Oh Octopus

A late happy heart's day!

2012-02-16T12:25:00.004+08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope yours was a good one. Here are the links I love for this week:

I didn't get any macarons this year but it would've been nice if I did.
Things we can all learn from Jeremy Lin (Forbes).
Adele's interview in Vogue. I love this part, “I am quite loud and bolshie,” she says (British slang for unruly and clamorous). “I’m a big personality. I walk into a room, big and tall and loud.” Bonus: quotes from Adele's album of love from Huffington Post.
Brainy models changing the catwalk, God help us all (normal women in the world) in The Economist.
PDA: Presidential Display of Affection from Foreign Policy, photos of world leaders locking lips, gazing wistfully, and other awkward moments.
55 Powerful Photos from 1955-2011 (winners from Every World Press, a yearly photo contest in Amsterdam) and a look at a novelty Chinese Sex Toy Factory (made me remember the film Lars and the Real Girl and the fact that sex is, in many ways, a trade).
The trailer for Pride and Prejudice (2005). I didn't have time to read Pride and Prejudice this Valentine's day (I always do) but I did start and end my day watching this film. It is my favorite film of all time--the electricity, the beautiful screenplay, the amazing soundtrack c/o Dario Marianelli. Oh goodness, this movie is a dream.

Pop-A-New Guineas!

2012-02-12T15:20:00.008+08:00

Hello! My sister has been so good to her first guinea pig, Chloe, that another guinea pig didn't seem like a bad idea. Behold, she now has four (two fluffy Abyssinians and two American guinea pigs) and I'm happy to write that they get along swimmingly in their new "cage". It isn't really a cage, it's a rather long and spacious aquarium I filled with wood shavings and food. They did a lot of running around and popcorning the first time we put them there. Aren't they cute? :) All they do is eat and run around but I'm hoping we can train them as a special squad that will later on help save humanity..,you know, kind of like G-Force? Yup. I noticed that Chloe doesn't wheek as much as she used to when she was alone. I guess guinea pigs are really social animals, a lot like my sister but a whole lot less like me. Although, they do eat more than they ought to and that gives us a common ground. More pet news after the cut.

The type of kisses where teeth collide

2012-02-06T00:24:00.000+08:00

"I've been trying to figure out exactly what I need, call up to listen to the voice of reason, and got the answering machine."

Looks more and more like Bob Dylan everyday, this one. Alex Turner's acoustic performance of Reckless Serenade by the Arctic Monkeys.

Feeling a bit like Beatrix

2012-01-22T01:50:00.003+08:00

Honeymals - Some of our pets are more photogenic than others and personally, I play favorites. The first being my very playful and sweet dog, Fendi, who isn't a stranger in this blog. He's always so happy to see me, jumping around no matter how late I come home from work or school. Next to my dog are my chirpy budgies, Dean and Colette, in their beautiful, very rarely ruffled, teal and yellow feathers.

The rest are just dumped in a "Oh gee, I hope they last long." "Oh, they died already? Well, it's a bit longer than the last one..." set. My sister is past her baby bunny phase and has moved on to guinea pigs. (Thank God, for so many bunnies have come to die in this household!) The guinea pigs squeak and they don't stink as much but good lord, can they eat or what?! They also popcorn, so I'm pretty excited for when the pig begins to do that. Now, it's basically just a white furball squeaking for spinach tops or a carrot. I really, really, really hope this one lives long enough to get a new friend. (As I have whittled down her pets to just one per purchase because they never last.)

PS. The Beatrix reference is from a book I recently read. The heroine, Beatrix, is very fond of animals. I believe she actually prefers the company of her four-legged friends much more than that of talking bi-peds. We can't really blame her now, can we? How can you resist this kind of cuteness?

My heart is wrapped up in clover

2012-01-22T01:19:00.001+08:00

Before Adele Adkins, there was Jamesetta Hawkins and both are singers I love. My heart sank a little when I logged on Twitter and found out that Jamesetta (Etta James to everyone) died at 73, from complications of leukemia and dementia. She's one of my favorite singers and it's a little sad whenever great pioneers pass away. It always feels like the end of an era. A few months back, I posted a video of Adele singing Etta James' I Just Want To Make Love To You. It's still one of my favorite covers and I get a kick out of singing along whenever it plays on my iPod.

Tonight, though, will be a short tribute to Etta James. She is and will always be the matriarch of rhythm and blues. My God, that voice! She can easily and perfectly transition from R&B to rock-and-roll, jazz and soul without changing that sultry and emotionally-charged singing voice. I think this kind of raw singing, this passionate, powerful vocal assertion is the reason why I love both Etta and Adele.

Etta James is most famous for her song "At Last", which is commonly played as a first dance in weddings. Most recently, the song was a source of a juicy celebrity catfight when the Obama power couple picked Beyonce over Etta James to sing it at their first Neighborhood Ball. I love how fearless and feisty Etta was, insisting she would've sung it better than Bey. I believe her. Never doubt, never doubt.

Here are two of my favorite Etta James songs, Something's Got A Hold On Me sung during her younger years and the equally beautiful Etta singing At Last many years later. God bless you and keep you, Miss Peaches. Thank you for the music.

PS: One of my favorite mixes, Rainy Days & Diner Dates by DJ Euric, has At Last as its first track. I'm posting the download link just for kicks (you should really go ahead and get it though because it's awesome and fun to listen to on any given work day). It also has Duffy's Syrup & Honey, a song that's been swimming in my head in and out for a whole week now.

Don't you be wasting your money, on syrup and honey...

Picasso: Suite Vollard

2012-01-17T14:41:00.007+08:00

I feel a little awkward discussing art when I just really like looking at it and don't really bother with techniques, or any other complexities of the seemingly impenetrable art world (scene?). Indulge me, anyway, because I only talk about those I really like. Two months ago, the good people of Fundacion Mafre and its Instituto de Cultura very kindly lent several Picasso pieces, created between 1930 to 1937, on loan to the Metropolitan Museum as part of an exhibit called Suite Vollard. The Suite Vollard, named after art dealer and curator Ambroise Vollard, is a collection of etchings by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso using different techniques. I'm pretty sure the francophile in you would find it interesting that these etchings were made in Paris, while Picasso was on a self-exile, back when he vehemently refused to show any of his works in his motherland, Spain, because a certain Francisco Franco was in power. (I do like that name, Francisco, if I may say so myself. Franco, too.)

I love Picasso so I might be a bit biased here. I find his works all at once, prolific, passionate and playful. I like that what would seem like mere doodles in his mind were transformed into impeccable executions of mythical creatures. The collection that was recently in Manila showcased the mythic quality to most of Old Man Pablo's drawings. Some of my favorites are the drawings that seemed to set the mood for future paintings such as the Sculpture Viewed from Behind and the Bearded Head. Someone also noted that they look like "A study of..." drawings, which in hindsight, makes perfect sense. I also noticed that most of Picasso's drawings (or doodles, if you may) had Rembrandt's profile or head in them, as in Rembrandt and Female Heads. This must be a manifestation of Picasso drawing inspiration from the works of Rembrandt himself. My favorites, however, were those drawings that looked like they were meant for a mythical novel, drawings that largely reminded me of Oedipus, Europa and Theseus. I also liked the heavily-sketched Minotaur series. The handiwork itself is impressive but not as impressive as the picture that the Maestro was able to draw. It's interesting to note that Minotaurs, in classic surrealist fashion, are inhuman, irrational and mythic. Picasso was fond of drawing the Minotaur because he acknowledged that there is something distinctly human about being a monster. I like how he chose the Minotaur to depict human savagery and the animal instinct humans possess.

My favorite collection in the exhibit would be the "Battle of Love", where the plates transition from subtle erotic drawings to depictions of full-blown sexual violence. Who wouldn't love that excellent combination of love, overpowering force, human energy, and woman's sexuality? Sex and violence may come out vulgar and lewd (or even tacky) if not executed well but these drawings are really beautiful, skillful and dare I say it, passionate. I guess that's the true stroke of a genius. Pablo Picasso is, in all counts, a master.

PS: I tell everyone that my favorite Picasso piece is La Douleur. Because I am obnoxious. Anyway, here are some of my favorite pieces from the recently concluded exhibit:

Foto A Foto: Portraits of Spain

2012-01-04T06:17:00.001+08:00

The Spanish Embassy in Manila, with the collaboration of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Instituto Cervantes, the MET Manila, Acción Cultural Española and Indra, put together Foto A Foto: Portraits of Spain. The exhibit is a collection of sixty photographs taken all over Madrid and Barcelona, dating from the fifties to the present. What I like best about this exhibit is that every photograph presents a fresh vantage point, a different version of Madrid and Barcelona through a photographer's eyes. There is a distinct variety of visual and aesthetic representations present throughout the collection and I guess that's an inevitability if you put the works of fifty renowned Spanish photographers next to each other. In a way, the viewer gets to see Spain in the eyes of a local and it is very much enjoyable, seeing how these talented individuals view their home country through these photos.

Here are my favorite pieces:

A series of photographs in a town plaza. The term "town plaza" brings to mind two things: the London "ton" where the old English folk walk around to parade new bonnets, parasols and gowns and the provincial town center of my childhood, where children gathered to kick a football, feed the koi fishes (which later turned into mud carps, only in the Philippines!) and run around. The photo set is a little bit of both, it's a mix of tourists walking around and a lot of the locals out and about, doing their daily business. I really like the rural feel of these photos. I especially like the working class drama the black and white photographs bring.
I'm a big fan of double takes and missed connections, so I gravitate towards photos that capture these moments. It's a little bit creepy, sure, but it is easier to feel empathy towards the subjects of these photos. We've all been there, after all, and isn't it a delightful feeling, when your heart takes a tiny leap the moment you see someone you fancy? Or you know, someone you could fancy, if only you would be given the chance.

I really like these pictures taken by Marta Soul for no particular reason other than I like nice cars and I find the Indian work ethic impressive (and a little terrifying since big companies are relocated from the US to India nowadays).

This is my favorite photograph from the collection:

Again, I'm a big fan of missed connections and double takes. I find this photo so impressive because it leaves so much room for the viewer to speculate the real story behind the visual. Personally, I took it as a fleeting but electrifying attraction but that's probably because I should start stepping away from reading too much fiction. I'm really into stories of longing. I wonder what that says about me.

By the way, this exhibit lets you brush up on your Spanish a bit by providing the photo's description and the artists' brief histories in Spanish text. It could be fun, come visit!

Foto A Foto: Portraits of Spain will run until January 15, 2012 at the MET Manila.

Don't Date A Girl Who Reads

2012-01-03T06:15:00.003+08:00

"...nothing sucks worse than a girl who reads. Do it, I say, because a life in purgatory is better than a life in hell. Do it, because a girl who reads possesses a vocabulary that can describe that amorphous discontent as a life unfulfilled—a vocabulary that parses the innate beauty of the world and makes it an accessible necessity instead of an alien wonder. A girl who reads lays claim to a vocabulary that distinguishes between the specious and soulless rhetoric of someone who cannot love her, and the inarticulate desperation of someone who loves her too much. A vocabulary, god damnit, that makes my vacuous sophistry a cheap trick.

Do it, because a girl who reads understands syntax. Literature has taught her that moments of tenderness come in sporadic but knowable intervals. A girl who reads knows that life is not planar; she knows, and rightly demands, that the ebb comes along with the flow of disappointment. A girl who has read up on her syntax senses the irregular pauses—the hesitation of breath—endemic to a lie. A girl who reads perceives the difference between a parenthetical moment of anger and the entrenched habits of someone whose bitter cynicism will run on, run on well past any point of reason, or purpose, run on far after she has packed a suitcase and said a reluctant goodbye and she has decided that I am an ellipsis and not a period and run on and run on. Syntax that knows the rhythm and cadence of a life well lived.

Date a girl who doesn’t read because the girl who reads knows the importance of plot. She can trace out the demarcations of a prologue and the sharp ridges of a climax. She feels them in her skin. The girl who reads will be patient with an intermission and expedite a denouement. But of all things, the girl who reads knows most the ineluctable significance of an end. She is comfortable with them. She has bid farewell to a thousand heroes with only a twinge of sadness.

Don’t date a girl who reads because girls who read are the storytellers. You with the Joyce, you with the Nabokov, you with the Woolf. You there in the library, on the platform of the metro, you in the corner of the café, you in the window of your room. You, who make my life so god damned difficult. The girl who reads has spun out the account of her life and it is bursting with meaning. She insists that her narratives are rich, her supporting cast colorful, and her typeface bold. You, the girl who reads, make me want to be everything that I am not. But I am weak and I will fail you, because you have dreamed, properly, of someone who is better than I am. You will not accept the life that I told of at the beginning of this piece. You will accept nothing less than passion, and perfection, and a life worthy of being storied. So out with you, girl who reads. Take the next southbound train and take your Hemingway with you. I hate you. I really, really, really hate you."

- From You Should Date An Illiterate Girl by Charles Wanke (I know we've all had enough of these Date A Girl Who *insert favorite hobby in the world here* but I couldn't resist. I loved this.)

I'm ready for you, 2012.

2011-12-31T20:07:00.010+08:00

2011. To put it simply, 2011 wasn't a good year for me. In the words of a wise aunt, it was a year full of heartaches. Indeed, it was. Looking back, it seems that my losses far outweigh my gains. I seem to have cruised through the year juggling crippling disappointments in one hand and little joys in the other. Then again, a year past is a year past, and I have learned a lot this year in ways both big and small.

Fair warning: If you have limited time, watch this video instead. It is much more worthwhile than the word vomit you're about to read.

Here are 11 things I learned in 2011:

1. People are just that, people. They are susceptible to flaws, to likes and dislikes, to prejudices, and to weakness in character. Sometimes, the people you look up to will let you down. I learned that I can't really count on people to stay on my side forever. Sometimes, they think they have a second chance at love and will jump right into it, head first, propriety thrown to the wind, without thinking about the people around them or to how they (should not!) behave. Sometimes, I may just be not liked for the sake of being not likeable (I kinda am because, as an officemate put it, I am seem suplada). That is okay, too. Actually, that is better. I'd rather have that any day.

The redeeming factor of the people around me is that sometimes, people will surprise you as well. When the chips are down and you have no one to look up to or turn to, there will be people who will come through for you, which is why I won't really give up on myself or on people, in general. Kind souls wander the earth, it's just up to me to find them. This year, I am especially happy about the adults in my family, in that I am fortunate enough to have a handful of good ones always there to guide me or help out even if it's not their responsibility.

2. The past will spring itself on you randomly so it's important to be good and kind. Very recently, I found out I was working in the same organization as an old classmate of mine. I see him around once in a while. We don't greet each other but a part of me deeply regrets that I wasn't a better friend when we were in high school or even when we went to the same university for college. On hindsight, I dealt with (very badly) a lot of my insecurities during my high school and college life and in the process, I forgot to make amends or be really nice, in general. I don't know how he's doing right now but I certainly wish him well.

3. Consistency is just as important as brilliance or hard work. In 2011, I found myself taking the passive and sometimes, the flaky seat in everything I did--work, school, relationships. I learned later this year that inconsistency is like brewing poison. Sooner or later, it will overflow and the first person who'll catch a whiff will be the very person who brewed it. Next year and in the years after that, I should be consistent in everything I do: Go big or go home, no matter how I'm feeling. (And, of course, I must never pick home or medicines--since I was very sickly this year.)

4. When the stock goes bad, it has to be sold. I am a big fan of holding out and holding on but life doesn't really give you much of a choice in this matter. When something you hold on to starts being bad for you, you have to let go. Food, we have to re-align our relationship in 2012. My obsession for you isn't healthy anymore. Of course, this also applies to bigger things such as relationships that just won't work or mutual understandings that will forever be stuck at a standstill.

5. It's important to save, save, save for the rainy days. This goes hand in hand with number four. While I am not like most girls who spend their monthly income on gadgets, parties or clothes, I do spend a lot on books and food. I'm already 21 and if I really want to follow through with my Big Relocation Plans for My Adult Life, I should start saving up.

6. You will never know the cards you'll draw and how long you'll be keeping them. This April, we happily celebrated my grandmother's birthday. She had a birthday cake that said 18, and she was laughing because it was such a silly cake. Months later, she was lying in a hospital bed, so weak and so frail from all the tests they had to do. This made me realize that I should really make it a point to be there for the people in my life more, especially the more senior ones and of course, the little monster in our household. Just kidding, Bemmy!

My sister, if you still don't know by now, is the light of my life. She currently occupies that place my father once had in my heart and every day, I am delighted to see how she's growing up into a bright, sprightly little girl with her funny jokes, her little notes and yes, even her temper that can rival mine (but I hope to God and all his glory, not our mother's). I'm happy that we were fortunate enough to spend time with each other a lot this year. While my heart breaks a little whenever I think of all the fun things she won't be able to do with our Papa anymore, I'm really happy that I can take her out on little outings or to buy her toys. I won't be able to fill our dad's shoes but I can at least help her have a happy childhood.

7. Our relationships with people won't always stay the same. I built closer and deeper relationships with some very cool people this year and I also drifted away (sometimes unknowingly, sometimes by circumstance, sometimes because of relocation, sometimes because I just don't like them anymore) from others. I'm very thankful for all the great friends I have made this year and for those who I have been fortunate enough to know better. Sometimes, the girls who look and act the snobbiest are the girls who are most fun. Also, meek looking guys are sometimes wolves in sheep's clothing. Ladies, your shot guns should be locked and loaded. This year, I also learned that there are no awkward or boring moments with true friends even if you haven't seen each other in months or even in a year. That was a nice realization.

8. I learned that we really do waste it when we're young. Shitty years are also years of so much introspection, which is obvious in every blogger-having-a-shitty-year's posts. I realized that I could have made so much use of my time when I was younger. I could have tried harder in learning and mastering a foreign language, I could have been braver in starting a life elsewhere, so many I could have beens. Something has to be done about that in 2012. We will start with school and work. :)

9. This year, I also learned that it's alright to have poor choices and to own up to it. I made quite a few bad decisions that I would have not made had I known how the rest of my world will turn out afterwards. Then again, if I hadn't done these things, I wouldn't know any better. I will also not know that I am but a speck in this universe. My woes do not even amount to an iota of real life tragedies. I should always be grateful for shallow problems but of course, I stress over them all the time.

8. On a happier note, 2011 is also a year of reading, cooking and baking. It's not just losing, weeping and generally, failing at all things this year. I have had the time to read leisurely but interestingly, I don't have a Best Book I've Read in 2011. I don't know why but I really want to be a great cook so I'm glad I had a lot of chances to be better in the kitchen this year. Although honestly, I think I just started an unhealthy addiction to Knorr seasoning (my father won't let me touch the stuff when he was alive) and to romance novels set in 18th/19th century Europe. (*gasps* OH NOOO!)

10. Beauty is pain. I have the beauty regimen of a genetically blessed, 7ft tall Russian model, in that I get up and go in the morning without any thought or regard to the way I look and to the terror my bare face, unkempt hair and baby whale build brings to humanity. My friends Kat and Rach tell me I have to do something about this. I might but as a perennial lazy ass, I'm not even sure where or how to start. Then again, this is such a shallow learning. I am so sorry the past two numbers are a waste of YOUR time.

11. Lastly, I learned that growing older and wiser is a choice you have to make. I have learned that life's worst tragedies may force a person to step-up, set their priorities straight and be better, in general, but this does not mean that everyone who struggle comes out better. People can always sink lower or be stuck in the rut that they got into. The people who succeed in getting away from baggage chose to get away. It is a slow process and it takes hard work but I am around so many of these people that I know it IS possible. This year, I learned the true definition of priorities and how a myopic life view can be a person's downfall. I wouldn't want that for myself. Thank God, I have all of 2012 and the years after to work on it.

What are the things you've learned in 2011? Kudos for surviving the year and if you had an especially rough and tough year like I did, I hope you come out of 2012 shining. You deserve it. Cheers! Happy New Year.

Oh Octopus, a new year awaits.

Love,

Reisha

Obra Maestras de Hidalgo

2011-12-26T10:14:00.008+08:00

Many moons ago, I had the good fortune of visiting my favorite works of art at our city MET. I was there for the Picasso exhibit but since I've already gushed at length about just how much I love Old Man Pablo, let me talk about a local artist that I love as well.

Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo is a renowned Filipino artist of the 19th century. He was born in Binondo, Manila and lived in Barcelona, Spain until 1913, the year he died. In history, he is more prominently known as an inspiration to the reformistas (Rizal, Ponce, del Pilar etc.) as is Juan Luna, when they both won the silver and gold medals respectively for the 1884 Exposición General de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain. Most sources site Hidalgo as a political activist and a propagandist, but in my brief reading of Hidalgo's role in history, he never really associated himself directly to the Philippine reform movement. Can someone help me out?

I was surprised to see two of his works in the Master's gallery, as La barca de Aqueronte or Charon's Boat was bought by the Government of Spain in the early 1890s. In my excitement, I wasn't able to read further and see if this painting (like the other one) was a copy. Looking back, it doesn't really matter, I guess. It is a neoclassical painting inspired by Hidalgo's reading of Dante's Inferno while he was in Italy. I especially like this painting, perhaps much more than its accompanying painting, La Laguna Estigia (The River Styx). While I cannot go on and on about the brush strokes or the painting's style (leave that to the experts, eh?), I can tell you that the painting is about Charon, who is the proverbial harvester of souls condemned to spend eternity in one of the circles of hell. The painting is dark and (because it's big) imposing but most importantly, it always, always draws you in. Big snaps to the people who decided wooden benches in front of the paintings are in order.

Mounted next to La barca is another Hidalgo masterpiece, one that has been in the Metro Manila Met for quite some time. It's called Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al Populacho or The Christian Virgins Exposed to the Populace, an incredible painting considered to be a Philippine national treasure. It's sad that the original was destroyed in a fire at a university somewhere in Spain but I am glad that a copy is in the Philippines for all to see. Together with Juan Luna's Spolarium, Las Virgenes was presented to the jurors of the Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts as artworks about human spoilage and human spoils. Las Virgenes represented human spoils depicting the persecution of Christians in Ancient Rome, through two scantily clad Christian female slaves being mocked by Roman men. I especially love the underlying meaning of these women having been stripped of their garments, that in a way Hidalgo was able to expose not just a loss of garment but also of human dignity. I also like the way one of the virgins' head looks up to the high heavens, waiting for help that will ultimately not come. I think it's just a magnificent work of art.

It's a little hard to peddle the wonderful works of art by Felix Hidalgo. Come by the MET and see for yourself if you have the time, they're beautiful obra maestras.

Metropolitan Museum of Manila

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Boulevard,

Malate-Manila (1554), Philippines

Memories of my Grandma

2011-12-21T07:05:00.005+08:00

My first memory of my grandmother was when I was three (or four) and she came home from Canada, where she lived and worked most of my childhood. We lived in a smaller house which we rented up until my parents were able to scrape for themselves the money to build our own house, the one I live in right now. She was a tiny but jovial woman. I do not remember much of that day but I know for sure that somebody put on some Waltz music. I didn't know (still don't, actually) how to waltz, of course, but I danced with her anyway, moving so awkwardly right there, in the makeshift ballroom of our very small apartment (and by makeshift, I mean the center table of our very small living room moved to a corner). She took my hands and started leading, with me thinking that I used to see this in the then-VHS format of my favorite Disney movies. I don't know why I always remember that but I like the memory. It is one of my favorites. I like it even more than her 75th birthday party where I sat by her the whole time because she would help me out so that I can get all the prizes. That was also a good day for the both of us, by the way.

When she decided to stay in the Philippines for good, I liked visiting her at home and bringing her small gifts (of the food kind, usually, because she was a very good cook when she was still able to do so). During her last birthdays, especially when I already had money of my own, I brought her cake and token birthday food. She usually feels a little low on her special day, a trait we both share although I'm not entirely sure if that's normal for other birthday celebrants. When she finally came out of her room to blow her cake, my aunt told her not to be sad anymore because her grandchildren were there and that I already brought her food for her celebration. She smiled and said, "Oo, swerte rin ako kahit papaano..." I loved that. I liked seeing her at least a little bit happy. She was such a sweet old lady, not at all like my other grandmothers who are talkative and feisty. This grandmother of mine, my Papa's Mama, was funny, too, when she was in the mood. And like my Papa, she believed that I will achieve big things one day. I will always remember that, and perhaps because I have their blessing, I really will. One day.

Eighty-four years. What more can I ask for? Safe travels, Grandma. You will be missed.

The House of Katsu

2011-12-19T07:46:00.005+08:00

The power of suggestion manifests itself through my Twitter feed. These past few weeks, people have been raving on and on about a new tonkatsu place in the Metro, one that is very much reminiscent of Hong Kong's Tonkichi. Yabu is just a few months old but the hype has caught on and suddenly, everybody is hankering for a slice or two of their tonkatsu. I, myself, am not a big tonkatsu fan but I already missed out on the Crazy Katsu craze (as I live down South) so with Megamall being so accessible, I thought Yabu was worth a try.

Luckily, one of my good friends, Carl just had his first employee appraisal. Personally, I believe positive feedback from your bosses and a raise are always two good reasons to celebrate. So, off to this new tonkatsu place, we went.

Since Yabu is still riding the hip train, there were a lot of people and the initial service was a little confusing (we had to transfer seats, no, Angela had to fight for our seats). The food, though, was a different story.

Honestly, I wish we had the budget to order the Kurobuta pork set, which is made from the sirloin cut of a Berkshire pig, marketed as the Kobe Beef of Pork. I know that it won't be as tasty as Kobe Beef itself but the darker, marbled meat really got me curious. I was satisfied with the Rosu Katsu we ordered though. For less than the price, we get a relatively tender, properly panko-breaded tonkatsu with a bit of fat. I also liked the idea that Yabu offers a complimentary refill of the cabbage salad, just like in Tonkichi.

Carl pointed out that I wasn't halfway done my tonkatsu towards the end of the meal. I didn't notice this at all. Perhaps it was because I was busy laughing at Angela's work stories but it is with little doubt that this was because the serving was big and very filling. One tonkatsu meal comes in a full set of miso soup, fruit, salad, japanese rice and tonkatsu. I have to tell you that I also enjoyed the appetizers. For 175, you get to pick a choice of two appetizers. The Edamame beans were a little too bland for my taste (I have had softer, saltier ones) but I really liked the Wakame salad because I am a big seaweed fan. Next time, I think it's best to order the silky tofu and the Wakame.

I didn't get to try some of the other items on the menu like the scallops or the breaded Japanese oysters. These are priced per piece but they look really good. I hope I get to try the scallops in the future. I just need to find myself someone who's willing to pay 100 pesos per piece. Heehee. Here's Carl enjoying his tonkatsu pork set, if you want to see what he looks like. He's an Arsenal fan, just so you know. I also have other pictures of our meal at Yabu. Here:

Seaweed salad (Wakame) and Edamame soy beans

Sesame seeds you grind with the small mortar. You mix this one with their tonkatsu sauce, which I also really like.

I really like the anime story on one side of Yabu's wall but I think a wall of sake cups is so ingenious as a Japanese restaurant's design. It looks awesome in real life!

A portion of my meal. The Rosu Tonkatsu set, which is a tonkatsu cut with a little bit of fat. I mean, what's life without a little bit of fat? (I know, "A healthy one", but this is my blog so screw you.)

Yabu: House of Katsu
2nd Floor The Atrium, SM Megamall,
EDSA corner Julia Vargas Avenue,
Mandaluyong City
Tel. No. (0927) 398-7962, 576-3900
Open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Chanel in Paris and Bombay!

2011-12-11T19:06:00.002+08:00

I've always thought Karl Lagerfeld had something against food, being once fat himself and eventually shedding off so much weight to sport that gaunt look he's had for quite some time now. Uncle Karl (He who has an incredibly terrifying library. I mean, seriously, have you seen just how much books he has crammed in there? You think he's read them all?) said clothes are the best motivation for losing weight. This saying will probably be true if only couture has monopoly over the market, but then fashion is a brainchild of capitalism. If you factor in the cost of production, advertising, and the general marketability of a brand only a few percentile can afford, it would be dumb not to open a retail line for real people with real dress sizes.

Anyway, this is Chanel's Paris-Bombay Metiers d'Art Pre-Fall 2012 show held in the Grand Palais, Paris (as usual). If there are two things I think Chanel could do best, simplicity and opulence would be it. Clearly, this is a take on the latter. Look at that spread! It might be a little insensitive to the notion that all models have eating disorders but I couldn't care less, really. It's a spread fit for a maharani or a maharaja and I really like it. I'm loving the over all extravagance of the collection, which is a little inappropriate for a failing Western economy but perhaps, with all the nouveau rich in China and India, Chanel will come through thriving. I especially like the heavily-embroidered bags and the shoes. I am also quite tacky when it comes to excessories so I really like the crystal-embellished bags. There's also a nod to Eastern opulence, in that there were a lot of bring pink and blue hues incorporated with gold jewelry. These dresses remind me of a high-end Bollywood production and I think that's nice. The clothes with a more subdued tone--with whites, reds, and grays--seem like the kind rich Russian princesses would wear (and by princesses, I mean the daughters of Russian Mafia bosses). It's a really cohesive collection and the banquet is rather awesome. I also noticed Uncle Karl's make-up minions are trying to bring the kohl effect back. I have to say, I like that even if I will never be able to pull it off. Congratulations, Uncle Karl. You are a class act.

Oh, and this is my favorite look (I still have a soft spot for Chanel because they have the uncanny ability of making every interpretation of their classic tweed jacket fantastic):

I didn't get Chanel this year but I sure do appreciate Bombay (!),

Reisha

Birthday Diaries: The John Lennon edition

2011-12-08T06:12:00.183+08:00

In which I write something about a date John Lennon and I share

When Adele was 21, she was writing about her pain, translating the heartache into beautiful lyrics full of passion, emotion and intesity. Now that I am 21, I am writing...well, blogs. Clearly, one of us has the hard luck case of underachieving and that is definitely not Adele.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about Adele. I will, however, talk about another music phenom, one that still influences me heavily thirty-one years after his death. People say rock stars are gods, now I don't know about you but I think John Lennon really lived up to that saying. In many ways, he was a visionary, a political activist and a music legend. And like real rock stars, he went away, not with a fizzle, but with a bang. It was 10:50pm of December 08, 1980, when a deranged fan (an insane hater is a more fitting description but "fan" is widely used) named Mark Chapman shot John Lennon in front of his building's driveway, at West 22nd Street in New York City.

He had seven gunshot wounds, two of which ultimately ended his life. The details of his death are a little bit fuzzy to me but as a fan, I know a few details:

That on that day, John and Yoko welcomed Annie Leibovitz into their home to shoot a few portraits of the couple and then of John alone, later on. This was at about 3 in the afternoon and the outcome of the said shoot are now considered iconic photographs. One of the photos was used as Rolling Stone's January 22, 1981 cover.
That on a mid-morning stroll with his nanny in the nearby Central Park, Sean Lennon met his father's killer. He was five then, and I'm pretty sure he can't even remember what the encounter was like.
That John Lennon signed an autograph for Mark Chapman, before entering his building's driveway. He asked him, "Is this all you want?" and Chapman sheepishly nodded yes. After the shooting, Chapman calmly took off his jacket to show the police that he's not concealing any weapons. He sat on the sidewalk, waiting for the police to arrive.
That once he was shot, John Lennon staggered into the steps of the building, saying "I'm shot, I'm shot!" Some people believe his last words were "Yes, I am", in response to the standard police question testing a victim's level of consciousness but the severity of his injuries make this impossible. He was most likely bleeding profusely from the mouth.
That there was no funeral for John Lennon, but a crowd of over 225,000 gathered in the nearby Central Park to offer ten minutes of silent prayer for Mr. Lennon.

I was born ten years later on the very same day. I am nowhere near the legend that is Mr. Lennon but I like the fact that I share something with one of my favorite artists even if it's a little macabre. It makes me feel a bit special for sentimental reasons, Lennon's music speaks volumes to me.

On a trip to New York, I was able to visit the building where John & Yoko lived and see for myself the driveway where Mr. Lennon breathed his last. It was an ultimate trek for any Beatles fan (NYC is not really a place to do a Beatles pilgrimage but it is my favorite place, so I like that it has at least a bit of Beatles history) and though it was pretty far from where I stayed, I still went there because I thought it would make someone I used to know very happy, wherever he is.

Indulge me, because not many great things happen on December 08. The United States entered WW2 in 1941. Jim Morrison was born in 1943 but then I am not a big Doors fan. Then, there's the feast day of the Immaculate Concepcion but I am not the most religious person in the world (if Jesus was indeed born on the 25th of December--I did watch a documentary that said he was, in fact, a September baby--, the Virgin Mary's pregnancy is one of the longest gestation periods in mammalian history). I guess it's fitting that I choose to tell the story of John Lennon's death on my birth date because I am more inclined to be familiar with his work than to anything else I have mentioned above.

The Dakota is located at the Upper West Side. It's at West 72nd Street, Central Park West. Right across it is the Strawberry Fields Park (inside Central Park, park within a park!), which was once the favorite walking spot of John and Yoko, a two and a half acre park with trees donated from all over the world. It's also home to the Imagine memorial, with the plate and stones donated by different nations in commemoration of John Lennon's musical influence.

The Dakota is guarded by security 24/7, which means the property itself is closed to visitors. Securing a spot in The Dakota is also super hard because they are selective, I read that the association even rejects the applications of rich industry magnates and famous celebrities but hey! It's a pretty sexy building. Yoko Ono still lives in the same building up to this day. It's also the setting for Roman Polanski's beautiful film, Rosemary's Baby. I'm not fan of horror movies but I do like that one. I also have a picture in the memorial because I am a cheesy fangirl. Heh. The best times to visit would be during Lennon's birthday or his death anniversary, but I hope you liked my pictures even if they were taken on a simple Saturday morning.

The Dakota

1 W 72nd St

(between W Central Park and 72nd St Transverse)

New York, NY 10023

Upper West Side

I've loved and I've lost

2011-12-02T06:39:00.003+08:00

This cover combines two of my favorites: the great singing from Florence and the Machine and Drake's Take Care. This is just so awesome. I find it fitting because Ceremonials (Florence and the Machine) and Take Care (Drake's) are the two albums I have on repeat right now. Isn't Florence so precious? :)

I know you've been hurt by someone else
I can tell by the way you carry yourself
If you let me, here's what i'll do
I'll take care of you
I've loved and lost

HAPPY FRIDAY! ♥

The proof of the pudding

2011-12-02T06:23:00.012+08:00

I realized my entries are a little heavy so let's have a bit of "light reading". Let me give you one reason why I love being in school again: I like it because it pushes me to be better. You know how it's so easy to want things and how it's very, very easy to dream about being this and that? It is, no? But really, how many people follow through and do the groundwork? Exactly. I also like that I can never (probably, will never) be complacent in grad school. There are always so many things I have to work on and every class is a reminder for improvement.

Truth be told, I don't think I'm at the level where I'm supposed to be but the mere fact that I enjoy being in class (despite the equivalent strain grad school brings to say, finances or work) means my learning is going somewhere (I hope to God it is). What I like best about graduate school is that I get to learn so many valuable things from such great people. My teacher, for one, gave sage advice for us who are pursuing further studies. Sure, these are related to our academic concerns (the first one for a published dissertation, the next one on a competitive master's program and the third, for presenting a paper without an outline or a thesis in an international conference) but I thought they're great stuff we could all apply in our lives.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I've always believed that anything worth doing is not worth doing badly.

It is so easy to earn a reputation for crap but it is not easy to live it down.

Then, I have my classmates who are all awesome in their own way. It's a little disturbing how we're always together in and out of class (or is that my loner tendencies talking?) but I find it nice that we all make an effort to build a relationship with one another, no matter how different we all are. We're currently in that phase where a lot of us quit our old work and have started new jobs, so some of us (like my friend Rach!) get to buy celebratory desserts after a rigorous three (sometimes, three and a half) hour class. (This time, we just finished a three hour and a half discussion on Quants! Quantitative methods! Homoscedasticity! The Central Limit Theorem! Hehe, I enjoyed it though.)

We had our weekly Friday chicken dinner at Manang's. One distinct trait of this group is that we have a propensity for eating so much chicken. I, being a big chicken fan myself, like that the structure was shaped that way (O, YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) If you're a weekend market fan, you'd know that Manang's is a famous stall in Mercato. They sell fried chicken coated with a special sauce (in original, spicy and some other thing. I usually just stick to the original, it's sweet and it tastes like soy garlic). I like Manang's better than Bon Chon but honestly, not better than Flaming Wings because the thick coating could use a little work. Anyway, eating at Manang's is cheap. A meal is only a little over 120 pesos and it makes for a satisfying dinner. Try it yourself! ;)

Then, we moved to Starbucks for even more talking over coffee and cakes. It was great. Although sometimes, I think Starbucks is the Meralco of coffee shops, in that the charges are steep but we all avail of the services anyway.

I really hope I get to be where my teachers are right now (On an IR level, of course. My teachers are really accomplished but still super cool! Although, I can't really talk about them extensively because they have incredible Google and Twitter-fu and it would be awkward in real life.) For now, I'm trying to figure out how to balance school and work better. There must be a system I haven't worked out just yet. After all, anything worth doing is not worth doing badly. ;)

Let me leave you with a funny clip from 30 Rock about graduate students:

Honestly, I don't even know if it's a satire or not. It can bring out the worst in people, or you know, the crazy. But it works, so hey! :)

La Flaneur

2011-12-02T05:33:00.001+08:00

Le Flâneur (music by The XX) from Luke Shepard on Vimeo

A magical video of Paris. This is so beautiful!

Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I'd never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn't know what. Maybe it was something I'd forgotten or something I've been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me.

~ Paris, Je T'Aime (2006)

The Other Benjamin

2011-11-30T23:39:00.008+08:00

I really like this picture of my grandparents that my cousin posted. My grandmother is 84 today but one of the things I love to do when I'm at her house is to look at their photo albums. The whole family wore such great clothes in the years past. My favorites are pictures from the fifties to the seventies because they were such colorful photos. My father and his siblings wore loud prints that clashed, bell-bottoms and those nifty aviator Raybans. It was a happy time. I loved those pictures.

I never got to meet my grandfather. He died when my dad was in his early twenties. I've heard a lot of great stories about him, people say he's a lot like my dad in that they look alike and they had the same gentle demeanor. I hear my Grandpa was, like my dad, also quite a fan of skincare products and smart dressing. He must have been a remarkable man. I can tell my father loved him dearly with the way he's always telling stories about him or what life was like when his dad was still around. I know he idolized him a lot. Once, on a book run (I used to make my Papa buy books I read for fun on any given weekend), my father was very pleased to find out I had Sinatra songs on my shuffle. He told me these songs were his dad's songs, and then he kept singing along until we got home. That was a very nice moment between Ben, Benjie, and I.

It will be December in a few hours. I lost my dad on a Thursday in December, two years ago. It was five days before my birthday and our conversations that day were simple but great, from what gift would I like to have (I said a Blackberry, he said, "Okay."), my plans after graduation (I only had a term left, he was so excited because he wanted me to go law school or take master's), and if I'd like to invite family over on my birthday (my uncle told me later on that he was in fact looking for crabs to cook on my birthday, they're my favorite so I know finding mud crabs in December is very hard). I still don't know what went wrong that day but I now know how to turn the switch off when I begin thinking about it.

You don't really forget the pain, you just learn how to live through it. Later on, I will find out that this valuable lesson is applicable to everything in life. You live through things. Nothing is ever that big of a deal because you can and will carry on. I never really imagined that he would never see me grow older or be the person he always wanted me to be, which is why I like this picture of my Grandpa.

I'd like to think this is how my Papa would've looked like had he grown older, same bushy eyebrows and that very friendly face. He is, after all, my grandfather's junior. Hello, Benjamins. I hope you're both enjoying heaven.

The Juice is Worth the Squeeze

2011-11-28T03:43:00.001+08:00

“Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”

Fire away

2011-11-25T00:12:00.006+08:00

‎"I'm grateful for anything that reminds me of what's possible in this life. Books can do that. Films can do that. Music can do that. School can do that. It's so easy to allow one day to simply follow into the next, but every once in a while we encounter something that shows us that anything is possible, that dramatic change is possible, that something new can be made, that laughter can be shared." -Jonathan Safran Foer

Happy Thanksgiving! Life threw me quite a big curve ball recently and while this "disaster" has challenged me to rethink my belief systems, the principles I uphold and the expectations I have from the people around me, it has also caused me to lose a lot of focus on important things like school and work, and even bus stops. I realized (but only after lamenting how sad it would be if I get run over just because I keep on thinking about things) life does go on no matter how much I moan and groan about my problems. I never paid any attention to the term "getting sidetracked" when I was younger, but I now know how important it is to get yourself together in the midst of crisis. While I can't control the actions of others, I can control myself. I admit I'm not perfect, in that I still have no (online) filter (sometimes) but I will get there, I promise. Many years from now, I will be the kind of woman who will get angry with nary a hair out of place.

Who are we kidding? I will be the kind of woman who raises hell in all circles. But today, that's not my point.

Even if I am burdened by the current situation that I am in *cryptic statements are cryptic*, I am still thankful for the support and wisdom of the people around me. I won't even pretend that I know the answers to all my problems or my feelings, which is why it's so important to me to have someone listen, whether it's to offer good advice or to act as a guiding light (and sometimes, when God shines a little light of mercy upon me, as a saving grace).

Finishing college and pursuing further studies doesn't automatically give me the wisdom I need to make it in the real world. While I think there is a nasty misconception regarding age and wisdom, I also think it's true that we're practically babies. What do we know, really? It's so easy for people who've been out in the real world longer to push us around because they know better. I used to cherish the moments when, on the road and out of the blue, my father imparts pieces of life advice for me to ponder. They are principles I take to heart to this day. Sure, these lectures did not make me a wonderful home person (because I hate picking up after myself, I am a messy slob) but they did make me strive to be better elsewhere. I am glad that even if he's gone, I still have a handful of people ready to be there for us when I am out of options, when I have no one to confide to. I've always thought there are people of action and then, there are people who are all talk.

Anybody who is ready to step up and be the better, bigger person will always have my love and respect. I value their counsel. Talking to them has made me realize a lot of things, one of which is to let go because grabbing a stubborn bull by the horns is futile. I will only end up hurting myself. The entire world can warn you about risks, but a person blinded by the hormones of love will not stop for red flags. Whoever listened to warnings about the perils of (what they think is) love? Love can be a form of blindness that closes the eye to one's most glaring faults. Women are different, and there are women who, in the glimmer of what seems to be love, can get impudent and out of control. Sure, I hurt and I am very disappointed (which is a kind word for the listless feelings of betrayal, deceit, and anger bubbling inside me. How can a person forget the principles she previously stood ferociously by?) but it's no use to hurt and be disappointed when people aren't ready to confront their demons. I will try to be the better person by turning the other way. It's not easy but I can try. For that, I am thankful. I'm thankful I have the chance to be better through the help of people around me. I'd like to think that one day, I, too, will possess grace under pressure, the simple wisdom of knowing what's right and wrong, the ability to make good in my promises and never lowering my standards or bending my principles. If my respect and feelings aren't given any importance, then I shouldn't overthink issues and let it rule over my life.

Once the storm has passed, I am certain it will be a wonderful life. I am over this childish crisis. It isn't mine.

The Impostor's Daughter

2011-11-15T17:58:00.015+08:00

This is my cousin's book and it's awesome so I thought I could write about it a bit to take my mind off the book I am currently reading (An expat's memoir about France, one that is so honestly written that it's just full of raw beauty. I am filled with so much wanderlust and I am not even halfway through! I guess it also helps that for every French man a heroine meets, I instantly imagine Yoann Gourcuff).

First, a summary: Laurie Sandell grew up in awe (and sometimes in terror) of her larger-than-life father, who told jaw-dropping tales of a privileged childhood in Buenos Aires, academic triumphs, heroism during Vietnam, friendships with Kissinger and the Pope. As a young woman, Laurie unconsciously mirrors her dad, trying on several outsized personalities (Tokyo stripper, lesbian seductress, Ambien addict). Later, she lucks into the perfect job–interviewing celebrities for a top women’s magazine. Growing up with her extraordinary father has given Laurie a knack for relating to the stars. But while researching an article on her dad’s life, she makes an astonishing discovery: he’s not the man he says he is–not even close. Now, Laurie begins to puzzle together three decades of lies and the splintered person that resulted from them–herself.

This will be short. You see, it's kind of hard to talk about graphic novels at length without getting into the illustration or giving away the story itself. Now that I already gave you the summary, I can also go ahead and say that this gem of a book has wonderful coloring (which is the only thing I could say about the technical aspect of the illustration, as I am not an expert). Truth be told, I've seen better drawings from, say, Craig Thompson, Adrian Tomine or even Lucy Knisley, but this book aces coloring (I realize it's completely wrong to compare illustrators because they differ in technique but I am a Philistine in illustration. I am not useful in articulating drawing differences or peculiarities at length). A story this complicated and somewhat dark can easily be translated into even darker drawings but this book did not. The illustrations remained warm and lively, and I really liked that. It didn't give the story any added weight, and it gave me (as a reader) something nice to look at, no matter how depressing Laurie's story got. There was balance and it was really essential in holding my attention, especially when everything got messy (and just atrocious). It is especially disconcerting for me because like Laurie, I loved my father a lot. It made me realize that even our greatest heroes are people too. And as most people, they are susceptible to shortcomings and human frailty. I admit I have the tendency to put the people I love in pedestals. This book made me realize that it shouldn't be that way all the time and if I insist, I'd have to always look away. I don't want that. In my book, blind deference is almost as ugly as the bitter truth.

In the end, (and I'll try not to spoil you as much as I can) Laurie was able to overcome the truth that she has unraveled by turning the other cheek. Giving people a free pass on their many shortcomings may be unacceptable to some, and I will be the first to admit that I am yet to learn the redeeming value in forgiveness of that kind, but Laurie and her siblings were able to do it. They were able to love their father the same way, even if he wasn't what he said he was. I first thought it was a little bit defeatist, letting things be like that but later on, I realized that forgiveness, in whatever form, is great.

Then, of course, the book has frames of this kind which I found raw but funny. Although I would never advocate what Laurie did, (the whole blame game, I'm lost with a lot of daddy issues thing? Just no) I enjoyed reading about it. Two wrongs don't make a right, kids, but they make for one hell of a story (and a book deal, if you're as lucky):

PS. You can learn more about the book (there are excerpts!) and the author in this interview with Jezebel.

Everybody hurts

2011-11-09T07:08:00.001+08:00

“Do you know what happens when you hurt people?’ Ammu said. ‘When you hurt people, they begin to love you less. That’s what careless words do. They make people love you a little less.”

― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

The Great Perhaps: Seattle & ferry boats

2011-11-04T12:47:00.009+08:00

I'm a little down because someone I look up to has let me down. And when I'm a little down, when I cannot make sense of strong women sinking into a level so low, I like writing about the places I love even when it's been years after I have been in them. I guess I do it to remind me of happier times, of where I can go, of what I can do and of how happy I can still be even on my own.

I didn't realize I took so many photos aboard ferries, which neighboring residents use to shuttle to and from the city proper. From Bremerton, it takes roughly thirty minutes to get to the Seattle ferry port but those thirty minutes are glorious. It is a comfortable medley of the sea breeze, birds flying overhead, wonderful boats you wave to when you pass them by, and smiling people under the sun. Late in the afternoon, the deck is a good place for people lost in thought or for people like me, who fancy watching the last fire of the setting sun. I like to watch the sky and sea bathe in the golden orange blaze of the afternoon sun, I like watching as it turns dark pink and then indigo, and then transition slowly into complete darkness as the ferry moves farther away from the city and the sun descends. At night, the ferry's deck becomes a place for lovers admiring the faint glow of the city lights and it just perfect. ~~Perfectly lonely~~.

This is a short photo set of that glorious thirty minutes of oneness, of mornings between the sea and self. A small reminder to ourselves of the vast oceans beyond us and the little that it takes to sail away.

Seattle is a nice place. Personally, I think it is a cross between San Francisco and New York City, two of my favorite places in the world. It has the climate and the relaxed easiness of North California, and it's also surrounded by so much water much like that small but magnetic island on the Eastern Seaboard. I could live here, if neither New York nor San Francisco works out. It is a beautiful place, beautiful enough to be a part of my personal version of The Great Perhaps. It is so easy to develop a thing for ferry boats, Derek Shepherd style. Like the fictional McDreamy, I didn't plan on liking Seattle but I do now. It is a lovely place.

A message from my dog

2011-10-30T15:38:00.001+08:00

This weekend, my dog convinced himself that he was a cat. Also, he wishes you a happy day!

Scampi Sundays!

2011-10-30T15:18:00.023+08:00

I thought I'd share what I had for lunch today and how I made it. I don't have any plans for the weekend, just read up on my YA, study a bit, and then pray for my dad. I'm very glad a new week (and month!) will be coming in tomorrow, though. I hated October a little, and November will be great. I can feel it!:)

SCAMPI SUNDAYS!

In which I share a recipe for shrimp scampi pasta^*

What you need:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

peeled and deveined medium-sized shrimp (about 250g.)

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (you can wave this off if you don't like heat, I don't)

salt and pepper

some pasta

chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (but basil is fine too)

(some people add white wine, about half a cup but I suggest skip this step and drink the damn thing instead)

What you need to do:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until just tender. Reserve a portion of pasta-cooking water (this is a legit Giada DiLaurentis cooking tip), then drain pasta. Heat oil in a pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté shrimp, turning over once, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Add garlic to oil remaining in skillet along with red pepper flakes, wine (if you're maarte), salt, and pepper and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Add butter to skillet, stirring until melted, and stir in shrimp. Remove skillet from heat. Toss pasta well with shrimp mixture and parsley in large bowl, adding some of reserved cooking water if necessary to keep moist (or they will clump together).

Eat. Enjoy.

^*This is a relatively fool-proof but absolutely delicious dish, once you get the timing for cooking the shrimp right. Shrimp when undercooked is just bad, it's mushy and it will leave an itchy sensation on your tongue. When overcooked, on the otherhand, shrimp is just tough and useless so you have got to watch your shrimp carefully. It must turn into a beautiful pink with the body slightly puffy from the deveining--that's when you remove the long vein at the back of the shrimp's body. Many celebrity cooks like Ina Garten and Giada DiLaurentis have their own versions of shrimp scampi. This is mine. It's not way off the original version but when I make one for myself, I tend to fill it up with so much garlic. It's delicious.

Here comes the sun, little darling

2011-10-27T22:43:00.019+08:00

Ten things that make me happy (We're celebrating despite this week being an extremely crappy week because the fact that I can tell that it's a crappy week means I've already had happier, better ones. Things like that are celebratory enough):

1. Reading good books

2. My own personal spirit team. In this age of listlessness and general uncertainty, it's so easy to give up on everything you once wanted ~~or thought you needed~~. It's easy to convince yourself that you are not good at it, that the journey is long and hard, and that all signs point to the exit door. But while it's so easy to give up on yourself, it's not so easy to let friends and family down especially when they believe in you, when they see something in you that you don't see yourself. With that, you try harder even if you don't want to anymore. You begin to become more resilient. And the fruits of resilience, as we all know, is just magnificent.
3. Tequila Rose margaritas and/or Strawberry flavored Grand Margaritas
4. Grey's Anatomy and Happy Endings, but mostly Derek Shepherd and all that hair. (A close runner-up would be Teddy Altman and her chiseled cheekbones accentuated by her big, goddess of a hair)
5. Stamps on my passport because there is nothing more spectacular than the pleasure of leaving
6. Movies that remind me of my childhood like Matilda and Little Rascals
7. Long conversations over coffee
8. Humility and generosity from accomplished people because there is a certain, almost Nirvana-like sense of security that only success (or an extremely well-rounded and healthy personality) can bring. There is nothing more humbling or inspiring than seeing someone so successful rise above it all, while other people scramble around for whatever it is they're looking for. Speaking of accomplished people, I love this Foreign Policy article on Condoleezza Rice and this foreign policy heavy transcript of Madame Secretary's interview with TIME (not that they fit what I just wrote but I multi-task, so.)
9. Fun (fictional) stories like New York's 20 Under 10 from Thought Catalog
10. The chance to feel and the chance to start all over again. Down days are temporary. Emotions are temporary. Voluminous amounts of sadness, anger, and depression come and go so it's okay to fight them and it's perfectly alright to feel them. It's okay to be sad, broken, and moody because these feelings are not permanent. We don't have to be happy all the time and when we feel less than stellar, that only means that after the dark and twisty days, we're going to run into happiness once again.

I think happiness is hard work. It is impossible to be happy all the time and to feel that everything is fine and dandy, especially in a world where disappointment management is routine. Life can sometimes feel like a confusing cycle of all things shitty and wonderful, of good luck and impeccably bad timing, of love and loss and the good can sometimes feel incommensurate with the bad. That doesn't mean that we have to stop working for what makes us happy, though. And to work for your happiness means feeling both sadness and glee to a fault, to push yourself into finding something hopeful amidst the bad: when you fail a test you wanted to ace, when friends say something that sting, when friends suddenly turn into strangers, when there is just too much going on yet you feel like it's all going nowhere, when you are sick, when you don't see eye to eye with your parents, when the general feeling of listlessness suddenly overwhelms you, when life isn't just as peachy as you planned it to be three years ago, when you don't feel like you will ever be enough, when you feel like you're being left behind, when you feel stuck, when you miss the people who are far away or those who are gone forever, when you feel like your whole world is held up by a thread that will snap one day soon, so that you can discern for yourself what is the real balance of happy and sad and how you gain something for anything and everything that you lack.

And when you do, when the dust settles back into the ground and you finally go back to all that is good and fantastic, tell the whole world about it. Truth be told, we could all use a little jolt of something bright. We all love a promise to a happy ending. Smile. The dog days are over or at least they will be, very soon. All will be well.

Let me leave you with a short list of songs that I listen to whenever I feel less than stellar:

1. The Dog Days Are Over - Florence and the Machine

Happiness hit her like a train on a track, coming towards her stuck, still no turning back

2. The Ills - Mayer Hawthorne / Mr. Blue Sky - Mayer Hawthorne

You know the ills of this world they can get you down but then you get back up

3. Dust Me Off - Tilly and the Wall

Got to remember to fight off the darkness that comes in, sometimes

Turn that sorrow into something that feels right

4. White Nights - Oh Land

There's a restlessness in me, keeps me up until the dawn

There is no silence, I will keep following the sirens

5. Roll With The Punches - Lenka

When life tries to knock all the wind out of you, you've got to roll, roll, roll with the punches

If all life offers is black and blue, you've got to roll, roll, roll with the punches

6. Clockwatching - Jason Mraz

Let's get backwards, and forget our restless destination

Let's live in the moment just in time, could we?

7. Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club

Something good can work and it can work for you, and you know that it will

Let's get this started girl, we're moving up, we're moving up

It's been a lot to change but you will always get what you want

and my personal favorite...

8. Let's Dance to Joy Division - The Wombats

Let's dance to joy division, and celebrate the irony

Everything is going wrong, but we're so happy

Let's dance to joy division, and raise our glass to the ceiling

Cos this could all go so wrong, but we're so happy

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

2011-10-27T22:06:00.010+08:00

Two straight nights of chicken with my graduate school friends. I have to say that food is a strong motivation in graduate school. That and my obvious lack of a unique, potentially lucrative skill set (like drawing or computer programming or schmoozing), more than anything else. I shouldn't even be eating because I didn't perform very well this week. I did a total 360 and played like LeBron in the fourth quarter when I got to the second part of my test. (That is a basketball reference, basically LeBron James plays like a little bitch baby in the fourth quarter of many crucial games. He's a great player but when he chokes, he chokes hard.)

As for the food, I have to say that Flaming Wings is infinitely better than Bon Chon. I get it. I get the paper thin skin that comes from a double fried chicken but Bon Chon chicken is not flavorful enough. Good chicken, definitely, but not something I'd choose over, say, Jollibee. Flaming Wings wins it in the wings department (I had a standard 3-pc. Chicken Wings (Soy Garlic) set in Bon Chon, 135php), it comes out cheaper (their Buffalo wings are sold for 147php, six pieces) plus they have more options and they have bigger servings too. Bon Chon Taft, in particular, is a little poor in frontline service. Perhaps it was because we came in at ten and the staff was just sleepy and tired so the cashier acted like she wanted to be slapped in the face. Still, something has to be done. I never complain about service but this store needs to work on theirs.

Bon Chon Chicken

GF, University Mall

Taft Ave., Manila

__________________________

By the way, I stole a couple of photos from my classmate, Jay. Also, I really look dopey in real life. I have a particularly pathetic look on my face and I hate it. Add it to my lack of physical aptitude and a general gift of bad luck and you have a girl whose daily life is made up of tiny disasters. It adds up, you know, and it's disturbing to be so out of it most of the time that if I were a T.V. producer and my life was a show, I'd write my character off my own show. (Looking at you, Courtney Cox) /end of self-loathing.

Crunchy Choose day

2011-10-25T22:54:00.014+08:00

It's a Choose day! Choose chicken. I have a BIG test tomorrow but hardly big enough (nothing ever is) to deter my appetite after a study session. I can't wait for Wednesday to be over, mostly because I am in need of a drink to cap this week off.

Flaming Wings' buffalo wings (Mild and sweet, bleu cheese sauce)

Ramen to that!

2011-10-24T00:21:00.028+08:00

Ahoy! This week has been a whirlwind. It started with Monday and my willing myself to get better so that I can do ALL the things I wanted/had to do, in the middle of the week, I had class which I attended with a disgusting coughing fit (the victory lap of the sickness in my body, I guess) and then the week ended with me being in a limbo (productivity wise) and throwing all caution to the wind¹. It disturbs me that my work ethic is a bit bipolar, in that if I want to apply myself, I get really bossy and very into what I'm doing but if I don't want to work at all, not even the hand of God can make me. I'm going to work on re-calibrating that work/semblance of a life balance soon enough.

I did get lucky with friends and food this week though! For one, I had the pleasure of dining at Ramen Bar early this week. I must say, my instincts were right. The food is terrific. I've been wanting to get in touch with my inner Ramen Girl for quite a while now so I made a beeline for the ramen-ya when I found myself hungry in a remotely unknown area (The Fort).

Ramen Bar has a simple menu. I like the fact that their whole selection is printed on paper placemats. I think it's a very novel idea because having the menu right in front of you as you eat leaves you with a pretty strong urge to order something extra, especially when the food is so good.

The choices are straightforward and I really liked that because there are very few things more annoying than fussy menus (see: any food combinations that end with "emulsion" and/or "...topped with a cloud of *insert name of non-descript cheese*") They have a small selection of Japanese appetizers like Edamame (Young Japanese soy beans boiled in sea salt for 120php, very addictive) and Kakuni Buns (Pork belly wrapped in a white bun very reminscent of the Cantonese mantao bread, 180php), and if you have all the money in the world, I suggest you sample both. But the star of the noodle house would be their ramen bowls, of course. I counted about six in their menu and judging from what I had that day, I'm pretty sure each bowl is so darn satisfying.

I chose a side order of Chasyu. Chasyu is Japanese grilled pork. In Cantonese restaurants, it's called Char Siu and is often sliced thick and roasted with sugar and five spice powder. The Japanese version, Chasyu, uses pork belly instead of the usual shoulder. Judging by its clean and delicate flavor, I'm guessing Ramen Bar's Japanese chasyu is braised until it is soft and moist. This cooking process allows the chasyu to complement most (if not all) of the soup stocks in the ramen-ya. In Ramen Bar, each slice of pork belly has a wonderful layer of fat and meat and the ratio between the two is top-notch. Ramen Bar's chasyu slices are on the middle range, too. Not too thin but not too thick either, plus it wasn't greasy at all.

I have to stop here and remember just how milky and savory these slices of pork belly were, served with a side of honey soy sauce, soy sauce, some oil and a dollop of mayo. Personally, I enjoyed eating the pork belly slices with a little bit of the sweet sauce and the crisp ribbonettes of what I think are leeks and chives.

A plateful of Chasyu is priced at 120 pesos only. It's the same price you pay if you want Edamame. There was a very short debate going in my head at that time but eventually, the vicious carnivore in me won the argument. I'm glad it did. I regret nothing. The Chasyu was the highlight of my meal.

As for my noodles, I really wanted to get the Super Chasyu Ramen (380php), a soy-infused tonkotsu (tonkotsu means pork bone soup, usually boiled for over 20 hours) ramen topped with overflowing slices of chasyu and tamago since I knew that it packs so much flavor and would have a deceptively milky broth, but I didn't (because it was expensive and I already had a Chasyu plate).

I had a bowl of Shoyu ramen (280php) instead, a soy infused tonkotsu ramen topped with tamago (soft-boiled egg marinated for 48 hours), naruto (fish sticks), negi (dried seaweed) and chasyu (I believe this was explained at length somewhere in this entry). It was excellent. Imagine this: really hearty & savory (but fatty) soy-based broth, fresh kansui/egg noodles, superior slices of pork belly and that ni-tamago exploding with so much flavor you can't really explain. A good ni-tanago will have a set white part but a soft and runny yolk. It'll have a subtle flavor because it's steeped (not boiled) in stock for hours. There lies an entirely different kind of elation once you bite into the egg and the yolk oozes out to join the soup in your soup spoon.

Noodles are always such a treat to eat. :)

Ramen Bar at the Piazza has two promos for its customers. There's the Ramen Bar Twitter Tuesday! where diners can stave off 10% from their bill by tweeting a promotional line for Ramen Bar. On Saturdays, they have a Facebook promo and though the instructions escape me at the moment, I would wager that it's probably along the lines of promoting the restaurant via the site. I'm not sure why I am telling you this but perhaps it will help if you're a cheapskate planning to visit.

I really enjoyed Ramen Bar. It is definitely worth your money, a bit more than your token Japanese fast food chains but personally, I believe expensive food is food you pay for even if you did not enjoy eating it.

Have some fun. Have a good bowl of noodles. Ramen Bar is located at The Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill, The Fort. There's also a branch at Unit 4-A, 1800 building, Eastwood City.

________________
¹ I have to say that the outcome of doing this was extremely satisfying, my superior flakiness aside.

A study in cupcakes

2011-10-20T14:45:00.023+08:00

Honestly, I'm a better cook than baker, but there are not many dishes that can indulge my insatiable love for chocolate so sometimes, I turn to baking. Well, actually that's a bit of a lie. There are quite a lot of chocolate-based dishes out there (from foie gras, chocolate pasta, chocolate covered chicken wings, chocolate oxtail stew to what I believe would be my personal kryptonite once I finally make them, chocolate-covered bacon) but I'm not ready for any of them just yet.

Today, we're going to do a study of the perfect manipulating tactic (up there with compassion and generosity): cupcakes that can and will kill. I am yet to meet someone who'll say no to cupcakes. I am also yet to meet a person who will turn down a box of cupcakes lovingly baked and boxed for his/her consumption. Cupcakes are the new red roses, I swear. Also, it's deceptive. A box of cupcakes may be guised as a gift but you'll never really know. Is it laced with cyanide? (My classmate Kat asked me if I could make cyanide-laced cupcakes for people. Let us hope for my sake that I can't.) Was it thoughtfully sent because you are liked or was it given to you so you can destroy your waistline with your own volition? Tricky, tricky.

No, seriously, this is just a pseudo-process post of a small baking session I gave in to because I had nothing better to do (actually, I did but in typical fashion, I didn't want to do it so I baked instead). Warning: Too much chocolate is bad for asthmatics. Believe me, I know. Let's begin.

The first step is to gather the chocolates you have lying around at home. Typically, I use chocolates that I don't like eating on their own. An example of chocolates you devour in its purest: Royce' Nama Chocolate with Cherry Marnier, an assortment of Lindt Lindor truffles and Patchi chocolates from Beirut. Chocolates you use for baking projects: Please see picture above. It's a simple analogy, really: ~~If you're going to do crack, do grade A crack.~~ Oh my God, I don't know why I'm writing these things down.

Next, pick out the basics. These are chocolates that do not have nuts or rice krispies in them. I have a fondness for dark chocolates so the majority of chocolate blocks in my cupcakes are dark. Special dark, actually. Mildly sweet, they have the flavor and consistency of baking chocolate.

Then, you have to strip the chocolates off their wrapping paper. That sounds so dramatic but whatever. The fun part is that you have to take a knife and chop these beautiful morsels into even tinier pieces. Delightful, really. This is the highlight of the whole baking process, if I may say so myself.

Chopped chocolates deserve three gold stars! My papa used to tell me that the stars and moon follow me around because I'm a very good little girl, and that they will stop following me if I misbehave. When I started getting stars in school, I immediately thought I must be very, very good to get so many stars around me. Thus, the birth of my inflated ego. That is a totally unrelated note but whenever I cook or bake, I get a tad nostalgic and I remember my father. I remember the disapproving look on his face which lasts up until he eats whatever it is I just made. :) Oh-kay, moving on...

The next parts are the boring parts of the baking process. Of course, you have to dump all your cupcake ingredients in a bowl and beat them with an electric mixer. A lot of bakers have a beat this, beat that first, incorporate crap one by one into crap (LOL, JK. The eggs into the batter, not crap) kind of rule but I don't do that. I just dump mine in the bowl. (The recipe for my butter cupcakes is at the bottom part of this entry, right under the cut)

Next, you have to beat your mixture until it's smooth (make sure the lumps go away). I'm not sure if this is a legitimate baking tip but I like to aerate my batter so that my cupcakes come out light and fluffy. By aerate, I just mean incorporating a bit of air into the batter. (This is easier if you use a handheld electric mixer, which I do) At the end of mixing, the batter should be thick and rich.

The baking process gets better once you have to marry the chocolate bits into the batter. Oh, it is just lush, mixing the tiny bits of dark chocolate into a creamy, rich batter and then folding it over and over to ensure that the chocolates are, er, well-distributed.

This is what it looks like when you're done mixing. Strong-willed people are able to keep their fingers off the sides of the bowl. I have to say, I am not one of those people and although it probably puts me at risk for salmonella poisoning, I will keep tasting the batter for as long as I'm baking. The little things, people. Enjoy it.

Next, you have to line your muffin pan with paper cups. I use two for each cupcake because my cups are on the cheap side (read: thin) These are not butter cupcakes you see in the picture but we need an example. I used a photo from when I baked chocolate cupcakes for my sister's end of exams celebration (Any excuse to eat, no?). By the way, it's more practical if you use an ice cream scoop to fill your pans. The cupcakes cook evenly that way.

See how Max from 2 Broke Girls does it? I'd like to think I bake like her but then she's from Brooklyn and I'm a broke girl from the Third World. Also, she has a killer rack and I just walk along the lines of killer whale. By the way, this show is so good. It's even better than New Girl. It will also leave you craving for cupcakes and/or a chance to punch hipsters in the face.

The cupcakes go into a preheated 325F oven for exactly 20 minutes. My oven is a little wonky so I check every ten minutes and turn the sides of my baking pans for even cooking. When done, your butter cupcakes should be a nice golden brown.

The cupcakes should taste fine on their own. The best part is when you bite into the cupcake and you taste the buttery cake and the bits of dark chocolate all at once. Eeez fantastic.

The last part is leaving the cupcakes to cool on a rack but since I'm a lazy ass, I just leave them on a big plate to set. Of course, my sister had to talk me into making a small bowl of marshmallow icing for her own set of cupcakes (I gave her six). I don't pipe icing very well so I just use a spoon.

When in doubt, add marshmallow icing! Personally, I think my butter cupcakes taste better without frosting. For me, they're best paired with coffee. ♥

There you have it, 24 pieces of cupcakes and an asthma attack waiting to happen. :) Butter cupcake recipe, as promised, is under the cut!

Culture Curious

2011-10-20T11:20:00.007+08:00

In which The New York Times stroke your ego to get proper feedback because survey pop-ups are so uncool like¹.

I took a short personality quiz from The New York Times today and I think it's very clever on their part to come up with a visual DNA personality quiz to get feedback from their readership. I read NYT all the time but like most people, I choose not to answer the reader feedback surveys they used to have. Anyway, this is really nice and because I am my number one ~~pimp~~fan, I think it to be true. Try it yourself.

PS. Here's my result:

You are culturally adve nturous in all walks of life and love to explore different avenues of tastes and trends. Because your body is also important to you, you look for flavors that are unusual but still healthy and delicious, and you are constantly on the lookout for the next food trend. When all is said and done, you are a bit of an intellect with a tendency to do a spot of soul searching from time to time.

You're sophisticated and inquisitive with a real passion for art and culture. You pride yourself on being an early adopter of the latest music and films and always like to have a good book on the go. Your ability to bring together very diverse and even dissenting opinions is rooted in your appreciation for all points of view. You believe in immersing yourself in interesting experiences that make you look at people, places and opportunities from new angles. Being sensitive and creative you want to feel connected to the world around you and actively seek out opportunities to explore it. It's all about broadening your horizons and living life to the full. Anything else would not fulfill your curious nature. You'll love the list of The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, the Critics' Picks and Arts Beat.

How you like me now? ;) *shades on, hair flip*

_____________
¹ This is a Charlie reference.

Weggnesday

2011-10-19T23:59:00.008+08:00

Hello, person. It's a Wednesday! Happy hump day! Tonight, I had class which was really nice and then, I went home and made myself something to eat because I was hungry. Any activity related to graduate school always leaves me starving because I am stricken with the disease of eating my feelings. Anyway, I'm sharing my own recipe for the egg salad dip thingy because I love eggs, it's what I had for tonight and this is fairly easy to make:

What you need:

2 hard boiled eggs, mashed

A pinch of salt and pepper

1 tbsp. mayonnaise (I actually use about half a tablespoon of mayo and just add more truffle oil)

1 tbsp. truffle oil (I get mine from Santi's)

chives (just a sprig, chopped, do not tear unlike a lazy girl I know i.e., me)

What you need to do:

Combine everything in a bowl. Sprinkle with chopped chives. Serve with soda crackers (you can also use it as a sandwich spread but I don't like bread so, there you have it. You may also eat it with rice but then that would make you a very gross and sort of disturbing person). Also, I think it tastes better if you chill it for a bit but that's just me.

Let me describe the taste of this small but powerful wonder: mashed hard-boiled eggs when mixed with mayo, turn into a creamy, rich, and tasty mess. Then, the truffle oil intensifies the flavor of the egg salad with its earthy, strong, woody undertones. It does not do much for the taste but it makes the salad smell so fragrant and heavenly. I ♥ truffles. Cap that off with the pungent bite of the fresh chives and the crisp, salty soda crackers and you have a light snack that's extremely satisfying. If you are still having trouble imagining how amazing this would taste, may I suggest a slice of bread and some Lily's peanut butter instead? I will also throw in a small prayer for your poor soul.

While snacking (Oh God, I have an unrelenting penchant for snacking), I went on with my movie and TV viewage because I have decided that what I do not want to do today (Review of Related Literature for my research class), I will do tomorrow. I realize that I am a living challenge to Ben Franklin's secret to success because everything that I can do today, I put off for next week. I am never going to discover something as big as electricity. *sigh*

I watched Flipped, which is always a good movie to watch because it has so many winning points. (A few examples would be: the screenplay, Callan McAulliffe and the fabulous soundtrack--it has The Chiffons' One Fine Day, Big Bopper's Chantilly Lace and The Everly Brothers' Crying in The Rain. I mean, seriously? I would like to give each and every member of this ensemble a hug.)

In this scene, Julie Baker delivers fresh eggs to Bryce Loski. He does not know it yet but Julie Baker is the girl he should be with. At this point, let me send a shout out to all you Julie Bakers out there. Where my weirdos at?

And then I continued my "Grey's Anatomy seasons 1 to 8: a revisit" marathon. I was so into this show from when I was fifteen up until college, I forgot how good it is. My favorite season is still the first one but it's raining babies in season 8 and my ovaries are exploding in approval :

McDreamy and Zola/McSteamy and Sofia. Surgeons make the sexiest dads but the cutest baby award goes to baby Sofia. "Oh my god, she's crack baby!" Have you guys seen the episode where she rolls over and falls off a couch? Cutest. Ever. That does not sound right (I am mean but not to babies) but you just have to watch it.

All in all, it was a great way to end a Wednesday. I am incredibly behind with what I need to write for school but oh well, tomorrow is another day.

44 Bookers in 25 Words Each

2011-10-18T01:05:00.005+08:00

The Man Booker Prize, for the best novel published in the past year by a citizen of a country in the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland, is one of the most prestigious literary accolades given for a single work of fiction in the English-speaking world. In light of the October 18th announcement of the 2011 prize, the Review's editors asked Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the U.S. National Book Awards, to provide a bite-sized "take" on each Booker or Man Booker recipient (its sponsorship changed in the 1990s). He responded with precisely 25 words on each and every winner.

1969 -- Something to Answer For by P. H. Newby -- Who? Shockingly good. Graham Greene crossed with Steve Erickson: Personal and political melt into a man without memory. Appropriate that the Booker was a newbie.

1970 -- The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens -- Abraham and Sarah raise a different sort of dysfunctional brood. This is Sholem Aleichem's "Tevya and His Daughters" made into a wonderfully contemporary, psychological novel.

1971 -- In a Free State by V. S. Naipaul -- No one writes better about how oppression oppresses everyone it touches, including the oppressor. The book's last section is subtly complex and brilliantly nuanced. Marvelous.

1972 -- G. by John Berger -- Truly a reader's book, with hints of Marx and Stendhal and Robbe-Grillet hiding within. No one mixes reason and art like Berger, every sentence intriguing.

1973 -- The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell -- Start with a measure of stupid British commercial imperialism, add spoonfuls of ironic heroism, Anglican bible-thumping, and Victorian sexual naiveté. A real romance of cynicism.

1974 (shared) -- The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer -- Everyone talks about Gordimer and race in South Africa, but she's an incomparable artist with words, on every page a gem worth repeating to friends.

1974 (shared) -- Holiday by Stanley Middleton -- Middleton shows consummate craft in an exploration of marriage told in flashback. So many Bookers take place near water; it should be the (Sea)Man Booker.

1975 -- Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala -- Hard to believe that this book was written by a German-Jewish woman from Britain. A stingingly vivid embedding of alienation in an alienating country.

1976 -- Saville by David Storey -- I love British class-accent-based coming-of-age novels that civilly depict uncivilized behavior. Sons and Lovers without the paternal abuse and Lawrence's overbearing ideology, an immerging story.

1977 -- Staying On by Paul Scott -- This belongs to the "What were we thinking?" School of British Literature. It's not post-colonial, it's post-purpose. Read it with Scott's Raj Quartet: They intersect.

1978 -- The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch -- Insightful story of a retired man who pretends that forty years of an unfulfilled life do not exist. Intellectually intriguing and emotionally compelling: A masterpiece.

1979 -- Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald -- Creeps up on you, like the tide, with great story rhythms. Chock-full of pathos, few sentences stand out, but the whole makes up for it.

1980 -- Rites of Passage by William Golding -- When historical fiction overlays contemporary sensibilities onto the past instead of trying to approximate that era's sensibilities (see The French Lieutenant's Woman), a corker results

1981 -- Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie -- Winner of the Booker of Bookers (twenty-fifth and fortieth anniversaries). Not only one of the best but most representative of what the Bookers look for.

1982 -- Schindler's List (published in the U.K. asSchindler's Ark) by Thomas Keneally -- Novel? History? Doesn't matter. Keneally smartly situates victims and survivors at the center. Powerful reminder of when compassion battles brutality…and wins…but only sometimes.

1983 -- Life & Times of Michael K by J. M. Coetzee -- It may be a cliché, but this book is like a traffic accident observed in slow motion. You grimace constantly but you can't look away.

1984 -- Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner -- As languidly sensual as the English get (again with the water!). In America they would call this a "snowbound" book, a modern classic of regret.

1985 -- The Bone People by Keri Hulme -- Reads like it was tapped out on a manual typewriter in a wilderness shack by a first-timer. Visceral and affecting. Among the Bookers, sui generis.

1986 -- The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis -- Codgers and regrets go together like horses and carriages. Not Amis's best, but it's a cohesive portrait of aging curmudgeons by the quintessential aging curmudgeon.

1987 -- Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively -- The most attractive, unrepentant female curmudgeon ever, passionate sex, intellectually exciting, and socially upending. My first Fitzgerald: couldn't put it down, will read it again.
1988 -- Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey -- Carey specializes in extraordinary people in uncivilized environments. His language grows more ambitious with each book, with greater risks and more accomplishment. Read 'em all

1989 -- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro -- I have read three perfect novels in my life, and this is one of them. The British class system as realism, symbolism, and metaphor. Brilliant.

1990 -- Possession by A. S. Byatt -- One hopes that literary prizes get it right sometimes. This is one of those times. Read slowly and carefully, and don't skip over the poetry.

1991 -- The Famished Road by Ben Okri -- Raises the coming-of-age novel to the thrill of epic, candidate for the Great Nigerian Novel. Okri is a worthy successor to Achebe, predecessor to Adichie.

1992 (shared) -- Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth -- A post-swashbuckling saga of corrupt antiheroes on the Main, highly structured and powerfully languaged, a call-and-response plotting of moral relativism before the British abolition of slavery's Triangle Trade.

1992 (shared) -- The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje -- The love stories twist you in knots while the beauty of Ondaatje's language creates an internal landscape to match the sublime vastness of the desert.

1993 -- Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle -- The title explains much of it. A kid's romp in the not-quite-mean streets, and one of the best evocations of the "loomingness" of childhood.

1994 -- How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman -- Who hasn't awakened in an alley missing his shoes? Portrait of the downsliding of a soon-to-be down-and-out, the prose style mirrors the story's blithery content.

1995 -- The Ghost Road by Pat Barker -- One of the best "if war is hell then the First World War is heller" subgenre books of political conflict writing. Like someone's dark soul imprinted.

1996 -- Last Orders by Graham Swift -- A really affecting novel of community and
regret, though since The Big Lebowski no one can throw a crematee into the sea without comic relief.

1997 -- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy -- One of those books that people say you should read because of its themes; instead, read it (aloud) for the sheer pleasure of hearing words

1998 -- Amsterdam by Ian McEwan -- McEwan is Britain's big-concept, zeitgeist writer, whose personal stories engage with political ideas. Always intelligent and readable, Amsterdam's his take on death and dying.

1999 -- Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee -- Coetzee could win the Man Booker with every book. A man steadily loses control; in the face of gathering darkness, his social presence turns translucent.

2000 -- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood -- Character-driven and illusive, the dissatisfactions of women intertwine in the fictions they tell themselves and one another through the generations. Kate Chopin meets Robertson Davies.

2001 -- True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey -- For Americans, a revelation that other places had legendary bandits (Robin Hood? Joaquin Murrieta?). Carey's fabulous style creates a link between language and life story.

2002 -- Life of Pi by Yann Martell -- The fable that made the Booker fabulous, mingling Robinson Crusoe, Steinbeck's story "Lifeboat," Animal Planet, and Khalil Gibran. Don't believe the overhype: It reads good.

2003 -- Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre -- The least British British novel I've ever read. Absorbing, more Denis Johnson than Samuel Johnson, with gangly prose as if written by a stringy convict.

2004 -- The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst -- Class and sex, sex and class. It beautifully brings out the
status of gay men as "ethnics," in an otherwise traditional British tale of "passing."

2005 -- The Sea by John Banville -- Another Booker about old men and the sea (see Murdoch, 1978). Few novelists write more beautiful prose than Banville…and most of them are dead.

2006 -- The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai -- It's hard not to admire this book. A big, heart-rending story of Indians who leave and Indians who stay, and those who came and went.

2007 -- The Gathering by Anne Enright -- Very earnest story of sex, death, family, and middle-age desire. The sentences are so astoundingly ambitious that their risk-taking beauty can keep you from sobbing.

2008 -- The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga -- Surprisingly good, because some literary pundits badmouthed it for lack of complexity. The best of what happens when a journalist writes a socially relevant novel.

2009 -- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel -- English history is a fetish for the Brits, like Star Wars for the Yanks: They love to parade in costumes and jostle with their (anti)heroes.

2010 -- The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson -- We've been waiting 800 years for the British Messiah, but instead of a messiah we get messhugah. Also read Kalooki Nights. It's even better.

This piece is by Harold Augenbraum. He is the Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the U.S. National Book Awards. Asked what his favorite Booker Winners and Short List selections have been over the past 42 years, he responded, "The Sea, The Sea; The Sea; and C."

The hungry stay foolish

2011-10-17T11:50:00.008+08:00

Warm cookies on a Monday morning, no big deal.

A time for everything

2011-10-17T01:26:00.003+08:00

Manila, 01:05 AM. A glass of Shiraz and Marcel Pagnol's The Time of Secrets and The Time of Love.

Things I did this weekend: Chicken out

2011-10-12T05:09:00.003+08:00

Tried a recipe for Sticky Ginger Garlic Chicken Wings. It was good but eventually, I realized that I have absolutely no business giving into my craving for chicken wings because the cooking process is unforgiving. Oh well, it was delicious.

It's Choose Day! Choose Mayer Hawthorne.

2011-10-11T11:14:00.011+08:00

The wonder that is Mayer Hawthorne just released How Do You Do (I think the vinyl version comes out today!). I fan girl over him a lot in Twitter and I think I do that for good reason. If you listen to his songs and watch him perform, you would soon find out that this guy is a rockstar but not just any rockstar, he's a class act.

For one, his songs are perfectly arranged so you can just listen to his album all day. Two, he looks and acts like he belongs in a George Clooney-Ryan Gosling movie, like he knows exactly how to charm you and leave you craving for his approval. (Filed in: Untoward prejudicial statements on people I have never even met. May also be filed in: Disturbing illusions that I hope the world will not shatter. Ever.) He's so guapo in a "Well, hell-o. I am a throwback soul singer who looks like a cross between Don Draper, a young Sinatra and a hipster" kind of way. What. A. Fox. Third, damn, there is no third. Are you kidding me? It's been a year since I got my hands on his Strange Arrangement album and listening to "Make Her Mine" still makes me fall in love (when you do get Strange Arrangement for yourself, listen to "Your Easy Lovin' Aint Pleasin' Nothin'", "No Strings", "Let Me Know", "The Ills" and "Green Eyed Love" as well. Killer songs, I tell you!) He also released an EP called "Impressions" earlier this year but except for the fantastic crooning in the beauty that is "You've Got The Makings of a Lover", I can't say I liked it that much.
Echoing Keishia, who runs this music blog, I also think Mr. Hawthorne's new album is nice but it's no Strange Arrangement. That first one was perfect. To romantacize it a bit, I could say it transcended ages. There's something so sexy about soul. There's always something sexy about soul. Anyway, we're not here to wax philosophical about the wonderful album that is Strange Arrangment. We're here to welcome new things! (Mostly, new tracks from the new album!)
Here's a quick rundown of my favorite tracks from his new album, "How Do You Do." My favorite is, of course, the sexy track "No Strings". I first heard this in January of 2011 and I think it's great that he included a more upbeat version in the album. It sounds a lot more live than the old track I used to listen to. I also like "Finally Falling", "Get to Know You", "The Walk", and "Hooked". I was so excited to hear "Can't Stop", a track he worked on with Snoop Dogg, but I have to say that their collaboration on "Gangsta Luv" is so much better. The album is still wonderful though. It's a lot of fun to listen to. Also, I really liked reading "And to all the beautiful women in the world: thanks for the inspiration. - Mayer Hawthorne" at the bottom of his new album's thank you message (what do you call this part of the album?) for no reason other than I am a girl, he is sexy, and messages like that excite me.
I love this live performance of No Strings. He also covers Beautiful for a bit at the end (you know, that Pharell x Snoop Dogg song of the olden days) but the real winner is the first few minutes of the video. At 0:54, he looks directly at the camera, points at it and sings the line "I saw you looking at me girl..."
Mein Gott. Sinful thoughts, be gone.
PS. Thank you, Detroit. Love, All the women in the world.

Because I Love You

2011-10-09T12:35:00.015+08:00

Happy Weekend! This weekend, I propose that you eat macarons all night! Treat yourself. Live a little.

This will probably be my last post about french macarons in a while because my cravings happen in phases and once they're over, I don't have them for a long time. For me, eating macarons has always been a texture x flavor thing.

Dorie Greenspan (who has worked at Pierre Herme herself) puts it best when she describes the ideal macaron: "The Mallomar-shaped cookie must have a 'foot,' a crackly ringlet that surrounds the flat side. The outer shell is thinner than an eggshell but has an eggshell-like quality. Poking through the shell gives way to soft, almost-meringue texture. The macaron is just a tiny little thing made of only sugar, egg white, and almonds, yet it has bunches of texture and flavor that you can play with ad infinitum."

I'm going to go ahead and do an excessive photo dump though since macarons are so fun to eat and very pretty to look at! More pictures under the cut.

Friday Wings

2011-10-07T23:29:00.001+08:00

I stayed up late the night before, working on a deadline about something that was not very much fun to do, so I thought I could use a very cheap order of buffalo wings from Flaming Wings the day after. I have some chicken wings sitting here at home so I'm going to try and make my own version although I'm scouring the web for recipes with just a mild kick. I've already been through Rachel Ray's videos but I got nothing except a small feeling that she might have a touch of Asperger's. That, and she must own the saltiest rug in all of America.

Also: I'm starting The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon for the nth time (that's the book you sort of see in the picture). I really want to like this book but I can't even get past four chapters. I'll try better this time though. :(

Fluffernutters: They're a weakness

2011-10-06T08:14:00.006+08:00

Hello today! This week (after a frustrating session with a bank teller, see the pattern? I eat my rage), I finally crossed out Peanut Butter Company from my food list. It's not really a list list, just a couple of restaurants swimming in my head that I'd like to try when I get the chance.

Peanut Butter Company offers pasta and sandwich selections that are, obviously, peanut butter based. I'm not crazy for peanut butter or bread. I was, however, taken by curiosity since I liked the idea of mixing peanut butter with several dishes and sandwich combinations. PB Co. also sells various peanut butter flavors by the jar but I didn't get any of them. I think the best sellers are the sesame peanut butter and the dark chocolate peanut butter (which will make an amazing turtle pie, I guess). They also have green tea, cardamom, and chili peanut butter flavors among things.

In Awkward's sixth episode, Sadie Saxton (whose scowls are beyond 4.0 perfect, I just love her) kept a food journal and wrote about her weakness for Fluffernutters in said journal. Who could blame her? Evil has a heart and it is my belief that every heart has a space saved for Fluffernutters. More about this sandwich a little later.

Here's what I had:

I got half of a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich for dessert (75 pesos) and an order of BBQ wings with chili peanut butter. The wings were okay, they were more tangy than spicy and the chili on the peanut butter was on the mild side. I like it, it's good, but the real winner of my meal was my dessert:

What's the next best thing since sliced bread? Sliced bread with creamy peanut butter spread topped with marshmallow fluff! PB Co.'s peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich follows the standard Fluffernutter recipe. The sandwich bread is on the thick side and that's really nice since it offsets the sweetness of the filling. Half a sandwich is more than enough for a person but let me tell you that this sandwich is legit: It. Smells. As. Good. As. It. Tastes. Soooo Goood. I think the smell of warm Fluffernutters is up there with freshly powdered baby's bottom and Chanel Chance in the great smells of the Universe department. There should be a prize for people who make these things possible, seriously.

I would have you know I really liked the fluffernutters a lot so I brought home two halves for my sister. That was not a guise for a "one for my sister, one secretly for me" thing because my sister inhales bread more than anyone I know. She ate both slices in between an hour and has been convincing me to buy her some more ever since. She also liked the way PB Co. wrapped their sandwiches, "It keeps them warm and fresh", which I think to be true.

Oh! There's also reading material inside the restaurant. I like it when restaurants have that. I enjoyed looking at Karl Lagerfeld's photographs for "A Summer in the South". It was a nice break from what I'm currently reading: (The Security Problematic of the Third World, it's a class thing. Blech.) Of course, The Star is hidden somewhere underneath that pile because I sometimes like it trashy. Heh.

Will I go back to PB Co. again? Oh yeah! I'll bring my sister! It's going to make a considerable dent on my part since she's a bread fiend but I think we'll both enjoy it. Maybe we can take home a jar of peanut butter for our mom (my loyal but very much not welcomed reader!), too.

I'd like to leave you with a quote from Ratatouille, 2007 (The great attention to detail, like the oven burns on the chefs' wrists, is what I love best about this movie. It is seriously a great but very underrated foodie film.) because a love for great tasting food is something Remy and I have in common:

My love for chicken: Wee Nam Kee edition

2011-10-04T22:34:00.010+08:00

I've wanted to eat at Wee Nam Kee for such a long time. I love chicken. I love chicken so much that if I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life, chicken would be it. I don't care if Anthony Bourdain thinks chicken is boring (In his book "Kitchen Confidential", Bourdain wrote that chicken is for people who didn't know what to order. Judging by my appetite, believe me when I say, I know what to order.) Fried chicken will probably shorten "the rest of my life" so I guess it's best if I eat Hainanese chicken all the time instead. I really love it, anyway.

My mother likes telling people that once, on a family trip to Hong Kong, I only ate Hainanese chicken rice. I know it probably sounds blasphemous (and quite unadventurous) since there's so much good food in Hong Kong but I couldn't care less. I enjoyed every meal. Given a choice, I would bring home boxes of Hainanese chicken meal sets rather than milk and egg tarts (which is quite something since I also love milk and egg tarts, the former just a little bit more than the latter. It's quite sad that I can't find milk tarts here in Manila but that sadness must be saved for another day.)

Wee Nam Kee in Manila is located at the Ayala Triangle Gardens. It's a lot posher than most of its Asian counterparts since it's an air-conditioned facility with a really nice oriental design. While the best Hainanese chicken rice meals I've had are from hot hawker stalls or hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurants in old Manila, I will not say no to air-conditioning. I don't think I ever will. Except for the incredibly cramped tables on busy hours, Wee Nam Kee wins design-wise. They also have these lighting fixtures made out of bird cages, which I found disturbing since their selling point is chicken. It was like sending the other hens a message. Hide yo chicks, lah!

As for food, you can order their specialty chicken either steamed or roasted, and you can order it both ways (what we did) as well. For 168 pesos, you can have the personal set which has an order of chicken, the chicken rice, and a bowl of soup.

If I were you, I'd order the one that's good for 2 since the serving is just right for a cup of chicken rice. Well, no, not really, but it won't leave you feeling bitin. The picture above is a combination of the roast chicken and steamed chicken varieties. It's priced at around 250 pesos so you know you get value for your money. I liked the roasted version better. It goes especially well with the sweet soy sauce.

The chicken is not that phenomenal, to be honest, but it's flavorful, soft, and it smells clean. I think these are the most important checking points for hainanese chicken so Wee Nam Kee's version is definitely good hainanese chicken, even if it's not the best one. I was also perfectly happy that every table at Wee Nam Kee has an abundance of what I think is the trifecta of perfect Asian sauces (fresh ground ginger, sweet soy sauce, and chili paste).

My only problem was the fresh ginger sauce. I found it a little dry. It was, literally, a jar of ground ginger and that made me a bit sad (my ability to feel so much for food might be annoying you but my heart did sink a bit).

Fresh ground ginger will have a milder flavor but it has more bite than the traditional ginger sauce. This is preferred by some people (mostly dieters who will probably order their chicken steamed without rice, the poor things) but I think the traditional ginger sauce tastes better with the chicken. The traditional ginger sauce has chopped (minced?) pieces of scallions and is, literally, swimming in peanut oil (or sesame oil). I usually eat my chicken with just the ginger sauce but since these two things were not in Wee Nam Kee's version, I ate my chicken with ginger and the sweet soy sauce instead. It looked like this:

I have to say that sweet soy sauce made my meal better! Also, the rice was quite good (I know I'm not supposed to have lots and I didn't!) It was fluffy and flavorful! Also, the rice reminded me of the Craig Thompson graphic novel, Goodbye, Chunky Rice! Exclamation points! I cannot lay off them!

There was also an order of Roast Pork on the table. It's like lechon kawali, only it's a bit dry. I did regret not getting the BBQ Pork. This was still good though! It came with a small portion of pickled vegetables (carrot sticks, string beans and jicama) and a thick, dark sauce that tasted a lot like hoisin. Perhaps it was. I love hoisin, especially on Peking duck and the crispy skin of a suckling pig. With leeks. Wrapped in thin pancakes. (!!!) Moving on...

Sauce biases aside, I really liked dining at Wee Nam Kee. It was a very satisfying lunch. There were other items on the menu that I'd like to try next time like the cereal prawns, baby kai lan (expensive though, for a vegetable order), and the iced barley drink. I'm okay with eating at Wee Nam Kee again but I just know that their chicken is not something I'd constantly crave for. The search for Manila's best Hainanese Chicken is still on and that makes me extremely happy because think of all the taste tests I have to do! Hah! Challenge accepted!

Wee Nam Kee

Restaurants at the Ayala Triangle Gardens,

Ayala Ave., Paseo de Roxas

Makati City

(They serve quite a crowd at lunch and dinner so you better come early!)

A Toast to Kaya!

2011-10-04T20:58:00.007+08:00

Friday took me around Makati for work-related things so I figured I could just stay there all day and go home once the PALEA strike is over (the evening news anticipated a 9pm end and heavy traffic, which I thought was pretty accurate. The last time PALEA had a strike, I was very nearly late for school even if I left home three hours early. I had to walk very far because traffic was not moving at all. On hindsight, I don't think I've ever walked that far except for that one time I got lost in San Francisco and found myself in Chinatown, when I was just walking around Union Square. So I guess thanks for the much needed exercise, PALEA!)

Before heading home, I had "dinner" at Toast Box with Carl, the King of Hipsters (which is quite ironic since he actually works in a bank and that is the squarest of jobs). I've never tried Toast Box before but I've always wanted to ever since I found out they're from the same company that makes awesome bread (The floss range from BreadTalk!) I love. Also, they have a range of (quasi) Singaporean food that I wanted to try and it's perfect because the food is not "Pricey Supsup".

I ordered a Pork Floss set for 140 pesos. It's a simple set of toast, a drink and 2 soft-boiled eggs.

My toast set came with a standard order of coffee or tea. I originally wanted to have an iced Nanyang Milk Tea (I've never had one of these before) but they didn't have tea at the time (WHAT. EVEN.) so I settled for coffee instead. For an added 15 pesos, you get to have your coffee served iced in a tall glass. The coffee itself was pretty strong, which is how I like it. Coffee easily fills me up so I was all set for the night.

Carl ordered a Milo dinosaur which I, very regretfully, didn't get. It looked good!

The bread slices for the toast sets are quite thick (about 2.5 cm) but that's okay because it was so soft (yes, even the crusts!) I noticed that it was pork floss and Kaya spread on toast. The pork floss and Kaya combination tasted fine but perhaps it would be better if they had pork floss with cheese on toast. I found Kaya's sweetness a bit off with pork floss. Fine, but quite off.

I think the best part of our meal were the soft-boiled eggs. I like how Toast Box serves their soft-boiled eggs whole (you have to crack it yourself). It reminded me of my childhood. My first finger burns as a child were from steaming hot soft-boiled eggs, which I cracked over a bed of lightly salted rice and ate as an afternoon SNACK. (!!!)

Toast box has instructions on how to have your soft-boiled eggs. I'll tell you mine: one quick round of dark soy sauce (I think it's Kikkoman) and two shakes of pepper = PERFECTION. It is an explosion of gooey goodness. Yes, that was spoken like a true twelve year old. I cannot even begin to explain the delicious flavor that is soft-boiled eggs and dark soy sauce.

I remember thinking that Toast Box had bigger eggs than Ya Kun Kaya. I know that sounds incredibly phallic but it is quite true, judging from the yolks. Ya Kun Kaya wins in the toast department but as a girl who loves her eggs (again, with the statements), I'd say Toast Box is a better choice for kaya toast and soft-boiled eggs. They also have a wider range, food wise, offering spicy laksa and hainanese chicken rice among other things. As Neil Buchanan of Art Attack used to say, "Try it yourself!"

Toast Box

5/F Greenbelt 5

Makati City

Things I did this weekend: Wrote

2011-10-04T12:02:00.005+08:00

I tweeted days ago that I need to earn more because my money, when not spent on graduate school readings, is almost like my food fund (They should be two separate things. Actually, I sometimes think that a food fund should not exist in a dignified 20 year old girl's life but well, I am also starting to think that I might not be a girl, just a rolling ball of something that thrives on food--occasional tumbles aside). It disturbs me that we can easily squander the money we have when it takes a long time to earn it back. For some twenty-somethings, money is spent on weekend getaways, weekly night outs, concert tickets, gadgets and clothes. For me, my money is spent largely on food and books. And I'm pretty sure that doesn't make me any better because I, the queen of excuses, cannot even justify my spending.

So, I've started taking small projects on the side (one of which involves writing about places like Ireland!) and putting a fourth of what I get for my food fund so that I can indulge myself once in a while. Not everyday, as I used to do. Baby steps.

Affairs of the heart

2011-10-04T11:54:00.002+08:00

Things have not been going well in the love front and that's okay because every time my love life is in shambles, I take it as an excuse to eat Chinese and watch the first two seasons of Sex in the City. Well, you know, we can't have it all in one time. I see your wandering heart and I raise you mine, filled with beef and broccoli and shrimp fried rice.

It's a Choose Day! Choose Florence + The Machine

2011-10-04T10:54:00.001+08:00

Fat Girl

2011-10-03T12:17:00.007+08:00

This is a childhood memoir about a girl who grew up fat, loved fat, hated fat, and how she almost set-up the life she had/has around being fat.

Read more »

Tie an orange ribbon

2011-10-01T10:27:00.007+08:00

Tied an orange ribbon around my computer last night because I have been doing things that are blah and I got a little lonely (also, I thought my computer was getting pretty masculine, crunching numbers et al.) There is absolutely no excitement in my life lately and I can't help but think of all the things I am missing out on. Then, I realized that doing this made my life a bit more pathetic so I stopped feeling sorry for myself. Patience, patience.

PS. Hello first October weekend! I replenished my macaron stash just for you!

The Girl's Guide to Waking Up in Pieces

2011-09-29T14:25:00.002+08:00

"I saw my life in scale: it was just my life. It was not momentous. I saw myself the way I'd seen the cleaning woman in the building across the street. I was just one person in one window. Nobody was watching, except me."

I'm not really supposed to be reading this book but it is one of the books I read in between breaks of big books with big words and even bigger feelings. I don't like going through good books in rapid succession. It takes the magic away. So, I read this book. Light, predictable and somewhat hollow, I was going through the pages rather idly, smiling at the few angsty but witty observations scattered across pages, just waiting (and wanting) to reach the end. It went on like that, up until I read one small line:

"We are all children, until our fathers die."

And that was that because I still find myself in pieces, most of the time.

God did good on this one

2011-09-28T11:08:00.008+08:00

Filed in: Beautiful boys with smoldering stares touching fat, stout English bulldogs--(two of my favorite things, and no that wasn't overtly sexual at all)

Today, I propose that we do not do anything except stare at the perfection that is Ryan Gosling, pausing only to take short reading breaks for articles that reveal his awesomeness, such as his own piece on the Congo conflict minerals, lengthy blog posts by girls who are just helplessly taken by his swag and guys who do not know any better. We can refer to it as "A study in Ryan Gosling and the way he looks at women like they're the most important and precious thing in the world" and call it a day. You're welcome, people. You too, hipsters.

Rain and Innocence

2011-09-27T21:41:00.005+08:00

Weather in Manila has been terrible these past two days. I hate it when the weather is terrible because people match it with an equally dysfunctional and unpredictable behavior, myself not excluded. Last night, I was not able to sleep well because of the strong winds howling outside my window and today, most of Manila had to put up with power outages that stretched for hours on end. I'm a little bit worried since I have a week full of deadlines and meetings but I know my worries do not amount to a hill of beans in contrast to the damage of typhoon Nesat all over Manila.

Since I couldn't get things done, I went in and out of R.E.M sleep the whole day. I also tried to get myself to like Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence but I gave up halfway through the book and picked up Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient instead. The prose is definitely better: it's vivid, fluid, passionate, and very rich but not so dated. I feel it's going to be a favorite.

I have not given up on The Age of Innocence though, because I still dream of being well-read in the classics (a lofty dream, if you ask me, but I have my whole life to accomplish this feat). Being the Philistine that I am, I looked up the book online and found out Martin Scorsese directed a 1993 film version starring a young and beautiful Winona Ryder and a dashing Daniel-Day Lewis as main protagonist Newland Archer (who is kind of like a New York City multi-hyphenate in the 1870's). I'm going to watch the film first just so I can get myself to visualize the plot better. Heh.

New York high society, I have to admit, is always a hit or miss on my end. I like New York but I like the bohemian, artsy, tough, won't-take-a-crap-from-anyone city that is New York. It's kind of hard for me to like a satirical novel penned under the guise of old world traditions and high society entitlement. My issues, of course. One day, in the not-too-near future, I know I'll pick up The Age of Innocence again. Hopefully, I will learn to like it then.

Things I did this weekend: Indulged

2011-09-26T22:29:00.012+08:00

03:00PM, Sunday. In which I dive deeper into my horrid and hopeless love affair with delicious things.

These macarons were supposed to be a present but macarons, much like most desserts, never really last long in my presence. I kept on looking at the gold box and the daintily tied orange ribbon around it that by lunchtime, I was just ready to destroy its entirety. And that's exactly what I did. I finished a box of macarons on a Sunday. Because I am a lady, usually.

Things I did this weekend: Visited a museum

2011-09-26T21:10:00.003+08:00

For her birthday, my sister asked us if she could visit a museum (because her recent class trip was in a petting zoo and she thought it was not doing her any good, being underexposed to Philippine history). We were also supposed to take her to the walled city but it was a rainy Saturday afternoon so we skipped that part of the birthday trip. We took her to a pet store instead.

Here are my favorite parts of the museum--a gallery detailing the galleon trade and the Spice Route, a small room for Linnean taxonomy (my favorites were the crustaceans, they made me hungry) and the many jars from an old sunken ship, the galleon San Diego.

My sister is a little too young for the collections over at the Ayala Museum but I'm hoping I could take her one day. For now, I think she's okay with places where the entrance fee is practically free. I'm just really glad she's getting into the things I like the most. :) (The goal is to let her develop a distaste for trivialities like theme parks so that the next time we go out on a family trip abroad, she'll only ask for museums and marine conservatories. That would make me a really happy sister.)

Philippine National Museum

P. Burgos St, Rizal Park , Manila

(632) 5271215

Things I did this weekend: Mojitoed

2011-09-26T17:18:00.002+08:00

Saturday, 09:00PM. In which I talk about my new poison of choice. I don't go out a lot these days but whenever I do, I like to nurse a few drinks to make the night a bit better. I thought I'd never get tired of margaritas but alas, my love for the tequila x lime traitor of a drink is finally waning. I'm currently in a Cuban highball phase and the new drink I fancy is a mojito. There's something about the sparkling mix of white rum, lime and mint that I just love. It must be the alcohol. It's always the alcohol. Cheers to friends!

Something in the way he moves

2011-09-25T20:33:00.012+08:00

Some links I love this week

1. A collection of photos from the golden days at Everyday I Show. These are basically pictures of a time that has come and gone. It's nothing but pictures but they are really great pictures in black and white. I love the golden era so I absolutely love this collection of photographs from the happy olden days. I'm sure you'll enjoy it, too. My favorites are: James Dean, shots of the Kennedy family, Elvis Presley and Ann-Margaret, a fantastic shot of the New York City Rockettes and a photo of a lady hiding in fear of sniper fire.

2. The best cities for street art from Travel + Leisure - I have to admit that looking at street art is a guilty pleasure. I like looking at it and when done right, I think the underground street art scene is a great movement. My favorite is Banksy, of course, but there are a lot of interesting taggers and bombers out there that I would just love to follow (Swoon of NY, for one). Also, I find this very useful whenever I troll forums on taggers I like. For websites, I like Wooster collective (It follows taggers all over the globe and it's awesome) and I also like this photo set of Soho Street Art.

3. Live free or die by Dan Tague - Using various bills of differing denominations, Dan creatively folds US dollars to spell out interesting messages about America and society. Money as a medium in art almost always adds a complex and political message about society. I think that's one of the reasons why money is a compelling medium in various forms of art. It works because the message cuts to all classes.

4. Adweek explores the world of food styling—with a backstage pass to the 'Bon Appétit' test kitchen. I happen to read a lot of food magazines. My favorites are Gourmet, Food & Wine and Bon Appetit and I don't think I've ever tried any of their recipes (I have Everyday by Rachel Ray for that--shameless information sharing right here) but I do think they're the Fantasyland of the epicurious. I love reading them because every issue is accompanied by an array of photographs that are far too pretty to look at or eat. In this article, Adweek dives deep into how test kitchen products transform into magazine-worthy food. The subject: chicken biscuit.

5. 100 Greatest Beatles Songs from Rolling Stone - Another article about the great magic of the Beatles. Two wonderful things about this article: Elvis Costello wrote it and he gives due credit to the creative process involved in the fab four's song writing. I really enjoyed this article. It reminded me why The Beatles' music, even after nearly fifty years later, continue to touch people. It also put into perspective the maturation of their lyrics, looking at it from its early stages to the full-on hype and eventually, the disenchantment leading to their break-up. The lyrics went from strange and catchy pop to simple lyrics of love to a vague narrative of some sort about what is going on in the world at that time. Bless them, they still get me through most days.

Also, I share the same sentiment of every Beatle fan. There is no "best Beatle song". It's impossible to answer just one. As far as best songs go, off the top of my head would be a jumble of songs enough to make a mixtape and they will change according to my mood. Right now, they would have to be: I Will, Something, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, All My Loving, If I Fell, Can't Buy Me Love, Ticket to Ride and Michelle. Oh, to love and to be loved in return.

6. Surrey student puts Cristiano Ronaldo to test at Surrey Sports Park - In a recent TV documentary sponsored by Castrol, a PhD student (Zoe Wimshurt) put Real Madrid football stunner Cristiano Ronaldo (also the world's most expensive footballer) to a test of football skill, strength, agility and mentality (the tests were mostly focused on his mental strength and intuition). I believe Ms. Wimshurt's study looks into an athlete's performance and how this performance can be improved by their vision. Anyway, the real star of this short tv documentary is Ronaldo. I may have a wee bit of bias because I am not immune to his Portuguese charm and amazing football prowess on the pitch (despite studs on his ears, his excessive abuse of hair products, and his numerous tanning sessions worthy of a Jersey Shore casting) but after watching this video, I know full well no one could ever argue that Cristiano Ronaldo is not worth his salt. Get this: He pulls 30 legit football moves in 8 seconds, hardly ever looking at the ball in possession or the defender. On another test, he successfully scores two goals in pitch black darkness, only relying on his subconscious to measure the trajectory and motion of the football. The people testing him have concluded that it is his years of practice that lead him to be who he is today, a scholar of football. (I really liked how Zoe Wimhurst compared learning and mastering football to learning a language, that was an excellent analogy)

So, yes. The test of just how epic Cristiano Ronaldo can get. And he is. Epic. RESPECT.

PS: Sorry for the obvious lack of anything useful. Fall means it's TV premiere season so I've been ~*busy*~ acquainting myself with the return of shows I've missed and new shows I might learn to love. I am terribly behind my IR websites but I have no regrets, just love. Heh.

Small notes from my bookshelf: The Happiness Project

2011-09-25T10:34:00.001+08:00

In which I write about a book I can't make up my mind on.

The Happiness Project. This book is about a year-long self-improvement project to increase happiness, satisfaction and contentment. It's a lot Ben Franklinesque than I thought it would be and I think I can learn a lot from reading this book (although my reading this book has been conveniently scanning the pages and the months because I can't get myself hooked). I'm not really sure if I'm up for a year-long project of my own though. I'm not even sure if I like this book or not, so I will ramble.

I do appreciate the book's message of simplifying our lives and finding the joy in the small stuff but I can't help but wonder what made her life so stoic and unsatisfactory anyway? She seems to be doing well to me. I'm not sure if it's just me and my thing against First World Problems. Here in Manila, a lot of people live with less than a dollar a day. We really have no room for taking it easy and simplifying our lives because life is tough and simple is what we can afford, most of the time. I loved reading Eat, Pray, Love and Catcher in the Rye but I've always had a thing against the Western world and its lack of resiliency. I got the same vibe when I read this book. Where I come from, people suffer from really devastating tragedies and they just go on with their lives because they need to. Perhaps it's just a matter of perspective. I did like the quotations and the lists. I thought they were pretty crafty and most of the time, the insights made a lot of sense. I don't know. I need to read this book again but if you think you could afford to chase happiness and find out if there are certain things in your life that need to be fixed, pick up this book. It might be helpful.

Ain't no party like a cupcake party!

2011-09-23T09:55:00.015+08:00

Friday, 09:00 AM. My sister brought cupcakes to school today as giveaways for her classmates and teachers. She turns 9 tomorrow and she wanted to try something new ("No more loot bags! I want cupcakes, individually packed.") this year.

She also threw a tantrum early in the morning because she didn't want to ride the school bus and none of us would drive her to school (kasi, why should we?). Happy Friday from my sister, a true member of this family.

Wet and Runny, Runny and Wet

2011-09-22T21:35:00.011+08:00

04:35PM, Ya Kun Kaya Toast, Manila. As always, I intentionally mistook free time for snack time and placed an order for a Kaya toast set and a Milo Dinosaur. I seldom say no to egg-based dishes. For example, soft-boiled eggs on toast is something I constantly crave for since the yolk (+ light soy sauce, + pepper) tastes like cheese sauce. It also goes very well with bread. Plus, there is nothing better than chasing eggs and toast with heaping spoonfuls of powdered Milo, straight into my mouth. I am twelve forever. Oh and hey, craving satiated.

Things I did: White Wednesday edition

2011-09-22T12:12:00.009+08:00

My International Law class is on a Wednesday. On that note, my Wednesdays are usually long and it does not end until a little after ten. It involves a lot of reading, writing, eating, and praying that I get called only when I have an answer. For this week, I armed myself with coffee, noodles and the color white (because a. I love a good laugh, b. I am lazy and c. I have no self-control ☹ I also have a wee bit of coffee addiction but that may also be filed in c).

I had a late lunch of gyoza and Chashu ramen (disappointing in two ways: no soft-boiled egg and it came with crunchy bits reminiscent of tempura batter. I finished it anyway so I guess I'm the real disappointment in this story.) Then, I...

Cereal morning

2011-09-20T11:15:00.007+08:00

Tuesday, 07:00AM. I read up on the merits of real cereal grains (mostly of the muesli and bland cornflakes variety) and why sugary cereals are really bad for kids last night. This morning, I poured myself some really delicious, "child abuse in a bowl" Honey Stars cereal to go with my International Law readings. I just really wanted toddler food.

Back to being four eyes

2011-09-19T19:51:00.010+08:00

Monday, 03:52 PM. I visited the eye doctor today because it's been a year since I last had my eyes tested. Thankfully, my eye grades are still the same. I had new glasses made just to let my eyes rest from contact lenses though. I have to be careful because my eyes are showing signs of strain. I thought it was because I'm in front of the computer all the time but the doctor said it's the kind of eye strain you get from reading in dimly lit places or while in motion. I guess that makes sense because reading is what I do most of the time, on or offline.

Lucy Lou

2011-09-18T17:23:00.007+08:00

Sunday, 05:27PM. I have a schedule I follow but I'm four hours behind because I've been reading Lucy Knisley's Stop Paying Attention comics. I just love her work. I'm glad she moved from Chicago to New York! More stories about my favorite city! (Not that Chicago isn't beautiful, but I could use another person to live vicariously through, actually) ♥

▲ ▲ ▲

2011-09-18T16:21:00.003+08:00

Saturday, 09:41 PM. I wanted to transcribe my International Law lectures last night but my spirit is weak. The world readily gives me dark chocolate on a regular basis but I haven't had the good fortune of running into it lately so I stole a white chocolate bar from my mother's stash. White chocolate is not chocolate, but my incurable sweet tooth enjoys everything. And by everything, I mean everything, including sweet and fatty triangles of death that are wrapped in foil and sold as chocolates (actually, they're just butter).

So, no International Law notes. I stayed in bed, ate "chocolates" and read until I fell asleep. I am a fat hog.

"I like my money right where I can see it...on my bookshelves."

2011-09-17T21:19:00.005+08:00

03:30 PM, Book Sale in Mall of Asia, Manila. It's been a shitty day plus it's sale season at the mall, so I passed by a used book store before heading home. I feel happiest (greatest, really) whenever I purchase books that are practically free. Check out my loot! These four books cost just a little over what we pay for a venti cup at Starbucks. I got Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, for 115 pesos. How can something so brilliant be worth so little? Anyway, it's going to be a great weekend! After I transcribe this week's International Law lecture, that is. :)

Remember to Love

2011-09-16T19:51:00.010+08:00

Some links I love this week¹:

Remember to Love at NPR - Somebody I knew tweeted that 9/11/11 was "a heartbreaking day to be in New York City". True enough, most of the New Yorkers I know shared how gloomy it felt to be in NY at a time when the city and its inhabitants were still mourning the tragedy that struck exactly ten years ago. I listened to parts of "Remember to Love: Let Us Love One Another", a concert at St. Paul's, honoring the fallen of 9/11. Located right across the World Trade Center, St. Paul's has become a center for healing and comfort after the attacks. You can listen to the concert (it's about two hours long) at NPR by clicking the link.

25 Everyday Things You Never Knew Had Names - I, for one, love the word "Tittle" because it sounds so obscene but it's really not. I await the day when I can finally use it. Some "words" (or phrases), like Morton's toe, Arms Akimbo, Philtrum and Crespuscular Rays, are already familiar to anyone who took P.E. or science classes. These names aren't useful though, and it has to be known that anybody (unless said person is a doctor) who would use Rectal Tenasmus in a sentence must be punched in the face.

Jackie O's Diss List at Slate.com - Whenever Slate.com does a Double X list, trust that they will do it right. Two weeks ago, the excellent people of Slate came out with "Ten Mistresses Who Change History", a list filled with women who literally kicked ass (Mob wives, authors, Cuban revolutionaries, a Chinese concubine turned Empress--just to name a few.) This time around, Slate compiled a list of Jackie O's not-so-friendly thoughts about people she has met while her husband was in office. It's nothing short of scandalous. In fact, it was feisty enough to pique the interest of one young (pseudo) Suri cruise. Incidentally, Suri's burn book is one of my favorite websites. It's obviously not written by the real Suri Cruise but whoever's behind that blog, writing as a bossy and snobby baby, is hilarious. Respect.

Sen. Miriam Defensor - Santiago's Reproductive Health Bill Logic 101 - This was Sen. Santiago's speech during the RH bill forum in UP a few days ago. I thought it was well-written and the small jokes made it very appealing to the students. My favorite part of the speech was her discussion of the fallacies surrounding the RH bill. I think it's a fresh respite from hearing all the moral arguments presented by politicians and groups against the RH bill. One does not have to agree with Senator Santiago to say that she does her homework, she knows what she's talking about and she takes a stand so definitive that her arguments are almost always sound. I really like that about her, she appeals to logic and intelligence. I think I've had enough of appeals and arguments riling up the moral passions of the masses. I really don't like that. It furthers my belief that religion (or the misuse of powerful religious institutions) is an Achilles' heel to our country's development.

Why we are shallow at The Philippine Star - This piece was written by F. Sionil Jose for his column, Hindsights. It tried to answer why, despite having many talented and successful citizens, we remain shallow as a nation and how being shallow hinders us from achieving our full potential. Of course, gross materialism, arrogance and religion were pointed out in the selection but my favorite parts were the ones about the lack of significant content in our media and our lack of desire to read:

"We are shallow because our media are so horribly shallow. Every morning, I peruse the papers and there is so little to read in them. It is the same with radio — all that noise, that artifice.
I turn on the TV on prime time and what do I get? Five juvenile commentators gushing over the amors of movie stars, who is shacking up with whom. One of the blabbering panelists I distinctly remember was caught cheating some years back at some movie award. How could she still be on TV after that moral destruct? And the telenovelas, how utterly asinine, bizarre, foolish, insipid moronic and mephitic they are! And there are so many talented writers in our vernaculars and in English as the Palanca Awards show every year — why aren’t they harnessed for TV? Those TV moguls have a stock answer — the ratings of these shows are very high. Popularity not quality is their final arbiter. They give our people garbage and they are now giving it back to all of us in kind! So I must not be blamed if, most of the time, I turn on BBC. Aljazeera, rather than the local TV channels. It is such a pleasure to read The New York Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the Washington Post, to listen to “Fresh Air” on US public radio and public TV where my ever-continuing thirst for knowledge (and good entertainment) is quenched.
We are shallow because we don’t read. I go to the hospital on occasion — the long corridor is filled with people staring into the cosmos. It is only I who have brought a book or a magazine. In Japanese cities, in Korea — in the buses and trains, young and old are reading, or if they are not holding books and magazines, they are glued to their iPhones where so much information is now available.
In these countries and in Western cities, the bookshops are still full, but not so much anymore because the new communications technologies are now available to their masa. How I wish my tiny bookshop or any Filipino bookshop for that matter would be filled with people. I’ll make an exception here: BookSale branches are always full because their books are very cheap. But I would still ask: what kind of books do Filipinos buy?"

This week's Top 5 songs:
1. Are You That Somebody? - The Gossip
2. Flash a Hungry Smile - The Mystery Jets
3. White Nights - Oh Land
4. Fuck Me Pumps - Amy Winehouse
5. Clap Your Hands - Sia

_________________

¹ The list is shorter than usual because I didn't have time to read things online this week.

Climb every mountain

2011-09-15T10:30:00.003+08:00

Some of my friends are fond of going on hikes around the Philippines. They always invite me out of courtesy but I've made it pretty obvious that I'm not one for the outdoors. I'm lazy and I'm not into roughing it. Unless there's a bed and bath at the foot of that mountain, I'm not going anywhere near it. (Mostly because a trek up a mountain in a humid climate is almost always equal to an asthma attack, and I really do not want that) The only thing I'm open to climbing is a step ladder to reach books on top of a high shelf, which I offset with a lot of lying down and reading later on.

But hey, I was able to trek Mt. Olympus in Washington. Okay, perhaps trek is an exaggeration since we really went up there for the food and I spent more time at the gift shop than anywhere else. The park had a skyline trail, a lodge and really, really fresh fish (because food is the only thing I remember from trips like this) from the rivers surrounding the mountain. I found some pictures I thought I lost in the process of setting up my computer. Check it:

Olympic National Park
600 East Park Avenue
Port Angeles, WA 98362

Seattle: Day and Night

2011-09-13T18:28:00.009+08:00

I'd like to think that certain things remain beautiful, whether in darkness or in light. Seattle, 2010.

Excuse the sudden nostalgia. I realized I have a treasure trove of pictures just sitting in my hard drive. It's been a while since I last went to somewhere scenic. I have to admit that there has been a notable lack of anything fantastic in my life (lately, at least) and it has been driving me nuts. Sweet Jesus Navas, I think I need an adventure again. Let's work on it, Universe. :)

Mass collaboration and Soviet collectivism are really polar opposites

2011-09-10T19:58:00.005+08:00

"Anonymous blog comments, vapid video pranks, and lightweight mashups may seem trivial and harmless, but as a whole, this widespread practice of fragmentary, interpersonal communication has demeaned interpersonal interaction. Communication is now often experienced as a superhuman phenomena that towers above individuals. A new generation has come of age with a reduced expectation of what a person can be, and of who each person might become."

"A real friendship ought to introduce each person to unexpected weirdness in the other. Each acquaintance is an alien, a well of unexplored difference in the experience of life that cannot be imagined or accessed in any way but through genuine interaction. The idea of friendship in database-filtered social networks is certainly reduced from that."

"If you want to know what’s really going on in a society or ideology, follow the money. If money is flowing to advertising instead of musicians, journalists, and artists, then a society is more concerned with manipulation than truth or beauty. If content is worthless, then people will start to become empty-headed and contentless. [...] Reciprocity takes the form of self-promotion. Culture is to become precisely nothing but advertising."

Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget

Little bottles of Love Potion

2011-09-10T10:46:00.007+08:00

Some links I love this week (I missed last week, oops!):

Magic Juice from Design Sponge - It's a refreshing drink that will remind you of summer! And who wouldn't want that? Click the link for the recipe, or if you're having a rather bad day and would want something with a better kick (better = stronger), why not try Glamour's Forget The Mistake You Made At Work Margarita (feels waaaay better than their Engagement Chicken recipe, trust me)! Also, speaking of great drinks: I really swear by The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Iced Coffee recipe. I love it and not just because I have a thing for drinks served in mason jars.

Who Invented The Oreo? The Unsung Heroes of Cookie Design from The Atlantic - In which people discuss the design aesthetic of the world's most popular cookie. I really like the speculation that connects Oreo to free masons, not that it matters since Oreos, free masons or none, have a hold over people that science can't even explain. Please see: oreo cheesecake and deep fried oreos.

Know your Princeton Economist at Vanity Fair - A side-by-side comparison of new chairman of the White House Council Alan Krueger and fellow Princeton economist Paul Krugman. More than the idea of a Princeton face-off, I like the idea of a comparison of hair color in the salt-and-pepper subgenre.

The Fifty Most Powerful People in DC at GQ - GQ explores the new power structure in Washington by creating a list of men and women who truly have clout in the White House and at Capitol Hill. Oh, and ladies, Jon Favreau is on the list.

An open letter to New Yorkers on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 at McSweeney's - An open letter of a guy who learned his way from apathy to empathy, spilling his real feelings towards New Yorkers and 9/11. I love this part of the 'letter', "Since then I’ve watched countless hours of 9/11 coverage on the Internet. I try to find the best, the clearest, the most horrifying videos. I have seen so many people fall from the towers. I have felt things, I think, but still have no answers. I don’t know if I should be upset, traumatized, or indifferent like I once was."

Ultimate art lover's pilgrimages at Lonely Planet - One day, when I get a job that will let me travel and earn big money, I might be able to do this. Lonely Planet lists places of art and design beyond the usual museums, it includes artists' homes and places that inspired their works of art and design. Dali, Kahlo, Gaudi, Van Gogh and wait for it...BANKSY! All in the same list. How awesome is that?

Jonathan Safran Foer's Speechless in The New Yorker - In this snippet of literature, Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a book with a post-9/11 theme) tries to put 9/11 into really beautiful words. I have mixed feelings about Foer and his stories but his words are always, always, always right.

How 9/11 changed Fiction, The Economist - This article examines the works of fiction inspired by 9/11 and the reasons why it's so hard to write something so spot-on about something so tragic. Some writers chose to go ahead and write about the event itself while others chose to go the other route and write about human emotion and the dominant Western complacency pre-9/11. Of Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, "It had a number of touching moments but was ultimately too long to carry itself."

A man's guide to a woman's wardrobe at The Economist - "Because men, when they think of women’s fashion at all, tend to see it only in terms of how it makes them feel—whether it arouses, confuses, or repels them—rather than considering what it makes a woman feel." Gentlemen, you better recognize. Read this.

Poses by Yolanda Dominguez on YouTube - This one is a conceptual art of getting ordinary women to adopt the poses typically struck by models in fashion magazines and hold them in public. The poses look absurd and the public reaction is amusing. I found it funny, I have to admit, but the message behind this project is really beautiful. The artist tried to express what many women feel about women's magazines and the image of women in the media – absurd, artificial, a hanger to wear dresses and bags, only concerned about being skinny and beautiful. Dominguez wanted to use the impossible poses to represent this type of woman and to show how absurd it is in a real context.

100 Years of East London Style in 100 seconds on YouTube - Between this video and Alber Elbaz's Lanvin Fall 2011 Campaign with stiff models dancing, I'd say East London fashion takes the cake. Watch on full screen for better effect!

Lastly, GQ's A Buyer's Guide to Watch The Throne. I already wrote about Watch The Throne (that Kanye x Jay-z album with really horrible lyrics) and the Foreign Policy blog discussing Jay-Z's hegemony in American Hip-hop before, but people who actually have the album will know that it's practically a shopping catalog. In this slideshow, GQ echoes my sentiments. They catalog every item name dropped by Ye-Z in the album. How very depression-friendly.

PS: Do you guys have Listography.com? I found out about it from my friend Ria's blog (it's new!) and it's the next coolest thing after Twitter, Good Reads/Shelfari and all those music sites. I think it's awesome because I like making lists about anything and everything (lists I eventually throw out the window to go with the flow, but hey). I'm listed under ohoctopus over there. :)

I want you to watch this film

2011-09-10T00:01:00.004+08:00

Forever's Not So Long from garrettmurray on Vimeo.

In which George discovers that the end of the world is the perfect time to lose everything.

Love, meteors and New York. What do you do if you only have four hours to live? Forever's Not So Long is an apocalyptic short film that's set in (what I think is) the most magnificent city in the world (Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to be precise. Hipster cred!). It's science fiction but the story is very humane.

It's a great film that has already won a couple of awards, which I think it deserves because the story is L-O-V-E-L-Y and the shots are great. The script and the score are both very fitting for the movie, too. I especially like how George embodies the New York state of mind. Tough, brave on his toes and really, just going with a "Fuck it, the world's going to end anyway" attitude, George is tempered by the charming and sweet girl (Her name isn't even mentioned in the film. I guess why bother?) he meets on the street.

With only four hours to live, they make one last connection with each other and eventually, face the end together. I really like how the film shows the ability of people to connect even in the face of doom, and how we find happiness (however fleeting it may be) even in our darkest hours.

The beginning of term

2011-09-08T18:28:00.020+08:00

September is International Literacy Month so I'd like to be around here more often, writing about the thing I love doing the most: reading. I think I could do that. I can still read (sometimes, I still read books even when I really should be reading something else) in between my many readings for grad school and the papers I still have to rewrite for my theories class. If I tried hard enough.

I realized I don't really talk about grad school very much unlike my other classmates with blogs. I guess it's not my thing (?) since I never know the right things to say. Let me tell you a little something about school for tonight though, just because. It's now my third term and my favorite class, so far, was last term's Contemporary Issues and Trends class. I wish I excelled in that class but I didn't. I really liked our reading selection though, most of the articles addressed complex issues in a sensible way. One of our readings was Jonathan Franzen's op-ed on Technology and Love. It was one of our best class sessions. I think "going for what hurts" is now part of my decision-making process. Also, I have a bias so subjects taught by my favorite teachers¹ become my favorite subjects. I don't know about this term, though I doubt I'd have that "just happy to be in this class" feeling once again. It is what it is (and I'm going to get through it).

This term, we have International Law and Research Methods. I quite like the idea of studying international law. We already had that when I was an undergraduate but I don't know what it will be like on a graduate level.

Anyway, at the start of every term, I make an online copy of the syllabus because I usually lose mine after two meetings (I have also lost it on the day it was given, because I am a scatterbrain). I've been working on my IntLaw syllabus which is 25 pages long. The syllabus itself is like a reading. I have to admit that it's pretty great (in an "OMG, great white sharks are so great but they're so terrifying" kind of way). I found this part of the syllabus so boss so I spliced it for you (my imaginary friends) since I am already oversharing anyway. It's a winner:

Will I be able to read the suggestions listed under the headings? Well, no. But I like having them there, just in case. You'll never know! #charot²My French is so bad that for the longest time, I thought oeufs en cocotte³ meant eggs and cheese. X_X

______________

¹ Mostly made up of women professors I look up to because they kick ass in their fields and they're really very cool. Also, I really like it when professors motivate their students through objective comments, like the way my professors make me want to be better at writing (and this whole MA thing). I think my contemporary film teacher is on sabbatical but I did enjoy writing for her class when I was still in college. I think one of the reasons why I'm still in school is the small hope that one day, I will be very good too. Although at the rate I'm going, that change will probably come in another lifetime. At least I tried, no? :(

² Charot \ˈcher-ət\ - (n): a joke, may be used interchangeably with chos. Both of which are interjected between statements to connote harmless banter. (i.e. "That was just a chos!")

³ It means eggs in ramekins, unfortunately.

Focus, freedom, focus

2011-09-08T17:52:00.012+08:00

In which I (vaguely) update you about my recent big decisions or what's going on in my life right now. If you have no time to read, there's a short summary here.

I have more free time now. More free time than I'd like, truth be told, and it's a disconcerting (but truly welcomed) feeling. I've been wanting a break from things for so long and I finally have it now. I feel like life is trying to teach me a lesson. I've always had a stubborn, jump head first attitude. I never really think things through. I have always been a fan of biting off more than I can chew.

I'd like to believe that in place of dreams that die a quick death, a rebirth happens. Something different, but better and bigger than plans I alone have made for myself. I like the idea of that. I like believing in reasons that will only surface through time. One of the lessons I learned this year is that all things truly great take time and tremendous effort. The road to success is tedious and no one will give me anything. I like that challenge but it's impossible to rise to that challenge when I'm distracted. I have to focus and regroup. I believe better paths are rewarded to people who continuously try and pull themselves back up to start over again.

I'm not a stranger to disappointment management, dream realignment, holding on and then letting go of goals that prove to be futile. I think in one way or another, I knew that adulthood will wake me from the idyllic dreams I once had in my youth. And although it seems that guiding lights rarely come to jaded, undiscovered twenty-somethings (or twenty-flat in my case) of my generation, I know that one day, after we've dusted ourselves off these sad, real world stumbles, we'll find our way again.

It doesn't have to happen all in one time.

I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one

2011-08-28T20:00:00.002+08:00

Some links I love this week:

1. Here's Your Video of Ryan Gosling breaking up a street fight at Thought Catalog - This is one good reason why I (and many other naive, idealistic Third World young adults) want to move to New York. Columbia? What Columbia? NYU? Is that a band? I just want to see Ryan Gosling and his walking gun show break up a street fight.

2. Asia's Lonely Hearts at The Economist - The social implications of Asia's growing single ladies. A lot of Asians are not just marrying later, they're not marrying at all. Women are retreating from marriage as they go into the workplace. That’s partly because, for a woman, being both employed and married is tough in Asia. Women there are the primary caregivers for husbands, children and, often, for ageing parents; and even when in full-time employment, they are expected to continue to play this role. This is true elsewhere in the world, but the burden that Asian women carry is particularly heavy.

3. How to be around people when you're in a crappy mood at Jezebel.com - This article gives suggestions on how to keep yourself from throttling people in social situations. It argues that one's bad mood does not always cooperate with one's social calendar, therefore, we must be able to handle ourselves in important gatherings we cannot blow off.

4. Thematic essays from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History at The Metropolitan Museum -I love reading stuff about art. I've always liked reading about things I've always wanted to do (I wanted to be a curator--eyebrows down, please) but will never get the chance to, due to skill set (or lack thereof) and other practical reasons (such as money). Here are my favorites: Modern & Contemporary Art (Please see: Picasso, Christian Dior--check out the Junon dress--, Abstract Expressionism, The House of Chanel, Henri Matisse, Art Nouveau and Cristobal Balenciaga.) I also spent an enormous amount of time over at Byzantine Art and Greek and Roman Art, time that I should have spent reading for grad school but that's me. My priorities are all over the place.

5. The economics of good looks: The line of beauty at The Economist - "...beauty has lost none of its power to bewitch, bother and get its own way, as three new books on the economic advantages of good looks confirm." Well, let me die. The most interesting part of this article was the discussion on something called erotic capital:

"...“erotic capital” is an underrated class of personal asset, to set beside economic capital (what you have), human capital (what you know) and social capital (who you know). Ms Hakim attempts to quantify a complex mix of physical and social assets, consisting of beauty, sex appeal, self-presentation, social skills, liveliness and sexual competence. Like other sorts of capital, the erotic kind is important for success; but unlike others it is largely independent of birth and class. It is especially valuable for poor people, young people, the newly arrived and the otherwise unqualified. In heterosexual settings, it belongs primarily to women."

6. Margaret Atwood's New York Times review of the latest book I read, Snow by Orhan Pamuk - Two awesome things are going on here, 1.) Margaret Atwood wrote the review. She is one of my favorite authors (If you haven't read The Handmaid's Tale, drop everything you're doing and read it RIGHT NOW!) and I highly favor her opinion on any literary work. 2.) Snow by Orhan Pamuk reminded me of Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger. I found it very compelling and Dostoevsky-esque. The book is a political fiction about the cruelty and intolerance of both the Islamic fundamentalists and the representatives of the secularist Turkish state. It also suggests that storytelling and artistry is key to Turkey's road to recovery. I especially love the way that Snow tried to go beyond the usual arguments about why Turkish women cover their heads.

7. Jay-Z's hegemony in the age of Kanye on Foreign Policy - Marc Lynch's follow-up post on his 2009's Jay-Z vs the Game: Lessons for the American Primacy Debate. This time, he contends that Watch The Throne is an attempt to bolster Jay-Z's hegemonic position in an era of decline through yoking it to the power of Kanye, especially as Kanye himself becomes a network, establishing G.O.O.D. Music the way Jay created the Roc. Marc calls it a "savvy strategy of institutionalizing hegemony in the face of potential decline."

Lynch writes that their new album, Watch the Throne, "represents a fascinating gambit in the consolidation and extension of Jay-Z's hegemony over the hip hop world, and in Kanye's rehabilitation of his image following a catastrophic collapse in his global standing" and that "How they did it offers important lessons for how the United States can handle its own changing position within a turbulent world."

My favorite part of the article: "Jay-Z and Kanye therefore solidified their place on the throne not by crushing their rivals but by inspiring them to be their best as part of a team, through creative use of the internet for public diplomacy, and by working within rather than trying to dictate new norms."

8. The Power is in your Hands - Maria Ressa's keynote speech about Media and Technology and how they're rewiring our brains and changing power structures in the world.

9. Steve Jobs' resignation at The Economist - I really like title of this article "The minister of magic steps down". It raised the question of whether Apple will remain as hungry and as wildly successful without Steve Jobs at the forefront. Long story short: It will. He's not leaving completely. By the way, have you guys read his resignation letter? Exactly like his products: Classy.

10. Writings about books: The reality of Bookstore love because I have always been one of those girls who dream of meeting someone at a bookstore *insert cringe here, cynics*. Also, an article lamenting the end of books as tools for finding love. Will I like a person based on the book he reads? Definitely. (Of course, I sound like a total moron but that's just me. No regrets, just love.)

Movies I watched: Splendor in the Grass (1961), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). I have trouble sleeping so when I don't want to read, I watch movies. I liked Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. I also liked James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, the movie where he first wore his iconic leather jacket--making it the ultimate symbol of bad-ass swagger. But my quirky favorite was Deanie, from Splendor in the Grass. The movie stars Natalie Wood and good-looking Warren Beatty. It's about a small-town Kansas girl and her foolish love (more like, intense attraction) for a handsome young stud named Brad. It's a story about repression, naivete, heartbreak and eventually, depression. I don't why I like it but I do, perhaps there is something about the sting of first love. It never really leaves you.

Favorite quote from latest book I've read:

"In a brutal country like ours, where human life is 'cheap', it's stupid to destroy yourself for the sake of your beliefs. Beliefs? High ideas? Only people in rich countries can enjoy such luxuries."- Snow by Orhan Pamuk

Eat, move, learn

2011-08-28T19:32:00.003+08:00

An amazing journey caught on film: Rick Merecki, Tim White & Andrew Lees were commissioned by STA Australia to showcase the beauty of the world. They write,

"3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage. All to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films = A trip of a lifetime."

Watch their epic journey crammed into minutes. My favorite is, naturally, the video for Eat but Move and Learn also have a magical feel of their own.

I am jealous, most definitely. Getting paid to eat and travel around the world is my ultimate dream job. See, videos like these are the reason why I'm strongly motivated to see the world for myself and "grab it by the balls". One day, one day.

From Hammie, to heaven

2011-08-25T22:31:00.005+08:00

My dad would've been 56 today. He feared growing old and dying young, that much I knew from the way he took so much care of himself. He used to tell me that life was cruel. I guess it never crossed his mind that many years later, life being cruel will exactly be our family afterthought. While I have learned how to keep my emotions in check whenever I think about the past two years, I realized one can never really learn how to forget loneliness. And it so much more insufferable than pain, which is always, always fleeting. The kindest, funniest person I know, Papa will always be my champion. Happy birthday, old man.

You are my daily meal

2011-08-24T02:48:00.000+08:00

This week's favorite song: Florence And The Machine's You've Got the Love. Roar, I'm a bear.

The Mad Men School of Seduction

2011-08-21T22:01:00.002+08:00

I look at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world

2011-08-21T12:02:00.021+08:00

Some links I love this week (because I cannot write without looking up stuff):

1. Women on the front lines - Far from being solely passive witnesses to--or victims of--the fighting in World War II, women were on the front lines from day one.

2. World's Sexiest Accents - Where "the come-hither condescension and fiery disinterest of the French tongue remains paradoxically erotic." Holding down the number one spot are the Italians (Please see: Appolonia, my favorite Italian). I have nothing against the Italians (I do have a not-so-secret dream of visiting their country just for the food) but really, we're not holding Louis Garrel above Alex Del Piero?

3. Patricia Evangelista's op-ed, In Defense of Blasphemy - Welcome to the Philippine Inquisition! While I do not appreciate Poleteismo (the infamous conceptual art series by Mideo Cruz), I greatly disapprove of any attempt to curb freedom of expression.

There are so many spot-on statements in this article, some of my favorites:

"Poleteismo” is “the product of a troubled mind,” says Commission on Human Rights Chair Etta Rosales, whose sudden mastery of pop psychology has neglected the fact many of the communists and journalists killed under her watch were also silenced for speaking sacrilege against their killers. The guardians of morality are now a motley crew that includes the son of one of the country’s most cherished sex symbols, a former military chief whose martial law regime was a time of lies and terror, and a television host who was accused by an underaged starlet named Pepsi Paloma of coercing her to drop a rape case against several of his comedy co-hosts. Paloma committed suicide in 1985. Tito Sotto is now a senator of the republic."

"This is what the moralists forget when they demand limits on free speech—that the right to free expression is not limited to speech that agrees with Imelda Marcos’ good and true and beautiful.

The threat of the existence of another religion has historically been enough to cause the same vicious frenzy that has spattered Cruz’s Facebook page with anonymous messages threatening hell and damnation. The only difference is that today there is a government and a Constitution built to protect people who disagree, troubled or not, from being crucified for rebellion at the instigation of a maddened mob.
The issue is not good art or bad art or what the Inquirer editorial dismisses as “unoriginal art.” The issue is freedom. When the Church stamped its indignant foot, the floor cracked under the country’s bastion of free expression"
For further reading, please also see The Crucible of Free Speech.

4. The flight from marriage at The Economist - Asians are marrying later, and less, than in the past. This has profound implications for women, traditional family life and Asian politics. From this article, we learn that two forces are giving Asian women more autonomy: education and jobs. Education changes women’s expectations and the rates of non-marriage rise at every stage of education. Better education also makes possible the other main trend changing marriage: female employment. Asia’s economic miracle has caused—and been caused by—a surge of women into the formal workforce.

5. Propaganda posters:

Calling All Comrades! - Long-lost propaganda posters that rallied the Soviets against the Nazis. During the early days of the invasion, as the German advance was making rapid progress, artists and writers gathered in Moscow under the banner of the TASS News Agency to look for a way to boost the rapidly sagging Soviet morale. Their solution was to produce massive posters that vilified the Nazis and lauded the Soviet resistance while commenting on the news of the war effort. Particularly notable for being produced under the totalitarian regime of Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, their efforts stand out as some of the most striking works of art from World War II.

Charmain Mao's Technicolor Dream World - Communist China viewed through decades of propaganda posters was a uniformly cheerful and confident nation -- though the smiling, apple-cheeked faces and bucolic peasant scenes hide the bitter realities of life under Mao's regime. I have an awful urge of framing Tempering Red Hearts in Stormy Waves but I will get over that, I hope.

6. Figuring out first dates, because... well, just because. I don't really do well on dates, in general, but I have picked up quite a few tips (none from the article but some from people I look up to) that I can try on the next one (if God, and His fantastic sense of irony, decides to give me another one). The first being, "There is nothing wrong with me.", in which I will project confidence even if my insecurities are killing me on the inside. #darkandtwisty

7. From Me To You - A tumblr I live vicariously through. This is one of my favorite personal sites and Jamie, the one who runs the blog, is just as beautiful as the clothes she wears and the pictures she takes. My favorite posts: At home with (she visits New Yorkers in their very special apartments, and who wouldn't love that? I love looking at well-decorated small spaces, it takes serious will power to tear myself off apartmenttherapy.com), Paris Cafes (Black-and-white pictures of Parisian cafes shot on film) and A Swingin' Summer (Ain't no summer like a summer in the City!)

Also, movies I watched this week: A Little Romance (featuring a young Diane Lane, I really liked this film. It reminded me of Flipped), Friends with Benefits (Movies like this I can sit through because a.) it's set in New York and b.) The little genius Nolah Gould is in it), Crazy, Stupid, Love (Most of the people in this movie are my favorites but sadly, I was underwhelmed) and Monte Carlo (I don't know what got into me. Oh, I know. Wanderlust. And Leighton Meester's clothes.) Clearly, I have excellent taste when it comes to these things. Not.

AND NOT TO MISS! Frank O'Hara reading Having a Coke With You in his flat in New York before his death in 1966. I never got into poetry but I do love a few poems, like this one. (I look

at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world, come on. What's not to love?)

"it is hard to believe when I’m with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o’clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them"
♥

Song of the week: Lust for Life by Girls

2011-08-20T00:48:00.001+08:00

I really like this song but of course, my life is nowhere near the music video. I've never been a bright and sunny cool girl. I've always been the dark and twisty kind. But it's San Francisco, so hey. Happy Friday! Have a great weekend, cool boys and girls. ;)

Matilda, revisited

2011-08-18T23:13:00.003+08:00

"So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."

"The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village."
— Roald Dahl, Matilda

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

2011-08-16T12:59:00.004+08:00

I get some of the titles for my independent reading through other people's sites. In the course of scouring the tangled web for new titles, I always come across the four agreements--be it from a bookish but sharp-witted girl who blogs in Brooklyn or from a power lady dictating style in the Third World. I have read it a long time ago and I think running across it every once in a while is the world's way of reminding me of what's important.

Today is choose day, choose character.

The Four Agreements:

Agreement 1: Be impeccable with your word – Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Agreement 2: Don’t take anything personally – Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

Agreement 3: Don’t make assumptions – Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

Agreement 4: Always do your best – Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Peter Luger

2011-08-14T23:06:00.003+08:00

Perfect Sundays: Medium-rare rib steak and thick-cut bacon appetizer from Peter Luger.

"No other steakhouse serves a porterhouse so breathtaking" - Frank Bruni, The New York Times

The 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall

2011-08-14T00:08:00.000+08:00

August 13 marked the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Wall. Built with barbed wire and concrete, the wall stretched for 31 miles, separated East and West Berlin as a cold war divide, preventing East Germans from crossing to the west. These are some of my favorite pictures:

Man peering over the newly built Berlin wall in August 1961

August 1961, from the West Berlin side, a young woman, accompanied by her boyfriend, stands precariously near the top of the Berlin Wall to talk to her mother on the East Berlin side

East Berlin border guards stand on top of the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate on 11 November 1989 when the wall was beginning to be torn down

Crowds climb on top of the wall in November 1989

Original parts of the Berlin Wall stand on an area of a construction material company in Teltow, Berlin. On 13 August 2011 Germany celebrates the 50th anniversary of the construction of the wall and commemorate victims who were killed trying to cross from East to West Berlin

(source)

The Sweet Smell of Schadenfreude

2011-08-13T18:12:00.012+08:00

Some links I love this week:

1. Macaron recipes at Canille et Vanille because good macarons are hard to find in this country.

2. An article about the London riots by a Filipina expat Carla Montemayor, explaining that "the violence is directed toward innocent, ordinary people also struggling to keep their heads above water in these difficult times". My favorite part of the article:

"Still, I refuse to valorize the thuggery and callousness of these rioters with these pretexts. They robbed big retail chains and corner shops with equal gusto. Struggling families have lost their livelihoods. I’ve heard it said that this is part of a “resistance,” and that rioters were sending a message to the elites.

And what message would that be, exactly? That they love iPads and hate everyone?"

3. Post-Conflict Potter: How Harry Potter and the magical world of J.K. Rowling might begin the long process of reconciliation and reform at Foreign Policy. My old professor (who teaches a very enlightening and engaging Harry Potter elective at university) said this is an excellent article on social and political life post-Battle of Hogwarts. I completely agree (plus, Harry Potter and Foreign Policy: two of my favorite things).

4. Pissing Off China in Twenty Tweets or Less at Thought Catalog. May also be: How China's netizens do not like the nouveau rich microblogging about what many of their citizens do not have. I thought this was an excellent article especially because from where I come from, and in most First World influenced, ego-driven societies, everyone lives vicariously through the published lives of the rich. Go China!

5. The Politics of Russia and Surreal Politik. As the March presidential elections draw near, Medvedev and Putin participate in a bizzare political campaign with bikini carwashes, music videos, arm-wrestling and synchronized dance moves. Swashbuckling is not new in Philippine politics but I was pretty surprised to see bikini babes calling themselves "Putin's Army". In Russia, really?

6. Jay-Z and Kanye West's video for Otis (ft. Otis Redding), a track from their joint album, Watch the Throne. SO. MUCH. SWAG. Otis Redding's Try a Little Tenderness is one of my favorites so I'm glad they sampled from the track. There were also tracks with samples from James Brown and Quincy Jones, which makes this album so sick. There's nothing new about this album, it's the same old Jay and Ye rapping about their good fortune and how we're all just bystanders to their terrible luck but hey. We're still listening. People are all masochists, I guess.

7. Sad guys on trading floors: turning the economic crisis (and the frightening dip of the Dow) into one of those clever internet memes.

8. Dissent in China: Of development and dictators at The Economist. A train crash in Wenzhou highlights how breakneck economic development in China has cut corners, distorted priorities and created big conflicts of interest.

9. Pictures of Polytheism by Mideo Cruz. The aim of Polytheism was to explain how religion has supposedly been commodified and how capitalist commerce has become the new religion. But the artist's point is missed because his concept and his 'art' are all woefully inadequate. The series 'Polytheism' was exhibited at CCP before it caused public outcry of sacrilege and blasphemy. Our country is largely influenced by religion, thus this exhibit caused much offense to the Philippine public. I'm not much of an artist (or a religious person) but I do not think a bright red penis attached to a crucifix proves a point.

10. Anthony Bourdain's tumblr. I'm currently devouring his Kitchen Confidential: Tales from the Culinary Underbelly (What took me so long? I know, right!) and it's fantastic, so I'm really glad he's brought his punk rock cooking/writing style on the internet.

Rounding up my favorites for the week is the official website for Your Highness, a movie produced by Natalie Portman with Zooey Deschanel, James Franco (!!!) and Danny McBride. I really enjoyed watching this.

I just really want to get away from here

2011-08-13T16:07:00.009+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, my swan song. "Let's get out of this country. I've been so unhappy."

We're just under the upperhand

2011-08-03T10:34:00.007+08:00

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries

A Team is an original song by Ed Sheeran. He reminds me of Jason Mraz. I'm sure he's got a long way to go before he can even be called the next Mr. A-Z but there's something about him that reminds me of Mr. A-Z and his younger years. It must be the rapping. It may also be the allure of youth and good looks. I must say that I really like his songs, my favorites being Wayfaring Stranger, You Need Me, I Don't Need You and A Team. The last one is getting a lot of airplay nowadays (6,000,000+ strong on YouTube) and rightfully so, because it is such a nice song.

You can watch A Team's original version here but for today, here's a cover by Birdy. I really think Birdy is so talented. I just love her voice. Sometimes, when I think of the songs she sings and the age group that she's really in, I can't help but feel a little bit off. She gives so much feeling to the song that it's hard to look at her as a child so young, braces and all. In any case, I'm glad she's doing what she loves at such a young age. Not everyone has that luxury.

This is a beautiful rendition. Enjoy.