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Steampunk eyeglass frames by Sunny

We love spectacles. We have a lot of eyeglasses because we wear them all the time (If we had contact lenses we would end up poking our eyes out from sheer clumsiness). Everyone wonders how dumb the population of Metropolis has to be not to see that Clark Kent is Superman with eyeglasses, but having worn glasses since age 8, we know they make effective disguises. No one can recognize us minus our glasses. The disguise has become the person! Nyahahahaa (thunder, lightning)!

While relocating dust from one piece of furniture to the next (i.e. cleaning), we found a bag full of old spectacles we don’t use anymore. Not the vintage frames—we’ll use those forever—but fairly ordinary plastic glasses from the 90s, with plastic lenses in our old prescription (Our astigmatism has lessened since then). Fourteen in total, all of them from our optometrist Nella Sarabia at UP Shopping Center. What can we do with them?

Reading glasses we found at a flea market. They’re warped with age and no longer usable as glasses, but we’re keeping them to turn into a pendant or something.

We could donate them to charity. Better, we could sell them and donate the proceeds to charity (or have them auctioned for charity, assuming anyone would buy them).

We could give a pair to anyone who makes a donation in a specified amount (Say, Php2500) to CARA (Compassion and Responsibility for Animals) or PAWS (Philippine Animal Welfare Society).

We could give a pair of glasses to anyone who buys three sets of books in The Last Twisted Sale.

We could give the frames to Sunny Garcia who makes funky spectacles and sells them at Legazpi Market on Sundays (They’re closed this Sunday). Or give them to Leo Abaya to fuse onto a sculpture project.

That’s a handwoven abel table runner in python weave. Ask Rene Guatlo.

Ideas are welcome.

This is our new favorite T-shirt. We acquired it at great cost. Not that it’s expensive, but we had to lose in order to get it. Recently we challenged Rene to a Don’t Buy Anything Contest, in which the player who refrains from spending anything in a store wins. We thought we were a shoo-in, since we weren’t feeling covetous at the time. Our mistake was setting the challenge in Uniqlo, where it is difficult for us not to buy anything because the stuff is so practical and the prices so sane. We could ignore the collaboration with Ines de la Fressange because the dress requires ironing, but this Italian Star Wars T-shirt…

“Isn’t this brilliant?” we cried. “Luke and Leia look like characters in those Italian sword-and-sandal flicks. We don’t recall Luke Skywalker getting topless in Star Wars.”

“Or bottomless,” Ricky pointed out. “He’s not wearing pants.”

The shirt is even more brilliant than we thought! We’re going to wear it till it falls apart. According to the Museo Fermo Immagine blog, the movie poster illustration is by the Sicilian artist Michelangelo Papuzza.

Noel’s latest find from the Legazpi Sunday Market: “One-of-a-kind Cleopatra-inspired Gargantilla. Pieces of Spanish brass, turquoise, mosaic sapphire,” a.k.a. a choker. The stones give it a medieval look, but the circlet makes it science-fiction. It’s beautiful. The artist’s name is Uan, and we’re going to drop by the market next weekend to find out more.

The keyhole pendant brings to mind a chastity belt, except that you wear it around your neck. Aha, a chastity belt for the head. To keep people from thinking about sex. Of course, wearing it guarantees that you will think of nothing else.

The Legazpi Sunday Market is open Sundays from 0730 to 1400 at the corner of Rufino and Legazpi Streets in Legazpi Village, Makati near Greenbelt.

An elaborately decorated zippered pouch that we bought at the souvenir tiangge in Puerto Princesa for 90 pesos, now doing service as our phone case.

Funny earrings we made out of Solane LPG keychains, zero pesos. Our friend required our presence at a media lunch to introduce the LPG provider Solane’s gas-tight safety cap and seal, tamper-proof for auto/shut-off valves. The safety cap completely plugs the gas to prevent leaks. We could’ve used these at our high school chem lab, which always had a whiff of gas early in the morning. (Ah, fond memories of hair burning in bunsen burner flames. Not ours, of course.)

The Simpsons 25th anniversary Moleskine notebook, Php1495 at National Bookstores. We like the yellow version better, but that one has lined paper.

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Yesterday we ducked into a store to get out of the unseasonable rain and found not just a solution to sudden downpours, but an accessory that enhances any outfit. It’s an umbrella with the handle of a samurai sword. Picture the consternation of security as you enter a building. (Actually we have entered buildings carrying a variety of longswords, and the guards made no comment.) These umbrellas are badass. Next to those Avengers (the old British spy series, not the Marvel superhero assembly) umbrellas that contain swords.

We also got the folding version. Maybe we’ll attach the chicken tchotchkes.

The renowned Italian shoe brand Santoni has opened its first boutique in the Philippines on the second floor of Shangri-La Plaza East Wing in Mandaluyong. It is distributed by Lucerne, local purveyor of Patek Philippe, Breitling, Breguet, Panerai, IWC and other luxury timepieces. If you’re so fastidious about what goes on your wrist, you can’t wear just any shoes, no?

Santoni shoes are valued for their handmade workmanship and rigorous construction. The store carries Santoni’s Man, Woman, Junior, and Accessories collections, including sneakers. The styles for women are vertiginous so we do not covet.

What we do covet are their bespoke shoes. For the discriminating client who is prepared to pay for perfection, Santoni has a fatto a mano su misura service (shoes made by hand and made to measure, it sounds more dramatic in Italian). The process of making shoes to your specifications takes at least two months. First your feet are measured and lasts—wooden models of your feet—are made. Then the shape of the shoes is decided upon and the hides and materials selected. Finally the color is chosen. You are involved in each step of the process. The long wait for your unique custom-made shoes is part of the pleasure.

The media kit included this beautiful leather keychain,

which we turned into a pair of mismatched leather earrings.