an unrequited love

i was promenading through an aisle walled with bounty cards in a nearby bookstore, looking for something to give my cousins and grandma offshore, when something caught my attention and stole my senses; then i began falling into a deep trance.


"You are a lover of words...
One day you will write a book.

People turn to you because you give voices to dreams, notice little things, and make otherwise impossible imaginings appear real.
You are a rare bird who thinks the world is beautiful enough to try to figure it out, who has the courage to dive into your wild mind and go swimming there.
You are someone who still believes in cloud watching, people watching, daydreaming, tomorrow, favorite colors, silver clouds, dandelions, and sorrow.
Be sacred.
Be cool.
Be wild.
Go far.
Words do more than plant miracle seeds.
With you writing them, they can change the world."

i guess this gives a writer the recognition, more than what the Ramon Magsaysay and Palanca Awards can do.
only words can equal the greatness of another.


bullets on my brain:

• a writer writes with all the purity and perfection of the craft, even though nobody reads him.
• it takes real wisdom to understand poetry.
• it's seldom that writers find great thinkers with whom they can share their thoughts. the magic is within their circle and those who can hang on the edges of their fancies.
  
• people are used to despising things they do not know or that which they fail to understand.
• the sweetest marriage is that which occurs between the writer and his pen - the union of the spiritual and the real; the flight of senses; the perfect harmony of words, rhythm, and sound.
• words don’t always come easy.
• having that tiny cursor religiously blinking against a virtual sheet of paper for quite a long while is a scenario which is common to most writers and writer-wannabes.
• "as a writer, you have to grow accustomed to rejection slips and to working in solitude"-blissful begonia
• "a writer is like a boxer in that he must stand alone; when his work is published, his talent is held out there for everyone to see."-Josh Hartnett as Eric Kernan; Resurrecting the Champ
• writing is not just a passion; it's a part of one's being.

(*thanks to blissful begonia for the picture and her beautiful quote)

a perfect sunday morning

In the stifling heat of Tubbataha North Islet, a park ranger counts Red-footed Booby nests. Bird assessors are allowed on Tubbataha’s islets only once a year to conduct the count.
- Photo By Anton Carag of The Philippine Star

if only i could stretch my wings and soar

like a bird on top of the ocean blue

as high as the clouds that frolic

in a chilly wind, I will hold my breath

and feel its gentle rush

against my face, as I sing the last verse



but my hands are feathers no more

and my feet are far heavier, laden with sin

I'll be walking one moonlit night

to wipe the ocean's tears

and fill my heart with joy

as I wait for the coming of a new day

don't you just hate revivals?

i don't know if i just loathe the thought of bringing classic songs into the mainstream media or if it's the unimaginative copycat artists' rendition which dreadfully screw acclaimed compositions, that whenever i hear their lopsided so-called "rebirth", my auditory nerves faint in disgust.

"Leave the classics alone," is what i always say, should there sprout a petty argument on revivals. why can't artists make their own songs? i suppose it would be so painful to be acclaimed for something you do not really own.

considering the fact that not everyone has bagged the absolute gift of music, say, only a few are able to write their own lines, i still believe that it is not a viable excuse for digging songs that were staying holy through the test of ages, silent in antiquity but never forgotten and are still celebrated by music enthusiasts, and owning the credit after fashioning them with their gory styles. that, i think, is so unfair, after all, some radio stations are still devoted to keep the classic songs alive, so why would there be any need to put them back in the mainstream?

renditions can only lead to a massive shift towards the death of classics. i see them as victims of these young hopefuls who are desperately venturing their way to stardom, while killing the legacy that a certain song has earned.

topping my hit list are the vexatious local artists and bands like MYMP, Nina, Arnee Hidalgo, Jed Madela, Shamrock and 6 Cycle Mind. they failed to capture the appeal of the original songs, thus the genesis of their caricatures.

you may want to poke me and ask me why the hell am i listening to them in the first place, but who can ever escape loud stereos in public vehicles and establishments? that's the problem! they are now dragged into the mainstream media, so you can hear these songs being played by bystanders in every street corner, which is so irksome.

sweet melodies are otherwise listened to by shit music advocates, emos, and plain desperate, hopeless romantics. plus the fact that with their "rebirth", classic songs rapidly become attached to corny love teams and half-cooked teeny-bopper movies, and are sung by those who send messages like "OMG he's so HOT!" "that's k3wL!", and those that, as what i have read in some teenage posts, often write in their online journals, "I lOvE jAsOn hE iS sO HotT I waNna Kiz hiM!!!!" and when asked about their favorite hobby, they all scream like sluts, "SHOPPING!!!!" never mind if going to Starbucks means a week of fasting. flaunting. yes, pure flaunting.

keeping up with the times does not suffice any defense for the misrepresentation of the classics. do it with a renowned artwork and you won't have to wait for a minute to get youself killed with raining stones. has anyone seen Mona Lisa in tube blouse and American curls?