Content: Highly Enjoyable
Graphics: Excellent.
Bono of U2 once gave a contrite description of an artist in the song “The Fly”. He crooned, “Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief. All kills their inspiration and sing about their grief.”
Tanyaloca, the woman behind “Found Bohemian”, is in no way a cannibal and surely not a thief although evidences show that she is an artist through and through. According to her, she is a writer, a director, a photographer, a dreamer, a dancer and a crazy woman all rolled into one. I believe everything she says about herself except the part on her being a crazy woman—I clearly doubt that. She failed to mention that she is also a poet and apparently a trained one at that as we are serenaded by this one poem she had written in one of her earliest entry. This is a pretty one.
Monday, December 23,2002
He bit the apple
Seduced by the temptress Feel to the ground Loved it and bound Sleep with me, drink with me Forget them and feel me The temptress sings The temptress singsKiss the floor Come there’s more Sleep with me, drink with me Forget them and feel me The temptress sings The temptress sings Tied to the lies Lied to the highs Content with normal existence Far from deliverance Offered the hope, he denies it Uttered the Truth, he despises it Devil you can’t hold him forever He has the power to kill and destroy you Faith is the answer You’re over, you’re over
Clearly, “Found Bohemian” is at a glance an artist’s diary, a recitation of all things that the artist is musing on, and everything that she craves for and longed for as well as the things that she digresses on. “Found Bohemian” seemed to have started that way as Tanyaloca introduces her reader to her indie films inclinations and photography in most of her early entries that dates back as far as the year 2002. But as the entries progresses, the reader would soon realize that the artist in Tanyaloca merely serves as the focal point of hordes and hordes of telling and affecting narration that revolves around the life of a young woman caught in the furious transition of late adolescence amidst the urban landscape of the often hectic city of Manila. Reading through her blog opens up a whole realism of lives that are closely intertwined among each other and a family that celebrates life with food and fancy places. It’s almost like an online soap opera, only that the dramatic moments aren’t tearful at all, but mostly joyful and funny even. She had a father who loves to cook excellent meals (he can cook lamb stew) and brothers who jokes at a glance, even in an elevator. Tanyaloca might also be a mall rat as Eastwood and Rockwell serves as the background to a number of scenes. But most of all, she is a schooled filmmaker and an art photographer.
There was once a night that Tanya dreamt and believed that it was God that gave her a funny dream. She awakens to a bright sunny day and she was thankful that God had lifted her spirit in a time when she was feeling down and distraught. That is Tanyaloca with her robust faith. Another good side to the blog is the author’s meanderings on her spiritual self as every now and then, she gives the reader some lessons in faith that she had gained by her joining a charismatic group. Now we know why she pronounces that she “..lives for God.” And her faith is truly affecting.
I must admit that as I examined the whole breath of “Found Bohemian”, I was a little blown away by the enormousness of some lives, especially that of the author. As the reader threads along, you wonder if the lives of the people within Tanyaloca’s world is as colorful and as eventful as she have. This is perhaps the main reason why there is never a dull moment in her entries as each one narrates an interesting happenstance that goes around her and within her.
Her stories are almost larger than life although they are not fictional at all. You will have the feeling as if each entry is one separate short story, with its own characters and plot. In one entry titled: “Cupid Tanya” (Sunday, Feruary 6, 2005), she narrated how while she was having a haircut one day, some girl just came in looking desperately for a date to a prom to be held that night. The hairdresser suggested to the desperate girl that Tanya offers one of her brothers as an impromptu escort. Tanya and the girl both agreed but sadly, Tanya is to find out that her brother ain’t available. And so Tanya instead contacted a friend to go with the desperate girl and luckily this time, the friend consented. That hectic day ended when the desperate girl and the escort friend appeared at Tanya’s doorstep later that night and praised and thanked her to high heavens for letting two strangers meet and discover each other. It turned out that the two were past schoolmates and now they only have meaningful stares at each other. Gosh, how small the world could be? In Tanya’s world, it can’t be that small. Again I’ll tell ya’, never a dull moment in this blog.
The writings in “Found Bohemian” are clear and often concise. It verges away from verbosity and any form of linguistic acrobatics as the author deliberately uses the fewest words in order to verbalize her thoughts. This is where the author becomes truly effective and the reader is not in any way dragged down into the usual elongated elaborations that are usually found in some diarist’s blog. “Simplicity is beauty”, this blog declares and the message gets across quite well. This assures the reader that he or she won’t feel any difficulty in absorbing what the blog’s author is trying to impart. Contentwise therefore, “Found Bohemian” is a highly enjoyable blog to read.
Graphically, the row of surfboards in her front pages is one of the most lasting images ever found in Philippine blog scene. The moment you see those colorful surfboards appear in your computer screen, you are certain that you are in Tanya’s blog.
|
