#historical places in the philippines | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fueledbysano · 1 year ago

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𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐋𝐀 with Mikey

Mikey's life in Manila with you ♡

♱ a/n: this is for all the Manila Mikey lovers and Filipino girlies ♡ (belated) Happy birthday to our man ❤️‍🔥

🦇 @hiraethsdesires @sukunassuka @anahryal @half-baked-biscuit @fuyuluvr @iluvizana @saenora

Mikey sat in his tiny apartment in the heart of Manila, looking at the photograph of his late brother on the wall. He had dreamed of this moment for years, ever since his brother told him of the bustling streets, the delicious food, and the warm, tropical islands of the Philippines, his favorite destination. It had taken time, but Mikey was finally here, living in the place of his brother's dreams. And then, the doorbell rang. It was [ Y / N ], the love of his life. “You look beautiful,” he said to [ Y / N ], smiling as he held open the door for her. “Thank you, Mikey,” she smiled. “You look wonderful yourself.” she blushes, eyeing down Mikey’s simple black pants and camisole outfit; layered with a plain white button-up shirt that exposed his toned shoulders.

They usually plan to have a date around Manila, a city that Mikey had only ever imagined. During jeepney rides with Mikey, he would let [ Y / N ] rest her head on his shoulder and hold her hand the entire ride. And on occasions when the wind blows harshly through her hair, he reaches around her shoulder to hold it for her.

Getting street foods and strolling around the park is a regular occurrence in the relationship. Given that everything that Mikey loves is in it; cheap and delicious food to satisfy his sweet tooth, the town, and you! Mikey’s favorite has to be the pink, frozen dessert, Ice scramble and Turon. And on times when he misses the dorayaki and taiyaki back home, he would just take [ Y / N ] to Mitsukoshi Mall, a big Japan-themed mall in the southern part of the Metro.

But Mikey and [ Y / N ]’s favorite place in the city is Intramuros. While it was now mostly a tourist attraction, there was still a sense of history and beauty in the air. They walked through the ancient walls and narrow streets, passing by old churches and museums, each one with a story to tell. Carriages run by horses still strolled the roads of the historic city, making Mikey ang [ Y / N ] excited to be on a date around Intramuros every time.

The two of them climbed into the classic, horse-drawn Kalesa and settled into their soft, leather seats. The driver smiled and called out a greeting in Tagalog, and the couple greeted back. The Kalesa began to move through the quaint streets of Intramuros, and Mikey and [ Y / N ] watched as the city came to life around them in a unique, old-fashioned way.

Mikey never had a deep interest for the fine arts, but when [ Y / N ] asks to visit the National Museum, he couldn’t pass it up. As they walked through the museum, their hands entwined, they felt the weight of history pressing down on them. It was almost as if they were walking through the pages of a history book, each exhibit a new chapter in the story of this incredible country.

After spending some time exploring the museum, they made their way to Fort Santiago, a historic fortification in the heart of Manila. As they walked through the ancient halls, their footsteps echoing with the weight of history, they knew that they were standing on sacred ground.

As they wound their way through the city, they passed by ancient doorways and carved archways, the scent of incense wafting in the air from the nearby churches, and they made a stop on perhaps the most famous one. As they entered the church, the air grew thicker still with the weight of history. The stained glass windows cast colorful rainbows across the floor, and the faint sounds of prayer and song echoed through the ancient halls.

Mikey and [ Y / N ] found a pew near the back and sat down, hands entwined as they looked around. They marveled at the intricate carvings and the ornate altar, feeling like they were in a different world entirely.

As they sat in the dim light of the cathedral, their hands tightly intertwined as they admired the beautiful architecture and the historic artifacts. Mikey couldn't help but feel a deep sense of love and adoration for her, and he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. As they sat there, Mikey leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “I want to marry you here.”

[ Y / N ] stood still, stunned by his sudden confession. But she had always known that Mikey was special, and truly meant what he said. “Mikey,” she whispered back, feeling tears well up in her eyes. “I would love nothing more.”

Mikey and [ Y / N ] return to the Kalesa, watching as the ancient city of Manila passed by. They had had a beautiful day, exploring the National Museum, Fort Santiago, and the San Agustin Church, and now they were ready for one last adventure.

The driver of the Kalesa pulled up to the shores of Manila Bay, and Mikey and [ Y / N ] climbed out, eager to take in the sights and sounds of the ocean. They walked along the coast, watching the waves rock parked yachts and crash against the shore.

The sun was setting, casting a golden glow across the water, and the lights of the city glittered on the horizon. They made their way to the edge of the water, where they found a quiet spot to sit and enjoy the view. They watched as the sun began to sink below the horizon, turning the sky into an endless canvas of red and orange, and the waves crashed against the shore in a steady rhythm.

As they sat there, taking in the beauty of the moment, Mikey leaned in close to [ Y / N ] and whispered, "I want to spend every sunset like this with you. You make me feel like the luckiest man in the world."

[ Y / N ]'s eyes widened in surprise, and she turned to look at Mikey, her heart aching with love and joy. "I feel the same way," she said softly. "I never imagined that I could find love like this, in this place, with you."

As they sat there, hand in hand, surrounded by the beauty of Manila Bay and the magic of the sunset, they knew that they had found something truly special. A love that would last a lifetime, and a lifetime filled with memories of this quaint place that had brought them together.

#tokyo revengers #mikey x reader #manjiro sano #mikey #sano manjiro #sano manjiro x reader #mikey sano #manjiro x reader #manjiro sano x reader #mikey x reader fluff #tokyo revengers fluff

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familyabolisher · 2 years ago

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okay so basically:

thanks for your 100% unprompted and completely unsolicited enthusiasm everyone >:) god i am NOT doing any full essays because i am forcing myself to hold back on committing to Positions wrt tmuir's various intertexts until after alecto when i have an actually complete narrative to work with, but, to throw together my best effort at an abstract: as we probably know and as many have pointed out before (and as tmuir says in the gtn notes), the name 'dulcinea' references cervantes' dulcinea del toboso, a wholly made up woman whom don quixote projects onto a peasant girl called aldonsa as a necessary 'lady' to his own invented 'knight.' the essential premise of don quixote, put crudely, is that the title character reads an absurd amount of chivalric literature such that he imagines himself to be a knight errant and behaves as such in a period long after the social logics of chivalry make coherent sense; sharp contrasts between idealism and realism (as with the infamous tilting at windmills scene, for example) serve to drive home the absurdity of don quixote’s pretense. within this, the imagined dulcinea del toboso stands as a necessary element to the chivalric ideal that don quixote imagines himself to participate in; the knight’s ‘lady,’ as fictive as the knight himself, must be ‘sweet’ (as of course denoted by her name), of a high social class, genteel, and beautiful according to ideals of upper-class spanish beauty (blonde, pale skin, etc—of course in-text exaggerated to a comic degree). all of this, ofc, tells us something about the social allegiances of the chivalric world.

crucially, don quixote was written in the early 17th century, with the first part being published in 1605 and the second in 1615. the reconquista—the process by which christians took control of the iberian peninsula from its previously muslim rulers—was concluded in 1492, with expulsions and forcible conversions of muslim and jewish populations taking place between 1492 and 1526 and creating a new class of ‘converso’ or new christians, ie. former jews who converted to christianity but lived with a degree of suspicion cast over the legitimacy of their christian practice. (incidentally, a handful of scholars have theorised that miguel de cervantes’ family were converso jews, which i think casts a fun new light on don quixote, but the evidence is too flimsy to justify seriously committing to the reading). immediately following the reconquista was the establishment and expansion of the spanish empire, which by cervantes’ lifetime had grown to cover most of the americas and the philippines. spanish chivalry was articulated via the knightly orders carrying out such a process of christian conquest—first on the iberian peninsula, then exported to the so-called ‘new world.’ by the time cervantes was writing, chivalry had already reached its apex and was in a period of decline; as i’ve already said, the fulcrum of don quixote is this tension between the ideal and the real, this sense that don quixote’s perception of the world is no longer compatible with modernity. cervantes writes of a christian ideal at a time when aspersions were cast on conversos, where the distinction between ‘old’ and ‘new’ christians and fear of the persistence of judaism (and islam, though muslims who were forcibly converted were expelled outright) against persecution undercut this understanding of forcible conversion as a ‘success’ for christianity; far from writing about the ‘old order’ (if you will) with a straightforward elegiac nostalgia, he emphasises its illegibility in the modern period.

as i’ve talked about before, chivalry bears a relationship both to historical periods of christian conquest and subjugation of so-termed ‘infidel’ groups and to contemporary fascist aesthetics, and also holds currency in contemporary articulations of butchness/transmasculinity/queer masculinity/etc. wherein those relationships tend to be elided. one of tamsyn muir’s most prominent registers is the persistent usage of similar such touchstones: from chivalry [via cavalierhood] as a language by which lesbian articulations of desire become possible (cf., obviously, gideon/cytherea, and the ‘medieval’ aesthetics of the seventh house in general) but also as a hegemonic touchstone of an imperialist social formation to jeannemary’s having been named for jeanne d’arc to lyctors as a reference to lictors ie. roman bodyguards who carried fasces in what could plausibly be gesturing to the etymological root of ‘fascism,’ she’s v clearly working with the tensions present in these cultural building-blocks that can be used to construct an empire around the bedrock of catholicism & antiquity and to situate queerness (largely focalising lesbianism) comfortably within it.

so, like—what’s the don quixote thing doing? like, why reference a picaresque from the 17th century, rather than an ‘actual’ chivalric romance?

there’s a fairly straightforward, surface-level reading to be done here: the crucial dimension of pretense and artifice that cervantes adds to don quixote’s ‘knighthood’ maps pretty clearly onto gideon, and dulcinea as a woman who is very much Not Real but in fact a ‘disguise’ formed around what she ‘ought’ to be maps equally well onto cytherea. & ofc, cytherea and gideon’s relationship as this process of seduction-inclulcation-tutelage by which gideon ‘learns’ cavalierhood similar to how don quixote’s artifice of knighthood depends upon the presence of dulcinea of toboso in order to make sense of itself; knight-gender (if u will) as relational. much like how the driving tension of don quixote comes in part from our asking, does don quixote realise his own pretense? does his calling himself a knight and behaving as though he were a knight make him a knight in a world where the relation he tries to invoke makes no social sense & he has to literally alter the world around him (windmills into giants, aldonsa into dulcinea) to make it coherent? at what point does gideon not ‘really’ being a cavalier stop mattering, and how much is cytherea facilitating that, and how much is their relationship doubling as an inculcation into a social relation to which she was previously only peripheral? and, obviously, what does the fact that their relationship is pretty transparently predatory tell us about the relationship muir tries to draw between socially sanctioned exploitative relationships, imperialism, sexual violence and its aestheticisation, &c. &c.?

BUT LIKE….i think you can take the reading a bit further and think about the fairly common interpretation of dulcinea of toboso as something of a stand-in for, or else a counterpart to, allegiance to the spanish empire; that a feminised ideal of empire becomes the ‘lady’ to the (arguably conquistadore) knight, and that don quixote’s allegiance to her in turn becomes an allegiance to empire & imperial conquest. & ofc, the falsity of all of this; how ‘idealism vs realism’ then becomes transformed into an ideal of empire vs its reality. what gendered formations are made possible by empire, etc.

i also think you can draw some lines around the shifting balance of power between don quixote & dulcinea of toboso and gideon & cytherea; that don quixote ‘makes’ dulcinea out of aldonsa, but cytherea very much ‘makes’ herself into dulcinea (using a real woman whose identity she stole as a very loose proxy); that cytherea sits in an ambivalent position wherein she at once, unambiguously, holds power over gideon that she exploits (socially, sexually), but also occupies a position of subjectivity not shared by eg. mercy, augustine, gideon the first &c. via her blood cancer & the eugenicist practices of the seventh house; cytherea as a character who seeks power where she has the ability to seek it as an ineffective means of responding to the sites where she finds herself powerless—a trait she v much shares with john gaius, but not with mercy et al.! this ambivalence is best expressed through the relation that naming & renaming & remaking bear to one another in the wider text, which, as we well know, is used as a particular discursive expression of ownership tugging on thematic strings around sexual violence and empire (alecto into annabel; i am deliberately not doing nona spoilers in this post but redacted into redacted as well; you know the drill!); cytherea undergoing that process of obfuscation and recreation at her own behest & at once becoming subject and instigator, invisibilising the ‘real’ dulcinea in doing so & removing the external agent (gideon as don quixote) from the equation … it’s doing a lot of work around the ambivalences of power & agency (sexual and otherwise) happening there! and, of course, ask other questions about, like—as ‘dulcinea’ is an agent in the process of gideon occupying that don quixote-equivalent position, does she not then become a similar agent in cytherea’s occupying the ‘dulcinea’ position—does the relational configuration not go both ways—how much of cytherea, who we receive through gideon’s close third, is her fantasy/idealism/etc. and how much of it is cytherea’s own construction? like, is gideon actually removed from the equation? chicken-egg?

there’s a whole separate argument to be done here as well around palamedes & the ‘actual’ dulcinea/dulcie, and what this invoked projection of an imagined ideal onto a very real woman could do for a more compelling reading of their relationship than just … like, oh he was in love with her, it’s unrequited, sad! well i guess he’s just blown himself up in cytherea’s sickroom. i’m interested in these little undeveloped tendrils of, like … dulcie as a character completely and unequivocally removed from the narrative in gtn, only to establish her own presence in htn but even then only really be made sense of in relation to cytherea (i think All The Time about dulcie wearing predominantly white and cytherea wearing predominantly green … girl help they swapped colours), palamedes as being, iirc, pretty significantly younger than her … and then the fact that you could pretty easily make a case for palamedes’ name being a reference to the palamedes/palomides of the arthurian canon, a ‘saracen’ knight and convert to christianity, what that dimension can do to these readings of tmuir’s invocation of chivalry as a particular social dimension to conquest.

this is all very very roughly sketched out and if i were to ever actually try and pitch a take that wasn’t just a quickly glossed few paragraphs on tumblr dotcom i would absolutely be delving properly into the scholarship around don quixote such that i could produce something somewhat less hamfisted than All This, but. hopefully this gives the broad gist of it, lol!

#tlt

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agent-calivide · 12 days ago

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Okay. I've been thinking about this for a while but it could still be incoherent.

So in IEYTD 3, there are some agency announcement transmissions after you beat a level. If I remember correctly, there was one after Hot Water which mentions Southern Philippines (along with other countries). (I, unfortunately, do not have access to the game but have watched gameplays.)

I have a few theories into why that (the agency doesn't have EOD agents in the Northern part of the Philippines) is (I can go on about that but it's likely it won't be historically accurate but let's just say the 50s were pretty wild and I have several agency headcanons if my suspicions are true.) and I was wondering if you have any more insights on possible points the games diverge from our timeline.

oh the can of worms this opens- /lh

So, this is all in the wonderful world of messing around with speculation, but for possible points of timeline divergence we first have to take into account the actual year IEYTD takes place, that being 1967. In addition, we need to look at the political systems in place, which is where this gets... funky.

See, in IEYTD 2 it is established that there are 4 world leaders:

Chancellor Magpantay, head of the Pacific League (Asia and Australia).

PM Markopoulos, head of the Mediterranean Commonwealth (Asia, Europe, and Africa)

President Okafor, head of the South Atlantic Union (Africa and South America)

Premier Sucre, head of the Hudson Federation (North America)

All of these positions are either elected or appointed by either the general public, or the country's parliament/whatever political system they have in place. So it's not like a monarchy where any of these people were born into these positions.

But, all that being said, these are not countries, but they're not continents either, they're some unique additional territory. We know this due to a detail where Juniper's jet took off from the JFK airport.

Why does this matter? Because the JFK airport was named after John F Kennedy after his assassination as the president of the United States. This means that all of the countries as we know them still exist, and this is also confirmed by the map in Juniper's jet and that radio broadcast that you reference. The long list of differing countries make it evident that the systems in place are one more level of authority on top of the heads of countries.

The reason I go into all of this is because a lot of "timeline divergence" things are tied deeply to politics, spies are innately political after all. Borders, international boundaries, treaties, all of this is what leads to the divvying up of the world like this.

So the question is no longer "why is the world laid out like this" it is now "why would all of these countries agree to this system/get pushed into this system when they were already established as individual powers?"

If I had to guess, the split would be around WWI/WWII, specifically either the foundation of NATO or something similar happening right after WWI, the results are the same either way.

Either after The Great War, which was the first war to take over the entire planet, or after WWII which took place so close after the first one, there was an international agreement that something needed to change to keep this sort of incident from occurring ever again.

So, rather than having dozens of people arguing over treaties, the political powers at be decided to simplify it to four people, four territories.

Now, meta wise, this is because kidnapping 4 people is a lot easier to depict than 40+, but there still are ramifications on the rest of the world building due to it. This may even impact how countries interact with each other normally.

Handler affectionately jokes about "the alien we met with the Russians!" Regardless if he is supposed to be English or US American like the devs, there is no undertone of space race, international conflict, or anything similar despite this occurring in the late 60's right when the space race would be happening between the US and Russia. Just delight over this thing that happened with those chums from Russia!

And it makes sense for individual countries to not be at each other's throats. Everyone is a bit too worried about what Zoraxis is doing at that point, the Mediterranean Commonwealth's representative saying he doesn't trust Zoraxis and the South Atlantic Union having a strong isolationist stance at the moment. There is no word of the territories fighting, just that they don't trust anyone at this moment.

And this why a system like this would be in place, it would make discussions of conflict easier, as it would be discussion between four people and their teams rather than dozens or even hundreds of conflicting sides. There likely would still be internal conflicts within the territories, but picking a fight with another territory wouldn't be possible.

The US can't pick a fight with Russia, they're part of the Mediterranean Commonwealth and the US is in the Hudson Federation. That would be like Texas bombing California or attacking Canada, they just don't have the jurisdiction for that.

This would explain why the politics in place are so different, as well as why real world politics are never brought up and don't have a tangible impact on these games. The EOD is dealing with Zoraxis rather than representing a specific country because the way the countries have conflicts is fundamentally different.

TL;DR

The way there are only 4 political leaders makes everything super funky in terms of international conflict that is fundamentally different from how we experience it irl

#ieytd #i expect you to die #ieytd2 #i expect you to die 2 #I spent way too much time researching this-

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lewis-winters · 11 months ago

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I was just curious but do you have any recs for period dramas about the philippines? I want to expand my period drama watching and im not quite sure where to start

Oh, the monster you've unleashed. YES I do have so many period dramas from and about the Philippines. Unfortunately, not all of them might be accessible to you if you're outside of the Philippines. Some of them are found on Amazon Prime, Netflix, and MUBI though. I'll make sure to put a lil note next to each film if they are. Also! these vary in genre (meaning: not all of them are war films, and some of these are horror films-- because this is me we're talking to, heh). I also have copies of some of these and will make a lil note next to each film if it's available for sharing, though I'll only give the link via DM. Please note, however, that they are all either in Tagalog, Bisaya, and/or other local Philippine Languages and not all of them have subtitles!

I also have very nuanced relationships with all these films, since Philippine History was my undergrad of choice. But to keep this post as brief as possible, I'm not going to talk about them at length. Though I will be including trigger warnings. Also note... some of these movies kinda suck HAAHAHAHA but I had way too much fun watching them so like. Please don't tell me they suck, please. I love them too much.

Also tagging @emmylynnaa because I promised her a similar list.

This is sorted by eras in Philippine History. Enjoy! (under the cut because it got long):

Spanish Occupation Era (1565 to 1898)

GomBurZa (2023) – A film following the GomBurZa, the three native Filipino Roman Catholic priests Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora executed during the latter years of the Spanish colonial era. TW: period typical violence. Furthermore, this is a Jesuit produced film so like. Once again. Take it with a grain of salt.

Jose Rizal (1998) - Jose Rizal's life and works are recounted through a series of non-linear flashbacks which reflect on various aspects of his life - as writer, propagandist, lover, friend, brother, doctor, and the man that inspired a revolution. Available on MUBI. TW: depiction of sexual assault by a priest. I also have a love-hate relationship with this film because on one hand, literally shaped my love of history. On the other hand, it is the MOST idealistic depiction of Jose Rizal ever + very historically inaccurate in many places, please watch this with a grain of salt.

Maria Clara at Ibarra (2022 – 2023) – A series about a girl from the 21st century who is magically transported into Jose Rizal’s famous novels Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo (you know, the novels that helped spark the Filipino Revolution against the Spanish). The synopsis sounds cheesy but trust me, it’s very good. Available to watch on the GMA official webpage. I just don’t know if you can access it outside of the country. TW: rape, abuses of the Catholic church, period typical violence, abuses of Spanish colonialists. A personal favorite—the costumes? Divine. And the character arcs are also really lovely. Helps you understand Philippine contemporary culture, too.

Katipunan: TV Mini Series (2013) – A mini-series depicting the creation of the Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (or the KKK—no, not the white supremacist group; that’s unfair, by the way, we did it first), the revolutionary organization founded in 1892 by Filipino Nationalists against Spanish Colonialization. Available to watch on the GMA official webpage. I just don’t know if you can access it outside of the country. TW: depictions of rape aftermath by Spanish soldiers, period typical violence, torture, graphic depictions of a corpse. This is a personal favorite of mine.

Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis/A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (2016) - Andrés Bonifacio is celebrated as the father of the Philippines Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. This eight-hour epic examines this myth, undertaking an expedition into history through various interwoven narrative threads, held together by an exploration of the individual’s role in history. Available on Mubi. TW: it is literally eight hours long. But that’s Lav Diaz for you. I love him, but oh my god is he an acquired taste.

Ang Kababaihan ng Malolos (2014) - The saga of the 20 Filipino women who petitioned for the opening of a school in a time when women weren’t given the chance to do so.

Ganito Kami Noon... Paano Kayo Ngayon? (1976) – Set during the end of Spanish colonization and the start of American colonization. After his mother's death, the simple-minded and naïve Kulas (Christopher De Leon) begins his much-awaited trip to Manila. On his way to Manila, he mindlessly takes on the mission of retrieving a friar's son and bringing him to the friar's residence.

Mallari (2023) - A horror film chronicling the deeds of the first recorded serial killer in the Philippines. This film spans decades, all the way up to present day. It's kinda stupid. Like. Really stupid. That's ok. We watch it because we want to see Piolo Pascual and JC Santos covered in blood. TW: oh my god so many bodies and so much gore.

Filipino-American War and America Occupation (1899 – 1940s) (this era has the best films, actually, if you want a place to start and start strong? start here)

Amigo (2010) - A local leader of a small Filipino barangay must decide whether to keep the peace with the American troops occupying his village or join the insurgency with his brother and son. TW: racism, sexual harassment, graphic depictions of corpses, gore, period typical violence.

Heneral Luna (2015) - Set during the Philippine-American war, Heneral Luna follows the life of one of Philippine History's most brilliant soldier, General Antonio Luna, as he tries to lead his countrymen against colonial masters new and old, and to rise above their own raging disputes to fulfill the promise of the Philippine Revolution. Available on Netflix. TW: short scene depicting the aftermath of sexual assault, period typical violence, and graphic depictions of a corpse. Again, one of my favorites. I have so many happy memories of this film + the fandom it birthed! I miss it sometimes.

Angelito (2018) – The short film that bridges both Heneral Luna and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral, depicting the brothers Manuel and Jose Bernal – Antonio Luna’s aides-de-camp – and their youngest brother Angel, two days before the General’s assassination. This film you can find on Youtube!

Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral (2019) – The sequel of Heneral Luna, this film follows the story of Gregorio 'Goyo' del Pilar, one of the youngest Generals during the Philippine-American War who fought in the historic Battle of Tirad Pass. Available on Netflix. TW: short scenes of torture, period typical violence, and graphic depictions of a corpse. Again, a personal favorite for the same reasons stated above. Though it’s not as strong as Heneral Luna, I gotta say.

Ang Larawan (2017) - In a musical tale about standing together against materialism, two impoverished sisters anguish over whether or not to sell a painting, the final masterpiece by their recluse father. A bitter struggle for survival against betrayal set in pre-World War II Manila. A personal favorite, oh my god. This film. Oh my god, this film.

World War 2 and its aftermath (1940 – 1950)

Quezon’s Game (2018) - In 1938, Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon, military adviser Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with other notable figures, set out to rescue Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Quezon simultaneously deals with a relapse of tuberculosis. Available on Amazon Prime. TW: talk of genocide and short scenes depicting the murder of Jewish people by the Nazis.

Tatlong Taong Walang Dios (1976) - A woman falls in love with a Japanese soldier during the Japanese Occupation in the Philippines; the whole town turns against her. TW: rape. Think Malena.

Oro, Plata, Mata (1982) - Set in the Philippine island of Negros during World War II, it tells the story of how two hacendero families cope with the changes brought about by the war. TW: rape

Kusina (2016) – Her kitchen. The silent witness to the life and love of Juanita. It is her sanctuary, the place where she creates dishes for her family, friends, even enemies and strangers. Through cooking, she gets to know the people around her. TW: violent child birth, death of mother in child birth, sexual harassment by Japanese soldiers. This spans multiple decades, all the way up to Martial Law.

In My Mother’s Skin (2023) - Stranded in the Philippines during World War II, a young girl finds that her duty to protect her dying mother is complicated by her misplaced trust in a beguiling, flesh-eating fairy. Available on Amazon Prime. TW: body horror, gore, explicit depictions of a corpse, period typical violence.

Markova: Comfort Gay (2000) – A coming of age drama film loosely based on the life of Walter Dempster Jr., the last surviving Filipino “comfort gay” (male sex slaves for the Imperial Japanese Army) from World War II. TW: CSA, wartime systemic rape, rape.

Comfort Women: A Cry for Justice (1994) – The story of how two sisters and the rest of the women of Sta. Monica are forced into sex slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War 2. TW: wartime systemic rape, rape, and period typical violence.

Seklusyon (2016) - In 1947, a group of deacons (aspiring priests) on their last week of training are sent to a remote monastery to live in seclusion for seven days to protect them from the devil, who on the last few days of training attempts to break the will of deacons to make them reconsider their choice of becoming priests. During their seclusion, a little girl named Anghela, believed by locals to be a living saint because of her healing abilities, appears at the monastery seeking refuge. Available on Amazon. TW: pedophilia, gore, body horror, Catholicism, religious horror.

Corazon: Ang Unang Aswang (2012) - A psychological thriller film detailing the psychological breakdown of a woman struggling with infertility in post-war Philippines. If you want to see women go feral, this is fun.

Martial Law (1970 – 1980) (actually, you know what? I lied. This era is the era with the best films. God, these are CLASSICS and are the ones that’ll help you understand contemporary Philippine culture the most; definitely start here)

Manila, sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975) - Júlio Madiaga, a 'provinciano', arrives in Manila to search for his beloved, Ligaya. TW: coerced sex work, sexual abuse. Once again, a Filipino cinema classic.

Insiang (1976) - After a teenager is raped by her mother's boyfriend, she sets out to exact revenge on anyone who has hurt her. TW: I mean. It says it right there. Though it’s not actually shown on screen, it is very heavily implied. She doesn’t die in the end, if you’re wondering.

Dekada ’70 (2002) - A middle-class Filipino family struggles to survive in the era of dictatorship. This is a fucking classic in Filipino cinema. Available on MUBI. TW: sexual harrassment, discussion of torture, depictions of wounds and beatings, period typical violence. Martial Law was rough.

Aparisyon (2012) – A psychological drama film set in early 1970s, where the story about the nuns in the period immediately preceding the declaration of martial law by Ferdinand Marcos. The film’s director, Isabel Sandoval, is a transgender woman and an absolute visionary. Her other films Senorita (2011) and Lingua Franca (2019) are also very good, please check it out. All films are available for streaming through the Criterion Channel. TW: rape, religious trauma, period typical violence, Catholicism.

Lihis (2013) - Set in the 70’s during the darkest hours of Philippine History, we follow the story of two young NPA warriors who find themselves entangled in a web of frustration, despair and victory as they fight not only for democracy but also their love for each other. Available on MUBI. TW: Infidelity.

Barber’s Tales (2014) - In a rural town in the Philippines during the Marcos dictatorship, the newly widowed Marilou inherits the town's only barbershop from her husband- a business that has been passed down by generations of men in her husband's family. With no other means of support, she musters the courage to run the barbershop.

Dahling Nick (2015) - Dahling Nick is a docu-drama exploring the life and works of National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, who only accepted the National Artist Award on the condition that the Marcos administration release a well-known writer who was being unjustly detained during Martial Law. I love Nick Joaquin. He’s shaped my understanding of the Magical Realist genre far more than any of his contemporaries have. This film is notoriously difficult to get your hands on, so I suggest going to read his anthology by Penguin Classics called the Tropical Gothic instead!

Respeto (2017) - Hendrix is a poor aspiring rapper who wants to make a name for himself in the underground rap battle scene and gain respect in the community. After attempting to rob a second-hand bookstore in the neighborhood, he is discovered by the owner, Doc, an old poet with a haunted past as a dissident. Not necessarily period, but definitely has its roots in Martial Law.

Liway (2018) – A film about the kip, a young boy growing up in a prison as the son of anti-Marcos dissident Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, better known as Commander Liway, during the waning days of the Marcos dictatorship. It is currently streaming on Youtube!

The Kingmaker (2019) - is a 2019 documentary film written and directed by Lauren Greenfield, featuring the political career of Imelda Marcos with a focus on the Marcos family's efforts to rehabilitate the family's image and to return to political power, including her plans to see her son, Bongbong, become President of the Philippines, and the alliance that Bongbong and Imee Marcos established with Rodrigo Duterte in his bid to win the 2016 Philippine presidential election. Available on Youtube! if outside of the Philippines, use VPN.

1980s – 2000s Philippines

Misteryo sa Tuwa (1984) - The fortunes of three impoverished friends and their families abruptly change after an airplane crashes in a nearby mountain.

Alpha Kappa Omega Batch ’81 (1982) – A psychological drama film depicting the titular fraternity's harsh initiation of new batch members as seen through the eyes of pre-med student Sid Lucero. TW: hazing, torture, psychological torture. It’s fucked up, actually.

Himala (1982) – During a total eclipse Elsa, a young girl from rural Philippines, allegedly witnesses an apparition of the Virgin Mary on top of the hill where, as an infant, she was found and adopted by Saling. Said visions change her life and cause a sensation hysteria in a poor, isolated northern village in the midst of drought. TW: rape, religious fanaticism, religious trauma.

Adela (2008) - The story of Adela, which takes place in the span of one day, is a heartbreaking story of a woman who longs for the company of her loved ones. This isn’t actually period. This film just breaks my heart. And of course, it has acting legend Anita Linda in it. How could I not recommend it?

Now Showing (2008) - Rita is named after a famous American movie star whom her late, former actress grandmother once adored. She lives in one of Manila’s oldest districts with her mother and aunt. Years later, she is still the same girl enamoured with television, now tending to her aunt’s stall selling pirated DVDs.

Elegy to the Visitor from the Revolution (2011) - A woman from the end of the 19th century visits modern day Philippines and observes three interwoven stories: that of a prostitute, a group of criminals and a musician. This is another Lav Diaz one. It’s long.

K’na The Dreamweaver (2014) - K’na is a young woman coming into her own in the mountains of South Cotabato, where the T’boli live, overlooking the majestic and mystical Lake Sebu. She is part of the royal family of the South bank of the lake, part of the clan that was banished from the North Bank centuries ago after what the elders call The Great Betrayal. At a young age, K’na, is trained in the art of weaving the T’bolit’nalak. The design of the t’nalak fabric comes from the visions granted by Fu Dalu, the goddess of abaca, only to deserving women who become dreamweavers. K’na’s grandmother, Be Lamfey, is the village’s last master dreamweaver. When Be Lamfey dies, the gift of dreamweaving is passed to K’na and her father, LobongDitan, decides to put an end to the warring clans of Lake Sebu once and for all by arranging a marriage between K’na and Kagis, the heir to the throne of North bank. Meanwhile, K’na has fallen in love with Silaw, a childhood friend whose family supplies the finest abaca fibers to the dreamweavers. Silaw leaves love messages for her by tying bits of abaca thread to a tree outside K’na’s window. As the marriage grows near, a revolution brews among those who do not believe in the union of the two royal clans.

Smaller and Smaller Circles (2017) - Two Jesuit priests, Gus Saenz and Jerome Lucero perform forensic work to solve the mystery revolving around the murders of young boys in Payatas, one of Metro Manila's biggest slum areas. While dealing with the systematic corruption of the government, church, and the elite, the two priests delve into criminal profiling, crime scene investigation, and forensic analysis to solve the killings, and eventually, find the murderer. Available on Netflix. TW: child death, talk of child sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church and at the hands of teachers, graphic depictions of a corpse, film also triggering to folks who suffer from claustrophobia.

Billie and Emma (2018) – An LGBT coming of age story set in the mid-1990s featuring two teenaged girls Billie and Emma as they grapple with topics such as sexuality, family, religion, unplanned pregnancy, and the uncertainty of the future.

#philippine cinema #filipino cinema #film recommendations #film rec #filipino period dramas #period dramas #philippine history #filipino history #please heed the tags there's a lot of violence in there #we have a very violent history

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sforzesco · 9 months ago

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hi!! i’m a classics major and am so entranced by your art and how you interact with history and literature, it really inspires me and expands my brain all the time. SO spicy.

anyways, I was wondering if you’d be comfortable talking a bit about your degree (s) and how they’ve influenced your artistic/critical analytical processes??

oh man, I have exactly zero degrees. like a true jester, I went to a trade art school, so I don't even have an art related degree, I've got a certification of surviving hell completion

the way art and history interact for me is that a lot of it circles back to trying to find ways to talk about something. history doesn't necessarily repeat, but it often rhymes, haunts, and cannibalizes. some eras of history are equal parts history and a stage, and a stage serves as a place to say something without necessarily having to be in it. the bossism politics of the philippines rhymes with the faction politics of the late republic more often than it doesn't. watching the marcoses crawl back into power was like watching the medici return to florence. duterte said he was like julius caesar crossing the rubicon, and over 6,000 were murdered under his regime. somethings are the same.

a lot of it feels like a puzzle, and I like it when pieces come together. more often than not, there's something current going on that prompts me to look back into history for something comparable, either as a stage, or just to feel like I'm not losing my mind, that other people had to deal with this shit too.

I was a teenager when the original assassin's creed games were coming out, and I used to go to libraries with other fans and we'd just sit in the non fiction sections and read everything that was on a shelf, and then go outside or whatever and start talking about where the games diverged from history and try to figure out what the next game would do based on whatever we learned. and I just kind of. kept doing that even when I stopped playing the games because the story sucked ass, but because there's already a second intersection of fiction working along side historical analysis, it unlocks a bunch of other stuff in the back of my mind while I take notes on something.

the gore you read in the thebaid reminds me a lot of imperial chines torture literature, and now we've got imperial horror and while we've moved out of the ancient Mediterranean but it's a whole body of work that I'm now looking at while thinking about rome, and somewhere in there, I'll probably find some literary theme that's cool and I'll start researching whether or not someone's examined like. the renaissance from that lens. what does the gore mean. what happens when history unfairly maligns and scapegoats someone. what happens when a foundational sacrifice goes wrong.

one of the most gut wrenching things I ever read was about how rome took any record of spartacus' words and buried it, and now I spend too much time thinking about what words we put in the mouths of dead people.

#also if it was not obvious. i have unmedicated adhd. which is why my brain frequently works like a horrible pin ball machine #ask tag #anyway! i have no idea if this answered your question but this is more or less how my brain works when i make stuff

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southeastasianists · 1 month ago

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In front of the imposing Malolos Cathedral, also known as the Basilica Minore de la Nuestra de Immuculada Conception, stands a very large tree. Locals fondly call it the Kalayaan Tree, which means "freedom tree." There are similar trees around, but only this one has a name being a living witness to several events that happened in Malolos.

It was in nearby Barasoain Church where the convening of the First Philippine Congress was announced on September 15, 1898. Shortly after was the promulgation of the Philippine Constitution, popularly known as the Malolos Constitution on January 21, 1899. Finally, the inauguration of the First Republic of the Philippines on January 23, 1899, becoming the first democratic country in Asia.

The convent beside the cathedral served as the refuge of General Emilio Aguinaldo during the war for independence during the Spanish period and the young kalayaan tree was where the revolutionaries met, planned, and celebrated their losses and victories. General Emilio Aguinaldo eventually became the first president of the republic. A monument was placed under the tree to symbolize the meeting of the revolutionaries and its leaders together with the life size statues of Gregorio del Pilar, General Isidoro Torres, Don Pablo Tecson, Padre Mariano Sevilla, and Doña Basilia Tantoco.

During the Filipino-American war after the short-lived First Philippine Republic, General Aguinaldo ordered General Antonio Luna to burn the convent to kept the all-important documents stored on it from the surging American soldiers. The Kalayaan tree also caught fire but it incredibly survived.

The Siar tree is not native to the Philippines and not known how it reached the country, but today these trees can be found all over the archipelago. It is known to reach a height of nine meters in three years.

In the 1980s, the National Historical Institute and the Tree Preservation Foundation of the Philippines recognized the historical significance of the Kalayaan tree by placing a market under its shade.

#Southeast Asia #Philippines

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makapatag · 11 months ago

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i must preface this post by saying i am on the side of the activists and of radical leftists in the philippines, but there is too much rhetoric being espoused (mostly by manilenyos and other folk from metropoles) that has the effect of diminishing and perhaps even dehumanizing those from outside the center. they have cultures themselves that are often either unrecognized by the filipino or commodified

to feed into a filipino identity is to reinforce colonialist imposition. no matter how much you try to reform and make filipino your own, it will always be a tool for oppression for others. in the same way you cannot reform capitalism into something good

the filipino was made by the spanish to refer to other spaniards that were from the philippines. with the philippine revolution (itself mostly a transferral of power to america), the filipino has been claimed by the indios, and with it we participated in global capitalism

it is not fruitful to deny the truth of historical materialism: the philippines as a state is an american project, built upon the bones of quezon. to this day we are a neocolonial entity. what then? there is a better world beyond the filipino. those in manila would not know: manilenyo marxists and communists would be blinded even more by dogma.

if you have never experienced or lived through the lives of those in cebu, or davao, etc., you will not understand the violence of them understanding manilenyos when you talk tagalog but you not understand them when they speak in their own language.

the violence of filipino imposition, saying "this or that is filipino identity!"' when it is something pretty unique to the metropolis of manila. not every province has jeepneys (and i will say that I am of course on the side of the jeepney drivers and #NoToJeepneyPhaseout, just in case more leftists misconstrue my words as they are wont to do in this era of twitter discourse dominated by youth burgeoning from american educational systems), not every province has jollibees, or karatulas, or flower shops. in the same sense, the filipino colonial project looks to other places in the philippines and then immediately reduces them to their main export: cebu has lechon, iloilo has kansi, etc. this is a violence those that live in these places know too well. it hasn't changed.

is it ever surprising then that cebu wanted to leave the philippines back in the 50s? imagine this: in the event that we all had our way after spanish colonialism, we probably would've split. witness the shared cultures of china--they have different bespoke cultures but they are of the same country.

at the end of it all, this is still a criticism of nationalism and nation states. this is not a filipino problem, but a global capitalism problem. witness how even marx knew that nationalism was temporary and said that it was a manifestation of self-alienation. to become a nation is to be part of global capitalism's game, to be easily exploitable, to force yourself to conform to the definitions of the empire

#thoughts #on the philippines #because a lot of tibaks have a very rudimentary #dialectics and even marxism which they purport to be #its increasingly clear to me that activism in the philippines is becoming more and more of a means of releasing guilt #by the petty boojwazi #and they think following the leader is enough #instead of interrogating the actual structures of capitalism #and even interrogating and questioning the foundations of their own knowledge #but that's all right that's not exactly their job #their job is to resist and keep the fight up

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ltwilliammowett · 1 year ago

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In door no.4 we go on a journey of discovery and see what surprises the Nao Victoria has for us...

Nao Victoria

More about her here:

The Victoria was one of five ships in Ferdinand Magellan's Armada, which set sail on behalf of the Spanish crown in 1519 to find a western sea route to the Moluccas. In 1522, the Victoria was the only ship in the Armada to return to Spain from East Asia on its way through the Indian Ocean and around the Cape of Good Hope, thus completing the first historically documented circumnavigation of the globe.

She was originally named Santa María and belonged to a shipping family from the Basque harbour town of Ondarroa. In September 1518, the Spanish government had the ship, which was moored in the harbour of Cádiz and already loaded for a voyage to London, confiscated for Magellan's Moluccan expedition and compensated the previous owners with 800 ducats. A contract about the expropriation is preserved in the archives of the notaries of Seville. In it, one of the previous owners, a certain Pedro de Arismendi, declares that the ship was taken from him against his will and that the sum paid in compensation was too low. After the expropriation, the ship was renamed Santa María de la Victoria in honour of an image of a saint that was venerated in the convent of the same name of the Pauline Order in Triana and which is now in the Carmelite convent of Santa Ana, also in Triana. Since its renaming, the ship is usually referred to by its short form Vitoria or Victoria.

On 20 September 1519, the squadron sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain. Luis de Mendoza was the captain of the Victoria. Mendoza was killed in a mutiny in Puerto San Julián on 1 April 1520. After Magellan's violent death on 27 April 1521 on the Philippine island of Mactán, the former profos of the Armada, Gonzálo Gómez de Espinosa, initially took command of the Victoria. At the northern tip of Borneo, command was transferred to the boatswain Juan Sebastián Elcano, who held it until the return to Spain. Shortly before the end of the voyage, the Portuguese captured part of the crew on Santiago (Cape Verde). Hunger and scurvy decimated the crew, the ship was in a wretched condition and had to be bilged around the clock in the end. On 6 September 1522, the Victoria reached Sanlúcar de Barrameda, its port of departure at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. Of the original 237 members of the expedition, only 18 Europeans and four Asians reached their home port. The first circumnavigation was complete. It had taken two years, 11 months and two weeks and brought home 25 tonnes of spices. Contrary to what is often claimed, the proceeds from their sale were not enough to cover the costs of the endeavour.

After her return from the Moluccas, the Victoria was auctioned off to the highest bidder in Seville in February 1523. The winning bid was placed by a merchant from Genoa, who had the ship refloated and fitted out for an Atlantic crossing to Santo Domingo in 1525. From then on, she sailed for almost fifty years before she was lost with all hands around 1570 on the voyage from the Antilles to Seville.

#naval history #tall ship #nao victoria #spanish #16th century #age of discovery #age of sail #advent calendar #day 4

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maya-chirps · 1 year ago

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Painting a picture of the history of Filipino Tattoos

A photo of tattooed Filipino men posted on BBC and accredited to Joe Ash

Tattoos are often seen as integral cultural symbols in my different societies whether it be seen as something honorable or dishonorable. Even in the most straight-laced cultures, a tattoo acts as a mark of some form of the person's history and their standing in their communities as well as how people perceive them.

In a lot of modern cultures, the tattoo often have negative connotations, often associated with delinquency or criminal activity. Historically, however, they may have grander and more honorable significance in different societies. The communities that had existed in the Philippines prior to contact with Spain fits this similar pattern.

Before I start

As usual, the Philippines is a diverse country that has different traditions and histories that come from different ethnic groups and states, only being first unified under a government by colonization. Because of this, this post will only be able to cover parts of this culture and may not be able to fully encompass all Filipino traditions, practices, and beliefs about tattoos.

This is also given the fact that more specific information may be harder to come across or may not exist at all in a space I could easily access.

That being said, the general term for Filipino traditional (both precolonial and current) tattoo practices is batok, batik, patik, or patek depending on language or culture. It is also known as buri or burik in several other groups and languages. This word, however, isn't often used for typical tattooing in most modern communities.

The History

From a general understanding of a lot of precolonial Southeast Asian cultures, it can be assumed that precolonial Filipino societies heavily valued tattoos as their neighboring maritime SEAsian countries also had prior to the introduction of Abrahamic religions to the region which often discouraged or even forbade tattooing the skin.

Although this can be assumed, there were no known precolonial description nor record of these tattoos during the actual time period before Spanish contact. There is evidence found in some burial sites however, as discussed by social anthropologist Salvador-Amores in her paper The Recontextualization of Burik (Traditional Tattoos) of Kabayan Mummies in Benguet to Contemporary Practice (2012). In the paper, she focuses a section on the history of burik by explaining the Kabayan Mummies or the Fire Mummies of Benguet, Mountain Province.

An image of one of the Kabayan Mummies uploaded by Dario Piombino-Miscali on ResearchGate.net

These remains had been dated back to the 13th century and are associated with the Ibaloi, an indigenous ethnic group from Mountain Province found in the northern parts of the island of Luzon. This does confirm that tattooing had been important to the people who had lived in this area during this time period as, in Salvador-Amores's paper, it can be noted that the tattooed mummies seem to be prominent with the adults.

I do have to note that the Ibaloi people, who are part of the larger Igorot ethnic group, were not fully colonized by the Spaniards and therefore does not share the similar Hispanic culture and history that a lot of Filipino groups have. They had only fully been integrated into the Philippines during the American colonial period where they and the other Igorots had been properly colonized by American and placed under the rule of the American-controlled Filipino government. (x)

Regardless, this does show that at least some cultures in the archipelago held tattoos with high importance and did not consider them as something negative compared to the modern perception of tattoos.

The first known illustration of tattooed Filipinos, however, was first seen in the Boxer Codex (circa 1590) during the early Spanish colonial period, written and illustrated by an unknown author.

A page from the Boxer Codex (circa 1590), author uknown

This illustration seems to be that of the specific ethnolinguistic group, the Visayans as this page is next to another one labeled as "Biſſaya", a likely earlier spelling of Bisaya that uses the long s (ſ). This aligns with the description given as early as Antonio Pigaffatta, Ferdinand Magellan's chronicler, who consistently describes the Visayans that he has met as painted in his account of their arrival in the islands back in 1521.

The book The Philippine Islands 1493-1898 Vol. XII has compiled different first-hand and second-hand sources about the Philippines during the 15th through 19th century, with Vol. XII focusing on the early 17th century which aligns closely to the Boxer Codex. Within the text, there are several mentions of the "Pintados" or the Painted ones, even having an entire province be called the "province of Pintados".

It isn't made clear who the Pintados are besides the fact that they seem to be hostile towards the Spanish colonizers and had often fought battles with one of the letters even claiming that they had poisoned one of the Spaniards. It isn't until we reach the last part of the compilation which features Pedro Chirino's Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas which I had a hard time finding before but had now found a free and accessible copy. Within Chirino's writing, he explains that the Pintados seem to be a name given by the Spaniards to the Bisayans and further explains it as such:

"The people of the Bisayas are called the Pintados, because they are actually adorned with pictures --not because this is natural to them, although they are well built, of pleasing countenance, and white; but because they adorn their bodies with figures from head to foot, when they are young and have sufficient strength and energy to suffer the torment of the tattooing; and formerly they tattooed themselves when they had performed some act of valor."

Chirino even gives an explanation as to how precolonial Visayans tattooed their skin:

They tattoo themselves by pricking the skin until the blood comes, with sharp, delicate points, according to designs and lines which are first drawn by those who practice this art; and upon this freshly-bleeding surface they apply a black powder, which is never effaced. They do not tattoo the body all at the same time, but by degrees, so that the process often lasts a long time; in ancient times, for each part which was to be tattooed the person must perform some new act of bravery or valiant deed

It is notable, however, that not only did the Spanish not mention any tattoos on other Filipino groups such as the Tagalogs, but a lot of the illustrations in the Boxer Codex do not sport any tattoos at all which makes it confusing as to when had tattoos faded out of cultural significance in these other communities, likely even before Spanish contact.

Lane Wilcken, a researcher who studies the history of tattoos from the Philippines and the Pacific Islands, writes in his book Filipino Tattoos: Ancient to Modern (2010) that it may be possible that the Tagalogs may had lost their tattooing traditions shortly before Spanish contact during the recent islamization of their communities circa 1500 which was and specifically in the polity of Maynila. This may also be the case for the Moros which is a muslim ethnolinguistic group found in the island of Mindanao.

Either way. tattoos became more scarce within Filipino records after the arrival of the Spanish and the introduction of Christianity to the islands, save for some indigenous groups that were not fully colonized by Span like previously mentioned Igorot people.

Because of the spread and dominance of Christian and Islamic customs throughout the country, Batok, as it originally was, was lost to time with the lack of existing artists and cultural relevance tattoos. Tattoos didn't come back to the Filipino mainstream until modern tattoos became more prevalent especially in the mid to late 20th century, similar to its rise in popularity in Western cultures, and even then, it wasn't really what I would consider any traditional and is often negative.

Present Day

Like a lot of other countries, however, tattoos had seen a swing of opinion and is more accepted now as an art form rather than a sign of criminal activity but some stereotypes are still popular.

For instance, during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Department of Education provided modules for students to answer at home which would be then collected by the school from door to door. In one of these modules, Lea Salonga, a Filipino singer, complained on November 17, 2020 on her Facebook page of a discriminatory question that was found in one of the modules, pictured below

EN Translation:

White text: The answer is letter A based on the DepEd answer key. Module text: 3. Tattoos are a symbol of _____ A. being a criminal B. being a slave C. courage and beauty D. having a low standing in society

This controversy caused an uproar online and showed that there are a lot of Filipinos today that don't see a problem with tattoos and even see them as a positive. Two days after the image was posted on Salonga's page, the Department of Education publicly recognized the misstep and had issued that they officially recognized the controversial answer as an error.

It is important for me to note that, just like in a lot of countries, tattoos are typically not accepted in the corporate world and those who have them either have to get them removed or at least cover them up if they get hired at all. There's still a common idea that people with tattoos, if not dangerous, may be seen as unprofessional or even unclean which I do know is a similar thing that other countries may have as well.

As for batok, its comeback in the larger Filipino mainstream didn't return until some time in the late 2000s and 2010s when more international influence had resparked and interest in more ethnic cultures including the precolonial Filipino tattoos specifically because of the internet and the rise of social media. The current batok that we see outside of indigenous communities could be seen as a recreation of the extinct practices within the Philippines with some level of appropriation from related cultures (by appropriation, I mean this in a neutral way not a negative one).

It is argued whether or not the reconstructed practice could be considered traditional at all, but considering its heavy emphasis on the older designs found in historical illustrations as well as designs from indigenous communities that did not have practice eradicated by colonization, some also argue that the modern tattoos that has gained prominence because of modern technology and research is still valuable in a socio-anthropological sense.

As Salvado-Amore puts it

the successive phases and changes in the status of burik tattoos—enabled by the advent of modern technology, the Internet, and mass media—encourage an interaction between contemporary and historical influences rather than an extinction of past practice.

About Apo Whang-Od

A magazine cover of Vogue featuring Whang-Od, a traditional tattoo artist from the Butbut people, a subgroup within the Kalinga ethnic group. (The rest of this section pulls from the same article by Vogue)

Any research about Filipino tattoos, especially in the modern day would be incomplete without any mention of Whang-Od, the most popular traditional tattoo artist from the Philippines.

Apo Whang-Od (b. February 17, 1917, a.k.a. Maria Oggay) is a member of the Butbut people of the Kalinga indigenous ethnic group from Kalinga province, Philippines. She is often known as one of the last mambabatok in the country which earned her fame and recognition internationally. She started her tattooing practice since she was a teenager at age 16, under the mentorship of her father and was the only known female mambabatok during her time.

For years, she was called on by different communities within her locale in order to tattoo important and symbolic tattoos on members of her and different communities after they had received certain milestones. Men were tattooed for different reasons than women as men were given their marks when they succeed in activities like headhunting, which was ritualistically important for the Butbut people while women were tattooed for reasons like fertility or beauty.

Because of American colonization, however, headhunting was prohibited so she was mostly tattooing women from then onward.

She started gaining recognition some time in the mid-2000s to the 2010s after she started serving foreign tourists, although she doesn't give them the more traditional symbols. Non-members of the group are given a set of tattoos that she could tattoo on anyone without any strong connection to the original meaning of the art.

Since tattooing was passed through family and Whang-Od herself didn't had any children, she was known as the last mambabatok for a time which caused concern for the extinction of the practice as she was already in her 90s when she gained notoriety, but she has since started training her grandniece Grace Palicas and later on her other grandniece Elyang Wigan and the two, who are now in their 20s, has since helped their great aunt dealing with their clientele.

Due to her fame, she is often the subject of foreign media and interest, even being invited by Vogue magazine to pose for one of their covers (pictured above) and is now known as the oldest Vogue cover model earlier this year at the age of 106.

Despite her fame and arguably cultural importance to not only the Kalinga people but the Philippines as well as online petitions since the 2010s to give her the recognition, she is not eligible to receive the National Artist award— one of the highest awards given to artists of most artistic fields of which only 81 people had received. Victorino Manalo, Chairman of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) explains that this is because her craft, tattooing, isn't covered by the NCCA but by the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMBA, en. Award for Crafters/Creatives of the Nation) but there has been some discussion within the commission about this issue which still ended with her being denied. In light of this, she is now currently on the running to possibly receive the GAMBA award.

She has an online presence managed by others and she can be found via Facebook and Instagram.

Tattoos now, from my experience

As I had said before, tattoos these days are not as negatively seen as they were in the 20th century and had received a more positive reputation thanks to the rise of its social experience due to the internet and social media's prevalence in the country. As an art student, in fact, it's wasn't that surprising when I learned that one of my classmates had a tattoo and it was even a full sleeve! Now, as least three had tattoos before they graduated with one of them actually being a close friend of mine who's planning to get more despite their parents' disapproval.

Despite this, I still do have people in my life right now that see tattoos as undesirable and unclean, with stereotypes still being prevalent. I had once heard people speak of them in such a negative way but then make an exception for the artsy type of people? It's odd.

As for batok or batik, I had not seen a lot of people with these tattoos in my own life and had only seen it through articles and images circulated around by other people who I don't even know. I guess it makes sense as most people who do get tattoos similar to batok or batik often do it in tourist-y places or are foreigners who want to get a piece of Filipino culture on their way out of the country.

Besides more culture-focused people, batik or batok isn't as prevalent as some of these articles might make it seem and most typical Filipinos who don't come from these cultures are more likely to either not have tattoos at all or have similar tattoos to those that you may see in other countries.

Either way, tattoos could be so personal to a person and whether it's something as deeply-rooted to culture like batik or if it's just the names of your favorite K-Pop idol, that tattoo is important and has special meaning. Get whatever tattoo that you want or don't if you don't want any at all!

#mayaposts #mayapino #philippines #filipino #philippine history #philippine culture #filipino culture #filipino tattoos #philippine tattoos #history #culture #tattoos #apo whang-od #whang-od #mummy #mummies #death #long post #very long post

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balanchine-ballet-master · 9 months ago

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The Story of the Original "Tea" Dancer

There was a delightful story in the Times on February 4th about George Lee, on whom Balanchine created the Tea variation in The Nutcracker. Here it is.

From Ballet to Blackjack, a Dance Pioneer’s Amazing Odyssey

George Lee was the original Tea in “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.” A documentary filmmaker found him and a lost part of ballet history in Las Vegas.

By Siobhan Burke Feb. 4, 2024

Among the blaring lights and all-hours amusements of downtown Las Vegas, in a sea of slot machines at the Four Queens Hotel and Casino, George Lee sits quietly at a blackjack table, dealing cards eight hours a day, five days a week, a job he’s been doing for more than 40 years.

Lee, 88, was likely in his usual spot when the filmmaker Jennifer Lin was sifting through old photos at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in 2022, wondering what had become of a dancer with a notable place in ballet history. Pictured in a publicity shot for the original production of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” in the role known as Tea, was a young Asian dancer identified as George Li.

For Lin, a veteran newspaper reporter turned documentarian, the picture raised intriguing questions. In 1954, when the photo was taken, it was rare to see dancers of color on the stage of New York City Ballet, the company Balanchine co-founded. Who was this young man, this breaker of racial barriers, this pioneer? Was he still alive? And if so, what was he up to? “I became absolutely obsessed with trying to find out what happened to George Li,” Lin said in a video interview.

In just over a year, that obsession has blossomed into a short film, “Ten Times Better,” that chronicles the unexpected story of Lee’s life: from his childhood in 1940s Shanghai, where his performing career began; to a refugee camp in the Philippines, where he fled with his mother, a Polish ballet dancer, in 1949; to New York City and the School of American Ballet, where Balanchine cast him in “The Nutcracker” to “Flower Drum Song” on Broadway, his first of many musical theater gigs; and ultimately, to Las Vegas, where he left dance for blackjack dealing in 1980. (He changed the spelling of his last name in 1959, when he became a United States citizen.)

The film will have its premiere on Feb. 10 as part of the Dance on Camera Festival at Film at Lincoln Center. Lee, who last visited New York in 1993, will be in town for the occasion, an opportunity for long-overdue recognition.

“So many years I haven’t done ballet,” Lee said over coffee at the Four Queens on a recent Sunday, after his shift. “And then suddenly Jennifer comes and tries to bring everything up. To me, it was like a shock.”

George Lee today. He has been a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas for more than 40 years. Photo: Saeed Rahbaran for The New York Times

But Lin’s interest has been welcome. “Jennifer is so perfect, she knows exactly everything,” he said. “She knows my background more than I do.”

Lin was not the only one who had been searching for Lee. In 2017, while organizing an exhibition on “The Nutcracker,” Arlene Yu, who worked for the New York Public Library at the time and is now Lincoln Center’s head archivist, was puzzled by the relatively few traces of him in the library’s vast dance collection.

“I think I’d tracked him down to 1961, but after that, it was really hard to find anything,” she said. “Whereas if you look at some of his peers in ‘The Nutcracker’ in 1954, they went on to careers where there was a lot more documentation.”

Lin’s fascination with Lee emerged through her work on another film, about Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin, the founders of Final Bow for Yellowface, an initiative focused on ending offensive depictions of Asians in ballet. The role of Tea, a divertissement historically rife with such stereotypes—in Balanchine’s canonical version of “The Nutcracker” and others—has been a flashpoint in those efforts. Chan, too, had been struck by the 1954 images of “The Nutcracker,” which he came across during a library fellowship in 2020.

“I’m like, wait, there’s actually a Chinese guy,” he said — as opposed to a non-Chinese dancer with the saffron makeup or heavily painted eyes or even the artificial buck teeth worn in some old productions. “Who is this guy? And why do I not know about him?”

The "Tea" variation in The Nutcracker at City Ballet in 2015. The dancers are Ralph Ippolito, Claire Von Enck, and Baily Jones. Photo: Andrea Mohin for The New York Times

Lee, in his heyday, was a dancer to know. At just 12, he was already winning public praise. In a preview of a recital of the King-Yanover School in Shanghai, the North China Daily News called him an “extremely promising young Chinese boy, whose technique is of a very high standard.” A reviewer wrote that he “already may be said to be the best Chinese interpreter of Western ballet.” (Lee saved these newspaper clippings and shared them with Lin when they eventually met.)

Born in Hong Kong in 1935, Lee moved to Shanghai with his mother in 1941, when Shanghai was under Japanese occupation. During World War II, his father, a Chinese acrobat, was in Kunming in western China; he died in an accident on his way to visit Lee in 1945.

Lee’s mother, Stanislawa Lee, who had danced with the Warsaw Opera, was his first ballet teacher; as a child, he would follow along with her daily barre exercises. Shanghai had a significant Russian population, and with that a robust ballet scene. To earn money, Stanislawa arranged for her son to perform in nightclubs—“like a polka dance, or Russian dance, or sailor dance,” Lee said. The clubs would pay them in rice.

Little George Li in his Shanghai days. Photo: George Lee private collection via the NY Times

Fearing the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover in 1949, the two evacuated to the Philippines. An expected four months as refugees turned into two years. In 1951, an American friend of Lee’s father sponsored them to come to New York, where he introduced Lee to the School of American Ballet, City Ballet’s affiliated school.

As Lee narrates these twists and turns in the film, one memory anchors his recollections. Before they immigrated, his mother issued a warning. “You are going to America, it’s all white people, and you better be 10 times better,” he recalls her saying. “Remember that: 10 times better!”

The footage of Lee in his 20s suggests he took that advice to heart. In television appearances — with the company of the ballet star André Eglevsky, and in a number from “Flower Drum Song” on the Ed Sullivan Show — his power and precision dazzle.

“He was good; he was really good,” Chan said. “Clean fifth, high jump, polished turns, stick the landing—the training is all there. He’s already 10 times better than everybody else.”

In a 1979 interview heard in the film, the former City Ballet soloist Richard Thomas, who took over the role of Tea, raves about Lee’s peerless acrobatic jumps: “He was wonderful! Balanchine choreographed a variation for him that none of us have ever been able to equal.”

As Lee remembers it, Balanchine spent 15 minutes with him in the studio. “He said, ‘What can you do good? Show me what you can do good,’ so I show him something,” Lee said. “I did things like splits and double turns, down and up, turn again like a ball, and that’s it. He picked up some things and put them together.”

George Li as a student at the School of American Ballet. Photo: George Lee private collection via the NY Times

He recalled that during a “Nutcracker” dress rehearsal, the City Ballet makeup artist put him in full yellowface, and Balanchine insisted he take off the makeup. “He is Asian enough! Why do you make him more?” he remembers Balanchine saying. Lee was costumed in the Fu Manchu mustache, queue ponytail and rice paddy hat often associated with the role, now widely critiqued as racist caricatures. But he said he didn’t take offense. “Dancing is dancing,” he said.

Lee performed in “The Nutcracker” as a student; he was never invited to join City Ballet. But he clearly excelled in his classes and onstage. For that, he credits his strong foundation of Russian training in China — and his mother’s exacting standards. He can still see her standing in the studio doorway at the School of American Ballet, observing closely.

“She was watching the class and then would go home and tell me, ‘You did this wrong or that wrong, you got to do it this way,’” he said. “So I really worked hard, and I was good.” (His favorite teacher at the school was the demanding Anatole Oboukhoff: “He always wanted more, and that’s why I liked him very much.”)

To make a living Lee turned to musical theater, performing in shows like “Baker Street” on Broadway and the cabaret “Carol Channing with her 10 Stout-Hearted Men,” which opened in London. He pieced together jobs for more than 20 years, often unsure of what would come next.

Lee in flight in a production of “Flower Drum Song” in Las Vegas in the early 1960s. Photo: George Lee personal collection via the NY Times

He was dancing in a Vegas revue, “Alcazar de Paris,” now in his 40s, when a blackjack dealer friend suggested he go to dealer school. “I can’t dance all my life,” he remembers thinking. He decided to give dealing a try and soon landed a job at the Four Queens. Aside from four years at another casino, he has worked there ever since.

In December 2022, he got a voice mail message from Lin. With her reporting skills and some crucial assists from Yu, she had determined that he lived in Las Vegas. Of the five phone numbers she found for George Lees, four led nowhere; his was the last she tried.

When they finally connected, she put her other project on hold to focus on his story; she and her small creative team had a final cut by November. “George is 88, and I wanted him to be able to enjoy this moment, where people recognize him for his dancing,” she said.

As he prepares to return to New York, Lee said he felt gratified, most of all, for his mother.

“I’m proud for her that I didn’t let her down,” he said. “It makes me feel better to look up at her and say: ‘Look, mother, now you see what’s happening, what you did for me. You gave me all the good foundation, everything. Through you, I’m here now.’”

George Lee today. Photo: Saeed Rahbaran for The New York Times

#Balanchine #George Lee #George Li #Nutcracker ballet #Balanchine's Nutcracker #Asian stereotypes #Nutcracker Chinese Dance #New York City Ballet #NYCB #Ten Times Better #ballet film #Saeed Rahbaran #Andrea Mohin

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ask-the-pearloftheorient · 2 months ago

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Self promotion!! My place has amazing dramas, and here to tell you guys about the new World War Two historical series:

Pulang Araw (2024)

Starring: Barbie Forteza, Alden Richards, David Licauco, and Sanya Lopez

Genre: War

Language: Filipino (original dub) , English Subtitles

Watch on: YouTube GMA official page (New episode every weekday, 8:00 pm Philippines Time)

Follows the story of 4 childhood friends in the midst of the American occupation and Japanese invasion.

The drama gives me horrible flashbacks of the war, which is good in a way since it's accurate to history. Personally I love Adelina the most (Barbie Forteza fan, she also starred in Maria Clara and Ibarra)

Credits to her for the picture

#Piri's picks #Filipino series #pulang araw #hws philippines #hetalia #Piri's roleplays #ask-the-pearloftheorient #hetalia axis powers #aph philippines #hetalia world series #hetalia world stars #hetalia world twinkle #OOC: Watch it guys it's so good I promise

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lixzey · 24 days ago

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omg lowkey forgot you had a daughter. what was it like being a teen mom if you don’t mind me asking 😊😊🩷

also what’s it like in the Philippines, im also Filipino but I’ve never been :( my parents haven’t either since they immigrated

I was 17 turning 18 when I had my daughter, and the experience was a 50/50 for me.

1) because a month after she was born, Covid hit :( it was honestly torture being cooped up inside the house for so long. I couldn't even go out to get medicine for my girl when she was around 3-4 months and had a fever. The first year of her life was honestly not the best (fuck Covid for stealing what could have been-), but I wouldn't have it in any other way because I got to bond with my child in her developmental stages.

2) I love being a mom, it's just so rewarding whenever I see my baby smile or hear her laugh. She's now four, and in daycare (it's like nursery school, i think?)! She's been loving school and already has a bestie! My girl just recently got a medal from her coloring contest at school, and you bet her mama is proud!!

The Philippines? How do I get started with this country? It's beautiful, really. The historical landmarks, the old churches, the provinces, the beaches, and a few others. But for me, where i live (manila), it's quite.....polluted, toxic, and not much of a worthy place to visit. It's hot as fuck, the air is polluted, not a lot of trees, TRAFFIC, and a shit ton more of negative stuff I won't mention because if I did, I'd reach maximum post limit.

People here crave change, but they've voted for a man with a tax evasion case and a sketchy family background. Like the man they've voted for, some of the people here take advantage of foreign people, and quite frankly, it's embarrassing. There are a lot of toxic ass people here, they would literally criticize you over the smallest of things. Hell, they would feast off of your personal life—gossip about this and that, talking shit about this and that, calling people names and a shit ton of other toxic stuff most Filipinos do because it's what they're taught to do.

#ellie's asks 💌#ellie's 22nd birthday!! 🥳

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jiacast · 2 months ago

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World Tourism Day

Travel Guide: Manila, Philippines

Manila, the Philippines' vibrant metropolis, is a dynamic mix of old and new, with ancient Spanish architecture meeting modern skyscrapers and busy marketplaces coexisting with elegant retail malls. Whether you're interested in the city's rich history, eclectic cuisine scene, or vibrant culture, Manila provides an intriguing and comprehensive experience.

When to Visit:

The dry season (November-May) offers less humidity and rain, with cooler temperatures from December to February. The wet season (June-October) offers indoor activities like museums and shopping and is less crowded.

Top Attractions:

Intramuros: The historic heart of Manila, built during the Spanish colonial period. Visits include Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church, and Casa Manila Museum.

Rizal Park (Luneta): A sprawling park dedicated to José Rizal, hosting the National Museum Complex.

Binondo, The World's Oldest Chinatown: A vibrant neighborhood known for its Chinese-Filipino culture and delicious food.

Manila Ocean Park: An aquarium and marine-themed park offering a variety of activities.

Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP): Home to Filipino performing arts, hosting concerts, ballets, plays, and art exhibits.

Local Experiences:

Experience the Philippines' iconic jeepney ride for a colorful and affordable way to explore Manila. The city is a shopping paradise, with luxurious malls like SM Mall of Asia and bargain hunting at Divisoria Market and Greenhills Shopping Center. Enjoy local crafts, electronics, and clothes at these popular shopping destinations.

Food & Dining:

Manila is a hub of Filipino flavors, offering a diverse range of street vendors and fine dining options. Famous dishes include lechon, a traditional pig dish; adobo, a soy-braised chicken or pork dish; and halo-halo, a refreshing dessert made with shaved ice, sweetened fruits, jelly, ube, and leche flan.

Must-Try Restaurants:

Ilustrado Restaurant in Intramuros offers a blend of Spanish, Filipino, and international cuisine, while Barbara's Heritage Restaurant provides a cultural dining experience with traditional Filipino food and folk dance performances. Aristocrat is renowned for its Filipino comfort food.

Day Trips from Manila:

Tagaytay, Pagsanjan Falls, and Corregidor Island: • Tagaytay: 2-hour drive from Manila, offers cooler weather and Taal Volcano views. • Pagsanjan Falls: 3-hour boat ride through river gorge, ending with refreshing waterfall. • Corregidor Island: Historical island off Manila Bay, played a significant role during WWII. Guided tour of ruins, tunnels, and military barracks.

Nightlife:

Manila's nightlife scene is vibrant, particularly in Makati, Bonifacio Global City, and Malate. It offers trendy rooftop bars, live music, and dance clubs. Poblacion, known for its hip vibe, features speakeasies, bars, and clubs. Resorts World Manila, a luxury resort and casino, offers sophisticated dining, theaters, and bars for a sophisticated night out.

Getting Around:

Manila's traffic can be busy, so leave additional time to drive. You can get about using Grab (the taxi service app), jeepneys, buses, or LRT/MRT trains. Local communities also have tricycles and pedicabs accessible for shorter trips.

Cultural Etiquette:

• Mano Po: Traditional respect gesture where younger people place elder's hand on forehead. • Bayanihan Spirit: Filipino hospitality, friendly locals, and helpfulness encouraged.

Shopping:

Divisoria is a popular market known for affordable goods, while SM Mall of Asia is a massive mall offering luxury goods, local brands, an ice skating rink, and an IMAX theater.

Conclusion:

With its blend of colonial history, vibrant urban life, and ingrained culture, Manila is a city of contrasts. Whether you're taking in the lively culinary scene or discovering the old-world elegance of Intramuros, Manila provides a diverse and colorful experience that will make for lifelong memories.

#writing #World Tourism Day #manila #philippines

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