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Check this gem out: Nostalgia Manila. As you dear readers know, I like to wax nostalgic once in a while so discovering this site was an absolute delight for me. It covers Manila in the 1970s and 1980s, the time I grew up in the Philippines (I left for the US in the early ’80s). They encourage people to submit “photos, stories, news, quotes, music, etc.” from that era. Boy, do I have a few things to share. There are a few pieces of ephemera over here just waiting to be scanned.

Another site I recently discovered is SuperPasyal. It features photos of Manila from the streets. Just looking at them brings back memories of the heat, the pollution, the sights, the scents and the noise of the city. This is the Manila I would’ve wanted to see again, warts and all, during our trip to the Philippines had we not travelled with our three young children.

Of course, Rick’s site Project Manila offers equally interesting photos, albeit through more rose-colored lenses (’cept for the accident pictures. Glad your bro is doing well, Ricky).

On the homefront, the paintings of Philippine masters are being featured at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Pioneers of Philippine Art: Luna, Amorsolo, Zóbel runs from October 20, 2006 through January 7, 2007. I found out about this exhibit early on from the sisters Maricar and Grace at Filipina Soul. Here’s the San Jose Mercury News’s coverage of the event.

Head on over to the newly redesigned thePinoy.net to catch the latest happs in the Philippines. The award-winning site is better than ever. Great job, Ernie!

Growing up in the Philippines, we didn’t really “celebrate” Halloween.* Yes, come October, establishments would be decked with Halloween decorations but kids didn’t go Trick-or-Treating (door-to-door roaming of the neighborhood was done during Christmas instead – in the form of caroling). That, however, didn’t stop us from dressing up in costumes and it wasn’t just limited to Halloween time either. Kids had many chances to don their Superman or ballerina costumes. Many celebrated their birthdays by throwing costume parties. Sometimes, we dressed up whenever it struck our fancy (an explanation for the current popularity of cosplay in the Philippines, perhaps?). The following are some pictures from my childhood attesting to this.

My sisters and I in masks

Tropical wild west

 
My brother and I as Batman and Robin (left) and as astronauts (right)

Today, we still don’t celebrate Halloween. At our church, we have something called a “Harvest” festival where kids come in costumes but special emphasis is placed on God’s blessings during harvest time. The family and I just came back from such an event this evening.

*The Philippines, being a Catholic country, celebrates instead All Soul’s Day/All Saint’s Day, a day to commemorate the “faithful departed.”

When I saw this hilarious photo gallery of kids scared of Santa a couple days ago, I had to dig up my own “scared of Santa” picture from my childhood:

That’s me at two years old being held by my mom because I refused to sit on Santa’s lap. My sisters didn’t mind though. Our eldest is seen here stroking his beard.

Pinoy artist Franc Reyes, who drew Tarzan at DC Comics in the 1970s, does visual development for Disney’s Brother Bear. Way to go, bro!

[via Komikero]

In his blog, Dean Jorge Bocobo describes himself as “a physicist by training and profession (Harvard, 1980).” He is also a writer for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Interestingly, there was a Jorge Bocobo who lived from 1886 to 1965 and was dean of the U.P. College of Law. Does anyone know if they’re related?

What actually struck me as memorable about “Jorge Bocobo” was a character by the same name played by lanky comedian George Javier on the Filipino comedy show Todas in the ’70s. He would introduce himself this way, “Hi my name is Jorge Bocobo. Bocobo is spelled: B as in BOCOBO, O as in OCOBO, C as in COBO, O as in OBO, B as in BO and O as in OLRAYT!!”

(Thanks to Mark for the mention. I actually learned of Mr. Bocobo’s site through TWF)