Muni at huni

Muni ng arkitektong anak sa doodles11006@yahoo.com

I HAVE never been really good at actually applying and mixing colors on a canvas and coming up with the color I really want, especially when I do interiors. You left me once in this art gallery when I was very young, I never knew where you actually went but I was guessing it was work-related, I was very enamored to see those artists do on the spot coloring, I tried my luck in doing some on an empty canvas a guy offered me but unfortunately I sucked. I have since had a hard time trying to get the correct hues. When I was studying I still sucked, a 2.0 in rendering means "needs improvement". Besides my strong point was with design itself, fortunately due to my short stint under Arch. Nannette Segovia's firm as a designer and as a project architect under V.V.Soliven then, I was able to solve the problem of colors. And I am applying it in my current sideline projects here.

My hired colleague got the surprise of his life when he saw me do an entire kitchen, living, dining and foyer within a few minutes using free hand perspective while at the same time discussing things we needed to consider for the client and the materials we would specify; he had a dumbfounded look saying that was very fast aside from amazing; I was able to relay what I was saying and immediately put it in print; he understood everything but asked me how I do it.
An architect from a firm that I applied a year ago or so called me up, asking if I was still free. They acquired my records via a resume that I submitted a long time ago on-line, I told him I’m sorry I was already abroad and he was already making a long distance call.. he politely said sorry and hung up immediately... Ako ang nabawasan ng load hindi siya, daya ng Globe kaka-load ko lang nun ha.

How are things back home? We see the news here on TV and it’s very alarming, the prices here went up also but not as outrageously high as what is happening there…tsk tsk.. If only they never took away the funds for agriculture then, the country wouldn't be in deep shit; not to mention proper regional and urban planning, wala rin naman kasing choice ‘yung mga farmers but to sell their lands to be converted into subdivisions eh. Filipinos are not yet open to condo living nor they can afford it. And what is this quote from the President saying that "going abroad will just be a matter of choice not necessity," is she crazy? Try not to give false hopes and just tell it as it is...a lot of us expats are very disappointed in how you ransacked our money and how the government runs things. I’m still surprised on how she is still there.

Huni ng kulamnistang ama sa noqualmasabomb@yahoo.com

HINDI ko matandaan kung Gallery Genesis sa Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong, Liongoren Gallery sa New York, Cubao o sa Vargas Gallery sa UP Diliman na pawang kumikikig pa rin sa sining o sa Philippine Arts Gallery (PAG) sa dulo ng Lantana, Cubao na tinamaan ng lintik, sunog lahat ng mga likhang sining na nakaimbak pati mga antigong mapa na pinaglalawayan ko noon; medium-rise condominium na ang nakatindig sa dating PAG. May mga naniniwala kasi na matalim ang tingin ko’t gagap ang mga sagisag at sigasig na nakalahad sa alinman sa pitong likhang sining—kasama na roon sa naniniwala sina Manuel Viray, naging ambassador sa Cambodia saka ang lumisan nang Mang Paking Arcellana, na National Artist for Literature. Ah, the most gargantuan try at toilet humor I’ve seen: the driveway ramp at the foreground of the Cultural Center of the Philippines that outlines the rim of a toilet bowl with the building façade as flush tank…

You and Angeli have been in the company of artists since toddling years, both of you chose the path of least resistance in your careers as, well, artists. Ako’y literary and martial artist daw. Malacañang’s current top transient is also an accomplished artist, kaya ganoon kung humirit. Confidence artist.

Government has upped from P12 a kilo to P17 its farm-gate price for palay. It means there’ll be no more P18.25 a kilo NFA rice—unless government continues subsidizing rice price and such subsidy to keep prices artistically surreal is usually wrenched raw off pockets of taxpayers like you and me.

Food expenditure is tops in every Filipino household and chomps from P34-P47 for every P100 spent to keep together body and soul. As the food staple breaches price ceilings, we’re expecting inflation to hit double figures, commodity prices to soar through the ozone layer, and economically minded opinion purveyors to wonder aloud how a confidence artist of an economist leads the nation like lambs to the slaughter.

Life’s a bit drab and dark in this neck of the woods; we’ll be seeing some more charnel hues in the Philippine horizon… and that’s how colors hereabouts are mixed on the canvas of reality, why, even the 2004 poll canvass got swished and swathed with tone colors of “Hello Garci.”

God bless and Godspeed to us all!