The Perfect Reason for Headache

I saw Battle Royale earlier in the day, c/o of RJ's computer. I mourn for my poor brain cells. There were so many unnecessary scenes and inconsistencies. It was a poor excuse for violence in cute uniforms.

We watched Witches of Oz, expecting to see something close to the Broadway musical, Wicked. We were disappointed. I wasted three-days worth of allowance for it. The redeeming factors of it were Ate Chai's performance and the Tin Man's lines. It was Battle Royale all over again. But this time, there was no excuse. I'm going to go hungry for three days for nothing.

The girl who played Dorothy was bigger than most of the cast. SO much for being a "little girl". Her voice was not strong enough for stage. Her attempt at an accent made most of what she was saying incomprehensible, and she kept flipping her bangs over the side. She was wearing lip gloss and blue eyeshadow. Emo Lolita was too composed to be a little child.

As for the rest of the cast, The Hip Hopper Scarecrow who kept going "Yo" didn't rap AT ALL. The Punk Tin Man was, well, heartless (yay). The Rasta Lion was cute at least (made me think of Pooh) and the minor rollers were so obviously choreographed.

It's amazing how they got so many sponsors and shit for them to play at SM City. The sound system wasn't good and all the publicity I was ever aware of was that from the rumor mill. At one point, one of my friends mentioned I should have had Pregenesis produced. That's how bad Witches of Oz was. I'm sorry ate Chai. You were good. But a sprinkling of talents does not save an entire production. I believe your talents (Te Chai and the few other talented people in the production) were wasted on that play.

I have a few questions though:

What the hell did the production committee do to the money?

What half wit wrote the script?

Why did they attempt to impersonate Elvis Presley?

Why didn't he sing an Elvis song?

And what's with the trinket?

Why did Dorothy sing "Home"? It's too mature and musically out of place for the story.

Why'd they even make a yellow brick road when it made them look as if they were walking up and down a platform?

And why'd they get something that looked as if it came from a Taxidermist's shop to play Toto when he didn't even have any significant participation in the story?!?

I'm not even dissing the Glinda that sounded like Glinda from Wicked minus the funniness that made her interesting anymore or the fact that we weren't warned that it was going to be for a younger audience (more like from 3-9 y.o). But then the children would probably go to sleep.

Gimme Something That Rhymes With Eeks

I am an escapist. But I do not drown myself in mind numbing spoon feeding from the boob tube. I roleplay.



But not that way.

Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.3

From Dean Alfar:

I am now accepting submissions of short fiction pieces for consideration for the anthology "Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.3".

Speculative fiction is the literature of wonder that spans the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror and magic realism or falls into the cracks in-between.

1. Only works of speculative fiction will be considered for publication. As works of the imagination, the theme is open and free.

2. Stories must cater to an adult sensibility. However, if you have a Young Adult story that is particularly well-written, send it in.

3. Stories must be written in English.

4. Stories must be authored by Filipinos or those of Philippine ancestry.

5. Preference will be given to original unpublished stories, but previously published stories will also be considered. In the case of previously published material, kindly include the title of the publishing entity and the publication date. Kindly state also in your cover letter that you have the permission, if necessary, from the original publishing entity to republish your work.

6. First time authors are welcome to submit. In the first two volumes, there was a good mix of established and new authors. Good stories trump literary credentials anytime.

7. No multiple submissions. Each author may submit only one story for consideration.

8. Each story’s word count must be no fewer than 2,500 words and no more than 5,000 words.

9. All submissions must be in Rich Text Format (.rtf – save the document as .rft on your word processor) and attached to an email to this address: dean@kestrelimc.com. Submissions received in any other format will be deleted, unread.

10. The subject of your email must read: PSF3 Submission: (title) (word count); where (title) is replaced by the title of your short story, without the parentheses, and (word count) is the word count of your story, without the parentheses. For example - PSF 3 Submission: How My Uncle Brought Home A Diwata 4500.

11. All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter that includes your name, brief bio, contact information, previous publications (if any).

12. Deadline for submissions is September 15, 2007. After that date, final choices will be made and letters of acceptance or regret sent out via email.

13. Target publishing date is December 2007/January 2008.

14. Compensation for selected stories will be 2 contributor’s copies of the published anthology as well as a share in aggregrate royalties.

Kindly help spread the word. Feel free to cut and paste or link to this on your blogs or e-groups.

Thanks,

Dean Francis Alfar
Online Source: http://www.filipinowriter.com/philippine-speculative-fiction-vol-3

~~~

It sounds interesting enough...

MS Paint

The most ancient of digital art software is still alive and kicking. But does anybody still use it AT ALL?!?



apparently they still do.

When my father first introduced me to a computer, I was 4 or 5, and he said it was going to be the most amazing contraption in the world. Everything that seemed worthwhile to me at the time lay in art, so I asked "But can you draw with it?". And he introduced me to MS Paint.

Ever since then, if I wasn't in my room playing with dolls or covering every blank surface with my drawings (to the horror of my mother and the maids), I was in front of the computer, trying to draw with the mouse.

In elementary, I got a little better. I made themed drawings of my cousins (though they barely looked anything LIKE my cousins, made them into wallpapers, and played with themes to match the wallpapers. My brother's favorite color at the time was red and his theme looked like a furnace.



Digital art is booming. And its roots are decaying.

"Use Me"

I know I'm boring. I bore myself to death.

How I wish I weren't so convenient. I wish people actually sought me out for myself and not because of what I could do.

But I'm not really very interesting company. I can't talk about issues because I rarely read the news, I forget a lot and I confuse people with my "explanations". What a poor mass comm student I make. The only sense I make is in song, and I don't really want to do anything about it. I can't even talk about the masters of music. I barely know the details. I am amazed at people who know the full history and breadth of such issues. And then there's the vanity (I keep a blog don't I? which means I talk to myself a lot, and like to keep track of my selfish musings, enough proof of my vanity.) I'd be the perfect recluse.

The trouble is that I'm lonely. So I look for people to fill in the void. Unfortunately for me, when I look for them, I never find them. I'm there when I'm needed. Sure. And when I'm not, I might as well dissappear into the shadows (assuming it were possible).

And nobody wants to be around whiny insecure kids who have a tendency towards emo rambling. I am convinced that I have a sticky on my forehead that says "USE ME" and it is only invisible to me.

Cook Out is tonight!!!

We're playing again, defending champions so to speak, but I don't want to think about it. Too much pressure on the vocal chords you see :)

I hope I don't forget to move about the stage again... Im losing my voice...

Killing time and fairytales

I live in fairytales too much

In the mornings I'm Beauty and The Beast rolled into one. Most of the time there's more of the beast though.

During class I'm Scheherazade, making up new stories to fill my notebook to bide away the sleepiness. No notebook and I'm Sleeping Beauty.

After class I'm Rip Van Winkle, catching up on lost sleep and waking up to find out the world revolved without me and much has happened. I fell asleep while reading a book and dreamt about big fat rabbits running for senator or something, and woke up to see Heno talking to Gary. No wonder the rabbit sounded familiar.

Whoever came up with the phrase "killing time" forgot that "time waits for no one" and "nobody is time's master".

~~~

I got saved from my math exam tomorrow. Thank God for mundane holidays that just pop out now and then as wonderful surprises. I'm meeting my first years tomorrow for an ukay session :D