Snippets from my Favorite Authors and Novels: Anne Rice

ANNE RICE

"The truth is, laughter always sounds more perfect than weeping. Laughter flows in a violent riff and is effortlessly melodic. Weeping is often fought, choked, half strangled, or surrendered to with humiliation."

"Don't be a pawn in somebody's game. Find the attitude which gives you the maximum strength and the maximum dignity, no matter what else is going on."

"The vampires have always been metaphors for me. They've always been vehicles through which I can express things I have felt very, very deeply."

"Whatever will happen will happen, but choose your companions with care. Choose them because you like to look at them and you like the sound of their voices, and they have profound secrets in them that you wish to know. In other words, choose them because you love them. Otherwise you will not be able to bear their company for very long."

"But in every family there are bad people, and weak people, and some people who can't or won't withstand the trials of life, and who fail spectacularly."  -Angel time

"Had I ever loved anyone more than I loved him? Had I ever revealed more of my soul to anyone than I had revealed to him? If my tears spilled now, he would see them. If I trembled now, he would know."  -

Blood and Gold

"People create these extravagant habitats because they have vision, love of beauty, hopes and dreams."  -Angel Time

"One tiny flame could make so many other flames; one tiny flame could set afire a whole world."  -

The Tale of the Body Thief

"If drugs really numb your consciousness, they'd be a good thing. As it was, they slowed you down, confused you, kept you vulnerable to violent flashes of recall, and then agitated you and made you unsure of what you knew and didn't know." -

The Wolf Gift

"The greatest create of power you have on earth, whether you are an angel, a spirit, a man or woman or child is to help others."  -

Servant of the Bones

"Be kind. Always if you have a choice be kind."  -Servant of the Bones

"So we reach into the raging chaos, and we pluck some small glittering thing, and we cling to it, and tell ourselves it has meaning, and that the world is good, and we are not evil and we will all go home in the end."  -The Tale of the Body Thief

"I believe that through our finest efforts, we will succeed finally in creating heaven on earth, and we do it every time that we love, every time that we embrace, every time that we commit to create rather than destroy, every time that we place life over death, and the natural over what is unnatural, insofar as we are able to define it."  -The Witching Hour

"I have never in my whole existance seen the laws of nature broken, and I have always called it the savage garden. The butterfly snared in the spider's web - the wildebeast lying on the velt as the lions come to lap the blood from the wound in it's throat."  -The Vampire Lestat

"So we reach into the raging chaos, and we pluck some small glittering thing, and we cling to it, and tell ourselves it has meaning, and that the world is good, and we are not evil and we will all go home in the end."  -

The Tale of the Body Thief

"It was as if this night were only one of thousands of nights, world without end, night curving into night to make a great arching line of which I couldn’t see the end, a night in which I roamed alone under cold, mindless stars."  -

Interview with the Vampire

"I'm hoping what all sentient beings hope ... that somehow I'm part of something larger than myself, in which I play a role, an actual role that is somehow intended and meaningful."  -

The Wolf Gift

"I know nothing, because I know too much, and understand not nearly enough and never will." -The Vampire Armand

"Because I show you my pain, I do not of necessity love you."  -

The Vampire Armand

"Perhaps I fear him because I could love him again, and in loving him, I would come to need him, and in needing him, I would again be his faithful pupil in all things, only to discover that his patience for me is no substitute for the passion which long ago blazed in his eyes."  -The Vampire Armand

"No matter how long we exist, we have our memories. Points in time which time itself cannot erase. Suffering may distort my backward glances, but even to suffering, some memories will yield nothing of their beauty or their splendor. Rather they remain as hard as gems."  -

Blood and Gold

"Revenge is the concern of those who are at some point or other beaten. I am not beaten, I told myself. No, not beaten. And victory is far more interesting to contemplate than revenge." -The Tale of the Body Thief

"The finest thing under the sun and moon is the human soul. I marvel at the small miracles of kindness that pass between humans, I marvel at the growth of conscience, at the persistence of reason in the face of all superstition or despair. I marvel at human endurance."  -

Pandora

"We all suffer under a curse, the curse that we know more than we can endure, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do about the force and the lure of this knowledge." -

Vittorio: The Vampire

"Every moment must be first known and then savored."  -

Interview with the Vampire

"When we are weary, we speak lovingly of dreams as if they embodied our true desires- what we would have when that which we do have so sorely disappoints us."  -The Mummy

“To really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.”  -The Vampire Lestat

"And when a strong man is sweet, even Goddesses look down from Mount Olympus."  -The Mummy

In Retrospect: Rape Incident in Delhi

The recent Delhi gang rape sparked a worldwide curiosity and still making headlines until now. I'm not creating this blog entry to take advantage of the demise of a promising young woman and increase the traffic to my blogsite. It's just that I happened to read an article  which is rather infuriating and I want to use my site to vent out my frustration in light of that incident. 

Whenever I get to watch or read the worldwide news it always breaks my heart to read or hear stories about rape cases, boys and girls alike. It's a truly horrible crime not anything less than murder even if the victims were allowed to live or happened to survived the ordeal. I have encountered rape victims in some of my volunteer projects and the trauma that they are going through is something I wouldn't want to wish or even witness on anyone. Being a woman myself, especially since I like to go hang out on bars and clubs with my friends, I can't help but be concern about my own safety whenever I go out. Rape incidents happen everywhere and this is also an issue within my own country and when I read that an uncle or even a father raped his own child I can't help but squirm and wonder whatever the hell is happening in our world. 

Then recently while reading the news over the net I came upon this article at yahoo.com about a supposedly godman from India, Asharam or Bapu as his followers call him, released a video footage stating that "This tragedy would not have happened if she had chanted God's name and fallen at the feet of the attackers. The error was not committed by just one side." I've also read some articles where some conservative people (and I daresay, narrow minded people) lay the blame on the girl and her family for their none traditional practices. 

"What the f*ck?! Like f*cking seriously?!" Did that supposedly godman or does anyone think that a lady raised decently by her family who also happened to be struggling to finish a degree would like to encounter a bunch of lust driven, animals  (yes, I think they don't deserve to be called humans at all) and be gang raped? I wouldn't have much idea about the tradition in India or how families or ladies are supposed to behave in their society but to blame a girl who is not even at the least bit prostituting herself for getting raped is just plain wrong and twisted. I also think that to be blame for getting raped because you're not following the tradition is wrong in all levels. 

Everyone has the right to follow a path regardless of his and her cultural roots and I don't think that the value of a person should diminish just because he or she decided to believe and practice something else. Women worldwide had always been struggling to assert their right and to be treated accordingly and everyday I see stories of oppression and harassment. Why is it that when a girl flaunt her skin she is already a target for harassment but a guy could show off his body and manly parts and expect people to be amazed?! There goes the double standards, huh? 

A girl had been raped and suffered and she died eventually and these people are blaming her for not praying and for her actions which are not totally questionable. Did Asharam really think that those men would leave her alone if she got down on her knees and prayed fervently?? If they have any respect at all for whatever religious practices they have kr whatever god they are worshipping, they would not even contemplate to do something like this. 

Looking into this, it's a little depressing and its also disturbing to think that we now generally live in a society wherein something that is obviously morally wrong is getting justified by some twisted and illogical reasoning. What's even worse is that these people would shove their convoluted ideas down your throats and force you to swallow them. Whatever happened to being humane? How can we forget about compassion, empathy and understanding? We just go out there and impose on other people what we think is morally right and what we think is culturally right. 

With all the technological advancements going on, one is inclined to think that we are also moving forward with our reasoning, that with all the technical savviness going on, our values will become more refined. Sadly though, it seems like a lot of people are still buried with their backward and prehistoric beliefs and actions. There are values and beliefs that should be upheld but there are those that ought to be re-examined or best, left forgotten. 

Also, how can we claim to be human when we act like savages no better than the animals in the wild. If we truly have better intellectual capacity, how come we let our drives and emotions get the best of us? How can we not even try to be more in touch with our humane side and be more logical in our actions? This woman and her companion is not just a victim of sexual assault and harassment, they are also victims of a society where violence and greed is running rampant masked by a supposedly, socially acceptable cultural practice.

“In real life during the last decade of the twentieth century, Rumpelstiltskin would probably get the queen's daughter. He would no doubt addict her to heroin, turn her out as a prostitute, confiscate her earnings, beat her for pleasure, hack her to pieces, and escape justice by claiming that society's intolerance for bad-tempered, evil-minded trolls had driven him temporarily insane.”  Dean Koontz

A Merry Holiday at Piña Colina

Last Christmas, my family decided to go out of town and spent a quiet one at Tagaytay City. It was a rather last minute decision but as luck would have it we managed to find a suitable place. My brother found Piña Colina online and though, none of us had been familiar with it, the place seems lovely and we learned that its a popular venue for weddings so we decided to give it ago.

So after a very long drive, mainly because we had a bit of a detour and we had to go to Batangas first to visit the grave of my grandparents, we arrived at Piña Colina an hour pass the check-in time.The resort is easy enough to find but you have to drive through a very steep road to get inside since it is sitting on top of a hill, hence the name Piña Colina, a Spanish phrase which means 'Pineapple Hill."

The log cabin

The chilly air of Tagaytay immediately embraced me and its not exactly what I've expected, though, I immediately forgot about it when I got inside. I saw pine trees all over the lawn and that made me smile right away. The overlooking view of Tagaytay was simply amazing and the log cabin looked quite homey. I got so excited that I was practically hopping towards the cabin and left my family and the staff who were carrying our things behind.

Kitchen and dining area

We booked the lower ground of the cabin and it has an airy and a well-lit interior. There were 2 bedrooms with two double decks that could accommodate 6 persons and there's also another sofa bed at the living room which would make another comfy bed. There was also a TV and a refrigerator aside from the dining area and the semi-furnished kitchen. The cabin was spacious enough, although, I found the toilet/bathroom area to be a little small but it does have a fully functional water heater so it wasn't so bad. The thing that somehow put me off was the lighting system in the bedrooms because it was rather dark and I prefer a well lighted and bright room.

We brought some food with us and had to pay an additional 10% on top of our accommodation fee, so for those who doesn't want to incur any additional charges or if cooking is simply out of the question, then their restaurant will be a good option and I was told by one of the staff that there are some changes going on with the menu, to offer a more extensive variety.

 swimming pool and elevated Jacuzzi

Aside from the log cabin, other accommodations would be the quarter cabin, the casitas, the two bedroom and the studio cabin as well as the standard and the deluxe studio rooms. For the amenities, Piña Colina has a function room that could accommodate 20 persons. They also have picnic huts which stay-in guests could use for free. There is also a kiddie pool and a swimming pool which would be comfortable enough for a big family. The main highlight though, would be the elevated Jacuzzi which offers a 360° panoramic view of Tagaytay while one is relaxing and this can be availed for 1,200 per hour. Future vacationers could also look forward to a game of billiards or even sing their hearts away as a game room will be added soon to their amenities.

For those planning for a Tagaytay getaway, Piña Colina is definitely an ideal place. It offers a very quiet and relaxing atmosphere with an accommodation that is reasonably priced and a customer service that exemplifies the Filipino hospitality.

Top 20 Songs for 2012: My Playlist Review

Since its been a tradition everywhere to come up with a  year end count down, I decided to make my own list, my LSS list that is (Last Song Syndrome). These are the songs I pretty much sang every single day, much to the annoyance of my colleagues at work. (I know I have a terrible voice! lol). 

Please don't beat me up for the no. 1 song, I can't help myself, its sooo catchy!

So here's goes my list, from something old, something new and something mainstream:

1. I Love You Like a Love Song - Selena Gomez and The Scene (This is the video of a cover by Sami which I like better than the original version.)

2. Payphone - Maroon 5  (I just love this one!)

3. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen  (Need I say more?)

4. Feel So Close - Calvin Harris

5.  Never Gonna Leave This Bed - Maroon 5 (Yeah, if Adam's on it why would I go anywhere else?!)

6. Calling (Lose My Mind) - Alesso (I definitely love this guy right now!)

7. Temptation - Zander Bleck (Definitely one of the singers to watch out for, this 2013)

8. Won't Go Home Without You - Maroon 5 

9. Years - Alesso 

10. Hypnotised - Paul Vinitsky ft. Lizzie Curious

11. If We Ever Meet Again - Timbaland ft Katy Perry 

12. Broken Pieces - Apocalyptica

13. Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia (def. one of the best EDM group)

14. We Found Love -  Rihanna ft Calvin Harris

15. Solo Otra Vez - Il Divo (Heavenly voices, gorgeous faces, what more can you ask for?)

16. Drowning - Armin van Buuren ft Laura (Avicii Remix)

17.  Everafter - Tritonal ft Cristina Soto 

18. Waiting - Dash Berlin ft Emma Hewitt 

19. My Heart is Broken - Evanescence (Yeah, I was pretty much broken hearted early last year, but never mind.)

20. Think of Me - Phantom of the Opera (I always love this song)

Other songs that pretty much rock my playlist for the whole 2012

1. I'll Listen - Armin van Buuren ft Ana Criado
2. In and out of Love - Armin van Buuren ft Sharon del Adel
3. Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
4. Live Forever - Ferry Corsten ft. Aruna 
5. Lights - Ellie Goulding 
6. Something New - Tritonal ft Jenry R 
7. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
8. She wolf - David Guetta ft Sia
9. Farewell - Apocalyptica
10.Hanging By a moment - Lifehouse
11.What You Want - Evanescence
12.Ti Amero - Il Divo
13.Phantom of the Opera - Lindsey Stirling cover 
14.Crystallize - Lindsey Stirling 
15.Just A Kiss - Lady Antebellum
16. Marry the Night - Lady Gaga
17. In the End - Linkin Park
18. End of Glory - Lady Gaga
19. Diamond Eyes - Deftones
20. Stereo Hearts - Gym Class Heroes
22. Naked - Enrique Iglesias ft Dev
23. One More Night - Maroon 5
24. City of Dreams - Alesso and Dirty south
24. Hero - Enrique Iglesias
25. Finally Found You - Enrique Iglesias ft. Sammy Adams
26. Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5
27. Thinking of You - Katy Perry
28. Spectrum - Zedd
29. I'm Not Giving Up on Love - Armin van Buuren
30. Burned with Desire - Armin van Buuren
31. Be Your Sound - Emma Hewitt (Shogun Remix)
32. Concrete Angel - Gareth Emery ft Christina Novelli
33. Alone Tonight - Above and Beyond
34. Diary of Jane - Breaking Benjamin
35. Anthem of Angel - Breaking Benjamin
36. Kill the Noise - Korn ft Skrillex
37. Church of Noise - Bloody Beetroots
38. Rocksteddy - Bloody Beetroots
39. Chronicles of a Fallen Love - Bloody Beetroots
40. Thoughtless - Evanescence cover
41. Bangarang - Skrillex
42. Freak on a Leash - Korn
43. Blind - Lifehouse
44. What Ive Done - Linkin Park 
45. Send Me an Angel - Missing Hours
46. Viva La Vida - David Garrett (Still pretty much listening to this)
47. Beautiful Things - Andain
48. All I Ask of You - Skrillex ft Penny
49. Save the World - Swedish House Mafia
50. From Where You Are - Lifehouse

Amor Deliria Nervosa, Do You Want to be Cured?

“Amor deliria nervosa. The deadliest of all deadly things.”

Recently, I've been engrossed with some young adult Dystopian novels and my latest find was the Delirium trilogy. Compared to Hunger Games and Divergent series, this one started a little slow for me but what kept me going was the curiosity regarding its premise. A novel talking about a future where love is considered as the deadliest disease and curing it for a better Portland community if not the world, totally got me hooked. And yes, you read it right, in this series, love  is considered as the deadliest disease, termed as Amor Deliria Nervosa. Upon reaching the age of 18, citizens are required to undergo an invasive procedure that will cure them of this. Also they have to be evaluated to determine who would become their partner in life. Outside the borders of Portland though, are the Invalids, the rebels who chose love over the cure.

The third book of the series is not yet out but the story mainly revolves around Lena Haloway, a girl who, just a few days away from getting the cure fell in love with Alex, an Invalid pretending to be one of them. The action started when she opted to explore the option of loving someone freely and decided to run away with Alex. Things did not turn out well though, and Lena ended up crossing the border alone. Outside the border she started a new life as part of the resistance and then later on fell in love with Julian, the son of an influential man leading the movement advocating the cure. The series ended up with a hint of a love triangle. (Ok, enough spoilers for me, hahah...)

Back in my neurology class during my college days, I actually wondered what it would be like if our amygdala will be removed since this is primarily responsible for emotions such as rage, fear, affection and love. Reading this trilogy raised this thought for me once again and made me ponder deeper on this aspect. What would society be like if everybody, (including the society leaders) would be bereft of their emotions, not just love? Would people still succumb to depression? Would people still fight and kill each other? Would this eradicate greed? What I have in mind seems like a zombie world, but I'm really trying to picture a society with people equipped with their intellectual properties but stripped of their emotions or maybe just partially stripped of them. Would the world be any better?


Then there's of course, the matter of love, which was the central issue of this novel. Some people say that it is the most beautiful thing in this world and I know it's an amazing feeling. I also know that love can touch lives and create miracles for some people. Though, sometimes I wonder, if we don't know this feeling would that make any difference? I know a lot of people would say right away that they would never give up that feeling, but if the procedure would be possible, I honestly think that I might consider it. No more riding an emotional roller coaster, no more butterflies fluttering in my stomach and no more irrational thoughts. Maybe, like Lena I would be torn apart - the girl who doesn't want to bother anymore with those incapacitating emotions and forget about the past albeit apathetic and at the same time, the girl who just wants to laugh and cry with the people she cares about, suffering but happy.

If that would be our reality now, would life be any less remarkable without love? Is a dystopian society devoid of emotions be any worse than our current society with all of it's present issues and woes? And if the possibility is here, right now, would you want to get the cure?

A Subversive Dinner at Restaurante Pia y Damaso

"Subversive was defined as seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution." 

Restaurante Pia y Damaso is located at the second level
of Greenbelt 5

From the name of the restaurant itself it's quite obvious that Restaurante Pia y Damaso had been inspired by Noli Me Tangere, a novel written during the time when The Philippines became a colony of Spain. After dining there I'd totally say that their tag line "Subversive Filipino Cuisine" is rather apt and its not just because of the era that inspired the place.

The restaurant had been around for some time now, although I haven't really been there before since I'm a bigger fan of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. (For Spanish or Spanish-Filipino cuisines my main pick would be Barcino and Amalia's.) Anyway, my friend and I were having our usual food cravings and we got attracted to the place as we were passing by so we decided to give a go.

The place is rather small but I found the interior to be rather charming. The seats are inviting and comfortable and the chandelier casts a soft glow to the whole place, giving it a classy ambiance. The table piece is made of paper with details about their restaurant and the menu book is a bit of an artwork itself. Scrolling through the list of menu makes it even more interesting as some of the menu's had been inspired as well by the famous Noli Me Tangere.

I ordered a Smoked Tapang Usa (deer meat) and my friend went for Smoked Bbq Mango Pork (now, that is seriously a long name for a menu.) The deer meat was quite tender and juicy, although, a little salty for my taste but the green mango gave it a zesty twist and the garlic rice with the roasted pepper omelette sort of balanced the saltiness of the meat.

I had a taste of my friend's order and I had two thumbs up for it.The pork meat had a rich smoked, zesty taste to it and the concoction of garlic rice, scrambled eggs, pinach, apple, raisin and pinenut, made it oh so good!

Though, the real highlight of our night had been the Guni-Guni (Sisa's Dementia). It's a truffle cake with white chocolate almond pastille, dark chocolate mousse and ganache. It really made me go oohhh and ahhh upon tasting it and judging my friend's reaction, I'm certainly not the only one who had that toe-curling experience. It has a bittersweet taste to it, with the almond adding the right contrast for the velvety texture of the cake.  I would definitely recommend this to every chocolate lover out there!

As for the service I'd say, not that bad. I didn't see the name of the waiter who primarily attended to us but he was rather lax as opposed to his colleague who had been more attentive. And if you're paying a service charge on top of your bill, of course you would want to receive an excellent customer service, right?

So would I go back to this place? Well honestly, I'd most likely go back there only to have a taste of Sisa's Dementia once again and as well as to try the other desserts and also for their ambiance.

Their take on the traditional Filipino food is indeed subversive, but I have expected the fusion to really explode on one's tongue and I did not entirely experience that. As for the serving and the prices I find them to be reasonable, although I'm sure that those with bigger appetite will not entirely agree with me.

Smoked Tapang Usa
       (Salted deer meat from Nueva Ecija, with green mango pickles, roasted pepper omelette on garlic rice)

Smoked bbq mango pork
(Smoked barbecue pork with a mango marinade - served with a spinach, apple, raisin, pinenut and garlic rice with scrambled eggs)

the delighful Guni-Guni or Sisa's Dementia!
(Sugar free version of Sisa's Dementia-truffle cake with Belgian white chocolate and almond pastille, dark chocolate mousse and ganache <3)

My Once and Always Love: The Phantom of the Opera

"If you need me I shall be in Boracay," laughter erupted from the crowd last night when the supposedly retiring Monsieur Lefèvre uttered these words as he was exiting the stage. Looks like the cast of this world famous Broadway production had a great time at the shores of Boracay! 

Well, if they had a great time vacationing, I could say the same thing while watching their performance. I had been in love with The Phantom of the Opera for years now and I've always wanted to see it live along with Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. Since my birthday is just around the corner, I thought that the perfect way to celebrate it would be to watch The Phantom of The Opera.

The first time I came across this piece was when I was just 7 years old.  At that time I didn't have any idea about the story nor did I understand it when I read the synopsis. What primarily attracted me to it was the cover of the book which depicted a beautiful lady in an old-fashioned gown. (I can be very visual sometimes.) I thought it was just another 'Cinderella' story.

I spent days reading the book, struggling with some very 'Old English' words and while I was able to realize that its not another fairy tale, reading it did not help much in understanding its premise. The second time I read the book was during my sophomore year in high school and I totally fell in love with it. It had been a memorable read and I found myself swimming in a pool of emotions. I love the genius of the Phantom, and I felt sorry for his miserable existence but I hated the way he played upon the innocence of Christine. I feel for Christine's plight and her innocence and naivety touched me, but sometimes I also hated her character for that. As for Raoul, at times I love him, but at times it seemed like something is lacking in his personality. And who wouldn't be in love with the songs composed for this piece? Imagining it all coming to life truly excited me.

My stomach fluttered as I was waiting for the show to start and I was at the edge of the seat the entire time, singing with the actors, anticipating every act. When they played the overture I had goosebumps all over. I had a clear view of the stage and as well as the whole orchestra and somehow it felt surreal. I wish I was able to take a photo of the whole set up - stage, orchestra and all but the camera on my phone did not come close to even capturing a fraction of that night's magnificence. I was totally enthralled!

When Claire ( the actress who played the role of Christine) sang 'Think of Me' I was captivated by her. She's absolutely beautiful and her voice even more so. I was at the edge of my seat waiting for Anthony's voice to join hers and I must say that he's perfect for Raoul's part. His voice has a rich quality to it. The scenes of Carlotta had been a treat as well, it, watching Andrea channeling the primadonna antics of Carlotta was really hilarious! Though, the most special moment for me was when the 'Music of the Night', was sung. I'm a big fan of Ramin Karimloo and I was kinda hoping that he's gonna be the one playing the part of the phantom but nonetheless, I was hypnotized when Jonathan sung this song. 

Another part that stood out for me as well, was the Masquerade Ball. The act opened to an astonishing ballroom filled with life size statues and it was still a sight to behold. It was also fun to watch the cast singing lively and dancing gaily in their fancy costumes. It was a night of celebration where everyone could hide in their fancy masks while laughing and flirting against each other, whereas for the Phantom hiding behind a mask had been his whole life, a life of torment and anguish where Christine had been his only definition of happiness albeit the fact that her heart never entirely belonged to him.When Eric sang these lines, "Masquerade, paper faces on parade, Masquerade, hide your face so the world will never find you", I felt like my heart would break. Who wants to hide forever in the darkness, especially when you have so much to offer and share to the world?

I cannot mention every single member of this ensemble, but I definitely applaud and congratulate all of them -the actors, the orchestra players as well as the ones who worked behind the scenes. The whole production had been truly spectacular and it made me fall all over again with the Phantom of the Opera. As for the genius behind this masterpiece, Mr. Andrew Lloyd Weber, I'll be forever grateful that he created and shared this masterpiece to the world as surely, Phantom of the Opera will be heralded as a literary treasure forever.