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.
Visit an All-Filipino Book Fair
Date: Nov 20, Wednesday – Nov. 21, Thursday
Venue: Megatrade Hall 3, SM Megamall
Now in its sixth year, Aklatan (or “Library”) is an all-Filipino book festival putting local publishers and writers together in a bid to make themselves more accessible to the country’s largely English-language book-consuming public.
This year’s two-day event will assemble thousands of titles, including the acclaimed graphic novel Trese, by Kadjo Baldissimo and Budjette Tan, a supernatural horror-crime-noir featuring the titular heroine Alexandra Trese. Meet-and-greets with crowd favorites like Kikomachine Komix’s Manix Abrera, Ligo Na U Lapit na Me’s (“Go Shower, I’m Going To Be There”) Eros Italia, and Pukiusap’s (“Pussy Plead”) Beverly “Bebang” Siy are also on the program. Admission is free.
To know more, visit their Facebook page here.
Watch a digital art water show for free
Date: Nov. 22, Friday – Nov. 22, 2020, Sunday
Venue: Globe Lakeside, Nuvali Eco City, Santa Rosa, Laguna
A drive through Manila’s gridlock and south to Laguna’s Nuvali Eco City brings you this water show, which features a 100 x 15-meter floating screen display that synchronizes sounds, moving pictures, and water jets to give you an impressive hour-and-a-half-long lakeside spectacle.
International art collective TeamLab has brought the water show to a number of cities across the globe, including Tokyo, Beijing, Paris, and New York. This marks the first time it’s arriving on our shores, setting up shop in the four-hectare man-made Nuvali lake.
The show runs for a year and admission is free. Read more about it here.
Understand famed Italian polymath Leonardo Da Vinci
Date: Nov 21, Thursday
Venue: Cultural Center of the Philippines
A series of cultural events that celebrate the famed polymath and original Renaissance man, Leonardo In Manila comes to a close this Thursday with a screening of the play Being Leonardo Da Vinci: The Impossible Interview, which stages at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s Little Theater.
Italian director-actor Massimiliano Finazzer Flor will assume the part of the Italian intellectual/artist/designer/you-name-it, decked out in full makeup and period costume. The play will take you through Da Vinci’s childhood, his love for both the arts and the sciences, even the period when he served in the military.
Tickets start at PHP800 (US$15), available on the Ticketworld’s website.
Consider copping discounted jewelry
Date: Nov 21, Thursday – Nov. 24, Saturday
Venue: Pandora stores nationwide
Need something for your girlfriend? Your “special friend”? Your mom? Yourself? Jewelry store Pandora Philippines is having a Thanksgiving sale, marking every item on their inventory, everything, 20 percent off. Among the Danish-based jewelry line’s selection: customizable charm bracelets, studded rings, necklaces, and earrings.
Averaging roughly PHP8,000 (US$157) apiece, this holiday discount shouldn’t be a bad thing. Not in the least. For a list of branches, visit their Facebook page.
Catch some curious eye-popping characters at the opening of this four-show art exhibit
Date: Nov. 21, Thursday
Venue: Space Encounters Gallery. Unit 7D, 7F Padilla Building, F. Ortigas Jr. Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Four artists named TRNZ, Martkills, Lean Reboja, and Mark KDLT Copino assemble a museum full of eccentric creatures that harken back to childhood naiveté. Their respective solo shows “Fancy Your Chances,” “Kill Joy,” “Wild Child,” and “Articulated Madness and Infinite Nothingness” will be on view for over a month starting Nov. 21 at Pasig City’s kitschy Space Encounters Gallery.
Don’t know who any of these artists are? No worries. The exhibition invites you to pull up a chair, grab a cold one (it’s co-presented by Heineken), and decide for yourself if you’d like to see any of these artworks hanging on your wall.
The show opens at 6pm. Admission is free. Visit Space Encounters’ Facebook page for more details.
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