Day: August 8, 2010

pinoydon, etc

Friday was Jaykie’s grown-up duties day – pick up his paycheck, deposit his savings, pick up his credit card, etc. But before all that we had lunch at Pinoydon at The Podium. It’s a Filipino-Japanese fusion place. I can’t remember the exact name of the dishes we ordered, but I know I had chicken and Jake had beef.

We also ordered some aligue (crab fat) maki. We originally wanted the tuna maki crunch with aligue, but it wasn’t available.

Really yummy. Pinoydon also has interesting desserts.

We had the Banana-Q Split.

Ice cream, whipped cream, pinipig, bananacue. Win!

On Saturday we ordered Pizza Hut’s Chili Beef Hotdog. I haven’t had this pizza before, but after having it for dinner (and today’s breakfast) it’s fast becoming my favorite. While stuffing our faces we watched 30 Rock (“They edited Will and Grace so much it’s now just called Karen.”), Better Off Ted, The Daily Show, and the first episode of this awesome new Morgan Freeman-narrated show, Through the Wormhole.

Episode 1 explores the question, “Is there a creator?” Included in the show are the mathematics of the universe explained via intersecting circles (or the E8 Lie Group) by a surfer bum mathematician (a possible step closer toward the Theory of Everything that Einstein failed to finish), an experiment that tries to prove that God “is in the brain” (activating the right temporal lobe makes a subject feel a presence – a young lady described it as “five faceless entities” who are “awesome” and made her feel safe), and a thought experiment involving a human brain and a laptop placed inside a container (you’ll get it once you see the episode). I liked the God-in-the-brain segment. Says the scientist, if the subject of the experiment felt this comforting presence outside of the experiment area, how do we think will she interpret the experience? Most saints and religious activists (like Martin Luther) felt a sensation of being hit by lightning or some similar burst of power, and read this experience as God, and changed history with their actions (Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church and founded Protestantism).

I’m pretty sure I would have understood more if I knew more about quantum mechanics and high-level math, but I found it enjoyable. And hello? It’s narrated by Morgan Freeman? Bet the guy can read my grocery list and make it sound…insightful.

Later that day we had drinks with Jaykie’s sisters and their friend Jai. That’s a good end for my week.

the society of others

I initially thought the ending was underwhelming given that amazing build-up, but upon reflection I thought – how else could it have ended? This novel is written by dramatist William Nicholson, who also co-wrote the script for Gladiator. You could clearly see the talent in the language. The plot is comparable to The Catcher in the Rye, only our Holden Caulfield in this story chooses to remain nameless, and experiences danger so real and so disconnected from his life that it has the power to either scar him permanently, or change his worldview for the better. Our world-weary protagonist is a young man living in England who would rather lock himself in his room than deal with the hypocrisies of society:

“My friend Mac is going to be an aid worker in Nepal. This is hilarious because all the aid they need in Nepal is getting out from under all the people like Mac who’ve gone there to find meaning in their lives. They’ve sucked all the available meaning up and now there’s none left for the Nepalese, who have nothing to do except carry explorers’ bags up mountains and sell them drugs. Mac says he doesn’t care, at least he’ll see the mountains. I tell him the thing about a mountain is when you’re on it you don’t see it. You need to be far away to see a mountain. Like at home, looking at a postcard. Mac says you stand on one mountain and look at the next mountain. I say, Then what? Mac says, You’re a real wanker, you know that? Yes, Mac, I’m a real wanker. The genuine article. A simple pleasure that does no harm to man or beast. Be grateful.”

…

”It’s like fish. Fish swim about all day finding food to give them energy to swim about all day. It makes me laugh. These people who hurry about all day making money to sell each other things. Anyone with eyes to see could tell them their lives are meaningless and they aren’t getting any happier.”

He is angry, but I also sensed a deep-seated unhappiness, a disillusionment: “When I was small I thought the world was like my parents, only bigger. I thought it watched me and clapped when I danced. This is not so. The world is not watching and will never clap.” Well, then. His father introduces an addition to the family: a baby with a younger woman. This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Next thing we know our young protagonist is hitchhiking in an unnamed European city, and ends up in the midst of dystopia. The driver of the vehicle he rides in breaks through a checkpoint, and he runs away. From where he hides, he sees the man being tortured. Later he learns that the contraband material the driver is sneaking through the border isn’t drugs, or porn, but books. Why?

From here on the novel reads like a thriller. Every now and then the protagonist finds himself debating with other characters about philosophy, and ideology, and faith, and poetry, but the action moves forward. Forward and fast. The narrative has a dreamlike quality that I love.

Read an excerpt.