Scout: 2016 March

MA RCH 2016

A LDEN RI C HA RD S

smash hi t S CO U T M AG . P H

Scout 18 Cover.indd 1

FREE MA GAZINE!

I S S U E NO . 1 8

2/16/16 5:56 PM

U

2/23/16 12:11 12:11PM PM 2/23/16

U

Untitled-11 11 Untitled-1 Untitled-1

2/23/16 12:11 3/4/16 1:51PM PM 2/23/16 12:11 PM

PM PM

Untitled-1 Untitled-1 11

MPP M

contents 8 entertainment the 2016 scout oscars

10 music

30 essay

ninno rodriguez

on social awkwardness

12 sports

32 on the cover

14 gaming

38 fashion

16 food

48 back stor y

k o b e b r y a n t ’s r e t i r e m e n t

the business of streaming

unfamiliar thirst quenchers

18 beauty

alden richards

crazy eight

4 portfolio

photography by nathan bajar

the office of culture and design

high brow

22 music

vaporwave

24 culture

spoken word poetry

Scout 18.indb 1

2/23/16 5:03 PM

Yohanna spends time with her children, inside their home on the 17th floor of the Tower of David in Caracas, Venezuela

26 portfolio

photography by alejandro cegarra

40 on the cover To m m y E s g u e r r a

w w w. sco utm ag . ph

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 Ni単a Muallam Managing Editor Cai Maroket Art Director Martin Diegor Features Editor Romeo Moran Editorial Assistant Nico Pascual Denise Fernandez Cont ribut ing Writers Lex Celera, Alfonso Manalastas, Stan Sy, Lukas Velunta Contributing Photographers Paolo Crodua, Ralph Hilario, Ralph Mendoza, Artu Nepomuceno Contributing Illustrator Bryan David Arcebal Interns Edward Joson, Cedric Reyes, Adrian Ubando, Daniella Uichico

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 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-Iba単ez Senior Accou nt Execut ives Thea Ordiales, Abby Ginaga Accou nt Execut ives Charm Banzuelo, Andie Zu単iga, 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

Get your free copy from selected National Book Stores and Powerbooks.

See the full list of distribution points at scoutmag.ph/getscout

OR

Production Manager Jan Cariquitan Production Assistant Maricel Gavino Final Art Supervisor Dennis Cruz FA A r t i s t Kristine Paz

Editorial Consultant Ria Francisco-Prieto Board Chairperson Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez Finance Advisor and Treasurer J. Ferdinand De Luzuriaga

Scout 18.indb 2

Read it online for free in Buqo.ph or Magzter.com

2/23/16 5:03 PM

Le tte r fr o m the E d ito r The recent Time spotlighted a new Alzheimer’s pill, a “radical new drug that could change old age.” Apart from this cover story, a chunk of the issue was devoted to discussing developments in the study of aging. According to the introductory essay by Laura Carstensen, founder of the Stanford Center on Longevity, people in the 20th century have managed to grow old—way past the record set by the history of evolution. Today, our generation of humans are able to reach the octogenarian mark and beyond. “An important first step in creating a culture that supports long life is recognizing that long-term planning doesn’t come naturally to humans,” Carstensen says. “Nothing in our evolutionary heritage prepared our brains to think clearly about the distant future or, for that matter, to take much notice as the effects of our daily habits—which accumulate over the course of many years— begin to present themselves.”

That we are incapable of efficient long-term planning is pretty self-evident. Why take on that daunting task when you have the convenient option not to? I’d be surprised if I meet anyone my age who has seriously thought about life after retirement. Oddly, it’s not a millennial virtue to do so. Is #YOLO a poor band-aid to this evolutionary deficiency?

In an interview with The Paris Review, when asked about what it was like to be an American in Paris in the 1920s, the poet Archibald MacLeish said, “To be young in a time like that was incredible luck—to be young and in Paris.” This makes me wonder about what it means to be young in Manila today; not only about how youth is lived, but how we are collectively shaping a future landscape where our older selves will have to live in, too. The thought of it generates in me both fear and fuel.

During our cover shoot, I was talking to Mark Sablan, GMA Network’s head of PR and events, about the dramatic shift Alden Richards’ career has experienced in the past year.

Mark described how busy Alden is, the long nights and the many responsibilities attached to piling commitments, and how the 24-year-old has chosen to view these burdens as indispensable parts of an unmissable opportunity. He frequently referred to it as “Alden’s time.” Alden is wary of the fleeting nature of fame. It’s entirely possible that, as MacLeish put it, incredible luck is at the core of it, but Alden isn’t taking anything for granted.

@scou tmagph scoutmag@h i p.ph ERRATUM In our previous issue, we ran a comic which we failed to credit to artist Dani Chuatico.

Scout apologizes for the oversight.

Scout 18 Staffbox.indd 3

3/7/16 3:43 PM

4

portfolio

pretend

Scout 18.indb 4

2/23/16 5:03 PM

portfolio

5

i’m not here Brooklyn-based documentary photographer Nathan Bajar talks about the struggles of starting out and standing your ground

By MARTIN DIEGOR

Scout 18.indb 5

2/23/16 5:03 PM

6

portfolio

Clockwise from left: “A portrait of Micaela, my sister.”

“Michael, my brother, wiping away sweat off his face.”

“This is my mom with flowers I gave her on Mother’s Day.” “A former lover showing me her panties.”

“My aunt and cousin looking outside our house in Manila.”

Previous page: “This is the view from my front door at my parent’s house in New Jersey.”

Scout 18.indb 6

2/23/16 5:03 PM

portfolio

7

BEYOND CAT GIFS and existential rants, the Internet is a pretty cool thing.

You can follow the celebrities you look up to (hangovers and all) or you can tweet the president about inconsolable traffic. This is how Scout got hold of photographer Nathan Bajar—through an email introducing himself and his work. It’s also the same way he got gigs with Time and Vice.

“Last year, I spent three to four months trying to email editors. I don’t really have the contacts I need, so I just went online and checked magazine stands to find out who the editors were.”

Nathan was able to work on a story on Harlem photographer Alix Dejean for Time, who has documented music superstars like Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson. But within the same article that profiled Dejean, writer Marisa Schwartz Taylor notes Nathan’s bond with the photography icon is quite unlikely. She quotes Dejean, “Nobody takes my picture. But with [Nathan] I’m relaxed. I feel that I can be behind the camera and in front.”

It’s probably a testament to Nathan’s talent to delve into the personal sides of his subjects. His body of work reflects a nonchalance that makes it seem like you’re getting the trusted opportunity of going through a private family album.

“I hung out with Dejean for about half a year. He was actually paranoid with me around, but I got his trust, and trust is pretty important. He even taught me to be careful in trusting others and how I market myself. Trust is hard to describe, but it’s basically trying to be sensitive. I try to not overcalculate the shots. Some people can make good portraits but it’s hard to make pictures that really capture a person.”

Nathan started out with a photography class in New Jersey. He credits his creative growth to his mentor Stacy Morrison, who exposed him to the culture of photography and all the iconic talents that contributed to it. Nathan recalls, “Back then, I was just shooting in black and white, but I was blown away by all the colors that can be used in a photograph. She also taught us how to make a solid with Mr. Carter. Now, he interns for documentary photographer Brian Finke, volume of work and putting pieces together and tell a whom he assists in shooting assignments for National Geographic in places story. After that class, like the University of Florida and even Peru.

I knew photography “I really want to pursue photography as a career. I love the medium was the thing I and it has offered me a lot: I met my friends and I’ve gone to a lot of places wanted to do for the because of it. And I guess, even if I don’t earn from it, I think I’d always be rest of my life.” taking pictures.”

Since, he has So he moved out of Jersey to hustle in Brooklyn, taking up the same covered the New York oxygen that New Yorkers seem to get a high from. Art openings and show Comic Con for Vice launches dotted the calendar and Nathan made sure he soaked up the and the Brooklyn Hip scene. More importantly, he met people, even if it’s an awkwardness he Hop Festival, where struggles with. he got trailer time “In general, I don’t really know how to talk to people. It’s weird. I get so formal around strangers when I just wanna get to know them. And in a business like this, you meet a lot of people, and there’s an odd energy in art events where people are just trying to introduce themselves to everyone.

After a while, I realized it doesn’t hurt at all to just go up to someone and say their work is amazing. I once went to an Alec Soth opening and I gave him a print of my work. I also told him how his work is really important to me. He sent me an email after saying that the photograph was really beautiful and that was kinda awesome.”

Nathan admits though that doubt still stems from approval and validation from people and editors he’s met with, but it’s something he has learned to acknowledge and simply dismiss. “Photography is universal and it’s there to be enjoyed by anyone. Not everyone can be good at it, but at the end of the day, it really depends on who’s looking at your pictures,” he shares. After all, he’s gone this far in getting more than his foot through the door into the industry. And if no one opens it for him, Nathan would just surely open the door himself. n

“I try to not over-calculate the shots.

Some people can make good portraits but it’s hard to make pictures that really capture a person.”

Scout 18 Nathan Bajar.indd 7

3/7/16 3:45 PM

entertainment

the scout oscars

8

Scout 18 Oscars.indd 8

#OscarsSoWhite got you down for this year’s Academy Awards?

We’ve got you covered with the real winners (in our eyes)

By ROMEO MORAN and NICO PASCUAL Illustrations by EDWARD JOSON

SCOUT BEST ACTRESS Brie Larson, Room

SCOUT BEST ACTOR Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl Yes, Leo might have slept inside the carcass of a horse, but he never had to internalize the all-too-real struggle of a transsexual living in a world that doesn’t understand her. We’re just afraid Eddie Redmayne doesn’t end up typecast after this.

SCOUT BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Sylvester Stallone, Creed He was robbed of Best Actor when Rocky came out in 1976. It should not happen again here.

SCOUT BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road She wasn’t even nominated for this, but her gamechanging role as Furiosa deserves a win here.

BEST MUSICAL PERFORMANCE Coma the Doof Warrior (aka the Flamethrower Guitar Guy), Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST MUSICAL SCORE Star Wars: The Force Awakens We’ve gone back and forth between this and Creed but eventually settled for this new John Williams classic, because how can you ever beat John frickin’ Williams?

New original motifs “Rey’s Theme” and “March of the Resistance” are goosebumpinducers. We’ll be surprised if this doesn’t win the real Oscars.

It was a toss-up between her and Saoirse Ronan, but you have to hand it to Larson; she carried this emotional trainwreck of a film on her shoulders. *cries*

It was lit.

PROTESTED BY PETA AWARD The Revenant

BEST CGI The bear, The Revenant Leo would object to this award, but the bear helped make the movie a whole lot better.

Bravo, Nature.

BEST BURN “Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra,” from Steve Jobs

Sure Leo, you just lost your son and your dignity.

But did you have to throw yourself (and your horse) off a cliff and then proceed to sleep inside it? Shame on you.

Fassbender put Seth Rogen in his place with this well-executed burn. Steve Jobs – 1; Everyone else – 0

3/7/16 3:47 PM

entertainment

9

WORST NIGERIAN ACCENT Will Smith, Concussion

BEST USE OF PHYSICS Matt Damon, The Martian

BEST NIGERIAN ACCENT Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation

Scientists everywhere were collectively shaking their heads when Matt decided to “fly” to safety using escaping air from his spacesuit.

Idris Elba is literally a Norse god. He can do everything.

Despite publicly stating that he can do anything he puts his mind to, he cannot do everything he puts his mind to. Sorry Fresh Prince, but your West-Philadelphiaborn-and-raised slips out sometimes.

MOST IMAGINATIVE SCENE Abstract Thought Room, Inside Out Pixar gave us a visually stunning and humorous art/neurology/philosophy/ psychology/whatever lesson in one single take.

REAL JOURNALISM IS NOT DEAD AWARD Spotlight

MOST ANNOYING SPEECH CHANGE Mark Ruffalo talking out of one side of his mouth, Spotlight Wanted to smack him across his face for talking like that.

HARDEST NAME TO PRONOUNCE THIS YEAR Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Thank you to the Boston Globe team for rekindling the aging practice of looking through boxes of dusty newsprints and jotting down notes on actual paper. (How did people survive without using recorders?)

Shir-say? Shower-say?

Say-oars? Nope, it’s actually Shir-suh. Thanks, Celtic language family for always having the hardest phonetics!

MOST FUCKED-UP FATHER FIGURE Idris Elba as the Commandant, Beasts of No Nation

THE BIRDMAN AWARD FOR BEST SINGLE TAKE SEQUENCE The Donnie Johnson vs. Leo Sporino fight, Creed

BEST MOVIE AT FOLLOWING A FORMULA Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Creed (tie) But don’t act like we’re throwing shade.

Sometimes, when you stick faithfully to a template and execute it with heart and soul, it can be the best thing in the world.

MOST HEARTWRENCHING DEATH SCENE Bing Bong left in the abyss, Inside Out and Kylo Ren killing his daddy Han Solo, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (tie).

Scout 18 Oscars.indd 9

Despite everything he puts Agu through (including rape) he ends up having his respect. Until he doesn’t.

This scene is the cinematic equivalent of floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. Watch it.

3/7/16 3:47 PM

10 music

point

blank

Rapper Ninno Rodriguez is firing shots with his debut album “Third Culture Kid” Interview and styling by MARTIN DIEGOR Photography by ARTU NEPOMUCENO

Scout 18 Ninno.indd 10

2/24/16 3:38 PM

From left: GARBSTORE denim jacket and ASSC Get Weird tee; PERIOD CORRECT coach jacket, all available at Commonwealth. Opposite: PLEASURES Hoodie, available at Commonwealth, and 21 MEN jacket

music 11

WE ARE IN A CRAZY MAKATI NEIGHBORHOOD where parking is like a bad Tetris game, and 23-year old Ninno Rodriguez is behind the wheel.

I apologize for not thinking about the logistics of our photoshoot thoroughly (among all the other things I have no control of) but he keeps his chill. “It’s cool,” he says, pulling out his vape and entertaining himself with each puff. “Look, I can do tricks.” He blows a series of circular clouds that make for an interesting Snapchat video.

Meeting Ninno doesn’t feel like meeting a rapper. I was expecting the kind that would appear if you search “hip-hop” on Google: tacky bling, really (reaaally) low waistlines, and sneaky lyrics about inappropriate things you probably shouldn’t say in front of your mom—an attitude most hip-hop artists try to emulate and project.

Or maybe I was just being really judgmental.

Ninno, on the other hand, isn’t any of that. He’s a poet, a nerd, and a film major. Most of all, he has something to say.

“Hip-hop used to be about tough thug personas,” he says. “But I think it’s not as relevant now. I’m part of a new generation of hip-hop artists who just stick to who we are and rap about the things we like.”

In the age of wellcrafted digital personas, authenticity has become elusive. Ninno knows this, and he’s skipping all the fronts in cookie-cutter mainstream hip-hop by just giving it all that he’s got and all that he is. His debut album “Third Culture Kid” is not meant to sell, but it’s definitely meant to be listened to. On top of the intricate musical arrangements, Ninno’s lyrics elevate the craft with themes about idealism, social issues, and the local music industry. It’s brutally honest, and the listener can either like what they hear or not.

As his first track TCK goes, “Yes, this is it, bitch.”

Take it or leave it.

I first heard about Ninno not as a rapper but as a spoken word artist billed at an event in The Collective. When I finally saw him at producer collective Logiclub’s gig at The Brewery, he looked sleek wearing a coat—worn with a snapback cap—as he rapped with Nerdcore hip-hop group Shadow Moses. (“It’s a real hip-hop genre! We just basically rap about nerdy stuff like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.”)

Come shoot proper, photographer Artu Nepomuceno asks him to sit on the rooftop ledge of a seven-storey building, and before I could protest, he is already climbing up it while I consider if I was capable of flight should this boy fall 100 meters to the ground. If we were in a ’90s movie, he’d easily be the cool kid everybody loved without even trying. But we’re not, and Ninno hates stereotypes. “Growing up, I was treated differently because they couldn’t keep a kid like me in a box. I love animé, I like video games, I like wrestling. But I also like weird music, I like going out, I like dressing well. When I was in school, I had to pick what crowd I’d be with. No one really knew what I was about; I felt like an outsider in my own country.”

Scout 18 Ninno.indd 11

“My album is all about lyrical prowess, but we’re all about easy listening—we get our iPods to play music in the background.”

A third culture kid is someone who grew up away from his parent’s own customs, and Ninno admits he has never stayed longer than 12 months at a time in the Philippines. He has family all over, and he travels on his own. It may sound like a blast—it probably is—except maybe for the part when he goes home and people begin to see and even treat him differently. Travel’s true luxury is how it introduces you to the world’s peoples, cultures, and ideologies, teaching you to think differently and widening your interests beyond the junk that mainstream media dumps into the system. But imagine having that experience as a kid and the other kids unable to relate to you, other kids who grew up liking the same things, playing the same games, and watching the same shows.

Luckily, a few years back, Matthew Azada of DancePlayCreate discovered Ninno’s notable talent for mixing, and like a padawan initiated into the Order, he was invited to be a part of Logiclub. “There weren’t many people who are like me, but I found friends and mentors in Logiclub. They get what it’s like to be cultured but at the same time dumb. To be a kid but at the same time having this weird responsibility of being an adult.”

As with any boy from an all-boys school, Ninno had guitar lessons. That, plus a surge of rock bands plus a new wave local acts equal, well, just do the math. When he was in sixth grade, he began tinkering with an old version of Fruityloops, programming house and techno beats when he was bored at home. It was only in high school when he actually got into rap, idolizing acts like Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

Ninno’s grandfather also runs a company with celebrities, giving him the opportunity to meet the late master rapper Francis Magalona. When the rapper passed in 2009, Ninno was compelled to watch his life’s work, and he took notes.

“I realized that his early works were not the best rapping I ever heard in my life. His latter work was super good, and I acknowledge the importance of Mga Kababayan Ko to local hiphop culture, but it was terrible! But that also got me to say, ‘Hey, I can do that.’” And like a Sim intended to grow into a hip- hop star, he just also happened to live next to real ones.

“I was fortunate enough that my neighbors were also into hip-hop. They were my mentors, really. One goes by the name Elite. He wasn’t the dopest emcee, he wasn’t even the greatest

producer, but he taught me how to mix my vocals. Mixing was actually the reason why I got into Logiclub. Then there’s Datu from the FlipTop scene. I’ve never known anyone who can spit in English and Tagalog. [The language] didn’t matter; he could rip the beat.

He opened my eyes to so many things, like alliterations or reversing sentences during freestyle like ‘Pilipino lang naman, ba’t ‘di mo maintindihan? Ba’t ‘di mo maintindihan, Pilipino lang naman?’ And I was like, oh my god, I didn’t know that you can do these things with all these words.”

Words grew to be Ninno’s ammo. His record is dotted with ingenious references and not-so-subtle lyrics, and he even left a few Easter eggs for listeners to catch (try identifying the haikus!).

“I’ve gotten a lot of heat but I’ve also heard good stuff about the album. I don’t actually think people are ready for the kind of music I make. My album is all about lyrical prowess, but we’re all about easy listening—we get our iPods to play music in the background.

Some of those who have listened to my album may be bobbing their heads to tracks about religious cults. The song that most people find catchy is Hitsboi, and it goes ‘These emcees think they’re kings but they’re shit, boy’ and it’s ironic and funny because it’s a parody about how hip-hop songs now sound pretty much the same. I was supposed to call it ‘Generic Song No. 4.’”

The whole album, however, is far from generic, and it’s the kind of work that makes you feel that real talent is out there and something important is happening to the industry. It’s a relief to know that artists like Ninno exist, artists brave enough to climb 100 meters above the ground to prove a point, artists who couldn’t care less about what’s cool or what you think about them. It’s a quality we have lost trying to conform our lives to curated feeds and the numbers of likes and followers. “Third Culture Kid’s” flow is sick, the beats effortless, and the message aggressively loud enough to shake a few things, if only people would listen. n

3/7/16 3:48 PM

12 sports

a tale of two careers Defining Kobe Bryant’s evolution by his jersey numbers

By STAN SY Illustration by ADRIAN UBANDO

AFTER KOBE BRYANT RETIRES at the end of this season, nobody will ever wear the number 24 for the Los Angeles Lakers again. Nobody will ever wear the number 8 for them, either. But when the time comes for the Buss Family to pay tribute to Kobe, whose illustrious 20-year career these numbers have been synonymous with, and retire his number into the rafters of the Staples Center, everyone will start debating amongst themselves which jersey number to retire for Kobe. Will it be the original 8, or the lattercareer 24?

As a pro, Kobe wore each jersey number for an equal amount of time, at 10 years each. But the first number he used as a high school player at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania was 24. By 1996, when he led Lower Merion to the His jersey from his state championship, he days in Lower Merion had already changed his High School, with the number to 33, which was number he never got to wear in the NBA. the jersey number that his father, former NBA player Joe “Jelly Bean” Bryant, wore in high school.

When Kobe joined the Lakers later that year, the number 33 wasn’t available because it was already retired for Laker legend Kareem AbdulJabbar. People assume he didn’t immediately take the number 24 because veteran forward George McCloud was wearing it at the time, but George didn’t join the Lakers until midway through Kobe’s rookie year in 1996-97.

As a rookie, he wore 8 because when he joined the Adidas ABCD Camp as a high schooler, his number was 143. When added together, the digits form the number 8. According to an NBA. com article, he also wore 8 as a kid when he played in Italian leagues as an homage to his favorite player who also wore the number 8: the American player Mike D’Antoni, a huge star for Italian club Olympia Milano.

After his 10th NBA season, and fresh off a stinging Game 7 loss in the first round of the 2006 Western Conference Playoffs against the Phoenix Suns—who were incidentally coached by D’Antoni—Kobe successfully applied for a change from 8 to 24. By the time the 2006-07 season began, Jim Jackson, the player who previously wore #24 on the Lakers, had already left the NBA, allowing Kobe to finally have the number he wanted all along.

The narrative of Kobe’s NBA career can be divided into two arcs, each arc symbolized by the number he wore during that time period. As #8, Kobe ascended through the NBA as a young upand-comer. He also put up a laundry list of NBA achievements in the process: • • • •

1997 Slam Dunk Contest Champion Named to the 1997 All-Rookie Second Team 8-time All-Star, including one All-Star Game MVP award Made the All-Defensive Team five times

Scout 18.indb 12

• •

2006 NBA scoring champion Made an All-NBA Team eight times

He also won three consecutive NBA championships alongside Shaquille O’Neal from 2000-2002. And in his final season of wearing the number 8, he had the legendary 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors.

Had Kobe’s career ended in 2006, the number 8 would definitely have been retired. Hell, if any other player achieved all those things in 10 years, they would have their number retired and be a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer. Now, as 24, here’s what the man who would be known as the Black Mamba achieved: • • • • • • • • •

2007 NBA scoring champion 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player 9-time NBA All-Star (10, if he makes the AllStar Game this February) 3-time All-Star Game MVP 7 straight All-NBA First Team nods 5 straight All-Defensive First Team selections and one All-Defensive Second Team selection 2-time NBA Finals MVP 2 consecutive NBA Championships (2009-2010) Surpassed Jerry West as the Los Angeles Lakers’ all-time leading scorer

Looking at Kobe’s resume split into two halves, it’s as if you have two different yet equally successful careers. But there’s one glaring thing that stands out in the second half of his career that you won’t notice immediately when you compare his resumés as #8 and as #24.

As #24, Kobe was his own man. But think of him as #8, and you immediately think of the 2000-02 Lakers winning three straight titles. But those weren’t Kobe’s teams at all; they were Shaquille’s. Shaq was the MVP of those teams.

Hell, he won Finals MVP in all three title runs and won the league MVP award in 2000.

Everybody remembers the The adidas KB8, Kobe’s first-ever (ever) Shaq and Kobe beef from signature shoe. the early 2000s, which came

2/23/16 5:03 PM

sports 13

after a gritty Game 7 win against he Celtics.

When Kobe was doing all of this, he was the unquestioned leader and face of the The Nike Zoom Kobe I, Lakers. Though Phil Kobe’s first Nike signature shoe after he jumped ship Jackson was still his in 2002. coach, he no longer had to deal with another alpha dog encroaching on his territory.

Pau was too dormant to challenge his authority, Derek knew his role as veteran glue guy, and while Metta was a loony, even he knew his boundaries. Andrew was too young to amount to a challenge. Dwight was too goofy to take Kobe’s place. And by the time he got there, Steve Nash was just too old.

It was as if Kobe had seen the story of his career play out over the first 10 years and thought it would be a waste if he were just remembered as Shaq’s really talented sidekick.

He used his relentless drive and unparalleled skill to will his way to becoming the undisputed leader of the Los Angeles Lakers. He took ownership of that team. When you hear the name “Los Angeles Lakers,” you immediately think of the Black Mamba.

Kobe himself stated as early as 2013 that he wants the number 24 to be retired. He’s owned the change in number the way Metta owned his name change. There’s something liberating in knowing that the second half of Kobe’s career wasn’t in the shadow of another dominant personality. Had he never won the 2009 and 2010 titles, he would have always had Shaq looming over whatever accomplishments he’d earn since they parted ways.

And objectively, the second half of Kobe’s career will always be more important than his first. That was when he proved that he could carry a team on his own, when he showed that he was more than just a guy who accrued ungodly usage rates because he didn’t want about because you had two alpha dogs who’d to defer to his sub-par teammates. And most won together but kept clashing because of their importantly, it was when he won that fifth egos. Even though Kobe ended up having a championship that Shaq would never have. better overall career than Shaq, you can’t argue When all is said and done, Kobe Bryant will that from 1996-2004, Shaq was mostly the #1 retire as the greatest player this generation has guy to Kobe’s #1-A. ever seen, second only to Michael Jordan. Kobe But as #24, Kobe’s narrative will never have that sixth ring Jordan slowly changed from being the has, but for this milieu, he never talented but petulant young star to the really had to; all he had to be was stubbornly talented veteran superstar. his own man. And that’s something Sure, he was still mercurial from time he achieved—and then some—over to time. If you were a superstar who the last decade. Sometime within had to play next to chumps like Smush the next two years, his number 24 Parker, Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm, will be brought up to the rafters of and Jordan Farmar, with only Lamar the Staples Center, never to be used Odom and a young Andrew Bynum as again, testimony to his contributions to reliable help, you’d be forcing your GM the mythos of the Lakers.

Kobe wore the #10 to trade you too.

As for number 8? If Jerry West, whenever he would With the addition of Pau Gasol, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Magic play for the U.S. Men’s Trevor Ariza, and Metta World Peace Johnson all got statues outside Basketball team in the Olympics. in 2009-10, and the return of Derek Staples Center, then it seems only Fisher, Kobe finally got a chance to fitting that Kobe also gets his own one lead his own team to the top of the NBA. He won day. Maybe he’ll allow his statue to wear #8 so the MVP award in 2008 and won the Finals MVP future generations can remember that he also award in both of his Lakers’ championship runs wreaked havoc on the NBA as a young superstar from 2009-10. The legendary Lakers-Celtics wearing that number. rivalry from the ’80s was also revived during Peak Or it could just end up as a random trivia Kobe’s run, with his fifth championship coming question at a Quiz Night in 2030. n

Scout 18.indb 13

2/23/16 5:03 PM

14 gaming

on air A look into the business of video game players watching players watching players

By LUKAS VELUNTA

I HATE WATCHING LET’S PLAYS. Ha, old man yells at cloud. Still, that’s an improvement; I used to hate the concept of Let’s Plays as a whole. I’d held the snooty presumption that the “true” way to enjoy video games is by playing them. Or at least, I treasured the fact that I could play video games. A Let’s Play? How dare someone else watch a stranger play a video game over the internet and enjoy this medium in a different way? Gaming was mine. I avoided Let’s Plays and the streamer culture, and kept adding games to my backlog, games I didn’t play.

Most of my time was spent reading about games instead. And if I was enjoying reading about games as much as, or even more than, actually playing them, weren’t both approaches equally valid? I was foregoing playing games to read about them instead. I understood that I couldn’t hate Let’s Plays without being a hypocrite.

Anarchy There’d been previous cracks in my position against Let’s Plays. Two years ago, I obsessively followed one called “Twitch Plays Pokémon.” It was mayhem. A Twitch broadcaster was using the comments on their feed to control a game of Pokémon Red. Watchers could say what they wanted Red to do—up, down, left, right, B, A, start, select—and it would happen. People, groups of people, did their own thing: tried to wrestle for control, learned to work together, or committed to chaotic neutral. Red could barely move. Getting an item or picking an attack became exercises in comedy and frustration. Defeats, victories, and hijinks were shared; memes were made.

Watching it was gripping. But I rationalized this away as something that was, because of the lottery of control, itself a game.

That’s it, isn’t it? There are other ways to play.

Station to station My graphics card was broken. In a spate of hasty decision-making, I jumped on a rock-bottom price for Batman: Arkham Knight for the PS4, when I didn’t even have a PS4. So I bought a used one with a picture of Batman on it.

The share button became one of my favorite things. I’ve always liked documenting my gameplay—on the PC, I loved taking screenshots and videos. Even on the Wii U and 3DS, I would struggle with Miiverse just to upload a screenshot, and use my phone’s camera if I was offline. It’s much easier on the PS4: just press a button to record. While playing Arkham Knight, I saved footage every time I finished a fight unscathed, dispatching in a seamless combo a pack of thugs who weren’t “afraid of no Batman.”

Screenshots and videos were a way for me to record my play, but I almost never went back

Scout 18.indb 14

through them. I beat Arkham Knight, saving my run for posterity and admiration, alone.

But I would save the end of the game for when I had an audience, like my girlfriend Ria and her family. They added pressure for the last boss fight. Ria’s brother in particular actually preferred watching games over playing them, even on hardware that he bought. Strange.

“The infinite power of the cloud” I started streaming because of convenience.

I wanted to save space on my hard drive; my Arkham Knight recordings took up 60 gigs. I had just subscribed to a connection that could handle it, and I messed around with the PS4’s broadcasting abilities, those options that I’d ignored every time I saved a video to memory. I started broadcasting to YouTube.

And people started watching. Granted, they weren’t very many. At all. I’ve had more people

2/23/16 5:03 PM

gaming 15

GAME ON When picking games to watch Let’s Plays of, choose ones that you’re bad at and ones you’re scared to play, or conversely, games that you are very good at. For me, this means:

PT This demo is one of the scariest games ever made, despite its length. When it was released, the internet was flooded with videos showing people trying to figure out its mysteries and pissing themselves in the process. The demo’s since been made unavailable, so Let’s Plays are one of the only ways to vicariously experience the horror created by Guillermo del Toro and Hideo Kojima (and Daryl from The Walking Dead!).

SUPER SMASH BROS. I’m awful at Smash. Always have been, ever since the N64. There’s something cathartic about watching other people be good at Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and showing me how it’s done. Who knows, maybe watching Let’s Plays will make me better.

SPLATOON Nintendo’s first multiplayer shooter is mechanically perfect. Everything depends on how you use ink—from traversal and stealth to flanking and killing. There’s no other game like this, mixing elements of paintball, Team Fortress, Portal 2, Jet Set Radio, and Super Mario Galaxy. Even though I couldn’t stop playing Splatoon when it came out, I still like watching streamers win clutch victories.

Scout 18.indb 15

When someone calls “gaming” an experience, I don’t want them to be referring to how it affects the player. I want them to think of the interaction between the player and the watcher, and other watchers. Does the watcher root for the player to lose? Does the watcher want the player to win? watching in real life than online. But despite my handful of viewer numbers, I felt even more connected in Bloodborne, the next game that I played.

Bloodborne is part of a series that plays with the idea of interaction. If players choose to go online during their single-player campaign, they’ll see images from other users who’d been there in their own playthroughs. These images are either in the form of letters that give you a hint of what comes next or in the form of a spectral vision of their final moments. The game always records when you die, and you can leave messages of your own; glimpses into and from alternate worlds.

Broadcasting Bloodborne—being watched at all times, with every move made being seen live and recorded forever—dialed this notion of connection up to eleven. I became hyperaware of every one of my actions in a game where I die quickly and often. I felt a thrill as I saw each person come in and watch. With every misstep, every death, I learned live.

Social mores As I continued to stream, I soon stopped feeling negatively against those who would watch let’s plays. Even those who had the hardware and the money, like Ria’s weird brother. Why not just play it yourself, I once thought. Surely playing it yourself was the superior option.

There are other ways to play. When someone calls “gaming” an experience, I don’t want them to be referring to some incorporeal faff about how it affects the player. Gaming is sharing, too.

I want them to think of a game that affects the watcher, the sharer, as well as the interaction between the player and the watcher, and between the watcher and other watchers. Does the watcher root for the player to lose? Does the watcher want the player to win?

Even before I played Bloodborne, Ria and I watched a YouTuber play it. He was playing it for laughs, but he was genuinely bad at first. He died, over and over. He’d rush into crowds, forget to parry, and get jumped by werewolves. He died some more. When he was too scared to go on, he

braced himself and dove in. He got better, and we were there with him.

Gossip Ria and I carried our Diablo III characters over to the PS4 and to the YouTube channel. We broadcast our first session with no commentary.

A few days later, when I hooked up a microphone, our couch coop video had an overlay of sound, that of our idly planning the next date. Our playstyles were public. Our tendencies to rush in, to protect, to loot, to dress, to wait, and to give, were there to see. We were being watched.

These episodes were instant hits—relatively speaking—even before we let the mic into the house. When Ria learned about this, she jokingly asked me if I wanted us to “sell out” and “become the next PewDiePie.” I laughed, then considered it.

Streaming is part of emergent culture— culture about culture, the new new criticism. It would be fun. There’s definitely the possibility of money there, and there’s no doubt that cultivating a following would be fulfilling.

PewDiePie makes millions of dollars a year.

Although he’s said that anyone can do it, streaming professionally is takes time and effort; the top streamers are very good at what they do. And some streamers take speed just to keep up with their viewers, who straddle a fine line between being fans and being haters. I wouldn’t want games to become work.

We’re still thinking about it.

Judging I wondered, as we played on air, whether our watchers were good at my games. Were they better than me at Bloodborne, and laughing at my flailing, failing to parry, getting smashed into the ground by a grundy? Were they more dedicated monks, looking down on my brute strength approach to Diablo’s mooks, on my weird attachment to that useless ring? Did they want to see how local two-player went? I wonder what I’d learn if the random watchers talked to me.

Writing off Let’s Plays was a mistake. It’s such a selfish, player-one perspective. Video games are not about the player alone. Video games are about the people watching, the people playing with you. Because they are not simply spectators. They are players themselves, invested in you.

Whenever friends tell me about their favorite games growing up, they always mention a game that they never played themselves. Instead, it was a game that their older sister, their cousin, their mom played. Others were games that were played taking turns. Games that only work at parties. Games where one person is WASD and the other is the mouse. For all those games, my friends were still there, watching and playing.

I don’t hate let’s plays anymore. I still can’t imagine watching a whole one from start to finish, though. But I know why someone would. Because they love their brother. They love PewDiePie. They love the series, but don’t have the system.

They’re scared to play it themselves. They want to know if a game is worth buying. And some freaks just want to watch. Let’s plays are the audiophile who knows no instrument; let’s plays are the sports fan.

Let’s Plays are chess at the park. n

2/23/16 5:03 PM

16 food

gulp!

Take your palette on a trip with these unfamiliar thirst quenchers

By CAI MAROKET Photography by RALPH HILARIO

Bikkle, available at Yamazaki Tastes like Yakult and fruity yogurt. This is what Chamyto could’ve been.

Ginseng root drink, available at Wang Mart A confusing combo of sweet, salty and earthy, like eating radish with honey. It’s not bad, though.

Lime black tea, available at Jiabao Surprisingly tastes like soda, like lemon with sarsparilla.

Perfect for soda buffs attempting to be health buffs.

Peach Konnyaku Jelly, available at Konbini Store Peach jelly ace

Ramune, available at Konbini Store Like carbonated liquified candy.

Opening the bottle is the real experience.

Oronamin C, available at Yamazaki A very citrusy Red Bull, sadly with no caffeine but with promises of good health, at least.

Shikhye, available at Wang Mart Tastes like cold, milky leftover champorado.

Banana milk, available at Wang Mart The banana flavor is as artificial as it gets but it is so damn addicting.

Dasheen milk tea, available at Jiabao It’s supposed to be taro, but this is probably what it’s like to drink graham crackers.

Apple Sidra, available at Jiabao The love child of apple juice and Mountain Dew.

Badam, available at Assad Mini Mart Tastes like almond milk with ginger and... shampoo?

Scout 18 Food.indd 16

Maaza, available at Assad Mini Mart Like a flat Fanta with hints of peach and a subtle spicy aftertaste.

Papaya milk, available at Jiabao It doesn’t taste like papayas, which is a very good thing.

GROCERIES Assad Mini Mart - 1-A, Eurocrest Bldg, 126 Jupiter Street, Makati; Wang Mart - Polaris St., Makati; Yamazaki - 2277 Fernando St. cor. Pasong Tamo Street, Makati Konbini Store - 57 Connecticut St., Northeast Greenhills, San Juan; Jiabao Minimart - 660 Banawe, Quezon City

Lemon and collagen, available at Konbini Store A fizzy mix of citrus, sugar and beauty

Milkis, available at Wang Mart Less potent Yakult with fizz and an initial WTF moment.

3/7/16 3:50 PM

stop looking. s c o u t ’s r i g h t h e r e .

For full list of distribution points, visit scoutmag.ph/getscout For digital issues, visit buqo.ph or magzter.com

Scout 19 Ads.indd 1

3/7/16 4:54 PM

18 beauty

high brow Art movements inspire bold beauty looks

SUPREMATISM

By SYLVINA LOPEZ and CAI MAROKET Photography by PAOLO CRODUA

This abstract art movement focused on the supremacy of pure artistic feeling and went back to basics with solid colors and clean shapes.

GLOW IN THE DARK Get inspired by the purity of Suprematism by keeping skin hyper-real, clean, and glowy with an illuminator.

KRYOLAN Shimmering Event foundation in pearl, SM Beauty Store

Scout 18.indb 18

2/23/16 5:03 PM

BAROQUE

beauty 19

The Baroque style, derived from the Spanish word for “imperfect pearl,” used opulence and exaggeration to produce drama.

GOLD-PLATED Use metallic accents to add a bit of drama.

MAKE UP FOR EVER metal powder in sunflower gold

Scout 18.indb 19

2/23/16 5:04 PM

ABSTRACT EXP RESSIO N ISM

20 beauty

Abstract expressionism is a modern art movement that embodies spontaneity and emotional intensity.

ARTIST PALETTE Add pops of color and texture by utilizing loose pigments to accent any feature.

INGLOT AMC pure pigment eye shadows

Scout 18.indb 20

2/23/16 5:04 PM

SURREA LISM

beauty 21

Surrealism meshed dreams with reality by adding illusion and absurdity. Makeup can also be used to transform reality and add illusion.

BABY ROUGE Use a lipliner and a bold lipcolor to cheat a fuller lip.

MAYBELLINE Color Sensational creamy matte lipstick in Siren in Scarlet and NYX lipliner in hot red

Makeup by SYLVINA LOPEZ Hair by DARWIN SABLAY feat. BILLIE, NIKA, and PATRICIA

Scout 18.indb 21

2/23/16 5:04 PM

22 essay

what do you say?

The world of spoken word poetry is on the brink of selling out, but ALFONSO MANALASTAS wonders why this is a big deal.

Illustration by BRYAN DAVID ARCEBAL

IT WAS IN THE SUMMER of 2013, while on a quest to distract myself from existential banality, that I chanced upon a spoken word performance for the first time. It was a video of Sarah Kay performing her piece entitled B during the 2011 TED Conference in Long Beach, California. She spoke about the life lessons she wished to impart to the daughter she may one day have. By the time she finished, her words had already impressed me. I found myself in a state of trance, with a wanton need to learn more about this thing they called spoken word poetry. By sunrise, I had already scribbled down my own story into lyrical verses on a piece of parchment, wanting nothing but to perform them on a stage. I was hooked.

Spoken word is a form of performancebased art that encompasses various elements of storytelling, rhythm, and wordplay through poetry. It is, in simpler words, a marriage of poetry and theater, one that brings literary devices found in traditional and contemporary forms of poetry to a physical stage, and can even elevate itself with the use of music and theatrics—an alchemy of art forms, so to speak.

In essence, spoken word and written poetry are both governed by similar rudiments. Their method: calculable yet fluid. Their appearance: sober yet sublime. Their impact: thoughtprovoking, rousing, inspired. Their difference lies in how spoken word provides a poem the capacity to warp and mutate at the cusp of an artist’s performance, in the way a piece can convey entirely different things, depending on who is performing it, or what emotion the artist is harnessing, and how it is interpreted both by the performer and the listener over the course of its unfolding.

Academics argue that its origins can be traced to as far back as the invention of language itself and the discovery of rhythm and beat. What started as a common staple in underground art circuits in the US found its way to our islands through the initiatives of people

Scout 18.indb 22

like Kooky Tuason who saw a potential for the art to grow in modern Philippine culture.

Gathering around in groups to share stories and ideas is, after all, an intrinsic part of our tradition.

But what makes our local spoken word scene unique is how the craft that was brought to us as a mere foreign influence got combined with distinctly Filipino styles that have evolved through years of Balagtasan, folk lore, and other literary components that collectively conjure our own stories using our own imageries.

Apart from the fact that we are a country of gifted writers, we are also armed with a language that is already poetic and lyrical by nature, each syllable rolling off our tongues.

Local spoken word poetry found its home in art districts, basement cafés, and, on some days, even along the cobblestoned streets of Intramuros, Manila, thriving through the efforts of poetry groups like Words Anonymous and White Wall Poetry as well as independent artists whose words reverberate throughout various parts of the country.

While gradually gaining momentum and graced with a steady audience, the local spoken word scene truly took off in early 2015 when various media platforms started putting the spotlight on the art form. From breakfast news segments to magazine and online features, all the way to documentaries and even Boy Abunda’s eponymous late night talk show, spoken word became the new dessert treat everybody wanted to sink their teeth into.

It not only provided access to what is often portrayed to be a purist, neoclassicist art form but also allowed enough room for creative freedom among artists to cultivate the craft by incorporating modern hip-hop, regional slang, and even offensive language, making it consumable to a wide range of palates.

The art form has gotten so big, it was allotted a few minutes in the elusive primetime

2/23/16 5:04 PM

essay 23

slot of one of the biggest networks in the country. After going viral with the piece Ang Huling Tula na Isusulat Ko Para Sa’yo, Juan Miguel Severo has since performed a number of original pieces as Rico, a recurring character on the hit show On The Wings of Love.

With soaring numbers that rival those of viral Internet memes and vine videos, exactly how has the culture of spoken word poetry progressed in Philippine context?

Some critics contend that the commercialization of local spoken word is slowly killing the art form. I would like to argue that the crime, if any, does not stem from commercialization itself but from the propensity of artists to compromise their artistic integrity in order to fit popular sensibilities. I realized this one morning long ago, when I woke up upset to the news that Alodia Gosiengfiao “sold out” to mainstream television by agreeing to co-host the variety show Laugh Out Loud on channel 2, opposite Luis Manzano. The realization came as I was writing down my thoughts about the news; I couldn’t rationalize my frustration. There was something instinctively despicable about it, I was sure, but I couldn’t point out exactly what. It was then that I realized commercialization wasn’t the culprit. Neither was Alodia. Unless she altered the way she dressed or the way she behaved to fit industry standards, then I’m not sure if there was even a crime at all.

But I deduce that the intuitive distaste for anything that is sensationalized isn’t completely unfounded either. It’s the same way Star Wars fans who religiously follow the franchise tend to harbor hatred over public declarations of fanaticism from a newer, younger fan base, as if appreciation for the arts is only valid when it is monopolized by an elite few. And that is an understandable reaction from a society fixated on exclusivity—whether it is about patronage towards certain indie bands we’d rather see struggle than have their music be played over the radio, or the permeation of a once-rare art form like spoken word.

The problem is, quite frankly, egotistic.

It isn’t that the art is being watered down by mainstream taste. It’s that perhaps all along, our highbrow affinity for the art isn’t as uncommon as we originally thought. Granted, commercialization presents a certain allure for artists to trade their own creative inclinations in favor of the coveted audience approval. But it is important to note that these are artists who have performed and immersed in the craft in nearly empty cafés, who’ve commuted to attend gigs they could hardly afford, long before a commercial market took notice. This means they are people who strive for the arts, regardless of how harsh the conditions can be.

The question now is, have local artists, in fact, compromised their craft? And if so, does that necessarily pose inherent harms?

I am inclined to believe that the answer to the first question is a resounding no. Society may misconstrue spoken word as an art limited only to the discussion of hugot feelings or matters of heartache because of how it’s packaged by

Scout 18.indb 23

Popularity is not tantamount to mediocrity. Artists do not lose themselves by virtue of an acquired fan base. Perhaps they just happen to be really good at something people happen to really like.

CARE TO LISTEN Curious about spoken word? Here are acts to get you started

Countdown

by Michelle Manese

Kame Hame Wave

by Sergio Gabriel

On Opening Body Bags After Haiyan

by Gretchen Carvajal

media. But I contend that it’s still preferable to a society oblivious to its existence altogether.

If anything, we are accorded with the golden opportunity to learn more about the craft from here on. It goes without saying that even spoken word pieces that do appeal to commercial tastes and are plastered all over social media certainly meet some standards of quality, too.

Remember that popularity is not tantamount to mediocrity. Artists do not lose themselves by virtue of an acquired fan base. Perhaps they just happen to be really good at something people happen to really like.

But let’s assume some artists do sell out—I’d like to believe that it’s still fair game.

After all, the art scene, as with the art itself, is not strictly black or white; in the music industry, we recognize that pop music and underground indie music are both valid, each with their own merits and their place in the circuit. It’s all a matter of exploring the spectrum of colors that bleed in between.

Spoken word poetry is a melting pot for artists of varying inclinations, where people who write about things as banal as getting over an ex-lover can coexist with the likes of Ayrie Ching, a Mindanao-based writer who performs original pieces about the plight of the Bangsamoro and the Moros’ struggle for self- determination; where Abby Orbeta, a member of Words Anonymous, can perform a piece about the men she met on Tinder one poetry night, and perform one that demands to raise awareness on climate change on another; where Juan Miguel Severo can spew poetic verses about love lost and love found across TV sets, and still manage to harness the same craft in an intimate gathering among Lumad tribal leaders and their members in Liwasang Bonifacio.

Yes, there are inherent harms to commercialization, but only when artists lose their voice. And we can ascribe as many textbook definitions to the art of spoken word, but to many, it will always be an aid to where our own voices fail. The first time I encountered a spoken word performance was through a computer screen: nothing but Technicolor images dancing across a twelve inch flat surface, the words blaring through my headphones, and my unperturbed disposition collapsing at the mercy of an unreliable internet provider. I may not have realized this then, but through the mouths of these artists, I’ve seen my own truths spilled before me. In every metaphor, every shout, and every whisper.

I saw in spoken word poetry an outlet for my own convictions, may they be about a heartache I sought to endure or a cause I sought to champion. Perhaps even both at the same time. For all the words that fought their way out of bodies, we once felt the need to cut our skin to set ourselves free. In this art form, we have allowed these stories to bleed freely from our own lips. And I sincerely look forward to the future of local spoken word poetry, may they happen under the spotlight of nearly empty cafés along the hidden streets of Manila or flickering from a TV screen. n

2/23/16 5:04 PM

enter

24 music

https://

soundcloud.com/

homegrownlights/ mrright

https://www.

youtube.com/

watch?v=cU8Hr

the

O7XuiE

virtual

https://www.

youtube.com/ watch?v=UYi 1cjJVkq8

https://sarsi-

cuneta.bandcamp. r-s-i

Manila meets the ridiculous, sad, beautiful world of Vaporwave

By LEX CELERA Illustration by EDWARD JOSON

Scout 18.indb 24

barangay

com/album/s-a-

https://www.

youtube.com/

watch?v=RQxDM2 K-hd0

2/23/16 5:04 PM

https://soundcloud. com/

cultshitmedia

music 25

blackout/garrettbobby-fergu son-ceo-la

IT’S 10 P.M. ON A WEEKNIGHT, and I’m in front of a bright 17-inch monitor, inside a crowded cybercafé or internet café or whatever you want to call it. Beside me are a group of college students playing—what else in a cybercafé with a higher than average internet connection speed—computer games. Me? I admit I played a game or two of Dota 2. But it’s 10 p.m., and it’s time to watch a concert.

I make my way to a video streaming website I’ve never visited before.

Live video feeds of people streaming whatever they want to stream—mostly people just talking from the looks of it. A bit sketchy, I know, but this one feed I’m looking at in particular is a live performance that’s supposed to be live at this hour. I wait for a few minutes, looking at the pitch black screen of the live feed, and in that feed a projection is cast on the wall on the background. It’s Ghost in the Shell. A figure stands in front of the projection, becoming a mere silhouette in the process, and in front of him is a laptop and music equipment. The figure starts fiddling with the laptop, and the music plays—something that oddly resembles a VST & Co. song.

I blink. The feed is grainy to say the least, but the music is clear. How do I get to describe the music? Have you been to the weird part of Youtube? You know what I mean: artists and song titles you’ve never heard of, with the preview photo a still from some obscure anime or maybe some weird collage of seemingly random objects.

There’s a video of a Justin Bieber song slowed down 800%. The music is like that, but easier to listen to. And imagine again, a figure (whose artist name is Sarsi Cuneta, go figure) shadowed by Ghost in the Shell playing on his body, playing this chopped and screwed, slowed down music over a live feed. That’s a e s t h e t I c right there—“a e s t h e t I c” becoming the word being used as a stamp of approval from the fans of Vaporwave. Well, it’s become more like a meme than a compliment really—overused and seen on everything somehow related to vaporwave.

What’s vaporwave anyway? And for a genre that’s been proclaimed dead by the likes of Vice and Reddit, how come a mixtape of vaporwave music from the Philippines emerged Christmas day of 2015? First off, to describe vaporwave: a stylistic convention that appears in both sound and sight. Roman busts, Japanese culture in all its color-drenched appeal, corporate and consumer ads of past decades, and 90s janky internet art all mixed into one big, beautiful smorgasbord. For the music, it’s slowed down, regurgitated smooth jazz, funk, and 80s pop, with a reverb. The most popular song, “リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュ—”or “Computing of Lisa Frank 420 / contemporary” has cover art that is just that, and samples Diana Ross’s “It’s Your Move.” It’s as ridiculous as it sounds.

(Forgive me, music snobs, if I’m describing vaporwave in broad strokes. The thing is, I can’t Original cover art keep track of all the goddamn genres popping up of Macintosh Plus’s everywhere: seapunk, witch house, hypnagogic breakthrough vaporwave album, “Floral Shoppe” pop, mallsoft. I really can’t. At this point, does it even matter if I call it a different thing? I bet you know what I’m talking about anyway.)

I’m aware it’s so ridiculous. But somehow, some way, it’s so attractive.

This mish-mash of corporate ads, this concept of a “virtual plaza” where vaporwave is the elevator music. The music world isn’t really shaken up, but it has got eyebrows raised and heads turned. Critical analysis points to an anti-capitalist movement, of how, by using the detritus of corporate culture, it’s a commentary of how alienated we are defined by the products we buy and the brands we are loyal to. Through these artists who regularly change monikers and play with corporate stock music to the point of defamiliarization, the music becomes a way of solid becoming vapor.

But, taking a step back, the whole premise then sounds too pretentious.

Music producer Aaron David Ross puts it well: “This was one of the first of

https://www.

youtube.com/ watch?v=yz

WTpDELtXo

https://www.

youtube.com/

watch?v=yzWT s a r s i クネタ livestream set last January 13

pDELtXo

these musical movements to integrate a meaningful sampling of corporate/ commercial aesthetics. It initiates a lot of important conversations about power and money in the industry. Or... everything just sounds good slowed down with reverb?”

I don’t know exactly how I got to see the local vaporwave Facebook group, but I immediately joined it. In the coming months, more and more people joined. It’s kind of glad to see people in your country who listen to the same weird shit as you do. And let alone produce.

Sometime after the group opened, the group’s https://www. founders, Zom Kashwak and Tomi Uysingco, posted their vaporwave music, and the members did so too. youtube.com/ Vaporwave art of local spaces and icons are watch?v=unN7 shared almost daily. And the songs keep flowing. One QvSWSTo particular song that samples Kim Chiu’s “Mr. Right,” is very memorable. And it all seems so ironic.

“The netlabel I’ve been running for quite a while now just dropped a GBFCEO x sarsi split, plus ろどりご ２３０’s single ＤＡ ＡＮＧ ＭＡＴＵＷＥＥＤ we released was suddenly a semi-viral hit,” Tomi (a.k.a. G a r r e t B o b b y F e r g u s o n) explains. “Then these kids, young producers, were suddenly coming out of woodwork, happy in finding out that we were all hyperaware of being part of some sort of massive in-joke, all the while others kept on confusing vaporwave as some meme (which it sorta is, I suppose). So yeah, we just thought, strike while the iron is hot.”

As to why vaporwave and why now, Sarsi replies dryly. “don’t know, but [vaporwave] was dead a long time ago. Even now, vaporwave is dead. But people visit the dead, right? And I feel after a few years, the same thing happens, people will look back and appreciate even though the hype isn’t as big as before. It happens to all genres. That’s life. Just enjoy. There’s no such thing as forever.”

The Virtual Barangay is an extension of the concept of the Virtual Plaza, a cosmopolitan utopian space where vaporwave plays freely. But the difference is, unlike the virtual plaza who has no inhabitants, the virtual barangay isn’t a commercial space but a residential one. Sarsi Cuneta can dance along to her tunes all day while the music plays.

Sooner or later, the memes will be run down to the ground and the music will stop. Vaporwave as a genre will fade, swallowed by the entropy of its endless loops. The consumption of what was once unknown has made it enter into the consciousness of the public—the likes of MTV and Tumblr consuming its appeal by adopting a 90s inspired look in their latest rebrands. Vaporwave is what it is and what it’s supposed to be: vapor, slowly dissolving into the air.

When I listen to vaporwave, it can either make me break into a little existential crisis or go to sleep. It’s trippy, but it also gives you some insight when you think about it critically. I’m just happy some people listen to the same music I do. And sad too—vaporwave, and music in general, can be so emotional. “Music is not fun, man,” quips Tomi. He’s right. Emotional music accentuates whatever I’m feeling to greater heights or lows. I don’t pretend to enjoy vaporwave as much as I don’t pretend to enjoy music that suits how I feel. I don’t know how to exactly describe what I feel when I listen to vaporwave—it’s like I want to smoke a cigarette and cry in bed and feel the wind on my face in a motorcycle and dance at the same time. If listening to music was like taking drugs, vaporwave would be that weird shit from some stranger that surprisingly is a good trip. That’s a e s t h e t i c right there. n

https://luxuryelite. bandcamp.com/

album/late-nightdelight

Scout 18.indb 25

2/23/16 5:04 PM

26 portfolio

touch the sky

A group of children play on the 6th floor of the Tower of David, an informal settlement in Caracas, Venezuela.

Photographer Alejandro Cegarra returns to his roots to document the people living inside the tallest informal settlement in the world

By NICO PASCUAL

Scout 18.indb 26

2/23/16 5:04 PM

portfolio 27

Despite the poverty, satellite TV is very common.

Scout 18.indb 27

THE FAMED PHOTOJOURNALIST Robert Capa once said, “If your photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

Twenty-six-year-old Alejandro Cegarra took this advice to heart when he spent six months documenting the people living inside the tallest informal settlement in the world, located in his hometown of Caracas, Venezuela. For his ongoing work there, he won the 2014 Leica Oskar Barnack Award, which recognizes the best photographic work for social and environmental issues. He is now taking some time off before starting on his next project. “I don’t mind the fame that much. I just hope that these people have a better chance now that others know about their struggle.”

For nearly 20 years now, the Centro Financiero Confinanzas skyscraper in downtown Caracas remain unfinished. The building, Alejandro tells me, was supposed to be a symbol of economic growth in Caracas, but was abandoned because of financial problems.

Known locally as the Tower of David, it became the world’s tallest informal settlement, with around 3,000 residents. It was this version of his hometown that Alejandro wanted to photograph and document.

Alejandro got his first taste of photography five years ago when he enrolled in the Roberto Mata Taller de Fotografia workshop while studying publicity at the Alejandro de Humboldt University. After working for a year at an advertising agency, he decided to pursue photography full-time.

2/23/16 5:04 PM

28 portfolio

Clockwise from left: Genesis, an aspiring engineering student, studies on her bed.

Becky, like most of the Tower’s inhabitants, sells her wares to others.

The Tower of David has 48 floors but only the first 10 are accessible with lifts or bicycles.

A young man plays soccer in one of the Tower’s large open areas.

A man fixes decorations inside his makeshift apartment.

I ask him why he took on The Other Side of the Tower as his first major photographic project. He says he became interested in the tower after watching a documentary that talked only about the architecture. “They said nothing about the people who lived inside, and I hated that. It was [a perspective] closed off from the outside world, and I wanted to tell the story of those living within the building.” Hence the project title. When asked about his process of working within the community, Alejandro says he chose to start slowly at first, taking pictures of the façade and the entrances of the building before attempting to enter the tower. “I visited three times a week, cautiously taking pictures before the people [inside] began to take notice.

I didn’t know what to expect; I just took some candid shots of the guards at the gates and made some small talk with them. I didn’t know if they were protecting the people inside or [preventing] outsiders like me from entering.”

After continuously trying, he was finally allowed access, but only for observation. “I was scared because the building screamed fear; the people there seemed anxious that someone from the outside was there.” Eventually, they got used to seeing Alejandro and started asking him to take pictures of them. “At first, I was very tense because the people living there didn’t like cameras, but after a few weeks, it began to feel like home.”

The fear of the unknown didn’t dissuade Alejandro from wanting to discover the truth about these misplaced individuals. But as he

Scout 18 Alejandro Cegarra.indd 28

gradually gained access into their private lives, the people closest to him warned him from going back. “It was troubling because the local newspapers and magazines saw the people inside as criminals and rapists. They said that all the evil in the city was contained in that tower. So I decided to go to the tower and find out if that claim was true or false.”

I ask him if he found it to be true.

“Looking back, I can say that it was not.

I wanted to see what was really happening there. The building is better than a slum, but it is still a difficult place to live in.” He adds, “There are no elevators, the water system is faulty, and while electricity is available, if you plug in too many devices, the entire floor shuts down. Also, there are areas without railings, and I’ve been told that drunk people or kids have fallen off in the past.”

Alejandro tells me life is “normal” inside the confines of the tower. There, people clean cars, sell hot dogs to other tenants, or do part-time work at nearby shopping malls to earn enough to survive. The children help their parents and attend public schooling. When they have free time, they play basketball or dominoes, or they go out. “We forget that they are simply people who are searching for a sense of belonging and a place to call home.

They opened their doors and showed me their makeshift houses and how they live. I guess my photographs were a way of saying thanks to them. It was like taking all the lies about the tower and showing everyone the truth. I

“I decided to dedicate my life’s work to those people, to those who can’t speak for themselves. It will be for those that nobody wants to see or hear about.” wanted my photographs to say, ‘Look at me, I matter also.’”

His work has shed a light on these people’s lives, and through him, they are slowly regaining their status as normal citizens. Currently, the people living inside the tower are slowly being relocated to public housing with better facilities in Zamora, outside Caracas.

After all his effort, Alejandro feels he still has a long road ahead of him. “Violence and injustice are still rampant in many parts of my country.” He sees these every day when he walks out of his home and on to the crowded streets of Caracas. But even though he feels upset and disheartened, he says he will continue to dedicate his photography to the silenced minority that deserves to be heard. “I decided to dedicate my life’s work to those people, to those who can’t speak for themselves. It will be for those that nobody wants to see or hear about. Those are the kinds of people that I choose to photograph.” n

3/7/16 5:10 PM

portfolio 29

Scout 18 Alejandro Cegarra.indd 29

3/7/16 4:04 PM

30 essay

Scout 18.indb 30

2/23/16 5:04 PM

essay 31

i’d rather be alone (no offense) CAI MAROKET explains why she finds people and life difficult, with assists from some of her favorite books Illustration by KEESHIA FELIPE RAISE YOUR HAND if you’re one of those people who always somehow But sometimes it isn’t even about the pressure of being on the same manage to fuck up in one way or another in social settings, and have level of success as your peers. Simply not being able to keep up with the humbly accepted the truth that not everybody is a born charmer. At the times and having the same mindset as everybody else can make a highly very foundation of your being, you are socially awkward, maybe just a hair’s sensitive person feel out of place. Take the resurgence of online dating and width away from the threshold of being full-blown inept, treading the waters the rise of Tinder for example. I once downloaded the app only to delete it of adulthood handicapped—which, frankly, sucks. Because navigating after about 20 swipes to the left. “It makes me cry because it means that through the adult world is tricky enough as it is without having to think fewer and fewer people are believing it’s cool to want what I want, which about the politics of human nature. is to be married and have kids and love each other in a monogamous, For the socially awkward, few things can offer as long-lasting relationship,” Mindy Kaling writes in much satisfaction as a steady Internet connection or relation to her romantic misadventures. Hook up a gift card to Amazon. Not to say that they’re complete culture is something that I will never understand recluses, but a chance to distance themselves from either, and it somehow makes me feel alienated the company of other people is always a welcome around friends who excitedly exchange stories of thing, as well as the chance to vicariously live and their online shenanigans. learn through other people’s experiences instead of Then there are those whose social actual participation. According to a study by Joshua awkwardness stem from an underlying cause.

W. Clegg, assistant professor of Psychology at John A study by the World Health Organization back Jay College of Criminal Justice, on the phenomenon in 2011 identified the Philippines as the South Don’t Worry, It Gets Worse: One of socially awkward situations, awkwardness East Asian country with the highest incidence of Twentysomething’s (Mostly Failed) comes in many forms but is primarily characterized depression, while the Anxiety and Depression Attempts at Adulthood by “a sense of moral or social transgression”—a Association of America has found that over 15

by Alida Nugent complicated display of subjectivity at its finest. Being million American adults are affected by social hungry and broke are things that can be dealt with anxiety disorder. Though depression and anxiety on a basic level in a formulaic sort of way (i.e. job + are not the same condition, they often share many effort = money for resources). The trouble of having symptoms that affect people’s social skills, like to deal with elements such as emotions, opinions, extreme nervousness and heightened paranoia cultural, political and religious differences, and over making mistakes, being criticized, and being just the general idea that people are social beings embarrassed in public. It’s also hard to deny that by nature is another entity all together. It’s a mind until now, mental illnesses are still treated as versus body predicament we all have to go through a stigma, something to be ashamed of and not every day, and it’s something that can’t be avoided. acknowledged.

People will always need other people.

Sometimes I find myself thinking that maybe Furiously Happy: A Funny Book The terrain of the adult world is vast and complex, one of the reasons why it’s so hard for me to connect About Horrible Things one of the most difficult to trek in the transition phase with people is because of the things about me that

by Jennifer Lawson from being a teen to being a grown up. Most notions I feel like I’m not allowed to talk about. Having a of it are usually proven wrong by reality, especially mental illness is nothing like being physically ill. with the sudden shift in quality of life brought on by I can’t just go telling people I suffer from clinical the Internet. “For some people, being in your twenties depression and mild anxiety disorder and expect is a time of exploration and sex and going on millions acceptance the same way some people can easily of dates and having your parents pay for shit,” Alida admit to having diabetes. Everybody has his or her Nugent writes in the introduction of her book Don’t own battles to fight, of course. It’s just difficult to Worry, It Gets Worse: One Twentysomething’s (Mostly feel like you have to hide a big part of who you are Failed) Attempts at Adulthood. She then follows with as a person to get by. It can make you feel like a an admission that for her, it’s “a time of rolling around fraud, like a liar by omission, so you’d rather just and watching my life moments get devoured by the keep people at arm’s length. But as complicated as Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Internet, all while hoping I eventually figure out[...] it is, sometimes there are moments of clarity when (And Other Concerns) my future,” a sentiment that echoes the thoughts of this hurdle feels like a gift. “There’s something

by Mindy Kaling many millennials who have quickly lost their bearings about depression that allows you (or sometimes once faced with the unstructured reality of life post forces you) to explore depths of emotion that most the educational system. ‘normal’ people could never conceive,” writes Jenny Lawson in Furiously Sometimes I find myself scrolling through my Facebook timeline for a Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, and you know what? It’s the good hour, unintentionally fixated on updates on other people’s lives while same way with social awkwardness. While it purely looks like a major simultaneously setting myself up for comparison and disappointment. roadblock at face value, there are still a few good things that come from Classmates from high school get engaged, get married, have children; I sit it. In her essay The Science of Awkwardness, Anna Medaris Miller, a on my ass in my ratty PE shirt with no plans on a Friday night. A former multimedia health writer and Health and Wellness reporter at US News, colleague posts a status giving thanks to Him for a successful first year points out that most feelings of awkwardness, while unsettling, help after quitting corporate life (#blessed); my current account gives me a big people be extra aware of social expectations and boundaries, and help “fuck you” and forces me to touch my savings account. A girl six years my us avoid making the same mistake twice. junior uploads snippets of her life taking on her dream job in beautiful If you raised your hand earlier, put it down and give yourself a pat single sole stilettos; I stumble around in sneakers and get mistaken for a on the back because there’s nothing wrong with being socially awkward. toddler. Things like this, as shallow as they may be to the well-adjusted, can The only fault in it is when you give in to self-sabotage. Yes, things seriously take a toll on the socially awkward, making it easy to forget that rarely ever come into focus easily, but it is important to remember that dilemmas like these aren’t at all uncommon. Before catching her big break the choice to soldier on will always be there and that being thrust into with The Office, Mindy Kaling struggled to make ends meet despite being awkward situations should always be treated as something to learn from a Dartmouth alumna. In her book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and shouldn’t deter us from experiencing the fullness of life. Everybody (And Other Concerns), she humorously recollects her misadventures postgets bent out of shape every once in a while—some more than others, graduation, from being a babysitter with an Ivy League degree to a stalker unfortunately—but if you’ve somehow managed to not let yourself be intern on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to a production assistant for a TV crippled by the many mistakes and experiences that haunt you, then psychic with a still very unutilized Ivy League degree. raise your hand one last time and give me a high five. n

Scout 18.indb 31

2/23/16 5:04 PM

32 on the cover

Scout 18 OTC Alden.indd 32

2/23/16 5:33 PM

on the cover 33

mys tery man When we peer at Alden Richards through a camera—augmented by the filters of primetime television, big brand endorsements, and sudden, sweeping fame—who are we really looking at?

Photography by RALPH MENDOZA Styling by REX ATIENZA Interview by APO ESPAÑOLA

Scout 18 OTC Alden.indd 33

2/23/16 5:33 PM

34 on the cover

THERE’S A CONCEPT in animation called the “uncanny valley”: as a character increases in human likeness, so do the feelings of familiarity and empathy towards it. Mapped out as a graph, that emotional response is a line on an upward trajectory. But the “uncanny valley” is the sharp dip that the line takes right before the point of ordinary human appearance: it represents the discomfort people feel towards a subject that appears almost—very close to, but not quite—real.

Uncanny valley is where I am nowadays as a casual fan of AlDub, the television supercouple and social media phenomenon that sprang from the Eat Bulaga! segment “Kalyeserye.” And uncanny valley is where I am especially with respect to Richard R. Faulkerson, Jr., screen name Alden Richards, male half of AlDub. I’m uneasy that AlDub grows ever closer to encapsulating the noncommittal flirtations of millennial romance. I’m uneasy that its quirks have begun to reflect myself and my friends with increasing accuracy. Most of all, I’m uneasy about Alden: the more that he plays himself on TV six days a week, the more I’m convinced that he is expertly concealing his true self from public scrutiny.

So when I was told I was getting a one-on-one interview with Alden, I set out on a mission. I had considered making a goal of things ranging from the innocuous (like getting him to put his arm around me for a selfie) to the temporary restraining order-worthy (like confirming the true depth of his dimples). But these could be done quickly, with a little audacity, and a lot less investigative will than I was hoping to deploy. No, my mission was going to take full advantage of the fact that I was going to be within his orbit for one full morning.

Hence, on the day of the interview, I arrived on set determined to solve the puzzle that was Alden Richards.

Kalyeserye is a lesson in genre-bending. I’ve been watching it for months, and I still don’t know how to explain it. Even Alden himself is loath to call it just one thing—in his words, “It’s a little acting, a little improvisation, a little reality.” He reveals that “Kalyeserye” is largely unscripted: the cast receives a general idea of the day’s storyline and fill the episode with their own improvisations (though, Alden admits with a grin, “I search for pick-up lines”). Aside from that, he says, “Just be ready for spontaneous changes and [the] spontaneous actions of others.”

“It’s just the magic of Kalyeserye,” he adds. “It has never been done, and when we do it, it’s like we’re just playing.”

True to teleserye form, Kalyeserye is indeed rife with drama, passion, convoluted storylines, and moral lessons. It is also full of spur-of-themoment comedy, thanks to the talents of Wally Bayola, Jose Manalo, and Paolo Ballesteros as three elderly sisters. And, most of all, it heavily features the will-they-or-won’t-they romance between Alden and “Yaya Dub,” played

by Maine Mendoza.

Reel or real? There’s the rub. On the July 16, 2015 show, Maine broke character and became visibly flustered by Alden’s handsome mug on the split-screen, because who wouldn’t? The rest of the Eat Bulaga hosts caught on, teasing Alden and Maine, and as viewers felt the secondhand kilig, AlDub was born.

But what has tantalized audiences more than anything is the possibility of the love team’s affections being more than just for show: over time, Alden has dropped the pretense of talking to “Yaya Dub” and now prefers to call Maine by name. Their fellow hosts joke about the couple’s growing closeness on and off-camera. Candid photos of them together are shared online hundreds of thousands of times. Ardent fans insist that Maine and Alden are keeping a blossoming romance under wraps.

I guess it can be said that I’m only one of millions suddenly interested in the private lives of AlDub: if there is an onscreen Alden and an offscreen Alden, I’m determined to finally tell the difference.

Picture the pantheon of Philippine celebrity love teams. Among others: Claudine and Rico. Jolina and Marvin. Judy Ann and Wowie. Antoinette and Dingdong. Kristine and Jericho. Bea and John Lloyd.

Scout 18 OTC Alden.indd 34

And someday—I’m calling it—Maine and Alden.

AlDub is the 2010s’ answer to love teams past, and is a natural development in the history of the Pinoy love team. It exhibits the nineties’ cheesiness and G-rated coquetry, along with the real-life mystique and intrigue of the aughts, but filtered through this decade’s cultural cornerstone: social media. The volume and tenacity of the AlDub fanbase is a thing to behold—last year, at the peak of Kalyeserye, millions of fans broke Twitter records on a daily basis.

Alden is well aware of the sea change that social media has brought to his life as a celebrity. “It made the world even smaller,” he says. With a smaller world comes greater opportunities to inspire: he narrates an encounter with a 60-year-old widow living in Orange County, California, who became a fan of Kalyeserye after mourning her husband’s death. “I didn’t know the story yet, then I met her. She was shaking, stuttering… she didn’t know what she was going to say to me.” Alden muses, “It’s really lifechanging for me to be an inspiration to people, to change their lives, make them feel not alone, make them feel happy.”

But he knows, too, that there’s no pleasing everyone, especially not on the Internet. “They always have something to say,” he says, “and at the end of the day, it’s up to us [whether] we’ll get affected by that. But with me, I’ve learned how to not listen and to not pay attention to it. You’ll go crazy with the bashers.”

Yet Alden’s Internet persona is easily accessible, the sum of whatever he decides to share in 140 characters. Today, I’ve decided to push my luck by uncovering a little more. After narrating the emotional encounter with the widow, I attempt to probe, asking, Do you consider yourself an emotional guy?

“I am emotional,” he agrees quickly. “What you see is what you get… I mean, whatever Alden is, whatever you see on Eat Bulaga!, that’s me.”

So you’re not worried, I ask, that people will confuse the Alden you’re portraying onscreen as you are in real life?

He shrugs. “It’s really up to them. They decide. They will be the judge of that. I will not tell them what to believe, because I do the things I do because I like to do them. So if I’m gonna be judged in a negative or positive way doing that, it’s up to them. I will not tell them what to think.”

Laughing, he adds, “Judge me.”

It’s difficult to put a verb to how the AlDub phenomenon found its way into headlines, hashtags, and households in 2015. I could say it exploded, which implies the instantaneousness of a dropped bomb, but it was actually a little more gradual than that.

Alden would know just how gradual. He did, after all, arrive on the scene as a GMA talent way back in 2010, and saw moderate success, with such highlights as the teenage series Tween Hearts and the primetime soap Carmela (co-starring no less than Marian Rivera, the network’s biggest star).

AlDub, then, though seemingly sudden, was actually a breakthrough long due for him, and it finally catapulted him into MMFF film, EDSA billboard, McDonald’s ad-level ubiquity.

Even with a hotter spotlight on him, however, Alden’s boy-next-door image has remained mostly unchanged over the years. Sitting across from him in his make-up chair, I sincerely wonder how much of it has to do with his youthful appearance: he is all soft features and gentle roundness, handsome the way your first crush in college was before college toughened him up. (Alden is 24.) There is also an irresistible mischief about him: he talks about being roughly handled during fan encounters, and jokingly, I venture, Is Alden Richards ready to get hurt?

“Double meaning?” he grins, adding, “Of course. Always ready.”

There’s a greater self-discipline centering Alden, who waited patiently for his big break, found success in spades, and yet, is aware of how fleeting it all might be. Now, Alden and Maine’s interactions on Eat Bulaga have gone from the heady thrills of the chase to the relaxed banter of two people certain in each other (though from where that certainty flows, we can still only guess).

In response, the nation seems to be sweating out its collective AlDub fever. In a January 15, 2016 piece in Inquirer.net, marketing expert Josiah Go analyzed AlDub’s waning viewership, citing data from Kantar Media:

3/7/16 3:57 PM

on the cover 35

AlDub is the 2010s’ answer to love teams past, and is a natural development in the history of the Pinoy love team. It exhibits the nineties’ cheesiness and G-rated coquetry, along with the real-life mystique and intrigue of the aughts, but filtered through this decade’s cultural cornerstone: social media.

Scout 18 OTC Alden.indd 35

2/23/16 5:33 PM

36 on the cover

Scout 18 OTC Alden.indd 36

2/23/16 5:33 PM

on the cover 37

His made-on-TV romance with Maine is replete with the landmarks of millennial infatuation: the awkwardness, the inexplicable giddiness over someone you know nothing about, the high of flirting maybe once a day, the subtweets, the general public’s confusion about your relationship status, all the anxiety, the eventual (and surprisingly welcome) plateau.

from a peak of 6.2 million households viewing Tamang Panahon in October 2015, the numbers plummeted to 4 million a month later, to a low of 2.65 million by December. As of this writing, Kantar Media reports that rival noontime program It’s Showtime has closed Eat Bulaga’s previously immense lead in the ratings, with the two now jockeying for single-digit differences.

Business pundits forecast the end of AlDub’s fifteen minutes, even as Alden and Maine inundate the airwaves and skylines. It’s a strange and daunting position to be in. But Alden has prepared for this in philosophy—not because he is a defeatist, but because thoughts of the end only seem to fuel his optimism and boundless gratitude. The mantra is, “Seize the day.” The full quote, from Greek poet Horace: “Seize the day, and trust little in tomorrow.” In order to keep afloat, Alden does just this.

“What happens when this is all gone?” he asks. “What happens after this ends? Because I have those times where I’m on the verge of burning out—of course, we’re all just human. We can’t really handle everything. So I just think of it as, ‘What happens when this is over?’ What if it’s not like this anymore?”

So you’re for living in the moment, I chime in.

“And counting my blessings every day,” he declares. “It’s a must.”

Alden’s good-boy appeal is part of what makes his little flirtations with Maine on national television so delicious to watch: they were both so tentative towards each other in the beginning that their few bold moments—a daring pick-up line, a split second of holding hands, a stolen kiss on the cheek—garnered the biggest reactions.

I introduce to Alden the idea of Love Languages, thought up by author Gary Chapman. There are five: gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service, and physical intimacy. I ask him what he thinks his love language is.

“Time,” he answers firmly. “There’s no other gift. Above all of those five things, time is number one. Words are not enough to let someone know how much you care for them, how much you love them. Time is really the main thing you can show if you care about someone… If I’m giving someone time already, and I’m giving it my all and all my time, that’s the ultimate language of love for me.”

I ask him if he and Maine are friends outside of Kalyeserye.

“We are. We’re very close.” He says this with such a conspiratorial

Scout 18 OTC Alden.indd 37

smile that I (fangirl that I am) am momentarily distracted; I neglect to ask him just how much quality time they are spending.

Quality or not, it is certainly much more time than from when AlDub was starting out. Wally’s character, Lola Nidora, made sure to throw many an obstacle in Alden’s path to meeting Yaya Dub. The most frustrating for Alden was the September 5, 2015 episode: after a chase, Alden and Yaya Dub finally find each other on opposite ends of a hallway backstage. They run toward each other, only to have a plywood wall fall from the ceiling between them, eliciting the viewers’ frustration and Alden’s tears.

“When I became emotional during that time, it really was unexpected. I didn’t know why. I don’t up to this point.” He struggles to find the words. “I didn’t know the wall would come down, actually.

That’s the thing about “Kalyeserye”: we surprise ourselves. Even us, we don’t know what to expect the next day.”

But it’s no surprise that his most joyful moment was Tamang Panahon, which aired live from the Philippine Arena on Oct. 24, 2015.

“That was the official first time I saw Maine up close, really talk to her in person. You get excited, too, because you only see this person—your love team—onscreen for what, eight, nine weeks? Then after a while, given the chance to see her in person… it’s definitely something to be joyful about.”

Today, in addition to their daily stint on Eat Bulaga, he and Maine appear together on magazine covers, billboards, and television advertisements. The two seem to be hitting their stride in coming to terms with their own celebrity status, though Alden admits to giving Maine guidance about navigating the industry (the least he could do as her “good friend,” he says).

It’s advice that betrays a little of what he’s been through in his five years: “Show business is really hard. It’s really complicated, it’s really tiring, it’s really demanding, it’s unfair. But you just have to enjoy it and deal with the things you can control, and not the things you can’t control. Because of course, when you can’t do anything about it, you just let it be. And that thing or that situation will take care of itself.”

I wrap up the interview with Alden and linger to watch him shoot for the cover. If I hadn’t interviewed him just before this, I would be convinced that there was still the slightest subterfuge here. Now, though, I’m not so sure. There’s this thing he does with his eyes, which I’m sure is just a couple of muscles tensing and relaxing on his face, but I’m transfixed by his smolder. In his magazine cover wardrobe, he is dapper and sure of himself and disarmingly handsome. Then he cracks a self-deprecating joke, and he is back to being the selfprofessed good boy. The transformation has come full circle. Alden has completed his orbit, and I appreciate him and AlDub better for it.

His made-on-TV romance with Maine is replete with the landmarks of millennial infatuation: the awkwardness, the inexplicable giddiness over someone you know nothing about, the high of flirting maybe once a day, the subtweets, the general public’s confusion about your relationship status, all the fucking anxiety, the eventual (and surprisingly welcome) plateau. It used to discomfit me because I couldn’t accept that my generation’s romantic narrative was as ambiguous as this. Knowing better, I’ve come to terms with AlDub’s verisimilitude. It’s stopped weirding me out now.

And as for Alden—I’ve finally figured him out, too. Alden Richards is a puzzle to me, because I believe that real and reel are discrete and separable, because I still try to classify “Kalyeserye” into genres, because I like to deal in absolutes. The truth is that Alden Richards is everything I observed him to be on television—unabashedly emotional, playfully coy, and earnestly sweet—but he is also all of that when barely anyone is watching. Alden Richards dances to Fantastic Baby on the blurred line of massive celebrity and boy-next-door, but he is also secure enough to navigate that gray area with ease and grace.

The trick is in the misdirection, him making you think, this can’t possibly be true, even as he wears his heart on his sleeve and his tears like a man.

The truth is, Alden Richards is exactly who you think he is. n

Grooming by KUSIE HO

3/7/16 3:57 PM

Scout 18.indb 38

From left: TOPSHOP striped top (worn underneath), sleeveless top, and skirt; FJALLRAVEN KANKEN bag, available at Bratpack; SFERA boots

crazy

38 fashion

2/23/16 5:04 PM

Scout 18.indb 39

eight

MISS SELFRIDGE top and pants, FOREVER 21 gold earrings and ring, CONVERSE sneakers. SALAD DAY top

fashion 39

Photography by PAOLO CRODUA Styling by JED GREGORIO

2/23/16 5:04 PM

ZARA faux fur jacket. TOMMY HILFIGER jacket, tied around waist, 21 MEN pants

40 fashion

Scout 18.indb 40

2/23/16 5:04 PM

TERRA NOVA turtleneck sweater

fashion 41

Scout 18.indb 41

2/23/16 5:04 PM

42 fashion

TOPSHOP sweater, worn underneath, dress, and pants

2/23/16 5:05 PM

Scout 18.indb 42

MISS SELFRIDGE jacket

fashion 43

Scout 18.indb 43

2/23/16 5:05 PM

RIVER ISLAND necklace, TOPMAN pants. TOPMAN suit jacket and shirt

44 fashion

Scout 18.indb 44

2/23/16 5:05 PM

RIVER ISLAND faux fur jacket. H&M mesh top, SABRINA by TEENA TAN tulle skirt

fashion 45

Scout 18.indb 45

2/23/16 5:05 PM

46 fashion

Custom embellished mask by JED GREGORIO

Scout 18.indb 46

2/23/16 5:05 PM

BENCH hoodie

fashion 47

Makeup by SYLVINA LOPEZ feat. ADRIANA, AIZEL, ARIA, CENON, JOB, KARL, STEFFI, and YEO KAA

Scout 18.indb 47

2/23/16 5:05 PM

48 back story

the c-word A cultural design house is out to make a (realistic) change Interview by MARTIN DIEGOR THINK OF DESIGN as problem-solving, and that the idea of good design becomes subjective, depending on the problem it is solving. It can mean a useful app, an iconic architecture, or good roads. Basically, design’s main goal is to make our lives easier.

By “us,” I mean the lucky ones with comfortable lifestyles in the city. Most of us don’t really get to think about how design can reach far outside the comforts of urban living and stretch to involve heritage sites and communities. That’s where the Office of Culture and Design steps in, a private group headed by creative director Clara Balaguer who established it in 2010 as a platform for artists to create projects that aid the developing world. Big words? Clara begs to differ.

Using art and design as “tools for progress” is a concept that can be quite hard to grasp. In that sense, how would you put the work of the Office of Culture and Design simply?

I would start by saying that we use progress in its non-loaded sense. Using design and culture as tools for progress doesn’t, for us, buy into this grand narrative of Progress linked to technocratic, infrastructural, or philosophical superiority.

By progress, we mean realistic things. A more open mind. Better sensitivity towards gender equality. A bit more money every day to bring food to the table. More pride in one’s own culture and less of a feeling of inferiority towards other, more “progressive” cultures. In a nutshell, I would say what we do is give value to the overlooked portions of our contemporary material culture that are slipping through the cracks, that are not being documented with rigor and criticality for posterity. Even more simply put, we do cultural projects for underserved communities, with a strong commitment to research.

What’s the most interesting or significant project you have worked on so far?

Embarking on a publishing and design hauz has been what’s been consuming most of our time lately. Consolidating the process of our projects into printed formats proves to be a good strategy for bringing the work to a larger audience, and that’s been a very interesting learning curve.

But in terms of social significance, I would say our last endeavor, a textile residency in Bohol—with two Photo by Stefan Kruse Jørgensen. RISO Readers #1 and #2: Tribal Kitchen: The Aytas (blue) and OCD Notebook Catalogue

Scout 18.indb 48

Photo by Wawi Navarroza. Left: An Auto-Corrected Journal of Printing Properties… edited by Disclab, designed by Lobregat Balaguer and Stefan Kruse Jørgensen. Right: Filipino Folk Foundry, an OCD research publication on vernacular typography in the Philippines, designed

by Dante Carlos and Kristian Henson.

students from Rhode Island School of Design, Your work on documenting Philippine graphic funded by the Maharam STEAM Fellowship for design trends and publishing it as Filipino Applied Arts and Design—has been eye-opening.

Folk Foundry is very fascinating and puts the I’m currently in the evaluation phase for the general design landscape in contrast with project and I feel like Dye Trying (that’s what foreign ones. Why do you think it is important we called the book about the project, and it’s to do this, and what have you learned from sort of the fond nickname for the entire project the project? itself) has had the most impact. Our findings It’s important to document our visual material and recommendations throughout the residency culture with critical rigor because if we don’t, process have been effective at influencing policy it will disappear without our having learned for the loom-weaving co-op we worked with. Their anything from its existence. What I learned institutional partners such as the from FFF is that we hold very European Chamber of Commerce and little stock in the importance of DTI have identified the natural dye vernacular Filipino aesthetics, but research we did as a developmental nevertheless feel absolutely okay priority for the Tubigon Multi-Purpose with co-opting and appropriating Loomweavers Cooperative. DTI has and sanitizing it. I also learned that invited us to share our insights at classic sign painters are some of the their regional planning session held most talented graphic designers in just this month, and I think we might the Philippines, except they have no also have had something to do with idea that what they are doing is in a production manager being trained fact graphic design.

Dye Trying: Field and hired for the coop in the last few Notes From a Textile months. The institutional partnerships You have a publishing arm, Residency in the Philippines, designed we built during this project were key to Hardworking Goodlooking, and

by Kristian Henson its effectivity post-implementation. as I’ve experienced, the art of and Lobregat publishing is technically the art of Balaguer.

Who would you like to work with in editing, or curation, as some would the future? say. “Curation” is actually a word young “Roosmarijn Pallandt, who does these amazing people like to throw around these days. For carpets with weavers from all over the world. you, what does it take for a person to be a The woven patterns are based on Google Maps credible curator and why is it important? imagery. Paul Pfeiffer would be another dream I try not to use the word curator precisely collaborator. I saw his last exhibition Vitruvian because the curatorial has turned into coffee Figure at the Museum of Contemporary Art shop parlance. Only when the conversation and Design, and absolutely loved the sports is about actual curatorial decisions, in terms and synchronized choreography-declamation of putting together a cultural program with a pieces done in video. It felt like he has this clear line of investigation, do I use the word. same soft spot for Filipino popular culture (and Also, I am not so sure if I know what it takes to the secondary market). I have also been trying be a credible curator—perhaps working at an to figure out how to build a project around the actual art institution to stage challenging and comedic millennial genius that is Coco Quizon, uncompromising shows, with a surrounding but I don’t think she knows I’m big of a fan of her body of intelligent (written) discourse?

Twitter. Also, Czar Kristoff’s photographic work on Realistically, though, if you know the right vernacular architectural constructs, specifically curator-friendly keywords and utter them focused on tarpaulin, quite takes my breath away, often and convincingly enough with panache, as I’m also obsessed with the ennobling the use you’ll probably have a great chance of getting of tarpaulin.” mistaken for a curator. (Laughs) n

2/23/16 5:05 PM

#SCOUT CAMPUS TOUR yep, we’re back.

APRIL

ateneo de manila university MAY

university of the philippines - diliman JUNE

de la salle university JULY

university of santo tomas

Scout 19 Ads.indd 2

3/7/16 4:54 PM

Untitled-4 1

3/4/16 5:40 PM