I've Been City Mug-ged!

I picked up a nice little hobby when I was away in Singapore, namely the collecting of Starbucks city mugs! Basically, they design mugs that have some sort of photo of the city where I bought. It goes against my natural affinity to detest tacky souvenirs but it firmly goes with my inner-geek collecting streak! I think I had 5 or 6 mugs when I was away last year. Too bad the North American designs are different, it would've have been cool to have some nice unity to them.

I'll take some photos of those things if I can. I justify my collection as a better than tacky souvenir shirt!

The Land Of Pink Cloud Happy Goodbye (Date changed) + Coming back from

The Land Of Pink Cloud Happy Goodbye
Originally uploaded by basco5.

Big invite to everybody who comes across my blog and are in Vancouver, British Columbia. Please come to Basco 5's farewell art show. The date has been changed from June 1st to June 2nd. He'll be moving to Europe really soon. Let's show some support for a local artist. The webflyer is now in colour too!

By the way, I'm in Seattle right now about half-way through my 4-day vacation. Tomorrow will be another day in the city, doing the whole city tour thing. Just came from Portland today and finished one my biggest investments ever! I just bought a new DSLR camera, spending more then $1k on it. The body was really cheap and the 18-200 mm lens was okay. Oy! Thinking about it makes my poor little hurt jump..I hope I did the right thing.

The Land Of Pink Cloud Happy Goodbye

The Land Of Pink Cloud Happy Goodbye
Originally uploaded by basco5.

Ooooh! A Basco 5 art show! I encourage people to come, especially those that live within the Lower Mainland of BC. For those who don't know, Basco 5 is a street artist. I just love his designs and art. They're funky & unique, yet surprisingly serious sometimes.

First saw his designs during the Northern Voice Conference 2007. And it was admiration ever since. Too bad he's moving to Europe. I wish him farewell and goodluck on his endeavour. Vancouver is losing one of its best kept secrets.

We have some unique way of neglecting talented people like him.

Darkside of the Farm

I was at Science World today for the Purdy's Story of Chocolate Exhibit. After the Body World's exhibit a couple of months ago, my expectations were quite high. Surprise surprise, it was a bust. Well not totally, I do not believe in absolutes and many of my friends sometimes get annoyed with my statements full of qualifying adjectives. Anyhoos, it was still fun and interesting but what was more fun was the non-feature exhibits.

My friend, Jancie, and I went to this one area that dealt with global warming and then in there there was structure shaped like a huge hamburger. I can't remember if it was a double-patty burger or a triple but that's not the point. We went in and we saw one of the most hilarious parodies in the world it is called the Grocery Store Wars or a Star Wars parody about groceries, GMOs, and vegetables. Pretty hilarious. Judge the politics for yourself.

She saved the world alot: Buffy's Back

I am a lover of all things Whedon, Joss Whedon. Ironically, I was first introduced to his work by my 2nd year English professor. She loved him and everything he does. She talked about Buffy the Vampire Slayer like there was no tomorrow and it was infectious. Dr. Potter was the best. But I never thought about being more familiar with the show or any of his work. Until a couple of years ago when I was just getting back into comics. There was news that a red-headed man was writing a comic called Astonishing X-Men. It was damn good comic! Characters spoke like people. The dialogue was witty and sharp. Art by John Cassaday was smooth and beautiful, very cinematic in approach. To make short, I loved it!

I slowly moved to other of Joss' work and loved all of them. Anything that man writes is brilliant. If you think about it, his last foray into television, Firefly, was about frontier life but in space. It sounds like the most ridiculous concept but it was one of the most well-crafted and executed shows in ever to air. Too bad not that many people went to see it and was cancelled after airing only 11 of its 15 episode run.

Last year an incredible opportunity came up, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Chosen Collection, which contained all seven seasons of the series, was on sale for $140. That was extremely cheap and too good to pass up. It took me several months to find time to watch all of the episodes. After watching it, television was never the same. I thought Firefly already made me sad but Buffy made me just hate TV. Hate in the sense that nothing else was as good as that.

I actually had a deadline when it came to watching the DVDs because it was announced that there will be season 8 of Buffy but in comic form! I just finished reading issue #3 and I must say the show might not be airing but the comics is just as good. Dialogue is as crisp as ever and all your favorite characters are there. I recommend that people either watch the show or read the comics (Actually I want you guys to do both). Don't dismiss the series because of its campy name or because its a "comic book". Many elements that Buffy pioneered or perfected are present in many of today's most entertaining shows such as Lost and Heroes. There's more to it than you'll ever know. Once you start you can't actually stop.

Lost: Disappearing Activists from the Philippines

I read the news daily. I think this was brought on by my somewhat subversive tendencies and very anti-right wing upbringing. In any, I feel I have this need to be well-informed about the world especially when it comes to politics.


Cory Aquino to gov’t: Where’s Jonas Burgos?

I grew up in the Philippines. I lived there for 16 years and thus giving me an affinity to keep up to date with what's happening in my home country. A couple of days ago I was reading the Inquirer when I glanced upon the front page photo. It was a mother holding a picture of his missing son. Reading the caption, I was awestruck by what it said. The photo is of Jonas Burgos, apparently a social activist in the Philippines. The name sounded familiar but hey I've known many people in my life. After his name, he was described as the son of late Joe Burgos. For many people, Joe Burgos was a hero during the Martial Law. He was the editor of a famous newspaper that defied Ferdinand Marcos' orders of towing the government line.

Jonas Burgos, I suddenly remembered, was my high school art teacher. Memories of our interactions are fleeting but I do remember having fun with the projects he let us do. I also remember that we went on a field trip to their farm, where they grow wonder chickens! It was a nickname for larger than normal chickens due to a breeding program they initiated.

There is seriously something going wrong in the Philippines. Moreso than usual. Labour leaders and social activists are either missing, attacked or assassinated. Many reports and even the UN have concluded that the military is behind this. Of course, Gen. Esperon has denied any of these allegations. I suspect either of two things with what is happening.

One is that there is a government plan to silence critics. The Arroyo administration has been bedeviled by allegations from electoral fraud to fiscal mismanagement. These things have been a staple of Philippine politics. However, the administration is finally doing something to save face in the international community or shore-up support from the electorate.

Another scenario could be the beginning of something similar to warlordships in different areas in the Philippines. It is already well-known but highly unacknowledged that many politicians support their own private army. This is done either through army/police bribery or hiring of locals to do their dirty work. Another aspect of this is that many military leaders are now following their own agendas without the consent of their superiors.

I do not know which scenario is scarier. Both are unwanted and not needed by the Filipino. Many of the things happening now are eerily similar to heinous crimes done by the military during Martial Law. The ghost of that era has haunted people since 1986. Every president has been suspected of abusing their power or extending their terms much like Marcos. However the situation of Martial Law can always be replicated in many ways and this is one of them.

Anson Chan and the Promise of the Basic Law

Last Tuesday, I received an email notification that Anson Chan was coming to UBC. The inner politics geek inside me started getting all pumped up and excited. She is one of the most powerful women not only in Hong Kong but also in Asia. For people like me who study these kinds of things (or at least try to study), she is one of those superstars you can only meet regularly if you have high level access to power or people with power.

On my way to the talk, I did not know what to expect. She surprised me in many ways. Her talk was candid and honest. Many of her opinions I agree with. We were advised to follow Chatham House Rules, which I will adhere to. I have no idea if I can even mention what she talked about but of course it would be about Hong Kong and what the future holds with the status of the Basic Law. Gah! This is killing me, as I usually spout things off-the-cuff (i.e. the other name for this blog).

Anson Chan giving a talk at UBC.

The whole time she was speaking, she exuded this air of intelligence, grace, frankness, and honesty that you rarely see in somebody in politics. I must say it was an interesting talk, illuminating and informative to say the least. The photo is very bad since I came a bit late and all the good seats were already taken. I wanted to move around but it didn't seem appropriate at the time. It doesn't do justice to her presence. On the other hand though, I can see how some people can be critical of her and her ways. She seemed firm on everything she said. Many have said that she is akin to Margaret Thatcher.

Oh thank God for Wikipedia. I don't need to explain a lot of these things. As usual though, don't take everything as is while reading the entries. Anyway, let's see if this blog gets blocked in China. Woot! My last one did and my only reference to China was because I was studying economic reform and transition.