Sedaris and Kureishi

The transport strike is ostensibly over--at least for today. There are people stranded in the streets.

But what I'm more concerned of is that classes have been suspended--and we lose one very crucial day in the tailend of the academic year. The last day of classes is Tuesday next week, after that is the mandatory break that comes with the remembrance of the Holy Week. Then students have to come back for exams and the submission of papers. Before we can do that, there's still a few things to discuss.

Today we were supposed to take up an essay by David Sedaris, "Remembering My Childhood in the Continent of Africa." Instead of doing it in class, we'll do an online discussion. To be supplemented by a live, in class one when we see each other later this week. I left my books in my office in the university, but that doesn't stop me from reading up on the author and the text. Time Magazine has ten questions for Sedaris. Sedaris writes a lot about his childhood and his family, and Time asks him whether his family opposes being written about. He says quite the contrary--they like appearing in his stories.

Tell that to Hanif Kureishi's sister, who told his brother through an interview with The Independent to "keep [her] out of his fiction."

Outlaws

Outlaws 2
Originally uploaded by xkg

Received e-mail from editor Sarge Lacuesta that my short story "Outlaws" came out in the Philippines Free Press this week. Grab a copy of the 23 February 2008 issue, the one with Jun Lozada on the cover.

Overrated?

Bookride.com notes that a copy of the first US edition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude goes for a minimum of $500. Solitude also consistently appears in every must-read list of books. When I get visitors in my office, they instantly check my shelves and get disappointed not to find a copy there. Solitude is also almost single-handedly credited for turning on the spotlight on Latin American literature, or particularly creating the brand of Latin Am. lit known as "Magic Realism."

However, Jonathan Bate of the Sunday Telegraph notes that Solitude may as well be one of the most overrated books ever:

The book is so in love with its own cleverness that it is profoundly unreadable. It is generally credited with inaugurating the genre of "magic realism" novels which combine the matter-of-fact narrative style of conventional realistic fiction with fantastic nonsense such as levitation and alchemy. García Márquez is at his most characteristic when a woman ascends to heaven whilst hanging her washing out on the line. Other ingredients of magic realism include gypsies, tarts with hearts, dwarves, tricksters and a cast so large and confusing that you need a family tree to keep track of the plot. Márquez and his followers are sophisticated urban intellectuals who feign reverence for the simple wisdom of peasants. Myth, fairytale and folklore are wonderful things in themselves, but it is preposterous to imagine that mingling them with domestic mundanity will somehow puncture the bourgeois complacency of our time.

He goes on to tell the readers that Solitude opened the territory for Salman Rushdie and Angela Carter and the intentionally epic-scale storytelling that they are noted for.

So is Solitude really overrated?

Herbal Hodgepodge

Apartment Therapy's Re-Nest section shows us how to set up an indoor herb garden.

I've been hunting for a good pot of sweet basil, but all I've found are wilted ones in the corners of supermarkets. Once found a healthy pot in Market Market's garden section, but the stall owner wasn't there so had to let it go. Basil with tomatoes and some olive oil and pasta is sweet sweet heaven. And I'd put in a bunch of rosemary too. Rosemary is good with chicken. Still hoping to find some one of these days.

Found via Lifehacker. Their version seems more affordable and simpler.

Basil seeds

Surprise
Originally uploaded by xkg

We seriously had no idea what this drink was when we picked it off the menu of a Thai restaurant. We went to Ikea on a Sunday afternoon, and of course the cafe was full of screaming children and their parents. Our solution was to hike off to the nearest mall--plenty of those to choose from. We were hungry and just wanted to eat.

When this drink arrived, A and I were curious what the floating dark bits were. They were gelatinous but had a crunch to it. I thought at first they were dragonfruit seeds. We just drank all of it without a thought and went back to the monster's lair.

Today, just found out that those tiny bits were actually Thai basil seeds, and were frequently used in drinks especially in South Asia. In some places it's called falooda.



Other websites refer to it as nam manglak.



Although I have to say that the one we had is closer to falooda instead of nam manglak. Pretty interesting drink though. Makes me think of tadpoles.

Nom nom nom

Nom nom nom
Originally uploaded by xkg

Valentines? What's that?

My salt and pepper shaker set
gets all the action these days. Hahaha.

tina winnie

tina winnie
Originally uploaded by xkg

Speaking of lolas, I just realized that Tina Turner reminds me so much of Mareng Winnie Monsod of "Debate" fame. It must be the fierceness common to both women. Saka yung neck motions. They could have been sisters.

Bee and Tee

Most of the pre-Grammys press centered on whether Amy Winehouse would get a visa in time for the big night. She didn't. But she did win five of the six Grammys she was nominated for and everyone went 'huh?' and scratched their heads when Album of the Year went to Herb Hancock's tribute to Joni Mitchell.

But for me, the real highlight of the event was the Beyonce and Tina Turner number. I liked the intro, where Beyonce with her chair and two backup dancers rattled off all the female singers who influenced her from Donna Summer to Whitney Houston. You can watch the awesome intro routine here. (Note: This clip does not include Cher's intro to Beyonce, which you can see in the full vid.)

But as she said, the biggest momma of them all was Tina Turner.



Of course she had to sing "What's Love Got to Do with It." Then she called "Miss Beyonce" to join her onstage and they did a "nice and rough" version of "Proud Mary." (Roughly at 05:17 of the vid.)



I don't know that many women who are nearly 70 who can still rock it as hard as Tina Turner. She had to get out of a comfortable retirement in Europe for this. She wore a tight silver outfit, too. But if you would look closely at the video, at around 08:28, you can see Lola Tina's face change. It looks like Beyonce stepped on her feet. Ouch! You can see her wincing, and even in the last part of the performance, when they were bowing, Tina Turner was kicking her right foot. It must have hurt. Si Beyonce talaga, di na naawa sa Lola. Ang meaty pa naman niya. Look at those thighs. Hahaha. Buti na lang matibay ang lola.

Invasion of the Killer Jellyfish

Paul Eccleston in the Telegraph UK tells us that jellyfish are born predators. They are [a] "perfect toxin-loaded killing machine, there is no creature on earth that can dispatch a human being so easily or so quickly." If they wrap part of their tentacles around you, you have 180 seconds to live. Jellyfish have four brains, are very competitive, have 24 eyes which ensures 360 degree visibility, and carry more poison than necessary. Plus the damn things are resillient: some farmers in Japan thought of killing the jellyfish by chopping them up. Turned out to be the wrong move to make--the males produced more sperm and females carried more babies. In times of stress, jellyfish make sure that they would survive and procreate more.

We know jellyfish are dangerous, and they've caused bizaare things in the past, like swarming in geothermal plants that caused power supplies to trip all over Luzon. If we manage to stay away from them, then no problem. But overfishing the seas means no food for them, forcing their population to explode (remember, in times of stress, procreate!) and to move inwards. The jellyfish decided that since we've taken their fish, they must follow it ashore. It's all weird but the scientists studied the behavioral patterns of jellyfish, even put tracking devices on them, and there you go. Unless we do something about this, it's bound to cause trouble.

We know that jellyfish hang out in the shallow waters, because it's easier to hunt their prey that way. So to avoid jellyfish attacks, wear red. It's not an absolute deterrent, but the scientists have observed that jellyfish ploughed through black and white colored poles in the water, but completely stayed away from the red ones.

Project Runway

If you watch Project Runway and want to preserve the drama, don't read. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The local cable channels have yet to show Project Runway Season 4 later this month and honestly, I can't wait that long. So started trolling the net for episodes since last week and was lucky enough to watch all the episodes from parselforce in YouTube.

Just finished watching episode 10, where Ricky finally gets the boot. He really should have been kicked out way before. And the surprise is that he doesn't even tear up now that it's needed. Oh well.

New York Fashion Week is all but over, and the spoilers are starting to trickle in on the net.Traditionally, three designers show at Bryant Park. Last season, they had four. I think there's more than that this season. I'm really curious what PR has in store. But with the sneak peeks floating around, there is no cohesion in those collections. Seriously. And to think that early in the season, the judges and Tim Gunn were confident that this batch is the most talented yet. I'm starting to think that maybe they should not have kicked out Victorya Hong who, by the way, had her own show at Bryant Park. Gah.