Pinoy Penman

Flotsam & Jetsam (64) for Monday, December 31, 2007


MORE SHOTS on my Flickr page here.

Flotsam & Jetsam (63) for December 26, 2007

I’M TAKING Beng down to Palawan tomorrow for a few days of quiet time—she with her watercolors, me with my novel—and I don’t know what the Internet situation is going to be like in our straw hut, so please be patient if I’m a little late with the comment moderation.... Why even bother with the Internet down in Palawan, you say? Well, you’re talking to the guy who years ago went to Puerto Princesa with ten other friends, all of whom hit the water the first chance they got; I too hit the beach—to find the one cabana with a live outlet in it, so I could peck away on my laptop on a column-piece about, uh, the ideal vacation.

Flotsam & Jetsam (61) for Thursday, December 13, 2007

I felt positively pedestrian in the company of people like Tingting Cojuangco, Mayenne Carmona, and Lucy Torres, but I had fun anyway the other day at the Philippine STAR’s first-ever Christmas party for its Lifestyle columnists—all 105 of them (or I should say “us”), can you believe it—at the Shangri-La Makati.

I shared a table with my fellow Arts & Culture scribblers (that's them in those pics)—Krip Yuson, Danton Remoto, Juaniyo Arcellana, Exie Abola, and Rica Bolipata-Santos, joined later by Frankie Sionil Jose and his wife Tessie—but my neck soon ached from ogling the celebs and the young ‘uns at the other tables. (Call it my “Bread of Salt” moment.)

The food was good (even for this culinary philistine): I gorged on the asparagus and shrimp salad and the smoked salmon. The inevitable raffle was even better: like everyone in that room, I went home with something—a Swatch watch (too blingy for me, unfortunately, but not for Demi, who’s already laid claim to it by long distance) and a gift certificate from Adidas, which I intend to convert into a sensible pair of shoes, like a true pedestrian.

Flotsam & Jetsam (61) for Saturday, December 8, 2007


WHEN I'M depressed or nervous—i.e., when I’m staring at a deadline I can’t possibly meet, or stuck in some kind of emotional rut—I do what any self-respecting boy would do: I take out my toys and line ‘em up, even shine ‘em up, and play with them until I remember how surrounded I am by beautiful objects (no Buddhist mantras for now, please). I have an even stranger (and more disastrous) habit of buying nice new things just when I’m standing on the verge of bankruptcy.... which explains the new 10-megapixel Leica D-Lux 3 I got off eBay a month ago and which my Mom handcarried home from Virginia the other day, so Christmas came early. I was supposed to assault a mountain of work this morning (and I will, I will!)—but first I got some of the little guys together for a family picture, and here they are:

There’s more on my Flickr page, along with some shots I took around the UP campus and in my office to show off the D-Lux 3’s native 16:9 aspect ratio (a nice wide angle to you).

Flotsam & Jetsam (60) for Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Flotsam & Jetsam (59) for Tuesday, December 4, 2007


JUST FOR the heck of it, and for the idly curious, here's a shot I took of my desktop at home a few weeks ago. So now you see how I work: with two computers open (the desktop for surfing, the laptop for writing) and the TV tuned in to CNN, the BBC, the Discovery Channel, the Nat Geo channel, or CSI (I don't watch much else).

Missing from the picture are the cup of coffee and the two scoops of chocolate ice cream I have after lunch and/or dinner. I have my own small fridge in my room, filled with Popsicles (chocolate and orange), ice water, and the occasional beer.


PS. ONE READER was wondering what my UP office setup looks like, so here it is, taken just today (with my new toy, a Leica D-Lux 3). That's an original Bondi Blue 233 mhz iMac on the left, and the white cone above it is an AirPort wi-fi base station. Everything else, including the indispensable waste can, is decidedly low-tech, including two desk pens: a Parker 51 from the 1950s and a Conklin Endura from the mid-1920s. The watercolor's by Jason Moss.

Flotsam & Jetsam (58) for Thursday, November 29, 2007

AN ABORTIVE coup (it looked more like an impromptu press conference to me) broke out in Makati as I was getting my haircut today, and here’s what my barber—who doesn’t want to be jailed for sedition, so he’ll go unnamed—told me as we followed the ongoing action on the barbershop TV’s tiny screen (I won’t bother translating the language, because this concerns only us Pinoys anyway):

1. If you’re going to launch a coup, make sure it has a real and reasonable chance of succeeding. Otherwise, bitin at nakakainis lang.

2. If you’re going to launch a coup, don’t call it off because people might get hurt; that was the point, di ba? Tear gas pa lang, sumuko na.

3. If you’re going to launch a coup, don’t let former VP Tito Guingona speak for you. He’s a nice guy, but he’ll go on and on in his Ateneo accent and soon put everyone to sleep.

4. If you’re a member of the media and want to cover a coup, don’t complain if you get hurt or get arrested. Don’t make yourself the bida of the issue, at least while the bigger thing (the coup, remember?) is going on. Pagtatawanan ka lang ng mga totoong war correspondent sa Iraq.

5. If you’re going to show popular support for GMA, don’t do it by gathering a group of Cavite mayors behind Gov. Maliksi. Parang barkada ng mga cattle rustler.

6. If you’re going to stop a coup, don’t remember to cut off the electricity five hours after the coup began. Makaka-recharge pa ng cellphone ang mga coup plotters.

That was my barber speaking, folks. Arrest him, not me! (I had a few of my own opinions, but I didn't think it was a good idea to debate with your barber while he slashed the air with a razor to emphasize a point.) ;)

Photo courtesy of AP/GMA7

Flotsam & Jetsam (57) for Sunday, November 25, 2007

BEFORE I forget this, there’s a vignette from my recent Kunming trip that I’d like to share with you, from an afternoon when our hosts took us for a stroll around Green Lake—a large and picturesque lagoon and park in a corner of the city’s northwest. We came too early in the season to catch the Siberian gulls on their migratory stop at this lake, but the willows and arched bridges were pretty enough for the visitor’s eye.

But I discovered that Green Lake also offered a treat for the ear. Under the willows, small groups of local folk gathered and drew out stringed instruments with plaintive wails such as only Chinese luthiers perhaps can coax, and began playing; in each group, a woman would sing and dance. You walked down the park and listened to a virtual album of traditional Chinese music.

But of course you see this kind of busking in other parks around the world as well. The big difference was, when I was so pleased with my discovery that I thought of leaving a few yuan to express my appreciation, there was no plate or open hat to be found at the performers’ feet. They were not playing for money, but for the sheer love of music and the applause of parkgoer and passerby, one afternoon in a Kunming autumn.

Flotsam & Jetsam (56) for Wednesday, November 14, 2007


IT WAS a hectic weekend in Hong Kong where I went to attend the Man Asian Literary Prize ceremonies, the details of which I've reported in "Abbreviated Delights" above. I brought my little Leica along so you could see a bit of what I saw.

Flotsam & Jetsam (55) for Sunday, November 11, 2007


I'VE UPDATED this posting, so please see "Abbreviated Delights" above for a longer version of my original message of thanks. But here's the text of the press release issued by the Man Asian organizers:

Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem Wins the Inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize

Hong Kong, 10 November 2007 – A panel of three internationally acclaimed authors and experienced literary judges named Beijing-based Chinese author Jiang Rong the winner of the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize for his novel Wolf Totem, a fictional account of life in the 1970s that draws on Jiang’s personal experience of the grasslands of China’s border region.

The Man Asian Literary Prize aims to recognise the best of new Asian literature in English and to bring it to the attention of the world literary community. Works submitted by Asian authors for consideration must not yet have been published in English, although they may have been published in other languages.

Adrienne Clarkson, chair of the judges for the inaugural prize, praised Wolf Totem: “A panoramic novel of life on the Mongolian grasslands during the Cultural Revolution, this masterly work is also a passionate argument about the complex interrelationship between nomads and settlers, animals and human beings, nature and culture. The slowly developing narrative is rendered in vivid detail and has a powerful cumulative effect. A book like no other. Memorable.”

The prize winner was announced at a celebratory dinner at Cipriani Hong Kong. Jiang Rong was awarded USD 10,000 and the book’s translator, Howard Goldblatt, was awarded USD 3,000. Jiang was unable to travel to Hong Kong due to ill health, and the prize was accepted on his behalf by the publisher of his original Chinese novel, Bo Lin, and Jo Lusby of Penguin China, who will publish the English version in 2008.

Wolf Totem was originally published in Chinese by the Changjiang Art and Culture Publishing House, and has been widely acclaimed in China. Last year Penguin acquired the English language rights to Wolf Totem and the book is scheduled for release in English in March 2008.

The judging panel for the 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize is: Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada (Chair); André Aciman, New York-based author and scholar, and Nicholas Jose, writer, scholar and former Cultural Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in China.

The shortlist of five from which the winner was chosen included Filipino writer Jose Dalisay Jr. for Soledad's Sister, Indian writer Reeti Gadekar for Families at Home, Myanmar's Nu Nu Yi Inwa for Smile As They Bow, Chinese writer Jiang Rong for Wolf Totem and Hong Kong's Xu Xi for Habit of a Foreign Sky.

Commenting on each of the other shortlisted works, the judges had this to say:

“Jose Dalisay Jr.’s Soledad's Sister is full of narrative surprise, artfully put together and richly observed. It offers an unillusioned, compassionate portrayal of contemporary society from a Philippines perspective, and is utterly compelling. The characters engage us in the epic, yet very local nature of their quest for dignity and justice. A work of warmth, humanity and confidence.”

“Reeti Gadekar’s Families at Home is a robustly humorous intrigue that delves into the murky corners of modern Delhi. The rich cast of characters is evoked with satirical gusto and the social analysis is sharp and spirited. Highly enjoyable and a real eye-opener.”

“Xu Xi’s Habit of a Foreign Sky is a sophisticated global fiction set against the background of financial upheaval with a complex female protagonist at the centre. The fine charting of this woman's journey, with its shifting and ambiguous professional and emotional allegiances, makes this something of a Jamesian tale relocated to contemporary Hong Kong, Shanghai and New York. Seductive and lucid.”

“Nu Nu Yi Inwa’s Smile As They Bow is a fascinating work of prose fiction from Burma that depicts, with extraordinary detail, energy and intimacy, the textures of a life that is both traditional and transgressive. It also tells an unconventional love story, mixing tough realism with dreams and romance in a quite moving way. An insider's view, highly sensual, informed and frank.”

This first Man Asian Literary Prize received over 240 submissions from throughout Asia from well-established as well as first-time authors. Entries included works translated from several Asian languages as well as works originally in English.

Flotsam & Jetsam (54) for Thursday, November 8, 2007


I WAS in Kunming, China last week for the China International Travel Mart, and took these shots with my Canon G7. More pics on my Flickr page.

Flotsam & Jetsam (53) for October 26, 2007


LOOKS LIKE I'm up for some free dimsum. Here's some good news, from the Man Asian Literary Prize people:

Hong Kong, 25 October 2007 – Jose Dalisay Jr., Reeti Gadekar, Jiang Rong, Nu Nu Yi Inwa and Xu Xi are the five authors selected for the shortlist by the judging panel for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize, the first regional prize for a work unpublished in English. The winner of the prize will be announced on Saturday 10 November, 2007 at a ceremony in Hong Kong.

The five shortlisted works were chosen from a longlist of 23 and are:

Jose Dalisay Jr. (Philippines), Soledad’s Sister
Reeti Gadekar (India), Families at Home
Nu Nu Yi Inwa (Burma), Smile As They Bow
Jiang Rong (China), Wolf Totem
Xu Xi (China/Indonesia), Habit of a Foreign Sky

More details, including authors' profiles and synopses of the shortlisted novels, from the full press release here.

Flotsam & Jetsam (52) for Tuesday, October 9, 2007

IT'S HER first birthday away from home—she has a new home now, in San Diego, CA, with a great guy named Jerry—so her Nanay and I would like to greet our one and only anak a very happy birthday. She’s 33, can you believe it? I can remember back when I was 33 myself, not too long ago.... But may this year bring her more joy and fulfillment. We miss her dearly, and hope to see her again soon.

Flotsam & Jetsam for September 22, 2007


NOW THAT Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has “suspended” the ZTE-NBN contract, whose tangled web has already yielded the fattest spider of them all in the person of her husband Mike, expect the government’s damage-control machine to declare the issue over, all further inquiries a distraction, and GMA a hero for her sensitivity to public opinion.

In other words, they’ll want all critics of this mother of anomalous deals to cease and desist—to shut up, lest they lend themselves to “destabilization,” the worst thing you can possibly do at this point in our glorious history. Forget that Ben Abalos ever went to China; forget that Mike Arroyo ever said “Back off!”; forget that someone tried to bribe Romy Neri; forget that some people must have already made millions (of dollars, not pesos) in cash advances, leaving some Chinese paymasters very nervous or very angry, or both.

Whoever the truly guilty parties are—come on, this plot’s too thick and too good not to have some real villains in it—the Chinese dragon knows them. It’ll want to get its money back. We’ll cease and desist and let this thing pass and even sing the praises of “national unity” or whatever GMA will use to claim victory from defeat—if and only if the Chinese triads go after the bad boys, whoever they may be. It seems that nobody can touch a certain election official here, because he knows where all the electoral bodies are buried; but I wonder if the kung-fu ninjas (I know, I mixed ‘em up, so much the better for the wallop) will be so dainty as to even care. I wonder, too, if and how a certain gentleman can tell those debt collectors to back off.