That Big Love

ACTUALLY A VERY INTELLIGENT CREATURE WITH VERY GOOD MEMORY, the elephant has been dubbed by Aristotle as "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind". So it's no wonder that various Asian cultures regard them to be symbols of wisdom, while children's books and toys often employ them for their charm.

Lovely large animals!

Here's my own elephant experience some time ago.


I miss Jaime and I miss Thailand!

Elephant editorial photographed by Elisabeth Toll, www.lundlund.com

Elephant ride with Jaime at Saiyok Elephant Park, Kanchanaburi, September 2007. Photographed by our guide.

Those Wonders

AFTER A BRIEF DISCUSSION -FOLLOWED BY DISSOLUTION- with my art director about how the Philippine educational system had tricked us into believing all these years that our Banaue rice terraces is in fact the 8th wonder of the world, I revisit the world wonders to re-learn them as I should really have.

Originally called theamata, Greek for "must-sees" or "things to be seen", these marvelous sites had been listed down by Hellenistic travelers into a travel guide of sorts.

Different "lists" had been made over time, initiated by the above-pictured Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, followed by the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World, Modern World, even Industrial and Underwater World.

It's quite unfortunate that those of the ancient world are my favorite, because well, it's not like I can visit them anymore. There are the pyramids though. Wait for me Egypt, I'm coming someday!

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as depicted by 16th-century Dutch artist Maarten Heemskerk.

From top: Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Image from en.wikipedia.org

Those White Spaces, Friendly Faces

A YEAR AND A MONTH AFTER MOVING INTO OUR NEW HOME, the place continues to be almost as bare as it was when we first came, save for some basic furnishings and mostly indigenous and Asian decorations here and there. The paintings are by and from my Dad.

I guess it's not so bad. It's quite empty but it's a great place for entertaining, especially because the lack of seating encourages people to get up and mingle.

I can't wait, however, until the day we get the furniture we want and get done the repairs we need. Furnishing a house is so costly! And that doesn't even include decorating.

The White House, as my friends call it, photographed by me.

Paintings and mural by Rudy San Pedro.

Those Connections

DESPITE ALL ADVANCEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY AND TELEPHONY, nothing makes up for a live, personal connection.

A touch. A kiss. A hug. At the start and end of a long day.

Just really missing Jaime who is currently -and very suddenly- in 2-degree Toronto for work.

Please hurry back home!

Connections by photographer Rune Guneriussen, www.runeguneriussen.no

That Pradalphabet

I WAS JUST PLANNING THE OTHER DAY to get artistic and illustrate my own alphabet. Guess Prada beat me to it.

Designed by Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag of M/M Paris, the Pradalphabet is released as a collector's edition of t-shirts bearing the letters P-R-A-D-A/M in the created typography. Individual letters are available made-to-order, printed on Prada t-shirts.





Pradalphabet by M/M Paris in collaboration with Prada. T-shirts to launch in Milan Design Week, April 2010 and hit stores in May.

Images from www.mmparis.com

Those Great Gatsbies

SO I SWORE TO MYSELF I WOULDN'T BUY ANOTHER LE PLIAGE as they have popped up like mushrooms over the past 3 or so years, creating what appears to be an army of nylon-travel-bag-toting Manila girls. It's a great bag. But seriously, they're everywhere!

What I'm currently obsessing over is Longchamp's Gatsby line, which I'm certain isn't named after the sandwich rolls from Cape Town so I assume it's named after the hat or after the protagonist from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel. Or not?

All bags are in leather, with turnlocks and the equestrian seal embossed on the front.

Some bags from the line:






Blue or yellow?
Or basic black?

Gatsby bags by Longchamp.

Images from www.longchamp.com

That Flow

GASP. Have you seen anything more stunning?

It's not the torturous Manila heat and humidity that draws me to Shinichi Maruyama's Kusho water works. It's the wild yet graceful fluidity of two contrasting non-colors, the black ink and clear water on white, crashing against and embracing each other, in careless spills, spontaneous splatters, great waves and light trickles. Beautiful.

The artist at work:


There are times when going with the flow results in unexpected wonders. As Lao Tzu in his infinite wisdom imparts:

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow... Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."

And so I shall.

Kusho by Shinichi Maruyama, shinichimaruyama.com

Images from brucesilverstein.com

That Life in Black and White

FUNNY, SMART, SAD AND POIGNANT, watching Persepolis leaves you wanting to be stronger as a woman, braver as a woman, closer to your family and more appreciative of your liberties.

Written and directed by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis is a French-language animated film based on the autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, telling of Marjane's life as a young girl and then as a young woman in Iran during the Islamic revolution.





The film takes you through her childhood and early adulthood; through her Bruce Lee phase, her punk phase, her first love, her first heartbreak, her time in a Catholic boarding school in Vienna and her new-found fascination with grocery shopping. It also takes you through her early desire to understand Communist ideology, her exposure to death and destruction, her moments of shame for being Iranian in a foreign land, her homelessness in Vienna and upon returning to her homeland, her clinical depression and recovery.

It's amazing to know about lives well-lived. It's also distressing, guilt-inducing, to place them side-by-side with your own, especially if you've lived a pretty conventional life.

But I guess we all have our own struggles, our own sorrows and moments of joy. What matters is that we live through them. And ultimately, that we learn.

Screenshots from Persepolis, 2007, directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud.

Persepolis comics written and illustrated by Marjane Satrapi.

That Facial

HAVING AN OBVIOUS PENCHANT FOR COLOR -in globs of paint and layers of makeup- Daniela Glunz's photographs are never without whimsy and are usually textured with lots of sparkle or lots of gloss.

These digitally-altered ones are my favorite.

See more of her photographs at www.danielaglunz.com