#Aswang goth

[ano-po]

Aesthetics with Filipino Culture part 1

Part 2

[vaninihead]

My fanart of Alexandra Trese, the main protagonist of Trese, an anime series based from a Filipino comic series of the same name! 

I really stepped out of my comfort zone with this one. Usually when I color, I usually use soft strokes and only use the hard ones for emphasis. Here, I decided to use cell shading when coloring the hair and the results are very satisfying! 

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[i0penedpandorasbox]

So Aswang am I right?

What is an Aswang one may ask. Well Aswang are mythical creatures from the Philippines. Some people say that there are different sub-spieces, other people say these subspecies are one and the same and smash them together, I personally say that there are not really subspecies but more like Aswang with different hobbies, diets, cultures, styles, aesthetics ( like a goth isn’t a different spiecies from a jock, actually never mind, that totally depends on who you ask… ) and lifestyles. The subspecies or lifestyles we are talking about here are, boiled down to the basics: witches, vampires, gouhls, weredogs and viscera-suckers.

Now, these Aswang are known for hunting humanity, may it be possession, consuming blood or life essence, the eating of the dead or the living, those kind of things.

They are described to be shapeshifters living amoung us as shy humans. They would be responsible for miscarriages, ( those damn Aswang always sucking out my baby trough my vagina ). They would get quieter the closer they get to their prey to trick them into thinking they are walking away. Aswang are daywalkers, known for their bloodshot eyes of staying awake all night, rumour has it that if you look into an Aswang eyes you see your reflection upside down, suggesting their eyes go inwards.

But, honestly, there are two things specifically that fascinate me about the Aswang.

Aswang are said to be similar humans. They experience a wide range of emotions, and form bonds. They form friendships and will never cause harm to their friends and neighbors. Which is a fascinating trait for an “evil” creature.

I tink the way their appearance is described is also interesting. Despite being a shapeshifter they do have an original form, a lanky, tall, thin, light form that is. They are said to be thin enough to hide behind bamboo. They have wings and some have dog like traits. And one of the most notable unique traits in my opinion is that they have a long, thin, hollow tongue trough which they consume things like blood.

But this people, this just leaves room for so many headcanons. It leaves so much to the imagination.

I inmagine the Aswang having butterfly like wings, wrapping around their lanky form, making them quite colourful ( when male ). Every Aswang having a different pattern, but being able to decipher an Aswangs lifestyle and family out of it. I imagine them having a toothgap for their butterfly like tongue. The dog like traits actually being the furr like texture of a butterflies body and their loyalty to the ones they care about. I imagine that when they shape-shift they wrap their wings around their body and those colours start to move, assisting them.

They are said to be territorial, but all I can think of is Aswang fighting other Aswang, for the sake of defending their village.

Them having feelings and forming bonds just creates so many possible senarios. Them not eating their neighbours kid, seeing them like a weak creature but tollerating their prescence, or that is what they tell themselves. Until their village starts burning down in the middle of the night, and they run back in a panic, worried about the kids safety. The Aswang saving the kid, and others of the village, assisted by their unnatural strengt and stamina. Them comforting the crying child after, in their true form, knowing it will be killed by the villagers as soon as dawn breaks.

So yea, Aswang, am I right?

[thera-daydreams]

ya'll... just imagine the Inday spinoff ideas I have like, see? 😃

cleaning basilio's smelly room (ft. team trese, hank, + ipis)

roadtrip with mal & beach bbq w/the trese barkada [nearly gone wrong when mal went over the speed limit 3x]

vlogging in dom's hacienda (ft. reginathereyna & aswang bodyguards)

spa & facial dayoff with the trese peeps

hot girl summer makeup + ukay haul & photoshoot (ft. hangin babes)

rating bubble tea shops with bff alex [who badly needs sleep & sugar] + her goth godess gf ibu's emissary

dinner with your manliligaws + your possible in-laws (ft. señor armanaz, datu talagbusao, & madam ramona)

fluff moments with team trese whenever gabay turns into a lil' toddler [who's super picky with their food]

divorce counseling with isagani the ex

idk, might add them as one special chapter or something—i just need more trese content, so i might keep updating this list when i get ideas 🙇‍♀️😭

... i need help 🥴

[issela-santina]

a Filipino girl's random thoughts re the Josh dela Cruz era of Blue's Clues, so far

NOTE: I will continually come back to edit this post because if I just reblog this to enter new thoughts, you won't get the whole thing.

Josh is brown as heck and whenever I look at it, he puts Filipino mass media networks to shame. We're used to seeing Western-pretty light-skinned people more often than not; if you're Filipino and you have one white parent and glowed up abroad, Filipinos would flock to you easily. Josh was Dubai-born and grew up in NJ yeah but still, seeing a brown-skinned, full-blooded Filipino on that screen, especially getting to know that Steve, Angela, &al picked Josh for his energy instead of his race, was refreshing to say the least.

Josh came in and told everyone at his audition that he's 5'10" (sorry @ everyone who was misinformed that he was 5'5"). In case you're curious, our word for describing tall people is "matangkad". I'm 5'1" so in my POV, matangkad si Steve. Mas matangkad si Josh. Pinakamatangkad si Joe. You get the idea.

I asked about the pineapple bibingka when resident lola/granny Carolyn Fe posted about her BC&Y! rep on FB's Subtle Asian Traits group. The responses were sparse but they have admitted they like their bibingka with mango or peach as well. It's not the first time I've heard of fruit bibingka since at least in fiction there's Deuce Bigalow's white dad who admitted that he loved the Filipino mom's raspberry bibingka. The reason I'm curious is because where I live, bibingka toppings are savory like salted egg or cheese. Moreover, I'm used to watching people bake it in clay pots over a fire around Christmastime. Masarap talaga, promise.

WHEN JOE SAID YUM OVER THAT BIBINGKA PRESENT MY BRAIN CHEMICALS EXPLODED. THAT'S IT. THAT'S WHY MY BLOG HAS BEEN FLOODED WITH DONOVAN PATTON MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE.

Carolyn greeted me on my 25th this year on Twitter with a link to the bilingual Happy Birthday video and it's the best thing that happened on that day. She might also influence my singing. Who knows. But I want to cover her when I have the energy. (Check out Carolyn Fe Blues Collective!!)

The way Josh looks, he looks like the grown-up version of a children's book character I used to pick off a university press or book fair shelf and then secretly read. I forgot the author(s) or the character's first name but the character's last name was Dacanay. He lived a provincial/small-town life somewhere in Pangasinan(?) and dreamed not high, but deeply.

Josh's superpower is making a guitar suddenly appear whenEVER he needs it. Fully strung and well-tuned. As a musician, sana all.

Josh-wolf from the Halloween specials haunts me so much because we have the aswang, aka this giant snowballed convolution of concepts all of which cannot just be encompassed by translations like werewolf or vampire. Fan fiction based on this would kill me.

Blue's looks in the original were nice but the reboot looks are my kind of cute. She's fuzzy. I could pet her and Magenta all day.

Steve's episodes have been the ones I look out for with the most hype. Not only his appearances as a character but also when he writes, directs, and produces. I kinda want one where he leaves clues himself.

I read from an interview with Josh that Joe/Donovan is writing and directing BC&Y! stuff too, and I'm anticipating what he brings to the table in that department. After trolling us into playing Joe's Clues and making us guess a mystery present, I think he'd make a wicked gamemaster.

Joe and Josh need to have a skidoo adventure together. Please.

Considering that someone tweeted about Blue's Clues crossing into gothic horror territory after introducing Joe (who also eventually embraced his inner kidcore goth by wearing purple as standard), the tradition continues with Josh: dressing up as a beholder at one point like the previous two hosts and as a wolf multiple times, able to conjure an instrument out of nowhere, and of course, his skidoos emit spirals like it's happening in a Junji Itō storyworld.

Steve and Joe wear their colors brighter now compared to their original series wardrobes. Josh is as blue as the early morning twilight sky.

There's a ghost in the living room because the resident who, as a child, summoned an unworldly hound out of a book one cold winter's night had said so. What else can Steve do?

It's really nice that retail workers get some representation with Joe but my gosh having a tall hot pallid middle-aged kidcore goth with cheekbones that can cut through glass suddenly appear every few episodes to give a side quest makes me weak. I would adjust my spending habits just to see him more often. (Editing to realize that there's been a song written of this kind of sentiment back in 1993.)

Trader Joe's. HAS NO ONE NOTICED—

Headcanons: Marlee goes to Joe's present store to buy gifts on occasions. Joe barely has time to himself because of the shifts but when he does give himself a break he wants to sit in the library and read. Steve frequents a small restaurant that Miranda runs; after a long day at work the two sometimes take the opportunity to talk about life and their dogs.

I'm hoping more cultural holidays get a deep dive the way Chanukah got it with “Festival of Lights”. Start with Kwanzaa since I remember it getting touched upon back in the old series.

When did I crush hardest on Josh? The moment he operatically got an email.

He hears a strange whirring sound, and proceed to find clothes strewn all over the bedroom. Song Man realizes that he forgot that he's doing the laundry. After playing Blue's Clues. He hears a strange whirring sound.

Josh's handy dandy notebook is a writer's/artist's wildest dream. It's as thick as a fricking novella. And the smartphone on the back cover? Warms your pages. I don't know if you like that but I do. Having Steve and Joe on speed dial is a bonus.

Can't say if this era's takes on the old tunes are better because the beat breaking the flow before the last words of the line gives those last words more emphasis: a redeeming factor since the flow is jagged and syncopated compared to the old version which more easily follows the beat. Yes I am a nerd.

„Isang Araw Kasama Si Plum“ („Un Día con Plum“ pero Tagalog imbes na Español)? Pwede ba?

The amount of eye bag on the boys but especially Josh is a mood in and of itself.

DONOVAN PATTON × CAROLYN FE COLLAB WHEN?

“I'd go anywhere with you!” Josh, I'm a homebody, pero sige.

So does Blue have her own handy dandy notebook or does she borrow it from Josh just for the song?

I'm kinda here for the fact that this school canonically managed to employ 2 different teachers named Marigold.

“My favorite part of school is snack time.” BRUH.

Drinking game: take a sip for every rainbow you see in this franchise.

[joselitosering]

I kept it interesting to hide the sadness I felt inside #vampire #aswang #midlifebreakthrough #demented #dapper #glam #metalhead #goth #pagan https://www.instagram.com/p/B3pvxj9BkH8/?igshid=16b7g6c1zdha

[anyonghalimaw]

white witches who think they constitute a marginalized class by the virtue of being White Wicca r the most annoying brand of white people second to like. all white women ever i think? like girl just coz some christian said ur going to hell for dressing goth doesnt mean ur religiously marginalized like jewish n muslim ppl n indigenous ppl practicing indigenous religious omegalul

also i str8 up dont believe in white mysticism either fuckin trying to curse the moon n whatever dumbass shit call me when yall get a fucking spirit attached to u or have a duwende curse u or encounter an aswang or get a supernatural illness and u gotta call the local witch doctor/folk healer to sort that shit out

[antique-symbolism]

hey! I wanted to know if you could share some facts with me about Jacket! anything you wanna talk about!

oh I’m always down to share facts about Jacket! I love Jacket!! For those who don’t know, Jacket is a character in my WIP, Cat and Cleo’s Guide to Cross-Country Liminality!

* Jacket Asanbosam was adopted and raised by a magician mother (Analyn Aswang) and a vampire father (Kofi Asanbosam). Jacket chose to have Kofi turn them into a vampire at age 22 to survive a terminal illness. They are 27 now.

* Obvi Jacket is not their birth name. I have an ongoing Pinterest board for Jacket and it includes many patches and pins that would adorn the jacket they named themself for!

* Their role in the internship is cultural expert and linguist (for when the group has to interact with other magical species) and self-appointed road trip DJ. They also have the most experience with magic in general and know a lot of useful spells and facts about the magical world.

* Vampires don't need blood to survive, but they DO need it to fuel their natural magic. It's extremely rare not to drink it in some capacity (even Kofi does) since completely abstaining results not only in inability to do natural magic, but also fatigue, craving, and other side effects. Jacket totally abstains from blood, but not for the reasons you might think.

* Jacket loves music; it's probably their favourite thing in the world! I made an entire playlist with over 70 songs (and counting) that they would listen to, and I frequently mention their favourite bands in narrative (with all names changed to protect those that rock). Some of their favs are: Streetlight Manifesto; The Limousines; Cage the Elephant; SWMRS; and any of the 10,000 different bands Jack White has been involved in

* I really need more female-led bands Jacket would like, so I am SO open for recommendations. Anything that fulfills some of the following criteria would fit their tastes perfectly: punk rock, upbeat, loud, hipster, objectively annoying

* Jacket and Holly both had an Evanescence phase in middle school (who didn't?). Holly will admit it. Jacket will not.

* Jacket loves fashion and would self-describe their clothing style as "polished femme punk with pastel goth influence"

* Jacket had a rough time growing up, dealing with a lot of emotional problems and what most teachers would probably describe as "behavioural issues." Having a truly loving and supportive family made worlds of difference. Things started getting better in their late teens, especially after Jacket felt like they could start accepting themself as genderqueer.

* Jacket told Holly about magic when they were both 11 years old despite Analyn and Kofi repeatedly telling them and their sister not to talk about it with people who didn't already know.

* Come on. You can't keep that secret from your best friend. Holly thought Jacket was fucking with her until Jacket stole an elemental vault from their parents to prove it and damaged the living room couch with a fireball.

* After that, Kofi and Analyn figured the secret was out and sat down with Holly to have The Magic Talk. The first thing Holly said after seeing Kofi's fangs, totally sincerely, was, "Um, I really don't want to be rude, but have you seen a dentist about that?"

* The Dentist Quote is a frequent inside joke in Jacket's family. 

* Jacket's family includes Holly, by the way. Just because she's not legally related doesn't mean she didn't grow up spending more of her childhood at their family's apartment than her own!

Thanks for asking! I always love talking about all my OCs, especially Jacket!

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[tomtefairytaleblog]

Shake, Rattle and Roll

Halloween’s coming up, and there’s a 99% chance that I’ll be too busy with schoolwork to actually do anything on that day. (It’s okay, though; I already went to Halloween Horror Nights last September at Universal Studios Hollywood.)

I have, however, been able to watch some horror films on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video; yesterday I found out that Amazon Prime Video had uploaded a few films from the Shake, Rattle and Roll film series. For those that don’t know, Shake, Rattle and Roll is an anthology series from the Philippines, dating all the way back to 1984, and continuing since then. They tend to vary from horror to horror-comedy; the latter case, from what I’ve seen, is tonally similar to what you might have read or watched in a work by R.L. Stine, albeit slightly grittier.

Each film is divided into segments; I watched the eighth and ninth films (released in 2006 and 2007, respectively), which have one segment each that is relevant to this blog, so I figured I’d write a bit on them.

The segment from the eighth film is called “Yaya,” which roughly translates to “nanny”. The plot actually does feel like an R.L. Stine story, to be honest, not that that hurts it in my opinion. Basically, the story is about a young boy who likes pulling pranks on his nannies; because of this, his mom constantly has to hire new ones to replace the ones that quit. However, his new nanny is rather peculiar: the family dog won’t stop barking at her, and he finds her up at night for no discernible reason. She also seems fixated on his baby sister; of course, this means that she is an Aswang, a ghoul-like witch that loves eating babies. I particularly found it amusing how the story makes reference to how Aswang are commonly found in the Visayas--- for those that don’t know, my family is actually from there, and my relatives do have a lot of stories to tell about Aswang. 

The segment from the ninth film that I want to mention is “Engkanto.” Engkanto are basically the Philippine equivalent of the fair folk; amusingly, though, the English subtitles can’t seem to decide what to call the title character, alternating between “enchantress” and “witch”. Anyway, the plot concerns a goth band whose bus breaks down in the middle of the forest while on the way to a performance. Ignoring the warnings of an old man--- whose son was abducted by the Engkanto that haunts the woods--- the band find themselves at an abandoned resort run by a beautiful woman; naturally, however, the woman in question is the Engkanto, and plans on trapping the band in her tree, which is etched with the faces of her past victims. While watching this film, I took note of how the Engkanto had pointy ears; in the stories my parents told me, Engkanto were never described as having pointy ears, but they did lack a philtrum (that dip between your nose and upper lip). The pointy ears are a clear sign of Western influence.

The other segments are good, as well, but these two are the ones that I found the most entertaining; not to mention they are a good way to see Philippine folklore on screen, from Filipino creators, too. Check them out if you have an Amazon Prime Video membership, and want to watch something for Halloween this weekend.