Sunday, September 23, 2007

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER...

TAG TIME...
I was tagged months ago by the grumpyurbanslacker. My apologies to grumpy for not posting earlier but I really couldn't come up with anything interestingly "weird" enough about myself to write about. This is the best I could come up with.

Six "Weird" Things About Myself That You Didn't Know

My first job in New York was a cheese counter boy at Dean and Deluca. I was then transferred to the fish station after being caught eating the stock. I then started bringing my own soy sauce to work so that I could eat the fish raw as well. (Never hire an Asian to work at a fish store, what the hell were they thinking?)

In 1995, I worked with an artist named Joe Davis ,the only "artist-in-residence" and research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and we put up an exhibition together at some recreation hall in Harvard named Ticknor or something. But one of the outcomes of collaborating with the man is that my DNA has been put (along with many others) into some rocketship that is flying through outer space as we speak. The objective here, if I remember correctly, was to communicate with space aliens regarding life on earth. And if by chance aliens don't understand written human language, then they sure must be able to recognize DNA codes. I can't seem to find the website that shows me on the list anymore though.
I started my career as a cartoonist and illustrator for Business Day newspaper at the age of fourteen drawing a comic strip known as "Bar Sins", a comic about alcoholics at a bar that discussed issues both local and esoteric (above, done later on during the Erap era when I returned to bworldonline.com). I then became the youngest member of the Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas in 1987 thanks to a recommendation by Nonoy Marcelo. After drawing comics, I then moved on to work as an illustrator for T-Shirts at a clothing store named "Island Spice Philippines" that my sister owned. I was one of the co-founders of the company and kinda loathe myself for being part of the proliferation of all those tie-dye T-shirts (We used to sell PapaDom T-Shirts - no offense Papa Dom!) and the grungy pseudo-"ethnic" hippie look that kinda took the Philippine youth scene of the early nineties by storm. Yes, it was a very sloppy looking moment in local fashion I know.

I was a dancer. I was the founding member of the Walang Pamagat Performance Art Company with my best friend Inigo Elizalde. Our dance theater group performed at the CCP, RISD, AS220 Providence, the Bronx Museum of Art, and in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. I am not in dancer's shape anymore but I am kinda immortalized "in action" in the book "Philippine Dance: Mainstream and Crosscurrents." by Reynaldo Alejandro

In the six degrees to celebrity department, Jean Paul Gaultier was my aunt Peanut's roommate in Manila in the 1970s (And yes, that is the real name of my mother's sister). When living in New York in the mid-90s, Inigo and I used to hang out a lot with still struggling performance artist Casey Spooner of Fischerspooner (which only puts me one more degree away from Michael Stipe). Haven't seen him in years and apparently neither has a lot of our old group since he made it big. Wonder if he'll remember me if I bump into him again someday. I also once served coffee to Rosie Perez when I was working as a busboy at E and O restaurant on Houston Street.

And that's it. I hope these are strange enough things about myself that you would never guess.

Now, if I had to tag anyone, my dream team would be to tag Chuva. Bryanboy. and MLQIII. But that is only if I had to. No pressure anyone. Only do this if you wish.

And speaking of better late than never, Mayor Lim has finally fixed the lights on Roxas Boulevard. Apparently, this is the reason why the lights were turned off. The mayor is also made a statement showing he is open to criticism and is apparently restoring The Manila Metropolitan Theatre as well. Now this is the kind of news I like to hear. And I'll take him up on giving him suggestions. I'll be more than happy to send him a list of stuff I want to see done.