ATTENTION: I'm Selling My Books!

I'm just going to come right out and say it: I'm selling my books. 

No, I haven't gone mad. I am still in love with reading and I still want to have my own library one day (when I can afford the space). The books I'm selling aren't stuff that I picked up, read, and found okay but forgettable. Here are some really good pieces of literature that I've enjoyed and would write reviews about if I wasn't afflicted by chronic writer's laziness.

Obviously, I'm selling them to raise money. I wish I can say that I'm going to be using the money to buy a tablet, or to update my dumb phone to a smart phone, or even to have the screen of my lappy fixed (right now, the laptop screen is dark and flickering, threatening to die on me anytime). Not really. I'm selling my books because some of my important people have/had family in places Super Typhoon Yolanda wrecked havoc to, and these people need help.

To be blunt, I have nothing else to give but my love. I wish it were enough, but you see, love isn't really in the first level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. My love for these people will not relieve their hunger and pain. Prayers and emotions are ok, but those won't keep them alive.

So I's selling my books, because it might help a couple of survivors or so. Because even if it hurts me, those people who've gone through this disaster are hurting more, and will probably be hurting for a long time. 

Here are some of the stuff that's for sale. 

1. Naermyth by Karen Francisco (Visprint) for PHP200.00. Post-apocalypse Philippines and battles with mythological creatures. Slight damages on the cover.  

2. The Firewalkers by Erwin E. Castillo (UP Press) for PHP150.00. Magical. Yellowish tinge on cover and my name written on the first page.

3. Orosa-Nakpil Malate by Louie Mar A. Gangcuangco (English Version) for PHP200.00. HIV-AIDS awareness literature intertwined with a rather touching love story. Mint condition. RESERVED.^_^

4. Trese: Stories from the Diabolical by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (Visprint) for PHP120.00. Stories that go bump in the night in the Trese World. New. SOLD!.^_^

5. The Lost Language by Marianne Villanueva (Anvil) for PHP200.00. Well written and moving stories by an award-winning writer. Yellowish tinge on pages and my name written on the first page. 

6. Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan (UP Press) for PHP 125.00. CSI in the Philippines. Brand new. SOLD!

7. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King (Pocket Books) for PHP 275.00. It's KING, need I say more? Minimal damage on the cover.

8. The Bluffer's Guide to Public Speaking by Chris Steward and Mike Wilkinson (Oval Books) for PHP 75.00. Damn useful book. Slightly yellowish tinge on pages. RESERVED ^_^

I'm also selling a couple of rare books that I got during one of the trainings I went to. You won't usually find these in the market.:

9. Marketisation of Governance: Critical Feminist Perspectives from the South by Viviene Taylor (Dawn Publication) for PHP300.00.

10. Weighing up Cairo: Evidence from women in the South (Dawn Publication) for PHP350.00. 

Other books I have:

1. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaimam for PHP200.00.
2. Minggaw (Literotika) for PHP50.00

If you are interested in buying these books, you may get in touch with me through the following means:

1. Message me through my Facebook Page. 

2. SMS me at 09054167233.

Pick up points during Mondays through Fridays, Glorietta/SM Makati or Santanya Grove/SM Sucat in Paranaque, from 6:30PM-8:00PM. This is negotiable, of course. 

Let us all do what we can to help. Sometimes, the smallest things have the biggest impact.

Sacrifice Starbucks for a Cause

Just last week I spent almost an hour with my co-worker at Starbucks in Festival Mall. It was a long day. We had just come from GMA Cavite - which we fondly referred to as "bundok" (mountain) - from a meeting with one of the school directors of a university there. We've had very little sleep the night before, having to rush proposals, presentation slides, and production of the company profile. We had been  wearing 4 inch high heels since 8AM that morning.

The first sip of cold frappe was wonderful. I eagerly mixed it with my straw, to thicken the drink with the whipped cream. I don't remember the name. It's one of their holiday concoction. I had the coffee with this lovely cookie. It was sugar overload. It was a lovely atmosphere with dim, yellow light, the smell of freshly-brewed coffee and mouth-watering pastries, and a feel of I-can-buy-what-I-want that expensive drinks almost always give me (although, seriously, even someone earning about PHP12,000.00 per month can afford to buy a decent-sized milk tea).

It's like this: if I wanted a pick me up, I'd head to 7Eleven and buy myself Coke. If I wanted to reward myself, I'll have milk tea from Tea Farm or, sometimes, a frappe from SB or some other coffee shop. Expensive drinks are awesome that way. 

Recent events, however, have made me think twice about rewarding myself. Last week, Yolanda wrecked havoc in the South. The super typhoon, declared as the strongest typhoon of the year and the strongest in history to have made landfall, was in the Philippines for less than a day, but the devastation it left on its wake was catastrophic. Yolanda left thousands homeless. Several thousands of others are dead. 

Right now, survivors of the storm are dying of hunger, disease, and violence.

One of the most heart-breaking photos (from inquirer.net): A man carries a dead child in his arms.

Right now, the United Nations, the Red Cross, several countries (including Hong Kong!) have donated for relief operations. We're talking about billions of pesos coming in for the survivors of Yolanda (hopefully non of that money will fatten up any official's pocket and go straight to the ones who need it, but that is another story). Both local and international NGOs are rushing to aid our kababayan.

Those of us who feel helpless because we can't spare thousands of pesos for donations, because we have no time nor skill to go out there and help out with the relief operations, have another way to help. 

A drink from a posh coffee shop would cost you roughly PHP200.00. Some people visit these places once a month, but then all of us probably has that friend who spends every single day curled up in one of those soft couches, sipping the coffee-sugar-fats combination. 

PHP200.00 can buy several tablets of medicine. Or a three or more 1L bottle of water. Or packs of biscuits. Or four kilos of rice. Or milk for children. Or buy a blanket a family can share.  Or even a box to put donations to. The list goes on and on, but the simple fact is the cost of my reward can mean alleviating hunger, thirst, and pain in others. 

To clarify, Codswallop is not asking for donations, although some of my friends have agreed to giving money so we can donate medicine together. That's an individual venture, though. 

Here are some of the NGOs that you can donate to and volunteer on. I'm sure there are several other organizations in your your community that you can get it touch with as well. 

Knock yourselves out.

Sometimes, it is the little things that have the biggest impact.

Of Love of Horror

(A.N.: I'm sorry! This should have been posted yesterday at around 12MN, but I was so lazy, I slept instead. Anyway, here we go, enjoy!)

Did you now that Halloween is actually a pagan tradition? It comes from the celebration of the "thinning of the veil" in which those who have already passed on to the afterlife are able to come back to the plane of the living and walk the earth once more. I love Halloween. It's the only time of the year when goth make-up is an actual must, and the fact that I am a horror fan only adds to my love of the season. 

In celebration of Halloween, or Samhain as my neo-Pagan friends call it, and in celebration of "fantastic terrors" which I utterly enjoy, this post is about sharing the awesome, scary stuff that make normal people scream and not-so-normal people (like me) cackle with glee.

Move over, Sparkly Vampires. No room for faux pas monsters here. Only real ones will do. 

Fantastic Short Horror and Macabre Stories  by Local Authors

 

Because I have declared myself as the Gabriela Silang of Philippine horror and fantasy writers, I have decided to share some of my top picks. All of these are short stories/novellas and I've included the books where they can be found. 

These stories are not all about monsters and blood, because after all, horror is about the unexplained, the unknown.
 

1. December by Eliza Victoria (Unseen Moon)

This is not really  horror, but it does have some horror elements. December is a story of two somewhat people finding friendship in each other. We might even say that the story is pre-romance, May-December affair. Typical plot line, if you think about it. But what makes December different is the fact that the two people involved are, gently put, psychotic.






2. Mutya ng San Isidro by Siege Malvar(Wakasang Wasak)

Mutya ng San Isidro is  my favorite novella in Siege Malvar's Wakasang Wasak. This story made me laugh (I believe, with conviction, Siege Malvar is one of the bitchiest authors in Philippine literature - the good kind), cringe, and want to burn people up for idiocy. Mutya ng San Isidro is horrifying because it is the plot and subplots are so reminiscent of what is happening right now. I shall be reviewing this in full detail in future posts.

3. Lily, Faith and Disease by Karl De Mesa (Damaged People: Tales of Gothic Punk)

Of course Karl de Mesa is going to be here, what did you expect?

Lily, Faith and Disease is about a girl who makes a pact with the devil in order to take care of her dying mother. It is also about exploitation by a person who should have been trusted.

What is scary is this: Despite the supernatural nature of the pact, and the creepy stuff described in the book that often happens when you summon the devil, did Lily really summoned something supernatural to aid her, or was it simply her succumbing to oppression? 

Whichever the answer is, it is horrifying.




There ought to be more of these, but if I write about all the great horror shorties  Filipinos wrote, I'd be consuming an entire blogpost (and more) and have no space for other stuff on this list. Some other time, then.

The Tastiest Creepypastas (IMHO)

Creepypastas are basically internet horror stories. Whenever I feel the intense craving for quickie horror, I go to two websites: creepypasta.wikia.com and creepypasta.com. These are damn good sources of quick and free fixes of horror. Although not all stories are well-written, there are some exceptionally good ones. Here are some of my faves.

Jeff the Killer is one of the more well-known Creepypastas.

1. Holder Series
 Each story begins with this: 

"In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house (/hospital) you can get yourself to."

I came across the Holder Series during random Pasta browsing. There are actually about 200 stories in the series, each one following an almost repetitive pattern. Two things I love about the series: (1) stories are well-written and (2) there is a quest-like feel to the story - which make sense given that the entire Holder series is about a huge quest.

2. Psychosis

One of the longer pastas I've read, Psychosis is about a guy whose paranoia about not having seen anyone in days. The pasta chronicles the guy's reaction to the situation, finally culminating with our protagonist being thrown in the loony bin. This pasta keeps you guessing: is protagonist really going crazy, or is everyone really not anyone anymore?

 3. The Scuttler
Though not as popular as the Slenderman or the Jeff the Killer pastas, The Scuttler is a well-written story. It was written from a 1st person point of view. The story starts with an urban legend, progresses to a dare, and ends with a twist that was both unexpected and refreshing. 

 4. The Russian Sleep Experiment

I first came across the Russian Sleep Experiment pasta on Facebook. It was posted by one of my fellow EYL and what attracted me to the post was the totally creepy photo which you can see on the right. The Russian Sleep Experiment is about human guinea pigs of a sleep deprivation experiment. Well, you can see how they end up. Aside from being well-written narrative, the descriptions are also quite creepy. The Russian Sleep Experiment is one pasta that will keep you awake.

Make-up Looks I'd Totally Do for Halloween (or When I Get the Chance)

Unfortunately, all I managed for Halloween was this Morticia Adams-inspired make-up:

Morticia Adams or Mary Magdalene? Anyone knows where I can wear this make-up and not freak people out?

On with the list!

1. Greed by Klairedelys

Photo from Klairedelys.com

This is part of Klaire's Seven Deadly Sins series. I love the look because it is so symbolic of what greed is - from the green eye-shadow (which I have yet to try) to the corporate outfit. Klaire is awesome in making looks like these. Recreating the look seems complicated but Klaire explains how to do it quite clearly. 

2. Gluttony by Klairedelys

Photo from Klaire's Deviant Art

You could tell that Klaire is one of my favorite make-up gurus on Youtube. She has this awesome ability to make the morbid pretty and the other way around. One of the best examples is this look which, again, is part of her Seven Deadly Sins series. You'd expect that Gluttony is all about being fat, not about colorful, extravagant colors and candies. 

3. Candy Demon by Pinkstylist

Photo by Pinkstylist

I discovered Pinkstylist while browsing around Klairdelys's Youtube channel. He quickly became one of my favorites. Pinkstylist has the tendency to create scary, creepy looks anytime of the year. This is one of my favorites - the Candy Demon look. This is the look of something sweet turned evil. You can tell why I love him. Although generally his looks are complicated, they are worth the trouble for the effects achieved. 

4. La Belle Muerte by Michelle Phan

Picture from Michelle Phan's Facebook Page

Nowadays, Michelle Phan is known for doing wearable looks, but some years ago, she was rather famous for making crazy looks that are Halloween-ish in concept. This one is one of her newer looks. The second of her sugar skull looks, the make-up is a combination of purples and blues, which is probably why it appealed to me. I love the monochromatic elegance of it all, and the bright orange and red flowers were a striking contrast to the more demure colors of the make-up. La Belle Muerte means Beautiful Death, and it is indeed a beautiful look. 

          Horror Films that are Like Kisses in the Dark

I've fallen in love with short horror films these past few days. I blame Sir Karl de Mesa's FB post. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Psycho Princess: The Little Mermaid by Vancouver Film School
I love mermaids as much as I love horror. In fact, I always say that I was a mermaid in the past life. This twisted fairytale combines both of that. Plus points to this because the mermaid looks nothing like Disney's Ariel.

2. Suckablood by Bloody Cuts Films

My penchant for twisted fairy tales is evident in this choice of short film. That is exactly what Suckablood is - a fairy tale gone wrong. Despite the rather animated feel of the movie, the Tim Burton-ish film has elements of blood, gore, and violence, including child abuse. But like any other Disney fairy tale, Suckablood has a rather happy ending. Well, as happy as you get in a horror story anyway. 

3. Don't Move by Bloody Cuts Films

 

When there's a demon in the house, what most people would do is run. A lot of horror movies are based on the chase. Don't Move destroys that premise. In this short-but-sweet horror flick, 6 friends are unfortunate enough to summon a movement-sensitive demon. Five shall die, and only one will survive. 

Blood, death, and sexy English accent. What more can you ask for?





4. The Many Doors of Albert Whale by Daywalt Horror

This short flick made me go "WTF", and in a good way.

At first it seems that it is a tale of a crazy young man who has an obsession with keeping doors closed. And then we see a young woman in his kitchen, bound to a chair and wearing a sexy green sleeping outfit that should only be worn when seducing a partner. You'd think it's only a case of bondage sex until you notice that her damned lips sewn shut with metal strings. 




There you have it, Readers. I hope you enjoyed the sneak peak of my love for horror. I hope that you find twisted happiness in the madness of blood, darkness, and fear. I hope you savor every moment of it. I hope you indulge in these little gems I have shared.

Oh, and a piece of advice: Don't forget to check under the bed before turning in tonight.

PS: Happy New Year to my Pagan Friends and Happy Birthday to Harry Potter.