TORPE LOVE

Too young to become victims of looooove.

Because it’s Halloween

Nothing seems to be making much sense to me. Workwise. I’ve been staring at my screen for the past three hours, intermittently checking my various e-mails, responding to those I feel like replying to, blogsurfing, oh and yes, trying to work.

So, perhaps to mirror my muddled brain, this will be in no way a cohesive, maybe even sensible post.

What the hey, who reads this anyway?

So I’ve managed to get myself quite a number of new titles, which is remarkable considering the fact that I haven’t really bought anything from a bookstore in at least a year, maybe. So, what did I get?

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

(I’m not linking anything because I don’t feel it. Besides, you could get more info by Googling them. There won’t be any pictures either – I’ll be obliged to credit and link and all that, and I don’t really want to take the time to do so.)

I hate that the last book has an obvious cliffhanger. The previous ones made you feel as if there might be more but you don’t really know for sure. This one… hay. Now I’m itching for Eoin Colfer to finish that next book STAT!

The Graveyard Book
Coraline, the graphic novel version, illustrated by P. Craig Russell

I love, love, love Gaiman, obviously, so these are quite obvious purchases. If I could buy all versions of his work, I would. But I couldn’t, so them Absolute Sandmans have to wait. Indefinitely.

(I wrote obvious twice in one sentence! Who cares, I’m not being graded on this one.)

The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Joyce Carol Oates

This was an impulse purchase. Sue me, but I don’t know Joyce Carol Oates. I don’t know what possessed me to buy the book either, but I’m glad I did because it was A-MAZING! Now am thinking of getting more of her novels, but lordy, she has more than 50! Money-drainer, these books, I tell ya.

The Colour of Magic
The Light Fantastic

The copy I got was actually a combined version of the first two titles in the Discworld series. I’ve always been curious about Terry Pratchett’s work, particularly since his Gaiman-collaborated novel Good Omens is such a good read. There are 36 titles in the series, plus a number of companion-slash-guide books. Maybe my current state of mind is a factor, but I can’t seem to finish The Colour of Magic just yet. It actually took me four or five rereads of the first page before I really started going. Maybe I’ll finish it this weekend. Maybe.

So what did I want to buy but had to leave at the shelves?

The Little Black Book of Style, Nina Garcia
The One Hundred, Nina Garcia
Domino The Book of Decorating

Maybe I’ll gift myself with the Nina Garcia titles for Christmas. Domino I love. Am vacillating because, on one hand I’ll get superb decorating ideas, but on the flipside I don’t have my own (read: not rented) place to beautify and a substantial budget for décor and stuff.

‘Course, Citibank more than doubled my credit limit and, dang, it’s super tempting to go on a shopping binge yet again. But am still paying off the results of the last time I did that, so no, my willpower has to be strong enough to resist the urge.

I hope.

Anyhow, I’m excited to get our first tree set up. The hubby is not too peachy-keen with the idea, but I am and we’re getting the tree no matter what. I’ve already seen a number of trees I really like – at really friendly prices – but I haven’t shopped around for trimmings. I hope it (the shopping for trims) doesn’t get wildly out of control and I wish I could do it NOW. But, I have to wait until next month when we’d have the budget for it and not have to charge everything.

I’ve actually become really good at controlling my shopping impulses. I don’t know how long I can wield control over these pretty but expensive urges, but I hope my cards are clean before I finally give in.

# 100 AIN’T NO CRYING SHAME

Tatlong Baraha was shown last night in a local cable channel.

I confess, I was entertained. However, I was trying to reconcile the thought of putting the Wild West in the fields of Philippine cogon and I must say that it requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. I know. It’s just a movie but you really have to stretch your imagination on this one.

Samurai flicks somehow have some measure of historical accuracy. The American wild West is a staple in American culture. They got Texas, Clint Eastwood and one of my favorite actors Charles Bronson but what I really can’t understand in Tatlong Baraha was that they have one of the good guys dressed like an American Indian who also looks like an American Indian named Geronimo. And he’s Filipino. Matatas pa mag-Tagalog!

Okay, a lot of people have said that Filipino movies in the 70s and early 80s were good and Tatlong Baraha belongs to that era. So I’m dishing out the good points:

Good points:

1. The dialogue was seemless Tagalog/ Filipino. It doesn’t sound “makata” but rather it reminds you of how gentle it can sound. It’s nostalgic and it’s like hearing the good old days. But there were some instances where English expressions were present like “Wow” and “Mister” which isn’t bad either. Heck, Blade of the Immortal has punk expressions.

2. I got to hand it to the guys who have thought of the costumes. Leon Guerrero wears a Zorro-inspired get-up. Julio Valiente has a salakot to go with his all-white apparel and you got Geronimo wearing the classic American Indian jacket with bantings. They’re all sharp-shooters and they can’t be hit by bullets.
3. Simple plot with a twist. The movie doesn’t require much thinking and you can easily predict where’s its going to lead to.
4. Action scenes that shout: Action Star! Before the Matrix, there was Tatlong Baraha against a hundred gun slingers wearing Mexican hats. Then there’s the non-refillable bullet catridge. They never ran out of bullets. And there’s also the somersault while firing a gun. This is the pre-cursor to Chow Yun Fat.
5. You got the classic rogues’ gallery of actors. There’s Pacquito Diaz and Dick Israel who would make you think that you shouldn’t trust guys wearing a moustache. I’m just wondering why they didn’t cast Bomber Moran (oh, they did cast him).
6. Confession of love. There’s the Harana scene that becomes a doo-doo-a-daa-daa when the trio were almost caught by the alcalde when they were about to serenade his three delicious daughters. Oh, yeah which leads to the next point…
7. Leading ladies in pekpek shorts with fuck-me boots to become a perfect combination. Yes, yes. I have to include this.

Not-so-bad points:

1. If movies mirror our society then we must be inside a fun house. I can’t pinpoint where at any point in our history we had a piece of the Wild West. I can only think of Mexico in Pampanga.

2. There was this fight scene where the trio were all saddled on one horse AND none of them got hit BUT it didn’t look right either.
3. A cliff hanger of an ending. The last scene shows how the troika escaped and how reinforcements came at the last minute. Reminds me of the usual scenario where the police would come in late.

The formula was okay but it never developed into something bigger. A few decades later, we’d see Lito Lapid do a remake of the movie entitled with son Mark and that hot tv actress Tanya Garcia who probably got pregnant after that movie.

# 99 BOURDAIN’S HERE

and he’s not doing BALUT.

I’m a huge fan of the show. Bourdain is a great writer and he tells his story very well. And he tells it as it is. No bullshit. I just hope that he doesn’t run into people who would ask stupid questions like: “How do you like the Philippines so far?” or the Quinito Henson question: “What’s your message to your fans in the Philippines?”.

I mean, it sounds like we have to get justification from outsiders to feel good about ourselves which I find selfish and it’s putting Bourdain or any other guest on the spot.

I think Bourdain won’t offer a patronizing answer so let’s just welcome him and treat him as a guest and don’t show too much of that slave-like hospitality (you know, that part where we offer even our bed to the guest and sleep on the floor).

It’s misplaced.

It’s enough that he’s here and nobody should complain IF he says…
… poverty is almost everywhere.
… the traffic is terrible.
… the streets are dirty.
… the food tastes good BUT it lacks presentation.

It’s his opinion and if you don’t like what he says then just skip it or leave. We have a lot of problems and wasting our time beating our chests and drumming up protests over some Desperate Housewives and Harry & Paul just show where our priorities are.

Let’s do something about poverty, crime, hunger, jobs, corruption, governance, and all those IMPORTANT stuff. Also to those protests that were launched, let’s just keep in mind the apology we got from the BBC: “It in no way represents real people and was never intended to offend or demean any viewer.”

When I was a kid, I laughed at the staple cast: 5-6 “Bumbays” and friendly “Intsik” tinderos that I saw in local TV.

Does that make me racist? No. The people behind those shows, were they racist? No.

Was I entertained? Certainly.

Oh, I also enjoyed watching Austin Powers and his bad teeth, listening to Kerpal threatening some lady for kicking his dog, seeing a white man with a local exotic beauty, and being inside a bus full of people who smell like onions.

And those people who smelled like onions must be onion-skinned. It could be us with the way we’ve been reacting.

Stereotypes do make a funny act.

Some of us just love criticizing our own people but when a foreigner points out the same thing, we call him or her RACIST. Balat-sibuyas masyado.

In the end, let’s just laugh it off and go our way in solving bigger problems like, again: poverty, crime, hunger, jobs, corruption, governance, and all those IMPORTANT stuff.

Or if we want to get even with those snotty Brits, let’s make a show that makes fun of them in Codename: Asero or Eh Kasi Bata.

Madaming paraan at laging tandaan ang pikon LAGING talo.

Cheating 101

I still pride myself for being one of the few who had walked the tight rope and crossed it without falling. No, I’m not talking about the circus inside the big tent. I’m talking about the circus called, wait for it! Relationships!

If you have to know, cheating is not like love where you do stupid stuff and you regret afterwards. Cheating is an old art of seduction and stealth, a combination which you don’t really hear that frequently. It is a process to achieve the objective with the least or zero attention which uses exact information along with perfect execution and timing. Without one of these three, I doubt that one can execute a proper adultery.

Lesbian vibes kicking in

I saw Angel Jacob at Angel’s Kitchen (how apropos; not her kitchen, though) Saturday night.

She is so pretty.

She was sitting right across from where I was, and it took all of my willpower to stop myself from just staring at her.

You know how some pretty people are gorgeous on TV or in pictures but just so-so when you meet them in person? She is just even more beautiful in real life.

OK, back to being a girl now.

Once there was a guy

A guy once sang to me in front of an audience. Granted that this was in fifth or sixth grade and the audience was our class, but I still remember how utterly flattered (and self-conscious) I felt.

A guy once wrote poetry for me. He broke my heart twice. I should have known better after the first time, but young people are stubborn that way. He gave me flimsy excuses on both instances.

A guy once gave me handmade expressions of love. He doesn’t give me those now. I wish he’d give me flowers.

Literati rush

Earlier, I mentioned that I was vacillating between preordering The Graveyard Book or not.

I’m glad I couldn’t decide and just let the issue rest.

On the 30th, I decided to pass by Bibliarch on the off-chance that it already carries Gaiman’s latest. I know that Fully Booked stocks up on Gaiman releases far earlier than Powerbooks, but Bibliarch is its little sister and I just wasn’t sure if the branch received copies.

I’m not into the habit of immediately asking the store people about the books that I am looking for; I like the thrill of the search, of finding gems I wouldn’t think of looking for, of finally locating the one.

When I couldn’t find The Graveyard Book, I approached one of the store people and asked if it already has copies. It does, and has just two — one of which was reserved. Lucky me was able to purchase the store’s only other copy. And it was about P200 cheaper than if I preordered. Yey for serendipitous moments!

Oh and yeah, I did get myself a copy of Murakami’s After Dark too. I love it! Not as much as Norwegian Wood, which still stands as my all-time Murakami favorite, but equally as engrossing.

I wonder what I’ll be reading/purchasing next. I still cannot afford the Absolute Sandman series, unfortunately. Those volumes have to wait — unless some really generous soul will gift me with them pretty books!