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Set of bookplates by Gallison, Php320 at National Bookstores.

We may be in bibliophilia rehab, but we can still pop into the bookstore to look at stationery. We love stationery. This probably stems from the penmanship training at our old school—we learned to enjoy scribbling on blank sheets of paper. This may also account for our choice of occupations.

The set contains 80 bookplates in 10 designs.

“Why do you have bookplates? Why don’t you just write your name on the flyleaf?”

“No reason. We just like bookplates.”

Pocket spiral notebook, cat design by Romero Britto, Php200+ (pricetag fell off).

We used to haunt the little stationery shop at St. Theresa’s, the one on the second floor near the cafeteria, for paper and rubber erasers. Did you sniff those scented rubber erasers, too? We know people who used to chew on them. They also gnawed on their Mongol pencils.

Box of Liberty art fabrics notecards by Chronicle Books, Php957. 16 cards, with envelopes, 4 designs: Clementina (1896), Pelagia (2007), Nesfield (1900s) inspired by William Morris, and Amarylis (1880s).

We would’ve gotten these notecards for the fabric-covered box.

Saffy invaded the frame, which meant she wanted a close-up.

A round-trip ticket to any Tigerair domestic destination is up for grabs in this month’s Tiger Traveller: Heritage Sites of the Philippines photo contest. Here’s the second set of entries. To join the contest, read the rules.

Please note the ten entries per person and 1MB per photo limits.

Photographer: Jesse Tuason
Description: Malate Church, Manila (Photo taken on December 20, 2012 with a Nikon D700)
“This was taken right after Simbang Gabi. I was doing a personal photo project taking pictures of Manila’s major churches for the whole nine days.”

Photographer: Bryan Herrera Tagaduar
Taken January 6, 2013 with a Nikon D5000 with Polarizing filter
“The Church of Saint Augustine, commonly known as the Paoay Church. Completed in 1710, the church is famous for its distinct architecture highlighted by the enormous buttresses on the sides and back of the building. In 1993, the church was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

Photographer: Arnold Conlu Jumpay
Chocolate Hills, Bohol, taken May 22, 2012 with a Leica d-lux 5

Photographer: Arnold Conlu Jumpay
Stone Houses of Batanes, taken December 20, 2008 with a Nikon f4

Photographer: Benedict Raquel, April 2010 with a Canon 50D
“A family strolls down from the Bantay Belfry which has become a popular stopover before entering another heritage site, Vigan City in Ilocos Sur. The watchtower provides scenic 360-degree views of the surrounding countryside.”

Photographer: Julius Joseph L. dela Cruz
This was taken April 2012 using a Lumix LX5.
“Tucked in the center of Bacolod City is the Provincial Capitol and Lagoon. It is one of two green spaces that Bacolenos will forever seek to protect and nurture. The Capitol Lagoon is famed for its midcentury carabao statues by Francesco Ricardo Monti. Overhead is the famed 1930s Capitol building. Leandro Locsin once said that it is the most beautiful of all provincial Capitol buildings. I love how it has been retrofitted to adapt for 21st century amenities while retaining its old world feel.”

Photographer: Abraham Toribio II
Date taken: April 2013
Where: Basilica of San Sebastian, Manila
Camera: Canon PowerShot G10
“From Quiapo church, we walked along Hidalgo Street in Manila to visit the Basilica of San Sebastian. The basilica known for its Gothic architecture and steel walls was one of our pit stops for visita iglesia last year. Even from afar, on a busy street full of pedicabs, street food vendors, photographers, and religious people walking about, it stood out in its dark beauty. In 2006, the basilica was included in the tentative list for possible designation as World Heritage Site.”

Photographer: Gerry Cacanindin
Camera: iPhone 4
“This is a photo of the MacArthur Landing Memorial taken in 2010 in Palo, Leyte near Tacloban. One doesn’t get a sense of the size of these statues until you see them for yourself. A person of average height would only reach to the waists of these statues. The figure of Carlos P. Romulo (the one with the round helmet at the rear) was toppled by Typhoon Yolanda. It has since been set upright.”

The next set of entries will be posted on Thursday.

This contest is sponsored by Tigerair Philippines. To find out more about Tigerair deals and promos, follow TigerAir Philippines on Facebook and Twitter.

If you check out Planet Hillary, the (very weird, bad science-filled) New York Times Magazine cover story about Hillary Clinton’s probably presidential campaign in 2016, look at the planetary system called The People Who Do All The Work. We took the tiiiny picture of Hillary Clinton’s press secretary, Nick Merrill. You can barely see it, but we got New York Times photo credit, yay!

Our serfs have sent you an email directing you to the online store. It’s the soft opening; thank you for your patience, and we would appreciate any feedback. We’re only serving the pre-orders for now, but as soon as the store is fully operational, we’ll announce it here.

World Domination: Don’t just threaten it, wear it.

Aaron Eckhart in Possession, Neil LaBute’s adaptation of A.S. Byatt’s marvelous literary mystery thriller. Critics tore into LaBute’s film for making changes to the book, notably turning the obscure English scholar into a ruggedly handsome American scholar. We love the movie, especially for its many scenes of Aaron Eckhart reading books and writing notes.

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Write Here, Write Now, our Practical Writing Workshop, had its second session last Saturday at the Ayala Museum. We looked at the work the participants have done so far. Here’s a sampler.

Ryan Rivera ponders the minutiae of daily life.

Noel Pascual’s protagonist has been making film transfers from U-Matic cassettes to DVD for so long, it’s messing with his thought processes.

Momel Tullao was going to write a collection of trenchant observations of urban daily life but we said, Momelia, your forte is kink. Do that.

A passage from Mike Co’s science-fiction novel in which Filipinos have achieved world domination.

Angus Miranda is writing a novel about family and the faithlessness of memory.

This is the first edition of Write Here, Write Now. The class was selected from a pool of applicants last year. Participants have to submit chapters every week. By March when the Workshop ends, the participants should be well on their way to finishing their books, which are due six months later.

The second edition of Write Here, Write Now will be announced mid-year.

In October we will conduct a writing workshop open to all interested participants (a fee will be charged), also at the Ayala Museum.

Write Here, Write Now is made possible by a grant from the Ayala Foundation, Inc.

Tom! Tilda! Jim Jarmusch!

Vampire enthusiasts, this is a Jim Jarmusch movie, so whatever you expect, that’s probably not going to happen.