EVENT: Asian Heritage Street Celebration May 19

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I’ll be at the Asian Heritage Street Celebration this Saturday. Look for my booth on Larkin street.

This Saturday, May 19th for the 8th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration in San Francisco.

This amazing event takes place on Larkin Street, from Grove to Ellis and will feature Culinary Celebrity Chefs, including our very own Martin Yan.

Chef Martin Yan will be performing a live cooking demo at the Civic Center at 2:30pm with a noodle puller sure to entertain!

Admission is free and all are welcome to join in this fantastic event, celebrating the wonderful Asian heritage & traditions here in San Francisco.

Visit the Asian Heritage Street Celebration website for additional details: asianfairsf.com

Alibata scripture shirt?

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Was tipped by Khalil at the Baybayin FB Group that Kultura Filipino at SM Malls in the Philippines might be selling a shirts with using my font incorrectly. Above is a photo of the shirt in question. It indeed is my Baybayin font.

Couple issues with this:

1) I clearly state in the downloads section of this site “All downloads are for personal use only. Please contact me at christian(at)baybayin.com for any commercial inquiries.” I did not receive any email from Kultura Filipino asking permission.  Sure, my font could’ve been downloaded form another site that stole it.

2) The use of the incorrect term Alibata.

3) The incorrect spelling. Alibata is written  A-Li-Ba-A-Ta-A along with the other text below.

4) The incorrect use of “Scripture”. It’s common to hear people mention scripture when talking about Baybayin/Alibata. Scripture is defined as sacred religious writings. Baybayin alone isn’t a scripture. If you write a verse from the Koran in Baybayin, the verse is scripture not Baybayin. I see most of the people using this incorrect description are from the Philippines who mix up (or don’t know the difference) Script vs Scripture. They are different

Kultura is a great store in general but for something as visible as a writing system, it’s IRRESPONSIBLE for them to put out missinformation for profit.

Any businesses or government institutions out there looking to use Baybayin correctly, contact me for a FREE consultation. christian(at)baybayin.com

PS: Let’s see if there are comments saying it’s “Nice” without reading the article. Don’t be lazy

EVENT: SF Zoo – Baybayin at mga hayop

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Never would’ve thought I’d ever do Baybayin at a zoo. This Saturday, May 12, I’ll be taking part of the very 1st Pacific Islander Heritage Day celebration at the zoo. Should be interesting because I’ll be doing something a bit different….think animals and Baybayin.

Bring your family to experience the incredible sights, sounds and flavors of the Pacific during Pacific Islander Heritage Day at the Zoo! From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., come see amazing, cultural dance performances by Spark of Creation, hear traditional Hawaiian slack key guitar by award-winning Patrick Landeza, watch performances by the Filipino Cultural Center (FCC) Kulintang Group as well as the Galing Bata/Quality Children After-School program. Plus, enjoy tasty treats specially made for this exciting event. All activities are free with paid Zoo admission. So, spend a day at the Zoo and immerse yourself into the Pacific Islander culture.

Check out the SF Zoo website for more info or my events page for my schedule.

So do you think that Filipinos are Pacific Islanders?

Bahala Na longboard – Coming soon

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Coming soon, a fresh longboard from a Filipino American skateboard company Kuya Longboards. The Baybayin reads “Bahala Na” wich is perfect for skateboarders. I grew up skating and had a few injuries with the Bahala Na attitude. While my Bahala Na attitude towards skateboarding has changed with age, I still do some cruising around with longboard. Maybe when I get my Kuya Longboard, I’ll try this….

Baybayin Plus iOS app (iPhone & iPad)

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A new Baybayin iOS app hit the App Store today called Baybayin Plus (link to Appstore). Here’s a description:

“Created to relive the ancient Filipino scripts used in the Philippines before Spanish Colonization. Support Filipino history, keep our ancient scripts alive.”

Developed by Marlon Jose Masbad. A Google search shows him as a developer from Singapore.

There are 3 parts:

1) Home: Main page intro
2) Translator: Enter your word and the output breaks it down
3) Guide: List of the characters with some information

It appears to be based on the very popular Eagles Corner translator. Notice the use of Paul Morrow‘s fonts.

What I find interesting is the note:

For better results convert non-Filipino words to its local equivalent first. Salamat..

What he’s trying to avoid or tell the users is that you shouldn’t enter “Strength” and expect it to output correctly. It’s a problem all “translation” applications have, including my own Baybayin App. Trying to guide end users without personal presence has always been a challenge. Ideally, the user should do research on their own but due to laziness the lack or minimal resources they will not. Is it up to developers to show them the door and let them walk in or do we need to carry them?

I tried out the app on my iPad on IOS5 and the Baybayin characters don’t output. It also is sensitive to spaces.

This is FREE from the Appstore. Check it out

Department of Budget and Management

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Above is a screenshot of the website for Department of Budget and Management with Baybayin. Looks cool as the people on Twitter mentioned but it’s written wrong!

It’s supposed to be “Kagawaran ng Pagbabadget at Pamamahala” but actually says “kagawarana naga pagabaAbadeta ata pamamahala”

There’s even an extra A there.

With the government support of Baybayin via the pending National Script Act house bill, more government websites are incorporating the script. All is this is good but as I mentioned in a post last year, there are some concerns. One that I talk about in my lectures is that with popularity and passion without a basic understanding will lead to embarrassing errors like this.

UPDATE: I reached out to them to help with the error and as of April 28, 2012, all is good.

EVENT: Sonoma State University 4/28

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I’ll be doing Baybayin translations as part of an Asian American Community Forum on April 28, 2012 10am-3pm @ the Sonoma State University Cooperage. Drop by and let’s talk about Baybayin and our culture.

We want to personally invite you to join us for “Embracing & Celebrating Diversity: An Asian American Community Forum” on April 28, 2012, 10 am – 3 pm in the Cooperage @ Sonoma State University. FREE ADMISSION and open to the public. Please plan to attend in support of our Filipino-Asian American community!

The schedule includes:
* Opening & closing ceremony performances by Lizae Reyes accompanied by Filipino indigenous music with Alexis Canillo & Titania Buchholdt
* An intergenerational diverse panel: panel members include Jeannette Anglin, Michael Uyeno, Richard Hunt, Jenn DeLa Cruz, Carol Kawase
* Filipino author Peter Jamero is the keynote speaker
* Performance piece by Christine Jugueta accompanied by live music
* Community potluck – bring your favorite dish
* Traditional Filipino dances by Kapwa
* Cultural fashion show: models include MaryBelle B, Jay Landayan Malvar, Alexis Canillo, Trisha Hunt (to name a few)
* Group discussions – let’s talk about our cultures!
* Jam with indigenous instruments – Everyone
Come and bring your family and friends! Please distribute the attached flyer to your family & friends as well! The event is on Facebook too. Hope to see you there! Salamat po,

Karen & FANHS Board Members

Sponsored by FAASSU (Filipino American Assn. @ SSU), FANHS (Filipino American National Historical Society), FACSCI (Filipino American Community of SoCo, Inc), CfBS (Center for Babaylan Studies), Dr. Elisa Velasquez , SSU Director of Diversity, SSU Academic Senate Diversity Committee, and SSU Multicultural Center.

Looking for Baybayin food label translators

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“Looking for Baybayin food label translators, urgent!”

This is something that Philippine food manufacturers may soon be posting on job boards. It looks like that House Bill 4395 may actually pass. A press release was posted on the Philippine Congress website:

Bataoil said there is urgent need to institutionalize the protection and conservation of Baybayin script, a writing system well known and practiced in the land long before the Spaniards introduced the Latin-Roman scripts that is popularly being used today.

“I believe this piece of legislation shall serve as a starting point towards establishing our national identity and a unifying element for us Filipinos,” Bataoil said. “We owe it to our children and the generations to come to establish an identity uniquely Filipino.”

Citing the claims of foreign anthropologists and sociologists, Bataoil said Baybayin script is in danger of becoming extinct because of globalization.

“A new wave of nationalism must rise for the development of the nation. It is time that we reclaim a national heritage that is threatened by the rapidly changing time,” Bataoil said.

“While Japan has its own scripts, Kanji and Hiragana, China has the Han character, the Koreans, their Hangul, the Philippines has also its own script called Baybayin,” Bataoil said.

“We have our own writing script, uniquely Filipino that even our National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal used Baybayin script in his book, Noli me Tangere, and other writings,” Bataoil said.

During the hearing, Jay Enage, founding Chairman of Baybayin Buhayin, said there is a need to legislate a law recognizing Baybayin as the national script before it disappears and be totally forgotten.

“Baybayin is being used only in some areas of Mindoro and Palawan provinces. We hope to see Baybayin script in the future in signages of restaurants, government agencies and street names together with Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and Indian scriptures,” Enage said.

Under the bill, Baybayin shall also be included in the curriculum of the elementary and secondary schools.

While I do believe this is a huge step forward, there are some details that need to be talked about as I mentioned in a post last year.

1) No standardization
2) What is the government cost to roll-out?
3) How will this affect businesses in an already bleeding cash?
4) Is the script name too Tagalog-centric?
5) What about other living scripts like the Mangyan, Palawaan or Kapampangan?
6) Who will teach the teachers?
7) Who will create the educational materials?
8) Who will coordinate all of this?

Some of my questions have been answered since then and if your active in the Baybayin community, then you pretty much know who be leading #’s 6, 7 & 8.

I can already see detractors complaining on the internet….

“Nobody can ready it”
“Waste of time & money”

I’m all for the preservation of culture but I believe this has greater economic potential that will ultimately lead to the preservation of the script. There’s hardly (if any) mention about the possible economic benefits of this bill.

I don’t know much about Philippine politics but does press release assume that the bill will be passed?

BAYBAYIN PIRATED!!!!!!!

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It was bound to happened! My logo collaboration hat I did with Philippine based WIP Caps (black and white on the right) has been pirated along with another street wear brand, Capital G (middle).

While stealing from local companies sucks, in my case, there’s a little hope that maybe the Baybayin exposure will lead to an interest in the script. Yeah, I’ll admit that it’s a little flattering but at the same time I’m a little concerned if I find my personal logo on crappy shirts in a tiangge. Honestly though, I don’t think it will spark an interest. The demographic that buys cheap and knowingly pirated goods are probably not the same type of people who would want to become a Baybayin writer. They only look at the price of items rather than the value.

Manila board game

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Came across a board game that has Baybayin that was released in 2005

Barges, freight and profits are what it’s all about in Manila, a speculative contest for 3 to 5 players 10 and up. Goods shipments, intended for transport along sea routes, are in danger of gathering dust in the warehouses or being lost at sea in a storm. While the players speculate about success and failure, the ultimate fate of the ships will be determined by the dice.