Eat, move, learn

An amazing journey caught on film: Rick Merecki, Tim White & Andrew Lees were commissioned by STA Australia to showcase the beauty of the world. They write,

"3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage. All to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films = A trip of a lifetime."

Watch their epic journey crammed into minutes. My favorite is, naturally, the video for Eat but Move and Learn also have a magical feel of their own.

I am jealous, most definitely. Getting paid to eat and travel around the world is my ultimate dream job. See, videos like these are the reason why I'm strongly motivated to see the world for myself and "grab it by the balls". One day, one day.

From Hammie, to heaven

My dad would've been 56 today. He feared growing old and dying young, that much I knew from the way he took so much care of himself. He used to tell me that life was cruel. I guess it never crossed his mind that many years later, life being cruel will exactly be our family afterthought. While I have learned how to keep my emotions in check whenever I think about the past two years, I realized one can never really learn how to forget loneliness. And it so much more insufferable than pain, which is always, always fleeting. The kindest, funniest person I know, Papa will always be my champion. Happy birthday, old man.

You are my daily meal

This week's favorite song: Florence And The Machine's You've Got the Love. Roar, I'm a bear.

The Mad Men School of Seduction

I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world

Some links I love this week (because I cannot write without looking up stuff):

1. Women on the front lines - Far from being solely passive witnesses to--or victims of--the fighting in World War II, women were on the front lines from day one.

2. World's Sexiest Accents - Where "the come-hither condescension and fiery disinterest of the French tongue remains paradoxically erotic." Holding down the number one spot are the Italians (Please see: Appolonia, my favorite Italian). I have nothing against the Italians (I do have a not-so-secret dream of visiting their country just for the food) but really, we're not holding Louis Garrel above Alex Del Piero?

3. Patricia Evangelista's op-ed, In Defense of Blasphemy - Welcome to the Philippine Inquisition! While I do not appreciate Poleteismo (the infamous conceptual art series by Mideo Cruz), I greatly disapprove of any attempt to curb freedom of expression.

There are so many spot-on statements in this article, some of my favorites:

"Poleteismo” is “the product of a troubled mind,” says Commission on Human Rights Chair Etta Rosales, whose sudden mastery of pop psychology has neglected the fact many of the communists and journalists killed under her watch were also silenced for speaking sacrilege against their killers. The guardians of morality are now a motley crew that includes the son of one of the country’s most cherished sex symbols, a former military chief whose martial law regime was a time of lies and terror, and a television host who was accused by an underaged starlet named Pepsi Paloma of coercing her to drop a rape case against several of his comedy co-hosts. Paloma committed suicide in 1985. Tito Sotto is now a senator of the republic."

"This is what the moralists forget when they demand limits on free speech—that the right to free expression is not limited to speech that agrees with Imelda Marcos’ good and true and beautiful.

The threat of the existence of another religion has historically been enough to cause the same vicious frenzy that has spattered Cruz’s Facebook page with anonymous messages threatening hell and damnation. The only difference is that today there is a government and a Constitution built to protect people who disagree, troubled or not, from being crucified for rebellion at the instigation of a maddened mob.

The issue is not good art or bad art or what the Inquirer editorial dismisses as “unoriginal art.” The issue is freedom. When the Church stamped its indignant foot, the floor cracked under the country’s bastion of free expression"

For further reading, please also see The Crucible of Free Speech.

4. The flight from marriage at The Economist - Asians are marrying later, and less, than in the past. This has profound implications for women, traditional family life and Asian politics. From this article, we learn that two forces are giving Asian women more autonomy: education and jobs. Education changes women’s expectations and the rates of non-marriage rise at every stage of education. Better education also makes possible the other main trend changing marriage: female employment. Asia’s economic miracle has caused—and been caused by—a surge of women into the formal workforce.

5. Propaganda posters:

Calling All Comrades! - Long-lost propaganda posters that rallied the Soviets against the Nazis. During the early days of the invasion, as the German advance was making rapid progress, artists and writers gathered in Moscow under the banner of the TASS News Agency to look for a way to boost the rapidly sagging Soviet morale. Their solution was to produce massive posters that vilified the Nazis and lauded the Soviet resistance while commenting on the news of the war effort. Particularly notable for being produced under the totalitarian regime of Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, their efforts stand out as some of the most striking works of art from World War II.

Charmain Mao's Technicolor Dream World - Communist China viewed through decades of propaganda posters was a uniformly cheerful and confident nation -- though the smiling, apple-cheeked faces and bucolic peasant scenes hide the bitter realities of life under Mao's regime. I have an awful urge of framing Tempering Red Hearts in Stormy Waves but I will get over that, I hope.

6. Figuring out first dates, because... well, just because. I don't really do well on dates, in general, but I have picked up quite a few tips (none from the article but some from people I look up to) that I can try on the next one (if God, and His fantastic sense of irony, decides to give me another one). The first being, "There is nothing wrong with me.", in which I will project confidence even if my insecurities are killing me on the inside. #darkandtwisty

7. From Me To You - A tumblr I live vicariously through. This is one of my favorite personal sites and Jamie, the one who runs the blog, is just as beautiful as the clothes she wears and the pictures she takes. My favorite posts: At home with (she visits New Yorkers in their very special apartments, and who wouldn't love that? I love looking at well-decorated small spaces, it takes serious will power to tear myself off apartmenttherapy.com), Paris Cafes (Black-and-white pictures of Parisian cafes shot on film) and A Swingin' Summer (Ain't no summer like a summer in the City!)

Also, movies I watched this week: A Little Romance (featuring a young Diane Lane, I really liked this film. It reminded me of Flipped), Friends with Benefits (Movies like this I can sit through because a.) it's set in New York and b.) The little genius Nolah Gould is in it), Crazy, Stupid, Love (Most of the people in this movie are my favorites but sadly, I was underwhelmed) and Monte Carlo (I don't know what got into me. Oh, I know. Wanderlust. And Leighton Meester's clothes.) Clearly, I have excellent taste when it comes to these things. Not.

AND NOT TO MISS! Frank O'Hara reading Having a Coke With You in his flat in New York before his death in 1966. I never got into poetry but I do love a few poems, like this one. (

I look

at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world, come on. What's not to love?)

"it is hard to believe when I’m with you that there can be anything as still

as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it

in the warm New York 4 o’clock light we are drifting back and forth

between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint

you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them"

♥

Song of the week: Lust for Life by Girls

I really like this song but of course, my life is nowhere near the music video. I've never been a bright and sunny cool girl. I've always been the dark and twisty kind. But it's San Francisco, so hey. Happy Friday! Have a great weekend, cool boys and girls. ;)

Matilda, revisited

"So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."

"The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village."
— Roald Dahl, Matilda

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I get some of the titles for my independent reading through other people's sites. In the course of scouring the tangled web for new titles, I always come across the four agreements--be it from a bookish but sharp-witted girl who blogs in Brooklyn or from a power lady dictating style in the Third World. I have read it a long time ago and I think running across it every once in a while is the world's way of reminding me of what's important.

Today is choose day, choose character.

The Four Agreements:

Agreement 1: Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Agreement 2: Don’t take anything personally – Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Agreement 3: Don’t make assumptions – Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Agreement 4: Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Peter Luger

Perfect Sundays: Medium-rare rib steak and thick-cut bacon appetizer from Peter Luger.

"No other steakhouse serves a porterhouse so breathtaking" - Frank Bruni, The New York Times

The 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall

August 13 marked the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall. Built with barbed wire and concrete, the wall stretched for 31 miles, separated East and West Berlin as a cold war divide, preventing East Germans from crossing to the west. These are some of my favorite pictures:

Man peering over the newly built Berlin wall in August 1961

August 1961, from the West Berlin side, a young woman, accompanied by her boyfriend, stands precariously near the top of the Berlin Wall to talk to her mother on the East Berlin side

East Berlin border guards stand on top of the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate on 11 November 1989 when the wall was beginning to be torn down

Crowds climb on top of the wall in November 1989

Original parts of the Berlin Wall stand on an area of a construction material company in Teltow, Berlin. On 13 August 2011 Germany celebrates the 50th anniversary of the construction of the wall and commemorate victims who were killed trying to cross from East to West Berlin

(source)

The Sweet Smell of Schadenfreude

Some links I love this week:

1. Macaron recipes at Canille et Vanille because good macarons are hard to find in this country.

2. An article about the London riots by a Filipina expat Carla Montemayor, explaining that "the violence is directed toward innocent, ordinary people also struggling to keep their heads above water in these difficult times". My favorite part of the article:

"Still, I refuse to valorize the thuggery and callousness of these rioters with these pretexts. They robbed big retail chains and corner shops with equal gusto. Struggling families have lost their livelihoods. I’ve heard it said that this is part of a “resistance,” and that rioters were sending a message to the elites.

And what message would that be, exactly? That they love iPads and hate everyone?"

3. Post-Conflict Potter: How Harry Potter and the magical world of J.K. Rowling might begin the long process of reconciliation and reform at Foreign Policy. My old professor (who teaches a very enlightening and engaging Harry Potter elective at university) said this is an excellent article on social and political life post-Battle of Hogwarts. I completely agree (plus, Harry Potter and Foreign Policy: two of my favorite things).

4. Pissing Off China in Twenty Tweets or Less at Thought Catalog.

5. The Politics of Russia and Surreal Politik. As the March presidential elections draw near, Medvedev and Putin participate in a bizzare political campaign with bikini carwashes, music videos, arm-wrestling and synchronized dance moves.

6. Jay-Z and Kanye West's video for Otis (ft. Otis Redding), a track from their joint album, Watch the Throne. SO. MUCH. SWAG. Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness is one of my favorites so I'm glad they sampled from the track. There were also tracks with samples from James Brown and Quincy Jones, which makes this album so sick.

7. Sad guys on trading floors: turning the economic crisis (and the frightening dip of the Dow) into one of those clever internet memes.

8. Dissent in China: Of development and dictators at The Economist. A train crash in Wenzhou highlights how breakneck economic development in China has cut corners, distorted priorities and created big conflicts of interest.

9. Pictures of Polytheism by Mideo Cruz. The aim of Polytheism was to explain how religion has supposedly been commodified and how capitalist commerce has become the new religion. The series 'Polytheism' was exhibited at CCP before it caused public outcry of sacrilege and blasphemy. Our country is largely influenced by religion, thus this exhibit caused much offense to the Philippine public.

10. Anthony Bourdain's tumblr. I'm currently devouring his Kitchen Confidential: Tales from the Culinary Underbelly (What took me so long? I know, right!) and it's fantastic, so I'm really glad he's brought his punk rock cooking/writing style on the internet.

Rounding up my favorites for the week is the official website for Your Highness, a movie produced by Natalie Portman with Zooey Deschanel, James Franco (!!!) and Danny McBride. I really enjoyed watching this.

Ladies and gentlemen, my swan song.

We're just under the upperhand

And they say

She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries

A Team is an original song by Ed Sheeran. He reminds me of Jason Mraz. I'm sure he's got a long way to go before he can even be called the next Mr. A-Z but there's something about him that reminds me of Mr. A-Z and his younger years. It must be the rapping. It may also be the allure of youth and good looks. I must say that I really like his songs, my favorites being Wayfaring Stranger, You Need Me, I Don't Need You and A Team. The last one is getting a lot of airplay nowadays (6,000,000+ strong on YouTube) and rightfully so, because it is such a nice song.

You can watch A Team's original version here but for today, here's a cover by Birdy. I really think Birdy is so talented. I just love her voice. Sometimes, when I think of the songs she sings and the age group that she's really in, I can't help but feel a little bit off. She gives so much feeling to the song that it's hard to look at her as a child so young, braces and all. In any case, I'm glad she's doing what she loves at such a young age. Not everyone has that luxury.

This is a beautiful rendition. Enjoy.

Boeuf et burre blanc

Delicious desires: Boeuf Bourguignon & Steak with White Anchovy Butter, Rosemary Sauteed Potatoes & Balsamic Baby Onions. And wine, the cheap and sweet kind.