Home- Twitter
- Book Blog
- TUMBLR
- D@rdenitaaa.com
- Formspring: Ask me!
- Goodreads
Darden Avila
Two decades of oversleeping, cultural obssessions, bibliophilia and madness.
-
Tweets
- I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay.
- Dad suddenly blurting out a korean word in response to a random question = cultural brainwashing mission successful.
- @tnecniviar13 Aww, sayang ang stardom! Lol. Oh well, thanks for telling me in advance though. Okay lang, priorities first talaga dapat. ;)
- To be ready for something. http://t.co/q49RvEtXhc
- @tnecniviar13 too complicated to explain here haha. Sent you a message over at FB. :)
- @tnecniviar13 No, it's a different kind of exchange. I'll give you five books if you could do me a favor. Haha. Sorry ang random ko lol.
- @tnecniviar13 True. Minsan nga yung mga hard to find books dun din makikita eh. Hey if you're interested we could have a book swap deal. ;)
- @tnecniviar13 Apir! Iba talaga kapag ramdam mo yung pages eh no? Booksale baby ka din ba?
- @tnecniviar13 i've heard of him pero haven't read his works yet. Say, do you still download ebooks?
- @rvisawesome naaaks. So you're into sci-fi lately? What are you currently reading or planning to read?
- @rvisawesome hmmm. Sounds like may pinagdaanan ka boss ha. Keri yan. Books are therapeutic. :)
- @rvisawesome ikr? So many books to buy, so little cash. Lol. Reading is damn addictive! :)
- @tnecniviar13 http://t.co/Ouml7imriI wow sci-fi writer. Apir! :)
- @tnecniviar13 Ayoko na nga isipin yung wishlist ko kasi naiiyak lang ako lol. I'm still blogging about books tho. Kaw, musta na? :)
- @tnecniviar13 Amen, boss. This is also the exact reason why I need money in my life. Lol.
- RT @tnecniviar13: Kailangan ko ng maraming pera pambili ng libro at bookshelf.
- Quasi-heartbreaks and other fictions
- Remembering things I'm not supposed to remember.
- @majpau Already did! :)
- Bewildered like WhoaMay 10, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
-
Posts
- May 06, 13
Since I’m taking on thrillers and mysteries for this month, I thought I could talk about one of the most silliest but inevitable questions I’ve asked as a reader back when I was a kid growing up and steadily devouring crime books (that are way too adult for me) together with my RL Stine titles (Ah, nostalgia!). I know better now, of course, but back in the day, I always find myself wondering: where do crime authors get their ideas for all the gruesome details in their plots? Are all those from their imagination? Had they ever, at some point in their lives, wanted to commit crimes themselves? Okay, that question is admittedly juvenile. And then I came across this odd discovery a couple of years back.
The collage of pictures above are screen shots from this 1994 movie, Heavenly Creatures, directed by the famed Lord of the Rings Director Peter Jackson and starred Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet in her debut role. It is based on a real life dark, obsessive friendship between two 15-year old girls in New Zealand and the crime they have committed which became the much sensationalized Parker-Hulme Murder Case, in which they have conspired together to kill Parker’s mother by heavy blows in the head using a brick inside a stocking. Gruesome, yes. It was so hyped that a couple of books have been written about it.
So where’s the trivia in this, you ask? Let’s consider another collage of pictures for a moment.
Not familiar? She’s Anne Perry, one of the most prolific and popular writers of modern crime detective fiction. Since the film Heavenly Creatures garnered critical acclaim and box-office success, it has also created quite an uproar when it has been revealed that Anne Perry, the well-known author, is actually Juliet Hulme in real life—yes, one of the two girls charged for murder back in 1954. After being released from prison, she has actually changed her name legally when she moved to the United States. The other pictures are from her teenage years together with Pauline Parker, her best friend. You can read more about the details of the case HERE
I don’t mean to generalize of course, that all crime authors have a dark past. I just found it rather amusing that an Inception of sorts happen once in a while even in this thrilling literary genre. Life, has a sick sense of humor sometimes, and at it’s very best, you just can’t help but exclaim at its brilliance, muttering, ‘Wow, I didn’t see that coming!’
- May 05, 13
HOUSE OF LEAVES
By Mark Z. DanielewskiAnother addition to my growing and increasingly-frustrating book wishlist. Nothing like a compilation of book you’ve been salivating to buy but don’t have money for to remind you how much third world pains suck. Boohoo. But seriously, you guys.
I need this book in my life. Right now.
- May 02, 13
Yes: I’m also judging myself right now. Oh cheesecakes, what have I gotten myself into? How to type this review without face-palming?
5 Red Warning Signs That I will not Like a book
1. Heroines with zero confidence. In YA, there’s a term especially coined for female protagonists who are suffering from low self-esteem and are excruciatingly annoying because of their mediocrity and blandness: TSTL ( Too-Stupid-To-Live ) Girls aka the damsels in distress. America Singer, our heroine is far from a full-fledged TSTL character but ugh, she keeps on saying things like ‘I’m mediocre’, ‘I’m nothing special’, ‘I’m average’ throughout the book as if she wouldn’t stop until she’s used up all possible synonyms associated with Inferiority Complex. Which is a contradiction, I must say, because America is neither of these things, at least in my opinion. She’s awfully honest but likable enough to socialize and be cordial, has a spunky personality befitting of her being a redhead, and a bangin’ sense of humor. Also, she’s no pushover and even had her shining moments of assertiveness here and there. So why, America, why?!
2. Cheesier-than-thou Dialogues. There’s no way in the world this book is gonna win the Pulitzer Prize. This, I can wager my life on, surely. And yeah: I don’t exactly feel like my vocabulary has been enriched in any way whatsoever. The narrative didn’t have me seething in literary envy, unsurprisingly. No grammatical acrobatics, no maddening impulse to jot down quotes because there’s nothing much quotable anyway. Romance in YA can get really cringe-inducing sappy sometimes and this book is guilty as charged more than once.
Case in point:3. Awkward character names. Yes, I’m totally nitpicking the hell out of the most juvenile of details, but you know there’s some sorcery going on when our heroine’s mom is named Magda, while her ex-boyfriend’s mom is named Lena. As in Magda and Lena. Well hello there, subtlety. And I’m totally cool with names like Aspen and Maxon but why does our heroine’s name had to be America? And why does half of the characters have outlandish names while the other half have generic ones? I mean, come on book. Make up your mind.
4. Haphazard World-building. I have so many questions about the setting of this book but not even a half of them were answered, which shouldn’t be the case at all, considering this should be the introduction to our trilogy. What year is it exactly? What’s the historical background of the Selection Background? What exactly are the northern-southern rebellions about? It was all so vague. True, the book made several attempts to touch on the actual details of Ilea’s History and some of the inner workings of the palace policies, even a glimpse of a state visit of guest international monarchs but it felt like the plot focused too much on the caste system of its society that it overshadowed everything else. Gotta admit with most critics that this is very much ‘The Bachelor-esque’.
5. Clichés, Clichés, everywhere. It is no disclaimer I guess to say that there really isn’t any plot twist that will make you drop the book from shock but boy did I turned pages like I’m chasing some imaginary deadline. The thing about clichés is that they’re easy and light to read and therefore wouldn’t require any kind of long pauses in between. It’s pretty much a come-and-go experience, but surprisingly, this didn’t affect my eagerness to finish it because, well, generally, I also have:
5 REASONS WHY I NEED FLUFF IN MY LIFE
1. Predictability sometimes means Cozy. It’s a legit literary anomaly: Some shallow books can be potentially addictive for no apparent reason at all other than that it’s comfortable. We know what we want to happen and we know at the same time that it’s gonna happen. That’s how shallow books work, I guess. Who am I kidding, I know I bought this book with no expectations at all so technically, it met all my expectations in that sense. See what I did there?
2. Because we need Love Triangles so that we can pick who we want to ship with the
heroineOURSELVES. Can I just say how much I appreciate that Prince Maxon isn’t channeling any ‘Edward-Cullen-esque’ style of dating? Can I just take a moment to pretend that I’m a lunatic teenager and say ZOMGAH PRINCE MAXON FTW! <3 <3 <3 (Cue: Reviewer reputation shattering into a million shards.)3. Because shallow books are the fastest routes to fantasylandia. We may not exactly adore the heroine, but dang , what will we not give to be in her shoes, right? And besides, how closer can you get at the ultimate epitome of romantic imaginations than making a literal prince fall for you? Also: Kissing scenes.
4. Because like desserts, Fluff is like guilty pleasures in reading. Serious-themed books can get really stressful at times and reading light materials is like reminding ourselves to take a breather, relax and enjoy reading again for what it is.
5. Because sustaining our illusions of happy-ever-afters feels good, sometimes. Okay, maybe not so much after finishing the story and coming back to reality but heck—it’s refreshing and fun once in a while to discard my jaded cranky-pants in exchange of cotton-candy pink dresses, palaces, fluttery, lace, first kisses and ahhhh, tiaras!
- May 01, 13
All in all, April has been a good month and it might be hard to top my recent productivity to date, but I’m feeling quite ambitious for May. I don’t know why exactly, but I’m just in the mood to do some serious damage to my TBR Pile so I can justify another round of Book Haul I’m planning to have in June. (Gah, it’s about time!) Hence, I’m challenging myself to read SIX BOOKS for this month. Yup, you’ve read that right.
So what exactly is the perfect genre to take on if you want to READ UNSTOPPABLY? Oh yeah.
It’s time for THRILLERS AND MYSTERIES!
I don’t know about you but thrillers and mysteries have this kind of effect on me: I find them so irresistible to ever put down that it’s so likely I’ll finish a book in one day. I’m feeling pretty confident I’ll succeed in this pursuit, more so because the books I have for this month’s TBR are books I’ve been dying to read for a long time, so yeah.
To begin with, I picked two books from my most recent haul: a creepy Japanese Dystopian novel about suicide pacts (Harmony) and a gothic historical fiction set in the 16th century about witchcraft and medieval horrors (Holy Fools). I also can’t begin to tell you how excited I am that I’m finally reading Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children after almost a year of just gazing at it lovingly on my shelf. (I have this weird habit of putting off for later books that I think I will love; don’t even ask.) Plus, I’ve also included Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl in the list, a book everyone has been raving about since it came out. I’ve read her book ‘Dark Places’ back in 2011 and I’m damn sure this will be a lot more terrifying. On top of everything else, I have two books from the queen of crime herself, Agatha Christie (Murder at the Vicarage & And Then There Were None). This reading list literally gives me shivers! Thriller Game Face on!
Have a wondrously creepy month in reading guys
and enjoy the rest of your summer!
- Apr 29, 13
Whoa what a month!
April zoomed faster than I ever thought it would. I think time really flies when one is enjoying the moment, don’t you think so? Things are picking up in real life, too—I no longer feel as glum or as bipolar like I did in March and oh yeah, same thing goes for the weather. Summer is in full-swing right now in Manila and though I’m really no big fan of the sweltering heat, I have to admit that it somehow lifts up my spirit these days. (It’s just plain hard, I guess, to find time for moping about and sulking around when one’s too busy taking multiple showers every day.) Weird or what? I also feel so much more productive after a very long time of procrastination and neglect. I think I managed to finish my entire reading list halfway through the month which gave me plenty of time to catch up with my reviews and to squeeze in some more extra reads on my e-books stack. I even managed to actively participate for poetry month and I hope you guys had as much fun as I did! Yay! Good job, dardenitaaa!
• Looking For Alaska, John Green (Date finished: April 9) ★★★★★
•The Sky is Everywhere, Jandy Nelson(Date finished: April 12 ) ★★★★★
• Rainy Day Women, Jane Yardley (Date finished: April 14 ) ★★★☆☆
• The Selection, Kiera Cass (Date finished: April 26 ) ★★★☆☆
• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Jennifer E. Smith (Date finished: April 29) ★★★★★
• The Elite, Kiera Cass (Date finished: April 28) ★★☆☆☆
- Apr 28, 13
Postcards
Sarah Kay
I had already fallen in love with far too many postage stamps.
When you appeared on my doorstep wearing nothing but a postcard promise.
No, appear is the wrong word.
Is there a word for sucker punching someone in the heart?Is there word for when you’re sitting at the bottom of a roller coaster
and you realize that the climb is coming,
that you know what the climb means,
that you can already feel the flip in your stomach from the fall
before you’ve even moved?Is there a word for that?
There should be.
You can only fit so many words in a postcard.Only so many in a phone call,
only so many into space before you forget
that words are sometimes used for things other than filling emptiness.It is hard to build a body out of words – I have tried.
We have both tried.Instead of laying your head against my chest, I tell you about the boy who lives downstairs from me.
Who stays up all night long practicing his drum set.
The neighbors have complained.
They have busy days tomorrow,
but he keeps on thumping through the night convinced, I think, that practice makes perfect.
Instead of holding my hand, you tell me about the sandwich you made for lunch today.
How the pickles fit so perfectly against the lettuce.
Practice does not make perfect.
Practice makes permanent.Repeat the same mistakes over and over
and you don’t get any closer to Carnage Hall, even I know that.
Repeat the same mistakes over and over
and you don’t get any closer!
You never get any closer.Is there a word for the moment you win tug of war?
When the weight gives
and all that extra rope comes tumbling towards you.
How even though you’ve won you still wind up
with muddy knees and scratches on your hands.Is there a word for that? I wish there was.
I would have said it.
When we were finally alone together on your couch,
neither one of us with anything left to say.Still now, I send letters into space.
Hoping that some mailman somewhere
will track you down and recognize you
from the descriptions in my poems.That he will place the stack of them in your hands and tell you
“There is a girl who still writes you. She doesn’t know how not to.”
- Apr 26, 13
Every once in a while we come across a book that does not necessarily suck but is not stellar-beyond-imagination either. We don’t hate it, but of course, not hating a book does not automatically translate to loving it. I felt that way about ‘Rainy Day Women’ by Jane Yardley.
It’s in fact a very good read—a well-told story about a super smart sixteen-year old heroine with a distinct voice. The setting of the story is also charming in a quirky kind of way; she’s the only girl among four children—a family of geniuses living in a haunted house during 70’s era. That premise is golden, right? So where exactly did it fall short and why am I only giving it three stars?
I don’t blame the book. It’s an honest-to-goodness classic ‘it’s not you book, it’s me’-scenario. I finished the book in just a day, which says a lot about how zippy the narrative was, but I guess I just probably wasn’t in the right mood for it that day. To be completely fair, I really have no major issues about the story because as far as plot is concerned, it met all my expectations. I even think the ending was terrific, and that gets a lot of brownie points in my book. Also, Jo Starkey, our heroine, says things like:
“On and on and on—controlled and deliberate, the exercise of a guitarist’s practiced fingers; to want someone so bad you could beg. Gagging for it. The plots of novels, the lyrics of torch songs , the sound of singers weeping into a mike. So it was all true, then—it sucked the power from you, flooded your brain. Eventually, something happened to me that bleached out even these thoughts; a long, creamy, tickly sensation that made my limbs shudder, something partly pleasant and partly not, totally outside my control. So it was true, then. He laughed softly into my hair.
You might argue that rating a book should solely consist of its content’s merit and that’s an excellent point. I am however the kind of reviewer who includes the entirety of the reading experience in evaluating how good a book is. I believe that along with the strength of storytelling, we should also consider barometers of how much we’ve enjoyed reading the story itself—Was the story compelling enough for me to care about the characters? Was it so memorable that I couldn’t stop thinking what happened to them even after the book ended? Was my mind blown? Will the book make me gush gibberish when I sit down to write a review for it? Will I shove this book down the throats of my friends and shamelessly tell them that they need to read this book before they die?
Sure, I probably am harsh and might be asking too much of this book, but this has always been my definition of an excellent read. How nice it would be if we live in a black-and-white world where books are really just either terrible or outstanding. Sadly, there will always be books falling in between the gray areas. And there will always be days when readers can get really too demanding on the books they read, but at the end of the day a great book shouldn’t really fail under that excuse, right? So I’m not closing my door on this one. Someday, I might pick up Rainy Day Women again and give it another shot—who knows? When that time comes I might probably laugh out loud at how wrong this review post was.
Until we meet each other again in the future, book. See you, when I’m a better reader.
- Apr 25, 13
Forgetfulness
Billy Collins
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
- Apr 24, 13
Something experimental this way comes!
I have finished Looking for Alaska recently and oh goodness, I still haven’t quite moved on from the heartbreak. I still think about the characters these days and it’s likely they won’t leave my mind anytime soon. I haven’t written a proper review yet since I’m still searching for the right words, but it will come up sooner or later. So for the mean time, I’ve created this mixtape of songs that describes every emotion I have for the book. Ah, John Green. Your stories always bring on the feels!
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
Lyrics after the cut.
10. Falling, The Civil Wars
Tell me it’s nothing
Try to convince me
That I’m not drowning
Ooh let me tell you I amPlease, please tell me you know
I’ve got to let you go
I can’t help falling
Out of love with you, oohWhy I am feeling so guilty
Why I am holding my breath
I’m worried ’bout everyone but me
And I just keep losing myself09. Cosmic Love, Florence + the Machine
I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you08. See You, Benjamin Francis Leftwich
In a year or ten,
I will be there
I will come for you
When you are on your own
On a chair
In a room with no one else
I will touch your hand
And say I understandWhat we lost
Was equal to the cause
Of my skin on yours
And say you want it backIf you get time
Come back and be mine
If you pass by
I will see you in the sky
I hope that you’re told
I was young, now I’m old
If you pass by
I will see you in the sky07. Bright White Lights, Whitley
I was walking down a dark black road
I was chasing a bright white light
I’m sinking in a deep blue ocean
I’m flying in a clear blue sky
I’m screaming at a large, deaf monster
As I’m falling from the fifteenth floorI will make it through this
I will make it through this06. Wake me when it’s over, Longwave
When the weight is on your shoulders
Come on your knees
When the weight is on your shoulders
Come on your knees
Wake me when it’s over
Wake me please05. When I grow up, First Aid Kit
I’m very good with plants
When my friends are away
they let me keep the soil moist
On the seventh day I rest
for a minute or two
then back on my feet and cry for you oooh ohYou’ve got cucumbers on your eyes
Too much time spent on nothing
waiting for a moment to arise
The face in the ceiling and arms too long
I wait for him to catch meWaiting for you to embrace me
04. Only the Young, Brandon Flowers
Look back in silence
The cradle of your whole life
There in the distance
Losing its greatest pride
Nothing is easy, nothing is sacred, why?
Where did the bow break?
It happened before your timeAnd there were people there
Lovely as you’d ever care
Tonight, baby, you can start again
Laughing in the open air
Have yourself another dream
Tonight, baby, we can start again03. Teenagers, My Chemical Romance
They’re gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you, son
So they can watch all the things you doBecause the drugs never work
They’re gonna give you a smirk
‘Cause they got methods of keeping you clean
They’re gonna rip up your heads,
Your aspirations to shreds
Another cog in the murder machine02. Nothing like you and I, The Perishers
We spent some time
together crying
Spent some time just trying
to let each other go
I held your hand so
very tightly
And told you what I would be
dreaming ofThere’s nothing like you and I
So why do I even try?01. Bittersweet, Sara Bareilles
Bittersweet seasons
Mistake a warm winter for spring.
Seems like I’m best at leaving
when leaving is not the best thingYou couldn’t help it if you needed more than I could give.
That’s just the way it goes.I call you misplaced but never a waste of my time.
Everybody’s gonna make mistakes,
But you’ll never be one of mine.
- Apr 23, 13
If I could marry a poet, I would marry…
Phil Kaye!
I have the biggest crush on this guy not only because he’s tons of cute, but because his way with words is just gorgeous and heartbreaking. Phil is a well-known spoken-word poet which means he has participated in a lot of poetry slams and performances. I’ve actually found out about him through Youtube, and I’m sure you’ll be just as mesmerized as I am once you hear him read out loud one of his best works, and quite possibly one of the most moving and powerful poems I’ve heard in a long while.
Repetition by Phil Kaye
He’s mine! Haha.
-
Posts
In celebration of Simply Average’s second anniversary, I present to you our “Back to School Contest”. Just answer the question what is school to you and you could be the lucky winner of an amazing prize set!
What’s the prize you ask? Well: A dream tote bag (H.E.A.R.T); 2. A Par Avion notebook (Spellbound); 3. Five pieces of spiraled notebooks (muji); 4. A red and black pen (muji); 5. One denim pencil case (papelmeroti)
Excited? Visit http://simplyaverage.blogspot.com/2013/05/simply-averages-back-to-school-contest.html for more details on how to join
Note: Open to Philippine residents only. Except for the Par Avion which is sponsored by Spellbound, this contest is not sponsored by H.E.A.R.T, muji, or papelmeroti.
Join her awesome giveaway! I’ll be so thrilled to win these cool stuff. :)
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.
― Jack Kerouac, On the RoadFor once I want to be the car crash, not just the traffic jam.
Snow Patrol | Headlights On Dark Roads (via juneandafter)I went down to the bookstore this evening
and found myself in the poetry section.
But for every thin book of poems
there was a thick biography of the poet
and an even thicker book
by someone who’s supposed to know
explaining what the poet
is supposed to’ve said and why he didn’t.
So you don’t have to waste your time
on the best the writer could do,
the words he fought the darkness and himself for,
the unequal battle with beauty.
Instead you can read comfortably
about the worst the writer could do:
the mess he made of his life,
how he fought with his family,
cheated on his lovers, didn’t pay his debts
and not only drank too much
but all the stupid things
he ever said to the bartender
just before getting 86′d will be printed for you
and they’re just as stupid
as the things everyone says just before getting 86′d.
The books explaining the poet
are themselves inexplicable.
The students who have to read them
cheat.
I left the poetry section
thinking about burning the bookstore down.
Some of the poet’s work comes from his life, ok.
But most of the poet’s work comes
in spite of his life, in spite of everything,
even in spite of the bookstores.
So I went to the next section
and bought a murder mystery but I haven’t read it yet.
I find I don’t want to know who done it
and why;
I want to do it myself.Julia Vinograd, In the Bookstore (via grammatolatry)
We’re giving away a $100 USD gift card to the fav bookstore of the person who submits the best photo of books as determined by the Book Riot community.
Send us an original creative photo of books - jumbled, stacked, shelved, mached or however. We want to see your prettiest, most…Gemma Arterton as the Assistant
‘… dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.’
Preface to Leaves of Green, page 8 {Walt Whitman}
The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.
The History Boys (via prettybooks)
-
Posts
- Oct 21, 12
The weekend that just well, ended, has been the absolute definition of berserk. This is ironic because I’m supposed to be on some faux cerebral holiday (I filed eight days leave off work and was approved) and yet I know deep-down in my gut that I’ve got no room in my head for vacation. Fine, [...]
- Oct 08, 12
Song for the Sovereigns Darden Avila Wear your opinion like a hat: on top of your head, proud and gorgeous, a shield and a statement. Let no one tell you that this color is wrong or the size is silly– it is your hat and not theirs. Wear it when the sun is too stubborn [...]
- Sep 11, 12
CANNOT. BELIEVE. I’M. ALREADY. 22. 2012, for the most part, has been a half ho-hum, half-sad year so far, and I know we all still have three more months ahead of us for me to throw this judgment too early in the game, but whatever. Not a great way to begin a birthday blog post, [...]
- Sep 01, 12
Ain’t that poster so beautiful and quirky and symbolic and intriguing? Yup, that’s pretty much how I’ll describe Japanese Drama in a nutshell. Truth be told, I have a very limited experience in watching Japanese shows in comparison to either Korean or Taiwanese, but I love it all the same. My rare Japanese drama discoveries [...]
- Aug 27, 12
I missed talking about things I love. It’s something I should do more often, I believe. This blog is already three years in the running, and I know that I kept everything simple by sticking with my structured theme of random poetry, mood-colored mixtapes, book-talk and the occasional film reviews. I can’t even remember when [...]
- Aug 22, 12
Yes there you have it: My very first attempt at food blogging and failing at it. Being a full-time procrastinator-extraordinaire means that I always have a lot of catching up to do, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I need to disclose everything that’s going on in my life so far because 1.) My real [...]
- Aug 22, 12
Nostalgia for Breakfast The scent of rain takes me back on staircases I no longer remember; Memory, Gravity and Kisses– these slippery roads we hate but can never say farewell to– reasons for rooftops, warm hands, lone cup of coffee on an innocent thursday, songs about flying. Blankets of blue and pillows fluffy in promise [...]
- Aug 20, 12
I’ve been reading for as long as I could remember, but strangely enough, I didn’t really grow up reading the classics when I was a kid. For most bookworms (especially those who are blessed to be raised in a home environment where reading is strongly encouraged), fairy tales, adventure books and classics are always their [...]
- Aug 10, 12
In the sweet introduction to Amy Benson’s “Sparkling-eyed Boy“, Editor Ted Conover playfully mused, ‘To the list of the three events that anthropologist say characterize human life around the globe–birth marriage, and death–I wonder if it isn’t time to add a fourth: first love.” And already I am exclaiming at how brilliant that idea was. [...]
- Aug 01, 12
A brief aside: I can’t draw to save my life. And for some insane irony in my uneventful life, I have actually taken up Multimedia Arts as my degree on my first two years in College. You know what they say about people who can’t dance having two left feet? Well in my case, in [...]
-
Answered
- Hi, do you have any diary-like books / epistolary books to recommend?Ellen Hopkins books like Glass, Impulse and Burned are the first titles that came to mind. Locally, I think Marla Miniano's freshly released chick-lit novel 'Fan Girl' would be very much appropriate, at least for us. Haha.Asked by marchymarchymarchy. Feb 02, 12
- If you could be one age forever, how old would you be?Three years old for no particular reason.Asked by Formspring Feb 02, 12
- What was the best advice you've ever received?My former literary editor once told me to never apologize for anything I have written.Asked by Mj D. Oct 01, 11
- How many hours do you sleep in a day?I'm a narcoleptic, quite frankly. I sleep for more than half of the day if I could.Asked by Mj D. Aug 27, 11
- What's the weirdest dream you've had?My dreams are somewhat always about missing an airplane flight.Asked by Mj D. Aug 27, 11
- If you weren't doing what you're doing right now. What would you be doing?I'd be travelling different cities around the world like a nomad, practicing how to be a con-artist. Haha.Asked by Kevin Vitug Aug 27, 11
- What is your biggest regret?Being so half-hearted at some of the defining moments of my life. I give up so easily, then. Now, more than ever, I'm learning and learning and learning, that I should be steadfast first before I become anything else. Hee. Dugo. Haha.Asked by Mj D. May 29, 11
- What's your ideal major?as in college major? I should've taken a major in creative writing. hehe. :pAsked by Mj D. Oct 26, 10
- What kind of rockstar would you be?The Morrissey (the tortured lyricist) type, probably? Lol I am not aware of rockstar categories.Asked by Mj D. Oct 23, 10
- What do you think about LOVE and TERRORISM? Hehe.Both of them makes me dream of a Utopian Society. Wait, let me check on my notes, haha.Asked by Alvin Gutierrez Oct 21, 10
- Ang tamad mo magreply sa text.So? hahaha. Joke lang. Fine, Imma do something about it.Asked by Madz Tiongson Oct 20, 10
- Baket ka nga ulet nagshift???Trip lang. Bored nako sa whiteness ng SDA Building eh. Hahaha.Asked by Formspring Oct 20, 10
- If you could live again as a teenager in any decade, which decade would it be?the 60's, most probably. Hahaha. Hippie Love. ♥Asked by Mj D. Oct 18, 10
- You don't write love poems anymore. Why?REALLY? I didn't notice that myself, lol.Asked by Formspring Oct 18, 10
- What's your favorite sad movie?Eeesh, tough question. Dancer in the dark (Danish), El Laberinto del Fauno (Spanish), Departures (Japanese) and Sad Movie (Korean).Asked by Mj D. Oct 17, 10
- Who inspires you the most?Errr...whoever's or whatever's at the most proximate distance from me.Asked by Formspring Aug 15, 10
-
Reading
