Sam L. Marcelo

Jake Verzosa's "Basketball Landscapes" is composed of a hundred prints of what I think of as jury-rigged (some more so than others) monuments to joy. Said this before will say it again: I LOVE MAKESHIFT BASKETBALL COURTS WITH MY WHOLE HEART—evidence of people insisting on their happiness even in the tightest of spaces. Favorite court: the one on p. 63 of the companion document, also titled "Basketball Landscapes" (shown here). Jake and I went to the same high school and that outside court was one of my happy places. I am so glad that someone like THE JAKE VERZOSA loves ball enough to give these vernacular structures the attention they deserve! Basketball friends, GO SEE JAKE'S SHOW!♥️ "Basketball Landscapes" by Jake Verzosa is part of a group exhibition titled "Play," which also features the work of Jenifer K. Wofford and Aze Ong. On view at Silverlens till 16 May.

This corner of @altphilippines 2026, 13–15 February. Day 1 "Committed Practices: A Conversation with Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Julie Lluch, and Gerry Tan" Moderated by Lara Acuin "Art as an Asset" Bong Lledo, Noel Andrada, and Dino Santos Day 2 "Spaces of Practice: On Navigating Sites of Production" Eric Bico, Joanna Nolasco, Marco Ortiga, Jomari T'Leon, and Allyza Tresvalles Moderated by Arianna Mercado "Research as Practice: On Participatory, Immaterial, and Non-Object-Based Art" Lyra Garcellano, Neo Maestro, and Diego Maranan Moderated by James Tana Day 3 "Women and Queer Practitioners in the Art of Sound" Teresa Barrozo, Frankie Lalunio, and Pette Shabu Moderated by Levi Masuli "Still Standing: Veteran Gallerists on Survival, Change, and What Comes Next" Silvana Diaz (Galleria Duemila), Tina Fernandez (Artinformal), Vita Sarenas (Finale Art File), and Jun Villalon (The Drawing Room) Moderated by Sam L. Marcelo Alt Conversations GC: Gaby Dela Merced and Pia Reyes of Vinyl on Vinyl, Kara Santiago Dagdag

In Which We Concede That Being On One's Belly Can Be As Enjoyable As Being On One's Back Floating face-up in the amniotic embrace of gentle water—relatively devoid of plant and animal life—has always been my preferred beach experience. Powdery white sand underneath me; and above me, puffy white clouds drifting with the syrupy lassitude of an endless Sunday afternoon. Head pillowed by hands, an eternal but one-note palette of sky blue coating my half-lidded eyes, and a bad case of sunburn threatening my axillae. ___ This beach is not that, but wonderful all the same—made even more wonderful by the barely contained wiggly happiness of someone who loves (LOVES!!!) corals teeming with life painted in every color. There, little fish in electric International Klein blue! There, the gayest fish I have seen in my entire life, a flamboyant Liberace with fins! There, a mermaid! Maybe! And so, we must concede that belly floating has its charms, bewitched as we were by the prismatic frenzy concealed by the waves. ___ (A tangent: Enjoying another's joy is the secret sauce of joy-maxxing. Which is why being told "masarap kang kumain" is never an insult. It means I, a non-foodie, enjoyed my food more because of the gusto with which you enjoyed yours. [Someone fix that sentence.]) ___ To continue: Time here is not kept by clocks tracking minutes and hours, but by a stomach that needs to be fed at least thrice a day, or by the rate at which a mountain of bacon disappears, or by the pages of a book fluttering in the wind, or by the number of comfortable silences in a meandering conversation, or by the browning of bodies lying in the sun. ___ All that to say, thank you for letting me tag along and be the passenger-iest passenger to ever passenge.

Sam's Day 2026 ("We're doing it live!") is up! Link in bio till end of Feb. or till I remember to take it down! THANK YOU!!! If you want to sing to my face, come to the house. We have a corner just for you. Highlights are also up! If your gift isn't in the playlist, please let me know. Hope you participate next year!☺️ I love birthdays and these playlists! Yaaaaaaaay!

HI! I'M 45! Woohoo! The theme for Sam's Day 2026 is "WE'RE DOING IT LIVE!" Please sing a song to my face OR gift me your favorite live recordings available on Spotify! Slide into my DMs with a link, tag me in an IG story, or tell me what to search for in the comments! Deadline: end of day, 11 February, anywhere on earth! All gifts will be gathered into a public playlist, which I will share! This is our 8th year of doing this! These playlists delight me! Hope you join!!! Let's go 45, colonoscopy year!

Two things I have loved the longest. _____ It's getting more and more difficult to find regular opportunities to ball. I really think that a gentle league for people over forty would fly. I'm filing that idea in the same folder as the colonoscopy barkada bundle with post-procedure buffet.

In Which Two Buangitas Are Intensely Grateful Under Bacolod's Kahel-Colored Sky "If we were on shrooms this is exactly the kind of sky that would inspire—" "Crazy-ass hallucinations?" "—intense feelings of gratitude, smallness, and wonder." "I don't think I need shrooms for that." _____ Atmospheric phenomena previously discussed with Tsarli: golden hour, blue hour, and their specific charms; takipsilim, dapithapon, and the different kinds of twilight. _____ Sorry for interrupting your moment, Tsarli! "Buangita" c/o Tsarli. _____ Speaking of intense gratitude: Let me tell you how I survived my first porta-potty experience with my dignity intact! My being terrible at squats combined with coffee's diuretic effects almost resulted in disaster after an interminable pee—as interminable as this sentence—caused my legs to cramp and my knees to lock. Pride, PRIDE I TELL YOU, was the only thing that kept me from toppling over and ending up on the floor with my arse out and my pants around my ankles—BECAUSE IT SURE WASN'T CORE STRENGTH. I fckn walked out of that porta-potty like a champ—bladder empty and heart full of intense gratitude.

"Sugarcane is a cruel plant." —MPR, 11 March 2018 At the most erudite buffet line conversation ever—one-sided because I contributed nothing but nods—MPR continued that the history of the Philippines wasn't written by rice, but by sugar. If I remember correctly this was also the same instance where my "what is this soup?" question was answered by a brief lesson on which vegetables are endemic to the Philippines (not the veg in the soup) and which vegetables are here because of the Galleon Trade (the veg in the soup). _____ New picture to go with an old quote. Went to Bacolod. Saw sugarcane. Remembered what MPR said. _____ Watching through windows and windshields, Bacolod. (This IS sugarcane, right? Just checking.)

Trees, love trees! Also loved asking Trinka if this park or that park was where Cate Blanchett filmed her jogging scenes in Tár.

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"Piece of shit" or poetry? On Yasmina Reza's "Art" and a painting's power to destroy friendships. Marc: a mansplaining traditionalist with a man-bun still held captive by his skinny jeans. Serge: he of the posh British accent, perpetually raised eyebrow, and perennial crooked grin. And in the middle (ever the pacifist, ever the referee, ever the overlooked amoeba): Yvan, a sweaty quivering ball of beta-male energy. In Yasmina Reza's "Art," a 15-year friendship among three men falls apart when one of them shells out 200,000 francs for a white painting—about five feet by four, with a white background . . . completely white—and another decries it as "a piece of shit." _____ Review of Repertory Philippines' staging of Reza's "Art" ran in the 25 June 2025 issue of BusinessWorld. Available online and in print. _____ Go watch it! Would make THE perfect double bill with John Logan's "Red."