Damned In Blue

Love is... ...a keepsake book and a chocolate cake with dedications... ...a dressing room door filled with sticky notes... ...a magnificent view at Potter's Ridge Hotel, Tagaytay (awesome hotel, by the way)... ...bulalo for dinner... ...vegetable omelette for breakfast... ...lechon kawali and pork sisig rice toppings, as well as an unlimited order of house blend coffee, at Bag of Beans for lunch... ...and the mandatory couple shot. I love you!

Just saw "High Fidelity" a couple of days ago and it just hit me - I remembered actually wanting to pattern my blog over how John Cusack brings up his personal top fives throughout the film. I'd always had this idea of writing something like "Top Five Songs to Listen to When Drunk," "Top Five Things to Do When I'm Alone," "Top Five Biggest Mistake I've Done," and a whole lot more of crappy top five stuffs that I've suppressed throughout the years. The concept is ripe with new things to talk about, but more importantly, it would have allowed me to stay in touch with what I believe is the Self. Although time has passed and I've clearly outgrown the idea of doing a regular Top Five, I'll do myself a favor by doing the one and, arguably, only Top Five about whatever that pops in my mind at the moment. I've started digging into books lately. After  having read Murakami's Oedipal coming-of-age story "Kafka on the Sh...

I consider Haruki Muramaki as my favorite author that's not named F. Sionil Jose . I felt that Norwegian Wood  is his Catcher in the Rye , West of the Border, South of the Sun is a guiltless pleasure, and The Wind Up Bird Chronicle is a sprawling epic of abstract and tangible experiences that all wounded up in text by design. However, if you ask me to recall any of the scenes in the books mentioned, I can honestly say that I can't remember anything at all. I do have fond memories of the sex scenes, but I can't answer why or how the sex happened. Not surprisingly, the carnal pleasure is the one that leaves an indelible mark in the mind. After having drifted apart from his work for about four years, my co-worker lent me Kafka on the Shore , a book that I wanted to purchase for a long time, but just didn't for reasons unknown. I'm on the verge of finishing the novel, but I can't wait to weigh in my thoughts as to what I've read so far. If I were to suggest a...

At one point in your life, you'll soon regret them. In 1999, I watched on television as Roberto Benigni's name was announced as the winner for the Best Actor category in the Academy Awards for "Life is Beautiful." There was a huge applause from the crowd and with great reason; the film came out of nowhere and received glowing reviews from critics worldwide. His performance was what breathed life into the film and made it into a media darling leading to this event. I guess knowing all this, Mr. Benigni was unable to contain himself from the exuberance and excitement of winning an Academy. From what I remembered, he uncontrollably waved to the esteemed guests in the building with a big smile on his face and started walking along the headrests of the chairs like a trapeze act. You know, just because he can. After seeing all this, I told to myself, "What a jackass. What if he fell from the headrests and land on someone, say Dame Judy Dench and injure her in the proce...

For those who don't give a damn: Metallica - Blackened (6:41) Arch Enemy - Silverwing (4:08) Sigur Ros - Goobledigook (3:08) Symphony X - of Sins and Shadows Testament - Dog-Faced Dogs (4:02) Iron Maiden - The Wickerman (4:35) Broken Social Scene - Shoreline 7/4 (4:53) Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Janglin' (3:50) Lil Rob - Summer Nights (4:27) The Roots - No Alibi (5.21) Infectious Grooves - Violent and Funky (3:49) Cody Chestnutt - Serve This Royalty (5:43) Overkill - Give a Little (4:42) Metric - Help, I'm Alive (4:45) The Haunted - Choke Hold (3:43)

Reading a novel you don't like is similar to unnecessary pain - it's painful and not necessary. Okay, that was a stupid opening sentence. Bear with me on this one, folks. After a semester-long hiatus from school, I began the second semester this school year with axes to grind - or to be more accurate, final papers to submit - with my former professors. One of the aforementioned professors, whose class I took two years ago, required us to review a book without reference to any secondary text. The paper, then, must be grounded on our experience as a reader of books. This forced me to dust off one of my books that, for almost four years, I have refused to touch from my bookshelf because it bored the living shit out of me after a couple of chapters. The reason why I forced myself into reading something that I find a pain in the ass to read is to hopefully get the book off my list. Working on a deadline should have instilled a sense of urgency in me to run through the pages of the ...

Broken Social Scene is one of the few bands that I adored after college, the time when I sort of stopped rummaging through the Internet for new music. Back story: I voraciously downloaded MP3 songs from obscure bands using my 56.6k modem a full decade ago. Doing the math, it took me to download two songs within an hour, a terrible rate compared to how we can download an entire album in a matter of minutes this day and age. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, BSS. I was completely blown away by "7/4 Shoreline" and "Fire Eye'd Boy". The intense passion for music wrapped in indie aesthetics was perversely present in their songs. After procuring their album late that year, I was a full convert of the Scene. The compelling energy and organic song arrangements was truly refreshing that I can't help tap my foot just thinking about the songs playing in my head. With Forgiveness Rock Record , the energy is a bit hushed, in my humble opinion. The album is not as upfront with...