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We spent a few hours at the Met Open 2014, a benefit exhibition on contemporary art. Five eminent curators selected 208 artworks focusing on abstraction, painting, seriality, pop culture, myth and symbolism.

Robert Langenegger

Leo Abaya

Jaime De Guzman

Paulo Vinluan

Napoleon Abueva

The five pieces shown above are among the artworks for sale. Proceeds will support the museum’s education and exhibition programs. Met Open 2014 opened today and will run until Saturday, 4 October 2014.

At the second floor galleries is the survey, The Philippine Contemporary Art Exhibition: To Scale the Past and the Possible.

Junyee

Roberto Feleo

Patricia Eustaquio

Alfonso Osorio

Gabriel Barredo

Rodel Tapaya

Alfred Esquillo

Winner Jumalon

The Metropolitan Museum of Manila is at the Bangko Sentral complex on Roxas Boulevard, Manila. The museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10am to 530pm. Entrance fee: Php100 for adults and students, Php80 for senior citizens. Visit www.metmuseum.ph or call (02)7087828 for more information.

1,500-Year-Old Claws Intrigue Archaeologists in Peru
By Alan Boyle

Among the most intriguing artifacts are ornamental metal pieces fashioned to look like feline paws with claws. The paws may have been part of a ritual costume used in ceremonial combat, El Comercio reported. The loser would be sacrificed, while the winner would get the costume.

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We need those gloves in order to level the playing field in our household. Maybe our cats will take us seriously and stop treating us like their serf. Not likely.

Photo from InterAksyon

As lifelong veterans of traffic, we formulate explanations as to why it is so bad. These explanations are not thorough or accurate; in many cases, they’re not even right. They are increasingly desperate attempts to make sense of the black hole that swallows us up every time we go out on the street. They constitute a mantra of urban life.

The traffic is heavy because it is raining.
Because it is rush hour.
Because it is Friday.
Because it is payday.
Because there’s been a vehicular accident.
Because the highway is being repaired.
Because there are shopping malls right along the main thoroughfares.
Because the skyway is being constructed.
Because the truck ban has been lifted.
Because the trains aren’t running.
Because there are too many colorum buses.
Because there is no urban planning.
Because the motorists don’t follow basic road rules.
Because this and that.

Read our column at InterAksyon.

Notes from Luang Prabang
by Joven Cuanang

Our favorite neurologist Dr. Cuanang recently retired as chief medical officer of St. Luke’s, giving him more time to teach, see patients, attend to his art collection (Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo), travel, and write. This piece on his trip to Laos appeared yesterday in the Philippine Star.

According to their belief, every person has 32 minds and everyone is a carrier of a “monkey mind, foolish, indomitable, animal-like; locking one’s mind to his body helps the process of attaining wellness, happiness and encountering success in work-related endeavors.”

Read Notes from Luang Prabang.

We love weekend markets, the ones that sell crafts, hand-made objects, home cooking, stuff you can’t get at the mall. Someone recommended the Saturday market in Escolta. We googled the location and turned up bright and early one Saturday…

only to find that the market happens on a Saturday once a month, in which case it should probably be called a Monthly Market.

The building, though, is beautiful, and we gather from the fliers advertising rooms for rent, largely empty.

So we just pretended we were in Madrid. Then we walked over to Binondo for lunch.

From Sonny Lua at Asiong’s in Cavite City: Huevos de Pescao in Tinta de Choko), fish eggs in squid ink, or bottarga al nero. Eat it on toast and you’ll feel like the Tsar. Before the revolutionaries showed up. Unfortunately it’s available only at Asiong’s in Cavite City (Sonny, you really need an outlet in Metro Manila). We get our supply from Ige Ramos, who organizes food tours to Cavite. If you want to join a food tour and try Cavite delicacies like quesillo and pansit pusit, send Ige a personal message on his Facebook page.