And now, for something good…

Conversely, informing the general public about movies, books, games, graphic novels, etc. that should be seen, read, and played seems like a noble cause as well. Bashing crap gets a little old after a while and besides, spreading the word on literature and movies that are worth your time makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Seriously. I think the best reward you could give to a creator whose work you enjoy or love is to let others know about it. And of course, buying original stuff, but I’m not about to preach that since I myself am a lover of (cheap!) pirated games and movies. Sorry.

I’m buried to my neck in schoolwork right now, and probably won’t have time for reading fiction that isn’t written by someone who died a thousand years ago. Instead, I shall share with you some of the stuff I’ve read over the Christmas break. I’ve also decided to start rating the stuff I review from a scale of 1 - 5, 5 being the highest. So yeah, here ya go.

Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
I actually found this book in an obscure National Bookstore, which I didn’t expect since the one in Katipunan doesn’t carry Neil Gaiman stuff. Or maybe they just didn’t have it when I was last there. Anyhow, Neverwhere is about your average English shmoe doing his everyday, ordinary thing, when the world as he knows it turns topsy-turvy after he stops to help a teenage girl bleeding on the sidewalk. I’m a huge sucker for Alice In Wonderland stories–stories about people who suddenly find themselves in a fantasy world inhabited by the most bizarre characters. I envy them, in a way; I mean, they get to go to another world. If you’re into that kind of fiction as well, then you will probably love Neverwhere. I tried to make it last as long as I could but once I started, I couldn’t put it down; the story sucks you in the moment you open the book. The plot has a lot of exciting twists and turns, and the characters are surprisingly endearing. I found myself cheering for poor Richard Mayhew (the English shmoe) as he struggled to survive in London Underground, and fascinated by the mysterious Door. Some books are fun to read but forgettable; Neverwhere is worth coming back to, even after coming across the unlikely ending. 5/5

Fables: Legends in Exile, by Bill Willingham
Legends in Exile is a compilation of issues 1 to 5 of Vertigo Comics‘ monthly Fables series. I came across Fables on the Vertigo website and it looked like the kind of comic I’d be into. It’s about fairy tale people exiled to modern-day New York–how cool is that? I was far from disappointed; I fell in love with the series after reading the first issue. I’m no comic book expert or anything so I wouldn’t know much about what makes good art good, but the art in Fables is intricate and beautiful. You have to take time to just look and appreciate the art because there’s so much to see. The story itself is great. Legends in Exile is about the sudden disappearance of Snow White’s fraternal twin sister, Rose Red. You’d think the heroines would be irritating and useless since they behave that way in fairy tales, but they’re as intelligent and street-smart as any modern woman. It’s smart and suspenseful, and I highly recommend it to anyone who finds reading comic books unappealing–Fables will make you change your mind. 5/5

Death: The High Cost of Living, by Neil Gaiman
Yet another work of Gaiman’s and publication of Vertigo comics. This is the graphic novel I think every comic book fan anyone with good taste in literature has read. Seeing that Death is the most popular of The Endless, I never really paid much attention to her. I think in the mindset that anything that the general public likes must suck because most of the general public consists of idiots. Besides, she’s a teenage goth–how promising is that? But I was wrong, because Death didn’t turn out to be the kind of character I thought she was. I guess Gaiman’s too smart a writer to stick to stereotypes, which I am really happy about. Death’s cool, quirky, and not at all morbid and depressing; in fact, she’s ironically full of life. She’s the kind of girl you’d want to be friends with because you just know you’ll have the greatest time around her. I’m not the kind of person who likes to delve into the “symbolisms” in literature because I’m not one for assumptions. But the overall message that I got from The High Cost of Living is one that I’ve been following and strongly believe in–live, and be happy. 4/5

After Eden

Seeing that this is a relatively popular site and all, sometimes I feel like it is my public duty to warn everyone about bad books, movies, music, etc. You know how sometimes you go to a store and you see something that might look like a good buy, but there’s no one who can tell you for sure if it’s worth spending your money on? I hate it when I learn that I’ve spent money on crap; it makes me feel like a stupid person. So as of now, this website will be about reviews and such–of things that are not worth a single cent of your allowance or hard-earned money–and I will try to update it as often as I can. Not because I want to prevent you from wasting money on crap; it’s not like I can actually stop you from doing so. I’m simply writing this for my own amusement (and because I’m very uncomfortable with the thought of strangers reading about my private life).

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at the graphic novels in Power Books when I saw a copy of After Eden by Arnold Arre. I was tempted to buy it because it won the Manila Critics Circle National Book Awards, and the review of an acquaintance and fellow VS player, Paolo, was even quoted at the back of the book. But for some reason, I didn’t. And boy, am I glad I didn’t, because when I got around to reading it a few weeks later (my sister borrowed my cousin’s copy) I found that I couldn’t get past the second chapter because I hated it so much.

After Eden is a love story that involves a male geek falling in love with a female slave to the corporate world. The friends of the male geek hate the friends of the female yuppie, and vice versa, and are a tad upset about the fact that their friends hooked up with each other. The yuppie’s friends are so unhappy with the relationship that they plotted to destroy it, instead of talking to their friend about it like any intelligent adult would do. At that point I threw the book down in disgust and never picked it up again. Okay, so maybe it’s unfair for me to write a critique on something I haven’t finished reading. Maybe the story will redeem itself in the end. But I guess I don’t really want to waste my time finding out because chances are, After Eden’s denouement will probably disappoint me. It’s a story about a bunch of twenty-somethings squabbling like teenagers in high school. How promising is that?

Aside from the badly-written characters, biggest turn-off for me was the premise of After Eden. The geek and the yuppie were whining about how monotonous and boring their lives were. Then they met each other, fell in love, and suddenly life was so damn good. I really hate it when people think that love is a remedy to depression or boredom, because it isn’t. Perhaps the reason why so many people out there have fucked-up relationships is because books like After Eden encourage that kind of stupidity. But that’s just a theory.

My cousin actually liked After Eden though, so if you find that you don’t think the way I do, chances are you’ll probably will too. My sister, on the other hand, never finished it either. It was way too cheesy for her to stomach.

Happy 2005!

Happy 2005! The last day of 2004 and the first day of 2005 was spent doing what I do best: stuffing myself with fruit salad, playing Persona 2, reading Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, then Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, and lighting some fireworks in between. Pretty peaceful and uneventful, really. I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions so I won’t even bother. I suppose I’ll just keep doing what I do and hope 2005 will be good to me.