Now Showing on EDSA
Sometimes, the EDSA bus works. Most of the time, I prefer taking the bus over dealing with the spawns of Satan that are 90% of Metro Manila Taxi drivers. The bus will stop where it says it will (coding permitting). It does not haggle. It drives through the traffic. And when I need it, it will get me from Boni to Fairview for under 50 bucks, with GMA7 or a movie playing.
When it’s not GMA7 programming, the usual movies shown on the bus range from Death Race 2 or whatever movie that has Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, or The Rock. Local movies range from old FPJ films or some Star Cinema romance.
Sometimes, you might even catch gay softcore films, which I did, on one Philcoa bus. It was surreal, watching Detective Donald Strackey reminisce one hot night in the barracks onscreen while everyone else in the bus went about their business. Then again, maybe the world would be a better place if it really was like that — taking it as it is.
I also caught Endhiran, boasted to be the most expensive Bollywood film ever made. Even without subtitles it was clearly a mish-mash of The Matrix Reloaded, Robocop, and Bicentennial Man, with Bollywood numbers of course.
Caught any interesting movies during your commute?
Rome wasn’t built in a day
Tips for beginning calligraphers, from a beginner calligrapher.
I swore that I would not buy new pens and inks until my calligraphy got better. I also figured I’d be kinder to myself and start with Roman lettering and calligraphic print instead of jumping into Copperplate. I used ye olde ‘Writing & Illuminating & Lettering’ to start. You can download the book for free at archive.org.
When I write in Latin, I have that scene from ‘Life of Brian’ running through my head.
Some things I figured, while destroying trees (with use of paper) in the name of pretty:
-It helps to start with just the symbols and some flourishing before moving on to the alphabet. It teaches pen control, and builds the strokes for when you finally start on lettering.
-Practice, practice, practice. They’re not meant to be perfect at the get-go.
-Be kind: you can start with Roman print before jumping to Copperplate script. It makes re-learning the script easier, even faster.
-You CAN start with a pencil and a math notebook. Get used to which stroke to start with, then you can practice flex with your fountain pen.
That’s it so far. It’s not much now, but I’m hoping it’ll be better. It has certainly been fun though.
What helped you when you started calligraphy?
Good Starting Calligraphy Resources:
Rome wasn't built in a day
Tips for beginning calligraphers, from a beginner calligrapher.
I swore that I would not buy new pens and inks until my calligraphy got better. I also figured I’d be kinder to myself and start with Roman lettering and calligraphic print instead of jumping into Copperplate. I used ye olde ‘Writing & Illuminating & Lettering’ to start. You can download the book for free at archive.org.
When I write in Latin, I have that scene from ‘Life of Brian’ running through my head.
Some things I figured, while destroying trees (with use of paper) in the name of pretty:
-It helps to start with just the symbols and some flourishing before moving on to the alphabet. It teaches pen control, and builds the strokes for when you finally start on lettering.
-Practice, practice, practice. They’re not meant to be perfect at the get-go.
-Be kind: you can start with Roman print before jumping to Copperplate script. It makes re-learning the script easier, even faster.
-You CAN start with a pencil and a math notebook. Get used to which stroke to start with, then you can practice flex with your fountain pen.
That’s it so far. It’s not much now, but I’m hoping it’ll be better. It has certainly been fun though.
What helped you when you started calligraphy?
Good Starting Calligraphy Resources:
Pen Love
Good writing is part craft, part distraction that isn’t facebook. I thought the distraction would be photography, then I discovered that the local bookstores carried brush pens for as low as PHP28.
It started innocently enough. Doodle. “Oooh” and “aaah” at the brush strokes. Write a quote in script (and face the horror of finding out several years of cursive drills in primary school are GONE).
The Cat Comes Back
The goodbye I wrote for Mela was uploaded around two weeks from the time she disappeared.
The day after it went live, Mela came back!
She crawled in through my bedroom window, mewling, then made a run for her foodbowl. I could only gawk at her in disbelief.
The following morning, I gave her a bath and a hug. She has since stayed close to home, and taken to scaring the housemate’s dog just by sitting there.
Thank you to everyone who has sent her goodbyes, and to all those who wished her well upon news of her return.
Welcome back, my Mela. I missed you.
