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this looks pretty cool.  think i'm going to have to get one.

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brandonmiq:

any music geek who is old enough knows and remembers the throwback sanctity of the mixtape. for those of you who remember the 80s and early 90s, you remember how equally awesome and awful using those things was. the beauty of them was that you could easily put together a 10 song mix for someone in...

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a stop in Cebu, the island of festivals

i am writing this post from a sleepless night, lying awake in bed, not wanting to be completely unproductive, but also wanting to escape from my restless mind.  so much has happened since i returned from the Philippines that i really have not had a chance to even sit down and document my thoughts.  once i arrived back in the states however, rather than take some time to share my experiences, i was immediately confronted by life, and all the things that i had left behind and basically neglected for the last 3 weeks.  needless to say, this is something i am afraid has already compromised the caliber of the memories and observations i took away and had previously wanted to forever etch into the permanent record of the blogosphere before it was too late.  bummer.

but there's hope!  this is honestly the 1st trip i've ever taken where i made an honest effort to document as much as i could with a camera!  so hopefully over the next couple weeks i will be able to slowly relive my 3 weeks in the Philippines with you via a series of whatever-it-is-that-i-find-on-that-piece-of-machinery-that-i-still-haven't-quite-figured-out-how-to-use.  

so let's jump right in!  the last few days i was there, i actually had a chance to leave manila and go visit my really good friend matt.  matt was my college roommate during our last year in school (he finished much quicker than i, and with much higher marks, i might add).  Matt has been working with a really great organization out in Cebu, Philippines for 2 years.  I'm not sure how much i am allowed to tell about them due to the private nature of what they do, but they work tirelessly to help liberate women from the sex trade in the Philippines by both rescuing them, educating them vocationally, and then by helping them find jobs and places to live in order to get re-acclimated and adjusted to living a normal, independent, and healthy life. empowering and enabling them from being a victim to a victor.  it really is one of the most worthy causes i know of, and matt saves lives every day.  he truly inspires me.

anyway, as soon as matt picked me up from the airport, he immediately took me to a local pizza place that he liked because he knew that i would probably be jonesin' for some good eats on the cheap!#mce_temp_url#

while there we spent some time catching up on work, women, and just life in general.  it was also very interesting to compare experiences in the Philippines, as his dove much deeper than my own (2 years vs. 2 weeks), but he was able to share his own american interpretations of things i had been wondering about.  matt speaks both pragmatically and insightfully, bringing a streetwise but also educated and well-balanced perspective into the filipino culture.  after awhile however, the serious talk devolved into a very fun impromptu "tour de filipino beer," where matt and i each sampled every single filipino beer a-la-the San Miguel family of brews.

(those of you familiar with the popular Philippines Beer company, San Miguel, will notice i am missing a couple beers in the picture.  that's just because i hadn't drank them yet) We didn't stop there, however.  we then ran them thru a complex rating system where we assigned each beer an appropriate activity to preferably enjoy while imbibing of that particular drink.  

activities included "hotdog pairing beer," "cockfight beer" (a common sporting event in the philippines), "Jeepney Beer" (for those familiar with my Jeepney obsession), "karaoke beer" (a filipino pastime!), "gettin' lucky beer" (shouldn't have to explain that one), and my favorite:  the "i'm better than you beer."

after sufficient "samples" had been "tested" and the "judges" had satisfactorily completed their "test," we moved on to more domestic environs.  matt and i went to a market, grabbed some whiskey (which is REALLY hard to find in the philippines.  i mean it- i was really annoyed that i could never find whiskey anywhere in this country, meanwhile rum was everywhere- a spirit i always found too sweet for my own palette. i guess this is a stupid thing to be upset about, but anyone who knows me understands my particular and -let's be honest- high maintenance nature when it comes to the spirits i drink), and then retired to matt's home where we smoked hookah (a traditional "peace pipe" of sorts from the middle east involving tobacco and fruit preservatives- it really has nothing to do with the philippines) and continued our besotted banter there before turning in early.

the next day we awoke early to catch a boat to the beautiful jungle island of Bohol.  

i'll save those adventures for next time.  all in all, i actually had a great time in Cebu, even though total, i spent less than 2 days there.  Cebu is also known as the "island of festivals,"  and i really do wish i could have experienced one of these while i was there. 

but all is not lost! for those of you who read my last update about the wonderful Jeepney, cebu did bring me one thing that i had really wanted to experience in manila but had been unable to:  a jeepney ride!

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how i became 100 artists

sometimes the idea IS the medium.  my favorite thing about this TED talk about art is that this man used 2 different layers to create his art.  most people look at the canvas as the medium, the thing upon which the creation was formed. but for this man, the canvas, the setting, the subject matter… these are all just the tools for a greater idea:  create a whole art installation, a whole exhibit full of contemporary art that features 100 artists that are all fictional.  he invented every artist and their backstories from thin air.  

so it stands to reason:  what is the piece of art?  is it the piece on display, or is it the fictional “artist” that “created” it?