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I got email from a representative of J.D. Salinger’s literary trust demanding that I take down a photo, from a blog post in 2011, of a letter Salinger had written in reply to a fan. I first heard of the letter from the excellent Letters of Note, and I linked to an auction house that was selling said letter. While I was deleting the post, having time on my hands, I deleted other posts containing anything that might conceivably be construed as infringement on J.D. Salinger’s rights. (If only they had stopped those two terrible movies about their late client.)
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The first time I visited Yokohama six months ago to prepare for TPAM (The Performing Arts Meeting in Yokohama), the team had dinner at a traditional okonomiyaki place. We concluded the meal with monja, a pancake eaten directly from the grill with spatulas, and washed down with umeshu (plum wine). So it became a tradition. The day of our technical rehearsal, we had an okonomiyaki lunch: I passed on the “fertilizer made of oily vegetable dregs”.

I wasn’t worried about delivering the lecture because I’ve written several versions of the plan for world domination and can recite it in my sleep. Turns out I should have worried, because I sucked at the run-through and got angrier and angrier at myself. Our dramaturg Max found this amusing. “You should do the show while you are hungry, it has a different energy.”

The beautiful Jason Moss lent us the He-Manash sculpture from the Manananggurlash series. Tina Cuyugan got the “Laboy” Santo Niño from a store beside Quiapo Church. The Santo Niño is supposed to be a wanderer, but he’s dressed exactly like a tita on the way to the parlor to have her hair colored. Pepe Diokno told me all about Bayani’s Kitchen, the Filipino restaurant where we staged the second part of the performance. The venue was so perfect we didn’t have to think about production design.

Here is the team demonstrating the Pinoy technique of pointing at stuff without hands, a.k.a. nguso. Front row, from left: stage manager Kuro, who looks like Atom Araullo; me; and Gian, who hosted the party and is a party. Second row: Raya, our director, who gracefully navigated negotiations with the technical crew; and Barbara, who is doing research on contemporary Japanese theatre and was roped in as interpreter. At the back, not cooperating, is our producer Yoshiro, who grew thinner and thinner as opening night approached.

Yoshiro also directed a show at TPAM Fringe, so on February 14, Raya, Gian and I went to see “Presage-The Great Painting Detective, part III”. Yes, me and baklas—that’s how I always spend Valentine’s Day. Anyway the venue was full and we were standing at the back, where I couldn’t read the subtitles or figure out what was happening. I get antsy in crowds and performance art boggles me. At one point I leaned over and whispered to Raya, “What the fuck is going on?” and then my phone alarm went off in the deathly silent room, and I didn’t even set the blasted alarm. Shame! Shame!

To be continued

I will be traveling often in the next five months to talk to you wherever you happen to be right now. Join the World Domination Project Facebook page (run by Bubbles) to get updates and set our meetings.

You can also email me at koosama@gmail.com.

Thanks to Rommel in NZ, Patricia in France, Patrick in BKK, Hendrick in Dubai, Leah in Munich for the emails. Talk soon!

I am going to Japan in late September (21ish to 27ish) for some world domination research and I plan to interview overseas Filipino workers. The interviews are fairly simple and uncontroversial: how they wound up working in Japan, what their typical day is like, whether they have Filipino friends there, and what their aspirations are. The project is privately funded. The interviewees do not have to share their names and personal details (unless they want to).

If you are a Filipino based in Tokyo or Yokohama, or if you know Filipinos based in Tokyo or Yokohama, please get in touch with me. You can leave me a message in Comments, or email me at saffron.safin@gmail.com. If you prefer Facebook, please contact Bubbles at facebook.com/bubblesmagpayo2. Thank you!

And does anyone know how to get in touch with Evelyn Eleanor the host of Oh Tokyo?

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Thank you for all the replies and referrals! Looks like I’m going to do a lot of interviews during my trip. Special thanks to Pepe for pointing me to the videoke bar in Yokohama where the Pinoys hang out.

Bodegas Fundador

Listed liquor company Emperador Inc. owned by tycoon Andrew L. Tan has acquired Fundador Pedro Domecq, Spain’s largest and oldest brandy, in an “all-cash” deal worth 275 million euros, or P13.8 billion, the Inquirer learned Monday.

The purchase solidifies Emperador’s position as the world’s largest brandy company and makes the Tan-led firm one of the largest foreign investors in Jerez, the brandy capital of Spain. Under the deal closed on Saturday in Madrid, Grupo Emperador Spain S.A., a company owned by Emperador Inc., will acquire the brandy and sherry business of Beam Suntory in Jerez.

Aside from Fundador Pedro Domecq, the acquisition includes Terry Centenario, Spain’s top-selling brandy; Tres Cepas, Equatorial Guinea’s leading brandy; and Harvey’s, the United Kingdom’s top sherry wine. These brands carry a unique heritage and market leadership position in their respective categories, Emperador said in a statement furnished the Inquirer.

Fundador, or “founder” in Spanish, was the first brand to be marketed by Pedro Domecq Loustau in 1874. Made from Airen and Palomino grapes, Fundador was the first brand marketed as a Brandy de Jerez and is aged in a sherry-soaked Solera.

Read the full report. Thanks to Antiquary Anne for the alert.

To refresh your memory: Let’s Buy Spain.

Iñaki, ang tsinelas ko!

Travel
From 2013: Turkey Travel Diary, featuring some of the handsomest cats we’ve ever seen

Music
From 2008: Sad, Sadder, Saddest, in which we wound up at a “Lost 80s” concert.

Either all the ticket-holders had already gone inside, or they were all late, because there were no queues of any sort. Ernie went up to some people standing by the flower beds and asked them if they needed tickets.

Sad: They all said, “Hindi kami manonood niyan (We’re not watching that),” with matching expressions of loathing.
Sadder: A woman glared at Ernie and said, “I already have tickets.” What she meant was, “Extra tickets to an 80s concert is a problem I don’t need.”
Saddest: Later, Grungella realized that they probably mistook Ernie for a scalper.
Positively funereal: Being mistaken for a scalper to A Flock Of Seagulls show.
Lugubrious: They literally could not give the tickets away!

World Domination
From 2012: Let’s Buy Spain. We can afford it, it would be our revenge for three centuries of colonial oppression, and we can call them our muchachos and muchachas.