Asides

February! How did that happen?

Anyway end-January we went to Vikings at Mall of Asia  for J’s sister’s birthday. Highly recommended. They have a wonderful spread.

Thanks for the treat, J and family!

On Feb.2, breakfast at Pancake House! We haven’t done this in a while.

Breakfast makes me happpyyy.

Coffee, cheese pancakes, and a Pinoy-style breakfast meal. The best.

Went clothes shopping and was horrified to find out that most slacks either 1) didn’t fit me or 2) didn’t fit me well. Who likes slacks? Tell me. I’ll stick with leggings and dresses if you don’t mind, corporate world.

PDI Research! It’s Almi’s pizza party. She asked us to wear something pink and bring a DIY crown, and me of the artistic persuasion took a crystal headband and wrapped it with a pink ribbon.

You can’t see it clearly here but Lawrence was wearing a Chief Justice Corona crown. Corona = corona = crown. And someone’s wearing a Loren Legarda calendar.

We’re ah tickled pink. Haha! Thanks for the pizza Ate Almi! :D

So I’ve resigned from the “new job” and will soon be employed as a writer here. I don’t know why I keep updating you about my work situation. Perhaps also to remind myself. Why did I resign? Let us meet up for coffee and I’ll tell you. But the quick summary: It was a fun place to work, but I didn’t have the stamina.

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In the meantime I’m at home trying to get my shit together. Step 1 of getting my shit together was applying for an NBI Clearance, which I did yesterday. An entire lifetime could be lived during an NBI Clearance application. I was told to go to Robinsons Otis because it was reportedly faster, but I was going to meet up with Eula anyway so I chose to go to Robinsons Galleria. If you’re planning to line up there, for the love of all that is holy, be there early. And by early I mean earlier than 5:30 a.m., because I was there before the sun even rose and I was number 364. Can you believe that? What time did people start arriving, 3 a.m? The NBI satellite centers process only 500 applications a day. (NBI Main processes 2,000.) Number 500 was handed out at Galleria yesterday before 7 a.m. Yep. So. Be there early.

They allowed numbers 201 to 399 to come in at 10 a.m., and numbers 400 onwards at 12 noon. Bring a book, an mp3 player, a friend to chat with. And food. And patience. And remember: 2 valid IDs, P115.

I finished the application at 5:30 p.m. And was told that I got a “hit” and could only get my clearance on Feb. 8. Feb. 8! I was too tired to feel angry at that point, so I just got on a bus and went home.

Check out the NBI website to find out where else you can go to get clearance.

Also, NBI? There has got to be an easier way to secure clearance. I mean, come on, man, I pay my taxes. I don’t pay my taxes just so I can sit inside a mall for 12 hours waiting for a lousy piece of paper.

I imagine my younger siblings lining up for this for employment and I die a little inside.

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Anywho, recommendations!

Lucifer – In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Lucifer Morningstar throws up his hands and says, “I give up!”, and hands the keys to Dream. Hell is Dream’s problem now, and good riddance. In The Kindly Ones we find him running a piano bar. But what are the other plans of the former Lord of Hell? Author Mike Carey tells us. And what a series! High concepts! I love this.

Room – Jack and Ma live in Room. It’s a very small room. Look. Five-year-old Jack believes Room is the world, and everything else (the shows on TV, the stories in their books) is fantasy. Old Nick brings them food and clothes and takes their garbage away. Jack has to stay in Wardrobe when Old Nick visits Ma at night. One day, Jack watches TV and sees a man taking the same painkillers her Ma keeps in a bottle. But how is that possible? How can the painkillers in Room appear in TV, which isn’t real?

At that point I felt real terror, and that’s when I knew what a gripping tale this is. Of course if you follow the news you’d know what the novel is based on. The knowledge doesn’t diminish the story’s power. Do check it out. I read it in two days.

Sherlock – And the most adorable picture ever.

That’s it, pancit!

Kristel Autencio posted a review about Philippine Speculative Fiction VI. This bit made me smile this Monday morning.

My favorite in the collection is Eliza Victoria’s “The Storyteller’s Curse,” about a writer receiving a gift that he never really wanted. This is the kind of formal ambition I really admire, juggling the different tropes of horror and metafiction to create a tight, tension-filled story. It has one of those double plot setups that can be challenging to maintain, but Victoria does it masterfully here. The convergence of the two narratives leads to a climax whose implications are as horrific as it is intoxicating. It has subtle nods towards the style of writers like Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, using gothic elements to tackle issues of artistic creation, survival, and choice. The last line was a sucker punch in the gut the first time I read it.

Thank you! And thanks to editor Kate Osias for posting the link online.

Buy the book! PSF VII coming soon! :)

 

Happy for the positive reviews Alternative Alamat is getting. We’re at #14 today on the Amazon Kindle Fantasy Anthology list!

Some reviews:

Deck Shoes (Catherine Batac Walder)

Kristine Ong Muslim on Goodreads

Bookish Little Me

One More Page

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It’s been a bit quiet here, huh.

Some highlights from the past week.

A (Board)Game of Thrones!

I have played this before but this is the new version. Thanks to Phil for hosting the game (and taking these pictures). We played two rounds. I was controlling the Lannisters in the first round (where the Tyrells won), and the Baratheons in the second (where the Greyjoys won).

The second round took forever, haha. Jaykie, who was controlling the Lannisters, almost conceded after losing so many troops. But I’m glad he didn’t because it was such a hilarious comeback No, actually, I wasn’t glad because if he had conceded I would have moved my troops and won two castles easy but anyway.

This goddamn Lannister ship

went to the Baratheon side on a whim and singlehandedly (well, with the help of the Tyrell ships) sank the Stark fleets and cut off Dragonstone from the rest of the continent.

It has to be the most entertaining gameplay I have ever seen that night. “For Lannisport!”

Thanks guys.

(This section should have a WARNING: GEEKERY tag.)

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Swensen’s last night, with the boyfriend, his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. My happy place.

 

We watched two Metro Manila Film Festival entries this year.

Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story – The film’s trailer was exciting enough to quicken the pulse and generate interest, but I couldn’t say the same about the film, which was occassionally dry and dragging and awkward, and not helped at all by Jorge Estregan’s wooden performance. There are production errors, editing hiccups, (see this hilarious review on Radikalchick’s site) but it’s not all bad: Asiong is beautifully photographed and beautifully scored, sound quality is laudable, and you can see the amount of time and the level of craft and art it took to frame every frame.

And it’s great to see our action stars on the big screen again! Nakaka-miss.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll 13 – Couldn’t even remember which SRR I last saw in full, but I think this is worth watching. I loved the cast performance in “Tamawo”, but the episode could use more gore, more dreadful atmosphere, more rain, more menacing monsters, and better build-up. “Parola” is a strong story, probably the most psychologically complex story I’ve seen in SRR, but could use better special effects. “Rain, Rain, Go Away” could use a better title! But seriously the last episode, which deals with Ondoy, is horrific even without the supernatural elements. And it has moments of real comedy (it has the Eugene Domingo, after all, and the episode is directed by Chris Martinez) that do not destroy the horror. Now that’s something.

3 Idiots

Raju, Farhan, and Rancho are three engineering students sharing a room at the Imperial College of Engineering. Farhan’s passion is in wildlife photography, but he is taking engineering because it’s what his father dictates. Raju prays every morning, buckling under the immense pressure of topping his class, finding a job, and earning money to lift his family from poverty. Rancho is a free-spirited young man who teaches his two friends his own views about education, but his approach is seen as disruptive and idiotic by the college dean and the rest of the school.

Some sequences are a bit heavy-handed on the melodrama, but it’s an engrossing watch despite its length (2 hours 44 minutes). Funny and touching. Well-written, well-acted and well-produced. And it’s a darn good story.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Tucker and Dale are two young men living in the country, fishing, buying pickled eggs at the gasoline station, and fixing up a vacation home near the woods. They don’t mean anyone any harm really. Too bad a group of judgmental college kids mistake them for a pair of hillbilly psycho killers.

That little summary should be enough to make you see the movie! Over-the-top and ridiculous of course, but hilarious.