oblivious nerd girl
hood chronicles

Alfie is a constant inspiration and always gives me real talk when it comes to my creative endeavors and life in general!  I know she's been on a crazy journey this year. We've talked about our own ups and downs and how this year is the time for us to be only honest with ourselves. To not get in the way of our own progress.  
To not being afraid.  I'm so lucky to have her as one of my early cheerleaders.  Alfie's awesome and this interview will show why! I

You should check out her show this Friday!  "All The Right Weaponry/She Verses I" opening up this Friday, Feb 21st at The Artform Studio (701 E 3rd St, Ste 120, Los Angeles, CA 90013). You'll be able to meet Alfie and check out her artwork!

Name(s)
Alfie Ebojo aka alfie numeric

Affiliations (arts org, fun things you do, etc) :
FilAm Arts, Beatrock Collective, Balagtasan Collective

I love people, culture and peace. I make art or advocate for ideas to ensure that those three things are protected and nurtured.


What's the one word you are guilty of using too much?
If you ask my parents, I Instagram too much. I don’t know why. Maybe because I am always at home creating, running around solo and I want to share intimate snapshots of my life.

Or maybe because I want to brag about some awesome experience or event, not to annoy people, because I myself can have a digital archive of a timeline of my life and remember the cool people and events that happen. My life speeds by in a blur and as much as I try to be present with it, I miss things. Taking pics is my way of remembering, processing and learning from them.

How did you end up doing what you are doing now?
I took the red pill

Which member of the Wu-Tang Clan best describes your personality?
Well, despite of having a huge crush on him throughout my college and 20s, I won’t say Method Man. And to not blow myself into something doper than I really am, I won’t claim Ghostface Killer; I’m not at that level yet.

I’d have to say RZA would be the Killer Bee that best describes me. I nerd out on kung fu flicks, Eastern philosophies and like to dip my hands into everything. I won’t say I will master them all but shit, nothing will stop me from trying new things and wanting to do it my way.

Dogs or Cats, who wins? Why?
Dogs by default simply because I am allergic to cats.

And technically, I am allergic to dogs too but for some reason, there are a select few who don’t cause me any problems.. So I’d say the champs are Koki and Harper, because I am biased like that.

What is the best part of any given day for you?
The ability to change a bad mood or situation around. So long as I have time, I have a chance to always to bend my life to where it needs to go, Avatar-steez. LifeBender.

Favorite Buzzfeed list or quiz? Why?
That is like asking me to go to th beach, pick up a handful of sand and pic your favorite micro-shell…
Fine. Since you like to put limitations on me…
http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/struggles-that-only-people-with-big-butts-will-understand

In a zombie apocalypse who would you want on your survival team?
Seeing that Michonne was was handy with the blade, I’d like to have my own version of the Crazy 88s except they wouldn’t suck like they did in the movie. The Professor from Gilligan’s Island would be cool to have too. I like being comfortable in whatever compound we have to make while we travel. Or and a goose that lays golden eggs, but it won’t lay eggs; she will lay golden 22lr bullets so I will always have a never ending supply of ammo for my Hello Kitty Smith and Wesson M&P15

What is the last thing you searched for on google?
What Buzzfeed was.

If you could talk to your high school self, what would say?
Stop second-guessing yourself! Oh and dump him because years later, he’s going to cheat on you. Only you knew him but you act like you got a endless supply of “benefit of a doubt” to give out.  Listen to your gut. You are more powerful than you even realize.

What is the best thing or meal you ever ate?
Whatever I eat after running 7 miles on a mountain.

What is a memorable project that you are working on or have worked on?
Transforming myself and bringing all aspects of me- spirit, emotions, mind and body- to vibrate on a higher frequency.

Thank you Alfie for doing this! And for always being their to support Oblivious Nerd Girl!

Check out more info on the facebook event page here: "All the Right Weaponry" and "She Versus I" Featuring the Art of Alfie Numeric and Stephanie Takemoto

My favorite thing about these interviews is learning something new about amazing people in my life.  Maya is someone I've always admired. Her work through Form Follows Function is beautiful. I love her ability to tell stories through film.  I'll let her words speak for themselves!

Name(s) 
Maya Santos

Affiliations (arts org, fun things you do, etc) :
FORM follows FUNCTION, creative director & founder
FORM follows FUNCTION
http://fffmedia.com/

FIELDWORK
https://www.facebook.com/fieldworkla

SOUL IN THE PARK
http://www.soulinthepark.com/


I like to bike, draw, paint watercolor... meditate, space out.....
I like space and making space experiential. 
I like architecture and architecture history, visualizing how places were in the past and seeing what's possible in the future.
I like music of all kinds, sounds where I can hear soul. I like seeing and experiencing art...gravitating toward what resonates.
I like to conceptualize projects with people, and to connect people with people who have could potentially collaborate together.
I like graphic design, people watching, movie watching, traveling, and dreaming, especially remembering dreams.

What's the one word you are guilty of using too much?
netflix.

How did you end up doing what you are doing now?
My background is in architecture. I graduated with a B.Arch and B.S in Architectural Studies, worked in the field for a few years and got bored. Have always loved to shoot video and document life around me. Also enjoyed dabbling in multi-media installation. Learned how to edit on an analog 3/4" system and made a documentary on Filipino turntablists with my crew isangmahal back in Seattle. Years later in the Bay, learned how to edit digitally and made a short abstract piece that made it in some film festivals.

That piece helped me get a job in a documentary studio in LA, called Sustainable Media Studio. I became Lead Editor there and had the opportunity to direct and co-direct my first short documentaries about places; "BUILDING A" was about the historic restoration and rehabilitation of a building at Trade Tech Community College, and "A CONVERSATION" was about the MLK Library at City College as told by Dorothy, a Librarian who worked there for over 30 years. After that particular piece got in a few film festivals, I soon realized that my education in Architecture did not go to waste and that I had knack for making short films about places through the perspectives of people who use them. 

Focusing on this angle really resonated with me because 1) I've always wanted to use architecture as a means to help empower people, especially marginalized people with a voice in how they see the places in which they live, and I've always wanted to support their visions of how to make the built environment more enjoyable and useful. 2) Making short films highlighting people's experiences, stories, memories, visions about the places around them can help create more awareness about the places around us all, AND can help people learn more about one another. This can only help in the process of breaking down barriers. 3) The relationship between people and their environment constantly creates place and because everything changes, places constantly change. In telling the story of one place, so many stories and lessons emerge because of all the energy that intersects there throughout time. Sharing stories of one place can reveal how that place is evolving and reflect how people are evolving in the way they use it. Exploring these relationships really is fascinating to me, which is why FORM follows  FUNCTION was founded in 2011.

It is an open collaborative studio dedicated to creating media about places. By being collaborative, we are open to working with anyone who wants to tell a unique story about a place, whether it be about the architecture or landscaping, or your grandmother who lived and worked there for many years, or about people coming together to create a community garden there, and in the case of THE COTABATO SESSIONS, about the music and art that originated from the land there and is still alive...all of these elements and more is what creates a place. FORM follows FUNCTION is interested in supporting the dialogue about place in this way through media.

shameless plug: fffmedia.com ... thanks for the support guys!

Which member of the Wu-Tang Clan best describes your personality?
ummm...not really sure I know them all well enough to say, but I was a fan of Method Man or at least he was memorable to me. So maybe that is something.

Dogs or Cats, who wins? Why?
DOGS all day...I'm deathly allergic to cats though they are intriguing ;)

What is the best part of any given day for you?
Early morning before dawn, in my second dream....usually very vivid and sometimes lucid.

In a zombie apocalypse who would you want on your survival team?
the one with the master plan.

What is the last thing you searched for on google?
to be honest, wu-tang clan...but before that "Where or When" by Peggy Lee on youtube.

If you could talk to your high school self, what would say?
discipline yo self girl! it will help you in the long run!

What is the best thing or meal you ever ate?
When I ate meat, adobo, was my favorite meal ever.
Now as a vegetarian, I long for anything close.

What is a memorable project that you are working on or have worked on?
THE COTABATO SESSIONS was like a dream seriously. First of all, I've always wanted to shoot outside of the country...and to be able to go to the motherland and to shoot with talented cinematographer and friend there, Ruelo Lozendo was just perfect. To be in the country side of Mindanao (where a lot of people were telling me not to go), was really the one of the most peaceful places I've ever felt. The production itself had a lot of unknowns, but the combination of Joel Quizon, Susie Ibarra and her husband Roberto, Master Danny Kalanduyan along with the entire Kalanduyan family, and local sound crew there, it seemed that nothing was stopping this project and all the elements came together to support the grace and ease it all really was for us. I've heard the Kulintang before in the US, but to experience this live and direct from the source, especially from entire women elder ensembles was unlike anything I've experienced before. It was like the land and the people and the ancestors were speaking through them and we were truly blessed to witness and document it! There were many timeless moments behind the camera where I was just in complete awe and had to recognize the dream that was really happening. For me it was a true honor to be there and I will always be thankful for it.

Super hyped to finally get to edit in full. For now the trailer is on the kickstarter page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/350747284/the-cotabato-sessions-a-music-legacy-from-the-phil

The support that has been coming through on this project has been overwhelming. BIG THANKS TO ALL FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS!

Many thanks to Maya for doing an Oblivious Interview with me!  I am so stoked for The Cotabato Sessions to be completed.  The images and teasers that are shown in the trailer are not enough.  If you can contribute to their Kickstarter campaign, please do!  They have some amazing incentives that you can receive by donating to the film.  
The Cotabato Sessions Kickstarter Campaign

I first met Yumi when she was volunteering for Tuesday Night Cafe. It wasn't until years later that I found out we had a random connection. She actually was in a Asian American theater group with my bff Jen called LCC. 

I've been a big fan of her work for quite some time. In fact I didn't know this but I had a piece of hers hanging in our staircase/art gallery section of our house.  I won a painting of Yumi's through a Tuesday Night Cafe silent auction!  She's an awesome artist who's currently on a Valentine's Day book tour for her book "I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You." The book is amazing and you should definitely pick it up at your local bookstore and mayhaps an Urban Outfitters!

Without further ado here is my Oblivious Interview with Yumi Sakugawa!

Name(s): 
Yumi Sakugawa

Affiliations (arts org, fun things you do, etc) : 
L.A. Zine Fest exhibitor and part-time volunteer, comic contributor for The Rumpus, former volunteer now lurker of Tuesday Night Project 

What's the one word you are guilty of using too much?
It's a tie between "awesome" and "like." I'm a So. Cal gal. 

How did you end up doing what you are doing now?
Years of doodling, reading comics, worshipping Sailor Moon, breathing in way too much Sharpie ink pen fumes and being a mediocre art school student. 

Which member of the Wu-Tang Clan best describes your personality?

I am so embarrassed that I don't know how to answer this question. I will say, however, that out of all the Sailor Scouts in the Sailor Moon universe, I'm totally a Sailor Saturn and if I had to choose between Rei and Asuka, I am such a Rei. 

Dogs or Cats, who wins? Why?
In a war for my love and affection, dogs win hands down. Because I need lots and lots of unconditional love.  

What is the best part of any given day for you?
Anytime I am in a mindful flow and completely accepting of the present moment. It is cheesy but it is completely true. 

Favorite Buzzfeed list or quiz? Why?
This is the easiest question for me to answer. Because NOTHING, NOTHING can ever top this BuzzFeed list on The Baby-Sitters' Club:
The Definitive Ranking Of All 131 Baby-Sitter’s Club Cover Outfits (link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/the-definitive-ranking-of-baby-sitters-club-cover-outfits) 

In a zombie apocalypse who would you want on your survival team?
My partner David. Because without him, I would probably be eating a lot of contaminated food and drinking a lot of contaminated water without knowing it. This applies for non-apocalypse scenarios, too. 

What is the last thing you searched for on google?
I momentarily forgot how to spell "fumes." For some reason I kept thinking it was spelled "humes." I think it was all those adolescent years of breathing in Sharpie ink pen fumes. 

If you could talk to your high school self, what would say?
I think I would have a list of all these aspirational things I would want to say, like "love yourself" and "don't be so hung up about finding your soul mate," and then I would take a look at my high school self, completely forget everything I had planned to say, and then simply give her / me a big, long, wordless hug while she / me cries into my shoulder. 

What is the best thing or meal you ever ate?
Pretty much anything my mom makes is the best thing or meal I've ever ate. As far as non-homecooked meals go, right now I am way too obsessed with the tsukemen ramen at Tsujia Annex on Sawtelle. 

What is a memorable project that you are working on or have worked on?
Right now I'm working on a short comic story about a young woman who is nervous about telling her parents that she had just gotten very intensive cosmetic surgery. I'm hoping to get that all done by L.A. ZIne Fest. 

I completely agree with Yumi on her Babysitter's Club buzzfeed list choice. It is pretty spectacular and I believe all of Claudia's outfits should win all the awards. 

If you have the chance to check out on her tour, please do! But if you can't make it out to your local bookstore there is always the internet! You can pick up "I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You" on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

Mark and I were once co-directors for the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture.  I think he was just starting his Ph.D program and I remember thinking HOLY CRAP, that's a lot of school. More power to this brother for pushing through and  being almost done with his program!  Mark is a co-editor with Kuttin Kandi (of 5th Platoon) and Roderick Labrador of the recently published, "Empire of Funk: Hip Hop and Representation in Filipino/a America" The book sounds awesome and I can't wait to pick up a copy.  

Name(s)
Affiliations (arts org, fun things you do, etc) :
Mark Redondo Villegas, Ph.D. candidate in Culture and Theory and UC Irvine

What's the one word you are guilty of using too much?
Empire

How did you end up doing what you are doing now?
Ph.D. stuff? They accepted me

Which member of the Wu-Tang Clan best describes your personality?
Ghost Face Killer, because I like to tell stories, but the difference being my own life story is filled with too much Street Fighter 2.  

Dogs or Cats, who wins? Why?
Dogs because they rely on you, whereas cats think you're just another big cat and will fuck you up.

What is the best part of any given day for you?
Breakfast because I cook a big, giant breakfast almost every day.

Favorite Buzzfeed list or quiz? Why?
I don't really know.

In a zombie apocalypse who would you want on your survival team?
Actually, I'd rather be a zombie because who wants to "live" during those rough times? Who's to say that zombies aren't actually thrilled, passionate, and purposeful about what they do?  

What is the last thing you searched for on google?
Wingstop

If you could talk to your high school self, what would say?
Don't overdry the skin.  Moisturize instead.

What is the best thing or meal you ever ate?
Grilled fish on a Bohol beach with mango juice

What is a memorable project that you are working on or have worked on?
Empire of Funk: Hip Hop and Representation in Filipina/o America

This was fun and now I'm hungry. All this talk of breakfast food and wings!  If you get the chance definitely pick up Empire of Funk! Mark, Kuttin Kandi, and Rod Labrador will be at the SCPASA Summit at UC Riverside this Saturday.  SCPASA Summit participants get a 10% discount. Here's your chance to meet these folks and contributors  DJ Icy Ice and Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales.