Penguins

Wow, last updated March 12. It's been that long?

I have nothing to write anyway. I've been a bum and my last few weeks in school were spent cramming for projects.

Okay. Last May 9, my dad called my sisters up and told them to go to Malate Starbucks. Well, since I had nothing better to do I decided to tag along. So we get there around 2 hours since he called turns out he was caught in a traffic jam and arrived 20mins later. He went straight to Penguin Cafe and he just asked us to go there instead. We arrive at the place after a good deal of walking. I must say the place has a warm homey, cozy feel in it. I was surprised to see video cameras setup, I asked, "What's with all the equipment?" He told me that there was going to be a poetry reading event. I'm like poetry reading? I should've stayed home. He also informed me that the Penguin Cafe was the Underground Art Capital of the Philippines. Ooh. But still the lingering thought of "Poetry Reading" stayed in my mind and muffled any excitement for me. The show started and I must say the host was very pretty. She's the daugther of the main presentor, Cesare Syjuco. She was introduced as Beatrix Syjuco. Later I found out she was the guitarist of the former family band named Faust (Circa 1996-1998).

The first presentor told the story of "Maria." In the story she is married to a Japanese farmer and it tells of the hardships she had to endure just to make the life of her family better. How he wrote it and delivered was amazing. You really feel the life of the story. The second presentor was this guy who came in full gear. Had the costume and everything. The other presentors were multi awarded ones. There's the guy who taped his mouth and spoke through the recorder. He threw his stuff around the place.. Don't know why. The father and daugther presentors. The guy who won an award for his piece. There's Maxine Syjuco, the L'Oreal model and daughter of the main presentor, shared a few poems from her collection. Seriously, I didn't think any model could be as smart as she was. Then came the man who stitched his mouth. In front of us, with the use of a surgical thread, he started to stitch his mouth. I would have fainted if I watched any longer. Made me cringe. The main presentor, Cesare Syjuco, is a jolly man. Well, aside from the fact that he was drunk. He was a lively and cheerful person. I'm still in awe. I have much respect for him and his work. He, together with his children the band formerly known as Faust, did a song named "Is there anybody out there? Is there anything alive?" Amazing. It prompted me to look up some of their songs if they still had any in circulation but alas I was unsuccessful in finding it. I still have to try the IRC though.





She's the guitarist. Unfortunately, I was unable to take pictures with the other members since they were already going around the place and talking to people. I was lucky enough to be able to grab a pic.