JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

If you’re looking for presents for friends, colleagues, family, consider something time-warping, reality-bending, brain-expanding yet extremely affordable: Books. Bad as it was, 2016 doesn’t have to be the beginning of the end of civilization. If we all take up reading, there’s hope.

For readers who love a clever adultery-and-revenge plot, from the author of Atonement and The Cement Garden. The narrator is even younger than Briony Tallis or the kids in The Cement Garden: He’s an embryo.

For readers who fell in love with The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay a decade ago and have been waiting for Chabon to revisit the territory.

Short stories by a master who is finally getting her due. Famous fan: Pedro Almodovar.

Recently filmed by Martin Scorsese, an exploration of religious belief that should appeal to the faithful and to atheists.

A domestic drama set during an international crisis, by the author of Everything Is Illuminated.

The source of last year’s forbidden love drama Carol (by Todd Haynes, with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara), by the woman who invented The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The controversial novel about a traditional Muslim president winning the French election in 2022. (The novel was on the cover of Charlie Hebdo the day of the shooting. Was that the point at which everything started going to hell?) I do not like Houellebecq but feel compelled to read his novels.

For readers who like their prose rich, with the consistency of molten lava.

In Modiano’s novels, the protagonists are always trying to remember something they forgot, or forgot that they forgot, or forgot that they remember. It’s just as well they are short. But no one evokes mood and place better—one page and you’re in the grottier sections of Paris. You could argue that Modiano writes the same novel over and over again, but he forgot that he’d already written them.

When people say, “That’s so French,” this novel is what they mean. If your friend already has the Hermes scarf and the box of Ladurée macarons, this should complete the ambience.

A particularly frantic day in the life of a successful illustrator who has disappeared into motherhood and domesticity. Sounds like her previous novel, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, and that is a good thing.

Race in America has never been a more incendiary topic, and this novel about escaping slavery is perfectly-timed.

All titles available at National Bookstores.

A bibliophile, from Bibiliomania, the Dark Desire for Books That Infected Europe in the 1800s.

My feline housemates granted an interview to the distributors of their favorite kibble, Taste of the Wild.

Hi Saffy, Drogon, how are you?

Saffy: Who wants to know?
Drogon: I love everybody!

We’re curious, how did you “meet” Jessica?

Saffy: I was born in her friend’s house and she brought me home.
Drogon: I adopted her! When she opened the door I just ran in.

What do you do everyday? What are your favorite activities?

Saffy: I like to do yoga, take naps, and ponder the nature of reality.
Drogon: I like to explore the house and sit at the window.

Why do you like weird spaces like boxes and nooks and crannies?

Saffy: Because they are snug and cozy.
Drogon: And you can launch a stealth attack.

What’s your favorite flavor of kibble?

Drogon: I prefer Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain Feline® Formula with Roasted Venison & Smoked Salmon. It has deer in it so I feel like a hunter.

Saffy: For me, Taste of the Wild Canyon River Feline® Formula with Trout & Smoked Salmon, because I love a good nosh.

What flavor would you like to try if they can put it in dry kibble?

Drogon: Cheese.
Saffy: Caviar.

Taste of the Wild Feline Formula is available at Petwarehouse.ph. You can buy your cat food online and have it delivered straight to your house. Get better nutrition for your cat family, and greater convenience for their humans.

It’s by rickyvvvvv, and it’ll get you through the many traffic jams you have to endure this week. We’re posting a new playlist every Monday so we need a lot of music. Send your happy playlists to saffron.safin@gmail.com or post them in comments.

The Coma Cluster of Galaxies from the NASA APOD Archive.

Allora & Calzadilla collaborated with author Ted Chiang on their video installation The Great Silence, which centers on the world’s largest radio telescope in Esperanza, Puerto Rico— home to the last remaining population of a critically endangered species of parrots, Amazona vittata.

(I copy my favorite writing into a notebook, hoping to figure out how they were created.)

The Arecibo telescope, from the National Geographic.

Amazona vittata photo by Tom MacKenzie from Wikimedia Commons.

Continue reading The Great Silence.

I use Uber a lot. It’s convenient, safe, and reduces the stress of getting around the city. I’ve written about how glad I am that Uber exists. I don’t even mind paying the surge rate (up to 5X during the Xmas season last year) as long as I am informed of it beforehand. Hey, traffic is a pain in the ass, what are you going to do.

Recently Uber updated its app. Now it doesn’t show you the surge rate. Instead you get an “Upfront Fare” that tells you how much your ride will cost. It may seem like a good idea—except that that is not what you end up paying.

This morning I took Uber to the Rockwell area. The “Upfront Fare” was Php55. The actual fare when I got to my destination was Php100.

This afternoon I took Uber back to my house, roughly the same distance as my morning trip. The “Upfront Fare” was Php170. The actual fare I was charged when I got home: Php248.

I understand that the effects of road traffic cannot be predicted exactly, but knowing the surge rate would give me a more accurate idea of how much I would have to pay. The “Upfront Fare” is completely unreliable, being nearly 50 percent off the final fare. I would prefer not to get a shock when the driver gives me the total (I use the cash option, so I am more aware of what I pay than if I charged it to a card).

As I am trying to be cheerful, I thought I would take it up with Uber instead of getting angry. In the past, I could report issues to Uber by replying to the receipt they email after each ride. Turns out you can’t do that anymore. I got an automatic reply that said the address does not accept incoming email. I was advised to go to “Help” in the Uber app or go to help.uber.com on the web.

So I did that. But the Help menu on both app and website has limited options, none of which cover “Your Upfront Fare is not very upfront, and I would prefer to see the surge rate so I don’t get a shock.” I tried reporting my issue under “I lost an item” and “I had an issue with a receipt or payment option” to no avail.

I asked my terrifyingly efficient sister how I could contact Uber, and she suggested their Facebook page. As I am not on the social media, I asked her to relay my message for me. Here is their reply:

Hello, just go to your History in Uber app, choose the trip that got issue and submit a note, we’ll follow up.

In short, Uber does not care to listen. And if Uber will not listen, I do not have to use Uber.

Uber, I want a reply. Readers, could you do me a favor and pass this on to them?

In the meantime I will use Grab. I have found Grab to be slightly more expensive, but at least they tell you what the final fare is as soon as you book.

* * *
Update on 13 December: The surge rate is back! When you request a ride, the surge rate appears.

See? Was that so difficult? Uber-ing again.

* * *

Update on 15 December: Since that time the surge rate window has not appeared again,

I am tired of being angry.

We all have reasons to be angry, but being angry just makes us angrier, and then the loudest and angriest wins. All that energy expended on nothing, just making everyone feel ill and look worn-out.

Today we woke up to the kind of news that makes us angry. I support #ProtectVPLeni and #LabanLeni, but I’m thinking that we could also try a different approach—one that is less likely to cause yelling.

A different approach, like Cheer. Like believing that good defeats evil. Like laughing in the face of despair. Like insisting on hope. Like dancing on the grave of injustice. (To those of us who are not perky sunshine people, it’s positively revolutionary.)

Nothing promotes happiness like music. So Juan, Ricky and I got together and made a list of happy songs off the tops of our heads.

Here is the first Dancing In My Tsinelas — a happy playlist for VP Leni. Because there’s a lot of work to be done, and how can you work if you feel like the nails are being driven into your coffin? Cheer up!

Don’t just listen to the playlist, make your own and send it to us! (Note: We need Filipino songs!)