Monday, November 30, 2009
Ore : 12:37 AM

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Muppet's Bohemian Rhapsody

For this day, I would like to present to you something to make you smile... especially for those who grew up watching the creations of Jim Henson. A person is x-times blessed the number of years their creations live on after their death, don't you think?

Bohemian Rhapsody





The best music line quote from the video

Animal: "Dada?"

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Sunday, November 29, 2009
Ore : 2:18 PM

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Going West

I would like to buy a book. Or better yet, watch this video and tell me you don't feel like buying a book.

Going West book ad





I mean, where else are you going to find a combination of Western and noir all in one page?

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Thursday, November 26, 2009
Ore : 12:01 PM

Riffing the Stories: The Sleep of Prey and Predator

Remember that sleeping post I did? Well, some good came out of it as I've managed to do a short-short story on it for allmusicjunkie. The inspirational first line of the song? Madonna's "Like A Virgin", of course!

The Sleep of Prey and Predator

She walked out of the bathroom fully clothed and refreshed. She always cleaned herself after feeding. As she walked towards the bed, she thought of what she was, her kind that stalked the night and fed on only men. She had heard all the names that they had accumulated over centuries: succubus, the Old Hag, bangungot, - they meant the same thing.

More new stuff here (especially dodo dayao's excellent article songs for sci-fi adventures)!

***

Here's our quote for the day coming from US President Barack Obama, which is FTW:

"As president, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots in case they try anything."

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Ore : 10:17 PM

A Side Look at the PSF5 TOC

Courtesy of Kyu, here's the tentative table of contents of the upcoming Philippine Speculative Fiction volume 5 edited by Nikki Alfar and Vin Simbulan that's coming out this February 2010. It also has a shortlist of possible story submissions-- so for those writers, it's time to bring out those kneecappers, hmm? *winkwinknudgenudge*

But seriously, was looking over the TOC and it looks like a lot of stories-- 25 in all. Geez, is it me or are the number of stories in the PSF volumes growing every year? Based on charles' database, PSF4 had 24 stories, PSF3 had 21, PSF2 had 19, and PSF1 had 18.

What's nice though is that 12 stories were written by women so there's no Genderfail here. Moreover, I don't recognize 1/3 of the names here so that's also good: PSF has always had the rep of introducing new writers to the stage.

On the question of why should there be more recognized writers than unrecognized ones, well... the field of local spec fic still needs its writers to have some body of work and this is one way of doing it. Maybe in a couple of years, the ratio can shift from recognized to unrecognized.

Funny enough, me and andrew hold the awards for longest runs on the PSF volumes. But Allan B. Lopez still holds the award for the longest-title for a short story in PSF 2.

What's even cooler? It looks like Alex Osias has a new Pinoy Western story in the collection. Yes! Score another one for Filipino dicklit!

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Monday, November 23, 2009
Ore : 1:06 PM

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Escape from City-17

"What can you do if you happen to have the kind of computer equipment you want and just $500 Canadian (US$400)? Do what two indie filmmakers did: make a movie! This is what gamer-filmmakers David and Ian Purchase did when they came up with a short film called Half-Life: Escape from City-17 in 2008. Using machinima and Valve’s Source engine, they managed to create a movie that combined CGI, photographs and traditional video." (Excerpt from here.)


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Ore : 10:06 AM

For Your Viewing Pleasure: Cup of Tears

"Combining samurai action with science-fiction graphics and manga influence, the trailer shows the stylized filmmaking reminiscent of movies like Zack Snyder’s 300, Frank Miller’s The Spirit, the Wachowski Brothers’ Speed Racer as well as Miller and Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City." (Excerpt from here.)


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Saturday, November 21, 2009
Ore : 10:25 PM

Taking Back our Stories

Been thinking about the recent post of Barbara Jane Reyes on Dean's story and magic realism. Specifically, Ms Reyes was analyzing the issue of magic realism in today's literature and to quote:
(Magic realism) defies conventional logic in modern, secular societies, to still believe, but more so, it defies conventional logic in modern, secular societies for those old beliefs and mythical deities to manifest themselves in our modern daily lives. Advanced as we think we are, we decide that such conventionally unexplainable phenomena are the province of the superstitious, backward, third world, unenlightened. We hear their testimonies of encounters with the fantastic with an air of doubt, and we judge them. In high literature, these stories become exoticized, objectified, hence, magical realism.

For those of us living in the Philippines, magic realism-- and to a certain extent, speculative fiction-- is a normal fact of life. As an example, just look at our yearly rituals during Lent: the crucifixion would rank us up in the Western world as 'superstitious' and 'third world' but we take it for granted that people would allow themselves to be nailed to the cross in exchange for or in gratitude of certain divine favors (i.e. small miracles).

And that's how we translate or write them into our fiction, that the strange and the weird is as normal as morning rush hour traffic or mall-wide sales up to 50%! Unfortunately, like two sides of the same coin, then we'll always run the risk of being read by the Western world* as being exotic or alien-- and not because of the value of our stories.

Is that the full extent of our contribution to world literature? That our stories are only good for the exoticness of our tales? Or is there a way we can take back our stories so that they'll be known for-- not for their exotic flavor-- but because they are good stories, that they are interesting stories?

What do you think?

*Obviously, some will raise the objection that we shouldn't be writing for Westerners. But I think that issue is moot: whether or not we write for them, we will no doubt be read by them especially with the Internet around.



Update 1: Some comments from dumavirus and rocketkapre on the issue are interesting reading. Check them out here and here. The comments in this post also make some good points.


Update 2: Here are some more interesting reading material that could be tangentially or directly related to what I'm talking about: international SF, World fantasy award and perspective.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Ore : 10:40 AM

Blogger Update (and other stuff)

Currently suffering from the sniffles *sniff* and the cough *woof*.

Yes, I still don't have a Facebook nor a Twitter account. Why do you ask?

***

In other news, if anyone is interested (or they know anyone who's interested), there's a nice condo unit for rent down south, i.e. near the South Luzon Expressway service beside Merville Subdivision.

Here are the details:

Raya Garden Condominium Unit, Surabaya Building, West Service Road, near SLEX and Merville, Airport view, 72 sqm unfurnished, 2 bedrooms, 1 T&B, monthly rent 20K, parking available for additional fee, contact #09178042005

It's a corner unit so it has two balconies and gives a great view of the airport and Manila Bay.

Here are some pics:


(A map of the premises)

(Infinity pool plus clubhouse)


(An outside view of the Surabaya building)


(A view of the inside, on the 14th floor)

It's a very nice place, if I do say so myself. If I had the money, I wouldn't mind taking up residence there.

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Friday, November 13, 2009
Ore : 11:20 AM

Sleepless in Seattle (and almost anywhere else)



Here's something interesting I found out on the 'net.

I've always thought bangungot-- or a male dying unexpectedly in his sleep due to natural causes (i.e. "nabangungot sya")-- was-- if not a local-- at least an Asian phenomenon. According to folklore, bangungot (or batibat in Iluko/Ilocos) was a fat old woman who would sit on the male's chest while he slept so that he couldn't breathe. The male-- though half-awake-- wouldn't be able to move and the only way he could wake himself from the horror of suffocation and death was by wriggling his toes.

Fortunately, in today's 21st century, medical science seems to have managed to give this deadly phenomenon a reason and a name: sudden unexpected death syndrome or SUDS. (How's that for elaboration?) Moreover, they cite a change of diet in Asian males as a possible way to avoid experiencing this.

A done deal, yes? But I never would have thought that this phenomenon was also present among some non-Asian males-- i.e. caucasian or Northern American and British males-- as well.

While I was surfing the web at work, I chanced upon the term 'Old Hag Syndrome' and I looked it up. Wikipedia (whether trustworthy or unreliable, YMMV) states:
"Folk belief in Newfoundland, South Carolina and Georgia describe the negative figure of the Hag who leaves her physical body at night, and sits on the chest of her victim. The victim usually wakes with a feeling of terror, has difficulty breathing because of a perceived heavy invisible weight on his or her chest, and is unable to move i.e., experiences sleep paralysis. This nightmare experience is described as being "hag-ridden" in the Gullah lore. The "Old Hag" was a nightmare spirit in British and also Anglophone North American folklore."
Sound familiar? As the lyrical poet told me, they may be all the one and the same: nightmares that haunt our sleep. But if that's the case, how come the mythology is the same, that of an old woman who sits on top of the male's chest and stealing their breath?

Why the similarity of a myth from two places halfway across the world? Anyone care to speculate?

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Ore : 11:23 AM

Smoke Gets in your Eyes


The first issue of the Filipino online magazine Usok is now up and ready for your perusal, so sayeth the e-publisher RocketKapre.

And for your reading pleasure, you can get stories by the doughty Kenneth Yu (of the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories), the missing chiles samaniego, the effervescent Crystal Koo, the quintessential Celestine Trinidad, and omnni-present Yvette Tan.

In particular, I love the cover art courtesy of Kevin Lapeña with its rendition of a jeepney and the scientific and mythological passengers riding in it.

Don't you just love the energizing power of the Internetz?

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Name: banzai cat
Location: Philippines

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The Farthest Shore

Coming soon: Demons of the New Year


Published
short stories/flash fiction:
  • "walking backwards," philippine speculative fiction, volume 1
  • "oedipus rex," manual magazine, february issue
  • "first contact," philippine speculative fiction, volume 2
  • "insomnia," philippine genre stories, issue 1
  • "brigada," philippine speculative fiction, volume 3
  • "love and noir in the time of call centers," fhm erotica, ladies confessional special
  • "the war against the city," philippine genre stories: horror edition
  • "dreams of the iron giant," philippine speculative fiction, volume 4
  • "johnny tatô and the dragon of pasig," a time for dragons
  • "brothers-in-arms," the farthest shore
  • "malikmata," writers connect: story of the week
  • "operation big brother," allmusicjunkies#1
  • "four kings," allmusicjunkies#2
  • "memoirs of an ex-zombie," allmusicjunkies#3
  • "the sleep of prey and predator," allmusicjunkies#4



  • Links

    Uno: People

    Dos: Writers & Editors

    Tres: Criticism & Review

    Quatro: Speculative

    Cinco: Genre & Literature

    Sais: Authors and Artists

    Siete: Communities and Press

    Otso: Lokal

    Nuebe: Curiosities

    Dies: Words


    Quotes
      The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity. ALBERT EINSTEIN

      Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death....Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. BERTRAND RUSSELL

      I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us... We need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. FRANZ KAFKA

      Obviously, then, I think a good critic in any field is a useful citizen, who is positively obliged to be harsh toward bad work. By a good critic, I mean a man with a good ear, a love for his field at best, and a broad and detailed knowledge of the techniques of the field. JAMES BLISH


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