Welcome to My Life

What if you could live your life all over again? I was thirty-three, clumsy, frustrated with life and terrified of fatherhood. I went years without a steady job, which really ticked my wife off because she was forced to work 12 hours a day so she could give our daughter a better future.

Our apartment was a messy two-bedroom located on the third floor of a very old building in downtown Manila. It was filled with college kids and the landlord was accustomed to haggling over rents. She was fifty-two but looked forty. A skinny woman with short brown hair trapped in a boring, sexless marriage. I'd spent hours in that little burrow wondering if I could steal her away for a weekend.

Not very long ago, I looked at some classy townhouses down south fit for a young professional. I'd dreamed of working in a high-pressure environment filled with great minds. I was sickened and saddened by what I had become, and I was astounded by the speed at which I had fallen.

But I vowed not to give up. I told myself: "Sure it's a rough and tumble world out there...but I will prevail. Sit on your butt around here all day and you'll starve to death." I promised to do something different and reinvent myself. That's what I did.

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Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi turns corn into a feast

Li Ziqi is a Chinese food and lifestyle vlogger whose videos about her rural life in Sichuan have attracted more than 6 million YouTube subscribers. In this clip, she turns corn into a feast. The dishes are shot professionally and edited stylishly to look like a mouthwatering slide show. WARNING: It's torture to watch the last three minutes of the video if you are on an empty stomach.

Hand-Painted Movie Posters by Tony Stella

In the 70s and 80s movie theaters in Manila were usually standalone buildings with nice seats and red curtains. To sell tickets, cinemas needed to advertise their offerings. But they did not have the original posters, or the means to print alternatives. So they made their own, commissioning local artists to hand-paint them. I really miss those hand-painted posters and billboards, which conveyed an artistry that was a form of visual hyperbole. But hand-made objects always have a way of returning. In this digital age, people will always look for things made by hand. I recently stumbled across the work of Tony Stella, whose genuinely cool movie posters have caught the eye of film enthusiasts and art lovers worldwide. He likes to work in watercolor and ink wash but sometimes he will make an oil painting, depending on the film. Tony's very active on social media, and his Tumblr blog contains a massive collection of illustrated movie posters that are often better than the original. ...

Japanese artist En Iwamura creates adorable ceramic sculptures

Kyoto-born artist En Iwamura is showing his latest ceramic creations in a special show on August 31 at the Ross+Kramer Gallery in East Hampton, New York. En's sculpted objects, which he describes as three-dimensional clay doodling, exudes nothing but good vibes with their quirky, playful style. He consciously uses childhood influences such as manga and anime, and draws inspiration from both American and Japanese historical and pop-cultural references along with his own life experiences. Born in 1988, En completed both his BFA and MFA in craft from Kanazawa College of Art and Craft in 2011 and 2013, respectively. His works have been shown in New York City, Seattle, Kansas City, Durham, NC, Japan, Canada, China and more. Thanks for the tip, Rachel.

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