tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-174827562024-03-14T02:03:24.079+08:00Armed With Idealismattempts at putting theory into practiceicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-64483750656011939292013-02-18T11:36:00.000+08:002013-02-18T11:36:33.606+08:00Pride and Prejudice: the Peacock EditionIf I could collect only one book, this would be it. Isn't it gorgeous?<br />
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<br />icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-64117597411602681292013-02-16T15:55:00.002+08:002013-02-16T15:55:10.981+08:00NW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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NW represents an evolution in Zadie Smith's writing. She begins with a stream of consciousness page a la Virginia Woolf, or that she no longer uses quotation marks for dialogue, and tells a story of one of the main characters entirely in numbered headings. <br />
<br />
Her new style may be a result of motherhood. She's written that having a baby means that she only has four hours of writing time in a day. But it may also be just her exploring.<br />
<br />
Smith remains one of my favorite authors, and rightly so. NW examines issues of class, race and privilege, as well as the First World problems of educated women. Sometimes it seem like you still can't have it all.<br />
<br />
When reading fiction, I am often reminded that it is easier to write about sad families than happy ones, but despite all the insecurities and failed achievements mentioned in this book, there is also the strong, enduring friendship, of two girls, one black, one white, who were brought together entirely by chance. icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-82380707932598486942013-01-01T20:16:00.001+08:002013-01-01T20:17:50.464+08:00Taking Stock<br />
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Now that 2013 has begun, it's time again to take stock of what I've been able to achieve for 2012:</div>
<ul class="imglist">
<li>Continue taking a regular yoga class</li>
<li>Try zumba</li>
<li>Write regularly</li>
<li>Date (which I didn't think I'd do but September came around and whaddaya know...) </li>
<li>Read 50 books</li>
<li>Travel to somewhere I've never been</li>
-El Nido, Masbate, Mts. Bahay Kalo, Banahaw and Mangisi and Namal, Ifugao</ul>
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The game changer this year was the UP Mountaineers, which I had no no intention of joining. But I pushed myself physically, met some good friends, and climbed three mountains. Who knew that I had it in me to run 15k? </div>
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I now have biceps. </div>
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<br /></div>
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My biggest goal for this year are to prioritize my writing and start my MFA. I'm filled with hope for the coming year, and I can't wait to see what's ahead of me.</div>
icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-56624592092457099302012-07-24T14:16:00.000+08:002012-07-24T14:58:33.047+08:00Sexing the Cherry<style type="text/css">
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Ah <a href="http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/">Jeanette Winterson</a>, you slay me
every time.</div>
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<br />
I admit, our first meeting didn't leave
a lasting impression – I was too young to read <i>Oranges Are Not
the Only Fruit</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. I didn't even
get that the main character was a lesbian until much, much later.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">And
then came college and </span><i>The 24-Hour Dog. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">That
story is still with me. Sometimes I go back to my tattered photocopy
and read it again to be dazzled by the sheer luminosity of your
prose.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">Even
when I found </span><i>Art and Lies</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
too obfuscating, I didn't give up on you. And I glad that I didn't.
You bowled me over with </span><a href="http://massmediations.blogspot.com/2011/01/gut-symmetries.html"><i>Gut Symmetries</i></a><span style="font-style: normal;">.
And now, </span><i>Sexing the Cherry</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
which is my new favorite book.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">It's
been used so often that it's become a cliché, but this time, my mind
was truly blown. I've been fascinated with theoretical physics for a
long time, even before I read </span><i>Gut Symmetries. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">But
the idea that the journey within our own depths is greater than any
trip we could ever take is astounding.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a>Too, I
think, you've taught me to think about love more maturely. I'm a
romantic. I gave a presentation on soulmates in highschool. I fell
head over heels in infatuation with someone before I even saw his
face. I stared at someone across a table at a crowded canteen and got
him to follow me outside.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">But, I
think that while it's important not to let go of the idealism and the
romance of the first full flush of love, it's also important to keep
one foot on the ground. Sometimes we don't end up with the people
whom we love, because of distance, wrong timing, or other
circumstances. Sometimes our childhood sweetheart leaves us.
Sometimes we settle.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">But
always, always, there is love to comfort and sustain us, whether it's
from a lover, a mother, or a close friend. As Ray Bradbury said, "Looking
back over a lifetime, you see that love was the answer to
everything,"</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-style: normal;">I
still believe that. </span>
</div>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-24475321552384129962012-07-03T21:58:00.000+08:002012-07-19T19:10:20.926+08:00On Failure<img align="left" alt="I" src="http://dailydropcap.com/images/I-11-cap.png" title="Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische" />t wasn't until after college that I began to fail. Before that, I coasted. Best in English, editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper, Journalist of the Year, it all came easily and without much effort.<br />
<br />
I graduated in the top ten of my class and hurdled the Intarmed qualifying exam, all without really trying. Sure, I studied and did my best on exams, but I didn't really <i>work</i>. College was a dizzying whirl, but I managed to balance all of it. I didn't excel in academics or at the campus newspaper where I wrote, but I wasn't too bad either. You could say that I was complacent, content just to get by. <br />
<br />
All this would later have a detrimental effect.<br />
<a name='more'></a>If life after college is supposed to be the real world, then to me, it also came as a sudden shock. Again, without much effort, I landed a prestigious job. A vice-president who had interviewed me for an award came into the room where I was taking a written exam. "I know you," she said. "You interviewed me for the President's Medal," I replied. And just like that, I was sent downstairs after I finished the exam for an on-screen test. No one else from the examination room was granted the same privilege.<br />
<br />
Even after the corporate cesspit that was <i>let's not name that media organization, shall we?</i>, I easily landed another job, this time at another respected media outlet. It was serendipity -- I sent my resumé in at my mentor's urging, and they happened to be looking for someone. Just like that I was in.<br />
<br />
Just to make things clear, I've failed at being a journalist. I didn't have the persistence to pound the pavement day after day in search of a story or to cozy up to sources, no matter how they offended me. I was unwilling to work 16-hour shifts and sacrifice my weekly days off. I just didn't have a nose for news.<br />
<br />
It was also during this time that I realized that journalism was only ever supposed to be a stepping stone to writing. Sometime during high school, my sensible mind had decided that I wasn't ever going to support myself by writing, so I should have a fallback plan. Journalism was as close as I could get. Yes, I was able to talk to everyone, from Presidents to hardened criminals (a few were were both), and yes, I won an award for a story I wrote, but I still failed at journalism. My contract wasn't renewed at my first job and I was asked to resign from my second.<br />
<br />
After eight months of reading romance novels, I found another job via Facebook. Again, it was easy. All I said was, I need a job where I can think. Someone said, why not try this? And that was that. They told me during the interview that I was too qualified, but I didn't mind. I wanted to do something beyond merely news writing.<br />
<br />
Working for an NGO has been fulfilling, but also frustrating. The fulfilling part is seeing people who are now able to eat three times a day because of what you do, and writing about things like a community-built irrigation system. The frustrating part is the low salary and the fact that I still wasn't writing fiction.<br />
<br />
All that changed two years ago, when I finally decided to get an MFA. I started writing short stories late October 2010. In December of that same year, I started studying for the GRE. I took the GRE in April 2011. Come September, I started filling out applications for my dream schools. <br />
<br />
And then, the results started coming in this April and I failed. I was waitlisted to two US schools, but both waitlists closed. I've been accepted to two UK schools, but there's no funding. It would take me 20 years to pay off a loan to fund my tuition, so that's not an option.<br />
<br />
I've failed. But you know what? It's not the end of the world. I won't be going off to grad school this year, but I am adamant that I will succeed next year. I am deferring my entry into grad school for a year to look for funding. I'm reapplying to seven US schools.<br />
<br />
Also, it's important that I'm finally in a job that I love. It pays peanuts, but I love it anyway. I love going to rural areas and meeting new people. I love that I'm doing what I can to fight oppression. I love that I'm not too tired to write after I finish work.<br />
<br />
I've managed to start a daily routine of writing for at least an hour a day. It isn't much, but it makes me feel like a writer. I finished a short story last week that's going to go into my new portfolio for grad school. I think that after a few revisions, I'll finally be ready to submit my fiction to magazines and to enter it in contests.<br />
<br />
I also have a lot of things to look forward to this year, including trips to Nueva Ecija and Palawan, joining the UP Mountaineers, and a dear friend's wedding.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
So yes, I'm sad that I've failed, but I'll get over it. What failure has taught me is that talent is never enough. It takes discipline, hard work, and persistence (along with a bit of luck) to achieve your dreams.<br />
<br />
I know that this isn't the last time that I will fail at something big. I will probably fail many times in the future. But I also know that every time I falter, I can get up, dust myself off, and begin anew.<br />
<br />
What's failure going to teach me next? I'm ready.icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-67565208089980833402012-06-27T22:11:00.000+08:002012-06-30T19:55:18.011+08:00The Marriage Plot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"<img src="http://dailydropcap.com/images/T-7-cap.png" title="Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische" align="left" alt="T"/>here were some books that reached through the noise of life to grab you by the collar and speak only of the truest things."</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Jeffrey Eugenides's The Marriage Plot isn't one of them. But it does make you remember all of the books that you've ever loved. I have a special bookshelf in my room for such books -- they're protected by glass sliding doors.</p>
<p>I've read each book multiple times and I know many of my favorite lines by heart. The list includes Madeleine L'Engle's <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i>, Cynthia Voigt's <i>A Solitary Blue</i>, Zadie Smith's <i>On Beauty</i>, and many many other old, cherished friends.</p>
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<p>The Marriage Plot takes you back to college, when you were in love with books and ideas, and with life in general. It follows three people: Madeleine Hanna, self-avowed Victorianist and sheltered privileged girl, and her two suitors, the depressed Leonard Bankhead, and Mitchell Grammaticus, who's on a spiritual search.</p>
<p>Watching Madeleine fall in love with Barthes's <a href="http://massmediations.blogspot.com/2011/10/lovers-discourse.html">A Lover's Discourse</a>, reminds me why I fell in love with it too.</p>
<p>Madeleine has her books, while Mitchell has his quest for religious enlightenment. I like that of the three, he was the one whom "education had finally led...out into life".</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Leonard has his manic depression. It's interesting to see how Eugenides deals with this illness - sure, Leonard has a crappy family, but he also revels in feeling melancholy, until suddenly, he can no longer control it. Having friends and loved ones who are dealing with depression, it's helpful to understand what they might be going through. There's something to be said for the limits of empathy -- sometimes you can never really know how something feels like until you experience it for yourself.</p>
<p>Like Margaret Atwood's Moral Disorders, this books feels intensely personal. I can see Eugenides in all three characters.</p>
<p>The Marriage Plot is based on the premise that while the old Victorian novels ended happily with marriage, modern life (and plots) aren't quite as neat. This book deals with a marriage (I won't say to whom) and examines what happens after. The Marriage Plot even follows the division of novels into lengthy parts instead of chapters. It's yet another sign that the Internet has drastically shortened my attention span that I found myself impatient with this device. But Eugenides's wry insights and deft prose makes this book a rewarding read.</p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-60278172264960470732012-06-17T21:36:00.000+08:002012-06-20T10:54:32.328+08:00Swamplandia!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaF8Evpy-8Zuef4x9oqK5g3BIVXBawWmnUGaNZtSHFp5ZRFek5XcyP5a_NQsyYY7nHv8cNX4ZzWj3R48O1bbauE1WXDJ0hs9qkLGzk2OZTt79T3_-W5vM89SEmloyZuAGRPUs_BQ/s1600/swamplandia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaF8Evpy-8Zuef4x9oqK5g3BIVXBawWmnUGaNZtSHFp5ZRFek5XcyP5a_NQsyYY7nHv8cNX4ZzWj3R48O1bbauE1WXDJ0hs9qkLGzk2OZTt79T3_-W5vM89SEmloyZuAGRPUs_BQ/s320/swamplandia.jpg" /></a>
Karen Russell has a way with words. Swamplandia! is simile-heavy, but I don't mind, not when they're like this:
<blockquote>The ice-blond foreign couples yoked into thick black camera straps like teams of oxen</blockquote>
I fell in love with Russell's work after reading her first book of short stories, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.
<p>Swamplandia! initially seems to be tinged with the same magical realism as the title story in St. Lucy's...but in this book Russell carefully creates a myth, only to suddenly raise the curtain and show that illusion doesn't really exist.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I'm eagerly awaiting her next work.</p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-21436040801444498912012-05-31T21:30:00.000+08:002012-05-31T21:30:59.950+08:00Open Letters to the Filipino Artists<i>Emmanuel Lacaba</i>
<p>Invisible the mountain routes to strangers:<br>
For rushing toes an inch-wide strip on boulders<br>
And for the hand that's free a twig to grasp,<br>
Or else we headlong fall below to rocks<br>
And waterfalls of death so instant that<br>
Too soon they're red with skulls of carabaos.</p>
<p>But patient guides and teachers are the masses:<br>
Of forty mountains and a hundred rivers;<br>
Of plowing, planting, weeding, and the harvest;<br>
<b>And of a dozen dialects that dwarf<br>
This foreign tongue we write each other in<br>
Who must transcend our bourgeois origins.</b></p>
<p><i>South Cotabato<br>
May 1, 1975</i></p>
<center><b>II</b></center>
<p>You want to know, companions of my youth<br>
How much has changed the wild but shy young poet<br>
Forever writing last poem after last poem;<br>
You hear he's dark as earth, barefoot,<br>
A turban round his head, a bolo at his side,<br>
His ballpen blown up to a long-barreled gun:<br>
Deeper still the struggling change inside.</p>
<b><p>Like husks of coconut he tears away<br>
The billion layers of his selfishness.<br>
Or learns to cage his longing like the bird<br>
Of legend, fire, and song within his chest.<br>
</b>Now of consequence is his anemia<br>
From lack of sleep: no longer for Bohemia,<br>
The lumpen culturati, but for the people, yes.</p>
He mixes metaphors but values more<br>
A holographic and geometric memory<br>
For mountains: not because they are there<br>
But because the masses are there where<br>
Routes are jigsaw puzzles he must piece together.<br>
Though he has been called a brown Rimbaud,<br>
He is no bandit but a people's warrior.</p>
<p><i>South Cotabato and Davao del Norte</br>
November 1975</i></p>
<b><center>III</center></b>
<p><b>We are tribeless and all tribes are ours.<br>
We are homeless and all homes are ours.<br>
We are nameless and all names are ours.<br>
To the fascists we are the faceless enemy<br>
Who come like thieves in the night, angels of death:<br>
The ever moving, shining, secret eye of the storm.</b></p>
<p>The road less traveled by we've taken-<br>
And that has made all the difference:<br>
The barefoot army of the wilderness<br>
We all should be in time. Awakened, the masses are Messiah.<br>
Here among workers and peasants our lost<br>
Generation has found its true, its only home.</p>
<p><i>Davao del Norte<br>
January 1976</i></p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-25126135448490433712012-03-31T23:59:00.000+08:002012-03-31T23:59:19.743+08:00Winter Rose<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9keTyhQEtMxc1RdPye5kYaxZCb39PpCpcQPYw9iK_YKRLk1haSKNMUEEnL4QuC32hPrHUo5D5B_ZoPSBleQBm72yU1Ou3VxLGeGs1S_uo41QBJIa-PwbD1JcXvW-AyyF7U3SbYA/s1600/2000532395-200x200-0-0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9keTyhQEtMxc1RdPye5kYaxZCb39PpCpcQPYw9iK_YKRLk1haSKNMUEEnL4QuC32hPrHUo5D5B_ZoPSBleQBm72yU1Ou3VxLGeGs1S_uo41QBJIa-PwbD1JcXvW-AyyF7U3SbYA/s320/2000532395-200x200-0-0.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>I would only have give this book two stars if not for Patricia A. McKillip's lyrical prose.</p>
<p>I've been fascinated by the ballad of Tam Lin ever since I read the Perilous Gard. I'm slowly working my way through all of the retellings I know.</p>
<p>I would rate this book above Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock but below Perilous Gard.</p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-52728223174222926452012-03-29T22:17:00.000+08:002012-03-29T22:17:18.156+08:00Attachments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZdXaZDRL2R1vybrIsVZhq3y4z6UtKDnLcMm4CyJMHR71uLB7GMO2HItTTpOO-wYQVCuujp1-z8TpPV1zu6U6ddTjhB-CmtCcaiPmLFiOlrEq72A66SZ49Sd_9dajSAfIVefHtQ/s1600/attachments-rainbow-rowell-hardcover-cover-art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvZdXaZDRL2R1vybrIsVZhq3y4z6UtKDnLcMm4CyJMHR71uLB7GMO2HItTTpOO-wYQVCuujp1-z8TpPV1zu6U6ddTjhB-CmtCcaiPmLFiOlrEq72A66SZ49Sd_9dajSAfIVefHtQ/s320/attachments-rainbow-rowell-hardcover-cover-art.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>This is such a cute book.</p>
<p>The heroine(s) bitch to each other over email, and the hero is a lonely IT guy who gets caught up in their conversation.</p>
<p>It was so good that I couldn't put it down. I read it straight through.</p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-25880316660620732122012-03-29T22:13:00.001+08:002012-03-29T22:13:48.355+08:00We interrupt regular programming<p>To give you an update on my gradschool applications.</p>
<p>So far, it's going well. I've been accepted to one school (without any funding) and waitlisted at two others. The second waitlist letter arrived today.</p>
<p>I hope that by this time next year, I'll be in another place, writing.</p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-7126535894956725622012-03-20T20:28:00.001+08:002012-03-20T20:28:57.097+08:00Graceling and Fire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<p>Young adult books are my solace. Whenever the book I'm reading is dragging, or I just need a pick-me-up, I turn to YA.</p>
<p>YA also keeps me up at night. <a href="http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/">Kristin Cashore's</a> Graceling was so good that I stayed up until 1 a.m. to finish it, even though I had work the next day. Following in the tradition of kick-ass heroines, Katsa has a gift in killing. But that's not all she's got. I won't spoil the surprise, but Graceling was a lovely read.</p>
<p>Of course, I had to read the next book in the series, Fire. Now this one was even better. I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. the next day but I stayed up again until 1:30 reading it. Then I couldn't go to sleep, so of course I had to read it until I finished it. Sleep be damned. Fire is wondrous read because it deals with women and desire. Fire is a monster who is desired by all who see her. Kingdoms rise and fall because of this girl.</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJjpDQo9Fwy5ma4W2OCpqXhjx7Ij1CvAI4gAWd1N7VOYM7A5pEii9UqxWv5E18JoI9R1WToK1-MqJchAtiCpxZaJ3ADFyDG-yL_TdAytcEYb0bFfZACnT3mY4f1Xe6qQVqkzB-w/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="269" width="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJjpDQo9Fwy5ma4W2OCpqXhjx7Ij1CvAI4gAWd1N7VOYM7A5pEii9UqxWv5E18JoI9R1WToK1-MqJchAtiCpxZaJ3ADFyDG-yL_TdAytcEYb0bFfZACnT3mY4f1Xe6qQVqkzB-w/s320/images.jpeg" /></a></div>
<p>Fire was also an important reminder that you can't escape from the real world. I think that for the past six years, I've done a lot of reading to escape from something -- namely -- boredom at work. But the unsavory details -- rape, boredom, mediocrity -- they're all a part of life that you can't escape. You can only deal with them. Also, the characters in Fire are real. No one is infallible. I'm veering close to spoiler territory here, but let me just say that I was jolted to my senses by the revelation about one character.</p>
<p>So read YA to be comforted, but also to be awakened.</p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-87085066693620228352012-03-08T22:20:00.002+08:002012-03-08T22:45:33.929+08:00Jungle Planet and Other Stories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It can be jarring to read cutesy children's stories right after a sordid tale of an almost-sexual encounter. Lakambini Sitoy's Jungle Planet and Other Stories is a mishmash of stories in the Philippines. There are many common themes running through the stories in this collection -- loneliness, alienation and jealousy. It's an uneven read, but my favorite stories are the future fiction <i>Secret Notes on the Dead Star</i> and <i>The Vampire</i>.icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-2138997233953746662012-01-20T17:10:00.001+08:002012-02-03T21:07:17.589+08:00Housekeeping<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<p>How does one deal with the suicide of a loved one and other forms of sadness? Do you simply begin to unravel, until you are no longer normal? Or do you cling to normalcy, content to skate on a thin veneer of ice without looking beneath its depths?</p>
<p>These are some of the central questions to Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, which deals with the appearance of a mentally unstable aunt into the lives of two sisters.</p>
<p>Robinson's prose is like the lake at the edge of the town of Fingerbone, eternally changeable. Sometimes it is luminous, at other times it is so full of gravity that you can feel yourself sink into the depths of murky, fetid water.</p>
<blockquote>"...sometimes I think sorrow is a predatory thing because birds scream at dawn with a marvelous terror, and ther is, as I have said before, a deathly bitterness in the smell of ponds and ditches."</blockquote>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-38269308926410434342012-01-01T23:04:00.000+08:002012-01-01T23:09:23.786+08:00How I did with My 2011 ResolutionsHow did I do for 2011?
<p>This blog was revived partly to keep track of my goal to read one book a month. I'm proud to say that I did way more than that. Here's what I was able to achieve for 2011:</p>
<ul class="imglist">
<li>Continue taking a regular yoga class</li>
<li>Finish The Largest Pearl and write two other short stories for my portfolio</li> -I was able to write three more short stories: Malabon, Going Up, and Those That Live By the Gun.
<li>Write regularly</li>
<li>Join the Palanca Awards</li>
<li><b>Read at least one book a month</b></li> -33 books read in 2011, hurrah!
<li>Travel to somewhere I've never been</li> -Kalinga, Samar, and Moalboal, Cebu
<li>Get the best scores possible in both the TOEFL and GRE</li> -I got a 700 in Verbal, 640 in Quantitative and 4.5 in Analytical Writing. And I aced the TOEFL.
<li>Apply for an MFA in Creative Writing</li> -in process.
</ul>
What I haven't done will have to remain a secret, but I'm happy with what I've achieved. Now onto 2012!icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-57608441920261379162011-10-22T23:46:00.000+08:002011-10-22T23:54:39.988+08:00Three Times<p>So part of my New Year's resolutions was to watch two movies a month. Well good luck with that. When it gets down to the wire, and it's a choice between writing, reading, or catching a movie, writing wins hands down. Reading is a close second. And movies? Well let's just say that I haven't seen a lot of movies this year.</p>
<p>But it's good to watch one once in a while, if only to give your brain a couple of hours to stop whirring and just zone off.</p>
Notable movies that I've watched this year include:
<ul class="imglist">
<li>Babae sa Septic Tank</li>
<li>Zombadings</li>
<li>Buenas Noches, España</li> (which was so unbearable that I walked out after thirty minutes, a first for me. I never thought that I could actually walk out on a film.)
<li>Paprika</li> (Just last night. It's amazing.)
</ul>
<p>And now, Three Times, by acclaimed Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien. To be honest, I never understood why there was such a fuss about him. I watched Flight of the Red Balloon in college and found it boring. But Three Times is an interesting triptych.</p>
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<p>Three Times tells the story of two lovers in three eras: 1911, 1966, and 2005. The lovers, which are different characters in each era, are played by the ravishing Shu Qi* (loved her in So Close) and Chan Cheng (best known to Westerners as Zhang Zhiyi's lover in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but also to Wong Kar Wai fans for his roles in Happy Together and 2046). It is also an incisive mirror into each era: the couple in 1911 is (spoiler) an intrepid journalist and a courtesan. In 1966, they are a pool hall girl and a soldier. In 2005, they are disaffected youth.</p>
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<p>Hou Hsiao-Hsien's genius is that he is able to slow you down to his time. Viewers used to fast paced action movies and things <i>happening</i> may initially find the pace of Three Times to be extremely slow, but stick with it and it will reward you. At times, he is a little heavy-handed, like the ending line in the second narrative, A Time for Freedom. But the sweetness of the first story, A Time for Love, draws the viewer in like a frothy appetizer. At 36, Shu Qi is still believable as a young girl.</p>
<p>For viewers who don't mind slow films, Three Times is a good movie to watch.</p>
<p>*I just found out that her film career <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu_Qi">started</a> in Hong Kong's softcore porn industry. I don't care. I still love her.</p>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-7660807499786834952011-10-16T18:02:00.000+08:002011-10-16T21:41:42.374+08:00A Lover's Discourse<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/380994.A_Lover_s_Discourse" style="float: right; padding-left: 20px"><img alt="A Lover's Discourse: Fragments" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311994658m/380994.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/380994.A_Lover_s_Discourse">A Lover's Discourse: Fragments</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13084.Roland_Barthes">Roland Barthes</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/209235719">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is a powerful book.<br/><br/>Of all the philosophical graffiti written on the backs of bathroom doors when I was in college, my favorite was a simple survey: Are you in love or in love with the idea of love? Most people chose the latter.<br/><br/>Barthes tackles the depth and breadth of the idea of love, in all its agony and ecstasy. There are meditations on waiting, on jealousy, on how love at first sight is like rape. Barthes tackles the ideas of Werther, Nietzsche, Freud, and sprinkles the etymology of various Greek, French and Italian words for good measure. <br/><br/>Just read this:<br/><br/>This is how it happens sometimes, misery or joy engulfs me, without any particular tumult ensuing: nor any pathos: I am dissolved, not dismembered, I fall, I flow, I melt. Such thoughts grazed, touched, tested (the way you test the water with your foot) can recur.<br/>Nothing solemn about them.<br/>This is exactly what <em>gentleness</em> is. <br/><br/>I was bowled over by this book. It is something to read again and again, and to ponder.<br/>
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5312409-isa">View all my reviews</a>icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-45667057422721942462011-09-24T15:49:00.000+08:002011-09-25T00:15:15.317+08:00Selected Poems<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12656983-selected-poems" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Selected Poems" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316353338m/12656983.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12656983-selected-poems">Selected Poems</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4833386.Merlie_M_Alunan">Merlie M. Alunan</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/210226997">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I first encountered Merlie Alunan's work in college. Her poem, <em>Bringing the Dolls</em>, was simple enough for college students to analyze, yet something about it struck me.
<br/>
<br/>Selected Poems combines materials from two of Alunan's previously published collections, <em>Hearthstone, Sacred Tree</em> and <em>Dream Cycles</em>.
<br/>
<br/>For me, the standouts in this collection are <em>Emy</em> and <em>For Edith: Hearthstone, sacred tree</em> from Poems from Green Valley, <i>Nati-san</i>, <i>Hunger</i>, and <i>Addressing the Muse</i>. There's also an interesting Filipino translation of <em>Mandirigmang bundok ng Santa Catalina...</em> by Bien Lumbera.
<br/>
<br/>Alunan is at her best when writing about people, and how they interact with the unlikely, say a massive rock kept in the middle of one's kitchen. I wasn't drawn to most of the material that comprised Selected Poems, but the poems I've mentioned are definitely worth a glance.
<br/><br/>
icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-70204156912357720772011-08-22T18:47:00.000+08:002011-08-22T18:47:01.802+08:00Narito ang MasaNarito ang masa.<br />
Ang mga taong nakapila,<br />
Pinagpapawisan.<br />
Ang aleng Muslim na nagpapaypay<br />
Hanggang may umabot na maaliwalas<br />
Na hangin sa aking likod.<br />
<br />
Narito ang masa.<br />
Ang mga taong nagtatanong, ang mga<br />
taong nawawala. <br />
Ang lalaking bumili ng Skyflakes<br />
Pantawid gutom at nakaluhod<br />
Ngayon sa daan habang ngumangasab.<br />
<br />
Narito ang masa,<br />
Sabay-sabay na naghihintay.<br />
icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-32910396232176409302011-08-22T18:45:00.002+08:002011-08-23T15:38:17.974+08:00Books In BriefI've been reading too many books to bother writing about them, so briefly, here's a summary of what I've been reading:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihK5qgpdFSgwqNvkrPem5MFAmmkcqZ82gSGnHz7zTSwoDE5uwGQrSBZAzOWehgbvaCgjpaWvaWsadf1Umkb56LAI7_vUc2I1QfnE9X06EejS_O-GYRQiar3jMGgDOgnFXDQuR5PQ/s1600/penhenry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="180" width="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihK5qgpdFSgwqNvkrPem5MFAmmkcqZ82gSGnHz7zTSwoDE5uwGQrSBZAzOWehgbvaCgjpaWvaWsadf1Umkb56LAI7_vUc2I1QfnE9X06EejS_O-GYRQiar3jMGgDOgnFXDQuR5PQ/s200/penhenry.jpg" /></a></div><b>The Pen / O.Henry Prize Stories 2010</b><br />
<br />
Another Strand find. I've been reading more short stories while trying to write my own, so this was a good book for me to read. My favorites in this collection were Ted Sanders's <i>Obit</i> and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's <i>The Headstrong Historian</i>. But I probably learned the most from Preeta Samarasan's <i>Birch Memorial</i>.<br />
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<br />
<b>Pnin</b> by Vladimir Nabokov<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT_xMG8jK3o7ZREO8sLTFA_1lwjWFhhyQZdYW75V8P5Zdpyj37H94OA9YvJTPaP6-go6HtdLEv363OvN6Mwp7LAgXWJbUQkfgbqlavI0PxG8pA6ZFVg0Q67cEJVjJoJqT6fHH3Q/s1600/1969-avon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="189" width="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT_xMG8jK3o7ZREO8sLTFA_1lwjWFhhyQZdYW75V8P5Zdpyj37H94OA9YvJTPaP6-go6HtdLEv363OvN6Mwp7LAgXWJbUQkfgbqlavI0PxG8pA6ZFVg0Q67cEJVjJoJqT6fHH3Q/s200/1969-avon.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I bought this book because it appeared on the list of books that Zadie Smith once assigned to her class. It started off slow, but it got good towards the middle. I whiled away an afternoon in a barangay captain's house in Masbate finishing this book. And yes, I lost track of my surroundings. It was that good.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>A Game of Thrones</b> by George R.R. Martin<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOo8L1gbHhFUWLIDUb9vrIFTFsNjScFbbRbX61R1p1r22L_EAfvS_yydh6qhpSMew4VSuyh-0kMqdaAPfS3wVNL1knCFOyMSZ_AasEwYgyBnATGMcJ6K439MdaXyV0mDiSthQtVA/s1600/A-Game-Of-Thrones-by-George-RR-Martin-182x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:center; float:center; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOo8L1gbHhFUWLIDUb9vrIFTFsNjScFbbRbX61R1p1r22L_EAfvS_yydh6qhpSMew4VSuyh-0kMqdaAPfS3wVNL1knCFOyMSZ_AasEwYgyBnATGMcJ6K439MdaXyV0mDiSthQtVA/s200/A-Game-Of-Thrones-by-George-RR-Martin-182x300.jpg" /></a></div>I wouldn't have tried to re-read this book if I hadn't seen the compelling trailer for the first episode of the TV series. I'm glad that I did. My sister was trying to get me to read this a long time ago. I flipped to a random page and found it boring. What was I thinking? Game of Thrones is a fantasy novel that pays attention to the nuances -- the contrast in the attire of a lord and his men, the humor in a dwarf almost being spurred into a battle charge but deciding against it. Its vision of Westeros is grim, gritty and utterly real. I'm going to keep on reading the series, although I'm in a bit of book fatigue three-fourths through the second book in the series, A Clash of Kings. Sometimes it gets annoying how Martin keeps on shifting POVs. I skimmed all five books just to find out what happened to Arya. <br />
icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-15875628868286899262011-08-02T21:09:00.001+08:002011-08-11T15:11:50.188+08:00The Middleman and Other Stories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7WWEi2q8th4q87foMteLXpJ54Muvfy85OVo_So3hA86Or-1d93jGXpW88EloPZLaQFaFR1PgL91Y2YOS4tOHJBO1udG-200E75BO_EBOcLSclLl7nDvdARWzNSGeuhKRw4EjKw/s1600/The-Middleman_7519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7WWEi2q8th4q87foMteLXpJ54Muvfy85OVo_So3hA86Or-1d93jGXpW88EloPZLaQFaFR1PgL91Y2YOS4tOHJBO1udG-200E75BO_EBOcLSclLl7nDvdARWzNSGeuhKRw4EjKw/s200/The-Middleman_7519.jpg" /></a></div>After being profoundly affected by Bharati Mukherjee's short story 'The Management of Grief', I didn't hesitate to snap up this book when I saw it at The Strand for 49 cents.<br />
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I shouldn't have bothered. The Management of Grief, which comes at the very end, was the only story that I truly liked. The rest of the book was filled with stories about crass characters, which I guess is a success of sorts as Mukherjee deliberately set out to portray her characters in an unflattering light. But reading about a dissolute Vietnam vet, a user-friendly Filipina, and an exploited Trinidadian, among others, didn't satisfy me.<br />
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icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-26867833972578420682011-07-27T16:37:00.001+08:002011-08-11T15:11:20.975+08:001602<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmgW0rtw4xPQB94Yfuowz_YyfWcrwrjBDuGIF8c1MAcIGdV50jgdv-5gEpF5g629gSOgojY0OwV4E20_6aUCGslB0p-HPc__4e_lIi3E1gVc73zT578WcQLXVGhyphenhyphenQW-otbV3_lA/s1600/wpid-NeilGaiman1602-2011-02-20-14-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:center; float:center;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="159" width="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrmgW0rtw4xPQB94Yfuowz_YyfWcrwrjBDuGIF8c1MAcIGdV50jgdv-5gEpF5g629gSOgojY0OwV4E20_6aUCGslB0p-HPc__4e_lIi3E1gVc73zT578WcQLXVGhyphenhyphenQW-otbV3_lA/s200/wpid-NeilGaiman1602-2011-02-20-14-26.jpg" /></a></div>Neil Gaiman's particular specialty is putting a new twist onto familiar characters. In the case of 1602, the Marvel canon of characters is transported into Elizabethan England.<br />
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It was a fast read and it was a good read. I've loved Neverwhere, and liked American Gods and a couple of his short stories (namely A Study in Emerald and The Truth is a Cave in the Mountains). I also once stood for hours in line to hear him read. I didn't quite make it to having my book signed. Oh, and I constantly check his <a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/">blog</a>. <br />
icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-11256534520482102332011-07-17T18:20:00.001+08:002011-08-11T15:10:39.396+08:00Rose Daughter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvex2fLycGWV7lsOKvhstE9SHCCZAkTpcHmH8mov7uxoKVnlI6yeTwEZYCGFSHffxJRIjF-dCtEZlrfxDmm9qsUMwSChkKpmuXou0plZdwD6-DpSltXsy7l9GIObXmomM3hupKQ/s1600/rosedaughter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvex2fLycGWV7lsOKvhstE9SHCCZAkTpcHmH8mov7uxoKVnlI6yeTwEZYCGFSHffxJRIjF-dCtEZlrfxDmm9qsUMwSChkKpmuXou0plZdwD6-DpSltXsy7l9GIObXmomM3hupKQ/s200/rosedaughter.jpg" /></a></div>Rose Daughter is an entirely different book from Beauty. It's a testament to Robin McKinley's range that she could write two vastly different books based on the same tale.<br />
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icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-66624939779597465562011-07-17T18:14:00.001+08:002011-08-11T15:10:09.826+08:00In the Woods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-H_E0r-DEoxU-4htruuaONvcgGYngoym3LTcrrjh2SgZaxPXHJOifrV8_WrQgUTtn3OlNV4205i8QR2zcOiPAGJ2lrJ_5zOzbTO3i4b5h4YSV0XcNaqrNrhWOo1xGXrrHtRNyJA/s1600/coverbig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-H_E0r-DEoxU-4htruuaONvcgGYngoym3LTcrrjh2SgZaxPXHJOifrV8_WrQgUTtn3OlNV4205i8QR2zcOiPAGJ2lrJ_5zOzbTO3i4b5h4YSV0XcNaqrNrhWOo1xGXrrHtRNyJA/s200/coverbig.jpg" /></a></div>I liked Faithful Place better, but that's just me. In the Woods is more grim, but the whodunit is also harder to solve. <br />
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icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17482756.post-5882683861093993652011-07-17T18:10:00.001+08:002011-08-11T15:09:42.964+08:00Sisterhood Everlasting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbuvjbthP2zPLCwyIuwUKoI2MZKetWz8o5-3wivhjHozZE1Myjacj6xDYdTjLXkQ7-p9KHn1WtOMbkkuRlDRO_D4DrDP7OplTSEc5g3agJzLL_C_luDJ2psyF89ujjZWX6Wi7FA/s1600/sisterhood-everlasting_210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbuvjbthP2zPLCwyIuwUKoI2MZKetWz8o5-3wivhjHozZE1Myjacj6xDYdTjLXkQ7-p9KHn1WtOMbkkuRlDRO_D4DrDP7OplTSEc5g3agJzLL_C_luDJ2psyF89ujjZWX6Wi7FA/s200/sisterhood-everlasting_210.jpg" /></a></div>I admit it: I read this book for one reason - to find out what happened to Lena and Kostos. Sisterhood Everlasting doesn't disappoint, but it didn't fulfill all of my expectations either. If you've read the four previous books, you'll have a good time going back to the world of the Septembers. If you haven't, you might want to give this one a pass.<br />
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icehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05440440042851194543noreply@blogger.com0