Love Team: Love Letters from a Broken World by Alan NavarraMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Forgive me for telling this, but I believe Love Team was made to relive some of the author's vibes and his immersion in the underground indie life in Makati; way back when B-side collective was alive (and kicking) with Pinoy grunge and fliptop battles, way back before I Belong To The Zoo gets the GenZ with hugot songs, way back before Never Not Love You got glorified with a different diaspora trope. You have a feeling that he knows he isn't the teenage trashtalker in Girl Trouble anymore, because the edgy-ness and passion of the youth slowly dissipated in creating other works like Dumot, Sacada, and Lord Pls. I have a feeling that somehow, he wants to bring out that same angst and emo-phase again, although this time around, with a mature tone of a ripped-jean millenial — thirty(+something), flirty, and still surviving.
I have been there. B-side. Before Alphaland grabbed that little community and patch of land in Malugay and attempt to build a condo floating in Makati flood brought about by the poor drainage system (and high proximity to Pasig River). I felt the vibe of indie scenes, way back before Autotelic was offered by Warner Music, way back before Loonie became petite-famous in fliptop with his Tao Lang single. I also went bar-hopping: Saguijo, 20-20 (or XX/XX, depending on your social class at that night), and as far as 19-East and other mala-Gerry's grill in Alabang. And somehow, these moments, together with the reels and memes in @shoppinglibertad, encapsulates the gritty and grimy freelancing life of Jackson de Jesus and his Trashbox Confessional.
When I started reading the excerpts in his social media account @shoppinglibertad, it feels like a soft-launch of sorts. He wants to bring back the old glory days of Sev's café and the wonders of Words Anonymous, way back before Juan Miguel Severo got cancelled on twitter. Ngl, there are really lull and meh moments, and I don't know if this is intentional, especially on the second part of the book when he was doing a podcast with that girl who seemed to be typecasted as an INFP with septum earings, purple-streak on her bangs and cat's eye style of make up. Some of the spoken word seem to be a dull work, or maybe you get bored because you were really focused on the subliminal banters between the exes rather than the content of his poetry (of Jackson's or Alan's, whoever you were thinking while reading it).
In totality, Alan never ceased to circle back to the main thesis of his works: Kung paano ang bawat manlilikha ay nagpapakaalipin sa sistemang nagagawa ng pera.
Sir Alan, personal message po: (view spoiler)
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