The workshop season

Let me start with a warning: if you’re just about to read this with your breakfast, you might want to turn the page and get back to this later in the day, or after you’ve performed your, uhm, daily ablutions. I was in Hong Kong for the umpteenth time earlier this month to attend a couple of literary events, and I thought I’d pretty much seen everything the place had to offer the casual visitor, but no; Hong Kong always finds a way of showing you something you never imagined you needed. If the idea of dining shabu-shabu-style out of a toilet bowl turns you on, then look no farther than Mongkok in Hong Kong — where, according to a tourist brochure I picked up, a new way of dining had taken hold in a chain of restaurants named, descriptively enough, Modern Toilet. Curious but with neither the time nor the compulsion to check the place out personally, I did a bit of Googling and found out from the folks at spotcoolstuff.com that

“At each Modern Toilet restaurant patrons sit at a glass tabletop with a sink or bathtub base. In some cases, the tables are next to, or inside, showers. There are rolls of toilet paper on the tables in place of napkins. Drinks are served in mini urinals instead of glasses. Meals are served in bowls — mini toilet bowls, that is — and come with a little plastic turd on the side for, you know, ‘decoration.’… If you’re wondering, each Modern Toilet restaurant does have proper bathrooms. They are very well marked to prevent patrons from making the horrible mistake. However, after you use the facilities you’ll have to wash your hands at a sink that is in — you guessed it — a toilet.”

I did look around for something I truly needed, having just replaced my 15-month-old BlackBerry 9000 with a spanking new BlackBerry 9700, on the excuse that the old phone was falling apart because of a crack in its housing. The fact was, I could’ve replaced that housing for less than $10 on eBay, but I was itching for something new to hold, so I didn’t say no when a 9700 was offered to me at what I convinced myself to be an irresistible bargain. The 9700 looked too pretty to go without a case, and Hong Kong being the mother lode of cellphone cases, I snapped one up for nearly HK$200 in a shop in upscale Windsor House in Causeway Bay. I was happy, until I strayed into the flea market on Apliu Street in Sham Shui Po, where I found an even better one for the ridiculous price of HK$35 — and that only after I croaked (a huge effort, for a male) the obligatory albeit halfhearted “Any discount?” after the seller quoted me HK$40. I didn't even bother retorting "Thirty?," so relieved was I to get a bargain practically without asking. Wonders never cease, indeed, in this shopping and dining paradise. I’ll save the serious literary reportage for next week. + + + + + ‘Tis the summer workshop season, and two of the country’s oldest and biggest writers’ workshop will soon be underway. The UP National Writers’ Workshop will be held in Baguio from April 4 to 11, and the Silliman University National Writers’ Workshop will follow suit in Dumaguete City from May 3 to 21. The Silliman fellows are still being chosen, but I’m pleased to announce the roster of accomplished mid-career writers who will be going to Baguio as fellows: in English, Marc Escalon Gaba and Mabi David Balangue for poetry, Karl de Mesa, Timothy Montes, and Dada Felix for fiction, and April Yap and Faye Ilogon for creative nonfiction; in Filipino, Auraeus Solito and Jim Libiran for screenwriting, Kristian Cordero and Alwynn Javier for poetry, and Jun Sungkit for fiction. UP Mass Comm Dean Roland Rolentino will be directing this year’s Baguio workshop. Readers keep writing me to ask if I can recommend some other writing workshops they can attend over the summer, so let me share some information about three that I know of that are still open to applications from the general public. The UP Department of Filipino is accepting applications to the Third Rogelio Sicat Workshop, which will be held in Baler, Aurora from April 28 to May 2. It is open to beginning writers in Filipino, especially college students, who write poems, fiction, and children’s stories. Applicants must submit the following: manuscripts (12 points, double-spaced, 8x11 inches) of any of the following: five (5) poems, two (2) short stories (10 pages), and two (2) children’s stories (5-7 pages); short bio-note; photo (2x2, colored); and an accomplished Application Form, which can be secured by email. All expenses from UP Diliman to the workshop site are free for the chosen writing fellows. A modest stipend will also be provided. Send manuscripts to palihangrogeliosicat@yahoo.com.ph not later than April 9, 2010. For further details, write the given email address. If you want to learn more about filmmaking or want to get into the film industry, you can do worse than sign up for one of the UP Film Institute’s courses this summer. The courses run for varying periods of three to six days each, from April 5 to May 22, and for fees that run from P4,000 to P8,000. All workshops will be held at the UP Film Building in UP Diliman, except for Bing Lao’s workshop which will be held in Baguio. The course offerings include Advanced Scriptwriting with Bing Lao; Digital Photography with Cris Sevilla-Bilbao; Non-Linear Editing with Ramon Bautista; Basic Scriptwriting with Nick Olanka; Digital Cinematography with Lyle Sacris; Digital Photography with Steve Tirona; and Non-Linear Editing with Melissa de la Merced. For more details about specific schedules, fees and requirements, visit the UP Film Institute, 2nd floor Cine Adarna Bldg., Magsaysay and Osmeña Ave., UP Diliman. You can also call 925-0286, email upfi_workshops@yahoo.com.ph, or check out the UPFI website at http://www.upfilminstitute.net. The 17th Iligan National Writers Workshop will also be pushing through from May 24 to 28 at MSU-IIT in Iligan City, featuring panelists Chari Lucero, Tony Enriquez, Steven Patrick Fernandez, Merlie Alunan, Victor Sugbo, Leo Deriada, Carlo Arejola, and Christine Godinez-Ortega, with Lawrence Ypil as the keynote speaker. Because of funding constraints this year, qualified applicants will be asked to pay for their own transportation, as well as for board and lodging in the amount of P10,000 (the panelists are providing their services gratis). The workshop is open to writers in English, Filipino, Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, Sebuano, Waray, and Chabacano. Translations in English should also be submitted with the manuscripts in their original languages. Application forms can be downloaded at www.msuiit.edu.ph. Applicants should submit any of the following: a group of five poems; a short story of not more than 30 pages double-spaced; a one act play; or a chapter of a novel or novel-in-progress, accompanied by a background and a summary of the novel. The deadline for applications is April 15. For more details, please call Pat Cruz or Alice Bartolome, MSU-IIT, OVCRE, at (063) 2232343. ——————— Email me at penmanila@yahoo.com, and visit my blog at www.penmanila.net.