Homecoming

It’s been a long while since my last post – got side tracked by reading comics. I guess I stopped reading books for almost a year but I had a couple of long trips last February and March. I couldn’t possibly lug my comics around so I picked up. I have had Orson’s Scott Cards Homecoming series for a couple of years now. I thought the five volumes would keep me company waiting in airports and coping with jetlag.

Whew. Human nature is scary. Card is very good in highlighting what is good in people but I think he deeply believes in the human capacity to hate. His saga told of what happened to a human colony in another planet after 40 million years and to the mega computer built to ensure that humanity survives. The assumption is that humans – without intervention – will kill each other off eventually. The computer ensured (through mind control – humans were genetically bred to be psychically sensitive to the suggestions of the computer) that humans would not develop technology that would facilitate mass transport and projectiles because these would lead towards mass destruction. If there were no means to transport an army and if they only had arrows and swords, wars would be localized - mankind would survive.

To support this theory, his story focused much on the relationship of half-brothers. Of how Elemak the first born hated his younger brother Nefai who was chosen by the mega computer (the Oversoul) to lead the expedition that would take them back to Earth (which after 40 million years have had time to recover from man made destruction). Elemaks’s hate was overpowering (it made me hate him too) that when they did get to Earth it caused centuries of war between their descendants.

The end of the series was hopeful – non-discrimination and respect for others different from you – were upheld but what stuck with me was that someone could rationalize hatred and convince others to hate to.

Maybe we are doomed.

At least hindi Wuthering Heights

Sorry, Dodo! Hehe!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Well at least I'm not a villain

Your Score: Audrey Hanson

You scored 45 Idealism, 33 Nonconformity, 41 Nerdiness

Well, statistically speaking, law enforcement attracts a certain kind of male personality.
Congratulaions, you're Audrey! You're a practical hard-worker with a sassy sense of humor. You have a good amount of vunerability behind your tough exterior, but you're still FBI material.

Your best quality: Attitude
Your worst quality: Attitude

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Me, me, me

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Soundtrack of my Life

I've been very busy lately and I welcomed Thor's "exercise." Kala ko madali.... di pala.

If you were to create the sountrack of your life, this would be the song playing when you are...

Lonely Or Down: Magnetic Field’s 100,000 fireflies "I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me." Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide "I'm getting older too." Jackson Browne’s Sky blue and black "I could never see how you doubted me when I’d let go of your hand." Beautiful South’s Hold on to what? Schadenfreude!

In Love: Beth Orton, Someone’s Daughter "I wanna know how it feels to be the sunlight in your hair dancing everywhere." Dido’s White Flag "I will go down with this ship." – a war cry. Heh!

Fighting With Your Significant Other: Aimee Mann’s Momentum. "Even when it’s approaching touture, I’ve got my routine."

Having Sex: Jewel’s Jupiter ALA AKO MAISIP! I don't notice whatever's playing anyway...

Nursing A Broken Heart: Tori Amos’ Hey Jupiter "Nothing's been the same" and Mary Lou Lord’s cover of Magnetic Field’sI don’t want to get over you. Also, Dixie Chick’s Tonight, the heartache’s on me – catty and vindictive yet blue. Pefect for a broken heart.

In Need of Cheering Up: Emm Gryner’s Northern Holiday "I'm gonna drink and forget that you let me go." Kirsty MacColl’s In these shoes? Sugarfree’s Alinlangan – "Huwag ka nang matakot sa lungkot" - sigh.

About To Embark On A Road Trip: I daydream of driving with the The Reivers’ playing - particularly Almost Home. But I don’t know how to drive and no car…

Sunbathing On A Tropical Beach: No Doubt’s Undernearth it all and a healthy dose of Bob Marley’s classics.

Feeling Groggy And Need To Wake Up: Liz Phair’s Big tall man and Extraordinary. Supergodess! Rooney’s I’m Shakin’ and Dubstar’s It’s clear.

Feeling Suicidal: Jose Marie Chan – I would jump off a building than listen to more than one song. My brother and I dumped our mother’s Jose Marie Chan’s Christmas album in the trash – she was looking for it and we innocently said we didn’t know where it was.

Angry, Very Angry: Hole’s Violet. Tori Amos’s Precious things – "I want to smash their faces" very cathartic.

Singing At The Videoke Bar: Madonna’s Crazy for you. Avril Lavigne’s Complicated.

Dancing By Yourself In Your Room: I have to agree with Dodo: "Dancing With Myself. Billy Idol. There can be only one." – Dodo Dayao

Singing, Dancing And Drunk Off Your Ass: The B-52s – anything.

Playing Air Guitar: Nothing ambitious – it was always the Breeder’s Cannonball - I dream of playing the mean rhythm.

Chilling On A Rainy Afternoon: Beth Orton’s I wish I never saw the sunshine. Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams. Ricki Lee Jone’s Beat Angels. Aimee Mann’s High on Sunday 51. Hay.... Lungkot-lungkutan.

Reminiscing About High School: Fra Lipo Lippi’s Everytime I see you, REM’s The one I love, Redrocker’s China, Gene Loves Jezebel’s Desire, The Alarm’s Absolute reality, Duran Duran’s Wild boys, Spandau Ballet’s Gold, and Debbie Gibson’s Electric Youth!

Reminiscing About College: I spent 70% of my free time hanging out at our college student council playing guitar with the gang –our professors often came by to remind us that we have a class… These were our pretty eclectic favorites: Edie Brickell and the New Bohemian’s Ghost of a dog, 10,000 Maniac’s Like the weather, REM’s Stand, America’s Sister golden hair, Neil Young’s Hey, hey, my, my (into the black), Buklod’s Buhay at bukid, Eraserheads’ Pare Ko, Joey Ayala’s Agila and yes, Bon Jovi’s I’ll be there for you.

Getting Married: If ever there’s a change of plans…. The Postal Service’s Brand new colony. Tori Amos’ Sorta Fairy Tale.

JLA: the TRUTH shall make you FRET

JLA: Golden Perfect
writer Joe Kelly and artists Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen

I don't usually read JLA - I don't know - maybe because I grew up with Xmen. A friend lent me some of his JLA comics and graphic novels. I read Golden Perfect first. The JLA found a woman who was from a "hidden" city - the city "held" her son hostage. He was chosen as the next successor to being the king of the land, the king directly gets power from the earth and maintains the splendor of their city and way of life.

The JLA rushed to the city to rescue the child and they were faced with a dilemma - it was true that the boy's fate was tied to the land - the city would be destroyed if the true ruler renounced his calling but then again a mother and a child must never be separated. Wonder Woman believed that the the former was a lie - even after she used the lasso (which was supposed to force whoever is tied down by it to tell the truth) to determine the truth. This broke the lasso (which was supposed to be unbreakable). Wonder Woman was supposed to be the guardian of Truth and because she denied the truth and the lasso broken, reality began to unravel - truth became relative to the perception of the people. Thus, the Earth became the center of the Universe, it became flat, Superman because very buff, Batman began to disappear because most people thought he was an urban legend, and so on...

I was always irritated when the JLA mentions they uphold truth, freedom, and the American way. ARGH! It's like they're the only ones who believe in that! But in Golden Perfect, the writers explored the possibility that the League became imperialistic when they forced their beliefs and principles, their standards of what is right and wrong on a culture and independent and free country. I expected that Wonder Woman would be the one to be all high and mighty and init ulo - and to see her fall from her high horse, admit she was wrong and was open to compromise was good to see.

I was surprized to find that I liked Plastic Man - yes, he was a welcome comic relief!

A war story

Christopher Golden
Strangewood

Christopher Golden wrote a few of the best Buffy the Vampire Slayer books: Wisdom of War, Monster Island, Spike and Dru, etc. Writing novels based on TV shows with cult and rabid following is hard because the target audience knows the characters by heart, they know how they talk, think, move, decide, hate, and love. This is doubly hard with Buffy - a series where each character has a different way of speaking, of using words and inventing words. Golden got all of the characters in Buffy in most of his books. Though after reading "Wisdom of War" a friend said that she never thought that Buffy was so cynical. He also wrote for Star Trek, Xmen, Hellboy, and Battlestar Gallactica. My kinda geek writer!

I didn't have high expectations for Strangewood - I bought it because it was only P50 at National Cubao. I read it immediately because it was the only book I had with me on the ride home. As with the Buffy novels, I couldn't put it down - unless I had to - which was often because of what people tell me is important to do - work. I also thought that this was a fantasy novel for young adults because most of his books were for kids or teen-agers.

Anyway, Strangewood is an alternate dimension/reality that Thomas and his son Nathan could go too - like Oz, Narnia and Stephen King and Peter Straub's Talisman and Black House. Strangewood's more like the latter - when in the fantasy world, Thomas and Nathan are catatonic or comatose in our world. Though the creatures in Strangewood are as fantastical and weird as in Oz (like Peanut Butter General - a man covered in - well, yes, peanut butter and Jackal Lantern, a jackal with a pumpkin head) they swear like characters in a Tarantino movie. Wow, a no holds barred fantasy novel! No goodie-goodie character who was forced by circumstances to do evil. The kontrabidas just found a excuse to hurt, maim, and murder. The creatures in Strangewood kidnapped Thomas' son because they blamed him for the ruin and destruction of Strangewood - a world that Thomas partially created. Not everyone in Strangewood agreed with this, those who thought it was wrong to kidnap, threaten, hurt, and kill waited for Thomas to return so that they could help him rescue his son. It was war and Golden told a perfect war story.

Endsong

X-men Phoenix - Endsong
Greg Pak and Greg Land

One of the earliest memories I have with my brother and father is reading X-men comics – particularly how Jean Grey transformed into the Phoenix. I remember having a big box in which I would pretend to be my space ship and I’d imagine I was Jean Grey trying to pilot the shuttle back to the Earth’s atmosphere while being bombarded by radiation. Then I would emerge from the box as --- it would have been cool if I continued to pretend that I was Phoenix but by then I got bored and probably played another game.

Cut to 27 years later – more or less – and here I am still fixated on comics. I do not have an extensive collection because there were times when I didn’t have the money to buy any or my interests were on something else. But I now have the re-issue of the Dark Phoenix Saga and I was looking for X-men desktop wallpapers. I came across wallpapers about the Pheonix Endsong – it was a 5-part X-men saga by Greg Pak and illustrated by Greg Land released early this year. I bought the hardbound premiere edition two weeks ago and I just finished reading it. The illustrations were awesome – they were “realistic” enough to make you feel that you’re watching a movie. The story drew heavily from the events of the Dark Phoenix Saga – how the Phoenix (a force of nature that brings life and death – its power come from stars) took over Jean Grey and she caused the death of 5 billion people and she had to die or cause more deaths.

In Endsong, the Phoenix was brought back by the survivors of the people the Dark Phoenix destroyed to exact revenge. The force came back to Earth trying to find something that it couldn’t name and homed in to the Scott Summers of the X-men who was already in a relationship with Emma Frost (the White Queen – a former villain). The Phoenix resurrected Jean Grey (the panels on the resurrection was reminiscent of Buffy being resurrected by Willow and the rest of the Scobbies) – then the drama began. There’s were two love triangles: Jean-Scott-Emma and Logan-Jean-Scott - a perfect mix for a cry-fest for me. Yes, iyakin ako - at the last 6 pages I was really trying hard to keep my tears from falling into the comic book and messing it up! A yosi-break and a drink of water helped.

Though it was supposed to be the Phoenix’s Endsong – the writer left hints of a “sequel.” Some people have problems with the seemingly endless sequels but I personally would don’t mind – the possibility of another good story will keep me happy.