Ang Sabi ni Bossing Olivares

31/10/2024

The random song in my head today, this 1st of November 2024, is "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers (1983)

classic country

31/10/2024

Escabèche dreams selfie

Looking for a giant deep fryer as a school of Giant Groupers (Epinephelus lanceolatus) swim behind me at the Manila Ocean Park in Luneta Park, Manila.

The Giant Grouper can be found throughout most of the world’s oceans and the different cultures have names for these fish. In the Philippines it is commonly referred to as the kugtong, while other some local ethnic groups have their own traditional names:

- Bisayâ: Kugtong
- Tagálog & Bisayâ: Lapu-lapu
- Tagálog: Kugtung
- Wáray: Tingag

- Indian Malayalam: കലവ മീന്
- Indian Marathi: हीकरू
- Indian Tamil: ௨ல்டா கலவா
- Indian Telugu: పిల్లి పున్ని
- Indonesian Bajo: Kiapu mansarunae
- Malay: Kerapu pertang
- Timor-Leste Fataluku: Saukoton
- Timor-Leste Tetun: Garopa fatuk makerek
- Vietnamese: Cá Mú song

The Manila Ocean Park opened in 2008 as an oceanarium that housed 277 species of indigenous Southeast Asian sea life.

This picture was taken circa 2015, during my regular explorations of Metro Manila documenting its historical landmarks.

Disclaimer:

No animals were harmed in the making of this selfie.

31/10/2024

2015 Hardcore Henry

31/10/2024

Tángrénjiē (唐人街) páifāng (牌坊) selfie

Ambling near the controversial 2015 Manila Chinatown Friendship Arch / Páifāng (牌坊) at the end of Sen. William A. Jones (1849-1918) Bridge, in the Binondo (岷倫洛) District of Manila. The very issue is that the government of People's Republic of China sponsored and built the páifāng, which declared the District of Binondo as “Zhōngguó zhèng“ (中国城) meaning literally “Town of China”, instead of “Tángrénjiē” (唐人街) or Chinatown that means “Streets of the Tang People”. This stirred the anti-Chinese imperialist sentiments of the Filipino and Filipino-Chinese, amidst continuing the incursions of the Chinese navy in the West Philippine Sea.

The Chinatown Friendship Páifāng is located at the Plaza Moraga, which was named after the Spanish conquistador Antonio de Morga Sánchez Garay (1559-1636). The Páifāng or archway was not the original Chinatown Páifāng that was installed and funded by the locals in 1975, which as then simply referred to as the Mǎnílā Tángrénjiē Gǒngmén (马尼拉 唐人街拱门) or Manila Chinatown Arch.

Binondo is considered the oldest Chinatown in the world, and its roots began when the Spanish Governor-General Luis Pérez Dasmariñas (died 1603) forced the Chinese settlers into a segregated settlement called a Parían during his term of 1590 to 1593.

Before that, the Chinese have been trading and settling with the natives of the Philippine archipelago as earliest noted in 971 AD in the historical account of the Sòng Shǐ (宋史) or History of Sòng (complied in 1345), where the ancient state of Má-It (or Má-I, 麻逸) in the island of Mindoro was mentioned as a trading partner. Later accounts would mention the trade with the Islamic Kingdom of Dōngdū (東都, Tondo) in the island of Liu-sin (Luzon), the Kingdom of Butuan (蒲端), and the pre-sultanate of Tausūg kingdoms of Sulu.

And when the conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi (1502-1572) arrived in Manila in 1570, there was already a Chinese community established in the Baybay area that is now the San Nicolás district of Manila.

The Chinese settlers were referred to as the Sangley; and they were treated with distrust for their refusal to assimilate to the local culture, hatred for their rejection to be converted to Christianity, and an envy to for their growing economic power. The prejudice and segregation of the Chinese settlers may have been detrimental for them at the start, but it has also allowed them to thrive and become the economic pillars of Philippine society.

This picture was taken circa 2015, during my regular explorations of Metro Manila documenting its historical landmarks.

31/10/2024

2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi

30/10/2024

The random song in my head today, this 31st of October 2024, is "I will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor (1978)

Gloria Gaynor's official music video for "I Will Survive" from the album, Love Tracks. REMASTERED IN HD!Listen to more Classic 70's & 80's Dance Hits: https:...

30/10/2024

Shoes-mariosep selfie

Posing with some of the more than 3000 pairs of shoes that were once owned by the former first lady Imelda Marcos, at the Marikina Shoe Museum, in Marikina City.

The discovery of the more than 3000 pairs of size 8.5 shoes drew an uproar about the extravagance of Imelda Marcos, after these were left at Malacañang Presidential Palace when the Marcos family fled the Philippines at the end of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. Despite the accusation of splurging on top foreign shoe brands, most of the footwear in the Imelda collection were actually pieces made by local craftsmen from the City of Marikina, the “Shoe Capital of the Philippines”.

The Marikina Show Museum opened in 1998, in a Spanish era (1565-1898) storage house turned military stockade (jail).

For more information about the museum, I wrote the blog article: “The Marikina Shoe Museum” (https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2015/12/25/the-marikina-shoe-museum/)

For more information on the EDSA Revolution and the ouster of the Marcos family, I wrote the blog article: “The Long Road to the People Power Revolution” (https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/the-long-road-to-the-people-power-revolution/)

This picture was taken circa 2015, during my regular explorations of Metro Manila documenting its historical landmarks.

30/10/2024

2017 Spider-Man: Homecoming

29/10/2024

The random song in my head today, this 30th of October 2024, is “God of Thunder" by Kiss (1976)

Symphony Alive Ⅳ in Australia

29/10/2024

Flocking kitty painting couplefie

Having a great time with our class pet Catriona White, with my 2023 painting “Sea and Sky” behind us in my classroom-studio at the School of Design and Communication (sd+c) of the Southwestern University PHINMA (SWU), in Cebú City.

The artwork “Sea and Sky” is my ode to the beauty of the Cebú Province, with one getting in touch with nature through the Cebúano waters and fresh air.

This picture was taken circa 2023, and I exhibited this painting during the 2023 Visayas Art Fair.

29/10/2024

2017 Paddington 2

29/10/2024

Ukiyo-e familyfie

My family and I are posing at the entrance of the 2017 exhibit “Manga Hokusai Manga: Approaching the Master’s Compendium from the Perspective of Contemporary Comics” (マンガ北斎マンガ, 現代漫画の視点から巨匠の作品集に迫る) at the Ateneo Art Gallery of the Rizal Library in Quezón City.

The exhibition was a roving show of the Japan Foundation (国際交流基金), which highlighted the influence of the Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) woodblock print artist Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎, 1760-1849) in contemporary art and the manga (漫画) comics.

At the entrance of the exhibit are two posters hung as noren (暖簾) entrance banners, with variations of Hokusai’s greatest work “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” (神奈川沖浪裏, 1831) which is part of his 1830-1832 series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” (富嶽三十六景).

The Ateneo Art Gallery was established in 1961 when university teacher, businessman, painter and scholar Fernando Zóbel de Ayala y Montojo (1924-1984) donated his collection of over 200 artworks to the Ateneo de Manila University. And in 1967, the Ateneo Art Gallery was moved to the Rizal Library of the university.

As the Ateneo Art Gallery’s collection continued to grow, it was transferred to its permanent home at the Areté in 2017.

For more information on the old Ateneo Art Gallery, I wrote about it in the blog article: “Quezon City: Treasures of the Ateneo Art Gallery” (https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/quezon-city-treasures-of-the-ateneo-art-gallery/)

For more information on the Areté and the new Ateneo Art Gallery, I wrote about it in the blog article: “Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City: The Areté at the Ateneo de Manila University” (https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/katipunan-avenue-quezon-city-the-arete-at-the-ateneo-de-manila-university/)

This picture was taken circa 2017, before the Ateneo Art Gallery was moved to the Areté Building.