Ok, that was embarrassing

So bent was I to publish that post that I didn’t bother to check the grammar of its title, which was originally “A Book that Move Mountains”.

Note to self: next time, don’t treat the title as afterthoughts!

A Book that Moves Mountains

Someone once told me that an action, no matter how small, can lead to tremendous consequences. There were forest fires started by a mere litter of not-quite-extinguished cigarette butts. There were stalagmites that tumbled down by a mere echo that lingered a second to long. There were massacres that started by a mere dispute between a government official and a cigarette vendor. There were human rights movements that began by a mere middle-aged colored woman who insisted on not leaving the seat for white folks.

Greg Mortenson is a man who saw his small act turn to something greater. Written by journalist David Oliver Relin, Three Cups of Tea is a moving, nonfictional account of Greg, whose failed attempt to summit K2 eventually led him to start humanitarian projects. Resting at an unknown village of Korphe after his descend from Karakoram Range, he saw that the children there had no means to receive formal education, so he promised to build a school to repay for the kindness people of Korphe gave him. Fulfilling that promise would also mark the beginning of a new path of his life, as he sets on his still-active mission to intrepidly build schools for other underdeveloped provinces of Pakistan and, later, Afghanistan.

The book’s story, with enough twists to make it a good movie, is wonderful enough. It’s its resounding theme of love and compassion that elevates it a K2 higher than just entertainment. Challenging subject matters that come so naturally when taking about Islam are never shunned, and once you’ve finished reading it you might start lamenting on how misguided Americans are about Muslims. Equal parts hopeful and horrifying, you’ll glance at how badly Muslims are bullied, both by Taliban and by the west. You’ll see how they are forced by extremists to study in schools that teach nothing - not physics, math or whatever languages - but the most hateful interpretations of Koran. You’ll see how underprivileged women are. And Greg, in his building of schools, reveals that the better way in which the battle against terror should be fought is by giving Muslims and their women the right to actual education that they have long been denied of. It breaks the stereotypes of Muslims as being combative, declaring that they want peace and order just as much as all of us do. It also shows how neglected they are, that they have never received the aids and funds promised to them by Americans and Russians whom have taken their turns to rule Afghanistan for no other reason than to prove the firepower of democracy or communism.

Go read this book, and it’s about time we see Muslims as we see ourselves: that, like us, they deserve neither to be bombed by the hypocritical administrations that should’ve long overgrown their jingoistic cowboy fantasies masqueraded as “heroism”, nor to be spilled racist diatribes by FOKKKS, excuse me, FOX news.

Nightdreamer Offering Dating Advices… Like, For Realz

For the record, I can’t believe I’m doing this.

philosopher: i’m starting to like an officemate whom i disagree with most of the times.
nightdreamer: so care telling me about this officemate you disagree with but have a crush on?
philosopher: nope. )
nightdreamer: does she constantly own your ass whenever you debate? )
philosopher: it’s premature.
nightdreamer: so then, spill.
nightdreamer: since it’s premature, you might want to let it out so that you can understand it more and see if it’s worth pursuing.
philosopher: ahaha
philosopher: i look for certain things.
philosopher: it’s weird because most girls i need to placate when we argue.
philosopher: but with her, she accepts my stand on things most of the time. and we agree to disagree.
nightdreamer: weaksauce!
nightdreamer: never agree to disagree!
nightdreamer: nah, just kidding
nightdreamer: so then, you like her because both of you agree on disagreeing?
philosopher: nope i like her personality.
nightdreamer: ok describe
philosopher: she’s stubborn, belligerent, weird and wickedly intelligent.
philosopher: but we’re into the same things such as volunteer work, music, martial arts and spontaneity.
philosopher: plus she’s sometimes twisted and mischievous.
nightdreamer: that sounds a lot like you. well except the intelligent part! )
nightdreamer: kidding
nightdreamer: okay, you’re intelligent too. )
nightdreamer: well what, go for it, lame face!
philosopher: ) i agree.
philosopher: not yet. family’s still my priority.
philosopher: need to support my sis and bro.
philosopher: maybe then.
nightdreamer: darn, man, at least make some move!
nightdreamer: not everything has to cost money! if you’re both into volunteer work you’d understand!
philosopher: i am doncha worry.
nightdreamer: if i learn that this didn’t push through merely because you were spending too much time sulking, i will never forgive you.
philosopher: yup. I making moves but covertly.
nightdreamer: like what, stealing her panties?

philosopher: nyahah nope asking her to go to volunteer work together.
philosopher: We both volunteer for Gawad Kalinga, Red Cross and Caritas.
nightdreamer: what is so covert about that?
philosopher: sharing movies and songs. )
nightdreamer: weaksauce!
nightdreamer: there aren’t anything so covert about those!
philosopher: they are.
nightdreamer: they’re more… platonic kinda thing!
philosopher: well I give her what she wants and needs.
nightdreamer: what are so covert about those? unless you insert porno subliminal music between the songs and then porno frames in movies like tyler durden did in fight club?
philosopher: ahaha nothing like that

philosopher: and sometimes i treat her out after volunteer work.
nightdreamer: well dear, ask her out to a dinner not out of the volunteer work thing!
philosopher: we just try to do things together.
philosopher: and I believe we’re exclusively seeing each other.
nightdreamer: believe? verify!
nightdreamer: you HAVE to let her know you’re going to get into a more intimate stage of relationships! it’s either she accepts that or doesn’t.
nightdreamer: and there’s no better time for that than now!
nightdreamer: or are you gonna wait for stock market to plunge even further before you make your darned move?
nightdreamer: that’s your assignment
nightdreamer: submit a reaction paper next week.

Make Your Move?

This has got to be one of the most ridiculous Instant Messager conversations I’ve had in a long time. And who’s the culprit of making it stupid? Myself, like always; I just happen to think I’ve out-absurded myself this time. 

marlou: yow
nightdreamer: yow you back
nightdreamer: what’s up?
marlou: hahah
marlou: im trying to learn chess again
nightdreamer: i thought you had mad chess skillz?
nightdreamer: what happened?
marlou: haha i stopped playing for 2 years
marlou: i forgot the openings. im still good in the middle game not that good with openings and end games
marlou: well im learning the openings again
nightdreamer: learning the openings?
nightdreamer: and the closings?
marlou: yea
marlou: openings
marlou: like lines
nightdreamer: you know for some reason all these sound really erotic
nightdreamer: it could be like “you know, i don’t have sex as good as i used to anymore”
nightdreamer: “i’m still good at the middle of the acts, but i’m useless when it comes to foreplay and climaxing!”
nightdreamer: ok i am apparently bored
marlou: hahaha
marlou: yea
marlou: you are
marlou: what the
marlou:
marlou: well sex is natural:D
marlou: chess isnt
marlou: you gotta study it
nightdreamer: what the hell!
marlou: yea
marlou: and sex is physical
marlou: chess is a mental thing
nightdreamer: oh yeah? you mean you get to have sex with people without even trying to go through the impressing the girls with all the smartaleckery or stimulating conversations that comprise most of the dating process?
nightdreamer: either you’re dating girls who are really stupid, or you’re a gigolo.
marlou: hahha
marlou: chess is more casual than sex:D
nightdreamer: chess is more casual than sex? pshfftzizzle.
nightdreamer: i would think they’re, just the same?
nightdreamer: in that you rock the castle by pawning the queen?
marlou: hahahha
marlou: whats wrong with you:))
nightdreamer: oh nothing. i’m just baffled by why you think chess and sex are different, that’s all.
marlou: they are
marlou:
marlou: sex is easier than chess:D you dont think as much
nightdreamer: that’s if you’re having bad sex! if you’re having good sex then you’d ch– right, i’m not pursuing this topic.
marlou: hahaha
marlou: yea
marlou: im getting better
nightdreamer: at what?
nightdreamer: ok please don’t answer.
nightdreamer: please please please please don’t answer.
marlou: chess ahahaha
marlou: im getting better
marlou: let’s play
nightdreamer: no way
marlou: haaha why

*nightdreamer ignores marlou for the rest of the day*

Progress Report part 2

So this is the 39th week of the 2008, and I’m sad to say that I’m not doing so well in keeping up with this year’s goal of finishing 52 books total.

Anyway, I figure this is utterly boring, this list of books that I’m posting here for apparently no particular readers other than myself, but if anyone wants me to give my opinion on any of the books that I’ve read, please tell me so through my comment box.

1. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
2. The Bartimaeus Trilogy vol 2: Golem’s Eye by Jonathan Stroud
3. The Bartimaeus Trilogy vol 3: Ptolemy’s Gate by Jonathan Stroud
4. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
5. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
6. Spiderwick vol 1: The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
7. Spiderwick vol 2: The Seeing Stone by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
8. Odyssey by Homer
9. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick
10. Ulysses by James Joyce
11. Robert’s Rules of Writing by Robert Massello (reread)
12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
13. Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson
14. Who Goes There? by John W Campbell
15. Nerves by Lester del Rey
16. Universe by Robert A Heinlein
17. The Marching Morons by Cyril M Kornbluth
18. Vintage Season by Henry Kuttner and C L Moore
19. …And Then There Were None by Eric Frank Russell
20. The Ballad of Lost C’Mell by Cordwainer Smith
21. Baby is Three by Theodore Sturgeon
22. With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson
23. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
24. Black Boy by Richard Wright
25. Way of the Shepherd by Kevin Leman and William Pentak
26. English Plain and Simple by Jose A Carillo
27. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
28. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
29. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
30. 1984 by George Orwell
31. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
32. Mockingbird by Walter Tevis
33. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin
34. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
35. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
36. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
37. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

And I still haven’t found a copy of The Leopard by Giuseppe Lampedusa. Is that, like, the Holy Grail of novels?

The Month That Got Away

It’s September 19 today, and I have only just noticed that the month is halfway done. Dang, eighteen days just got away like that! This September has gone by too quickly it’s befuddling for me to recall all of what happened, none of which are remarkable anyway, so I won’t bother talking about them. What I’ll do here is to throw a bunch of ideas that I’ve accumulated and that I have been meaning but haven’t gotten around to posting. Please bear with me if things are unpolished, because although I want a cleaner entry, the desire to update my blog as soon as possible after neglecting it for a long time have gotten the better of me.

*

Before last Tuesday, I had spent a month not logging on to yahoo messenger, twitter and plurk, and not participating in any message boards too. I only used Facebook during those times, and even there I wasn’t very active.

I did such things partly because I needed to finish some unfinished businesses, like the projects that sneaked to my workload when I wasn’t looking. I also had to write longhand letters to a total of 24 recipients, and then read 5 books in a matter of a week (which I managed to extend to 10 days. The result of that endeavor can be read here).

Right now, I am almost done with writing those letters, and I feel very spiritually fulfilled. No, really, I’m serious about that. Of course, emails are easier and more practical ways to correspond. However, since typing - more than writing by hand – easily results to several words per minute, an email is also quite prone to be prolix and hastily-composed. In longhands, I try to be very patient. I ruminate before putting down a sentence. After all, when I make a mistake I either strike through the misplaced words, or just discard the entire letter and start all over again. Mistakes always look uglier on paper than they do on e-forms for rich-texts. I like the patience and the discipline longhand letters makes me cultivate.

*

Anyway, I missed using those major internet social communities (Yahoo Messenger and others), but at the same time, I enjoyed being absent. Actually, the remaining part of the reason I didn’t go online for a month was so that I could get away from them. I needed some quiet, some time to reflect on what’s going on with my life, plus I think I lost my taste for the trifling small town dramas that tend to blow up on online social journal sites like Twitter and Plurk. I think that happens because many Twitterers/Plurkers take those community too personally. Oftentimes, they divulge every details of their daily lives, from the time they wake up (which is always late) to the time they fall asleep (which is always after they have watched porn and gotten exhausted as a result) and sometimes those details are just too revealing for comfort. Sometimes they join cliques and then fight with other cliques, which is like turf wars except instead of gangers it’s opposing factions of internet nerds who are fighting. Sometimes they gloat. Sometimes they speak badly of others while keeping the offender’s identity a secret, so that their “fans” will be eternally curious and thus beginning a long-standing back-and-forths of “please-tell-me-who I’ll-give-you-a-clue I-hope-it’s-not-me-coz-I-love-you Aww-don’t-feel-bad-about-yourself-here-I’ll-give-you-a-hug *omg I’m hugged by my plurk crush I’m getting a boner now* \m/” (oh yeah, that smiley with a \m/, it’s always that.) Sometimes they gloat. Sometimes they just intentionally kill people off their friends list just to stoke animosities. Sometimes they gloat, gloat, gloat, like there’s just no more way to move a muscle without writing a certificate of achievement about it. Who gives a damn how you romanticize yourself in print anyway, when it is very possible for you to think of yourself as someone entirely different from who you really are?

I’m tired of seeing all these happen. I know they happen in real life too, but in real life I don’t often have a choice to ignore and to walk away. Don’t get me wrong: select Twitterers/Plurkers are remarkable; sometimes conversations like this recent one from Sexynomad happen. On the other hand, there are jerks too, and I try to be cordial to them even if they treat me like crap; it’s really surprising because some of them are nice when you meet them, but then put them online and they go Mr. Hyde. I will never forget the time when I got involved in a Twitter drama with two bloggers I respected; they got mad at me only because I wanted to add them in my Yahoo Messenger’s contacts, weeks after they had sent short stories straight to my email without notifying me beforehand.

I just reemerged in Plurk, but I don’t intend to use it that much anymore. I’m tired of squabbling in places where you can’t even make eye contacts.

*

I’m voting Mike Villar for Philippines Blog Award 2. I’m not particularly familiar to him and we’ve only seen each other once, but I’m voting him because he is an icon. You know all these brands of internet humor you often see in Filipino blogs? He is the one who have made them popular – his style is that influential. He is influential because whenever he takes a new approach at writing his funny stories, others are agape and hungry to see his new gags, so that they can then abuse those new gags. Despite all that, he consistently sounds fresh while others grow stale with their kthxbai and their “funneh” lolcat-speak.

I wanted to vote Filipinovoices too, but their Ben Paypon post was ghastly, and they have a lot of new writers and new articles (especially the ones that criticize MSM) that I’m not too crazy about. I think I have to read their 10-paged manifesto soon.

*

I recently saw Wong Kar Wai’s 2046, and I love it despite thinking it as a very flawed film. I will go into details next time.

In the Mood for Fictions

This morning I have managed to free myself momentarily from a lot of busywork that I had to deal with throughout these past 3 weeks. So I reckoned: what better topics to post a blog about but those 5 books I read a week ago? A few posts back, I mentioned being lent 5 books by a friend, who then insisted that I return them after a week. Slogging through all those books was not easy, but I had them dealt with after 10 days (after I doggedly pleaded to him to give me 3 days more. You’ll find out later which of the book slowed down my reading the most). I will tell you now if they are good and worth picking up.

I started with Mockingbird by Walter Tevis. It is common to read a review that bemoans how underappreciated Mockingbird is, and I wouldn’t have heard of it had I not been paying attention to SF Masterworks series of, well, sci-fi masterworks. The story takes place in a future where the world is ruled by robots, and humans do nothing but drug themselves. Spofforth, one of the 3 protagonists, is the most intelligent machine in existence. He is sad as he watches humans lose literacy, the ability to bear children, and the ability to have emotional connections with anyone. Despondent, his only goal in his life is to die. He then comes into contact with a person who has learned how to read and has shown the will to improve such skill. It’s when such person rediscovers the meaning of reading that everyone realizes that there may still be hope.

I often read scifi, and though I love that genre, I dislike its tendency to belabor its philosophies while neglecting the characterizations (Isaac Asimov’s Foundation is very guilty of this). That distracts me, because I believe that novels cannot successfully deliver its message when their characters are unidentifiable. Thankfully, though Mockingbird’s speculation of the future and the caution that comes are very powerful, its characters are its finest points, because you really get to know what they dream of, how they change, what they believe in, and how they live.

I then read Ursula Le Guin’s Lathe of Heaven, which also has good character developments but maybe not as great as Mockingbird’s. It, however, has a very thought-provoking plot: when dreaming – and by dreaming I mean what you unconsciously do while you’re sleeping – George Orr can alter reality. Horrified by such powers, he went to a psychotherapist named Dr. William Haber, in hopes to find a way to cure his special condition. Haber has other plans, though. At first he is using the dreams to advance his careers, but later on he starts to use it for something bigger. Orr opposes Haber’s goals; why he opposes is the book’s high point, because that’s where the story unveils as a study on ethics and an analysis of what happens when someone plays God.

By the way, mention the author’s name to any scifi nuts and, chances are, you’ll get some lively responses. I’m quite embarrassed to admit that this is the first Ursula book I’ve read (and if you can suggest her other works, please do so).

Something Wicked This Way Comes is not the first Ray Bradbury’s book I’ve read, though. My first encounter with his work is through Fahrenheit 451, which I consider as one of the best books there is. When I started Something Wicked… I thought I was going to like it too, and now that I’m done with it, all I can say is that I want more of 451 and less of Something Wicked. I liked the setting – hey, it’s about a haunted carnival! – and I liked what it tried to say - as a bildungsroman with a horror twist, Something Wicked… messages about what makes us fearful made sense. What I didn’t like is the way it was written. Instead of reading like a story, Something Wicked…read more like an author rollicking with words as a dog would rollick in mud. That could’ve worked for other kinds of stories, but not for horror, as I found its language more comical than horrifying. I would’ve liked it more had the story been more straightforward. Even at less than 300 pages this book dragged.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes… well, what’s there to say that your high school teacher hasn’t already said? I was among the unfortunate students of a school that never required us to read this book, and I assume that most of you have already read it, so I’ll make this short: Flowers for Algernon is about a dumb person who wants to make himself better, so he volunteers to be the first human test subject for a brain operation that has made a mouse extraordinarily smart. Is the book any good? Well, for me, if a work of fiction succeeds in making me feel sympathy for its characters, then it is a winner, and in that respect, Flowers is a winner (I probably have to write a post that expands my opinion of this book, but at the moment I’m getting worn out from all the writing and the summarizing).

The last and the easiest book, is Coraline by Neil Gaiman. It’s such a light read that it took me merely an hour to finish, and I can’t say I was too satisfied. The author has a penchant for writing stories about people who go from our world to another, more magical world, and after Neverwhere, Stardust and Coraline I think it’s beginning to get old. Unlike the first two, however, Coraline is billed as a children’s story, and is, literally, much closer to home. The titular girl lives in a house, and in this house there’s a door that leads to a place where there is an alternate version of the house and its inhabitants. Once again, I was won over by the synopsis, but when I read it all the way through I felt cold about it. I find it funny that Coraline’s weak points are Something Wicked’s strong points, and that the opposite is also true. While I wanted Something Wicked to be more straightforward, I wanted Coraline to be a bit more roundabout. As it is Coraline just comes off as a book that appears allegorical, only to finish too soon that whatever profound messages it has are not fleshed out.

Unfinished business

I’m currently in the process of dealing with certain things that I won’t bother to talk about here. Let’s just say that this blog may have to endure a few more weeks of inactivity.