A Hitch and a Holmes: The Return of Reading in my Sleep

After a beautiful Sunday out, I tweeted the following:

New books! New books! Hitchens's Hitch-22 and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Fangirling. Love to my partner. :3

And I told myself that I needed to blog the books, so here they are:


My copy of the hardbound edition of Christopher Hitchens's Hitch-22: A Memoir. It really does look as battered as it seems because for some reason I was able to obtain the last copy in stock at the Fully Booked branch in Bonifacio High Street.

[There were that many people interested in Hitchens in the Philippines? Shock!]

This is an advanced birthday present to me from my partner, hence the last part of the tweet quoted above.

I've already burned through three chapters and I'm looking forward to working through the rest.


This is a lovely little hardbound edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published under the "Collector's Library" imprint.

I found this while snooping through the classics collection at the same bookstore mentioned above; after I'd finished drooling at a lavishly annotated edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula, I found an entire cabinet of these little beauties. It's a fair selection of some of the titles in the English literary canon: from Shakespeare to Alcott to Tolstoy to Woolf.


Here's the Holmes, opened to part of "A Case of Identity". My hands are small, but they're tellingly enough to provide scale for this book. If you're looking for an honest-to-goodness pocketbook, then yeah, you could do worse than to pick up some of these Collector's Library editions.

I wonder if I should get A Study in Scarlet next.

Post Number 200: Pierrot Yarn Party!

Two hundred posts! Thank you for reading and supporting the blog! THANK YOU~~~!

[Warning: Post is image-heavy.]

Around the beginning of August, my good friend and fellow crafter Clair@Crafty Cat pinged me and another friend to ask if we would be interested in a rather special promotion she'd found online.

Pierrot Yarns, a Japanese brand of yarn, was holding a Lucky Bag Sale.

If you go in for Japanese merch or actually live and shop there, then this sort of promotion might be familiar to you as fukubukuro. Which is, basically, offering a random assortment of goodies and bonus items in a sealed, opaque bag for a very low price. We're talking deep discounts on all of the items in the bag. Sometimes the bags contain extreme finds like plane tickets for a holiday, fur coats [!!!], and gorgeous bags. The idea is to encourage the shopper to patronize the store that offers the lucky bags in the hope of getting some really cool swag, and eventually become a regular.

So Pierrot Yarns was offering its 2010 Spring/Summer inventory of yarns as a special fukubukuro promotion and buyers could choose whether they would get "Girl Colors" or "Boy Colors". The whole bag of 41 skeins of yarn was priced at a flat 9000 yen, AND the shipping was free! So you can bet that I pounced on the offer.

Well, this morning Clair and I met up for what we eventually called a crack deal [yes, as in drugs, hello SABLE]: time to split up the yarns. My share of the money came up to about 3000 PHP, which paid for both my half of the yarns and the customs duties. [&%*^$%&%$(^()**_)!]

Here's my share of the loot.


As you can tell from the colors in the photo, we chose the Boy Colors yarn.

Breakdown after the jump ^^

Fandoms at Random: The Starry Night

Related posts:

Fandoms at Random: Doctor Who Ramblings
Fandoms at Random: The Eleventh Doctor

Our heroes in the Doctor Who Eleventh Doctor episode "Vincent and the Doctor": Amy Pond, the Doctor, and Vincent van Gogh.

One of my most favorite Doctor Who episodes of all time has to be "Vincent and the Doctor", where everyone's favorite Time Lord crosses paths with one of the greatest artists ever.

Admittedly, this is not an episode for people who are looking for out-and-out happy endings. Time traveling or not, there are certain things that the Doctor cannot change, and the tragedy of van Gogh's early demise is definitely one of those unhappy intersections.

Which means that a frame like THIS is gorgeous and tear-jerking at the same time:

Amy plays the muse to Vincent - with sunflowers.

And there's a very beautiful moment near the end where the Doctor delivers the following line. Note that Dr. Black is an expert on van Gogh, and that through the wonders of time travel is unwittingly standing next to his idol:

The Eleventh Doctor, to Dr. Black: I just wondered, between you and me, in a hundred words: Where do you think van Gogh rates in the history of art?

The answer, of course, is Dr. Black going into fanboy mode.

Sigh. If ONLY.

I know the reception of this particular episode has been pretty mixed, but count me firmly in the supporters' camp. There are just so many reasons why the art of van Gogh has retained its meaning and its beauty through the years, and the people behind this episode manage to describe many of these reasons so beautifully, in such heartbreaking fashion.

Vincent and the TARDIS, done in the painter's distinct post-Impressionist style.

Big props to the writer Richard Curtis [yes, THAT Curtis, the man responsible for the movies Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, and Love Actually], to the amazing Bill Nighy, and to the wonderful Tony Curran. And, of course, to our intrepid Doctor and to the spitfire companion Amy Pond.

Ideas for New Worlds 6?

This post comes as a response to [Conventions] Do You Want A New Worlds 6?


A wonderful wallpaper of all eleven versions of the Doctor, found at fanpop.com.

I think the paragraph that caught my attention was this:

While we gather enough people to make such an event possible, we should get the awareness ball rolling. Don't you want to have a convention for your geeky interests? Don't you want to be able to meet other people who enjoyed the original Star Trek series like you or perhaps who love the works of H.P. Lovecraft or Anne Rice? Don't you want to discuss how Lost ended with other Losties? Don't you want to be able to share a bottle of rum with a fellow Pirates of the Carribean lover? Don't you want to practice your spells with other Harry Potter fans?

[Um, please ignore the typo there or perhaps Captain Jack Sparrow will not mind that it is actually spelled "Caribbean".]

I have to admit that I have a fairly jaded view of some of the conventions held here in the Philippines because of two diametrically opposite reasons/problems/what-have-you:

1. Too exclusive.
2. Not exclusive enough.

Why are local cons too exclusive? Well, probably because of the accidents of sponsorship and the desires of the organizers: they might want to hold a comics convention that is open to everyone, but the sponsors might insist on exclusivity for their brand. And since the cons live and die on the sponsorships, the cons have some complying to do.

Why are local cons not exclusive enough? How would you feel if you said you were organizing a con for Western comics - and then a majority of the people in costume showed up as characters from everywhere else *except* Western comics? Note that there is no fault in this sort of set-up - but it does take away from the intentions of the con.

I think the problem is a lack of acknowledgment of fandom for what it really is: more than a marketing gimmick, more than an excuse to dress up, more than a motley assortment of people sharing interests that range from mildly exotic to I-have-no-idea-what-that-is strange.

Fandom is really just the same thing whether you're a Vilmanian/Sharonian/Noranian [this shows my age rather badly, doesn't it?], or an ardent follower of LOST/Harry Potter/Batman/Star Trek/Star Wars/Doctor Who, or a big fan of Take That/U2/Amanda Palmer, or even a massive mecha-head building Gundams and Gundam costumes.

Fandom is one: the collective energy of different types and groups of people who come together for the love of whatever it is they're fans of.

It's so simple and yet it's so complicated. And I really can't blame anyone who tried to organize a con to cater to all of these interests.

Being a member of at least one "obscure" fandom myself [read: I have only met a bare handful of fellow Filipinos in the Takarazuka Kagekidan fandom, and only one or two in the flesh!], I can appreciate how some fandoms will always be too small to be represented.

And being a member of a rapidly-growing fandom [hello, Inception!], I can also appreciate how some fandoms can quickly build to critical mass and hold there against all odds.

I love being a fan but analyzing it really takes the energy out of me. Gawd, where to even begin?

"I want to know what it's like to live // I want to know what it's like to love"

Song lyrics in the title are taken from the ending theme of the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations OVA, さいごの果実 [Saigo no Kajitsu / Last Fruit]. This song is also my current ear worm.

If you haven't seen Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations yet, there may be spoilers here.


DVD cover.

I had a rather bad Saturday afternoon last weekend. Seriously, how is it possible to sleep when the ground-floor neighbors set up a karaoke machine right under my window - and were happily, drunkenly murdering a bunch of crap songs? Imagine cacophony up to eleven - or don't.

Since I'd come home with my partner expecting to sleep off the effects of the Friday night shift - but got THAT annoyance instead, there was nothing for it but to find another way to block the idiots out.

And that is how I came to watch the Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations OAV.

Having already read the whole series beforehand, I knew that this was the turning point of the whole story - the point where each character begins to divulge his/her/its secrets.

Sakura, Syaoran, Fai, and Kurogane arrive via Mokona-portal from a failed sortie in the land of Rekort. Princess Sakura has fallen unconscious, and Syaoran is injured. They are quickly introduced to the reason why the world they're now in is named "Acid Tokyo" - the rain is murderously acidic.

The Tsubasa characters are soon picked up by Kamui and his group, all from X/1999. The odd thing is that Kamui is in charge of who are actually the Dragons of Earth from the previous series. Additionally, the rival group is composed of the Dragons of Heaven - but they, in turn, are led by Fuuma.

Kamui and his group are watching over a safe cache of water underneath their headquarters. While the OVA reveals what Kamui is actually guarding, the rest of the series will eventually reveal the extreme importance of this reservoir - in fact, it provides that component of the main series's title, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles.

The third episode of the OVA begins the major mind screw of the series: why are there two Syaorans? Which one is real and which one is the clone? [Hint: it's in the eyes.] And not just that - we eventually get two Sakuras as well, as recapped in the next image.



In the overall context of TRC, I think Production I.G did a great job of animating this tale and telling the increasingly complicated story. The idea is that everything gets very strange from here - and they manage to weave that theme throughout the OVA episodes very well.

I felt quite a lot better after I'd finished watching the OVA - not the least because it had begun to rain hard outside [thankfully not as acidic as the one in the show], definitively silencing the karaoke wailers.

In short: if you're a CLAMP fan, you're definitely missing out if you haven't seen the three episodes of Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations yet. It really lives up to its title and contributes heavily to the set-up for the series finale.

Please, help spread the word.

Help_Pakistan: a fandom-driven auction to help the victims of the Pakistan floods.

Please do take the time to check out the offering threads. All proceeds will go to the charities helping the victims of the terrible floods in Pakistan.

I love being in my fandoms.

Because where else can you find these sorts of wonderful and handsome and beautiful people in amazing suits?!

TV Tropes links might be relevant here.

Dressed To Kill
Sharp Dressed Man
Hot Chick In A Badass Suit

Warning, pictures ahead!

DOCTOR WHO

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and Tenth Doctor David Tennant, from the Children in Need Special "Time Crash".


Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith with Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.

SHERLOCK (2010 BBC)

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.

TAKARAZUKA KAGEKIDAN

Former Top Star of Soragumi, Wao Youka.

INCEPTION

Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Enough said, really!

What do you mean we only get three 90-minute eps?!

...Or, yeah, I guess that's all we have for now since Moffat and Gatiss are, I don't know, getting ready for the next series of Doctor Who or something.

So, Sherlock! Thanks to some friends I was able to watch this mini-series over the course of one weekend.

Sherlock: [You've seen a] bit of trouble too, I bet.
John: Of course, yes. Enough for a lifetime, far too much.
Sherlock: Want to see some more?
John: Oh God, yes.



If you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes and the tales written by Conan Doyle [and all the others], you might want to check out this re-imagining of the classic cases, set in the 21st century. Dr. John Watson is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, who moves into a flat with the world's one and only "consulting detective", Sherlock Holmes - and the rest, as they say, is literary history.

There is a ton of details, in-jokes, references, and shout-outs in this all-too-brief show - thankfully we'll be seeing more episodes. Sometime in the future. We just don't quite know when yet.

And we will really be needing the next series of episodes because COME ON CLIFFHANGER ENDING what the heck?!

I'm really pleased with this whole idea of Sherlock Holmes enhancing his essential brilliance with modern technology. At some point I actually asked out loud, "How many mobile phones does he have?"

Benedict Cumberbatch nearly tried out to become the Eleventh Doctor, but he had a bit of a chat with David Tennant and decided not to do so - instead he's now Holmes himself. On the other hand, Matt Smith actually was turned down for the role of John Watson here, and Moffat promptly turned around and cast him as the Eleventh. Brilliant.

And how lovely to see Martin Freeman! The opening scene of the first episode is both something to make people wince and something to make people smile: he's PTSD-ing - in his pyjamas and a robe. Hello, Arthur Dent.

I really laughed out loud at the whole idea of Holmes wearing nicotine patches. He's still an addict, but he has to be much more discreet about it now there are *rules* to follow on the telly.

Anyway, this is incoherent but the message is: go, watch, and have fun. And afterwards come sit with us poor souls waiting on the continuation. Hopefully THAT comes soon.

Talking about fan fiction

Photo comes from this entry.

Funny how I talk so infrequently about fan fiction on this blog and yet I participate in fandoms by writing fan fiction.

All blog entries mentioning fan fiction. Yeah, there's not much.

Wikipedia sez:

Fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF, or fic) is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator. ... Fan fiction, therefore, is defined by being both related to its subject's canonical fictional universe and simultaneously existing outside the canon of that universe.

I have been reading and writing fan fiction for more than ten years and I ... don't much write about it. Prior to this blog post, I didn't even make a habit out of telling people that I consume this stuff.

And then I find out that people like Neil Gaiman and Matt Smith [yes, THAT ONE] write fan fiction. And that Gneil, at least, has no problems with people writing the stuff for his work; the same goes for, hmm, the last time I looked J. K. Rowling didn't mind so much, either....

I know that there are serious legal issues with this stuff; I know there are fandoms in which fan fiction is actually Not A Good Thing; there are authors who actively ban it; and yet the fans keep going, producing reams of stuff in the process.

Wish I knew why.

Informal straw poll time.

Fan fiction: yea or nay?

Do you write or read fan fiction?

If the answer to the above question is yes, what fandoms?

That's all. Thanks for your time, dears.

Fandoms at Random: Onstage Mizu Natsuki

Related Fandoms at Random posts:
Fandoms at Random: Doctor Who Ramblings
Fandoms at Random: Inception Dreams
Fandoms at Random: The Eleventh Doctor

Related Mizu Natsuki posts:
Video Post of Squeeing Doom!
Mizu Natsuki announces retirement.
This week's post o' fannish doom

[Whew, that is a lot of links.]



Oh, Mizu Natsuki.

Beginning tomorrow, Friday the 13th in August of 2010, you will tread the floorboards at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater for your final month's stay in the Takarazuka Kagekidan.

I really wish I could fly to Tokyo right now and watch you in Roget / Rock On!

And I'm pretty sure that if I did get the chance to go and see you before you graduate, the first thing I'd be packing in my bag would be several boxes of tissues. I'm rather shamelessly admitting that no matter where I will be on September 12, I'll be crying for you.

***

Mizu Natsuki was one of the first Takarazuka actresses, or jennes, to catch my eye when I joined the fandom full time. This probably had something to do with the fact that among the first videos I saw on YouTube were several scenes from the 2001 Soragumi staging of The Rose of Versailles: Fersen and Marie Antoinette, in which Mizu and Ayaki Nao shared the roles of Oscar François de Jarjayes and André Grandier.

[I preferred Mizu to be Andre and Ayaki to be Oscar.]

After that, I was hooked on several 'Zuka topics: Wao, O-Hana, Soragumi in general, and Mizu.

In particular I love Mizu because of her face: she has the most amazing expressions. She really can play merry hell on your heartstrings and you'll be entranced all the way.

For me, Mizu is a sterling example of the compleat jenne. She can sing, she can dance, she can act. No one looks better when wielding swords and other weapons, and no one is more suited to wearing goofy glasses and making the audience cry with laughter. She can even do female roles, as when she appeared as one of Genji's ladies [yes, THAT Genji] in a 2000 play.

I had had some hopes that she would go on to become Top Star of Soragumi after Wao's graduation, but when it turned out that she then became the immensely popular Top of Yukigumi, I felt only happiness.

And have I mentioned that Mizu Natsuki is both amazingly beautiful and handsome?!

Yeah, color me infatuated, color me besotted, and color me heartbroken. I never even got to see her on the 'Zuka stage ever.



Banzai Mizu Natsuki!

Fandoms at Random: The Eleventh Doctor

Related post:
Fandoms at Random: Doctor Who Ramblings



So it turns out that after watching the Tenth Doctor's swan song my partner and I immediately started in on the Eleventh's episodes. At this rate we'll be looking for new things to watch long before December gets here.

[Or perhaps I should amend that to, I'll be looking for new things to watch. Imagine my surprise when my partner told me he'd started watching the First Doctor's serials! He's planning to take in the whole thing!]

Anyway, we finished watching episode 06, "The Vampires of Venice", on Sunday. This is actually where the Eleventh Doctor's famous rallying cry of

Anywhere you want, any time you want. One condition: it has to be amazing!

comes from, although I think it's missing a few words - doesn't he say "Every star, every planet" at some point?

I gotta say, so far the monsters have been hit-or-miss. I mean, technicolored Daleks? Vampires who are not vampires because they're insecty-fish people? The real gem and epic scary has been brought, though, by none other than the Weeping Angels. Holy WHOA - the first time you see them actually move on camera is truly a crowning moment of horror. I cannot recommend the three Weeping Angels episodes [Ten: Blink; Eleven: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Blood] enough. This is the monster that the phrase "watching from behind the couch" was made for!

I really, really hope that there is a beastie in Neil Gaiman's Season 6 episode. I have such high expectations. I want to be even more scared of that monster than I have been of the Weeping Angels.

Those things make me relieved I'm now an atheist - I mean, imagine how it would be like if one were piously Roman Catholic, just as an example, and then watched the Weeping Angels - and then went to church! I think all those statues of saints and angels and deities would be paranoia fuel unleaded - and that's on top of the creepy "their eyes are following" vibe one already gets from them....

Wait, where was I?

Oh, yeah, the Eleventh Doctor's episodes. I have to say, I am really enjoying the dynamics between Eleven, Amy, and Rory. The whole "Uh, we are not HER BOYS" / "Yeah we are" / "Yeah we are" exchange had me in giggles, as did the hands-over-mouths "Stop talking, brain thinking, HUSH" sequence.

Looking forward to watching all the rest of the episodes and figuring out where the overall story goes!

This extra pic comes from the next episode, "Amy's Choice".



Aw, come on, they did that on purpose: how come Amy's wearing a proper poncho and the other two look like tablecloths? XD

Return to Toast Box: Cuppa Horlicks

Related post:
Meal in the City: Toast Box, TriNoMa, Quezon City

Related link:
Horlicks @ Wikipedia


A cup of hot Horlicks is aces on a cold rainy day.

So it was supposed to be a lucky day, this 8th of August - but it dawned rainy and rather fiercely windy at that. Not much sun, but I guess that didn't prevent people from going out to the malls.

My partner and I had gone to the TriNoMa / SM North EDSA area for a scouting expedition today, and after taking notes on restaurants in the malls and some window-shopping, we went back to Toast Box for a cup of hot Horlicks.

I did mention somewhere on this blog before that I never drank Horlicks as a kid, didn't I?

Now I drink it because I find it to be immensely comforting and warming. Good thing Toast Box imports its stocks! I've no idea where to find Horlicks here - and I'm not the only one searching; I know people who actually went to Hong Kong and Singapore and had "get lots of Horlicks" on their to-do lists!

Keep warm and dry, everyone! Hope the rain tapers off for a bit....

Fandoms at Random: Inception Dreams

Related posts:
Fandoms at Random: Doctor Who Ramblings
Inception, in on the ground floor
Inception: Rapid Review, No Spoilers



Two weeks after, I'm still sunk deep in an Inception daze.

I still want to see the movie again and will likely buy a DVD the instant it comes out.

I'm kind of surprised at myself and how this movie has pretty much sunk its fangs into my head and won't let go. It's like the characters succeeded in insinuating themselves into my mind for the sole purpose of encouraging me to dream, to write, to be creative.

Granted that I'm writing fan fiction, the whole creativity thing could be just a delusion I'm suffering, but I don't want to be woken up just yet. I mean, I am just one among the legions of fans and writers and artists who've totally fallen in love with the film. There's a right huge bunch of us, and it's an amazing feeling to be swept up with this crowd.

What a nice crowd the fandom is, by the way - we have different interpretations, we 'ship different pairings, we have differing styles and approaches to the way we create - and we're all actually still getting along. Thank goodness for that. This makes me inordinately happy, actually - I'm tired of being in fandoms that periodically tore themselves apart over some insignificant quibble.

If only we could all meet in dreams and squee happily together for a moment. That would be an incandescent memory for me.

[Oh, and before anyone asks, I'm with John Scalzi on this one: I do not want to see an Inception 2; I am vehemently against the very idea. Filmcritic.com column here.]

In closing: Boy, I can still remember how my heart thumped in shock when the famous musical cue [you know the one!] hit, partway through this track....


From the Inception movie soundtrack by Hans Zimmer: Track 01, Half Remembered Dream.

Meal in the City: The Sandwich Guy, Eastwood, Quezon City

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what the sandwich filling is?

Last week I'd found myself ordering a bacon, beef, mushroom, and cheese [otherwise known as a Mushy Bacon] from a branch of The Sandwich Guy near my office. It was pretty good for a first meal at that place, except perhaps for the part where I had to drink several glasses of water afterwards. The bacon was salty and flavorful, but the cheese sauce they used was a tad bit too much for my tastes. Enjoyable, yes, but not something to eat too often.

Having enjoyed the generous hit of bacon bits in the first sandwich, and having been intrigued by the presence of a peanut butter and banana sandwich on the menu, I decided to put the two together and create - what else - an Elvis sandwich.

[Yes, as in "Blue Suede Shoes".]

My half-eaten Elvis sandwich.

So I dropped in at the shop tonight during my lunch break, ordered the PB&B, and then smiled sweetly at the cashier and said, "Please add bacon to that."

Her reaction was pretty priceless and went something like this:

@.@

o_O

>.<

She wound up punching in the codes for the PB&B sandwich and then the code for "Extra Deli" into the register, and then retreated to watch the sandwich makers do their thing, still looking green around the gills.

[Seriously, has no one ever ordered one of those at this branch or at any of the other branches? Why the shock and awe?]

So I watched as they layered two toasted slices of whole-wheat bread with chunky peanut butter; a whole banana, sliced; and a generous scoop of bacon bits.

Cue missed moment of awesome: I really should have had the presence of mind to say "Thank yew, thank yew very much" - but hey, I was hungry, and I needed to get back to my desk.

Verdict: DEE-LISH. Apparently the final topping on the regular PB&B sandwich is a sprinkling of cinnamon; mixed with the bacon, it did help quite a bit to temper the salty taste. And, yeah, peanut butter and bananas - what's not to like?

Seriously, this sandwich was great. I'm definitely having this again very soon.

I hope you get a chance to make yourself an Elvis sandwich today - or, failing that, getting one from your local sandwich shop / takeaway. [I just hope they don't look at you like you've sprouted an extra head, and that teased into a pompadour.]

Crafting How-To: Learning how to knit?

Photo credit to Vickie Howell, here at craftzine.com.

I know, I know, normally I talk about crochet here on this blog, and when I rant about the lack of supplies or tools I generally am thinking of hooks, and good yarn, and big skeins - but of course I can't just yammer on about needlework here on this blog without ever mentioning knitting.

I already know that if I ever get around to opening that importing business I will probably be more than willing to take orders for gorgeous knitting needles. I know quite a few folks who actually do both crochet and knitting. And there must be people who feel the way I do - I have a beautiful near-complete set of crochet hooks of my own, but that's never stopped me from dreaming of lovely wooden or bamboo instruments. Knitters must feel that way too.

Anyway, I'm picking up some instructions in knitting from the aforementioned Vickie Howell, who has posted a series of Knitting 101 videos at craftzine.com, one of my favorite websites for general crafting awesomeness. Watch the whole series here: Knitting 101 - Basic Stitches.

Keep on crafting!