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Groovesharking
On A Rainy Sunday in Cubao, Listening to Johnny Cash
On a rainy Sunday in Cubao, listening to Johnny Cash
add a heavy tread to Gordon Lightfoot, voice cracking through
earbuds, silicone turning into gravel, regret crumbling down
a spine untested by the ravages of time
If you could read my mind, love,
what tales would my thoughts tell?
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A story
He was perplexed. He was staring at the steadily blinking cursor as it ticked away the hours he had already spent writing nothing down. In his mind, he had done everything right. He had disconnected his computer from the Internet, brewed a good pot of tea, schlepped to the quietest part of the house, and really set his mind to writing a new story. ( Read more... ) -
Cinemalaya: At What Cost Freedom?
I wrote this essay for the Free Press a year ago. A year later, it still seems pertinent.
The general wisdom is that the local film industry is dying, if not already dead. The studios inundate news outlets with word of their successes, of the millions of pesos they’re receiving from masses hungry for their latest star pairing, but they cannot hide ( Read more... ) -
Two Small Stories for Election Day
Righteous DestinyIn the brief moments when he found himself alone, he liked to draw pictures in crayon. Things had gotten pretty complicated, and he liked being reminded of the simpler days of his childhood, when dreams were nothing more than colorful squiggles on reams of white paper. He imagined himself a superhero, perhaps able to prevent the ( Read more... ) -
A Review of Ray Gibraltar's Wanted: Border
Wanted: Border and the Slow March Towards Entropy2009 was a year of violence. Perhaps, with enough distance and perspective, we'll come to view as no bloodier than any other year, this country (and the world in general) endlessly bursting with the potential for human harm. But right now, especially in the light of the recent Ampatuan Massacre ( ( Read more... ) -
I hate us right now
Common sense isn't too common in a country that identifies itself as Christian. You might have, for example, an electoral body deciding that a group meant to represent the interests of homosexual Filipinos is ineligible for the party list on the grounds of immorality. Or the more brilliant reasoning that since there are already several gay ( Read more... ) -
Short Fictions
The Worst Reality Show ContestantShe wouldn't stop looking at her hands. The AD kept telling her to keep her chin up when giving her confessionals, but she'd never do it for more than a second. She would keep going back to her hands, fidgety and tense, empty but for each other ( Read more... )
