the local silverscreen. I guess we're just a big TV industry.

I kinda miss watching old Tagalog films. The catchy lines, stereotypical characters, and even predictable plots. But at least you know that they're making films out there. I think those days were gone with Lino Brocka. Though there may be few independent filmmakers who struggle to penetrate the mass media, the vast majority of the local audience still preferred to watch senseless love stories of their favorite love teams.

Joel Limchoc managed to intertwine the popularity of TV-watching and the good ol' days of local cinema. He picked out a 70's action theme for a Pepsi advert and made it even quirkier with the literal/visual translations of the dialogues not to mention the use of vegetables as weapons (meets the MTRCB requirement!). The result is nauseating, epic, and brilliant.

And the lady went ga-ga.

Fever Ray - If I had a Heart

Think I just found my new Halloween costume at 02:16.

iamamiwhoiam - o

Dandi Wind - Powerball

Another brilliant facepaint.

From the less visually-stunning yet equally entertaining music clips:

Modern Witch - Cinema

Balam Acab - See Birds

Elsiane - Ecclesia

The Comfort in Your Strangeness

France. Italy.

Philippines. China.

Japan. India.

*Brought to you by the ennui department.

Short-Handed

Hands Solo

What if a deaf man became an internationally famous adult film star, all because he's very good with his hands?

Crazy Hands

A man wakes to find his hands have taken on a life of their own.

The Cat with Hands

The story of a cat who, legend has it, longs to become human.

On Recent Trips and Short Vacations.

Nepal

Take a break and smell the flowers.

Peace Pagoda, Pokhara

Big, golden Buddha

Local kids enjoying some sweets at the bottom of the pagoda.

Devi's Falls

Boats at Phewa Lake.

Buffalo Momo

Dumplings with a twist.

Kathmandu Durbar Square

This particular temple is called The Jagannath and is famous for its erotic carvings.

Prayer flags at Boudhanath Stupa.

Giant, spinning prayer wheels.

~Fin.

Heligolanding

In a dystopic world, long after most of the living creatures have gone, the ones who are left would have evolved into another form of species. Hierarchies will be altered, including way of life. The bulls will have their way with the humans. They will be pitted against each other in an arena, only this time the humans would be the ones charging at the cape. This is done to honor the gods in order to appease them and return the humanity that once were as what we have done long before great civilisations.

Censored version:

Uncensored version:

http://massiveattack.com/blog/2009/12/15/paradise-circus/

Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.

Music and lyrics are powerful tools and can be instigating factors to real-life violence. Black Metal had always been associated with church burnings, Satanism, murders, national socialism, misanthropy, and countless suicides say for a classic example the death of Mayhem's vocalist Pelle Ohlin (aka Dead). It also inspires many artists to create beauty out of chaos, or how things with grave or less meanings can be reanimated into something else, like zombies--they're stripped of vitality, yet somehow they get life back into them.