The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 17,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 4 Film Festivals
This thing usually happen during the end of the year. As displayed, I have not blogged a lot this past year. I was thinking of going back to blogging, at least once a day, but I want to be more reasonable. I’d blog when I can, hopefully, much more than I did in the past year. I’ve read and blogged about Perks of Being a Wallflower, and I feel like Charlie right now, I was too busy participating. I think I have collected enough materials for more blog posts than I could ever post. We’ll see. A friend once said, I can collect and experience first, then produce them into stories later, when things slow down a bit. For now, I am posting something from my Facebook account that I tweeked a bit.
Here is a story of my adventures. The summary of years, what happened before this version of Portia.
2005-2007: post-UP, exploring the ordinary life with ordinary dreams.
2008: success and heartbreak. A downfall from the pinnacle.
2009: picking myself up. Healing in a strange place.
2010: diving head first. A start of flight.
2011: starting to soar.
2012: feeling the wind in my hair.
Things has been looking up since 2010. 2011 was great, 2012 was simply awesome. Some memorable things:
1. I finished my course work for my graduate program with a bang. Three straight University Scholarships, I have never done that before.
2. I also finished my thesis proposal with a 1.0 average. Challenge for 2013: defend the proposal.
3. I published my first refereed journal review in Plaridel. Editing it took up my entire summer. Challenge for 2013: try to actually get to the beach this summer.
4. My proposal got accepted for Museum 2012, my first international conference. I got to present it months later in Taipei, Taiwan. Challenge for 2013: go for more international conferences.
5. I got to attend NODEM 2012 in Hong Kong, it was my first time there as well. Then there are the awesome conferences I got to attend in the country.
6. My dream came true, I am now an Instructor 3 at the Department of Art Studies in UP Diliman. I will never forget the referral letters that made me cry. I never really thought my work was noticed or appreciated. And this was by people I admire and respect.
7. My students talk to me more in class now.
8. I got to ride a bike. I can’t fully explain how that feels like. I felt infinite.
9. I started buying and exploring music again. My life has a new sound track.
10. Of course, the classic, friends, family and loved ones I got to share all of this with.
11. Because I don’t want to stop at 10: I know that the best is yet to come. Looking forward to 2013!
12. Oh, I almost forgot, I developed my culinary skills. I can proudly say I can cook now! 😉
Teaching controversial art proved to be a difficult endeavor. Part of why this in the syllabus is so that I can teach visual literacy and open-mindedness to my students. Sadly, I don’t think I achieve this goal all the time. This is supposed to be the last lesson of the semester, but I pulled it up because of what happened to the Pussy Riot and their 2-minute video Punk Prayer. I am posting this now because of the controversial movie on Muhammad. It’s really difficult trying to make sense of the controversy, the judgement, and the close-mindedness that occupies people’s minds. Why is it so easy to hate without reason?
Controversial Art: When Art and Society Disagree
I try to teach as well as examine my students’ reactions. They still think that Andres Serrano‘s Piss Christ is absolutely disgusting. They are afraid of Robert Mapplethorpe’s Man in a Polyester Suit. They hate Lady Gaga’s Judas. It’s not that I suddenly want them to love and appreciate these things, I merely want to open their minds and look into the aesthetic and unaesthetic ideas of art. I want them to consider it and think about it. There are mature ones, there are attempts. But sadly, there is still a lot of hate, disgust, and fear.
I personally believe that we need to talk about these taboo issues more. Inside the homes, classrooms, and even in extra-curricular activities. Not only when it becomes controversial. Emotions in the arts are important, but sometimes, we need to set our emotions aside and look at things from an intelligent and intellectual level. The main source of the problem is that we don’t talk about it, and when the time comes that we have to, a lot are uninformed about it. Media doesn’t help as it is usually them who sensationalize these things. Education and intellectual discussion is what we need.
Last year’s Poleteismo issue is not over yet, even if the Cultural Center of the Philippines decided that it would go on as usual by awarding the 13 Artists Award. They failed to stand behind their own awardee, yet here they are giving their awards once again. We need to talk about controversial issues. We need to face it. Maybe when there are enough lessons about it, I can say puki (vagina) and titi (penis) in class without my students cringing. They asked me not to use these terms as it is unbecoming of my role and status at a teacher, even after I explained that these are just natural body parts and unmalicious words. It is us who puts the malice in it, us and the institutions who supports such beliefs. When we understand where our thoughts and feelings are coming from, maybe we can master them and direct where they would go next time. We need not fear or hate images, we may not like it, but we should at least try to understand it.
Theo Van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Submission, brought on strong reactions from my students. Unfortunately, a lot of them also rejected it as they are tired from facing such heavy issues of controversial art. This is the first time that I consciously included these things in the syllabus and made an entire lecture about it. Maybe next time, I can approach them more gently, but I don’t see how. Theo van Gogh and innumerable other’s deaths cannot be meaningless. We have a lot of issues to face, and the best way to go is to begin facing them.
We now leave the Renaissance for a bit and focus on the next couple of centuries–17th to 18th centuries. There was an enormous upheaval and ideological divide during the Baroque Period. Which one should they follow, the absolute authority of the church and the divine rights of kings or the Protestant reform and the belief in self-determination. This rift and upheavals set the stage for the emotionally empowered art works. Powerful emotions, strong lines, exaggerated muscular features, and an evident chiaroscuro (the play of light and dark), are very much evident. This emotionally charged period is a potent follow-up to the perfection of the Renaissance.
There is also a calm after the storm. To rest from the intensity of the Baroque, there comes two opposing styles, the Rococo and Neo-Classicism. Rococo took on a sweet disposition, the calm after a turbulent storm. Instead of the play of light and dark, the color palette turned light and saccharine; instead of seriousness and melancholia, the mood turned playful and decorative. A real respite. On the other hand, Neo-Classicism turned back to the coolness and perfection of ancient art–the Greeks and the Romans. Johann Joachim Winckelmann‘s theses on the greatness of the ancien regime is very strongly taken in. Instead of being decorative, it turned cool and academic.
Here is the link for the lecture:
Ideological Divides: Baroque, Rococo, and Neo-Classicism
I’ve been called a wallflower once, many years ago. Perhaps a decade ago. I took it bad, at the time. But I guess there was point. I don’t like talking much with people who I just met. I was just at that dinner because of my dorm mates. It’s weird that I remember this anecdote after so many years. But here I am, remembering.
I didn’t mean to jump the bandwagon. Yes, everyone is reading Perks of Being a Wallflower because the movie is coming out. Admittedly, I found out about it because Cy convinced me to give it a read, he even sent me a pdf copy. But I never got a chance to until I bought it for my birthday. I spent the day before hosting my party and the day itself with a family lunch and generally hanging out with Cy and C. I walked around the bookstore before heading home, I just wanted to buy myself a present. I wanted the one with the original cover design, but the paper for the movie edition looks much better, albeit more expensive. Experience dictates to always go for the one with the better paper quality. Too many of my newsprint editions are now brittle and practically falling apart. Not worth the small savings in the beginning.
I want to feel infinite too. This thought is in my head. I started giving the book a read a couple of days ago, but since I always have too much to do, I couldn’t really sit on it. But I decided to do so today. It’s actually a matter of accident. I needed to go to the bank, so I read a couple of letters there. Then, I needed to take a passport photo (again) for my visa, so I started reading some more letters again in a cafe. But then, I didn’t stop reading. I sat there with a cup of coffee and a brownie, and just read. The waiting time for the photo was 30 minutes, I spent 3 hours reading in the cafe instead. By the time I sat back up, I’ve finished the book, with Fleetwood Mac‘s Landslide playing in my head. I felt sad, but a good kind of sadness. I want to feel infinite too.
It’s been a while since I wrote something more personal. I’ve been persecuted for taking too personal a perspective on things. I let go of these people long ago, but it still took me some time to be personal again. In a way, Charlie inspired this feeling of freedom for me. Some people may have it worse, but it doesn’t make your problems any less real for you. We just need to keep on moving forward, taking in whatever lies ahead. I just want to feel the wind on my hair again.
I like that I have friends that I can talk to about books, music, and movies. It’s like in the book, but less drama and romance. It’s more of our own flavor of life–dreaming of greater things, of things that are beyond us. Things that we want to create, things that we want to change. Our situations in life can only affect us so far. In the end, it’s the decisions that we make that matters. Maybe someday, there might be romance as well. If there’s someone who can share the passion for books, music, and movies. Not necessarily the same things, but the same passion for something. It’s what life is about anyway. We are special, and it helps that there is someone to remind us that we are.
I listened to The Smith’s Asleep for the first time tonight. I have to admit, I liked it. I want to listen to more of The Smiths. I want to get the songs Stephen Chbosky mentioned. I want a copy of that particular playlist. I want to imagine that life, that world. Books and music just opens up new worlds, instead of just being stuck in one world.
Another thing, I couldn’t leave the mall without going to the bookstore again. This time, it’s for Jack Kerouac‘s On the Road. I’ve always wanted to read him but I never could find the time or the motivation. I’ve read several novels mentioned in the book, but not yet of Kerouac. I told myself earlier to be more careful of my spending. But here I am. I don’t have to shop for clothes or any of the things girls usually shop for. But I never could resist books that I’ve set my eyes on.
Too much to write about and too little time. That is what it’s been like here. As you have noticed, most of my updates are class-related. The time and energy I have left are dedicated to teaching five classes that I have. Whew. But hopefully, I am back.
Not to jump on the bandwagon, but I am writing about OPM. The current debate is getting increasingly annoying. OPM is not dead. The music will always be there. Filipino musicians are still making music. Filipinos are still listening to Filipino music in one form or another.
What is the problem? We don’t like what we are seeing and hearing. Most of my students do not like OPM, that is a fact. Filipinos appear to prefer foreign music, particularly American music. A lot of people, myself included, are reminiscing the Filipino music of the 90s and earlier. I have to admit, I think the mainstream OPM is filled with repetitive junk or covers of former glories. That is what we are exposed to right now. That is what is accessible right now.
I have read the comments, OPM defenders are strong there. They say they are alive, that OPM is still there. That we should look beyond the mainstream and go to Conspiracy, Route 196, Syjueco, The Collective, etc… It is sad and frustrating that Filipino musicians do not even realize the problem in that statement. That is just Manila, a very small portion of Manila. You can’t blame ordinary Filipino citizens if they are not aware of these places and the music they produce there. They might as well be dead for the rest of us who are do not belong in that circle.
Increasingly, Filipino musicians are creating a smaller and smaller circle of their own. I don’t belong there, majority of Filipinos don’t belong there. The rest of us are outsiders to the professed healthy independent Filipino music. Even if we become aware of the complicated schedules and locations of these gigs, barely anyone can just go there on a work night or even a Sunday night. Plain and simple, they are not accessible. What’s worse, they are not doing anything about it.
Instead of shooting the messenger, Filipino musicians should address the problem. Yes, the music is there, but we can’t hear it. It is the responsibility of the audience to go out of their way to listen to OPM? Isn’t it more the responsibility of the artists that they are seen and heard by the rest of us? Instead of creating their own small, impenetrable niche, shouldn’t they move to be more inclusive? I can remember growing up in the 90s, everyone was singing Parokya and Eraserheads songs, EVERYONE. Clearly, that is not the case today.
There are a lot of underlying issues here of course. The support given to the arts is weak, not just in music. The commercialization and commodification of music is another. The dictation of taste by the media and new media is there. But then again, the art world should stop thinking that the audience is dumb, blind and deaf. The audience also choose, they are also critical. The problem is that the little choice that there might be is very inaccessible.
Just today, I also read someone complain that OPM is much cheaper that foreign music, that we are valuing local music cheaper. Well, it should be cheaper, given that it is not imported, thus, less tax, transport, and warehouse expenses. Even if it is cheaper, it is actually more expensive to a lot of Filipino audience. A lot of Filipinos, myself included, would download via peer sharing sites, instead of buying the music. Or at least test it out first and see if it is worth buying the physical copy. There can’t be shame in that given the middle-class salary (if we’re lucky) that we have. That is another problem of access.
Address the problem. Make OPM accessible. Let us hear it. Maybe then we can debate OPM’s life and death, quality or lack thereof. Unless we hear the music, it might as well not exist. After that, we can tackle once again, what is Filipino music anyway? What is OPM?
August was full of disruptions, rains, floods, and even illnesses. But hopefully, we leave all that now. As August ends, we also end our lessons in Renaissance. This time, we will explore the High Renaissance into Mannerism. The influence of the state and private individuals heighten, affecting the style and mood of the times.
High Renaissance displays an excellence and height of technique, but with obvious cool and restraint. Mannerism took on the techniques of Renaissance, but exaggerated and contorted it. The social, religious and political upheavals are just beginning here. The twists and turns of the bodies reflects the twists and turns of artistic developments.
Here are the links to the lectures:
And look, indeed, it is. Courage and begin the work!
You are only 13, and I feel terrible how people seem to keep forgetting this fact when they speculate and report about the events surrounding the plane crash. When they show photographs of you and your sisters with your faces buried in your hands, when they upload photographs of you sobbing into the arms of your classmates and teachers who have come to bring you comfort. These visuals do not help at all and only show a lack of respect for your private pain.
via Dearest Jill — An open letter to Jill Robredo and colleagues in media.
The Pussy Riot women, could be you, or me, or anyone who believes and values separation between church and state.
Portia Placino 