today, my hormones are oddly acting crazy and letting me feel so dumb, restless, and darn emotional (for lack of appropriate terms to name what this strange feeling could be). lately, i tend to think of thoughts that seemed to be so strange for someone so shallow as me. i have been thinking immensely about life, its meaning, and what a mortal like me is doing, taking part on this journey as they equate it to be. journey. so, as we, humans, would always say, life's one big journey. i bet cookie monster and big bird i haven't even reached a tenth of it. if life's a journey, where then could we possibly be heading? death? if that's what this journey is all about, then count me out. life's been a roller coaster ride, and what we've been treading on is a path to this thing called death? no way. i ought to think that this journey would lead me to some place else. like...euphoria, whatever that may be. i'd like to think that where i am headed to is where i really want to be. where a day in earth is just a blink of an eye, where justice would always prevail, where feelings of sadness are inanimate, where comfort and care would always welcome each of us, where vendo machines would accept even dilapidated bills, where trains could seat infinite number of passengers, where laptop batteries would always be full, where ipods could hold all the songs we want to listen to, where people sing to the tune of peace and happiness, where everyone is seen equal, and where everybody is treated just the way they wanted to be. i'd like to think that death is just part of this journey and there's this climax to match this anti-climatic part of it. thinking rationally, no one has ever reached the end of life alive. but then we know not how the journey goes on after we leave this earth as mortals, tread on the journey of immortality and possibly head on to a place where we could say "this is the kind of life i've been longing to live."

these thoughts are what keeps me steadily going in this life i live as a normal human being - powerless, defenseless, weak. yes, times have been tough. several instances left me thinking about having to cut this journey to an end. but these thoughts would always keep me thinking that for every suffering i have to face as a mortal, a great deal of euphoric experiences will be matched against these when the time comes and i have to live with my Savior there in this euphoric place called heaven.



p.s. hormones are acting strange...ergo...wierded thoughts, mood swings, and blogs like this.

Dear Fellow Artists, Cultural Workers and Concerned Citizens,

Please find the Online version of the Arts and Cultural Sector Manifesto to be handed to the Administration of Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

The Manifesto outlines the Arts and Culture Sectors concerns with regards

• Governance,
• Creative Industry,
• Cultural Promotions,
• Funding, and
• Arts in Education, among others.  
  

If you deem this important, please sign and forward to your own network of artists and friends.

Please click on the link below and be a champion of arts and culture in our country:  

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/filartcu/petition.html

Hi there friends, colleagues and media friends!


I'm Peds <Rik> Franco, I'm a media practitioner.

Guys, I'm sending out a distress signal <heheh!> to all and i hope you could help me out or at least pass the news.

I urgently need to form a Production design team in just one week for a 2-WEEK INDIE FILM BATANGAS shoot. I'm the Production Designer of this CINEMALAYA FULL-LENGTH FILM ENTRY FINALIST.

I will be needing people who don't really have to have a super impressive resume naman. Good experience, discipline, commitment and much enthusiasm is good enough for me. 

Panalo nga sakin ang mga new-comer sa production design field dahil mataas ang sini-set nilang standards sa sarili and i love working with these individuals. 

Game rin ako for Mass Communication/Fine arts/Multi-media arts/design Students as long as there's not going to be a conflict sa schedules nila.

I'll be needing 2 GUYS to help me out in doing SET DESIGN <malakas at mabilis, maparaan ;P>, one (1) OC and detail-oriented WARDROBE MASTER, a diva-NOT-and-beyond-just-a-MAKE-UP ARTIST...

...and MOST IMPORTANTLY, a very creative-innovative and patient ART DIRECTOR na fairly-experienced na. And I need one ASAP na talaga. 

May TF naman po ito kahit paano so magiging fair naman sa lahat para sa usaping iyon. 

The SHOOT WILL BE ON THE FIRST and SECOND WEEKS of MARCH <March 1 to 15>. Seven days lang naman ang shoot pero may rest days in between so 'di ba, about half a month ang length ng production phase. 

Our Ocular was last Thursday (Feb 11) pa so sayang nga at 'di agad ako nagkaroon ng partner na ART DIRECTOR nung huwebes.

Again, BATANGAS nga ito so we might not have the luxury na mapuntahan ang location maya't-maya.

I'm also game din pala to meet some artists in Batangas so, in case you got friends na Batangas-based na gusto maging involved, pwedeng makipag-ugnayan sila sa akin so we could talk. 

Sa Batangas City at sa San Pascual magsi-shoot. So mas maganda kung may mga malapit. 

Volunteers are also very much welcome! 

I can get my SET-MEN and MAKE-UP ARTIST there. Pero nga i'm hoping na may prior experience na rin. Kasi as you all know, like all other Indie-Film projects, we'd like to spend wisely. 

Kaya kung makaka-cut ng konti pa sa budget <re: Manila-Batangas-Manila expenses> it would mean a lot for the production din. Kung posible lang naman ito. And hopefully, may mga commendable friends kayong artists sa Batangas na maire-refer. I know that there are groups sprouting all over so sana... sana... sana may kakilala kayong group in Batangas.

Anyway, I guess that's just about it. Please... please pakisuyo po!

 

Starting TODAY <until FEB 20/SAT>, I'll already entertain calls/ text/ email inquiries on this POST.  

you will never see my face nor hear my voice

you will never know may name

all that you will know of me are my thoughts through the words i write to say :

have you ever felt like your head wanted to explode?

like you want to drill a hole on your skull to relieve the pressure?

i do. i feel that way everyday.

The old painter sits in front of the easel, filled with dread. What was, just a few moments ago an elated inspiration, is now fear and loathing of the predicament he placed himself into.

 

Nervously, he marks the canvas with his preliminary sketch. “Come on, this should be easy,” he says to himself, “you’ve trained yourself in art all you life, so why do you still feel this way?”

Hi guys!!! Please visit my updated website and blog on http://meizuffu.co.cc  & http://meizuffu.blogspot.com , thank you!!! :DU My artworks on Eizu.Deviantart

 

My work ( I made it)...

When we contemplate the concept of a warrior; we often conceive a person who is training in the martial arts, engaged in the thick of battle, or being celebrated for conquering his foes. And when we think of the ancient warrior (or even the present), the professional soldier comes to mind. These warriors come in various images; from the Roman gladiators or legionnaires, the Japanese samurai, or the medieval knight.

We often romanticize these people in their exploits and most especially with their warrior codes such as Bushido for the samurai and Chivalry for the knight.
However, in my research on ancient/traditional* Philippine cultures I discovered that the concept of the warrior is completely different from what we would expect. There are many historical accounts, as well as mythical epics of warriors and their exploits in battle, from our national heroes (such as Andres Bonifacio), to early chieftains (such as Lapulapu), and even epic legends (such as Lam-Ang).
However, if you delve deeper into their stories, they are not professional soldiers. Apparently, there warriors/heroes would lead completely different lives when there was no war. In the pre-hispanic times, the warriors were also landowners who were greatly respected not just for their martial prowess, rather for their leadership in administering to the care of the land. In other words, they were also farmers. They were also the patrons of the various rituals that would govern the daily lives of the people under their tutelage. Yet in times of war, these men would raise their arms and defend their homeland to the death.
This I have observed with a Bagobo man, whom I have met. To their clan, he was one of the chieftains in the council of elders, but he was also their chief magani, or warrior. Yet, on an ordinary day, he was a farmer, with several families under his care. On special occasions, he was a poet and a musician.
This is a warrior who is a far cry from the professional soldier we often think about.

I can also say this for a whole range of people of traditional cultures, whom I have met in the course of my research and journeys around our archipelago.
There were the Tausug MNLF (Muslim National Liberation Front) soldiers, whom I met up in the mountains of Patikul, in Sulu. Having recently come from skirmishes with the Philippine Marines, they immediately transformed into Pang-alay dancers in a wedding ritual.

There was the Mumbaki (shaman) of the Ifugao, whom I met in the hinterlands of Banaue, who was a farmer by trade, yet a seasoned warrior in clan wars of the past. In fact, in the ancient headhunting practices among the Cordillera cultures (Ifugao, Kalinga, Bontoc, etc), they would only start their forays after the planting or harvesting season was over.

There were the Aeta of the Subic area, who practiced their martial arts in a dance that is also a ritual of fertility.

In other civilizations (and it seems to be continuing in the present), the professional soldier was created not in defense of the homeland, rather for conquest. They had no other duty but to be warriors, and were sustained by taxes from the common people. However, to augment their salaries and give justification to their existence they needed to go to war and collect loot by pillaging others. Its just common sense not to pay taxes for an army, if there was always peace, thus a war is needed.

In fact, the popular warrior codes such as Bushido, were guiding principles among the samurai and their daimyo, anyone lower than these were treated as lesser people and not treated with respect as dictated by the code of honor. Among the European knights, Chivalry was 'drafted' to curb the barbaric acts of the knights against other people. This code of the Cavalier (the mounted knight) has been overly romanticized, yet hardly enforced in the Dark Ages.

No matter how idealized were their codes of conduct, their lives revolved around the killing of others and not the defense of the people.

Looking back again at our ancient warriors, their lives revolved around creating, as in the tilling of the land and managing the lives of the families under his tutelage, rather than destroying through war.

And this is also how we view our heroes, as builders rather than destroyers. In fact, the name hero or bayani, is derived from the ancient name for warrior; the magani for the Bagobo or the bagani for the Manobo. Thus the warrior/hero was more than just a fighter, he was a defender of the way of life, in battle or in the daily participation and administration of duties; such as farming and ritual. And in my opinion, if they ever rose up in arms, it was not just to defend their lands and people, but to defend their way of living, their culture.

To summarize this concept, I have come across an ancient Tagalog word, ‘Lakan’, which means warrior, the freeman/landowner caste, or even chieftain. This seems to cover the range of responsibilities of the warrior/hero, from madirigma (warrior) to magsasaka (farmer) to mamanmanhala (leader).

Yet there is also another word, Lakandiwa, which is commonly described as a judge. Yet, if you breakdown the word into its components, you get Lakan (warrior) and Diwa (spirit). Thus, Lakandiwa may also mean the spirit of the warrior or the way of the warrior. And from this word, we can derive our own code of the warrior: a hero who, in times of war or times of peace, leads us in our maintaining the very essence of our lives, our culture.


*In this paper, the Traditional Cultures are those ethno-linguistic groups whose cultural identity and practices are still very much the same from before Spanish, American, and Modern colonization *2009 June
*I wrote this as a Father's Day gift to the men out there, to be the warriors of their families.

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