Goodnight, Angel

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

- Mary Elizabeth Frye

Farrah Fawcett
February 2, 1947 - June 25, 2009

Total Mudness!

Jomi secured a position with the other photographers while I mingled with the audience. The excitement was palpable. We had a preview of their mud painted bodies while we were waiting for the show to start, and was now anticipating how they will showcase their living art.

It was a great show, a lot of brilliant body art coupled with exceptional performances - the most amazing for me was the performance of contestant #3, he resonated with quiet strength, grace and majesty. It reminded me a lot of Kabuki, it wasn't anymore a parade but theatre.

My choices for amazing art: contestants number 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, and 25. Noteworthy performances: 1, 3, 4, 12, 25

One of the contestant was holding a staff/prop on fire, and while he was doing his parade/dance one of his shin guards caught on fire. Admirably he tried to keep on dancing while trying to put it out, unfortunately his accessory was made to be kindle and he had to run off the stage to put it out.

There was a total of 31 contestants and they were cut down to 18. The top 18 were: 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 30.

Then whittled down to 8: 2, 4, 7, 8, 19, 23, 25, 26 and 30.

WINNERS:
3rd place - #25 (Prize Php 3,000.00)
2nd place - #4 (Prize Php 4,000.00)
1st place - #2 (Prize Php 6,000.00)

Contestant #25's body paint looked like the pattern of a white tiger, his performance was a real hit - very consistent movements, playful and always in character even while waiting for the judges' decision. The audience loved him! The colors used on him was full white as base with black and gray mud for the patterns.

Contestant #4's body paint looked a lot like the human musculature, it was very very detailed. His head piece and arm guards completed the warrior look, the very long and spiny goatee accessory complemented the look well. His performance was very strong, a lot of stretching and flexing, and he also ran head on into the crowd and did a sudden stop. He exuded strength, confidence and the readiness for war. The colors used on him was reddish brown, black and white.

Contestant #2's body paint was very intricate, on the lower portion were vines climbing up his legs reaching for the sun painted on his chest and back. On his arms were a combination of different patterns - flame-like, swirls, web-like, rock-like textures, etc. His headpiece had feathers and leaves surrounding the Earth. This very much echoes the heart of the festival - Mother Earth... Sanctuary of Life.

All the performers together.

More picture on Jomi's Flicker Photostream

2009 Mudpack Festival
Mambukal Resort
June 20-21
Mother Earth... Sanctuary of Life

Looking forward to next year's festival!

You are loved, Michael

Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, he elevated it to a whole new level and gave of himself and his talents without any reservations. Whatever stories came out never mattered; we knew what was true and important -- it was his music, his soul... You are loved and remembered.

Rest In Peace
Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

Mud Koreans

There are a lot of things I like about Koreans, Jun Ji-hyun, movies, soaps, kimchi, Jun Ji-hyun, and their very game attitude. Once they set out to party and enjoy, oh boy, do they party and enjoy :)

2009 Mudpack Festival
Mambukal Resort
June 20-21
Mother Earth... Sanctuary of Life

Mud Slide

We were so looking forward to attending this year's Mudpack Festival, Jomi was already dreaming of all the great subjects he can photograph, and I was thinking how nice it was to just be outdoors surrounded by nature, feeling the sun and breathing the mountain air.

It wasn't a long drive up to Mambukal, took us less than an hour, and the roads were in pretty good conditions. There was the occasional traffic and drying rice grains on the side, but most of the time it was just us on the road.

We paid P75.00 for entrance and parking - that's P30.00 per head and P15.00 for the car - pretty affordable. We drove in and headed to the area marked as campgrounds and of course the first thing we did was scout for the restrooms, which were under construction. But was still useable if you did not mind being viewable, if someone took it into their head to climb a tree, as part of the roof was missing.

Near the restrooms were the wall climbing area and the food court, I did not explore the offerings there as we did BYOB - bring your own baon :) Further up would be the Ishiwata campgrounds, we'll later see that this was teeming with tents and busloads of festival-goers. If you were wondering, you can't see into the restrooms if you climb the wall, pervert.

We headed for the area where the competition for body painting would be held, it was partially covered and the atmosphere was anticipatory, people were already securing seats and staking out spots for better viewing. We still had a couple hours before the start of the competition set at 2PM, so we had time to look around, take photos of the preparations and just hang out with the other visitors.

There was the usual souvenirs of tribal-inspired accessories, henna tattoo artists, e-loading stations, and food stuffs. It was really festive, people were already getting drunk, cooking and eating al fresco, swimming at the hot springs, having some of their body-parts painted with colored mud, and walking around while the mud dried and flaked off. We even saw some Korean visitors having their whole bodies covered with it.

We met a few people, even an old classmate from college. People were really willing to pose for the camera, it was great!

Scouting some of the contest participants getting ready, Jomi took pictures while I noted how taxing it was for both the artist and the model to work with this medium. The mud came in different colors - bright red, ocher, brown, gray, white, black, dark and gray blue, and even green. Some of the artists' made their own colors by grinding materials available on the mountain and mixing it with the mud. This was the most important condition of the contest, only mud that came from Mambukal is allowed and no artificial paint should be used.

The participants were gathering near the contest proper, they were directed to go under a tent set up for them so the mud paint doesn't dry up, it was time...

2009 Mudpack Festival
Mambukal Resort
June 20-21
Mother Earth... Sanctuary of Life

Hello World!

Sharing a blog with my hubby, and we'll probably collaborate on some future posts - he's providing the photos while I'll try writing :P So again, hello world!