The Weekly LitWit Challenge 7.9: Addictions is no longer accepting entries. We’re very pleased to see stories from first-time participants. The winner will be announced in a day or two.
* * * * *
Until we can lay eyes on the actual movie we’ve been reading the reviews of Shame by Steve McQueen. As you know it is about a sex addict played by Michael Fassbender. The reviews have been mixed—many critics have noted that the sex is the movie is strangely non-erotic. Since the protagonist is a sex addict, isn’t that the point?
This got us to thinking about addictions and how at some point the substance, thing, or activity one is addicted to ceases to be fun. Sounds like material for a LitWit challenge.
In 1,000 words or less, write us a story from the POV of an addict who no longer enjoys whatever it is they’re addicted to (sex, drugs, alcohol, shopping, whatever) but can’t bring themselves to stop.
The deadline is noon on Saturday, 10 December 2011. The winner will receive these three books: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarré, and Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell.
The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to you by our friends at National Bookstore.
Thank you for following the Weekly LitWit Challenge. Unfortunately the volunteer English teaching program we had planned fell through, but yesterday we turned over a donation of school supplies to NBS Foundation’s Project Aral. In the coming months we will make regular donations to schools in need.
The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories by Don DeLillo (Hardcover, Php965). After we read Martin Amis’s much-discussed review (“When we say that we love a writer’s work, we are always stretching the truth: what we really mean is that we love about half of it…”) we went to the bookstore to order the book but it was already on the shelf.
Hemingway’s Boat: Everything he loved in life, and lost, 1934 – 1961 by Paul Hendrickson (Hardcover, Php1175). James Salter says we should read it.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (Trade paper, Php525). We don’t get baseball, but we’ll give this a whack.
The Penguin Ink series features cover designs by tattoo artists.
The Penguin Inks are about Php525 each (Sorry, we lost the price stickers).
Prices quoted above are from National Bookstore.
£1680.00 at White Cube gallery in London. Diptych, not real books.
For greater authenticity, but mostly because we are extremely lazy, we will no longer be editing your letters. That way we can hear what you actually sound like.
Dear Auntie Janey,
This is my first time to write to your column and I don’t know if you would take me seriously but I honestly feel and think that I need your help on this matter. You can call me Lukresia, Luk for short, I am 24 years old and never had a boyfriend, I’ve had crushes along the way. Most of my close friends in high school and college have gotten married, had children, lived with their partners and went on steady relationships with their boyfriends. All except me. There is me, the ever loyal and supportive friend who never experienced being liked and courted by a guy, who never had a boyfriend unless you count all the imaginary ones she had. I had my heart broken already especially if we are talking about the cliche unrequited love story. I wear glasses, with a sprinkle of Cherry Pie Picache’s facial features and big-boned but not fat. Never did I consider myself attractive, I don’t smile a lot and I hate my picture being taken.
My friends are pressuring me indirectly to have a boyfriend and be in a relationship, I hate that I love them so much that I can’t hate them for doing this to me. Like I am being forced to drop my single status and change it to “in a relationship”. Well honestly, I was thinking of having one but whenever I like or get attracted to someone there’s always this force field that goes up between us and I end up losing my interest and momentum. I have liked guys younger than me, same age group as me and even older than me but still unsuccessful. I love being single, I have always been single since the day I was born. I got used to it already, it gives me the independence and freedom that I need.
And now, there this one guy that I really liked when I was in high school, his name is Marlon. I sent him a love letter on Valentines’ Day telling him that I really liked him, that I care for him and hopefully I can manage to expose my true identity to him after a year, My pseudonym then was Aya Brea but unfortunate events came and our family needed to sell the house and transfer to another place. All of my plans were halted and our life changed drastically. I can’t stop thinking about him then, after seeing him holding and reading the letter that I gave him, proving at least that he took time to appreciate what I gave him. It touched me and made me think about that he “might” like the person behind the name Aya Brea. Now it’s already 9 years since we left and I still can’t make myself forget him. I’m trying to convince myself that I no longer have the feelings that I had for him then, I was just 14 then, a teenager. And I don’t know if Marlon still remembers what I told him then or there maybe a chance that he still has the letter that I gave him. He knows me, we see each other everyday, we were playmates and schoolmates. I heard that he still unattached and still single. I smiled when I heard the news. I want to see him, that’s why I’m making an effort to search for him on Facebook but still unsuccessful. I want to see him.
Well Auntie Janey, honestly I want to see him because I want to finish what I started, even if it will break me into pieces again. I just need to tell him who I am.
Is this a good idea? Healthy? Am I desperate or going bonkers?
Lovingly Yours,
Luk.
Dear Luk,
Yes Luk, this sudden fixation on your past high school sweetheart is unhealthy, a bad idea, and reeks of desperation. You are still in your mid-20’s, don’t worry about it too much. People you know who are already married or are in a relationship do tend to become smug and find joy in pressuring their single friends to get a partner. You are not alone. Just mentally give them the finger and go on with your life.
I must point out that this fixation on Marlon is a sign that you are getting desperate. It can be likened to somebody who is very broke and, as an act of desperation, goes through every piece of clothing that one has ever owned in the hopes that there’s some money in the clothes’ pockets. Including those clothes that have gotten acquainted with nesting mice. You are clinging to a fantasy. Stop it, stop it, stop it! And what have you started exactly? NOTHING. Get over him please. Listen to my fabulous fingers snapping.
I am of the belief that certain things will only happen when you are truly ready for it. I have experienced the force field phenomenon, not only in my love life, but also in my other endeavors. Be thankful for this cosmic force field for the universe is protecting you from making a mistake. It is telling you that the thing that you want most is not for you or you are not yet ready for it. Forcibly break through the force field and you will suffer the consequences.
I am not saying that you should remain idle. Forgive me for saying this, but the nuance of your sentences and your word choice (I could be wrong) give the impression that you do not have faith in yourself and that you are lackluster as compared to your friends. I am not being mean or condescending, just being practical. This may be the reason why your friends got snapped up first.
We are in a free market economy and one must be aware of of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Enhance your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses.True, we should be ourselves, but there is also the nagging question of who are we really. Work on yourself. Do it slowly, don’t rush. Take your time. Find what it is that sets you apart from other girls.
Did you watch The Miss Universe pageant back in 2010? I watched it because everyone in the office was glued to the TV during the live telecast. To get the judges to notice her, Venus literally set herself apart from the equally beautiful girls. In the swimsuit competition, the other girls walked very briskly, but Venus took her time and acted as if the stage solely belonged to her. Whenever all of them were lined up on the stage, most of the girls leaned to the left, Venus leaned to the right. My attention was inadvertently drawn to her because she subtly acted differently. Her strategy got her into the top five.
I want you to adopt the Venus Raj strategy (sounds very gay). What is it that usually make people notice you? Discover what this is and work on it. Whenever you are in a group, do not act like your group mates. If they are flirtatious or loud, act demure and poised. If they are timid and shy, be outgoing and fun. Just don’t overdo it. Play it by ear.. Do not act in such a way that says that you are desperate for attention. Also tinker with your hair, your clothes, and even the way you speak.
Attractiveness does not occur naturally. It needs a lot of work, painful work. It is a conscious effort and the regimens associated with it should be part of your routine. Venus Raj did not pop out of he mother’s uterus looking like that.
One of the great pleasures of our boring childhood was curling up behind a shelf with a tattered copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology while our cousins ran around screaming in the yard. We preferred reading about the shenanigans of the gods and heroes of ancient Greece to playing patintero with children (Never liked children, especially when we were a child). No game of habulan-statue was half as exciting as Zeus sneaking around seducing human women while wearing disguises (a swan, a golden shower, etc) to throw off his suspicious wife Hera. The gods were immature, fallible and petty, they behaved arbitrarily and did not provide good examples for the mortals. The humans were better off without them. And the gods had favorites like Hercules, Jason and Theseus.
Tarsem Singh’s movie The Immortals is “loosely based” on the story of Theseus, and by “loosely” they mean they kept the names. The resulting plot is weird, but nowhere near as weird as the myth which involves bestiality (the queen who fell in love with a bull and gave birth to the Minotaur), human sacrifice (seven young men and seven young women had to be offered to the Minotaur every year), breach of promise (Theseus promised to marry the woman who told him how to escape the labyrinth, then ditched her on an island) and incestuous obsession (Theseus’s wife Phaedra tried to seduce his son by a previous relationship, then accused him of rape). Any illusions about the movie’s fidelity to the source is dashed immediately: in the first scene the Sibylline oracle is spelled “Sybelline”.
The Immortals is produced by the team that gave us 300 and directed by the guy who did The Cell. This could only mean one thing: Naked men in slow motion!
We were not disappointed. The beautiful Henry Cavill, soon to don the tights and cape of Superman, is the peasant Theseus who must protect the virgin oracle Phaedra (Frieda Pinto) and prevent her from revealing the whereabouts of the Epirus Bow to the sadistic king Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) who plans to use it to free the Titans from a giant metal cage inside a mountain and wage war against Zeus (Luke Evans) and the gods so he can achieve world domination.
In case we forget that they possess well-developed abs, the gods wear armor with abs. Theseus’s armor comes with an intestine pattern.
This being a Tarsem Singh movie, everything is color-coded for easy reference. The architecture is gray minimalist-modernist-ish, the humans are tan and grimy, the gods are golden with dramatic headdresses, and the titans are simian and covered in layers of gray dust. We know Theseus is heroic because his abs have abs and his jaws could cut glass. We know the oracle is gifted because when she washes her face her eyeliner and eyeshadow stay on. We know Hyperion is nasty because he looks like Mickey Rourke and he neuters his followers with a sledgehammer. (Actually Mickey with a scarred face enclosed in a headdress that looks like a Venus flytrap ate him is less scary than Mickey carrying a chihuahua in real life.)
We know Zeus is the king of the gods because when you see him you say “Ohmyged.” Zeus is played by Luke Evans, who looks like a taller, more muscular Dominic Cooper—guapo, medyo banlag, already typecast as a god (Apollo in Clash of the Titans). He is so obviously a deity he must walk the earth disguised as John Hurt. And we know that Kellan Lutz and company are gods because they are shiny and perfect and they live in a Vogue fashion spread.
The humans are kind of stupid because they insist on building their cities on the edges of very tall cliffs. Zeus forbids his brother and children from interfering in mortal affairs, even if he himself had a hand in training Theseus. When the gods come down to earth they swish their capes fabulously while blood gushes in slow-motion from their foes’ bisected torsos.
There are only 5 or 6 gods in Olympus; the others must’ve watched Clash of the Titans and refused to have anything more to do with movies. Stephen Dorff turns up as a thief who helps Theseus, reminding us how much we liked him in Blade.
Reason to skip The Immortals: It’s stupid. Reasons to watch The Immortals: pretty, pretty actors and evil Mickey Rourke. We had fun. Recommended for those who found 300 too butch.
Naturally we assume that Marat won, but we need details. We gather he ran on the Putin ticket and the election is disputed. Ahh, disputed elections. Marat should just marry us and run in the Philippines.
Got the voting results for Marat’s district? Send them over.
P.S. If we wanted a machine translation we would’ve gotten a machine translation. We want an actual Russian speaker because we have questions.
British poets of World War I whose homosexuality/bisexuality was not acknowledged by their early biographers. 1. Rupert Brooke.
IV. ‘Something of a poet’
Taong 1980. Si Paul Bryant ay isa nang manunulat. May mga nailathala na siyang artikulo sa mga pahayagan, kabilang na ang review ng memoirs ni Daphne Jacobs (na dating Daphne Sawle/Valance/Ralph). Isang araw, sa London, sa gitna ng malakas na ulan ay nakita niya si Mrs. Jacobs. Malaki ang ipinagbago nito: halatang luma at hindi malinis ang damit niya, at parang hindi siya naaalagaan.
Bagama’t minsan lang siya sa isang taon sumakay ng taksi ay nagmagandang-loob si Paul na ihatid si Daphne sa istasyon ng tren. Ipinaalala ni Paul kung paano sila nagkakilala (sa ika-70ng kaarawan ni Daphne sa bahay ng anak nitong si Corinna) at nakiramay sa pagkamatay ni Corinna (kanser) at ng asawa nitong si G. Keeping (nagpakamatay). Tila hindi naaalala ni Daphne kung sino siya. Binanggit ni Paul na siya ay nagsusulat ng libro tungkol kay Cecil Valance, at nais niya sanang ma-interview si Daphne para dito. Halatang walang gana si Daphne na magsalita tungkol kay Cecil nguni’t ibinigay nito ang kanyang address.
Bumisita si Paul sa Two Acres, ang dating tahanan ng mga Sawle, kung saan isinulat ni Cecil Valance ang kanyang tanyag na tula. Hindi alam ng mga kapitbahay ang kasaysayan nito; ang nakikita lamang nila ay isang luma at sira-sirang bahay na gigibain para sa isang housing development.
Binasa rin ni Paul ang autobiography ni Dudley Valance, kung saan ikinuwento nito na matapos ang digmaan, ang kanilang ina ay kumonsulta sa isang spiritista sa paghahangad na makausap si Cecil. Sumulat si Paul kay Dudley, na nakatira na sa Espanya, upang humingi ng interview; sumagot ang asawa nito upang tanggihan ang kanyang hiling. Nakatanggap naman si Paul ng postcard mula sa dati niyang kasintahang si Peter Rowe, na isa nang manunulat na may programa sa telebisyon. Sinusuportahan ni Peter ang proyekto ni Paul, lalo na’t siya ang unang nagdala kay Paul sa Corley Court at sa rebulto ni Cecil.
2. Siegfried Sassoon.
Unang kinausap ni Paul si Jonah, isang katulong sa Two Acres noong bumisita doon si Cecil. Naniniwala si Paul na may nalalaman si Jonah tungkol sa tunay na relasyon nina Cecil at George Sawle (kapatid ni Daphne). Alam ni Paul na si George at hindi si Daphne ang inspirasyon para sa tulang “Two Acres” nguni’t kailangan niya ng pruweba.
Sa opisina ng Times Literary Supplement, nakilala ni Paul si Robin Gray na kamag-anak ng dating asawa ni Daphne. Sinabi niya na kakausapin niya si Daphne tungkol sa proyekto ni Paul.
Dumalo si Paul sa isang pagtitipon sa Cambridge University upang subukang makausap si Dudley Valance, nguni’t siya ay di pinansin, pagkatapos ay binara at ininsulto pa.
Ibang-iba naman ang pagtanggap sa kanya ni George Sawle noong puntahan niya ito sa bahay. Masyado itong madaldal—maraming rebelasyong ibinunyag, at sa kasawiang palad ay naubos ang baterya ng tape recorder ni Paul. Matanda na si George at ulyanin, nguni’t klarong-klaro ang alaala ng matagal nang nakalipas. Sinabi ni George na si Cecil ay mahilig maghubad, malaki ang ari, at nakipag-relasyon sa lahat, babae man o lalaki. Habang nililigawan nito si Daphne ay may isa pang babae na inalok nitong magpakasal.
Sinabi rin ni George na noong huling leave ni Cecil noong digmaan, dalawang linggo bago ito mamatay, nabuntis nito si Daphne. Samakatwid, si Cecil ang ama ng panganay ni Daphne na si Corinna. Hindi ito nabanggit ni Daphne sa kanyang memoirs.
Idinagdag pa ni George na hindi si Revel Ralph ang ama ng pangatlong anak ni Daphne, kundi ang kalaguyo nito na isang pintor. Bago umalis si Paul ay hinipuan siya ni George.
Sa wakas ay nakausap ni Paul si Daphne. Nakatira ito sa isang maliit na bahay na marumi at magulo. Kasama ni Daphne sa bahay ang anak niyang si Wilfred na 60 anyos na. Malakas pa rin uminom si Daphne at karamihan ng mga tanong ni Paul ay hindi nito sinagot.
Eyeglasses by Maria Nella Sarabia, O.D.
G/F Acacia Residence Hall, UP Diliman QC
Open Mondays to Saturdays, 9am-5pm
Closed on Tuesdays
Telephone +63 935 388 7402
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
