Finding Rizal in Makati

Since I am now doing a great job of becoming an amateur freelancer (hint: sort of bum), I reckoned I must take it to the next level and that is to expose myself more in the things that I really like such as the culture and the arts. I am not that well-off to fund my sort of extravagant interest but luckily, I found some events that would perhaps tickle my fancy, and the good news is that they are all open to the public. Yes, free. One of which was the pedestrian galleries found in the underpasses of Makati City. They are mainly displayed to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of our national hero, Jose Rizal. I had the chance to come across them during my side trip along Ayala Avenue last June 13.


You can find some of the artworks below. I took them using my cellphone, so bear with the grainy or blurry pictures. I opted not to include captions because I surmised it would be better if you can craft one for each of them, respectively. That would be more challenging, wouldn't it?


Now for those who are looking for Rizal these days, apparently, I found him in Makati!


And for those who are still looking, like what these pieces of art convey, if you just open your eyes and see the real picture , you can find Jose Rizal almost anywhere.


Or better yet, find him in your one and only Filipino soul.

Share!

Hello, dear reader. 


I will ask you a favor. Please read this. I know you have a kind heart and you will help these people. I believe that you can make a difference and change the lives of the children in Aklan, a province in the Visayas near the world-renowned paradise called Boracay.


My friend sent me a private message in Facebook a couple of months ago. I've paraphrased some statements so that even foreigners (those who are not Pinoy) would understand and would also be encouraged to help. And here's an excerpt:

 In Boracay, I met a lady who did a small mission work for kids who study in a small elementary school in Aklan. The kids live in the mountains and walk their way to the school with bare foot especially if their sandals are worn out . So the lady decided to give them slippers. I had the burden of giving them (for next school year), a small set of school items namely: 3 writing notebooks, 3 pencils, 1 eraser, 1 sharpener, 1 set of 8 pcs crayons, 1 set of coloring books all placed in a plastic envelope with a handle. 

If you find it in you to donate o sponsor a kid, I will be more than glad to visit you to get the items that you'd be donating. Watcha think? Thanks much for your support. I am not from Aklan but I felt that burden for the kids. It would be a great help to them! God bless.Help spread the word please. I'd like to emphasized though, I am not asking for monetary help; I am asking you to help me buy the items or sponsor a child. One friend of mine will sponsor coloring books. Your small help can change lives. Thanks again.

I will ask you a favor again. Read it again, if you must. And again, I know you have a kind heart and you will help these people. I believe that you can make a difference and change the lives of the children in Aklan, a province in the Visayas near the world-renowned paradise called Boracay.


Share if you must. Just leave a comment if you want to help.


God bless you!

Musings: Tree of Life (2011)

***SPOILER ALERT***

Tree of Life got the Palm d'Or award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Finally, as majestic and bewildering as its trailer seems to boasts, Terrence Malick's Tree of Life is here. 


I am left speechless, honestly. I'm still trying my best to drive my train of thought.


As I've said, many times before, I would not even begin - not even dare- try to review Tree of Life. I'd like to believe that I simply cannot bring justice to the film in my endeavor to write a review about it. It's that admission and realization that when you think you have already figured it out, certain questions comes into mind- questions that are left unanswered, questions that make you ask yourself if they are, in the first place, needed to be answered by the film. It can leave you with lingering doubts or sheer uncertainty; it can be too perplexing. But that is, I must say, part of its beauty and charm- something that is beyond our explanation, utterly far from our grasp and certainty, but one that is immaculately familiar: life.


And like life itself, it is definitely beautifully complicated. 


Admittedly, I've only seen the film once and I hope it won't stop there. There's just too many and too much of its frontier yet to be explored, like a literary masterpiece so enigmatic that it deserves another chance to be experienced. But unlike any other puzzling work, which meaning and interpretation is easily deciphered, Tree of Life does not give away a response that is direct and specific. Hence, it will be a film that will be discussed and debated throughout the years.


But even if it is generally viewed as something ambiguous, with the film being lyrical and free of a plot, one thing is evident: the film is simply a spectacular visual poetry. It's grandiose depiction of the world's creations: the lovely and glorious Milky Way, the intense and blazing creation of the earth, the lush and verdant unexplored wilderness, and the refreshing and  relaxing calmness of the oceans, among many others, are gloriously magnificent. Really, anyone who claims that he has seen nature at its best form should see these.


Sharing the limelight with nature is the story of a fanciful mother (Jessica Chastain), a formidable but loving father (Brad Pitt) and their three young boys, one of whom is Jack (Hunter McCracken). It seems like an ordinary family represented onscreen, all of whom are characters who are vulnerable of mundane themes like envy, doubt, sin, or desperation. Meanwhile, as the story progresses, a confused and grown-up Jack (Sean Penn) is introduced, as he lives a life of unanswered queries and numerous regrets amidst his corporate success. But the story line is somewhat vague, or specifically fragmented, that some (those that I know, myself included) have admitted that they had quite a trouble in identifying which of the three boys is depicted by Penn. Towards the film's ending, Penn's character has found what is said to be the summit of life in an almost 15-minute divinely-captured, mind-blowing imagery, along with intellectual, or even philosophical whispery voice-overs and striking classical symphony.


Juxtaposing this everyday, commonplace life with the illustration of the so-called Creation, the dichotomy arises: inter-cutting the intimate scenes with anything that is utterly flamboyant. Apparently, it's that tangent between the simple and the labyrinthine that confronts us of how life was, of how life is, as interpreted and represented by the writer and director of the film itself.

Recalling the experience is just as chilling as seeing it for the first time, if not even more. Astonishing would be a slight understatement; breathtaking would perhaps encompass the experience. Yes. It's not just a film, as I've been told and had read time and again, it's an experience. And what an experience it was. After watching it, my friends and I were so eager to discuss it, we've actually lingered in the theater for a 'brief' exchange of musings, as if there's not tomorrow. Each of us has something to say, something to share but it was a unanimous decision that Tree of Life deserves to be seen again, and we don't mean just once.


At that moment, I was standing there, listening to them, perhaps a bit speechless, but all the while amused with my thoughts as to how a film can take over your life even for a moment, that seemingly fleeting moment. As much as we want to freeze the frame of that motion picture called life and stay in the moment, we must let go, we must move on and journey forward to life, and even to the Great Beyond. Who knows?


But I am certain about one thing: it's the enchanting magic and power of a movie, may be not only that, but that cinematic experience that can transcend a moment in our life- one that is so intense and profound- it can transport us into sheer emotional and spiritual cathartic elation. 




-fmr2011

Stripped off the Truth

All my world.
All the emotions:
The hopes,
The frustrations,
Disappointments,
Rants and whines.
Of the lovers, the past,
and concubines.

A little million pieces
Jam-packed in 140.
The characters
all for the world to see.
Insert the spaces,
cryptic symbols,
Some can be disturbing,
more than finger cymbals.

A promise.
To be More connected.
An endeavor.
To be More updated.
Yet when published,
all may be negated.
All there's left are words:
stripped off with emotions-

                                        -Stripped off the Truth.

webdings

A closed door.
That Window pane shut.
The Lights turned off.
Belonging to an Un-visited Room.

Unmoved food.
A deep well.
Unfathomable thought.
The Computer on a Shut Down.

Let me have a taste.
So you say.
Let me decipher.
So you tried.

Let me In.
So you think.
Let me Understand
So you beg.

I do.
You just don't try hard enough.
And when you do,
you'd be unwilling-
To know, accept, and understand.