The Killing Moon

"The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen from their album Ocean Rain, 1984.

Under a blue moon I saw you 
So soon you'll take me 
Up in your arms 
Too late to beg you or cancel it 
Though I know it must be the killing time 
Unwillingly mine

Fellow 80's kids will call me predictable for choosing this to celebrate the allegedly once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event tonight, the Super Blue Blood Moon Eclipse. I don't mind -- this piece is mysterious enough, and mildly jarring, for me to contemplate on things like why for almost a month now there seems to be a celestial conspiracy to not let me take a short vacation... like a short stop in Baguio for the weather, to replace my worn out walis tambo, and er... *bleep*

Friends on the Shore of Long Island

Two Friends on the Shore of Long Island
Devin Leonardi (1981 - 2014)

🖼 @TheVisualArt#VisualArt #HistoryofPainting pic.twitter.com/1LW8zmYUkq

— History of Art (@AHistoryofArt) January 29, 2018

My first immediate reaction was mild melancholy. My second was startled at how young the artist was when he passed away. Took his life, I learned from a simple Google search. Leonardi's friends also set up an online memorial.

"Friends on the Shore of Long Island" was a 2009 acrylic on paper work according to Altman Siegel.

Hubble Deep Field

Random number between 1 and 512. Page 96 of Universe (by DK) pic.twitter.com/kY8fWZrVdC

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) January 29, 2018

From the south-end shelf of my personal library, Universe (published by Dorling Kindersley, Martin Rees, general editor). Random number between one and 512, page 96 in the first part, Introduction, chapter on "Exploring Space," and section on "Space-Age Astronomy." The Hubble Deep Field image is part of discussion on the origins of the universe.

Marlo in futuristic 80's

Down memory lane, sometime between 1982 and 1984 in Makati. I don't remember what day of the week I get to watch Marlo and the Magic Movie Machine (on RPN 9), but likely it's a school night. I recall watching this sprawled on the floor in front of my grandparents' television, my school uniform already soiled from schoolyard play, while my sister and I waited for my mom to pick us up and go to our new home in Las Pinas.

Mabuhay, Elmer! Pit Senyor!

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on Jan 20, 2018 at 4:05pm PST

Last January 20, went to the opening of contemporary artist Elmer Borlongan's major solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, "An Extraordinary Eye for the Ordinary." I had my first close encounter with Borlongan's works when I had the opportunity to visit Casa San Miguel in San Antonio, Zambales. The exhibit's name quite accurately describes Borlongan's body of work.

Earlier that day, was feeling disappointed that I missed my chance again to experience community feasting in honor of the Santo Nino. The nearest, notable feast in my area would have been "Lakbayaw" in Tondo, Manila. But was too late to prepare and get in touch with friends and acquaintances residing in the area. So imagine how jubilant I felt when I realized that Borlongan, who is a master of the beauty of the Filipino commonplace, have several depictions of the most revered Senyor.

Some of my friends were either in Aklan for Ati-atihan, or Cebu for Sinulog both honoring the Senyor. Borlongan's visual feast was good for me. On the last Sunday of January, our family hometown of Kawit, Cavite will also stage its own caracol celebrating Santo Nino.

Viva (redux)

This post is slightly past its timeliness. But I did have an intention to post my visit to the "Panata" photo exhibition at the National Museum of Anthropology in time for the traslacion of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, Manila last 09 January 2018. With only a smartphone for a camera, I couldn't have possibly gotten any good on-site coverage of the event, what with the tens of thousands devotees.

This year's traslacion Rappler reported an estimate of 280,000 devotees (as of 10:00 AM on the day). The Inquirer reported that the police stationed in Plaza Miranda estimated the crowd to have grown to four million (as of 5:00 pm on the day).

At the Panata exhibition, I was interested in finding smaller human interest stories captured within the frames of the enlarged crowd photography. I may not be able to do passable photography representative of the scale of this en masse devotion, but maybe someday, I could try to chance upon those smaller human interest stories occurring inside the grand context.

National saints

Random number between one and 146, page 33 of Summon's Miscellany of Saints and Sinners (compiled by Parminder Summon) contains a third of an alpha tabulation of Principal National Saints by nation and memorial day. In a few days, Malta will celebrate their memorial to Saint Paul the Apostle. How do I tell Italy that my mom once told me that there is no such Lady, but there has always been Our Mother of Perpetual Help? (This could likely be one of those car conversations in my youth while we're stuck in traffic passing through Baclaran going home from Makati to Las Pinas.)

From 1987 to 2491

Sometime between 1980 and 1982 in Makati. In this eighties, spacey reinterpretation of Rip Van Winkle, the 500-year-overslept Buck Rogers finds himself caught in between allures of two women, who each clearly represented the angelic and the devilish. That sexual tension was underneath the weekly adventures, and the intervening "futuristic" dance numbers. More information on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in Wikipedia and IMDB.

What a great way to welcome the new year with childhood memories of how the future was portrayed.

You are the Reason

"You are the Reason" by Calum Scott, from the album Only Human

If I could turn back the clock
I'd make sure the light defeated the dark
I'd spend every hour, of every day
Keeping you safe

Was looking for alternative lists of 2017's year-end hits, and I chanced on Gay Music Chart on Youtube. The channel's surveys, other than being very LGBT (of course) and alternative, was very global. Ranking 86th on its 2017 year-ender, this new single from Britain's Got Talent's "golden" boy Calum Scott strikes and puts you into a sentimental spot immediately.

On Youtube, this song has an official music video and a "lyrics" video. Preferred the latter.

More about Calum Scott in Wikipedia

Christmas Eve

Spotted: "History of Colour" on Twitter, 07 January 2018

"La nuit de Noel" (Christmas Eve) by Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Dore. More about the artist in Wikipedia. Check also the in-focus write-up about this watercolor work in Musee d'Orsay.

Strange how my usual art-side follows on Twitter only started posting of Christmas and winter visuals in January. I had a vague memory of Dore's children's Christmas fantasy scene, but couldn't remember then from whom and where. I had hoped the avid sharers of art post it last December.

www.glenncruz.com

Mum: "Only pack the essentials!"

Me: pic.twitter.com/2T9zj75Sg0

— Jack Mull (@J4CKMULL) January 2, 2018

So. After trying out several services out there, I've finally come the proverbial full circle, and returned to Blogger. Because only in Blogger was I able to forward my domain with relative ease, and that included impact on the wallet. Will be doing some migration of past content from different places, but in the meantime, here's a feel-good Internet fluff.

Believer

Dateline: 05 January 2018, Pasay, PHL

"Believer"

I was broken from a young age
Taking my sulking to the masses
Writing my poems for the few
That look to me, took to me, shook to me, feeling me

Imagine Dragons from their album Evolve. Landed ninth on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100... I've been an admirer of Imagine Dragons, so no surprise that of the top ten this was what I was most glad about.

Liked Ed Sheeran too, but I was not much into "Shape of You," which was 2017's number one. ("Castle on the Hill," which I liked better ranked 40th.)

Dreaded that "Despacito" would come in first on the list. Justin Bieber, who was featured in this Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee hit, lorded the 2016 Hot 100.

(First posted: https://sites.google.com/view/glenncruz/sounds)

Reis Van Den Koningen

Dateline: 02 January 2018, Pasay, PHL

"Reis Van Den Koningen" (The Journey of the Three Kings) by Anton Franciscus Pieck

More about Anton Pieck in Wikipedia

Was searching through the Internet for another work by the artist that was shared on Twitter. Changed my mind when I landed at the homepage of the Anton Pieck Museum in Hattem, the Netherlands. In a few days, the Christmas season in the Philippines will officially end with the Feast of the Three Kings.

(First posted: https://sites.google.com/view/glenncruz/visuals)

The Adoration of the Magi (Strozzi Altarpiece)

Dateline: 05 January 2018, Pasay, PHL

"The Adoration of the Magi (Strozzi Altarpiece)" by Gentile da Fabriano

Non-random selection. Page 71 of How to Read Bible Stories and Myths in Art: Decoding the Old Masters from Giotto to Goya (Patrick De Rynck, author) features what Wikipedia says is the artist's finest work, commissioned by the Strozzi family, finance and banking rivals of the Medicis.

(First posted: https://sites.google.com/view/glenncruz/pages)

Large, flakey, unknown snow

Dateline: 02 January 2018, Pasay, PHL

Down memory lane, sometime between 1976 and 1982, Makati and Las Pinas. Classic Sesame Street gave me the most memorable depiction of snow, large and flakey, most curious for a kid who had no real experience of winter. Every now and then, when I see snow on film and video (yup, no experience of real snow still), the flute soundtrack of this cartoon comes to mind.

(First posted: https://sites.google.com/view/glenncruz/older)

Young, fruitful, bright

A post shared by Glenn Cruz (@glenncruz_ph) on Dec 31, 2017 at 8:23pm PST

Dateline: 01 January 2018, Kawit, Cavite, PHL

New Year's Eve 2017 was to be my third uneventful welcome to a new year. In 2015, I had to sleep away the festivities because I had to attend the Iwas Paputok campaign's morning-after press conference.

This emerging pattern is not a moping last hurrah for the exiting year. Rather, I seem to have begun a more reflective (and sober) personal tradition. Last night, I dressed up nicely still, went out for a hearty dinner at the nearby Japanese restaurant, then back home indulged in videos of 2017's pop hits.

This was my first pic of the year: a young pomelo tree bearing heavy fruit in my Dad's pride of a potted garden beaming in the cool bright first morning of 2018. The family held a reunion on New Year's Day at our ancestral Casa Abadilla in Kawit, Cavite.

(First posted: https://sites.google.com/view/glenncruz/newer)