international azkals

just makin' a salute to all our half-pinoy brothas making a splash in the international sports world...

here's the talented miami heat coach, erik spoelstra...

pitcher of the 2010 world series champ sf giants, tim lincecum...

and just this morning, second placer at the master's, 21-yr-old rookie, jason day.

ipakita sa mundo!

where do we go from here?

after that uber-inspiring tear-jerking 12-hour funeral service (never thought we would relive that '83-'86 spirit...),

i got to thinking... what now?

saw this ad on the paper yesterday:

(consumerism does it again, dontchatink?)

and thought: yes national pride is good... but i think we have more than enough 'i love pinoy' graphic tees and what-nots going around.

i'm hoping to just bring it a notch higher: from national pride to SOCIAL ACTION.

it ain't enough to say "we're proud to be pinoy". that's passe.

let's campaign for concrete actions that will really bring us forward.

like for example, being anti-bribery... let's say with these logos:

(this ala-hindi ka nag-iisa)

(this in mmda colors)

i know, i know, a bit pilit and uninspired. but you get the drift, yes?

we can go for anti-vandalism, anti-complacency, pro-proper wages, anti-jay-walking, pro-traffic-rules, pro-proper-taxes, etc etc.

any ideas?

red, red tape

hey sis...

i've been an absentee...

here's why:

bureaucracy!

things i'm taking care of:

1. bfad permit which means:

- approved site layout (line up for approval in alabang, every monday morning ONLY)

- answer 7 pages of questions

- cv's from each employee

- procedure for each product

- data sheet of each ingredient from each supplier

- etc., etc., etc.

2. sss registration

3. philhealth registration

4. pag-ibig registration

5. denr clearance

6. laguna lake sumthn sumthn permit

7. oh and i have to call the BIR hotline to figure out what i need to do with them

wtf.

when i'm finally done with this mess, i will definitely lobby (to politician friends -- what politician friends?)  to make things easier for us lowly entrepreneurs.

can it be any harder for anyone who wants to generate income and employ people?  

this red tape has got to end.

i'm not worthy!

had the honor of having dinner with my ultimate role model.

her name is mercy, and i actually spoke about her here a while back.

anyhoo, she was awarded business statewoman of 2008 by the harvard business school club of japan.  one of only 2 non-japanese with this status... and yes, the only woman.

(someone on the presidential table thought she was there as an interpreter). 

on top of everything she has become, she's very passionate about our country and making us stand proud as pinoys.  in her own words, she said "dapat itaas natin bandila natin".  if there's anyone who has the right to call on us to do just that...

read more about mercy here.

if and when i get to the point of creating a board for my little project, i would definitely ask her to be part of it.  oh you have a seat too :)  twinpophub too :) hehe.

brillante!

yahoo!  we won! we won!

pinoy director brillante mendoza won BEST director (beating quentin) for his film KINATAY at the cannes.

watch some excerpts here. 

read more about it here.

we rock!

yey for progress!

an uber talented friend dropped by and joined our 'usual suspects' cocktails... 

guess who?  here's a clue:  these are the shirts he gave us:

can you make out what's on the shirt?  looks familiar?

it's this!

he's responsible for the super cool interactive sculptures along bhs.

just bhs, not the ones in serendra.... i've always been bothered by this one -- eeky:

anyhoo, he was talking about the plans for bhs.  it will go on for another 500 meters...  more shops, more gardens, more art!

at the end of a stretch is a shangri-la

and even more exciting, a 'mind museum' -- where artists are invited to create "scientific works" -- sorta like an exploratorium meets the moma i guess!!!

cool!!!!!

silliness part2

as per twinpophub, jessica zafra blogged about the same sign i talked about here.

so i'm picking up her photo just to elucidate...

here it is...

again... wtf!???

i was thinking:  maybe bayani wants to liken himself to the dude and therefore is piquing the public's curiosity about the guy.

just google "bayani fernando, lee kwan yu" and see how people liken him to him.

it's as smart and accurate as the whole jojobama thing.

fore!

sta. elena golf club has made it to golf digest's top 100 courses outside the U.S.!

wow!

it's the only course in the philippines on the list, and, if i'm not mistaken, in southeast asia.

so we can say that we have the best golf course in southeast asia!

read more about it here.

vomit.

chick this out!!!

as pointed out by carlos celdran.

click here.

gaggg.

i bet we'll still watch it though -- haha.

top of the earth!

in case you haven't heard, our country TOPPED the global earth hour participation (as per twinpopbro, and verified by this newsclip).

out of 88 countries, we 'switched off' the most lights.

now, i'm not big on 1-time media-heavy environmental events...

but i think this says a lot about us...  

how we can actually 'top' a ranking (that doesn't involve corruption).

and how we're all getting somehow greener (good for our businesses hee hee).

whether this earth hour will jumpstart real change -- who knows.  but it's better than nothing -- for now.

the e-jeep

how cool are these?

saw them outside echo store, and found out we (you and i) knew some of the people behind the project.

so i might-as-well-attended the talk...

a 2-time nobel prize winner dr kammen recognized the e-jeep in his 'ecopolis' show in discovery channel!

right now, the e-jeep runs 40-60kph max... it needs to be charged (literally plugged into a 220v outlet) for 6-8 hours to travel nonstop for 60km (think manila to tagaytay).  although new technology can charge it faster.

since it's registered in the LTO as a light vehicle, it can't go on major thoroughfares like edsa, slex (but i think they can pass the service road).

the jeep goes for a little over P600k, and this tricycle for a little over P200k.

i'm thinking you can use these to expand your pedala business (?) or i can use this as my delivery truck (if we had the money...)

right now though, there are no 'charging' stations so the owner will have to charge only in their own places.  they're working on stations, which are really key for this to jumpstart.

loving the tarsier break-light eyes at the back...

yun lang :)

why not, coconut

cool pix, sis.

speaking of creativity, a fren told me about this super cool gathering called T.E.D. (technology, entertainment, design).

what started off in 1984 as a yearly gathering of uber smart nerds sharing ideas about anything and everything became a super big gathering (in long island, and now in UK na rin) where the most inspirational thinkers and doers (think bill clinton, brian greene, bono, etc.) give the talk of their lives for 18 minutes.

the great thing is all speeches are free for everyone to watch and download from their website.

anyway, we now have our own version here -- called 'why not forum'.   i'm sure you've heard about it.

i took time out to watch one of the whynot talks -- mr. pagsi's talk, and pffhew, it was so inspiring.  twinpopbros are so lucky to have him as their mentor.

watch it here.

now i wanna watch all the talks in both TED and whynot.  dang!

no reservations in the philippines

twinpopfil sent us the episode of anthony bourdain (who twinpophub and i are a fan of) in the phil.

chuvaness just posted it on her site.

anyhoo, here it is  -- watch it until the 5th part.

makes you proud of our heritage (and pig).  sad part is, i haven't tasted (or don't eat) a lot of the dishes featured...

watch it though, it's a must... i think.... (also the bbc clip in previous post).

p.s.  interesting insight of anthony:  "we're too nice".......

bench pinoy lab

ben chan does it again.  how cool is this little shop inside the already cool dimensione in bhs?

it has a very 'urban outfitters' feel

with pinoy pop culture books...

and cute t-shirts like this "tuhog-tuhog" one...

and other cool stuffs...

yey pinoy!

same?

somewhere in osaka, i saw this store that sold t-shirts, etc....

is it me, or does it remind you of teammanila?

i hope it's just my imagination....

jo koy

another reason for pinoy pride...

jo koy (who said in an interview that he got "jo koy" from an aunt who made it up and used to always say "hoy jo koy!" hahaha)...


jo koy in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2005) where he got a standing ovation, one of the few to receive one in the show's history (the third ever only)....
Tonight Show


i love that he is truly proud to be pinoy!

apparently rachel is watching him front row in november in singapore! see more of his super funny vids here.

speed stacking

here's twinpop-neph speed stacking...

it's kind of like this cup stacking and collapsing game that kids are into now...

(kinda like our jackstones and chinese garter...)

well it's good to know that they're doing something that doesn't require a battery.

it's such a craze that there are actually international speed stacking competitions.

the current world record is at 6 seconds... and it's held by a kid who's (drum roll, please...) pinoy.  

his name is Steven Purungganan.  woohoo!

chickout the vid...

pinay pride

this is the backside of one of the most successful filipinas i've ever met.  (photo taken this morning).

her name is mercy corrales.  doesn't ring a bell?  probably, because she hardly comes out in the papers/tv, even if she's extremely newsworthy and inspiring.

she worked with levi's for 30 years -- where she ended up running the brazil market, and later on the japan market.

think about it a (1) filipina (2) woman running levi's in JAPAN.  

and don't be fooled -- levi's in japan is on a totally different level from the levi's in rest of the world -- she pretty much made it that way.

a few years back, she was asked to step out of her retirement to run starbucks japan, with nearly a thousand stores.  

uncredeeb.

brian uhing

speaking of paintings, got this email from the hub just now:

"Here's fodder for your blog...

Try slashmaraud.blogspot.com/2008/03/brian-uhing-opens-your-imagination.html

Chick it out... the one artist I would love to have but cannot find... it looks like he's living in Sagada with his wife... let's try to find him... although he does cost [a lot]...  i think he is THE most talented Filipino artist that I've seen...

Loveya"

(my first thought: "chick it out?" hihihihihi)

the hub is quite picky (and good, i must say) when discerning art.  

and this artist IS amazing.  hub and i got to see his works in his last show in Firma years ago.  here are some of his works posted on the blog above:

what talent!

pinoy pride

how exciting!  two more reasons for us pinoys to be proud of!

well, here's another one:  new york-based mia herbosa.  she's just really so talented!

glad i got to see the show in ayala museum with you and ngow earlier.  this poster's her self portrait which she enjoys doing.

this was what i liked -- "the dancer".

i like how the subject is very modern and nontraditional -- a male, old (gay-looking) dancer.  i didn't like the price -- 90k!!!

this was what ngow liked -- it was of mia's daughter --  he liked the technique a lot.

this was what you liked -- although i just took your photo with it since the glass made it impossible to take the photo.  it was a sad & powerful piece, very unlike you but maybe it's your current broken arm that makes you relate to broken subjects :(

then we trekked to another place worth being proud of -- ac 632 -- did you know that that stands for area code 632 -- hence, manila?

this is what i WANT -- just one though. can't afford all haha!

this is what you liked, 

but i think it's only because you liked the similar piece from terence conran :)

yun lang...