In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” Twenty images and only 20 seconds per image to express all the heartfelt emotion behind them, brevity might as well be entertainment.
Last December 9 at the Shangri-la Mall Cineplex, it was full-house as Dan Matutina and Jao Bautista of Ideals mounted Pecha Kucha (pronounced pe-chak-cha) Night V.2 to join 260 cities simultaneously hold the event around the world.
Also known as 20×20, Pecha Kucha originated in Tokyo in 2003 for debutante artists to engage the audience in their work. Previously held in Mag:Net High Street in 2008, this second outing PKN featured a more organized engine. Sans booze, popcorn and soda had to provide the rush.
Six minutes and forty seconds, none too sweet, local pop-art personalities merged media with corporate and academic visualizers in PKN V.2. Fashion designer-cum-style blogger turned musician for the night, Kate Torralba surprised the crowd as a sultry siren and adept pianist. The Cannes Lions-gold winning tandem of Tin Sanchez and Brandie Tan gave the crowd their mouthful. Of the duo, Tan was earnest and amazing, showing images that shaped his art, including New York’s Times Square, the prototype Apple computer, the Obama psychedelic rendition, and last but not the least, the plain old pencil.
< height="523" width="420" src="/global//UserFiles/torralba+cruz. " alt="" />
The night was not without information and inspiration. Programmer and Go Game Master Mikong Galero introduced the intellectual wizardry required in the Chinese-Japanese Go (a board game involving round black and white stones), Budjette Tan, the writer and creator of the critically acclaimed comic, Trese, showed more than 13, and Gutsy Tuason wowed the audience with up-close and personal underwater encounters.
< height="544" width="420" src="/global//UserFiles/tan+tuazon. " alt="" />
Taking the stage at PKN V.2 were Pepe Diokno and Paolo Jose Cruz. While Diokno showed more video than images, it was quickly forgiven. [Filipinos are not too fond of rules.] Recent winner in the Venice Film Festival, the young Diokno talked about his movie “Encuentro” (Encounter), and the need to support the local film industry.
Stand-up comic for the night, Paolo Jose Cruz’s apoplectic tirade on being a geek almost stole the show—if not for Lourd de Veyra. Orating street poetry, de Veyra extolled the artistry of local musicians, writers and poets, many of whom are multi-awarded, yet unknown to the audience. Describing them as “wasak” (Filipino slang for “stone-drunk, destroyed”), de Veyra deployed ironic imagery to communicate the artists’ merits.
< height="173" width="144" src="/global//UserFiles/lourd de veyra. " alt="" />
On writer F. Sionil Jose: Wasak si F. Sionil Jose dahil sinabi niya dati: "Poyetree? I can’t even pronounce it." (F. Sionil Jose is wasak because he once stated…"
On National Artists Virgilio Almario and Bienvenido Lumbera: "Wasak talaga ang mga National Artists. Sinabihan ako ni Almario na dapat tumula na lang daw ako sa Tagalog. Sinabihan ako ni Lumbera na maingay daw ang mga tula ko. Wasak dahil hanggang ngayon, hindi ko pa rin sila sinusunod." (Almario once told me I should just recite Filipino poetry. Lumbera once told me my poetry is noisy. Wasak because I do not do as they bid to this day.)
The Palanca Award winning poet, militant journalist, frontman and songwriter for local mod group Radioactive Sago Project, De Veyra was explicit, succinct and, above all, deadpan.
“Na-stress ako doon, ha,” (That stressed me out!) de Veyra confessed. The audience was none the wiser.
< class="qtl" title="Translate With Babylon" src="http://www.babylon.com/favicon.ico" alt="" />
