#ME WHEN LECHON IS MENTIONED

[k-0re]

me when mc from resident lover is canonically Filipino

[chelleztjs18]

Hello you mrs. busy mom of a little booger honey nut cheerio lefty eyebag 😅

Good morning. I hope you slept well and got enough rest for another busy day. How are you?

Yeah, I made spaghetti, and it didn't make me upsetti hahahahaha but my headache is still here. I don't know why it's not going away, although it's not as bad.

Kansas is okay. I only really like it for the lego place ahaha oh fun fact, it had jack in the box and that was my first time ever having it. I didn't enjoy it though. They also had steak n shake, a place I thought was only in GA. Since my time was limited there, I didn't get to go.

Do you like roller coasters that have the water in the end? It'd be funny if Emily gets older and tells you that roller coasters are boring hahahahah or watch, she will be able to ride the extreme ones but then you can't anymore 😩

Ah yes! How can I forget the crispy pork or as we call it, lechon. And the BBQ skewers, I miss those too! I think I also forgot to mention the street foods, like fish balls, tempura, banana q (which is plantain with brown sugar). Maybe I will bring an empty suitcase and just bring back frozen packages of all these 🤣

Aw you worry about me? That's sweet of you. I'll definitely keep you posted about what is going on 😌

Ah I see... so just a small family dinner during your birthday? Yeah, we also eat noodles on our birthdays. Since I don't know how to make the noodles my family makes, I always just have spaghetti. 😅

I'm not sure what I would do 🤔

Question, so if you don't like someone you just keep quiet and be nice to them?

- CuriousGeorge

Hello corn-punn righty curious eyebag!

Em n i actually slept in until almost 10am. Lol. So it means no nap for her. Hahaha. Last night i finally cleaned more and did all the laundry. I just need to fold more clothes. N of course the toys r messy again from the little booger.lol.

I did 20hours fasting today 😅. N i just finished eating.

Oh n guess what?? I finished pt. 4 of The Monsters Within! Yay! I just need to proof read it again n check if it needs to be added with something else or not.

Ah okay,, did u make it with meatballs too? Im glad u r not upsetti with ur spaghetti. Haha.

Im sorry about ur headache. R u feeling better today?

Ah i see. So when u first moved to the U.S you moved to Kansas? Kansas City has a very good bbq place that i really like. It's called Joe's Bbq i think. I love it so much. I never been there but ordered it online sometimes

Yeah i do like it but not really big fan of it because it always gets me wet n i dont like my shoes get wet. I love my shoes 😅🤣 n it gross me out walking around at the park with wet socks n shoes.

Yess the lechon n the bbq skewers r so yummy. There is this supermarket in CA n it sells mostly philipinos stuff n food.. n u also love their crispy chicken skin. With the red sweet, tangy vinagret chilli sauce they have.

Oh yeah, food street always so tasty n different. But sometimes the hygines is doubted. To be honest, after i moved here n everytime i visit indonesia n eat the streetfood sometimes got me sick. Lol. I think the imune system n the strenght of my stomach changed after living here for a while.lol. thats why i usually eat homemade cooking in first week before i start eating the street food. It helps me avoiding the stomach ache.😅

Wow that banana n brown sugar sounds delicious.

Haha thats actually what i usuallt do when it's time to go back here from indonesia. It's full with jars of spicy chillie, some indonesian instant food and snacks.lol.

Yes i'm a sweet lefty eyebag..😎 lol. Yeah if u want to, pls keep me updated.😊

I tried to do the same noodle tradition on birthdays. N on em's first bday party i tried to have something noddly.. but since all the family members r white so i adjust it with his familt pasta salad recipe n change it from fussili to angel hair pasta 😅

Speaking of family, sometimes i feel like Gloria in modern family when im with his family. Because i'm the only asian /non-white in his family. His whole family n the in laws r either blonde or brunette with blue eyes or grey or green eyes 😅 n of course im the shortest among them 🤣🤣

Well if i dont like someone, i will try to stay quite n try to still being nice to them but mostly i will avoid being around them especiallly if i really really dislike someone because i know sometines i wont be ablr to take it n cant hide my dislike. 😅 but if that person keep poking me then i wont stay quite. What about u?

Next question?

Cheerio!

[danielsfilipinolitblog]

Week 9 Blog

America Is Not the Heart

Elaine Castillo

Pages Read: 171-220

Word Count: 327

Summary:

This week’s independent reading was pretty good. Further reading into Hero’s motives, desires, and her exploration of sexuality and relationships, we see how she develops as a person. She prefers to have casual sex with multiple partners. She is aware of what she is by sleeping around so much. During Roni’s eighth birthday party, Hero, overwhelmed by the normalcy of her new domestic life, cannot help but think of her friends from the NPA, many of whom are undoubtedly dead. After the event where Hero gave in to Rosalyn, we delve deeper into the complexity of love and relationships between her and the ones she interacts with.

Critical Analysis:

Out of the five quotes I have chosen from this week’s independent reading, one really stood out to me. "I'm just saying. You only have one life. [...] I don't know why they're playing like they're not meant for each other. Maybe they're not ready..." (196) I found this quote to be both important and interesting because it scratches the surface of the somewhat difficulty in having relationships. Although seemingly simple, human emotion and desire twist one's mind into twisting the decisions you make. Take Hero for example, having desire cloud her mind from making meaningful relationships, she decides to only have casual sex for the longest time.

Personal Response:

I find Hero’s journey so interesting to say the least. The dilemma she faces when met with a choice between fucking around and something passionate makes me so intrigued into what she will choose. I also still love how much of the Filipino culture is being included in this book by the author. Especially the food. I absolutely love Filipino food. What made my mouth water was the constant mention of lechon. Even lechon with Mang Tomas. It made me so hungry and left me with a craving for lechon. Lechon is basically a whole roast pig, but it can be served cut and into other various dishes.

[grvntld]

ayaw ko na guys yung utak ko talaga ang ewan hahahahgsghdsjdjdkfklf ☹ we hv suman on the table kasi tapos nag-uusap kami how it would have been yummier and more enjoyable if the suman has that subtle sweetness to it that it wont need sugar anymore tapos we discussed other malagkit options that are delish and i couldnt for the life of me remember that one malagkit treat which btw i just mentioned to my brother in the room a few minutes back, before we started eating. i was about to say its name out loud while all of us are talking but then my mind started thinking abt lechon kawali for some reason when that's def not the malagkit treat that i want to talk about. that's not even a malagkit goodie, puh-lease. damn it. i had to search "malagkit kahoy" on google bc my sibs couldnt get what im trying to tell them lmao it's kamoteng kahoy, you guys 😭 kaloka yung lechon kawali talaga lumalabas sa bibig ko every time i wanna say kamoteng kahoy like ?¿?¿?¿?¿¿?¿¿¿¿?¿¿¿?¿¿?????

okie ♡ good morning to y'all. i hope y'all's brains hv woken up olredi (((bc i think mine is still asleep chzz))). lmao.

[jojolovenotes]

Ayo shawty im back with my brainrot :DD im quite curious, do you have any hcs for Leorox?

Hello hello, I always welcome the brainrot!! Alright, LeoRox time!!  Couple Headcanons✨ - I mentioned this before, but I really love this idea so I’m gonna say it again!! Johnny did Rox’s makeup for her wedding... I’m sure at first Leone was a bit skeptical wondering why Rox and Johnny were so close ( and probably a little jealous of their friendship at first!) Johnny probably noticed this and pulled Leone aside like ‘look man, i don’t want your girl dlkfjdsf’ of course Leone played it off like he wasn’t worried at all or anything. - It’s cheesy as heck, but sometimes Leone brings up his first encounter with Rox, emphasizing what she had really stolen was his heart! hehehe ;P He always apologizes he’s like ‘Yeah... that was pretty bad. Alright, I’m going away now. Don’t look at me.’ and he gives Rox an embarrassed smile.  - He enjoys vibing to Rox’s music, I’m sure it’s something he has a whole playlist of probably just called like music by il mio amore. He especially loves listening to Rox’s music when they are apart from each other so that way he can feel closer to her. - OK but like, Rox teaching Leone how to make Filipino food!! Leone is actually the one who brings it up first about being curious about Filipino food. This man out here liking lechon, arroz caldo, and of course chicken adobo too!  -I feel like Rox sends Leone all these cursed memes and he’s always like ‘stop sending me these things’ but secretly he actually loves them and finds them very funny ;P 

[aaannmariee]

Baguio City: The happy place I want to visit, You should too!

When I was a child, I always hear the word Baguio from my parents and relatives. It is just funny to think that I used to think that Baguio was a typhoon, in tagalog 'bagyo'. I always hear from my mother and relatives using this dialect that I don't understand. Growing up, I always asked about Baguio and I found out that it was my mother's place. And my mom's dialect she always uses when talking to our relatives is called Ilocano. I came to think that I want to see the place where my mama grew up, and because of the good comments I have heard about Baguio, how beautiful it is, how refreshing and cool the air, and how simple their lives were. Baguio, also known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Established in around 1846 by the early spanish colonizers of the pine-covered highlands of the Benguet Province. As time passes by, Baguio was discovered and became the eight ancient wonder in the world.

After this pandemic, our whole family plans to visit and travel around Luzon, my Mom’s place and especially the summer capital. Baguio, on the Philippines’ Luzon island, is a mountain town of universities and resorts. Also called the “City of Pines,” it is particularly popular in summer due to unusually cooler weather. At its center is Burnham Park, with gardens and a lake. Nearby, Baguio Cathedral, completed in 1936, has a rose-hued exterior. The main thoroughfare is Session Road, lined with shops, restaurants and entertainment options.

Burnham Park is the place where people visit more. You can ride a bike, take a boat ride, or just walk around the park and enjoy the breathtaking place. It always feels like it is your first time whenever you visit it again and again. I remember my Mom and Sister’s voice reminiscing experiences there by even writing this. Oh, how excited I am for those bike and boat rides!

After spending time seeing the place, you will definitely be hungry and get something to eat especially in its cold weather, right? right!

The restaurants there have delicious foods that you will never forget. One of the most popular dishes is the bulalo steak sage, that warms your stomach in cold weather, it is very delicious! Here is the list of the 8 must-try bites and sips that are distinctly Baguio; Baguio Longganisa, Dipasupil, Strawberry Shortcake, Vizco's. Ube Jam, Strawberry Jam & Peanut Brittle, Good Shepherd, Raisin Bread, Baguio Country Club, Hot Chocolate, Choco-Late de Batirol, and Message In A Bottle, Baguio Craft Brewery.

Let's try the desserts!

"Great snacks while waiting for the bus.", "I just love these belgian waffles!" you can really tell how delicious it is! Well, Belgian waffles are ranked no. 4 out of 6 famous bakeries in Baguio. The highly recommended dessert shop in Baguio is the "Pamana lechon tsokolateria cafe", a chocolate shop located in Igorot Stairs, upper Rd. Actually you can just walk and not ride anymore because the cafe is just near the park.

Woh! I was suddenly hungry again hehe. Okay, let's move on!

I am pretty sure that you always hear the word 'Igorot', I am one of those called Igorot when in fact I am part of one of the various tribes which is Ifugao nevertheless say since people have kept on generalizing . Sometimes, people make fun of using this word and even use it to tease people who are dark, ignorant or just for stupid reasons. But in reality they just don't have any idea how wealthy they are in terms of money and of course in culture. I think the world has no idea on how they look right now, I don't know with you but do I look like someone you imagine a Igorot would look? Check my account and my whole "angkan" or clan's account (email me if you disagree,winks). Not much of the people and Filipinos know but this tribe have contributed so much in the country's overall food supply, like you know where does much of the "gulay" (vegetable) comes from. Igorots have massively influenced the Philippine's Agriculture. Though, true enough not all of those who farm are greatly blessed as much as the overall farmers but here in the Philippines as we know, most of the looked down poorest are such.

The Igorot are any of various ethnic groups in the mountains of northern Luzon, Philippines, all of whom keep, or have kept until recently, their traditional religion and way of life. Some live in the tropical forests of the foothills, but most live in rugged grassland and pine forest zones higher up. They are clustered in the Cordillera region of Luzon. It is true that they are famous for rice-terrace farming but saying that some of them have been known to be cannibals in the past is an exaggeration which only downgrades them. While the rice terraces were important to the Ifugao economy, they also served a cultural function, requiring intensive cooperation among the people. By the early 21st century, however, the number of Ifugao in the area had greatly diminished as many migrated to more urban centres. Meanwhile, Ifugao is a province in the Philippines situated in the Cordillera Administrative Region., which I have mentioned earlier we are part of or where my Mom is originally from.

But it would be great to give some amazing facts about igorots:

1.) The first ever Filipino to ride an airplane is an igorot - In february 1912, during a manila carnival celebration, Governor Walter Hare invited 120 tribes men from the cordilleras. One of the tribe's men named Gagaban who is an igorot chief accepted the American pilot Lee Hammond's invitation to fly with him. Before Gagaban, no other native had ever flown as a passenger.

2.) The first ever igorot beauty queen that captured the heart of manila - At just age 13, Eveline Chainus Guirey was the most famous beauty who cost a massive sensation in Manila in 1902. She was the eldest of the ten children of the Guirey family. She was the youngest beauty ever in the history of Philippines Manila carnival.

3.) The Igorots were never slaves by the spaniards because they fought for their independence - Contrary to the history textbooks that are commonly used in schools in the country which are stating , "We can never know the history of the FIlipino people during the Spanish period because they were slaves to the Spaniards or at least forced to play the role of slaves." The Igorots were never actually slaves of the Spaniard nor did they play the role of slaves. On the contrary of these books, Spanish records make it clear that they fought for their independence with every means at their disposal for 3 centuries and that resistance to invasion was deliberate, self-conscious and was continuous.

Additional Trivia would be that originally slash-and-burn farmers, they have since begun to practice more sustainable forms of farming. The Isneg are also known as good fishers, and have a penchant for coffee. Kalinga. The Kalinga tribes are perhaps the most diplomatic of all the Igorot.

Strawberry picking completes Baguio tourist’s experience!

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet-- This capital town of Benguet not only receives a spillover of the tourists who go to Baguio but also a visit here completes the experience of the visitors to the country’s summer capital, through its strawberry picking activity. Strawberries in Baguio are the best. Let us not forget strawberry picking!

What is your happy place? Where is that certain place you can consider as your epitome of tranquility? Well for me that would be family and that makes me want to make Baguio one of those I can call my wonderland. A place where I can also take not just a lot of instagramable pictures to post or put on my day stories but memories stored in my heart that I could share with my future children (forgive my futuristic approach,laughs). Memorabilias that I could gather with my family, Oh how wonderful it is to be able to witness and experience such culture and sights that have not just cultivated a lot of inspiration not just around the country but the entire world. Just imagine that historic park that couldn’t even be compared to the famous parks in other countries or how about that luscious strawberries that you can pick on your own. I don’t know about you but one thing this pandemic has made me realize is to live to the fullest, it would be great that we could go back and see the world or visit some of its God given majestic place nevertheless it would be greater to be able to see your own country’s tourist destination. I mean, we can not be just a tourist to other countries, right? Let us go ahead and visit to experience our very own. My very own, Baguio! Voila!

[garbagecanfics]

Wearing Rafael’s shirt

A/N: NSFW, barba/female reader. mix of first time calling him papi and wearing one of his shirts into work. I know what my blog is called, but I wanted to shake things up a bit.

@sweetcannolicarisi

Shit. You realize you’re out of clean clothes. It’s been a bit since you did laundry. You knew it would come back to bite you in the ass. You go back to your shared closet with Rafa hoping a clean shirt would appear. Thankfully it kinda did. You grabbed one of Rafa’s less obnoxious shirts and tucked it into your slacks. It looks a like a man’s shirt, but not enough for someone to notice. When lunch rolled around you decided to go visit your boyfriend. You called his office first and Carmen told you he was at the precinct. You swing by the store and grab some things to make for the squad. For you: (your favorite food). For Carisi: Zeppole and cannolis. For Rollins: your mom’s famous chicken salad that she loved. For Finn: BLT pasta salad. For Liv: Veggie Pasta Primavera. And last but not least for Rafa: Lechon asado, on the way back from the store you borrowed the recipe from Lucia, Rafa’s mother. After a half an hour of cooking you call Carmen again to make sure Rafa was still at the precinct and she confirmed he was. You excitedly packed up everyone’s lunch into travel containers in a paper bag and went down to the precinct. You realize in the car you haven’t visited them for a while so you were amped. When you walked through the door the first person who saw you was surprisingly Carisi. 

“Hey Y/N what’s goin on?” 

“Nothing much just bringing by some homemade lunch for you guys.” His face lit up at the mention of food. He looked down and saw the bag. You set it down on his desk and started to take out the containers. You had to slap away his hands from Rollin’s. You handed him his and he smiled bigger than you could have ever thought he would. 

“Zeppole AND cannoli’s?! You are too good to me Y/N” 

“I know, Sonny” you turned to Rollins looking on expectantly. “Here ya go Amanda” 

“You remembered!” 

“Of course I did!” you turned to Fin, nervous of what his reaction was going to be. You handed him his container. He opened it suspiciously. 

“What is this again?” 

“BLT pasta. I promise you’ll like it. Just try it.” he slowly took a bite, but after he chewed for a few seconds he smiled. 

“That’s damn good Y/N.” 

“I’m glad you like it.” 

“Hey Y/N. I’ve seen your shirt before…” Of course Carisi is the one who noticed. “Ah whatever.” thank god. Now you turned to Liv’s office to bring hers and Rafa’s lunch. “

Hey guys! I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” 

“Of course not Y/N. What brings you by?” Liv says welcoming you in. 

“Just bringing the squad some food. I think New York’s finest deserves a bit more than pizza and chinese food every once and awhile.” 

“That sounds amazing. I was just thinking about lunch.” You handed her, her container and she was excited. She closed her eyes and smiled at the smell. You turn to Rafa. Since you haven’t seen him since this morning, you give him a big hug. 

“Hey handsome. How’s work?” 

“Nothing exciting. No new cases as of now, thankfully. Now I can have lunch with you.” 

“I can’t wait.” You grabbed his container and handed it to him as you pulled out yours. You, Rafa, and Olivia brought your lunches into the bullpen joining the others. 

“Lechon asado?” You got nervous Raf didn’t like it. 

“I borrowed the recipe from your mom, is it alright?” 

“Don’t tell mami, but it’s better than hers.” 

“I definitely will not tell her.” you both giggled. 

“Hey Y/N how did you know I liked zeppole?” Carisi chimed in.

“I can’t remember who, but someone told me on your first day here you brought them in and offered them to other people?” 

“Did I do that?” He looked around at the other detectives and they all nodded. “Jeez well thanks they were the best I’ve ever had. Don’t tell my ma, she’ll kill me.” 

“I won’t tell her, I promise.” 

After a nice lunch the detectives had to get back to work so you decided to head home. Rafa walked out with you. When you both got home he pushed you up against the wall and kissed you hard. 

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that?” 

“I’m gonna guess since I got to the precinct?” you laughed under your breath. 

“Yes. Since I saw you walk in wearing my shirt.” I guess you weren’t as secretive as you thought. 

“You knew the entire time?” 

“It took me a few minutes, but after I hugged you I could smell my own cologne. Remind me not to put so much on.” 

“I think you wear the perfect amount. All of your clothes smell like that now and it makes me happy. If your not home I can put on one of your shirts and it smells like you.” 

“Alright. Noted. If I haven’t mentioned. You look incredibly sexy in my shirt. You should wear my shirts more often. Why are you wearing it to begin with?” 

“A less than sexy reason, but I forgot to do laundry and I had to stop into work. So I just grabbed one of yours and hoped it was inconspicuous. Not only you, but Carisi noticed as well.” 

“It is kind of obvious, that’s one of my favorite shirts. I wear it all the time.” 

“Good. It looks really good on you, that’s one of the reasons why I chose it. I wanna rip of your suit right now, so bad.” 

“Oh do you now?” 

“I want you now, papi.” you could see his face drop. You’ve wanted to call him that for weeks, but always forgot in the heat of the moment. 

“What did you just say?” 

“I want you now, Papi.” He pinned you up against the wall again. You could feel him growing beneath his slacks. He became more and more aroused after each kiss. 

“You want me right here, right now mami?” 

“Yes papi right now, please.” you never begged before, but he loved it. 

“Are you going to obey papi?” you nodded dutifully. You felt his hands move down and into your underwear. He inhaled sharply when he put his fingers inside of you. 

“You’re already so wet, cariño.”   

“Always for you, papi.” 

“Let’s move this to the bedroom.” you nodded silently as you both moved together, feeling each other on the way there. Carefully undoing each button, you started to strip him of everything except his boxers. You laid him down on the bed palming at his length. He moaned each time your hand moved. As you freed him from his boxers you remembered how big he is. He pulled you up into a kiss and then flipped you over so he was on top. 

“Do you want to do this?” he switched into concerned boyfriend Rafael. 

“Yes. Fuck me into next week papi.” he moaned still at the name. One day you hope to make him come auditorily, but today was not that day. You let out a loud moan as he thrust himself inside. As the night went on you came 5 separate times. It was the best night of your life. And all because you wore one of his shirts. You mentioned this to Rafa. 

“You should wear my shirts more often then mi corazon.”

[purplesurveys]

676

Themed surveys are the shit y’all. There should definitely be more of these.

General

Where is your country? My country is in Asia – specifically in Southeast Asia, which I recently learned a lot of people outside Asia aren’t aware of. We’re situated just right below China and we neighbor Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. How big is your country? It’s moderately large, but when you consider how many we are, we are an extremely small country. What is the population of your country? 109 million. I’m not sure if this is still updated, but we’re around the 12th most populated country in the world. Compare that with how we’re only the 77th in terms of size. How would you describe the landscape? We are an archipelago, which means our country is essentially a collection of thousands of little islands – 7,107 in total. Side note: this means it’s always been extremely hard to make an attempt to be ‘united’ as a nation, due to the fact that we are literally separated from one another. But besides that, yeah we’re made up of a lot of islands which means going from one province to another typically requires you to travel via plane, boat, or ferry. Aside from the tiny islands that we have, our country has three main islands, of which the small ones are a part of – Luzon (which is where Manila is and where I live), Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippines is also part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which means we have a number of active volcanoes and that we are prone to hurricanes – and we do get them, badly, every year. We also have a number of mountain ranges consisting mostly of tropical rainforests; these ranges, while beautiful, make traveling from province to province quite a challenge.  Which part of your country do most people live in? Oh Manila, without a doubt. Most people, especially from the provinces, want to move to Manila because it’s the economic hub and everyone has an ideal image of it bearing opportunity for them. Unfortunately it is never what it seems and Manila is instead filled with the urban poor, some homeless and some living in shanties or illegal settlements. A lot also live in the cities surrounding Manila in a region we call Metro Manila (or, officially, the National Capital Region) to have closer access to Manila, and also because these cities have proven to give them a better life as well.

Tell me about the main industries there. The main economy is agriculture, but since then we’ve been making a shift to manufacturing and the service industries. While the shift looks good on paper, it has since meant that our farmers have been neglected and they remain extremely poor despite the effort they put into their work. Our biggest exports are sugar, coconuts, rice, bananas I think?, pineapples, and mangoes.  Tourism is also an important industry and unfortunately we’ve been hit hard by the coronavirus. Nevertheless, significant tourist spots include Boracay, Puerto Galera, Palawan, Siargao, Baler, Vigan, La Union, and Baguio. Lastly – while it’s not an ‘industry’ per se, millions upon millions of Filipinos also try their luck abroad as OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) for better opportunity and higher pay. As a result, their remittances to the country is one of the biggest things that contribute to our economy every year, because these OFWs are usually the breadwinners and thus send money to their families, which obviously end up pouring into the national economy. What agricultural products are produced by your country? I’ve already mentioned them, but we’re essentially powerhouses in producing rice, sugar, coconuts, corn, rubber, several fruits such as pineapples and bananas, and a type of material called abaca.

Food and drink

What traditional dishes are served in your country? Which is your favorite? What’s the recipe? We have many, considering PH has a very rich native culture. A lot of our dishes have been inspired by Spanish and Chinese culture, such as lechon (whole roasted pig) and afritada (meat and veggies in tomato sauce) for Spanish cuisine; and siopao (a bread-like dumpling), siomai (our version of Chinese dumplings), and pancit (noodles) for Chinese cuisine. But besides those, we also have come up with our own such as dinuguan (pork blood stew), sisig (chopped pig’s cheek skin, ears, and liver), and sinigang (meat or seafood in sour broth). My personal favorite is kare-kare , which is oxtail and vegetables in peanut sauce. I dunno how to cook it but both my grandmothers have the best recipes.

What drinks is your country famous for? We’re not particularly known for our drinks as much as for our food, but we do have sago’t gulaman and taho. Fruit shakes are also widely popular, and so is coconut juice. We also produce several variants of coffee, such as barako and arabica.

What alcoholic drinks are produced in your country?Again, not really internationally renowned for drinks but Filipinos LOVE their beer. Popular favorites include San Miguel Pale Pilsen, San Mig Light, and Red Horse. Tuba and lambanog are notable local alcoholic drinks but tbh they’re so native and mostly consumed in the province that as a city girl, I don’t even know what they’re made of, and I mostly read of them in books lmao.

Are there any stories behind traditional foods? Not really. But essentially, Filipinos have historically lived in the wild, with some provinces more remote than others; and a lot of people are generally poor. That means it’s in our blood to have to make do with what we have, which is why a lot of our dishes are composed of things that may be conceived as weird by others, such as duck embryo, chicken intestines, or pig’s cheeks. We’re not ‘uncultured’ or ‘disgusting,’ we’re only from a different culture with very different origins than that of the West.

Political

What is the political system in your country? I just know we live in a democracy, but the official system name for our government is apparently a unitary presidential constitutional republic; thanks, Wikipedia.

Who is in power at the moment? Unfortunately we currently have a garbage of a President, and an internationally notorious one at that – Rodrigo Duterte.

How is your country dealing with the current financial crisis? I honestly don’t know how to answer this. The Philippines has never been one of the top dogs when it comes to global economy, and as far as I know we’ve always played it safe when it comes to this, so we don’t really get seriously hit when financial crises happen.

What can you say about the leaders of your country? Miserable. Most of our senators did not deserve a seat, but there they are. As it stands, we have a TV host, a boxer (Manny Pacquiao, no less), a former police chief, and an actor in the Senate. A number of personalities in the entertainment industry have also found careers in politics. This means a lot of the things that are urgent and need lots of rational decision-making are always handled poorly and haphazardly. A lot of politicians are known to be corrupt, stealing millions of money and spending more than they earn – but they always get away with it, the ones who are supposed to be the watchdogs of corruption are also their allies. The genuinely good politicians are always overpowered, silenced, arrested, killed, ostracized – and lose elections.

The elections system is just as sad. Most, if not all, candidates, appeal to emotion and literally exploit the poor by using them as talent in their commercials to show the other poor people watching TV that they are on their side – and because the poor don’t have access to education and don’t know any better, they end up voting for them, even though these candidates don’t actually give a single fuck about the poor. Many spend hundreds upon millions for TV and radio ads for 30-second spots. Election violence, vote buying, and ghost voting are widespread.

Cities

How would you describe the capital city and any other main cities? Manila is a sad shell of what it used to be. Look up photos of Manila in the 50s and 60s, and you’d see it looks no different than the streets of Los Angeles or New York. Today it’s neglected, overpopulated, congested, and resided by people who were once filled with hopes and dreams about Manila. There’s a side of Manila that is beautiful and pretty wealthy – the part along Manila Bay – but this side is only riddled with Chinese businessmen, most of whom treat Filipinos like shit. Quezon City, Makati, and Ortigas are the economic and financial hubs surrounding Manila and for the most part these cities are known as the hip places and it’s where the youth and adults hang out. It’s where the malls, bars, restaurants are, and these cities are the ones shrouded in Western influence; but because people do flock to these places, the cost of living is extremely high from parking fees to condominiums. The major city in Visayas is Cebu and in Mindanao, Davao; but given that I’ve only been to Cebu once, and Davao never, I can’t say much about them. What special attractions can be found in each city? Manila has Rizal Park and tons of museums but the city itself isn’t a favorite among foreign tourists; these people usually go to our beaches like Boracay and Palawan, or the cities that offer a more local scenery, like Baler, Bohol, and Ilocos.

Sports and games

What is the most popular sport in your country? How do you play it? Basketball, FOR SURE. Every barangay or municipality has their own basketball court – literally. Filipinos are just basically obsessed with it whether it’s the NBA, the PBA, or basketball even at the collegiate level. Are there any sports or games unique to your country? Very few. We’ve mostly gotten eaten up by Western culture and patronize sports such as basketball, boxing, and volleyball. The only traditional sport I know of is arnis, which even I know very little about except for the fact that it’s a martial art that involves sticks. When is the best time to watch them? I’ve never watched a game of arnis. And I generally don’t watch sports, so I’m not the best person to answer this lmao. How well does your country do in international competitions? I don’t follow a lot but we’ve made our mark here and there. Obviously Manny Pacquiao is a boxing legend, but we also have Hidilyn Diaz for weightlifting, Efren Reyes for billiards, Paeng Nepomuceno for bowling, Carlos Yulo for gymnastics, and Lydia de Vega for track. Are there any sports that foreign visitors practice in your country? I don’t think so. Is football (soccer) popular in your country? If so, which are the best teams? Not really.

Weather

Is the weather very different in different parts of the country? No. It’s mainly tropical, with extremely humid summers and it’s moderately cold by the end of the year. Only cities with high elevation, like Baguio and Sagada, get EXTREMELY cold during the Ber months, which makes them popular vacation spots during Christmas haha. Sometimes the temperature will dip down to 10 or 9 degrees Celsius, which is a huge deal here.

Can you describe the seasons? We don’t have the conventional ‘seasons’ y’all have. We have two main ones – warm and wet. Wet is just the season with typhoons, warm is either summer, or a period with no typhoons. Pretty straightforward.

What is the best time to visit? It depends on where you’re going. Going to Baguio, for example, is the best during the colder months (October to December) to really maximize the colder weather. Going to the beaches is ideal in April to June.

Language

What languages are spoken in your country? Nearly 200, but official languages are Filipino and English. What language do you usually hear on the streets? Filipino. But it depends where I am, too. In wealthier cities, I’ll hear English more. How many people speak English in your country? A good number; I’d say 60-70% can understand or speak basic English. Those who can speak it conversationally comprise a smaller amount. Some still live in pretty remote areas and thus have no concept of English.

Customs

Is there a particular national costume? Can you describe it? Yeah, for the woman we have baro’t saya, and for the men we have the barong Tagalog. Just Google them lmao.

Are there any special local dances? What are they like? Several ones, like tinikling (a dance where you have your feet play with bamboo poles routinely beat together or tapped by two other people) and cariñosa, a romantic dance. But due to the Western influence here, people are more prone to get into hip-hop or contemporary dance more. Are the people generally friendly? Without a doubt, yes. Filipinos are extremely known for their hospitality. If a tourist were to knock on our door right now we would definitely let him in, make him dinner, and my mom would probably ask me to give my bedroom to him for the night. What are some special customs or traditions in your country?

We have the mano po, which is when younger individuals would greet their seniors/superiors by taking the older person’s right hand with their right hand, and placing the back of the older person’s right hand it onto their forehead. It’s a significant sign of respect and to avoid doing it is extremely impolite.

We also have the concept of community spirit, or bayanihan. Basically, if one is in need, everyone in the same community steps up and helps. The quinetessential example for this is when one has to move their hut to a new location (Filipinos before were nomadic), all the neighbors swoop in to help lift the hut and carry it all the way to the new place. 

Courtship was an important step in traditional society, and the man would do a harana, or serenade the woman while playing the guitar, in front of her house while she looks out her window.

Noche Buena is the traditional midnight meal (kinda like our version of Thanksgiving) that we have by the end of Christmas Eve to usher in Christmas Day

Po and opo are filler words used to denote respect, and is always affixed to the end of sentences when speaking with elders. It’s not required, but of course you’ll look like a disrespectful asshole if you don’t use it with older people.

History

What can you tell me about the history of your country?

Pre-colonial Philippines was rich and vibrant, and one that would be considered pretty fucking progressive even today – transgender people were welcome, women were of a higher social status than men, among others. 

This all changed when the Spaniards came and tl;dr ruined everything for us. They wiped out our folk religions, literature, songs, legends, epics, and everything good that we had going. Friars abused us physically, sexually, and economically; everyone was forced to convert to Catholicism; early newspapers were shut down; forced labor was imposed; anyone who disagreed with their rule was killed.

After 333 years we were sold to the US for $20 million. Americans gave us the modern education system, a modern government system, a richer literature, religious freedom, and of course, the English language. But they also brought us colonial mentality and materialism, which persists to this day. Americans were also racist towards us and the only reason we have international schools today is because these were actually started up by American soldiers so that their’ kids would have schools that didn’t have native Filipinos in them. 

By WWII, Japan destroyed the Philippines, leaving us to start from scratch. They bombed Manila, raped our women and young girls and made them sex slaves, brutally murdered everybody else who weren’t women and young girls, stole everything from us, and established a puppet government in Manila to bully us further. The only reason they gave us independence was because US had dropped atomic bombs onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they had no choice but to surrender.

Three colonizers has left us pretty traumatized, something we’ve never truly recovered from to this day. Our political system is shaky, our sense of identity is lost, we’ve never been truly ‘united’ as a nation, and the Catholic penetration has made us a widely conservative, pro-life, anti-LGBT country.

Did your country gain independence from another country? If so, when and how did this happen? See above.

[pressureblogs]

Introductory note: In this last performance task, it is a critique paper. I critiqued Rashid’s travel essay. His travel essay was all about his trip in Cebu city with his family. So far it was interesting but there were useless facts and too much of facts.

———————

Dweyne Mikhail E. Mosqueda

Critique paper

The travel essay was written by Rashid Ong Tamano and his travel essay was all about his experience and journey in Cebu city. Rashid stated that he had a fun experience in Cebu city and he did not experience any trouble. He stated facts about Cebu city saying it is known to be the Queen City of the South and it is the oldest and second most important city. He also mentioned the tradition of Cebu city which is the Sinulog Fetival which is famous because of its colorful costumes and street dancing. He also stated the differences of bisaya and the cebuano language because of the different terms. He gave another fact about the best tasting lechon in Cebu city. Rashid went to Cebu city with his family during the semester break last October 2016. He was amazed with the road, mall and their delicious food. He spent time with his step brother by playing computer and spent time with his dad by bowling in the mall. They went to Cebu city so that Rashid and his step brother will get to know each other and it went well and it was successful. His step brother is living in Manila that is why they don’t have that much time to spend time together. So I will start with the strengths of Rashid’s travel essay. Rashid’s strength is that he really mentioned so many things about Cebu city, like the facts, history, details, experiences and feelings. Rashid described Cebu city very well and understandable by stating facts and history that we must know. He also expressed his feelings and his experience in Cebu city and you can also experience and imagine that you are also in Cebu city because of how he explains it and describes it. Rashid’s travel essay is very detailed which is interesting. He showed me that he really had fun in Cebu city and that he had the opportunity to bond with his family. He also mentioned the reason why they went on a trip in Cebu city and it was all about the bond with his step brother. He went to Cebu city not just to enjoy and experience but to bond, learn and realize a lot of things. The weaknesses of Rashid’s travel essay is that in the first sentence he already said the thing that he loved the most about the city without mentioning Cebu city. He also mentioned too much details and facts about Cebu which some were not that necessary and not that useful for the main idea of the travel essay. In conclusion, Rashid’s travel essay was very interesting and entertaining overall because he spent his semester break with his family and he experienced a lot and learned a lot of new things. The main idea of Rashid’s travel essay is that even though your family is blended or extended, a family will always be a family to you no matter what. Everything is much better when the whole family will go on a vacation. Even though there are weakness in the travel essay, it is still interesting and fun to read because the most important part is the thought and the idea of the whole travel essay. The strength of his travel is the idea and thought, that is why we should appreciate and love our loved ones and that we should always be a family person because family will always have your back.

[carleencl]

🎤 DAY6 Youth Tour in Manila 2018 Experience

October 6, 2018 - 3 months late but all the feels during the concert is still alive and kicking! I just can’t fully put into the words on how to explain about the whole concert. I’m literally.. speechless. Anyway, this is the day that marks my first ever concert under the JYP Entertainment label. In the past, I’ve only went to K-Pop artists’ concerts under the YG Entertainment (cause I’m reallyyyy a YG Stan from the start).

This time, I have witnessed a very good artist by the name of DAY6. They are not your ordinary K-pop group since they are a band consisting of 5 members namely: Jae, Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon. Each member has an instrument they are good at and also everyone sings (although Dowoon is new to singing and I believe is starting to have vocal lessons.)

DAY6 Youth Tour in Manila was instantly sold out during the ticketing day. I was relieved and thankful that my friends and I got tickets for their concert. The concert was held at KIA Theater in Cubao, Quezon City and started at 7 in the evening and ended at around 10 o’clock.

The day actually started by having to wait in a very very long line to be able to get our wrist band and another line for our sequence number as we enter the venue. If I’m not mistaken, I think it took as about 3 hours until we were able to be inside Kia Theater. Thus, once entered, I have no decent photo with the “Youth” sign since we were in the standing area, having a little bit of sore legs, and all the excitement feeling we had.

BTW, this is again another first time for me to be in the standing area. I’ve always been choosing seated area since I don’t really like being “squeezed” in a crowded area.

The band started the night with the songs: "I Smile," "First Time," and "Better, Better."

The crowd cheers as the group finished their first set. YoungK even said, “Manila, I heard you guys are great singers. I heard you guys know how to sing.” which made MyDays cheered louder.

The concert continued with the songs, “Say Wow,” “Pouring,” and “Somehow.” The feeling of all of us was literally “in the moment” of watching DAY6  perform before our eyes.

In between I think I heard Wonpil said, “Mabuhay Philippines! Ako si Wonpil. So... so hot today.”

Next songs were: “I Need Somebody,” “I Wait,” “How Can I Say,” followed by “Like That Sun.”

Everyone were extremely screaming when YoungK said, “You guys are amazing, incredible, sensational, spectacular, unbelievable. Thanks to you guys I feel really happy." Well, who wouldn’t scream, right?

More songs were played by DAY6 and it were “Be Lazy,” “DANCE DANCE,” and “What Can I Do.”

“WARNING,” “I'm Serious, “Talking To” were up next in the band’s setlist.

A little pause from all those singing to be able to talk to the fans. Jae started talking how sweaty his shirt is.

Jae: "I dont think my shirt has ever been this sweaty. You want me to take it off?"

Fans were chanting to take his shirt and Jae was like taking it off but didn’t do it. He was just teasing us! 🤣

YoungK spoke next said, “My shirt was always like this.. “ as he was referring about his sweaty shirt.

Wonpil mentioned that the food in the Philippines is delicious and then the crowd shouted “Jollibee! Jollibee! Jollibee!” Wonpil asked, “What’s Jollibee?” YoungK even asked, "you guys hungry?" And the added, "ME TOO!!"

I’m really amazed how DAY6 can perform almost non-stop but still give an amazing performance. No regrets in supporting the band. 💙

“Shoot Me,” and “Congratulations” were performed next. The fan chant for “Shoot Me” was beyond amazing since we actually sang the song with DAY6.

“Congratulations” was the song all MyDays were singing while DAY6 were playing their instruments. I also think I heard Jae say, “Beautiful“ as MyDays were singing the song.

Everyone was singing along with “You Were Beautiful,” “I Loved You,” and “I Like You.” After, Wonpil said that Filipinos are great singers.

DAY6 were hinting that the show was almost over then the crowd shouted, “walang uuwi (no one will go home).” The boys didn’t know what it means but Dowoon started playing drums with its rhythm and the others were like chanting/sang along with MyDays while saying “walang uuwi. 😂 🤣

Next song played was “Letting Go.” Jae mentioned that MyDays are beautiful - “ang ganda niyo.” Sungjin even said “mamimiss ko kayo.” The boys promised to come back in Manila.

A video was being played which is the fan project for DAY6. The video has “Beautiful Feeling” as its background music which I think is very very right with how everyone feels during that night.

Here’s the official VCR for the Fan Project:

©️ MyDays PH

After watching the fan project, DAY6 got so emotional about it and I think they were speechless during that time. The crowd were cheering “DAY6″ continuously as to show how we truly love and support them.

JAE: “I know, I know you guys have been waiting. First of, we're sorry we can't come by earlier. But, I'm so sure we're coming back to Manila. And uhmm, thanks!

I think today, was a big event for us and if you don't mind we'll go one by one to just kind of tell how we feel today. Okay, Wonpil.”

WONPIL: “So today we are finally able to perform here in the Philippines. We always thought to ourselves when will we able to come here in the Philippines and I'm so happy that we are able to perform with a hot passion from you guys. You guys are actually more than what we expected. We heard you guys actually scream from behind the scenes before we start the whole show. So I think because of that we were able to perform our very first song with a great energy.

I'm so happy we were able to perform here in the Philippines even if the Philippines is quite far from Korea. Also the fact you guys are supporting us from here is really thankful, and I'm very thankful for you guys.

I think we're going back to Korea with great memories made here and just like the title, "Youth," we are in our youth right now so I hope you guys will all have a great youth. And also, I think that we will be able to end this concert well. Mahal ko kayo!”

YOUNGK: "So it was a great honor and pleasure to hold a concert in front of you guys, Philippines, Manila. And what I felt today was like Wonpil said, even before, even from the beginning. No not even the beginning, before the beginning you guys were singing along, right? And one of the songs that I could here the loudest, “Geureol Tende” (I Would). Oh man, I was excited even at the backstage and just like Wonpil said, you guys are more than what we expected, you guys were amazing. It's just a pleasure to just sing in front of these amazing people. And I feel like every time I feel this pleasure or like this "thankfulness," I feel like I should work harder. So basically, you guys are my motivation.

So, how was today? Even though they were sad songs. Are you guys happy? Are you guys as happy as I am? (crowd says YES!) Then I guess this show is a success. And that's all I ask for, that's all I wish for. By singing in front of you guys, if you guys can feel happy, if you guys could go home. There's a line in DANCE DANCE, (speaks the Korean lyrics).

Can you please translate? (referring to the Korean translator)

"If you go home you will be satisfied for you won't forget this feeling."Are you guys gonna do that for me? (The crowd cheers, YES!)

Okay, then we will be back! Thank you Manila! Thank you and salamat po!"

DOWOON: My first time Philippines. Thank you for good memory.

This is our first time in the Philippines, right? So we were kinda worried and nervous that we might not do well here in the Philippines. But I realized I did not need to worry because you guys enjoyed so much.

Thank you all for coming tonight! Sobrang saya ng gabing ito. Tama ba? (Tonight is so much fun. Is it right?) Thank you!

SUNGJIN: First of all, I'd like to say sorry for making you guys wait a lot. When I first saw your phrase, the one you are holding up, something came up to my mind right away. Even if we have been loved for a long time, we are worth it. You guys are so worth it to be loved.

Just like what Dowoon said a while ago, we were quite nervous and worried for this concert but because of you guys were able to perform well.

So thank you so much! So until the next time, it won't take that long. Let's see each other again! Thank you!

JAE: It's really.. It's been an amazing night with all. And I have reasons to come here cause all my music inspiration are from here. Uhm you guys know, AJ Rafael? Anyway, I kinda grow up doing music through YouTube and I learned a lot from artists that are from here. And I just want to thank you guys, thank Manila, thank Philippines for giving me music pretty much.

So thank you for that and I mean like we all say before, we're really sorry we couldn't come earlier. We really want to, honestly wanted to.

The food here is good. What did I eat? Yesterday I had, I don't know if I pronounce it right but.. I looked it up, I looked it up before I came. I was like, "I gotta have, gotta have lechon." It was really really great. You guys have amazing food here.

Overall, guys I don't think I have ever sing that much, as in ever in my entire life. It was an amazing intense night. Also I think, I ever not sing the first part of "You Were Beautiful." But you guys were so loud and so beautiful, I couldn't. I just can't.Overall, tonight, I got a message for everybody, "Ang ganda niyo!" (You are beautiful)

Their words were very touching that really made every MyDay teary-eyed. DAY6 mentioned that they really wanted to come to Manila even before and were very thankful for the warm welcome for them.

Afterwards, Sungjin invited everyone to take a photo with the banner we were holding saying, “The wait was long, but you were worth it”.

Crowd were cheering for DAY6′s encore. The band sang last three songs which were “Wish,” “Freely,” and “Sing Me.”

The boys were extra hyper during the encore that even Sungjin and Jae went closer to the crowd. Lucky lucky fans who had close encounter with them! 😭

The show ended at around 10 in the evening, having 3-hour concert. I really am just at awe how good they are at performing live. 😍 I felt DAY6 is just so awesome that they deserve every recognition and future awards they’ll received. 😭

Compiled some short clips I had during the concert, and feel free to watch it.

SETLIST

I Smile First Time Better Better Whatever! Say Wow Pouring Somehow I Need Somebody I Wait How Can I Say Like That Sun Be Lazy DANCE DANCE What Can I Do WARNING! I'm Serious Talking To Shoot Me Congratulations You Were Beautiful I Loved You I Like You Letting Go Beautiful Feeling (Fan Project)

ENCORE Wish Freely Sing Me

Even though it has been three months already, the lyrics mentioned by YoungK is still true and I repeat: "If you go home you will be satisfied for you won't forget this feeling." I think I won’t forget the feeling during that night ever. To DAY6, I might be a newbie but you are so worth it in every aspect. Again, the wait was long, but you are worth it.

[depression-oatmeal]

Big Boi Filipino

The address: 2027 Sawtelle Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025

The website: https://www.gobigboi.com/

The rating: 29/30 on the Depression Oatmeal Scale

I know, I know – I think this might be the highest rating I’ve ever given a place. Before I get started, you should know that the Sawtelle District in Los Angeles (I think it’s somewhere between Inglewood, Santa Monica, and to the left of the 405 if you’re driving northbound) has some of the most kick-ass food I’ve ever had. There’s another place there that I hope to have an entry for someday that I ate at back in October (a ramen house) so food here so far is 2 for 2. I highly recommend this location for a lunch stop or date night, as the street has a somewhat magical and cutesy feel to it. There is an abundance of local food here – in fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a single chain in my journeys out there. I have been frequenting this area more as of late because of the proximity it holds to two of my friends, so I hope to have more delightful eateries to report back on at some point.

Sunday was day 2 of wild card weekend and I had made plans to meet up with a couple of my friends after my morning hike in Fullerton. Initially, we were promised delicious Filipino food from one of the individuals in attendance, but because of a misfortune with a vehicle this didn’t happen. While we were watching the 49ers beat the cowboys, I mentioned that I still wanted Filipino food, as this is a cuisine I rarely get the opportunity to try. Thus, we ended up ordering take-out from big boi, as many of them had eaten there in the past to critical acclaim. While I was slow to eat my order because of the abundance of chicken liver I had consumed for a second time, I was not disappointed by the comfort food and it kept me sustained well into the early hours of Monday.

In hindsight, I realized that while I enjoyed myself (we went to a place called Busby’s for pool and karaoke after the chiefs destroyed the steelers) and the time I got to spend with my core group, I wasn’t in a great mood. Considering the events of the previous week – I wasn’t all that shocked, but I had hoped that Sunday would serve as a fresh start day for many things. I had some difficult discussion with my friends about breaking off my engagement, and there were a lot of questions. As I’ve learned in my readings and in therapy, this isn’t that big of a surprise in general because I kept so many things under wraps for so long. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they didn’t even believe me. While I may never have the true answer to this question, I suspect this to be a result of a non-BP supporting a BP for decades, with elements of shame sprinkled in. So, I was very grateful to have some authentic Filipino comfort food at my disposal – and man, I ate a ton of it.

I unfortunately didn’t take any photos of my food, so I’m going to have to use Yelp to help me again:

  I want to point out that both the Lechon Kawali (pork rind but different) and Lumpia Shanghai were both supposed to be shared; however, no one ate any. When we got back in the early hours of Monday, I devoured both bags. The portions are huge for the price, given that this is Los Angeles. The Lechon Kawali made for the perfect drunk snack, and was like a chewy, fatty version of another Mexican pork rind variety I’ve tried in the past. However – it help up to storage conditions much better. I commented to my buddy that with the Mexican chicharrones with the skin attached, you usually have to be there first thing in the morning (el progresso) to get them while they’re fresh – if you buy them late in the afternoon, or don’t eat them until the next day, they’re usually stale and not that good. This was not the case with the Lechon – it was to die for. It also came with a side of Masarap for dipping – but I didn’t really eat much of that because of COVID and cross-contamination (double dippers).

The Lumpia Shanghai was exactly what I expected – small, better tasting fried egg rolls with much more flavor. I don’t like egg rolls as much, particularly because of the size – but lumpia are truly a finger food and excellent for snacking. It’s like biting into a fried meaty stick with sauce. These little delicious babies of sexual pleasure were served with a sweet and sour sauce, but for me it wasn’t that impressive. It was fairly standard, and while it complemented the Lumpia perfectly, I found myself wishing that I had something closer in consistency and flavor to the Masarap, or like a thai peanut sauce. I didn’t say this when talking about the Lechon, but I also want to mention that both it and the Lumpia held up extremely well to air-frying – it was basically like the food was coming straight out of the restaurant. Seriously, these guys don’t mess around – get the Lumpia. You won’t regret it.

Finally, outside of all of the fat-fuck fried deliciousness, I ordered a traditional Filipino comfort soup called Sinigang. This was fanfuckingtastic. The description on their menu describes it simply as tamarind-based sour soup. I don’t know if y’all know this, but basically anything made with Tamarind is fucking elite tier. The soup base was thin and extremely flavorful – it was also packed with fresh ingredients slow-cooked to perfection. It had beef short rib, daikon radish, and some other greens I couldn’t pick up on. The chef at big boi calls this dish “Filipino Penicillin”, apparently. I must say that I agree wholeheartedly, because a hot and wholesome soup was exactly what I was looking for on Sunday – something to cure what ailed me (not possible but a guy can try). I will 100% be ordering this again; I might also try to make it, if I can get past the fact that whole tamarind looks suspiciously like cat shit.

On food alone, this place would score a 28/30 on the Depression Oatmeal Scale, but I have to admit – it’s convenience and adaptation to the pandemic inspires a point more. They offer delivery via the big 4, they have an online powered ordering menu for take-out, and if you live anywhere in a mile vicinity of Sawtelle it’s easy to walk to. Parking is almost non-existent; this might be the reason I wouldn’t give it a perfect 30. In fact – the one time I parked my car in Sawtelle, I got a ticket – smh.

[yourelysianbeauty]

Short Story - The Truth about my Mother

On December 25, 2001, It was Christmas eve, I was Inside the bedroom watching fireworks outside of my window. Suddenly, I saw a strange man wearing a mask in front of our house. I was going downstairs to tell that someone is outside. As I was on my way down, I heard three gunshots. I went immediately to my bedroom to get my “balisong" that my father given to me after the Noche Buena. I started to felt that my body was shaking and my head spinning around because I was afraid and nervous. I went downstairs to see what happened. I saw my dad laying on the couch full of blood and my mom is not there. I started to walked towards him and my father whispered to me “Valerie run!”.  

Then I felt someone behind me.  I immediately grab my ”balisong” and I stabbed him in the right waist and he felled. I started to run but he shot my left leg and I felled too.  As he stood up I saw a dragon tattoo on his nape.  While I was on the floor he held his gun and attempted to pull the trigger right in front of my face suddenly, I heard a police siren.  I saw the worry in the man’s eyes; that he might be caught. He immediately escaped, as he rode his motorcycle and drove.  I was left lying down thinking about why it happens.  Then I lost my consciousness.

After three days, I woke up in a room and I saw my uncle Alberto,  the brother of my father,  sitting on the corner.  He saw me woke up. He looked at me worried as he walks towards me and hugged me, tells me that “everything will be okay Valerie. ” On that day, my uncle took the responsibility for me and I promised myself that I was going to kill the man that was responsible for my father’s death and find my mom who suddenly disappeared.  Just like my father, uncle Alberto taught me Filipino martial arts like “arnis” and “kali”, how to held a gun, the proper used of “balisong”, reading investigative documents, and how to cook my all-time favorite “lechon paksiw” on Noche Buena.  He was a very good man, a friend, and a father.

In 2015, my uncle let me joined the Philippine Agent Association (PAA), an organization that was lead when he still alive and was replaced by my uncle.  My uncle taught me many things that could help me to be a better agent.  I saw my father and my mother’s twin sister on the best agents in the 1990’s.  My aunt Vanessa died on a mission she was killed by an unknown drug lord, one of the dangerous criminals that the PAA faced until now.  That’s why my first mission was to find the place where the transaction of drugs happens in able to catch him.  

As I was on my mission I took advantage to secretly investigated the possible locations of my mother.  One day someone texted me a mysterious address.  I hurried  to go to the said address even though I knew in myself that there was no certainty that what she was saying was true.  While I was on my way to the said address, someone on a motorcycle following me.  So I drove my car faster hoping that I would lose the motorcycle.  Minutes passed by it was still tailing me.  

Therefore, I decided to stop the car on the side of the road.  Surprisingly it did too.  Then she stops, I asked her why she was following me but she never answered.

She suddenly ran towards me and fought me.  I fought backed and hit her face.  Then she kicked me, and I fell.  “you’re not ready to face him.  “ she told me.  I said “ ready for whom? “, “the drug lord” she answered.  

She laughed and told me “you don’t know your real mom was dead”.  My mind was confused.  I haven’t know what to believe.  ‘what were you talking about?’ I asked.  Then she pulled me up and told me that my real mom was aunt Vanessa.  

She died on the mission with the most dangerous drug lord.  Your father decided that your real auntie Victoria will be your mother and she agreed because she loves her twin sister very much.  My world stopped, realizing that all of these years my father lied to me that my mother was my aunt Vanessa.

Then she said, the one who planned to kill your father was your aunt Victoria.  She mentioned that my aunt was very angry with my father because she let my real mother Vanessa carry out the mission when I was a month old.  My aunt asked her boyfriend to kill only my father, but he wanted to kill me too that’s why she calls the nearest police.  My aunt got scared and ran away.  I said in a loud manner you were there and did nothing about it and you just let my father be killed and who were you by the way!?.  

She said that a friend who loves my aunt Victoria.  She tried to prevent my aunt but she threatened her that she will kill herself that’s why she let that happened.  Then I asked who my aunt’s boyfriend was.  She said that it was my uncle Alberto.  Then a car stopped, pointing guns at me then she suddenly hugged me. The bullets came right through her. Then she said, “Valerie run!“. Everything was fast I didn’t know what to do.  I felt confused and scared.  I didn’t  run because I was tired of running.  I threw my small dagger at the person who held the gun.  The driver drives fast.  I looked at her on the ground and her eyes smiling, it seems like she finally felt peace.

I felt that I was going to explode and there’s one way to confirmed that my uncle was the one who killed my father.  I used her motorcycle to go to my uncle’s mansion where she taught me many things.  When I was there I climbed to the rooftop at the back of the mansion was with fewer guards. I go inside through the window and gently go down.  It was my first time in that room and I was shocked by what I saw, different drugs like cocaine, opioids, cannabinoids, club drugs, and many more. I started to the think that uncle Alberto was the drug lord.  My heart beats faster and I took a deep breath.  

I gently opened the door and I saw a guard and he sees me.  I don’t panic and asking confidently, where is my uncle? I would like to speak to him. The man said he was waiting for me in the office.  I realized something was wrong then I punched the man on his back.  I get his caliber 9mm and put him inside the room.  When I finally saw the office, I pushed the door gently, and I saw my uncle Alberto sitting on his chair and smiling at me. He said how was your day Valerie? and I said I was okay.  While he walks toward me, I gently get the caliber in my pocket to shot him.  

Uncle Alberto suddenly said, “history repeats itself”. It makes me angry that’s why I tried to shoot him then I pulled the trigger in front of him but there were no bullets.  He laughed at me and said, “you were just like you’re father a stupid. ”.  I tried to kicked him on his left knee but he stops it with his hand.  He punched me on my left cheek but I also punched him on his right waist.  I pushed him and I saw the dragon tattoo on his nape. I  gently get my “balisong” in my pocket to stabbed him and saying “history repeats itself”.  Suddenly he had his gun pointing at me and saying “wow Valerie you’ve grown strong like me but still, you’re so weak just like my brother.  This was your last night that’s why I was going to tell you that I was the drug lord who killed your mother and your father, laughing evil.  

Suddenly he was shot on his back and felled because of that strange lady wearing all black coming inside who broke the window with her gun.  Her face was covered in a black cat mask but I could tell that her eyes were familiar was my mom! or should I called auntie Victoria. I don’t know what to felt should I be happy because she saved me.  She came towards me and uncovers her faced finally it’s confirmed that she was my auntie. She said, “I was sorry I should not let your uncle Alberto kill your father, I should have known right away that he was the drug lord who killed your mother. ” Then my uncle Alberto having his consciousness and shot me on my right traps near the neck I started to bleed faster.  I slowly lost consciousness I saw my auntie get my “balisong” and used it in continuously stabbing my uncle. Then my eyes closed.

I woke up in a room, I saw my father Arturo and mother Vanessa sitting on the corner.  They walked towards me and hugged me they said: “ we loved you Valerie but it’s not your time. ” suddenly it was too bright that I could not see anything.  

The bright was gone and they disappeared as well.  I saw my auntie Victoria sitting on the corner.  She walks towards me, hugged me, and telling me she was sorry for what happened.  

I hugged her very hard and telling her that I loved her very much and asking to stay with me and not to run away. She said, “of course I will not run away never again.”

Many months had passed me and my auntie go to a province far away from Manila. There we started a new life and we did a “Lechon” business so that I could be able to cook my all-time favorite “Lechon Paksiw. ”  

The end

[rotzaprachim]

Kanej Modern Occult Detective AU

For the amazing Isabelle @pivoinesaturnienne who requested ‘Inej and Kaz in a modern au pls 👏🏼☺️’ 

Based roughly on the episode and a half I have seen of Lucifer 

1. Kazuya Brekker was born in the 1600′s, the son of a Japanese woman and a Dutch merchant. His mother saw something chaotic in his dark eyes and named him for the peace she hoped he’d acquire instead. Both of his parents died when he was young, and he was primarily raised by his half brother Jordie. They’re living in Amsterdam and hustling at the trade exchange (though Kaz has figured out how to route large chunks of VOC guilden into his personal accounts, but damn those bastards deserve it) when the city is smashed with an epidemic. He dies, and then comes back to life as . ..  something a little more than human. 

2. Kaz basically spends the next 400 years as a literal demon- flitting between parallel realms (he’s always felt like a member of two worlds anyway), accumulating ridiculous amounts of cash, and holding a hell of a lot of grudges. For some theological mumbo-jumbo reasons I don’t feel like figuring out, Kaz ends up stranded in modern day New York City, without the benefit of his usual demonic powers. 

3. Inej Ghafa runs a private investigation firm in Queens. She takes almost any clients who need her, and resultantly barely makes enough to keep the lights on. (There’s one person who drags her home from the office and makes sure she eats a meal that’s not ramen, stale bagels, or instant coffee, and that’s her room mate Nina.) 

She’s Tamil Catholic and actively practicing. 

She’s also still super close to her family, and treks out to New Jersey on Sundays to go to Mass and lunch with them. 

On the whole she really likes her job. It can be difficult and tiring, and it’s impossible to be an investigator and not constantly, furiously angry with the institutionalised inequalities of the Justice System, but usually she feels like she’s doing something that helps others. Usually. 

It’s on a grey Thursday morning she meets Kaz. She doesn’t really know what the GQ model, or whatever the hell he is, is doing in her office, but she’s not exactly going to complain, if only for the pure aesthetic appreciation. Still, she feels acutely aware of the knife she has hidden in her desk drawer.

He stands sort of awkwardly at the door until she gestures for him to sit down.

“I can’t pay a temp right now,” she says evenly, even though this guy looks more one of the Wall Street up-and-comings whose corporation deals her eviction notice than the kind of people who usually visit her office, with the Tamil-language signs out front and cigarrettes-and-old-coffee smell that’s been stuck to the place since before she got here. 

He leans across the table. He has very dark eyes and God probably drew the lines of his face with a ruler. Inej doesn’t know much about men’s fashion but the textured, grey wool coat he’s wearing looks like it cost more than several months rent for her. He has a raspy-but-smooth voice (like, a whiskey commercial level raspy-but-smooth voice) in an accent she can’t quite place.

“Luckily for you, my services are free.” 

(Later, watching the glittering, flickering gold map of New York- “New Amsterdam,” as it always will be to him, although maybe he just likes having “dam” in the name- he can’t stop thinking about her. Why did he choose her struggling PI office as the base of his mandatory redemption? He doesn’t know. All he knows is that he feels like he’s been pulled underwater without knowing it and he can no longer see the surface.) 

4. He may have lost most of his powers but he does manage to tap into his accounts, which are demonstrative of four hundred years of investing, schmoozing, and outright stealing. He’s always been better at aquiring money than spending it- that always felt like some unbreachable loss of control- so he decides to finally dish some out. Her rent is paid off for the next six months and replaces the tea kettle that barely works with a fancy Italian model. one day when they need to go on a bit of a road trip upstate to find a cheating husband, he greets her outside the office with a to go cup of that really fancy hot chocolate (house made marshmallows and all) and a ‘60′s Chevrolet Corvette. 

(He keeps the car. it’s a nice car, timeless and simultaneously restrained and vulgar. His style.) 

Inej, for the most part, is super worried that he’s connected to some kind of organised crime. It’s Nina who chills her out a bit, using the talent she’s always had for knowing when people are telling the truth or not. (It’s in their heartbeats.) And she knows that Kaz in general is shady AF, but she also knows he won’t bring any harm to Inej. 

5. TOGETHER!!! THEY! SOLVE! CRIMES!!! AND BRING JUSTICE TO NEW YORK! Like honestly Dream Team material right here. They solve a mixture of regular and occult cases. Inej is sharp, focused, and hyperaware of details, not to mention extremely driven in her mission. Kaz is in general utterly ruthless, but at least now it’s directed to a good cause. 

There’s an incident where they have to infiltrate a shady party to find evidence against Jan Van Eyck, a particularly corrupt developer. This of course involves wearing formalwear and going undercover as Dr. and Mr. Selvaraj (Of course!). And it involves Inej wearing a silver-white gown with embroidered flowers and a pearl headband with her long, straight hair down around her bare shoulders. 

(Needless to say, she turns a lot of heads.)

Afterwards, with the ballroom up in flames and Van Eyck in handcuffs, Kaz and Inej stand outside the convention centre. Inej is swapping into a pair of flats, heels dangling from one hand.

“So.” She says.

“So.” He repeats. 

“My room mate and I are working our way through trying every takeout option with a delivery charge of less than a dollar in the vicinity of our apartment.” 

“Umm hmmm.” 

Kaz tried to focus on the holding laundromat sign across the street instead of Inej, how luminous she was in the reflections of the flashing red-and-blue squad car lights. 

“And we’re halfway through the new season of Peaky Blinders. And we won’t rewind to the beginning.” 

“Uh huh.” It took a lot of mental concentration for him to read out “M-O-E’S P-A-Y A-N-D W-A-S-H” instead of focusing on her, the flutter of her eyelashes and the way she was biting her lip right now, like she usually did when considering a decision. 

“So, you could, you know, join us.” 

“Join you?” 

“Me and Nina. Watching Peaky Blinders. Probably going to order in adobo and lechon, because Nina’s finishing a double shift and she says she needs deep fried pork to recuperate.” It was going out on a limb, and Inej felt winded after putting the option in the open, like she’d run a race in her ballgown. 

“Me? Go with . .. you? To your apartment?” 

Goddamn it. Kaz knew from the way his face was burning up and the way she was smiling that his face blushing something mighty. 

“Yeah, genius. Come back with me.” 

He offered his arm like a true gentleman as they exited the scene of (not really their) crime.

[kairisu]

About me tag

Thank you for tagging me @xwhitepolar! This took a while since I wanted to use my laptop to do this :D

Nickname(s): Usually Kai or Eir. Most people I know call me by my first name or surname :) Gender: Female Sign: Aries Height: 157 cm / 5′ 2″ (I haven’t grown an inch since highschool (´; ω ; `)) Time: 8:15 am Birthday: 21st of March Favourite Bands: Panic! at the Disco, All Time Low, Simple Plan, Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots, My Chemical Romance, Boys Like Girls, Paramore, Gorillaz, ONE OK ROCK, and many more! Favourite Solo Artists: Owl City, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Joji, Bruno Mars, Yeng Constantino, Lea Salonga, and way too many to mention! Song stuck in my head: none at the moment Last movie I watched: Kingsman: The Golden Circle Last show I watched: Pop Team Epic! I finally watched it after reading the manga and I was NOT expecting their voices and that they’d use the intro from chapter 16 xD  When did I create this blog: I first created this blog back in late 2014 but didn’t post anything until November 2015. That was when I decided to make this blog a simblr :3 What do I post: Mostly just pictures and downloads of my sims, GoS stuff, some gameplay pics, and some cc :D What did I last google: Geometric background (was searching for a project) Other blogs: I’ve listed them on my navigation page! It’s just sims related blogs for now :) Do I get asks: Sometimes. Like what Rosa said, mostly positivity asks and I LOVE THEM!! I also get wcifs and chats too Why did I choose this URL: I pretty much just used one of my nicknames and one of my OC’s names. I am can’t come up with good usernames at all :’) Following: 125 Followers: (˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵) Average hours of sleep: 6-7 Lucky number: 7 and 21 Instrument: lol I only know how to play simple songs on the recorder before it was lost :‘) What am I wearing: floral pajamas with a blue tank top (pretty much what i wear 95% of the time when i’m home) Dream job: I’ve always wanted to become an animator but I don’t think I’m cut out for that (*´∀`*) Favourite Food: There’s so many to choose from, I just can’t pick one!!! Okay let’s see, for meals it’ll be Nilagang Baboy, Lechon Manok, Sinugbang Baboy, and Bam-i. There’s cake and ice cream for dessert (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ)) 3 favorite fandoms: The Sims 2, Gintama, and Mystic Messenger! Other than that, I used to be really involved in the Adventure Time fandom years ago. It’s pretty much what I posted in deviantArt xD I made A LOT of OC’s and it even influenced how i draw^^ I also like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts :D I mostly just lurk around the Naruto fandom :’)

I’m tagging @nekosayuri, @deedee-sims, @hexagonal-bipyramid, @twofee, @simper-fi, and @webluepeace (*´∀`*) I am not sure if you’ve already done this, but feel free to ignore :3

[scribblindown]

The Chocobros visit Asia

AKA they visit their Asian S/O’s country. 

To those who asked for more POC headcanons, I hope that I delivered. @little-mini-me-world @insomniacapples @hypaalicious @me-yasato @ka-za-ri @paopuicecream @louisvuittontrashbags @eaddi @musemaya @a-cup-of-insomnia @everyusernameistakensoyeah 

A special thanks to all of my friends who helped me with the Philippines, Korea, and China! 

I won’t be able to touch on every feature that the countries have, so please understand if I don’t mention every subject! Even so I hope you enjoy! :D. 

Noctis: 

Destination: Vietnam 

First things first, Vietnam is hot. Not only is it extremely hot, it’s also extremely humid, so the weather isn’t very sympathetic to your poor boyfriend in his black leather. Even though Noctis hates showing a lot of skin, he’d be more than willing to strip down to something lighter because of this weather. 

Not that you’re complaining, of course, but be warned that Noctis will become a whiny child if the AC ever fails on you. 

Noctis also embraces the pj culture like second nature.  

In Vietnam, although they’re technically classified as “pajamas,” are just a matching set of tops and bottoms that can be used as sleepwear and regular clothes. 

It’s a completely common thing to see out on the streets, and while it’s mostly women and children who wear it, Noctis totally gets on board. 

Why do we have two sets of clothes in the first place? Why not just wear pjs all day? The sleepy prince ponders this even when he goes back to Insomnia. 

It’s also canon that Noctis doesn’t like coffee, and only drinks it to look more mature, but he sips his way through several cups of Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk before he realizes what he’s drinking. 

“But it’s not bitter like Ebony??” O.o

Noctis is all about that glamorous lifestyle, so the two of you buy some street food and sit out on the curb in front of your house to share your bánh mì (bread/sandwich) or bánh xèo (savory fried pancake) like the prince and princesses that you are.

Fishing! Noctis takes relaxing on vacation to the extreme, but in this case, he will be the one to drag you out to a nearby fishing spot or fishing village and fish for who knows how long. 

Just don’t let him take a nap near the water afterwards, the mosquitoes will destroy him. (Just saying from personal experience.) 

If you’re going to Vietnam to visit family, and you want to have home cooked meals, bring Noctis with you when you go grocery shopping. Use his good looks to your advantage and get discounted or free groceries. He gets super embarrassed when the ladies manning the small shops gush over his looks. 

“These are my uncles from my dad’s side, bác hai, bác ba, and bác bốn.”  “Uh....Can you translate that for me?”  “Oh...Just call them uncle two, uncle three, and uncle four.”  “...What?” 

And this might just be me being biased, but I think Noctis will look absolutely dashing in a traditional áo dài! It’s just--that image--swoons. 

Prompto: 

Destination: Philippines

The Philippines is a great place with nice people with a sunny disposition, so Prompto fits right in with the people. 

If he thought that Gladin Quay was beautiful, Prompto would have to mentally prepare himself for these waters. Take him to the right spot, and Prompto will gasp and be in awe for what seems to be like forever. 

However, this is a double edged sword, Prompto will take hundreds of pictures at once, forcing you to pose for him or wait for him as he snaps at his camera. 

Prompto will take pictures of anything and everything when he’s on vacation with you. 

It’s a very family orientated place, so be prepared to introduce Prompto to your extended family. 

Which makes him even more confused because, “Wait...There’s more??How many Titas (aunts) and Titos (uncles) do you have??” 

You’re not sure how to answer that. 

You tell him that your family party is at ten the next day, and it’s eleven and you’re still in bed. By the time that he drags you out of bed and gets you dressed, it’s near twelve-thirty and Prompto is ready to apologize to your family for being so late. 

Imagine his shock when he finds out that the party barely started. You give him a smug look and simply say, “Filipino time.” 

Food! So much food! Aside from the, “You’re so skinny, eat more,” comments from your family, Prompto digs in happily because there is so many to choose from and so much to eat! 

He cries about it later because he doesn’t eat rice often, so all of that rice will be storing in his butt and his thighs, but you don’t hear him complaining when he has that plate of lechon (whole roasted pig), tocino (cured pork belly), or longanisa (sausage) and rice in front of him. 

Prompto takes his time to try and greet everyone at the party. Even though they don’t speak the same language, your relatives and Prompto can chat up a storm somehow. 

Prepare for cheesy party games and embarrassing childhood memories being brought up. 

Prompto gets stars in his eyes when he realizes how much to you talk about him to your family. 

And karaoke! How can you forget karaoke? It’s basically in your bloodstream. 

Prompto and your relatives go at it for hours, and while your cousins absolutely crush him at basketball, Prompto can blow your family out of the water because he has a voice of an angel. 

Your relatives will gush over him, and once they accept him, they take him into the family and basically adopt him. It’s pretty tearful to him because his adoptive parents are so distant. You would have to hold him as he cries later. 

Gladiolus: 

Destination: South Korea

Once more, he basically towers over everyone, and can look clearly over everyone’s heads. 

All of the 아저씨 (ajusshis/older males) stare in amazement at this 6′6″ behemoth with a rippling nine pack and badass tattoo. 

Walk with him down the streets and you will hear passing comments of, “He’s so handsome!” over and over again. 

Bring him to some family or friends and they will tell him, “You have a nice V line!” or, “Your face is very even!” 

He gives you a confused look, and you just sigh and try to explain. 

When you tell your family that you honestly don’t know what Gladio’s blood type is, the women in your family look at you strangely and tell you, “How do you not know? How can you tell what is personality is like?” 

They then all try to guess what his blood type is. You personally think he’s type O. 

While his actual beloved Cup Noodle wouldn’t be very common in the stores there, Korea has a large arsenal of instant noodles that you insist is better than Cup Noodle. 

Gladio begs to differ, but you catch him buying some of that ramyeon anyway, and cooking them and eating them at the convenience store. 

By the time you’ve finished your bowl, he’s already gone through five different types. 

He’d never do this back home, but since it’s pretty common here, Gladio has no problem with flaunting your couple status by wearing matching or coordinating outfits. 

(Though the two of you would probably have to plan beforehand and get clothes that actually fit him back in Insomnia.)

Gladio would be more into hiking, backpacking, any athletic activity that you can name, so if you’re from any big city, expect to take a break from that and head to the rural areas. 

Iris would probably badger him about bringing her back some cute clothes, so he spends a good fraction of his vacation shopping with you for Iris. 

He thought he knew you well, but he hasn’t seen his little S/O down multiple bowls of 떡볶이 (tteokbokki/spicy rice cake) in one go yet. 

He’s also scarily impressed by your drinking habits in Korea. 

Gladio’s good at adapting to things, and this can be a double edged sword. On one hand, he can adapt to the Korean culture and mannerisms quite well while he’s there, but once he goes back to Insomnia, all of that stays like a bad habit. 

Nyx wonders why Gladio wouldn’t look at him when they drink anymore and Gladio will unconsciously bow to anything and anyone who makes eye contact with him. 

So my friend told me that 나가 (naga) means get out/get lost?? Oh my god, the confusion Gladio will get if his Korean S/O ever says this. 

Ignis: 

Destination: China

A place that is rich in culture, tradition, and history? Say no more, Ignis will be booking your plane tickets and hotel room before you can even finish saying, “Do you want to go with me?” 

Ignis speaks both Mandarin and Cantonese, and if you’ve been away from your homeland for a long time, your family will tease you and say, “He speaks better than you do.” 

But don’t take it to heart, they’re mostly just impressed, and the women in your family won’t hesitate to gush about him or talk about how he’s the ideal husband. 

If you have strong family ties, they all appreciate how well Ignis cares for you, but even though Ignis can take care of himself, your family won’t hesitate to baby him as well. 

Ignis would also be very by the books when it comes to mannerisms, customs, or rules, so it would be up to you to make sure that he doesn’t stress so much about it. It isn’t as strict as he thinks. 

Even though it sounds tacky, Ignis would be looking forward to the stereotypical tourist attractions, such as the Great Wall or the Forbidden City, because he’s genuinely interested in the amazing history that those places have. 

Interesting to him and some others, but maybe not to you, so prepare for staying at those sites for hours on end as Ignis tries to know everything there is to know about those spots. 

Other than visiting the historical, touristy spots, Ignis mostly wants to have the ultimate culinary experience when he’s there. 

If the two of you aren’t sightseeing or visiting family, you’re most likely eating together. 

Ignis plans a full meal itinerary for almost every single day at some of the best restaurants. Though that doesn’t necessarily mean high-class, Ignis can appreciate food from everywhere. 

He’s cultured, not stuck up. 

With all of this amazing and authentic food, Ignis always has his little notebook out to jot down those New Recipehs™.

“ 就是这样！ 我研制出新的配方了！” (”That’s it! I’ve come up with a new recipe!”) “Babe, please, you’re embarrassing me.” 

Forces you to wake up super early to go to the markets and get the best deals and freshest food, then strolls down the night markets with you. 

Ignis always looks like he stepped off the runway, so the two of you hear many whispers of, “He looks like a model!” or, “Is he a model?”

Don’t leave him alone on the streets for more than a minute, people will figure out that he speaks the languge and girls will try and flirt with your man. 

“Hey, Ignis?” “Yes, darling?” “When we go out, can you pretend that you don’t know any Chinese?”  

When the two of you return to Insomnia, Ignis naturally tries to emulate the dishes that he has tried. You have the same dish for five days straight in different variations before you finally snap and tell him no more. Ignis moves on to use Noctis and Gladio as his guinea pigs. 

Extra:  My friends as I asked them for help and to look over my headcanons 

Me: [asks my friends to translate Iggy’s famous line for me] Chinese friends; one who was born, raised, and lived in China until recently:..Have you tried google? 

Me: [shows my friend a picture of Gladio] Korean friend who doesn’t know anything about FFXV: Oooh, he has a nice face; it’s very even. 

Filipino friend: You should make a headcanon about balut, Prompto would freak out.  Me: I DON’T WANT TO HURT HIM. 

[greenpapayaartprojects]

NOT COUNTER BUT PARALLEL (Excerpts from Light Leaks 1 2018)

2018 was an extremely busy year for Green Papaya. Somehow, between preparation work with VIVA ExCon Capiz 2018, Papaya still managed a collaboration with Los Otros, “Light Leaks 1: Tracing histories of Philippine experiments with the moving image” which was hosted by Yael Buencamino at the Ateneo Areté on September 12, 2018. Light Leaks developed from the research that started with another Papaya-Los Otros collaboration, the Kalampag Tracking Agency, a screening program and accidental archive of Philippine artists’ moving image that started in 2014.

Among the discussants and panelists for Light Leaks 1 were curator Clarissa Chikiamco, artist Pandy Aviado, and then NCCA Commissioner Teddy Co. Screenings included the cult short film Tronong Puti (1983) by Ted Arago and Roxlee, Philippine indie cinema documentary Beyond the Mainstream (1986), and a surprise preview of Rod Paras Perez's Conversation in Space (1962) courtesy of Odel Perez.

Coinciding with the current edition of Light Leaks at MCAD Platforms this month  we are posting below the opening remarks made by artist and filmmaker Shireen Seno of Los Otros and an excerpt from the Q&A.

*****

Introduction:

Shireen Seno (SS): Philippine moving image practice has a history of pioneering experimentation, but because of this very experimental and uneasily classifiable nature, not much is known or published outside of its more popular iteration: cinema. 

Light Leaks is an attempt to piece together these disparate and mostly oral histories by convening a series of forums that consist of research presentations and focused discussions with key artists, curators, researchers, and cultural workers across generations. Along with key historical texts and newly commissioned essays, the proceedings from this symposia will lead towards publication that will hopefully inspire new  generations of scholars and practitioners. 

This first edition of Light Leaks focuses on a general overview of practices from the ‘60s to the ‘80s in Manila from the personal accounts of Pandy Aviado and Teddy Co and the ongoing research of curator Clarissa Chikiamco. 

In her essay “Otherwise Video: Development of Video Art in the Philippines in the 1970s,” Chikiamco states, “When we talk about the development of video art, I believe it is important not simply to consider artworks which use video, but artworks which anticipated video art works. By that, I mean art works which foreshadowed art works that actually used the medium of video. These artworks, forerunners to video, may not have used video but we can name certain qualities which have overlapping identities with the video medium. In particular, these qualities are movement and time.” These experiments paralleled movements in the US and the UK with expanded cinema, installation, and performance. Starting in the ‘60s, expanded cinema practices featured artists moving away from the screen and finding creative ways to project and intervene with moving images. The emergence of video, and later digital moving images, opened new possibilities concerning what artists could do and what moving images could be.

I quote from Kim Knowles’ book Experimental Film and Artists’ Moving Image: “Existing outside the boundaries of mainstream cinema, the parallel fields of experimental film and video art present a radical challenge, not only to the conventions of that cinema, but also to the social and cultural norms that it presents. In offering alternative ways of seeing and experiencing the world, they bring to the fore different visions and dissenting voices. In recent years, scholarship in this area has moved from a marginal to a more central position as it comes to bear upon critical topics such as medium specificity, ontology, the future of cinema, changes in cinematic exhibition, and the complex interrelationships between moving image technology, aesthetics, discourses, and institutions. This series takes on exciting new directions in the study of moving image practice, from the black box to the white cube, film to digital, crossing continents and disciplines, and developing fresh theoretical insights and various histories. Concerning the terms “experimental film” and “video art,” we see these as interconnected practices and seek to interrogate the crossovers and spaces between the different kinds of moving image-making. Finally, we acknowledge the emergence of a new term—artists' moving image—in which to situate the most recent generation of filmmakers and artists alike who work with the moving image.”

Q&A excerpts:

Merv Espina (ME): I’m gonna read a question, this is being live streamed so some people are watching us online. I think this question is for all of us: “Since the program is framed under the development of video art in the Philippines and while most works within the oral history presented focus on experimental, avant garde, performative, and materialist films all rooted under the notion of expanded cinema, how do the curators see them as a kind of anticipation to our present concept of ‘video art’ and what could be the basis for categorizing them as leading to video art or into this more expanded category of artists' moving image from the rest of other experimental films done during that time?”

Teddy Co (TC): That’s an interesting question.

ME: From Cocoy Lumbao.

TC: Okay, Cocoy. All art is evolving, nothing is static. Because if anything remains static, it will die and no one will want to practice. The language of art, of the moving image, is developing. There have been high points and low points but it moves forward and to categorize all these video images under video art, maybe that’s a bit too narrow because it’s really expanded. Some people have said that the better word to use is not “experimental” or “video art” but maybe something more like “expanded cinema” because we’re getting into all kinds of forms, content, and platforms. On the internet, on the big screen, in virtual reality.

We’re living in very exciting times because it’s so diverse now and technology has leapt forward. Before, it was all flat. Now we have 3D, there are a lot of participatory and interactive elements with the works now, and also, the disciplines are getting together. For example, there’s a lot of dance programs now incorporating video creatively. Tad [Ermitaño] has collaborated with Denisa Reyes to produce some works. The dancer-choreographer Rhosam Prudenciado has collaborated with Annie Pacaña who had all these videos of telephone poles and then she had two dancers do a ballet across the poles. You’d think they’re on the telephone lines but that’s a video. I hope that answers the question.

ME: Also, since Johnny Manahan was mentioned earlier, there were also some collaborations between him and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) dancers and Ballet Philippines, even using overhead and slide projectors around that time.

TC: I saw one performance but it’s by a foreign dance troupe in the CCP back in the ‘70s or ‘80s in which they did something—what we would now call “video mapping”—using slide projectors. They projected slides on the dancers’ bodies who were wearing skin-colored suits.

Clarissa Chikiamco (CC): Hi, Cocoy. I find the question very interesting. Even when I was writing my paper, I have to admit that I was also struggling because, if I were to expand simply on video art, you would be looking at all these other impulses. I was thinking, “where do you stop?” It just becomes this really large body of work. I’m sure when we continue to do research, even more will be uncovered. Even just the idea of categorizations, at that time, maybe artists were not really concerned with it. They were just doing these things. Artists alongside filmmakers maybe didn’t classify themselves and their works in a particular category. They were just making work. And somehow, decades later, we are trying to make sense of these things. We’re trying to fit these things into certain boxes or even break them apart. Where do you stop from here? This is also an ongoing question that I have.

ME: I’ll read the follow-up question. “In situating these diverse forms under the more encompassing category of artists' moving image, I just want to open the question on whether there might be a kind of “counterproductiveness” to research if these diverse forms are not explored under their own stream of either being under essentially cinema or film practice, or video being under the technology or tradition it was originally made like broadcast, VCR, video recorders, etc?” Do you want to react? Is it counterproductive?

TC: Well, I don’t think it’s counterproductive. I think we should discuss, talk, and exchange ideas. That’s why you have a forum like this, you have a panel. It’s very healthy to talk and discuss. It’s unhealthy to not talk and to shut up because that’s a different kind of atmosphere. Like I said, the whole thing, the whole movement or whatever, would have been much bigger if there had been a proper community of people who exchange ideas, people who read and would say, “Why don’t you read this book?” or, “Go to that screening” because a lot of these things were done in isolation unlike today.

Today, since you have social media, ideas spread so fast. Will we reach a saturation point? I don’t know. Things evolve, like I said. Not to put things into boxes like, “this one’s visual art, this one’s cinema” because things mix. They intermarry and there’s a lot of fusion going on, even and especially in food. If we just stick to our native food, we will be stuck with lechon. But there’s a lot of creativity in the food scene now, right? Because there’s a lot of fusion and intermarrying. Culture and art are like that.

I think that has been going on especially now because we’re a wild world. As [Marshall] McLuhan said, we’re in a global village. Of course in some territories, some people would say, “We have too many film festivals now, we have too many films.” But would you like to go back to 2004? We had nothing but the Metro Manila Film Festival. It used to be like that. Just that, every December. Your choices were limited to Vice Ganda or Vic Sotto.

Don’t take the market of ideas and the freedom that we have for granted. Last year, at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, I met this Chinese filmmaker who made a film about the last independent film festival in China that was closed down by the government. They don’t have a Cinemalaya or Cinema One. They have nothing like that. We have to learn to appreciate all of this, all of the institutions that are helping us put up all these programs even with a President like that. There’s a lot of open and free space.

ME: In response to Cocoy, I think—at least for this series of forums and discussions that we want to convene, focusing on Philippine experiments in moving image practice—we’re essentially looking at works that were hard to categorize. We should re-examine these materialist considerations of works in film or video and also look at works that have fallen in between the cracks—and there are many cracks. Some of the works mentioned today fall outside major art and film histories so what we’re trying to propose is that we need space for more narratives, histories, and maybe not look at particular materialist media, film, and cinema-specific narratives. This is not counter but parallel.

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These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity. Some parts were translated from Filipino.

Watch the archive of the 2018 livestream: https://facebook.com/events/s/light-leaks-1-tracing-historie/317775908984451/

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The current edition of Light Leaks is now live.

Watch early works by Lena Cobangbang: https://bit.ly/MCADPlatformsCobangbang

Register for the discussion: https://bit.ly/MCADPlatformsEE

Sep 9-15 Screening: Lena Cobangbang, works 1997-2002 Sep 12 Discussion: Lena Cobangbang with Eileen Legaspi Ramirez

Sep 16-22 Screening: Katya Guerrero, works 1990-1992 Sep 19 Discussion: Katya Guerrero with Cocoy Lumbao

Sep 23-30 Screening: Jean Marie Syjuco, works 1986-1992 Sep 26 Discussion: Jean Marie Syjuco with Clarissa Chikiamco

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1. The Salenga Experience (2002), Alice & Lucinda (Yasmin Sison and Lena Cobangbang), video still 2. Untitled (1990-1992) Katya Guerrero, video still from 16mm transfer 3. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (1989), Jean Marie Syjuco, video documentation, Performance Space (Sydney, Australia), photo courtesy of ART LAB: Atelier Cesare and Jean Marie Syjuco

Images from Light Leaks 2018 at Ateneo Areté by Yuji de Torres: 4. Lisa Chikiamco 5. Pandy Aviado 6. Teddy Co

If you can: https://greenpapaya.art/donation