A different look at A Song of Fire and Ice: HBO's Game of Thrones

I forgot to mention that I did a review of HBO's successful adaption of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice into a TV series, Game of Thrones, which came out in The Philippine Online Chronicles' Metakritiko section last month.

The TV show is a pretty good, pretty faithful take on the books. Here's an excerpt:

Admittedly, one can’t take up the TV series without taking the books they’re based on into consideration, especially given how faithful the producers have been to them. But this doesn’t mean that once you’ve read the books, you’ve also watched the TV series: watching HBO’s Game of Thrones is a different experience altogether from reading Martin’s book. And what an experience it is, from its grand CGI intro that shows a map of the Seven Kingdoms with landmark castles and cities like Winterfell and King’s Landing rising from its surface to the haunting opening soundtrack created by Ramin Djawadi.

Thank goodness for paying freelance gigs. Thank goodness for the Internet! *grins*

Gone Fishing... Be Right Back!

The Writing Life

(Pic from here.)

I never meant to write for a living. Or be a writer. But life works funny that way.

I transferred out from my college course of AB Creative Writing in first year because I thought there was no money to made in writing.

Ironically, a couple of years after I graduated from college, I made the decision to write for a living after a horrible year-long stint at SGV Consulting. Then, I had no idea what I was doing (feeling like a fancy gofer but with lousy pay) even though I was working the corporate life. Afterward, I figured that if I'm going to make something of my life, I better do it through what I do best. (Yes, I had a quarter life crisis then.)

In this case, I thought I could write a decent sentence so I went into media-- and then the Internet.

In the interim of trying to write for a living, I started to write stories. If I can write for money, I thought I should also write for fun. It's kinda like having a multiple personality disorder: there different levels in my head that I access to make it easy for me to write what I require-- but all coming from one source, which is my brain.

Unfortunately, it's hard to balance this. Nowadays my writing plate in terms of work is always so full. Currently I'm writing for my job (the Mega Trilogy: Megaking, Megabest and Megahelp), for CNET Asia, for POC's Metakritiko, and for Diwa-- plus whatever that comes my way. As much as possible, I never say no to a job offer.

The downside of this is that I don't have time to write for fun-- or I can't seem to find something good to write. Oh, I can still pump out a story idea or two for This is 15 Minutes. However, my political blog is dead in the water while I'm struggling to maintain this one. And I'm not even considering the stuff I have to maintain to keep my online publishing moving.

Mind, I'm not complaining. I'm just lamenting the fact that I cannot write as much as I want to-- even with the discipline I'm teaching myself. This is my decision, and this is the life I choose.

It's not even that I need to write in order to live. I can actually walk away from this (as evidenced one time when I... well, that's a long story there). But it's what I'm good at so I have to stick to this.

I write because it's what I do.

Blank Saturday

...Is so busy writing other stuff for work, he doesn't have anything interesting to say here. BRB.

An Enduring Shout-Out (and an Announcement)

Still a bit tired but I just want to give a shout-out to my brother who managed to finish the recent Bataan Death March Tribute: Bataan102 Ultramarathon held over the weekend.

Held to commemorate the Bataan Death March that happened during World War 2, the ultramarathon lasted from the humid midnight of Saturday (March 6) to the thunderous afternoon heat of Sunday (March 7). Runners ran 102 kilometers from the Bataan Death March Shrine at Mariveles, Bataan (Km 0) all the way to the Old Railway Station at San Fernando, Pampanga (Km 102).

I was part of the support group for my brother from midnight of Saturday all the way 'til 6 a.m. Sunday at the 50km mark of Abucay, Bataan. From there, I was relieved of my support duties by my brother's friends. Frankly, after 6 hours of being up all night, I was dead tired.

But still, it was all worth it as my brother managed to finish the 102kms to finish 20th place. Given that there were 140-plus participants, that's pretty good. And 102kms? Man, that's nothing to sneeze at.

Congrats, bro!

---

In other news, my first two posts at CNET Asia are now up. You can check them out at the Digital Eye.

Drop by and say hello!

It's the End of the World as We Know It

... and I feel fine. But seriously, yes, that' s me you see on Facebook.

A couple have expressed their surprise in seeing me there. Honestly, you know me: I wouldn't have except that the job required it.

What job? I've signed up as one of CNET Asia's bloggers. It's a fascinating gig, writing about tech and how it meshes with society and culture in the Philippines-- but wouldn't it be strange if I was writing these things and I didn't have a Facebook page, that current purveyor of all things Filipino?

It's strange how these things go.

Next stop: here I come, Twitter and Plurk and Google Buzz and...!

(Updated to add: Good Lord! When did Tunay na Lalake return?)

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

I love trailers. I always make it a point to catching the trailers before the start of a flick at the moviehouse.

So at my new job, I get a chance to check out interesting stuff online-- including trailers for upcoming movies. And for 2010, there are two great movies that I'm looking forward to based on their trailers: The Expendables and Tucker and Dale vs Evil.

For the first movie, how can anyone resist a movie that has all the great action stars in one flick? You've got Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, and Eric Roberts (with cameos of Bruce Willis and Arnold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger).

The second movie doesn't have a great casting call but it takes all the tropes in woodsy-farmhouse slasher flicks like The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn, etc. and give them a funny turn. Think of Shaun of the Dead but with hillbillies and moronic teenagers. It also has Alan Tudyk of Serenity fame in the lead role.

Admittedly, these movies may actually suck when I get to watch them finally but I don't care. They're great trailers and you'll see why when you click on those screens.

Expendables

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil


Ah, don't you just love trailer tease?

Dashing off a Quick Note

1. Hope those of you caught in the rain are okay. That was one hell of a rainy day, yes? (Who was the one who saved up for it?! Grrr!)

2. I'm back in the saddle again so I won't have as much free time as I've had the past four months. However, I'm back in my online ivory tower so expect me to be surfing the electronic waves every day.

3. I'm trying to finish a book: five chapters down, I have seven days to go. Expect some brain fuses to explode.

4. Likewise, I'm doing my occasional sideline that has a deadline this Wednesday so expect me to be a bit scarce here. (Except unless I get a break to do a book review.)

5. The antho's almost finished, just the website to touch up. (Right, ty?) In the meantime, here's the title for the next one (complete with a guest-editor): Demons of the New Year.

6. And the PSF V deadline is coming up: October 15! Yikes!

Sailing the Seven Seas

As part of some freelance work, I went to the Cultural Center of the Philippines last week to do a profile on Art Valdez, the guy who led the Philippine team that conquered Mount Everest.

Currently, he's about to launch a balangay to sail around the Philippines and then around the world. I was sorely impressed with what the man's been doing: first climb Mount Everest and then sail around the world in a pre-Hispanic boat. What next, the moon? I tremble to look at his checklist of things-to-do.

After the interview, I took a few pictures of the balangay with my cell phone camera. Unfortunately, it's a bit low-tech so pardon the crappy resolution:



Here's a shot of the length of the balangay. Unfortunately, they were setting up a pictorial beside it so don't mind the mess. Right beside it is a Mitsubishi pick-up so you can guess how long the boat is in comparison.



Here's a closer look of the prow of the balangay.



Another view of the bottom of the balangay. See how streamlined it is so it can cut through water swiftly? Mr. Valdez called the balangay the Viking longships of Southeast Asia. I can see why.



The design of the current balangay is based on the historical balangays, which used to house 50-60 people. Fortunately, Mr. Valdez and crew will sail with 10-20 people so it won't be too much of a tight fit when they do. (Sorry about the picture, the light-meter on my phone was on 'bright'.)



To stay true to the design of the balangay, they didn't use nails but rather wooden pegs.



For sealant, they used sap (pictured above, hardened like a rock) that they cooked until they melted. Then they applied it to the bottom of the balangay.



See how tight the sealant is? No cracks here, ma.



This last picture is a small launch they're planning to bring along with them on their trip. They haven't installed the outriggers yet at the time.

There are a few times when I really enjoy doing freelance work and this is one of them. Talk about inspiring... (For those who want to check it out, the launch is on 10 a.m., June 27 so be there before then.)

Purging

Well, after six days, I think I'm getting used to not working.

I'm doing okay at the moment since I'm making my last pay stretch. Good thing also that there are a number of sales at bookstores so I can make a purchase well worth the buy (i.e. Chris Adrian's The Children's Hospital worth P1,006 now P150 and even a coverless hardbound of Brian McNaughton's Throne of Bones at P30-- very hard to find. )

I think it appropriate though as the city slows down for the Holy Week and the hot summer sun beats everyone into submission, I find the time now to rethink my options and to start writing again. Like some exotic night flower blooming, I can feel the stories in my head opening up again. I'm even thinking of expanding a suite of my 'night-stalker' stories that involve a number of my memorable characters, like Johnny Tatô and Jack Estranghero. (Huh. What is it about the Filipino life that goes well with horror?)

So: how's you guys doing? Anyone going to the beach for the Holy Week?

Google Mirror

A little work haiku (5-7-5) to stir the pot...

If what we are is
based on Google search: alas!
you would be in vain.

This is what I get trying to jump-start my brain on a Friday evening at the office. *sigh*

Two more days to go.

At the Crossroads Again

I'm thinking about the idea of crossroads now.

Legends state that in exchange for the music, the blues guitarist Robert Johnson had sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads. Criminals were buried there, in the hopes that their ghosts would be confused by the roads. For me, my crossroads is that I'm moving on from my current job in a time of global financial crisis.

You might ask, why now? After all, only an idiot would resign without a backup plan. Well, I'm sending out my resume. I'm also courting work from a family friend-- thank goodness for nepotism. But only because I've always been interested in their project ever since I went to Mindanao with a group of friends oh so many years ago.

My point being is that after almost eight months in this job, I've lost the taste of life-- no joy, no joy, ashes on my tongue. One sign of this is the dearth of posts in this blog: what, almost one post a week? I've tried to maintain a discipline of writing at least, managing to finish and submit a couple of stories in the interim. But as time goes by and the work piles up, the well of writing... just dries up, I guess.

My work is not my life, I had told myself last year. But that's the funny thing about work: you do the job but one day, you find out that you ARE the job. And when it fails, you find out that it's YOU that fails.

So: it's time to move on. Let's hope for better days, yes? And to all the people I've met through my work, thanks for the help and keep in touch, okay?

I Went

I didn't restrain myself. I gave in completely and went,
went to those pleasures that were half real,
half wrought by my own mind,
went into the brilliant night
and drank strong wine,
the way the champions of pleasure drink.

Constantine P. Cavafy

Here, There and almost Everywhere

To get myself blogging again after a toxic week, I partake three pieces of Christmas cookies and start off with a few mentions.

First of all, my 2-month stint at HWM Philippines magazine has finally borne fruit with the October, November and (the upcoming) December issues unloading a series of articles on the Blu-ray technology.

It's interesting reading and one of the things I discovered in wars between video formats like these is that the porn industry has a decisive role. Likewise, Blu-ray is so high-definition, you can see the pores on a close-up of the face of the actors and actresses. Imagine what it would do to a regular porn flick...

In other news, a picture of my room showed up in the recent Metro Homes and Entertaining magazine. However, it's almost unrecognizable as the photographers went rearrange-crazy for their photo-shoot of the family home last September. What really got my blood up was the fact that they wrecked the window blind in my room and didn't repair it afterwards. Grrr.

But what's cool is that a lot of my books are on display on the picture. Some noticeable standouts in the pic includes The Essential Harlan Ellison, River of Gods by Ian McDonald, Acacia by David Anthony Durham and trash sex magic by Jennifer Stevenson. (There's also a framed pic of [identity-protected] and meself in that shot-- look for it!)

Taking a Break

Sorry for the blotty updates. I ran away for the weekend to Dumaguete as I seriously needed the downtime. Forced myself to realize something, come up with a mantra:

~0~

Touch-base instead of saying hello
Moving forward instead of moving on
Best practices instead of doing right:
These are the words we use
in a life not our own
not we own.

Standing before the sea, i think of:
(hushed, worried voices)
meetings to be met
reports to report
deadlines to kill

and to survive
i step away
i claim:
this not you.

~0~

*shakes head as if waking up*

Anyway, regular service to resume after this post.

Still Breathing

*looks over at dean's*

Wow, he still has time to blog?

Anyway, blogging service to resume by tomorrow, maybe a book review or two.

(Arghh, bloody work. Promises, promises...)

For Those Who Want to Write for a Living

Here's an interesting tip from Nick Mamatas on how to freelance:

If you follow the conversational pattern I've laid out above, and actually manage to do the work on time (of utmost importance) and very well (of secondary importance -- complete, mediocre, and on time is better than perfect and late), you will start receiving more solicitations and become a good freelancer. Good enough to start turning down solicitations after the first couple dozen or so. If you do not follow the conversational pattern I've laid out above, but instead make one of the rhetorical errors I've discussed, you are telling the person at this crucial point one thing and one thing only:

"No thanks, I'd rather die in the gutter."

Read the whole post. It's great reading. And given that I'm now on the other side of hiring, it's so damn right.

Spam Post

(We interrupt this white noise of a blog for this public service...)

Hey, if anyone local wants to write freelance articles, email me. We need writers to create content for our client. It's not SEO-- thank goodness-- but there are some requirements to fulfilled. At least the pay's better though.

You can contact me at joey (at) kestrelddm (dot) com.

(Now back to this un-updated blog...)

Lost: 1 Banzai Cat

*currently drowning in meetings, Powerpoint slides, marketing copies*

(Service will resume once life goes back to normal... hopefully.)

Five Days and Counting

Well, the day's almost over and the end of this week will be my last day with this job.

I have to admit that I'm leaving with a bit of a heavy heart: the writing is good and the people I work with are cool. Unfortunately, the pay isn't much and given my age, I can't allow myself to slack off. I may be disinclined to work corporate but that doesn't mean I should work for peanuts. You find work where you can get it, but you work, goddamit. Nobody else is going to pay the bills for you.

Yes, I have a new job-- one I'm going to start with on Monday. Funny enough, things fell serendipitously in place when I accepted this new one: I had promised myself after my last job that I'd spend two months checking out the freelance lifestyle before I go back to working regular. And though what happened was really more of a semi-freelance thing (i.e. my current work was easy enough that I could accept other part-time jobs), I saw how addicting it was to find writing gigs, get it, and get paid. Unfortunately, finding the gigs was damn hard to find.

Two months down to five days. It's been an interesting period of my life.

(P.S. We have new 15 minutes!)

Spitting and Snarling

Gah. I know I've been pretty gung-ho in trying to become a freelance writer, including doing any kind of writing job (for pay, of course). However, I recently tried out a freelance job over the weekend and I've finally realized there's a writing job that's akin to working at a call center (unless your a careerist) or a fast food service.*

The culprit? SEO writing. [*expletives deleted, including a scathing indictment of the type of writing involved*] It just reinforces the false perception that the work of writing is damn easy (well, okay it is) and thus, writers should be given pittances. I wouldn't mind the workload and the deadlines so much except that I found out the pay is extremely quite low. Eh.

(Obviously, I'm a bit miffed about the whole thing and that some people like doing the SEO thing to earn money for their websites. But still, though I have low expectations about work as writing, my experience has made me realize that there some jobs that are scraping the bottom of the barrel. You cannot abuse your writing like that.)

(*I'm not denigrating any job. But in terms of income, you know what you're getting into, right?)