Additional Brain Cells to Understand Men

The Male Brain by Louann Brizendine

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"I believe that learning about the male brain can help men and women feel more intimacy, compassion, and appreciation for each other."

And it really helps you - on how to deal with adventurous boys, of hormonal-driven teens, of sexually-driven young men and or compassionate-yet-problem-solver dads.

It was a series of visits to the writer, and as she puts along her sentiments and her anecdotes, and her researches, she was able to narrate the genetics and the chemicals and all those scientific blah-blahs that makes the men tick.

I get bored with some of the stories, but hey, it was informative.



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That Hole, Up In The Mountain

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it you've got to stand it.”

And that, my friends, is how people have dreams. The hole that will never be filled may linger for years. It will haunt you. It will be part of your system. It will eat your resolve.

Brokeback mountain is a short Wyoming cowboy story. But this is not just a story of two cowboys who herded sheep, but also a prose of their love and of their unfortunate ways to keep its warmth. At first you may get bored on the setting and their mundane tasks, but as you go along, you start to feel whatever they felt when they became close. You started to feel their frustration, their fears, and their hope to make their plans work.

But as the story end, you cannot just help them. Because that open space will never be filled by anyone, it can be only done by the one.



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Manga Perspective of Hiroshima

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms by Fumiyo Kouno

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"May you grow as strong and as gentle as the sakura tree."

In this simple author's note at the end of the manga, she was able to portray the lives of the people years after the World War. In this simplistic pastel colors and 1980's style of art, she was able to convey the message of hope and its absence to people, as well as how the Japanese were recovering from the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

I may not understand other references like the baseball, the pop song and the radio show, but in one panel it tugged my heart to cry and appreciate the peace that we possess today.

This book gave me a reminder to be grateful for I never have to re-experience their pain to achieve the state of peace we have today.



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Fleeting and Eternal

The Voices of a Distant Star -Hoshi no Koe - by Makoto Shinkai

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"We are both here, because we're destined to meet again."

Makoto Shinkai became also known as a good movie maker since the time this was put into the big screen. But in this take, together with mangaka Mizu Sahara, the characters portrayed the melancholic emotions and able the reader to symphathized with these two old friends, Noboru and Mikako.

The manga leave the readers a hint of hope, instead of thinking of them as star-crossed lovers, they gave a room to imagine the next panels - what will happen to the rescue mission, and those look of longings when the 25-year-old Noboru meets the 16-year-old Mikako.

After all, they may be lovers separated by time and space, but they are fated to meet at one point in their wandering lives.



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The Picture Book of Break Up Stories

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m not something anyone should know. I’m a lunatic wandering around for scraps, I’m like every single miserable moron I’ve scorned and
pretended I didn’t recognize.

This is what you get for falling for that person too much. You tend to romanticize things, letting yourself drift to the feels of the drama we call love. Aaah, for us to be young and to be in love.

In the picture book, we see the different snippets and facets of Min and Ed's story of togetherness. But sadly, like all other sad stories, we have to face this loneliness. One may feel a sort of relieved after reading this, or one may feel a sort of jaded for it captured a moment of defeat.

But always remember that for every darkness, there is light. For one cannot move along with life without experiencing a life event, may it be a break up story or a happy ending - of which both will bear a significant meaning.



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Small Dose of Fitzgerald

Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"I am the exception that proves no rules, the limits of your control, the condiment in the dish of life."

The book is pretty straight-forward and simple, arching the idea of Alcohol abuse as the central theme of the three following short stories: Babylon Revisited, Cut-glass Bowl, and The Lost Decade. The first short story is inspired by the author's true story of gaining custody of her daughter over the latter's aunt. After reading the collections did I know that Fitzgerald suffered this kind of episode at one point of his life.

In addition, this also seen the bitter reality of the year where the Great Depression started. It may lack development, or the transition from the Golden Years, but the stories, no matter how concise, depicted the frustrations of its people suffering from this hardship, emanating the sentiments of how fast The American Boom went by.

Try these short reads - you will know why F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered a classic, and a required read to American students.



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Immoral Yet Alluring

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.

If there is a book that made me mad but let me learn to love the dark side of a man, it is this book. It made me see the other side of things, to make me somehow understand a man who did something bad. So for the last quarter of 2013 - I fell in love with the words, but know that I am mad of what he did.

In here, I learned to hate the deed, but not the person. After all, in life, there should be no prejudice, but moral principles.



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Rescue Cinema: Films for a Cause

I am not much of a movie buff, and I do not call myself as a hardcore movie goer. I don't even know some of the independent films in this country - the latest of which I participated was for this year, when this barista friend invited me to go and watch "films with substance" in the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

That date is another story though, but I can note one filmmaker my bookish friend introduced me to - Alvin Yapan - the director behind the film Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa, which we both recognized as a work of art.

Dalawang Kaliwang Paa is an independent film premiered at 2011 Cinemalaya Film Festival starring Paulo Avelino, Rocco Nacino and Jean Garcia; directed by Alvin Yapan and produced by Alem Ang, of which the two latter are Filipino Professors in different Universities. The tale of subtlety, of feminist poetry and of LGBT-ish epic, the film have had its encore premiere in the Basement U-view Cinema of Fully Booked High Street, as part of the Caritas Manila's advocacy to support the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Fully Booked, Caritas Manila and Seventh Films created a film festival featuring a roster of independent films for people who wished to watch for free, and to donate (in any amount they can) to support the advocacy.

And with that, I watched the film for the first time - and IT WAS, really, A WORK OF ART.

I cannot elaborate much on the film, or give a justified review. What I remembered as an audience is this "Kinukumutan ka ng aking titig" - an opening of a poem by Ruth Mabanglo - and just like that, Mam Karen simply enunciated the opening sequence of a movie goer, fully focused to what is the central plot or what will happen to these characters.

Every minute in the film is fleeting, you see characters speaking, but singing or dancing in the way they move. Combined with powerful literature and music, the movie is so interesting that you want to play it on an infinite repeat. It won't let you rest, it will let you keep on feeling that feels of after reading an interesting poem, or singing the last tunes of an intimate song... 

Yet at the end, it left you hanging.

As I see the young man in gold makeup shed a tear, I was to assume the ending, but I can't. Or I want another twist, but I can't. I simply cannot continue to what Vim Yapan established. At the end of the day, we wanted simply that - left that hanging, leaving the resolution to every audience's imagination.

It was a worthwhile watch. And knowing that you are able to help by simply watching these quality movies, it gave me a feel-good-Friday. :)

I hope that in the future - there will be these film showings that would not only give quality flicks, but also be able to influence the people around us. Kudos for the people behind this drive for a successful event! 

The Help: Books for a Cause

Information Dissemination Duties: as member of the Pinoy Reads Pinoy Books in goodreads who advocates spreading the joy of reading to Filipinos all over the world, I am advertising our drive.

You may go to our facebook page and choose from the donated books that we have, we have a huge array of selections and other prized collections. You may also go to our website to directly communicate with the online administrator and moderators of our online group.

 

The proceeds will go to the victims of the Super Typhoon Yolanda, and we are very hopeful to reach all of them, especially to those localities that are less focused by media and by worldwide organizations. 

[Apologies for the late post / advertisement; but I hope I can be of help inasmuch as I can; even with this simple blog post. Still, kudos to Biena and to all members who pioneered this project!]

False Reco?

I believe there are no false recommendations in a good read. Yes, a recommendation is subjective in nature, but there are some books that are excellent for some people, while for others... you just MEH about it.

Anyways, I bought this book during a sale in Powerbooks Greenbelt, at the same date that I got my powerbooks membership card~ I got curious about the author because of the recommendations from friends to read his work On the Road, which is also a film available via torrents (haha!). Since On the Road is not on sale, I thought that I may try his other works. The story is poignant, the blurb says. 

So:

RECO + SALE + POIGNANT = SOLD!

Ella was sold to the idea that this maybe part of her matronic reads.

The book was stuck in my office locker for weeks due to many stuff needed to be done... but I finally found the time to fast read over the weekend in my favorite spot - the famous Starbucks drive-thru, Bonifacio Global City. 

"You have to put up with life." -page45

It consisted of more than 40 chapters! And it was about a teenager who fell in love with an Irish lady named Maggie Cassidy. It gives you a background of the events during the 1939's America - the time of Depression, of cotton mills - and of, not exactly western, but countryside setting.

Actually, knowing that this is a love story - I was looking for the poignant parts to where it would give you some fanservice - or maybe the "matronic element" that would bring the reader to the tears. Unluckily, I found none. A facebook friend says that this is an anti-reader... maybe because it will add up to your reading slump, or might make you feel bored. 

For me, I JUST FELT MEH. Like eating a tasteless cake. I wonder why.

But I told you from the start, there is no false recommendation. What we all have is our own personal take to the books we read. 

You might have a different take in Kerouac's craft, but in the meantime, ingest this:

No. Sorry. I am looking for that redeeming point in the novel. But the tone of the story is so dragging and... JUST. NO.