Yearly Archives: 2012

EVENT: Pistahan – San Francisco August 11-12

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It’s that time of the year again! This weekend at Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco, I’ll be at Pistahan with Ray & Norman and maybe some surprise guests.

This year we will be having a Baybayin art show featuring the 17 characters. That’s right, 17 different pieces by artists from the US to the Philippines.

Other booth (Creativity Pavilion) activities include:
– Launch of my Ka2 hat
– Live wood burning
– Live painting
– Workshop
– New raw Philippine footage of my documentary
– Kids activities

Shogun vs Vera – UFC on FOX: An important day for Baybayin

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Today is is an important day for Baybayin. Why? Because one of the most visible people with Baybayin tattoos will be on the main UFC event tonight. Ever since Brandon Vera made is UFC debut, people have been curious as to what his tattoos mean. I won’t go in to that in this post but you can read about it here and here.

During the pre-fight feature, Brandon Vera’s wife specifically mentions “Filipino Culture” in her interview. The world knows that he’s Filipino and his tattoos are of Filipino origin. When his photo showed on the big screen at the LA Staples Center, it had his Baybayin script as his background. That is a big deal!

Even though Vera ultimately lost, the world wide spotlight he brought to Filipinos and Baybayin was unprecedented.

 

EVENT: UP Diliman – Lecture/Panel discussion 7/25

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I’ll be taking part of a lecture/panel discussion at UP Diliman 7/25. Yeah, I know it’s last minute but that’s how it goes here in the Philippines 🙂

While the topic isn’t strictly Baybayin, I’ll inject it as much as possible since its about Identity and Culture.

See ya there!

TOPIC: Filipina/o American Identity and Culture: There Is More to Us Than Just The Immigrant Narrative
WHEN: 5:00pm-8:00pm, Wednesday, July 25, 2012
WHERE: GT-Toyota Asian Center Seminar Room, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

Baybayin documentary filming in the Philippines

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I’m currently in the Philippines doing a lectures, art shows, a product launch, research and continuing filming my documentary. I started filming some street scenes around Katipunan, Cubao and Edsa this this week. Interviews will also start this week as well.

There’s a lot more going on in Manila since I was last here in 2010 and to help document those observations on this trip, I’ve setup a blog for BaybayinFilm.com.

 

 

EVENT: Pag-ibig at Pagpapahalaga sa Wikang Panulat

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On 7/13 & 7/14, I’ll be taking part of a seminar-workshop at Bahay Baybayin in Cainta, Rizal. My lecture will be on the 2nd day (7/14). I’ll also be showing my new art series for the 1st time in the Philippines: Times New Roman X Baybayin as previously exhibited at the San Francisco Philippine Consulate.

Please call the # on the flyer to see if there are tickets still available. Can’t make it? I’ll have another event the last week of July. Details soon….

Gay Fluent

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Here’s a photo I spotted on Instagram. It’s supposed to say Jay Fluent (I assume it’s a rap name). Made me laugh when I saw it. Incorrectly use Baybayin and it could change the meaning of your tattoo. Usually if someone screws up the spelling, it’s just a bunch of random letters meaning nothing. However, if your luck (or unlucky), it could spell something else. What this dude has on the right side is Falauenata for Fluent and on the left it’s supposed to be Jay but is written as Gaaya (could mean to Copy). If he’s wanting each character to be a letter, Falauenata would be Fluent but then that would mean that Gaaya would be Gay. I don’t know if he’s gay or not but I don’t think he wanted that.  If would be awesome if he was though. At least it’s a henna tattoo. Looks like it was done in a beach in the Visaya area. Maybe Boracay? You can tell by the way Pilipinas is written on his chest. The S has a kudlit checkmark  above and below the character to cancel the vowel.

Maybe he’s fluent in usapang bading?

Follow me on Instagram

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For those that don’t follow me on Instagram, you can check out my photos under username BAYBAYIN of course!

Here’s an example of a series I’ve ben working on for about a year that incorporates my calligraphy brush style with familiar fonts.

This was posted yesterday by Don Toledano. Looks like it’s Baybayin projected on the side of the building. Anyone know about this?

 

EVENT: Kalayaan Festival – 6/10 Union City, California

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Come join in Union City, California 6/10 as we celebrate Philippine Independence from the Spanish. Why don’t we celebrate independence from the Americans???

Ray of Malaya Designs, will be the one manning the table at this event as I will be running around directing the stage festivities.

Kennedy Community Park
1333 Decoto rd, Union City, CA
(Walk from Union City bart)

KalayaanSF.org

Book: An Introduction to Kulitan

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Mike Pangilinan just posted the artwork for his upcoming book, “An Introduction to Kulitan”. No details yet about the release date or cost but I believe it will be great because of his passion. Can’t wait to check it out in July (more on that later).

I hope this is  serves as inspiration to those who want to bring legitimacy to their Baybayin causes. To give you context, there are certain groups and individuals in the Baybayin community that are pushing their own ideas on modernization and standardization. There are also thoughts that their own language is being destroyed and/or being phased out by the dominant Tagalog based educational/entertainment system. What I’ve stressed to these individuals is that you need to take things in your own hands. It’s easy to blame the “system” and those who hold you down. There will always be roadblocks and it’s up to you to figure out how to work around them. Mike is a perfect example on how one gets things done.