Month: June 2011

poetry nomination

My poem, “Variations on the Expulsion from Eden”, is a finalist in this year’s Free Press Awards. The Awards covers poetry and fiction that have appeared in the pages of the magazine from January to December 2010.

Here’s the list and announcement, posted by Lit Ed Joel Toledo:

FICTION:

1. Erscheinung – Michelangelo Samson

2. Panopticon of El Hogar – Russel Stanley Geronimo

3. After The Body Displaces Water – Daryll Jane Delgado

4. When You See A Dog – Jenette Vizcocho

5. Recuerdos de Patay – Caroline Hau

6. Sweet – Marguerite de Leon

7. Spawn – Popi Laudico

8. Desert Winds – Jean Gerald Anuddin

9. Numb – Jenette Vizcocho

10. A Study of Insects –  Irene Carolina Sarmiento

11. Works Cited – U. Eliserio

12. Fade to Red – Twink Macaraig

POETRY:

1. Variations on the Expulsion from Eden – Eliza Victoria

2. The Painted Prince – Frank Penones Jr.

3. Duwende – Myrna Peña-Reyes

4. Love is How We Come Undone -Amado Bajarias

5. How to Kill a Whale Shark – Timi Siytangco

6. Warrior’s Wife (After Li Po) – Ino Habana

7. Weight Without Gravity – Andrea Teran

8. The Widow, Upon Learning That Her Old Lover Had Returned to the Island of San Antonio – Merlie Alunan

9. Zeno’s Paradox – Luisa A. Igloria

10. Weight of the World – Michellan Sarile-Alagao

The 2011 Philippines Free Press Literary Awards covers Fiction and Poetry that have appeared in the pages of the magazine from January to December 2010. 

The Awards Night will be on July 12, 2011 (Tuesday)

6-10 p.m. 

Venue: Club Cafe, Makati Sports Club

formal invitations and detailed poster to follow

IMPORTANT NOTES:

*Finalists are advised to notify me if there are any mistakes in the typing of your names, especially in regard to the possible prize money if you do win and the respective bank account conflict. Anyone who has contacts with some of the finalists that are not on facebook can email me via ramblingsoul@yahoo.com so I can notify them as well.

In any case, all finalists will receive their respective  invitations. This FB post is just to fast-track the info dissemination.

*Finalists are advised to visit the magazine’s website, http://www.freepress.com.ph and read the guidelines, policies, and notes for the annual Literary Awards posted there carefully.

*Congratulations to all the finalists and winners who will only be notified that they’ve won and be informed of their respective six judges (three per category) during the Awards Night.

*Winners must be physically present during the awards night (all the finalists will be formally invited) to claim their prize money and their respective trophies, lest the monetary prize be forfeited (winners can claim the trophy anytime they want to at the Philippines Free Press office). This is as per the magazine’s policy.

meds

medicol, biogesic, serc, dizitab, kremil-s, no-drowse decolgen

I didn’t notice until last night that I had accumulated so much meds in my bag. There was a day when I took four tablets at the same time. Medicol for my painful foot, Serc for my vertigo, Kremil-S for my tummy, and Decolgen to unclog my right ear. I feel so old.

weekend update

I wasn’t too fond of this series last year, but later in the season the acting and writing got better, scenes got to that level of dark they needed and deserved, and now Pretty Little Liar‘s among those shows I look forward to seeing every week.

Ezra still bores me though. Jesus.

Ugh. Go away, Ezra.

*

And that’s all I can say about the weekend. Oh wait, I also finished the first season of Justified (very good), and we’re also almost done with the third season of Damages (Patty Hewes is less crazy this time around). With the city flooded, there’s really nothing to do but stay indoors, sleep, read, monitor the flood via Twitter, or watch something entertaining.

I wasn’t able to go home for my mother’s birthday. I am majorly pissed. I monitored the news and made phone calls, hoping I might make it home. But the flood was already thigh-high outside our home on Saturday and there was water inside the house and it won’t stop raining so my mother decided that it’d be better if I just stayed put.

I wish we could move. I wish we could move the river.

*

Before that, Thursday night/Friday morning was a bit crazy. For a while there the office looked like an evacuation center. There were reports of five-foot high floods in the metro, and roads were either unpassable or congested. (When we say “traffic jam” we mean “parking lot-like”.)  Fortunately, I was able to go home to the condo in my jacket and flip-flops because the flood outside the office was only ankle-deep.

Jaykie and I meet up on Thursday nights, and he wanted to go that night, but Chino Roces cor. Vito Cruz Extension looked like this from 9:30 pm to I-don’t-know-what-time-really-because-I-fell-asleep-waiting.

I suddenly woke up at around 2 in the morning and saw from my window that the streets were clear. I texted Jaykie this, as a joke, thinking he was asleep anyway, but he replied and said he’d go pick me up. Before I gave him the go-signal, I called MMDA’s hotline number (136) to check if the roads he would take were flooded. They weren’t, so we met up, had food from Mini-Stop, downed some Gilbey’s, and went to sleep.

That was one unproductive weekend, I have to say.

diaspora ad astra toc and cover

Guess what: Estranghero Press is set to launch its science fiction e-anthology this month to complete its free fiction trifecta.

Diaspora Ad Astra is edited by Joseph Nacino and UP’s Prof. Emil Flores. Visit this link for more details.

And here’s the TOC. :)

  1. War Zone Angel, Professor Emil Flores
  2. The Day the Sexbomb Dancers Invaded Our Brains, Carljoe Javier
  3. The Malaya, Dean Francis Alfar
  4. The Cost of Living, Vince Torres
  5. Ina Dolor’s Last Stand, Raymond P. Reyes
  6. Oplan Sanction, Alex Osias
  7. The Keeper, Audrey Villacorta
  8. Ashes Ember, Dannah Ruth S. Ballesteros
  9. Rizal, Eliza Victoria
  10. Gene Rx, Katya Oliva-Llego
  11. Robots and a Slice of Pizza, Raydon Reyes
  12. Lucky, Raven Guerrero
  13. A List of Things We Know, Isabel Yap
  14. Taking Gaia, Celestine Trinidad
  15. Space Enough and Time, Anne Lagamayo

Not a spoiler: My story does not feature Jose Rizal, the hero. It’s a place. And I can’t wait for you to read it.

insidious: a film review in chat form

Here be an online conversation between the blog owner (me) and Lawrence, who has seen the film. Twice.

tl;dr – I start the film in an excited mood, then grow grouchy. Insidious has an excellent first part – great atmosphere, effective score, cute nod to the horror films of the 80’s – but the second act is dragged down by too much exposition and back story. It creates its own myth and thus must anchor the scares on its own myth (instead of on people’s preconceived beliefs, like the Devil and Hell and the afterlife), but the myth is just a handful of words spewed by one of the characters in a single scene. It’s not strong enough to make the horror last.

"Is that so?" Yes, Leigh Whannell, my horror movie crush. I'm sorry. I liked Saw though. Does that make you feel better?

 

(Cut for spoilers.)

Continue reading insidious: a film review in chat form

<just click to enlarge>

Went to Makati Med armed with my healthcard to have my ears checked, thinking they were the culprit for my vertigo. The ENT doctor said my eardrums were clean. I had a hearing exam (pure tone audiometry and PTA with speech, similar to the one I had last year), and the results came and my hearing was fine. So I guess the diagnosis is still BPPV. He handed me a brochure with information about vertigo and how to deal with it (see above photo), and instructed me to keep taking Serc as long as I was “symptomatic” and avoid salty and spicy food.

Crap. I thought I had ear blockage of some sort and the doctor could make my vertigo magically disappear. Oh well. At least my ears are okay.

That night Jaykie and I watched the first two episodes of Justified. I’ll be sure to follow this. I didn’t know it was based on an Elmore Leonard story! Have a read:

“Fire in the Hole” by Elmore Leonard

*

Oh, on Monday night Jaykie dropped by work to pick me up. We had dinner at Mom & Tina‘s before we went to his condo to watch the season finale of Game of Thrones.

mango kani salad (half-order)
fettucine with smoked salmon and capers
fish 'n rice
chocolate fudge cupcake, lemon meringue square
jaykeh!
uncontrollable laughter and the Huge Upper Arm of Doom

Sniff. No more Game of Thrones. I don’t know how long viewers had to wait for Season 2.

I have reviewed all four books (so far) of A Song of Ice and Fire series, but I haven’t reviewed the TV adaptation. I only have this to say: it’s good TV. Good production values, rich scenic detail, spot-on casting.

(Cut for possible spoilers.)

Continue reading

twenty months

It’s fun to count the months. Just four more and it’s the second anniversary. :)

It began to rain, so instead of going out, we just had Amici (gelato cakes!!!) delivered for dinner. We watched some episodes of Top Chef Canada while eating.

prosciutto e funghi (pizza), cannelloni agli spinaci (pasta)
spumoni surprise, mango sans rival

Jaykie had class on Saturday, so he went to UP, and I went to Trinoma to shop for gifts for my parents (my mother’s birthday is on the 25th, my father’s in July). This despite the fact that I woke up suddenly at 5 am, broke out in sweats, and felt as though I were falling. Vertigo once more, with feelings. I popped a Serc (24 mg.) and hoped this would pass soon and not come back to bother me again.

I wanted to buy a bag for myself, but couldn’t find anything that I liked, so I ended up buying costume jewelry.

TV necklace, pink rose ring, black rose ring

I know I have way too many rings, but I’m on the lookout for more plastic rings. And that TV necklace was just cute. (I’m wearing it today at work, and I broke one of the antennas. :( But it’s still cute. I’ll just cover the broken antenna nub with my hair.)

We had late lunch at Mango Tree Bistro. It’s our second time at this Thai restaurant. We love their food.

Photo source.
Thai iced tea

We had honey-glazed pork ribs, rice with vegetables, and of course –

pad thai goong!
Photo source.

Just writing about it is making me crave for it. So delicious.

We got home before the rain fell. And how it fell. I was amazed it didn’t flood the streets. Early dinner was a tuna sandwich. Jaykie made the tuna spread (mayo + celery + apples = delicious). Later, when we got hungry again, I poured us some cereal and cold milk.

We finished Damages Season 2 and watched Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, a TV movie that is basically an extended episode of Burn Notice with Sam Axe and a pinch of Michael Westen. It’s hilarious.

Jaykie’s little walk-in closet’s roof was leaking, so we left a plastic bucket there overnight. Look how much water we got.

"What are you doing?" "Taking a picture." "Why?" "I'll blog about it." "But they'll find out I have a leaky roof!" Haha.

This morning we woke up and Jaykie said he wished he could just stay under the sheets and read. I’d love that too, but alas, work.

* * *

Happy Father’s Day to my Tatay! :D I’m coming home next week with the gifts. I hope it doesn’t rain.