accidental shopping

I can honestly say that I didn't go to Thailand to shop. I didn't really need anything, but there were a few things that I couldn't resist buying... such as assorted edibles.

Honey from Sompet Market in Chiang Mai.

Ready-to-cook spice packs from Aroon Rai in Chiang Mai. 

Munchies from Gourmet Market at Emporium in Bangkok.

so many books, so little time

I have been reading. Including Cloud Atlas, eight books already this year. That's about 1.33 a month. Not a lot, but some of us have a social life, y'know...

based on the novel by

Cloud Atlas was the last English-language movie I watched last year, and the first book I finished reading this year.

I was so enamored by the film that I immediately bought the book after coming out of the theater. The saleslady at National Bookstore apologized because they only had the movie tie-in version, but boy, did that turn out to be a good thing.

You see, the movie tie-in has David Mitchell's afterword, Based On The Novel By. An unexpected and wonderful bonus.

another year over

I can't believe the Ayala Triangle Gardens light show is over and I missed it. Again, gademit.

books 16 through 20

Oh, no. The world is about to end and I've only averaged about half a book every week this year.

book 15

Speaking of my father... A friend of his wrote a memoir and invited him to the book launch on 27 September 2012. Too bad Pop and I were both out of town. Everyone who's anyone in this country was at that shindig. It would have been the perfect opportunity for people watching.

That friend is the president of the Philippine Senate. And the oldest living politician in the world, it seems.

books 7 through 14

These are the books that I read from April to August. I'm going much slower than I expected.

book six

Whenever someone mentions Dune, the image that comes to my mind is the pre-Blue Velvet and pre-Desperate Housewives Kyle MacLachlan as Paul-Muad'Dib, wearing a Fremen stillsuit, riding a giant sandworm. The 1984 movie directed by David Lynch was my first encounter with the world of Arrakis, and I was captivated.

I would like to say that I have read the book before, and I probably have-- the first chapter or two. But I'm a little embarrassed to say that this is the first time that I've bought my own copy and the first time that I've completed the entire novel. Every home library should have a copy of this book. It is as important as the dictionary and the Bible, and I'm not being flippant. It is, without a doubt, as it says on the cover, "Science Fiction's Supreme Masterpiece". Why? Just buy the book and read the afterword by Brian Herbert, the author Frank Herbert's son.

hurts so good

You know how you get a scratch on your leg and it bleeds a bit? You wash it and put some ointment on it and after a while, the wound starts to heal with a little scab. And then you pick at it and pick at it until it bleeds again. Then more scabbing. Then more picking and bleeding. And from the initial pain, somehow it begins to feel good, and you just can't help yourself.

Reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian is just like that.

It has taken me months to finish this book. It's only 351 pages, but they're the most painful 351 pages I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

book four

Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. The best memoir by a chef ever? Really?

Tony, Tony, Tony... don't you know by now that yours is the best memoir by a chef ever?

OK, enough of that.

book three

I had been looking for John Le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for months and months, so when I found this dog-eared copy at a secondhand bookstore in Kalibo last month for only PHP100 ($2.30), I was ecstatic!

book two

I just finished reading my second book this year, The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory. This is the third Gregory novel I've read-- first was The Red Queen followed by The Other Boleyn Girl-- and by happy coincidence, the events in the books are chronological in the order that I read them. I mainly chose them because of the pictures on the covers. What can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty colors.

book one

I first encountered Ian McEwan when I saw the 2007 film adaptation of his book Atonement starring Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan and the talented James McAvoy who gave a poignantly gripping performance. (Sadly, I lost respect for him after his subsequent movie, Wanted).

I was captivated by the story and mood of Atonement, and I promised myself that I would read McEwan's books. So when I chanced upon the beautiful and haunting cover of The Innocent at the bookstore, I figured why not start with this one?

hello, 2012!

2011 is...

random singapore

Things I'll remember from my trip to Singapore on 8 December 2011 to 12 December 2011:

1. Wonder Full, the light and water spectacular at Marina Bay Sands. I swear, as soon as I have access to something faster than my pathetic Third World internet connection, I will upload my video.

2. For our first two nights in Singapore, we stayed at Royal Plaza on Scotts. It's a little gem of a hotel with lovely old-world service, an excellent location (right in the middle of Orchard Road), free wifi and a Nespresso machine in every room.

3. The entire hotel was a no smoking zone, but never mind, the McDonald's right outside the hotel lobby took care of that.

all in the mind

More Sunday paper gems.

These are by the fabulous Filipino cultural icon Gilda Cordero-Fernando, who writes the column "Forever 81" for senior citizens, and for those who will become senior citizens someday. I honestly don't hope to grow as old as she is now, but if I do, then she is definitely my guru.

"To my contemporaries: Make young friends now, before it's too late. They will take the place of those who have gone to pasture... But don't push it. Never try too hard to relate to the young. Relax, just be yourself. Don't try to dress young if you feel like 80. Don't dress like 80 if you feel like 30. It's a matter of getting your looks and your outlook to match."

Really old building in Cebu City, 7:42AM on 10 October 2011.

sunday workout

Ah, the Sunday paper. It's the only issue I read nowadays. On weekdays, I get my news either online or from a ticker running on the bottom of my TV screen. But there's something about Sunday that evokes-- or even demands-- the nostalgia of an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness newspaper made of real paper. I spend many leisurely hours happily opening and folding piles and piles of grubby newsprint (because on Sundays, periodicals attempt to drown us in paper), just absorbing the myriad of wonderful ideas and events that seem to proliferate only on Sundays.

It is my firm belief that writers who are published in the Sunday paper are smarter, communicate better and are more relevant. They are less frivolous than the rest of the week's so-called serious journalists. They write about things that really matter (so trite, I know... but true) and the stuff that challenges the mind, feeds the soul and makes life worth living from Monday to Saturday. They're the people I would kill to be stuck on a desert island with: Jessica Zafra, Scott Garceau, Patricia Evangelista, Louie Cruz, Ruben V. Napales, Adel Tamano, Gilda Cordero Fernando and Chit Roces, just to name a few.

Last Sunday, 6 November 2011, F Sionil Jose wrote The Man who Holds a Candle: Cesar Virata in the Marcos Regime for The Philippine Star.

Basilico del Santo Niño, Cebu City, Philippines. 10 October 2011, 7:25AM.

why i love tony

Does he eat the best parts first, or does he save them for last? "Eat the best first. Because you never know. You might stroke out in the middle of dinner."

getting it

About five years ago, I'm not sure exactly when, a friend of a friend, someone I wasn't particularly close to, gave me a book by David Sedaris. It was a collection of essays entitled Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim. When I started reading it, it quickly became obvious to me that David Sedaris is gay. I mean, he's a gay writer. I mean, he writes about being gay.

I didn't get it.

A couple of years after I finished reading that book and set it aside, still wondering what it was all about, I found out that the person who gave me that book was-- guess what? Gay.

I felt compelled to read the book again, I'm not sure why. But I finally got it. The book is not just about being gay. It's about family, friendship, life and love. I liked it the second time around. So I bought another one of his books.

Shangri-la's Boracay Resort & Spa, 10 March 2011, 6:13PM

what i'm reading 3

National Bookstore, 20% Off! Drop everything and go now!

Ah, success!

(Note that every sentence in this post ends with an exclamation point. Yez, it's THAT exciting.)