Tuesday, February 26, 2013

12. Look What I Found III: ME, IN A MAGNOLIA AD


MY FULL PAGE WORTH OF FAME.  The original print ad for Magnolia Dairy Bar with me as the milk-shake drinking model.

Now here's a real blast from my secret past. Once upon a time, I had my 30 seconds of fame as a commercial model. Unthinkable, you say? Well, I have a tear sheet of a full page, full color print ad for Magnolia Ice Cream House to prove it. Remember that famous dairy bar along Aurora Boulevard that served all those yummy frozen specialties? Whether you believe it or not, I was once their flavor of the month!

This must have been around 1979 or 1980. I remember being handpicked by the Director, Manuel “Jun” Urbano Jr. (known to this generation as Mr. Shoo-Li) for this one minute slice-of-life commercial, showing people of all ages, enjoying a Magnolia frozen treat. Featured in vignettes were a pair of young lovers (Raymond Lauchengco got that one), a family of 4, a Mother Superior and her brood of nuns (Gigi Virata was one of them). A group of executives, a school barkada ( With That's Entertainment member, Joel Alano+) and a bespectacled nerd (guess who?).

 I recall shooting the commercial in one extra long day. My instructions were for me to act like I was so absorbed with a book, that upon leaning to drink my milk shake, my chin gets bumped by the straw. Then I had to do furtive glances left and right to see if someone had seen my awkward moment. True enough, a colegiala seated nearby does, and I bury myself between the pages of the book. It sounded so easy, but by the end of take 5, you feel mechanical and rattled, and most of all, confused.

 In any case, I made it to the final edit of the commercial, as well as the print ad version that you see here. Not only that, in less than a month, I was again shooting a Magnolia Chocolait TV commercial with nerdy me sandwiched between 2 chocolate-sipping lovelies, who have taken refuge under my umbrella in the rain. Who cares if I was typecasted? I was, officially, a commercial model!

Now let me show you my print ad for that famous soap brand, if only I can find it…

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

11. I AM CERTIFED ebay JUNKIE

So here I am checking my ebay profile:
Member since 20 April 1999. 227 transactions. An impeccable 100% Positive feedback. No negatives. Not even neutral comments. With a record 8 purchases in the last month alone. Ebay must be proud. I don’t know if my mother feels the same. All these brown-wrapped packages and Fedex boxes arriving in the mail bode ill for my already crowded SSS box house. Another object of affection means another shelf to make, another space to fill. And they just keep coming: old photos, religious paintings, vintage figurines, armless saints, rusty lunchboxes, Carmen Miranda coloring books and collectible Coke bottles.

 But I can’t help myself. There is an ebay itch I have to scratch. Why, a few years ago, when I and my friends bidded on an Amorsolo painting on ebay sold from Austria, the feverish bidding even made it to the local paper (the exciting account was written by Jose ‘Butch’ Dalisay ), with me losing the painting to a Filipino doctor based abroad. See, my rabid ebaying makes good copy.

 True, bidding and buying online is not only addicting, it can be hazardous to one’s resources and reason. I have bought lemons and fake antiques, received damaged goods and have items lost forever in the mail. But after nine years of ebaying, I can say that I had more good times than bad. I have managed to amass quite a few rare finds on ebay, acquired at reasonable—and sometimes, ridiculously low prices, lending credence to every basurero’s belief that trash does indeed, yield treasure.

 Let me present my Favorite Top 5 ebay finds:

 I have a tie for 5th place, 2 examples of Eastern and Western art...

5.  FILIPINIANA TIPOS Y COSTUMBRES DEL PAIS FIGURES


These are well-made and highly detailed escayola (plaster of paris) figurines that showed typical costumes of common Filipinos in the early 1900s. The pair—depicting Filipina vendors-- was sold by a friendly American ebayer and which I won after a heated bidding against another Philippine-based buyer (who I found out later, was my own antique dealer-friend!). They are actually cheaper commercial versions of woodcarved and polychromed figures that were in vogue at this time, carved by artists like Graciano Nepomuceno. These figurines were marked at the bottom with “I. Beck”, a leading emporium near Escolta, Manila originally established by Jewish businessman Isaac Beck in 1898 as American Bazaar. I paid $130 for this pair. The seller offered--for an additional 20$--a 3rd figure which she said was moderately damaged. I still whack my head every now and then for not taking up her offer.

 5. CALVARIO TRAGANT ART IN A GLASS DOME


This wonderful 19th c. Calvario tableau, encased in a fragile glass dome, survived its trip from Belgium (where the seller was based) to the Philippines—although the cross fell off and had to be re-glued. The whole ensemble is made of “tragant”, a stabilization/bonding agent used by pharmacists of old. When mixed with water, sugar and sometimes, eggs, it forms a kneadable dough that can be shaped into various figures on flat molds—much like a cookie. It hardens, becomes less porous and can thus be painted. Tragant art was a favorite past time of monasteries in Europe in the 19th century. And this treasure became mine for only $45!
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 4. MOUNTAIN MAID, C.V. LOPEZ PAINTING


The ebay seller of this fine ethnic painting was a gallery in California. I was fascinated not only by the fact that this piece was painted by the noted Mabini painter Crispin Villafuerte Lopez (1903-1985), but the subject looked so much like my sister who grew up in Baguio! Anyway, back to the artist. C.V. Lopez was a well-known portraitist who won 1st prize for a Rizal portrait in a painting competition to celebrate the hero’s birthday centenary. But, he also painted mandatory landscapes and genre scenes. His paintings locally command a starting price of Php60,000, but I got this framed piece for only $60++ (roughly PhP 3,000) dollars, shipped all the way to the Philippines!
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 3. BLANCO “FLORA DE FILIPINAS” PRINTS


Spanish Fr. Manuel Blanco O.S.A, was sent to the Philippines and served as cura parocco in several parishes. He also became a Rector provincial and Prior of Guadalupe, where he died in 1845. He documented his life works on Philippine flowers and plants in his book, Flora de Filipinas, the 3rd edition of which contained colored illustrated plates of local flowering plants, now highly prized by collectors. The ebay seller was a gallery in Sta. Ana, California. I won one colored plate earlier for 45$. Two years or so later, I contacted him again with the intention of acquiring more prints, but his prices have since doubled. But $90 is still a reasonable amount to pay for a handsome Blanco print which commands 5-digit prices in the Philippines.—if you can find one.
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 Again, it's a tie for 2nd place:

2. SAN FRANCISCO DE PAOLA, MEXICAN COLONIAL PAINTING


This painting on a canvass of San Francisco de Paola, the Italian beggar- friar saint and founder of the Minim Order, came from a Mexican seller. It was dirty, damaged and was without it stretcher. However, it still retained its vibrant colors despite its age and a glaring tear on the canvass. It was also dated at the back (1876). I won this fine piece for under $100, and had it shipped to the U.S. for safekeeping. When it arrived in the Philippines, it was expertly restored by a local painter and reframed in an appropriate Italian gilt frame. It is one of my most favorite pieces, showing the saint in his austere habit and a sunburst bearing the word "Caritas" (charity), a virtue he was well-known for.

 2. ECCE HOMO PASTEL PAINTING


Now here's a large painting found by an American ebay seller from a Philadelphia estate sale. The seller put this up with a "Buy It Now" option for $200 as she was rushing to raise funds for her daughter's wedding. The highly detailed pastel work depicting the tortured Christ, crowned and holding a reed scepter, came in its original carved gold-painted frame and its original 'bubbly' glass. Due to the size (it was over 2 x 2 square), I had it shipped to the U.S. with the intention of carting it home when I get there for my regular vacations. But it was just too big to handle, so it was crated and shipped to the Philippines where it arrived safe and sound after another month of waiting.
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 And my best, most valuable and prized ebay find...

1. INMACULADA CONCEPCION RELICARIO PAINTING


This oval centerpiece is circumscribed by several layers of pearls and a number of relics (Getsemani, Diego del Alcala, Calvario) , and further surrounded by wired beads, sequins, fabric flowers and gold embroidery. Doves made from balsa wood and cut-out Victorian Angels mounted on springs make unusual accents as they move when the shadow box is shaken.


This item—found in Bulacan and which I now had reframed-- came away with no bids and I purchased it from the dealer after, for the tidy sum of P3,000. I have since been offered Php140,000 for this treasure, but I am not budging. And what have you found on ebay lately? (22 June 2008)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

10. REMEMBERING ERIC


I am writing this ahead of a sad eventuality that will happen sooner or later to our family. You see, my younger brother, Eric, is dying of cancer. Diagnosed to have terminal stage liver cancer in January, Eric has been brought home to spend his final days with us and his family.

It’s an agonizing wait for us, but more so for him—I can’t even bear to imagine the physical as well as the mental pain that he will have to face and endure in the uncertain days ahead. Yet, armed with prayer books and novenas to St. Peregrine and surrounded by a loving wife and kids, he continues to fight for survival.


When one thinks about it, the moment Eric was born, he was already fighting to survive. He was a blue baby, and I remember him sleeping under a warm light to incubate his premature body. I have very few memories of him as a boy, 9 years separated us, so we barely bonded. There is one memorable picture of young Eric and me though, showing him sticking out his tongue in jest as I fight to restrain him from running from my clutch as we walked along a Baguio road.

Eric, the best looking in our brood, pretty much kept a low profile as a kid, often deferring to our youngest smart-ass, more gregarious brother, Froilan, whom he preceded. He asserted his individuality by becoming a non-conformist, often making choices that left us shaking our heads. While most of us chose regular careers, Eric fought family convention by joining the military. When we voted Laban, he voted KBL. When we stuck to our Catholic faith, he joined the Mormons. I now know that his random acts of alienation served to draw attention to his need to be fully accepted and to belong.

Even then, Eric naturally had a soft spot. In our dialect, we describe him as “mapanatindi”--one who was always sensitive to other people’s feelings . In the hospital where he was briefly confined, Eric would subtly suggest to his koya who had come to visit him, to go home instead as he might have other chores to do. When it was my turn to sleep over in the cold, unfriendly hospital room, Eric would often remind his wife to “keep the lights closed so as not to waken Kong Alex”. He was forever saying “pasensya na ka”; in fact, when first told about his illness, the first thing he said to me was “sorry, ha?”-- as if he had let us down again.

I just wished now that he cared more for himself. What started as social drinking became binges, that became a vice, then an addiction, and now this fatal disease. My mother prevailed on him to take a regular job, which he did, becoming an employee of Casino Filipino. I took him in my Makati apartment, even drove him to work, but he couldn’t hold a job. I had him detoxified once, but he kept on relapsing, until annoyance took the better of me. So we pretty much left him alone with stern warnings that never seemed to work. He was a time bomb waiting to explode, that, at the back of my mind, I knew. But even that knowledge doesn’t quite prepare you when the blast hits. Who would think that 41 years after his initial fight for survival, Eric would again be engaged in his biggest battle yet?


In the face of a fatal illness, you automatically look for some semblance of sense, and when there is none, you look for something good. And yes, inconceivable as it may sound, I have seen some good brought about by his sickness. Put to test by pain almost every day, I have seen Eric’s courageous spirit rise triumphant. In long waits at the hospital lounge, I have seen his patience and resilience grow. Every day, I feel the deepening of his love for his family, alongside his faith. I have also seen how our family has come together as one, rallying around Eric, reassuring him with our presence, inspiring him to fight on, with all the heartaches of the past forgotten. It is just sad that the only time you begin realizing the fullness of a person’s worth is when he starts slipping away from you.


So now we spend Saturday early evening weekends with Eric, right after mass. We spend more time talking, chitchatting, taking videos and pictures. It’s like playing catch-up, but I know time is running out. Putting on a brave face has become very difficult these past days, especially when you see him doubled up in relentless pain.

But for now, Eric is holding on. There is still a fighter left in him, with his renewed faith carrying him through the day. First thing I did when his grave illness was confirmed was to contact a priest friend to give him an anointment of the sick. I also gave him a novena to St. Peregrine, to which he now prays for healing regularly. And, in my last visit, he told me he has been avoiding fried fatty foods and all those bad stuff. Every day that he survives, we give thanks. Every rare moment he is without pain, we rejoice. Maybe that’s the miracle we’ve been waiting for. (18 April 2007)

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UPDATE: Christopher Eric R. Castro passed away on 23 April, 2007 at age 41 years, 6 months. He leaves behind a loving wife, Cynthia and three lovely daughters, Trisha (16), Hershey (14) and Tracy (4). Mama Ester and his 7 remaining siblings will miss him.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

9. Look What I Found II: A SEQUEL TO A BESTSELLER


I finally found my sequel to my previous bestseller. It’s another “book” that I wrote—but with a vast improvement—it had illustrations done by my sister, Susan—an artist prodigy at the age of 7, or so I thought.


This “Saints for Everyone”, obviously stemmed from my early interest in santos. The title is a total misnomer as all the saints featured were females. Maybe I was reserving a future edition for male saints, but I can’t recall that now—this was 38 years ago, remember?


But I do know I used my father’s Daily Missal as a reference to the lives of saints listed on the table of contents. The missal had this Calendar of Saints, that had short, biographical sketches of saints. Of course, I went for the lesser known ones—like St. Symphorosa, St. Frances of Rome—but I also chose those who died gory, dramatic deaths like Sts. Joan, Ursula and Maria Goretti.

 See how improved it is? This one is hard-bound, using a leftover Christmas gift wrapper to wrap the cardboard covers. And, each chapter was typed using our Brothers manual typewriter. The spacing, pagination and margins were perfect!


Of course, the illustrations are, well, err..hmm, a bit of a problem. On second thought, if truth be told, the illustrations are awful, horrific and ugly. They look every bit the effort of a 7 year old. But come to think of it, my sister was 7 years old.


I now conclude that our literary collaboration didn’t’ work out very well. A case of artistic differences, definitely. A clash of talents. And that’s how my second book became…a coloring book!