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flavour…

Posted on December 30, 2005 @ 6:57 pm by massimo | Filed under: beach, blog, books, philippines, wordpress

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mobydick melville book aynaku illustration adobe

Melville’s novel “Moby Dick, or the Whale” has been a fundamental reading to me! Basically I was astonished by that powerful narrative which is not a newspaper story with the flavour of a novel! I still keep on reading a chapter or two from time to time…
I found an old copy of “Moby Dick” in a second-hand bookstore in Cebu City: I bought it and put it quickly in my baggage. I had soon to board a ship, heading south to Bohol Island, and I thought it was good to bring a book to read during the passage. As a matter of fact this book got me and for twenty days or so, I spent hours reading and reading; I almost forgot where I was and I was in Alona, a beautiful white sandy beach, looking for a job as a dive master…
That’s power! Finally the book was over and I felt strangely uneasy: for some reasons I decided to quit a tempting dive master career…

Illustration Friday’s topic is flavour

christmas holidays

Posted on December 24, 2005 @ 10:31 am by massimo | Filed under: africa, blog, fun, wordpress

christmas tropics kenya aynaku illustration adobe

Christmas is becoming increasingly popular in Asia. Natives usually care very little or nothing at all, about it.
It’s the crowd of western expats and tourists that makes Christmas Holidays a huge business in Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and…Singapore. Homesick tourists go shopping in Orchard Road, the extra manicured commercial hub; jingle bells in the air and gorgeous light-up, make them feel perfectly at home. I believe the enterprising Singaporeans, despite the hot climate, will soon find out to way of getting snow from Heaven to improve the effect!
In the Philippines, Catholicism is the state religion. This is due to the long Spanish domination and makes the Philippines an oddity in Asia. Just consider Europe for a while: can you imagine Ireland (for instance) as the sole European country where people worship Buddha (for instance) since four hundred years? Hum…
So strange is the Pilipino Christmas, deeply and sincerely rooted in people hearts, but for some reason, unusual because the habits, the climate, the food …
Anyway I had my most hilarious Christmas Holidays in Kenya. People here are mainly dirty-poor but always ready to celebrate. The Christmas tree I came across near Mombasa was brilliantly innovative and happy: amazingly, it made me feel at home somehow…

Illustration Friday’s topic is holidays

what a way to spend the day!

Posted on December 18, 2005 @ 4:57 pm by massimo | Filed under: another green world, blog, fun, philippines, wordpress

sandbar ship paraw laziness philippines aynaku illustration adobe

The Visaya Islands –central Philippines- are perfect for island hopping; islets and islands spread over the blue sea in every direction and they are not a great distance off. As soon as you get an island you’ll soon experience that there is not much to do but rest under the shelter of coconut trees. If you are longing for solitude and you want to practice for a while the “shipwreck feeling”, there you go!
Sometimes it happened to me to spend my day on a island doing nothing but watching the ships passing by, simply enjoying my inactivity. It’s true that otium (the Latin word for inactivity) was a positive attitude among the ancient Romans; as a matter of fact otium set us free from our daily hassles.
Thus considering what we really care of, for merely the purpose of do it, we might improve our creative process…

a surprising man…

Posted on December 10, 2005 @ 10:52 am by massimo | Filed under: blog, people, philippines, travel, wordpress

Among the strange people I met, Max Maxwell is certainly the most unfathomable. I firstly met Max in Boracay Island, in 1990. Max comes from Bombay and belongs to the Parsee upper-class.
At …

surfing…

Posted on December 4, 2005 @ 11:06 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, fun, swimming, wordpress

In march 1990 the small cargo ship I was aboard as a passenger, broke out and died in Nias harbour.
I knew nothing of Nias but that it was a pleasant island very popular among …