Eat Slugs, Malfoy!

(Screw this! I've been drafting this blog since last week with the intention of posting one entry per day starting Thursday last week! Please excuse the lack of structure and coherency. :p)

I’m going to use Harry Potter again as an excuse to blog. Ahem.

So. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is finally, FINALLY here. I’ve already made the reservations and will be watching with Mark and Jen on Thursday. In the meantime, I will post my personal ranking of the seven HP books.

I’ve always wanted to do this ranking, but don't know how to start. I don’t want to sound like a trying hard critic judging the literary merits of the books, because I’m not. I don’t want to give the impression that I like one book better than the other, because I love all the books that make up the HP series, warts and all. Also, by ranking them, I feel that I’d be looking at the books as separate and stand-alone novels instead of parts of an over-arcing storyline.

Anyway, my basis for ranking the books are as follows:

• The actual physical condition of the book – I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read each book so I can’t honestly say which book I’ve read more. While the books' wear and tear look may not be an accurate basis (the older books are more battered than the newer ones, plus the paperback editions will definitely show more cracks than the hardbound editions), I feel I can safely rely on this indicator;
• Quotes – I tend to quote HP a lot. Of course, I tend to quote the lines that are most memorable to me.
• Emotional Impact – each book affected me in various ways. Two of the books in my top three were the books that I had the insane urge to chuck the first time I read it.

This is not the most scientific nor unbiased ranking ever, I'm telling you. I’m pretty sure anyone who've read this blog can guess which book is my top one. I’d be happy to hear what you think my top three will be! This is my personal ranking and you’re free to comment/react on my reasons. As usual spoiler alert to those who have been living under the rock not yet read the books.

"Fame's a fickle friend, Harry. Celebrity is as celebrity does, remember that."
- Professor Gilderoy Lockhart

"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"
- Tom Marvolo Riddle

"Oh Potter, you rotter, oh what have you done,
You're killing off students, you think it's good fun - "
- Peeves the Poltergeist


#7: HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (Book 2)

My paperback CoS is, relatively, in pristine condition – but only because it was my second copy already! I lost my original paperback in heaven knows where, which is too bad because it was a gift. Nevertheless, I’m still quite sure I’ve not read CoS as much as the others. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy CoS as much.

The book's plot structure is very similar to the first book: we follow Harry through his second year at Hogwarts, while trying to solve a few mysteries. In this case, there's a creature roaming around school targeting Muggleborns and Squibs; a creature, legend has it, that came from the Chamber of Secrets. Harry is somehow connected, especially upon learning he has a magical ability considered to be a form of dark magic.

CoS introduced us to one Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. I think it was briefly implied in the Sorcerer’s Stone that the DADA post might be cursed, but in Lockhart’s case, I guess it’s not so much as the post being cursed as much as Lockhart being such an awful teacher. I love how they established Lockhart as this vain, famous, celebrity-like wizard who’s trying to give advice to Harry on how to handle his popularity (while at the same time resenting how Harry, despite not wanting the attention, is still loads more popular than he is). On the surface, Lockhart seemed like a good wizard with above average magic skills, or so the books he wrote stated. Then we get to the misadventures with the pixies (“Peskipiksi Pesternomi!”), the dueling club and the manner by which he conducts class - and you know something is amiss. Sure enough, Lockhart's more than a self-absorbed prick. What he lacked in magical skills, he made up for his cunning. JKR is good at writing morally gray characters, and Lockhart, though more of a comic relief than an actual villain, was just as gray.

Then there’s Lucius Malfoy, the magnificent bastard that he was. There’s also Dobby, who I pitied but who also annoyed me with his plans to keep Harry from Hogwarts. Not only did his plans failed, but his plans also produced disastrous results. Dobby took a level in badass later on in the book and in the series, and of course, his death in DH was one of the most heart-wrenching scenes written.

I only realize this recently, but it was in CoS that Harry learned the Disarming spell, Expelliarmus, which became his sort of signature move. And guess who taught him that, albeit unwittingly? Severus Snape, is who!

The main plot of CoS had little to do with the series’ overall story arc. Yet I love the foreshadowings in the book that played a major part later in the series. I love how the book retained the storytelling elements of Sorcerer's Stone that made me an HP fan: mysteries to be solved, tricky red herrings, plot twists that I never saw coming. I love how Harry became more confident the more he learns and yet still felt in awe to be in the presence of magic. I love that so much because I know it’s the same sort of reaction I’d have if I’m in Harry’s place!

I ranked CoS at number 7 because of the acromantulas. God, I hate spiders, especially GIANT spiders! Okay, I’m half kidding. As I said, CoS didn’t add much to the story arc as the other books did. While Riddle’s diary is important in terms of it being a Horcrux, Harry could have found out about it in other ways without the need to set up the whole opening of the Chamber of Secrets plot. That’s not to say that CoS is unimportant. The series would have been less without all the foreshadowings. The book is full of dry wit, and the twists were wonderfully maneuvered and revealed.

(Work in progress! Might revise later as I see fit! Damn unmotivated blogger.)

Lost In A Good Book

Two things happen whenever I come across someone else’s list of book backlogs.

First, I feel slightly less guilty about my own backlog. It means I’m not the only one who’s hoarding books faster than I could read them. My backlog seems less alarming, quantity-wise, against some whose backlog reach to hundreds! I realize I could probably finish all my unread books in about a month or two if I temporarily forget about other stuffs like TV/movie watching and gaming and social life. AND if I’m motivated enough to read new books, which I think is my biggest problem.

Second, reading through people’s booklists introduces me to other books that pique my interest, so that my list of to-read books expands! Aside from the unread books that I physically have, I also have a list of books I want to buy and read, and it’s getting longer. My wallet’s already complaining. Maybe I should check out public libraries.

There’s actually a third point, quite related to my second one. Reading through people’s booklists makes me realize how I have gaps in genres of books I’ve read. I haven’t read much science fiction or historical or chick lit novels. Maybe for some, this isn’t such a big deal, especially if they have preference for certain genres. For me it’s a case of wondering what I’m missing. I guess there’s nothing wrong with trying out something when others have a favorable opinion of it, but I wonder if that makes me a sheep.

Are there books you think I should check out?

15 Books

Instructions:
You're not supposed to think too long or too hard on this one. List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you -- list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it. Then tag 15 friends and see if they write their own lists (part of the challenge is to think about which 15 friends would have the weirdest or most interesting book list).

I posted this in my facebook. Feel free to post your own list and tell me about it!

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
5. A Long Way Down (Nick Hornby)
6. The Chamber (John Grisham)
7. Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
8. Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas (Bob Ong)
9. Haunted (Chuck Palahniuk)
10. It (Stephen King)
11. Protect and Defend (Richard North Patterson)
12. Presumed Innocent (Scott Turow)
13. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
14. Battle Royale (Koushun Takami)
15. Case Histories (Kate Atkinson)

Muffliato

I’m re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (surprise, surprise), and I can’t wait for the movie to hit the big screen! Who here is excited to hear Severus Snape’s “unfixed, mutating, indestructible” speech? Alan Rickman’s voice is so going to rock that scene!

I think I already mentioned that one of my favorite, favorite scene in the ENTIRE series was when Harry asked Luna out to Slughorn’s party. It never fails to crack me up! Here’s to remind you of that awesome scene:



"How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?"

The words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop them; he heard himself say them as though it were a stranger speaking.

Luna turned her protuberant eyes to him in surprise.

"Slughorn's party? With you?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like.. I mean..." He was keen to make his intentions perfectly clear. " I mean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to..." He was already half hoping that she didn't want to.

"Oh no, I'd love to go with you as friends!" said Luna, beaming as he had never seen her beam before. "Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as a friend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I dye mine too?"

"No" said Harry firmly, "That was a mistake. I'll get Hermione to put it right for me. So I'll meet you in the entrance hall at eight o'clock then."

"AHA!" screamed a voice from overhead and both of them jumped; unnoticed by either of them, they had just passed underneath Peeves, who was hanging upside down from a chandelier and grinning maliciously at them.

"Potty asked Loony to go to the party! Potty lurves Loony! Potty luuuuuurves Looooony!"

And he zoomed away cackling and shrieking, "Potty loves Loony!"


Too bad Peeves was cut from the movie. :(

But I’m getting ahead of myself! I haven’t gotten to that chapter yet, I’m still on Harry’s first Pensieve trip with Dumbledore, to the Gaunt’s house. I wonder how much of the Pensieve scenes will be included in the film. The book is more expository so I don’t know how much liberty the director took to make the film adaptation more action/adventure oriented.

Reading the chapter on Slughorn’s first Potions lesson, I suddenly remembered an idea I have before. Here’s the deal: assume that we are in Harry Potter’s world. What would your answers be to the following questions:

1. What would your Patronus be?
2. What shape would your Boggart assume?
3. What would Amortentia, the most powerful love potion, smell to you?
4. Finally, what would you see in the Mirror of Erised?

My answers are:

1. I think my Patronus would either be a big cat, like a tiger or lynx, or a shaggy black dog like Sirius Black!
2. Obviously, it’s going to be like Ron’s, a big spider. Ack.
3. The smell of the fresh pages of a new book, mango and sun-kissed skin. I don’t know how to explain the last one, I guess it’s that kind of smell that evokes beach and warm sand on the skin.
4. This is a difficult question for me. I guess my “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts” is not something I can just share to everybody, right? So, here’s a more share-able version: I would see myself back in school, taking up something related to the Arts or History, like Literature or Archeology. The corporate life is often too stressful that I longed for something less practical.

What would YOUR answers be to these questions? :)

(pic courtesy of Mugglenet)

Desert Island Time!

Over at Livejournal, there's this feature called Writer's Block, which features one topic prompt daily, something like a one-shot meme. I like the question for yesterday and today so I'm posting it here!

Writer's Block - March 3
You're packing your bag for that magical desert island that happens to have electricity, a TV and a DVD player - what five DVDs do you take with you?


1. Lord Of The Rings trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and Return of the King)
- I'm kind of cheating here because this one is worth 3 movies! I'll never tire of marathon-watching the three films, it feels so satisfying when I finish re-watching all in one day. Plus, dirty, dirty Aragorn is so appealing! (Viggo Mortensen looks hotter the dirtier he gets in his films. Wait, that sounds wrong.)

2. The Ring (Japanese version)
- When you're stuck in an island, you need to practice CONSTANT VIGILANCE! There's no better way to keep me on my wits (and keep me up all night) than the image of Sadako climbing out of that well and out of the TV screen! But if there's a well on that island, I might re-think bringing this DVD along.

(Digression: my family prefers watching TV thisclose to the screen. When I made them marathon-watch the three Ring films, all of them stayed as far away from the TV screen as possible. I might have laughed at that, if not for the fact that I was on the farthest corner of the room myself and totally freaked out when my cousin gently poked me.)

3. Air Force One
- This is such a cheesy action film, but Harrison Ford was full of charisma and very believable as the President of the United States. Plus, Gary Oldman. Fake accent. YUM. This was shown around the time Erap was still the country's President and we laughed ourselves silly imagining if Erap was in Harrison Ford's position ("Kaya ba ni Erap yan?").

4. The Wedding Singer
- I just want to grow old with Robbie Hart, knowing that he can always entertain me and sweep me off my feet with his funny yet endearing songs. His concept of money will never be not funny! ("I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar. That's where you come in.")

5. Ice Age
- I can appreciate the irony here: I'm alone in an island watching a film about how no man (or extinct animal, for that matter) is an island. :D

Runners-up: The Usual Suspects, High Fidelity, A Knight's Tale, The Dark Knight, Memento



Writer's Block - March 4
You're packing your bag for that other desert island - the one with no electricity - what 5 books do you take with you?


1. Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling)
- Ha! I cheated again! This one is worth 7 books, and I could spend my entire desert island life re-reading all 7 books and not get bored by it.

2. Battle Royale (Koushun Takami)
- As much as it sucks to be stranded in an island with no electricity, at least I'm not stranded in an island and engaged in a literal battle for survival against my classmates!

3. A Long Way Down (Nick Hornby)
- A novel about 4 suicidal people should not be funny, but this book just cracks me up each time I read it! It's amazing how the author managed to make 4 losers such compelling and likable characters, flaws and all.

4. I Hate Myself And I Want To Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard (Tom Reynolds)
- I tend to like reading depressing stuffs, don't you think? Well, this book is not really that depressing. It's actually funny. What's kind of depressing to realize, though, is that the some of the songs listed are songs that I enjoy listening to.

5. Foxtrot comics (Bill Amend)
- Yey! Something not depressing! I know I can always count on my favorite fictional family and their misadventures to cheer me up and keep me company.

Runners-up: To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Haunted (Chuck Palahniuk), Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer), Protect And Defend (Richard North Patterson), It (Stephen King)

Fivesome

Honestly? I had a hard time elaborating on these because I’m pretty sure I’ve talked to death about these things a lot of times already and I don’t know how to make this post a little bit more interesting without me just repeating myself. Either Jen knows me too well or I’m way too predictable! Either way, let’s give this a shot!

(Comment to this post to get your own 5 things from me!)

5 Things From Jen:

1) Post-it
I started collecting post-its when I was reviewing for the board. The review school was near the Corona store in Recto and they have local post-its and flags that were cheaper than the trademarked Post-It by 3M. I used the post-its and flags to organize my review materials and notes, and I want to believe that those helped me pass the board! I haven’t bought any kind of post-it or notepad in more than a year (Woo hoo! Be amazed at my self-restraint!), although I can’t help but make sad little noises whenever I see new post-its at National Bookstore.

2) Apple
I don’t hate apples, I just don’t… like it!

3) Dangling Earrings
My preference in earrings used to be simple and uncomplicated. I wear small silver hoop earrings pretty much all the time before. Along the way, I discovered that dangling earrings are the easiest way to look lady-like! I prefer cheap earrings with playful designs, different enough but not too loud or clunky to draw too much attention.

4) Harry Potter
Do I even need to elaborate on this? :D I LOVE Harry Potter ridiculous amounts! I lost track of the number of times I’ve reread ALL 7 books (Book 3 being my favorite, is the most tattered and battered). Aside from the 7, I also have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through The Ages, and Tales of Beedle the Bard. I plan to collect the UK adult edition books. I have DVDs (original) of movies 3 to 5. I joined an HP-related contest!

But by fandom standards, I’m just an average fan – I haven’t created an HP fansite, I haven’t written an HP fanfic, I never supported a ship and have not engaged in shipping wars with wankers fans. And yet, I spent way too much time creating my own theories about the series, overanalyzing characters and scenes, memorizing lines and spells, and inserting HP references in normal conversations.

5) JDrama
My current crack of choice! There are days when I can sensibly explain why I like jdramas and prefer it over pinoy telenovelas: jdramas are shorter (usually 9 to 11 one-hour episodes) and have fixed storylines that even if the drama became popular or highly-rated, the series will not be extended or the plot suddenly veer away from its original intentions just to satisfy fans’ clamor.

Also, I’m yet to see a jdrama that features clichés I hate, to wit:
- baby-switching
- “we are siblings we can’t be together” angst angst angst “oops, no son, I was an adulterer, he’s not your dad so she's not really your sister”
- I will SUBTLY oppress you by slapping you and pulling at your hair every scene we’re together, dialogue-ing “wala kang utang na loob!” when you so much as fight back a little, throw food at you, finally throw you and your clothes out of the house (which I should have done A LONG TIME AGO if I really hate you that much)
- you can tell I’m poor because I lack table manners
- you can tell I’m the kontrabida because I dress better than the bida (even if she suddenly becomes rich, her fashion sense is still godawful) and I CACKLE when I’m evil-ing

That’s not to say that jdrama don’t have their own clichés; it’s just that so far, I can take those clichés better.
- rain scenes of doom (leads break up in the rain, male lead angst beautifully in the rain, etc etc)
- squee-inducing embrace from the back (bonus if done in the rain a la Hana Yori Dango)
- batshit crazy antagonists (so you don’t feel bad for laughing at them because you’re not supposed to take them seriously)
- gratuitous parade of androgynously pretty guys, with bonus gratuitous nudity (how can anyone NOT like that???)

Obviously, today I’m coherent about my affair with jdramas. Often, I’m too caught up with either its soul-crushing angst or massive suspension of disbelief or pure crack-iness to explain properly why jdramas tick. Jdramas taught me that “WTF?” and “W-wait. What?” are completely acceptable reactions that convey the awesomeness of the drama.

(for someone having a hard time elaborating, I sure have some long answers!)

Not Enough!

I can’t believe my vacation is finally over! I’m not thrilled to be back at the office after living like a rock star for almost two weeks – you know, the sex, drugs and rock n roll kind of lifestyle. Except for the sex. And the drugs. And a bit of the rock n roll. It’s more like sleep, daydream and jpop.

As promised, my vacation was a slackfest – except it wasn’t the big slackfest I was hoping for. I slept a lot, even if I don’t want to. Did you know that watching TV in the afternoon was no longer as fun as it used to be? Even if there were TV shows and movies to watch, I just can’t shake off my sleepiness! It’s like all those times I refused to sleep in the afternoon as a kid has finally caught up with me!

Our PC went bonkers on me so my plan of downloading and watching Arashi shows was unceremoniously scrapped from my agenda. Perfect timing! Obviously, I was not able to blog as well. So, when I was not sleeping, I watched TV or read or played DS lite games.

Some of the things I did:

• Watched the first season of Life (and what a short first season it was!)
• Watched seasons 1, 2 and portion of 3 of Criminal Minds (developed a big crush on the nerdy Dr. Spencer Reid and the hot Special Agent Derek Morgan and wanted to work with a mentor like Jason Gideon. Will probably blog about this later on)
• Re-read Battle Royale
• Read Jasper Fforde’s The Fourth Bear
• Half-way through with Kate Mosse’ Sepulchre
• Peeked at a few scenes in Meteor Garden season 1 (what?)
• Re-watching season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance (I got seasons 3 and 4 from Quiapo yay! The cable is airing re-runs boo!)

I watched lots of shows on cable (NBA, Jeopardy, Survivor re-runs on Maxx, Step It Up and Dance (poor man’s SYTYCD), Room 401 and Wildboyz on MTV, Throwdown with Bobby Flay) and on local channels (Kahit Isang Saglit, Pilipinas Game KNB?, Pinoy Fear Factor, PBA, premiere of Fringe on CS9). If couch potato is an acceptable job, I would have a respectable career.

Whoever said that it’s a good idea to play Dementium: The Ward in the dead of the night should be locked in a room full of zombies. It’s not just I suck at first-person shooter games, the setting of the game was a bit scary, too. I think I’ll stick with Super Mario Bros., thank you very much.

My vacation was a bit uneventful, save for yesterday morning when I got locked in in our bathroom. No, I did not do anything stupid, it’s the lock itself, I tell you. It took my brother about 10 minutes before they could open the door – and yep, they did try kicking at the door like what they do in the movies. Epic fail.

Darn. Did I just blog about how boring my vacation was? And yet, it’s still not enough.

Tramps like us, baby we were born to run

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
But there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when
We’re gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go
And we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Bruce Springsteen - "Born To Run"

I found myself hooked by the novel “Battle Royale” by Koushun Takami that an officemate jokingly said “I expect a reaction paper tomorrow”. (I was surreptitiously reading in the office last Monday. What?) Well, I took that as a challenge and decided to post a review of both the film and book.

Spoiler Alert! You know what that means.

I saw the movie first and loved it. I never planned on reading the novel but I saw this one lonely copy at National Bookstore last week and I could not resist! I started reading Sunday night and I couldn’t put the book down so I brought it at the office to finish.

(Sidebar: It always happens this way, it’s no longer funny. I get the urge to read/watch/play something on a Sunday night and I almost always end up liking what I read/saw/played that I start the week with a new addiction and a massive headache.)

The basic premise is this: a high school class was randomly selected to participate in Battle Royale, a game created by the government, where the students were isolated in an island and instructed to engage in a deadly survival game in which there can only be one winner. Sounds disturbing, right? Well, both the film and novel were highly controversial. In this age and time when school killings are news staple, I can understand why.

Both the film and novel were graphically violent. Then again, the blood fest in Hostel or even the Scream trilogy was more gratuitous than Battle Royale and I can name various action or slasher flicks that were way more violent and brutal. Same goes for the book – Stephen King has written more gruesome scenes than the ones depicted in the book.

I guess the more disturbing aspect of the violence is not the frequency of the deaths nor its brutality, but because these were committed by teenagers. More than the socio-political undertones (the movie and book were set in an alternate universe where the nation is ruled by a dictatorial/militaristic government), I was struck by the way the kids were unceremoniously thrust into a dog-eat-dog world. How do you expect a teenager to react to the news that he has to kill in order to live?

The unfortunate class selected to participate in the game was class 3B of Shirowa High School. The class is made up of 42 students of various stereotypes and cliques. There are the jocks, the delinquents, the otakus (nerds), the popular girls, the class clown, the entitled.

The story focuses mostly on Shuya Nanahara, the student who excels both in athletics and music. He’s quite popular, especially among the girls, but he’s oblivious to the attention. In the book, Shuya grew up in an orphanage with his classmate and best friend Yoshitoki Kuninobu. The fate of the latter early in the game determined the former’s strategy and motivation, which was to protect Noriko Nanagawa, another classmate and Yoshitoki’s crush. Shuya was a good person, too trusting for his own good, who managed to stay in the game with big doses of luck.

I like Shuya, basically because he’s a bit dim with regards to girls (I find that quality in a guy quite attractive, don’t ask me why) and the actor who played him in the movie was cute (haha). But my favorite character is Shinji Mimura. His personality was not explored that well in the movie but I thought he was cool in the novel. He is another jock, in the same league with Shuya ability- and popularity-wise. He’s smarter than Shuya, though, and Shuya repeatedly stated his desire to look for Shinji during the course of the game, knowing that Shinji would come up with a plan. Shinji was a quick thinker and has a better rein on his emotions, but like any other kid, he hold trivial grudges and was prone to irrational choices.

The author tried to give each of the 42 students a distinct personality, but it was a bit hard to keep track of who’s who during the first parts, and some of the similar sounding names didn’t help, either. The movie was not as exhaustive in introducing all the students to the viewers. The participants’ personalities and backgrounds affected the actions and choices they made during the game, and that’s what made the whole story click. Some acted the way you expect them to, others made surprising choices, and most reacted with tragic results.

The rules of the game added twists and unpredictability to the game. The students were given day packs that contain limited food and water, plus a random weapon which ranges from the useless (tiara, pot lid, fork) to the downright nasty (Uzi, beretta, potassium cyanide). After every six hours, the instructor would announce the forbidden zones. Anyone caught on these areas will be killed instantly. This rule discouraged a hiding out strategy and forced the students to move around. In the novel, if within 24 hours no one dies or gets killed, then everybody gets killed via the collar fitted to the students’ necks at the start of the game. The collars also enabled the organizer to monitor the players and punish those who broke the rules.

Yes, the whole premise was quite twisted and there were moments when I feel guilty for enjoying the book/movie. But it’s an engaging story; you know it will not end beautifully but you just want to see what these 42 young ones will do. You want to find out who would choose to play the game and kill and their reasons for doing so. You want to find out who would try to be the voice of reason, who would figure a way to escape, who would sacrifice so that another can live, who would just lose their minds. Then you get an uneasy jolt of realization - these people brandishing grown up weapons were just high school students: they have crushes, they have their cliques, they look for a leader, they bully the weak, they make rash decisions. You realize that these are not just random people forced to kill a stranger - these are a bunch of students who have formed a bond with one another, who have fond memories of their triumphs and adventures as a class. You find some scenes heartbreaking: when a boy tried to look for his classmate to confess his feelings, when the class sweethearts jumped together to their deaths. You feel for them when suddenly they become suspicious and distrustful, when a friend betrays a friend, when a slight action becomes the catalyst of a tragedy.

I wish I knew how to speak Japanese: the book I got was an English translation of the original novel but it was really good, yet somehow I feel that there were nuances that were lost in the translation. There were puns and inside jokes that someone familiar with the Japanese language and culture would easily understand. As I said, the movie and novel are both graphic, but it’s not just one whole gore-fest that’s meant to shock and exploit; I think, in this instance, the violence was just a tool to tell a bigger story. The effects in the movie were not even polished and Hollywood-esque, sometimes the scenes were even bordering on comical. Some of the dialogues and fight scenes were awkward, but these are teenagers and we all know how awkward those years were.

The book and the movie are not for everyone. If you’re looking for something “feel good”, then don’t pick this up. But if you can take the violence and if you want something that you can ponder about after reading or viewing, I suggest that you give Battle Royale a try.

Bookaholics Anonymous

Hi I’m Jela and I’m a bookaholic.



After barely surviving Powerbooks’ month-long book sale last August – barely because I still bought 2 books during the sale period (technically, I only got 1 book on sale since John Grisham’s The Appeal wasn’t part of the sale. Pfft.) – here comes National Bookstore’s own month-long book sale! Arrgh!

My trips to bookstores almost always end up in two scenarios: either 1) I will go out of the store some bucks poorer clutching books I had never planned on buying in the first place; or 2) I will go out of the store empty-handed but feeling like I lost a friend.

Lately scenario 2 keeps on happening and that’s only because I’ve done a lot of scenario 1 before! I have to exercise all kinds of restraint not to buy more books to add to my growing collection of books in various state of UNREAD – i.e. unfinished books whether I only manage to skim a few words or already halfway through before putting it down indefinitely; books still covered in plastic wrapping. As of last count, my unread books number to almost 30 and don’t that make you panic a bit?

There has to be a support group or something for people like me who likes to binge on books (I binge on other things as well but that’s another story). I totally could not rely on my friends because instead of helping me discipline myself, THEY JUST PRESSURE ME TO BUY MORE, JEN.

And because I’m a masochist who enjoys tormenting herself more, I went to National Bookstore earlier and managed to add more titles to my Books-I-so-want-like-NOW list before I hastily exited from the store:

From National Bookstore:

1. The Satanic Verses [Salman Rushdie]
2. Midnight Children [Salman Rushdie]
3. Rant [Chuck Palahniuk]
4. Snuff [Chuck Palahniuk]
5. Lisey’s Story [Stephen King]
6. Duma Key [Stephen King]
7. Airman [Eoin Colfer]
8. Final Warning (Maximum Ride series book 4) [James Patterson]
9. Thirteenth Tale [Diane Setterfield]
10. Atlas Shrugged [Ayn Rand]
11. The Race [Richard North Patterson]

Other Books On My List

1. Tales of Beedle The Bard [J.K. Rowling] (but Joy’s getting this for me! Woo hoo!)
2. Kafka On The Shore [Harumi Murakami]
3. Brisingr [Christopher Paolini]
4. Never Let Me Go [Kazuo Ishiguro]
5. The Inheritance of Loss [Kiran Desai]
6. On Chesil Beach [Ian McEwan]
7. Labyrinth [Kate Mosse]
8. Lullaby [Chuck Palahniuk]
9. Invisible Monsters [Chuck Palahniuk]
10. Dangerous Books For Boys [Hal Iggulden]
11. Stranded [Greil Marcus]
12. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt [Nick Hornby]

(Let’s not even count here the mangas I’m planning to collect…)

I just lost, like, 3 of my BFFs…

Elvendork!

J.K. Rowling’s short story is now available at Waterstones. All I can say is –

S I R I U S ! ! !

I miss you! I miss your motorcycle! I miss waiting for the books!

Please check out also the other short stories by the other great authors like Neil Galman, Nick Hornby and Irvine Welsh.

(If you can’t read Jo’s handwriting, you can check out the text at Mugglenet.)

50-50 Update

Updated from my entry last February. Items in red are the books/movies I’ve read/seen from March to May.

The year is almost half-way through and I’m only 6 items short to complete my 50 movies! Sadly, my books list isn’t doing so well. Only 7 new books read during the year! Still a long way to go…


Books

21. Degree of Guilt – Richard North Patterson *
20. The Innocent Man – John Grisham
19. Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony – Eoin Colfer
18. Protect and Defend – Richard North Patterson *
17. Along Came A Spider – James Patterson
16. Camp Foxtrot (A Foxtrot Treasury) – Bill Amend *
15. Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling *
14. Second Chance – James Patterson *
13. Desperation – Stephen King *
12. Book Thief – Markus Zusak
11. Harry Potter And the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling *
10. Angels And Demons – Dan Brown *
09. Maximum Ride: Saving The World and Other Extreme Sports – James Patterson
08. A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby *
07. Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
06. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer *
05. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby *
04. Lost In A Good Book - Jasper Fforde *
03. The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials Book II - Philip Pullman
02. The Balance of Power - Richard North Patterson *
01. Your Momma Thinks Square Roots Are Vegetables (A Foxtrot Collection) - Bill Amend *


Movies

44. Sex and the City
43. Hana Yori Dango ****
42. 9 ½ Weeks
41. Rain Man *
40. School Ties
39. One Missed Call
38. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
37. What Happens In Vegas
36. Interview with a Vampire *
35. The Lake House *
34. JFK
33. Superman Returns *
32. Catch And Release
31. My Girl ***
30. Crash
29. High Fidelity *
28. A History of Violence *
27. Sweeney Todd
26. Michael Clayton
25. No Country For Old Men
24. The Hitman
23. Evan Almighty
22. Wrong Turn
21. The Jacket
20. Reservoir Dogs *
19. Cutting Edge *
18. Edward Scissorhands *
17. The Green Mile *
16. My Girl *
15. There’s Something About Mary *
14. Syriana
13. Lions For Lambs
12. Super Bad
11. Juno
10. Karate Kid Part 2 *
09. Titanic *
08. Little Miss Sunshine
07. Seven *
06. Zodiac
05. Eastern Promises
04. Eight Below *
03. X-Men: The Last Stand *
02. She's The Man *
01. Hana Kimi **

* re-read or re-watched, as the case may be
** technically a Japanese television series, but it was worth 12+ straight hours of my life so I'm including it.
*** Korean telenovela
**** another Japanese live action drama!

The Potter Sensation That's Sweeping The Nation

Damn.

Harry prequel outline to be auctioned


For the love of everything nice, fluffy and warm, they BETTER publish the book version of this!!! I want it so bad! I know it’s for charity but why can’t they do it the way they did for the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find It and Quidditch Through The Ages?



UPDATE: They’re going to sell copies to the public! And copies of the stories of the other authors who participated, too! And J.K.’s story takes place 3 years before Harry was born! Could it be about the Marauders?! Aaahhh! I want to buy this! Will they sell it here in Manila?!!! Somebody please buy this for me!

50-50

I got this project from another blog. In lieu of the usual resolutions (I know! About 2 months too late! But anyway...), I will start a list of the 50 books and 50 movies that I read and saw, respectively, this 2008. Since I started late, I will just include the ones I completed this Feb.

Want to make your own? Make up your own rules. In my case, I decided to include the re-reads and re-watched because I'm madaya that way. And don't forget to tell me about it!


Books

07. Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
06. Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer *
05. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby *
04. Lost In A Good Book - Jasper Fforde *
03. The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials Book II - Philip Pullman
02. The Balance of Power - Richard North Patterson *
01. Your Momma Thinks Square Roots Are Vegetables (A Foxtrot Collection) - Bill Amend *

Movies

12. Super Bad
11. Juno
10. Karate Kid Part 2 *
09. Titanic *
08. Little Miss Sunshine
07. Seven *
06. Zodiac
05. Eastern Promises
04. Eight Below *
03. X-Men: The Last Stand *
02. She's The Man *
01. Hana Kimi **

* re-read or re-watched, as the case may be
** technically a Japanese television series, but it was worth 12+ straight hours of my life so I'm including it.

You know what I learned from this list? I definitely need to read more since I only read two new books so far this year.

I would update this list every now and then until I complete (or exceeded) the required number. Wish me luck!

P.S.
I also realized that while the 50 movies may be easier to accomplish (Hello, HBO! Hello, Star Movies! Hello, MCS or Quiapo!) the 50 books may be a lot harder to complete (unless I just re-read all my stuff). So friends, will you let me borrow your books? :)

For you, a thousand times over...

Last Thursday night I decided to grab one of my still unread books to (finally) read until I fall asleep. I chose Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini thinking that it would be a tedious read and is therefore the right candidate to immediately put me into sleep.

It was about past 1 am and about one thirds through the novel that I decided to put the book down. Not because I was sleepy or bored, but because I was sobbing like crazy.

This is probably my biggest understatement of the year, but the book moved me. You know how it is in movies when you know that you’re about to see a dramatic scene because of the background music or through other elements in the movie? And how you can also feel the same thing while reading a book? Like a certain sentence or words act as your signal that your emotions are about to be tugged at? This time I didn’t even have a cue. I was reading this chapter and suddenly the tears came unbidden. I bypassed the welling up of tears, the choking feeling in my throat and went straight to sobbing my heart out. That’s the state I was in when I realized I have a special book in my hand.

It is a story of a man’s action and its consequences, told against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s tumultuous history. It’s about a boy and his friend and their complicated relationship – complicated because the protagonist is the master, a Pashtun and a Sunni Muslim while his friend is his servant, a Hazara and a Shi'a Muslim. It is about an unusual friendship and a friend's fierce loyalty that the other so often put into a test. It’s about a boy and his father and his need to make his father proud of him. It’s about a boy and his insecurities and cowardice, and how his own selfishness lead him to betray his friend, and how their society’s religious and political discrimination made the betrayal the easiest choice. It's about a man and the guilt he had to carry through his life, knowing that happiness is the price of his betrayal.

But more importantly, it is a story of redemption. As one of the characters said: “There’s a way to be good again”. But the path to goodness is long, arduous and treacherous.

The ending didn’t disappoint. I was hoping for a happy ending but what I got was even better. The narration was not overbearing or saccharine. The characters are very empathic. I also learned a lot about Afghanistan’s history, religion and culture and the discrimination among Muslims.

It’s a sad story, but it’s not a depressing one so I hope you give it a try. The movie version will also be shown this week so if you don't have time to read the novel, try to catch it in the big screen.