2011 – Page 23 – Eliza Victoria

post-KK

Recall that I’ve written a recap of sorts of the Kritika Kultura soft launch. Check out these other links:

1) Adam David tries to articulate/define/pinpoint what the “new” is in Pinoy writing. He mentions the “Pinoy strain of Postmodernism” which could possibly be dubbed the “New New Romanticism”, which sounds just about right to me.

Read:

It could also be the country’s general Romantic Catholic aesthetic rearing its big red head, the Modern Pinoy Writer’s undying deference to the Sublime/Padrino/Matrona, to the Modern Pinoy Writer’s undying worship of Artifice: so, instead of it being a departure in the way the Postmodern is in the West, maybe it’s actually more a mutation of the Romantic Tradition, ie, the Old reregarded with rose- and sapphire-tinted spectacles. So maybe, the truer taxonomical claim would be that the antho is an exhibit of New New Romanticism.

And really, it does make sense. Despite the many experimentations of new Filipino writers in their prose and poetry, we can still smell a whiff of the sublime, the soul, the soaring spirit, and all manners of the awe-inspiring ek-ek we identify with Romanticism in their work.

But maybe the editors will have a deeper exploration of this thesis in their upcoming intro to the anthology.

2) Adam has also uploaded mp3 copies of the KK soft launch. Download them and listen to the roundtable talks and the poetry readings.

sweet valentine

On Feb. 14 a little boy came over and handed me an apple tart from Rowena‘s.

The tart made me want to go back to Tagaytay already. Yum.

We were wary of the traffic, so we initially planned to go to QC, have food delivered from TGI Friday’s, and watch some shows while waiting for the food. But traffic was (surprisingly) light for Valentine’s Day, so we decided to dine at Mom and Tina’s. Jaykie’s treat!

Have you ever been? We’ve been to this restaurant several times. They have good food (soup, pasta, steak, sandwiches), and even better desserts. We go to the one on E. Rodriguez in Pasig, but there’s one now in Makati (G/F Unit 104, Tropical Palms Condominum, Dela Rosa St., Legaspi Village).

I had chicken and chips!

I always order their walnut tortes, but that night I tried their Baked Oreo Cheesecake. Our Awesome Planet swears by it.

Best. Oreo. Cheesecake. Ever.

Seriously. I’ll order this again next time.

And I only had the solo portion.

Before we headed out, the woman behind the counter (Jaykie wonders now if it was the Mom in Mom and Tina’s) stopped us and said we had a Valentine’s gift from them.

Yay free cupcake!

It was good. :)

P.S.

Let’s talk some more about food! Read Jaykie’s culinary adventures on V-Day.

scenes from the kritika kultura (soft) launch

I’ve been out of school since I graduated in 2007, and I have never written a serious paper since then. I no longer know how to write/talk about literature the way literary majors do. The way I used to do, perhaps (I was a Journalism major but I took a lot of creative writing electives and enjoyed the discourse). I was able to follow the discussions of editors Mark Anthony Cayanan, Conchitina Cruz, and Adam David, but I felt like an outsider, a gatecrasher (even though I’ll have a poem in the anthology).

But let me try:

The editors mentioned in the roundtable discussion(s) that the “new” in Philippine literature (or at least in the contributions) follows the practices of Western modernism. Modernism is a break from tradition. It is a movement away from Romanticism, with its focus on the “soul” and the “soaring spirit” and all that is awe-inspiring. When I think “modernist literature” I think “fragmentation”, I think “pessimism”, a marked disillusionment. (Understandable, since Modernism came to the fore after the first World War.) I think James Joyce and Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway, I think despair and alienation and experimentation with literary rules and accepted forms. Modernist literature champions the “I”, the individual.

It sounds like the “new” in Philippine literature is the same old “same old”, but I am very interested to read this anthology. We mentioned experimentation with form, so look at this poem:

The soft launch featured several readings, but alas, I can be a poor listener if I don’t have the text in front of me (esp. if it’s a long text, as is the case with “The Story of Love” by Alyza Taguilaso, who read a section of her poem in a very soft voice, “Between what we know as finite and the person in your mouth” by Carlos Quijon, Jr., and “Invisible Islands, or Theses on Philippine Disappearance” by J. Pilapil Jacobo), so I was only able to fully appreciate Petra Magno’s “In all the pleasance of your seriousness”, John Revo Ocampo’s “Problem Solving”, and Anna Oposa’s “Facebook Makes and Breaks Relationships”. I enjoyed Anna’s spirited reading of her piece. Tamang energy lang para sa subject matter.

I sat beside fellow contributor Tin Lao! Good thing I saw someone I knew, or I would have felt incredibly out-of-place hehe. I also met her daughter Sinta, who also had purple frames for her glasses.

It was nice to say hi to Mark, Adam, Chingbee (who never seems to age – can poetry make you wrinkle-free? lol) and Christian (who’s going to be in the antho as well, congrats!). Too bad I had to leave early.

One of the contributors (Arlene? Arlyn?) came up to me after the event and said she liked one of my poems, which of course made me ~~blush~~ happy. (Arlene, Arlyn, if you’re reading this – thank you.)

‘sand, crushed shells, chicken feathers’ on world sf

Late posting! The World SF News Blog has reprinted my story, “Sand, Crushed Shells, Chicken Feathers” for its Tuesday Fiction section. This story originally appeared in Philippines Free Press.

Come read!

The World SF blog is manned by Lavie Tidhar and Charles Tan.

one for kritika kultura

Okay one of the editors just confirmed it with me so:

I’m going to have a poem in the Kritika Kultura Anthology of New Philippine Writing. Thank you to editors Chingbee, Adam, and Mark for the comments and edits.

There’s going to be a soft launch on Friday! Come to the event and let’s say hi (awkwardly) to each other!

From Adam David, on Facebook:

SOFT LAUNCH OF THE KRITIKA KULTURA ANTHOLOGY OF NEW PHILIPPINE WRITING IN ENGLISH

A Satellite Activity for Taboan 2011: The 3rd Philippine International Writers Festival

Natividad Galang Fajardo Conference Room

Dela Costa Hall, Ateneo de Manila University

11 February 2011, 4:30-6:30 PM

PROGRAM

WELCOME REMARKS

Dr. Marianne Rachel Perfecto, Chair, Department of English

READINGS BY SELECTED AUTHORS

“The Story of Love” by Alyza Taguilaso

“Between what we know as finite and the person in your mouth” by Carlos Quijon, Jr.

INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE EDITORS

Ivery de Pano, Managing Editor, Kritika Kultura

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION, PART 1

Mark Anthony Cayanan

Conchitina Cruz

Adam David

READINGS BY SELECTED AUTHORS

“In all the pleasance of your seriousness” by Petra Magno

“Invisible Islands, or Theses on Philippine Disappearance” by J. Pilapil Jacobo

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION, PART 2

READINGS BY SELECTED AUTHORS

“Problem Solving” by John Revo Ocampo

“Facebook Makes and Breaks Relationships” by Anna Oposa

Q & A

Isabela Cuerva

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

palawan – day 3 and departure

Up early for the Honda Bay Tour!

Land travel to the Sta. Lourdes Wharf.

On to the first island!

Snake Island!

WARNING: My hot and sexeh bodeh.

Boom.

I didn’t go snorkeling. Basically all I did was submerge my camera in the water, and press the button to take a picture haha. (It was incredibly pathetic.)

Richard took this picture.

The sea took Jaykie’s slipper away! A moment of silence for this loss.

Okay, lunch!

Lunch, c/o Kuya Obet and company, was scrumptious. I loved the shrimp.

Pandan Island is next!

Looking at these pictures now, it didn’t look as if it was incredibly hot on the island. It was incredibly hot. It was skin-cancer hot. Maybe that’s how I must describe myself. “I’m skin-cancer hot.”

More fishies!

The last island was Luli Island (lulubog-lilitaw). The island disappears during high tide.

There’s a rest house on the island, incredibly enough.

Dinner was at Balinsasayaw. I had nido soup for the first time! I liked it.

Day 4

Jaykie and I couldn’t be with my friends for the City Tour because he had class. I bought pasalubong at the Pension and at the airport.

That was a fun trip.

Accounting

Okay. Without the City Tour, Jaykie and I spent P2,452.22. This included the Underground River tour, the Honda Bay tour, food during the tour, entrance fees and tips. Take note that there were nine people in our group.

Accommodation was 800 per night, so that’s P2,400.

Add the price of the ticket (highest is 4k I guess, but there are seat sales!), the terminal fees (240), food for dinner (let’s say 2k), and pasalubong (let’s say 1k), and that amounts to around 12k pesos.

Recommendation

Seriously, get Kuya Obet Fallorina as your tour guide (also driver and cook hehe). He’s really nice. :)

Text him! 0912 539 8983

Acknowledgments

Me ganito talaga?! Thanks to my friends, esp. to Ghia, Grace, and June. Sa uulitin!

palawan – day 2

We had our breakfast at 6 am (so early!) at Puerto Pension’s Tribu Restaurant. It’s located on the roof deck and faces the Puerto Princesa Bay. Quite a view, really.

The free breakfast consists of 1) a hot beverage 2) an egg 3) bread and spread 4) fruit 5) juice.

You’ll need to shell out P88 for an upgrade. For a Filipino breakfast, you can add rice and a viand (like a hotdog), and unlimited eggs. You read that right. Unlimited eggs.

Jaykie had an American breakfast. Waffles and bacon!

Then off to Sabang Wharf. Our tour guide, Kuya Obet, picked us up in a van.

It’s a long drive to Sabang Wharf so we had two stop-overs.

Sabang Wharf. We’re early, so we went for a quick dip.

Ooh, look at the waves.

After lunch, we got on a boat that would take us to the St. Paul Subterranean River National Park.

I enjoyed the boat ride because of the waves! Whee!

We’re here! We now need to register, get a hard hat and a life vest.

I look like a guy lol.

The Underground River tour was fantastic! I’ve never been inside a cave before. The formations are just amazing. And! We saw a snake! (The appearance of the snake abruptly changed the weight distribution of our boat haha.)

That night, Kuya Obet drove us to Badjao Seafront Restaurant. (You’ll need wheels to get to this resto because there are no trikes to take you back to the hotel.)

We were told that all of the tables were reserved. But this cannot be! So we talked to one of the waiters (talked, bullied, whatever) and asked when one of the reserved tables was needed. He said 7:30. It was 6:30 then. So we took a menu, ordered quickly, ate quickly, and was out of there by 7:30. A leisurely dinner was out of the question, but I chewed my food enough to note that I loved the lemon chicken. Order it.