Not what I had in mind for today: Just came from yet another baranggay hall meeting regarding the same neighbours only now they're the complainants and it's about a non-issue borne of prejudice and prior problems. It's amazing how quickly conversant one can get about local ordinances on land property issues when your living conditions depend on it. Everything's more or less better, now, ie, we've ironed out the present issues all the while trying to avoid invoking the past issues (not very successful). It's all stuff that could've been avoided but alas, we live in the Philippines. Good thing I love this country.


What I had in mind for today: Writing essays. I had plans to write my longish Lost reaffirmation essay viewed side-by-side with Fringe, but a few new assignments (what I call "service essays" [thank you DFW]) proved to be too important, namely an essay on Labour Day set against Call Centre Culture, a sort of realignment of what's what (entitled "This Is A Call"), and an op-ed thang assigned from On High about RaceFail 2010, or more specifically, Charles Tan's immensely cringe-worthy forty-car-pile-up in uberly perverse slow-mo account of it (and subsequent clarifications). I have no desire to throw a match into this already flaming heap of twisted metal and burning diesel and creeping blood and broken bones and ripped flesh - I just found out about this last weekend, and even by then the issue was already too batteredly drawn out - also, a blogger named Ephemere put everything so clearly and so precisely and with the prerequisite longview understanding of what's what that I just felt that everything I plan to say about this issue is already rendered redundant, and I just really want to talk about something else, pretty much what I think is the root of all this talk, ie, RaceFail, Charles Tan's RaceFailFail, that is, in a word: Responsibility. Right now I'm thinking if I can mash this up into a more pointed essay on the Writers' Right to Offend. Still thinking about it.

And the possibility of getting all this thinking down on paper depends on the success of my defragging my head of the issues as stated on the first paragraph. Good luck to me.


Things I had no plans on seeing today: This. This. This. This. I've had this in my browser for a week, now. This, too. This is a pretty good design exercise. This.


Things I had plans on seeing today: Friends. No, not the show.

Been writing non-stop for weeks yet again, finally took a break yesterday and watched the excellent The Losers, where they actually managed to successfully adapt everything that I loved in the books and still made it very fuckin coherent as an action movie, ie, Jock's art and design, and the Loughridge colouring, and of course, Diggle's writing, in that order. Also finished redownloading Jacob's Ladder and The Running Man and my fave fave fave Lovecraft movie In The Mouth Of Madness. Piracy! And in between, these were published:


- the first part of what will be an ongoing set of essays on komix

- Carljoe got this idea while watching Tony H spoil Ilustrado's ending for a roomful of people

- and because this essay's set of comments is fucked up and reminded me of the heydays of TNLism

- and because this essay's pretty fuckin sweet on the eyes


ALSO: Anyone here up for a PDF of Pinoy-language Speculative Fiction?


Still have lots in my plate, writing-wise and design-wise. Still have nil in my pockets, just the happiness in seeing you.

I just found out that McLaren's dead. My own little evocations of his spirit litters this blog like mouseshit. The most recent is here. Go download his music illegally - I highly recommend the entirety of Fans, a vinyl of which I have in my room. World Art & Culture wouldn't even be a quarter as interesting and as fun as it is right now if it weren't for him. Long may he live in our art.

- my love letter to/from Cubao continues.


#1 - Araneta Coliseum - The Filipino Is Worth Buying For

#2 - Shopwise - The Shape Of Things That Came

#3 - SM Cubao - We Built This City


Walking essays every weekend til it turns into a slimmish book by December 2010. Leave comments! Belittle my writing chops a la that guy in #2! Share your own walking tours! I love you!

A new series of essays in the POC from Carljoe, me, and Gelo!


- Intro on the concept by Carl

- Carl on nudie pix in Fezboobs

- me on lazy shopping mall guards

- Gelo on tshirts with cool slogans


IT'S ALL VERY FUCKING INTERESTING! Tell us what you think! Leave us some pithy snarks in the comments sections! It appeals to our egos.

Carljoe and I are doing a few regular essays on a few choice American TV shows in the POC's Metakritiko page. I'm presently writing about Lost's Season Six episode-by-episode, less recaps and more just thinking about them.

Here are the essays so far:

* Lost in the Multiverse, by Carljoe Javier - sort of a rapid run-through of some of the major scientific concepts that Lost is playing around with

* Lost: "Dr Linus" by me - where I first write out loud my reading of the Parallel Reality Narrative

* Lost: "Recon" by me - where I thresh out in more detail my further reading of the Parallel Reality Narrative and how it might dive into the Island Reality Narrative

* Lost: "Ab Aeterno" - where I write at length about my theory on what's what regarding Jacob and the MIB and Ricardo and the Island

They're a fun respite for me in between marathon essays on Consumerism, and yes, my rest between critiques is a manifestation of the subjects of my critiques, but hey, they're all torrent downloads, so it's not quite consumerism (haha). And starting next week I'll be writing about Fringe, too, and later, Parks & Recreation! Torrent goodness all around!