A video of a ‘friendly fire’ incident that happened in Iraq has surfaced recently. In the March 2003 attack, American pilots mistakenly fired upon a British convoy on the ground. This CNN transcript shows that of the three U.S. Marine Air Controllers involved in the incident, one is called MANILA HOTEL and and the other, MANILA34.
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.”
Wikipedia’s featured article today is on the Manila Light Rail Transit System. Check it out.
Do you know the scene in The Great Raid where they show cable cars in Manila streets? I thought it was an inaccurate historical detail included by the filmmakers. Well, it turns out they were right. These “cable cars” were electric powered vehicles called tramvias, according to the article above. (On Google preview, Mark already mentioned it in his review of the movie).
This photo appearing in a BBC article (via brownpau) on the Philippines’ poverty divide shows “a shocking contrast of rich and poor.” I encountered many contrasting images such as this in the Philippines. The following photo taken in Olongapo juxtaposes the area’s past and present.
