Scout: 2016 May-June

MA Y - JUNE 2016

˜ IGO PASCUAL IN

g n i com S CO U T M AG . P H

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FREE MA GAZINE!

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w w w. scoutmag . ph “The photography of Nan Goldin.

It’s intimate, real, and sincere.”

PAOLO CRODUA, photographer, “Freaks and Geeks” (p. 26)

Group Publisher

BEA J. LEDESMA Editor in Chief

JED GREGORIO C r e a t i ve D i r e c t o r Niña Muallam Features Editor Romeo Moran Graphic Artist Grace de Luna Editorial Assistants Nico Pascual Denise Fernandez Cont ribut ing Writers Lex Celera, Cai Maroket, Stan Sy Contributing Photographers Jack Alindahao, Koji Arboleda, Paolo Crodua Contributing Stylist Vince Crisostomo Contributing Illustrators Martin Diegor, Alyana Garong Interns Jill Baniqued, Ja Ilagan, Cedric S. Reyes, Adrian Ubando, Pat Villoria Editorial Consultant Ria Francisco-Prieto Board Chairperson Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez Finance Advisor and Treasurer J. Ferdinand De Luzuriaga Legal Advisor Atty. Rudyard Arbolado V P/ G r o u p H R H e a d Raymund Soberano VP and Chief Strategy Officer Imelda Alcantara

“Currently obsessing and will forever be obsessed with cats! I’m taking care of eight right now. Five kitties and three cats.”

WANDA CHEN, model, “Take Me Out” (p. 42)

“Shoshanna from Girls. Aside from her cute boyfriend, I hate the fact that I can relate to her.”

VINCE CRISOSTOMO, stylist, “It Takes Two” (p. 36)

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“I’m currently (and constantly) obsessed with RuPaul’s Drag Race and discovering new documentaries.”

SYLVINA LOPEZ, makeup artist, “Siege and Storm” (p. 30)

what are you obsessing o v e r?

“The Chicken McDo is so juicy and crispy, I could eat it every day.”

GRACE DE LUNA, graphic artist

SVP and Group Sales Head, Inquirer Group of Companies Felipe R. Olarte AV P f o r S a l e s Ma. Katrina Garcia-Dalusong Sales Supervisor Polo Dagdag Key A c c o u n t s S p e c i a l i s t Angelita Tan-Ibañez Senior Accou nt Execut ives Thea Ordiales, Abby Ginaga Accou nt Execut ives Charm Banzuelo, Andie Zuñiga, Sarah Cabalatungan Sales Support Assistants Rechelle Endozo, Mara Karen Aliasas Marketing Associates Erle Mamawal, Jann Turija Marketing Graphic Artist Janine Dela Cuesta Business and Distribution Manager Rina Lareza Circulation Supervisor Vince Oliquiano Production Manager Jan Cariquitan Production Assistant Maricel Gavino Final Art Supervisor Dennis Cruz FA A r t i st Kristine Paz

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contents 4 art + design p a n c ho ka ra mb o l a

6 entertainment

8 travel

your internet boyfriends

mountains vs. beaches

14 portfolio

is it cool to be sad

mark reay

16 portfolio

amanda mustard

18 essay

12 profile

rozette rago

20 essay

sports bandwagoning

30 on the cover

26 fashion

best youth brands portfolio

36 fashion

iĂąigo pascual

it takes two

42 fashion take me out

48 back stor y louis faure

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Le tte r fr o m the E d ito r I love this issue largely because it’s a great collection of fashion photographs. In “Freaks and Geeks” (p. 20), we profile six independently-ran fashion brands that are noteworthy particularly because of their youth-focused aesthetic and business savvy.

The most difficult and time-consuming challenge of that series of shoots was the casting of models. Each brand had a very specific identity, and casting a vanilla model out of a modeling agency just wouldn’t do them justice. It took us a while to get the boys and girls that felt right. Siobhan and Amrit were shot a month apart, and Amrit’s photos came in just when we were about to close the issue.

“It Takes Two” (p. 34) was a pitch from photographer Koji Arboleda and stylist Vince Crisostomo. Koji e-mailed me a mood board with reference photos and these lines: “Mock Lookbook.nu.” “I really don’t care, but I actually do.” “Takes-a-lot-of-effort effortless.” “Me trying to wear my new Guccis.” “Me trying to wear my new Goshas.”

I’m familiar with Koji and Vince’s work, so I was sure they’d do a good job. What I don’t often see, but I always find interesting, is the creative thought process, the backbone of ideas and how they’re articulated. For me, getting to witness that is definitely a perk of being an editor.

“Take Me Out” (p. 40) felt more like an adventure than an assignment. The story, photographed by Scout regular Paolo Crodua, was shot in Makati and Pampanga.

The shoot started on a Thursday night, and finally ended the following midnight of that grueling Friday. The unflagging energy of our friend and muse Wanda Chen was remarkable. That you are in synch with the subject you’re photographing is an essential element to a good picture. Our cover subject Iñigo Pascual is a great example. He’s as much a charming face to photograph as he is a genuine and smart guy to get to know.

Apart from the fashion, we’re also featuring three other photographers with very different points of view. There is Rozette Rago who’s almost always deep in concert pits (p. 14), Mark Reay who’s navigating the glamorous labyrinths of New York fashion (p. 8), and Amanda Mustard (p. 12) whose photography gives a voice to marginalized people. Whatever they choose to photograph, they make you realize that there are so many things outside your own world to know and to be a part of—things to look forward to, except you don’t know what they are yet. Know that Timbuk 3 song? The future’s so bright / I gotta wear shades.

@scou tmagph scoutmag@h i p.ph

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4

art + design

time to pretend Visual artist Pancho Karambola makes a case for the traditionally-made comic Interview by ADRIAN UBANDO

PANCHO KARAMBOLA admits that he never grew out of his childhood phase of collecting local toys and comics. It was this love for those simpler times that influenced him to release Gekkor Komiks, a limited edition boxed card set, which revolves around original characters drawn in the style of ’60s movie posters. It was his small way of paying a little tribute to something that influenced a big part of his childhood, where he would spend the weekends watching old cartoons and movies. Now, right before he releases his second collection of comics, Pancho lets us in on his traditional art process, his thoughts on the future of the industry, and the reasons for amassing an impressive collection of locally-made toys.

How did you create the original characters in Gekorr Komiks?

There was a sci-fi series that aired during the ’70s entitled Space 1999, about a crew trying to survive after their base was thrown out of orbit [into] space. It ran for two seasons and I watched digital copies of its episodes at home. I was thrilled about the story and the aesthetics. I got really inspired by the show.

I initially released Gekorr Komiks in card format resembling teks, Filipino trading cards featuring local movies serialized into comics.

It was very popular during the ’90s. That is the reason why Gekorr Komiks is structured in a one-panel-per-page format.

Creating characters sometimes takes minutes; sometimes it takes [much] longer.

Some of the characters I have now were created in the back of my mind years ago.

I start drawing thumbnails based on what I envision the story to be. Then the lines are added afterwards so I can edit them until the final layout. But for Gekorr, I already wrote the structure for its storyline so that I have my own guide. The story was quite challenging for me.

To sum it up, I think Gekorr Komiks would be a projection of my dream of being a space traveler.

In another interview, you said your mantra is “if you let your inner child die, you will lose your imagination.” How do you keep that inner child alive?

I would watch Maskman, my favorite ’90s super sentai series during Sundays (it was aired during the weekends) to relive that moment when I was a kid. I still love watching ’90s movies such as Home Alone and The Addams Family over and over again because they really bring back that child in me. And one thing that keeps the kid in

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“Gekorr Graphics 1” Ballpoint Pen and Ink with Digital Enhancement 5’’ x 5’’ 2016

me alive is collecting ’90s toys. I would spend countless hours during weekends hunting in thrift shops that specialize in vintage toys or, in some rare occasions, conventions and dusty secret toy locations. These experiences of hunting for toys made me happy and somewhat refreshed me after busy weeks of work.

I think the simplicity in design in these films and TV shows is one of the factors why I still follow them. These shows, while being cheesy and sometimes campy, are still somewhat honest. These are the elements that I try to emulate in my designs.

Shows like Adventure Time, Phineas and Ferb, The Regular Show, and Flap Jack also inspire [me] with their intelligent storylines and humor. I still religiously watch some of them during their 2 a.m. time slots.

What do you think is the most important trait that an individual needs to make it as an artist?

I think what is important to have to make it as an artist is having the right passion to be one. You may be good at creating art, but if you don’t have the guts to show it to other people, you won’t make it. It is like having the confidence to jump into the unknown. One should learn to take risks and accept countless failures before you can consider yourself an artist.

What’s your take on having a defining visual style versus being flexible?

I think being flexible is an advantage when you’re working for a company. You may win a job with your portfolio and your self-branding, but it is your adaptability and problem-solving

capabilities that keep you in the payroll. While your own visual style is important, being flexible is a big plus for an artist.

My visual style is highly influenced by sci-fi art from the ’50s to ’70s. I love how they were made by hand, without the aid of computers back then. I also dig local movie posters that were made during the ’60s to the ’90s. I love how they combine actual photo stills and handmade typography (especially the horror movie titles) to make one cheesy but effective poster.

Seeing as you work both traditionally and digitally, do you think that working traditionally will eventually be phased out and everything will be done on computer?

Traditional art is actually resurfacing nowadays, after the spark of digital art over the years. It’s always been there and I don’t think it will [go away] any time soon, because a digital brush doesn’t compare to a genuine brush stroke.

What’s the hardest thing about being a self-taught artist?

When I entered college, I felt really frustrated about being creative. Since I took an [interior design] course that is not directly linked to my interests, it became a challenge for me to develop my skills. It was one of the lowest points in my life; I almost gave up, and I was totally thinking of doing something out of my line of work, like being in the military.

I didn’t know where to begin or how to develop what I already have. So what I would do is I would read everything I could find

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“Lanzonez” Digital Art A3 / Woodprint 2013

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“Parang Hinabol ng Taga Marathon” Digital Art A3 / Woodprint 2013

“Creating characters sometimes takes minutes; sometimes it takes [much] longer. Some of the characters I have now were created in the back of my mind years ago.” about art, be it classical or contemporary. I read magazines, books, and write-ups on the internet. I would drop by art galleries or watch anything linked to art. I know these are not good enough, but it’s important to develop an open mind about art and be hungry for it.

It’s also a good thing I discovered ways to express my creativity every now and then.

In college, I entered the Shell National Students Art Competition that naturally catered to fine arts students. I became a finalist, and luckily enough I won a grand prize on my second try, which was right before I graduated.

Afterwards, It felt like I bounced back in the art game, and I never stopped creating ever since.

What can you say about the future of the comic industry in Philippines?

When I attend comic conventions, I still see people buying comics and more independent comic artists are braving it out every now and then. The digital age made it easier for them to let people know about their comics through different social media sites. I think the comics

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industry in the Philippines will stay. I just hope there will come a time that local comics can compete with foreign ones and be widely sold in bookstores and newsstands once again.

Why do you think it’s important that we cherish Filipino-made toys and comics?

Because the era of Filipino-made toys are long gone and we are lucky enough to experience that when we were kids. We once had a thriving toy industry back in the ’60s and ’70s but it all went down as the times changed. I’m hoping that there is a chance that this part of our history and culture will be brought back to life sometime soon. So now, we are trying to collect toys and making the comics that we can to document and save them for the future generations to use.

When Ondoy happened in 2009, I lost a lot of memorabilia [from] my childhood, including our photos when we were kids. I guess this event triggered my nostalgia. I think that is also the case for other people; they want things that remind them of their past. n

“Gekombiner” Digital Art 32.5” x 8.75” composite maple wood and fiberglass material 2015

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6

entertainment

h ho ow w d do o ii Counting down all the men that the internet has fallen hopelessly in love with

NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: 500 Days of Summer

By DENISE FERNANDEZ Illustrations by GRACE DE LUNA

Ah, the internet—the birthplace of memes, social media lingo, and an entire subculture that (mostly) everyone subscribes to. But it’s an entirely new story when its citizens collectively get obsessed with one male celebrity.

Chaos, among a myriad of memes and viral posts, may ensue. Not familiar with the species called the Internet Boyfriend? Here’s a quick starter pack.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, fondly nicknamed JGL, is like that childhood friend you never knew was hot until you saw him again years later. These were exactly the internet’s #feels after watching him from a wee, nerdy youngin in 10 Things I Hate About You to the more relatable and attractive Tom in 500 Days of Summer.

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

Sebastian Stan Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Every girl loves a little angst in her man. Why else would the entire internet fall for his portrayal of Bucky Barnes? Sebastian Stan is the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, the grown-up version of the Dream Emo Boy of your wildest fantasies back when you had that MCR/Fall Out Boy/ Panic! At the Disco phase.

MR. RO-BAE

Rami Malek Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot’s breakout star Rami Malek has been given many names—BugEyed Prince, Egyptian God, Ultimate Summer Crush. Even God himself loved Rami’s face so much that he made two of them (in case you’re wondering, yep, he has an identical twin brother that he may or may have not pretended to be at one point in his life).

GINGER PRINCE

Eddie Redmayne Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Les Miserables, The Theory of Everything

MOMMA’S BOY

Ryan Gosling Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Crazy, Stupid Love He may have stolen hearts in The Notebook, but both he and his non-Photoshopped abs stole the internet in Crazy, Stupid Love.

Ladies (and gents), don’t even try to pretend that his epic “Hey, Girl” meme didn’t get you through at least one tough day.

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It’s excruciatingly difficult not to love someone who’s openly admitted to crushing on a cartoon character (The Lion King’s Nala, for anyone curious). From playing the lovesick Marius as an awkward, stuttering dork to shamelessly fanboying over his Oscar win in public, it is only the beginning for Eddie’s career in Internet Boyfriendom, with both young and old Potterheads being extra prone.

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ll o ov v ee tt h h ee ee ??

SEX GAWD

Tom Hiddleston Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Thor Though admittedly Benedict Cumberbatch started the whole thing, only one could reign supreme, and that’s Tom Hiddleston.

Honestly? It’s like the internet’s obsession with him never fades, with a new video or meme popping up on some website every other month or so. Whether he’s playing a mischievous god or a lovelorn vampire, Tumblr is quick to worship this near-perfect specimen of a man. Scratch that. Tom Hiddleston is perfect. Enough said.

SUAVE SEDUCTION

Idris Elba Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Pacific Rim Idris Elba is probably the perfect embodiment of White Chicks’ famous coined term. Yes, he truly is a beautiful chocolate man.

Because who could ever forget that monumental scene in Pacific Rim, where he saves a young Japanese girl from a Kaiju on a rampage? Emerging from his Jaeger, Idris removes his helmet to reveal his god-like features and blinding smile. I swear there were angels singing in the background.

ENGLISH MUFFIN

Benedict Cumberbatch Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Sherlock The father of all internet boyfriends, Benedict Cumberbatch is widely recognized for his refinement and chivalry.

Remember the Cumberbitches incident?

He lectured his fans because he wanted to make sure they held themselves with dignity. If there’s any quality that’s sexiest in a guy, it’s the respect he has for women.

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN

Chris Evans Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Captain America: The First Avenger Never mind his guns of steel and dreamy blue eyes. There is a legendary scented candle circling Tumblr (Google: Mountain Lodge candle) that his fans believe has captured Chris Evans’s very own essence. If that doesn’t spell true crazed internet devotion, then I don’t know what else does.

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PAPI PACIFY

Oscar Isaac Claim to Internet Boyfriend Fame: Star Wars: The Force Awakens The internet’s most recent boyfriend took the entire platform by storm in late 2015 to early 2016. Starting off as a humble actor taking on vastly important but criminally underrated roles (see: Inside Llewyn Davis’ Llewyn Davis, Ex Machina’s Nathan Bateman, and A Most Violent Year’s Abel Morales), Oscar’s heroic and noble Poe Dameron was all it took for people to fall head over heels in love. And it really doesn’t help that he’s fond of cracking dirty jokes in interviews.

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new york,

“A shot of some models waiting to do a runway rehearsal and one that I captured in the right light.”

i love you

but you’re

“My friend Fabbio from Milan. I met him by chance while I was working on a documentary about the city and he agreed to a shoot at his art studio.

He died two years later. I gave this photo to his family.”

bringing “I gave up on competing with all the other photographers and went to the back only to find one of the top models in the world all to myself.”

Photographer Mark Reay shoots backstage for some of the world’s top designers during a six year period of homelessness

By NICO PASCUAL

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IN WOODY ALLEN’S iconic film Manhattan, we’re treated to a skyline view of the Big Apple, which, as we go in closer, offers us its pulsating streets, the hustle and bustle of the crowd, and the attitude of “if you can make it here, then you can make it anywhere.” The 2015 film Homme Less emphasizes the latter. In this documentary, filmmaker Thomas Wirthensohn followed fashion photographer Mark Reay around for weeks and chronicled his daily life.

At the start of the documentary, you see Mark going through his usual morning routine: he shines his shoes, puts on his ironed clothes, fixes his tie, and looks at himself in the mirror.

He then grabs his camera gear from a local gym—where he keeps his clothes in a locker— and goes out to the city to photograph models on the street or backstage at a runway show.

He then usually has a quick meal before finding a coffee shop where he edits his pictures. After finishing, he retires for the night on the roof of his friend’s apartment.

But that’s when the façade fades away. You begin to notice certain things about his lifestyle. Mark has been living on a nondescript rooftop for six years. The rooftop is dilapidated and adorned by graffiti art, and Mark calls a small nook hidden by a heavy-duty tarpaulin home. He fondly describes this space in the documentary as his “penthouse suite” as he invites the

me down

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“In this one shoot I tried to add an interesting composition using two models.”

“I made a very large print of this shot and delivered it to Marc Jacobs’ office.

I never got an acknowledgement from them.”

“When I started out, I followed my bliss to the south of France and two months later, I was back in New York City, sleeping on a rooftop.” filmmaker to make himself at home. The way he says it carries that offhanded confidence that comes naturally to Hollywood actors, whom Mark’s friends say he evokes.

Mark started our correspondence by narrating his career as a model. “I began modeling way back in the Orwellian year, 1984, as a child model,” he jokes. “[I mean] as a 24-year-old model. It was interesting, how it happened, and luck had a lot to do with it. A few months after graduation, I went to Belgium to visit a girl I met after my college graduation.

She suggested I visit modeling agencies that were located in Brussels. After applying, I was so shocked when I got an appointment later that day with Dominique Models Agency (then called Model Team) and they said yes. Brussels was a great place to start [modeling]. It’s not the biggest city but many top models were from there or nearby cities Amsterdam and Dusseldorf. Today, I think the most well known Belgian model is Yumi Lambert, the Victoria’s Secret Angel, who is also from Dominique Agency. I saw her by chance [on the street] while we were filming Homme Less.”

Modeling opened doors for him and he spent the better part of four years traveling around Europe. But even though the money was sometimes hard to come by, his biggest takeaway from those years was the experiences he had.

Today, much like Bill Cunningham, a famous New York street-style photographer, Mark finds himself prowling the streets of New York, taking pictures of the fashion world’s upper crust. “I got the idea to pursue photography in the 1986 Athens Olympics stadium, of all places. I was there in a shoot for a clothing brand and an older model had an idea. He mentioned that we didn’t need to pay photographers to take test photos for our portfolios because he says we have been in the business long enough to know how to take a good photo. The idea didn’t sound completely idiotic to me, and when he pulled out his compact camera and took some snaps

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of me, they actually looked good. But when it was my turn to take his, the photos looked pretty damn bad. But I was hooked and kept on taking pictures, which continues to this day.”

Mark returned to New York in 2002 to take photography classes and after three years, had the idea to send his portfolio to one of his favorite magazines. “I heard a voice in my ear one day that said, ‘Send them an e-mail saying you want to shoot backstage [shows], dummy’,” he jokes. “A few days later, I went to the magazine store and copied down the e-mail addresses of Dazed magazine’s photo editors. When Dazed finally hired me, I shot all the best shows: Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg, Proenza Schouler, Rag & Bone, Thom Browne, Rodarte, Alexander Wang, and others.”

The difficulty of getting a job at those big fashion shows made Mark realize early on that being a photographer is a cutthroat business.

Although he got in, the harsh truth of fashion photography, as he tells me, is that most fashion photographers don’t do better than those up-and-coming models that are trying to make it in New York.

“Apart from the magazine, I also worked for some designers directly, like Diane von Furstenberg, Lacoste, and some others.

Dazed didn’t pay so well, and I wasn’t the best negotiator when it came to salary. One backstage show for Diane von Furstenberg paid about twice as much as the magazine did for shooting the whole week. But getting those jobs was hard.”

So how did he end up homeless? “When I started out, I followed my bliss to the south of France and two months later, I was back in New York City, sleeping on a rooftop,” he says.

“I hoped to photograph families there and people on vacation, but it didn’t work out well, and I came back to New York broke and had no place to go. I didn’t have any money for a hotel so I remembered I had the keys to a friend’s apartment and decided to go to the rooftop to sleep there for a while. Six years later, I’m finally in the process of checking out.”

Despite his financial problems and the hardships of keeping up appearances, both to his clients and his family, he says what kept him going was the acceptance of his current situation. He gave up on trying to have a good job, and on having a sex life (the rooftop isn’t really conducive to romance). He considered

these things for other people and not for him.

“Oddly enough, I became much more content. I accepted my position in life,” Mark says. “It’s certainly not a recipe for success but for me it was a recipe for survival.”

He tells me that he doesn’t see himself as homeless, preferring to use the term “urban camper.” “I didn’t want to categorize myself or reduce myself to being defined just by where I do or do not sleep. I also enjoyed the experience to some degree—feeling like a survivor from the simple accomplishment of pulling off a good night’s sleep and not getting discovered. I got a thrill out of this alternative lifestyle. And my lifestyle, believe it or not, was not so severely affected.” Despite his fast-paced lifestyle, Mark confesses that his favorite moments in New York are the quiet ones. Since 2008, he’s been playing Santa for a charity that houses single mothers and their children.

Even though the documentary received good reviews from The New York Times and The Guardian, I still wanted to ask Mark his thoughts about it. He starts by saying that he has mixed feelings about the film, as he had to expose the deepest parts of himself for the audience. But he mentions that it’s the same experience that artists have always dealt with opening themselves to public scrutiny.

“One of the things that enabled me to be somewhat positive on the roof was that I always knew that the experience would make for a good story. Since I work in the fashion world, acted to some degree (I was an extra in Men in Black 3), and modeled when I was younger, I can say I have the ability to envision something artistic coming from my situation. I like telling stories and I am a believer that anyone’s life story can be interesting if told properly. In my case, my choice of lifestyle provided lots of drama and action.”

Despite everything, Mark says that he will continue following his human dream to the end, even if it means changing his lifestyle.

“It’s been six years and I am working on finding a way to afford an apartment. The film hasn’t provided that much income, but hopefully that will change one day. I have a GoFundMe where I am selling a photo book about the time I was [living] on the roof. You thought I mentioned the American Dream, right? But that was the director’s take on my story. I have a much more important one called the Human Dream, and it’s one we all share. It’s the choice to overcome struggle and to feel significant or worthy about yourself, and to give love and be loved.” n

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10 travel

where do you w a n t t o g o—

If you stand firmly on one side of the age-old question dividing people who love the outdoors, allow us to try and convince you to check out what you’re missing

t h e m o u n t a i n s?

Everyone’s favorite two-hour getaway.

Beware the traffic.

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Still the most popular mountain destination.

TRAFFIC.

Amazing if you could come at a time when it’s empty.

Blame the movie.

Just 40 minutes from Baguio, so you don’t have to take all day.

It’s a two-to-three day traverse of the mighty Pulag. Only for hardcores who really wanna rough it.

It’s a fairly easy two-day climb so you can tick off the sea of clouds on your bucket list. Slightly congested.

It’s an easy trail, but with the additional option of staring death in the face (should you take on the Parrot’s Beak).

This peak in Batangas is easy enough for beginners, but not so crowded.

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travel 11

t h e b e a c h?

You made this choice.

Just be responsible and stop trashing the beach.

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Just don’t mind the crowd and you’ll do fine. More artsy people head over to La Union, though.

Want some white sand but can’t afford Bohol or don’t want to deal with Bora?

Head south.

The hidden jewel worth discovering.

Try to go in the offseason, even when there’s risk of rain.

The scene’s a lot livelier in San Juan, La Union, so it’s always a good time. Just remember that surf season is October to April.

Flying to Bohol just to hang out in Panglao would be a trip well-spent.

Pro tip: rent a car/ scooter.

If you’re okay with going even a little further south, Galera still holds up as one of the GOAT.

Bonus! Who says you have to go to a beach to tear it up in the water?

And it’s only one or two hours from the city.

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12 portfolio

Michael, a British expat training in Muay Thai, poses for a portrait at the 96 Penang Gym, a training camp under a bridge in the slums of Klong Toey.

AMANDA MUSTARD tells me that her career as a photojournalist never would have happened if she had gone to college. Documenting the uprisings in Egypt and the social issues in Thailand was just a farfetched dream to Amanda, who grew up sheltered in a family farm in Pennsylvania. A child pianist and marimbist, Amanda graduated high school at 17 and decided against pursuing a “professional career” for the fear that it would taint her love of playing.

She then moved to New York and worked two odd jobs before saving enough money to travel abroad. In 2010, she flew to Cairo, Egypt and decided to pursue a career as a photojournalist there.

Drawn to Cairo by the inexpensive living (her rent was $70 per month), she ended up staying because of the unending subject matter that existed alongside the time she needed to develop her skills in the field. Due to her lack of professional training, Amanda turned to the internet and the feedback of older, more experienced photographers to help get her started.

For her work abroad, she was recognized by news agencies like The New York Times and The Guardian. She was also a recent nominee for the prestigious 2016 Joop Swart Masterclass.

But all this attention is lost on Amanda, who says that the work she does is more important than the fame. “I got into photojournalism because to have a job that is all about meeting new people and witnessing not only historic moments but also intimate stories of others is an absolute privilege.”

When you look at her pictures, you can’t help but notice an offbeat quality to them, which is a far cry from the gritty reportage photography that we have come to expect from photojournalists out in the field. Drawing her influences from contemporary photographers such as Ed Ou and Chip Litherland, she hopes to divert the media’s attention from images that sell to those that showcase authentic social issues.

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into the fray With a mission of giving marginalized people a voice, photojournalist Amanda Mustard journeys to Thailand and Egypt

By NICO PASCUAL

The son of a family permitted by Bangkok local authorities to live in a cluster of derelict airplane bodies, in exchange for keeping the property secure.

People in Myanmar took to the streets of Yangon for Thingyan, a massive water festival symbolizing the washing away of bad luck for the previous year to usher in the traditional Burmese New Year.

But after trying her best to depict what was happening in the truest possible light, Amanda grew disillusioned with what other photojournalists were doing and decided to take matters into her own hands. She mounted a GoPro camera and proceeded to record the conflict around her as it actually unfolded. Her rationale behind this decision was to avoid the stereotypical pictures that would sell, to show images that were reflective of the day’s events.

In one of these videos, you can clearly see her in the midst of an ongoing protest; she is shooting while projectiles and tear gas are being thrown around her. Amanda adamantly believes that the authenticity of her images is more important than the harm these situations may cause. “I always put the truth first, and I put the respect of my subjects first. I’ve witnessed some bad behavior on these fronts by award-winning, established photographers.”

You mean like that photographer who staged a photograph in the aftermath of the Brussels bombings? I ask.

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“I absolutely don’t think any photo is worth dying for or being raped for, or even sacrificing your mental health for.”

“If you’re a sex worker, you’re seen as either a sad girl or bad girl. ‘Sad’ if you’ve been forced into this. ‘Bad’ if you choose to be here. But what if we aren’t either?” Mai, a sex worker and employee of the Can Do Bar, a safe workplace created by the Empower Foundation.

A Chinese theater performer prepares for a show in Thailand.

“Yes, him and many others. I think it’s so embarrassing and disappointing. Journalism should always be about putting your subjects and their stories first before the prospect of building your career, or ‘getting the shot at any cost.’” Amanda points out that she rarely enters situations with a preconceived notion of what she’s going to walk away with. Her job, as she tells me, is to arrive at a venue, observe, and then finally capture what she believes is reflective of what is really happening. It may be boring, but she’s steadfast in her decision to never document moments that aren’t true.

This honest depiction of life in the Middle East also extends to the way she treats her photographic subjects. Amanda tells me that she tries to be respectful of other people while out in the field, and is very careful not to do anything that would make them feel uncomfortable. She stresses the importance of taking her time to get to know the people around her, and to fully explain her intentions before even picking up a camera.

After completing her tour of Egypt, Amanda now finds herself in Bangkok where, in addition to the change of scenery and subject, she is hoping for a more conducive environment for work. “It can be exhausting,” she tells me.

“Working in Egypt and even today, there were many times where I felt like my life was in danger.

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You have to make a lot of sacrifices to work in Cairo as a woman, and if I’m being honest with myself, my work has suffered.”

But Amanda says that she has come too far to take a break now. She is now taking her first steps interpreting the diverse culture of Thailand. Even though the country is a hotbed for photographic projects, Amanda says that only a few photographers have really delved into a project surrounding Thailand’s different stereotypes. She confesses that while sex tourism and vice is still rampant in the country, the culture itself can be very conservative, and people tend to forget that. Amanda mentions that this mindset is important to her when photographing these sensitive issues.

“Everything seems over-covered, but little of it actually seems deep,” Amanda says. As an example, she cites the way transgendered Thai people are associated in the West exclusively with sex work. She has observed that transgendered community in Bangkok work average jobs and live their lives normally; every group of friends has a trans person in it, which is something rarely seen in Western culture.

Amanda believes there is something to learn from that aspect of Thai culture, rather than it serving as a punch line in a Hangover 2 scene.

Even though she is situated away from the frontlines, Amanda tells me that she doesn’t ever want to stop documenting social issues.

This time she’s slowly immersing herself in the culture, taking her time to document the quiet stories that don’t get much coverage. “I’d also love to work on stories about unique or strange things that are only in Thailand, like Buddhist temple hell gardens or the superstitious luk thep doll trend. There may be something happening behind the front lines that isn’t being covered, and that may be far more important.” n

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14 portfolio

Rozette Rago lives in the photo pit and shoots the musical acts you can only dream of seeing

By CAI MAROKET

THE FIRST TIME I CAME ACROSS Rozette Rago’s photography was during the early years of Tumblr (that pre-meme and pre-obsession with political correctness era). Back then, she was still Zet Diaz, a university student with a lot of time for the internet. Her path to doing photography full-time was typical enough, but it wasn’t until after her years in university that she decided to take her craft seriously.

Growing up, she wasn’t always set on photography as a way of living. During and after her years in university, she'd dreamt of becoming a filmmaker and screenwriter. As soon as she graduated, she worked for ABS-CBN's indie film production outfit, Skylight Films. She then had the opportunity to attend a five-month course at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) in Los Angeles, where everything changed. "I'm not sure when my filmmaking dreams died exactly.

At NYFA, when we did group projects, we were required to rotate our duties as to experience every aspect of shooting," she shares. "I always felt like I was doing my best work when I was behind a camera."

The now LA-based photographer dabbled in every form of photography before focusing on music and portraiture. “I did a lot of photo shoots with my friends where we'd just play around with different concepts,” she says, looking back on her days of experimentation.

“Being surrounded by a lot of creative people in school encouraged me to explore my own creativity.” But her path to her current line of work wasn’t exactly smooth sailing after her return from NYFA, she found herself unemployed for most of 2011. “I thought about going back to ABS-CBN. However, I didn't want to force myself to do anything I really didn't want to.” It was this time of aimless drifting that pushed her to jump the gun and try her luck stateside, starting from zero.

Things started falling into place once she’d settled in her new home with a new job as a photographer for a local interior design firm. Her

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music photography served as a side project, with her often shooting for free to expand her portfolio. “Music is extremely essential to me in every aspect of my life. But most importantly, it really helped trigger the passion in me when it comes to photography.” Come January 2012, she launched Restless Cities, a website dedicated to independent music and culture, which successfully opened up more avenues for her to expand on her passion. It gave her the chance to shoot more shows and do more band interviews. “The only way to figure out what you want to do for a long time is to try everything,” she says. “That’s what worked for me.”

Music plays an integral part in her identity as a visual storyteller. The sound is one thing, but the atmosphere in the many intimate shows she attends is another thing altogether. “Once the lights go out and I’m surrounded by music, I take in every single thing that’s happening in front of me. That’s the thing I hold on to most about photography—the fact that it helps me be fully present. I’m very easily distracted but when I’m shooting, I’m just there and I’m not thinking about anything else.”

I ask her what it was exactly about music that spurred her to go that direction. Her answer was straightforward enough: Sufjan Stevens.

“I've been a huge fan of Sufjan Stevens for a decade or so and his music affects me the same way. I've seen him live four times now and every single time has felt like an out of body experience,” she says of the American singer-songwriter and the name behind her past social media handle—@sufjansaves. “It's hard to explain. I owe my passion for music photography to my obsession with his music. I started this whole journey because I wanted a chance to shoot him someday.”

“I did a couple of portraits of Big Grams during their first ever show in public since they announced their formation. They were very nice.”

“I shoot quite regularly for Flood magazine and they commissioned me to photograph Foo Fighters. I’m glad it was during this tour because I really wanted to see Dave Grohl’s throne in person.”

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AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT By pressing people to come to terms with the gay Filipino identity, publishing polymath Paolo Lorenzana leads this generation towards a more openminded and accepting era GOING EVERYWHERE The blueprint for the perfect holiday situation according to three Bonifacio Global City denizens

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ARTISTIC MERIT Why the Philippines is becoming an important market for high-end European furniture brands

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16 portfolio “El Ten Eleven invited me to shoot their show, which almost didn’t happen due to bad weather, but it pushed through about an hour late and it was amazing.”

“Once the lights go out and I’m surrounded by music, I take in every single thing that’s happening in front of me.

That’s the thing I hold on to most about photography— the fact that it helps me be fully present.”

As a big fan of music, it’s hard not to zero in on Rozette’s body of work with feelings of envy. The list of her subjects is impressive, she’s photographed everyone from The National to Future Islands to Tame Impala. But like all greats, Rozette started small, her first gig shot at a tiny club back in 2011. “I think it's the same story in every industry. You start from the bottom doing small shows and then you eventually build up a portfolio that's good enough to get you hired by a bigger publication,” she says of the hustle to get to where she is now. “However, I think luck played a huge part in some of the most amazing opportunities I've had so far. It's cliche, but I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

Besides allowing her to lurk in the photo pit for the perfect shot, her line of work also opens up opportunities for her to share the same space with musical idols such as Alex Turner and Carly Rae Jepsen. So far, the major highlight of her career was being able to shoot legendary rock band U2 thanks to HBO, with her photo even appearing in the Apple Store for an HBO Now advert. “My U2 experience has been the most incredible one so far. Apart from the great opportunities they've given me, the band's team has been the easiest and most professional team to work with. The entire process was painless.”

And while she captures the electric haze of the Los Angeles music scene with ease, I have to ask her about her thoughts on its difference from Manila’s own—a timely question, she points out, as she’s just returned from a month-long stay in the Philippines. “I used to think the other

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“Morrissey cancels shows all the time so when he did show up to headline last year’s FYF Festival, I was beyond thrilled. He’s one of my favorites and I remember taking a moment in between shooting to just really enjoy his presence and his wonderful voice.”

way around, but now I think the Manila audience is way less reserved than the LA audience.

Observing a show at Saguijo or Route 196 is especially fun because you just see all these people genuinely enjoying themselves without caring if anyone's watching them,” she muses on her experiences. “There's also such a tightknit feeling about the music community back in Manila. In LA, because it's such a large city and so many of the venues are massive, it's hard to get that same level of intimacy.” Despite this, she does say that there are a few gems around Los Angeles that give her the same vibe, particularly the Troubadour in West Hollywood where she’s gotten to see the likes of The National and The War on Drugs. “But in general, I find the Manila music scene so inspiring.”

Despite how amazing her experiences all sound, things aren’t always peachy keen. On her Tumblr, you’ll find her lamenting things every once in a while, most recently when someone called her a bitch for standing in the photo pit. “I explained to her nicely that photographers were only allotted three songs and would soon leave and she wouldn’t have it. So yeah, when that happens, it kinda sucks. We’re just trying to do our jobs,” she wrote in reply to a question from

an anonymous follower. But through experience, she’d learned to just let those things pass and to even find a bit of humor from them. When asked about the absolute worst thing she’d gone through, though, she says “I think the worst would be when I was just starting out and I allowed myself to get taken advantage of. You should always know your worth.”

From a humble start in a tiny Los Angeles bar, Rozette now finds herself getting to travel and experience different venues and music festivals around the US, from smaller shows in New York City to major events like the Pitchfork Music Festival and Life Is Beautiful. With so many great things happening one after the other, how will she be able to tell that she’s finally made it?

“I would love an opportunity to take portraits of Paul McCartney. Once that happens, I will feel like I've actually achieved something amazing,” she says. “And of course, Sufjan Stevens!” n

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18 essay

misery business DEAR FRIEND, How are you? How are things going?

Remember how you’d always say I was into weird shit? I’ve been into this rap group called the Sad Boys, including producers Yung Gud and Yung Sherman, fronted by the MC and most famous of the three, Yung Lean. Their music isn’t entirely Billboard Hot 100 material. Yung Gud and Yung Sherman produce trippy, monolithic beats boosted by hihats and 808s while Yung Lean raps over them with offbeat, sometimes corny lyrics. Their music videos range from homemade grainy videos of Yung Lean to visual collages that are an inventory of what they like— including Arizona Iced Tea, Fiji water, Japanese culture, and Pokémon.

Somehow, someway, I’m hooked on all of this. Not just me, obviously; so do other people. Sad Boys have been featured by the likes of Vice, Complex, and Fader. They’ve done world tours. Their videos have millions of hits.

But I can say that I’ve listened to them quite a bit. It’s gotten to the point that I share stuff on social media with captions like “crying on my Arizona tears” and “so emotional right now listening to this.” I’m telling you this just because of how big a fan I am. I would buy the shit out of their merch. I would set up a garage sale just to get enough funds for a concert ticket if they toured somewhere in Asia. Sadboys for life, man.

But recently I’ve been feeling bad—bad that while I share my love for Yung Lean and his crew on social media, I’ve been having some kind of dilemma. I recently found out that a friend of mine was diagnosed with depression. And that got me thinking—was I offending him by adopting this faux sad identity?

Have I stepped on anyone’s toes?

I look around me and I see people being open with their emotions, their sadness, and their frailty. I’ve had friends tell me about their mental illnesses in the middle of a story they were telling like it was part of their inventory of facts and tidbits about themselves they could drop with no hesitation. I’ve had friends confide it like a secret they couldn’t keep to themselves in the form of a soft whisper or a tap on the shoulder. I’ve found out, most of the time, indirectly—through other people who soften their words with caution. I responded the same to each utterance: silence, with a slow nod. I had the same somber awareness as the people who told me secondhand. This fear of wrong articulation, this fear of treading through the wrong lines of the language of the silent. I didn’t want to dismiss what they have as something less, something you can describe with a string of words. And even if you could find those strings of words, I wouldn’t know what they are in the language I speak.

And this is what unnerves me the most. I can’t understand depression. It’s invisible. I can only wrap the bandages when the wounds are already there. I can only be by your side in the emergency room when the damage has already been done. There are only cures to the physical manifestations but there’s no cure I know of that can take all your inner pain away.

In the vast, fast-paced world of the internet, I’ve noticed that the identity the internet grants—an anonymous one—is one where people can become more open with what they’ve been feeling. Dark recesses hold dark, intimate thoughts—open letters of suicidal tendencies and self-doubt. I could take a step back and think: Are these thoughts real or fabricated just for attention?

On social media, where anonymity is permitted but not fully taken, some people talk about their feelings in awkward ways. I go on Facebook and see all of these pages that share images about depression, selfharm, heartbreak, and suicide tinted with humor. Sometimes they’re so absurd that they’re funny. Sometimes they’re more straightforward. And people share these posts. You look at the comments and people—real people—tag their friends saying “hahaha it’s me” or “dude this is so u.”

I remember seeing a friend lying down on her bed, her eyes wide open looking as if she could see the sky beyond the walls of her room.

LEX CELERA attempts to navigate his discomfort surrounding conversations about depression and mental illness Illustration by MARTIN DIEGOR Her face was pale, and her hands were twiddling a lit cigarette that had almost run out, the smell of the smoke masked by an air purifier that made her room smell like burning flowers. Her fingers were singed by the ashes. She didn’t mind. Her body was there but I felt like she was imagining herself elsewhere. But we both knew that the girl I saw in her room was not a pretty sight.

I remember another friend, red-faced drunk, who, in his drunken stupor, admitted his mental illness. With one glance, I could see him as this brooding red-faced superstar who takes on the general public’s misunderstanding of him as a persona. One night stands and being on drugs almost 24/7 as your personality. What’s not to like?

Something straight out of the life of The Weeknd. But I don’t find it beautiful.

I didn’t find them glamorous, because there is nothing glamorous about sickness. It’s so hard to blame people who find an escape in the void during their better days. I respect their boundaries and I don’t know when to step in or sit it out. Am I enabling them? Or am I making them see joy amidst their condition?

One thing I do know is that you are not your pain. Your mental illness is just a single speck in the sky that is your life. It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. I understand if you don’t want to open up, or you don’t want anybody to know. I will be there when you want to talk about it, and I will be there during the long moments of silence that I fear. Maybe the best thing that I can say is nothing at all.

Maybe that’s how we could possibly bond— from your point of view rather than mine.

I am listening to one of Yung Lean’s songs, Emails, and in his drone-like voice I catch these lines: Lean steady depressed bruh Emotional boys in the VIP section One million plants in my room, my walls are melting Reach out a hand with no gravity cause nobody is helping When people share random stuff that tangentially points to depression, maybe it’s their way to channel that depression. If sharing memes about social anxiety or existential dread is their way of channeling what they’re feeling into something positive (positive in the sense that it makes people laugh), then who am I to judge?

I can never fully comprehend your situation, but I don’t have to comprehend fully to care about you. In this day and age people are becoming more open to what they’re feeling. But the stigma still persists, which is why I think openness comes in such awkward ways—memes and janky music videos with janky lyrics. We’re living in tough times. We align our identities with brands, celebrities, and movements that feel so hollow once we break through their shiny facades. We needlessly compare ourselves with each other. We are all tireless pilgrims looking for our place in the Earth, looking for real purpose that would make our lives more than just existence. And the burden of that pursuit can be too heavy to bear.

I don’t want there to be a time where I could have helped someone and failed to do so. I don’t want to have done too little or be too late.

Even talking about it won’t let me fully understand and won’t help you get through this. But the least and best I can do is try and do my best.

And I hope that’s enough. I hope you can see sincerity in the attempt.

“I’ve had friends tell me about their mental illnesses in the middle of a story they were telling, like it was part of their inventory of facts and tidbits of themselves they could drop with no hesitation.”

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Best, Your friend n

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20 essay

know your role BANDWAGONING IS NOT NEW AT ALL, most certainly not in professional basketball. When the Los Angeles Lakers ascended to the NBA Championship in the early 2000s, people would call the Lakers their favorite team because they wanted to root for Shaquille O’Neal and/or Kobe Bryant. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, you’ll find that they won’t know anyone else in the Lakers other than Shaq or Kobe.

The same people who go through basketball message boards and forums commenting “1st!!!” or “Lakers 4 lyf!!!” are the same people who won’t be able to tell Michael Cooper from James Worthy. Or that Pat Riley was once the Lakers’ head coach. Hell, the Lakers are more than a decade removed from the Shaq-Kobe dynasty, and that team still has bandwagon fans to this day.

Remember when the Decision happened and all those so-called Cavaliers fans traded in their Cavs jerseys for Miami Heat duds? These guys dropped their loyalty cards faster than Blake Griffin dropped the Clippers’ equipment manager.

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And then there are all these Warriors fans who only started rooting for Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors when they won a championship, or just hopped on the bandwagon when the team was chasing history by trying to get 73 wins. They’ll call the Warriors their favorite team and call themselves diehards, and even say that the Warriors are the gods of basketball, when in reality, that franchise went through four decades of futility before last season’s feel-good championship season.

What’s peculiar is that while everyone knows that being called a “bandwagon fan” isn’t positive, not everyone actually knows what a “bandwagon fan” is.

So let’s define it right here so we’re all on the same page: a bandwagon fan is someone who claims to be a fan of a person or a team who is experiencing a period of success. These fans lose interest in said person/team when they go through tough times. These people only start being vocal about their fandom during times of peak interest like the playoffs, even though they

STAN SY examines the phenomenon that is bandwagoning, to try and find a place where we can draw the line Illustration by ALYANA GARONG

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most probably didn’t give a shit about the team during the regular season. They aren’t likely to own, much less buy any team merchandise, since they probably don’t even know who plays for that team anyway, except for the team’s stars.

In contrast, a diehard fan is someone who sticks with an athlete/team through thick and thin. They feel a connection with that team through moments of victory and commiserate in its defeats. Immersed in the team’s history, they’re most likely able to rattle off names of past players and coaches, or even the years in which that team won the championship. Open their closets, and you’ll probably find merchandise of that team among their clothing.

Before we get any further, let me just clarify that sports fandom is not dichotomous. It’s not a case of you either being just a diehard or a bandwagoner. Sports fandom is more like a spectrum, with those two ends being polar opposites, and most fans falling somewhere in between.

So why do people hate bandwagon fans?

The reason bandwagoners get so much scorn from sports fans is that they’re such blatantly fair-weather fans—the type of friends you don’t need in your life.

Imagine all the people on your Facebook timeline. Assume you have 1,000 friends. If something bad should happen to you—like, say, a breakup, or getting fired, or losing a loved one—a good number of them would probably drop a Facebook comment or a message to express sympathy. But only 15 or 20 would really go out of their way to commiserate with you in person.

That doesn’t make you feel very good about the other 980 people on your feed, right?

That’s exactly how it is with bandwagon fans.

They’re there for all the good times, but are gone just as quickly when the ship starts to sink. The Miami Heat’s bandwagoners were the most awful examples in recent memory.

While the Heat won the NBA Championship in 2013, it took them the entire seven games to defeat the San Antonio Spurs. It was Game 6 in Miami, with the Spurs up 3-2, meaning if the Heat were to have lost (at home), the Spurs would have won the title. The Heat were down by seven points entering the fourth quarter, but kept the game within a single possession (defined as either two or three points apart) from the 8:00 mark until the final minute. The Heat actually had a three-point lead with two minutes remaining.

And yet the Heat’s wonderful fans thought it would be better to beat the traffic by leaving the game before the buzzer sounded. I’m no expert in Miami traffic, but I’m pretty sure it’s not as horrendous as the shit we have to go through in Manila. So the Heat’s so-called fans start to leave when “their team” was down by five points in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter. But guess what. The Heat came back to force overtime after taking advantage of the Spurs’ mistakes and punctuating it with a three-pointer by Ray Allen.

The fans who’d already left the game weren’t allowed back into the American Airlines Arena due to the venue’s protocol. They deserved not to witness that thrilling comeback anyway. The Heat would go on to win Game 6 after overtime, 103-100, and they would seal the series in Miami in Game 7.

And if you think that was a one-time thing, then you’re dead wrong. The Heat faithful would do the same thing the following year in the Finals, after the Heat just had a horrible game against the Spurs in Game 3 of that series, losing 11192. And then the following game, these fans even

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booed the Heat for being outclassed, outgunned, and outperformed by the same Spurs they defeated the previous year. Fucking wonderful.

That type of behavior reeks of a sense of entitlement a spoiled fanbase develops because they didn’t go through the heartache of seeing their team fail year after year. Compare that to the hardcore fans of the Warriors, who went through 40 years of hell within their franchise between their first championship in 1975 until they finally won the NBA Championship again last year. Not that the Warriors themselves don’t have any bandwagon fans either. (Just saying.)

Other reasons why bandwagon fans earn (and deserve) so much ire from other fans is that they claim to be diehards, especially on social media, by posting a photo of them attending a game (when they just happened to be tourists), or wearing team gear that was just given to them as a gift, or latching on to a team during its rise

If something bad should happen to you, a good number of your friends will probably drop a Facebook comment to express sympathy.

But only 15 or 20 will really go out of their way to commiserate with you in person.

That’s exactly how it is with bandwagon fans. to the top. And yet if they were to be quizzed about the team’s current roster, they wouldn’t know anything beyond the names of the team’s marquee players.

Ask the so-called Warriors fan nearest you if he knows who Shaun Livingston is, and why his championship story is actually a tear-jerker.

Or Festus Ezeli. Or Mo Speights. Hell, ask him if he knew that Steve Kerr was once a point guard on Michael Jordan’s Bulls teams in the mid’90s. If he answers with a wide-eyed expression of awe, then you know that motherfucker’s a bandwagoner.

Can’t we all just be fans?

Let it not be said that I am forbidding anyone from becoming a new fan of something. After all, you don’t become a hardcore fan without starting somewhere, and that “somewhere” is always as a new fan. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying LeBron James’s game and being a fan of how great he is, just as there’s nothing wrong with appreciating the beauty of the Spurs’ ball movement and the reverence that’s kept their

organization together. There’s also nothing wrong with being interested in this Warriors team that’s actively chasing the best record in NBA history.

Hell, it’s been the single biggest story in the league all year.

If you want to follow the Warriors because you want to root for them as they chase 73 wins, nothing should stop you from doing that. If you want to root for the Cavaliers because they’re stacked with talent, nothing should stop you from that either. There shouldn’t be anything that stops you from being a fan, a new fan at that.

But your fandom shouldn’t stop with just rooting for the flavor of the month and then looking for the next one right afterward. If you’ve found a player or a team you like, educate yourself on what makes them great, or what makes them fun to watch. Immerse yourself in the team’s history. Even the sadsacks of any professional league have stories to tell.

That’s what made the NBA’s “30 Teams, 30 Stories” tagline from a few years ago so simple yet so brilliant. Every team has a story to tell, good or bad. It’s up to you as a fan to frame that narrative as something that drives your fandom. For example, the Celtics didn’t win an NBA Championship for 22 years after 1986.

But that extended period of mediocrity in the team’s history made the climb to the top so much sweeter when the team finally won a title again in 2008.

Don’t take ownership of the team and its successes by saying things like, “My Warriors” or “our Championship.” That shit’s actually offensive to both fans and members of the team. After all, while you were channel-surfing comfortably on your couch through the first 46 minutes of the game, it was guys like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson who were physically grinding it out on the court and earning that ring. That’s not cool.

Let’s be real here, watching a sport is rarely fun when you have nobody to root for (or against).

Hell, a huge part of why people get into sports is because they’re getting behind somebody whether it’s to appreciate greatness, to witness a narrative unfold, or simply to watch another guy or team lose. Look no further than the sudden influx of Dallas Mavericks “fans” or supporters when they faced the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals—LeBron’s first season with the Heat.

It’s perfectly normal to find yourself rooting for different teams from time to time, especially when your own team isn’t part of the championship chase. It happens. Team success is part of the circle of life: the team is put together, grows together, reaches its peak, declines, flounders and fails, and then rebuilds to ascend again. Or you could just simply want to be part of the fans’ game of “my team is better than yours,” and honestly, who doesn’t like being part of the winning team?

All of that is fine and well, as long as you know your place, because sports fans are a tricky bunch. We’re territorial, and we hate it when people try to conform to what we like or who we support when it’s just part of some passing fad.

Not that we’re stopping anyone from becoming a fan—hop on if you want to, but do remember to learn about what it is you’re beginning to enjoy.

Appreciate what it is that makes real fans love the players or the team. Don’t alienate us (and yourself) by mouthing off about this and that when you don’t know anything. In the words of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, shut your mouth and know your role. n

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Interviews by GRACE DE LUNA

Picking the creative brains behind some of Manila’s best youth brands

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kahlea wears salad day

Q&A with WILLAR MATEO, Salad Day • What’s your aesthetic? Something cute, fun, witty, alternative, and stupid! How do you balance business and creativity? I make stuff that is easy to buy, so I have funds to do the more creative and high-concept pieces. I also get to sell those, but to a very specific market. What do you hope to see in Philippine fashion? An audience for local fashion designers, an audience that will collect pieces that are handmade, intricate, and are made with effort. Won’t that be beautiful if you see something like that on the street? What’s the best thing about your job?

Everything. I really enjoy sewing. I sew almost everything myself when I make a collection. The most difficult? When I think too much and it gets in my head. Who do you wish to see wearing your pieces? I really love Azealia Banks. Maybe a video game character, Katya Zamolodchikova, and Grimes. What is youth? My soul is very youthful, I like things that make me feel childlike, playful, and witty. Youth is when you don't worry a lot, like about bills and other responsibilities. I’m not saying that's not fun but I just miss those days when I would just wait for my allowance.

Photography by PAOLO CRODUA Styling by JED GREGORIO

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timothy wears randolf Q&A with RJ SANTOS, Randolf • What’s your aesthetic? Randolf focuses on young, genderless clothing with a pop art reference. How do you balance business and creativity? Being mindful of what the market wants and infusing these key elements with my own ideas for the brand helps.

Market study really is key, I think. What do you hope to see in Philippine fashion? Malls and other establishments that support young local brands and designers. We need this! What’s the best thing about your job? Having control over everything, and being able to set the direction of the brand.

The most difficult? Managing everything! Who do you wish to see wearing your pieces? I’ve always wanted to see people I don’t know, in the same venue, wearing Randolf. When you design, do you consciously try to make it young? I guess yes, because Randolf is about being young… at heart, haha! For me, youth is being uninhibited.

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elys wears os Q&A with PAUL JATAYNA and BRUCE VENIDA, OS Accessories • Can you describe your brand’s aesthetic? Skeletor, ‘70s BDSM porn, Dimmu Borgir, Rita Repulsa black magic, Dazed and Confused October 2007 issue. How do you balance business and creativity? It has always been 90 percent business and 10 percent design. After the sculpting and the sampling and all the fun creative work, then it’s the business side, which involves finding the right suppliers, managing production and sales, meeting deadlines, while balancing liquid cash, marketing, accounting, and so much more kick in right after. What do you hope to see in Philippine fashion? Local retail stores to start investing in independent brands in wholesale terms. Who do you wish to see wearing your pieces? PAUL: A new boss villain character in Mortal Kombat. BRUCE: An S&M fantasy porn directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. What’s youth? Rave, Ghost Fighter, the Sega Saturn.

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alice and amrit wear proudrace Q&A with RIK RASOS , Proudrace • What’s your aesthetic? Minimal with maximal effect. Youth culture and nostalgia-driven. “Elevated basics” is probably the best description for the label. How do you balance business and creativity? It is difficult. You really have to think about the marketability of your clothes while trying to keep the integrity of your label. But for us, keeping it real all the time and following our instincts worked well for the brand. What do you hope to see in Philippine fashion? I would like to see more directional young brands who want to go global. The most difficult part of your job? Sustainability. Here in the Philippines, fashion is a niche market that only a few people have the luxury of buying. Logistics because it is really hard to run a label independently and of course, colonial mentality. We often compare our local designers to international labels. We just need to support local without reservations. What are your future plans for the brand? More collaborations with our favorite brands. A flagship outside of the country. When you design, do you consciously try to make it young? Our label is definitely youth culture-driven but there’s no conscious effort to make it that way. I think you need the right balance of being contemporary and classic to keep your design fresh. Youth is forever.

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noah wears the artisan clothing Q&A with KIX SUAREZ, The Artisan Clothing • How did the brand start? Artisan started out with one tailor, Mang Zaldy. He was our family tailor and after selling shoes became such a saturated market, I started the brand. The Artisan had a nice ring to it, seemed rock and roll enough (i.e. The Strokes, The Vines) but also seemed very refined since back then we were doing a lot of tailored menswear pieces. This all happened before people called everything artisanal. Can you describe your brand’s aesthetic? DIY or die. How do you balance business and creativity? Most of our business decisions are fueled by gut feel. We’re a very emotionally unstable brand. Yes, we do look into what our customer wants but at the same time, we try to give them something more than just a regurgitation of what’s already out there. More than just clothes, we want people to feel something from our stories, our campaigns and hopefully they relate to it and support the brand. What do you hope to see in Philippine fashion? Sincerity. What are your future plans for the brand? We want to start taking on custom orders. We’ve done this before for suits but now I want it to be purely for the clothes that we have been creating. We also want to make more than just clothes. We want to expand to perfume, beer, whiskey, whatever. What’s youth?

Youth’s the best damn time of anybody’s life.

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siobhan wears neon island Q&A with CHI LOYZAGA-GIBBS and AIRA MEDINA, Neon Island • How did the brand start? CHI: Aira and I started Neon Island as a weekend side project. We both had teaching jobs and we felt the need for a creative outlet. We wanted to make clothes that celebrate the local, hence our tropical aesthetic. We were inspired by our beach trips! Can you describe your brand’s aesthetic? Our brand combines a tropical, whimsical, and vintageinspired aesthetic. What gives us this quirk and really sets us apart are our hand-drawn prints. How do you balance business and creativity? AIRA: It’s important to find that balance between putting out what we really like and what really sells. What makes Chi and I work is that we both have different focuses. CHI: Me on brand and identity while Aira focuses on the figures and keeping it running. We also make sure that every item is in sync with our brand identity. What do you hope to see in Philippine fashion? We hope to see more brands be socially responsible. We want Filipino brands to stop making stuff in China and start supporting local communities. Who do you wish to see wearing your pieces? Ariana Grande or Gigi Hadid! What’s youth? Youth is taking risks, not being afraid to make mistakes, and keeping things fun. n

Makeup by SARI CAMPOS (for Siobhan) and SYLVINA LOPEZ (for Kahlea, Elys, Amrit, and Noah)

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Photography by PAOLO CRODUA Styling by JED GREGORIO

Iñigo Pascual hates it when you call him talentless and entitled. Turns out, he has a lot to say and even more to show Interview by DENISE FERNANDEZ

WATCHING OLD FILIPINO ROMANCE movies had always been a favorite pastime of mine. Back when I was still in elementary school, I’d come home from school, lounge a bit in my room, and automatically tune into my favorite channel (apart from the usual Disney, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network) Cinema One. My favorite Filipino movies were the ones from the ’90s and the early 2000s—pure, old-fashioned, unadulterated kilig from the likes of Claudine Barretto, Rico Yan, Judy Ann Santos, and of course, Piolo Pascual.

From watching 9 Mornings alone in my college dorm room to shamelessly going to an actual cinema to catch Dan Villegas’ The Break Up Playlist, I knew a Piolo film would never disappoint.

Fast forward years after elementary school. I received a text one evening from my features editor. I’d like for you to write the cover story.

Oh wow, I replied. For the first time ever, I was assigned the cover story. Who? Iñigo Pascual.

I squinted at my phone. Iñigo...who?

When I looked him up on Google, I felt like my entire existence of being a closet cheesy-Filipino-romance-movie fan was a lie. How could I not know that Piolo had a son? And I was about to interview him next week?

Prior to my revelation on the internet, I had zero knowledge of this budding teenage idol. Apparently, neither did some Piolo fans, until he finally trotted him out into the limelight by his side. As far as I was concerned, Iñigo Pascual was an enigma; was he truly a talent to be sought after or was it all petty hype built upon his father’s success? Most people who aren’t familiar with him would probably think the same. And though I’d spent most of my days before the shoot abusing Google for any bit of information on him, he stayed as such, until I witnessed one particular moment before the interview.

It is eerily quiet when I enter the studio for the first time—save for a couple of interns moving around and about to set everything in its proper place, barely anyone makes a single noise. I run through my list of questions hastily written in my oversized notebook and try to remember anything my editor advised me. One thing seems to stand out more than others.

His nickname is the “Ultimate Teen Heartthrob.” Do whatever you want with that.

Said ultimate teen heartthrob is on the opposite side of the room, quietly conversing with his managers. I know I am not particularly nervous for the interview (despite my lack of experience with teen heartthrobs or any

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similar species), though I am painfully aware of the gargantuan shadow that looms over him and his career. My train of thought breaks when an intern abruptly comes up to me and the rest of the editorial staff present and says, “There’s been a request for music,” while he nudges his head toward today’s cover subject.

We see that Iñigo brought his own speakers with him and allow him to play whatever he wants. He sings, dances, snaps his fingers the moment the music starts. I watch him closely throughout the entire shoot and realize that he never stops dancing or singing; this boy is certainly not one to sit still. He moves naturally, gracefully. Observing him simply having fun with the music gives you that feeling you’re supposed to feel when watching an effortlessly talented entertainer onstage—utter enchantment. It was then when I knew for sure—regardless of his heritage and whether you’re aware of it or not, Iñigo Pascual was born to perform.

The first thing that I notice about Iñigo is that he speaks easily. A quarter of the way into the interview and it already feels like a casual conversation between two friends catching up. He candidly discusses his upbringing away from the spotlight, his many interests as an adolescent, and the summers he spent with his father. While Piolo was breaking multiple box office records and building his name as one of the biggest actors in Philippine show business, Iñigo lived a quiet life in Los Angeles, California with his mother, who’d simply wanted her son to have an upbringing away from the limelight that his heritage brought. No one had really known who Iñigo was, only the fact that Piolo had a son abroad.

Growing up as a teenager in LA, Iñigo was free to be whomever he wished—a regular kid who took the bus to school, got bullied, and juggled football and musical theater rehearsals. Early on in his childhood, he’d already been experimenting with various forms of performing arts, from being in a band and joining a dance crew to participating in school musicals.

Iñigo even quit football after getting the role of Link Larkin (beating out a reasonable number of white guys more ethnically suited for the part) in his school production of Hairspray. Playing sports was just no match for acting.

His decision to join the industry was inevitable, rooting from an early childhood memory. “Ever since I was a kid, I really wanted to be in that area, that field,” Iñigo says. “There’s this one really memorable moment when my

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“To be honest, when people introduce me as [the Ultimate Teen Heartthrob], I cringe. I want to work on my own title, not something that was just passed down to me. I’d like my own identity.” dad had this show in Chicago. After the show, [the theater] was already empty but the lights were still on. I went onstage by myself and looked out there, and said, ‘All right, I’m next. This is what I want to do. I’m next.’”

His father was initially against Iñigo going into entertainment, attempting to talk him out of it in the beginning. But considering his history of performing at an early age, Iñigo knew there was no stopping him; not even his own superstar of a dad could. He recalls nearly joining a boy band as his biggest opportunity to turn his dreams into a reality abroad, away from anyone who would recognize him as anything other than his own person—Iñigo Pascual. After being scouted while singing at a school dinner auction, Iñigo flew out to Nashville, Tennessee to audition for the boy band’s label. Though he eventually passed, Iñigo found the contract too overbearing and constricting. “I received the contract and thought that it was too one-sided. They were asking for too much, about seven to 14 years. I’d basically give up myself and my youth,” he elaborates. “I never thought I’d have an opportunity in the States. I wanted that because I didn’t want people to say ‘Oh, you just got into showbiz in the Philippines because of your dad, because you got an easy way into it.’”

Though he was painfully aware of the pressure he would eventually face, he decided to try out his luck in the Philippine entertainment industry for the sake of pursuing his passion. Eventually, Iñigo made his film debut in Antoinette Jadaone’s Relaks, It’s Just Pag-ibig at the tender age of 17.

The young actor already managed to make a good impression due to his dedication to the role, his own script dog-eared and marked with scribbles and notes. The projects from both cinema and television came flowing in naturally after that, with Iñigo garnering three feature films in his first half year in showbiz, causing him to finally move out of the States and settling down in the Philippines. Now 18 and nearly two years into the industry, he has learned that it’s definitely no walk in the park, going from taping to shooting to running on four hours of sleep. And yet he eagerly marches forward like the trooper he really is.

And then there’s that unavoidable topic that he can never seem to escape—his parentage and the expectations that come along with it.

While most young Filipino celebrities simply worry about making a name for themselves, Iñigo is overwhelmed with both that and how the public and the media are obsessed with viewing him as the second coming of Piolo Pascual. He mentions the pressures of being his father’s son right before I even get the chance to and how he desperately wanted to make it on his own and without the influence of his father’s name. As large as his own fan base grew throughout his success, so did hateful comments from internet trolls. Fuckboy. Untalented. Only riding on his father’s fame. Iñigo was no stranger to prejudice and stereotypes, to the point where he’s had directors and peers from Star Magic deem him an entitled snob.

Regardless, he isn’t having any of it, nor does he allow anyone to break his motivation to succeed. His words flow without pause or stutter, only complete confidence. Iñigo is no doubt sure of himself. “I’m human, so I get hurt when people say bad things about me and say I’m not good enough. They expect me to be at a certain level where I need to know how to act good or look good because my dad is like this,” he says. “I mean my dad didn’t start off as the Piolo Pascual right away. He had to work his way up there and he had to mature.

“That’s how you turn into whoever you are now, and I’m working on that, I’m working on what I can show, what I can bring to the audience as myself. All the expectations and all the stuff that they say, I use it as motivation to work harder, not to just prove [myself] to them but show to them that I’m here for a reason and I’m here because I want this, not because it was given to me. You don’t just get it and that’s it. You have all the opportunities but you have to work, you have to deliver. That’s the

hardest part. Of course, even if you’re not an actor’s son, there’s always expectations. There’s always that certain expectation that people have on every person, but for me, it’s on a different level because of my dad.”

Being the next Piolo is not Iñigo’s priority. To him, it’s more about focusing on himself and his own work, his own talents. “It’s an honor to be Piolo’s son and I feel blessed to have him as my dad but I don’t want it to make me feel like I have to reach a certain level or a certain expectation. I just want to be able to satisfy myself and to perform. My goal is not to reach whatever my dad has reached. It’s scary, I mean how do you even reach that point, right?”

Further into the conversation, I challenge him a bit. So how are you different from your father? How do you stand out from all these other young male celebrities in the business?

He gives a coy smile and says without hesitation, “My music.”

If there’s anyone who shares the same excitement as his many fans over his plans to release an album by the latter half of the year, it’s Iñigo himself. Possibly even more so, since his love and passion for music burns brighter than his passion for acting, already apparent through his online song covers and stage performances. Well-versed in piano, guitar, and ukulele, Iñigo writes his own music and is hoping to have three to four originals on his upcoming pop-R&B album. Although he’s better known as an actor, Iñigo would someday want to be recognized as a recording artist in the future. He’s taking the risk despite his apprehensions. “It’s difficult to release music here. In the mainstream, it’s more of business than an art.

Sadly, it’s really more on the business side.”

I suggest that perhaps he could go independent, and he leans back and grins approvingly. There is a spark in his eye and I could immediately tell that this guy does not joke around about the things he loves most.

Try stripping him of fame and relevance, but one thing’s for sure—you can never take passion away from Iñigo Pascual.

“Why not? Probably, in the future. If my music doesn’t pick up here in the Philippines, I’m still going to continue writing music. I’m still going to continue producing my own music even if I have to personally record it and produce it all by myself. I’ll still do it because it’s a passion. It’s not something that I want to do as a business. It’s personal.”

It’s 3:35 and I’m only given until 3:45 for the interview with Iñigo (“I’m so sorry!” he exclaims rather endearingly. “I talk too much.”). I notice our art director trying to get my attention as he waves and taps his watch. I nod hastily and turn back to Iñigo, my editor’s reminder resounding in my thoughts. So you’re the Ultimate Teen Heartthrob, I mention, the nickname derived from his father’s ‘Ultimate Heartthrob.’ Iñigo’s face scrunches up in embarrassment and he sighs. “Oh, man. I don’t deserve that title.”

You don’t think you deserve it?

“To be honest, when people introduce me as that, I cringe. I want to work on my own title, not something that was just passed down to me. I’d like my own identity.”

Like any regular teenager, Iñigo Pascual is still stumbling through the ropes of his youth and his budding career. Despite massive success within such a brief period of time, he claims he’s still learning, still getting starstruck over peers both older and younger (he cites Coco Martin, Sam Concepcion, Daniel Padilla, and Ylona Garcia among others), still attempting different roles and various forms of art, still trying to get an entire Filipino audience to acknowledge him as Iñigo Pascual rather than the son of Piolo Pascual.

And despite everything that he inevitably must endure, there is no apprehension in him gunning for an identity, a career he could truly be proud of—only pure confidence and self-assurance. That is, I believe, where Iñigo Pascual wins. n

Makeup by SYLVINA LOPEZ All apparel from BENCH

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GARRISON top, APC pants, ADIDAS x RAF SIMONS shoes

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it

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takes

H&M top, ADIDAS x RAF SIMONS shoes, stylist’s own pants

Photography by KOJI ARBOLEDA

Styling by VINCE CRISOSTOMO

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RANDOLF top, MARC JACOBS pants, ADIDAS sneakers

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TOMMY HILFIGER top, MARC JACOBS pants and sneakers

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UMBRO shirt, UNIQLO reworked pants

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feat. RASMUS and JONATHAN, ELITE MANILA

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take

Photography by PAOLO CRODUA

me

Styling by JED GREGORIO

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TOPSHOP dress, WAREHOUSE one-shoulder dress (worn underneath), and shirtdress worn as wrap

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MISS SELFRIDGE jacket

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WAREHOUSE dress

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MISS SELFRIDGE overalls, FOREVER 21 off-shoulder top, SM ACCESSORIES gloves

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TOPSHOP top and sweater (worn underneath)

feat. WANDA

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louis in t he dayt ime What’s a city boy from Paris doing farming chickens in Bulacan?

By CEDRIC S. REYES Photography by JACK ALINDAHAO

AT 1:35 P.M., Louis Faure’s iPhone alarm goes off, a turbulent siren to signal the end of a Parisian’s nap. Most days, this alarm serves to wake Louis from his afternoon snooze in a bamboo villa, the coolest spot in Gawad Kalinga’s Enchanted Farm. It is his second time to wake up in the villa today; the first time, he woke up at 5:30 a.m.

Since he arrived in the Philippines a year and a half ago, a newly minted French intern for Gawad Kalinga, this has been his life. Long nights have been dropped in favor of even longer days. A smoking habit has been curbed to nonexistence. A tall glass of calamansi juice has replaced his cup of coffee in the morning. Louis needs that energy, because on top of his regular break-of-dawn waking time, he has a long list of tasks to tend to. That includes repairing drainage systems, replacing chicken feeds, and cleaning up driveways for local children to play in.

Today, that list includes an interview with me. I ask him how long it took to get to Makati from the farm in Bulacan. “About three hours,” he says offhandedly. A tricycle, a jeep, a train, and another jeep. He describes the rest of his day. After his glass of calamansi juice, he writes down everything he wants to get done for the rest of the day, sometimes for the rest of the week or the month if he’s feeling optimistic. By 6 a.m., he’s in a different part of the farm, ready to get his hands dirty with everyday administrative tasks to keep the farm running smoothly. Louis has practically taken everything in the farm under his wing, from the farmers to the baby chicks, all of whom rely on his resiliency to get things done.

He’s in charge of monitoring the well-being of everyone and everything in the Enchanted Farm.

Of all these, it’s the chickens that top the pecking order. “The chickens are what ground me,” he says. Louis is more than the dirtied hands of Gawad Kalinga; he’s also the charming face of its advocacy. He tells me fondly about times when he would tend to his chickens in the morning and then rush to Manila at night for modeling gigs. He uses every opportunity to raise awareness for the cause of Gawad Kalinga and the youth’s capability for affecting change. “We have the greatest potential to have the greatest impact on humanity.”

I ask him what he does aside from tending to the chickens of the farm, and he says with a laugh that he often goes to speak at conferences in other parts of the world on behalf of Gawad Kalinga, one of the more memorable of these being in his own university in Paris.

Louis has one term left before he earns his undergraduate degree in Entrepreneurship from HEC Paris, which he specifically likens to one of our

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own universities in terms of the student body’s brat quotient. “The bulk of the university’s population comes from the highest society in France: big, rich families.” In his university, everyone lives on-site. Students are required to take a gap year during their stay. For them, the cream of the French crop, practically the entire stay is a celebration of their admittance to what Louis calls a “campus with no rules.”

Louis says he never felt completely at home in HEC. His restless nature led him to do something or other whenever the opportunity presented itself. A grocery store was put up. Boxing was done three to four times a week. Musicals were danced in. And yet, when the store closed shop for the day, the gloves came off, and the curtains were drawn, something still felt amiss. In the classroom, he was taught how to generate margins, motivate employees, and acquire capital. Beyond it, Louis was still looking for a sense of purpose, a why to fuel the how.

This was around the time he found Gawad Kalinga.

He didn’t know anything about the Philippines, but he did know a lot about GK. He mentions that the social enterprise is big in France. It was here that he found a business model that finally made sense to him.

He says he found the opportunity to “change the face of an economy.”

He’s getting there, slowly. It’s no easy task, though not without perks. When he arrived, it quickly became apparent that his old lifestyle had to stay across the Atlantic. To wake up at 5:30 a.m., Louis says he needs to be in bed by 10 p.m. This is in stark contrast to his days in university, where, he says, “Everything happens at night.” These days, Louis much prefers sunlight. After his noontime siesta, it’s crunch time at his computer, working on presentations for conferences, or accounting for the farm’s expenses, or making new business plans, ticking things off the day’s to-do list as he goes along. Things will usually be done by 6 p.m., after which he allows himself to check his social media accounts.

“I only look at my Facebook after 6 p.m.,” he says of his internet habits.

“Social media can be very useful but it can also be very dangerous. One hour before bed, turn your phone on airplane mode. You’ll sleep like a baby.”

I have no doubt that Louis Faure rests easy. Maybe the fact that his body has retired from the occasional cigarette’s nicotine helps. Or maybe, it’s knowing that kicking his habit has set a better example for his mates on the farm. Either way, he lies down in Gawad Kalinga’s bamboo villa knowing that tomorrow, he will build a better world, before 10 p.m.n

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