This Week in Music: Sara Bareilles and The Blessed Unrest

Sara, Sara, Sara. You did it again. Another album worth listening to from the first track up to the last. The best songs speak the truth, like any form of writing or art, and Sara, you are a master storyteller. I can feel your truth in every song. Enough said ( and just listen to the album).

Personal favorites: Island, Manhattan, Chasing the Sun, December, Beautiful Girl, and I Wanna Be Like Me

Late Reaction

On the day na umusok ang isyung ito, binalak ko na mag-post, kaso na-delay e. So kahit late na ang reaction ko, wala kayong magagawa bilang blog ko ito at ipopost ko and gusto ko. Lol.

Homophobia?  I don’t think that's the issue here. It’s more of protecting St. Scholastica's credibility as a Catholic institution– that yes, in reality, lesbianism happens inside their school walls but as a Catholic school they wouldn't want to be associated with condoning same sex relationships. Guys, Catholic school sila they have an ‘image’, a 'morality’ to uphold. I think their response to the comic strip is understandable.

The comic strip is not offensive per se – except, probably, for the nuns and administrators of St Scho. As a plain civilian, na hindi nag-aral or nagtrabaho sa St. Scho, kebs lang, di ba? Pero, syempre, if you're part of the Sister community at St. Scho, ibang usapan na nga 'yun.

I do agree that Pol Medina shouldn’t have been suspended – he shouldn’t even have resigned, nag-apologize na lang sana (Did he apologize na nga ba?). Di ko sure ha pero before they publish there are approvers of the content right? It’s usually the editorial team who decides on what the newspaper publishes for that day. And I personally think it’s bullcrap that PDI is saying that there was a ‘mix-up’ kaya na-publish yung already unapproved comic strip of Pol Medina. Human error? Fine, but people should be held liable –hindi lang si PMJ. 

Sound byte (hehe, pume-Professional Heckler ang peg):

"I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman." - Journalist creed

Sure, sure comic strip ito at hindi editorial or straight news pero ang kasong ito ay parang katulad lang din ng joke ni Vice Ganda kay Jessica Soho.

Independence Day

My heart skipped a beat at the sight of...the pool. I didn't know it was possible to feel so at home in the water. Before taking up swimming lessons, I was afraid of it. But now, after only one session, there's a certain sense of calm that washes over me (pun unintended) once I'm in the pool. I want to stay in the water for as long as possible, until my skin is gnarled and I'm too tired to even just glide on the surface. Plus, I like the way I look after a good swim - skin golden brown, nose as red as Rudolph's, my hair sticking out every which way. And my eyes - though tinged with red - reflect joy, contentment, and a realization that I want to be here - in the water. I feel so carefree. My heart continues to skip a beat.

We swam for an hour and a half. I know I could use some more practice. Nahihirapan pa din ako sa breathing when doing freestyle. It's all about timing and I have to work on that. Yesterday, the Pius pool was closed so we swam at the YMCA instead. It's harder to breathe there - the water's too thick with chlorine, it tends to burn your throat when you happen to swallow even just a teeny bit.

**

American Psycho update: I'm almost done, probably down to the last 30 pages of the book. I couldn't contain the events to myself any longer that I tried to entice my brother to listen to me rant about this madman's misadventures. Well, my brother just shook his head, waved me away, and continued watching the Heat-Spurs rerun on TV. Oh well. 

I wonder how Mr. Ellis wrote the book. Did he do a lot of research on serial killers - real life and fictional ones? Ted Bundy? Hannibal? Did he had nightmares after writing this particular book? It's so graphic I shut my eyes every time Bateman strikes. Great writing: I believe every single thing Ellis wrote, even if I know that the chance of him writing this from personal experience is close to nil.

Patrick Bateman makes Hannibal look like an amateur. But at least, Hannibal's "classy". But Bateman....he's out of his fucking mind. I want to place this book next to my DI Rebus series, half hoping that John Rebus springs to life, enters the American Psycho world, and nails the bastard. That'd be nice.

***

Midnight gave birth yesterday - four kittens, two pure black and two black ones spotted with white.

****

I wanted to kiss you on the cheek when we said goodbye but I guess, I was shy. Awkward. One of these days, I'll finally succeed in doing it and then it...really...is...over. Done. Just like when Popoy kissed Basha on the cheek in One More Chance post break up, the first time they saw each other after a year. Sooner or later, I'll be able to do it. Just you wait.

Psych me up

Currently reading: American Psycho, published 1991, written by Bret Easton Ellis (author of The Informers)

I'm on page 73 and...I'm bored. I know it is necessary to go through Patrick Bateman's state of mind - his vanity, his attention to details no matter how trivial, his friends and how they treat him, basically, the way he lives his life. Mr. Ellis I get it already, okay? This is how a psychopath's mind works - well, specific to Pat Bateman. So can we move on with the story now? On to the manifestations please, the actual doing.  

If the next 10 pages continue to describe what everyone is wearing I might just go and grab another book. 

Days 10 - 15

Day 10- Write a review of the last book you read

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close < Everything is Illuminated

Day 11- Favorite book you had to read for school

Les Miserables

Day 12- Favorite classic

Les Miserables

Day 13- Favorite poet

Robert Frost

Day 14- Post your favorite poem

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (Robert Frost)

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Day 15- Recommend 5 books to your lovely followers :)

-          The Virgin Suicides

-          The Art of Racing in the rain

-          Veronika Decides to Die

-          Atonement

-          Christine

One for the books: Masons, Symbolons, and Robert Langdon

SPOILER ALERT: Some parts might reveal certain dramatic points in the story.

"The secret is how to die."

Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" is the much anticipated comeback of Robet Langdon and his suspense-filled adventures. Set in Washington D.C., Langdon tries to save a dear friend's life by solving the ancient mysteries connected with Masonry. Finding himself face to face with his friend's severed hand as one of the clues to this puzzle and with a fiesty CIA director tailing him around and claiming that this event was a threat to national security, Langdon again finds himself in a compromising situation that can best be considered as deja vu.

Our villain, Mal'akh, somewhat brings to mind Da Vinci Code's Silas; obsessed with discovering the lost word, he tricks Langdon into coming to the US capitol. Peter Solomon, Langdon's captured friend, told Mal'akh that it was Robert Langdon who possessed the key to deciphering the ancient mysteries of Masonry.

The book centers around the ideas of "at-one-ment" and apotheosis or the transformation of a human into a divine being - into a god. Concurrent with his previous works, Dan Brown once again intertwines the mystical with the scientific. In this piece of writing, he introduces Noetic science or the study of human thought. Together with developments in this field and the ancient rituals of the Masons, Brown, much like in the Da Vinci Code, leaves the reader swimming in historical and scientific data. (I don't know how much of it are true but most made logical sense to me.)

The twist, however, is more of a family horror. Read the book and tell me how you feel when Mal'akh's true identity was revealed. Also, I still can't decide whether I should be disappointed or satisfied that Robert Langdon lives. I felt tricked but then again, just like in old Filipino movies, ang bida hindi namamatay ( the hero should not die).

Final word: I love the idea of Pod 5.