Love Affairs

1. with Kate Bush.


Everytime I close my eyes, I see your face, your --- yaaaaaaaah! WTF?!


actually matagal na 'to. Listening to "The Sensual World" non-stop for days roused my slumbering poet hehe



2. The New Yorker. Eto ang bago. Just discovered this brilliant magazine at the foreign serials section of UP Main Lib. Got interested because of a Philippine Daily Inquirer article on alcoholism which cited an article from The New Yorker.


Two Bottles. One Girl.

Malcolm Gladwell on the sociology of drinking from The New Yorker website.

Reads like Reader's Digest with high IQ -- minus the fixation on health articles and debt reduction; and emotionally draining short stories about stray cats and puppies [sniff, sniff].


Stop Looking at me like that!

Browsed through their previous issues and the first thing I found was an article on Tori Amos and Bjork! The title of the article "Army of Two" is a reference to one of Bjork's songs. Wow! Holy Shit! I think I'm in love [again?]...

Where else can you find articles on two of the greatest contemporary female musical artists of my generation? or a piece on Greek archaeology discussing the Antikythera Mechanism? or an essay on Historiography and epistemology?

3. The library/archive/books



Hello there, I missed you so much. We'll have lots of fun together from now on...

Ex Post Facto: The Archaeology Field Trip

Just this weekend I had an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime chance to get down and dirty with archaeologists at an actual dig in Quezon province. The experience was great, and the people were both brilliant and easy-going. This is an attempt to recapture those days and the moments that made the experience worthwhile...

The evening of January 29 until the early morning of January 30, 2010

The trip was officially scheduled to start on the 30th, with the participants meeting at the JAC Bus Terminal at 5:30 AM. This arrangement posed a dilemma for me since I was unsure if I could avail myself of transportation in the early hours of the morning at UP Campus. It was a good thing that one of my classmates in World Archaeology, Fr. Ted, extended an invitation to us to spend the night at their parish church convent.

I immediately pounced on that chance to spend a night at the convent. I have had the opportunity to spend a night in a seminary -- it was during my teaching days when the faculty of UNO-R went on a trip to Cebu; we spent one night at the seminary in San Carlos. But this was my first time in the priestly quarters in a parish church.

I was joined in our overnight adventure by Sir Butch who was, quite coincidentally, a pastor. The other one who joined our crew was RJ (he was Mr. Call Center English in my previous post)

To say that the night was eventful would be an understatement. I got to know my fellow classmates a bit better. We finally got to see how Fr. Ted arranges his piles of reading materials -- in an attempt to segregate his academics from his religious duties. Fr. Ted had attended the convention of religious which had more than 5000 priests in attendance. We got to meet the parish priests and the other members of the community over dinner. I got a chance to watch the television again. The political ads were driving me insane. We also watched the latest adventures of Santino and I marveled at the magic of editing -- one moment the police were being informed of a riot at the seminary, then we cut to the next scene of them arriving to pacify the unruly crowd. Now that was fast!

Initially it was only me and the two religious guys who were in the convent. RJ was running a bit late because he had a few things to do but it was alright since he lived nearby and had a car. So after a few hours of watching the idiot box we made our way to the night spots for a bit of fun.

It was good, clean, fun mind you people. The bar was nice; I finally got to drink Red Horse again after so many years; and the band was good. They even played one of the songs I requested which was "I Don't Wanna Wait" by Paula Cole. I figured that since the band featured drums, keyboard and bass that Paula Cole was a good choice for them. They pulled it off, though I could hear the pretty vocalist struggling a bit with the vocals but nevertheless I appreciated their effort.

It got even more interesting when we met Fr. Ted's friends. One of them immediately took to the stage and sang a song. Her performance was quite good, though the song that she sang escapes my memory as of this moment. What happened next may be blamed on peer pressure and Red Horse.

I got up onstage and sang "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure.

hahahahaha

In fairness, I asked my table after my performance if I did well and they said that it was good. In fact, a random stranger complimented my performance while I was on my way to the CR. May handshake pa yan ha.

But the night was getting late and we had to make our way back. After saying our goodbyes, we went back to the convent. RJ had already caught up with us at the bar and I rode with him on the way back. During the ride I discovered that he was a fan of Irish music. And so we both engaged in a discussion of the merits of Celtic music and culture.

When we arrived at the convent, we made our way to our respective rooms. I was billeted with Sir Butch but RJ, who was supposed to be alone in the next room, decided to join us after a while. The reason: He and I got into a veeeeeery lengthy discussion regarding comic books. RJ was a Deadpool and X-men afficionado and he brought along a Wolverine comic book with him. The discussion found its way into our room and the talk turned to 80s and early 90s cartoons, online gaming and movies. It was like finding a lost member of one's tribe (the tribe of "Nerd") and you could actually converse in your own secret language. Si Sir Butch kung minsan nawawala sa mga pinag-uusapan namin ni RJ.

So instead of sleeping, the three of us spent the next few hours watching Zatoichi on RJ's laptop.

It was the most fun I've ever had in one night in Manila.

And a New Nerd Found...

If a “gaydar” is said to exist…is there a possibly that there is also a “nerd-dar” – a social “device” to “detect” nerds?

Classmate ko siya sa Archaeo class. Una akala ko sit-in kasi second meeting na siya pumasok. Grabe pa mag-english. “Call center English” ‘ata – todo pronounce ang “t” sound at may twang pa. Siyempre di ‘rin ako patatalo sa kanya so English din ako. Pero walang twang…di yan tinuro sa amin hehe.


He arrived a bit late for our class, and since he was absent last meeting he was asking around regarding the previous discussions. That’s when we struck up a conversation. Out of nowhere he mentioned about xenoarchaeology and the possibility of life on other planets.

Silent alarms sounded in my head. I decided to test the waters…

I mentioned the possibility of extraterrestrial life was speculated upon by scientists. In fact there’s this formula…

“Oh, you mean the Roddenberry formula…” Call center English quipped.

…that was made by Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, I managed to finish.

CONFIRMED!

One more…to determine if he’s the “old school” nerd or more contemporary…

We were discussing hominids, hominins, the culture of the early humans when I turned to him and nonchalantly said…

“Another possibility is that the Cylons are our ancestors…”

Call center English looked at me and chuckled.

“The Cylons,” he replied,”were the reason why humans came to earth in the first place.”

There was no need for words to figure out where that came from. Battle Star Galactica. The Reimagined Series.

Huli ka. haha

See You in Manila

Warp ten na 'to...todo na 'to. hehe

Will be back in Manila this afternoon. Looking forward to the last few months. Hope everything plays according to plan this 2010...

[Ge]N[er]ational Anthem

My brother, nephew and myself were singing along to this Fra Lippo Lippi song while we were in the car last Christmas evening. One thing I can say about my family is that music is one tie that binds us together. I dare you to show me another 8-year old who sings Fra Lippo Lippi.

Incidentally, this was the first song played by the band during our high school batch reunion last night. This goes to show how good music transcends generations...

In Bacolod

Just got here this afternoon after an almost 2 hour delay with my flight. Salamat, Zest Air...

This few days are going to be hectic with all the meetings to attend to...so it might be awhile before I can once again attend to this blog. Currently piggy-backing on someone's wifi connection. Salamat, unrestricted wifi...

See You in Bacolod

This will be my final "vacation period". The next homecoming's going to be permanent but that'll still be in April...

Just want to give out my advance holiday greetings to everybody who will be visiting or straying onto my blog. Will do my best to post updates during the vacation season. Suffice to say that I'll be busy for the next few weeks. hehe

Tomorrow I'll be making my way to the airport for my flight.

Be safe everybody and see you all in Bacolod.

Amazing [G]race

Today's adventure seemed to be a lost episode of The Amazing Race. I had contacted Grace a few days ago telling her if she would be amenable for a meeting. She was in Manila this weekend and I was happy that she obliged me. The problem was -- oh well, I'll let our [reconstructed, slightly altered for dramatic effect] text exchanges tell the tale. Here's last night's exchange:

Grace: let's meet December 14 (Monday) at 2 PM at UP Diliman. I have to buy some UP Shirts.

Ditch: don't you have a 5:15 flight that same afternoon? and aren't you in Laguna?

Grace: Just got here this Sunday afternoon. Will be in Tagaytay early morning to watch the sunrise and then have brunch. After that, will go straight to UP.

Ditch: [to myself: Tagaytay? sunrise? WTF?!] Are you sure you can make it within the time frame you plotted...early morning Monday traffic is really terrible...

Our text exchanges this morning (around 11 am) and early in the afternoon got freakier...

Grace: Mike, gud am! which is nearer to the airport? MOA or UP?

Ditch: Darling, you have such an abyssmal sense of proximity here in Manila. Why don't we meet in MOA na lang?

Grace: OK, can you buy me some shirts na lang?

Ditch: $%@#! I'm already in the jeepney. It'll take me 40+ minutes to get to MOA. Are you on your way...?

[an hour later]

Ditch: Arrived at MOA na. I'll be waiting for you at Mcdonald's beside the Hypermarket. It's the building with the turquoise colored tower thing...

Grace: I'm on the bus but it might take a while for it to leave.

Ditch: You really sure you'll make it in time?

Grace: Yup! Bus ride will take about an hour then I'll take a taxi ride which will take about 15 mins. See yah!

Ditch: OK. see you then.

At this time I was reciting the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, replacing the word "fear" with be stressed/get angry/strangle Grace. An hour or so passes. I will not be stressed, stress is the mind-killer...

Grace: Mike, I'm in the taxi na...

Ditch: I'm standing outside the Hypermarket. Don't bother getting out of the taxi. I'll join you and we'll have our chat at the terminal na lang ha?

Grace: I'm here na.

Ditch: Where the $%&* are you?!

The meeting that ensued was much more pleasant, I assure you.


NOTE: again, the cited text exchanges have been fictionalized for dramatic effect. Grace might contest some of the words used in the recreation but in my view those words best summed up my thoughts. If ever Grace decides to blog about her experience, I bet it would have a slightly different take and most assuredly would contain no expletives...

Die Hitler! Die!

Watching Inglorious Basterds brought back memories of watching war movies with my brother. He would always tell me to take count of the number of soldiers at the start of the film as they would eventually be whittled down during the course of the story. Needless to say, my subtraction skills were sharpened from watching war movies:

Okay, we have 10 members in the squad...

Now, two got blown to bits by a claymore mine -- 10 minus 2,that's eight...

One bleeds to death from being shot in the thigh, must be the femoral...one less eight makes seven...

Standoff in a base or somewhere...five gets blown by mortar fire. Two remain standing...

The beauty about Inglorious Basterds is that it doesn't make pretensions to draw parallels with current issues, be an allegory of the struggle over good and evil, serve as an indictment or endorsement of any war, or even wax sentimental over the "good old days" (Band of Brothers often did this during the course of that series). It's a swashbuckling adventure. And it delivers.

In the sequence which shows Shosanna (aka Emmanuelle) in the projection room prior to the premiere of "Nation's Pride" (you'll get this if you watched the film), I thought the song playing was familiar - more particularly, the voice, which I was sure I have heard before. I bet Yunamayi that it was David Bowie (unfortunately she didn't call me on my bet). And sure enough, at the end credits -- David Bowie! Cat People!

One question: what happened to the remainder of the Basterds? I counted the the two German speaking Basterds in the pub and the two who went kamikaze in the cinema as casualties; Raines and Utivich survived, so where were the other four? Unless I missed a scene...wait -- I forgot to count them again during the baseball bat scene with Bear Jew and the Nazi officer...crap.

Time Team

I was introduced to this series during our previous lecture in World Archaeology with Prof. Valientes. Never realized that digging through dirt could be so dramatic and sexy...

Almost Famous

Mama called up unexpectedly asking how I was doing. Turns out she saw a news report on a certain rally in UP Diliman that seemingly got out of hand.

"I passed by that rally this afternoon!" was my response to her.

I was making my way to the UP Press Bookstore at Balay Kalinaw in order to look at some books and I happened to come across the said rally. Mass demonstrations is nothing extraordinary here in UP but what surprised me was the very visible police presence.

So picture this: me walking nonchalantly through the crowd of protesters, silently praying that nothing untoward happens lest I become a casualty in the melee. And it would be easy to mistake me as one of the tibaks -- I was wearing the UP History Department shirt with cargo pants and sandals. I was like walking bait for the police itching to trounce any wayward tibak.

I was going: "Diyos ko...wag lang sanang magkagulo...paraanin niyo lang ako bago kayo magpatayan...Please lang..."

But my prayers were answered and I made my way through the masses without any incident. Thank goodness the crowd decided to up the ante much, much later.

Profane Redemption

Matthias Grunewald's "Crucifixion"

Just watched Wanted:Border with Yunamayi and let me just say that it was an amazing experience. The film reallys fits the mold of what a true "indie cinema" experience is. The film does not pander to the audience, purposely forcing the viewers to a higher level of awareness. In short - hindi iniinsulto ng pelikulang ito ang intelihensya ng manonood.

But the film also carries an inherent challenge -- as the audience you need to keep your eyes and ears open and soak in the visual and visceral experience. Viewing Wanted:Border is quite a challenge. The film employs a non-linear narrative and the images would seem to be a bit convoluted at the beginning but it all falls into place toward the end. Take note, you need to keep the small details in mind. This film might need a few more views even for those already initiated in the various conceits of indie cinema.

The film left us both satisfied and perplexed. The taltal thread is the one that got us pondering the film even as we were exiting the cinema. During dinner we'd often catch ourselves lost in thought -- ganun ka-grabe ang epekto ng pelikula sa amin. To speak of more details would be a sacrilege, since one needs to take in the entire movie and come up with their individual take on the movie. Mine is right there in the blog post title as well as in the picture of Christ crucified in all his g(l)ory.

Apart from the complexities, it was a joy to hear people speaking in Ilonggo. Rosanna Roces gives an understated, though very powerful performance. The film has offered us a strange and unsettling view of the human condition, and if in the darkness of human compulsions one can find a strange though disturbing beauty -- and a rather surreal hope for redemption -- then it wouldn't hurt to look, would it?

Pissed

Movietime with cousin Pebi did not go as planned.

I am so f*cking pissed with what happened.

Last night I checked out the scheduled screening of Wanted:Border at clickthecity.com. There I saw that the schedule listed a 1:40 PM, 3:30 PM, and 5:20 PM screening of the film. Knowing that Pebi would be fresh out of her shift (her shift BTW ends at 6 am) at her call center/trading consultancy work, and that she normally spends Thursday morning asleep at home, we agreed on an early afternoon screening since she should be back in Cavite before 4 or 5 PM.

And so we met at the SC around 10 AM. Natawa ako sa kanya kasi yung get-up nya was "yuppieng gala" -- top part was "yuppie" while the lower half was "gala" (shorts and sandals). A quick stop at Maroons turned her into a "UPing gala" (a UP shirt now replaced her blouse). After spending a moment to check out the DVDs at the usual place, we made our way to Robinson's Galleria for lunch.

Of course libre ni Pebi. (Thank you!) Mealtime chitchat was the most meaningful I had in a looong time. Discussion went from movies: Sophia Copolla's Marie Antoinette and the sad fate of M. Night Shyamalan (Pebi expressed admiration for Lady in the Water; I, on the other hand, expressed skepticism on The Last Airbender; we both agreed The Happening sucked); to books: George Orwell's works (Animal Farm, 1984) to Paulo Coelho's I Sat by the River Piedra and Wept (pareho ang reaction namin sa book -- isang malutong na WTF?!)The food at The Old Spaghetti House was also good - the spareribs were soft and tender but needed more sauce and marinade IMO.

Things took a turn for the worse after lunch.

We hurried to the ticket booth around 1:15 PM to get in line for Wanted:Border only to find that Robinson's Movieworld had changed the schedule. There were to be two screenings of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON at Cinema 8 prior to the screening of Wanted: Border. The earliest we could watch was 5:20 PM and, knowing Pebi's situation, it was impossible for us to watch the movie as a "critical tandem" (naks) if that's the case.

F*ck.

After profuse apologies to Pebi, we decided to watch Paranormal Activity instead. Nilibre ko si Pebi as a token of gratitude for lunch and also for the fact that the sudden change of plans made us watch a movie that we both weren't planning on viewing. Nahiya talaga ako kay Pebi. And I was so irate at what happened that I just had to kick Edward's big-ass face displayed in the Movieworld lobby.

Honestly, that felt good. ha.

Halos walang tao sa cinema when we went in. Aside from Pebi and myself, I counted around 6 more people in the cinema. So much for the hype surrounding this film -- another addition to the "found/recovered footage genre" like The Blairwitch Project, Cloverfield, Rec, Quarantine (based on Rec), and The Hayden Kho Scandal (kidding)

Again, so much for hype. I considered the film as an indictment of the materialistic and self-centered American culture whose only response to the forces of the supernatural was to point a videocamera at it. The scenario presented in the film would unfold quite differently here in our country, where our culture is steeped in lore regarding the supernatural. This would explain why both Pebi and I viewed the film with a degree of incredulity and amusement -- but not horror.

Kung si Pebi pa: "Naku, na-engkanto lang yan. Tawas lang ang katapat nyan..."

but to be fair to the film, a few scenes did make me jump. The most interesting was the one where the woman, while sound asleep, was dragged by her foot from her bed by an invisible presence, and hearing her terrified screams as she was being dragged away from view... now, that was creepy.

And another question kept nagging me: Why don't they just shut the damn door?

And so our tandem shared disappointment instead of an enjoyable film experience. This afternoon just made me realize how much I hated the Twilight series, and now I could hate it with a vengeance. Nang dahil sa New Moon na 'yan nadiskaril ang plano namin ni Pebi, punyeta!


Note: checked the clickthecity website again, and lo and behold! the f*cking schedule has indeed been changed!Isaksak nyo yang p*t********g New Moon na 'yan sa baga nyo!

Movie Time

Just scheduled a movie watching session with cousin Pebi tomorrow. We will be watching the Cinemaone Filmfest 2009 Best Picture "Wanted: Border" at Robinson's Galleria. I'm making up for not watching "Yanggaw" last month...

Ano Ba Yan?!

The Filipiniana Section of the UP Main Lbrary is still closed! Hindi pa bayad ang utang na six million sa Meralco!

F*ck!

Pa'no na 'to? Diskaril ang reading natin for thesis obviously. Though there are other alternatives but most of them involve long commutes (National Library) and daily library access fees (Ateneo, hello!)Andito na nga ang pinakamalapit wala pa. Tang 'ina naman o...

And I am sure hindi ako nag-iisa na naaapektuhan nito. There are countless students who are suffering as I am. To be fair naman sa staff, they were offering to browse through the shelves but they could only release one book at a time. And considering that the atmosphere of the Filipiniana section is like that of medieval times (parang dungeon), entertaining my requests for multiple books seem like an exercise in futility.

Ngayon ko lang naramdaman ang matagal nang reklamo ng mga tibak: na pinapabayaan ng gobyerno ang edukasyon sa Pilipinas. Putik!

You're Welcome, Quezon City...*

Balik peyups na!

Goodbye Bacolod muna...

Goodbye to the sweet comforts of home...

Goodbye to Globe Broadband -- na grabe magfluctuate ang download rate at hindi ka pwede mag-view ng multiple websites dahil magla-lag nang todo...

Goodbye to Netopia -- my regular internet connection back home na P40+ per hour and singil pero OK na rin...

Goodbye Jo, Lyka, Miming, and the other Miming...

Goodbye sa lahat ng mga pamangkin. On leave muna ang inyong yayo. hehe

Goodbye Diding, magpakabait ka ha...

Goodbye to my parents, hello to their monthly allowance. Pramis, last na talaga ito, ako na ang didiskarte next year...

Goodbye for now, but see you soon...tutal December is just around the corner...

Ngayon...

Enrolment na! May thesis writing na! Last cognate na!

Pero bukas na lang ang bayad...closed kasi mga bangko sa Negros. November 5 eh. hehe

This second semester will definitely be the last, but it doesn't mean it'll be less fun...

Kitakits!


*apologies to Mr. Joey de Leon

Final Updates

Saturday

Brian spends most of the day riveted, deep in concentration on his various quests. such concentration only interrupted by screams of "Tito Miiiike!" whenever he found himself stuck at a level or quest. Assistant gamer and nanny rolled in one. Hay...

Caught a throat irritation because of gorging on too much ice cream.

Sunday

All Saints' Day. Throat irritation grew worse. Had to make a short trip to the mall to procure medicine. Pretty sure this is an allergy so I gulped down a few antihistamines. Didn't feel the wrath of Santi here in Bacolod.

Monday

All Souls' Day. Early morning trip to Manapla with Mama and Papa to pay respects to our beloved dead. Throat irritation morphed into a sinus irritation. Allergy it is. After paying our respects to the dead, we had to pay our respects to the living - necessitating a side trip to our relatives in the barrio. Sat quietly for two hours and respectfully responded to queries and engaged in small talk. Sidetrip to Robinson's and wolfed down a sandwich at Taters. Mmmmmmm...

Tuesday

Sinus irritation on the mend. Mama's off buying pasalubong while I'm here updating my blog.

See you all in Manila...

Vacation Updates

Wednesday

Papa finally arrives around 9 PM with a retinue of former acquaintances and friends filling up a van. Little wonder since Pa's former job as a driver often had him parked at the airport. Iba talaga 'pag sikat, no? hehe

Thursday

Visited the high school once again, but this time to reconnect with an old friend and college batchmate who happened to have been hired just this year. The whole night was spent in kumustahan and chitchat. Our triumvirate, however, was incomplete as Apol was unable to make it due to prior commitments. Glad to see you again Bones, and we'll always have next time, 'Pol...

Friday

UNO-R. Again. Attended the Living Rosary and sent a wireless message to The Man Upstairs in behalf of an old friend and her ailing parent. I believe the Big G listens to prayers, most especially if these prayers are intended for another person and does not embody personal, selfish interests...It's Sir Harry's Birthday! treated to lunch and more chit-chat at the ACC...had to come home early in the afternoon as visitors were expected...

My cousin Nong Rudyard, his wife and kids paid a visit...so did Nang Jenelyn and Brian and Irene...and as usual, all the kids were huddled in front of my laptop playing Insaniquarium...thank God for PC games...

Brian spent the night at home and embarked on his new quest in an RPG game of mine...I get to try out his laptop and the Globe Tattoo Prepaid Internet...

So guess what I'm using to connect to the Internet and make this blog update?

See you all soon and stay tuned for other updates. Adios!

Emotional Rollercoaster

Vacation updates:

Monday

1. Met with Pax Florius and engaged in a few rounds of Wii games. Managed to snatch a Neverwinter Nights installer from Pax and also borrowed a Che Guevarre documentary hehe. Much appreciated. Brought my CPU to IECC for some diagnostics and repair.

2. Dropped by the High School and reconnected with old friends and acquaintances; briefly basked in the adulation of adoring former students. Naks...

Tuesday

3. Paid a visit to the doctors in order to indulge the hypochondria of mis padres. Initial appraisal by Dr. Guancia and Dr. Eusebio: NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ME! Appear!

4. Got the news that Papa would be finally be coming home for good since his working visa expired and his company no longer renewed his work contract. Papa deserves his rest. I, on the other hand, had been given a sign that THIS IS IT. (apologies to MJ)

Wednesday

5. 9 AM-11 AM: Subjected self to a battery of tests (see #3). Will know results tomorrow.

6. 11AM: Brought my CPU home from IECC. tried installing Neverwinter Nights onto my newly resuscitated PC. A single mistake erased one whole hard drive full of games, music files, and other documents. Too depressed to comment further.

7. 1PM: Bout of depression resulted to a self-imposed exile at SM Bacolod. Met some former students along the way. Roaming around for a few hours did me good, though.

8. 4 PM: Bought some materials for an impromptu project: making a "Welcome Home" banner for my father.

9. 6PM: Father boards plane in NAIA domestic, banner done and installed. So proud of my work. hehe

10. 6 PM: tried installing NWN again. This time was careful to recall the proper procedure. Installation successful.

11. 6:10 PM: tried playing NWN on PC. Game unable to start because of incompatible software.

stay tuned for more updates...

I Can't Figure This One Out...

The Radiator Lady from David Lynch's "Eraserhead" a.k.a. "Admiral Ackbar's Baby" hehehe



Be at the airport in a few hours. Take care everybody and see you in Bacolod...