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Last May I signed up for Google's webmaster program. It's basically a site wherein website and blog owners can use to track what articles are getting the most number of searches. Up to now I am still amazed how the statistics of my blog entries have changed, for a time (a very long time) it was Exile on Main Street. But now it has changed again, so click on to see what are the Top 10 most searched articles on Manila Traveler.
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I find it ironic that in nearly 12 months I have yet to post or write about the multitude of restaurants in Kapitolyo. The irony is I just live five minutes away from Pasig's food capital. Last Tuesday I met up with Tricia's friends at Epic and had dinner in Locavore.
The Oscars season is here! The nominees have been announced and my interest in the movies that were nominated have been piqued. So given that there was a long weekend last week, I took the time to settle down and watch films that have garnered praise in the prestigious world of Hollywood films.
It's that part of the year where I start my tradition of looking for two to three new graphic novels to add to my growing collection. When I started working, I decided that my library wouldn't just be plain old books, but it would have a little character in it, a little of my nerdy and geeky side if you will. So I started out with simple graphic novels: the quintessential Batman (Killing Joke, Long Halloween and etc...), a little bit of Marvel, and mostly DC. When I had found the standards of Marvel/DC graphic novels, I decided to go indie, meaning those not published by the big comic book houses. Last year, I got my start on Guy De Lisle's "Pyongyang" (which was very cute, check it here); Marjane Satrapi's moving tale of life in Iran, "Persepolis" and; Y: The Last Man volume 1. The latter of course wasn't as moving as the other two since it wasn't the complete set of the series Y. Nevertheless I enjoyed it and it gave me something else to read. This year, I decided to check out the list of 2014's best graphic novel, and I stumbled upon Max Brooks' "The Harlem Hellfighters". For a while I tried to look for a copy of it in our book stores but they never seemed to carry it. Eventually I gave up and made use of Amazon, while browsing I saw another interesting graphic novel, Shigeru Mizuki's "Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan" which I undoubtedly ended up buying the two.
By now Facebook and the whole spectrum of social media is alive and abuzz with the Pope Francis effect. The phenomena is inescapable with literally hundreds of pictures and videos (or vines) of the papal entourage passing by, the days on end news coverage of the papal visit with every obscure thing dissected and scrutinized. This phenomena is really something and for someone who hasn’t been that religious of late, it has become a point of reflection.
If there is one place that I rarely visit or go to it would really have to be the north. For quite some time most of my travels have often been situated down south. This is of course understandable since Tricia is from the south, my dad's province is in Batangas, and he used to work there as well. So it was but natural that most of our family's vacations would be in that area. But when I visited Sagada back in 2013, and then Baguio in the same year as well, the trips were an education into the northern provinces. In Sagada I was amazed by the hanging coffins and astounded by the way my body (despite all the weight) flexed and contorted as I did the cave connection. After having not been in Baguio for a decade, it was nice to go back and see what has changed. At the same time revisit places and visit new ones as well.
Tricia and I have started our first adventure of 2015 with a quick lunch at Ramen Daisho. Another ramen restaurant along Shaw Boulevard to see what all the fuss all about.
Sand, I see it every day and when I was younger built amazing things with it. Like an amazing sunken hole that I believed could have reached the center of the earth, or a magnificent fort with plastic cups to protect the walls from being swept away by the water. As I got older, I still found joy in the sand with its rough and soft feeling between my toes and my feet. The feeling of running and playing it never got old.
A few days ago, me, Tricia and her family, decided to pack up our bags and head up north to visit the province of Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. Our first stop was the oft-photographed and recently acclaimed Vigan City. A Spanish city akin to Intramuros with all its colonial splendor and grandeur.
Bazaars are absolutely fun! This year alone I have been to many and thanks to these places, the knick-knacks in my room have expanded and the trinkets on my bookshelf have grown. Through bazaars I have met a lot of great people (Poala Esteron of Crafty Kitty and Ebony Paguia of Hands Love Papers, Lorenzo Gabutina and the people of Bicspokes) and have also reconnected with some (Migz Valdez of Artsy Kit). This time around my last bazaar visit would be the pop-up bazaar of Craft MNL in Estancia Mall in Pasig City.
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AuthorMy name is Alfonso your nerdy history teacher, bookworm and lover of all things cultural and exciting. You can find me in a weekend market, in a bookshop, or eating in Japanese restos during the weekends. Archives
September 2015
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