7 Years of UNO Magazine
Posted by Jayvee at June 18th, 2010(Music: ‘Climate Spike’ written, produced and performed by Moon Fear Moon; Edited by Lia Martinez)
7 Years of UNO Magazine
UNO is a monthly magazine for the discerning man (and woman). There are features on women we admire, occurrences worth covering, art forms we appreciate, objects that inspire acquisitiveness, and ideas that deserve attention, among other things.
There are also jokes, which may or may not always be in good taste. We value writing and images that are extraordinary. We love women. It is our belife that digital tools should be used to emphasize natural beauty and/or enhance a specific aesthetic– not for turning people into wax models.
Again, we love women.
We think that there’s more to men (and women) than their surfaces.
UNO: Dispatches for the Discerning Man
UNO June 2010 “The Anniversary Issue” SEVEN YEARS STRONG
Posted by Jayvee at June 4th, 2010
UNO—one of the country’s longest-running men’s lifestyle magazines— celebrates its 7th Year as the premiere guide for the discerning male. Since re-launching last year with none other than RJ Ledesma at the helm, it’s become a showcase of the best writing, groundbreaking art/photography and, of course, the most beautiful women in the country. Blending high society with the lowbrow, every issue is a compendium of Filipino pop culture from political punditry to culture vultures, street style to designer pomp, mass-market celebrity to cult heroes.
Gracing the cover for our anniversary issue is none other than fashion icon Sarah Meier, who appears for the first time in a men’s magazine as nothing less than a superhero. (Styled under the visionary art direction of Norman Crisologo and distinctly photographed by renowned lensman Juan Caguicla.
The daughter of supermodel Elektrika, she talks to UNO editor-at-large/multi-Palanca award recipient Luis Katigbak on just how she manages to stay the course and keep on soaring in the fashion world (as well a few tips on just how to save the day).
For this special collector’s edition, we’ve also put galleries of the best art that was featured within our pages the past year and exclusively commissioned by UNO from the likes of rising stars like Brian Vallesteros, Lala Gallardo and Apol Sta. Maria to celebrated veterans like Arnold Arre and Gilbert Daroy.
Of course, we’ve also painstakingly chosen and collected the best shoots of all the women we’ve had the privileged to feature the past year, including many never-before seen portraits of our favorite muses such as Cindy Curleto, news anchor Gretchen Fullido, top models Bianca Valerio and Ornusa Cadness, internet celebrity Ellen Adarna, TV personality Maggie Wilson and fashion maven and lifestyle editor Celine Lopez to name a few. Also, we collect and reprint our best covers from the past seven years featuring the likes of Teresa Herrera, Nicole Hernandez, Maike Evers, Vivian Tan, Bianca Araneta and Pia Guanio.
We also have indie princess Saab Magalona sampling the veggie cuisine at Nomnomnom and “man of the moment” RAMON BAUTISTA explaining just what it takes to be the perfect human being.
Available in stores on June 4, get your copy now!
Bongbong Marcos
Posted by Jayvee at May 6th, 2010
The Return of The QLE Awards
Posted by France at December 28th, 2009“NO NOMINEES, JUST WINNERS”: THE 2ND QLE AWARDS WILL BE HELD ON DECEMBER 28, MONDAY, 10 PM, AT MAG:NET HIGH STREET
LUIS KATIGBAK: It all started last year, when three music-loving, media-saturated friends were disillusioned with the usual annual rock awards. They launched a new ‘awards show’ with articles in the three major dailies, culminating in a gig featuring Intolerant, Itchyworms, Up Dharma Down and others. Those three friends were myself, filmmaker Quark Henares and editor Erwin Romulo.
QUARK HENARES: A lot of really cool things happened after [last year's QLE articles] came out. Rock Ed put up an awards night that was really more of a get-together of music lovers than a hoity-toity awards show.
ERWIN ROMULO: I never imagined we’d do it this again this year, when so much has happened and there is very little to celebrate. Plus this year’s NU Rock Awards was the best in its history.
QUARK: Instead of semi-protesting the Rock Awards, QLE has a new mission, and that is to turn you on to good music that’s mostly overlooked by the pop charts. [...] 2009 in general may have been the most horrible year in the history of the known universe, so I thank the following musicians with all my heart for keeping me company and being that glimmer of hope in the midst of all this chaos…
*
BEST SONG I’VE HEARD THIS YEAR
“Matina Town Square” by Zach Lucero feat. Sarah Marco [Quark]
“Matina Town Square” is a masterpiece that will win you over with its 90s alt rock earnestness.
“The Story So Far” by Outerhope [Luis]
Written with honesty, performed with skill and love, this song is one of the most beautiful stories I’ve heard in a long time.
“Superpoke is Nothing Compared to True Love” by Us-2 Evil-0 [Erwin]
An affecting anthem, heartfelt and impassioned but deeply introspective. When Dulce sings, “We just fade away,” it’s already happened―only the song remains.
BEST SONG I’VE HEARD THIS YEAR THAT WAS NOT RELEASED THIS YEAR
“Mmm” by Arigato Hato [Quark]
“Mmm” is a slow-burn delight that results in LSS for weeks to come.
“Clarity (N:ua Remix)” by Bagetsafonik [Luis]
While the song was good to start with, the N:ua reworking―from the 2008 Travel Agents remix album―takes it to a mesmerizing new place.
“Line Drawings” by Sandwich [Erwin]
Cruelly overlooked even by its makers, this is the one song from Sandwich’s < S > Marks The Spot that sounds more alive than any of the popular singles released from the album.
BEST SONG I’VE HEARD LIVE THIS YEAR
Ang Huling El Bimbo by the Eraserheads [Quark]
Cheating, I know, but someone has to acknowledge the sheer drama and power with which the Eheads performed “Ang Huling El Bimbo” for the “Final Set (yeah, right)” last February.
“Medicine” by Waya [Luis]
“Medicine” may have been written based on the lead singer’s experiences with asthma, but it will leave you breathless for other reasons entirely.
“Juggernaut” by Greyhoundz [Erwin]
“Juggernaut” is the song that I wish they made during the band’s heyday in the 90s. If anything, it might’ve prolonged the period so that we could’ve bypassed all the “acoustic” acts that followed them.
BEST SINGLE THAT I HEARD ON THE RADIO
“Matina Town Square” by Zach Lucero feat. Sarah Marco [Quark]
“Twenty Years From Now” by Outerhope [Luis]
Outerhope handed over their new album to radio stations without specifying a single, so it’s interesting to see which tracks individual stations choose to air. This one seemed a natural…
“Let’s Make Babies” by The Bernadettes [Erwin]
This is what all pop should aspire to. It’s music drunk on its own exuberance.
BEST LIVE ACT
Eraserheads [Quark]
Again, it seems totally pointless for me to even give props to the greatest band ever, but the second reunion concert felt like a sort of homecoming to me.
Corporate Lo-Fi [Luis]
Hip-hop with a full band setup is not a new concept, but as you can imagine, it’s not an easy thing to pull off…
Turbo Goth [Erwin]
It’s the shoulders. They make music.
BEST SECOND ALBUM
A Day for the Absent by Outerhope [Quark]
It’s the perfect Sunday afternoon record, a steady listen that showcases Outerhope’s Peanuts-score sound crisper and clearer than the first. [...] Well worth the four-year wait.
Back to the Nut House by Hilera [Erwin]
With their second effort, they’ve grown in ambition as well as skill, delivering a modern rockabilly experience that’s angrier but more focused than its predecessor.
BEST GUITAR PLAYING ON AN ALBUM
Kris Gorra-Dancel [Erwin]
Many of our so-called guitar heroes could learn a thing from listening to Gorra-Dancel, who doesn’t need to resort to a single solo to show that she plays with balls.
BEST FRONTPERSON
Katwo Librando-Puertollano, Duster [Luis]
With undeniable style, spirit, and occasionally slightly off-kilter spiels, she charms and confronts and conquers.
BEST ALBUM COVER
Peryodiko [Quark]
19-year old Paulina Ortega made this brilliant album cover by pouring and shaping real wax. She is genius waiting to happen.
The Dingdong Dantes Experience [Erwin]
Self-explanatory.
The Distinktive Sounds of Pasta Groove [Luis]
The cover accurately―and attractively―represents the glorious mashup of elements inside. You know, much like the Dingdong Dantes album cover does.
BEST NEW ARTIST
Waya [Luis]
This is a band that can do seemingly anything, from revelatory covers of Roison Murphy and The Gossip and Talking Heads to instant-favorite originals like “When” and “Medicine.”
BEST INTERNATIONAL ACT
Ciudad [Erwin]
Our favorite band is still at it and now they’re playing in Manhattan!
Nine Inch Nails [Quark]
I don’t think Manila’s rocked this hard since Rage Against The Machine back in ’97.
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Up Dharma Down’s “Taya” directed by Nic Reyes [Quark]
Nic Reyes and Up dharma Down have always been the perfect pair-up, and it’s great watching this young director grow with the band.
Pasta Groove’s “Give Bearth” directed by Paolo Garcia [Luis]
Flickering and unfolding like a dream, splicing in vintage film clips with new footage made to look archaeological, the video enhances rather than detracts from the Pasta Groove experience.
Us-2 Evil-0’s “Mighty Heart Attack” directed by J.A. Tadena [Erwin]
Standing as an antithesis to all the rest of the videos gaining airplay today, J.A. Tadena’s video for Us-2 Evil-0’s first single is not a patchwork of pegs strung together from the director’s favorite videos but rather a sincere piece of filmmaking.
BEST LIVE ALBUM
Shuffle Union [Erwin]
Recorded at a tribute gig to the late Luis ‘Weslu’ Guiang in Cubao, this is certainly a testament to the spirit of the statement of its producer, Betrayed’s Je Bautista, that “ska is reggae on beer.”
BEST COLLABORATION
“Matina Town Square” by Zach Lucero feat. Sarah Marco [Luis + Quark]
Not only would it appeal to fans of Zach and Sarah’s bands―Imago and Taken By Cars, respectively―its catchy headlong quality would win over people who were fans of neither.
“Giving Bearth” by Pasta Groove (featuring Up Dharma Down’s Armi Millare, Rubber Inc’s Malek Lopez and Third World Project’s Allen Umali among others) [Erwin]
This track is a demonstration of how adept afro-Filipino stalwart Pasta Groove is in making diverse elements work to his advantage producing music that’s uniquely his own.
BEST PROTEST SONG
“Wala” by Kamikazee [Erwin]
“Wala” is what’s it all about now; and where it’s at—a defiant album saying that for all the bluster our pop stars and Illac Diaz have promoted themselves with: what does it really amount to? WALA.
BEST ALBUM
A Day for the Absent by Outerhope [Luis]
…the songs, from the childlike yet brilliant “Lost in Numbers” to the jaunty “Anna Gabrielle” to the drum-machine driven “Twenty Years From Now” and the deeply affecting “The Man With The Pipes,” are just the best songs I heard this year.
Travel Advisory by Archipelago [Erwin]
…the music sits well with itself, so assured of its own strength that it needn’t try to do anything else.
Fall Crash Infect by Zach Lucero [Quark]
Fall Crash Infect is the best thing that an album could be considering who Lucero is and where he’s been—it’s cathartic.
The full explanations by Quark, Luis and Erwin will come out in the three major daily broadsheets. Stay tuned for links. see you at the awards show!
NO FUN, NOW
Posted by Erwin Romulo at July 16th, 2009For June we drew upon Bowie and a bit of Lou Reed to make Uno V2.o. I guess that “glam rock” provided us a parallel for what we were doing to the magazine. Like John Lennon said about what Bowie, Reed, Marc Bolan and Iggy Pop, it’s still “rock n’ roll but with lipstick on.” That said, it’s all about dress up. The power of images. Words. Ideas. So UNO as it is now is a men’s magazine that isn’t obvious. We like to tease. We like the mystery. With that, we haven’t abandoned hedonism, just cultured it a bit. Made it stranger. Smarter.
One of our contributors, Chip Childers, wrote this:
“I think Lou Reed’s story was about the freaks he met while trying to score smack on the upper east side, too. If were talking notes, can i add one to the mix tape? It’s Iggy Pop, looking exactly as fearsome as he did when he started destroying things in the late 60′s, laying a Letterman crowd to waste. Iggy’s buddy Bowie walked his own path, reed quietly changed the way we think, but Iggy grabbed it by the balls and looked it in the eyes and told them how it was going to be.
Speaking of manly, if you can go on a stage at 60 years old, shock and awe the general public, then turn around and be genteel and mannered, i think theres not a better example of what a man should be.”
Well said Chip. So here’s our take on a sports issue which we’ve entitled ‘No Fun’.
Enjoy!
Transformer: Celine Lopez
Posted by Jayvee at July 1st, 2009
Amidst the marketing madness, depraved cattiness, and pseudo-sexual hipsters of the fashion world, Celine Lopez stands apart from everyone as a true original; a class act who knows exactly what to wear to all-tomorrow’s parties.
Words: Erwin Romulo
Styling: Shanani Gania
Hair: Vianney Guese
Photos: Juan Caguicla
Photography Assitants: Noi Agarin & Waway
Sittings Editor: Denise Mallabo
Editorial Assistant: France Pinzon
“Evil is organic. The fight against it is what makes us human.” Celine Lopez has just come back from Delhi. Meeting up with her, it isn’t long—five minutes probably—before the conversation turns to the usual things: sickness, art, politics, fascists, Bowie, pornography, and the devil—the dark stuff. The remark was her answer to the question if she thought evil existed. It seemed apt only because it was also posed to both Barack Obama and John McCain during the last US election. If it’s good enough for presidential candidates, then it was good enough to ask Celine. In fact, for the brevity and wit alone, she gets my vote.
We’ve known each other for several years now, actually. Both of us had columns in The Philippine Star: she was its new rising star, and I was its resident ogre. She wrote about fashion and going out while I styled myself a hoodlum critic. While she was (I imagined) hobnobbing, I was busy cultivating my being a snob.
I disliked her, of course.
(more…)
VIDEO: Behind the Scenes with Celine Lopez
Posted by Jayvee at June 18th, 2009
“Evil is organic. The fight against it is what makes us human.” Celine Lopez has just come back from Delhi. Meeting up with her, it isn’t long—five minutes probably—before the conversation turns to the usual things: sickness, art, politics, fascists, Bowie, pornography, and the devil—the dark stuff. The remark was her answer to the question if she thought evil existed. It seemed apt only because it was also posed to both Barack Obama and John McCain during the last US election. If it’s good enough for presidential candidates, then it was good enough to ask Celine. In fact, for the brevity and wit alone, she gets my vote.
An excerpt from the words of Erwin Romulo // UNO Magazine, June ’09
