Monday, December 20, 2010

Macliing Dulag


"Malaking kahambuganang umangkin ng lupa,

sapagkat tayo itong inaangkin

ng lupa.

Paano natin aangkinin ang bagay

na naririyan pa rin kahit

wala na tayo?

Tanging ang lahi ang maaring

umangkin ng lupa, sapagkat

ang lahi ay walang kamatayan."

Emman lacaba" a hero a rebel a beatnik savant or a voice of a true filipino spirit..


"The road less travelled by we've taken-/And
That has made all the difference:/ The barefoot
army of the wilderness/ We should be in time
Awakened, the masses are Messiah,/ Here among
the workers, and peasants our lost/ Generation has found its true, it's only home."

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

For y'ur height only trailer

Worlds B-movie hero midget Cult Film icon Weng -weng





Ernesto de la Cruz (September 7, 1957 — August 29, 1992), better known as Weng Weng, was a Filipino actor and martial artist. Only 83 cm (2 feet, 9 inches) tall, he is listed in the Guinness World Records as the shortest adult actor in a leading role.[1] He played Secret Agent 00 in For Y’ur Height Only [2] and The Impossible Kid,[3][4][5] and also starred in the western "D’Wild Wild Weng" was born in Baclaran, Parañaque City.[6] He was christened as Ernesto de la Cruz and was the youngest of the five de la Cruz children (all boys). Weng Weng was born with a medical condition known as ‘primordial dwarfism’ which caused him to only grew up to a height of 2 feet and 9 inches tall. According to his brother Celing de la Cruz, when her mother gave birth to Weng-Weng, his size was “no bigger than a small coke bottle”, this forced Weng Weng’s parents to place him in the care of the hospital incubator for the first twelve months of his life. During this time, the doctors were advising the de la Cruz couple that Weng Weng might not survive but miraculously he did, and being devoted Catholics, the couple showed their devotion to their faith by dressing and parading a young Weng Weng as Santo Niño each year for the annual Baclaran parade.

Growing up as a child, Weng Weng was described by his brother and some of his childhood peers as a mischievous but cheerful kid. He was also an avid martial arts enthusiast even when he was young. Weng Weng trained hard and diligently he became good at skills fighting. This paved way for his first crack in show business when his former martial arts instructor introduced him to Liliw Productions’ Peter Caballes, an independent film producer. Peter and his wife Cora Ridon Caballes shopped Weng Weng to other film producers and cinema outfits which landed him his early roles in movies, playing a little child, a small animal, or an alien from outer space. One of Weng Weng’s early works was the 1973 sci-fi film called “Moon Boy from Another Planet”. He played a small alien who accidentally crashed here on Earth eventually befriending a poor Filipino boy. This low budget film was shown almost a decade ahead of another alien-meets-boy story film, the Hollywood blockbuster movie E.T.

After playing cameo roles to a string of low budget sci-fi and martial arts movies in the late 70’s, in 1980 Weng Weng, through the Caballes, was introduced to the King of Philippine Comedy, Dolphy. Dolphy, with his film outfit – RVN Productions, produced the spy-spoof hit film The Quick Brown Fox starring Dolphy and introducing Weng Weng as his Kato-inspired sidekick. This was Weng Weng’s first big budget role and movie. The success of this movie resulted for RVN to produce a sequel the following year entitled “Da Best In Da West”.

Inspired by the success of Weng Weng’s big-budget film debut, Peter and Cora Caballes produced For Y’ur Height Only in 1981 starring Weng-Weng in his first and most famous lead role. Directed by veteran Filipino stunt director Eddie Nicart, in the film Weng Weng played a secret service agent code named Agent 00. Obviously inspired by the James Bond flicks of the past, For Y’ur Height Only was a blockbuster hit and the little man from Baclaran became an overnight Philippine sensation.
The success of For Y’ur Height Only was followed by six more films top-billed by Weng Weng during the 80’s. At the height of his popularity, Weng Weng was invited by then First Lady, Imelda Marcos to the Malacañang Palace in honor for his contributions to Philippine cinema. He was also named an honorary Philippine Secret Agent and was presented a custom-made .25 caliber pistol by then Vice Chief of Staff General Fidel V. Ramos. He was also frequently seen during this time as a guest on popular TV shows, film festivals, and awards nights.He was discovered by Eddie Nicart in a circus[7]. His first movie part is believed to be that of the baby Moses in the 1972 Filipino biblical epic "Go Tell It On The Mountain", which also starred future Philippine president Joseph Estrada as the adult Moses. Most of Weng Weng's early movie roles involved him either playing babies, children, small cuddly animals or strange alien beings in a number of low budget Filipino sci-fi features. In 1973 he appeared in filmmaker Pedro Manoy's super-low-budget science-fiction fantasy "MoonBoy From Another Planet" in which he played a lovable three foot alien who befriends a poor Filipino boy. Manoy later claimed and unsuccessfully attempted to sue Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg for ripping off the idea for "ET"
thanks for the laughter & wicked stunts you will never be forgoten ernesto weng-weng de la cruz!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Weaving energies" The works of Carlo Villafuerte











A quite & humble artist from baguio city Carlo Villafuerte is stitching every lifeless things back to life. a 32 year-old whose father is a carpenter and mother is a seamstress at a garments factory, learned to sew from his Paternal Grandmother. He would watch her pick up needle and thread (or the crochet hook) and observe her as she would labor the entire day. In Grade 4, a teacher once remarked that Villafuerte’s H.E. project resembled the handiwork of an experienced seamstress. Later on in college he enrolled in an Engineering course but transferred after his first year and tried his hand at Computer Science. Again, the calling for the Arts was too strong so he tried to transfer to the UP Baguio’s Fine Arts Program but was denied entrance because of one failing mark in his transcript. There was no turning back.

Villafuerte’s first foray into hand-sewn, one-of-a-kind functional pieces was in 2004. He would make bags and shirts and peddle them on the sidewalks of Session Road during the evenings. It was during this period that Kawayan de Guia (a member of renowned filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik’s family that runs VOCAS) had ‘discovered’ Villafuerte and encouraged him to further explore his craft. Back then, most of his ‘patrons’ were foreign tourists who took a liking to his painstakingly detailed pieces borne out from fabric scraps.

It took two years to amass the 17 artworks on display. (The numerous needle pricks on his fingers attest to the time and energy he poured into this collection.) Once he run out of his old clothes, he scoured the ukay-ukay for fabrics. Some were his ex-wife’s clothes that he cut up and included in his pieces. The found objects were gathered whenever he would walk his two sons to and from school.

Villafuerte stresses that when he starts on an artwork, there is no real plan at first. After gathering the materials in his room, he commences cutting up and sewing the fabrics. It is during these hours that “ideas just come to me”. Sometimes during a work-in-progress, when he feels that the piece is not going as he had first envisioned – “kelangan baklasin yung ginawa, tapos mag-umpisa ulit” (I have to dismantle the work and start all over again.)

There is an obsessive-compulsive feel to elements of his artworks. One will notice the equidistant spaces in his blanket stitches that evoke needlework samplers of the past. His pieces however elevate the homely craft of needlework into stunning art. On the whole, the artworks do not alienate the viewer rather, one is compelled to examine further the ‘stitching’ of images and textures into thoughts and feelings that these works evoke.

Villafuerte’s work titled “Clouds” is a profusion of circles of different textures and colors and sizes. It reminds one of a mandala. But then again, it is also Klimt-esque on second view. “Dreams” on the other hand was conceived when his 8 and 6 year-old sons told him of their, uhm, dreams. Ergo, unicorns and a cloaked agent of evil are part of the panoply of swirls and whorls and blues and greys.

All of the 17 artworks by Carlo Villafuerte have stolen the limelight at the group exhibit titled “Self-Distraction” that just ended last August 17 at the Victor Oteyza Community Arts Space or VOCAS at La Azotea Bldg., Session Road, Baguio City. Villafuerte’s framed works of hand-sewn fabrics with found objects are a wonderful respite from the usual ‘Cordillera-cum-Ethnic’ images predominantly made by Baguio’s budding artists. A mélange of polka dots, floral, paisley, op art, madras, tweed, denim, batik, cotton, wool, double knit, et cetera fuse together with metal scraps, buttons, stones, wire, and what-else, in artworks that are well thought out.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

BANGKOK MANILA SOUND CRASH Live Broadcast from RADIO ZUDRANGMA, with Djs Maft sai & Minister zero


http://www.zudrangmarecords.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=3">



Tracklist:

MINISTER ZERO

1. PLEASE PLEASE TRINA : D'SWOONERS
2. EL DUBI : DAKILA
3. STAY : TILT DOWN MEN
4. LONG GONE : THE GRANDELLS
5. THE GHETTO : KIKO
6. BAHAY YUGYUGAN : THE BLACK OPINION
7. UMPUKAN : THE ADVISORS
9. FUNKY BEAT : SOLID BAND
10. HAPPENING SA GAPO : WE INC.
11. ON THE AIR : EDDIE WARNER
12. VERSION 78 STYLE : GLENMORE BROWN
13. ORDINARY GUY : JOE BATAAN
14. REQUIEM FOR A HEAD : JUAN DE LA CRUZ BAND

MAFT SAI

15. ROOB LOH TOM PAI : BUPPHA SAICHON
16. YAI PERNG : KANGWANPRAI LUKPETCH
17. LUK? ARAI : WIPOD PETCHSUPHAN
18. JAI TEN : RIAM DARANOY
19. CHAN YUNG RAAK TUR YOO : NOOM MUANGPRAI
20. WASSANA NONG PONG : SORNPETCH PINYO
21. AUNG YANG : NIMNUAL DUANGPORN
22. HAAM JAI MAI YOO : HONGTHONG DAO U-DON
23. UPPAKORN LANG HUA TAPE ONPA : COMMERCIAL SPOT

Expansions Secret Projection" E.S.P. Compilation coming out soon.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

The Brave new world of Ethnic Faces



Ethnic
Faces.
An amalgam of talent that paved the way for other bands to follow. Born
out of two pioneering Brave New World bands, The Zoo, later renamed
Ocean Zoo, to avoid confusion with an Australian band of
the same
name, and The Lost Boys, Ethnic Faces was a band that fearlessly tread
where other bands cowered and buckled. But before Ethnic Faces, there
were then two.

The Zoo. Guitarist Jolt. Edgrr 5, their keyboardist/bassist, drummer Zebra and singer
frontman
Jack B. Quick played barebones punkish keyboard-driven poppy un-chong
New Wave. The first of their kind, in more ways than one. No other band
looked like The Zoo. No other band had stage presence like The Zoo..
and no other band played like The Zoo.
They were also one of the first to have released an independently produced 7" EP entitled Animal Party. Resplendent in its hot pink sleeve and cartoon cover drawn by singer Jack's nephew Ari, Animal Party
was a first. Yes, local punk band Chaos, later renamed Third World
Chaos, also produced and released an equally independent single, The
Zoo was different. The Zoo took Punk's raw energy, re-channelled it and
spit it right back with a New Wave angst that fit right into the
predominantly Punk Brave New World underground movement


Though its tumultous history and rumored infighting seemed to overshadow its very existence, Ethnic Faces weathered the times, through numerous line-up changes and stylistic variations. They managed to release a now-rare, out-of-print single of Within Tribes b/w Back Home Shangri-La. They also saw two of their now-classic cuts from the local late 80's New Wave compilation Ten Of Another Kind, Balikbayan and Golden Boy, even managing a major label album Dekada under the now-defunct Octoarts Intl. label in 1995. ETHNIC faces even started alternative, long before the term Alternative was coined." and supringsingly kids nowadays doesnt have any idea that these kind of bands exists way before they discovered the term punk or indie which is now a uniform trend & a market for consumerism. even some popular rock bands nowadays are trying to imitate jack sikats raw energy and attitude on stage but no one can duplicate the original for sure.. these group is way beyond there time and theyre timeless in essence

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Bridging the Spirits* Homage to the wisdom of Roberto Villanueva (1947-1995)




Roberto Villanueva was born in 1947 in Olongapo, Zambales, the Philippines. After graduating in 1973 with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the University of Santo Tomas he taught at the Philippine Women's University. He began his artistic career as a surrealist, but was gradually drawn into the film medium. In 1983 he became a member of the Board of Directors of the United Filmmakers Organization. He has won several awards in documentary film.

When Roberto Villanueva moved to the northern highlands of Baguio in 1980 he was inspired to create art build from the basic materials of the environment. His art acquired a shamanic aura, the source of its powerful energy drawn from ancient but continuing community symbols, rituals and traditions among the animist ethnic groups. He won critical recognition for Archetypes: Cordillera Labyrinth set up on the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) grounds in the summer of 1989. Forty-five metres in diameter and 600 metres in length, the installation consisted of a spiral labyrinth made of bamboo and reeds. Its centre was covered with rocks from a river bed, creating a sacred space peopled with spirit figures from which life power emanates.

Another installation was Atang ti Kararua (Soul Offerings) consisting of three bamboo floats carrying offerings on a lake for the souls of those who perished in the big Baguio earthquake. The artists also conducted a ceremony with a shaman to pacify the spirit of Mount Pinatubo.

Roberto Villanueava tries to restore the communal function of art and the priminitve life force it originally possessed but which still survives in Cordillera mountain culture. He also seeks to recover and understand the animistic strain in the heart of Philippine culture.

In 1990 he was invited to New York as Artist-In-Residence of the New York State Council of the Arts and in 1992 won the CCP Thirteen Artists Award. there he performs his shamanic rituals wearing his traditional bahag on a freezing snow chanting in the streets,business districts monuments & subways of new york.

A recent work, Bridge Across Cultures, which the artist did in Saitama-ku, Japan, shows his preference for setting up water installations to symbolize migration routes linking different cultures. His work acquires an anthropological aspect, calling to mind the celebrated sea voyage of the Kon-Tiki across the Pacific.

With his use of organic materials and natural locations, together with community interaction, Roberto Villanueva creates an art that is integrated with the life of the people.

Check out his documentary showman shaman" by asiasis rica & egay navarro

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE TO U.S. COLONIAL INVASION SA PINAS



On this, the 103rd Anniversary of the U.S. Occupation Forces' execution of General MACARIO SAKAY, Freedom Fighter & President of the Tagalog Republic,
here are some notes from Paul Flores about "the Barber who stopped cutting his hair" (Sakay's Freedom Fighters would often let their hair grow to signify how long they had been committed to the armed struggle against the invaders:)

"Contrary to popular belief, Philippine resistance to American rule did not end with the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901. There were numerous resistance forces fighting for Philippine independence until the year 1910. One of these forces was led by Macario Sakay who established the Tagalog Republic.

Born in 1870 in Tondo, Macario Sakay had a working-class background. He started out as an apprentice in a calesa manufacturing shop. He was also a tailor, a barber, and an actor in comedias and moro-moros. His participation in Tagalog dramas exposed him to the world of love, courage, and discipline.

In 1894, Sakay joined the Dapitan, Manila branch of the Katipunan. Due to his exemplary work, he became head of the branch. His nightly activities as an actor in comedias camouflaged his involvement with the Katipunan. Sakay assisted in the operation of the Katipunan press. During the early days of the Katipunan, Sakay worked with Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto. He fought side by side with Bonifacio in the hills of Morong (now Rizal) Province.

During the initial stages of the Filipino-American war, Sakay was jailed for his seditious activities. He had been caught forming several Katipunan chapters and preaching its ideals from town to town...

GUERRILLA TACTICS

In late 1904, Sakay and his men took military offensive against the enemy. They were successful in seizing ammunition and firearms in their raids in Cavite and Batangas. Disguised in Philippine Constabulary uniforms, they captured the U.S. military garrison in Parañaque and ran away with a large amount of revolvers, carbines, and ammunition. Sakay's men often employed these uniforms to confuse the enemy.

Using guerrilla warfare, Sakay would look for a chance to use a large number of his men against a small band of the enemy. They usually attacked at night when most of the enemy was looking for relaxation. Sakay severely punished and often liquidated suspected collaborators.

The Tagalog Republic enjoyed the support of the Filipino masses in the areas of Morong, Laguna, Batangas, and Cavite. Lower class people and those living in barrios contributed food, money, and other supplies to the movement. The people also helped Sakay's men evade military checkpoints. They collected information on the whereabouts of the American troops and passed them on. Muchachos working for the Americans stole ammunition and guns for the use of Sakay's men..."


Sakays parting words:
"Death comes to all of us sooner or later, so I will face the Lord Almighty calmly. But I want to tell you that we were not bandits and robbers, as the Americans have accused us, but members of the revolutionary force that defended our mother country, Filipinas! Farewell! Long live the republic and may our independence be born in the future! Farewell! Long live Filipinas!"


~ Last words of Katipunero, Revolutionary General & President of Katagulugan (The Tagalog Republic) MACARIO SAKAY, after he and fellow freedom fighter LUCIO DE VEGA were captured through the treachery of the U.S. invaders and their henchmen in the Philippines, accused of banditry by the U.S. puppet regime. SAKAY had his anting-anting (protective amulet, pictured here) taken by his captors. SAKAY and DE VEGA were executed on September 13th, 1907. This was over 5 years after the U.S. President (Teddy Roosevelt) had claimed that the Philippine-American War was over, and fighting continued in other areas until at least 1910. (cf- G.W. Bush's declaration of "Mission accomplished" in Iraq)

Wednesday, September 8, 2010