JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Record levels of snow fell over Europe, blanketing the continent, closing the Bosphorus to shipping and causing flight cancellations. In Istanbul, homeless people and stray animals were rounded up and taken to shelters. In Cappadocia, the snow heightened the extraterrestrial feel of the landscape. It makes me think of Arrakis with snow instead of sand, and the fairy chimneys as frozen sandworms.

It was supposed to be our last day in Turkey. In the morning we went up in a hot air balloon for spectacular views of Cappadocia.

To no one’s surprise, the airport was snowed in and our afternoon flight back to Istanbul was cancelled.

These clever cats live at the Nevsehir airport, where there are warm spots to huddle in and people to give them food. I had taken to carrying cheese and cold cuts from the breakfast buffet for the critters I met.

The safest way to get back to Istanbul was by land. So the next day we drove ten hours from Goreme to Istanbul, with pit stops every two or three hours. Turn a setback into an adventure! I must’ve seen every public WC and convenience store in Anatolia.

Throughout this unexpected development, the center of calm and efficiency was our tour guide, Arif Yasa. Not only is Arif super-knowledgeable about Turkish history, culture, and cuisine, he is also extremely kind and patient. You try being in charge of ten Pinoys, each with specific requirements, and maintain your sanity.

If you’re going to Turkey, one of the smartest things you can do is get Arif to be your guide. You can reach him at arif.yasa@experta.com.tr.

By 8pm we were having dinner at a mall in Istanbul, by 10 we were at the airport. Almost the minute I strapped myself into my seat, I was asleep.

Notes on travelling to Turkey and elsewhere

1. The news is scary, so it’s natural to hesitate about going there. In the aftermath of the nightclub shooting, security has been tightened in Istanbul and people have been warned to avoid crowded places. At no time during our eight-day trip did I feel unsafe. Not to belittle the problem, but there is an upside to this: fewer tourists. You can hear yourself think.

Listen, the whole world looks like Children of Men (the Alfonso Cuaron movie) now. Are you going to hide, or are you going to get out there and live?

2. Always have travel insurance, even if it’s not required when getting your visa. Shit happens. Best to be prepared.

3. If you’re going to a cold country, Uniqlo is your friend. When I was packing for the trip it occurred to me that my ten-year-old winter coat could use reinforcements. I stocked up on Uniqlo sweaters and Heattech shirts, and they saved me from hypothermia when the mercury dropped.

4. How can you see the world when you’re perpetually checking your phones and tablets? Disconnect. It’s mostly chaos and idiocy anyway, and you do not need minute-by-minute updates. Enjoy the silence. Get reacquainted with yourself.

While I defrost my extremities, enjoy this camp classic from Turkey, one of the most bizarre movies ever made: The Man Who Saves The World a.k.a. Turkish Star Wars.

For great Turkish films, check out Yol (The Road), Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, or Winter Sleep.

1. Every fight against tyranny is built on hope.
2. Tyrants practise terror and call it peace.
3. No victory is possible without the commitment of many ordinary people who see themselves as part of a larger ideal and are prepared to make sacrifices to see it through.
4. You do not need magical powers to defeat tyranny. What is essential is the strength of your convictions.
5. It takes only a few determined individuals to sway the majority into action.
6. It is easy to lose your nerve in the face of great odds. The seemingly impossible becomes less daunting if you break the mission down into steps. Exert all your efforts on getting to the next step, then the next, then the next.
7. Never make assumptions about an individual’s capabilities on the basis of their gender, color, or ethnicity.
8. And from The Force Awakens: Winning the war is not the end. Eternal vigilance is required to ensure that tyranny does not sneak back in.

Gotokuji Temple

How can a music icon and jillion-selling artist still be underrated? Well George Michael was, because he only released new music when he wanted to, he didn’t think every moment of his life was for public consumption, and he expected no praise for his kindness and generosity. Thank you, George Michael.

Let’s start the playlist with Outside, which responds to a very public shaming with defiance and strength.

And the Year of Obituaries continues with the death of Carrie Fisher, who as Princess Leia taught the women of my generation how to fight, resist tyranny, and be the equal of any man, and as a writer showed us that no one has to be perfect, our flaws are what make us strong. The Force is with you, General Leia.

The evidence suggests that people do not practise critical thinking. Or do not want to think. Or do not think at all. It’s so much easier to surrender your decision-making processes to the nearest strongman who claims to have the answers to everything. Freedom comes with responsibility, and who has the energy for that? Yeah, join the hive mind and hide behind the supposed strength of numbers. If you agree with everyone, you can’t possibly be wrong, right?

Nope, it just makes you a scared little waste of evolution. Throughout history people have died to fight and to escape from slavery, but you choose to be a slave. You do not have to be anyone’s tool. Think.

You can choose to be free. We are responsible for ourselves and our fellow humans.

* Star Wars analogy redacted because every viewer naturally assumes she is the hero and not the oppressor.

Movies showing in New York: Moonlight (which I have to see with my friends), Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford’s latest, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Venice where Lav Diaz won the Golden Lion), and Manchester by the Sea, the new film by Kenneth Lonergan starring Casey Affleck. Cost of a movie ticket: $16.

I loved the ill-fated Lonergan movie Margaret and wanted to see Manchester by the Sea. Casey Affleck, who has used his freaky stare to great effect in his brother’s Gone Baby, Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James, is said to be terrific in it (the word Oscar has been used). But when I got to the Angelika both screenings of Manchester were sold out (there was a Q&A with the filmmakers aargh) so I settled for Nocturnal Animals.

Tom Ford’s first movie A Single Man, an adaptation of the Christopher Isherwood novel, was a feature-length perfume commercial (Bawal ang pangit) lifted by a heartbreaking performance by Colin Firth (who really won his Oscar with that). Nocturnal Animals, an adaptation of Tony and Susan by Austin Wright, is actually two movies. The first is about an art gallery owner played by Amy Adams who seems to have everything she wants: a thriving career, a rich and gorgeous husband (Armie Hammer), a fabulous house and glamorous lifestyle. It still looks like a perfume commercial, but this is to underscore the shallowness of her existence.

The second movie is a dramatization of the novel her first husband (Jake Gyllenhaal) has written and dedicated to her. It’s a nasty, alarming thriller in which a man (Jake), his wife (Isla Fisher, brilliantly cast—she looks like Amy) and daughter (Ellie Bamber) are driving through a Texas highway in the dead of night when they are forced off the road by a trio of thugs led by a terrifying Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The worst that can happen, happens. The ensuing investigation is led by the always disconcerting Michael Shannon, who would’ve made off with the entire movie if Jake were not so solid.

As the gallerist reads the manuscript, she recalls her relationship with her sweet, unambitious ex and how she destroyed him at the prodding of her mother (Laura Linney, who is brilliant). Nocturnal Animals stays in your head for days, and should cause a few arguments about the ending.

Amy Adams is having a great year. I’m looking forward to Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve (Sicario). Even before I’ve seen the movie, I already owe it a great debt for introducing me to the work of Ted Chiang.

Arrival is based on Chiang’s The Story of Your Life. Ostensibly a first contact with extraterrestrials tale, it is a mind-bending rumination on language and cognition, and a deeply emotional story of motherhood. The main idea is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis:

the theory that an individual’s thoughts and actions are determined by the language or languages that individual speaks. The strong version of the hypothesis states that all human thoughts and actions are bound by the restraints of language, and is generally less accepted than the weaker version, which says that language only somewhat shapes our thinking and behavior.

Chiang is a writer who explores exhilarating ideas without losing sight of the familiar and human. Like many of the finest writers today, he is isolated from the general audience by the label “science-fiction”. But we live in science-fiction times, and the only way we can make sense of this pandemonium is to read writers like him.

If you see Ted Chiang’s books in stores, buy them all. Read them and give them to your friends. If for some reason you don’t like them, send them to me and I’ll swap other books for them.

The very cool people of Seven A.D. invited me to their monthly Sietehan, where we talked about my strange career, the writing process, and how to survive the discovery that your father is not Darth Vader but Jar Jar Binks. Teeny, who heads the agency, was my classmate at UP——there were only a handful of Comparative Literature majors, so our classes were held in the teachers’ offices at the Faculty Center. (If you’ve seen that wonderful San Junipero episode in the third season of Black Mirror, that was my college soundtrack.)

Tey asked me to recommend books and movies for the younger staff who, being of the digital age, are swamped with reading and viewing options. Here are seven books and seven movies, paired according to mood.

1. The Outsider by Albert Camus and Blade Runner by Ridley Scott

The short novel is about a young man who casually commits murder because life is meaningless. The movie is about a cop who is assigned to kill clones who aspire to be human. The two protagonists should talk to each other.

2. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock

In the novel, a young woman goes to the house of a titled family and claims to be related to them. It turns out that she is the genuine article and her “relatives” are fake. Terrible things follow. In the movie, a detective becomes obsessed with a client’s wife, has a nervous breakdown, and then hires a woman to pretend to be his client’s wife. Only she’s not pretending to be that woman. Terrible things follow.

3. A Sport and A Pastime by James Salter and The Earrings of Madame de…by Max Ophuls

A swoony, sexy novel about young lovers driving across France, as told by a friend who imagines their affair. A swoony, romantic movie about a sophisticated marriage that is shaken up by a sudden, grand passion.

4. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson

Seemingly random groups of characters turn out to be connected in ways we did not suspect.

5. Any Human Heart by William Boyd and Children of Men by Alfonso Cuaron

A delightful novel about the life and times of a writer near the end of his life, and a heartbreakingly beautiful movie about a man facing the end of the human species. You dive into the depths of despair, and somehow emerge hopeful.

6. A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor and The Last Days of Disco by Whit Stillman

After being kicked out of boarding school, a young man decides to walk across Europe on the cusp of World War II. After graduating from college, a group of young people make their way in New York City. Common theme: Young people figuring out how to be adults.

7. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh and Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks

A timid nature writer is mistakenly sent to cover a war in East Africa. The grandson of Victor Frankenstein recreates that infamous experiment. Both are hilarious.