a lucky find

December 18, 2007

 

i was idling my time away last sunday (i was waiting for the traffic to clear so i could go home in relative peace), so i stopped at Booksale to browse among the items there. after 15 minutes i grew bored and was about to leave when i glanced at a corner and saw this book.

it doesn't look impressive i grant you that, but for some reason it beckoned to me. so i opened a few pages, and to my surprise i actually chuckled loudly before i even finished a page. this rarely happens to me, so i jumped a few pages and was promptly beguiled by several pages of illustrations inside — no they weren't particularly good or even eye-catching. it's just that the caricaturish way the figures (bad spelling and all) were drawn blended well with the humorous way that the author has laid out the story.

How to Train Your Dragon is presented as a translation (originally in old Norse, according to its playfully imaginative author, Cressida Cowell) of the memoirs of a famous Viking chieftain, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III – specifically on how he progressed from being an undersized but sensible warrior wanna-be to a still-undersized but moderately acceptable Viking hero by training his own undersized, unremarkable and ornery dragon (which he calls Toothless – go figure).

This book is basically for male juveniles but grown-ups with overdeveloped sense of humor will also appreciate the concept and the humor (both slapstick and implied) interlaced in almost every situation that the author can think of.

with names like Hiccup (son of the chieftain of the tribe of the Hairy Hooligans), Thuggory (his counterpart in the Meathead tribe), Gobber the Belch, Snotface Snotlout, Dosgbreath the Duhbrain, etc. for your characters, how can you go wrong? anyway, if you're looking for mindless fun and are fond of Viking culture, How to Train Your Dragon is right up your alley. enjoy (P120.00).

 

Search for Topic

December 5, 2007

sometimes in an effort to be both interesting and informative, we tend to go overboard by latching on things that we can't even discuss or describe with sense and coherence. with determined obstinacy, we soldier on… thinking that if we try hard, we can actually write a couple things about a subject, then perfume the whole thing with splashes of inane details and maybe insert some pictures for variation.

that is, until sheer exhaustion sets in, or worse still a creeping lack of interest. and if you're lucky maybe you'll even wake up and admit that your heart wasn't really set on it anyway.

so we often end up sighing in disgust and doing nothing at all.

as good old shakespeare would say:

…
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

sigh. sometimes, it's enough to make you want to hang up your pen for good.

 

fun with notebooks and stickers

November 26, 2007

i have this quirky habit of buying notebooks and keeping them for years for no reason at all (i just liked 'em). one day while i was walking through some stalls in a christmas tyangge sale and i saw these stacks of stickers. the stickers, which were mostly based on popular cartoon and anime creatures as well as well-known characters from video games, struck me as cute. then suddenly a bulb lit up in my mind.

without much ado, i bought 8 stacks of these stickers and when i got home i took out my notebooks.

i always had this vague idea that someday — if i had the time — i'd be filling these notebooks with stories that have lain dormant in my mind, so i thought "wouldn't it be nice if i could create a make-believe photo album for this character in my mind, and then make these scenes come alive by inserting stickers and putting labels under/beside them?" it would be like having my own illustrated book, except that it will feature my own stories.

the notion seemed silly at first, but after a few minutes i decided to do the whole thing.

the first few pages were a hit-and-miss affair, but eventually i got better (see some samples below). aside from the stickers and the notebooks, i also used a sign pen, a couple of technical pens (0.1 and 0.3 staedtler or rotring tech pens will do) and a pair of scissors to trim some of the stickers into more appropriate sizes and shapes

don't get me wrong. it be can challenging and frustrating at times (not to mention a bit too heavy on the pocket when you're on a tight budget). i had to tear up and re-do a lot of pages during my first attempts, but the important thing was that i had fun and i enjoyed the acitivity. right now, i'm more than halfway through on my fourth notebook. the story is still ongoing (it's a work in progress) but i like the idea of translating my ideas — which would have ended up as a half-formed, hazy thought before eventually fading into oblivion — into something i can take out and look at anytime i want.

more on this later.

a couple of poems that made me smile

September 14, 2007

here are a couple or poems which made me grin inspite myself. i noticed them particularly because i can relate to them. i'm posting them here to remind me that i don't really have to work that hard to express my inadequacy. these poems say it all…
 

 

Ode To The Dandelions (or Why I Shouldn't Cut The Grass)
by Nancy Ness

 

 

The sun shines high: the rain's gone by.
It's Dandelion Day.
From fertile spawn my plush green lawn
Is mottled yellow spray.

The neighbors' round, all cutting down
Their blades and flowers gay -
Now green they've got, a common lot,
While mine's in vast array.

Why should I mow these lovelies low,
Defying Sunshine's ray?
To bring them down the sun might frown,
And turn blue sky to gray.

I'll let their seeds fallow new weeds
And mow another day.
Resplay they should, the neighborhood.
The Dandelions stay 

 

 

Manic Muse
by Veronica Ann Cech

My muse is dead, just up and died.
Never left a note, never said goodbye.
I cajole her and beg her and still she sleeps.
My creative flair, a prisoner she keeps.

I bang my head, and bite my nails.
And still no creative tales.
So at long last I give up the fight,
Turn off the PC, and say goodnight.

And just as my body drifts off to sleep,
I hear this annoying little "peep"
I tell her . . . "No, go away . . .
I called and called for you all day! "

But the "peeps" persist and grow louder still
Until from my slumber I am drawn against my will.
So here I sit in the middle of the night,
Gleaning a strange comfort from the monitor's light.

And wait and wait for my muse to speak,
But all I get is that annoying "peep!"
You might find me one early morn , passed on , gone to my Lord,
And all because my muse was bored! 
 

 

welcome, antoinette

July 27, 2007

 

the latest addition to our family made her presence known last june 13, 2007. after years and years of getting used to the idea of seeing the last of our line in my lifetime, you can just imagine how this news jolted me. it was an unexpected but welcome blessing.

 

actually when my brother told us about his wife's pregnancy a few months ago my first reaction was a mixture of shock and disbelief. for a time i refused to let my mind dwell on it. honestly, i wasn't quite sure about how i felt (our parents, in contrast, couldn't contain their joy). me, an aunt?

but now that the event has overtaken us all i can't help but feel glad and relieved.

welcome to the world antoinette. may your path towards self-realization be warmed and enlightened by the love of your parents and those who treasure your presence.