Things that you will always find on Philippine drama

Damsel in distress
kidnapping
jail
severe sickness
poor vs rich (which is always like good vs evil)
sexual assault
robbery
politician
love triangle/ third party/ mistress
amnesia
lost/unwanted child who will grow up in slums then will become a businessman




(And.... they wonder why I don't watch TV.)
Take, for example, that show every noon: The Half Sisters. I hate listening to it (I hate watching it, but someone left the TV on). The stupidity of the characters is quite amusing in so many ways I can't even describe.

But it doesn't mean that every Filipino is unimaginative, stupid and repetitive. If you are familiar with "Misteryo sa Tuwa", you'll know that poor people are not always good, but are also human who needs money, and women are not always stupid and powerless (ooh~ that's so feminist!). And there are many indie movie writers (and artists) in the Philippines who knows that not everyone in the crowd is stupid.

I'm  inlove with Kuvira right now.

Ang Huling Tulang Naisulat Nya Para Sayo

Ang Huling Tulang Isusulat Ko Para Sayo ni Juan Miguel Severo, isang mag-aaral ng Sikolohiya, sa pagkakaalam ko.
Psst! Pankinggan mo, may sinulat sya para sayo. (Binigkas nya na rin, para mas maunawaan mo)
Ang Huling Tulang ito, hayag naman sa pagkakasambit, ay patungkol sa taong kanyang iniibig. Umibig ka na ba? Marahil oo. Pero nasaktan? Iniwan? Ginamit lang? Umasa? Malamang naranasan mo na rin. Totoong di katanggap-tanggap, dahil ang gusto mo lang ay ibigin ka rin, gaya ng pag-ibig mo sa kanya.
Wala nang ibang mas interesante pang talakayin bukod sa pag-iisip ng tao. (pero inaamin ko, interesante rin ang mga lamang-dagat. SEAFOODS!) At laging napag-uusapan, ang opinyon ng tao pagdating sa pag-ibig. Napaka-importante ng Pag-ibig. Karamihan pa nga sa mga kabataan ngayon ay isinasakripisyo ang pag-aaral, ang hirap ng magulang, para sa pag-ibig na romantiko. Pero di lahat ay matagumpay. Isa na nga d'yan malamang si Juan Miguel Severo.
Sa aking pananaw, inilabas nya lamang ang kanyang nararamdaman. Ibinulalat lahat ng di nya maipaliwanag na damdamin sa Huling Tula na iyan, para sa taong kanyang iniibig. Pero sa tingin mo, iyan na nga kaya ang huling tula na maisusulat nya para sa taong iyon? Kung totoong inibig nya sya, malamang ay hindi pa iyan ang huli, o kung iyan man, ay di na sya susulat pang muli. Emosyon ang langis na nagpapagana sa makina ng malikhaing isipan. At kapag ito'y napagana, tiyak na mahirap nang bitiwan.

Pero realtalk: di ako fan ng "ginamit nya lang ako" theme. Ang gusto kong mga tula, yung nalulungkot dahil pinaghiwalay sila ng kamatayan (tulad ng 'Babang Luksa' ni Diosdado Macapagal). Pakiramdam ko kasi, di ko kayang magmahal ng taong di ako mahal. Maraming tao sa buong mundo na posibleng mahalin mo at mas mahalin ka. Kung ayaw nya na sakin, isang tadyak lang sa balls, ok na :3

Murakami's After Dark: It's always darkest before the dawn

I never thought I’ll read another Murakami book. Kafka on the Shore was…. (I can’t say anything than curse words for that, don’t know why, but I’ll write something about it later)

I was really planning to read After Dark since I saw it on our school library, like, maybe a year (or two) ago- back when I was fangirling over Kafka on The Bookstore (because I was just planning to buy it). After I finished that abominable book, I never felt like reading Murakami again, and the copy of After Dark was gone on our library’s shelf, so I have no choice but to read Palahniuk, my Psych Professor’s favorite (the title was “Tell-All”… never really finished that one). But last Tuesday, miraculously, the After Dark book just found a way back to the shelf where it belongs! COOL! Whoever did read that for almost two years?! Checked the card to know who borrowed it, and it was just last December! 2014! The book took me only almost 25 hours to finish! It’s just a thin book!

Well, so I’ll go straight to what I read… It’s about a mysterious, almost omnipresent camera (no, maybe not omnipresent because it’s present on one place at a time, and is also the narrator) that watches the city, the busy crowd, and then a girl named Mari. She’s spending a night in a family restaurant, reading. Probably she’s planning to stay there until dawn, but an acquaintance of her sister came and recognized her. They just talked to each other about anything, mostly about Mari’s older sister- Eri, who is asleep, and ‘refuse to wake up’ as her sister thought. But then the camera checked on Eri, who is mysteriously transported to a different place. She woke up in the middle of the night just to find herself in a very strange place, into nothingness. Then she’s transported back to her room. While Mari and Takahashi (Eri’s acquaintance) talks, a lot of other things happened in the city that’s supposed to be sound asleep. A young girl is violated, another girl trying to hide from something, a man getting rid of evidences, reflections left on mirrors, bars playing jazz music and Curtis Fuller’s ‘Five Spot After Dark’ playing in my head.

I don’t think I fell in love with the book, but I still find it worth reading (and I’m also a fan of Suga Shikao, but I can't help my eyes finding errors: 'Ringo Juice' is translated as 'Bomb Juice'! WHAT THE HELL!). It is indeed dreamy, but a little horrifying, to know that some things like that really happens while our eyes are closed.The story felt like a painting by Salvador Dali, realistic but dreamy. It’s like a tour in the middle of the night, the time when ghosts are supposed to appear.