sounds like father and son are having a playful time next door. they sound so cute a family. too bad they're just pet haters. i pity the boy. he would learn more in life like being nurturing and responsible if they allowed him to keep pets. not to mention mas lalakas ang resistensya nya. oh well, c'est la vie, as they say. as for me, i'm still getting a puppy, pet lover or no pet lover. no doubt about that.
well, i really didn't open this blog to just write about that. i wanted to write about yesterday morning, actually. i was at the ccp to be a panelist for their monthly SINING TAKTAKAN gathering. before, it used to be SINENG TAKTAKAN but ccp's resident bohemian ed cabagnot wanted to discuss more than movies. kaya ayan. i was there because the topic was "may 'wenta pa ba ang pinoy 'wento at tula" which basically discussed the current state of philippine literature. of all the people in the world to be there with me, it had to be two people from my, well, let's just say "literary past" hehe. richie and paolo. and then this dude angelo, the current poet prodigy of the time, from UST. well, gelo's actually cool, but he's nearly bordering on the weird-genius line, actually. and it's very refreshing to talk to someone like that again, actually. gives me hope that the young generation is not entirely lost in between AMERICAN IDOL and the sex bomb dancers. hell, we just discussed what he did for his thesis: a linguistics-approach Roman Jakobson-framed analysis of those jeepney stickers, man (as in, "basta driver, sweet lover" and "god know hudas not pay"). the kid tried to study the poetics of those stickers, man. di ba? who thinks like that these days???? i'm impressed. sorry kung mababaw ito for some, ahem, academicians i know out there, but i'm impressed. truli.
oh well. paolo and richie were, hmm, okay. you could say we're okay, too, eventually, as the day unfolded. so i guess that earns me like, 10 karma coins for effort, no? hihi. long story, ask me offline. :P
as tf, we also earned 1500 pesos worth of gift certificates sa ccp gift shop so we all splurged it na. sayang e, saka kasi rare na mapunta ako to that side of the city so might as well buy everythang. akala ko 1k lang pero gulat ko nung 1500 pala. sayang at bumili pa ko ng kaamulan before the show. i coulda used the gc pala for that hehe. but it was a good buy, still. so i also bought yung uyayi cd ni chinchin na i wanted to buy dati pa. ito actually yung hiningi kong monita exchange nung xmas party pero alaws eh. dito lang kasi 'ata sa ccp available. and hey, it's worth it. ganda. haven't seen the vcd yet pero the music is good. kinda replaces the chinchin behind the scenes memories i have of her years ago, when she was our actress in premiere and hech and i were just giggling to death as we watch her ... act. haha. in fairness, mabait siya offsceen. well, those were the days. may future ang lola sa singing, pramis. kakatuwa. pero mas gusto ko pa rin yung version ni carol sa pagkanta ng sa ugoy ng duyan when she sang that at conspi dati with joey ayala strumming.
anyway, kaya pala kami ang guest panel (na lahat talaga kami ay nagtaka) is because ed wanted to have young blood daw, young writers chuva. i kinda felt left out there, to tell you the truth, kasi all of them already have their first books published. sabagay, poets sila, and poetry seems to be easily published here than fiction collections. i just don't know why. so okay lang naman kahit papaano.
it was a good session. we were videotaped because they will be condensing it to vcds later for school distribution. it was also audio recorded for soundbytes purposes for an upcoming ccp radio show eklat deal daw sa dzrh. and then the transcriptions -- with all the details of "chuva" and "fuck" words in it hehe -- will be put on the ccp website. ayos.
sayang lang walang masyadong tao. the pr people didn't get to do much inviting yata e. walang school na sumipot. hm. well, may mga 10-12 random people naman na pumunta doon at oks na rin. finally met sid hildawa who works there pala. nice guy, kinda like a cross between our dear conconista papa ned jologs trespeces and that nice bi dude carlo who used to be indi's co-workshopper sa davao-turned-los baños UP workshop. met amadis ma. guerrero din who writes for pdi pero fictionist pala siya. hm, i didn't know that. hm, is he gonna write an article about the session kaya? well, we'll see.
so what were our conclusions and findings? well, philippine literature is still alive and well, but there is still that 'literature panic" that exists among those outside the literary loop. as in, there's this wall we all have to break. lots of people want to be creative writers pero nabibinbin. sa pinoywriters egroup na lang eh. pero mas marami pa ring influences nila/namin/natin na foreign, no thanks or thanks to globalization, depends on your stand. grabe, even in a literary discussion, lumalabas sa ilong ko ang NGOspeak sabi nga ni len, things like globalization, homogenization of culture, cultural diveristy chenelyn. wow naiko-connect ko na ang mga ito sa ibang mundo ko a. hm, that must mean i'm really getting the hang of these stuff here at my isis work, or that may connection lang talaga ang lahat sa buhay, is all. or nasosobrahan na k sa kakabasa ng stuff na ito hahaha. pero not too many people are reading pa rin in general, at least reading filipiniana stuff simply because they are required to read, not inspired by pure choice kaya nagre-rebel. age old finding anyway.
ako, i said kelangan natin ng flexibility as writers. if the internet helps in spreading the word, then go. paolo named a few efforts who does that, likhaan online, yung website ni ian casocot, ganun. pero when it came to mentioning high chair, abah, parang slight nag-balk ang lolo teeheehee...hm, i wonder why... ching! haha.
saka isa pa, they see as literature being always in the alternative world/mode. sabi ko, kelangan din itong i-mainstream kasi what's the purpose of writing kung wala masyado nakakabasa? richie said literature could be marketed in a way, make literature cool or something para ma-cover ng mainstream media. we all agree. we can also slightly bend the rules. sabi nga ni ed, kung "artiste" lang tayo, should we just leave the marketing and pr side of things to others? i don't think so. like yun palang booklaunch ni richie was sponsored by johnny walker just because her theme was similiar to the company's. like sid's water anthology na binili daw ng manila water ba yun as gifts? now that's being flexible, saka crossing over. hindi na nga dapat nananatili sa powerbooks at national at sa bad marketing arms ng publishing houses and buhay ng libro e. dapat may sarili na ring pagkana ang writers. i think this is true. pero not to the point naman na you just write for the sake of being promoted by some private company/sector chuva. oh well. si ed naman, sabi niya, he needs someone to goad him to write ba, like a lover na mangungulit sa kanya to write na mapipilitan daw siya, not really a patron although he said he wouldn't mind that heehee. yun bang magsasabi daw sa kanya ng 'sige, we will fly to paris for one month but you have to finish three chapters of your book first' or something to that effect. haha yeah, come to think of it, i need someone like that, too, in my life hahaha. someone who'll goad and inspire me at the same time. hm, not a bad idea, ed my man! i should borrow that! :p
ano pa ba? hm... well, should we be scared daw ba by media and new technology? not really. use these to our advantage dapat. isa pa, writing sa regions is still a problem din. sid said we should also remember translations kasi yan ang magbibigay ng extra wings for our works to fly. look at other asian writers. tama nga naman, ano? kaya parang gusto ko na tuloy simulan yung iniisip kong local showbiz novel dati pa, kaya lang in english, it's not working too well. as a bilingual writer, i shouldn't be bothered by language nga naman pala, like sid reminded us. kasi there will always be translations. hmmmmm... things that make you go hmmm..... ayus!
so okay, on we write pa rin. that pet project novel i got at the backburner looks ideal right now. tagalugin nga lang, kasi hindi ko rin maka-capture ang essence ng local showbiz talaga if i write that in english. after all, language is a major player in showbiz ano, lalo na ditich sa atin, anek? truli ka jan!
kewl.
write on, dude.
o sige, back to some work muna. yeah, even if i'm actually here at home doing this, i need to work din. the call to work is always there anyway when i sit in front of the computer, kaya ayun... saka the sinus has cleared up for now, thanks to more sleep earlier and liquids, bignay tea na malapit nang maubos shyet kelangan na bumili ulit, decolgen no drowse, saka vitamin c, and the power of pei pa koa. :) mamya punta ko palengke to buy citrus fruits kasi yun pala ang wala na ko. hm. di bale malapit lang naman from here.
ciao.
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