Hello, God, ikaw ba yan?

Yun ang frequent na tanong ng mga sangkatutak na taong tumatawag sa isang babaeng glassmaker na taga-Florida mula nung magbukas ang pelikulang Bruce Almighty sa Tate last week. Madalas kasi na ang mga telephone numbers na ginagamit sa mga pelikula at tv show na Kano ay sa 555 nagsisimula. Pero sa pagkakataong ito, isang ordinaryong 7-digit phone number ang iniiwan ni God sa pager ni Bruce. At dala ng curiosity ng mga tao kung totoo ngang makakausap nila ang Diyos sa numerong iyon, tinesting nila. Ikaw ba naman ang makakuha ng 20 tawag per ora sa cellphone mo, at di naman para sa iyo ang mga tawag, di ka kaya mainis? Sabi ng glassmaker, baka idemanda niya ang Universal--I don't think kakayanin niyang idemanda si God.

Sidenote: Naalala ko tuloy ang "One of Us" ni Joan Osborne. Si Pope tawag ng tawag kay God, eh baka mali rin yung phone number na dina-dial niya. Wala lang. Yung tiyahin ko kasi walang magawa kahapon at kumakanta ng awiting iyan sa karaoke, off key pa.

link mula sa morning news

So I suppose I'm not the only one who wants to write a "Dear Wachowski Brothers: You suck" letter. They're trying too hard to be like George Lucas, and it's bad enough to be George Lucas circa Phantom Menace. Yes, the Matrix is already a pretentious movie to begin with, but when it goes overboard, god you want to reach for the plug and pull it off Morpheus. I didn't write a letter, I wrote a half-assed review for a half-baked movie.

Sige, ipaalam mo na lang sa amin kung kailan ka luluwas ng Maynila. Siyangapala, ayaw mo ba talagang siputin si Roco sa graduation? Para makapagpa-kodak ka kasama niya. Magsuot ka rin ng bulaklaking polo sa ilalim ng toga mo. Hehehe.

May classes pa rin naman sa AC kaya baka pwede pa rin akong maki-Mang Jimmy's. Dapat nga magsoSocio na lang ako sa LB e. Mas convenient, mukhang mas OK.. Pero may point kayo sa usapang Kris at Nathan. Hehe

Saw this article in New York Times about how more students in writing programs are getting first dibs at publishing and a shot at Hollywood. Seems like ang mecca ng Creative Writing programs ay ang Iowa Writers Workshop, Stanford at sa University of California at Irvine. Hmm..nakaka-derail ha. Napapa-isip tuloy ako whether I should still go Media Studies or balik-CW na lang ako. At heto pa: most of the students opt to have books published (like Alice Sebold of Lovely Bones), next ang magsulat ng screenplays. (Si David Benioff wrote the novel "The 25th Hour" which Spike Lee turned into a movie.)

But no one wants to write for television. Lumalabas ang pagka-elitist ng mga tao. Of course tv is masa, what can I say. Ang sabi pa ng isang CW director: "We are living under the shadow of Hollywood." Dun daw, pag nag-dinner ang mga estudyante, imbes na mga nobela ang pag-usapan, puro movies. Natatakot daw sila kasi Hollywood is luring away all the good minds. Naalala ko tuloy si Holden Caulfield and his disdain that his brother sold out to Hollywood. Pag nagpelikula or tv ka ba, tainted ka na?

Pero karamihan na sa mga estudyante ngayon, they read less, and watch more. Pag nagtanong ka ng "Have you read this book?" Ang sagot sa iyo ay "I've seen the movie." Pag nagsusulat na ang mga tao ngayon, they keep thinking about how this would look on film. Sabi nga ni Paul Schrader, who wrote and directed "American Gigolo" and "Affliction" (adapted from Russell Banks's novel), and also wrote movies like "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull," said more literature was being written "to be film-friendly."

"When I was a student, the writer Robert Coover said the goal should be to write a novel that cannot be adapted to film," he said. "I doubt any student aspires to that today. I suppose these writing programs now resemble film school, a mad cancer putting out more and more people. I was once asked to run the film school at Columbia, and I said I wanted to winnow people out. The school said: `You can't do that. We make money for the university.' Writing programs are doing the same thing."

But like it or not, creative writing programs have become forces on the literary landscape. As Mr. Wolff said: "Most writers of my generation didn't pass through one of these programs, and as a young writer I certainly looked askance at them. And, yes, many universities treat them as cash cows, which I find repulsive. Somehow a huge number of people believe the myth that they'll get into a top program, and it will change their lives forever. I've taught at Columbia, and there's a huge tension in the room where there are a few students with a $30,000-a-year fellowship, and the rest of the room is paying $30,000."

"But at the same time," he added, "it has struck me that it's the best time I've ever known to be a young writer. There has always been a myth that first books are in hard times. But today all acquisition editors are looking for something new and put an outsized value on the new. The best programs provide an ideal apprenticeship for young writers."

Hoy Jol, this post is partly my response dun sa survey question mo. "Are you happy with what the CW program has given you?" Naisip ko lang, bakit di kaya sila magkaroon ng parang double major na lang na integrated ang literature/writing at film school? End of the world na ba ang suggestion ko?

Honga, malulungkot kami pag umalis ka. Paano na ang chismisan n'yan. Nga pala, si Kris Aquino may article sa New York Times. I'll link it na lang next time kasi nasa internet cafe lang ako. My computer died last Wednesday so feeling lost ako. Kaya heto, doing my gruntwork in a place that slugs me by the hour.

Ikamusta mo na lang ako kay Cardinal Sin, Astrid. Pag nagretire na ba siya will we see less of him?

dennis, lilipat ka ba talaga sa los banos. malulungkot kami. hikbi hikbi. paano na tayo mag-mamang jimmy's nyan? paano natin pag chi-chimisan si nathan? paano natin mapagchi-chimisan si kris aquino? haaay! sige na nga, magpakataba ka na lang sa espasol at buko pie. yayain mo kami para magswimming sa hot spirngs ng laguna. haaay!

gastos gastos gastos

Sabi sa article sa New York Times, isa sa mga pangunahing pinagkakagastusan ng mga taga-NYC ay karne. They can't leave without their meat and dairy. Japorms din sila lagi, spending more on clothes pero less on transporation. Siyempre, para sulit ang japorms kailangang rumampa. Saka mahal ang renta ng bahay eh, so kailangang magcompensate. Sa Boston naman, cigars ang number one constant ng expenses list. Parang gusto ko namang tumira sa San Francisco, kung saan ang mga libro at alcohol ang pinakapagkakagastusan. Sa Maynila kaya, ano? Call and text card?

Paglaki ko gusto kong maging...er ano nga ba?

According dito sa article na lumabas sa Chicago Tribune, mayroon na ngayong isa pang unnamed stage after adolescence at adulthood. Kung noon, pagkatapos mag-aral, nagtrabaho ka, nagpakasal at financially independent na, adult ka na. A hundred years ago, you jump from childhood to adulthood. Walang transi-transition. Basta the baby is now a lady. Parang si Juliet Capulet. Trese pa lang yata, pinilit nang ipakasal ng tatay niya. But now we are experiencing an extended adolescence. Ganito raw kasi iyon:

Confirming the suspicions of parents everywhere, a new study proposes that many twentysomethings are in an extended adolescence and may not become full adults until they reach their mid-20s or even later.

The study, released Thursday by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago and funded by the MacArthur Foundation, looked at seven common milestones of adulthood--from completing school to financial independence to marriage and children.

When the sociologists asked people at what age those milestones should be reached, they found those expectations have shifted older in recent years.

For example, the average person expects someone to be able to support a family by age 24.5 and to marry by age 25.7--significantly older than the days when it was more common for couples to wed immediately after high school or college.

"Fewer Americans today have achieved these milestones of adulthood than their parents' generation," said study author Tom Smith. "On average, they are about a half-decade behind. They are showing less adult behavior, they are not married, they are dating, they are not raising kids and they are out on the singles scene. It's a new kind of maturity."

Ang rason daw para dito ay ang ekonomiya. Habang tumatagal, we need to prepare more and more for the so-called "real world." We spend more time studying. Dati high skul lang, okay na. Ngayon nag-college ka na, di ka pa rin makakuha ng trabaho. So punta sa grad skul para mag-MA. Pero ganun pa rin. Our society is becoming more and more compartmentalized. You major in more specific fields hanggang sa magkandalito ka na kung ano na nga ba talaga ang gusto mong maging paglaki mo. May mga kilala ako na trenta na hindi pa alam ang gagawin sa buhay. Walang trabaho, ni di matapos ang MA, tambay lang at flirt all around. I don't know if this is bad, dahil it seems like walang direction ang buhay. Pero ang sabi din naman, kaya tayo mas laid back dahil we know what is expected of us, and that we can opt not to fulfill that option. Labo no? Sino ba nakaka-alam ng checklist ng signs of adulthood na yan?

bog-li? log-bi?

Akala ko yung una ang sinabi mo. Hehehe. I don't know about that, pero nabasa ko nga rin na ang Romans ang nag-imbento ng excess. Kung may favorite sin siguro sila, mangunguna ang lust and gluttony. Iyong mga nakuhang bowl sa ancient Rome, ang primary purpose ay para may masukahan sila pag di na kaya kumain pero trip pa rin. O di ba, fashionable ang eating disorder sa kanila. Do as the Romans do ba? Wag na lang din. Kaya nga I'll take Greece any other day. Teka, di ba ikaw ang diyos ng pagme-merrymaking o Dionysio?

Planong manlibre ni Arlyn sa Mang Jimmy's sa Friday. Game ba tayo dun? Bring your own lababo de bulimia ha.

Musta? Sa Gresya dati, mas okay kapag mas mabilog nang kaunti. Kapag sinabing maganda ang kurba, ibig sabihin bilbil yun! Katuwa lang, mga Romans pa siguro ang iimbento ng bulimia. Wala lang.

dahil diyosa ako [ehem, ehem]



Hindi ko alam kung nagkataon lang or matagal nang plano, pero mayroong exhibit tungkol sa Arcadian/ancient Greek Fashion sa Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Goddesses" presents a couture version of Arcadia, late-18th-century Europe's sanitized re-creation of a Greece that never was. Gamboling Graces. Primavera. One hundred and forty variations on the theme of nymphs wrapped in gauze. That's the harmonious and sisterly conceit.

Sa Hum II class ko dati, ang sinasabi ng prof ko, ang idea ng beauty sa Greece ise all about symmetry. Ang beautiful nose is centered sa isang oval face na may high forehead. Ang head ay 1/6 ng buong body. Or something like that. Ang pinakasimple ang pinakamaganda. Wala nang etsebureche. At bakit hindi eh ang average life span lang pala ng Greeks noon ay 32 years. Thirty two! Tipong teenager ka pa lang may midlife crisis ka na. Saka you will die beautiful because 32 is still quite young, at least compared sa life span ngayon.