Down the Rabbit Hole

I studied the Ramayana in high school but not in the depth of detail that scholars do. For me back then, it's one of those Indian epics that stood the test of time and have been transformed into different versions as Indian culture spread before the Europeans colonised Asia. In the Philippines, we have Rama at Sita , which is just a chapter of the epic. In Thailand, the Ramakien , the national epic, was derived from Ramayana. Other countries have other versions too. So as I closed that high school chapter of my life, the Ramayana was placed in the back of my head... and then I ended up in Hyderabad  in December 2016. The Salar Jung Museum had an extensive exhibit of tapestries that depicted the Ramayana... which forced me to jog my memory for what I can remember about the epic because the script used in the exhibit was Indian (not sure what type of script though).  I thought that it was the end of my bumping into the epic; but when Biboy, Barbara, and I wen...

Chef Claude Tayag  wanted to talk about rice in one of the episodes of his show Chasing Flavors , aired on Lifestyle TV. It's a show that gives a platform for people to talk about local ingredients and the diversity of Philippine cuisine. Unfortunately, Claude himself couldn't be at IRRI in person because he was at ANC for an interview. Instead, his production crew dropped by to do the interview. With me was Leoniza, who handles media relations at IRRI. The on-cam interview was conducted at the Plant Growth Facility, IRRI's newest building. In the lab where I was interviewed, rice samples were being sorted in the background. 

On my latest visit to the Ayala Museum this year, I was able to catch the exhibit curated by Federico de Vera. I haven't heard of him, most likely because I'm not part of the art circles. I'm just an occasional museum hopper who likes to visit beautiful art pieces. This time, I was about to learn what beauty is, in the eyes of famous curator de Vera. I was blown away by how he presented art pieces he picked up from other art collectors. Some of these pieces I've seen in other museums before. BUT, these are presented in a more striking manner... Instagrammable being the first word that comes to my mind. Spot lighting and subtle backgrounds really make the artworks pop. Walking through the different sections of the exhibit, I kept saying wow to myself. I liked the way that the curator presented every piece... he succeeded in putting the best face of each piece on display. There was a sense of meticulousness in the detail... not just dumping pieces together on a tab...

I'm a fan of a select set of Marvel Universe movies (with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool, so far) to the point that I am surprised that I have not posted about them so much. One of the characters I have been following closely is Thor primarily because it's linked with Norse mythology, a topic I've been somewhat interested in since grade school (ever since learning that Wednesday is named after Odin and Thursday is named after Thor). The other lab rats were also interested in watching Thor: Ragnarok mostly because of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.  So we went to SM San Pablo , bought our dinners and then proceeded to the cinema.  And Joys is right: the movie started off with a different tone than the other Thor movies... the director and the scriptwriter upped the humour to Deadpool levels at the very beginning of the movie. This threw me off because Thor is not known for sarcasm; Loki is. But as the movie progressed, I realised t...

Our expert elicitation workshops in India in July were featured in a press brief in IRRI's website. We only realised how far-reaching its reach was when Matty got contacted by the FAO Regional Office in Asia and the Pacific a few weeks later, inviting us to present our results in their upcoming symposium in Bangkok in November. Of course, we jumped on the chance to present our work... after all, it's not everyday that we get invited by one of our dream agencies... the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Yes, the United Nations !! This year is fast becoming the year I get exposure in the UN circles. Does this mean that I will get a chance to work with people from there? I hope so. Anyway, for the FAO Symposium, we trooped to the Bangkok Convention Centre. I realised quickly how big a megapolis Bangkok is when I didn't recognise any of the buildings in the area. Apparently, this is a different district from where the International Rice Congr...

I have always thought of Vincent van Gogh as the poster child for suffering artists and for mental health advocacy. But beyond him cutting his ear and committing suicide, I really didn't know much of his life. I've also encountered his painting "Starry Night" and the Don McLean 1971 song "Vincent".  Hence, when I saw that "Loving Vincent", a movie about his life, was already showing in cinemas, I decided to watch it at first opportunity. Luckily, Joyce was also available to join in watching this film. It's interesting that this film was made to resemble cartoons; except that instead of simple illustrations or computer graphics, the each frame of the animation was an oil painting on canvas. These oil paintings were made by 115 artists and featured van Gogh's famous strong, thick strokes. In itself, the movie is a visual masterpiece. The plot happened supposedly a year after van Gogh died. It followed Armand Roulin as he attempt...

Ambeth Ocampo  was at it again... this time, his lecture at the Ayala Museum was about maps and their links with history. He presented to us one of the oldest existing maps of the Philippines: the Pedro Murillo Velarde map from 1734. Aside from showing a most accurate map of the Philippines (among those from the 18th century), the Murillo map was also interesting because it featured several panes with illustrations about life in the Philippines back in the day. A map of Manila (present day Intramuros ) showed how well organised the city was... it's a planned city laid out on a grid. The coat-of-arms used in one corner of the map shows that of Spain already; it's not the same as the coat-of-arms featured in Fort Santiago . But of course, Intramuros was established when Spain was still the united kingdoms of Aragon and Castille (16th century) while the map was made when the Spanish empire included the rest of the smaller kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula. ...