Eh
Rick Manzano usually does fine work over at Project Manila, but there was something that ticked me off in his last post:Last February, I received an email from someone in the US telling me how fascinated he was with the art galleries that I go to in Cubao X. Apparently, this Filam lived here before. Too bad, he’s only seen the “tourist spots” though. I think these are the worst places you can ever take tourists. (Think Luneta Park. LOL)
First, it's a pretty good spot to take tourists. Forget the Rizal monument for a moment; Luneta has a beautiful rainforest-like orchid garden that too few people know about (along with Japanese and Chinese gardens elsewhere in the park), calesa rides, art-deco architecture in the vicinity, and the single prettiest thing Manila has to offer.
(I haven't even mentioned my absolute favorite part of the park, Children's Playground!)
Second, what was up with the "LOL" at the end of the post? What is so laughable about the idea about going to Luneta? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but was it the prayer rallies at the Quirino grandstand? Or the old joke about maids and drivers going out on "day-off dates" in Luneta? Or the general un-hipness of the place?
I probably should take all this with a grain of salt, and this was probably just a throwaway comment, but yeah, it kind of bothered me. Not least because it's just waay to easy to be a hipster douchebag these days.
Labels: blogs
4/02/2009 9:16 PM -- 
Rick says:
I apologize if I offended you with my last blog entry. I should been more sensitive.
When Johnny and I were exchanging emails, he expressed that there was nothing really interesting to see here until he saw photos of different underground events through Project Manila. Cubao X made him want to go and check out the other side of the Metro. He was looking for something new, something fresh and unique. He was drawn to the thriving underground art scene that Cubao X represented. Because of that, he's also thinking of staying here for good, maybe in 2 of 3 years.
When I mentioned Luneta Park, ang naisip ko nun, yung monument. Yung pagdala ko ng mga tourists dun and actually narrating them what happened with our forefathers.
Forgive me for saying this but I honestly find that boring. And again, forgive me, pero na-bore ako sa history classes ko. Hindi ko alam kung sino ang dapat sisihin doon, kung teachers ko or ako mismo. Kaya siguro hindi ako masyadong makarelate sa mga bagay na connected sa history natin.
And that's why ang mga posts ko sa Project Manila, puro mga bagong lugar. Yung only old place na deliberately dinayo ko is FEU. And I enjoyed that walking tour with Ivan Mandy a lot. I probably should attend those of kinds of tours more often para mas maintindihan ko yung mga hindi ko na-grasp sa history classes ko.
Again, I sincerely apologize. That was just me thinking aloud.
I probably should edit that post na rin.
Rick
4/03/2009 9:33 AM -- 
jaemark says:
hey rick!
i wasn't offended, i was annoyed by the throwaway comment. i understand that the cubao x scene is "artsy without being fancy" but why pick on luneta at all?
what i was saying is, even luneta has its charms, and it might take a while to find it because of all the cliches, but hey... you run a blog called Project Manila!
no need for the profuse apologies, especially, as the anonymous commenter pointed out, this was just me thinking too much.
