Updates

very short reviews

And in this issue, we look at –

Luther

One of my favorites, Idris Elba, stars here as DCI Luther. You know the type. Ruined protagonist (dark past, check; estranged wife, check) who routinely breaks the law in order to solve crimes and exact justice. My problem is with the first season. It manages to produce one of the most disturbing hours of television I have ever experienced (“Episode 3”), but the rest of the cases are blah, and Luther’s genius is more fantastic than awe-inspiring. Seriously, there are times when I just sit back and think, “He just pulled that explanation out of his ass.” And then he befriends a psychotic killer! This makes (a screwed-up kind of) sense later in the series, but I wish the arc has been handled better. Watch Series 1 just for the sake of making sense of Series 2, which is thrilling and terrific, and what Luther should have been from the get-go.

Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

J and I, before watching the movie.

“I don’t really like Tom Cruise.”

“Me neither. But I’m watching this for Simon Pegg.”

“Oh, Jeremy Renner is in this, too.”

“Brad Bird! I like Brad Bird.”

“J.J. Abrams!”

“Pwede na, pwede na.”

This movie, oh God, this movie challenged my power to suspend my disbelief, but hell yeah, it’s fun.

Criminal

An ongoing crime series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. I don’t think I’ve ever read a straight crime (as opposed to crime/fantasy or crime/horror) series as good as this. It is so good. Every issue ends with an article concerning crime films and literature, and I particularly liked the article discussing what film noir really is while talking about a film based on a Marlowe novel. The author argues that film noir is not simply a style thing, it’s a the-system-is-inherently-flawed-and-there-is-no-hope thing. So Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep is not film noir because he “even gets the girl in the end”. It’s a detective film, but not film noir. Perhaps I can argue that Luther is film noir.

moment of change and other links

Hello, hello! A belated Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. I spent it in Bulacan, with J and my family. I gave my mother a Strawberry Cream-scented lotion and body scrub that smelled so good I was, for a brief moment, tempted to just keep them and give her a blender instead.

Just dropping by to say that you can now buy a copy of Moment of Change from Aqueduct Press. Included here is my poem, “Prayer”, which first appeared in Stone Telling.

Shameless plug: And of course, my book, Lower Myths, is still available. Check it out if you have the time.

I compile links over here, but I want to share this now: Rochita Loenen-Ruiz’s guest post, “Decolonizing as an SF Writer“.

Mark Twain, in his essay, To the Person Sitting in Darkness, speaks out against the Imperialism of the United States and in particular against the actions taken by the Americans in subjugating the Philippines and appropriating the victory of the Filipinos against the Spanish colonizers.

Mark Twain writes in his essay about the mindset of America in those days:   We have got the Archipelago, and we shall never give it up.

When I read this essay, I can feel the bewilderment of the patriots who had fought and won the war against the Spanish, and I feel utter sorrow in knowing that our supposed allies painted us as being uncivilized and not fit to rule our own country. I also feel indignation on behalf of the soldiers who fought against the Spanish and who realized that they were facing another, more insidious enemy. The thing is, where Spain very clearly presented themselves as conquering overlords, America presented itself as a friend. It was an excellent strategy which confused us completely because what they did to the Filipino was a betrayal of that word “friend”.

And for something fun, read madmacarta. It’s my daily pick-me-up. Bonggey!

meann ortiz reviews ‘lower myths’

And she gave it five out of five stars:

I’ve stopped wondering some time ago why Eliza Victoria keeps winning all these different awards for her fiction and poetry. And with Lower Myths, she has definitely earned a place in my list of favorite Filipino authors.

Trust Fund Babies is my favorite of the two stories in Lower Myths. I love the whole The Godfather feel, and the mythology that Victoria re-imagined for this particular world. The story is pretty straightforward, sometimes even predictable, but it was engaging and entertaining from beginning to end. I also admire Victoria’s ability to build a detailed world and solid characters even for such a short story.

The Very Last Case of Messrs. Aristotel and Arkimedes Magtanggol: Attorneys-at-Law is a little more complicated in terms of structure, but it’s no less engaging. If the first story had a The Godfather feel to it, this one has some Inception undertones. The transition between the different “realities” can be confusing in the beginning, but it’s easy enough to follow after the first few glimpses.

Read more.


‘under the storm’ review in the philippine star

Thank you to Jordan for the tip about this review by Juaniyo Arcellana. My poem, “Crime Scenes”, is among the poems highlighted:

Of the younger poets, Eliza Victoria shines in the sheer creativity of her “Crime Scenes,” where form and content meld and blend in a fine, cinematic mix. Her newspaper background and orientation come handy in breaking down elements of the crime story, though the stuff here is not something you would read in the metro page or come across in a mission expose documentary. Watch out for her, in a few years she is bound to out write many of the so-called fixtures in this allegedly uneven anthology.

“Crime Scenes” was a featured poem of Asia Writes in 2010.

new toy

J teases me about being such a cheapskate. I am. I wouldn’t even think of buying a phone that costs more than PhP 20k, and if it’s around 10k I’ll first think really, really, really hard whether I really need it. I’m the same with clothes and shoes and bags.

I made an exception with the Samsung Galaxy S II because: 1) it’s on sale; and 2) it has an 8MP camera with flash that will really help me with my blog pictures; and 3) I really want it.

So now I’m poor.

And I didn’t know there will be an S III next week! Oh who cares, it will probably retail for more than 30k, and that’s too much.

have some j.co donuts

We have a new favorite donut place.

At the moment there’s only one J. Co branch (Megamall), but drop by when you have time. It’s worth it. Even their coffee is delicious.

In the photo are three flavors: Green Tease (my favorite!), Al Capone (bestseller), and Avocado Dicaprio (which wins the Quirkiest Name Award).

What I like about J.Co is: their donuts are sweet, but not so sweet that you’d feel like gagging (I’m looking at you Krispy Kreme!). Light dough, great flavors.

I was not paid to write this, because if I were I would have eaten more donuts.

suspended!

What the hell Tumblr.

I don’t know what happened there. I already sent an email to Tumblr Support but I’m not optimistic. I might just go back to LJ. That place got DDOS’d to shit but they never suspended my account!

Update: Tumblr sent this reply yesterday:

Your request (Ticket 820088) has been updated.

You can respond by replying to this email.

Eliza Victoria, Apr 27 23:46 (EDT):

Good day.

My account -* collapsingsun.tumblr.com* – just got suspended, and I want to
know why. Your policies say that before suspension you will send an email
notification to the user, and I didn’t even receive one. Please help me
resolve this, because I have no idea what I might have done to warrant
suspension.

Thank you.

Eliza

Pavel, Apr 28 15:07 (EDT):

Hi Eliza,

We’ve restored your content.

Thank you for bringing this problem to our attention. We’re sorry that it occurred, and we’ll do our best to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

Thanks for using Tumblr,
Pavel

Tumblr теперь по-русски (!)

—
Tumblr Support
support@tumblr.com
russian@tumblr.com

Pfft. I can’t trust you anymore Tumblr.