Inbetweendays

"Umiiyak Na Nga, Pinaghugas Pa Ng Pinggan"

This drawing went viral among graphic artists and illustrators a few days ago. The story here is that the artist was surprised to find that his unfinished pencil sketch of a crying lady was vandalized with text by someone in the household.

It's hilarious. And sad. And it made me think about how a lot of people still regard acts of creativity in the country (or the world) as things of lesser importance compared to... well, doing the dishes. Look, clean plates are important, I get it, auntie... but no one's lining up for a Masterclass In Plate-Cleaning in The 21st Century*.

It's a reminder that there are always barriers to creativity that we need to crush or get around (like economics, pressure, self-doubt, or family). That we should appreciate the people who allow creativity to thrive, and that by being part of this community of doers and makers we have to continuously fight for our value.

Anyway, I got in touch with the artist and bought it. That's my hand holding it on the right. It's my reminder to always finish house chores and hide all artworks and red pens, away from da haterz. Am I making sense here? I don't know, I took various amounts of Sinutab, Bioflu, and Robitussin for 2 days now.

Keep drawing Bert, and for the love of your crying ladies in the future, please wash the dishes this time.

sacada wins gintong aklat awards for book design and literature in filipino*

—

i. first of all, this honor wouldn’t be possible without nida ramirez and the amazing people at Visprint Inc.

there would be no sacada, no lord pls, alas, dumot, and girl trouble without the visprint pasay posse, and these trophies are a celebration of our 11 year relationship together. 11 years of printing thought vomit into paper. 11 years of working with them to have people flip through angst-ridden tirades about heartbreak, office culture, existentialism, selling out, and faith

salamat

ii. in a world that feeds itself to us in continuously accelerating speeds too fast for the human brain to comprehend, these 2 heavy pieces of wood are for those who believe in committing to the printed image and letter: establishments like visprint, my friends and colleagues who helped make sacada, all its readers, other writers, designers, illustrators, and everyone else in the relentless pursuit of creative expression and greater human understanding

iii. sacada is about living with the idea of selling out. it reveals how i feel about submitting to a system that commoditises our selves, our thoughts, skills, and words because we need to pay for things that cost more than how we feel, more than what we stand for. i hope that the book’s recognition helps people realize that everything we do has value, and even though there are forces that may say otherwise, it falls on our hands to fight for our worth: the makers of the world

I asked the cab driver, to which he replied "no". Nine years in the Philippines. Filipino wife, 3 kids. I then said, "My country's in a weird mess right now."

"No, no. Is beautiful country. Beautiful people."

Interesting. I wanted to know where he was from.

"Syria. So, you see..."

I did. I apologized for bringing it up. As we passed through the Bronx side of Makati, I looked at the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of the hope in his eyes.

— everything comes with a price, especially the things we keep saying money can’t buy —

just wanted to talk about some design elements of SACADA. it’s supposed to be a catalog, so an “item” here is a phrase and it’s priced at php 28

the icons on the side add more detail about the item. the “bust” icon means the item is totally about someone the writer knows in real life. the “trident comb” means item can hurt and/or make you look good. the “pyramid eye” means god had his hand in the matter. and the icon shaped like male genitalia means that the item was the result of an activity with a copulative nature…

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