elizavictoria

2010 reads

First off, good news in the writing department: after a minor rewrite, Expanded Horizons has accepted my story, “Intersections”. Sci-fi, this one. The editor’s looking at a February run date. What a way to start the year!

* * *

Anyway, I just want to share

The books and stories and poems I read (and loved) in 2010

in no particular order

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint
“Jumper Cable: The Crossing” in the PGS: Christmas issue
We Are All Welcome Here
20th Century Ghosts
A Storm of Swords
Lucky
The Killing Joke
Twisted 8 1/2
Philippine Speculative Fiction V
Hunger Games trilogy
Scott Pilgrim
The Unnamed
Tales of Beedle the Bard
The Society of Others
All Over But the Shoutin’
Video
The River King
A Clash of Kings
Dot.bomb
House of Leaves
The Likeness
Ender’s Game
The Beauty Myth
“We Heart Vampires!!!” from Strange Horizons
“The Six Skills of Madame Lumiere” from Beneath Ceaseless Skies
“The Cassandra Project” in Lightspeed
“Beach Blanket Spaceship” in Clarkesworld
“No Two Stones” in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
“What Sieglinde Serpentslayer Said to the King”in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (poetry)
“Kali Yuga” in Innsmouth Free Press
December Lights
“New York City as Temporal Measurement” in The Collagist (poetry)
“Let Me Explain” (poetry)
“Colosseum” (poetry)
“Why You Should Never Marry a Poet” (poetry)
Usok # 2
“The Facts of the Case” in High Chair (poetry)

I’m sure I’ve read certain stories/poems that I just forgot to take note of, but this is more or less my list.

I should read more online pieces. Everyone should. There are some gems there.

2010, year in review

Everybody’s been doing this lately.

This year our store was destroyed by a fire, but my parents got up from the tragedy quickly and got things going again.

This year Jaykie got sick, a difficult time for the both of us, but he got better after a week and now he’s as healthy as ever.

This year I got sick, but it was nothing serious, just a moment’s annoyance.

This year I gained the pounds I lost in 2009 (I needed to get jeans that are an inch wider). I have to admit the weight gain made me miserable – very miserable at times – but I’m positive now I’ll lose them again next year.

This year I moved to another unit due to asshole caretakers, but that’s a thing of the past. (I like the new unit better.)

This year I attended my first Open Gaming Meet.

This year I attended my first Komikon and met Manix Abrera. I also attended Toycon.

This year I attended the first Polyhedral.

This year I finally got to see Avenue Q onstage!

This year I listened to presidential candidates debate/make fools of themselves -LIVE. And I voted!

This year I got a children’s book published. (Just recently, Jaykie told me the story made his 5-year-old nephew cry.)

This year I produced seven short stories and nine poems which appeared in various publications, and nine reviews and four essays for Philippine Online Chronicles.

This year I won a literary award. (Free Press!)

This year I made collages, but unfortunately had to stop because the new unit didn’t have enough room for me to post them.

This year I got published in Philippine Speculative Fiction V, and attended the book launch. Always a fun treat.

This year I took pictures of old pictures.

This year I had a perm.

This year I learned I needed glasses.

This year I had a Valentine’s Day that’s not lonely, for once.

This year we went to Bohol with his friends – our first trip together.

This year I took him to Bulacan to meet my parents, months after I met his. Both events went really well.

This year I turned 24.

This year we celebrated our first year together.

This year was the first full year I spent in love with someone.

This year was happier because it had you in it.

To more years, and may 2011 be kind, even kinder.

christmas, in photos

These photos are late, damn!

Research Christmas Party + Editorial Christmas Party + Photobooth session + pictures from home

Photos from Almi, Kate, and Princess.

With the Managing Editor:

The EIC buried in an avalanche of employees:

Schatzi won something! I didn’t win anything! Almi’s not pleased.

We really fell in love with the (makeshift) photobooth:

I am happy to report that my Free Press trophy reached home okay. (And yes those are cheesy portraits of my parents nyaha.)

Brought home Inquirer shirts for my family. Knife and potato not included.

I spent most of my vacation watching Top Chef and ABDC, haha.

I’m of the mind to actually buy one of these cell phones. So small and cute!

Crema de fruta!

Aaaand photos of my brother swallowing things:

and because i’m back from the holidays

…I have reviews!

1. The Wrestler

I fed this to the DVD player planning to just take a peek, but after the opening scene I was too enthralled to push Stop. Wrestling is all lights and glitz and scripted fun, but wrestlers grow old, and some of them grow old broken and alone. What a beautiful, believable, heartbreaking film. I should have seen it sooner. Every element just works perfectly: the writing, the shots, the improvised scenes. Pitch-perfect acting from Mickey Rourke.

2. Kikomachine Komix 6: Venn Man

I’ve read all the Kikomachine collections, and as expected this one also caters to the humor of the UP Diliman crowd (including me) and/or teenage boys (I have two brothers, and I speak like them sometimes, so yeah, including me). Unfortunately, unlike the other collections, Manix’s latest takes longer to get to the funny as storylines are sidetracked by existential ruminations that are actually better fit for the silence of 12. And we must admit that some of the jokes are getting old. But it’s still laudable for the create-your-own-adventure series near the end, which I enjoyed a lot.

3. Philippine Genre Stories Horror issue

I am a big fan of horror, but since I read so many horror stories and I don’t scare easily (I think), I always end up disappointed. Gah. Is it too much to ask? I just need a clean narrative and a story that gets under your skin. Though I liked “Leg Man” (PSF V), Dominique Cimafranca’s “An Unusual Treatment” didn’t win me over. The narration is clunky and reads like it is just following an outline. I bet the story’s funnier if a friend told this to me in person, in his or her own digression-filled style.”Same Time Again Next Halloween” by Alex Paman could have been a decent story, but it suffers from too much adverbs (too many “seemingly”‘s, etc) and a dramatic ending that feels forced. “The Haunted Man” by Raymond Falgui also lacks that organic flow, despite the fact that it is written like an anecdote. Joey Nacino’s “The War Against the City” intrigued me (I use city imagery in my poems and stories a lot). I expected a rich source of charged imagery, but his imagery didn’t move me.

It’s not all bad. Sean Uy’s “Tech Support”, though simplistic plot-wise, is a good read, and Charles Tan’s “The Jar Collector” shows a subtlety that is often missing in Filipino horror (we just love our espasol-looking ghosts and our hysterical protagonists).

photobooth takes/outtakes

We pushed the tables (and printer) aside and:

With the Boss!

Merry Christmas!

stone telling

My poem, “Archaeology“, is in the second issue of Stone Telling, edited by Rose Lemberg.

I also joined the Stone Telling roundtable discussion conducted by Julia Rios. Included in the roundtable were Mary Alexandra Agner, Athena Andreadis, Lisa Bradley, Yoon Ha Lee, and Erika Peterson.

Julia Rios: Eliza, your piece ties together some of the strong themes of this issue in its exploration of the way people and places are buried and rediscovered, forgotten and remembered. Though tractors pulverize the land and turn people into rubble, the mother in your prose poem does not stay rooted in anger. Instead she comes to feel protective of every pebble. The world is in a constant state of flux, and all of us are part of that. To what extent should we preserve past things, and how can we continue to survive and create anew responsibly?

Eliza Victoria: That’s an interesting reading. I wrote the part about the mother to highlight the fact that if you don’t know where someone is, then they’re everywhere. And if they’re everywhere, everywhere is sacred. With the body embedded in the landscape, even a pebble cannot be dismissed.

To what extent should we preserve past things? I cannot say “completely” with determination – in the context of the personal this is considered unhealthy: consider the mother whose son has died and who keeps her son’s room the way it is when he left, like an altar – down to the bed sheets, the posters on the wall, the unopened gifts. One must not do this, one must “move on”. But in the context of the public sphere this is acceptable: we build monuments, we leave the blood streaks untouched, we show videos of the torture.

But I believe this: we must remember. And we must write what we remember, and write it accurately, in case the memory, or the physical proof, gets lost.

My deepest thanks to Rose and Julia and my co-authors.

greetings, programs

I haven’t seen the original Tron, but I can say that Tron:Legacy, set twenty years later, is a stunning visual feast. Though the lead actor’s acting skills aren’t memorable, the rest of the cast makes up for this misstep. Jeff Bridges is perfect as the Creator trapped in his own program, Olivia Wilde is both hot and adorable (“Do you know Jules Verne? What is he like?”) and Michael Sheen, with his cane and manic eyes, gives the film a lovely Clockwork Orange hue. I love the idea of the Games, the isolated algorithmic programs, the out-of-control Created. And the visuals! The music! Daft Punk! I love how everything’s over-the-top. I wouldn’t mind seeing this film again.

* * *

We saw the film in Newport Cinemas inside Resorts World Manila for free. Or rather, in exchange for points. Jaykie’s family goes to RW often, so they urged me to get a membership ID even if I don’t really play. (I played maybe twice, and I lost both times. Malas.)

I got the ID for free months ago, and Jaykie’s mom loaded it with points. Last night, Jaykie and I used our IDs to get movie vouchers for just 50 points each and buffet dinner for 188 points each. (Movie promo’s only till end-year though. We’re planning to go on the 27th to watch Rosario.)