GIRL POWER-INSPIRED ART

(If this post were something tangible, this would have been long covered with dust. Good thing it was not. However, being back-burnered in the Draft section for over a year, with me realizing it just recently, is something I now consider a mortal sin. And so I think publishing it (at long last) is the right thing to do. Ah, what a relief!Haha.)

Curiousity indeed is "the starting point of knowledge." One never runs out of new things to learn as long as the inquisitive mind finds its way to asking "what's out there?"

Such is what I and my chum Joja proved to ourselves when it was finally obvious that we had nowhere else to go, having "toured" around the TriNoma and SM North EDSA malls that late afternoon. Passing the uppermost level of the TriNoma mall for the umpteenth time, we noticed this alfresco area which turned out to be a mini park filled with lush trees and plants.

An added attraction was the fountain at the center. But a more prepossessing sight were these art installations in primary colors, strategically placed just a few steps outside the glass windows where folks can see them then and there.



A brief description of the art exhibit says that the artist, Filipino veteran sculptor Jose "Joe" Mendoza, fashioned his sculptures out of steel, which is deemed a "challenge" for him. In pursuit of looking into new mediums, he stressed that it will never be too late to do so.

According to its Web site, the Ayala Museum, in partnership with the Ayala Malls, has also curated public art installations at the Glorietta 4 Park, Glorietta 3, Greenbelt 5, Market! Market! Central plaza, Bonifacio High Street, and Marquee Mall made by artists Rachy Cuna, Lor Calma, Tam-Awan's Jed Alangui and Jordan Mang-osan, Bernardo Pacquing, and Norman Tiotuico. Collectively called the ArtPark, the six exhibits' aim is to bring art closer to the public.

Curious eh? Try dropping by the Ayala Malls to take a look at these art installations. You're sure to learn something new, take it from me.

ON BEING HAPPY

Everyday since its launch last month, for more than two minutes, my world stops every time I see this 100th Year Anniversary TVC of Coca-Cola shown on the boob tube.



Cheers to everyone at Coca-Cola for coming up with this TVC that definitely hits home. Ayos!

A TALE OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP

Dear Random Reader,

First off, let me say --

"God gave us relatives. Thank God we can choose our friends."

I don't remember what prompted me to take note of Mary and Max as a must-see film for me last year. Maybe it was because I had read a positive review about it and was talked into proving it myself. Or probably it was because I was enticed by the idea that it could be the first full-length claymation I would lay my eyes on. It could also be that I was just intrigued by the "simplicity" of the film's title and wanted to see for myself the truth behind its rather dull facade. Whatever the reason, I'm glad that it stood me in good stead. Now, I just hope that coming across this write-up would do the same for you.

Mary and Max is a comedy-drama clayography that delves into the 20-year pen friendship between Mary Daisy Dinkle (Bethany Whitmore, Toni Collette), a lonely eight-year-old Australian girl, and Max Jerry Horowitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an obese forty-four-year-old Jewish man. A heart-warming story about a friendship that stood the test of time, distance and age gap, this movie in so many ways is unlike childish animated flicks we usually see. It is mature and touches on serious societal issues not commonly discussed (i.e. sex, suicide, depression, mental disability, religious beliefs, among many others) but in a childish frankness approach. This is, in my book, what makes Mary and Max a perfect blend of humor and pain.

Just a few seconds into the film and anyone would be amazed by the amount of passion and talent evident in its every detail, easily reinforced by the fact that Adam Elliot (the film's writer, director and designer) spent five years in making this clay animation.

The animation, though dreary, is excellently done. It made me even think that some of the details were no longer made of clay in that they were so elaborately formed they looked real. It is also commendable that monochromatic hues -- shades of brown for Mary's world, and gray, black and white (along with red in some things intended to depict importance) for Max's -- were employed, as this technique was effective in setting the film's melancholic, dark tone.

I also take my hat off to how each letter was effectively used in developing the characters. The voice talents are superb as well. I was, particularly, impressed with Hoffman's (I honestly don't know him. Is he a Hollywood actor?) voice acting. Max's character would not be that endearing sans this man's participation, I think.

However, one aspect that I personally find disconcerting yet oddly entertaining is the use of rather lively musical background -- the song "Que Sera Sera" -- in the scene where Mary is about to commit what she thinks is the way to end all her sufferings (spoiler alert!).


To sum it up, Mary and Max, though dark, is an enlightenment that would make you think of the friendships you have surrounded yourself with. More importantly, of the one you have with yourself. Friends may come and go, but the one you should never dispense with is being on great terms with yourself. And if you agree with this claim, go (in good health) and spend the next 92 minutes watching this amazing film.

Sending you a virtual hug,
Ybeth

P.S.
Just so you don't have to stress yourself looking for one, enclosed herewith is a link to a decent copy of Mary and Max.

P.P.S.
Thanks for reading this entry, by the way.


(Images from here and here)

THE MATH OF LIFE

(Image from here)

DAY 3: THAT KIND OF LOVE IS...

I may have read all of the four books in the series and have watched the four previous movies that resulted from the franchise (AND may be looking forward to the second part of the latest one), but I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF A TWILIGHT SAGA FAN (I do have my own reasons). Yet, I couldn't help but say "WOW" when I first saw this Twilight fanart on this awesome website. And so I thought of sharing it here.



Amazing, huh?

WORLD'S LARGEST AND SMALLEST

I was kind of on the prowl for inspirational stuff on the Web yesterday when I stumbled upon these decidedly creative works of art on YouTube. The first is Gulp, a stop-motion short film "depicting a fisherman going about his daily catch." Created by Sumo Science at Aardman, this short was entirely shot using a Nokia N8. It also prides itself as having "the world's largest stop-motion animation set, with the largest scene stretching over 11,000 square feet."

It did not surprise me that the video has so far garnered more than one million hits, but I believe it greatly deserves more than that. Kudos to everyone at Sumo Science for painstakingly producing such amazing work!



And speaking of "amazing," I'm absolutely confident that you too -- therefore chiming with its over two million viewers on YouTube -- will see it evident in Dot, also by Sumo Science. If Gulp has "the largest," then Dot has "the smallest stop-motion animation character." It features a 9mm girl named Dot "as she struggles through a microscopic world." And just like Gulp, this film was shot using a Nokia N8 and with the aid of so-called CellScope technology to capture the minuscule details.

Dot amusingly has this video game feel to it. It's like you control Dot as she escapes "the encroaching wave of destruction," leading her through the path made up of tiny objects such as buttons, coins, pens, pins, nuts and bolts, and finally making her take on what is going after her by turning it into a cozy blanket.



And so I must say that Gulp and Dot are truly entertaining. Are they Nokia commercials, you ask? Oh, I totally forgot about that!

GOOGLE DOODLES

I so love the Google logo for today!



Been noticing it, but it's just today that I'm finally overtaken by this rather every-few-days change in Google logo's appearance. It's actually Google's way of being one with diverse holidays and celebrations the world over, I just found out earlier. Checking out Google logos' site could be fun if you're also into doodling like me, and perhaps even when you're not.

PLEASANT SURPRISES

I'll tell you what, I guess, I was really wrong posting on my Facebook wall that "life indeed is full of surprises, but never when you need one." As sour as that status was, it prompted one thing that I suppose holds true: The way we perceive something as surprising greatly depends on where we look at it from; what's surprising for you may not be for me, and vice versa. Which reminds me, aren't you surprised that DMC, a French brand of embroidery threads, can allow anyone to have an Amorsolo? No, not the real paintings, just the cross-stitch patterns.

The brand's only local distributor, Focus Global, Inc., partners with the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation for this project, which has turned eight Amorsolo paintings "that reflect Filipino culture at its best" into patterns: Planting Rice, Cooking the Noonday Meal, Winnowing Rice, Sunset: Return of the Fisherman, Girl with a Banga, Tinikling Dance, Lavandera, and Girl with Mangoes. (For further information, better check this out!)

This may seem like a free brand advertisement to you (and if it does, I'd be, in fact, glad), but for me this comes as something of a surprise, and pleasantly so. Not so long ago, in an entry here, I was just wishing to have one of the Master's works, but needless to say, how could I? Notwithstanding having only the chance to own its cross-stitch version, I now assume that having the real one is just within my grasp. But first things first: I gotta start that needlework now. Let me, fingers crossed, surprise you with my output, then.

I WISH I HAD ONE OF AMORSOLO'S

I have invariably marveled at artworks of Filipino pride and recognized as the first National Artist for Painting Fernando Amorsolo. For everytime I see one of his paintings, even in pictures, it's as if I know where that place is and it feels like I have been there. The odd familiarity of the landscapes and the scenes in his paintings always makes me feel "home." So, imagine me swelling with pride when I incidentally learned that he spent his childhood years in Daet, Camarines Norte. First I thought that we probably have the same gene pool of Bicolano, but I eventually found out that he just spent the first 13 years of his life in Bicol and was actually born in Manila. At any rate, it's just the same: at some point in our lives, we had breathed the same air. And that makes me a little prouder of where I'm from.

Here are some of his works (which actually number 10,000+ by the way):

Planting Rice, oil on canvas,1951, 24x34

Sunday Morning Going to Town, oil on canvas, 1958

Fruit Pickers Under the Mango Tree, oil on canvas, 1937, 25 1/4 x 37 1/2

Planting Rice with Mayon Volcano, oil on canvas, 1949, 70x100.5