True blue Manileños, recent transplants, and visitors to our city all know — there is never a lack of things to do in Manila. This is Coconuts Manila’s guide to all things good and great happening over the coming weekend. Peruse it, take note of everything that interests you, and hit us up on our Facebook page or on Twitter @CoconutsManila to sound off on what you think.
January babies will get free entrance to this Insta-friendly museum
Date: Jan. 22, Wednesday to Jan. 31, Friday
Venue: Lakbay Museo, Level 1, S Maison, Marina Way, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City
Born in January? Well, if so, there’s still time to catch Lakbay Museo (“Museum Walk”) — from this weekend through the 31st — for free. (Those with other birth months will still have to cough up an entry fee: PHP699 (US$13) if they book via the museum’s website, and PHP799 (US$16) for walkins).
The Pasay city interactive spaces museum lets you celebrate (and take photos of) icons of Philippine culture through ultra-colorful, hyper-real, at times neon-lit replicas of jeepneys, roadside eateries, and the Filipino food experience (see: lechon, dried fish, and well, lots of rice).
The museum, which opened in July, bills itself as an attempt to showcase “all 7,641 islands in just a thousand steps.”
For details, visit Lakbay Museo’s Facebook page.
Catch this solo exhibit about geological formations at this Pasig City gallery
Date: Jan. 22, Wednesday to Feb. 4, Tuesday
Venue: Space Encounters Gallery, Unit 7D, 7th Floor, Padilla Building, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Centre, Pasig City
Hersley Casero’s “On the Rocks” showcases an extension of the Dumaguete-based multidisciplinary artist’s “The Wishing Rocks” exhibit, which was held in California during his stay at the Chalk Hill Artist Residency in September last year.
Casero is the first Filipino to be offered a sponsorship at Chalk Hill. Both exhibits stem from his desire to pay homage to seemingly trivial objects, taking inspiration from geological history, and in the formations of the Warnecke Ranch and Vineyard, where Chalk Hill Artist Residency is housed.
The gallery is open from 10am to 6pm on weekdays, and 11am to 5pm on Saturdays. For details, visit Space Encounters Gallery’s Facebook page.
Catch another edition of Hub: Make Lab’s Saturday Future Market in Old Manila
Date: Jan. 25, Saturday
Venue: Hub: Make Lab, 413 Escolta Street, First United Building, Manila
Maker-manned booths carrying unique merchandise like boob-shaped planters, resin skull rings, plant-dyed clothing, and other miscellaneous bric-a-brac await at Escolta Street in Old Manila’s creative community space Hub: Make Lab, located in what used to be the Berg Department Store in the 1930s. After some retail therapy, stop by resident coffee shop The Den, or have craft beers at the open-air, street-facing pub Fred’s Revolucion.
Shops open noon until late. For details, visit Hub: Make Lab’s Facebook page.
Attend a Japanese comic book and pop culture expo
Date: Jan. 25, Saturday to Jan. 26, Sunday
Venue: Megatrade 1, SM Megamall, Ortigas Ave., Mandaluyong City
Now on its 10th year, Otaku Expo returns at Megamall’s Megatrade hall this weekend. This year’s focus is on animé and manga drawing specials, which include on-the-spot art contests, drawing tutorials from guest illustrators, and a wealth of manga, or Japanese comic books, not to mention the usual cosplay competitions, anime singing contests, and a booth-packed hall of Japanese-pop-culture-inspired merch.
Bonus: Japanese illustrator DMYO and Filipino Titan Comics artist Elmer Damaso will also make an appearance.
Tickets are PHP180 (US$4), and available on site. For details, visit Otaku Expo’s Facebook page.
See an acclaimed snarky author lay down some real talk about reading
Date: Jan. 26, Sunday
Venue: Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City
Swing by Bonifacio High Street’s Fully Booked this Sunday afternoon to catch “Reading for Sanity Maintenance with Jessica Zafra: How to Read More Books in 2020.”
The acclaimed fiction and observational writer, known for her witty cynicism and sharp takes on current events, pop culture, and politics (and also her wiry hair and cat-eye glasses), will be holding the four-hour talk. “If your New Year’s resolution is to read more books, this talk is for you,” Zafra teased, adding, “Of course I’ll sign books and take photos afterwards.”
Admission is free. Registration starts at 4pm and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For details, visit Ateneo University Press’ Facebook page.
Read more about places to see in the metro here.
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