I vowed to support more Filipino authors and start alloting a budget for their books but I started researching for their works online because I don’t know where to start. And so I gravitated towards the advocate of speculative fiction writing in the Philippines, Dean Alfar.
The first short story that I read online was The New Daughter, a tale of a certain toy maker that we all know from a popular fairy tale.
“Now we must be patient, you and I,” he told her. “If my son could come to life, then certainly so can you.”
To read the whole story online, click here. Warning: It’s sad. It pinched my heart but it was just so good that it blew me away at the same time.
I got hooked so I proceeded to search for more of his published stories online. I’m a fiction fanatic so I focused on his work that I found on the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler page. Entitled Six From Downtown, these are six short stories that I devoured in one sitting. Out of the six, my favorites are The Wet Market, The Red Light District, and The Housing Projects, all of which dealt with the mystical/mythological. I’m a fan.
When I passed by Fully Booked, the homegrown section featured a thin book with his daughter, Sage, which I, of course, purchased for only Php 199.
The father-daughter tandem wrote eight wonderful stories and my favorites are The Blade of Virtuous Water (Dean), ASHI > Fix This (Sage), and Stars in Jars (Sage). This time, the daughter won me over.
When I was in Baguio two weeks ago, I shopped for more books at Mt. Cloud bookstore because we were staying in Casa Vallejo, Hill Station, for a night. I picked up The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction2005-2010 that Dean co-edited with his wife, Nikki, but I haven’t finished reading it yet so that will be for a separate post real soon. It encouraged me to plan and make time to write a short story in my lifetime in this genre, and when I feel one or more are good enough, maybe I’d have the gall to submit to some literary contests.
In the meantime, let me help you read more fantastic Philippine spec fiction, dear readers. Start with him!
I managed to grab a copy of my fave singer’s book only now, three years after it was published (what a fan, right) but I had been following her musical career all these years. I’ve always cringed at how she didn’t win any Grammy at all (cue her duet with Josh Groban at the recent Tonys) because to me she is a brilliant singer-songwriter who deserved the accolades. At least she already has an ongoing and successful Tony-nominated musical in her belt. There was something about Sara and her songs that were very accessible but not in that basic pop way. She strongly stands on her own because her songs have that depth of experience and point of view I assumed not all pop singers have. When I read this book, my intuition was confirmed.
“You are overwhelmed and haven’t learned to be your own friend through this yet. You will. Your fear of jumping without a net is so valid, and the trick that you haven’t learned yet is that that’s life, always and everywhere. There are no nets. Life is a big, long free fall, and the sooner you can embrace what is beautiful about that, the sooner you will start to enjoy the ride.”
Things I didn’t know about her:
That she was bullied for being chubby.
That she was college friends and front performer for Maroon 5.
That she studied in Italy.
That she had mental health issues.
That the high note in Brave was NOT in her range.
Her writing style does sound like her; very funny and witty and not at all boring based on interviews or spiels I’ve seen of this artist.
“…a three-letter word that, when you break it down, refers to the thing in food that makes it taste good, so I love fat. (Hey bacon, call me. 😉 )”
I was also surprised by the book format because it featured anecdotes from people close to her like bandmates and friends craftily inserted into her narratives.
“It’s funny like that–you just don’t understand something when it’s easy. Like falling in love with someone–just kind of happens without making any real effort or big plans. Important songs come out that way as well.” – Jack Antonoff on Sara B’s “Brave” song
This sort of biographical novel on her musical journey endeared her more to me and brightened the fantasies to be her backup singer (I have a dream). Her album called The Blessed Unrest helped me survive the hardest heartache of my life, and I have to thank her for that. I hope she comes to Manila for a concert which I’m going to pay big bucks for, but Waitress is arriving ahead of her. Maybe I’ll start with that.
“Things evolve into other things. Emotions do the same. Forever. Your best ally in all of these shifting seas is your faith in the fact that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Stay put. Stay soft. Stay gentle and kind. Listen to your instincts. Meditate. Pray. Laugh as much as humanly possible. Pain is ok too. Say thank you for all of it. Feel proud that you have spent most of your life’s energy on cultivating a strong connection to your own soul and the will of your heart. It is leading you somewhere deeply satisfying, but never perfect.”
If you can’t get enough of the Star Wars universe and craving for “backstories,” this may be a perfect thirst quencher. Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Ken Liu penned these rumors or legends about the heroic Luke Skywalker in the eyes of new characters (even species). First and second-hand stories fill the pages about Skywalker in different ages of his life. Without spoiling anything, the man is nothing short of an overwhelming personality that people in the rebellion and the Empire itself initially fear. Across the stories, however, he never fails to think of others in dire help, but he also showed, surprisingly, his search for self-improvement and learning; that he is not and maybe will never think of himself as someone who has peaked and is a master.
“Legends about our heroes don’t matter as much as what we choose to make of our own lives when the legends move us.”
He is a universal icon, and the various POVs brought fresh insights into the nuances and complexity of Luke as a character and how inspirational he can be. His sass and grit in these accounts make the book an enjoyable read, masterfully crafted to actually lend itself a supplement to the Star Wars canon in these imagined tales.
I was happy to have bought this during the National Book Store 75th anniversary sale where the price got slashed by around Php 200! Such a steal.
I was super pumped up for this geeky adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel, but sorry, folks. This is one of the moments I will say the book is better than the movie.
I LOVED THE BOOK. I even read it twice because I got hooked with Wade Watts’s adventures despite being a non-gamer. I understood what he was hoping for, how he wanted to escape, how he wanted to be seen, how he wanted to connect, and how he wanted to help the world defeat tyranny in his dystopian world. I had a blast trying to imagine all the old video games he conquered in my head and how it would have been awesome if the movie got the rights to ALL of them. Alas, my boyfriend found it amusing that I sulked deeper and deeper into my seat as the film’s story unfolded. Man, that was one wallop of disappointment.
(SPOILERS AHEAD. If you’re a curious cat, why not).
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always loved Spielberg movies and the visuals were top of class and I am a supporter of female roles taking the limelight but I felt like Art3mis stole the thunder from Parzival.
It.really.wasn’t.supposed.to.be.that.way.
I am talking about Wade’s awesome infiltration of Innovative Online Industries (IOI) for weeks in the novel. More than that, Daito was pushed to death, Sorrento is as horrifying as some world leaders in real-life, and Wade’s win was almost hopeless but ingenious because of his perseverance in one time of his life. It was life-changing in the end when he shared his pot money to his friends and to the world and it gives you hope about the youth in that pocket of the fantasy universe.
“I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.” – Anorak, Ready Player One
The novel’s themes were very timely, too. The build-up of Aech being female shattered gender stereotypes and the book expounded this quite well.
“As we continued to talk, going through the motions of getting to know each other, I realized that we already did know each other, as well as any two people could. We’d known each other for years, in the most intimate way possible. We’d connected on a purely mental level. I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a dear friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.”
As a female non-gamer, I would only watch guy friends and lovers who get wrapped up in moments when their hands touch the console, lost in that world. I can’t say I fully understand the feeling of why there is an addiction to it and other factors that make playing games for hours a need, but I guess it’s pretty similar to when I get my hands on a much-awaited novel and I shut off the real world with a Do Not Disturb sign.
“If I was feeling depressed or frustrated about my lot in life, all I had to do was tap the Player One button, and my worries would instantly slip away as my mind focused itself on the relentless pixelated onslaught on the screen in front of me. There, inside the game’s two-dimensional universe, life was simple: It’s just you against the machine. Move with your left hand, shoot with your right, and try to stay alive as long as possible.”
Needless to say, this is a review of the film being so much NOT THE BOOK, and if, by any chance, you get the time to read it after you’ve seen the film, DO IT. It’s a richer fantasy world and more than you’ll ever dream of.
Being a bookworm all my life with an almost finished master’s degree in literature doesn’t necessarily make me a good point person to remember details of ALL the books I’ve devoured in my lifetime. More often than not, I come up blank when asked about details, even plots of my so-called favorite books. Why? Well, The Atlantic came up with a very good article on why we remember very little, especially in this day and age.
The “forgetting curve,” as it’s called, is steepest during the first 24 hours after you learn something. Exactly how much you forget, percentage-wise, varies, but unless you review the material, much of it slips down the drain after the first day, with more to follow in the days after, leaving you with a fraction of what you took in.
Presumably, memory has always been like this. But Jared Horvath, a research fellow at the University of Melbourne, says that the way people now consume information and entertainment has changed what type of memory we value—and it’s not the kind that helps you hold onto the plot of a movie you saw six months ago.
Was excited to watch this because I’ve read the first book of the Earthsea novels, A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin, and I wanted to see how Goro Miyazaki, Hayao’s son, would keep up with his father’s legendary filmmaking magic under Studio Ghibli. My verdict? Despite not-so-rosy feedback from critics and reportedly from the author herself, I personally liked most of it. Here’s why.
It’s a visual treat. The magic of the fantasy realm is in this land where dragons, men, wizards, mages, and witches co-exist. The color palette is rich and warm in the introduction of town life. Here’s an example of an early scene that started to impress me (it’s a screenshot so it doesn’t do justice).
The music is lovely. The orchestration for the whole film is really good and perfectly enhances every scene, but Teru/Therru’s song was a particularly haunting and moving a capella even Arren cried in this scene! Here’s a YouTube clip of the lyrics in Japanese, English, and Vietnamese. The second song is a closing one, typical of animes.
The themes were demonstrated well (spoiler alert). Despite the narrative’s failure to be cohesive, two sets of themes saved it. I initially thought that the protagonist, Arren, was running away from a dark shadow. However, the plot twist was that he was more of a captive of his darkness, and it was his “light” side that was following him!
It also tackled about the desire for eternal life and the fear of death, which the antagonist wanted to gain from his use of magic/alchemy. Invincibility meant control, and Arren’s teen existential angst was emphasized by losing his will to live as he has succumbed to darkness, but Teru argued to knock him to his senses.
Roles were consistent with Ghibli stereotypes. As always, the teens saved the world. Teru is a fierce young lady that Arren is such a wimp until he redeems himself, and the adults had the trust in the young ones to figure things out. And can I just add that Lord Cob is the stuff of nightmares???
I’ve spoken about the good stuff, and now I’m about to drop the bomb on this one: the story doesn’t quite make sense. Why? Because this adaptation is a mix of elements in Le Guin’s novels, hence her critical disappointment despite being a good-looking piece of work. What I read as a novel was the life of a younger Ged, the archmage in this story, but this was sort of a spinoff. The burning question in my head was why Arren did what he had to do because it didn’t have any clear purpose other than he was taken over by evil spirits or something. That could be a probable reason for committing that “sin,” but it felt stretched. It’s understandable that the Le Guin fan base would want to shun this project, but as a Ghibli fan, I still find it remarkable.
It is a must-see for a fantasy ride. I will place this high over some mainstream Hollywood blockbusters, honestly.
It’s been a while since I read anything in one sitting, and this book made me. Borrowed this from my sister to read something new and I couldn’t stop until I got to the end. Thoughts:
The dystopian world fades into the background as the author focused perspective on Melanie, the special girl in the class, before shifting POV to the minor players in the story. The shift in the narrative was a welcome surprise.
The relationship of Melanie and Ms. Justineau strongly evokes Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Ms. Honey. While Matilda had to fight tyranny with magic, Melanie’s self-awareness, wonder, and goodness fought off the icky fungal whatever that body-snatched her biology.
Not for the faint of heart. While it may be common nowadays to depict people as the walking dead, having a child army kill you and run after you is gripping and also heartbreaking.
Loved the Greek myth references. It is, I think, necessary literature to read kids or make them learn about the gods to awaken realizations of humanity, and the title of the book itself is a clue about a girl who had a special box of evils that she unleashed to the world. Melanie, like Pandora, is symbolic of hope in the post-apocalyptic world they live in.
There’s actually a film adaptation! I loved the book, so I’m looking forward how the movie holds up.
While everyone was still flocking the cinemas for Marvel’s Guardians on its second week, R & I went to see a less popular flick, The Zookeeper’s Wife, because we heard of its heroic connections to saving the Jews during the Holocaust (I was coincidentally carrying a copy of Elie Wiesel’s Day in my bag that time). Rated R-13 for nudity, violence, and mature themes, most of the moviegoers were mature Filipino and American audiences.
There is something chilling about anything connected to the Holocaust, and the beauty of the Polish petting zoo and its inhabitants were soon marred by the arrival of bombs. Antonina and Jan Zabinski, along with their son Ryszard, witnessed the heartless killing of their animals by the Nazis because the bombing set the zoo inhabitants loose. In comes the villain in the guise of a friend, Dr. Lutz Heck, Germany’s top zoologist who wants to work with Antonina and use the zoo for his experiment. On the other hand, the Zabinskis thought that they could raise a pig farm as a way to extract the Jews from the ghetto by covering them with the fruit peelings they collect at the mentioned camp as food for the pigs. In the zoo’s premises is an underground passageway that served as quarters and hiding place of the “fugitives” of war.
The movie tried its best to not sugarcoat the cruelty and harshness of the true-to-life accounts, especially the rape, but it artistically diverted the heaviness by always juxtaposing goodness right after. There was a lot of emphasis on the empathy and the care for others in the midst of great danger. In the Warsaw Zoo, the animals were loved as much as the humans while the war treats the Jews as helpless creatures. The couple managed to save 300 people, and what courage they had to shield them from death!
It’s the most successful live-action Disney remake to date, judging from the box office records it smashed and everyone’s hangover with its merchandise, photos, and scoring. My Instagram feed was filled with Beauty and the Beast photos from all over the world, and it took me the second weekend of screening the chance to sit down and watch it in the cinema.
I was crying like a baby from start to finish.
The Beauty of It All (Spoilers ahead)
The Music Served the Backstories
I already spoiled myself rotten by listening to the pre-released soundtrack on YouTube, but I still didn’t expect the impact the new songs had on the actual film itself, especially “How Does a Moment Last Forever?” Disney was able to convince the iconic Celine Dion to sing again for the live-action soundtrack, and I’m going to make a prediction that this particular track will be nominated for Best Song for next year’s Oscars.
How does a moment last forever?
How can a story never die?
It is love we must hold onto
Never easy, but we try
Sometimes our happiness is captured
Somehow, our time and place stand still
Love lives on inside our hearts and always will
Minutes turn to hours, days to years and gone
But when all else has been forgotten
Still our song lives on
Maybe some moments weren’t so perfect
Maybe some memories not so sweet
But we have to know some bad times
Or our lives are incomplete
Then when the shadows overtake us
Just when we feel all hope is gone
We’ll hear our song and know once more
Our love lives on
How does a moment last forever?
How does our happiness endure?
Through the darkest of our troubles
Love is beauty, love is pure
Love pays no mind to desolation
It flows like a river through the soul
Protects, persists, and perseveres
And makes us whole
Minutes turn to hours, days to years then gone
But when all else has been forgotten
Still our song lives on
How does a moment last forever
When our song lives on
Of course, we all know Ms. Dion is not in the film, so it came as a sucker punch that Kevin Kline, who plays Maurice, Belle’s father in the movie, sings a portion of this in such a gentle, sweet way to remember his long lost wife as he repairs his daughter’s music box. *cue waterworks*
This age-old fairy tale managed to gain more depth as the screenplay made the creative license to present a backstory on why Belle doesn’t have a mother. It turns out that she died because of the plague in France after her daughter was born. Watson sings a reprise of this tune when she time traveled with the Beast to Paris to know the truth about that painful topic for her father.
This is the Paris of my childhood
These were the borders of my life
In this crumbling, dusty attic
Where an artist loved his wife
Easy to remember, harder to move on
Knowing the Paris of my childhood is gone
The inventor role also went to Emma Watson instead of Kline, for the latter was more of the artist who longs to preserve the memory of the deceased wife. Somehow, it made sense that Belle is an inventor because she would likely read anything and learn a lot from theory.
Meanwhile, it is not just Maurice who had the chance to sing of his loss. In “Days in the Sun,” the cast are able to reminisce of their lives as human beings since their time as living creatures is dwindling if nobody breaks the curse. It starts with young Beast singing to his dying mother, then Stanley Tucci’s new character, Maestro Cadenza, lovers Lumiere and Plummette, Mrs. Potts. Belle then interjects, empathizing with their state in life, where Audra Macdonald’s gorgeous soprano voice responds to being hopeful to the very end.
Last but not the least, “Evermore,” which I wrote about previously. It was heartbreaking to see the Beast sing of his sadness on his way up his towers to let go forever the girl he has fallen in love with. I also predict this in the list of Best Song because a movie can have two songs in the Oscar category! I’ll be waiting, Academy Awards!
The Wit Goes to LeFou
Josh Gad’s lines are the funniest if nobody else noticed.
And his name’s G-A-S-T… I believe there’s another T… It just occurred to me that I’m illiterate and I’ve never actually had to spell it out loud before…
Hilarious!
Luke Evans Is a Singing Revelation
Acting-wise, he’s perfect as Gaston. I’ve heard some feedback that he’s still “thinner” than the animation. Peeps, he’s not supposed to look like Johnny Bravo. Anyways, in the song “The Mob,” I could hear the grit and arrogance in his voice that just gave the chills. And you’ll really get mad at him when he starts taunting the sad Beast you’d really want to punch him in the face. As a singer, he was a delight. In the promotional videos, he and Gad just have so much fun it’s great. In one interview, he said he’d really have to internalize narcissistic Gaston or else he’ll burst out laughing or cringing doing the scenes!
The Moment Everyone Stood Still
It was easy to imagine this in the animated film; the hurried goodbyes, the fact that they were “dying.” Despite their deaths, everyone was grateful to each other for a life well-lived. That scene was set-up beautifully, considering they were just collateral damage to the consequence of the ill tempers of their master.
Overall, the visual effects met my expectations. It felt like home in the original, this is only grander. Even the Beast’s transformation was almost the same thing!
Belle and Maurice are Stuck in a Time Loop???
A recent fan theory went around the internet explaining why Belle stuck out like a sore thumb in the provincial life. In “Little Town,” she sings,
Little town in a quiet village. Every day, like the one before…
It apparently explains why she’s bored and aims to break free from the routine (but she still did run into a trap of slavery of rights with the Beast, eh?).
The Ugly Beast of Issues
There was too much criticism of the protagonists’ non-singer voices, Watson and Stevens. I appreciate Disney’s move to not cast professional singers because some would just tend to oversing (yes, it could be a tendency, just listen to Ariana Grande for the pop version).
LeFou’s sexual orientation reveal was blown out of proportion. Wouldn’t you think that his idolizing Gaston so much in the original animated movie would have made sense because he has a crush on him other than being a blind follower?
Overreading the fairy tale to be a dangerous example of Stockholm syndrome. Can’t you guys just have fun and be a kid at heart once again to not make everything a literal interpretation?
People disliking Prince Adam’s real face than the water buffalo. SERIOUSLY?
On a more academic note, The Atlantic wrote an article on the topic of the love for animals and arranged marriages.
“Beauty and the Beast,” Tatar writes, is a love story about “the transformative power of empathy,” but a dark and weird one. Coded inside it are all kinds of cultural neuroses regarding the social and emotional structure of marriage: fear of the other, fear of leaving home, fear of changing oneself by forming a new partnership.
These neuroticisms, however, is a way to show adults and children alike “a desire to transform fairy tales from adult entertainment into parables of good behavior, vehicles for indoctrinating and enlightening children about the virtues of fine manners and good breeding.” Belle and Prince Adam/Beast contrast in values despite going through the same maternal loss. It’s just helping each other conquer the monsters within.
I think I’ve made my case, and I think I’ve been obvious in explaining this is a favorite adaptation at this moment. If the next live-action remakes tops this, I’ll let you know.
P.S.
Mulan is in shambles now, so it has huge shoes to fill in terms of expectations.
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