Slices of Life

:::Got Wifi?:::

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging lately is that I have almost no internet access(aside from the casual 3G surfing and the occasional borrowing of my wife's sister's laptop) at my wife's family's house, where I currently reside. So I decided to a wifi friendly home and, after several minutes of grunting (from adjusting the old windows) and wheezing (pulling the lan cable across the roof the unto the next window) I now enjoy the luxuries of being jacked up again to internet.

:::Kapre Hunt:::

I finally submitted my short story for Philippine Speculative Fiction last month, coming within hours of the deadline. Total words: 2127. Entitled Kapre Hunt, I decided to go with the second one, seeing that I know my characters well enough to imagine them what they're going to do in a particular situation. Hopefully, I'll get an email confirmation of yes. Fingers crossed.

:::My Wife, the SuperHeroine:::

I'm always amazed by my wife. One day, while shopping, as she's walking quickly past a store when she saw this amazing set of pearl earrings AMIDSTS OF HUNDREDS OF LIKE DESIGNS in a glass table TEN FEET AWAY. You men with relationships know what I'm talking about. Then I'll ask her to fetch me a ballpen NEXT TO HER on a CLEAR TABLE and she'll ask me where. The mind boggles. It's like she has an alter ego.

:::Reading Ancient Fantasy:::

Well, not actually ancient, but now I'm in a phase where I'm reading cult literary authors, the likes of H.P. Lovecraft (of Cthulhu Mythos), Robert Howard (Conan the Barbarian) , Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan of the Apes) Isaac Asimov (Foundation) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) . Lot's of good pure stuff. Consider this prose by Robert Howard when Conan said ...

"I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."

Wow. Just Wow.

:::Writing Again:::

November marks again the National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo for short. I'm joining again, but unlike last year I'm taking these easily, writing whenever I feel like it, instead of being pressured to write 1,667 words per day, just to reach the 50,000 finish line. Maybe I'll finally do it, maybe not. We'll see.

:::Back to Communism:::

Took up a month long Chinese course, just to refresh my memory, a decision I regret somewhat. It's good to learn again, but the schedule ... good lord, three hours everyday at night for six days a week. I must have been out of mind. Coupled this with work in the morning, my brains have all been turned into mush.

:::Store Plans:::
If all goes well before the year ends, I will have my very own hobby store here in Iloilo. The drive is there and the market is waiting. All I gotta do now is take it easy, one step at the time, and not screw up the process. Here's to one dream to come true this year.

State of Mind: Mindless Buzz
Song of the Day: Blood Red Summer by Coheed and Cambria
Book of the Week: Collected Works of H.P. Lovecraft
Want/Need: Call of Cthulhu LCG

Three Probable Story Entries

Aiyeee!!! The deadline for the Philippine Speculative Fiction V looms near, and I'm at a lost on which story to concentrate upon, finish, polish and send it in time for the deadline. Right now I'm looking at three stories, each as different from other.

The first one is a post apocalyptic Earth, with the tragedy and destruction of Haley's comet changed the face of mankind forever. The following is the rough prologue I've done.

Manila 2045. Forty years have past since the comet 1P/Halley, more commonly known as Halley’s Comet, has plunged directly towards Earth. But instead of the destruction of the planet, the comet exploded in the stratosphere, sending billions of radioactive particles that changed the face of mankind forever. Roughly 60% of humanity perished in the aftermath, dead from radiation poisoning. Others survived, and tried to regain their former lives. Most however, were changed. Haleys they were called, after the comet. Mostly human looking but at the same time not really completely, they were able to do things like breath fire, lift massive stones and run faster, things no normal human beings could do.

It was different for every country. The Americans recovered quickly and imposed semi-segregation and the Halley Registration Act, essentially making any Halleys a little less then a citizen, with what’s left of the military enforcing the law. China saw the potential and began utilizing the Haleys into their military, as with Russia. Those who joined the European Confederation like Britain and France were largely left alone, but were watched very carefully. Meanwhile those in the Middle East were persecuted and stoned publicly, leaving most of the Haleys hiding in fear.

In the Philippines, things were more or less the same. The Halleys were at first segregated like the Americans did, but with it’s Catholic upbringing the Filipino gradually accepted the Haleys, and they became citizens like any other Filipino, but without one important right. They cannot run for any government office. The Halleys grumbled, but they see this as a small price to pay for equal standing. And so both the Halleys and the Normals live peaceful lives, more or less….


I like apocalyptic worlds, especially one that shows how the world copes with the disaster, not just one country. I was planning to do a short story about a Halley bounty hunter, then if time permits plan to do a whole novel (perhaps a trilogy? Now more wishful thinking) that will culminate on 2061.

As a fan of supernatural fiction (read: Cthulhu, Hellboy, Dr. Strange etc.) I always wanted to do story about a Filipino warrior battling home grown demons the likes of Aswangs, Tikbalangs and Kapre. Here's the second story I was planning to finish for the longest time, but seem to get stuck in a rut. Here's an excerpt:

Father Evan looked at the old house and shivered. The place was rickety and, even though the priest was a good fifty feet away, smelled strongly of incense, blood and other stuff Evan didn’t want to think about. He turned to his companion, noting his expression. The man beside the priest was taller by a foot or so, and had muscles that could only be achieved by regularly doing heavy work. Heavy work, thought Evan, smiling bitterly. Now’s that’s an understatement.

The big man beside the priest stooped down, ran his hand over the soil and smelled the dirt between his fingers. He grunted as he confirmed what his hunch was all along, that he didn’t really need to smell the ground to find out if that there was death written all over them. Then his eyes shifted over the left catching a telltale piece of evidence that told him tonight’s special guest. He reached out and took it, gingerly rolling it over his hand.

“What you got there?” asked Evan.

The big man took a closer at the item. “Spoor” he replied. “Tonight we have kapres for our guests.” He threw the stub of cigar over his shoulder. “Three or four. Perhaps five.”

Evan grimaced between his usually cynical mask. One kapre is bad enough, but a group of four or five tends to put them at a slight disadvantage.

“What would think they’d be doing now?’ asked the priest quietly.

The man looked at the evening sky, and judged the time. “At this close to sunrise, either getting ready to sleep or lazing it off. That mean’s they’re not likely awake enough to respond quickly if we take them now. That gives us an advantage.” He flex his muscles, shaking out some kinks from a long day. “Time for some fun, priest” he grinned, his white teeth and open smile betrayed his anticipation for tonight’s work.

“Oh God, don’t tell we’re just going to barge in? Why can’t we have a plan? Why don’t I plan this time around?” the priest said plaintively.

“The simple plans are the best ones, and unlike you, I’ve been trained for this for a long time, so I know what I’m doing” said the man.

“You call barging straight in shooting and chopping everything that moves one of the best plans?” muttered Evan.

“Surprise and speed, my friend, surprise and speed. Let’s go.” So saying, the man walked quietly towards the front door, motioning for the priest to follow.

“This is going to be like that one in Dapitan all over again.” Evan sighed, consigned his soul to God, and followed the big man.

Finally, the last story is one of the oldest, more than a year ago. I was going to do this for Nanowrimo, but due to my wedding and other things that got in the way, never got to finish writing it. During my elementary years I grew up with Hardy Boys (and Bobbsey Twins ... yes I hear what you're thinking). By the time I got to high school, I was a mystery buff, devouring Sherlock Holmes and other incidental detective stories. Probably the weakest excerpt since it handles a lot of details beforehand. The scene is that the detectives have found the body, and are in the midst of the investigation when somebody arrived...

Henry has been reading some of the diagrams and descriptions when he noticed someone going in the house. He looked into the eyes of a tall man, surprised probably that Henry was inside.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”, the mans asked.

Inigo straightened up. “My name is Detective Lazaro. Do you live here?”

“Yes”, the man replied.

“May I ask where have you been?”, the detective asked.

“I was out eating. I get the munchies sometimes when it’s early morning.”

“Oh? And why were you awake this hour?”

“Well. Like I said, I was out buying some munchies. I’m a writer you see. Ever read the Hours of Midnight? One of the my greatest stories.”

Inigo definitely heard about the Hours of Midnight. Publicly ridiculed by the literary public, it was denounced as one of the countries’ absurd stories. It was wrong move by the publishing company, going all out with banners, flyers and TV spots. It went well for week, then skyrocketed down as the most useless thing money can buy, except perhaps used as a bathroom material. Inigo read the first few chapters of the book, then chucked it across the room and wondered idly who would write such drivel. In retrospect, Inigo should have given the book to George, perhaps as bathroom material. Now though he was apparently, he was looking at the author.

When Inigo was interrogating the suspect, George was still not moving, his mind taking all the details. Entering the room had been quite a shock. The body had been lying in a small pool blood, which had poured towards the door. The body has been inside a small circle, and judging from crude markings, also inside a star. A pentagram, George thought.

The room was filled with blood. It looks like the victim was slashed from the throat, and from there blood was spilled liberally on the room. The room itself was small, not enough for a man to live comfortably, but good enough to get some rest. And now, the former resident of this room is having his eternal rest. Good line, that one, thought George smiling crookedly. If you’ve seen too many dead bodies, the mind becomes melodramatic and detached. At worst, a pasture for puns.


Looking at the three entries, I think I'm going for the second one . No wait, probably the first. But if I work on the third ....

Damn.

I'll post again once I get this one finished. Writing Mode on, Thinking Mode recalibrated.

State of Mind: Decisions, decisions.
Song of the Day: Meant to Live by Switchfoot
Book of the Week: Dogsbody by Dianne Wynn Jones
Want/Need: An Ice Cream Fudge Brownie ... I'm Hungry.

The Business of Eating

:::Got Food?:::

It's been a very busy week for me. I got called all of a sudden to do interview with very well known chefs in Iloilo for Mezzo Mag. Suffice to say, it is a experience (some bad i.e. like not being prepared enough, and some good because of the stuff I've learned). In any case Chefs Ramlo (who hosts a local TV show) Miguel (of Esca's and Afrique's fame) and Tibong (an Iloilo legend with dozens of recipes in each restaurant, they opened my eyes and let me glimpse into the varied world of being a gourmand and good eating.

Things I learned while doing the interview:

1. Never forget the basic questions. Its a good thing I got their numbers and asked them to send me their resumes.
2. Have a recorder. I thought tapping my laptop keyboard furiously while asking questions would do the trick, but didn't. Well, it almost worked, if I can accept the fact I had to type "shorthand" and had to translate from gibberish.
3. Out of the box questions are the best, as long as it pertains to the matter at hand.

As this was my very first interview, I think I made a good job, and with a very short deadline (actually I had to ask for three extensions) coupled with the regular workload, I think I've cut it very fine.

Find out more at this September issue of Mezzo Mag, the food issue.

:::Best. Movie. Ever:::

Well, not really, but definitely this year's top Sci-Fi film, and I would stand by this when compared to Star Trek and the travesty that is Transformers.

District 9 is a gripping story of a love, hate, racism, greed and terror of the unknown. From the start of the movie, you are starting to feel tension, as if somethings going to happen but you don't know what it is. Then, after the EVENT, you're still in tension but reaching new heights, as you don't know what's going to happen. No spoilers here. But this is the most realistic movie in terms of the human behaviour and its shortcomings. There are no pretty moments, everything is what you see what you get, which is down and dirty.

And the aliens are not the pretty boys like Trek or made of pure awesomeness like the Autobots, they're buglike to the point of being cockroaches. But in the end, they also show us that outer skin is not a judgement for personality, but what's inside that counts.

Watch this movie now. You'll not regret it.

:::In the Line-Up:::

I had chance upon a good selection of books on sale, so once again I'm a happy hamster:

The Dark is Rising, five books for a very good price
Strange Brew, a collection of stories from today's victorian steam-punk writers.
H.G. Wells complete collection, in Hardbound form (woot!)
The Pendragon Cycle: Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur by Stephen Lawhead (very nice)

State of Mind: Recovery Mode
Song of the Day: I'll Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie
Book of the Week: Going Postal by Terry Prachett
Want or Need: Path of the Destroyer Cards

I Feel The Pain

:::It Burns!:::

I woke up to find my body (which anyone who met me physically knows that it is the size and shape of India) on fire and lacerated with scratch marks. Several options come to mind: first, my wife made wild and passionate love to me that would be the envy of other husbands, and will have been the talk of the town and spoken amidst large quantities of beer and slurred, envious voices. But since I slept early and my wife was up all night growing beets, carrots and god-knows-what in Farmtown, I tossed that out immediately. Second thought was that She-Who-Is-Not-To-Be-Named came into our house in the form of a succubus and made happy-happy joy-joy with my body using a unholy version of a whip, barb wire and weirdly carmelized toffee, just like she did when were in our final stages of our break up (sadly without the carmelized toffee). Though this one seems very far fetched because she doesn' t know where I live. ( I hope. She being a demonic succubus is true though).

Of course, when all the sleep fogginess has disappeared, I took a closer look to discover that the tragedy, like all other tragedies, are typically mundane and boring: I got a bad rash of allergies. To what, I don't know. To which I went to the doctor, and she took one look at my body, got a huge bottle that smells suspiciously of muriatic acid, and told me to smear liberally over the infected areas, which to my last look, now occupies 3/4 fourths of my body. If I were to describe it now it looks like the Risk Boardgame where the mighty Red Army is finally poised to conquer the last of the weary Brown Army.

So I took the bottle, went home, and with a silent prayer to St. Jude, the patron saint of Lost Causes, I took a dab of the cream and applied it to my skin.

After the screams have died down to mere mad gibberings ("Must ... apply ... it ... circularly....") I felt my skin tingle, and a cool feeling spread all over my skin. I felt like I've died and gone to heaven. Well, figuratively of course.

So, I'm in treatment. For the next ten days. Por dios por santo.

:::"Guard the bird well, my minions" said Alpha the Dobermann":::

If you haven't yet watched Up by Pixar and Disney, do yourself a favor, go out there to your nearest movie/theater/pirated dvd on the sofa and watch it. I always like Disney films (except Quasimodo, but there's always a mint hater at a ice cream shop) and this one is no exception. The plot is good, the characters funny as hell ("I'm tired. My knees are tired. My elbows are tired"). But the thing that always grips me (as with any other movie) is the soundtrack, and this one takes the cake for right on the spot. Music always evokes emotions, and the scene where they go through life every year is poignant and excellent.

The characters are very well done with very human personalities. The Grouchy Old Man, the Eager Boy Scout, The Loyal Dog Companion etc. I like the boy scout, since it made remember when I was a boy scout and attempted to cook an egg, which resulted in a tent fire and the arrival of the firetruck. Ah, the memories.

Definitely one of my favorite animated films so far. Watch it. And like the trailer, no spoilers here. Because it's fun. And fat boy scouts rule.

State of Mind: Painful Yet Satisfying
Song of the Day: One Day by Matishayu
Book of the Week: Hellboy: Odder Jobs by Mike Mignola and Selected Authors Want/Need: More Bandwidth

Starting Again, Remembering Joe and More Movies

:::Getting Up Again:::

It's really hard to write something out of nothing. To date, I've already scrapped four possible stories for the Philippine Speculative Fiction V, stories that have so much promise but when I get to the middle part it gets unraveled. Right now, I'm choosing either a bounty hunter story, a kidnapping between worlds, a tribal jungle hunt or going something contemporary in the lines of Robert Howard (Conan) or maybe even H.P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu).

I usually get disheartened in the middle of writing, like last time these past years (Palanca, PSFIV, Nanowrimo etc), but after hearing Neil Gaiman's short talk about writing, it opened my eyes, and allowed to dig in and continue. He talks that everyone can get ideas, and even from the worst situations and experiences. Like the one where he was visiting in Iceland and was wandering around blindly, lacking sleep, when he stumbled upon a Japanese restaurant. Staring at the menu, he wondered how could someone live here, and with the differences of culture and all, and wondered whether they brought their gods with them.

And with that simple off hand thought, he went back to his hotel and wrote the first two pages of what ultimately became the Nebula Award novel "American Gods". Pretty powerful stuff.

Now for me, stories like this inspire me to continue writing. All I need to do is finish it. Easier said than done I suppose.

:::G.I Joe: The Rant:::

*spoilers ahead*

I watched G.I. Joe yesterday, and as much as I tried to leave the old backstory at the door, rage creeps silently in my brain. Scarlett and Ripcord?! The Baroness and Duke?!!! The movie producers took a lot of liberty with G.I. Joe canon, then I belatedly realized that this movie was made in with the approval of Hasbro TOYS. So it probably makes sense that each of the backstory is either twisted, patched up or redone totally.

Several things come to mind:

Snake Eyes never took a vow of silence, he was wounded during the war and his throat was torn out.
Ripcord is a paratrooper, not a pilot, hence his codename. But why quibble over small details?
Hawk was ok, but Duke is a idiot. Channing Tatum must have taken lessons from the Keannu Reeves of Acting School.
Scarlett was a such a bad-ass, I almost forgave her for hitching up with Ripcord when it was supposed to be with Snake Eyes. Scarlett made my day.
Cobra Commander comes across as a homicidal maniac, but his back story is just atrocious. Brother to the Baroness? Where did that come from? Star Wars?
Destro was also ok (he could have been more bulkier), as was Storm Shadow. Again the back story is totally warped. Storm Shadow killed the Hard Master and blamed Snake Eyes, thus having the allegiance of the ninjas to the banner of Cobra
Heavy Duty was just meh, as was Breaker. It would have been more cool if it was Lifeline, Dialtone and Roadblock.
Finally, what the hell was Brendan Fraser doing in the movie? Supposedly he was to play Gung Ho, but I watched the credits and never saw his name.

So, taking these all out. I could say that I enjoyed the movie as an action smash-em-up, but as a G.I. Joe original? Epic fail. Looking back at all the battle scenes, I'm guessing the next step. Games in Xbox 360 and PS3. The whole movie is actually a game, and the dialogue are the cut scenes.

Good lord, I miss Mutt, Shipwreck and Bazooka. And especially Sgt. Slaughter. Hmmm...where's my G.I. Joe TV series...

:::Movies to Watch Out For:::



Fresh from Howl's Moving Castle, visionary director, producer and all around 'supah creative genius' Hayao Miyazaki again creates another sensational masterpiece entitled Ponyo. Normally I wouldn't judge any movie by its trailer, but with Miyazaki's track record (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and all the other greats) I have no question this is going to be another one of those Miyazaki films: powerful, fun, intense and deep inside the plotline, a moral story. If you haven't yet seen any Miyazaki film, please take the time and watch one, especially the Oscar winner for Animation "Spirited Away". Can't wait for this one.



If you're like me, you would be somewhat late 20's and remembering the awesome movie Tron (this was after Star Wars). The plotline for that one was simple: a programmer (Jeff Bridges) got his program stolen by a company, which then used it to bring millions of dollars into their own bank account. In the attempt to get his program back, he broke into the mainframe and accidentally sent himself inside the computer, where he had to battle it out with the security (think Norton Anti-Virus as the massive police network. After surviving the computer and getting out of the system, he became the CEO of the company ( my mind is foggy as to why, I'll hunt my VHS and watch it again.) Anyway, the trailer is gorgeous to behold, and it shows Jeff Bridges, older now, watching the program. I don't know any more details, but again it's so shiny.



Imagine a world in an apocalyptic state. Imagine the world without humans, only big, giant, nasty robots. Imagine that you're small doll made of rags and sand. And imagine that you're mission is to save the human race. Tim Burton's 9 promises a lot and more, and with a power cast of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly and a whole slew of good actors, this promises to be one very good eye candy. Slated on September 9, 2009 or 9/9/9, I think one will work well with the masses. Here's another trailer of 9, and introduces the 9 and a glimpse of their personalities. Personally I like 5, hehehe.



State of Mind: I See Paperworks ... Everywhere.
Song of the Day: Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria
Book of the Week: Death at Koten by Shawn Carman
Want or Need: A Clean Desk ... Without Paperworks