Blog Feed: Portia Placino

Final Grades, 1st Semester, AY 2012-2013

Published on 2012-10-19 08:45:03

Teaching controversial art

Published on 2012-09-15 03:03:00

Teaching controversial art proved to be a difficult endeavor. Part of why this in the syllabus is so that I can teach visual literacy and open-mindedness to my students. Sadly, … Continue reading →

Ideological Divides and a Calm After the Storm

Published on 2012-09-13 18:18:54

We now leave the Renaissance for a bit and focus on the next couple of centuries–17th to 18th centuries. There was an enormous upheaval and ideological divide during the Baroque … Continue reading →

Being a wallflower

Published on 2012-09-13 09:38:59

I’ve been called a wallflower once, many years ago. Perhaps a decade ago. I took it bad, at the time. But I guess there was point. I don’t like talking … Continue reading →

Midterm Grades, 1st Semester 2012-2013

Published on 2012-08-30 10:42:26

Here is what students usually wait for… Those who have not been submitting their requirements, well, you know the consequences. Those who got As, keep up the good work! Find … Continue reading →

OPM is not dead, but it might as well be

Published on 2012-08-29 23:38:04

Address the problem. Make OPM accessible. Let us hear it. Maybe then we can debate OPM's life and death, quality or lack thereof. Unless we hear the music, it might as well not exist. After that, we can tackle once again, what is Filipino music anyway? What is OPM?

Further into the Renaissance and Mannerism

Published on 2012-08-29 22:28:02

August was full of disruptions, rains, floods, and even illnesses. But hopefully, we leave all that now. As August ends, we also end our lessons in Renaissance. This time, we … Continue reading →

Dearest Jill — An open letter to Jill Robredo and colleagues in media

Published on 2012-08-20 23:37:36

You are only 13,  and I feel terrible how people seem to keep forgetting this fact when they speculate and report about the events surrounding the plane crash. When they show photographs of… Read More →

Who Cares? Pussy Riot Sentenced

Published on 2012-08-19 19:33:26

The Pussy Riot women, could be you, or me, or anyone who believes and values separation between church and state. via Who Cares? Pussy Riot Sentenced. Filed under: Random Writings

Shifting towards the Renaissance

Published on 2012-08-02 02:54:52

Last time, we talked about the relationship of art with the church. Particularly, how art expressed beliefs and predispositions of the church. Christian religion then was a new system of belief and to… Read More →

Art and the Church Lecture

Published on 2012-07-25 19:57:12

Looking at Early Art

Published on 2012-07-12 19:36:38

There is always something so fascinating about early art. There is no written documentation from pre-historic art. What we have left are their sculptures, their paintings, and their structures. We see their stories,… Read More →

The Art Object: Drawing and Painting

Published on 2012-07-10 19:23:13

I find that students are often confused between the terms drawing and painting. They often use them interchangeably when discussing the visual arts. In the lecture on the art object, I will initially… Read More →

What is Art History?

Published on 2012-06-21 04:04:20

Teaching art history to students without proper grounding in the arts has been quite a challenge. Visual education in the Philippines is really weak. We don’t have the equipment, the facilities, and the… Read More →

Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase

Published on 2012-06-20 22:46:33

I stumbled into this interesting piece as I was looking for new movies to watch. Since The Artist was such a success, I decided to look for more Academy Award winning films. Watching Mona Lisa Descending… Read More →

What is Art?

Published on 2012-06-19 11:56:52

What is art? That is a simple question with a very complicated answer. For this week’s lecture, I will use my old lecture notes and give it a new twist. … Continue reading →

Syllabi for 1st Semester, AY 2012-2013

Published on 2012-06-12 10:26:00

I haven’t updated my blog in a while. I’ve been too busy with summer vacation here in the Philippines. As you’ve seen, I have been baking. Well, in a way, … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad Student: My Summer Cooking Saga

Published on 2012-04-18 21:26:59

Last semester was toxic. I had deadlines till Black Saturday. What’s more, I am still working on something exciting up to this date, but I won’t reveal it till it’s … Continue reading →

Sleeping through the return to action film

Published on 2012-03-11 07:45:10

I wanted to write an intelligible review of Manila Kingpin: Asiong Salonga. I really did. It’s the first film that I watched in 2012. But, I had a cold that … Continue reading →

Smiling at Sione’s Wedding

Published on 2012-03-10 19:59:30

� I have not blogged about movies that I have seen for the year. They aren’t much, due to the crazy busyness that grad school constantly gives me. For the … Continue reading →

Wishing for more poetry

Published on 2012-03-10 04:45:29

I wish I was a poet. Or I have at least given the time to develop my poetry. I suppose every person has the ability inside them. We can’t help … Continue reading →

Art Conversations: Ideas and Aesthetics of Modernism

Published on 2012-03-06 19:00:04

Modern ideas are often applied within the aesthetic imagination of the Filipinos. F. Sionil Jose’s obsession with the significant form and the greatness of the art of the masters echoes … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad Student: Leap Year, Cartoons, and Opera

Published on 2012-03-02 19:02:49

I looked to the coming of the leap year with dread. It was supposed to be the deadline of my thesis proposal’s first draft. But, maybe the leap year has … Continue reading →

Art Conversations: The Concept and Question of “Beauty” and “Sublime”

Published on 2012-02-28 18:38:23

As revealed in the discussions on Poleteismo, Filipino people are still looking for beauty in art. Numerous articles are looking, not just for beauty but also for the ennoblement of … Continue reading →

Art Conversations: What is Art? Problems of Defining Art

Published on 2012-02-23 05:03:25

The earliest cries on the aesthetic value of Poleteismo is its position as art. It is the root cause of the controversy and debate when the issue of religious offense … Continue reading →

Art Conversations: Critical Art Practices in the Philippines

Published on 2012-02-21 02:20:54

A hundred and fifty years after Jose Rizal’s death, about a hundred years after Marcel Duchamp’s The Fountain, where do we actually find ourselves? We are still stuck in the … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad Student: Library and Kindle Books

Published on 2012-02-20 06:55:23

Preparing a thesis proposal made me realize something important about UP library and a practical application of political economy. The way we think, the way we write, the way we … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad student: Swann’s Way

Published on 2012-02-18 19:47:14

Thing are just too hectic now. I feel this last leg of the semester’s course work. I have a ton to write about but barely any time to write them. … Continue reading →

You Didn’t Thank Me For Punching You in the Face

Published on 2012-02-15 19:47:52

Reblogged from Views from the Couch: On a somewhat serious note today because of a conversation the other day: I am sure every girl can recall, at least once as … Continue reading →

My Braid Stories

Published on 2012-02-10 20:28:14

For about a year, I thought I would be writing my graduate thesis on video games. I’ve written several seminal papers on it, including the an art historical view of … Continue reading →

The Persistence of Memories

Published on 2012-02-09 19:06:50

Memories are tricky. It is never the same. Some things stay in our memories, but it is never the same memory. “We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad Student: Aesthetic Experience

Published on 2012-02-02 08:52:51

There is a normal experience, then there is “an experience”. What is this experience? “Experience is the result, the sign, and the reward of that interaction of organism and environment … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad Student: Recent book acquisitions

Published on 2012-02-01 06:38:30

Preparing for a thesis proposal means reading and re-reading a lot of books and articles. A lot. Then, when you’re like me and you chose a contemporary topic in an … Continue reading →

On Criticism

Published on 2012-02-01 04:30:07

Reblogged from Young Critics Circle Film Desk: Eulalio R. Guieb III Criticism interrogates.  It interrogates our individual and collective experiences with meanings.  There are meanings that detain us in the … Continue reading →

Please wake up Lirio

Published on 2012-01-29 20:05:44

May your weapons be a key to your awakening.  May each strum of your deconstructed guitars echo through your consciousness. May your defamiliarized instruments call unto powers beyond our own. … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad Student: My Notebooks

Published on 2012-01-22 18:32:29

Hardly anyone writes anymore. I forgot to take a screen shot of it, but when I posted my blog yesterday, Truman Capote said that, “It is not writing, it’s typing” … Continue reading →

Diary of a Grad Student: Post-Holiday Gifts and Whatnots

Published on 2012-01-22 04:18:16

Again, I have been ignoring the blog for a while, something which I swore I will not do. I am overwhelmed with things, to be completely honest. Then I decided … Continue reading →

Challenging the Ideas of Art

Published on 2012-01-15 19:59:12

How do we view art? How do we define art? More importantly, how do we accept and challenge these ideas? From the movie Mona Lisa Smile and John Berger’s Ways … Continue reading →