This is Cagbalete Island in Lamon Bay, Mauban, Quezon:
Along with Anawangin/Capones, it is the best weekend destination: really really low low tides, interesting birds and marine creatures, unexpected geologic features, deserted beaches, accommodating people. It’s hard to imagine that this place is very inexpensive (if you commute and camp) and so accessible from Manila. Just make sure you bring a good cook with you.
The most momentous moment of the month happened today by the Manila Bay (near SM Mali of Asia or MOA or, as jeepney drivers conveniently call it, Mwah!) as I sat on the seawall and quietly watched the sun disappear behind dark clouds. There were crashing waves, humid gusts, scurrying crabs, graceful white gulls, planes bisecting the sky, and a leisured crowd that I ignored. The hour by the sea restored my faith in two things. One, Manila remains my favorite city (miles ahead of runners-up Hanoi and Rome). Two, solitude is beautiful, necessary and emancipating.
Speaking of sunsets and moments some of my photographed favorites over the last few years:
Templo Island, San Pascual, Masbate (2005). One of the first shots I ever took with my first camera. After a long hike, we were rewarded with this. The island has one of the wildest and most colorful sunsets I’ve ever seen.
Halong Bay, Vietnam (2008). Lounging at the roof deck of a junk while watching the sun set behind those lovely limestone islands was unforgettable.
Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte (2009). Glorious sunsets are only one of the few things that make me adore this lovely corner of northern Luzon.
Anawangin Cove, Zambales (2008). Watched the spectacle on a hammock by the sea. A few hours later, the stars came.
UP, Quezon City (2008). Manila has probably the best sunsets anywhere in the world. UP is a pleasant surprise as seen in this photo, taken after my graduation.
The sun upon the roof in winter will draw you out like a flower
Meet you at the statue in an hour
Meet you at the statue in an hour
-Belle and Sebastian, Piazza, New York Catcher
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I certainly won’t settle for second best.
Tuesday was a pleasant time off (though I have kinda been on an extended time off for the last four months). Woke up late. Read three chapters of Pynchon. Researched about the distance of potential grad schools from New York City (surprisingly, Worcester, MA is the closest). Had a fishy lunch. Watched Americans race in wintry Siberia. Nap! Took a jeep to North EDSA. Thought of buying shirts but was overwhelmed by the ubiquity of loud prints. Consumed a healthful dinner and a fatty dessert. Joined Trina and Rosa’s dinner and had some broccoli leaves. Joined Lao and Jason’s dinner and had some instant curry noodles. Played nine billiard games with three bottles of Infinit. Although we lost 4-5 because I sucked, Tuesday was a wonderful day. Right until the point when I hailed a taxi on the way home and things started becoming disgustingly dramatic. Innocuous backseat midnight taxi rides can turn painfully Proustian. To deal, sometimes I channel my other life motto (“No regrets!”). Other times I just express a desire to be Eternal Sunshine-d. Or be Dr. Manhattan-ed. Or (to make it more geographic) be lithified into a limestone.
“I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.” – Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything.
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Say Anything by Cameron Crowe is one of the best romances committed to film. High school senior Lloyd Dobler wants nothing more than to go out with beautiful and intelligent Diane Court. Lloyd attempts to win her heart over the objections of her over-protective father before Diane leaves for a scholarship in England. Summary from imdb.com
And no, I could not relate to this movie. Not at all.
You make me want to pick up a guitar
And celebrate the myriad ways that I love you
Can you see what you’ve done to my heart and soul?
This is a wasteland now
-Interpol, Slow Hands
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Billiards night was awesome. In only my third ever attempt at the game, I managed to help our team score the winning shots en route to a resounding 5-3 victory. It’s amazing because this never happens.
Meanwhile, I realized that karma has indeed caught up with me. This silly frustration (or frustrating silliness) is a just punishment for being an insensitive jerk to others. I’ve been trying really hard not to care about these things anymore but yes who am I fooling? Even KC concurs: himposibleh-eh.
Alcohol and love. Two things that make people do stupid things. Especially potent when consumed together or in sequence.
Meanwhile, the Hundred Haiku Project is stuck at number 69. A quite unfortunate position.
Also, Watchmen the Movie is an interesting creation despite its directorial flaws and mediocre final 30 minutes. Judging from the supposedly inferior film adaptation, Watchmen the Graphic Novel must really be something.
Been putting this off for months now because I wanted to see Synecdoche, New York first. Wise decision. Although 2008 is a weak year for films.
10. Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle). Yes, it won heaps of awards.
9. Happy-Go-Lucky (Leigh). Poppy may be an annoying character but credit to Sally Hawkins for making her more than one-dimensional.
8. Let the Right One In (Alfredson). A cold, creepy and touching Swedish vampire film.
7. You, the Living (Andersson). Surreal, often hilarious, collection of vignettes of people in a small Swedish city.
6. Paranoid Park (van Sant). While Milk reaped all the attention and the Oscars, van Sant should be remembered in 2008 for this humble ode to youth.
5. Melancholia (Diaz). Not a minute of its 8-hour running time is unnecessary or wasted. Diaz’s finest creation.
4. The Wrestler (Aronofsky). A quiet, low-key, character-driven film from Aronofsky.
3. Waltz With Bashir (Folman). Hypnotic and beautiful in an eerie way.
2. Now Showing (Martin). A tender, beautiful experiment.
1. Synecdoche, New York (Kaufman). No American film last year approximated the ambition, philosophy and creative genius of Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut.
Special Mention: I’ve Loved You So Long, Gomorrah, Rachel Getting Married, Wendy and Lucy, Wall*E, Milk, Frozen River, The Dark Knight, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Serbis, Years When I Was A Child Outside, United Red Army, 100, Jay, Imburnal (kidding!)
Underwhelming: The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Doubt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Smart People
And I know I have been driven like the snow
But this is cooling faster than I can
This is cooling faster than I…
-Tori Amos, Cooling
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Ilocos is nothing short of breathtaking. Clear skies, blue seas, crashing waves, lush fields, clean towns, good food, grand churches, rich history – a photographer’s wet dream. Attempts at giving justice to this beautiful part of Luzon.
Bangui wind farm
Paoay church
Five thoughts:
1. Saud Beach is lovely. I want to stay in Pagudpud for the rest of the summer and be gloriously unproductive.
2. Bumabata. I may probably possess some possible potential at being maybe good at billiards. Finally, a ’sport’ other than scrabble that loves me.
3. Sausage fest. I ate pork for the first time in three months (yes, this is important, breaking news that everyone needs to know). But not even Vigan longganisa dipped in Ilocos vinegar can convince me to eat pig or cow again.
4. Watermelons. Recently saw Tsai’s 2005 film The Wayward Cloud where, among other things, characters suddenly burst into campy musical numbers, and where watermelons are used in ingenous ways to make a porn shoot more interesting. Pinkish, watery fruit will never be the same.
5. Cooling. Although this has been cooling faster than I can, I am in no hurry to let go of this absurdity and move forward. This type of silliness doesn’t come too often. The last time that approximates this magnitude happened about a decade ago (and even then it was too complicated to be any fun). I’m set to face the most taxing four years of my life in a few months, so why waste time stressing now? I need to parteh! Governor Vi, come on tell me please, where’s the parteh?
