Anthony Bourdain in the Philippines!

I recently found out that Anthony Bourdain, host of No Reservations, a show on Discovery Travel & Living, came to the Philippines last October 2008. That’s pretty cool!

I’m a very big fan of Discovery Travel & Living and I regularly watch and follow shows on that channel. One of my favorites are the cooking shows by Jamie Oliver and Nigella. But I digress.

Like any other typical Filipino, I was excited about Discovery shooting an episode about food in the Philippines. When I heard this news, I tried my best to find out when it was showing and sadly it will only be shown in the US first around late January 2009 and in SouthEast Asia later in the year or 2010. All I read so far is that they will be bypassing balut or a fertilized duck egg, which is kinda played in terms of Filipino food anyway.

In my searches, I found that Discovery had shot an episode about Philippine food earlier via Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods show. That’s one thing that the Philippines will never have a shortage of, bizarre food. While for most of us locals, it may seem like nothing out of the ordinary, a lot of people living outside of Asia might find it weird. I found the whole episode on YouTube (oh, the wonders of technology!), you can watch the first part below. I’ve also included links to the rest of the parts. Enjoy!

Part 2 – here

Part 3 - here

Part 4 - here

Part 5 - here

Part 6 - here

Can Money Really Buy Happiness?

I found this video about a talk by Benjamin Wallace about his experiences in trying out some of the most expensive things in the world. What I found most interesting is the last part wherein he mentions a study he read which sorta affirms the fact that certain labels or prices can change one’s perspective, even taste, towards an object.

Another point that I liked was how you could see here was how relative the perspective of value is. An expensive shirt may be worth it to others because they justify paying the price tag by saying it’s a high quality shirt, it’s made with rare materials or because it’s designed by an artist, while on the flip side, you have another person saying it’s not worth it because of the same exact reasons. A lot of people tend to think that their opinions matter, when most of the time, it only matters towards your own preferences. Different things make different people happy and I think there would be less conflicts in this world if people would lay off in imposing their preferences to others.

Anyway, it’s really a cool video to watch. It’s a bit long, around 14 minutes but I believe worth the time spent.

More On Reading

During the latter part of 2008, I tried to allot more time for reading and during that time I was reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. Unfortunately, while I was able to read a significant part of the book, I’m still just barely past halfway through. Part of the reason is because I picked up the Absolute edition of Watchmen over the holidays in preparation for the upcoming movie. So I figured for the new year, I would try to allocate certain units of time per day specifically to reading certain books and not only when I felt like it or reading certain books that I have preference for.

So here’s my list of books that I want to finish by January and the allotted units of time for each book per day:

1.) Currently Reading -

ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN – While in its truest essence not a book, I still put this in the list. I am almost done with this, with only about 2 chapters left. Normally it takes me about one to two sittings to finish a graphic novel, but the Watchmen has taken a week or two of my time and I’m still not done. Granted I wasn’t reading it everyday.

*Allotted Time – Weekends only (Saturday & Sunday) – 1 hour per day.

THE FOUNTAINHEAD – I really want to finish this book, and I think what’s making finishing it difficult is that I don’t usually read these type of novels. I probably can finish graphic novels, fantasy/adventure and detective type stories easier. I will try to do 2 hours per day, with the exception of Thursday, because of basketball night.

*Allotted Time – Weekdays only (Monday to Friday, except Thursday) – 2 hours per day.

2.) Start Reading -

ENTREPRENEUR MAGAZINE’S STARTUP:  START YOUR OWN EVENT PLANNING BUSINESS – This was a gift from my father during the holidays. It’s a good book about event planning and I think it will help me in understanding some parts of the business better. Most of the previous events that I’ve been part of, I just pretty much learned things on the fly. Hopefully by reading this book, I shall gain a better grasp on the basics of the business and in turn, it can help boost the business of my marketing firm. It’s also perfect timing as I have one potential client that we’re trying to sell a big event to.

*Allotted Time – Weekdays (Mondays to Fridays) – At least 1 office hour per day.

3.) Next on the List -

These books are the ones I plan to read by February. The first two are actually recommended to me by my father. The first one, was recommended by him a few years ago, maybe a decade ago even. I never got around to reading it. While the latter is a recent recommendation, which I haven’t touched upon either.

GUERRILLA MARKETING BY JAY CONRAD LEVINSON – Obviously this works hand in hand with my line of business and I’ve always had interest in guerrilla marketing techniques but only realized this the past 2-3 years.

THE 8TH HABIT: FROM EFFECTIVENESS TO GREATNESS BY STEPHEN COVEY – No idea what this book is all about but we’ll see soon enough.

GOOD TO GREAT BY JIM COLLINS – As mentioned earlier, this was recommended by my uncle. Again, haven’t gotten around to reading it.

ATLAS SHRUGGED BY AYN RAND – While in the midst of reading The Fountainhead, people who I’ve had a chance to talk to about it have raved madly (slight exaggeration) about Atlas Shrugged, saying that it’s a must read. So yeah, next up!

That’s it for now, we shall see by the end of January if I am able to follow the allocated times and hopefully achieve the end goal, which is to finish the books on the list.

A Bathing Ape & Undercover: Back to Nowhere

15 years after starting their careers in a small store called Nowhere in Harajuku, Nigo of A Bathing Ape (BAPE) and Jun Takashi of Undercover have gotten together to once again open Nowhere. But this time instead of Tokyo, they opened it at Dover Street Market (DSM) in London. A temporary pop-up store was built inside DSM which sells items under the Nowhere label, with graphics on various shirt and crew necks depicting ‘Last Orgy 2′. ‘Last Orgy’ was the title of their column in a fashion magazine around the time they started Nowhere back in ‘93. The column originally written by Hiroshi Fujiwara and Takagi Kan of Major West fame.

People who follow this blog have seen the Undercover office and some of the BAPE stores covered in previous posts. I am truly a fan of their work and the indie spirit they represent. Who would’ve imagined 15 years ago that 2 independent creators would have so much impact in modern street and pop culture. And now that we are once again entering the recession, I hope that we can see more original and creative ideas, instead of the rehashed ones we keep seeing as of late.

Pictures from Nigo’s blog at Honeyee.com

Previously on 24

After a long wait, 24 is finally back! 

What is 24 you may ask? 24 is a television series presented in real time. The main protagonist is Jack Bauer, a US government agent mainly working on cases related to terrorism. Each season represents a 24 hour period in the characters lives, with every episode representing an hour each.

Watching 24 is probably one of my favorite time wasting activities in life. It’s really an exciting series and I feel it’s best to watch it in batches. Good thing for the start of the season they release 2 episodes for each of the past 2 weeks, so this weekend I got a chance to watch all 4 in one sitting! They started this practice of releasing 2 or more episodes in the first few weeks of the season I think 2 or 3 seasons ago and I guess it has been successful thus they have kept doing for every season.

I first heard about 24 when I started downloading various shows online and at the time it didn’t really entice me even though I’ve heard lots of good things about the show. I only got hooked on the show when one of my Japanese classmates in Shanghai lent his box set to me. The box set included seasons 1 to 4 and one lazy Sunday, I decided to try it out. Big mistake! That Sunday, from the time I started watching I only got off the couch at 8PM to order dinner and was pretty much stuck to the couch watching the show! I stopped watching around 12 midnight and I think was halfway through the first season. It just sucks you in with all the excitement and various sub-plot lines weaved into the main plot.

Granted after the 2nd or 3rd season, the show started to fall off but still had a bit of excitement. Due to the writer’s strike last year, there wasn’t any 24 shown on TV, however I think that strike is the best thing that happened to 24. I feel that it gave the writers time to think about the show and gather their thoughts on how to make 24 exciting again. The current season is now at season 7 and from what I’ve seen so far, it has been very promising and I hope that this season could bring the magic back to the show. 

*note: Because of the long break, they released a 2-hour TV movie special called 24:Redemption which fills the gap between season 6 & 7 and ties in into the current season.

Top Music From 2008

I’m a whore for music. Whether it’s indiepop, hip-hop, electronica or children’s songs, I’m always keeping an open ear out for new music. With that said, there’s always two sites that I eagerly visit when the end of the year comes, Pitch Fork Media and Quark Henares’ blog. Why? For their year-end charts of 2008’s best albums.  I don’t remember when this started, probably 2-3, maybe 4, years ago.

I’ve always been a fan of Quark Henares, in terms of his involvement with the local music and film scene, and generally see him as one of the coolest dudes in Manila (although I haven’t personally met the guy, and I say this with ‘no homo’). And not to mention, he’s a fan of Futura 2000 as well.  I remember chancing upon his year-end list before and just tried to download some of the albums listed. And most of those albums that I downloaded off the list became some of the most listened albums on my mp3 player.

People have coined Pitch Fork to be a hipster’s site. With musical selection and direction that play to the growing hipster scene. I don’t see it like that though, I like Pitch Fork simply because of their diversity, they don’t just do indie or electronica, they have hip-hop too. Albiet it’s not underground hip-hop, but I like the fact that they don’t box themselves into a certain genre. I’ll admit though that I don’t agree with some of the album reviews and the albums they put on their ‘Top Of’ lists, but overall there are still lots of good surprises in their lists and with that, I shall follow them for years to come.

As for me, I’m no music expert nor am I able to review albums with such depth or analysis. If I like what I hear, I listen to it. It’s a simple formula that has worked for me. Some of the best I’ve heard for this year would probably be Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut album and probably the album by the Fleet Foxes. And locally, it’s gotta be Taken By Cars with Endings of A New Kind, totally blew me away with I first heard of “Uh-Oh”. Another favorite is Up Dharma Down and their late 2008 release of Bipolar.

I listened to Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak as well, it wasn’t as bad as what hip-hop critics have been saying but far from his best work. Probably like the “Welcome To Heartbreak” track the best as it sounds most honest. Most of the year was spent listening to old reliables like At The Drive-In, Stars, among others. I also listened to some old hip-hop albums by A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr. 2008 was also the year I discovered and got into trip-hop, with albums by DJ Krush, DJ Shadow and some of the old Unkle and Nigo (of A Bathing Ape fame) mash-ups.

Overall, I would say 2008 was a pretty interesting and eclectic year for me in terms of music.

You can view Quark’s year-end list here. There are also links to his previous reviews in the post. And Pitch Fork’s top 50 of 2008 over here.

Eraserheads Final Set Concert Confirmed!

Probably one of the best news I’ve heard in the young new year, it has been confirmed by Supreme (a section of the local daily, Philippine Star) that the final set of the Eraserheads will push through this March 07, 2009 with the location to be announced. The event will be produced by MTV this time around and sponsored by Smart.

Everybody remembers the heavily hyped Eraserheads reunion concert last August 08, 2008, which was cut short after lead vocalist Ely Buendia suffered chest pains. The event was produced by Radiohead Media, which essentially is the same group behind MTV Philippines. This upcoming concert will probably be less hyped than the first one but will most likely still be well-attended.

It funny how it felt like the Eraserheads have broken up for such a long time, when by right it has only been 4 years. No doubt, they have had a great impact on local pop culture and will probably be named one of the greatest bands in the Philippines.  They were in the forefront of the great band movement in the early 90’s and among with other bands paved the way for the current local scene. The local rock scene fell off for a bit during the late 90s till the early part of 2000-2001. But around 4 years back, it was brought to life once again and while it didn’t feel as raw as before, you can definitely feel that there was definitely growth and maturity in the music and the bands themselves. Throughout that period, the Eraserheads were always involved one way or another, whether through their influence to the younger audience back then, which comprise the current scene or through their other bands like Sandwich and Cambio.

No matter how popular rock has become, music sales are still favoring the ‘pang-masa’ music or music for the masses and the typical ballad and revival albums. The ‘masa’ music is the music you usually hear in noontime game shows, while the ballad and revival albums are sung by artists who do the same romantic shit again and again. I shall say no more on this topic and let you look at the chart below and decide for yourselves:

Top Selling Albums
as of January 01, 2009

1. Willie Revillame – Giling Giling
2. Eraserheads – Eraserheads The Reunion Concert
3. Regine Velasquez – Low Key
4. Bonggo – Deep Inside My Mind
5. Gary Valenciano – The Platinum Ballad Collection
6. Martin Nievera – Ikaw Ang Pangarap
7. Nina – Nina Sings The Hits Of Diane Warren
8. Richard Poon – I’ll Take Care Of You
9. Bamboo – Tomorrow Becomes Yesterday
10. Sarah Geronimo – Just Me
11. Eraserheads – Anthology Vol. 1
12. Rico Blanco – Your Universe
13. Sarah Geronimo – OPM
14. Bugoy Drilon – Pano Na Kaya
15. Charice Pempengco – Charice
16. Various Artists – Marian Rivera Dance Hits (Red Cover)
17. MYMP – Now
18. Charlie Green – Charlie
19. Various Artists – Senti 18 Pinoy Love Hits
20. Various Artists – The Greatest Love

The Top 10 Countdown is based on total album sales of all Odyssey branches nationwide and regularly compiled on a bi-monthly basis. This countdown is courtesy of Odyssey, the #1 Music Store.

2009

“So this is the new year, and I don’t feel any different.”

The line from Death Cab For Cutie’s “The New Year”, best describes how my new year has been so far. Not that it’s been boring, far from it actually. I have had a good start for the year so far, I’ve got a project that we’ve been working on so far that’s just about to wrap up and there was less fireworks this year which meant less smoke inhaled, so yeah it’s been pretty good.

The thing is, I really don’t feel that we have fully ‘transitioned’ from 2008 to 2009, and maybe I will never feel it completely done. There’s no new year’s resolution for me this year. I’m basically following up on what I’ve tried to do in latter part of 2008, which is to ‘live’ more.

I do hope that this year will be a better year for my company and for everybody in general. While it’s looking bleak due to the economic recession, I’d like to think that there always something good out of this whole dark and grim outlook people have. Lots of great and creative ideas come out of recessions, simply because some people are forced to make do with the more limited resources available. With that in mind, I have some interesting projects that we are planning to do for this year, thinking of getting more pr0-active in terms of getting our name out there in the market. Look out for Fantastik! in some great events next year.

My posts have been generally sporadic for the past few months but I’ll keep this blog regularly updated. I always have ideas running on my mind but sometimes I’m just not motivated enough to blog about it. Maybe I should get one of those phones that allows me to access the net and e-mail. I was thinking of getting one anyway for work, we’ll see.

For this ‘year’, expect more of regular posting of rants, ideas on art, culture, business and anything under the sun that I might feel talking about.

Here’s to a better year!