The Best of Pulse.ph

Kjwan triumphant at the Philippine IKON Finals sponsored by Pulse.ph

It's been almost an entire year since I decided to leave my position as Senior Web Editor of Wolfpac Mobile Inc. -- or more specifically, Editor-in-Chief of the music site Pulse.ph. By September 2007 I was out of there, though I did continue to write and upload articles through the CMS until 2008. I have some regrets, but I think I made the right decision. I did love putting together Pulse.ph though, and I do miss working with the Pulse people and the rest of Wolfpac: Joelle especially, and of course Pats, Rad, Richard, Deo, as well as Eric, Jaja, Mitch, Arvin, Ian, Bona, Coy, Butch, Jojit, Trish, Anna, Sweet, Rexy, everyone. They're great people.

So anyway, thanks to Aldus' recent interview with Marcus Adoro, I found myself clicking through the Pulse.ph archives -- and man, I don't mean to sound too self-aggrandizing, but there is a lot of amazing stuff there. It reminded me of the best parts of my old job. Suddenly I missed brainstorming with Joelle and Pats about artists to feature and events to cover and all that, and I missed choosing and assigning and even editing freelancers, not to mention covering and writing stuff myself. I missed impromptu lessons on hip-hop lore from Arvin and Rad's daily doses of sheer insanity.

Here are ten of my favorite features from the Pulse.ph archives (and yes, I did not exclude my stuff). The site's search function is a little off -- run a search on mine or Joelle's name, for example, and only a handful of results pop up (as opposed to the million jillion articles we actually wrote). Plus the Lowdown feature seems to have disappeared from the drop-down menu. But anyway, here are the ten favorites I came up with by clicking through the years on the right-hand side. (Click on the article titles to read them in full.)


Noel Cabangon and Hannah Romawac photographed at an Earth Day concert for the Pulseparazzi section

1. THE PULSE.PH TOP 10 SONGS OF 2006
by Joelle Jacinto and Luis Katigbak

“From dramatic death-obsessed screamo epics to Celeste Legaspi-sampling hip-hop: here are the best songs of 2006.” (Can you tell I had fun writing subheads for all the articles?)

I loved writing these "Best Of" features with Joelle. I wish we had done this again for 2007, but of course, by the end of that year, both of us had left Pulse.ph. Dividing the labor was fun. ("You write about Scissor Sisters, MCR and Muse, I'll take Lupe Fiasco, Lily Allen and Up dharma Down...") And of course, there's the companion piece:

THE PULSE.PH TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2006
by Joelle Jacinto and Luis Katigbak

"From sexy, dancepunkish self-reinventions to sexy, distinctively Pinoy R&B... You can tell that we like us some sexy. here are the best albums of 2006."

I might change some of the rankings and maybe replace one or two choices now, but on the whole, it's still a list I'd stand by.

2. LUNATICS LET LOOSE IN THE ASYLUM: PINOY ROCK IN 2006
by Erwin Romulo

"Music critic, film director and all-around creative force Erwin Romulo talks to old punks, looks at Pinoy rock's past and present, and identifies the most important acts of our time."

An overview of the lively 2006 scene, from mainstream to underground, that somehow manages in the end to be more inspiring than cynical.


Pulse people! L to R: me, Joelle, Pats, Rayna, Richard of IKON Singapore, and Jojit

3. SOMETHING VERY WRONG: ROBERT SMITH AND THE MALADJUSTMENT QUOTA
by Terry Gonzales

"Last July 30, legendary rock band The Cure played in Hong Kong for the first time. Terry Gonzales shares her thoughts on the matter."

Pulse.ph featured a lot of great events coverage, from people like Jewel Regal, Aldus Santos, Kristine Lim, Maniel O'yek, Nina Sandejas, and of course Joelle and myself. There are two events pieces that I particularly enjoyed though. Terry's sole article for Pulse.ph was one of them; had I stayed on as Pulse EIC I would definitely have bugged her for more. Here's an excerpt: "I arrived in Hong Kong in the perfect state to see a Cure concert: restless, lovelorn, and slightly unwashed. It was a day for an excess of eyeliner and melodrama."

4. NOFX IN MANILA: PUNK CLUNKS ERRORISM
by Paolo Enrico Melendez

"Eric Melendez reports from the front lines of the NOFX concert at the Amoranto Theatre last April 18: from slow start to fiery frenzy."

And here's my other favorite event coverage feature, by Eric. That last paragraph still gets me every time.

5. CHICOSCI: BLOOD BROTHERS
by Yvette Tan

"Their music may be dark and dramatic, but these guys have a sense of humor: Chicosci talks about haircuts, gayness, giant billboards along EDSA, and other bands' lyrics."

Yvette has written many an excellent article for Pulse.ph, but this one stands out for me: interesting, informative, amusing; even people who don't like Chicosci will have fun reading it. Here's Miggy and Mong explaining their appeal: "'Androgyny,' Mong adds, 'Or let’s just say it straight up. Our gayness,' he deadpans. 'Our gayness!' Miggy laughs. 'What’s up, bitches?'"


The Radioactive Sago Project: the only band to ever get a perfect score, 10/10, in the Pulse Reviews section

6. WISHING I'M FINE: 10 SONGS FOR HEALING
by Joelle Jacinto

"There are songs that can provide comfort from the literal and metaphorical storms in your life. Joelle Jacinto lists ten of the songs that do that for her."

Joelle, being a Pulse.ph writing staff of one, wrote tons of stuff, all of it good. I could make a list filled with "greatest hits" by Joelle alone: the Helen feature, her Lowdown piece on working at Sony, her piece on Jesus Christ Superstar, and so on. This one's special though. An excerpt:

"Sometime in mid-June, my friend Kathy put together a playlist for her friends. I listened to it and felt embraced, comforted, as if it were raining outside and she provided me warmth. I told her it sounded like a playlist for healing and she admitted that it was. [...] I've been broken before—by relationships, by lost career opportunities, by sprained ankles at the height of my dance career—and I've been healed by music."

7. DIVINE WRITE: SONGWRITERS AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS
by Aldus Santos

"Dong Abay, Ely Buendia, Vin Dancel, Owel Alvero, and Aldus Santos take turns in a slippery show-and-tell: how are these damn songs made?"

And speaking of people who could fill up a "greatest hits of Pulse.ph" all by themselves... Ladies and gentlemen, Aldus Santos. Excerpt: "There is nothing more elusive than the artistic process. Often, being asked to speak of one’s craft is like being asked to describe the sun, the stars, or the wind: you’d be right, but you’d be terribly mistaken as well."

8. MAKING A MIX TAPE
by Kristine Lim

"Heir to her dad's mad mix taping skills, Kristine Lim gives us rules for making awesome mixes (updated 04.23.2007 with a sample post-breakup mix.)"

Kristine, one of my favorite freelancers, no matter which magazine we're talking about. Always a joy to read. Excerpt: "Making an awesome mix tape can get you laid. I'm proof-positive. I wouldn't be here today if it weren’t for my dad's mad mix taping skills."


Eating at IKON: L to R, Cris Ramos Jr, Mitch Baylosis (both were there to cover the event), me, Pats (who seems incapable of not twisting his face for photographs) and Joelle

9. THE NU107 ROCK AWARDS HIT 13
by Luis Katigbak

"Who rocks? Who rules? Year in and year out, rock radio station NU107's awards show salutes the best bands, albums and songs: this 2006, they get their teenage kicks. (Updated with winners and commentary.)"

For this monster article, I interviewed almost everyone at NU about the history and purpose of the rock awards, and then covered the event itself as a follow-up. Exhausting but I'm proud of it. It may be the single longest feature Pulse ever ran.

10. NARDA'S LAST FLIGHT
by Joelle Jacinto

"Well-loved rock band Narda has fought the good fight for over four years. They've given us amazing performances and many wonderful songs: We're going to miss them."

What better way to end this list than with Joelle's farewell-to-Narda piece? It was originally just supposed to be a Narda feature, and then the band broke up. Sad, but well, it's not as if the members stopped making music.


The IKON contestants: in this picture are Julianne, Skarlet, Vina Morales, members of The Dawn, Truefaith, Kjwan, Kapatid, and more

There's a lot more good stuff in there: Nina Sandejas' feature on styling rock stars, Jewel Regal's Rock Ed coverage, Margarita Gomez on her gig-going history, Betty Tianco's stage girlfriend confessions, Denise Mallabo's story of a music video extra, a whole lotta reviews, and more. And of course there's a massive photo archive with pix by Eric Fernandez, Richard Garcia, Nina Sandejas, Kidlat de Guia, and others... though am not too happy with the new Pulseparazzi interface. Anyway, maybe I should come up with another top 10 sometime. But for now am just glad to reread this stuff and pat myself -- and my former officemates -- on the back.

All pix by the amazing Eric Fernandez.

25 Albums

So I recently wrote the 25th installment of my music column at the Manila Bulletin (Luis Listens, every Saturday), and to mark the occasion, I started counting down my favorite albums for each of the past 25 years. As I wrote, "personal rocked-my-world significance trumps all considerations of pop-historical significance at every turn," so this is not a catalog of the most influential or critically-acclaimed stuff. ;p And I didn't want to repeat any artists, which resulted in, as Kidlat observed, a lot of "horse trading," so to speak.

There were some years (1989, 1992) where it was really really hard to choose just one album. Then there were others where no choice really gut-level appealed to me (1995, 2001 I think, and 2007 to some degree), but then I can hardly claim to have listened to everything worthwhile -- or even everything I might have enjoyed -- for a given year. ;p

Anyway, here you go: part one is here, part two is here. Part three should be up this Saturday... assuming I meet my deadline, mwahaha.

Yo, Joe!

The GI Joe Killaz are "a three-piece group where a guy in a metal mask and a really hot brunette rap in character as Destro and the Baroness. And yes. Cobra Commander is their DJ."

"Aside from the general songs about life on the streets and/or in Cobra Command, the best bits on the album are the ones where they take an episode of the cartoon like “Money To Burn” and build an entire track around them. To repeat: This is a CD where Stacy and Des bust rhymes for three minutes about Cobra Commander’s plot to use radiation to burn all of the paper currency in the world and replace it with his own money."

Read about 'em (and download a track) over at The ISB. To be honest, it's not fantastic music. But it is amusing as hell.

Marcus Adoro on Rubber Shoes, Exercise, and the Eraserheads Reunion

Anyone who is at all interested in the upcoming Eraserheads reunion concert should definitely check out this exclusive interview with Marcus Adoro, by Aldus Santos, on Pulse.ph. It's the only feature I know of about the matter that is an actual interview. Plus, it's funny and informative, particularly about their rehearsals, and the gear geeks among you will love it too. Kudos to Aldus! And applause for Mr. Adoro as well, for his candor. Here are some excerpts:

ALDUS: So, you guys…
MARCUS: Hindi kame nag-uusap; mental telepathy lang [laughs].

ALDUS: What are your feelings about the band, now that you’ve decided to play this reunion show?
MARCUS: Gusto ko lang magbigay. Party tayo, ‘di ba? Puta, ‘di ba? ‘Di alam ng lahat—para sa mga kids, ‘di ba? Gusto kong magbigay. [‘Tsaka] pumayag ako dahil tao lang ako, pare [laughs].

ALDUS: How are you preparing for the thing?
MARCUS: The usual—library. Ang importante, ‘yung ano, good vibes. Importante ‘yung good vibes, pare. ‘Yun ang pinaka-importante sa lahat. I'm preparing for it physically, I jog and swim at least every day, ‘tsaka I rehearse on my own s’yempre. ‘Tsaka, gear-wise, i-po-program ko na ‘yung bagong effects, ‘tsaka s’yempre kung ano hitsura ko [laughs]. And the guitars that I will use, isa-isa kong ina-acquire.

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

Brian Eno and David Byrne, making music together for the first time in 30 years. Good stuff.

Itchyworms and Yvette

Click here to watch the video for "Penge Naman Ako N'yan," the new Itchyworms single! Not only is it a fun song, not only is it a funny video directed by Quark Henares, but (as you can see from the screenshot above) it marks YVETTE'S MUSIC VIDEO ACTING DEBUT. Wheee! :D

I wrote about the making of the video for my music column at the Manila Bulletin, here.

New Story in Rogue

I haven't gotten my own copy yet, but I have a new short story out in the August issue of Rogue magazine: "It's Not Me." Here's an excerpt:

"When Nema was little she believed that everyone was born with a twin. She was her parents' first child, and they had followed her up with two boys when she was four years old -- Ernesto and Emmanuel, identical twins. Sitting in the hospital room right after their birth with her recovering mother, she had wondered out loud, “Where's my copy?” Lengthy and patient explanations from her mother and father followed, but deep down she found these unconvincing, and just pretended to accept them. She figured that her parents were too embarrassed at having misplaced her double to tell her the truth. The fact that almost everyone she knew was deprived of a twin just meant that parents everywhere were unbelievably careless."

The story came about because of repeated listenings to Drip's excellent Identity Theft album and from reading a book about the neurological, anthropological, and psychological roots of self-recognition (The Face in the Mirror by Julian Keenan). I'm quite proud of it.

P.S. This is also the last issue of Rogue with contributions by ex-Features Editor Erwin Romulo.

Every First Second by Up dharma Down

Yes, I know this is an old photo. They pretty much still look the same, though.

So I think I'm coming down with something. My nose is so clogged I can barely think. Couldn't stop sneezing and coughing, a while ago. Am hoping some sleep will help... In the meantime, this took my mind off my troubles and got me smiling: the "trailer turned electronic press kit turned music video" for the Up dharma Down documentary On Either Side, directed by Keith Tan.

Go here to watch it!

I've gone on at great length before about how much I love this band, and am very much looking forward to the new album, not to mention the docu. :)

R.I.P. Pauline Baynes

From The Independent:

"Met C.S. Lewis. Came home. Made rock cakes." That's how Baynes's diary recorded one of only two meetings she ever had with the author whose work she so memorably pictured and with whom she is now inextricably linked.

Read the rest here. Also, go here for a more personal account by the same writer, and lots of artwork scans.

I remember those old Puffin editions of the Narnia books with great fondness. I read -- and loved -- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a child, with no knowledge of the rest of the series. And then one afternoon when I was exploring my grandmother's vast bookshelves, skimming through titles spine by spine, I found something that looked promising: a book called The Magician's Nephew. It was the Puffin paperback edition, with all of the Baynes illustrations intact. Just before diving into the story, I was floored to realize that not only was it another Narnia book, there were five more books in the series for me to find and devour. Ah, that was a great moment in my life. :)

Guitar... And Some

Paris Hilton Is, Like, Totally Ready To Lead

So I'm not a Paris Hilton fan. In fact, I'm sort of the opposite of a Paris Hilton fan. But her response -- to being used in a negative context in a John McCain ad slamming Barack Obama for, um, being popular -- made me laugh, so there's that.

Watch the video here. It's here, too. (Scroll down.)

"Thanks, white-haired dude!"

As Alicia Is

"That woman has been talking sexy to you all night," Yvette observed. "And in front of me!"

That woman was pretty shameless, I have to admit. "Nothing can stop us from feeling good tonight," that woman told me in her sultry, syrupy voice. "Nothing can stop us from being together tonight." Sorry, Yvette. I guess that woman just couldn't help herself. That woman, of course, was Alicia Keys, who Yvette and I watched last night (August 5, 2008) when she performed at the SMX Center at the SM Mall of Asia. "You're the only reason that I'm here!" she shouted out loud. For some reason, the 15,000 other people who happened to be in the SMX Center shouted back, as if she was addressing all of them and not just me. Tsk tsk. Poor deluded crowd.

It's great that Alicia Keys came to the Philippines again, especially since I couldn't catch her the first time; if I recall correctly, I was interviewing Kitchie Nadal for PULP magazine that same night, in front of a bar on Palanca Street. (That was the same year that Slipknot was supposed to come over, and chickened out. There were lots of jokes in the PULP office about Alicia Keys having more balls than all nine Slipknot members put together.) So a second visit was a good thing. But first, the bad news: the last-minute change of venue -- the concert was originally supposed to be in an open field, which, considering the weather, would have been a real risk -- resulted in some major fuckups, organization-wise.

The SMX Center is a great venue, though perhaps better suited for trade shows and conventions and occasions like that than big concerts. The way the audience was divided -- according to the three major entrances -- meant that there was a HUGE empty gap between the Bronze section (in other words, the cheap seats), and us middle-classers in the Silver section. I felt bad for them, actually. They could barely see the gorgeous Ms. Keys, at least aside from the huge projector screens. Then again, we could barely see the gorgeous Ms. Keys. When we got there, it turned out that the seating arrangements were so haphazard that the numbering system for the seats had been completely disregarded, and it was every audience member for his or herself, which naturally pissed a lot of people off. We kept getting assured that order would be restored and our seat numbers respected but it never happened.

In retrospect, I should have just grabbed a couple of monobloc chairs and steamrollered my way through to the front of the section, leaving a trail of broken bodies in my wake. Yvette and I ended up sitting in a spot with a great view of the giant pillar between us and the stage. (We found a better spot later, to the side.) If my tickets hadn't been complimentary I would have been really pissed off. It was just really bad organization. And then the concert started almost two hours late. An hour or so you expect, in the Philippines. Two hours is pushing it. ("This is not the way it's supposed to be!" the man sitting behind us lamented, as if to a cruel and uncaring Creator.) And if they were going to make us wait for two hours, then why not make some effort to fix the seating problems? Oh well.

Those factors -- the idiocy of the seating arrangements, the scattering of the crowd over too huge a space (with the cheap-seaters -- traditionally the most excited and excitable section of the audience, way way in the back), and the lateness -- all contributed to a dampening of the crowd's mood. But then Alicia Keys and her band went onstage, and for a moment we forgot all that.

Much as I enjoy her videos, here's something I never fully appreciated before: Alicia Keys is a fantastic performer. She gives it her all, singing the hell out of every song, shaking and thrusting her hips, whipping her ponytail around, doing kicks like she's David Lee Roth and seducing the crowd with her in-between banter like she's Barry White. Her material, it has to be said, isn't all strong -- she has yet to come up with a solid album with no filler-songs -- but she works that material to the best of her considerable abilities. And did I mention that she's gorgeous?

Alicia kicked off with "Go Ahead" from her latest album As I Am -- big brash opener, grabbing our attention -- then segued into one of her most popular songs, "You Don't Know My Name," improving greatly on the recorded version through sheer energy and a reggae-fied outro. And then "Teenage Love Affair," wow. My current favorite AK song, rendered as sweetly and as poptastically as you please. I couldn't imagine how she could follow that up without the energy level flagging, but she did, with "Heartburn," which is not as strong a song, but it's a sight sexier. Raising the temperature, so to speak. Those first four songs made up one of the best, most riveting concert beginnings I've ever seen.

The middle of the show was almost inevitably a bit of a letdown. The weariness and frustration of the hours beforehand seeped back into the audience, while Alicia played her slower, less compelling material, letting the songs stretch out instead of delivering them like one-two punches. This was where she showed off her talented band and backup singers, letting each of them take the spotlight as they played with such numbers as "Karma" and "How Come You Don't Call Me." Things picked up with a cover of "Tender Love" (done as a duet with Jermaine, one of her singers) and then AK stepped back from the piano, said something along the lines of "Time we had a little fun," then launched into what I believe was a modified version of "My Boo" (I could be wrong; it's been a few years since it was on heavy MTV rotation). "I can't believe she hasn't played "If I Ain't Got You" yet, I told Yvette. Then I realized she was saving it for last.

AK and her band did crowd-rousing versions of "No One" and "If I Ain't Got You" to wrap up their show (after mock-leaving to inspire the audience to chant "We want more!"). AK thanked the crowd for their enthusiasm -- though believe me, that crowd would have been much louder and livelier if not for the glitches -- and said, "We can't wait to come back!"

Well, I can say that seeing Alicia Keys perform live is well worth it, and that we were happy to be there, in the end (though we did seriously consider leaving during the whole seating fiasco). Just hope that the next show is glitch-free.

GMAnews coverage here.

Allstars = Winners

Congratulations to the PHILIPPINE ALLSTARS, who just grabbed the Gold in the Adult Division of the 2008 World Hip-Hop Dance Championship held in Las Vegas! I've seen these guys perform a few times -- including Apl de ap's last visit here and the 2007 MTV VJ Hunt (I wrote the event, and Sheena, one of their members, was one of the most promising finalists) -- and they never fail to impress.

Read about their latest triumph here. Allstars Multiply page here!

I Want To Say It As Clearly As I Can

From here.

Rick Astley + Roderick Paulate = Pure Awesomeness

So we weren't at the Rick Astley concert at the Araneta Coliseum. Too bad, because by all accounts, it was a heck of a lot of fun. :)

Yvette and I first heard about Roderick Paulate joining Rick Astley onstage from a breathless description by Quark, who had actually witnessed the historic moment. And then I started reading more accounts, from various blogs.

From Dacs, the Mighty: "Rick opened the show at 9:15ish with "Together Forever". Of course the crowd went wild, and Menggai in particular felt like she was in high school again, gushing over her crush from the 80's. Heck, Rick wasn't from my time as a teen, but I do appreciate his good looks then and now.

"He was wearing a suit and tie (his usual gigging outfit), which he paired with Adidas sneakers (so cute!). He hardly danced and said that at his age, he only had energy to dance for one song, and the audience roared in excitement, knowing that that one song was "Never Gonna Give You Up."

"Early on, Rick mentioned that he knew about "this certain guy", which again prompted the crowd to cheer, knowing that Rick was talking about Roderick Paulate (famous in the 80's for singing/dancing Rick Astley songs). Then Rick said that this guy wouldn't come up onstage until the end, so that we'd all stay to watch the show."

From Gabe Mercado: "At 4:02 in the afternoon, I received a call from a my good friend Ken. Rick had somehow heard of Kuya Dick and was game to do a number with him. The producers had gotten in touch with Kuya Dick and while flattered, he felt quite reluctant to do it.

"So I sent him a message.

"Gabe: kuya dick!!! please sing with rick astley tonight! the audience will love it! please please please! :)"



I especially enjoyed Tals' account: "Rick Astley came up on stage to the deafening welcome of screaming fans of all ages. Dressed in a suit, skinny tie and sneakers, this hip-dated Rick Astley looked like he hadn’t aged a bit! In his adorable English drawl, he told the crowd: “I am so sorry you had to wait for this for 15 to 20…years.” Crowd went ecstatic. [...]

"It was all so endearing. I felt like I went back to my grade school self, when “Strong” was first released and I had finally understood what it meant to be kilig. My reverie was affirmed when I received a text at that moment from longtime pal Cybs, who was also in the concert that night. Her text: “Shit, I’m back to being hopelessly in love. I love you Rick, pota.” [...] And then, something happened.

"Rick Astley said the words, “I have been told…” OMGAHD! He mentioned that he had heard about Roderick, and that he invited him to come up on stage and perform with him at the end of the show. He even said it had to be towards the end of the show because he was sure people would leave after they saw Roderick perform. Oh, and Rick even said that he wasn’t dancing because “at (his) age, I can’t dance that much anymore, so I’m saving it for the last song with Roderick.”

"I couldn’t believe it. I nearly jumped off the balcony at Upper B.

"Finally, it happened. Chants of “Ku-ya Dick! Ku-ya Dick!” thundered the Big Dome. Rick Astley grabbed a guitar and motioned to his stage left. And up the stage came Roderick Paulate. They did an acoustic duet of “Never Gonna Give you Up.” Kuya Dick even did his signature side-to-side right (repeat left) dance moves! The crowd went absolutely freaking nuts. To quote Kung Fu Panda, it was pure awesomeness."

So, wow. Manila just got rickrolled! And we loved every minute of it. ;)

Is it a monsterrr?

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Is it a monsterrr?

"...it was like no animal anyone had seen before. A stout, hairless creature with a beak, claws, and the almond-shaped eyes familiar from renderings of space aliens, it looked, in short, like a monster. Hence the headline: "Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk.""

Story here!

Stuffed (or, Happy Birthday to Me)

Thank you very very much to everyone who sent happy birthday messages my way last July 26! They are much appreciated. :D (Also appreciated are the stragglers who greeted me on the 27th and the 28th. I am not hypocritical enough to poke fun at those who greeted late, seeing as how I am often late for... well, for everything.) "Hey, for once it didn't rain on your birthday!" JB texted. "It did in Baguio," I answered, which was where Yvette and I happened to be that day.

We were participants of Appetite Magazine's Food Trip 2008 (sponsored by Carnation), which took place from Friday to Saturday, July 25-26. Basically, Appetite took a bunch of media people, writers for various broadsheets and magazines and blogs, and took us on a trip to Baguio, with a brief stop at Dagupan. We ate like kings for two days: first there was a lunch at the Lenox Hotel in Dagupan, where they prepared bangus in more ways than you may have thought possible. (My favorite item on the buffet was the peppercorn crablets though. I wish I had some now. Not to mention that gumamela tea.) From there we went on to Baguio, where we stayed overnight at the lovely Manor hotel. Chef Billy King hosted the dinner, which consisted of so many dishes that it made my head spin (Yvette, who is much more of a foodie than I am, seemed unfazed by the array. We ended up staying longer than most of the other writers, stuffing our cheeks like chipmunks preparing for winter.)

Marinated salmon and crab roulade! Steamed sole in berlinoise sauce! Malaysian goat curry! Mushroom brown rice risotto! Beef wellington with steamed marble potatoes! Predictably enough, my favorites were the pasta dishes: I had second helpings of both the tomato linguini with bolognese sauce and the spinach fettucine with seafood marinara sauce.

On the morning of my birthday I basically consumed the equivalent of four breakfasts. Omelettes and pancakes whipped up before your very eyes... Endless rashers of magically delicious bacon... Shrimp and egg fried rice... Oh bountiful buffets, I will miss you so! I will write more about it for my column, but for now, the pain of separation from all that lovely free food is too sharp. We had another gut-stuffing lunch, and then went to Burnham Park for the Grand Handaan, which was the last leg of our Food Trip, and which presented a variety of food from all over Northern Luzon. Then at around 3 PM all the delegates somehow managed to roll themselves back on board the bus and we headed back to Manila.

So, yes: a trip out of town with Yvette, lots of great food, and the company of happy friendly foodies -- it was a very good birthday, indeed.

(Special thanks to Annie and Rachelle of Appetite, Yvette's roomie Christine, my roommate Dexter Inquirer, Vanessa of Expat, blogger superwoman Noemi -- she's put up a bunch of posts about the trip already! That's me raiding the lunch buffet, ha ha ha -- all the Carnation peeps, Gwen, Jennie, Archie, Kiko, Mau, etc etc.)

Jimmy Abad Predicts The Internet

Those of you who are not unfamiliar with Philippine Literature know Gemino H. Abad as an award-winning writer and beloved mentor to generations of language-addled undergrads. But did you also know that Sir Jimmy, as he is fondly known, has the power to friggin' see the future?

Last night, I was reading a book that he had written two decades ago, State of Play: Letter-Essays and Parables, when I came across the "Parable of the Googol Balloons." As any personality-crippled, unforgivably nerdy schoolboy knows, googol is the large number 10 to the 100the power -- in other words, the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros. It was also the inspiration for the name of the world-conquering company Google. I thought this was an amusing coincidence, but it turns out that the parable's title was chosen due to Sir Jimmy's precognitive ability. I present to you an excerpt from this prophetic text:

PARABLE OF THE GOOGOL BALLOONS

"From that time, everyone began to have an opinion on almost any theme and wished to convince others. Often there were endless disputes, for each one thought he had the best argument. Strangely, no one ever doubted in his heart that there was always somewhere a gap or absence, no matter how finely woven were one's meanings. But where exactly the rent was in one's net of words, no one could ever tell. But that hole too had one consistent effect; it only provoked yet more words until sense itself was dazed."

Holy shit, that sounds really familiar. It's like every message board or comments section discussion gone wrong (in other words, most of them). The parable ends with:

"Finally, each time anyone spoke, he spouted a balloon. It was a marvelous sight, for the sky soon filled with each one's balloons, every word a thousandfold replicated in grey solidity. It was a horror, for none of the balloons could burst, neither could any gale sweep them off the air. They simply mushroomed everywhere until all light was extinguished. An absolute silence reigned on earth."

INTERNETS! You have been warned.

Rogue is One

All aboard the Rogue yacht! Photo taken last March, on a sunset cruise celebrating the special Philippine Cinema issue. L to R: Yvette, me, Lissa Romero and Kidlat de Guia. In the background is Juan Caguicla, holding on to his hat.

Has it been a year already?

So my copy of the July 2008 issue of Rogue arrived on my doorstep yesterday -- it marks the magazine's first-year anniversary. (Anne Curtis is the cover feature -- photography by Mark Nicdao, styling by Millet Arzaga, words by Nick Azarcon. Great job, Nick!) There are many very good reasons to grab a copy of this issue, but I'll focus on two: first and foremost, of course, is the new story by Yvette Tan, Seek Ye Whore. It's twisted, funny, sexy, and deeply disturbing. (Here's a quote out of context: "It was oddly exhilarating, making love to a half-formed body.")

Second is the "24-page recap of Rogue's past 12 months" -- Yvette and I have been involved, in one way or another, with almost every issue since the magazine came out, whether we wrote cover features or short essays or just made suggestions, and it was great fun for me to page through the retrospective and remember all that stuff. (Am particularly happy with the Sanya Smith interview I did, Yvette's account of her encounter with Neil Gaiman, and of course the fiction we wrote.) Reading through all the accolades just made me prouder to have worked on the magazine. Of course, it's fun to page through the feature whether you were ever a contributor or not; the pictures alone will make you swoon, and the little behind-the-scenes bits make for great reading. If you don't have a complete run of the first year already, be warned; you will feel the need to fill in the gaps of your collection.

Sadly, this anniversary issue is also the last for Features Editor Erwin Romulo. Erwin has decided to move on and do other things, and it's safe to say the magazine will never be the same again. It's impossible to overstate his importance to Rogue: whether it was absorbing and thought-provoking subject matter, beautiful and controversial photo shoots, or an array of expertly chosen -- if occasionally surprising -- contributors, from writers to photographers to visual artists, Erwin brought that edge that other magazines can only dream about. Personally, I credit him with breaking the years-long slump I had been mired in, regarding my fiction. "Tell the Sky" (from the December 2007 issue) was the first story I had written in a long time that I was happy with, and without Erwin's initial inspiration and constant encouragement -- plus of course Yvonne Quisumbing-Romulo's artwork, and the Rogue bosses' approval -- it would never have seen the light of day. (Yvette had a similar experience with "Seek Ye Whore" -- it was Erwin's persistence that compelled her to speed up her already-swift writing process.)

Erwin has a way of not only choosing the perfect people for a certain feature, but also getting the best work out of them. Whether he accomplishes this through undisclosed telepathic powers, the unspoken threat of bodily harm, or simply the assurance that whatever his contributors come up with will be presented in a way that they can be proud of, it's hard to say -- but whatever his methods, they were instrumental in shaping the first year of one of the best damn magazines in the country today.

(If it sounds like I'm sucking up to him, it's because I am. Because if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I'd like to keep working with Erwin, and collaborating with the other creative individuals in his army.)

Best Batman Ever

So I watched The Dark Knight today. Quite simply, it's the best film based on a superhero comic ever made.

I know that's a matter of opinion, of course, and I hate to inflate anyone's expectations -- that will just make it harder for those of you who have yet to watch it to just sit down and experience it sans preconceptions -- but it's the only film I've seen so far in that genre where I really felt that something was at stake. Not the lives of comic book characters, but the clash between principles and points of view. And if that makes it sound like a talk show, don't worry; there's plenty of fights and explosions, too. Of course, it helps that The Dark Knight has the best cast ever assembled for a superhero movie: all the notable players from the last film, from Christian Bale on down, with Maggie Gyllenhaal taking over for Katie Holmes in the Rachel Dawes role.

As for the late lamented Heath Ledger, his bravura performance as The Joker makes Jack Nicholson look like a -- well, a clown. To be fair, Ledger had much better material to work with: this is the best-written Joker I've ever come across. The Joker from the earliest days of the comics was somewhat scary but constrained by the standards of the time, and eventually weighed down by all that Red Hood nonsense. Frank Miller's Joker was psychotic and dangerous but in the way a punch-drunk homophobe might imagine a psychotic and dangerous supervillain (flamboyant, flirty, openly in love with his nemesis). Alan Moore's Joker talked too much. And wasn't funny. That's the amazing thing: sitting there in the Greenhills Theatre with a real live audience, I realized that the audience was laughing with Heath Ledger's Joker. He does get the best lines, after all. Never mind that he's a serial killer with a grin of scars.

I never thought much of The Joker as a villain or a character before, to be honest. He was always either too loony or lightweight to really get under your skin. It is only in The Dark Knight that he comes across as the perfect adversary for someone who is trying to maintain order and enforce justice, to hold on to certain ideals in a chaotic world. Those ideals come at a cost, and again, that comes across here better than in any comic book adaptation before.

I'll be surprised -- though pleasantly so -- if this makes more money than, say, Iron Man. It's not exactly a feelgood flick. It will not send you back out into the world with a song in your heart. (Statement overheard from girl in sun dress in the lobby afterwards: "Na-drain ako nun, ah.") But it is a hell of a movie, the darkest and best onscreen Batman story by far. And if that appeals to you at all, then go -- it's well worth seeing in a theater. Avoid all spoilers, begin at the beginning, and hold on to the handrails!

Well, okay, here's ONE spoiler (highlight to reveal): Batman doesn't win. Not really.