Linggo, Abril 25, 2010
stories on canvas
I want to share this beautiful story I found about a boy and his father's jeepney. The illustrations are incredible. Just click on the image below to begin reading.
Huwebes, Abril 22, 2010
something to laugh about
Someone brought imported candies and chocolates to the office this week. I got the ones I haven't tasted yet. I was so focused on what they would taste like that I didn't notice there was a joke on the wrapper--and I noticed just now that there are TWO jokes on the wrapper. Here's one of them, it's pretty funny:
Little things like this do a lot to brighten a hard day. Sometimes, it's the only thing that keeps us going. It's such a blessing when we find something to laugh about despite a tragedy. Yesterday, I watched Jimmy Kimmel's compilation of reporters struggling to pronounce the name of that volcano in Iceland.
It's a big story. We all want to talk about it, we all want everyone to know about it and yet nobody knows how to say it! I don't even want to type it. Air travel stopped; businesses lost money. I bet there's a lot of people out there who wants to curse the volcano-- only problem is they don't know how to say its name!
Sources:
Laffy Taffy, Strawberry Fresa (joke by Patrick B., San Antonio Tx)
Sabado, Abril 17, 2010
holy child of cebu
One of the places I went to during my grand summer vacation is an old church in Cebu City, the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño. There, inside, is the oldest Catholic relic in the Philippines, the Santo Niño de Cebu.
It has an interesting history. The statue was brought to the country in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan. He gave it as a gift to the Rajah and his wife when they were baptized. Magellan was killed that same year. He did not conquer the land.
44 years later, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Cebu. The natives were hostile. There was another battle and most of the villages were burned. When it was all over, they went through the debris. They were surprised to find the Catholic icon under the ashes. It was inside a pine box and it wasn't burned at all, only a bit old and worn because of its age.
They considered it a blessing and a miracle. They built a small church, made of bamboo and mangrove palm, in the place where they found it. It has since expanded and is now known as the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño. Surrounding the church and spreading through the country are stories and testaments of the miracles performed by the Holy Child to this very day.
Sources:
http://www.santoninodecebu.org/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Niño_de_Cebú
http://www.malapascua.de/
Martes, Abril 13, 2010
butterfly alphabet
I'm back!
My first find is Kjell Sandved's Butterfly Alphabet. It's an amazing collection of photos, composed of letters and numbers found on the wings of butterflies and moths.
Kjell, an author and researcher, was trying to put together a new encyclopedia about animals. He
went to the Smithsonian to buy archive photographs but instead found the silver letter, "F", on the wings of an orange Sphinx moth. The moth was in a cuban cigar box, hidden in a corner of an attic in the National Museum of Natural History. He decided to drop his animal encyclopedia project, and chose to capture all letters and numbers on moth and butterfly wings instead.
There was a problem though: “I had hardly clicked a camera before,” Kjell relates, “and knew nothing about photography.” So he studied, and it took him two years to learn still and movie photography. During this time, he and a friend created customized electronic gear from scraps found in a nearby WWII Navy Yard surplus.
In his quest to find the letters and numbers, he travelled to the forests of the Amazon, the Congo, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. He survived malaria, snakebite, leeches, numerous jungle ants and rabid dog bites. The easiest letters to find were O, C, D, I, L and M. This is because according to him, "Design elements in nature, tend to go toward symmetry." Asymmetrical letters, like B, H, K, Q, T and X required more time. His biggest challenge is the letter G. He found it on the wing of the Catagramma butterfly. It took him 24 years to complete the collection.
The discovery was featured in the then new Smithsonian magazine. They created posters and slogans for Queen Elizabeth II and Emperor Hirohito during their visits to the institution. It also boosted interest in butterfly gardening and rearing. Today, the poster is also used by some as a tool in teaching the alphabet to children.
Kjell found letters and numbers in other plants and animals as well. Here's a leaf in the shape of the letter F. He found this near a fisherman's hut in Fiji. See the others here.
He says modern man has lost his ability to appreciate the small things in nature. He's worried this is already happening to children. "They have so little access to real things because they're taken away from the land. In the cities, with only concrete and steel, it's worst." Through his butterfly alphabet, a child can learn to read and at the same time, appreciate the incredible beauty of nature.
That is something that never fails to amaze Kjell, even with his decades of experience. There is a line from Roethke printed in his posters: "All finite things reveal infinitude."
"This is one of the deepest statements I can think of that has ever been uttered in science and life," he says. "The more I learn, the more I see that I'm totally ignorant." Our brains, according to him, are like boxes, it can be hard to think outside of what we are comfortable with. So instead of trying to figure it all out, he just watches in amazement. He chases and captures all the world's wonders in his photographs.
Sources:
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20051116/Feature1.asp
http://www.butterflyalphabet.com/story/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_Alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_B._Sandved
http://www.webcitation.org/5XnAYXRQ7
My first find is Kjell Sandved's Butterfly Alphabet. It's an amazing collection of photos, composed of letters and numbers found on the wings of butterflies and moths.
Kjell, an author and researcher, was trying to put together a new encyclopedia about animals. He
went to the Smithsonian to buy archive photographs but instead found the silver letter, "F", on the wings of an orange Sphinx moth. The moth was in a cuban cigar box, hidden in a corner of an attic in the National Museum of Natural History. He decided to drop his animal encyclopedia project, and chose to capture all letters and numbers on moth and butterfly wings instead.
There was a problem though: “I had hardly clicked a camera before,” Kjell relates, “and knew nothing about photography.” So he studied, and it took him two years to learn still and movie photography. During this time, he and a friend created customized electronic gear from scraps found in a nearby WWII Navy Yard surplus.
In his quest to find the letters and numbers, he travelled to the forests of the Amazon, the Congo, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. He survived malaria, snakebite, leeches, numerous jungle ants and rabid dog bites. The easiest letters to find were O, C, D, I, L and M. This is because according to him, "Design elements in nature, tend to go toward symmetry." Asymmetrical letters, like B, H, K, Q, T and X required more time. His biggest challenge is the letter G. He found it on the wing of the Catagramma butterfly. It took him 24 years to complete the collection.
The discovery was featured in the then new Smithsonian magazine. They created posters and slogans for Queen Elizabeth II and Emperor Hirohito during their visits to the institution. It also boosted interest in butterfly gardening and rearing. Today, the poster is also used by some as a tool in teaching the alphabet to children.
Kjell found letters and numbers in other plants and animals as well. Here's a leaf in the shape of the letter F. He found this near a fisherman's hut in Fiji. See the others here.
He says modern man has lost his ability to appreciate the small things in nature. He's worried this is already happening to children. "They have so little access to real things because they're taken away from the land. In the cities, with only concrete and steel, it's worst." Through his butterfly alphabet, a child can learn to read and at the same time, appreciate the incredible beauty of nature.
That is something that never fails to amaze Kjell, even with his decades of experience. There is a line from Roethke printed in his posters: "All finite things reveal infinitude."
"This is one of the deepest statements I can think of that has ever been uttered in science and life," he says. "The more I learn, the more I see that I'm totally ignorant." Our brains, according to him, are like boxes, it can be hard to think outside of what we are comfortable with. So instead of trying to figure it all out, he just watches in amazement. He chases and captures all the world's wonders in his photographs.
Sources:
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20051116/Feature1.asp
http://www.butterflyalphabet.com/story/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_Alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjell_B._Sandved
http://www.webcitation.org/5XnAYXRQ7
Sabado, Abril 3, 2010
gone for a while
Out on a vacation, will bring back all the presents I find. See you after two weeks!
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