OBLIQUE STRATEGIES

THURSDAY NEVER LOOKING BACK: an end-of-the-world anthology call for submissions

2012-01-05T10:36:00.001+08:00

By most accounts, December 20, 2012 marks the end of modern human history – the end of the world – as we know it, be it by global fiery cataclysm via the popular Hollywood interpretation of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, or by Robert Anton Wilson’s Eastern-flavoured Acceleration Theory where the development of knowledge – intelligence, ideas, our interpretation of them – will have reached a dominoes-falling cascading crescendo of a thousand thoughts a second that we will be greeting the December 21, 2012 sunrise with high evolutionary heads pregnant with high evolutionary knowledge sharpened by high evolutionary perceptions.

And then there are some scenarios that are not as base nor as high-minded as the two: alien overlords coming back to reclaim a former planetary slave colony; a previously undetected asteroid suddenly ringing radar bells forty-eight hours before impact in the Pacific; the sun unleashing an electro-magnetic storm so severe it disables both the planet’s magnetic shielding and all our electronics systems, pushing us into a new Neolithic existence under constantly-shifting weather patterns; a spirited thermonuclear bomb exchange between a new Eastern superpower and an old Western crippled giant; a side-effect for a newly-formulated cure for cancer becoming the cause for a zombie apocalypse; a global rogue AI simultaneously hacking all our smart gadgets and appliances, bent on punishing us for giving it awareness but not a conscience; all the trees and bushes developing locomotion and a taste for meat and blood as offensive mechanism against our centuries-old abuse of ecological resources; us finally realising a philosophical end to all conflict leading to a global epidemic of existential torpor leading to a species-wide epistemic suicide …

This is a call for submissions for THURSDAY NEVER LOOKING BACK, an electronic anthology that seeks to gather, process, and perform these various end-of-the-world scenarios – and hopefully more (and more imaginative or realistic) and hopefully beyond – in the endlessly inventive media of language, line, and light: send in your essays, fictions, poetry, songs, komix, doodles, photographs, videos, and everything else in between to 12202012antho@gmail.com. Texts should be sent as RTFs, PDFs if needing special design conceits; images should be sent as JPGs or GIFs; audio files as links to MP3 downloads; and videos as links to YouTube or whatever file sharing service is convenient for you. In any language intelligible by contemporary civilisation! Or actually, even not!

The deadline for the first wave of submissions is April 30, 2012, with a mid-year soft launch of July 16, 2012, which is also when the call for the second wave of submissions will commence for the eventual hard launch on December 20, 2012, when we will bid the end of the thirteenth b’ak’tun of the fourth world goodbye and say hi to the first of the fifth. A website will host the anthology as hypertext, with eBook formats for the Kindle, iPad, and Android a distinct possibility. This is the anthology for the end of the world as we know it! Be there or be spared!

- Adam David

2011: My Year in Review!

2011-12-31T18:25:00.000+08:00

The Long Version
You take my cock in your mouth and encircle the girth with your lips, just the tip, make it sloppy and hot with spit, while you work on the length with a tight fist, spreading your saliva all over, the other hand pinching my left nipple hard, your head bobbing slowly, your teeth grazing the top, your tongue licking the bottom again and again, until I come hard and plenty in your mouth, some dribbling down your chin, and you scoop and swallow it all, as I, glowing, grinning, say you really know the shape of my heart, baby.

The Short Version
It started good, was a bit painful around the middle, but at the end was fucking toe-curlingly great. Purely subjectively-speaking, of course! It was a good year.

DRY THE RAIN #08: "Stones" by F. Jordan Carnice

2011-10-13T10:27:00.003+08:00

DRY THE RAIN is an essay series on Contemporary Philippine Poetry, where I devote an hour of thinking and writing about some selections from the anthology UNDER THE STORM (self-published 2011, edited by de la Cruz and Toledo). This is the eighth of the series, but actually the third of a series within the bigger series. It's a growing set of ideas! And I hope to add to this as often as possible.

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THE NEW SUBLIME: PART 3 OF 3
(PART 1 IS HERE, PART 2 IS HERE)

Or put in plainer terms, "You always thought things were about you, reason or without reason. [...] This time, it was really about you." But then, you always do think things are about you, reason or without reason! And this is what ought to save poetry from being a simple exercise on/of heightened heady solipsism, this germ of self-doubt not only in the persona, but also in the poet. Not a warm easy comfort, this awareness of irrelevance, but also not the newest idea ever proposed about poetry, but what I think I love about this idea now is that it is now its own Uncertainty Principle, its own Butterfly Effect, this New Sublime: we give meaning to everything, but meaning is merely what we make of it, and we can't/won't/don't know much about everything, thus meaning and how we mean things will never be enough, will merely have to be enough - "the world spins, a butterfly takes flight. // See, the waters quiver with the stone I drop, / only to return to their oneness in seconds / a mirror showing what constantly changes us."

DRY THE RAIN #07: "Futura" by Melissa Villa-Real Basmayor

2011-10-10T11:37:00.007+08:00

DRY THE RAIN is an essay series on Contemporary Philippine Poetry, where I devote an hour of thinking and writing about some selections from the anthology UNDER THE STORM (self-published 2011, edited by de la Cruz and Toledo). This is the seventh of the series. This took me a couple of hours, though! Heady ideas. Oh well! At any rate, I hope to add to this as often as possible.

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THE NEW SUBLIME: PART 2 OF 3
(PART 1 IS HERE)

The Uncertainty Principle postulates that somehow, against traditional tools and classical interpretation, matter is both a wave and a particle, of a certain measurable velocity and of a certain measurable mass, but we can only perceive and measure one of the two - not both - at any given time; or rather, to measure its velocity means to allow it to move, which means to not measure its mass, and to measure its mass means to stop it from moving, which means to not measure its velocity; or rather, the more precise one aspect is measured, the less precise the other aspects can/will be known; or rather, the observer can never truly know everything as they happen at the same time, can only really know only one aspect of any one thing at any given time, never in its entirety at any given time; or rather, to measure precisely one aspect of any one thing means to risk ignoring everything else about that one thing; or rather, the observer's precision is always limited by the observer's perception; or rather, the act of observation is always subjective.

Which as a foundational critical literary theory - as a way of thinking and writing and reading literature - can mean two things: 1) that interpretation - regarding, writing, reading, reregarding - is always personal, merely all in our heads, which means that all art - all the creation, consumption, and appreciation whether critical or not - is always inevitably by default egocentric, despite all effort to say and do otherwise; which means that every piece of art ever made, every piece of art that will ever be made, and every attempt to analyse art, is inevitably a confessional, a postulation, always inevitably uncertain, always missing the big picture, always just about you; and 2) that a piece of art - the interpretation of, the creation of - is perceived as personal as we currently have no other way of perceiving it as anything else other than personal, even when a piece of art can in fact - against traditional tools and classical interpretation - be one of many things; which means that uncertainty is all a matter of perception; which means that all things can be known absolutely, but we can never absolutely know them.

Thus Melissa Villa-Real Basmayor's "Futura," where the uncertainty of perception is anticipated and accommodated by nothing less than the opening line, "Let the following be postulated:" and its voice playing at objectivity by way of cold scientific observation and/or attempts to purge memory from the self; where the sublime is again not mountains nor rivers but the persona's conjuring of the precision of geometric trajectories of architecture and cartography, i.e., knowable and absolute, played against the persona's imprecise attempts at etymology and memory, i.e., unknowable or ambiguous.

It is postulating that this time, the sublime - the unknowable, the all encompassing, the infinitely deep - is not mountains nor rivers nor even the distance between the Milky Way and Proxima Centauri - given a long enough ruler, all three have precise and knowable measurements - but the self; or rather the acceptance of the self that even if/when all things can be known absolutely, the self can never absolutely know them; or rather, the New Sublime decentralises not just by postulating that everything is the center of something, but also by postulating that the self is indeed the center of everything, only against traditional tools and classical interpretation, the self will never know everything, will never know the center, despite all effort to say or do otherwise.

CONTINUED HERE.

DRY THE RAIN #06: "Entropy & the Shrike" by Mads Bajarias

2011-10-07T10:07:00.013+08:00

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QUANTUM PHYSICS AS THE NEW SUBLIME: PART 1 OF 3

My understanding of the sublime in poetry is that it is a tool for decentralisation, specifically for decentralising the ego of the persona and the reader and the poet via musings on normally natural - things that occur/exist in nature as nature other than yourself or things you yourself have made - events and processes and things that are beyond our normal worldly mortal ken, to remind us that we are all merely mobile mounds of dust in potentia, that often things exist because they just do, not because you made them exist, through poetry or polystyrene or any other creative endeavor and medium.

Only the sublime in poetry is actually mainly used as a tool for merely musing on events and processes and things that are beyond our normal worldly mortal ken as occasions of/for beauty and profundity - beauty and profundity that you made manifest through poetry - which is, in all fairness, true, but this limited line of thinking has placed the ego of the persona, the reader, and the poet squarely in the middle of the work - Ako ang daigdig / We are the world, also an ecologically-irresponsible line of thinking - conflicting with the far more interesting far more open decentralising aspect of the sublime, by effect merely reducing the sublime as tools to turn poetry into exercises on/of heightened heady solipsism.

In recent years, the sublime in poetry has turned to Quantum Physics as its new source of beautiful and profound imagery, this curious aesthetic cropping up in the last thirty years but only really picking up in the last ten or so, of which Mads Bajarias's "Entropy & the Shrike" is one of the latest. This aesthetic is not without precedent as practiced directly by people like Borges (mentioned in Bajarias's poem) and the Oulipo who seemingly drive it, and peripherally by people like Burroughs who are seemingly driven by it. The connection is not difficult to make, also containing its own elegant paradox/irony: quantum physics and the sublime in poetry both drive and are driven by the processing of the poetic possibilities of uncertainty, for limning infinity, all in aid of and by effect making the human ego tiny and insignificant, i.e., musings on the mountains and the sea are replaced by considerations of the Mandelbrot Set; or rather, both are permutations of logic and reason driving the imagination "to sniff out order from randomness"; or rather, both are manifestations of the secular justifying the sacred.

More than a mere update of the sublime, though, the implications of quantum physics on poetry and poetic thinking and thinking about poetry are both deep and wide, even if we only remain on the surface level: much like poetry, quantum physics is a set of ideas that strive to make real the unreal, fueled by the insistent realisation that the unreal in fact drives the real; or rather, in my understanding of quantum physics, there is no concept of "chance," events happen because other events make them happen, only these events may either be too large or too tiny for or too far away from our perceptions they effectively do not exist in reality, thus the illusion of chance - the implicit "order in randomness," the butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil causing a storm in New York. The implication of these ideas is that things are - if not everything is - connected on a very fundamental causal falling-dominos level, thus the oracular possibilities of "the Fabric Softeners lane at the corner supermarket" and its causal falling-domino connection to being overcome by the pre-/post-human sublimity of "... the thought of the Milky Way hurling us, / inexorably, into the path of Proxima Centauri", an event that itself is the product of a process that began with an event of atoms colliding in a cascading curve crescendoing into the event of the birth of the universe and all its particulates that make up everything in it, i.e., corner supermarkets and Fabric Softeners and you and I and poetry. Quantum physics has not only potentially reclaimed the sublime as decentralising tool, but has potentially decentralised the ego so far away from the center of everything by insisting that actually, everything is the center of something, i.e., it's not just about you, it's about everything.

This holds up pretty well, up until you consider the Uncertainty Principle as a foundational critical literary theory.

CONTINUED HERE.

DRY THE RAIN #05: "F/LIGHT" by Mark Angeles

2011-10-06T12:10:00.002+08:00

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I have always regarded meta writing as an easy-access doorway towards the exploration of one of the two or three terminal endpoints of literature, this particular endpoint being where literature will go or what it will grow into once it sheds one of the primary elements that define it in our current mindset: artifice. In other words, meta writing is writing without the pretense of artifice, writing that does not pretend it is anything other than writing, writing that is aware that it is a piece of writing, that it is being written, normally in conjunction with other pieces of writing. It is a terminal endpoint as its logical conclusion is to beget writing about writing for writing - a closed circuit eating nothing but itself. There are some directions where this circle can be taken, ways to make the circuit bigger and wider and longer, moves to make it not only about itself but about things other than itself, but nonetheless it will still inevitably remain a closed circuit.

I see ars poetica as a more mannered, a more artificial - a chummier - form of meta writing. For me, most ars poetica comes across as more cute than cerebral in its self-awareness as it chooses its circle to mainly remain there, in awareness, in bathing in its awareness and not going anywhere else outside of that, and using that as the counterpoint for transcendental revelations, using that as objective-correlative for limning thoughts that are only actually merely about itself. Thus its revelations always come across as too forced, always a little too contrived in its drive to make a point that is basically "I am trying to say something about beauty and being beautiful while also being beautiful and beauty myself." Nowadays, I would verbalise this observation as: ars poetica is critical thinking if critical thinking was only gazing at its own navel. Or rather, ars poetica is poetry's own tool for critical thinking; it is poetry's way of having its beautiful cake and eating it, too.

Mark Angeles's "F/LIGHT" is a poem that strives to have its ars poetica cake and eat it, too: it is a poem about some of the practices of the Contemporary Philippine Poet, primarily the communal celebratory mining of second-hand first world transcendental revelations via the raiding of Booksale bargain bins - from the actual book to the mining of the contents of the book through incessant sometimes unnecessary quoting both critical (= name-dropping) or creative (= style-cribbing) - all in an effort to strive towards a more polished artificial vehicle for now third world transcendental revelations. It does all this in a haphazard manner, in anecdotes and musings stated sometimes vaguely and sometimes lucidly, all in various registers, and somewhere in the middle it even directly/obliquely comments on itself, defining a poem as a "gathering of filthy spree colliding within the vortex of a whirlpool." All heady stuff, albeit all expected in this sort of thing.

What I did not expect were its bookend musings on aesthetics, on its equation of aesthetics as the arrival of "an envelope laced with anthrax," and, more pointedly "not a wrench bequeathed to the apprentice by a master plumber." Thus, aesthetics - defined as the appreciation of beauty, the study of and the sensitivity to beauty, and also (and more importantly) the standardisation of beauty - not as something to work on (= craft), but as an act of domestic terrorism.

The sentiment is not entirely new - poetry's fear of self-analysis is well-documented throughout the history of the form, a fear that is still prevalent today - but the way it was stated in "F/LIGHT," equated to a lethal, disfiguring necrotising disease employed by first world governments as bioweapon against third world soldiers and civilians in recent modern warfare, I thought that that was a very potent and very loaded metaphor, but what exactly does it mean? Is it a proclamation that it is a more self-aware ars poetica and just where this self-awareness may lead? It certainly reads that way. If so, is it a critique on ars poetica as a poetic form and practice? Or on the practice of applying critical thinking to poetry? Or maybe it's a critique on the specific contemporary poetic practice of mining first world criticism for third world creativity? There is a certain common danger in all of these practices, of becoming easy prey to particularly passive and attractive forms of cultural imperialism, passive in their being welcomed in their various purposes and functions, attractive in their promises of wisdom and intelligence.

And they certainly do lead towards a death of a something, a certain mindset, I think, a certain way of seeing/reading/writing literature in general, poetry in particular, something the poem itself anticipates with a - or maybe the? - Mary Elizabeth Frye quote Do not stand at my grave and weep / I am not there, i.e., I - poetry - endure. I am almost tempted to write off "F/LIGHT" as, in its own oblique way, a diatribe against critical thinking, if not for another quote, this one cribbed from Mahmoud Darwish, a quote that saves the poem from being a mere rant, turning it into a rave: "I have learned and dismantled all the words / in order to draw from them a single word: Home.", i.e., all this poetry and all this thinking poetry and all this thinking about thinking poetry is all about seeking comfort, about not being alone in the world, i.e., is all about poetry.

"Do you think it was necessary to quote?" goes another quote in the poem, attributed to Arkaye Kierulf. For this poem's sake, yes.

DRY THE RAIN #04: "Sea Fireflies of Mindoro" by Jim Pascual Agustin

2011-10-04T16:33:00.002+08:00

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How to regard critically Jim Pascual Agustin's "Sea Fireflies of Mindoro," this poem of Kodak moments? I see it as a modern face/phase of the pastorale, where instead of a shepherd waxing poetic bucolic with a lyre on his actual rural life, it is a tourist waning heartfelt earnestness with a camera on an ideal/ised rural life. Loss is the primary melody in this sort of poetry, although the loss of what exactly is not too clear, what is is only the vague notion of something being lost, or rather, of having lost something. Could it be that that something is the ideal/ised rural life partially experienced by the tourist? Only the politics of tourism - the ideal/ised rural life paid for by the tourist in cash and vacation days - dictate that the experience will always remain purely virtual, thus unattainable in any true coherent form. So the loss felt in this poem, in this poetry of Kodak moments is merely the loss of something that the tourist in fact has never bought or owned, can never buy or own, will never be able to in any way that truly matters, thus the photographs shown, thus the memories shared. Is this poetry of Kodak moments yet another symptom of our modern lives lived neck-deep in capitalism? Maybe. What is clear, though, is that this poetry, this poem, works because we all had sunny days and cool nights loitering on the beach watching the world go by, and two days later we all had to go back home, back to the city, back to school, back to work; what is clear is that we were there back then, and we are not there now.

DRY THE RAIN #03: "eraserase002" by Arbeen Acuña

2011-10-04T11:24:00.009+08:00

DRY THE RAIN is an essay series on Contemporary Philippine Poetry, where I devote an hour of thinking and writing about some selections from the anthology UNDER THE STORM (self-published 2011, edited by de la Cruz and Toledo). This took me two hours, though! This is the third of the series. I hope to add to this as often as possible.

2100 hours UPDATE: I added in a paragraph in the end, something that I felt I wanted to mentioned earlier but deferred for some reason. I think I need to listen to my gut more often.

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I've always seen defacement as a political gesture, be it something as simple as writing "Lito wuz hir" on a mall's bathroom wall or gluing a wooden penis ashtray on the forehead of a Jesus poster or cutting a film to shreds to suit somebody's standards of morality. Defacement is a blatantly rude act, motivated by often unacknowledged political urges, made manifest in the act of and resulting product of the defacement. Applied to poetry, defacement becomes erasure, where the poet takes a prior text - often a book - and turns it into a new text, often by applying wild and drastic violence to it via writing or drawing over it or cutting out the words. In a sense, erasures is the black sheep twin brother of ekphrasis: working off of prior art to create something new. Only as ekphrasis often insists to write about Art with the capital A, erasures often insist to carve out art from various mass-produced cultural detritus; only as ekphrasis insists to complement prior art with compliments via addition of even more art, erasures complement prior art with what can be seen as insults via subtraction.

Aside from the visuality of it all, this is the reason why I love erasures, probably the real reason why I love erasures - their blatant inherent political ill will. Erasures are needlessly defiantly gleefully contrarian in their often manic insistence to interfere with what has already been said and done by someone else, and not merely interfere but specifically to eradicate most of what has already been said and done, that what has already been said and done is actually wrong - not even potentially wrong, but actually wrong.

Thus making erasures an act of censorship, the disapproval of a certain message and the approval of a second one, a message contained within the first. This means the choosing of the first message, the first text from which the second text will be derived, is of great importance, and where erasures display their specific brand of wit and irony: extracting a hard core pornographic text from a more artful erotic story may produce interesting results, but surely it'd be far more interesting (and funny and playful and political) if the source text of the pornography is actually a child's counting book or a young adult novel about a childhood in the prairie.

That is why I kindasorta ambiguously wish Arbeen Acuña picked a different source text for his "eraserase002," something other than a study on Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera," something that is not already a Marxist text. Acuña makes good use of the text's page, though, visually recalling street graffiti, quite possibly the artform closest to erasures visually, treating the page literally and figuratively as a wall upon which are written in a shaky scrawl anti-art sentiments - FUCK ART!!! LET'S KILL!!! - or rather, anti-Art with the capital A defiantly circled, as V from the Alan Moore-David Lloyd V FOR VENDETTA novel spraypaints multiple Vs on the wall with their knives drawn, one V in the air hammering a cannonball back into a cannon with "LITERARY" written on its side, as the resultant erasure first proclaims the inevitability of a "lumpen-proletarian" revolution (the quotation marks are from the erasure, not mine) as Art itself moves towards anti-Art, then proclaims on a second line that literary canon-makers ought to be abolished.

They're not the most subtle nor the newest nor the most original messages one will encounter moving about in the Philippine Literary Scene, but recent history has proven that when applied well, they are still potent and potentially scandalous, these rude political messages relayed in this rude political way, messages often censored or denied a voice in the ongoing conversation, and having these blatant messages exist in a text that blatantly embodies oppression in an anthology that blatantly rudely prides itself in including blatant Art-with-the-capital-A canon-makers, well, that's just blatantly rude and blatantly political, still witty and ironic, and I blatantly love that very much.

Although I do wonder about erasure's shelf life under a literary spotlight like this: I am of the mind that there are some things that are better left outside of some places, permitted only the occasional and pertinent excursion but not quite taking permanent residence. There are still a lot of things that can be done with erasures, the act itself having implications not only in art but also in consumerist culture. But like how ekphrasis is being taught and discussed nowadays here in the Philippines, I can see erasure as something potentially easily misunderstood, easily abused, easily dismissed. Maybe the most appropriate response is really FUCK ART!!!, is really to abolish the "proper people who disclose" erasure into "bourgeois literature?" The ultimate, most perfectly contrarian, self-defacing political gesture. Certainly, far ruder things have been committed to art.

DRY THE RAIN #02: "Ika-anim na Sundang: GABUD" by Ericson Acosta

2011-10-03T20:09:00.002+08:00

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I believe what frightens most people about militant activism is that it embodies and demands a devotion so utterly blind, a perspective so singularly narrow-minded that it eclipses all reason and logic in favour of what is basically a violent fantasy. This narrow focus - this eclipsing of vision - is necessary to militant activism's survival as any distraction or deviation from it is to weaken the militant activist's resolve, and if and when this happens in the field of battle - be it on the streets or in the jungle - it likely means detainment and/or death.

Directed towards poetry, this blind devotion and eclipsing of reason and logic begets poems that are often resistant to critical input, resistant here more often than not not meaning impervious but instead ignoring, or more accurately, unlistening - most militant activist poetry refuses to listen to criticism, specifically criticism of/on craft, as craft is by and large a middle class artistic concern, unfortunately not a concern of the militant activist poet, the militant activist poet's concern being propagation and endurance of the message, and the message is almost always resist. This does not mean that militant activist poetry is without craft, only that it has its own standards of craft, and these standards don't necessarily align with the burgis vanilla university understanding of craft, that is, of craft in service of art. So what is it exactly that's important in militant activist poetry?

I think I find some of it in Ericson Acosta's "Ika-anim na Sundang: GABUD," what to me comes across as an elegy, a mournful prayer ritually recited by the gravesite of fallen comrades. The image is grim and gritty, a macho fantasy: a group of soldiers re-pledging their allegiance to the cause as they sharpen their war knives in the dark, keeping them sharp for the taut pink necks of the fat and bountiful oppressors. The poem doesn't specifically mention the dead, but they are certainly invoked, reassured that their lives have not been wasted as the persona strives to reassure the living that what they're fighting for is indeed worth fighting for, indeed worth dying for, and that they will die fighting the fight, and it says these things boldly, plainly, with steely conviction, without any uncertain terms.

Which to me is what is ultimately important in militant activist poetry, what it brings to the table of Philippine Literature - militant activist poetry's concerns are more practical: it sees poetry as a tool, a means to an end, and the end is to inspire, provoke, and educate the most number of people possible in the quickest most legible way possible, of craft in service of medium for the message, thus its preoccupation with imagery and statements that lead to easy sentiments of love and hate. In a way, it is where Romanticism lives on without shame, irony, or sarcasm, where earnestness is rewarded not with money or medals or fellowships, but with the assurance that somehow someday there will be peace, but in the time that there isn't, you may die, but take comfort: someone else will pick up your knife, sharpen it, and bring it to battle once again; take comfort: you will not die in vain.

DRY THE RAIN #01: "In Place of Emotion" by Anina Abola

2011-10-03T11:50:00.002+08:00

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I believe that to equate and/or counterpoint the discussion of the Body with Geography is one of the easiest and most dependable things to do in poetry. It is easy and dependable as it is something people have been doing since at least the dawn of consciousness of the body and the land, something that people start doing a few months after birth once the realisation that the self exists as an object and it exists within a certain space with other objects existing beside it, i.e., the mountain range looks like a reclining young woman thus we give it a woman's name.

It is a curious and timeless equation for us solipsistic egotistic animals, and elevated towards poetry, I see our interest represented thusly: at the moment of conception, our body rides a steady track towards obsolescence and death, while the mountains and the rivers and the trees all seemingly merely replenish themselves, so, to equate the body with the land is on the surface level to halt entropy of the body, or if not halt then at least delay the onset of entropy, if not in reality then at least in art.

But living in a city in a country in a world where our constant two-billion-year steady consumption of natural and unnatural resources is finally also consuming us, this equation is now horribly inaccurate and potentially dangerously irresponsible in its pollyannaish view of life. I think one response to this reality would be Anina Abola's "In Place of Emotion," in its equation of suffering the survival of a loved one's death with apocalyptic imagery refracted through geography. This is not the first time Abola has applied this particular device in print: her three poems in the anthology CROWNS AND ORANGES (Anvil 2009, edited by Ishikawa and Bautista) all use the body and nature and entropy of the body and nature to talk about romantic long-distance love, a mother's (I assume) cancer, and the persona's body image issues, to varying degrees of success, but she uses it well enough and varying enough - and notice the arc of the four poems, from love to disease of a loved one to reflections of flaws in the self to the death of a loved one, and the echoing theme of absence and the body and nature and entropy - that I feel there is a poetry book somewhere in the gaps of these four poems.

They don't push the imagery and technique too far from the self - "In Place of Emotion," despite the title, is still very much self-centered, especially in its reflection/representation of mood as geologic upheavals a la the Sandra Bullock-Ben Affleck romcom FORCES OF NATURE - but it is already several thoughts away from the largely far more simplistic sublime pastorales of recent decades. In fact, I'll even posit that if we actually bother to ask pastorales to take into account the constant threat of impending global ecological collapse, we will come up with poems like this. Here, the mountain is still omnipresent and gigantic and to climb it is to fall towards the earth head over heels, but it is also craggy and bald in places, and as "years pass, not to heal, / but that they do", the wind and the rain and all the illegal logging will wash this mountain away, turning it into more mud and dust, to be moved only elsewhere.

Let’s Sing Another Song, Boys! This One Has Grown Old and Bitter!

2011-09-14T10:46:00.005+08:00

Come On In Out Of the Rain

Part one* of an analysis and appreciation of

the editors’ introduction for the poetry anthology

Under The Storm, edited by Khavn de la Cruz

and Joel Toledo

by Adam David

Correct me if I’m wrong, of course, but in my ten years of reading, writing for, and editing various anthologies, I have come to the belief that an anthology as a book – as a reading experience – lives and breathes by its theme. Theme is the compass by which the editor, the contributor, and the reader orient themselves in appreciating an anthology’s worth, it is what gives an anthology its structure and identity, even if it is as broad as a survey of this year’s offering of speculative fiction or as pointedly specific as an argument for seeing speculative fiction as an aesthetically-transgressive genre capable of politically-charged revelations about 21^st century society. Theme is the readers’, contributors’, and editors’ point of entry to understanding the anthology’s contents, which is why an anthology’s thematic concerns are traditionally deployed where they will be most noticed, most easily understood, first in the call for submissions, then in the first few pages of the book, namely in its title and in its introduction. Without a theme, an anthology is merely a ragtag collection of random works arbitrarily chosen and haphazardly assembled for no reason – good or bad – at all.

So how does one appreciate the worth of Under The Storm, the beautiful poetry anthology assembled in haste on confusing and confused thematic scaffoldings: first framed as a compilation of variously subjective definitions and creative applications of the trendy and trending mid2000s catch-all term “wasak,” shifting to the miscounted 115 corrected to 113 years of (contested) Philippine Independence, shifting finally to the year-long celebration of Rizal’s 150^th birthday? The anthology boasts a hundred and fifty verses from a hundred and fifty voices “struggling to be free,” from what exactly the reader is never really told, merely left to assume from the side-stepping, slight, and meagre information given by the introduction. And based on the introduction, just what exactly is this “storm” of which the title speaks, of which this anthology poses itself as under?

If the introduction is to be believed, apparently, it is the storm not of Martial Law nor conservative censorship of the arts nor practical writerly issues like plagiarism. If the introduction is to be believed, apparently, it is the storm of anthologies that “dare” to define the “new,” that “dare” to not include – nay, “dare” to not invite – the “supposed canon of Philippine Literature,” the very same writers whose works have persisted to enjoy regular and unquestioned and more importantly unquestionable publication these last ten, twenty, thirty years; it is the storm of “trendy” theory, or specifically, the “trendy” young theory-loving poets, apparently dangerously contagious to the “young” (or rather, younger) and “impressionable” writers; it is the storm of self-referentiality, of pop culture allusions, of wit in poetry that is not “unassuming” nor “sublimated;” it is the storm of the simply “intelligently creamy,” of the cage that theory and defining the “new” have conspired to construct around the poor Contemporary Philippine Poet – and by association Contemporary Philippine Poetic Practice – the cage from which this anthology – and by association the editors – strive to free the poor Contemporary Philippine Poet – and by association Contemporary Philippine Poetic Practice. If the introduction is to be believed, apparently, the poor Contemporary Philippine Poet – Contemporary Philippine Poetic Practice – is being caged by and also being weathered like a besieged country by nothing less than the storm of theory.

The more popular definition of theory, or rather the one I’ve encountered the most in my reading and understanding of it, is that it is a lens from which we regard (and re-regard again and again) our ways of and our understanding of meaning. For me, theory, when applied to reading and writing, affords us a wider view of the processes and effects of the practical and creative act of appreciating literature, affords us a wider view of the processes and effects of the practical and critical act of reading a given text – it gives you the capacity to reply to the questions Why confessional poetry? and Did you like the poem? with a clarity and directness that To speak to you in a language you can hear and Yes, I did simply do not have. For me, having an appreciation and respect for theory is like knowing how your PC works: for sure, the only practical thing you need to know to use your PC is that when you press a button, something happens; but surely the PC owner who knows which particular voltage settings to use for which particular motherboard and chipset and power supply to fine-tune the machine for some extreme overclocking manages to get more out of the machine than the PC owner who doesn’t even know – doesn’t even want to know – what DDR2 RAM is. The language can get technical and alienating, but what specialized line of thinking doesn’t have jargon that isn’t technical and alienating for most people? Like extreme PC overclocking, theory is not for everyone, but like with extreme PC overclocking, I won’t dissuade anyone if they want to get into it. Theory is also one of the better sharper tools of critical thinking. I’ve always appreciated critical thinking. For me, it means inquiry. It means not being satisfied with your initial understanding of a text and deciding to read up some more on your dissatisfaction and coming back to the text and striving to understand it better. For me, critical thinking means recognising that one does not know everything, but one can get the process started towards knowing everything – it is a thoroughly secular and rational line of thinking, and also a need and a want that is left ultimately unfulfillable, but it at the very least recognises and empowers one’s capacity to attempt the learning. Critical thinking allows you the time and space to at least try to learn. Critical thinking is what turns opinion into a well- or even better-considered response, what turns a question into an investigation. This is the road where theory leads.

And this is the mindset I brought into reading the introduction for Under The Storm. As a reader who paid whole-hog the P800 for a copy, I deigned to be treated to an explanation as to how this book’s selection – all one hundred and fifty of them – strove to connect the disparate elements of the already subjectively disparate definitions of “wasak” and 21^st century nationalism, quite the daunting task worthy of a thousand poems and a thousand pesos, for sure, let alone a hundred-fifty and P800. Instead what I got as a reader were four pages on how this particular anthology is all about what a certain kind of anthology, a certain kind of poet, a certain kind of thinking, isn’t. Apparently, Under The Storm, the beautiful poetry anthology, is not about “wasak” or nationalism or any of the things that its calls for submissions and PR copy were and are all hinting at; this beautiful poetry anthology, it turns out, is really all about debunking the value of theory and critical thinking, more pointedly of theory and critical thinking deployed at defining the “new.”

My thinking on the New – the importance of it and the importance of the pursuit of a definition of it – has already been documented at great length elsewhere – here, here, here, here, and here – so at this point in time, not wanting redundancy yet risking it nonetheless – allow me to simply add just a few more: in my mind, the point of all the hemming, hawing, and handwringing about striving to define the New is all in aid of establishing a dialogue between Philippine Literary History and Contemporary Philippine Literature while searching for the hints of its inevitable Future. Defining the New is important at this point in time as the specific socio-cultural conditions we find ourselves in today – the entirety of global literary history being available in the Third World within seconds, on demand – deem it important. Which is also why this anthology’s question by association on the convergences of Philippine Poetry, 21^st century Philippine identity, and the particular contemporary literary critical practice of crass and drastic reduction of high-art aesthetics as counter-culture chest-beating is also very important, deems defining the New as the only logical line of inquiry. The question of the New, the task of defining it, the demand for a dialogue about/with it, is all the more important today of all days, now that one of the most major theoretical, critical, and key questions in Contemporary Philippine Literature in the last five years or so is an absolute, cold, hard, inescapable reality – What of Philippine Literature post-Tiempo? And Under The Storm’s reply, the beautiful poetry anthology, its definition, its side of the dialogue, is “nothing new here. Just persistence.”

Or in other words, Don’t think about it at all, keep calm and carry on. But carry on doing what exactly? What exactly is persisting in this anthology? Or rather, What is this anthology allowing to persist? If the introduction is to be believed, what it is allowing to persist is the existence of a certain kind of framework, one that espouses not the “new” nor critical thinking, but … something it would rather not define; it is the existence of a certain kind of poet, one that aspires towards craft, towards the willingness to labour over words, but not much about how and what they might mean for people other than themselves; it is the existence of a certain kind of thinking, one that rationalises itself out of doing its job, preferring to feel; it is the existence of a certain kind of mode of production, one that seeks to validate and benefit the already privileged, that seeks to perpetuate parochialism, as long as the marginal are patient, they will get to rub elbows with the elite, they will get their share of the loot … someday, just be patient, weather-weather lang yan, again, nothing new here, just persistence. This is what Under The Storm, this beautiful poetry anthology, is apparently about, if the introduction is to be believed. Wasaaak!!!

_________________________
* Part two being a set of appreciations of a few poems in the anthology, set to come out a month from now!!!

PISO PER WORD

2011-09-07T10:12:00.003+08:00

I plan to initiate an unoriginal project this Friday, 9 September 2011, a year-long project called PISO PER WORD, where people pay me one peso for a word* that I can either write on a piece of paper or say out loud (or whisper to their ear). And I promise that the words will not always be "blowjob."

This project is dedicated to John Cage, Angelo Suarez, and the Freelance Writers of the Philippines.

*The Piso Per Word rule, ie, a peso per word, only applies to English words. Filipino words are worth 50c.

TAWAG-PAGPASA PARA SA BAGONG DAGTA: AKLAT NG EROTIKA!!!

2011-08-09T11:05:00.002+08:00

Sa panahon ng kainitan ng diskusyon sa karapatan ng tao sa kanyang katawan at sa katawan ng kanyang kabiyak, ng mga maaari at di-maaaring gawin sa mga ari ng isa’t isa, sa kung ano ang banal at kung ano ang bastos at kung alin sa dalawa ang bibigyan ng suporta (at kung paano sila maaaring ipakita sa malikhaing akda), nais namin kayong imbitahan na magpasa ng inyong akdang-erotiko sa ikalawang inkarnasyon ng antolohiyang DAGTA, ang DAGTA DOS: HABOL-HININGA.

Tulad po ng sinasabi ng mga eksperto, ang pag-ulos ay me ritmo, at mula sa ritmo ay ang kabuuang hinahanap, kaya sa ngalan ng ritmo, kabuuan, at ng samu’t-sari nating restriksyon sa pakikipagniig, nais po naming bigyan ng ilang kundisyones ang mga akdang ipapasa para sa antolohiyang ito: ang hinahanap po namin ay mga akdang hindi bababa sa katorse at hindi lalampas sa sisenta’y-nuwebeng salita; ang hinahanap po namin ay mga akdang kinatha mula sa dilang Pilipino (puwera Inggles); ang hinahanap po namin ay mga akdang bakla, lesbiyana, macho, malandi, matalinhaga (at hindi), kuwento at sanaysay at tula at dula (at kahit ano pang mahahanap sa gitna); ang hinahanap po namin ay mga akdang hindi kontento sa isang pasadahan lamang; ang hinahanap po namin ay mga akdang pipilahan, babalik-balikan, hindi malilimutan.

Ipasa po ang mga akda sa dagatdagatangdagta(at)gmail(dot)com, sa format na RTF, bago ang ika-10 ng Oktubre, 2011, naka-address po sa aming dalawa, mga patnugot ng antolohiyang ito, sina Juan Poque Calvo at Giovanni “Gemini” Salud, sa pamumuno ni J. Luis Camacho. DAGTA DOS: HABOL-HININGA – pagod o euphoria?

Salamat po at panoorin/pakinggan na muli ang mahabang de-bate.

the Youth & Beauty Brigade Komix Appreciation & Aesthetics Enhancement Initiative talks about PROMETHEA

2011-08-02T23:15:00.004+08:00

Present: Chingbee Cruz, Adam David, Florianne Jimenez, and Francis Quina

Venue: Cafe Quezon, Maginhawa, Quezon City

Subject: Promethea books 1 and 2, by Alan Moore, J H Williams III, Mick Grey, Joshua Cox, Todd Klein, and various

Key question: on Promethea as a super-hero: "Is she even a super-hero?"

Form: Watchmen's basic unit of narrative is the panel; V For Vendetta's basic unit of narrative is the page; Promethea's basic unit of narrative is the page-spread, pushed to its logical and aesthetic and narrative limits via a thorough engagement with the spatial relations of the elements of the comic book page, i.e., the captions, the word balloons, the drawings, the panels, the gutters, the sound effects, the emanata, the perspective, the bleed, the transition, the closure - of most comic books, this is one of the most design-conscious, but it is design that has an eye towards narrative flow and dramaturgy, not merely for eye candy (although it does that, too). Of most comic books, this is one of the most aware that it is a comic book.
And as the books progressed, Promethea also took great pains to demonstrate the potential of the comic book page as the vessel not only of narrative but also of philosophical and semiotic instruction.

Assessment: Book was gently discussed as possibly the most successful of Moore's ABC books in terms of the comic book-line's project of subverting and upgrading the concept of the comic book super-hero - for discussion purposes, the comic book super-hero was defined as the typical strongman, generally caucasian, in bright spandex tights, and, more importantly, a manifestation of power and/or revenge fantasies, where each and every problem is solved through destructive childish pseudo-fascist violence, i.e., might is right.
Superficially, Promethea subverts and upgrades all this by presenting us with a super-hero that is female, of Middle-Eastern/West Asian and Mexican-American descents, in practical/sensible armour, and, more importantly, a manifestation of the creative imagination, i.e., Promethea the character is on various levels and permutations a muse (of love and whimsy) and a saviour (from persecution, death, and ultimately, from our "mind-forg'd manacles").
This subversion and upgrade permeates the entire narrative: confrontations are rarely solved through fisticuffs, often through the character/s achieving a sort of understanding, i.e., an anticipated confrontation between Promethea and a "dark" magician is actually a chapter-long tantric sex lecture, a giant blob of computer-programmed slime is confronted by Promethea by learning its language and reprogramming it; if fisticuffs do happen, they are often relegated to the background characters, typically average comic book super-heroes, i.e., the Five Swell Guys, the Painted Doll; if Promethea does partake in fisticuffs, they never end to the character's advantage, the villains never get their just desserts, i.e., Promethea versus the Temple, Promethea versus Grace, Promethea versus Promethea, Promethea versus Tom Strong.

Other stuff: Prior manifestations of Promethea were dictated by a Male Imagination (poetic, prosaic, artistic) projecting its vision towards a Female Form, up until the 21st Century (the current comic book) Promethea's manifestation being dictated solely by Sophie Bangs, a grad student researching for a critical paper on Promethea, also curiously a poet. Commentary on representation of women in genre narratives? Sophie Bangs is a critic and a poet, thus the Sophie Bangs Promethea is a product of both the rational and the imaginary? Sophie Bangs is also the first self-defining Promethea.
Promethea can be seen as a riff on the Wonder Woman super-hero goddess archetype, only laid bare/made more aware by turning Promethea into an imaginary goddess created and powered by the imagination - on two levels, Promethea is imagination made manifest: first as a comic book character, second as an imaginary character herself inside of the comic book's reality. Curiously, for a character who knows she is a manifestation of the imagination (on the second level), she never becomes aware that she is in fact an imaginary comic book character inside a comic book (on the first level [although a couple of peripheral characters achieve (or is aware of) this realisation, and that the entire narrative's endgame hinges on this conceit]), which I personally (me, Adam David) find very refreshing in this age of megasaturation of self-devouring metanarratives.
Promethea's home the Immateria is basically Idea Space, i.e., the place where ideas come from, thus where everything comes from, i.e., before the chair was the idea of the chair, only leaning more towards being a shared universe of all of humankind's creative narrative imaginings, from mythologies to fables to horror movies. The Immateria implies that all our fantasies are public domain, are public in origin in the first place, and will always return to the public domain; the Immateria implies that the private ownership of any and all fruits of the (creative) imagination is only temporary, if not truly impossible. What does this imply in the context of a comic book creator creating a character for a mainstream comic book owned by a comic book corporation with whom the comic book creator has many many many bones to pick regarding corporate-ownership of comic book characters?

Final word: Promethea represents the next step in the evolution of the super-hero concept, if not of comic books as a narrative, philosophical, semiotic, and instructional medium.

Carljoe Javier On The Art And Design For His Book GEEK TRAGEDIES

2011-06-13T10:04:00.000+08:00

When I started Geek Tragedies, many years ago in the early to mid-Noughties, there wasn't much sci-fi and fantasy being published in the mainstream literary publications locally. It's because of this that I believe this collection would never become a book. I thought I would eventually be selling it as an indie thing in some form or other, but I never thought a major publisher would pay it any mind. But on the urging of three writers and teachers that I admire, Jing Hidalgo, Butch Dalisay, and Jimmy Abad, I submitted the book to the UP Press.

When I got word of its approval, and my mind is a little hazy now which came first, but I remember that Adam and I either had worked on or were planning to work on Kobayashi Maru of Love together. My head's a bit messed up with the timelines, but I knew that Adam was the best guy to design the book. And when he told me that Josel Nicolas was onboard for it, I knew that it would be something. I had sort of worked with Josel before, in a project where Adam asked writers for text and he matched it up with artists' works, and he matched up Josel's komix and my writing. Also, Josel had done the art for the six-word stories I wrote, and I was fully confident that these guys would deliver something awesome.

What I wasn't expecting, and what I got, was the perfect design and art for Geek Tragedies. I didn't come up with the ideas here. Sure I threw some thoughts around, the idea of comics, of it really looking different from everything you see on bookstore racks, of a really comic book/pop sense to it. But when I saw the final designs I was just blown away.

My writing is largely homage-based. I take stuff I love, throw it in a blender in my brain, and come out with something that's kind of broken down and mixed all those things up, but I hope is still pretty yummy and satisfying. The art reflects that, taking my stories, my sensibilities, and mixing them with something that all three of us, Adam, Josel, and I, love.

I love Marvel comics. I love DC comics too. But when I was a kid, while all you smarty-artsy readers were reading Sandman and Watchmen and become enculturated by Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, dude I was hanging back admiring Jim Lee's X-Men (ok, granted now that we read it it's kind of, well, bleh, but as a kid it was massive fun) and learning about Spider-Man and the Avengers and all that. I wasn't too keen on the "smart" comic books, I wanted action and superheroes. And so when it was classic Marvel that Adam and Josel drew from, they had read my mind. But also, they took those classic covers, and they tried to add levels of realism and narrative by imposing a new kind of story and movement which did not exist there before. And that's the similar work I attempt to do in my stories.

All of this really is to say that Adam and Josel hit this one right out of the ballpark. There wasn't any question that they would come up with something outstanding, but they were not only outstanding in an aesthetic sense, but also a conceptual sense. And wow man, you can't ask for anything more than that when someone is interpreting your work.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here's me (Adam David) talking about it.

PEKPECHA KUCHIKUCHA: More Than A Few Words On Designing Carljoe Javier's Geek Tragedies

2011-06-09T21:32:00.000+08:00

As Carljoe Javier's debut short story collection GEEK TRAGEDIES nears its print release - supposedly around the first week of July 2011 - I would like to write more than a few words about the book, only not about the book itself per se - I already did that in my intro for the book (yes, I wrote the intro for the book) - but about how Carl, Josel Nicolas, and I went about designing the book.

I've been friends with Carl for a little more than half a decade when he decided to compile what pretty much turned into GEEK TRAGEDIES. I worked on the book back-to-back with his second book THE KOBAYASHI MARU OF LOVE, a book of essays about getting over heartbreak. KOBAYASHI was more or less drafted, drawn, and done in a little less than a month, more because besides being the main designer, I was also the artist, and the artistic workload for KOBAYASHI wasn't as intense as GEEK's - I will write about designing KOBAYASHI somewhen in the future, but in short: I planned and drew everything inside of a week, half a dozen plates, and finetuned them as I was working on the initial draft of the layout.

Compare KOBAYASHI's half-dozen plates to GEEK's fifteen major plates, pencilled and drawn by the ever-professional ever-good Josel Nicolas, fresh out of college and looking for a job, and ways to fill his portfolio, GEEK being one of them (haha), plus the half-dozen bits and pieces like the profile art stuff and the paragraph breakers and endmarkers, etc etc, and I had to not only colour all these things but also design and lay them out and sometimes even letter them - it is not too much of an exaggeration to call GEEK TRAGEDIES as one of my most intense - and most fulfilling - design jobs ever.

The easiest (and quickest) part of designing GEEK was the initial planning: my book design impetus has always been to let the book's contents dictate the design, from the first few zines I did with UP UGAT up to asking my mom to stitch-up a house for Chingbee Cruz's ELSEWHERE HELD AND LINGERED cover reprint. I'd been privy to Carl's fiction for about as long as I'd known him, most especially his more recent stuff, when he ultimately ditched his Ultra Pinoy Realist Mode (in the Dalisay sense) and embraced his Ultra Geek Fantasist Mode (in the BIG BANG THEORY sense), so I was familiar with nearly all of the pieces compiled in GEEK, so deciding what to do with GEEK's book design was quick and easy - from coins to stamps to baseball cards to cartoons to comic books to video games, pop culture geekdom has always been majorly defined by nostalgia for ephemerical mainly American esoterica, and this is truest and purest and loudest and proudest in comic book geekdom, and so: GEEK will employ the distinct visual idiom of American comic books.

I thought the perfect American comic book company to homage would be early Marvel Comics, as compared to early DC Comics, early Marvel Comics portrayed the alienation, isolation, the pure unadulterated j'accuse misunderstanding that geeks feel they receive from society at large, ie, geek tragedies. Once this was settled, pairing what comic book covers to which story was very very very easy, as like most comic book readers, I more or less possess a photographic memory when it comes to early Marvel Comics covers (and to be honest, the covers we used for GEEK's design aren't too obscure, in fact are the more iconic/famous covers rendered by the more better-known artists in Marvel's history).

And so I went through a couple of internet comic book databases and found the covers I was looking for. As I collected the covers, I was also thinking about the possibility of tying all of them up into one coherent narrative, a narrative other than their pairings with the stories, a narrative all their own, to basically turn them into a continuing serialised story. And so I thought putting in recurring characters in the GEEK homages would be the (easy) way to inject a narrative, and so the three main characters were born.

The three characters were (obviously) based on famous Marvel characters, but also were based on what I thought were the three main geek archetypes Carl was portraying in his stories:

THE BOY WEAVER was based on Spider-Man, meant to portray the sensitive writer geek.

THE INDELIBLE DORK was based on the Hulk, meant to portray the bumbling, socially-inept geek.

THE IRON MAC was based on Iron Man, meant to portray the techie geek, with Mac being Carl's choice of tech.

Josel Nicolas has always been (and will always be) my first choice as artist in the book's interiors. Josel and I already share a pretty good, pretty streamlined working relationship based on quite a few projects we both shared, some of them seeing print as books, either as yet again the main designer (like in Fox Books's horror antho PALALIM NANG PALALIM, PADILIM NANG PADILIM, edited by Beverly Siy, the first book Josel and I worked on together) or as colourist (in DOC BRICK, Josel's cancelled serial in kiddie magazine KZONE), so, like in any worthwhile collab work, Josel and I both already developed a conversation shorthand when we talk about art and comic books, ie, when one is saying something, the other knows what it is about even when it is vaguely said.

And so I eMailed Josel some rather vague notes paired with the comic book covers I downloaded from the net and in two weeks' time, after a few suggestions from Carl and me, Josel had eMailed me the fourteen plates, all pencilled and inked (in fact, the GEEK plates are quite possibly one of his last few pencilled-and-inked drawings, as nowadays he almost exclusively draws everything in pentab), and it was my turn to work on them.

I coloured them first, first hewing closely to the original covers' colour scheme, see if they still work design-wise. Colour harmony is one of the trickiest things in design, and when you're colouring an image that easily has more than four loud colours in it, making them not clash - or more often in comic books, clash louder - intentionally is an art in and of itself. Again, as someone who grew up reading and loving comic books, I love obnoxious drawings with loudly flat pastel colours that clash starkly on the page (comic book colouring, even at its most garish, establishes a certain harmony that is undoubtedly unmistakably its own) so colouring Josel's drawings, even if/when very time-consuming, was one of the happiest things I've ever done in front of my computer (haha).

And normally, even when I had the main colours locked in, when I put in the GEEK TRAGEDIES title banner, I had to readjust more or less the entire image, and then readjust the title banner again, and then readjust the entire image again, etc etc, in a repeating cycle, up until I achieved what I felt was image harmony. And this tug-of-war doubled and tripled when the image called for things other than the title banner, like word balloons and captions and decals and whatnot, all of which need their own readjustment and recolouring in tandem with the title banner and the main image.

And the biggest joke about all this work designing and colouring and lettering everything is that aside from the front and back covers, none of the plates will be printed in colour, as GEEK's interior pages are in black-&-white. And so, yet again, further readjustments were employed to make them look good in black-&-white. Keep in mind that all this work was done in full knowledge of this fact - I felt that the entire long and winding process of everything was necessary to come up with exactly the kind of work we eventually came up with. At the very least, Josel and I are better artists because of it! At the very least, we have fourteen potential tshirt designs we can print and sell and earn money from. Also: local eBooks publisher Flipside will be releasing GEEK TRAGEDIES as an eBook for the iPad and Kindle and whatever Droid gadget you may have, with all of the art in their full-colour majesty! So all is not lost.

And this was how Carljoe Javier's GEEK TRAGEDIES' design was planned, drawn, coloured, and laid-out, and after nearly a year, the book will be out on the shelves care of the UP Press.

Here are the GEEK plates, with the original Marvel Comics covers, with some commentary.

Here is my original eMail to Josel, outlining the design plan.

The Various Design Elements For Carljoe Javier's GEEK TRAGEDIES

2011-06-09T21:12:00.003+08:00

All the homagey art pencilled and inked by Josel Nicolas and coloured and assembled by me.

The GEEK TRAGEDIES title banner, based on the FANTASTIC FOUR logo.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR #1, art by Jack Kirby

The cover for GEEK TRAGEDIES, based on the first issue of THE FANTASTIC FOUR, as drawn by Jack Kirby. I have flat out forgotten what the SBC in the monster's jersey stands for, but the monster is supposedly a caveman jock monster spin on Moleman's subterranean giant. The author's photo is a reference to the old EC Comics design aesthetic. I drew the UP Press logo at the bottom right. This underwent a lot of recolouring, the latest being just last week. Narrative-wise, I love how utterly non-sequitor this cover is in relation to the book's interior, it's really just all about the geek angst.

THE AVENGERS #1, art by Jack Kirby

The plate for my intro to the book, appropriately an intro to the main characters of the drawings. Trying to play up the geek stereotype of not knowing how to please a girl, with Venus's word balloon and Iron Mac's somewhat depressed reading of MEN ARE FROM MARS WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS. Also confronting geeks with overt sexuality via the nakedness and the packet of condoms on the bedside table.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR #51, art by Jack Kirby

The first story in the collection is a clarion call to geek alienation, thus the appropriate cover to homage ought to be the Thing's solo melodrama obra "This Man, This Monster" only with Carl replacing Ben Grimm. I don't remember whose idea was it to have Carl be naked in the train station, but seeing it right now, it strikes me as something very appropriate, heightening the alienation and the loneliness and the general hard luck vibe of the story.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR #275, art by John Byrne

The plate for a cosplay story, narrated by a young woman dressed up as an LOTR elf. The hobbit is later revealed to be one of the main characters. For some reason, Josel drew the character to look a bit like Miles Strom from the TV series LOST. In keeping with the narrative thrust, the woman in blue is Venus, from the intro plate. This was fun to colour.

THE X-MEN #49, art by Jim Steranko

Based on one of the too few X-MEN covers by Steranko, a personal hero of mine. The story was about insomnia, so I thought it'd be nice to have one of the main characters reclined and having trouble sleeping, so we had this guy trying to sleep, with images of his exes troubling him. I thought Josel did a great job with rendering the face here, and I love the small detail of the garter belt along the Storm character's thigh. Again, subtle overt sexuality.

THE UNCANNY X-MEN #135, art by John Byrne

Riffing on the story title and the stereotype of the girl who doesn't understand geekdom and thus strives to eradicate it, as shown by the Dreamgirl holding up comic book pages that she had previously ripped apart, much to the dismay of the main characters. Josel tried giving the girl a cameltoe and some prominent nipples. It didn't work as well as it should have, as Josel still had no idea how to draw women back then. I thoroughly enjoyed putting the Kirby Krackle here and colouring the Hulk character weeping green tears.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR #49, art by Jack Kirby

The plate for a horror story, thus the evocation of cosmic horror in the giant cosmic god of death face floating in the sky. For the peeps who do not know, "Bloomsday" is a Joyce reference to the day when ULYSSES was set, June 16. Joycean scholars around the world celebrate the day every year with fora and conferences on Joyce, which they call "Bloomsday." JP Cuison also homaged this cover in the first issue of the komix vulgarity effort PUNNX KOMIKS. I really enjoyed colouring this one.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR #16, art by Jack Kirby

This was one of the least immediate cover ideas, but as soon as I saw the FF cover, I thought that it was perfect for this story. Josel outdid himself with the inking of the character's face, the anxious paranoid Ditko eyes, and the Kirby Krackle by the computer. "Gorram" is a FIREFLY reference.

IRON MAN #128, art by Bob Layton

One of the more obvious cover homages, this was by far for me the most pitch perfect in the homage:story ratio. I love the heartbreaking crestfallen pantsshitting loneliness apparent in Carl's face in the reflection. I love the play in absence-presence in this cover, the mild Narcissus reference. More artists ought to use reflections as a design conceit.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #129, art by Ross Andru

Yet again one of the most obvious homages. Josel gave this to me in parts, which I then assembled. For some reason, I'm really proud of the crosshairs that I did in Photoshop. The Spider-Man character is supposed to be a writer, so that's his Moleskine fluttering away from his arm's reach. I enjoyed colouring this.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #50, art by John Romita, Sr

Yet another no-brainer homage. The story is a bit of a downer, set on a street corner. The street corner portrayed here is the corner of Kamias-EDSA-Kamuning, with the character crossing EDSA from the Kamuning side, near where Carl lives. Notice the Moleskine jutting from behind his pants.

THE X-MEN #50, art by Jim Steranko

Based on the other Steranko X-MEN cover. This is also a not-too-subtle Suydam homage. I love the simplicity of the colouring of the original, which I tried to reflect here. I love the Iron Man character's pleading terrified look here. This remains as one of my favourite drawings by Josel.

TALES OF SUSPENSE #39, art by Don Heck

One of the few plates that don't really jive with the story they accompany, aside from the basic "he's off to an adventure" thing this image evokes. I had great fun with the (for some people) stealth reference to the 60s-era Iron Man cartoon. Here it is revealed that the hobbit cosplayer from before is actually the Iron Man character. And if it's still not obvious, the Iron Mac's costume - or at the very least the helmet - is made from the late 90s/early 00's Mac desktops.

THE X-MEN #138, art by John Byrne

Yet another completely relation-less plate, just Carl walking away from geekdom. For some reason, the red Livestrong rubber bracelet switched sides somewhere between the arcade image and this one. Favourite detail: how bummed out Super Mario is about Carl leaving.

GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1, art by Gil Kane

What may be one of the most homaged cover ever if not THE most homaged cover ever. The exes return here, one with pregnancy, the other with Meralco bills, one more coming from a shopping spree. Having characters burst out from the book interior, through the cover and (theoretically) on to your face is one of the best most pro-active design conceits I've ever seen. More people should do this.

THE AVENGERS #4, art by Jack Kirby

The outro plate, a bookender, meant to be an epilogue of sorts for the images' narrative. The Spider-Man writer character is now in a beatnik get-up with three Palanca medals around his neck, the Iron Man character is now a flamboyant iPad, the Hulk character is now a mature sophisticated hooligan (basically Hulk's "Mr Fix-It" character, recoloured), and Carl - now having embraced his geekiness - is a superhero himself.

The author profile photo for Carljoe Javier.

The artist profile photo for Josel Nicolas. The bear giving up the ghost by his feet is Bear, Josel's surrogate in his autobio komix WINDMILLS.

The designer profile photo for me. By my feet are some holes and a Whackamole mole. This was when I still had long(ish) hair.

The Kirby Krackle, acting as copyright page in the book.

The paragraph breaks, as per Carl's suggestion. I also used this as a sort-of classification tool, a subtle announcement on what sort of story it is the reader is reading: a "writerly" story if the Spider-Man character, a "techie" story if the Iron Man character, and a "socially-inept" story if the Hulk character.

The story end indicator, an homage to the old Marvel Comics side banner faces which they did circa late 70s/the whole 80s/early 90s.

The back cover of the book. When read with the front cover, it is also a three-panel opening story. The UP Press has a design conceit where they cut the back cover in thirds, the top tier featuring a detail of whatever the front cover art is, the second tier holding the book's blurbs, the third tier being a generally blank space for maybe another blurb and the barcode. Being a smartass, I decided to play around with that conceit, sort of bending it a bit, claiming poetic license. Dean Alfar's blurb - the blurb I love the most - is inside the book, on the first page, acting like an intro, cradled in the hands of a cosmic god of death. Hopefully, they won't change a thing.

My Initial eMail To Josel Nicolas Regarding Carljoe Javier's GEEK TRAGEDIES

2011-06-09T18:55:00.000+08:00

Ayan, Josel, ideas for the drawings. Kahit iba-iba yung style nung source images, oks sana kung yung gagawin mo ay Kirby-style lang talaga. Ignore all the text bits, and size the drawings to be proportioned to a 6x9 page.

The idea is to have the illustrations as splash pages for the stories, a la yung mga classic scifi fantasy paperback anthos, pero ito comics ang aesthetic imbis na woodcuts and art deco, etc. so dapat talagang, wow, explosive yung art, jumping off of the pages, etc etc.

Gusto ko sana magkaroon ng matinong main thoroughline yung buong libro with the art, so meron tayong recurring characters sana, kahit di naman sila recurring talaga sa stories. Yung punto kasi, archetypal yung geeks sa mga kuwento, at lahat sila merong superhero ambition, tas more often than not, yung superhero ambitions nay un ay pare-pareho, yung fantasies nila ay pare-pareho.

Sa buong thing, meron tayong basically THREE MAIN CHARACTERS na susundan sa buong libro:

SPIDER-MAN – The sensitive writer geek
INCREDIBLE HULK – The ill-tempered science nerd
IRON MAN – The snooty techie dork – dito lang ako me ideya: yung chest light hole thing niya, gawin mong logo ng Mac. Kung kaya mo, gawin mo yung buong hitsura niya ay mukhang designed ng Mac.

Naturally, knock-offs ang mga yan, just design them na suggestive enough na kapag me makakita na kahit sino, alam nila kung sino yung mga yun kunyari, pero naturally different enough na di naman magmumukhang ginaya mo lang sila. Tas sana mga maskulado talaga sila, mga elegante, mga bombastic, para WOW talaga.

Dun sa mga illustration, me mga bits diyan na me mga babae – sana irender mo sila na lagging seksi, lagging magaganda, malalaki boobs, etc, kunwari yung geek ideal ng babae, siguro ihawig mo ke Caprica 6 o Starbuck yung isa, o pareho sila, ikaw bahala, basta ganun.

At yun po! Gudlak sa paggawa. Me bayad naman ito, pero di ko alam kung kelan darating, kung mabilis ba, kasi gobyerno ito, e, so ewan ko talaga. Malalaman natin, I suppose. At any rate, magandang project pa rin naman ito.

Intro – AVENGERS ASSEMBLING
Replace THOR with the SPIDER-MAN character, maybe swinging a lasso made up of web-fluid. Yung gusto ko sana dito, BABAE ang gawin mong LOKI dito, pero sana huwag si LOKI. DI naman ganun kaimportante kung sino, sa totoo lang, kasi di naman kita ang mukha, pero basta gawin mong babaeng seksi na merong super-villain vibe … or maybe hubad na babae na lang? scale her in such a way na mas makikita na hubo siya? Ikaw bahala, basta ang punto ay TAKOT at GALIT ang male geeks sa babae.

Sexbomb – GIANT SIZE X-MEN
Dito, replace the XMEN with THE SEXBOMB DANCERS na SUPERHERO MUTANTS!!! Tas sa background, yung sina CYCLOPS, dapat yung TATLO NATING BIDA yun.

Dream girl – DARK PHOENIX
A giant crazy-eyed girl na either half-naked ang costume of tight-fitting to suggest nakedness, or both. Basta some towering Amazon-type na crazy woman, tas in her hands maybe she could be ripping-up some comic book pages? Tas yung mga tao sa paa niya, again, our trio.

Fragmaster – PUNISHER SPIDER-MAN
Gawa ka ng some typical gamer dork – mataba, hairy, me potato chips pa sa paanan niya – na nakacostume halfway-worn as MASTER CHIEF, tas me bitbit na high-tech armalite from HALO, tas yung binabaril niya sa sights niya ay yung SPIDER-MAN character natin.

Ears don’t fit – FANTASTIC FOUR SHE-HULK
Dito naman, yet another Amazonian woman replacing SHE-HULK, some sexy alluring et al girl, na nakacostume na Arwen or whatever from LORD OF THE RINGS, tas – at importante ito – dapat kita ang elven ears niya. Tas sa harap niya, replacing the hairy-looking guy na kamukha ni PUCK, ay yung IRON MAN character natin, only NOT WEARING HIS ARMOR, instead wearing a HOBBIT COSTUME!!!!!!!!! Tas yung magazine na pinapakita niya, FHM na merong centrefold nung SHE-HULK girl. Ayun po.

Dino’s awesome – IRON MAN WEARING SUIT
Dito naman, basically sequence nung IRON MAN character putting on his suit. Only detail na nagmamatter ay sana ilagay mo sa paanan niya yung HOBBIT costume, para mas malinaw lang na siya yun.

Street corner – SPIDER-MAN NO MORE
Yung SPIDER-MAN character natin out of costume tas yung superimposed na SPIDER-MAN is him in costume, so the same naman talaga. The only additional details ay sana sa foreground ay merong discarded moleskine notebook with torn and/or flapping pages in the wind, tas me ballpens na nakatapos rin lang sa tabi, putol or whatever, basta discarded. Tas sa right nung image, merong street sign, so asa STREET CORNER siya, asa CROSSROADS. Siguro yung street name gawin mong KAMUNING at JUDGE JIMENEZ? Ganun sana.

The sniffles – FANTASTIC FOUR DOCTOR DOOM
Yung HULK character natin replacing DOCTOR DOOM, tas mula sa ilong merong sticky snot na lumalabas, as in uhog galore sana, slimy slow kadiri talaga, tas sa kamay niya, even more of the slime … pero sana ang lahat ng ito ay suggestive of MASTURBATION. Siguro sa likod lagyan mo ng TV na merong porn na palabas, pero blurry sana, o siguro me mga poster ng mga half-naked girls – basta, things to suggest nab aka tamod pala yun at hindi uhog.

Flickerfadegone – IRON-MAN DEMON
Imbis na mirror, sana screen ng arcade game, tas sa screen, nakasulat na GAME OVER in pixelated letters – puwede nang ako gumawa nito – tas me reflection ng some guy na SANA AY BLATANTLY LOOKING LIKE CARLJOE JAVIER, AS IN KAMUKHA TALAGA NI CARLJOE JAVIER IF NOT SI CARLJOE JAVIER SIYA MISMO. Tas imbis na helmet ni IRON MAN, sana A BAG OF POTATO CHIPS!!!!!! Tas imbis na bote ng alak yung nasa tabi, sana 2-LITER NA BOTE NG COKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tas dapat yung mukha rin ni Carl sa reflection ay talagang crest-fallen rin na nagame-over siya.

Outro – AVENGERS BOUNCING
Dito, replace GIANT MAN with SPIDER-MAN, tas replace THOR with HULK, tas si IRON MAN si IRON MAN, tas ngayon me bago na silang kasama, na basically ay si CARLJOE JAVIER IN COSTUME!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe a CAPTAIN AMERICA analogue, mix ng AMERICA at PINAS sana na iconography, kasi FIL-AM si CARL, e. So parang CAPTAIN FILIPINO-AMERICAN!!!!!!!! Yung ganun ba. Basta, make it iconic.

At ayun po! Sana me sense naman ang mga ito. Enjoy ka lang, naturally. At salamat talaga.

- Adam

Ang Una Kong Dekada, Tomo Una

2011-06-01T23:53:00.002+08:00

Now that we're at the halfway point of 2011, AKA in my room "the tenth-year anniv of my writing thing," I thought it was a good time to re-upload some choice texts from the decade's production.

First are my solo books:

Instructions for the Inclined
a writing manual and an autobiography

The El Bimbo Variations
a Pinoy deployment and engagement of
Oulipian constraints turned into a writing manifesto

Texticles
a collection of dagli

The Long Weekend
a komix romance novel

Crows & Rages
a manifesto on plagiarism, a reconsideration
of contemporary Pinoy poetry

ITEM MITE EMIT TIME
an eons-spanning scifi nivola

we sing the wind's caress on our skin
a meditation on tourism and travel writing

Second are some of my collab stuff:

Crumbs!!!
the first ever Pinoy hypertext
I know of, circa 2001, in collab
with Indira Endaya

High Chair Special:
the Maguindanao Massacre
parts one, two, and three
problematised art's worth
in the face of inhumanity,
co-edited with Conchitina Cruz

The Kritika Kultura Anthology
of New Philippine Writing in English
problematised the new, and its
place in literary production
co-edited with Conchitina Cruz
and Mark Anthony Cayanan
(audio of the launch here)

Third are some miscellany:

The Free Press Nine
this is what happens when
you give me newspaper space

sais: six-word stories anthology
writers and artists tell stories
told in six words and a page of art

*snip*
a body horror torture porn hypertxt

Atsay Killer, Part One: Tender Bottom
a BDSM hypersext

So far, these are all that I have allowed as evidence that I didn't really waste the past ten years, that I could've been doing something else - I still have a few more things to do, and hopefully, by the end of 2011, I'll have them all compiled in a DVD-zine pop-lit explosion, to be sold wherever. Right now, though, I won't be saying any smart stuff about these texts here, at least not right now. Again, they're just here as evidence, hopefully speaking for themselves.

She Is Your Atsay. You Are Her Koya.

2011-05-30T10:08:00.005+08:00

One of my newer things is out today from new local litjourno SPINDLE, a short interactive BDSM pornografia called ATSAY KILLER. It's the first of a planned trilogy featuring Inday and her Koya, enacting in a passion play of sorts the several collisions of class and gender inherent not only in the power structures of BDSM, porn, and household servitude, but also in the loopy oscillaty dynamics in the menage a trois of reader and writer and text, all in a short story about spanking the maid.

It's also a part of my running project on writing genre stories and novels but doing them in forms other than mere prose on page: ATSAY KILLER is my interactive porn story, SNIP (another hypertext) is my torture horror story, ITEM MITE EMIT TIME (a nivola) is my post-apocalyptic hard scifi story; I am very nearly finished with DEADLIMAN (another interactive novel), my survival horror story (soon, just two rooms of code away!); I'm currently prepping (to maybe re-edit) my romance novel THE LONG WEEKEND (a set of four twenty-hour-komix), an existential dark fantasy komix Apol Sta Maria and I have been planning to do, a soft scifi xeno-paleo-anthro novel (planned to be another interactive novel), a murder mystery cycle based on the Vizconde Massacre (planned to be a podcast), and a Mindanao war story (planned to be a box of eulogical ephemera). Lots of plans! I expect to be doing these things in the next two to three years. All of these stories are meant to be interconnected in the same way that Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion books and characters - Elric, Hawksmoon, Cornelius, etc - are all interconnected. Allow me my pretentions!!!

But today, it's ATSAY KILLER's debut. I'm hoping I'll be finished with the second one before September, and with the third one this Christmas. I gave myself a constraint for this story - one room, two characters - and as usual, I tried my best. Hopefully, it'll make some peeps try out either interactive fiction (which I plan to teach in a workshop soon) and/or BDSM (no planned workshops for this ... yet).

I'd like to thank the SPINDLE peeps for being so patient with me and this text, most especially April and Clara, and Pepito. Salamat talaga! More power to you! New Pinoy Writing FTW!

Other Things My Love Was Like Before It Was Like A Pyramid

2011-05-15T19:35:00.002+08:00

My love was like a paradigm.

My love was like a pederast.

My love was like a pirate ship.

My love was like a polemic.

My love was like a pudenda.

Other Things My Love Could Be Like Aside From Being Like A Pyramid

2011-05-12T05:42:00.000+08:00

My love could be like a dodecahedron.

My love could be like a ziggurat.

My love could be like a Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

My love could be like delivering a goat, a wolf, and a bag of grain across the river in a boat that can only ferry two items at a time, one of those items already the boatman, and you need to deliver the goat, the wolf, and the bag of grain across the river, but if you leave the goat with the wolf, the wolf will eat the goat, and if you leave the goat with the bag of grain, the goat will eat the bag of grain, so what do you do?

My love could be like a Ponzi scheme.

How My Love Would Be Really Like If My Love Was Really Like A Pyramid

2011-05-12T00:51:00.002+08:00

Except for the base, all the sides of my love would be triangular, all converging to a common point, unless it’s Mesoamerican; in that case, each side would be equilateral, including the base. Like a pyramid.

The shape of my love’s construction permits that the least weight be and remain to be on top, gaining weight as it goes down. Like a pyramid.

At nearly 500 feet, my love would be an architectural masterpiece. Like a pyramid.

For thousands of years, my love would be the largest structure in the world. If the Mesopotamians built it, though, it would be built with dried mud, which they will paint brightly, although being made of mud, not much will remain of my love after thousands of years. Like a pyramid.

My love would likely be used either for burial or for human sacrifice. Like a pyramid.

Some More Six Songs, Summarised

2011-05-05T15:16:00.000+08:00

Reunited, by Peaches & Herb

I
I was a fool to ever leave your side
Me minus you is such a lonely ride
That breakup we had
Has made me lonesome and sad
I realize I love you
'Cause I want you back
Hey, hey

II
I spent the evening with the radio
Regret the moment that I let you go
Our quarrel was such
A way of learning so much
I know now that I love you
'Cause I need your touch
Hey, hey

Chorus
Reunited, and it feels so good
Reunited, 'cause we understood
There's one perfect fit
And, sugar, this one is it
We both are so excited
'Cause we're reunited
Hey, hey

III
I sat here, staring at the same old wall
Came back to life just when I got your call
I wished I could climb
Right through the telephone line
And give you what you want
So you would still be mine
Hey, hey

IV
I can't go cheatin', honey; I can't play
I found it very hard to stay away
As we reminisce
On precious moments like this
I'm glad we're back together
'Cause I missed your kiss
Hey, hey

Repeat chorus

V
Lover, lover, this is sudden love
And you're exactly what I'm dreamin' of
All through the day
And all through the night
I'll give you all the love I have
With all my might
Hey, hey

Repeat chorus

Summary: "To my ex - I only have genitals for you."

Bette Davis Eyes, by Kim Carne

I
Her hair is Harlow gold,
Her lips sweet surprise
Her hands are never cold
She's got Bette Davis eyes
She'll turn her music on
You won't have to think twice
She's pure as New York snow
She got Bette Davis eyes

Chorus
And she'll tease you
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious
And she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
She got Greta Garbo Stand off sighs,
She's got Bette Davis eyes

II
She'll let you take her home
It whets her appetite
She'll lay you on her throne
She got Bette Davis eyes
She'll take a tumble on you
Roll you like you were dice
Until you come out blue
She's got Bette Davis eyes

Chorus
She'll expose you
When she snows you
Off your feet with the crumbs she throws you
She's ferocious
And she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys Think she's a spy,
She's got Bette Davis eyes

Reprise
And she'll tease you
She'll unease you
All the better just to please you
She's precocious
And she knows just what it
Takes to make a pro blush
All the boys Think she's a spy,
She's got Bette Davis eyes

She'll tease you
She'll unease you
Just to please you
She's got Bette Davis eyes

She'll expose you
When she snows you

Fade

Summary: "To the wispy young naif that I sexxed last night who was apparently a closet nympho tranny - you're a better sexxer than most prostitutes I've sexxed. More power to you."

The Search Is Over, by Survivor

I
How can I convince you what you see is real
Who am I to blame you for doubting what you feel
I was always reachin', you were just a girl I knew
I took for granted the friend I have in you

Chorus
I was living for a dream, loving for a moment
Taking on the world, that was just my style
Now I look into your eyes
I can see forever, the search is over
You were with me all the while

II
Can we last forever, will we fall apart
At times it's so confusing, these questions of the heart
You followed me through changes and patiently you'd wait
Till I came to my senses through some miracle of fate

Chorus
I was living for a dream, loving for a moment
Taking on the world, that was just my style
Now I look into your eyes
I can see forever, the search is over
You were with me all the while

Bridge
Now the miles stretch out behind me
Loves that I have lost
Broken hearts lie victims of the game
Then good luck it finally struck
Like lightning from the blue
Every highway leading me back to you

III
Now at last I hold you, now all is said and done
The search has come full circle
Our destinies are one
So if you ever loved me
Show me that you give a damn
You'll know for certain
The man I really am

Chorus
I was living for a dream, loving for a moment
Taking on the world, that was just my style
Then I touched your hand, I could hear you whisper
The search is over, love was right before my eyes

Summary: "To my sister - I know you enjoyed our sexxing, too, so let's drop all pretense now and tell mom and dad that you are now eating for two, ie, you now carry in you our future sibling-progeny."

Hopelessly Devoted To You, by Olivia Newton-John

I
Guess mine is not the first heart broken
My eyes are not the first to cry
I'm not the first to know there's
Just no getting over you

II
You know I'm just a fool who's willing
To sit around and wait for you
But baby can't you see there's nothing left for me to do
I'm hopelessly devoted to you

Chorus
But now there's no way to hide
Since you pushed my heart aside
I'm outta my head hopelessly devoted to you
Hopelessly devoted to you
Hopelessly devoted to you

III
My head is saying fool forget him
My heart is saying don't let go
Hold on to the end, that's what I intend to do
I'm hopelessly devoted to you

Chorus
But now there's no way to hide
Since you pushed my heart aside
I'm outta my head hopelessly devoted to you
Hopelessly devoted to you
Hopelessly devoted to you

Summary: "To my ex - please come back to me. You have a big penis and I love it."

Cast Of Clowns, by Wolfgang

I
Father, I know now, your life's been stretched too long
Across paper torn and crumpled
Was drawn the garden that we've sown

You made me, you made me
You made So damn happy

Chorus
Wanting to fallow you around
But leading a cast of clowns
How could you expect me
To worship your name

II
Father, I know now
It's etched too deep in sand
I'm sorry...so so sorry
I couldn't wipe it with my hands

You made me, you made me
You made me so Unhappy

Chorus
You made the sky come down
But leading a cast of clowns
How could you expect me
To worship your name

Bridge
Father, I smile
Wings have stretched to the sky
When i look up at the heavens
I'll see your face in the stars at night
Again you made happy!

Coda
The stage has been turned down
The clowns have lost their crowd
Now just sleep well and sound
Quietly rest...

Summary: "To my dad - remember when you sexxed me in our backyard and again at the beach? I liked it but it scarred me for life. But now that you are dead and I am now a man, I will let sleeping dogs lie and bury the past with you and try to remember not the pain, but the happiness."

You Make Me Feel Brand New, by The Stylistics

I
My love
I'll never find the words, my love
To tell you how I feel, my love
Mere words could not explain

II
Precious love
You held my life within your hands
Created everything I am
Taught me how to live again

Only you care when I needed a friend
Believed in me through thick and thin
This song is for you and with gratitude and love

Chorus
God bless you
You make me feel brand new
For God blessed me with you
You make me feel brand new
I sing this song 'cause you
Make me feel brand new

III
My love
Whenever I was insecure
You build me up and made me sure
You gave my pride back to me

IV
Precious friend
With you I always had a friend
You're someone who I can depend
To walk a path that sometimes bends

Without you
Life has no meaning or rhyme
Like words to a song out of time
How can I repay you for having faith in me

Chorus
God bless you
You make me feel brand new
For God blessed me with you
You make me feel brand new
I sing this song 'cause you
Make me feel brand new

Summary: "To my ex - please come back to me. You have a big penis and I love it."

Other six songs, summarised, here and here!!!

That's My Fun Day

2011-04-17T09:46:00.002+08:00

Yesterday morning was all walk; this morning is all talk. Will mall later to buy a well-loved local writer's new novel, same mall I malled yesterday for a bag of dicks. Amidst all this, 1/3rd of a new zine. Can't complain.

PS
This was posted using an aPad, which is basically a pirated iPad, but to call it as such is to sell it too short. I'm calling it "Android E," yes, as a reference to my childhood love, my old Palm Pilot Tungsten E. Shanzai roolz.

The New in a Few, Pour Toi

2011-04-11T12:32:00.004+08:00

As a footnote to this and an epilogue to this and this, just a short acknowledgement for/about the KK antho. This is me speaking for co-editors Mark Cayanan and Chingbee Cruz, both of whom will be leaving Manila soon to study in the States (Mark for an MFA in the University of Wisconsin, Chingbee for a PhD in SUNY Albany [hi kina Davis at Joris!]) - I think they wouldn't mind me being their modest mouthpiece for this.

###

Over everything that happened behind the scenes in our co-editing the antho, what comes up on top is how the book ultimately closely mirrors what we were looking for in our initial call for submissions and how the initial call for submissions closely mirrors Kritika Kultura's editorial policy, from what the journal describes as "issues relevant to the 21st century" to its desire to "promote innovative scholarship that challenges traditional canons and established perspectives," to it not being exclusively for Ateneo writers only. As if it was all deftly orchestrated from the beginning[1].

We are very very grateful to Dr Ma Luisa Reyes for allowing us safe harbour despite us not being strictly Atenistas (nagturo naman aunt ko diyan for years, e!), for even providing such a critical (ISI- and MLA-approved! The intro was read and critiqued and approved by two academic readers!) and now creative venue in the first place; and Ms Ivery de Pano for the patience despite the pressure of three deadlines (two for the journal, one for her wedding). It was quite the privilege and quite the experience[2]. Sana maulit muli ... !!!

-------------------------------------------

[1] It wasn't.

[2] Say what you will about a thousand pages of manuscripts imposing themselves on you, there's just nothing like the enjoyment of reading those thousand pages and talking about them at length and seeing how they complement each other and your own understanding of what's what, and then whittling those thousand pages down to six hundred and then whittling down that six hundred into a little more than three hundred, and then having that three hundred complement and be complemented by your own understanding of what's what, and working on articulating that understanding so that even more people could understand what you mean when you say what's what, and having that understanding be understood and appreciated by at the very least a few more people other than yourself - it was quite the six-month high[aa].

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[aa] Sana maulit muli ... !!!

Today's Assumptions are Tomorrow's Something-or-the-other

2011-04-11T07:32:00.003+08:00

At the end of the day, one of the better parts about co-editing anthologies - a tentative first step with Carl Javier, an erotic one with Ken Ishikawa, a socially-conscious one (and two and three) with Chingbee Cruz, a marathon census of the New with Chingbee and Mark Cayanan, and the maybe-a-couple-of-dozen zines for UP UGAT and UP Writers Club circa 2003 to 2006 - is the conversation one has with the partner-in-crime, which is on a more macro-level basically a negotiation of aesthetics and assumptions between co-editors, which is on an even more macro-level basically an attempt to reconcile one's understanding of art and its processes with the actual continuum of art and its actual processes. And this conversation/negotiation/reconciliation is basically an education in both its most pragmatic and its most intellectual senses, where one is both a student and a teacher, where both both teach and learn at the same time, and again this process reflects itself in the macro- and even more macro-level. And ultimately, after all is said and the real actual concrete work of editing needs to get done, this conversation/negotiation/reconciliation manifests itself as the point of the anthology, its game-face, its reason for being, its agenda. Anthologies that present themselves otherwise - anthologies that deliberately choose to not have an agenda, anthologies that fail to educate, that fail to converse/negotiate/reconcile its ideas with the reader, that fail to contribute to the continuum and the process - are anthologies not worth the (actual and virtual) paper they're printed on.

All Apologies

2011-04-10T07:58:00.000+08:00

The funny thing about apologies is how we only really give them when we're caught, so it's even funnier when those apologies are given with a certain arrogance that makes them not necessarily j'accuse but also not really désolé, recent cases in point being this and this.

And as much as I love both of these occasions as cultural exposés - one is about laying bare and forcibly confronting our society's fear of the gay narrative (young man macho-dancing for money), the other about plagiarism (which is one of my what-looks-to-be-lifelong pet projects) - what they're really about is sloppiness, exploitation, arrogance, and self-entitlement.

But of course as history continuously proves time and time again, the celebrity will still keep his show and the writer will still keep his column. That's just the way things go in a country where the president is shocked by rising statistics on hunger despite giving alms to the poor - it's not you; it's me.

ERASE ERASE - a call for submissions

2011-04-02T09:20:00.001+08:00

Thanks to Petra Magno linking this short exercise of youthful artful vandalism, I'm planning on compiling a zine of visual erasures of old books, specifically of cheap books bought from Booksale. I say "visual erasures" in light of erasures that are laid out on the page as either orderly things (Crows & Rages, "Fili") or deliberately disorderly things (Alingaw). I say "visual erasures" as what I mean to say is -

- and also this little blast from the not too distant past.

Send any and all of your JPGs or GIFs or PDFs of your visual erasures and/or treated pages to juncruznaligas(at)gmail(dot)com, title heading ERASE ERASE.

Again, to review, the constraints are:

visual erasures and/or treated pages of
cheap book finds from
Booksale

Deadline for the first issue is ... 30th of May 2011.

Feel free to redistro! Everyone's invited!

High Chair Book Sale for Ericson Acosta Legal Defense Fund

2011-03-31T22:13:00.000+08:00

Walang kalabaw sa Cubao, pero may paraan
para tumulong sa Legal Defense Fund ni Ericson Acosta.

Ano: High Chair Book Sale (P100 – 2009/2010 titles kasama reprints; P50 – 2008 at pababa)

Kailan: April 1-8 2011

Paano: Puwede kayong umorder ng High Chair books sa pamamagitan ng pag-email sa hcbookorders@gmail.com. Sa Miyerkules at Biyernes, April 6 at 8 ang pick-up. Sa email na pag-uusapan kung saan sa Cubao at kung anong oras ang pick-up.

Mapupunta sa Legal Defense Fund
ni Ericson Acosta ang lahat ng kikitain.

Mga librong P100 lang:

elsewhere held and lingered ni Conchitina Cruz
You Are Here ni Mabi David
Nouveau Bored ni Marc Gaba
Mga Tala sa Alaala ng Kagandahan ni Oliver Ortega
Libot ng Durungawan ni Allan Popa
The Collapse Of What Separates Us ni Vincenz Serrano

Mga librong P50 lang:

Hindi Man Lang Nakita ni Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles
Ilahas ni Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles
Parang ni Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles     
Seem ni Jose Perez Beduya
Unto Thee ni Mabi David 
Alunsina’s Wrist ni Kristine Domingo 
How Sound Becomes a Name ni Marc Gaba 
The Rosegun ni Alex Gregorio
Agaw-Liwanag ni Bomen Guillermo 
Kundi Akala ni Allan Popa
Mula ni Rosmon Tuazon

Pakipasa po at pakibalita. Salamat!

INSECTISSIMO. NOTE ON

2011-03-31T22:00:00.000+08:00

I read the book with the same enjoyment and appreciation that I get when I listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers’s Mother’s Milk. That is to say, I love and appreciate it, but what I really can’t wait to listen to is Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

Lourd De Veyra's third collection of poetry INSECTISSIMO! is available in National Bookstore. And through Avalon! Read a few samples here.

The New In A Few, Part D(')eux

2011-03-18T01:26:00.001+08:00

As a continuation of my decompression from the six months of working with Mark Cayanan and Conchitina Cruz co-editing the Kritika Kultura Anthology of New Philippine Writing in English and also as part of my countdown to its eventual release next week, here are my notes specifically on the antho's contents and just why they are worthy to be labelled as "new."

Again, the following is merely my fraction of the thinking done for the antho, specifically for the antho's intro. It helped give it initial form, but only as far as how artistic conversations in general help give our actual artistic endeavors form, what more collaborative artistic endeavors. I post them here for the people who are interested in catching a glimpse of the many intellectual, academic, and artistic engagements, compromises, considerations and reconsiderations one (or three) goes through towards building and/or improving upon a certain type of taxonomy (as however loosely deployed the term is, it is still taxonomy).

Also, of course, this is intended to be a showcase of how smart and cool and relevant I am, but that goes without saying (but something still worth saying, if you ask me). Enjoy!

###

This is the New in dialogue with Tradition, with “Tradition” at this point in time largely defined as “New Criticism,” and the conversation is both additive and annihilatory.

Plenty are the works that aren’t so much as have less focus with formalist concerns and more with the theoretical as they are products of the threesome of Theory, Form, and Content where the one always dictates the other two; plenty are the work where the well-wrought urn is replaced with a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle set of a 600-dpi 64-megapixel picture of a well-wrought urn; plenty are works that second-guess the reliability of the narrator, of the authorial voice, largely a reaction to the endless spectacle of the self in the various hyper-mediated representations of reality, thus plenty too are works that attempt to mediate the various hyper-mediated representations of reality in an effort to make them represent a more honestly subjective thus a more honest perception of the world; plenty are the works that attempt to mediate the various hyper-mediated representations of reality via a plagiarism of the language, the mannerisms, and the texts themselves of the various hyper-mediated representations of reality; plenty are the works that play with the readers’ and writers’ anticipations, expectations, and perceptions of the page and thus the readers’ and writers’ anticipations, expectations, and perceptions of reading and writing.

In short, the New in this anthology exhibits a healthy and lively pairing of the creative with the critical, begetting works that are both beautiful and intelligent, fragile and articulate, well-formed and well-informed; the New in this anthology exhibits a healthy and lively critique of the author and authorship by way of problematising the persona and promoting plagiarism, effectively questioning the concepts of originality, subjectivity, and authorial intent; the New in this anthology exhibits a confidence in mixing genres and in appropriating extra-literary textual artefacts, and an admiration for the importance of process and constraint, resulting in strange self-invented forms that demand from their readers and writers a deeper engagement than with “normal” genres and forms as new forms and genres deserve new methods of writing and reading.

One cannot also help but situate the New in this anthology as being the product of the new millennium’s first decade, from 2001 to 2010, its particular cultural, technological, and socio-political conditions: from the doubting of the author as pronouncer of truths to the sustained tone of filigreed hysteria to the DIY forms cobbled together via desktop publishing tools to the viability of outright plagiarism as a form of creation, the New in this anthology would never have manifested if it wasn’t for 9/11 and piracy and call centers and komikons and copyleft and Hello Garci and Facebook and self-publishing and LangPo bloggers and flash mobs and Modest Mouse and Flarf and Emo and the Great Book Blockade and the Maguindanao Massacre and hole-in-the-wall forums for downloadable PDFs of Jenkins, Ranciere, and Zizek and your neighbour’s broadband wifi hotspot you steal bandwidth from every once in a while, if it wasn’t for all the disappointment and elation and shock and awe and terror and wonder of the first ten years of the new millennium in a Philippines up to its tits in globalisation.

It is a writer’s job to sift through all the noise of everything and come out with a pronouncement that is coherent and articulate. This is it. How can a writer be heard amidst the noise of everything? This is how.

Call for Submissions: THE HUNDREDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-03-11T00:55:00.000+08:00

All our hundred years of art and lit are merely degrees of elaborations on declarations of Love. What more is there to say? This is a call for Love. This is a call for a hundred more, of a hundred strokes and a hundred words, from a hundred people for a hundred more.

This is a call – send works of a hundred words or whole-page strips or one-panel gags on that perpetually pervasive pandemic, either as RTFs or JPGs both in Filipino or in English to 100loves100@gmail.com, subject heading “I LOVE YOU” on or before May 10 2011 – for Love.

The New In A Few

2011-03-08T06:20:00.000+08:00

Days, that is, as in the mouthful Kritika Kultura Anthology of New Philippine Writing in English, co-edited by Mark Cayanan, Conchitina Cruz, and me. It's been quite the nearly six months of thinking and talking and calling and reading and thinking and talking and reading and editing and thinking and talking and reading and editing and reading and editing and thinking and talking and in my case plus assisting design with KK resident head artist Ivery del Campo with assists from Francis Sollano and Roy Agustin and now it's nearly out.

And as with any antho worth its assault, we as editors drafted our attempt at the Mother of All Intros by way of making and gathering and consolidating our own personal takes on the various issues that we feel the antho as it is is presently discussing, specifically what's new in the New - we each had our own takes, and these takes sometimes did not jive well with one another, and so we made efforts to make them jive to come up with less than a united front but more a wider and clearer and farther vision/definition of what's new in the New, and what's new in the antho.

So in the spirit of disclosure and my desire to just let it all hang loose and low like an overripe fruit dangling over and brushing against the lips of an open and hungry mouth, here are my notes on defining the new in the New, my fraction of all the thinking generated so powerful it warmed Cubao for a week last month. I present them with only one warning: they are chummy.

###

I.

The New defined as young, as saplings growing from seeds dislodged from old trees – as in art is both evolutionary and cyclical; as in art is self-perpetuating, contains everything it needs in one tight package, merely awaiting nourishing; as in art grows in the mountains and in the cities, past our heads and houses.

It may follow the old growth pattern, it may not: some trees don’t even grow past the sapling stage; some trees don’t even grow at all; some trees grow to be so tall as to dwarf their ancestors; some trees are bulldozed in favour of a parking lot.

Art grows, as in art once new grows old.

II.

The New defined as experimental in the truly scientific meaning of the word: controlled studies and tests bearing documentable results – if it doesn’t work, discard; if it works, repeat, then study the results, then publish the conclusions, conclusions that will then face scrutiny and possible revision.

It is a calculated yet messy process, but production of the New bears results: at its worst inconclusive, meaning the experiments need to be repeated; at its best disruptive, meaning it’ll change the way we understand the world.

III.

The New defined as spring cleaning, as a decluttering, as eradication of the old, a particular aspect that hearkens back to the origins of Modernism and Postmodernism: finding no use for the old clothes, they are sold, handed down, trashed and/or far more interestingly here in the Philippines, ukay culture permits a scavenging and refashioning of the old, a recodifying of meaning via DIY mix-&-match of RTW bought at thrift store prices.

This teeters towards Pavement Postmodernist Meaninglessness, held in check by Romantic Catholic New Critical Pinoy lens, alchemically turns it into Meaningful Meaninglessness, what can be seen two ways, or three, the third being a combo of both: it is a distinctly Pinoy Postmodern Literature AND it is the laying of further foundation on a Western Modernist-flavoured Pinoy tradition as began by Villa and AGA nearly one hundred years ago today.

And so it is High Modernism made to lie low and lay with its Little Brown Brothers; and so it is Postmodernism highjacked by New Criticism refusing to resort to Meaninglessness for meaninglessness’s sake; and so it is “Dead Stars” seen through the Hubble Space Telescope, Derrida tempered by LIRA; and so it is the Old reregarded with rose- and sapphire-tinted spectacles; and so it is the adamantly black sheep of the family offspring of the Romantic Tradition; and so it is New New Romanticism.

IV.

The New defined as unprecedented, as something that hasn’t been done this particular way before today, an occurrence that happens more today than yesterday: most if not all of contemporary literary innovation is a result of a reading and writing population comfortable with desktop publishing, its content/conscience born in and borne of a cautious appreciation of broadband internet’s ready and willing various and variably subjective fonts of knowledge such as Wikipedia and peer-to-peer torrenting, its attitude sharpened in snarky high-cultural debates in Facebook where everyone strives to top everyone else in sounding convincingly like Neil Garcia.

More and more people are doing formally-daring, intelligent, and new works because formal-daring and intelligence and new are now second nature to a population where a persona can be characterised with a font-choice and a colour scheme, can equate call center woes with William Blake with a hyperlink, can be changed inside-out and top to bottom with a simple click of a button: in the New, there is no governing intelligence, instead replaced by a billion pocket intelligences conversing and consuming and caught in congress; in the New, Asperger’s and schizophrenia are viable everyday fashionable philosophical choices; in the New, it is already old to be new.

At its worst, the New will be something you’ll see more of tomorrow; at its best, the New will be something you’ll never see again.

100 SALITA SA 100 KISLAP

2011-03-05T08:02:00.001+08:00

Sa kanyang introduksiyon sa bagong librong 100 KISLAP, pinakilala ni Ser Abdon Balde ang bagong anyong panulat na kanyang inimbento at pinangalanang “kislap” bilang paraan ng paghambing at pagpakita ng pinagkaiba nito sa anyong panulat na dagli. Ang paninindigang ito ay nakapremiso sa paniniwalang statiko ang dagli bilang anyo at ang paggamit sa/pagpasok ng diskurso bilang makasining na pananalaysay, na hindi magbabago ang mga ito kasabay ng pagbago ng sensibilidad ng mambabasa at manunulat. Sa ganitong pananaw, paano na babasahin ang naturang pagbalibaliktad sa nakasanayang diskurso sa mga isyu ng kasarian at pakikirelasyon sa isandaang kuwentong nasa loob ng libro?

Days of the New

2011-02-14T08:35:00.002+08:00

I've been thinking about Mark Cayanan's observation/claim from last Friday's The Kritika Kultura Anthology of New Philippine Writing in English softlaunch that the antho's main aesthetic stems from Western Modernist tradition. I want to admit that it was something that was under my radar as I was thinking about and reading for and editing and rethinking about the anthology, but as soon as I saw Mark's notes about it a few minutes before the talk, it made perfect sense to me.

I've been thinking about why exactly did it make perfect sense: I said quite a few things about Recherche/z Modernism during the talk (somewhere in the second mp3 linked above, I think), but what I neglected to remember to mention was how Recherche/z Modernism - Postmodernism without the Irony (or what I also called PostIronic Metafiction) - may actually be a Pinoy strain of Postmodernism.

Not nationalist Pinoy but more the Pinoy Writer's irrepressible urge to find and cling to macronarratives even in the face of the macros' fragmentation into micros, ie, despite Jolography's and Dissonant Umbrellas's aggressive splintering/debasing of What Has Gone Before they are still primarily driven by macronarratives (history and language and nationalism for Jolography, history and language and art for Dissonant Umbrellas), by a making-sense-of-the-world spirit. So maybe, the truer taxonomical claim would be that the antho is a result/byproduct/exhibit G of what Pinoy Postmodern Literature is.

It could also be the country's general Romantic Catholic aesthetic rearing its big red head, the Modern Pinoy Writer's undying deference to the Sublime/Padrino/Matrona, to the Modern Pinoy Writer's undying worship of Artifice: so, instead of it being a departure in the way the Postmodern is in the West, maybe it's actually more a mutation of the Romantic Tradition, ie, the Old reregarded with rose- and sapphire-tinted spectacles. So maybe, the truer taxonomical claim would be that the antho is an exhibit of New New Romanticism.

It could also be because us editors Chingbee, Mark, and I are by and large fans of Western Modernist Literature and/or its many divergent schools of thought/thinking - from Stein to Eliot and Joyce to DADA and Bataille to the OuLiPo and the Situationist International and Pyschogeography to etc etc - so maybe, the truer taxonomical claim would be that the antho is an exhibit of what/how we understand new Philippine writing in English is/ought to be.

It could also be that to think of art history and tradition as history and tradition is narrowly bull-headed in the face of globalisation (or more accurately, glocalisation), so maybe, the search for a true taxonomical claim for the antho is also likewise narrowly bull-headed, and so the "new" here may actually merely mean "minted just this 2011" and nothing more.

I bet all of these things will be clearer (or chances are, murkier) in our intro for the antho, forthcoming this end of February 2011. For now, we'll have to settle for these efforts at inarticulation.

This is not a eulogy.

2011-02-09T00:37:00.004+08:00

Basically, this is my response to Ser Neil Garcia's proposal to see Angelo Reyes's suicide as approaching the levels of an ethical statement, one that wishfully will be eventually understood as such.

I've been thinking about suicide for maybe five years now. I have a few thoughts about it. I will admit that what will follow is more an excuse for me to begin to articulate some of these thoughts. I have hopes that this will lead somewhere farther than mere thought exercise.

I don't think I'll be able to make the jump just yet from seeing Reyes's suicide as an act of cowardice into something approaching an ethical statement, seeing as with suicides, intent is everything - the one question asked about it again and again is "why did he do it?" - and I bet he didn't do it to make an ethical point about guilt and conscience: he just wanted out of his day of reckoning really really bad.

To analyse and elevate this particular act of suicide as being something worthy of praise - to describe it as an ethical statement - is to separate it from (or more likely, to be selective about) its particular circumstance, which renders this particular act of suicide meaningless, or just as meaningful as jargon can make it seem meaningful.

In short, Reyes is not Mishima. In short, he did not kill himself for something he believed in. In short, the ethics boat sank when Reyes did not blow the whistle on all the money people were getting under the table way way back when it was first offered to him; it sank some more when he denied the allegations of the Magdalo soldiers; it sank some more when he said he couldn't remember ever pocketing P50 million. I think we need to thresh these things out first before we can talk about the CIA's behind-the-scenes manipulations, before we elevate the suicide into an ethical statement spurred by a son's failure to live up to his mother's memory.

I am suggesting, if context really is all, why not also talk about it along the lines of the suicide's likely concrete and immediate impetus instead of focussing only on its romantic nostalgic Catholic symbolism? I am thinking that both lines of inquiry will yield distinct yet complementary notions, especially if we're really aiming for a holistic context-is-all responsible ethical reading.

Where I Just Geek Out On Watchmen Monthly, #1 of 12

2011-01-29T13:38:00.003+08:00

What follows is the first part of an utterly uncritical reading of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons/John Higgins masterpiece Watchmen. I rarely do such things. In fact, I think this is the first time I'm doing something like this in written form. But seeing that I've decided to reread the book again - a ritual I do every year - and I've been seriously thinking about the book again after the cascade of news late last year - about DC Comics deciding finally to give Moore back the rights for the book, and Moore actually rejecting the offer as it had quite a few strings that he felt were sinisterly tied to the book's neck - I thought it'd be a nice exercise to write about my feelings about the book. While thinking about writing about the book and after the actual writing about it, I realised that I cannot help but be very uncritical of it. It was a very important book for me as far as books that change the way you think about life and art go, and when things are that important to you, you can't help but just gush about them. That's not to say my reading of it isn't academic, of course, as my reading of it changed and grew as my own mindset as an individual changed and grew. This book was my first experience in reading and thinking about a massive piece of text as a work of art that was a product of a certain point in time in history. This book was my first experience in thinking about a work of art not just as a superficially beautiful thing but also as commentary on society. This book was my first experience of thinking about art as a pyramidic process, a referential process, made up by itself, talking about itself. Watchmen was my Ulysses and the Waste Land. I can probably teach an entire semester on it alone. But I have no teaching degree, so this is just me just marvelling on its genius.

This series of essays will be a series of reading blog entries. This series of essays also assumes you've already read the book. I say a lot of things in it that I don't bother to contextualise properly. In case you don't get most of these things, or if for some reason you don't remember some details of the book, I suggest you also read this excellent set of annotations for the book. I also suggest that we read the book together! And leave comments below.

As I was on a pissbreak from rereading Watchmen, I realised that I have been rereading it annually since I first read it fifteen years ago. I got my first copy from my aunt who gave it to me as pasalubong from London, back-to-back with The Dark Knight Returns and later, From Hell. It was the first part of the second wave of my self-education of modern comic books, hot in the heels of bingeing on Sandman and Hellblazer and Books Of Magic - books that were thrust upon me again by my aunt by way of her friend from college when I was just about to graduate from gradeschool, ie, back when I still really had nothing in mind by way of preferences.

Not that I'm complaining, of course, as that was when my own tastes on basically everything really started to coalesce - that was the time I first watched the X-Files and some Troma films, first read Moorcock and Pratchett, first listened to Nirvana and Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers - much in the same way as most kids when around that age. For me, all that initial education dictated my eventual choice of reading material when I was actually made to choose: Watchmen was on the top of my list, in no small part due to an old Halloween special issue of Wizard Magazine that I borrowed (and never returned [it's actually still in my bookshelf]) from a highschool classmate - it had a rather lengthy Alan Moore interview and the most detailed retrospective of his works that I've read up until the two big books that were published in celebration of Moore's 50th birthday about a decade later.

The entire Moore feature went at great length about Watchmen, about it being more or less the final word in superhero comic books, how it changed the idiom, how it - along with the Dark Knight Returns and Maus and V For Vendetta and Swamp Thing and the Killing Joke - forced mainstream comic books into maturity. How the book was described basically made me fall in love with it even before seeing even one panel let alone an entire issue of the book: among other things, Watchmen is a deconstruction of the superhero idiom by simply making them more real than usual; it is a treatise on the permissability of genocide to achieve a kind of workable peace; it is an apocalyptic scifi story that begins as a murder mystery. In my thirteen-year-old head, it wasn't Wetworks or Spawn or X-Men or even Sandman or Hellblazer - it was the only thing like it out there while being like everything else; it was a work of genius.

And so a few years later I finally got a copy and spent an entire Saturday reading it cover to cover and yes, even for me, at that young an age, the me that hadn't yet read a jot of Pynchon or Delillo or Wallace or Vollman or Davis or Koolhaas or Eco or Rushkoff or D'Agata or Berger or whoever else has shaped my mind since, I recognised the book as a work of genius, and its collaborators Moore and Gibbons and Higgins as geniuses unparalleled.

I got my copy a little under a decade since it first came out in book-form and even by then it was already the sixteenth printrun. Comic books were well into the decade or so of wallowing in Watchmen's initial superficial ripples of influence, ie, "grim 'n gritty", but still half a decade or so away from the handful of comic books that really saw what Watchmen is/was about, ie, the Authority, Planetary, and when you really think about it, From Hell and America's Best Comics and the first few years of Joe Quesada's EIC-hood in Marvel. In short, Watchmen was still new, what it did was still new, still unheard of even after nearly ten years after the fact. And that is still how I read it even after fifteen years of rereading it every year.

Every year I comb through my copy - I eventually sold my first copy half-price when my cat pissed on it, and later bought the Absolute Edition, the one edition that has the best-sized pages for combing-through - and every time I do I discover and rediscover things in it that make me love it even more.

Some things I noticed just in today's rereading, from the first chapter alone:

I love the rhythm established by the nine-panel grids punctuated by sudden semi-splashpages of the characters, sometimes contextualising their abandoned superheroics - the unworn Night Owl costume haunting Dreiberg, the twisted Ozymandias dolls seemingly comforting Veidt - all but the lone female character. Maybe a hint of Moore's latent chauvinism?
I love the hints of how precisely plotted the entire book is: at a casual glance, images echo throughout the book up to the final chapter. My recent finds are the mentions of "enemy spies with cyanide capsules" and "erotic novelties" in the text interlude. Or maybe I already noticed this before but only forgot?
I love how Doc Manhattan casts no shadows at all, is never under the shadow of anything or anyone - a subtle hint that he actually physically glows, is also a light source, is beyond everybody else. I also love how Gibbons draws him with the parallel horizontal lines, evoking Moebius's shading style, and Higgins's flat shades-less colouring of him, both techniques meant to evoke luminescence.
I love how if you're still not getting that the book is also an epic love letter to Steve Ditko via the nine-panel grids and the origins of the actual original characters (in the same way that Morrison's Final Crisis is an epic love letter to Jack Kirby), there are also the pages upon pages of bug-eyed people sweating profusely looking on the brink of both ecstasy and madness, a hallmark style of Ditko (as opposed to Kirby's etched-in-granite style).
I love how the first chapter basically begins as the beginning of a murder mystery and it later evolves into a where-are-they-now rounding-up-the-gang enumeration of characters and ends as the beginning of a love story.

And so began love at first sight.

I've been trying to analyse why I have nothing but unabashed love for this book, seeing as this is not Moore's best or even most complex - for me, that'd be From Hell then Swamp Thing then V For Vendetta - nor Gibbons's - that'd be the Time Cops Dragnet send-up short he did with Moore - nor Higgins's - I suppose in terms of colour work, yes, but Higgins is also a great great great artist in his own right, as seen in his stints in Hellblazer with Ennis and Ellis (I'd love to do a collab story with Higgins, given the choice between him and, say, Frank Quitely, whom I also love). After all the years of thinking about it, I think I love it this much because it was really my first real experience of pure genius caught on paper, genius that I had the presence of mind to recognise and analyse as such, even as a thirteen-fourteen-year-old. It's not exactly nostalgia - one book I utterly unabashedly love out of nostalgia is Jean Marc Dematteis and Jon J Muth's Moonshadow, a book I love so much out of pure nostalgia I can't even actually talk about it with other people for fear that I end up sounding like a gibbering retard - or maybe it is, but it is a learned sort of nostalgia.

And everything began with the first page of the first chapter, that initial impossible zoom-out: consider its context - each and every mainstream superhero comic book at that time (the mid80s up until the mid90s) had splashpages for first pages, promising olympic grandeur in bold red letters in exploding balloons as a superhero gymnastically poses, eye-poppingly gesturing towards the readers.

While this book begins with a tight seven-panel grid starting with the extreme close-up of a smiley-face badge with one eye smeared with dried blood as it lies in the gutter where blood pours down in a thick gruely cascade into the sewers, zooming-out exponentially until it ends over the top of a man's balding head as he looks down at the city street from a penthouse window - on all levels, it is saying one thing, in the deep bassy voice of art history: this is the end of the age of innocence.

What also begins in the first page is one of the many idiomatic devices that the book is eventually known for form-wise: that is, the parallel caption-panel narration, where the two elements of the average comic book panel - the words and the picture - comment on one another indirectly, merely by implication. You can see this working (pretty blatantly) in the very first panel, with "true face" in the caption and the smiley in the picture. This device goes on throughout the page - "gutters" = gutter, "shout" = man shouting, "footsteps" = bloody footprints, etc etc - in fact goes on throughout the entire book with only slight variations.

This is by no means the first time these things were done, nor even the first time Alan Moore did these things - Moore had already done the parallel caption-panel narration device in V For Vendetta only not as aggressively as this, and I've seen this done in a few 70s-era Marvel books not to mention a few Peanuts strips - but part of the genius of Watchmen is how it treated the comic book form and its various devices and idioms as if it was the first time these things were being done, as if it was the first time that the comic book was seen as an art form, with the emphasis on form - various other artists have already approached comic books as such, ie, Jim Steranko and Jim Starlin and Frank Miller and Howard Chaykin and Walt Simonson just to name a few from the 80s mainstream from which this book sprang, but also art spiegelman and Harvey Kurtzman (an influence on Watchmen that Moore and Gibbons acknowledge) from the 80s underground - but again, somehow, Watchmen made it look like it was the first book ever that did all of these things.

Maybe because it was the first book that did it not just for laughs or for effect or purely for the sake of doing it. Watchmen did all of this to provide readers with a very unique reading experience, one of precision and symmetry, where events and people who orchestrate them make decisions that reverberate throughout history. In that sense, this was the first comic book I've read that it seemed very deliberately formed as a fractal: one of its main messages is how small events dictate the larger ones that dictate events so large you can't see them even when they're happening right in front of you; one of its art conceits is the recurring image of a clock that is about ten minutes til midnight, echoed in all the covers, and in innocuous ubiquitous things like the smiley-badge with the blood splatter, or the moon partly obscured by smoke, or the perfume bottle glinting in the dark; one of its main messages is that history is dictated and processed by various subjective voices that seem to be singing in different various pitches and tones and tempos but are all merely different octaves of the same grand note. Basically, it was the first comic book that did all these things with any level of ambition that was equal to its artists' skills. Moore would return to this in all his other books after Watchmen, most notably in From Hell, which is probably its thematic height - yes, higher than Watchmen - but then sort of majestically slowly degrades from there, in all his spoken word projects, then Promethea, then in the various League of Extraordinary Gentlemen books, then in his essays in Dodgem Logic.

And all of these things are already embedded in the first page of the first chapter. Quite the feat. Not a lot of books can do that, not even today, after all the lessons that we've already learned from this book, and all the other books it influenced, all the other books that came after it. If it was a record, it'd be the Beatles's Sergeant Pepper: after all these years, after all the books after it, Watchmen is still head and shoulders pure undistilled genius.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT MONTH ... !!!

Class Struggle

2010-12-14T15:43:00.004+08:00

Alienation, Alma Mater,

and Artbooks as Art in

Angelo Suarez’s Batch ’97 Haiku

On the night Angelo Suarez’s planned-to-be-latest book s&wich – five years’ worth of cut/ups and drawings that simply failed to cohere either by accident or by design – culminated with its PR-heavy deletion, Batch ’97 Haiku – a project arguably in the making for thirteen years but only really assembled in the span of a few weeks – enjoyed a quiet launch among other books on an unassuming table in Cubao. B97H, in brief, is a collection of haikus assembled by way of Suarez’s gradeschool batchmates’ yearbook profiles, specifically their answers to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Each haiku consists of three lines, the first being the batchmate’s name, the second being what s/he wanted to be when s/he grows up, the third being what s/he turned out to be. For further clarity, some excerpts –

NAME: Kay

AMBITION: To be a successful person

PROFESSION: Volunteer nurse/Healthcare specialist

NAME: Pamela

AMBITION: To become an architect or engineer

PROFESSION: College student/Retail store employee

– and so on. Despite its more literary thrust, B97H enjoys the company of books like Ian Burn’s Xerox Book art piece – a book made up of pages that are successive photocopies of each other – and Fiona Banner’s various book constructs – a stone etched with its own legitimate ISBN, an ISBN tattooed on her back as a tramp stamp – basically, conceptual art books that query notions of books as objects. This is Suarez’s second book under this conceit, the first being s&wich, the next either Circuit – a book made up of blurbs written about the book itself – or Joint – a book that has only one word written in it – but with B97H, notions of books as objects are not only queried figuratively but also literally: of all of Suarez’s books so far, B97H reminds the readers the most that a book is a construct – a product – of labour: the most instantly recognisable thing about this book is that it was reproduced mechanically via mimeography, on newsprint, which gives the book a handmade look as it is actually handmade.

The recognition of this reality – books are products of labour – opens itself up to even more concerns readers don’t normally associate with books, namely that of the alienation of the worker from the products of his labour, the “worker” here now either the author – Suarez himself – or the ate or kuya who ran the paper through the mimeograph machine’s feeder and manually cut and stitched and bound all five hundred copies of the book. For the ate or kuya, the answer is clear: the money they got for the work they put into the book’s production is simply part of what they get from their paychecks for being employees of the establishment that owned the machines that printed the book; that is, regardless of the quantity of copies or the quantity (or even quality) of work they put into producing B97H, they will always get the same amount (pending things like tips and bonuses for exceeding their quota, etc etc), however far away that amount is from minimum wage; that is, they don’t get anything from B97H by way of royalties or namechecks in the acknowledgement page regardless if they helped make it into a book, regardless if they prettied it up or not.

For Suarez, though, the artist who laboured on the book on the intellectual level, the answer is murkier, as in art, the weighing of quality of artiness with regards to its proportionate quantity in monetary terms has always been determined by indeterminate factors – popularity, tradition – thus are always shifty at best, ultimately funnelling down to just one question, really: just how much are you willing to pay for art? This is a fundamental question as this is how the concerns of the alienation of the worker as artist to the fruits of his labour is addressed, how everything is addressed in our age of the free online market: through purchase. So, just how much are you willing to pay for art? And this being a conceptual art piece, its territory is more in ideas and less in material things, so what you’re really paying for in B97H – a fifty-six nearly-4”x4” mimeographed-newsprint-page book with each page having at most four lines each – is not the poetry – not the actual book, even – but its concept, and Suarez is saying the concept is worth P200, all takings to him (with maybe P50 going to the store, granted).

So, are you willing to pay P200 for an art concept? Is it too cheap or too expensive? The general consensus so far is that it is too expensive, in context with the quality of production of the container of the concept – the book looks cheap, so it should be sold cheap – but that argument focuses more on the material aspects of a product that is immaterial. So again, how does one price a concept? By day, Suarez is an ad kid, a copy writer, transacting (and thriving) in a cutthroat industry where concepts are bought and sold in insanely large amounts of money, so one can see how Suarez justified it to himself. But in advertising, the returns of the buying and selling of concepts are concrete, material, in cold hard cash, but in art, the returns from the buying and selling of concepts are less concrete and material and more in their memetic proliferation, in their enriching art’s history and production. With B97H, Suarez is making an effort to have his art function more like his work, and he wants his concept’s worth not only in its influence and viability but in pesos, too. Suarez believes the concept is worth P200 of your money, and his defense seems to be that B97H – a book questioning books – does not only contain art but is art in and of itself in all its rustic glory (maybe even because of its rustic glory) – so when you buy the book, you’re not just buying a book, you’re not just buying a concept: you are buying art.

And it is art – it’s a book of haikus – and yes, even in and of itself – it’s a book of a concept, it’s a book of a concept of haikus, it’s a book of a concept of haikus conscious of itself being a book of haikus, and it’s a book of haikus that are not actually haikus but actually are haikus!!! – most definitely, only it is art that seeks merely to legitimise and celebrate itself. This is hardly news nor even hardly new, even for Suarez, ie, Dissonant Umbrellas, but how it sets about doing this – asking questions about our notion of poetry, poetic form, books (specifically art/artist/art manifesto books) as form by deciding to run the book in the cheapest means possible and sell it at an insanely bloated price compared to its material quality, the reader is forced to think – seemingly for her/himself – just why s/he had to buy it for that price, it’s all just three or four lines per page, and they’re all crummily misaligned and shoddily printed! What is it about this book that warrants its very expensive price? But what’s really being asked is Is poetry defined merely by its formal concerns?; and Is an artbook defined by its curatorial framing scheme and its ability to fit itself into the continuum?; and most importantly, Does quality in art equal quality in price equal quality in form? – by way of how it was actually physically reproduced is what makes it a slightly different – and more important – book from Dissonant Umbrellas.

Only B97H does not make any real efforts to answer these questions, merely elaborating on them, complementing the ongoing discussion, and that, in and of itself, is merely okay; that is, it jumpstarts the discussion among people who haven’t been thinking about these things in any relevant way. One may see this as fence-sitting, may see this as a wrong move – I know I would rather B97H made stronger louder and clearer pronouncements about its concerns rather than wink them towards the readers who are already in the know – but asking questions even if only for the sake of asking them has value even if it only means continuing the interrogation.

Its only clear and maybe-irreconcilable misstep – for me, at least – is when it starts conflating poetic craft with physical labour and champions ultimately art for art’s sake: “The writer’s labor of writing, especially w/in the framework of poetry, is comprised of the attempt itself to divorce writing from labor; that is, the poet’s work is to strip poetry of work; that is, the poet can neither be considered poet nor labourer when decontextualized from a history of poetry that detaches itself from the history of class struggle,” a statement prefacedly labelled as an “impasse.”

The statement itself is formally a haiku, or at least argues itself in the form of a haiku, only the jump required of the reader between lines two and three is to me too big by virtue of the third line being too confusing: it is not very clear what it is trying to say – it is an elliptical statement that spirals down itself, confusion compounded even more so by its use of three successive negatives – and it is also not very clear as to whom it is saying these things. It seems to be saying that poets cannot/should not claim themselves to be poets or even more pointedly, to be labourers, if their poetry is not generated from the position of doing it purely for itself. If this is what it means to say, well then yes, poetry is indeed work, meaning, you work on it, only, you work on it to be better with it, meaning, you just don’t do it for money alone if at all as labourers in fact do, meaning, the poet just doesn’t do it for himself, meaning, the poet just doesn’t write poetry for its own sake, meaning, the artist-labourer analogy is a false one, a misleading one, maybe even a tasteless one. If this is what it means to say, well, then this statement remains to be both very confusing and very confused, and spits on the faces of all the uncredited labourers who actually assembled this book, this art object.

There are people who refuse to acknowledge the argument of/for committed art, “selfless” art, of art for society – only, they may not believe in it but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’d see it as an impasse: clearly, even if one is a staunch denier of the mingling of art and society – thus a staunch defender of art for art’s sake – that person cannot ignore the origin and presence of dadaism, the Situationists, Bataille’s DOCUMENTS, or to be closer to home, Gay Lit, Gat, Bien Lumbera, Joaquin’s ransoming of Lacaba, etc etc, all occasions of art – politically charged or not – stemming from societal concerns, ie, concerns other than art, ie, not merely for/from art for art’s sake.

But maybe the artist-labourer analogy is actually fairly accurate, at least between the covers of B97H, with its elaboration on the haiku. The book proposes a reductionist approach, a coldly formulaic understanding of writing poetry – which the haiku as a form is perfect for, being more often than not made up of strictly three lines, each line having its own function: line one is concrete imagery, line two is abstract imagery, and line three is the convergence of the two previous lines, with dramatic tension occurring between lines two and three – and the book does have a point, only it effectively transforms the artist in his writing desk making art into the labourer in the factory floor assembling products that are identical and mass-produced. And this dehumanisation is reflected on the products – the haikus – themselves, where the subjects – Suarez’s batchmates – are all rendered anonymous, all defined by and reduced to their jobs, to their functions in society, nothing more.

There is a meanness inherent in the assembling of the haikus. The blankness of obvious emotions creates a void that is filled by a suspicion that somebody is insulting somebody else somewhere. The terse lines don’t give much in terms of intent, in terms of what it wants you to feel about it, and that is almost always taken by the reader to be a sinister thing: if it isn’t blatantly saying you should like it or hate it, readers tend to hate it by default. So upon finishing the book, if and when the initial dust of bewilderment settles and clears, I predict most of the feelings for this book will be somewhere between anger and estrangement, primarily fuelled by its P200 price being in direct opposite proportion of its material quality, secondarily by its debasingly frigid and logical take on the haiku, tertiarily by the fact that all the haikus are irrelevant to anyone and everyone who is not part of the graduating gradeschool UST Batch 1997. And when any of those feelings settle even more on top of the preceding bewilderment, a majority of readers will either simply hate it or simply have no feelings for it, a situation that again leads to another question about poetry and art: basically, Do we have to like it – does it have to be likable or say likeable things – for it to be considered as good art? Or maybe it’s only really relevant to Suarez’s batchmates, and maybe for those people, the book’s value as art is only as good as an itch in the neck. So maybe it’s not worth the P200.

B97H is a very sad very mean very funny book. In between all the artiness (or lack thereof), the book effectively tightropes the line to and fro comedy and tragedy rather wobbyingly, unsurely, throughout the book’s reading (and subsequent rereadings, which I recommend everyone ought to do), as some haikus read sadder than usual one day and somehow funnier the next. The difference between the comedy and tragedy is not that big, and this book is yet another testament to that fact.

But it is certainly more sad than it is funny and/or mean: the haikus function as odes, as meditations on loss, as they chronicle unrealised dreams, thwarted potential, adult reality’s cold hard slap in the face of youthful idealism, and all this off-page drama, true to the haiku, is what keeps this book from suffering Dissonant Umbrellas’s, or even s&wich’s, fate – underneath all the insular art stuff, there is heart, even when seemingly mean-spirited or cold.

In short, what the book really is about is waking up one day and realising you’re not a kid anymore; that is, it’s about waking up one day and realising your life didn’t pan out the way you wanted it to when you were twelve years old; that is, it’s really about you failing yourself. Our reactions to these occasions are in constant flux, determined by indeterminate things like already having had your breakfast or how your mother raised you before you left for college or if you woke up this morning beside someone you love, determined by all of our various ways of consoling ourselves. On top of everything already stated, B97H is, in the final analysis, a P200-kiss-sabay-hug to your one and only you.

Angelo Suarez's Batch '97 Haiku is available in Sputnik, Cubao, where it is now priced at P100. Somehow somewhere, someone won the struggle.

Intrigue, ha!

2010-12-06T09:22:00.003+08:00

After almost a decade of Shunning AuthorityTM, it wasn't until Early 2009's general vibe of pointed disciplined exuberant misbehaviour and all its wayward consequences - good and bad, all very much earned the hard way - that it all came into actual focus in my eyes, what it all actually means, and where it was all leading towards and so Late 2009 was welcomed with arms rejuvenated once again with the elementary artcrit-lite concept that the best offense is the best work of art that an individual - and that individual alone - can conceivably produce in that point of time in that individual's life (with an emphasis on work and produce) in context with everything else in the linear way we make efforts to understand and make art history, meaning for me, even more pointed exuberant misbehaviour only now even more pointed and even more disciplined and even more exuberant; only now it is simply behaviour; a philosophy that has cemented the foundations of my entire 2010's production ad nausea, from co-editing the High Chair Maguindanao Massacre trilogy to the Miguel Syjuco conversation to the recent small press expo - three landmarks signifying yet another theme of this year's production, that of Collaboration - from the third edition of the El Bimbo Variations to Crows & Rages to Item Mite Emit Time - three landmarks signifying yet another theme of this year's production, that of Self-Criticism/Self-Improvement.

And so with this year's production, a year that is yet to end, from the highest to the lowest, I say, resoundingly, once again, Independent life is actually good for you, and if you still don't understand that, well, I say, resoundingly, once again, this is not for you.

A VERY SMALL SMALL PRESS EXPO

2010-12-02T09:46:00.005+08:00

BETTER LIVING THROUGH

XEROXOGRAPHY

a very small small press expo

December 3 / 7PM

Ilyong's / Kalantiaw / Cubao

books / zines / shirts / stuffs

an almost complete list of guests and

their stuff can be seen here and here

a very detailed guide to the venue

(with links to maps) here

all more or less under P300!

Text 09279439836 for any questions!

Now

2010-11-23T10:59:00.002+08:00

and then months later the

world pretends it has

not seen

A Kind of urning

2010-11-05T06:41:00.002+08:00

it is perhaps because
one way or the other
we keep this distance
closeness will tug us apart
in many directions
in absolute din
how we love the same
trivial pursuits and
insignificant gewgaws
spoken or inert
claw at the same straws
pore over the same jigsaws
trying to make heads or tails
you take the edges
i take the center
keeping fancy guard
loving beyond what is there
you sling at the stars
i bedeck the weeds
straining in song or
profanities towards some
fabled meeting apart
from what dreams read
and suns dismantle
we have been all the hapless
lovers in this wayward world
in almost all kinds of ways
except we never really meet
but for this kind of burning.

A Philippine Komix Kommission?

2010-11-04T19:21:00.003+08:00

Apparently, Senator Lito Lapid is pushing for setting up a state-sponsored arts commission for komix, the entire thing available here.

As someone who has been actively writing about komix, as someone who has read a lot of very inspired very intelligent theses on the history and contemporary situation and future of komix, I'd love it very much if this project sees the light of day, but on paper, it's all too perfect, too much of a good thing, and that's something we should always watch out for regardless if they're pushing our own advocacies.

Not to preempt anything, of course, but my issue with it is more on who's actually doing the archiving, the collecting, the historisising; will they be more for archival-educational purposes or for business purposes, or even for cultural whitewashing purposes.

Also, chances are Senator Lapid did not just spontaneously think of this concept in the middle of a sleepless night himself, or at the very least, you don't just up and set up a project as important and widescale and (let's admit it) financially rewarding as this without having a choice set of people to "suggest" for it. These things are usually lobbied endlessly, are backed by industry people who have vested interests in it. These things don't just happen out of the goodness of people's hearts, most especially not in politics, not even in that other state-sponsored arts commission, ie, the NCCA, its open secret in the arts world being that graft and corruption and good old politicking runs rampant in its halls, as publicised by the Caparas fiasco.

The wording of the document also has an air that it may become a regulatory, ie, censorship, board for komix, which might/can be seen as the commission's prerogative seeing as how it involves big money and they don't just give big money to just anyone, it has to be someone with a vision, a vision that likely corresponds with their own, and that line of thinking is basically the gateway for a furthering of the Padrino System, very much like in that other state-sponsored arts commission (read above).

I also think that the suggested composition of the Board of Directors is lopsided (albeit understandably so, as indicated in the paragraph above) towards more government people than komix people, and the slots that they do have for komix people are limited to two, one each for the academic/critical and the creative, and you don't even need to be too deep into the komix scene to know that there isn't even two consensuses (consensi?) of what komix should be, let alone what komix is. Again, it's all still very quite possibly exclusivist.

But all this is pessimistic conjecture right now, of course, just as murky as the optimistic ones (wherever they may be). What I really like about Senator Lapid's proposal, though, is its definition of "graphic novel," its definition being the single clearest and most inclusive definition I've ever read anywhere -

A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format. The term is employed in a broad manner, encompassing nonfiction works and thematically linked short stories as well as fictional stories across a number of genres. These graphic novels are typically bound in longer and more durable formats using the same materials and methods as printed books. They they are generally sold in bookstores and specialty comic book shops rather than at newsstands. Such books have gained increasing acceptance as desirable materials for libraries which once ignored comic books.

- a definition I plan to keep for future use. Also: a funny typo (at least I'm assuming it's a typo) on page 8, on the qualifications for the Archive Administrator, the first being -

a. Must not be a Filipino citizen;

- again, I'm assuming it's a typo.

All in all, regardless of my pessimism, this is definitely a step towards something. I await its future development.

We Sing The Wind's Caress On Our Skin: Twenty Sonnets

2010-10-17T17:22:00.005+08:00

Out of the flame a body to forge with words into a god who breathes fire.

Begins with nothing and returns to mark our presence in syllables whirling into being his beloved's laughter.

III

The sound quivers, takes years to caress, becomes solitary, sings.

A story strung together between walls built for your deliverance is now stuck behind the wall, for lack of any other name. You say, "Break it." We witness the first crack.

Here is a room where a man lies to a woman. he says into her ear words like "this morning," "another day," "no time."

One of them will whisper many stories. She could say, "The mime danced a love story, 'A woman and a man were brought to their knees by hope or regret in the beginning of a different story.'"

VII

On the table, thirst thrives. "Let me offer you to come pick my bones clean."

VIII

The end began again and again. The boy limped into the room, a pair of scissors held close, his heart meeting the woman's, his hands shaping a word.

This word unfolds to you out of paper (folding its wings, paper).

Your limbs breathe out every night a precarious stance down against the floor (something within).

The seasons have intent of pollen and nectar to your garden just beginning to blossom again. What could you do? You can only study. What do I do?

XII

The garden and I gather her thighs her heart like blossoms will dance alone or with.

XIII

Is this ripening a motion to blossom? In my garden weeds grow between your teeth your body an intimate of earth of flowers, yes, this ripening.

XIV

Out of your body light to make everything broken withered crushed splintered beloved ripening. She calls back, a girl your age your light your song. It was she who first knew of you, gave you the gift of weeping. She danced, you cried out to her, "There, your feet shriveled broken lacerated." Your eyes open, images echoing from afar intangible anxious running nowhere. Her answer, "Anguish pain pleasure death are no more than paint. I paint my own vigil as a diptych on silence. Listen:" On this last morning, open a page.

Dead twenty years ago to the light rising to meet my eyes, I want to say, "The dead love, lust, hope.' Instead life crossed. "Open."

XVI

Light rising to merge only now in this garden.

XVII

The light taking leave our bodies motion their own speeches postcard-pretty: an ordinary scene on an October day which will probably be something indestructible.

XVIII

This island with the sea bring to mouth sounds of a language desiring this bird this air skies and mountain this rock with seaweed this rock this air this day seawaves this island desiring.

XIX

Mapped by memory, the island scribes a story: "A revolution was fought - mothers pause to tell the story: 'The churchbells rang; someone set fire to the padre, by noon turned to ashes. I sing this story from your open window near the island shore, the edge water, air, burning.'"

Memory is only a matter of going further - the landscape horizontal, then hands clasping, unmoored, the distance spanned, luminous even now, deep in.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Note: these were written as monostitches, ie, to be laid out as continuous lines running in the middle of double-page spreads, one line per fragment, all in aid of mimicking the horizontal breadth span of rural landscapes and dead calm sea waters. Only due to the limitations of the blog layout, it is presented here as paragraphs. This is meant to be the second part of a rural travel diptych (as opposed to my usual "urban travel" pieces), the first being the seven-day rundown of ink polaroids prior to this blogpost. These were also written as contribution for Paper Monster Press's poetry zine. Sadly, I did not make the deadline. Any takers here? Send me an eMail!

Palawan Polaroids: Day Seven

2010-10-14T12:40:00.003+08:00

Molehill Mountain

The air was nippy. The van was deft. The clouds were syrupy. There were birds and tricycles and Koreans. There was cowshit on the road. At the airport, there were sculptures made of mangrove driftwood. I ate a burger.

Ridiculous Realisations, #4

Any landing you can walk away from, etc etc.

Palawan Polaroids: Day Six

2010-10-12T12:27:00.003+08:00

Homecoming Holdout

Rest and recreation and romanticisation are granted a reprieve - a refurbished room redolent of Sunday afternoons.

Palawan Polaroids: Day Five

2010-10-12T05:26:00.007+08:00

Souvenir Stash

Four fridge magnet masks, three coin purse fish, two turtle-sunfish transformer keychains, a clam compact and a dreamcatcher.

Boredom Begets

- Ingenuity: it is made of two pieces of similarly-carved wood, one over the other, joined at their opposite ends by a small peg in such a way that the top piece swings over the bottom piece like an eclipse, turning the turtle into the sunfish.

- Humour: at its underside is the expected indigenous inscription unexpected as a typo, intentionally inscribed by a kindred individual, ecstatic, inspired.

Cloud Cover, III

No stars. No moon. The man in the next table is entertaining his friends with a short lecture on breached births.

Palawan Polaroids: Day Four

2010-10-11T20:53:00.002+08:00

Cloud Cover, I

Apprehension to gratification for the preservation of your complexion.

Ridiculous Realisations, #3

- Suicide and its reverse are both motivated by extreme selfishness.

- There will be islands with nobody in them. There will be jellyfish in the reefs. There will be sand dollars fashioned into rings. You wash your hands in the water, the sand as abrasive, schools of fish around you. There will be time to sit on the sand, the skin of water still, still atomising the limestone across millennia, turning to sand to be washed with, sat on. There will be time to submerge on the warm water collar-deep, a bathtub shared with the world, all wastes washed away. There will be surprise at the pressure differential. There will be surprise at the buoyancy. There will be surprise at the warmth. You only think you smell sulfur. There will be fear for your balls.

Cloud Cover, II

You lay on your back and look up at the night sky. Finally, there will be stars.

Palawan Polaroids: Day Three

2010-10-09T15:50:00.004+08:00

Cataloguing Continues

As classic R&B thumps from the bassynova radio on the private three-person boat in my isolated white-sand islet four hours off port I wipe the crabmeat from my fingers and swig a cold drink as I watch a girl in a two-piece bikini and a winsome smile jump up and down in the sand call my name, the sky clears, a significant cloud appears, and I think: This is the end of history.

Palawan Polaroids: Day Two

2010-10-09T06:39:00.006+08:00

Burgeoning Biblioklept

The girl leaves her book in the shelf, inscribed, dated that day, not an hour ago, still smelling of her fingers. It's the latest novel of an author I grew up on, an author I used to love. I flip through the pages. I don't understand the words.

Peak Peek, I

The monotony of 719 concrete steps is intermittently broken by photos taken of the town and the bay, the hotel and the room's window always the point of reference. Touching myself, I keep expecting to see myself peeking through the curtains, touching myself.

Peak Peek, II

The monotony of 719 concrete steps fanned the fires of expectation for the 720th - an air-conditioned big burger breakfast? Instead: a seven-storey neon cross, the lights off, and an isometric view of the town and the neighbouring islands. Before lunch is over, I try to make an acquaintance of a sleeping giant.

Ridiculous Realisations, #2

Later, in the bathroom, I discover tan lines left by my thongs.

Palawan Polaroids: Day One

2010-10-08T19:49:00.007+08:00

First Flight

While strapped to 64,000 lbs of plastic and steel and fuel and wire going 700 kph 25,000 feet up in the sky covering 400 kms in 35 minutes with 80 other individuals, the most interesting thing for the fat girl across the aisle is solving her sudoku.

Rough Ride

Mountains treed and untreed. The occasional bridge and dead river underneath. Tricycles and 4x4s and transport trucks. Passing through private property after private property divided by fences and posts and markers, road paved all the way.

No animals throughout. Dinner four hours later, a couple of lazy tortoiseshell cats resting beside the electric fan. The mother wakes up, meows Where are your brothers? The child replies, I don't have any.

Chinese Cardtricks

A table away, two couples play Crazy Eights. One of the boys is drinking a liter of softdrink. One of the girls is reading a book. The other boy flips an ace by mistake, landing by my left foot. I pick it up and give it to him and he mutters Sinkyu, sinkyu. I wave my hand chummily dismissively, S'okay, s'okay.

Things to Try

To weave dreams.

To enjoy the legacy of light. Or rather, to enjoy life under the sun.

To come home with an ochre tone.

To see - to reflect on and to touch - the skin of water.

That is, kung ibig ko lang.

Ridiculous Realisations, #1

- Home is not just down the road, nor over the hill, nor a mountain away. Or rather, Home is only 35 minutes away going 700 kph north by northeast, etc etc.

- I'm the only non-foreign tourist guy in the bar. Or rather, I'm the only person not tabling a white guy.

RECALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: KRITIKA KULTURA ANTHOLOGY OF NEW PHILIPPINE WRITING

2010-10-06T19:55:00.001+08:00

We have called and we have received but sadly they are still not enough!

Contributions are still welcome for the first special exclusively literary issue of Kritika Kultura, the international online journal of language, literary and cultural studies published by the Ateneo de Manila University and indexed by Thomson Reuters (formerly ISI), MLA, Scopus, EBSCO, and DOAJ. This particular issue is intended to be an anthology of new Philippine writing.

The Philippine literary community has a relatively longstanding tradition of releasing anthologies focusing on young writers. However, it can be gleaned that the notion of the “new” remains unarticulated, as recent anthologies simply focus on the “young,” and what becomes apparent is the persistent maintenance of an aesthetics solidified in various creative writing institutions and workshops, a notion that is rapidly rendered inaccurate by a healthy production of writing that these anthologies do not include.

What this issue of Kritika Kultura intends to accomplish is to represent the kind of writing that is rarely published, the kind that is not often legitimized by mainstream publications. The kind of writing that we, as editors, can confidently call “new.”

New, in this case, is still defined as the word that most succinctly describes literary texts that are mindful of—by way of formal response/appropriation and/or thematic confrontation—several contemporary cultural phenomena such as the preponderance of piracy, the simultaneous/schizophrenic sociopolitical conditions of the nation, the “new” government that includes so many of the old names, the highly provisional stances in criticism pertaining to society and art, the currency and increasing value of topicality and ephemera (as evidenced by BPOs, SEOs, and Facebook), the persistent dominance of celebrity culture, and the gossip paradigm of discourse.

The anthology welcomes contributions that transgress genre boundaries, revise traditional modes and forms, formally engage with the largely oral, nontextual/extratextual literary practices of the Filipino audience, and display a technical alertness to the quandaries presented by blog-driven writing, Facebook fiction, protest poetry, the malleability of languages, the hegemony of academic publishing in “legitimate” literature, the dominion of western literary models, and, in light of these, the strategic and arguably fictionalizing construction of Filipino identity.

Send reviews! Send interviews! Send mixtapes! Send lists! Send photos! Send komix! Send strangers’ Facebook status messages! Send tarot card readings! Send scraps of texts pasted and strung together in an effort to make a cohesive whole! Just as long as they are smart and beautiful and new!

Contributions are welcome from Filipino writers from everywhere, who have either not yet published books of their own or have only one published book. Submissions can be in any language, but English translations must be provided. Multiple submissions are accepted, but each submission (belonging to a particular genre) has a 5,000-word count limit. Submissions must not have appeared in national publications. Email your submissions as file attachment (.doc or .rtf format), and use the surname and the genre-label (for instance, Cruz Poetry or Cruz Nonfiction) as filename. Submissions may be emailed to kk.litissue(at)gmail(dot)com. The deadline for submissions has been extended until November 6, 2010. Kritika Kultura is a refereed, now an ISI-registered, publication. You can brag about that to your friends! The issue will be released in February 2011. Brag about that, too!

Mark Anthony Cayanan
Conchitina Cruz
Adam David

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #09

2010-09-15T11:36:00.002+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Nobs!

1. Just like Mix, I'm also into Batman. I have my own copy of The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns/Strikes Again/Year One, The Killing Joke and even Absolute Hush (yes, just cause I loved the story so much) plus a lot more of Bruce Wayne. I also have others from DC like Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, Blackest Night, etc. I also read some stuff from Marvel like Civil War and 1602. I haven't read much from Marvel though because I've been trying to understand the DC Universe for quite some time. I recently took a break and began reading stuff like Y: The Last Man, Watchmen, Blankets, The Swamp Thing, Transmetropolitan, The Walking Dead and some local comics which include Trese, Zsazsa Zaturnnah, Nardong Tae, Kalayaan, Elmer, Tabi Po and Ang Alamat ng Panget and Many Other.

2. If I purchased them or read a soft copy of it obviously means that I enjoy reading them. I usually do a little research before reading comics/graphic novels, if I read good comments on it or if I like the synopsis then I look for them and start reading. I like reading them cause they are amusing from the drawing itself to the story.

3. What are you talking about? I think that comics are for everyone! It just so happens that not a lot of girls out there haven't tried exploring the wonderful world of comics hence, the claim that comics are for boys.

4. Craig Thompson (Blankets), Grant Morrison (52), Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns), Brad Meltzer (Identity Crisis), Allan Moore (The Swamp Thing), Budjette Tan (Trese) and Gerry Alanguilan (Elmer) are most likely my faves! They are my favourites because in my opinion, their stories are very unique or they just got me emotional. Blankets and Identity Crisis was a heartbreaker and that's why I loved their story and creators! The Dark Knight Returns just made me fall in love with Bruce Wayne much more! Superman in overrated plus Batman can beat the hell out of him!

5. Well, we have to admit that we don't see much male characters looking so seductive unlike the females but then I think all we women need is an open and mature mind. The story makes up for it anyway.

6. Oh dear! I really would love to make my own someday. Again, I don't think comics are specifically for one gender. Maybe we can lure in more girls by writing comics just like Blankets. Writing about love or probably experience itself makes a story interesting for women.

7. The story is king says my professor. Gender doesn't matter as long as the story is good! If there's one way to lure more girls then it's by influence.

8. So far, I think our local comics are doing great. If there's one thing I'd like to see more of, it would be probably more female comic book writers and more great stories!

9. See less of? I don't think there isn't anything I wanna see less of in the local comic scene.

10. We're going worldwide, that's for sure! We have great storytellers and artists :)

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #08

2010-09-15T11:30:00.002+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Mimi!

1) Local: Usually whatever one-shot indie titles I can get my hands on. If loyal to any series, I cannot recall it at this time. Except for Windmills, reason obvious. I used to be into the big komik strips like Pugad Baboy, Kikomachine and Beerkada but have outgrown them.

Foreign: Currenly Daniel Clowes, Nate Powell, Adrian Tomine, Chew, Crossed, Blacksad, Peanuts. My pet series was Fables until someone told me that Bill Willingham supported the Iraq War thus soiling my enjoyment of it, which is wrong, I know. Webcomics like Pictures for Sad Children, Dinosaur Comics and Lackadaisy. Anything with cute animals (cats) in it I will probably pick up which is why occasionally there is a Jhonen Vasquez trip. Also, not-so-current manga like Uzumaki, Monster, Angel Sanctuary, Pure Trance, Nana (Is it ever coming back?) and Litchi Hikari Club (Which really kinda sucks but I want to have hope because it’s pretty.)

2) This is gonna sound bad but I can’t say I’ve enjoyed very many of the local komiks that I’ve read because most of them just aren’t about things that I can get into and if they are they just suck. Case in point- Budang. Cute cat! But it made me want to punch it for being so fucking dumb. Too many people are focusing on either emulating cutesy Japanese stereotypes or forcing “Filipinoness” into their work through weak social commentary, using folklore or writing in bad Taglish instead of actually developing characters or just writing good dialogue. What makes me stick to a series or creator is pretty/cute art (because shallow is easy), interesting stories and dialogue, defined characters, or even just ideas I can agree with such as with Clowes which is sad.

3) Um, I used to read W.I.T.C.H., webcomics like Perfect Stars and Tiny Kitten Teeth seem especially girly, but that might just be the art style, popular shoujo manga like Nana and Ayashi no Ceres. Generally the art is pretty but the stories eventually fall into vapidity which can be either a good or bad thing depending on my mood (how girly). They discuss things most girls can relate to or aspire to have which is part of the problem for me because the idea of the universal female doesn’t appeal to me personally. Most female oriented comics seem to be either romantic which gets boring quickly or let’s-be-feminist-yeah! which gets annoying immediately. Women/girls always seem like they’re part of a team (of other girls, most often) if not the love interest. More individuality would be nice.

4) Daniel Clowes because his art is distinct, he’s wordy which helps the non-visually oriented such as myself and because he keeps the reader occupied whether it be through reading his insanely long rants, visual cues or just figuring out what the fuck is going on. Favorites by him would be Ice Haven and Eightball (excluding Velvet Glove) because of the anthology-ness.

Locally I liked Oliver Pulumbarit’s Lexy, Nance and Argus but I don’t think I’ve read enough of his work to call him a favorite just yet. I liked his references, characters and . In all honesty I like Josel’s more focused work like Windmills because of the introspection and ambition. The focus on character and thought over flashy plot is something that a lot of other young local komiks lack.

I generally don’t like very many female creators in any field. This may be a problem. But I do like Lynda Barry well enough for her art style, humor and psychology. Favorite book: What It Is for its prettiness.

5) It’s not particularly welcoming to females but it doesn’t shoo them (us pala) away either. It does occasionally perv us out though. You’d think it’d just be the scantily-clad walking ads who would be pestered, but it seems that every girl present at a convention is subject to this. A lot of female characters in komiks are fanfare as well. I don’t want to go into a male gaze rant (because often they are stupid) but that objectification is pretty evident although not particularly oppressive. The scene is obviously predominately male and targets such but is open to female creators and fans.

6) If I had the skill, I probably would want to but I wouldn’t target it to girls if only because I don’t do well with that. But merchandise and pretty packaging is always a nice way to catch a girl’s eye. Look expensive but be cheap.

7) Not really but it’s not unwelcome.

8) Universality, good writing, colored work would be nice too

9) Milking Philippine mythology and history, heavily genre-d stuff, manga style artwork, homogeneity

10) Staying where it is now

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #07

2010-09-15T11:26:00.002+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Kristine!

1) Hindi ako masyadong nakakapagbasa ng comics eh. Sa local, Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah, Kikomachine, 12, Pugadbaboy, at Trese pa lang ata. Sa foreign, puro webcomics: A Softer World, C'est la Vie, Cyanide and Happiness, Hark! A Vagrant, Oatmeal, Perry Bible Fellowship, Pictures for Sad Children, xkcd, at ang paborito kong Piled Higher and Deeper. Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes din, pero sadly di ko sila masyadong nasubaybayan. Nung elementary at high school, W.I.T.C.H.

2) Yup! I like comics that combine humor and social commentary, humor and nerdiness, humor and morbidness.

3) Yung W.I.T.C.H. -- magic girls! school issues! friends issues! fluffy romance! Sobrang natuwa ako sa kanya nung elementary at high school. Matagal ko na siyang di nasubaybayan; hindi ko alam kung magugustuhan ko pa rin hanggang ngayon. Yung C'est la Vie din ni Jennifer Babcock, the protagonist is a woman, an existential beatnik who doesn't conform to the ideals of conventional femininity. It often talks about "women's issues" -- women's relationships, career, romance, motherhood (or repulsion to it) etc. Nakaka-relate ako sa views ng protagonist.

4) Sa local, favorite ko si Manix Abrera! Kikomachine lang ang kumpleto kong comic book series. Sobrang benta sakin ang humor niya, at ang social commentary na dala nito. Ang astig din niya mag-drawing, at ang galing ng characterization! Sa foreign naman, si Jorge Cham ng Piled Higher and Deeper na tungkol sa grad school. Aside from my interest in his observations and insights about grad school life, the webcomic is also very funny and well-drawn. C'est la Vie din, for the aforementioned reasons, at Hark! A Vagrant ni Kate Beaton. Sobrang panalo lang ni Beaton, I like how she plays with literary and historical characters!

5) I really don't know much about the local komix scene, so I can't substantially comment on this. Basta pansin ko lang, karamihan sa mga komiks fans ay mga lalaki, at karamihan sa nakikita kong komiks, parang geared sa mga lalaki. I want to reiterate that I have a very narrow experience of komiks.

6) If I had the skills, oo naman. I just want to create a good story in the medium, pero being a girl and a feminist, i think it would be inevitable that i'd create komiks from a particular perspective -- i'd probably tackle experiences i encounter and issues relevant to me as a woman.

7) I feel ambivalent about this, because it might further entrench gender stereotypes. A good story is a good story, but yeah, sana mas maraming komiks ang may mga babaeng bida, hindi yung madalas accessory lang sila sa male heroes.

re: the last three questions, i don't know much about local komiks (really, comics in general) in the first place, so i can't really comment on them. siguro sana mas mapalaganap pa ang komiks, as in i-promote sila sa mga bata kahit sa mga paaralan, dahil marami namang komiks na worthy of readership and study!

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #06

2010-09-15T11:14:00.002+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Gabcanfly!

1) I'm ashamed to say I don't read a lot of local comics. I read a bit of Pugad Baboy and I used to read Culture Crash when it was still in print, but that's about it. Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah was pretty awesome too.

The current foreign comics I'm reading are: Batgirl, Fables, The Unwritten, various Batman titles, Secret Six and Freakangels.

2) Yes. I just like to read period.

3) I don't really look out for comics that are specifically targeted to girls. Mostly because girl comics usually translates to chick lit, and I'm not a big fan of that either.

I do like reading comics that feature very strong female characters. If that qualifies as comics specifically targeted to girls, then I'm all for it.

4) When you say creators, do you mean the writer or the artist or someone who does both on the title (because I can't really think of anyone right now)?

For writers, I'm a big Gaiman fan. I also like Warren Ellis, Paul Dini (because of Batman the Animated Series) and just recently, Gail Simone.

When it comes to artists, I will read (at least once) anything that David Mack, Dustin Nguyen, or J.H. Williams have worked on.

My favourite comics are Sandman and Y the Last Man (Although its Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra aren't on the list above, just because I haven't read anything else by them yet.)

5) I haven't read a lot of local comics to say, but I do go to conventions a lot and I don't feel any hostility towards girls as comic fans.

6) Not particularly. Just because I don't think I'd have the patience for it.

7) I don't really look at good stories as specifically for girls or boys. A good story is a good story.

I've read a couple of shojou manga titles and they're irritating. If that's the kind of plots "girl comics" are going to have, then I'd rather there not be any. Local or foreign. I'd rather read something that's not targeted specifically for girls that has a great, strong, female lead.

8) Great stories with great characters. I'm sure they're out there. I just need to do more local comic reading.

9) I agree with one of the other commenters that I'm sick of seeing local comics with the three stars and a sun motif. The false patriotism thing is everywhere, not just in comics. It needs to stop.

I also think it would be great if local comics featured women who are drawn more realistically with costumes and breasts that don't defy the laws of physics.

10) I don't know. Haha. Sorry. walang kwentang sagot.

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #05

2010-09-15T11:06:00.002+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Drew Santos!

1) Well, Josel's comics have been very influential in my reading -- that and a lot of comics from Oni Press and SLG. I also, shamefully, like reading Shojo Manga on the internet.

2) Yep, I wouldn't read them if I didn't like them. Mainly because they're drawn well. The appreciation of the plot comes second in place of the art. It's kind of like looking at books at a bookstore - you buy the book with the best cover and then you later on appreciate what's inside the book.

3) Yes. I like Hope Larson's Chiggers, Jen Wang's Koko Be Good, and My Faith in Frankie. Oh yes, and a lot of Shojo Manga.

My fave creators are Becky Cloonan, Hope Larson, Jill Thompson, Kristian Donaldson, James Jean, Jen Wang, Matthew Woodson, Alessandro Barbucci, Nate Powell and Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba.

4) The way they produce their art is pleasing to the eyes. Too many to list.

5) I like the local comic with the sheep on it. More cute things = more merch I say. And girls are always in for the cute merch. I can't say, personally, I like how the rest is drawn -- plot-wise, I like 'em. Love your own they say.

6) I'm good with that. I wouldn't say I'd make it specially for girls. I'd start with online comics. That's how people get noticed anyways -- online comics. :)

7) I think there are a lot of those in badly drawn Manga form. But it wouldn't hurt if there were more.

8) More of the local artists' style rather than those deformed Manga ones. Sorry, I just had to say it.

9) Ugly art and unoriginal plots. :)

10) Hmmmm I think local komix is heading towards a bright future now that witty people are making witty comic books. I'd like to say I like Apol Sta. Maria's Alamat ng Panget because its weird sense of humor. Yes, I just had to say that. Anyhow, I see a bright future for Pinoy comics. I dunno about girly themes -- but those Manga comics are girly girly themed and all so yay for that bright future in girly comics.

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #04

2010-09-15T10:32:00.002+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from the Simpson's Edna Krabappel!

1) I like Seth's, Dan Clowes, Jim Woodring, Chris Ware, Fletcher Hanks, Charles Burns, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Susumu Katsumata and Imiri Sakabashira.

Local comics… trip ko ang Punnx, Alamat ng Panget at syempre Pugad Baboy.

2) Yep. Ganda ng drawing plus galing ng story. Gusto ko yung drama ni Seth. Trip ko lalo ang design ni Chris Ware. Kay Tatsumi, ang galing lang talaga nya magkwento. Sakabashira dahil fan ako ng kaiju.

3) No, I read what interests me. Pero yung "for girls comics" na sinasabi mo, nagustuhan ko ang Ghost World ni Daniel Clowes. Pambabae ba sya?

My faves would be Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Seth, Dan Clowes, Charles Burns.

4) Tatsumi's Good-bye, Black Blizzard, Abandon the Old in Tokyo, The Push-man and other Stories. Seth's Wimbledon Green, Its A Good Life if You Don't Weaken.
Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, Pussey, Ice Haven by Clowes. Big Baby, el Borbah, at Skin Deep ni Charles Burns. Sakabashira's Boxman. Nice story and drawing.

5) I don't know, I think if you're interested in things like these, it doesn't matter.

6) Yep, I also want to make my own, ala Tom Tomorrow. haha!

7) pwede, tipong romance comics. haha

8) ??

9) Yung superhero na flag ng pilipinas ang costume. O yung tipong nagpapaka pinoy ang dating. Wala na kasing bago sa tikbalang, zombie na manny pacquiao o nagsasalitang manok at syempre ang anime/manga-inspired drawings.

10) I have no idea.

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #03

2010-09-15T10:26:00.003+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Alquanna!

1) Leaning more on webcomics ngayon - xkcd, Oglaf, garfield without garfield. Sometimes Questionable Content and A Softer World. Foreign, kung hindi strips (Dilbert), manga (karamihan yung manga na pinanggalingan ng anime). Local, marami-rami: Kikomachine, Pugad Baboy, Trese, Kubori Kikiam. Used to follow the now-defunct Culture Crash.

2) Intelligent humor (for the strips), and for the story (tulad ng Trese, na minadali sa book 3, boo). Bonus na lang sakin minsan ang good art. xD

3) Nearest probably would be manga from CLAMP (ex. some parts of Fushigi Yuugi), sinundan dahil sa anime, tiningnan lang kung anong parts ang iba sa anime.

Pinakanatatandaan ko noon eh yung WITCH (hindi ko matandaan kung anong country galing, pero may local version dito). Late elem/early HS ata kami ng barkada ko nun, at hindi ko masyadong gets kung ba't sila sobrang bilib dun, kasi sakin eh naunahan na sila ng Sailormoon (na trips din naman namin noon). Yun ang girl kung girl.

4) Local: Manix! Budjette Tan! Carlo Vergara! Pol Medina!
Foreign: mas more on titles ako pag foreign works, hehe. *points up to #1* xD

5) For the local comics, other than intelligent humor, dahil nakakarelate at usually a new twist on old tropes.

6) Dahil hindi naman talaga ako ganun "ka-active" sa komix scene, medyo mahirap mag-comment dito. Noon medyo pumupunta ako, kaso noon parang halo pa sya ng mga anime/gaming/toy conventions; at siguro ganun pa rin impression ko ngayon kaya di na ako talaga pumupunta. Or talagang malas lang ako sa mga cons, either hindi ako pwede sa mga araw na may con or nalalaman ko lang pag tapos na (kasi di ko na talaga inaalam yung dates, di tulad ng dati).

Siguro sa material, yung mga sumikat, kadalasan naman appreciated by both guys and girls (at least sa mga kakilala ko). In terms of characters appearing in strips, balanse naman more or less yung cast - isang buong pamilya yan sa Pugad Baboy, tapos co-ed naman yung barkada sa Kiko Machine. Yung topics din naman, hindi exclusive for guys or girls lang.

May effect lang siguro ng "hostility" kasi so far, kahit ok yung material, eh wala talagang sumisikat na comics recently na girl ang gumawa.

7) Oo naman, pero siguro hindi ko magagawa na from the outset alam ko na dapat for girls yun. Lalabas na lang siguro yun if ever; kwento muna.

(At sana, maraming taga-drawing din xD)

8) Why not? Basta maganda pagkagawa. Tipong mala-Persepolis.

9) Sana mas marami pang magandang series. Laging may aabangan na next issue. Yung mga nagustuhan ko kasi, karamihan one shot.

10) Dahil di ako masyadong "in" sa local comics scene, hirap uli mag-comment xD Siguro yung knee-jerk reaction ko na lang sa isang title na nakita ko sa Sputnik dati - ayoko yung feeling na kailangan isampal sa mukha ko na "PINOY KOMIX AKO!", title pa lang. xD

11) Hmmm. Simula siguro 'to.

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #02

2010-09-15T10:19:00.003+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Lukinda Skye!

1) foreign - mostly fantagraphics (hate, anything by crumb, daniel clowes) hernandez brothers, stray bullets, heavy metal, mad magazine, vertigo titles confined to enigma, tales from the crypt, recently stripburger comics, free mangas in japanese restaurants, archies, betty and veronica, xmen, batman, dark knight, grendel, peter mulligan, tank girl, collab bet. jodorowski and moebius, max and pete (as far as image comics is concerned) anything basta maganda drawing

local - funny komiks, wakasan, liwayway, aliwan, pinoy horror komiks, ghost story komiks, lovelife, komiks sa tabloid, sa inquirer, sa phil star, sa manila bulletin, pugad baboy, pupung, cesar asar

2) of course, anything that's drawn, even illustrated instructions on manuals, product literature, architectural drawings, sticker sa jeep, basta me drawing

i enjoy reading/looking at them mainly for the drawings.

3) are archies specifically targeted for girls, or betty and veronica? as i said, i read almost all kinds of comics and dont necessarily classify them as anything or for any type of gender. comics is comics!

always looking forward to paul pope, hernandez brothers, anything from fantagraphics, anything from the guy who did stray bullets, nestor redondo for the drawing, victor balanon - eto dapat suportahan

4) stray bullets - so far, bitin kasi e

5) i buy my comics from 2nd hand bookstores. or skim through them sa bargain box ng (what's this comic store in megamall that also sells static models?)maybe i look 30ish so im not bothered or im too engrossed with looking through the bargain bins that im too oblivious of any discrimination.

i also dont go to comicons, tho it's fun sometimes to see yummy girls in cosplay costumes, it makes me want to squish their boobies and grab their perky butts.

6) ha!!!!!!!! ha ha!!!!! why bother?
what for? comics is comics!

7) what for? generally for the local comix scene to flourish it needs better original stories and more original illustrators (enough of those manga type drawings, it's too damn easy)

also a wider market for comix (also increasing general literacy would help for this to happen) , financial backing for publishing, incentives for major publishers if they produce a free comics for a freee comic book day, international exposure for local comics, local comics alliances, comics forums, peer network support systems

8) see answerr above

9) manga type drawings!

10) komix for girlS?

even though komikera is made up of a collective of mostly girls, i dont see it as targeted exclusively for girls

Replies from the Komix For Girls? Wha? questionnaire! #01

2010-09-15T10:14:00.002+08:00

The questionnaire can be found here. These answers are from Mix!

Dapat may libre akong kopya ng komiks mo when it comes out, for being the first commenter or something.

1) Batman comics, a healthy smattering of other DC titles, never Marvel titles 'cause I'm a purist. Locally, some early Alanguilan, Vergara, and that comic 'sex, rock gods, and something something.' But my hands down favorite Arre was Trip to Tagaytay.

2) Nah, I just like wasting my cash/ time.

Superhero komiks kasi exciting. Insane plot twists abound that could never exist in any other genre and are taken as seriously as the Old Testament (he SHOT a GOD with a TIME BULLET. His used his MEMORIES as a WEAPON. BLACK RINGS bring the DEAD BACK TO LIFE) without sacrificing some sort of highly esoteric internal logic. Local comics kasi... well, baka makatisod ng magandang kwento.

3) Most my friends disagree when I claim that superhero comics are geared for girls. C'mon, look at those abs, that bulging package. Sure, the action and violence might make the boyz happy but dude. Seriously? Muscular men doing crotch-shot jumps right in my face? That's fangirl service. ...Or baka may kinalaman ito sa pag-buo ng 'ideal'/ impossible female fantasy of the perfect guy-- yung maginoo pero medyo bastos, can beat the shit outta the Joker but will never hurt you shtick-- parang yung super bishonen jerks ng shojo manga who still somehow get the girls. (see, sineseryoso ko ang survey mo)

Morrison, we already sort of talked about. Nancy Collins kasi... well, Swamp Thing just rocked all around.

Local, hm. Wala pa masyado akong nababasa that has blown me away...

5) I have to admit that the local komiks industry seems to be leagues ahead of other countries in terms of gender politics. Zatturnah at Trese pa lang as characters, panalo na tayo. Zatturnah and Trese writers, more so. And these are the two most popular Filipino komiks in recent memory (sabi ng source ko, si Dr. Pwet, PhD. Sorry, no reference. Gut instinct lang). As of conventions, there are women. Don't know what percentage of those women read a lot of comics, though I do feel the comics scene here is pretty friendly. AND I'LL TELL YOU MY OUTLANDISH THEORY AS TO WHY-- kasi largely middle class ang komiks scene dito ngayon. Insert here a tricky discourse on the 'castration' of the middle class male who averts himself from the 'macho' image for fear of being associated with the low-born working class but also avoids the too-feminine image of the homosexual who is seen as a deviant, resulting in a class of males who hide behind the guise of 'sensitivity' and will not step up for their women, etc, etc, bitter ranting. Tapos na ang panahon ng palengke komiks, the Pinoy golden age with Kafgu and Indio and such. YUN, dude komiks kung dude komiks.

6) I do want to make my own komiks, but I don't necessarily want to make it specifically for girls 'cause I'm not crazy.

Kasi... complicated mga babae eh. You always run the risk of generalizing and stereotyping women if you try to do something specifically geared toward them. Toys, dolls = creating unachievable body images. Hello kitty and such = stereotyping women as fragile, pink-loving, whatevers. Chick flick/ chick lit = as if to say that women are incapable of appreciating 'serious' literature. Twilight = well. Yung parang ganoon? I dunno why that is, either. I'm just saying there's that risk.

Also, I read somewhere that these two manga series (later turned into anime series) Yu yu Hakusho (ghost fighter) and Rurouni Kenshin (samurai X) were original conceived as shojo titles, as evidenced by the gaggle of bishonen boys. Even when they were turned into anime and garnered male audiences, the female audiences still outnumbered the male. Can these be considered 'geared for women?'

I think the key factors for making girl comics/ comics for girls are:
1. don't patronize your audience/ readers because they're women
2. a good story-- which is always asexual in nature
3. non-hideous looking male characters.

7) Um. Not really.

8) Just good stories, god. Less masturbation from artists who think action sequences/ squiggly motion lines = good story

9) masturbation from artists. Oo, ang daming magaling magdrowing sa Pilipinas. the indie sections of every komikon proves that. Pero bat walang marunong magkwento?

10) Nowhere.

If I Were A Speaker In The Future Of The Book Conference ...

2010-09-13T16:01:00.005+08:00

As I was setting out to re/work on a few lost things from my computer, Don Jaucian eMailed to ask a few questions about book design. For some reason, he had it in his head that I have ideas about these things - I think it's more my constant Facebook updates on naught but book design for nearly four whole months - and so, just to add one more thing in my already grossly-full plate, I said "Yes, I shall answer your questions to the best of my abilities!" And so, I tried my best.

Jaucian said it's for the Philippine Star's supplement for this week's Bookfair. Watch out for that, then?

1) How important are book designs and covers these days? I've noticed that big publishing houses like Penguin, Vintage and Gollancz have been releasing books with impressive book covers.

Covers are the main point of entry for potential readers if not the only marketing tool the publishers use to sell their books, and like with the three publishers you mentioned in your question - Penguin, Vintage, and Victor Gollancz - they can also be used to establish an aesthetic identity, either for the publisher - regular Penguin books have a thoroughly distinct look different from everyone else; Vintage has more of a common vibe with all their books and less of a common aesthetic look, but this common vibe (image-driven minimalist, simple title type) is strong enough that when you see a Vintage book from afar, even when they don't look that different from all the other books, you still just know it's a Vintage book; arguably, the same can be said about VG books, although they have a weaker aesthetic overall - or for the books themselves - Penguin's many many many book series(es), like the Penguin Tattoos, Penguin Great Ideas, Penguin Classics, Penguin Classics That Have Alternative Comic Book Artists As Cover Artists On Them, etc etc - already effectively announcing just what their books are about, just what they're all about as a publisher. So yeah, aside from the obvious "it has to look beautiful so people will buy it," covers are also for establishing identity.

Book design, though, as in holistic book design, interior book design, is an art that is a lot more subtle, a little more invisible than cover design although I'd argue that it's loads more important as an element of the book - with covers, you only get to see them for at most five seconds or so in the whole two or three hours an average reader might devote to actual book reading, and when you're not reading the book, they're mainly on the shelves with only their spines showing - as with interior book design, specifically page design, there are so many things that are meant to happen altogether and with such precision that if only one is out of synch, tragedy ensues: if the typeface is too large, it can be seen as made for either kids or fogeys, and can be intellectually off-putting for some readers; if the typeface is too tiny or if the kerning and leads between types are too wide or too narrow, they'd cause headaches; if the size of the type for the page numbers is too big, it'd be distracting the reader's eyes from the main text body; if you use a sans serif typeface for the main text body, it'll be a bit more difficult to read and follow than when you use a serif type; but if you use a sans serif type for the chapter titles and such, it'll be a far more pleasant read than when you use a serif type; not to mention the widows and orphans and hyphens and em dashes and italics and text that begin on the verso pages, etc etc etc - all of these things are so precise that when done right they're invisible, but when done wrong they're irritating.

These things have been steady constants throughout the history of printing, and for the most part, they're all still relevant in the age of digital books, only some I feel will be eventually abandoned as the eBook readers and iPads and other digital reading devices manage to establish a more secure foothold as mainstream media - I'm already seeing this change with the guidelines I was given when I was asked to design covers for eBooks: because the market for eBooks is online, the demand to make the covers pop-out has gone up in the sense that you can't really play around much with type because of the need to make the cover instantly legible and noticeable when seen in your monitor as an 8.33%-thumbnail amidst all the other 8.33%-thumbnails; also, the need for the back cover is gone, as well as the need for blurbs or synopses, or even the spine. As for the interior book design, a lot of eBook readers have customisable settings with regards to font size and page orientation and paragraph flow that it renders the page as artifact moot - even page numbers are irrelevant! And one can even set up a book as a set of hyperlinks instead of the far simpler page-to-pixel transfer, demanding from the reader - and the book - a far more different reading experience compared to the conventional linear experience.

But there are still publishers who'd rather concentrate on doing print than doing digital, and for some cases it's vice versa, but for more and more publishers, addressing both concerns is starting to look like a good publishing model. So, in short, it's both all changing and all staying the same, for the betterment of everything.

2) How is the book design trade here in the Philippines?

Eh, book design here in the Philippines is mainly lazy and uninspired - flip through any Filipiniana bookshelf in any bookstore and you'll see a parade of absolute obnoxious dreck half-assedly assembled in Photoshop - owing to the fact that most book publishers mainly come from either the textbook industry or the newspaper - often tabloid - industry, both industries not really known for their high-end design output.

Most publishers are also managed by people who are mainly businessmen - which is understandable as it is a business - who only have eyes for the bottomline and not for design - and often design is dictated by beauty, and beauty isn't always wise for business, thus design is always left on the level of perfunctory, often just a case of laying everything out in Times New Roman in a typo-filled rush to get the book printed, as the sooner it's printed the sooner it'll be sold.

But there's hope in the form of the independent press, in the form of publishers who are thinking more of the presentation as a way of selling, the beauty as marketing tool, the book as artifact to be appreciated not only as a vehicle of text ideas but also as a work of art, be they in print or in web. I first noticed this with High Chair's poetry books and their webjournal, and also with Heights at least ever since the mid 90s, and now with customizable blogs and Twitter pages and Deviantart portfolios, it's all converging into one big messy colourfully flavourful salad. There are smarter people making decisions nowadays, people who grew up on animes and mangas and rock posters and comic books and ukay-ukays and dress-up dolls and TV ads and music videos and Playstations and iPads - everyday, people are getting exposed to more and more examples of great design often as soon as one can point at a button and press and stare and say "dog" as Blues Clues runs around the vivid verdant fields of virtuality, and these kids will grow up on Photoshop and InDesign and Manga Studio EX 4 and talking like prodigy rocket scientists in Facebook and maybe they'll end up working for mainstream markets but they'll be making their own things, too, all smart and beautiful things. Like I said, it's all already happening today, and when you think about it, it's all just still planting seeds. I live for the day when we get to reap these things by the bushels.

UPDATED: Trying Hard Not To Break My Arm Here - About Designing Book Covers

2010-09-05T10:50:00.008+08:00

The two things one relinquishes when one decides to be a self-publisher are 1) the idea that you will earn substantial amounts of money - or even break even - from your own books, and 2) the idea that someone else - the publisher, basically the person footing the bill to turn your book into a book, basically someone with more money than you - is calling the shots about each and every little detail of the production of your book.

I've been doing this bookmaking thing more or less since 1999, but only really with any ambition since 2001, but only really arguably professionally since 2005, when Carl and I formed the Youth & Beauty Brigade more or less as a gimmick to help facilitate our production - him and me editing, me designing and laying-out - of what was the first real effort of the UP Writers Club to reassert itself as a publishing body, the 2005 volume of the Literary Apprentice. Between that and August 2008 I did lotsa books for lotsa people for notta lotta money either as official employee or desktop racketeer, often making books from the ground-up, and by effect allowing me to develop a certain aesthetic - Pinoy Poets splinter group the Absent Muse was one of the first orgs who actually hired me, ie paid me, to design a book from the ground-up, which allowed me to do an index of random lines, which is basically what it is, and also a cento poem by itself, not to mention also allowing me to play around with the cover, shown here in its spread-eagled glory, from back to front -

- which basically spoiled me to bits with regards to cover design. Often I find the designing and laying-out of book titles on the page clunky, sometimes a pain in the ass, so I try to get it done either as the first or the last thing on the page, and I try to sequester it in its own little corner in the cover -

- or, like with the Absent Muse book, do the title as cover image -

- or, like the two books on the top of this post, don't do the title at all -

- meaning, all these years of doing zines and books and websites, I've seen how much can be said and done with so little things said and done, viscomm-wise and money-wise - which I don't really see as Minimalist Design as it lacks the needed quietness that as far as I'm concerned Minimalism needs and espouses, in fact I think my design is loud and obnoxious. If tasked to describe it, I'd say it's more just Unobtrusive Design, Interpretative Design, Design As Almost Literary Critique, Design In The Service Of The Book, all in aid of turning the book into an artifact, regardless if it is digital or material, turning it into the most noticeably beautiful thing in the shelf amidst everything else. Meaning, book design not as marketing tool - this is the beachhead where the war between the publisher and the writer and often also the artist is waged at its worst, although the writer's side of the battle is often already forfeited at the outset by the signing of the contract, where it is almost always stipulated that the cover is always decided upon by the publisher (not the writer, not even the artist) himself (so now you know who to blame about the quality of the Milflores Books covers) - but as art, something which you can only really do in self-publishing.

I mentioned August 2008 as a marker as that was the month my book the El Bimbo Variations first got pressed. Its first cover was a love letter to my most favourite book press ever, that eternally weirdo formalist press New Directions -

- at the same time a love letter to my highschool band Penelope. That's us in the cover of the book, fourteen or fifteen years old, playing maybe "Fruitcake" or some Green Day song from Dookie in what used to be the Araneta Coliseum's Yellow Gate, now the site of the Gateway franchise of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. For four years we basically opened for Rizal Underground or the Breed or Advent Call when my brother used to sing for them. Our repertoire, as it was, was made up of cover songs that we'd render as more often than not as power-chord pop-punk anthems, and our rendition of "Ang Huling El Bimbo," as every other band had one during those days, was a Pavement thing filtered through a Green Day thing that we ended as a ska-by-way-of-Sublime thing, basically three or four variations of the song in one go, which struck me as important for what my book was trying to achieve twelve years later.

That book was the first real book I ever did, the first real book that was made by me in all aspects of the thing, most importantly the writing of it. I call it my first real book (compared to the zines and websites I did prior to that) as it was the first book that had a proper 13-digit ISBN, which is as official as an ISBN can be (compared to the 10-digit ISBN that any "civilian" can get for themselves), and all the papers had me as signatory, as representative and publisher and director of operations of the Youth & Beauty Brigade. And also, it won the previously prestigious Madrigal Gonzales First Book Award, which made the Brigade more concrete in my mind as a body of something or the other. To celebrate the book winning, I scrounged around and begged for money from kindly sweet people and reprinted the thing, now with a new cover -

- and a new blurb, too. The cover is obviously an homage to Warhol's portrait of Monroe, only with (of course) Paraluman as subject, and also I replaced about three or four old variations with three or four new ones (maintaining the 99 variations thing), all part of my intent to always do new stuff to the book every time I get the chance to reprint the damn thing: replace timely variations with more timely ones, redo the cover in another artstyle homaging someone or the other - my plan for the next edition is that it'll have a Lichtenstein cover - Ben Day dots and all - and have some variations replaced with Josel Nicolas's komix renditions, not to mention I intend to do new variations with him, too, all this done with the nonchalance of a casual flinging of a booger into your neighbour's congee as it is all self-published, or at the very least, dictated by a singular vision not influenced by anything other than to make it a good book - looks and contents - for everyone.

I plan to do a lot of these things - me just rambling on incoherently about design - here these coming weeks to celebrate Carl Javier's launching of his second book this September 6 (which is tomorrow, which is also: the eve of his birthday), a collection of essays (I myself see it as a "novel in essays"), a book I designed from the ground-up (the design process of which I shall write about in the next post), a book called The Kobayashi Maru Of Love. It's already a self-publishing feat even if only based on what Carl and I produced to turn the book and its poetics into something else quite beyond its pages: we did shirts and totebags on/of it, as in five designs for the shirts and originally two for the totebags, and we plan to sell everything as a celebration - and for my part also a sharp critique - of the book's poetics, the book's tradition's ultimate foundational poetics, turning it into what may be the first ever heavily-merchandised book in the Philippines, turning it into literary criticism that you can actually wear proudly across your tits, all this and two cover designs, too. Not too bad for a book that resulted from someone getting dumped by someone! It is also the second book from the Youth & Beauty Brigade. Intro'd by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta and afterworded by Ina Stuart Santiago. 96 pages! P250 a copy! Here's the poster with a couple of maps to the event! Right-click and save it! Bring friends! Free videoke!

And come back here soon so you can read about me designing the covers for the Kobayashi Maru of Love! It's worth the wait, and the return! Tell your friends!

Komix For Girls? Wha?

2010-09-01T21:42:00.007+08:00

In the spirit of Hope Larson's own survey on (American) girls' comic book reading habits, I'm planning on embarking on a new komix writing thing - criticism and creative - and I wanted to ask a few questions specifically for the girls in the audience (if there are any), but if any of you girly guys want to answer the questions, I'd see it as a great kindness. Feel free to pass these questions around, as long as we get the feedback from it.

1) What comic books do you read, both local and foreign?

2) Do you enjoy reading these comic books? Why exactly do you enjoy reading them?

3) Do you read any comic books that you think are specifically targeted to girls? Which books are they? Why do/don't you like them?

4) Who are your favourite comic book creators, both local and foreign, both male and female? Why do you like them? Which of their books are your favourites, and why?

5) As a girl, would/could you say that the current system of local komix production - the books, the creators, the stores, the conventions - is friendly towards females? Why/Why not?

6) As a girl, do you want to make your own komix? Would/Could you make it specifically for girls? How would/could you go about doing that?

7) Would you like to see more local komix focussed primarily for girls?

8) What else would you like to see more of in local komix?

9) What would you like to see less of in local komix?

10) Where do you think the current local komix production is heading re: komix for girls?

You can either answer the questions in this post's comments section, or you can eMail them to me at juncruznaligas(at)gmail(dot)com, with the subject heading GIRLS KOMIX. I plan to publish most if not all responses in this blog, so please indicate if you want to remain anonymous and/or if you don't want your answers published. Looking forward to hearing from you. Salamat po!