Weekly Thoughts

I’m feeling a bit pop-culture-y, so it’s time for some reviews!
Actually, thoughts. This week I was able to read two books and a whole bunch of comic books. I was also able to watch a tv series in pirated dvd and a movie. And listen to two newly bought (okay, downloaded) albums. Next week my goal is to get some sun.

BOOKS

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie-
Agatha is still one of the most entertaining authors for me, and also
one of the most effortless reads. The thing though is that after you’ve
read them you totally forget about them, so I sometimes find it
difficult to buy her books, not knowing which ones I’ve already read.
In Five Little Pigs the murder of an eccentric painter that happened 16
years ago is recounted by five of the involved people, and through
these accounts Hercule Poirot reconstructs what really happened. After
having read almost 40 Christies I still find Poirot highly enjoyable,
with David Suchet forever creating his image in my head. I will place
Five Little Pigs among the best constructed and least predictable
Christie mysteries, although the final exposition may tend to be too
circumstantial to be fully satisfactory.

Twisted Travels by Jessica Zafra-
I agree with the sentiment that we shouldn’t put off traveling and
exploring different places until we are old and "secure". Venice and
Prague seem very nice, and I’m made more curious by the observation
that there are no ugly people in Italy, although we all know where I
really want to go: Amsterdam.

COMIC BOOKS

Manhunter #29-30-
The supposedly final story arc featuring Kate Spencer trying to defend
Wonder Woman in her murder trial comes to an end. The direction of the
story is totally surprising, as I was expecting more of a hardcore
trial story, but Manhunter is still very fun and still one of the best
comics DC is producing. I’m glad it got the reprieve and the
cancellation was lifted. I’m still quite annoyed that Blue Beetle is
dead, though.

World War III 1-4-
Pure and utter crap. I’m quite annoyed that 52 lost its way because of
its supposedly interesting characters who took away the objective of
the series which is to provide explanations for the lost year that led
to One Year Later. Hence, this rapidly produced mini-series that took
the job. And miserably failed. Who knew that all this time there were
two Supergirls, one trapped in the future with LOSH and one in the
present having a smooch with Power Boy?

Wonder Woman 6-8-
Jodi Picoult, an author whose books I haven’t read, took over the
misery that is Allan Heinberg. Allan’s story is actually not bad, but
the record-breaking lateness is a total embarrassment. Picoult
struggled with the first two issues but eventually found her footing in
issue 8. Her first issue Diana Prince blunders were corny and
nauseating, but once the story took shape my attention was grabbed. But
I’m still happy that Gail Simone is taking over.

Justice League/Justice Society of America-
The long-awaited cross-over called The Lightning Saga. Obviously an
homage to the 70s cross-over that also involves the Legion of
Superheroes trying to thwart Mordru. I’m loving the fact that Starboy
of LOSH is the new Starman, and that his manslaughterof Ken Nuhor is
still being alluded to after 40 plus years! Geoff Johns of Justice
Society is still superior to Brad Melodramatic Meltzer, but the two
issues meshed and flowed well.

Justice #11-
Nobody beats Alex Ross in them huge, iconic group superhero
illustrations. But since this issue is produced every two months I
totally forget what happened in the previous issues and I just don’t
have the time to read them again. Still very entertaining, with Hal
Jordan, one of my favorite characters, getting the spotlight. Geek
Moment: I got really giddy when I saw the original Teen Titans, plus
Batgirl and Supergirl, given the Alex Ross treatment. Obviously this
series will get the expensive Absolute Edition treatment. Which my
friend Namtab Pots will buy but never open.

Birds of Prey 102-104- I
like the new Mission: Impossible-ish treatment on this new BOP team
that started in BOP #100. I’m actually enjoying this now more than when
it was only Canary and Huntress, and I’m a sucker for Canary. I want
more Gypsy! More Manhunter! Even more Barda! And Ice is alive!
And I don’t care if you have to bring back another dead hero back to
life again: I want Blue Beetle Ted Kord as the only male member of BOP!

MOVIE

Spider-man 3- Watching
Spider-man 3 is like reading a trade paperback collection composed of
three short story arcs that are connected enough to warrant the TPB
treatment but are still distinct enough as to be jarring in transition,
and in this movie those markers are when Harry got hospitalized and
when Eddie became Venom. Still highly enjoyable, but Sandman is
dispensible. And if the butler knew this factoid all along, why wait
until Harry is ugly? Really like the campiness of the supporting
characters. How bout that Bruce Campbell!

MUSIC

Scarlet’s Walk (Tori Amos) and OK Computer (Radiohead)- Categorize under: Albums That Make Me Want to Kill Myself.

May 6, 2007

To All Sci-Fi Geeks, Help!

For years I’ve been bugging my friend Namtab Pots for a good science
fiction read. I liked sci-fi while growing up but upon reaching high
school I guess I just drifted away, since then finding the "hard-core"
science fiction elements such as outer space, time travel, robots,
androids, and by extension, fantasy universes difficult to get into.
Namtab Pots said Dune is a good introduction, and I’ve been familiar
with the title since childhood. I found it highly enjoyable but it also
took me a longer time than usual to finish, usually getting distracted
by other genres and occasionally just reading a couple of pages of it.
In recent years I guess the only sci-fi I’ve enjoyed were those by
Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury. Flukeman has been recommending Robert
Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (I’m not sure if I get the
title right), I’ve only heard good things about it, and since then I’ve
been trying to get a copy. With limited funds, limited time, and more
importantly, exremely limited attention span now that I’ve ran out of
Ritalin, I need all sci-fi geeks to recommend some excellent titles to
read. Help me out!


April 25, 2007

Oooh, Kinky.

I was just gone 12 days stranded on an otitis media island with no computer and television, and what do I discover after coming back? What have emerged from nowhere to assault us with titillating delights? What are now staring at us and making us feel like puritanical prudes? POST-COITAL PICTURES!

Yes, post-coital pictures. I have just recently been updating myself on some of my friends’ lives by checking out their friendster pictures, and what do I see peppering their public-domain photo albums? POST-COITAL PICTURES! You know them: The ones with the couple still in bed, one of them holding the phone camera towards their half-naked bodies, their faces puffy and red, exhausted, satisfied grins you’ve never ever seen them wear before masking their faces! Oooh, hot! (literally, because  copious, salty sweat are all over their faces.) So I guess this is the new trend, to friendster to the world that you’re getting some without resorting to scandal videos. Keep those photos coming! We don’t necessarily want to live vicariously through them, but they’re funny!

April 24, 2007

More Unread Books!

I’ve been cleaning my room and discovered in my bottom drawer: MORE
UNREAD BOOKS! I once subscribed to the belief that if you see a book
you should buy it at once because you will never see it again, hence,
this pile of unfinished, even untouched, books. In an earlier blog I
listed those with whom I have unresolved issues, ie, those I haven’t
finished for some reason. Here I list those I barely touched, if at all:
1. Walden II by BF Skinner-
I saw this in Booksale going for fifteen pesos, and being a psych major
I felt it was my responsibility to pick it up. I think I reached page
30 before I fell asleep and stashed this somewhere.
2. Good as Gold by Joseph Heller-
According to almost everyone, Catch-22 is Heller’s only good book. In
fact they’re saying that the much ill-advised release of his unwanted
sequel to Catch-22, Closing Time, is extremely horrible and should not
be read by any Heller fan.
3. The Dark Half by Stephen King-
I bought this in National Bookstore Harrison’s Plaza while I was in 2nd
year high school, along with the latest issue of WWF magazine featuring
a close-up of Bret Hart’s face on the cover. I was a die-hard wrestling
fan then so the King book was the least of my reading priorities. I was
on page 16 I think when I saw on cable… the movie version of The Dark
Half by Stephen King! I got lazy and watched the movie instead, which I
liked at that time.
4. Ghost Story by Peter Straub-
Which I got in a Christmas party exchange gift in high school. The
cover features a white lady, with a haunted-looking house in the
background. It was 400 pages. I didn’t think there was anything else in
the story worth reading 400 pages for.
5. Ana Karenina by Dostoevsky-
as a representative of all the other classics I have not read and are
now staring at me in annoyance. So I won’t be a lit-major level reader,
now quit staring at me.

April 22, 2007

Caucasians? What Are Caucasians?

Remembered this while praying in church which all of a sudden made me burst into wild laughter.
Back in high school:

Teacher: Caucasians. Ano ang caucasians?
Bored students: snort, gurgle, blubber
Teacher: Caucasians. Yung maputi, matangkad, matangos ang ilong, blue ang mata…
Bored students: snort, gurgle, blubber
Teacher: …in other words… Perfect!


April 22, 2007

Abstinence!

It is exactly one year ago when I last bought an action figure! A few
years back I had my action figure ravenous phase when I would become
agitated and froth in the mouth if a month passes by and I haven’t
bought a new toy. This one year abstinence is a result of a combined
better sense of the value of money and the actual paucity of new,
interesting toys to get. Marvel Legends has spiralled downhill, more so
with Hasbro taking over. Emma Frost looks like a porn star, but her
action figure looks like an ugly porn star. Psylocke looks fugly as
hell, and how many Wolverines and Iron men do we actually need? It
doesn’t help that I’ve lost interest in Marvel Comics altogether. DC
Direct is a different issue. Quality is still at its peak, I’m a DC
fanatic, but as of last year I already have all the characters that I
need. This one year abstinence is mind-blowing, considering the level
of addiction I used to have when Mar and Therese would have to drag me
away from my daily toy rounds and sedate me if necessary to prevent me
from buying Mystique, whose legs are now melting from the sheer heat in
my room.


April 22, 2007

Premature Disillusionment

For some strange reason i was given the opportunity of being the guest speaker in this year’s high school graduation of canossa school, my alma mater. Two days prior I went to Mall of Asia and met with some medschool friends, two of whom are my most favorite people in the whole planet, Mar and Therese, who are already 1st year medicine residents.

"I have urticaria," Therese proudly said in between slurps of spaghetti. "I am a classic example. I am the specimen for the students’ exams. Look." She then raised her arm and showed us a very red, raised, very-itchy looking lesion.

"Oooooooh," we all ooohed.

"That’s stress-related. You’re repressing all the rage that you have towards your patients and the people you’re working with, hence, urticaria," I pseudo-psychoanalyzed.

"Anong repress e ang sungit-sungit na nga nya," Mar said.

"Oo nga," Therese agreed.

After pizza and pasta we went straight to Bizu for some dessert. The place had mirrors everywhere, the floors were glistening, everyone smelled nice, the waiters looked well-scrubbed.

"Ang liwanag naman," Mar said.

"Oo nga. Ang sosyal ng place," I chimed. "Nakaka-tempt maghanap ng kubeta."

Abe and I then went to the dessert corner and looked for cakes which all had strange names. The waiter patiently looked at us with a wide grin.

"Hmmm… wala ba kayong mocha roll?" I said. We ended up ordering Babylon, Tiramisu, and four other fancy-looking cakes.

I then asked everyone for their opinion on my prepared speech. "I’m supposed to be inspirational and motivational," I said.

"Bakit ikaw ang guest speaker?! Ang bata mo pa," Abe asked.

"Eh bakit nung oath taking natin si Patricia Evangelista?!" I retorted. Good thing nobody replied with: Because she’s a very fluent master debater and writer who’s won international acclaim for her speaking prowess.

I declamed an excerpt from memory:
"A patient once died on me. Come to think of it, a patient always dies on me. My friends, noting my usual stoic expression whenever life is lost, would say, ‘Are you already so desensitized? Have you lost all your feelings after all the misery and death you’ve witnessed?’ Annoyed at this emotional intrusion I would say, ‘Of course not, maybe I wasn’t sensitized to begin with. Maybe i didn’t have any feelings to lose in the first place.’ "

Everyone burst out laughing. "You’re supposed to inspire, not disillusion," one of them said.

"I know, but I want to include that passage regardless," I insisted.

In a stroke of genius only Mar could come up with, she said, "You should add this: And yet, even as I was saying those words, I knew I didn’t mean them, that I was merely employing an emotional defense mechanism."

Graduation day, and that’s exactly what I’ve said. Thank you, Mar, for inspiring all the graduating Canossians. You’ve saved them from premature disillusionment. To balance things out, I just had to say this: I know it’s difficult to subscribe to the cliche "Be Yourself", as Lisa Simpson once said, "I was being myself for 8 years, and it didn’t work."

The graduation went by smoothly, until I realized that the students were one by one going to the stage, with a very familiar instrumental music playing in the background. I then burst into wild laughter as I realized that the song was… High School Life Oh My High School Life! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

All in all I guess my speech worked. I even learned how to properly tie a necktie. All this time I never learned how to do it, so this time I googled for the technique and discovered tieanecktie.com. I now know a windsor from a half-windsor knot.

April 3, 2007