* manong na umiihe - 06:18PM
* bakas na iniwan ng mga balde ng pintura
* sirang railing sa flyover
* halamang gumagapang sa pader
* hagdanang walang patutunguhan
* yumayanig na aspalto
* ilaw ng Marikina
* dalawang mamang nagbibisikleta
* pinapatuyong welcome mat
* mga batang naglalaro ng touchball
* puno ng papaya
* poster ng babae, sumisilip ng bintana
* manong na naglalakad habang nakataas ang kanang kamay
* mga puno ng saging
* IT'S ALL ABOUT CHEMISTRY
* KM12 // QC // R3
* muntik nang bumagsak matapos madulas sa sidewalk ng Katipunan - 06:35PM
* maliit na daga sa batu-batuhan
* manong na sumusuka
* puting kotseng nakaparada sa island sa gitna ng P Tuazon at Katipunan
* gate papasok ng QMMC (gate 3, malaki)
* guwardiyang nakaupo sa ilalim ng poste
* pira-pirasong sanga, nakatalli
* basag na tiles sa sidewalk (dating banyo?)
* gate papasok ng QMMC (gate 2, maliit)
* FOOD TO GO
* FLYING SAUCER SANDWICH
* CITY JAM (2 beer for 50)
* raver na may t-shirt ng PUNISHER
* pusang nerbiyoso
* si Lorna Tolentino, nageendorse ng tubig
* triangle-c Sarah (graffiti)
* pusang nagtatago sa halamanan
* mga tangkay na nagangalabit
* spotlight ng KATIPS bar & grillery
* mga upuang walang kutson
* Malabon's Arny (heart) Dading PEACHY-PEACHY 433-6443
* kotseng nakalock
* nakaframe na komiks
* THE CITADEL: a mighty fortress of faith & freedom
* amoy ng fabric-softener sa kanto ng Katipunan - Rajah Matanda
* school service ng Ateneo
* babaeng nakashorts, tumatakbo
* asong kumakahol
* si Handyman sa lechonan
* arcade game sa BBQhan
* UK sa quatro - kalantiaw
* tabloid sa bakery
* tindahan ng kaibigan, sarado
* gate namin - 06:53PM
* tindahang sarado
* mga aso
* mga kalsadang kandado't sarado
* mga air-cong reklamador
* mga kumakaluskos na papel, nakakagulat
* mga tanod na rumuronda
* malamig na simoy ng hangin
* lahat ng ingay, may kahulugan
* nakakasilaw na ilaw ng mga kotseng nagmamadali
* mga balkonahe ng condominium, may ilaw
* windchimes sa hardin
* pinturang nakabuhos sa kalsada
* guwardiyang nakaupo
* Burger Machine
* mga asong nanghahabol ng pusa
* ambon
* mensaherong nagbibisikleta
* mga drayber ng trak, nakikipaglandian
* mga yosi-girls na malalandi
* taong tulog
* mga karitong walang laman
* mga trak na nakaparada
* malalaking bato sa gilid ng kalsada
* mga asong malalakas ang loob kung malayo
* Kowloon West, tumayo ang cook nung lumapit ako
* red light
* green light
* pagtila ng ambon
* mga kableng putol
* Quiampong Pares Mami House
* Burger Machine
* abandonadang Petron, may guwardiya
* mga paang sumisilip mula sa mga bintana ng mga nakaparadang jeep
* tatlong anino
* ambon
* manong sa basura, nagkakalkal
* MMDA, nagkakalkal
* manong, may rattle
* LEGO
* butiki sa pader
* itim na aso, sa sangandaan
* mga guwardiya ng bangko
* pagtila ng ambon
* dating opisina
* Abiertas House Of Friendship
* mga bakas ng ihi ng kagabi
* babaeng nakadilaw, may dalang payong
* gate ng sementeryo
* puno ng niyog, sunog
* Popperoo is popcorn
* motorsiklo
* pagawaan ng lapida
* asong natutulog sa loob ng kulungan
* ROSENDA ATUPAN: October 12, 1912 / September 28, 2000
* pusang tumatakbo
* BIBINGKA 100% GALAPONG: the bibingka you can bring abroad (USA)
* BigMak
* basura
* motorsiklo
* nagsisigawang laseng sa condominium
* construction site, walang trabahador
* nagdadabog na laseng, naninipa ng pader
* dalawang bakla, may dalang supot
* dalawang daga sa basura, malalaki at nakakagulat
* kuting sa basura
* 711
* namamasadang jeep - 01:09AM
* manong, tulog sa monobloc bench
* magsyota sa pickup
* sandamakmak na taxi sa P Tuazon - Ali Mall - 13th Avenue
* matandang babaeng nagwawalis sa talyer
* magsyota sa tapat ukay-ukay
* magsyota sa tapat ng pet shop
* Burger Machine
* mga gas attandants ng Petron, sabay-sabay na kumakanta ng "the Reason" ng
Hoobastank
* ang bawat barya ay mahalaga
* dalawang pusa sa talyer
* pumipitikpitik na ilaw ng poste
* dalawang pusa sa basura
* Goats For Sale
* Kowloon West, nagwawalis ang mga babae sa kusina
* MMDA, nagkakalkal
* private valentines party sa Hu Hu Ramen
* Christ Is The Answer
* Burger Machine
* tatlong pulis, naguusap sa istasyon
* sakayan ng jeep
* bahay ng kaibigan, patay ang ilaw
* pusa sa pader
* amoy ng buko juice
* mamang sumisinga sa estero
* bula-bula ng sabong panlaba
* tunog ng ilog
* dalawang batang lalake na bibili ng beer
* tindahang bukas
* tutang naglalaro, nanghahabol ng ipis
* bahay ng kakilala, nakasindi ang ilaw
* posong sira
* asong kumakahol, 'di makatakas ng hardin
* kotse ng kapatid ko - 01:32AM
First, this link to Josel Nicolas' thoroughly excellent komix variations on the El Bimbo Variations. I call it the El Bimbo Variations Variations, because it just sounds so stupid, but he has a better name for it, the El Bimbo Adaptations. It's for his undergrad thesis in UST, and I think he plans to do thirty of these. I'll talk about him in-depth in an essay I'll be writing for February, but in short: Josel Nicolas is I think the smartest komix artist that we have in the Philippines right now. He just understands the form, and knows how to play with it. We need more of those.
Second, is this link, to Ina Santiago's 2009 year-ender, focussing mainly on contemporary Pinoy culture, and I'm mentioned a couple of times here and there, but the one of notice ought to be this bit from the penultimate paragraph:
"Had Adam David refused his first book award: an up-yours to the academic and literary institutions that he has critiqued time and again for its patronage politics. Now that would’ve been him practicing his own patricide."
I've heard variations of this sentiment, mainly verbal and mainly from friends and mainly good-heartedly glib, and I think it's a very valid question to ask in light of my pronouncements and output and leanings, and it's something I've been itching to answer, and I've been waiting for someone to actually type this question out so I can link to it and answer it, and so, here it is, and here it is, briefly:
If you want things to change, you have to do it in the eyes of the most number of people possible, and you have to do it successfully. I've always seen the book as a necessary compromise that bridges what I feel are issues in art with how I think they ought to be addressed, and to slicken those arguments into a diatribe that will just be too charming it will not be seen as such. The writing was part of it. The blurbs were part of it. The award was part of it. It is my radio-friendly progrock guitar solo. I wanted it to change notions about self-publishing. I wanted it to change notions about poetry. I wanted it to change notions about language. I wanted it to change things. And if I have to win P50,000 for that to happen, so be it.
And to quote Carljoe And The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth... Javier: "In my opinion, turning down the award would not have been patricide. 50,000 yun e! It would have been suicide."
Or is that too manly of a reply?
Last night, as I was thinking about the continuing progress of the human race - as I am wont to do every once in a while - I realised that one of the major problems of our local Speculative Fiction scene is that it lacks homegrown Futurists. Its output has been overwhelmingly Nostalgist/Nativist - from MagRealist fables to (if ever) back-to-basics postapocalypses to manananggal-raver mashups to Brockanian urban dystopias - and if ever someone does do a Futurist take on the Philippines, it is almost always politically infantile, its idioms largely borrowed from another culture's, ie, Hollywood and Wired. I think it's mainly a symptom of our postcolonial cultural identity woes/worries/whys-and-wherefores, and in part affected by how we read/write our more-literary efforts, ie, dictated by postwar (= postcolonial) reflections on national identity, far more influential than how we read/write our less-literary efforts, ie, dictated by entertainment value, and oftentimes our entertainment is escapist, which in SpecFic terms can be read as fantastic, and not "fantastic" meaning sword and sorcery and dungeons and dragons, but "fantastic" as out-of-this-world or mind-blowing or even unfamiliar, oftentimes what the Future really is, oftentimes not what Pinoy SpecFic is, despite the trappings and the idioms and the carefully-constructed secondary worlds. It's all mainly walking with the heads turned towards the back. It is nauseating and stiffnecky. Not at all a very healthy thing to do. It's 2010 now, people: the year we made contact. It's time more of us try walking while looking in front of us.
Cubao Postcards - a collaborative anthology
the Readers of Oblique Strategies
the Books being read in Oblique Strategies
the Archives of Oblique Strategies
the Words of Oblique Strategies
