Reading list: What I have been reading for the past few days….

So I have survived three typhoons in the Philippines and am waiting for a new typhoon off the east coast of northern Philippines  to come ravage this country yet again.

To entertain myself, I have been reading books. Here are the books I have finished thus far:

Ever since I read Balzac’s “Pere Goriot” I have developed an interest in French authors (Marcel Proust notwithstanding) and this second book I have from Balzac (bought at 20 pesos at a booksale), does not fail to disappoint. This is the story of Grandet the miser, his clueless wife and even more clueless daughter, Eugenie Grandet, subject of much fascination and gossip, as she could well be the richest young woman outside Paris. Set in post-revolutionary France, this novel is a delight to read, with its vivid descriptions of French aristocrats, nobles, the nouveau riche and the peasants. It provides a good insight into post-revolutionary French life and preoccupation as well as provides insight into the one human universal preoccupation: greed.

The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin. Let’s face it. Fantasy novels are a dime a dozen. I personally have a soft spot for Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman and am always very wary of any other fantasy (relatively unknown) writer with a novel that may probably be just another rip-off of another novel. But then again, we live in a post-modern world. So is there really anything original anymore in a world where everything seems always readily accessible? Anyway, my ex sent me this novel knowing that I had a penchant for sci-fi and fantasy novels (she sent me the complete “Twilight” series as well, bless her soul). I was not looking to be entertained by this novel, but a few pages into this novel and I really got into it. There is supposed to be a book 1 and I was a bit bummed at the prospect that I’d have to go hunting for book 3, but I was pleasantly surprised that second book stands all on its own and wraps all the loose ends from Book 1. In a nutshell: Power-mad, evil Prince Jared Drayke has assassinated his father, driven younger half-brother Prince Martris Drayke out of the kingdom and enlisted the help of evil mage Arontala to take control of all the Winter Kingdoms and resurrect the all-powerful evil,the Obsidian King (think all the evil villains of other fantasy novels like Sauron and He-who-must-not-be-named and you get the idea). Matris Drayke discovers he is a summoner and a mage himself and must control and summon all his powers in order to defeat his brother and mage Arontala and prevent the Obsidian King from coming back from the dead. My summary does not do it justice, but suffice it to say that it is a good read. Lord of the Rings it isn’t, but it sure as hell is an entertaining one.

I have also finished “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” by Fanny Flagg (2o pesos at Booksale! Yay!). I’ve already watched the movie, the story is pretty much the same, but the novel is not specific about the sexuality aspect of the two female protagonists as well. That one’s left for the imaginatino.

And now, I am reading one of my favorite fantasy novelists, Ursula K. Le Guinn, and her book, “Sea Road”. More on that later.

Balikbayan Blues (again): Ano bang meron sa mga libro? or why do I read?!?

So coming back to the Philippines, I am amazed by the kind of negativity, skepticism and cynicism here.

Consider this:  31 year old acquaintance thinks because she graduated from a reputable university, feels she is entitled to share her unsolicited advice and opinion to me about my current situation to wit:

1. Upon expressing to her my desire to have my poems published: she says I am apparently too old to get published.

2. I should have studied in her reputable university.

3. I should meet her (gay) friends because her friends are “da bomb”.

Hay.

I do feel like gagging her (andf myself) with a spoon.

I have another friend who sees my roomful of books and asks me, with such derision in her voice: “Ano bang meron jan?” (roughly translated meaning: what do you get from there anyway?)

Surprised by her outburst, I could not give her a sufficient answer. But I have taken the time to write one now, and here is the reason why I read books:

1. Because I read my first story about a flying twig when I was 7 and that gave a lonely child something to hope for.

2. Because I read Charles Dickens when I was 12 and it made me dream of something other than Baguio… and dream of London.

3. Because I’d read Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Captain Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Van Helsing and even though I was a small-town little girl who couldn’t go anywhere, I could go places, on foot, on horseback, a raft, a ship, in a submarine, having adventures and making Campbellian journeys over and over again.

4. Because Homer, Ovid, Chaucer, Milton made history fascinating, mythological, mythical, magical. Because Beowulf and Gilgamesh showed me what valour and honor there was in fighting for what you believe in.

5. Because Shakespeare taught me to love and to love passionately and elegantly.

6. Because Plato taught me to know myself, because the unexamined life is not worth living, because Descartes taught me to question reality and reflect about truth, existence, the meaning of life.

7. Because Nietzche taught me that existence precedes essence.

8. Because Gabriel Garcia Marquez showed me that Eden can be reimagined, and reimagined creatively… in South America.

9. Because Rainier Maria Rilke taught me the importance of overcoming shyness, so that I can fully experience life.

10. Because Antoine de Sainte Exupery taught me that what is essential is invisible to the eye, that it is only with the eye that one can see rightly, that a rose by any another name is still a rose, because it is your rose, and because you have tamed it and you responsible for what you have tamed forever.

11. Because Neil Gaiman showed that you can still reimagine Snow White and Terry Pratchett created a world shaped like a disc held by elephants, where wizards can have eyes that look like runny sunny-side up eggs, and gold twinkle and wink.

12. Because F. Sionil Jose taught me that social justice and moral order are important and that I have the moral responsibility as a writer to fight for what is right. Because Lualhati Bautista taught me to assert myself as a woman because it’s a man’s world and you have to learn to do so if you want to survive.

13. Because books taught me to push myself, to discover my self-worth, to be more tha I can be, to be too ambitious, to believe that there is something better than abusive marriages and a life that is less than ordinary.

14. Because to read is to live. And to live is to be completely alive.

Because a life that is less than ordinary is not worth living.

And because the person who does not read, has nothing, is nothing.

Read and Live!

It is the only way to survive.

World Cinema and DVD review: The World Unseen (UK, 2007) & Wonderwoman (2007)

Bet you’re wondering why I have a lesbian film and an animated film in one review,huh? Bear with me.

See, the thing is I watched Shamim Sarif’s “The World Unseen” in the hopes that it would be a better film than “I Can’t Think Straight”.

I am happy to report that it is better than the other film. There is much improvement on the story telling, much more improvement on the acting (although it still sometimes verges on the camp), there is a little bit more characterization and the tackling of the issues of identity, sex, sexuality, freedom, race, culture, family and relationships in 1950s apartheid-drenched South Africa is a refreshing exploration that is much more realistic than the aforementioned, gaudy, candy-infused “I Can’t Think Straight”.

Lisa Ray plays Miriam, an Indian woman living in South Africa in the 50s,  trapped in a loveless marriage with a man cheating on her with her sister-in-law (which does not make sense to me as who, in his frigging right mind, would cheat on somebody who looks like Lisa Ray?). Sheetal Sheth is Amina, an Indian cafe owner,  channeling Mary Stuart Masterson’s Idgie Threadgood, with the penchant for men’s clothes, allowing black people to illegally dine in her Indians-only restaurant and being rebellious. Basically the story revolves around their getting to know of and their attraction to, each other, with a bit of discussion on what it means to be a woman in their era (much like Deepa Mehta’s “Fire”), with Amina finding ways to get to know her by offering to do her garden for her, teaching her to drive and a giving her a part-time job in her cafe. Along the way, we encounter issues arising from arranged marriages, apartheid, and so on. This is all well and good, and I get the writer/director’s intention, except it falls flat somehow, and it ends too abruptly. It feels like it is a movie used as a vehicle only for the writer/director’s own beliefs or propaganda, forcefeeding or, more like, ramming her beliefs on women’s and civil rights, down our throats -whether we like it or not.

I know we don’t go watch a movie to improve ourselves, but surely if we are going to watch a movie anyway, we would want a movie that would present us all the facts and just let us form opinions based on those facts? It’s called storytelling, exposition and this story lacks it. It just goes on and on to a natural build-up, only to end abruptly with no proper resolution in sight. Plus I feel like it is such a cop out that Amina seduces the vulnerable, unloved Miriam. Sure women fall in love with other women given such circumstances, but Amina just looks really predatory.

On a good note though, I did like Miriam’s story – how she finds the courage to assert herself, as her husband gets increasingly violent, and find herself and the reservoir of  inner strength within her (despite predatory Amina). Plus, it does introduce me to Nina Simone. ^^

Anyway, thus, I resolved to take a break from live action films and watch animation for awhile. The wonderful thing about animation, especially if it is genre animation, is that it frees up its creative team to explore the explosive issues of race, sexuality, sex, power, freedom, rights, and so on without necessarily sounding pontificating. I am a big fan of both the DC and Marvel Comics universe, and I especially love the female heroes. Wonderwoman is a nostalgic favorite – she was there long before Jean Grey and the others came, at least in popular form (TV, for one).

Thus, I watched “Wonderwoman”. This 2007 film goes back to the origins of Diana before she became Wonderwoman.  It therefore starts with Hyppolita and the war her people wage against Ares, the God of War after he destroys their nation. Her defeat of Ares facilitates the beginning of their utopian paradise, with the gods bargaining her to spare Ares’ life in exchange for a piece of mystical island, the child she has long prayed for (Diana) and the peace she has long sought after. Ares’ powers would be controlled and he will be imprisoned and guarded by the Amazons for all eternity.

Diana grows up to be the best warrior in their island, but she grows restless and feels the need to venture in the outside world. Her mother, Hyppolita, forbids it, for she believes the world outside their island to be a place ruled by heartless, war-mongering men bent only on destroying the world. The chance crash landing of an American pilot and Ares’ escape, give Diana that chance to leave the island, winning a competition, through treachery, which sought to decide who would lead him back to the outside world and at the same time be the Amazon warriors’ ambassador. Diana’s introduction to the outside world is both a rude awakening that reinforces Amazonians’ anti-male beliefs, but her friendship with the pilot opens up an inner dialogue within her which makes her see that the male of the species can, despite everything, be capable of love, and thus, by extension, be capable of redemption.

Now, the thing with Wonderwoman is she has always been a postmodern hero. Amazon warrior princess she is, but her appearance, her costume, her lasso of truth (which is really funny when you think about it), her seemingly outdated, naive ideas about men and women, seem very 60s, very women’s lib, and thus, in a modern world, it is very out of place.  Yet her ability to sift through all the lies and hate (on both sides), to process and synthesize and come up with her own beliefs about what it means to be a woman in a new millenium, resonates with some truth. What it suceeds in doing is pointing out that extreme beliefs (extremely left-wing or extremely right-wing, for example) are dangerous, and it is being open to possibilities that humanity can still change and that one can choose to be a catalyst of that change, that makes this film relevant. This is even truer now, especially in light of what I feel to be a regression to pre-civil rights era, with people re-acquiring ignorant ideas about women and gays and lesbians and passing them off as truth (are you listening, Daily Mail?).

Ultimately, what this animated film succeeds in doing, is offering up the possibility of considering a dialogue between the sexes in a new world where the old rules no longer apply. While it may be too much analysis for just one simple animated film, the truth of the matter is, sometimes you find the most interesting things in the most unlikely places. ^^

And thus, where “The World Unseen” fails, “Wonderwoman” succeeds.

Time’s list of 100 Best English Language Novels (from 1923-present) leaves much to be desired

Came across Time Magazine online’s All Time 100 English-Language Novels (from 1923-present) that alternately disappointed, infuriated, exasperated and enlightened me.While I note with glee I have read some of the books (Animal Farm! Catch-22! Catcher in the Rye! The Great Gatsby! Lord of the Flies! Lord of the Rings! Possession! Are you there God? it’s me Margaret! Yes, the last one seems like a fluke of nature ^^) , I am disappointed that I have to hunt out the others, and that there are others I’ve been trying to read but cannot (Atonement, Midnight’s Children, Lolita) and even more disappointed at how limiting and limited this list is.

artsjournal.com

Prepared by Time critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo, the list is surprisingly (or not-so surprisingly) non-inclusive, virtually affirmative-action free and brazenly non-multicultural. Of the 100 authors, only 18 percent are women, and even less of that are people of color or people from other nations. Classic writers Virginia Woolf, Muriel Spark and Evelyn Waugh, are included, as well as modern authors Doris Lessing, Willa Cather, Harper Lee, and Margaret Atwood and contemporary authors Judy Blume, A.S. Byatt,  Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison made the list, but I am surprised that Alice Walker did not and that Margaret Mitchell did. What about Joyce Carol Oates, who was superb at encapsulating human behavior into a series of little actions?  Where is Anita Diamant, who brought the women of the Old Testament to life and made them relevant again? Or Sarah Waters,who, by creating two strong (and gay) heroines, anti-thetical Austenian heroines, simultaneously re-invented Dickensian-inspired goth fiction and inadvertently made a political statement as well?   Or Amy Tan’s wonderful fusion of functional American prose and Asian mysticism? If Doris Lessing is included, then surely there is room for Ursula Le Guin and Tanith Lee, arguably the two most enduring female sci-fi and fantasy authors of all time?

I am also puzzled at the glaring omission of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “100 Years of Solitude”, when Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” made it. I am surprised Gibson’s “Neuromancer” is listed but that the extraordinary “Dune” by Frank Herbert has been left out. If C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien are included, then surely they have a place for Ray Bradbury who turned fantasy into a lyrical ode to innocence lost and found? And where, oh where, is Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett? Surely that is the most glaring omission of all?

I am sure, of course,I left out important other novelists. If I did, feel free to remind or recommend via comments section.

In the meantime, I think these Time critics need to get out of their high tower, get searching – and open their eyes to the plethora of brilliant contemporary novels who may not have the advantage of having been published when the computer was just a figment of one’s imagination, but who have succeeded in re-inventing age-old cliched themes into something we younger people can relate to.

Recession keeping you from buying new books or DVDs? Newsweek advice: Re-read your favorite books!

Taking the time to balance my viewing habits, wilfing habits and blogging with reading these days. Halfway through Che Guevarra’s totally recommendable “Motorcycle Diaries” and have caught up on newsweek.com, because the recent Time magazine (UK) issue leaves much to be desired and because it seems to be extolling the virtues of liberal capitalism – a bit weird considering we are in a global financial crisis that is the direct result of liberal capitalism.

Came across yet another article on newsweek.com that rhapsodizes on the joys of re-reading your favorite books, entitled, “Now, Read it Again (the Joys of Rereading)“, by David Gates.

The author, among other things, extols the virtues of re-reading, rather than it being “comfort reading” or being the childish indulgence of “obsessive repetition”,re-reading your favorite books is a guilty pleasure and comfort that provides endless challenge, complexity, newness and I suspect, the many different levels of interpretation it provides for the maturing reader, who may find different meanings in the text as he/she grows older.

The author surmises that the most re-read authors are Dickens, Shakespeare and Austen precisely because of the reasons he has set above. He even admits that he has read Dickens more than he cares to admit. Apart from Dickens, he likes to re-read Hemingway, Nabokov and authors who write about sports. He reveals that one can tell a lot about one’s re-reading habits: in his case, being white and straight, he likes white and straight testosterone-fueled adventure stories that involve a bit of bro-mance (Mr. Pickwick and Sam, Frodo and Sam, Sherlock and Watson).

Made me think about my re-reading habits. I don’t generally re-read Dickens – but that is because I’ve been made to read it as a child, although since I am on a mission to read as much Victorian novels as my attention span can permit, I will still read the Dickens’ novels I have not read yet. Shakespeare not so much as well, and Austen’s novels have been adapted to the screen so much I just choose which Austen cinematic heroine I prefer (nothing Keira Knightley please, a bit of Emma Thompson and Sally Hawkins is alright), although I have read most of her books and do like Mansfield Park most of all.

I think about what Gates wrote, reflect on what he has said and am surprised that he may be right afterall: our re-reading habits do say a bit about us and what we believe in.

And so while I do not indulge in the white male heterosexual re-reading habits the author has, I am not-so surprised by my own. For some strange, inexplicable (well,not so inexplicable if you think about it) reason I like re-reading Nancy Garden’s young adult novel, Annie on my Mind. I came across it when I was in college, and I liked it. I have, since then, re-read it many times. I also like re-reading Sarah Water’s “Fingersmith”, which is a modern take on Victorian London with a lesbian twist. I like going over my Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic books as well. I remember I used to re-read Ray Bradbury’s “Dandelion Wine” and I loved going over choice parts of Joyce Carol Oates’ novels, and there is a particular short story of hers that I love re-reading. Tillie Olsen, Kate Chopin, Amy Tan are favorite re-reads as well, along with short stories about dragons and vampires. There is a Fil-Am short story entitled “The Smell of Her Sleep”that I love to re-read as well from “Tibok”, a Filipino lesbian anthology. And there is Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” and Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet”.

Looking back at my favorite re-reads, I notice a pattern: short, easy to read (that is not to say, simple or simplistic, just straightforward writing), modern or contemporary, about women (straight or gay),  dragons, vampires, a bit of the sci-fi, magical, poetic and philosopical. Which makes sense: for a person who is gay and is a woman, the gay re-reads are logical. For the interest in fantasy and sci-fi, it also makes sense: for a person who is perpetually, existentially the other, I would go for genres that discuss, explore and celebrate that otherness, and envision a more utopian world where otherness can be accepted rather than despised. Mere escapism, pure naivete, hopeless optimism? Who knows?

What about you? What kind of books do you like to re-read and what does that tell you about yourself?

Retro-mad comic book review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 (Volume 2) “No Future for You”

Story (warning! spoilers! Alright, you’ve been warned, read at your own risk)

No Future for You (BTVS Omnibus cover, Dark Horse Books)

Part 1 – Faith (played by Eliza Dushku in the TV series), visibly tormented and haunted by her past, is recruited by Buffy’s former watcher, Giles, to infiltrate England’s high society and befriend a young, wealthy English slayer named Lady Genevieve before the minions of “Twilight” (this time, an Irish warlock named Roden) turn her into a weapon against Buffy’s two-thousand strong army of slayers. Giles offers this in exchange for a new identity and a one-way ticket out of the country. Meanwhile, Buffy is having dreams about her new enemy.

Part 2 – Part 2 provides a bit of background on Faith’s past (most of it centering around her relationship with Buffy) whilst she tries to pull off being a rich English lady during a ball held for the slayer she is supposed to kill. Wracked by nerves, she manages to stay calm and make friends with the lady just as she is attacked by stony gargoyles. She defeats the gargoyles and wins Lady Genevieve’s admiration so much that the girl befriends Faith and reveals to her their plot: destroy Buffy and take their rightful place as queens. Meanwhile, Willow and Dawn talk about Dawn’s change in size and issues with boys. Their talk is interrupted by one of Buffy’s girls, saying that Buffy needed help with the fort’s security system.

Part 3 - When Faith finds out about the plan, she is a  bit uneasy,since she has not had a very harmonious relationship with Buffy, although their past history and a residual sense of responsibility makes her doubt her mission, but she finds the heart to beg Genevieve or Gigi (as she calls herself) to not go after Buffy. Gigi is completely in the dark about Faith’s true intentions,and they bond over music, slayer life and pasts. Whilst Willow is trying to  fix the security system, Roden the Twilight warlock manages to teleport Buffy to where Faith and Gigi are, fully intending to have the girls destroy her. Faith hides, but when Buffy tries to destroy Gigi, Faith tries to save Gigi by pushing Buffy and herself out into the window and into the swimming pool, where they have a confrontation in which Buffy emphasizes her distrust, dislike and overall hatred for Faith, which sends Faith off the deep end and makes her almost drown Buffy. Willow teleports Buffy back to their headquarters before Faith can do anything more.Meanwhile, a distraught, betrayed Gigi is aiming to destroy Faith.

Part 4 - Faith is recalling her past with the evil Sunnydale mayor she worked with as she  battles warlock Roden and Gigi. A mystical spell around the area has prevented Giles from extracting Faith via teleportation, prompting him to ask for help from Willow, but not before having Buffy tell him off for her encounter with Faith. Giles refuses to reveal to Buffy what he and Faith are up to, and by these scenes it seems clear that Buffy and Giles are estranged. Faith kills Gigi and Roden wants Faith to take her place, to be the slayer to end all slayers, but Giles arrives in time to destroy the warlock. Giles keeps his promise and gives Faith her passport and ticket,but Faith refuses and instead tells him that she plans to help out other young slayers from the lure of the dark side. Giles thinks it is a good idea and strikes up a partnership with her.

“Anywhere but Here” (stand-alone issue) – Buffy and Willow go to the Tichajt, one of the demon elite (he walks in human reality and the other ones, the older ones) to ask for his help understanding what “Twilight” portends. The demon says Twilight means the end, the final triumph of humans over demons, the death of magic. Then the demon shows how and why Twilight would come: human lies, delusions and gross simplifications,shown through Buffy and her army stealing jewels to finance their army, Willow making a pact with a demon-goddess, and the most significant of all, their betrayal of each other – when Willow brought Buffy back from the dead, which inadvertently caused Tara’s death, and which has made Willow stay away from Buffy and keep her new girlfriend, Kennedy, away from Buffy’s slayer army as well. They destroy the demon, but not before Willow and Buffy are confronted with the pain of their mutual betrayal.

Verdict: A solid issue. Faith has always been a fan favorite and a favorite of mine as well. This series deals with her past, her issues, her choices and it is a good way to explore her character and see what is going on in her mind. I liked “Anywhere But Here” as well,since it discusses the aftermath of Buffy coming back from the dead, and of Willow’s fears about losing Kennedy as she would have lost Tara.

“No Future for You” Script:  Brian K.Vaughn

“Anywhere but Here” Script: Joss Whedon

Dark Horse Books (2007)

Guerilla Geek in central London (again)

Went to central London again today. Lugged my aunt’s stuff from house to taxi, from taxi to Upminster station, from station to actual train (district line), travelled what seemed like ages in the train before getting off at Gloucester Road (realizing,just now that each train stop had a distinct personality, and that as we progressed through the line, the faces waiting at the station for our train became more Asian. At one point, stopping in Barking, I knew we were in Barking, because the smell, that of chicken, seemed to come from the chicken and chips shops so famous around Asians, particularly students who could not afford regular exorbitantly priced restaurant food), lugging the box up Gloucester Road station, crossing the street, walking by the sidewalk, going up the place where the office was. Had fish and chips after (yay!), wanted to try some hommous, but urge to have fish and chips defeated that urge. Walked to the Natural History Museum after (dinosaurs! bones! lots of kids! ugh), then to the Royal Victoria and Albert Hall (rugs! jewelry! sculpture!), took the bus, passed by most of Kensington and Chelsea, got off Picadilly, found ourselves in Leicester, made our way to Trafalgar, took bus 11 (sometimes it’s 23) to Liverpool Street, went through the familiar streets, pass St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet Street, Bride Lane, and so on, then got off at Liverpool Street. Got on the train going to Shenfield. Train stopped at Ilford for awhile, there was a fire, but it did not seem serious, because we left shortly after. Got off at Romford, aunt bought something from Superdrug, we went to Marks and Spencer to get some snacks and a drink, then parted after.I’ve only been here 14 months, but I feel like I’ve been here longer. Like so much has happened in the space of 14 months, more than in the 30 years I have lived in the Philippines. cannot begin to describe what I have gone through in those 14 months, and it is hard to encapsulate it in a blog, but suffice it to say it will be one unforgettable experience.  But where before travelling to central London always filled me with dread, now traveling to London fills me with confidence, with a kind of joy and excitement, although these days it is also tinged with nostalgia, melancholy, sadness. Always I go wanting to bottle up the very Londonness of London – its brick buildings, its narrow roads, the very Englishness of its very atmosphere – by soaking up as much of the sights as I can, but find in frustation that I cannot. I have come, finally to love this place. Only to tear myself away and go back to the Philippines again. But maybe each journey is like this – I am not meant to linger. I meant to learn from it, and move on to the next journey, careful to learn and enjoy the sights along the way. ^_^

So tired now I’m just reading “Random Acts of Heroic Love” by Danny Scheinmann. Didn’t think much of it before. It’s interesting, though. Definitely easier to follow than “Unbearable Lightness of Being”.

This is a thought-provoking book. Funnily enough, I bought it with thoughts of someone (now an ex) in mind. So in love with this person that everything I saw seemed to point to my love for this person. We have, since then, broken up, in the middle of my stay here in London, but how interesting that this same book would be thought-provoking. It asks questions as: Can we change the world simply by  looking at it differently? What if we imagine that this earth already is heaven? What if we changed our story? Why do we waste our lives preparing for a future that may never happen? or arrive?

Some quotes I like from the book:

“Find your happiness now.”

“Remember the journey. Forget the arrival.”

“The only power I have is the one I exert over myself.”

“The division between past, present and future doesn’t mean anything, and has only the value of an illusion, tenacious as it may be.” – Albert Einstein

“Physics is merely a description of reality, but the more deeply we look into things the more extraordinary reality appears…(p.189)” – Robert Panconesi, a character in “Random Acts of Love”

“People are very uncomfortable with the infinite and the eternal, especially when applied to themselves. We are a clannish and small-minded race.We feel more comfortable defining ourselves by our jobs, our social class and our religions than by our boundless potential… We are each a small piece of infinity and in some form or other we live for eternity. Quantum theoryproves that the world is neither fragmented nor divided.” – Robert Panconesi, a character in “Random Acts of Love”

“The beginning does not exist; it is indefinable, indefinite. We can only talk of where our knowledge begins. It is a beginning, not the beginning. In a beginning our great scientists tell us there was an enormous fireball and in this fireball trillions of electrons and other particles jostled together in a sublime cosmic dance. Then there was a big bang and these electrons were scattered forming the universe. Some of these electrons came together to form stars. In time some of these stars exploded and deposited a shroud of carbon dust into the atmosphere. Layers  of carbon dust settled on earth. As you know, carbon is life. Every living cell, be it in plants, animals or humans, contains carbon. So my friends, as you leave today console yourselves with this thought: you are literally made of stardust, and whatever becomes of you, the particles from which you are made have been around since the dawn of time and will continue to live forever. You are inseparable from the universe,you were once part of it, you remain a part of it, and you will always be a part of it.” Robert Panconesi (p.195-196), a character in “Random Acts of Love”

A comforting thought. Reminds me of Carl Sagan, Neil Gaiman and the movie “Stardust”.

PS

12:26am – almost done with “Random Acts of Love.” Actually a good book. And it mentions the Philippines. Yay!

Another quote: “For every act of love or hate, the whole universe is sent spinning.”

Retro-mad comic book review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 (Volume 1) “The Long Way Home”

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, part 1 cover (Dark Horse Books, seanax.com)

A bit of digression (skip this if you want to get to the discussion of the volume itself):

Back in the day. When Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS) debuted on TV in 1997, I was already 19 years old, in college, and was already too preoccupied with the business of keeping my grades up, securing a degree and my emerging left wing, feminist, radical, liberal politics to find the time to watch BTVS every week.  I was a member of the campus paper, coming out, trying desperately to fit in and was also on a regimen of reading at least one Jane Austen book per week (Please don’t let me explain that), so you can imagine that the first season of BTVS breezed by me without it failing to incite any urge from me, to watch it every week. Remember, I was part of the demographic, the generation for whom “A Different World” (yes, my memory goes that far), “Saved by the Bell”, “My So-called Life”,  “Degrassi Junior High”, “High School Confidential” and the ultimate teen show, “Beverly Hills 92010″ (the original series, not the remake), was aimed at. I was having “high school TV show” fatigue. Plus I actually remember the original movie on which the TV show was based. It starred Luke Perry and Kristy Swanson. I was sick of Luke Perry and I was not interested in Kristy Swanson. I took one look at the poster,dismissed it as too camp,and ignored it. Anyway, then season two came, the famous season that kickstarted it all, when Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) falls in love with the vampire, Angel (David Boreanaz), and that got me hooked. In that one season, the series explored love, loss, conflict, suffering, pathos, the consequences of the decisions we make, the choices we have to live with, and the ensuing pain that comes with it. Buffy was a vampire slayer, the Chosen One, who, up until then, was a childish teen airhead who was a high school student by day and a vampire slayer by night. She did not stop to think about what she was doing, and the burden of being the Chosen One. Vampires were all the same with her and she killed them all with nary a thought. But she meets the vampire, Angel, and her world changes. He is older, more sophisticated, more cosmopolitan, but woe of woes, he exhibits a deep sense of humanity sorely lacking from other vampires. Buffy’s meeting Angel perplexes her – here is a vampire amongst vampires she was born and sworn to kill, and yet this is the one vampire that she seems drawn to, the one who, in the end, ends up loving her, and she finds herself falling for him as well. This culminates in the consummation of their forbidden relationship – the very thing that pushes Angel back into his evil ways. Buffy is thus wracked with guilt. The evil Angel, now Angelus, is bent on destroying the world, and since it is Buffy who has unleashed him, it is she who must destroy him as well. The climactic season finale, when Buffy and Angel/Angelus duel and right before she is about to slay him, he turns back into his old self again but the portals of evil had already opened and she has to make the choice between killing him or letting him live, has got to go down in horror/fantasy television history as the most heartwrenching scene ever. That was the hook that got me. BTVS became my guilty pleasure. And so, though my mom and I always fought about viewing rights and she came to loathe Buffy because it got in the way of her favorite telenovelas I always had the chance to watch almost every episode.  Through dodgy principals and mayors intending to take over the world, vampire slayers who go haywire and/or berserk, evil goddesses intending to take over all dimensions, the deaths and resurrections of Buffy, Frankenstein-inspired uber humans, evil geeks, heartbroken lesbian witches who just lost their lovers to evil geeks and countless apocalypses that the Scooby gang always manage to thwart, I stayed with them, rooting for all them. Buffy and the Scooby gang grew up with its intended audience (meaning, us) and I saw them coping with the same things I was going through in young adulthood: careers, jobs, and so on. And then Willow came out and that kept me even more glued to the show. I thought Joss Whedon was a frigging genius. Character development! Who would have thunk it? (something sorely lacking now). It was funny, it had smart one-liners and Whedon et.al treated us, the audience, like we were smart. Which we were.  As Buffy gained the loyal following, the devoted fan base that would catapult it into pop culture icon status, Buffy also gained academic validation in the growing number of previously non-fantasy/horror/teen TV show academics who found Buffy to be a very positive, feminist TV show.  That made me even more validated. Long after BTVS was cancelled, and a slew of crappy teen shows took its place, BTVS remained the standard with which other fantasy shows (at least the teen ones) would be measured against. Sadly, nothing could ever measure up to BTVS.

So, when I heard from afterellen.com that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had been resurrected as a comic book, I was overjoyed. Comics and Buffy – two of my favorite things in pop culture.It made perfect sense! So I bought the Buffy Omnibus Season 8, Volume 1’s “The Long Way Home” for a paltry £10.50 (well, not so paltry, if you think about it) and settled back to read the first volume.

So here goes.

Plot:

“The Long Way Home” Part 1 – Part 1 picks up where Season 7 ends and it starts right smack in the middle of all the action. Buffy is now leading an army of vampire slayers (thanks to the spell she and the Scoobies made in the last season which made every potential slayer an actual slayer) to rid the world of demons. They are safely ensconced in Scotland, but have already expanded into other parts of the world. Dawn has turned into a giant, thanks to a thricewise and they are trying to find ways to turn her into a normal sized human being. Xander has stayed on with Buffy as one of her commandos, in charge of the command station as she patrols with her army. Willow, Faith, Giles are nowhere in sight. One of the bodies she had tried to save but failed to has a cryptic sign on it which, presumably will lead to whatever next nemesis she and her army will face. The US military has got wind of what Buffy’s army has turned Sunnydale into and is now on her trail. While poking around what was left of Sunnydale, they encounter an old Buffy enemy, Amy.

“The Long Way Home” Part 2 – Giles, Buffy and Andrew are all running slayer boot camps, where slayers are trained in the fine art of combat, strategy and Buffy iconography. As Xander probes into how and why Dawn has suddenly turned gi-normous,  he surmises that it is her abandonment issues that has pushed her over the edge. Buffy has been put under a spell, thanks to Amy and only the thing that can save her is the kiss of true love. Meanwhile zombies have attacked the Buffy fortress. Cue (favorite, self-sufficient geek lesbian witch) Willow, ready to take on Amy.

“The Long Way Home”, Part 3 - Buffy is still under a sleeping spell, stuck with Ethan Rayne, who acts as her guide. She is actually in dreamspace, and dreams of Angel, Spike,high school life and so on (a very intriguing concept, dreamspace: it means, in Ethan Rayne’s words, “You are always dreaming every dream you could dream all the time. Even when you’re awake, a part of your brain is stirring that brew. Which one you choose to remember in the morning is based on wishes, anxieties – in your case, your collective slayer memory and prophecies are mixed in as well”.). Meanwhile, Willow battles the aforementioned Amy, and succeeds in capturing her. Buffy is finally kissed, quite anonymously, by whoever is in love with her and she wakes up. Willow, Buffy and Xander savor their short-lived reunion before Amy succeeds in trapping Willow and teleporting them both into the military installation. Willow is captured, strapped down and being slowly lobotomized by Warren (the brains behind the evil nerd trio in that season when Tara dies), who, as it turns out was saved by Amy before Willow murders him (in that same season). The principalities (I just love finding a way to use that in a sentence) are protecting Willow from the worst of the onslaught and as she sees herself dying she sees all the possibilities of what she could have been dying, as well. Buffy and Satsu teleport to save her, and they defeat Amy and Warren and save Willow,but not before finding out what the cryptic sign from part 1 is. they discover it from the military officer ((who discovered both Amy and the nuked Sunnydale). The sign means “Twilight” and it is a group that has declared war on Buffy and her army of slayers. The military officer, a “Twilight” minion,  reveals that “Twilight” means a kind of movement dedicated to destroying Buffy and her “spawn”. She has upset the balance, has recreated the world and they are afraid that she is creating a “master race” and that eventually the evil within the slayers will take over and destroy the human race. Buffy destroys him.

“The Chain” (stand alone issue) – This issue tells the story of a slayer who goes into the dark underworld disguised as Buffy and battle the principalities. She is trained, and prepared for what is to come, but she is defeated by the demons all the same. Excellent issue that explores what it means to be the Chosen One as viewed by somebody other than Buffy, what it feels like to be chosen (like a punch in the face), the initial rush (“the power, the shared memories, the truth”), the idea of choice and truth, the power of names, identity, individual and collective memory, connection, the questions we ask ourselves our whole lives and ask again moments before we die, how fleeting, transitory and insignificant our lives are. This stand alone issue rises from its obscurity and while not addressing all these issues in detail, it does touch at the heart of what it means to be who we are. And it is at these moments when I realize how far comic books and fantasy have come.

Coolest things about this volume:

Parts 1 to 3 of Season 8, pick up, as I mentioned,where Season 7 left of and it addresses unanswered questions  left off from the cancelled series, such as what has happened to Buffy and her army? How will she and the world at large deal with a suddenly not so level playing field, where an army Chosen Ones exist side by side in one generation, slaying vampires? Where will Giles, already markedly growing more insignificant as the TV seasons progress and Buffy’s power and growing awareness grew, fit in? Where will Willow, Xander, Dawn, Kennedy fit in in this new riddled-with-slayers world as well?

Well, this series answers the questions quite neatly, which I am happy about. Staying true to what made the TV series popular in the first place, new and old villains arise. We have Warren and Amy for one (although I must admit I wasn’t looking forward to them – their evilness is soooo last season), and a new big bad, “Twilight” which seeks to destroy Buffy and her slayer army. And of course there is the trademark inner villain within each character that has made them so flawed and so loveable at the same time: Buffy battling with her demons in dreamspace, Dawn trying to deal with her abandonment issues, Willow off to somewhere to deal with her powers, Giles still being Giles and Xander being the human who always remains the fulcrum, the anchor of the group. and of course the introduction of new characters, Satsu and Renee (Xander love interest).

Buffyverse’s trademark wicked funny conversations and one-liners are alive and well in the comic book universe, as well as the action, blood and gore.

And of course,the one thing that makes Buffy Buffy is the opportunity for graduate school trained geeks like me (insert grin here) to look into these issues and find meaning and symbolism in it: questions of destiny, power and moral responsibility, control, women and power, morality (power that comes from evil that is used for good), the nature of good and evil, are all subtly spliced into the discussions. This makes for an interesting return to Buffyland and again it confirms my belief that popular culture, repackaged as postmodern fantasy, or fantasy as re-imagined in Buffyverse, to reflect the shared collective sub/unconscious of humanity is a valid form of cultural expression.

Verdict:

Totally a must-have. Like, right now. ^_^

Script: Joss Whedon, Pencils: Georges Jeanty, Inks: Andy Owens, Colors: Dave Stewart, Cover Art: Jo Chen, Dark Horse Books (2007)

NY Times:Ray Bradbury fights for libraries

Ray Bradbury, he who wrote one of my favorite short  stories of all time, “A Story of Love” and “Dandelion Wine” is fighting for libraries. For the full article click here. Some favorite lines from the article include:

“Libraries raised me,” Mr. Bradbury said. “I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

“The children ask me, ‘How can I live forever, too?’ ” he said. “I tell them do what you love and love what you do. That’s the story on my life.”

Before now I would have defended colleges and universities. Now of course, I just think colleges and universities are meaningless. I love that he has a passion for libraries. I used to stay in libraries all the time in college. My high school had no library.My grade school classes had no libraries – the July 1990 earthquake made whatever dreams of a library even more remote. The greatest thing that ever happened to books was thrift shops and book sales. That’s how I got my regular fix of books. God, I’ll miss English public libraries!

Harper’s Island withdrawal symptoms…

Can’t wait for the next episode.  I know it sucks but I can’t help it.I’m off to watching Ghost Squad now. It’s actually way better than Harper’s Island. Too bad they cancelled it only after 7 episodes (Producers! Wankers! ).

In the meantime, my book wishlist for best les/bi sci-fi fantasy books (meaning books I must read but can’t find and must find soon, since I am a sci-fi/fantasy geek and should be up to speed with this):

1. Ammonite – Nicola Griffith

2. Solitaire – Kelley Eskridge

3. Fire Logic - Laurie J. Marks

(For a full list of lesbian books you should at least have read – if you are interested,  there is a nice article about that in afterellen.com entitled “13 Lesbian and Bi Characters You Should Know“. I was happy that I knew most of them. ^^

Also, check out Rachel Stirling on “The Frank Skinner Show” promoting the BBC (?) adaptation of Sarah Water’s book “Tipping the Velvet” [actually hilarious that one. She's exactly the kind of British person I'd meet on the streets. ^^ Now I know what "Tipping the Velvet" means. I don't know if I needed to know that. For full interview, click here. Oh, and you have to check out this hilarious comparison of "Tipping the Velvet" and "Fingersmith" called "Battle of the Lesbian Miniseries". Ah, the joys of the internet! To find like-minded gay geeks who have eccentric interests is such joy!]).