28.11.05

gaiman country

On a flight heading toward that vast tundra called Minnesota, we were seated behind the Crone, the Hag, and the Maiden. The Crone bore a significant resemblance to THE Crone of the Kindly Ones, having reducing her youth by draining her glass of Jack on the rocks and chain smoking at the penny slots. She looked like she'd gone to see the boss about not yet cutting her own thread and looked like hell. The Hag was probably in her mid to late twenties and looked more like the maiden, but if I had mentioned something about her age, imaginary wrinkles would probably have taken root at the corners of her eyes, crows feet spreading from the corners of her mouth and she would have bounded to the nearest botox clinic to arrest her brain from forming a phantom facial topographical map. The young maiden was heavily disguised as a man with shoulder length, straw colored hair and a 9 o'clock shadow scruffily sprouting from around the face.

The flight was only two hours forty minutes, but I've never felt my ears burn interminably, trying to stop my leg from reflex kicking the Crone and Old Hag in front of Dylan's seat. The Crone, in absolute desperation invoked the man from the heavens as Dylan's peals of laughter kept her awake beyond belief, at 7 am. The Hag on the other hand, must have had failing eyesight as she kept turning to give Dylan a good look, trying to possibly transfix a spell, but failing miserably as he kept squealing and giggling at Tom and Jerry and kicking the Crone's seat in turn. Maiden was out like a light, mouth half open, oblivious to the goings on.

You can only tell a child to a point to please behave, but 4 year olds simply don't have the attention span, and if it's your lot to sit in front of one, you might as well tell yourself that next time, you either walk to Minnesota, or ask to be moved to another seat. There were other children on the flight and made just as much noise - children are known to do that early in the day, especially when the day is just beginning. So, to the Crone, Hag, and Maiden in seats 28 A thru C, I hope you stumbled out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport completely sleep deprived and with the voice of children's laughter ringing in your ears for many days to come!

At least the flight to New York was devoid of abrasive characters.

19.11.05

is it over yet?

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLEI love Miyazake, and I absolutely adored Spirited Away. But Howl's Moving Castle. It was beautifully animated and I would exclaim in every other frame just how beautiful it was but I fell asleep three times. Three times. Because that's how many viewing times it took me before I finally saw the entire movie. The third time, I'd keep falling asleep, rewinding, watching for a bit, be lulled to sleep again, and so on until I reached the end of the film which by then had become rather anticlimactic. And which left me with the general feeling of the word "What?" buzzing around my head. Again, the annoying English dub in contrast with the subtitles had completely different contexts in some places. Also that nagging feeling of knowing who the celebrity voices are but you just can't put your finger on it througout the film would lead you to change back to the Japanese dub and contend with subtitles only. I haven't read Diana Wynne Jones' original, so there were just a few too many questions going on in my mind while the film played out. I feel as if the story needs to be read now to explain a few things that I can't seem to grasp. Or I need to watch the entire movie again in one sitting without the English audio. Story and character development is definitely not up to snuff with Laputa and Sprited Away - hell, even Porco Rosso was a more tightly constructed story. But the visual feast alone would be worth the watch.

17.11.05

reconnecting

What a couple of weeks it has been! After almost 20 years of not seeing hair nor hide of schoolmates and friends from the time I lived in Africa, I've been able to find 8 of them in the last few weeks. All of a sudden, I'm re-living numerous misadventures; the experimental haircuts and the various hats used to cover them up, the flourescent pointy shoes, the clothes - you get the picture. Excuse me while I dig some up and dig further into memory for those embarassing moments that are blackmail worthy...

10.11.05

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY DYLAN!!!

8.11.05

book launch

Philippine Speculative Fiction

Total PLUG: December 10 at Fully Booked in Greenhills, Manila. If you're there, please grab a copy or two, and make us some money! Also, it would be great if you read the stories too.

1.11.05

nanowrimo

here we go. 480 words written, 49,520 to go. Boy, am I sleeeepy...