Congratulations to my old friends from Crazy Go Nuts University, Ashley Bristowe and Chris “Turner” Turner, on the birth of a healthy 8-pound 9-ounce girl!
It’s a Girl!
- Post author By Joey deVilla
- Post date March 19, 2005
- No Comments on It’s a Girl!
Categories
Out There
While surfing around, I found some interesting material I thought you folks might enjoy:
- How Lisa Came to Israel, Part 6:
Back in January, I pointed you to Lisa’s blog, which had the first five
installments of the story of how she ended up moving from Canada to
Israel. She’s been busy, but at last Part 6 has been posted! In case
you missed them, she’s posted links to earlier installments.
- Someone beat Vanilla Ice to that rhyming couplet! Deenster
writes about a song she learned
at the Hasidic day camp she went towhen she was very young:
All the animals that we eat
must chew their cud and have split feet
but kosher meat just can’t be beat
i want kosher meat to eat!
So…Take your ham and take your bacon
i won’t eat themyou’re mistaken
I’m a Jew and I’m not fakin’
I want Kosher meat to eat!
The
“bacon / fakin'” rhyme sounded familiar, and moments later, it dawned
on me: years (probably decades) after the song above was written, we
got Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby:
Now that the party is jumping
With the bass kicked in and the vegas are pumpin’
Quick to the point to the point no faking
I’m cooking MC’s like a pound of bacon
In honour of these songs, here’s a little stanza I wrote called “Asian Dietary Rules”:
If it’s got four legs and isn’t the table
Cook it and eat as long as you’re ableThat also reminds me of Dizzy Gillespie’s Hey Pete, Let’s Eat More Meat [Windows Media sample | RealAudio sample].
- Liz “mamamusings” Lawley’s Video Game Store Lament. After a
terrible experience getting a PlayStation 2 for her son at the local
video game store, Liz came up with an interesting idea:
Sometimes I think that what I ought to do is open up the ultimate gaming spot geared towards parents
as well as their kids. There’s not much out there that targets tweens,
really. The hands-on museums are for the younger set. The game stores
and arcades are more for the teenagers (and the parents hate being
there). So why not create a place that tweens will love, and that their
parents won’t mind taking them?
One
of the projects we’re working on here at the Research and Innovation
department of Tucows is games, so this sort of this is interesting and
relevant to my work. I’ll write more about it in the upcoming weeks.
- Somebody actually tried it! Julie Leung read my posting about deep-fried Oreos and actually made them. (Yeah, it’s a post from a while back, but I’ve meaning meaning to point to it for so long.)
Categories
USB Chinese and Japanese Food
[Cross-posted to The Farm]
Data storage never looked so yummy: this place sells
siu mai and
tempura USB drives…
Dim Sum RAM! Click the photo to see the web page
where you can order this.
Tempura-licious! Click the photo to see the web
page where you can order this.
…and this place will
take care of all your USB sushi needs:
Put me down for two salmon and two broiled eel!
Click the photo to see the web page where you can order
this.
For my wedding, I considered going with the basic “monkey suit”
option…for approximately twenty seconds. I thought I’d go with
something that was both traditional and unusual (at least in this
corner of the world) and wear the traiditonal Filipino formal wear, a Barong Tagalog, which is often shortened to “barong”. When I told Dad that I wanted
to wear one, he suggested that the men in the wedding party wear
barongs also. September 24th just became Barongapalooza!
Family photo taken in Manila in April 2000 before my
cousin Rowena’s wedding. From left to right: My brother-in-law Richard,
Yours Truly, my sister Eileen, Mom, and in the centre, Dad.
Originally called the “baro ng Tagalog” — “dress of the Tagalog” —
and condensed to just two words, the Barong Tagalog is considered to be
just as formal as a suit or even black tie, but is considerably more
comfortable, especially in a hot and humid climate.
Ray Charles would’ve looked good in a barong.
A barong is an embroidered shirt made of a sheer material called pina, which is woven from fibers extracted from pineapple leaves. Some barongs are made of pina blended with jusi
(Chinese silk). Barongs are cut larger than your typical dress shirt
and are worn untucked, over the pants. I’m surprised hip-hop artists
haven’t caught onto them yet.
Me, my sister Eileen and brother-in-law Richard.
The barong is co-opted fashion. The Spanish colonials who took over the
Philippines 400 years ago demanded that the natives wear the precursor
to the modern barong. Its sheerness made it impossible to hide weapons
(knife-fighting is a Filipino martial art), its lack of pockets made
thievery impossible, and wearing it untucked separated the natives from
the Spaniards, who were the only people allowed to wear their shirts
tucked in.
Playing the wedding march at my friends Thaba and Phet’s
wedding, September 2000. “Hey fellas! What’s cooler than being cool!
Barong Tagalog and accordion — ICE COLD!“
Even under colonization, some natives prospered. While still required to
wear the barong to mark themselves as inferior to the Spanish colonials, they began adding designs and embroidery to
the barong. A modern equivalent to this sort of co-opting can be seen
in today’s baggy and oversized hip-hop clothing worn by rap artists:
the look is derived from ill-fitting prison clothes.
We “Flips” be tha
original bad-asses, yo.
My main rival in the quest for the title of “Biggest clown in the deVilla clan”: my cousin Freddie.
It would not be until the 20th century that the Barong Tagalog would
gain prestige. That was when president Manuel Quezon declared it “The
National Dress”. It would take a few more decades and presidents for the barong to
rise in stature, as the strong American influence in the Philippines
made the suit — particularly the sharkskin suit the preferred dress outfit. (Dad was married in
one; he looked so “Goodfellas”!) President Magsaysay would later elevate it to formalwear.
However, it was President Ferdinand Marcos who would really popularize
it; first by enlisting the help of Pierre Cardin to modernize it, then
by requiring government employees to wear barongs and finally, by
declaring an offical “Barong Tagalog Week” in 1975.
Aunts, uncles and parents. From left to right: (Rear) my
aunt Beth deVilla, Mom, uncle Ravenal “Baby” Santos. (Front) Dad, aunt
Thelma Leelin, uncle Fred Leelin.
The barong also went less formal. A short-sleeved variant appeared in
the 70s and can be considered business attire. In the 1990s, an even
more casual cotton version would start appearing in surf and skateboard
shops and later in my own wardrobe.
My brother-in-law Richard demonstrates the upside of
globalization: when else in history could a Korean guy from Canada
enjoy an icy Tiazzo at the Starbucks in Forbes Park, Manila while
wearing a barong?
Like the tuxedo, some designers have gone wild and made the barong in
all sorts of colours, but the classic barong simply uses the natural
colour of the pina or jusi fibres, ranging from off-white to ecru. It’s traditionally worn over the traditional undershirt, the camisa de chino, but often a thin white t-shirt will do. Button it up all the way to the top, add black dress pants (remember to not tuck the barong in) and dress shoes, and you’re stylin’ and ready to go!
Manny and I did the readings at Rowena’s wedding.
The invitees from the deVilla side were surprised to hear that the male
members of the wedding party and I would be wearing barongs. The
assumption is that in North America, even a Filipino groom would typically
wear a suit. Howver, since this wedding is going to be an unusual blend
of Jewish and Filipino customs, why not go all out? Upon hearing that I
was going to wear a barong, many of my relatives announced that they
too would wear them. Combined with yarmulkes, we’ll be creating a whole
new look in formalwear.
(If the barong-and-yarmulke fashion catches on, remember: you read it here first!)
If you’re attending the wedding and looking for something a little
different to wear, a barong is an acceptable option. Apparently you can
even order one online — MyBarong.com
does same-day shipping to anywhere in the continental U.S.. I have no
idea of the quality of their goods, but if you’re really interested in
getting a barong, contact me and I’ll see about getting one made in the
Philippines for you.
And now, a very special notice for the best man, George Tudor Scriban: Get off your tuchus, stop being such a yutz and get me those measurements already!
Some Barong Reading:
- The Barong Tagalog: A Timeless Filipino Tradition
- MyBarong.com: What’s a Barong? / History of the Barong Tagalog
- Utrecht Faculty of Education (huh?): Barong Tagalog
- An online catalog of barongs
- Barongs and other Filipino traditional clothing
- For the student on a deadline: buy a term paper on the barong!
- Bipartisan clothing: both Bush and Clinton have worn barongs when visiting the Philippines.
I’m always happy to give shout-outs to family, and that’s what this entry’s all about!
First: a plug for Mixology,
the band in which my future brother-in-law Andy plays bass. They’re a
pretty tight bar band playing good ol’ rock and roll with a bluesy feel
who play the area between Boston and Providence “or wherever else they
have beer”. They’ve got a demo MP3 file (10 MB) online if you want to hear what they sound like.
Just two Filipinos, havin’ a beer.
They’ve got a gig this Saturday at Cher’s in North Providence, Rhode Island (86 Waterman Avenue). I’d catch the show, but I live 800 kilometres due west.
Andy plays a bazillion instruments, many of which are stringed, and
many of those aren’t your run-of-the-mill instruments here in North
America. He’s an accomplished balalaika player and he’s even performed
at Carnegie Hall!
Here’s Andy on balalaika, going with an unshaven, edgy look. (Taken from Mixology’s website)
On the other coast is Cookie, who’s married to my cousin Tina. I
thought I’d be the first person in my extended family to perform at his
own wedding reception, but after looking through some old photos, I was
reminded that Cookie beat the skins at his reception back in late
2000.
(Wendy’s parents very kindly set a condition on the band playing at our
wedding: they are required to let me join them on accordion any time I
want. I’ll probably do a number or two, and I’m seriously thinking of
doing my rocked-out version of Who Stole the Kishka?)
Cookie and Tina, December 2000.
My cousin Ivan — one of Tina’s brothers —
came up for a visit last week. He told me that Cookie reads this blog
daily and keeps the rest of my kin in the Bay Area apprised of my
activities. Hey Cookie — glad to have you as a reader, and hopefully, I’ll see you in September!
My friend and fellow former regular at Tequila Bookworm Scott Watkins invited me to be the opening act for the first installment of Peril from Beyond Space,
a four-part play that spoofs those old 50’s black and white sci-fi
serials. I used to occasionally provide the music for his improv shows
when he was with Theatresports and miss performing with comedians, so I
accepted his invitation.
My musical/stand-up act is simply a more staged version of my street
musician schtick. The story behind the accordion and the busking act is
here; as for the stand-up, I got into it on a whim while living in San
Francisco. At the time, I was working as OpenCola’s developer
releations guy and shared a small but incredibly cool office with Cory
Doctorow. You could’ve counted the people I knew in town on both hands,
so when I saw a poster for an open mic comedy night at Brain Wash,
the cafe/laundromat across the street from the office, I saw an
opportunity to both meet new people and try something new. My act went
over quite well, and the event’s host, Tony Sparks
(a wonderful guy who gives the best introductions for the newbies),
invited me to do some other gigs at comedy clubs in the city.
I’ve done a little local stand-up — by accident. While hanging out at the bar at the Bovine Sex Club
with the accordion strapped to my back, a guy by the name of Bert
approached me and said “I figure that anyone who carries an accordion
at the Bovine has got
to be funny. Do you do stand-up? Would you like to?” Bert turned out to
be part of a sketch comedy troupe called Slap and Tickle, and I did a handful of shows with them, even getting incorporated into one of their skits. I believe my last gig with them was sometime in 2003.
The Bad Dog Theatre is small theatre near Broadview and Danforth — the western edge of Accordion City’s Greektown — with a main stage that seats sixty or so people. I arrived and met the cast,
all of whom showered me with “thanks for coming” and “hey, I love your
blog”. Then, we started discussing the schedule for the evening’s show.
“The show’s about forty minutes, and we need to fill an hour, so if you could do twenty, we’ll be fine,” said Cary.
Uh-oh.
“My act is seven minutes, eight if I do it like David Carradine,” I
said. “I was under the impression you wanted just the music and a
little banter.”
“Hmm…can you, uh, stretch it to twenty?”
Nearly three times as long?
“If we need to fill more time, I can do my ‘Beat Poetry of Ricardo Montalban’,” offered Scott.
“Crap,” I said, thinking about it. “Oh, what the hell. I accept your challenge!”
I mornally don’t get stage fright — a very embarassing gig in high
school, complete with TV cameras, cured me of that — but this time, I
was a little worried.
After a brief introduction, I walked on stage with the accordion and
did my bit, fattened up with a couple of stories from the old stand-up
routine. It went pretty smoothly. I got laughs for most of my gags and
I avoided the nightmare in which everyone goes silent and the comic
says “Ooh…tough
room.”
After thanking the audience, I went offstage, where the cast said they
liked it. Cary looked at his watch and said “Thirteen, maybe fourteen
minutes. I think we can work with that. Thanks!”
My thanks to the cast and crew of Peril from Beyond Space for inviting
me to open for their opening show, and also to the audience members who
came up to me after the show and said they loved the act and will never
look at the accordion in the same way again. Your taste is impeccable!
Theatre keeps them off the streets: from left to right
— Cary West, Nike Abbott, Paul Koster, Scott Watkins, Sam Agro, and
Tracy Shea-Porter.
Here’s the description of Peril from Beyond Space:
The year is 1947. The forces of democracy have triumphed. Millions of
Americans are raising families, buying refrigerators, and wearing
nearly identical suits. Now that fascism has been eradicated, Mr. and
Mrs. Average Homeowner can look forward to a bright new era of peace
and prosperity. Or can they? Little do they realize that a malevolent
alien race has targeted the planet earth – a race of demon monsters
that threatens every single person in the entire world…a Peril – from
Beyond Space!
Peril from Beyond Space
shamelessly savages those old Republic and RKO Pictures “science
fiction” serials, which were often just gangster movies with a
poorly-applied gloss of atomic age/space age paint. There’s plenty of
Buck Rogers pseudoscience hokum, what with the aliens’ anti-gravity
ray, the dashing scientist hero’s energy-damping null ray and
cheese-tastic props. They also poke fun at the old movie conventions
with Dave Till’s stentorian narration (complete with breaks for ads,
such as the coffee featuring “the ingredient that won the war”), the
beautiful fiancee who actually knows more than her scientist betrothed
or his dad even though “science is men’s work” and the best
father-to-son advice ever: “Good grooming equals good science!” My
favourite bit has to be the chase scene; somehow, with only four chairs
and solid thespianism, they pulled off the best one I’ve ever seen in a
stage play, complete with stunt jump!
Dave Till is the announcer.
The well-done show ended with a doubly-literal cliffhanger (the
heroes’
car went off a cliff, and the dashing scientist’s name is Cliff), as
will episodes 2 and 3 of this four episode series. I had a ball
watching this show, and were it not for the fact that I have to pick up
Wendy from the airport this Friday, I’d catch it.
Peril from Beyond Space will play at the Bad Dog Theatre (138 Danforth,
at Broadview) this Friday, March 18th, as well as the subsequent two
Fridays (March 25th and April 1st). Tickets are a mere eight bucks
(five for students). Go support some live theatre and be entertained by
some really funny people too!
Rannie “Photojunkie” Turingan, who in my opinion is the heart and soul of the Greater Toronto Area Bloggers group, will be appearing on tonight’s edition of The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC Newsworld at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. The topic: weblogs and his winning the “Best Canadian Weblog” at the 2005 Bloggies. Go, Rannie!