Monday, February 28, 2005

superman is a dick

I read about this really funny site from neil gaiman's journal. It's called Superman is a Dick. It's a collection of old Superman covers that show how awful and bad Superman can be. The comments are outrageous and they make sense :)
Hazel used to have this 50 years of Superman (or something like that...) a collection of Superman comics that featured the very first comics. It also had comics about his other girlfriends... not just Lana Lang and Lois Lane. I loved that comic book compilation though I don't remember most of it, It was fun.
Some of my favorites from the site include

superman IS an ALIEN! Posted by Hello

People who have watched Rex Navarette's Maritess vs the Superfriends know the advantages of being a Caucasian alien.


this is too obvious Posted by Hello

How many times have we told ourselves that Lois Lane was extremely stupid because she couldn't figure out Superman's secret identity?

Read on and have fun. :p

something fun



You scored as Samantha Jones.Your Samantha Jones! Your a power driven woman, with sex never too far off mind. You tend to get a little distant with your friends sometimes, but you just have a different way of handling situations. You know who wears the pants in your reltaionships with men. Your the life of the party, and god dammit no one will tell you different!


Samantha Jones

67%

Charlotte York

47%

Miranda Hobbs

40%

Carrie Bradshaw

33%


Which of the 4 Sex & the City Gals are YOU?
created with QuizFarm.com

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Animal Planet presents...

DRAGONS

yup. They actually make a good case. Dragons exist. It may not be exactly the same as the dragon stories but there are several similarities.

It makes sense because why do we believe in dinosaurs and not dragons? Is it because they are just found in literature?

I watched the clips fom the animal planet site and I think they tried to recreate the dragons as accurately as possible. Kind of like what National Geographic did for the documentaries on the Dodo, the SaberTooth Tiger and the Mammoth.

There are also several sites like this one that try to prove dragons exist. Though I would not go as far as to disprove evolution using dragons, I would like to believe that evolution is one reason why dragons can exist in other forms these days and not just the huge fire breathing monsters in movies and stories. The Komodo Dragon is a dragon right? although officially it's a reptile :)

In my opinion, 70% of the world is covered in water and 97.3% of all that water is in oceans. These oceans have an average depth of 12,200 feet (3,720 m) and the deepest point is 36,198 feet (11,033 m) in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific and 90% of the ocean is unexplored. What do we know about the creatures underneath us? Yes, I think if there are dragons now they would probably be marine dragons or what we usually call sea serpents.

What about the flying, fire breathing dragons?

Where did they go?

CANADA.

I'm kidding.

yup. i stand by my title.

Dragons don't land here.

but they might...

:)

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

hacking, climbing and a moving castle

I spent around half my day trying to get through these sites:

http://academy.dyndns.org/
http://www.try2hack.nl/

Just try to hack through your way. I already got to level 15 of the first site and level 2 of the second site. It's fun. Use Internet Explorer to make your task easier.

Andrei has a blog! It's filled with climbing photos and other stuff. The shots give a spectacular view of Taal Lake and the side of Mt Maculot. Visit his blog and say hello :) I'm linking it to my blog as well.
I've asked if I can join their March 5 climb to Mt Sembrano :) If I'm lucky that'll be my first mountain climbing experience. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Due to unbelievable luck and the goodness of piracy (yes, that is correct) i was able to get a copy of Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, Howl's Moving Castle.
I first heard about this in (yes, you are probably correct) Neil Gaiman's site. As luck had it, a friend of mine got a copy of the book in word format (another version of piracy) and I was able to read it before I saw the movie.

I love the book. I suddenly adored Diana Wynne Jones and her books. Howl's Moving Castle is about a girl named Sophie. The eldest of three girls, she believed that she was destined for a normal life and continued her father's hat making business while her sisters are sent to different places to fulfill their destiny. What Sophie doesn't know is that she is a powerful witch and she was bound for adventure. The Witch of the Waste becomes jealous of her power and places a curse on her. Sophie, as an old woman, travels and by chance, encounters Howl's Moving Castle and Howl.

The book is romantic and had me spellbound by the different happenings and magical things. I especially love the door. The castle door is very special. You twist the knob and for every color, you can go to a different place when the door is opened.


Japanese poster of Howl's Moving Castle Posted by Hello

The movie is clearly a Hayao Miyazaki film. It is loosely based on the book. In fact after 30 minutes it barely refers to the events in the book. Miyazaki creates a different plot line and inserts his own style of storytelling. The drawings are superb and the characters are still wonderful. I love Markl, the film version of Michael. Markl is years younger than the Michael in the book but Miyazaki makes him so adorable you'd forgive him for it.

It is now officially my favorite Miyazaki Movie. Even better that Spirited Away.


Howl's castle Posted by Hello

The movie has been released in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and shown in a French film festival. They are so lucky. I don't even know if they'll show it here. It took Princess Mononoke around 2 years before making it to the US. I watched it in an anime film festival in Ora Cafe when I was in college, 6 months after it showed in Japan.

Howl and Sophie Posted by Hello

Spirited Away is just available in pirated DVDs and this movie will probably be available the same way. Which is a loss because everyone here should be able to see these films too.

I found some really good pictures here and I also suggest looking at the korean web site for Howl's Moving Castle because I liked it better than the other official sites.

Oh and I just wanted to add, I finally found the Mint and Creme Oreo cookies and my sister and I bought a half gallon of Mint and Chips. Happy happy me. Mint Galore.

hector!

my pet!

Monday, February 21, 2005

good mondays

its monday once again and all i did this weekend was watch movies :)
i had to do a little catching up.
of course i started the weekend right...UP Fair

Neal, Pauline and I went to the UP Fair. Well, Neal and I left the office at around 730 and picked up my sis around 8 so naturally we got to the UP Fair around 9 or 930. Good thing my sis came with us because she got us tickets in record breaking time. I was separated for them (had to find a bathroom) so I asked them to get the tickets. There was a line from the gate going up and around the sunken garden, (people familiar with UP lines know what I mean) and I was looking for them there when my sis calls me and tells me they're ready to enter. Details on how she managed it is still unknown :) but I was glad she did.The bands were great :) Friday night was the busiest night, they had 40 bands playing that night so when we got in, the popular bands were already playing. I didn't miss anyone though. We still got to watch Brownbeat All Stars, StoneFree, Milk and Money, SpongeCola, and Radioactive Sago Project.
I forgot that both of them had work tomorrow (I didn't) so we had to go home early. That and the fact that I was the only one familiar with the bands and the songs :) But they're great company, neal is just getting too old to go out to rock concerts :p
We missed Sandwhich though... ahh well, next year then.

I woke up late Saturday morning :) happy happy day. Only to find out that I would be alone in the house that day so I started watching all the DVDs we had lying around the house.

I watched The Incredibles (yes, I was too busy before) and it was a fun movie. Other than the fact that you figure out who the villain is within the first 15 minutes (I blame the Scooby Doo movie for making me paranoid to failed sidekicks), the movie is well made and extremely funny.

I also watched Closer. which was really good, suprisingly, i wasn't as disturbed as i thought i would be. I liked it because it was true to love because:

Love doesn't always have a happy ending.
and
If someone falls in love with you quickly and passionately, how sure are you that same person will not fall in love just as quickly wih someone else?

Natalie Portman was amazing as Alice/Jane especially when she was in a room stripping in front of Clive Owen and she kept saying "Thank you" whenever he gave her money, no matter how he gave it.

I finally finished Kung Fu Hustle. This film had me laughing out loud or staring with awe at the kung fu moves and graphics. I had no idea about the story even after watching the trailer so I was mildly surprised at the way they handled it. The landlady is one of my favorites :) I wanted to watch Shaolin Soccer too but I couldn't make the subtitles work using VLC.

Neal finally came at around 6pm and we went to the new Gateway mall in Cubao. Great mall, small but it had nice stores (Fully Booked is coming soon) and restaurants. We had to eat first because almost all of the seats were already taken for the 730p showing so we had to wait for the last full show.

The movie theater was big and seats were really comfortable. Neal discovered too late that we could raise the arm rests.

We watched Constantine.

Before Constantine started we saw a few trailers, the usual, Batman Begins, Mr and Mrs Smith, Hitch, the last prequel to Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith and Kingdom of Heaven!!!


kingdom of heaven 2005 Posted by Hello

My excitement is reserved only for Kingdom of Heaven. Don't get me wrong, I love Star Wars, the original trilogy that is not the prequel. Seriously, the last movie doesn't even give me much hope though I have to admit at least the movies are getting better.

I completely forgot about Orlando Bloom hehe silly me. I like the way he acts. I loved him as Paris. People hated him there coz he was a coward and all but if you read the book, that's what Paris was like, self centered, spoiled and a coward who depended on his brother to fight for him. I also loved Eric Bana as Hector and that is saying a lot because Hector is my favorite hero in that book. I actually cried (the book made me cry not the movie) when he died and hated Achilles forever. I'm even planning to get a huge male dog and name him Hector.

Kingdom of Heaven is a movie set at the time of the Crusades. Orlando Bloom plays a blacksmith who falls in love with a princess (yes their love is doomed) and becomes a knight for the Crusades. Yes, he does look dreamy with the mustache and beard hehe sorry couldn't resist. The trailer was great, the war scenes are epic and the cast is wonderful. One more movie to look forward to :)
The trailer can be found here.

Constantine was ok. I was surprised to find out a lot of people were watching it because John Constantine is not a famous comic here in the Philippines. I completely forgot that people will be watching it because of Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weiss (who was beautiful by the way). The effects were nice, the story seems a bit loose. Gabriel was a nice character.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

unrequited

i stole my idea of a perfect woman
from you.
i took the color of her eyes and made
mine the exact same shade. i changed my features
to match her pictures in your mind.
a lock of her hair for my own strands to copy.
and
when you weren't
looking
i took her breath.
why
won't
you let me

take her

place.

Monday, February 14, 2005

currently listening to:


currently listening to: Posted by Hello
I have to admit I'm really biased when it comes to this musical. The only musicals I know all the songs (or lines) are Les Miserables, Once on this Island and Phantom of the Opera.
When I was a kid, I used to listen to the Original Cast Phantom of the Opera production in two casettes. I never really understood Christine's predicament back then.

A lot of people didn't like the movie. Basically it had bad reviews. I just love the music. Yes, I agree that the Phantom looks like a young macho guy who just happened to have a disfigured face instead of the old, deformed monster in the book. I didn't like it too. The guy who played Raoul is meant to be weak and just pretty anyway. Even in the book, I didn't like him.

I'm going to defend Minnie Driver. Some people didn't like her coz she acted "as annoying as possible". ( quoted from here)

I liked the way she acted. Opera singers during that time were invaluable to the opera house. They got everything they wanted, they were loved by everyone and they were bitchy.
That's pretty much why they can be annoying but since they were really good they got away with it. Her role probably got more money than the lead male singer during those days.
So she did her part right.

im blind but at least i can still hear

Three weeks ago, I got glasses.
Two days after that, I convinced myself that I didn't need them because my eyesight was fine. (did i mention i was stubborn?)
A week after that, I started wearing them again and now... I never realized how helpful they were till I forgot them...
Yup. I'm not completely blind. My glasses have a 25-50 grade and that's not so bad except I have astigmatism and the computer now seems brighter than usual and a bit hazy.
---------------------
oh yeah today is valentine's day...
usually i don't even notice, it doesn't feel different. nothing extraordinary happens and i happen to have a "date" who believes that valentine's day is so cliche.

though i didn't really feel jealous when a co worker of mine got flowers :) they were so pretty.. too pink for my taste. (i just want green carnations and snap dragons.) but it was so sweet because her bf already left (he's on a boat somewhere) and he still sent her flowers.

valentine's day used to be a day when i got my mom and grandmother flowers.

i just wish i could bring my grandmother flowers once more.
-------------------------
I finally got to see Phantom of the Opera this weekend. I was happy to find out that I still knew most of the songs .
Seriously.
A must see movie for those who love the musical.
Yes, the soundtrack and the movie are downloadable through bittorrent.

The Phantom has this one heart wrenching line :

"He was born to love you when he heard you sing"

The irony of being part of the reason why your love has found someone else...

I love the way the movie changes from the present to the past. The golden human arms torch lit hallway, and the way they did the Masquerade and the Notes song.

I especially love Minnie Driver as Carlotta. I don't think anyone else would have been able to carry it so well.
-------------------------
Lokitorrent has been shut down. But if you go back there, there's this threatening page that almost makes you think the government is watching you from your monitor.
"You can click but you can't hide..."
I wonder who makes their slogans :)

Bittorrent will never die. Even if all the american sites are shut down, they will still reopen somewhere somehow. If all else fails, their are a lot of foreign sites anyway...
you just got to learn the language.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

finally, an actual piece of fiction

It was ash wednesday yesterday and also the chinese new year. I don't know why but I just got an idea. Well, I already knew I wanted to write a story about the burns but I didn't know how I'd handle it or what really happens.

Last night, around 1130 pm (possibly later) I started writing and to my surprise, when I finished, I had completed the first draft. All before midnight. Well it is a short story.

The text I posted is the second draft. Nobody has read this yet or given any comments about it so it is definitely not final.

Any comment or reaction is appreciated. Even if it is bad. If it doesn't sit well or if even after reading it, it makes no sense.

Thanks

fiction : birthday

1:00 pm

I was all alone again.

I sat down in the middle of the room and laid my arsenal around me in a circle.

I placed the gun at the north, the pills to the east, the knife to the south and the poison to the west.

I had to consider this very carefully.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Except for the gun, the other 3 did not have a 100% success rate. I personally did not want to wake up in the hospital feeling like a wreck.

Not like the last time...

2:00 pm

Still no decision but I lay plastic wrap all around me.

I didn't want to make a mess.

The memories came flooding back. It occurred to me that I may have been going to fast that night. So was the drunk driver who hit me, though he shouldn't even be on the road that night.
I didn't see him at all.

I just wanted to go home.

When I woke up, I felt nothing.

Sure my body hurt. I couldn't move at all without feeling pain. I had bandages covering my face, arms and most of my body but my skin didn't hurt.

I couldn't even feel my skin.

That's the problem with burns. You want them to hurt. The more it hurts the lesser the damage, the faster it gets better.

Third degree burns don't hurt because there's nothing left on your skin to feel the pain. No nerves, sometimes even no muscle.

I never knew how vain I was till that day. I never realized how I appreciated my looks, even though I wasn't a stunning beauty or anything. I always said I didn't wear makeup or style my hair because I didn't care about how I looked.

I was wrong.

I also knew we had no money.

No money for miracles. We only had money to save my life.

3:00 pm

All this thinking (and crying) made me hungry. I got up and microwaved some left over pizza I found in the refrigerator.

My last meal: leftover bacon and cheeseburger pizza. I was grumpy. I didn't even bother to get my favorite pizza for my last meal?

I pull out my notebook and start on the first draft of my suicide note.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm sorry and I love you.

I tear the page off and start a new one.

I tried using a tape recorder once.

I poured my heart out into it. I cried, I explained to them why I was leaving, why everything didn't matter anymore and why my cousins shouldn't get all my stuff. I probably would have sang if I found a minus one tape... Or a tape recorder that can handle the task.

I made the mistake of listening to it.

I destroyed the tape ( nobody must hear it again), threw it away and hid the tape recorder to prevent me from making another disaster of a suicide note.

The first draft of my suicide note came out fine. A 78 word autobiography.

My life and death in 78 words.

Hmmm.

I write it down again slowly on a clean sheet of paper. When you're dead you can't tell people that the word you wrote was message and not massage.

4:00 pm

Finished the letter. Still deciding on how to go.

I go through the items in my circle again, weighing each one on efficiency, swiftness, pain level, and messiness.

I lay down on my back and close my eyes to think better and fell asleep on the floor.

5:00 pm

The door opens and he comes in.

he wakes me up with a kiss.

A kiss that hasn't changed for 5 years, even after the accident.

I wake up and look at myself.

My hair was a mess and I tried to smoothen it out with my hand.

His eyes are the only mirrors I allowed in the house.

He smiles. "Time's up."

I nodded.

"Was it the note?"

I shook my head.

"I mean last year with the tape recorder..."

I hand him my handwritten letter.

"You fell asleep didn't you?" he read the lines. "I told you it was a hard decision."

"I wanted to jump but nobody dies from jumping from the ground floor."

"Find a building then." He hands me back my letter and opens up the bag he was holding.

"I have tequila and Pringles. Let's celebrate"

We started cleaning up: I folded the plastic wrap and he took the bullets off the gun.
I took the pills to the bathroom and returned the knife in the kitchen. He was hiding the poison inside the toolbox.

"You know, I think your poison has a best before date."

"I know, I haven't used it since college."

I sat down with the iodized salt and kalamansi slices. He gave me my first shot.

"Are you doing this again?"

"Maybe next year."

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

the true nature of love

I was looking for a 50 word story I can post here when I saw this really old entry:

The sweetest thing neal ever told me was said last Monday, one of the worst days of the year, while we were "arguing" for my sake.(his words not mine)

He told me I was silly.

""Is this a joke?" That's what they said when you were born. "Is this a joke?" "

I just stared at him.

"Hello? April 1? What kind of birthday is that?"

He went up to me while I was ironing clothes (yup in the afternoon which is one of the reasons it was a bad day...) and hugged me.

Then he said: "The only reason you were born was because when I was two, I wished that someone will love me."

Now isn't that sweet? In a sick, selfish, I'm-the-only-one-that-matters way that only neal can carry well.
Seriously.
It was good.

tuesday : wallpapers


my current wallpaper: from Jill Thompson's little endless storybook Posted by Hello

Yup, I guess having adobe photoshop and knowing how to use it (wow, something useful learned from my project that doesn't involve programming) has its advantages. You can make you own wallpaper! Of course all the artwork was done by Jill Thompson, who draws the best Delirium pictures. She also drew the Little Endless which are adorable. I'll probably post more wallpapers if I still have the time to make them.

I've always wanted to have small ceramic figurines of the little endless made since I saw the pictures. If anyone knows where I can get them please tell me. The ones made by DC are pretty expensive.

Speaking of wallpapers, head off to Original Sins and you can download a Constantine Fan Art kit ( 18Mb ). The kit contains pics and logos that can be used to create your own Constantine movie wallpaper. The best ones are featured in the official movie site. This is actually a good way to get great wallpapers without actually hiring people. While you're there, A Perfect Circle song plays and makes the visit worthwhile.

It's also very useful for computer newbies (and the not so newbies) to check out these few simple rules to not kill a PC. It's an article from PC Stats entitled: Beginners Guides: Most Common Ways to Kill a PC. If the link fails, you can search the archives using the title.

I forgot to put the link for the sign I created yesterday. You can make your own sign here.

There's a nice black and white show called the muppet overtime original. It's a really good short film and you should go watch it. The shorter version can be found here though I suggest watching the original since it is only 5 minutes long.

Meanwhile, as I was looking for a decent trailer for the Hide and Seek movie, I saw Tim Burton's next film: The Corpse Bride. Stars include Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. I like the trailer. The original story as well as some related film news can be found here. The moral of the story: Don't put a wedding ring on a stick and don't do the wedding dance around it.

The Hide and Seek movie seems good. The internet web site is downright scary. It's full of surprises and it is fun to go through the different scenes. The sounds accompanying the tour reminded me of the reason why I never listened to the Resident Evil sound effects wile playing it. The site is definitely something I would not visit at night. It's already got me ready to jump out of my chair and its still bright and shiny.

I missed Kung Fu Hustle!!! I think I've lost track of all the other movies I wanted to watch. I should keep a list or something. People who watched the Sundance loved it. I had no idea they had dance numbers aarrrggghhh.

The Kung Fu Hustle web site is filled with audio clips, wallpapers, avatars and games :) You have a choice between Kung Fu Fighter, Pigsty Panic, Axe Gang Rampage and Ice Cream Mania. Haven't tried any of the games yet but the preview seems fun.


Monday, February 07, 2005


coming to an exhibit near you Posted by Hello

catching up on monday = very long post

i got bitten by the writing bug last week. I actually just opened a Word document and started to type words that were floating in my head. Well not exactly floating.. more like my mind's blank then BAM stuff come out.

I also finally figured out the plot to my ornithanthropus ( winged humans) story and it also came to me this weekend but i chose sleeping over writing (yes that was bad :( and i'm sorry for it) and i got a really nasty dream because of it.

dawn sent me a nice link on how to write successfully written by no other than stephen king.

i've been meaning to post this link i found in tin's blog, On Meeting My 100 Percent Woman One Fine April Morning. It's a nice short story for Valentine's Day.
I think i love her classes too. There are times i wished i had taken some literary course instead of my engineering course... usually when i'm stressed out from work or when in college, i'll be reading some techincal book and my friends get to read wonderful books and short stories for class!

i took the weirdness quiz
What is your weird quotient? Click to find out!
the results:



Of all the weird test takers:
61% are more weird,11% are just as weird,
and 27% are more normal than you!

only 27%?!!! i must be doing something wrong. i'm turning normal! i know a lot of people out there won't agree to that so hmmm. lets take that test again...

ok nevermind. i got the same result.

and yet another mindless quiz :

I am going to die at 85. When are you? Click here to find out!


i've also started wearing my glasses. really wearing them and not wearing them for a few minutes, taking them off and thinking "i can see better without them". mostly because my head hurt when i didn't wear them and they really do work. my eyes don't seem strained in front of the computer and yes, it is easier to read.

i also got a yellow stress ball from my office mate. im looking forward to hours of fun playing with tammy and pretending to throw the ball around.
while we're at it, i forgive my friend for the lateness of my lotr because of this :


neil gaiman at sundance... and yes that's borroms getting his autograph Posted by Hello

yes i really wish i could meet him too.
sorry neal, i know you're kinda getting jealous over all the attention on the other neil.

I got this from dawn's blog.
Have you ever
(x) snuck out of the house
(x) gotten lost in your city
(x) seen a shooting star
(x) been to any other countries
( ) had a serious surgery
(x) gone out in public in your pajamas
() kissed a stranger
(x) hugged a stranger
(x) been in a fist fight
( ) been arrested
(x) done drugs
(x) Had alcohol
(x) laughed and had milk/coke come out of your nose
(x) pushed all the buttons on an elevator
( ) swore at your parents
(x) been in love
(x) been close to love
(x) been to a casino
( ) been skydiving
( ) broken a bone
(x) been high
( ) skinny-dipped
(x) skipped school
( ) flashed someone
( ) saw a therapist
(x) played spin the bottle
(x) gotten stitches
(x) drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour-- or water
(x) bitten someone
(x) been to Disneyland
(x) gotten the chicken pox
(x) kissed a member of the opposite sex
(x) kissed a member of the same sex
( ) crashed into a friend's car
( ) been to Japan
(x) ridden in a taxi
( ) been dumped
( ) shoplifted
( ) been fired
(x) had a crush on someone of the same sex
(x) had feelings for someone who didnt have them back
( ) stolen something from your job
( ) gone on a blind date
(x) lied to a friend
(x) had a crush on a teacher
( ) celebrated mardi-gras in new orleans
( ) been to Europe
( ) slept with a co-worker-clasm8!
( ) been married
( ) gotten divorced
( ) had children
(x) seen someone die
(x) had a close friend die
( ) been to Africa
( ) Driven over 400 miles in one day
( ) Been to Canada...
( ) Been to Mexico
(x) Been on a plane
( ) Seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show
( ) Thrown up in a bar
( ) Purposely set a part of myself on fire
(x) Eaten Sushi
( ) Been snowboarding
( ) Met someone in person from the internet
( ) lost a child
(x) gone to college
(x) graduated college
( ) done hard drugs
( ) tried killing yourself
(x) fired a gun
(x) purposely hurt yourself
(x) taken painkillers
(x) LOVE someone or miss someone right now

i suppose this will now take up the entire blog page :) so i'll end it. i'll try... not promising anything here, to post something useful or insigtful next time or maybe a nice piece of fiction.

when drug tests weren't so popular


invasion Posted by Hello



when drug tests weren't so popular Posted by Hello

Just a few of the windows error messages you can make here! It's great and fun.
the output is a bmp though i wish i can convert it to jpeg better.
hehe wish i can use it in my computer.

the up fair is going to be held on feb 14-20. my sister teased me that we missed the fair because they were packing up booths and the stage yesterday morning :) but fortunately enough we haven't. i hope i can get there at least for friday or saturday night. i'm still trying to get details on which bands are playing for the week.

My cousin told me in passing that the students in their school took drug tests. He is enrolled in an Interational school so I was mildly surprised to find out they are now testing high school students and in private scools as well.
Lately, the government has been more active in stopping drug use and I can't say I'm sad. It's hard enough driving with all of the bus drivers, jeepney drivers, truck drivers and taxi drivers but at least I can hope they're not stoned. (we're still not sure if the drivers who choose to steal all the lanes aren't stoned or drunk)
Plus, they can actually stop drug abuse in teens before it gets worse.

Friday, February 04, 2005

a few more things to be happy about

my slippers at work (yes... we can wear them at work! i mean be kind to the engineers who actually spend their nights here) had to be replaced coz i broke the strap.
we went to market market last sunday and at watson's i bought a new pair. arlene always said they were really soft and she's right.
the best thing about it is that they have this simple character on the flap and they come in mint green (which i suprisingly realized, is my favorite shade of green). i got the mouse/bunny. i initially thought it was a mouse because it was initially paired off with a cat. unfortunately, i couldn't buy a pair with different designs.
they're sooo soft and yes now the characters in the slippers look like bunnies because my slippers flop.
i don't walk i flop :)
you might wonder why i just keep posting and posting.
yeah, work is kinda light.
kinda stands for days when the project "ended" and we're just fixing the bugs and i can go home early after 0-2 hours overtime.
and sometimes i just have too many things to say.
i'm still waiting for my lotr box set to arrive.
unfortunately before it arrives it has to be SENT!
sorry, i appreciate the gift and i will appreciate it even more when it actually gets here hehehe.
to the person involved... you promised!

blogs and the people behind them

yup. a lot of people have them.
i think its a great internet invention.
for me, as a writer it helps because people do write meaningful things in them and you get a chance to read them. yeah enough drama... here's a few of my favorites/only blogs i actually know and read.

http://neilgaiman.com (Neil Gaiman)

--- umm... need i say more?

http://somethingpositive.net (Something Positive)

--- cool comics and a blog

http://ihatemyflatmate.blogspot.com/ (Things I hate about my flatmate)

--- this is hilarious. it's new, barely a month and yet the author updates it everyday without fail. every new day is a new source of misery. sometimes i wonder why she doesn't just kill her or if the author is a girl or a guy. though since she does know tampons, she must be a girl.

http://dustmotes.blogspot.com (The Litterbox Letters)

--- johann's blog. johann's usually the storyteller/game master at our rpg games. the oldest thing i remember about him was when he said "i hate elves" and at that game... i was one.

http://breakfastatmcdo.blogspot.com (The Adventures of Stinky and Tin)

--- tin's and johann's wedding blog (nice idea to have a blog by the way and in a couple of months, it'll turn to a marriage blog). all i can say is the gown is very beautiful and satin kicks the rest of the competition away. who needs lace and beadwork?

http://kiteflying.blogspot.com/ (Serpent Beneath the Flower)

--- tin's own blog. i just met her around 2 months ago but i like her and no, the fact that she gave me cookies when we first met has nothing to do with it :)

http://clair.pinoyweb.net/ (Blah)
http://eclair.bizhat.com/blog/ (Blah)
http://pedxing_04.blogspot.com/ (Crossroads)

--- i think clair posts on these three blogs. the first blog is her main blog and the second is her tech blog. she has got the cutest dog.. almost as cute as mine :) and yes i am biased.

http://sunshinysarcasm.blurty.com/ (Blood and Snow)

--- rej's blog. she gave me an idea for a good romantic place but tagaytay is far. then again i drive to alabang everyday so that's like just another hour or so...

http://www.tabulas.com/~seasprite (ending with a whimper)

--- my best friend dawn's blog. the same dawn mentioned before and possibly one of the few people who actually read my blog. hi!

http://thedragonwhodid.blogspot.com ( The Dragon Who Did)

--- of course, neal's blog which is still new and the title is related to mine.

i'm gonna place all of them in my links side anyway but i felt they needed introductions because i'm not a random clicker and thus, don't go to other people's links as well. try to visit them. tin's blog has literature stuff (links to short stories) and dawn's blog has lyrics to The Cure's songs among other things...

Thursday, February 03, 2005

a few short (and late) introductions

Why did I start this?
well ... the 53rd Palanca award winners were just announced. I didn't win.
:D
Unless there's any way you can win even if you haven't submitted a single thing... and I realized that I should have joined back then. Why? Because I've finished my studies, I've taken and passed my board, I already had a job and no matter how busy I was, I should have joined.
Plus, I 'm way past the age where I'd be the youngest Palanca winner (though I'm not sure how old the youngest winner is plus there's the Kabataan awardees...).
So I should force myself to write and this is it.

Where did I get the title?
"Dragons don't land here" is something that just popped in my brain one day. I was driving home one day and I saw this huge billboard of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" and it asked me ( as it asks everyone who reads it) "Where will you be?"
Good question.
My answer: here in the Philippines, the land where dragons never land and aliens too. Everything bad happens to well known countries. Too bad for them. :)

Who am I? (or a brief history)
Well, find me someone who can answer this question completely without saying their name and I'll probably ask him/her to answer the same question.
I'm a design engineer/frustrated writer who as i mentioned above, lacks any good reason to be a frustrated writer.
I've written a couple of stories and i've noticed that the best plays and short stories i have written involve at least one person dying, which by the way may be good or bad...
i still don't know.
i have lots of ideas most of the time but i don't get a chance to write them down or i don't know how to make it work yet. i found out i'm great under pressure so if i find myself hanging from a cliff i can probably finish a novel or two.
i was a weird kid. i loved reading even back then. my first book was nancy drew detective stories (hardcover novel of short stories on how to be a detective). i also had the original grimms fairy tales(also in hardcover) so in my early years i didn't know cinderella though i did notice the resemblance to Aschenputtel. my favorite fairy tale was from hans christian andersen -- the little mermaid (i also read the real version about the mermaids turning to foam and how she got a soul...) who died in the end.
yes, now i see the pattern.
i have lots of friends but i also have friends that i don't usually have contact with but are still close to me.
i used to write... a lot.
that was ages ago. before high school. probably because i lived in another world back then. heck, i even wrote on the back of my nancy drew book a story which i will never be able to read because i was still learning how to write(literally) back then.
then i got into high school and science and math kept getting in the way.
then college came and i found myself in the company of people who inspired me to write again and taught me other things as well.

Where did I get the icon?

The icon was just edited from a baby dragon picture. The baby dragon was found in a jar in Brittain. It's a hoax of course, but a really good one. I found the picture here but you'd have to settle for Neil Gaiman's version of it here because I couldn't find the article.

i'm sorry

yup, another neil gaiman post... hopefully the last one till we actually get news whether he will go here or not.
i got news from johann yesterday that neil gaiman's visit to the Philippines is not supported by any major company. A bunch of his fans invited him and he agreed but before he can really go here, the money has to be raised and stuff like that.
Johann's girlfriend tin knows the guys involved ( she's in the business so she knows ) and johann told me the estimated amount needed. it's 150% of what I expected so that means neil gaiman might stay here for a while or I grossly miscalculated the hotel expenses.
Anyway, i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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If I get more free time from work I'll try to change the look or at least update the links... I'm getting the blog addresses of my friends so I can add them too but it takes time.
I finished reading Sin City.
Well the comics cos gave me anyway. I have to hand it to Frank Miller. He's one of the directors and they managed to make the film exactly like the comics. I don't think he's going to change the plot or anything. The scenes even come from the comic book pages themselves.
The lines are exactly alike and Rosario Dawson is perfect for Gail and Clive Owen does look a bit like the new face of Dwight so I'm really excited about that.
Of course Constantine comes first and well, I haven't read the entire Constantine series but I like him. I know the movie plot might not be from the comics but I hope Keanu does John Constantine justice.
The new Batman movie will also have Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) as Ra's Al-Ghul and Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow as the villains. I just hope Katie Holmes actually fits in the movie coz I love Christian Bale as Batman, I've liked him in Swing Kids though I admit I liked Robert Sean Leonard (Neil Perry in Dead Poets Society) better.
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I don't know why i get attached to some songs sometimes. Around a month ago I kept listening to "Comfortable" by John Mayer, a week ago to "Warrior is a Child" by Gary Valenciano and now "Name" by Goo Goo Dolls.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Hob's Leviathan

All this talk about neil gaiman made me want to write about the first time I actually read his work.
Yup, I really do remember, like the fact that Nancy Drew was my very first book ( I learned to read with that book) and that I probably don't like Sydney Sheldon that much coz I read her when I was eight and got confused (possibly traumatized) by the love scenes.
I picked up a copy of Sandman: The World's End completely by chance.
Back in those days I'd go with my mom to Powerbooks (she was the manager back then) and I'd stay there from 9am to 11pm and just read books. I can finish a 300 page book in about half a day that time.
It was 9pm and the store was closing. I had just finished a book and it was too late to start on a new one so I sauntered off to the graphic novels planning to get the Frank Miller Batman novel. There was this table filled with Sandman graphic novels and I got curious and looked at it. Most of them had Introductions written by other famous authors and I was intrigued by the reviews so I chose one. I picked World's End because Stephen King wrote the Introduction for that one and I said to myself that if Stephen King bothered to write an Introduction for a comic book... then it must be good.
I have never read anything like it. The basic plot of people telling stories was familiar but everything else was different.
I was enjoying myself till I got to the third story: Hob's Leviathan.
I swear when I opened the two page spread with the monster I felt tiny. I was so caught up I didnt want to look up in the store because I might see it looking down at me.
Of course now I read the same story but it never has the same effect anymore.
Anyway I was hooked.
I got even more hooked when I read the story about neil gaiman's version of Snow White.
I was also very lonely because during those times my friends didn't know him.
I've spent the next few years dilligently looking for his books. Even got Good Omens from Amazon.com.
For 6 months now I've been reading his blog regularly and the guy's bloody brilliant even in his
blog. Lately other Filipinos have been asking him questions and I'm happy I'm not the only one looking forward to something that's 6 months away with too much excitement.
If you haven't heard of him you can choose any media you want : comics, novels, short stories, poems, children's books, television shows(Neverwhere though that may not be available here), movies (he translated Princess Mononoke and there's Mirrormask plus a bunch of movie adaptations for his other works). You can also read his online journal.
Off to work...