27th Manila International Bookfair

What: 27th Manila International Bookfair
When: August 30 - September 3, 2006, 10 am - 8pm
Where: World Trade Center Metro Manila

Visit the event's website for more details.

Unmasked: Awarding of the 1st Philippine Graphic/Fiction

Award-winning author Neil Gaiman and Fully Booked present the winners to the 1st Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards on July 15, 2006 at the Rockwell Tent.

Gates to the fantasy multi-media exhibit open at 10 AM. Works of the finalists in both the comics/graphic novel and short story categories will be displayed. The Alex Nino Award (comics/graphic novel genre) and the Gregorio Brillantes Award (short story genre) will be announced at 7 PM along with the other winners.

Everyone is encouraged to wear an originally created mask in line with the filipino fantasy theme as we will be awarding the best original masks of the night.

Article taken from Fully Booked Online.

Harry Potter Six Update

Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, has announced that two beloved characters in the series will die before the series come to a close. Who will it be??? That's the question bugging the minds of Harry Potter fans everywhere.

Some of the popular guesses include Harry Potter himself, his bestfriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and Harry's girlfriend Ginny Weasley. Some people also guess that it might be one of the Weasleys and a lot hope that it's Percy.

Personally, I think it might be Snape but not after he has redeemed himself and revealed that Dumbledore's "murder" was part of a greater plan.

Pablo Neruda's TO WASH A CHILD

TO WASH A CHILD
by Pablo Neruda

Only the most ancient love on earth
will wash and comb the statue of the children,
straighten the feet and knees.
The water rises, the soap slithers,
and the pure body comes up to breathe
the air of flowers and motherhood.

Oh, the sharp watchfulness,
the sweet deception,
the lukewarm struggle!

Jose Garcia Villa's I CAN NO MORE HEAR LOVE'S

I can no more hear Love's
Voice. No more moves
The mouth of her. Birds
No more sing. Words
I speak return lonely.
Flowers I pick turn ghostly.
Fire that I burn glows
Pale. No more blows
The wind. Time tells
No more truth. Bells
Ring no more in me.
I am all alone singly.
Lonely rests my head.
—— O my God! I am dead.

Harry Potter 7 Theory {SPOILERS ALERT}

For those who haven't read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, STOP READING!!!

for those who have read HPHBP, or those who doesn't care about spoilers:

I think that D is not really dead. S might have had a previous or more powerful "Unbreakable Vow" with D with precedes or supercedes S's Unbreakable Vow with N.

OEDIPUS REX Plot

Exposition:
The city of Thebes is beset by a plague that is killing all the plants in the fields and the babies in their mothers’ womb. It is threatening Thebes' existence. The Delphic Oracle advises that in order to get rid of the plague, the murderer of its past king, Laius, be cast out of Thebes.

Conflict:
Teiresias, the blind prophet called to reveal the identity of Laius’ murderer names the king, Oedipus, as Laius’ murderer. This angers Oedipus and he becomes determined to inquire and know the identity of Laius’ murderer. There is man versus man conflict between Oedipus and Teiresias. When Oedipus also accuses Creon of conspiring with Teiresias to bring him down as king of Thebes, another man versus man conflict arises.

However, the more prominent conflicts in the story are Oedipus’ battle against his fate and his own pride. The man versus nature conflict between Oedipus and his fate is played out from his birth, running away from Corinth to “escape” his fate only to be lead to killing Laius and marrying Jocasta. Oedipus also plays out a man versus himself conflict when his pride causes him to irrationally accuse Teiresias and Creon of conspiring against him. More importantly, his pride and belief that he can save Thebes again leads him to self-destruction when his careful and exhaustive inquiry reveals his parentage and his crimes of parricide and incest.

Climax:
The messenger from Corinth reveals Oedipus’ true identity. The herdsman further reveals Oedipus’ parentage. The truth that the twice prophesized Oedipus’ murder of his own father and marriage to his own mother has indeed come to pass. As a result of these revelations, Jocasta kills herself and Oedipus blinds himself.

Dénouement:
Oedipus asks Creon to exile him from Thebes and to take care of his daughters. Oedipus leaves Thebes.

RENE LIZADA's Papa's Table

Rene Lizada spent most of his adult life sharing knowledge and wisdom as an English teacher at a local high school. But after years of teaching, he is now living the corporate life. He also conducts workshops and seminars for budding writers and is an active member to Toastmasters.

Lizada writes a column entitled "Papa's Table" for the Sunstar Davao. In his column, he shares serious and funny life experiences, anecdotes, lessons and other musings. He often narrates stories about his wife and his kids. His eldest, Miguel Lizada, also has a column at the same newspaper, entitled "Kuya's Table."

The older Lizada's topics vary, but his entries are always hearfelt and well-written. His column should be read, not only for the sake of reading, but to learn, as well. Not only the lessons his explicitly shares but also his impeccable command of the English language. Although he rarely uses highfalutin words, he always manages to capture through his words, his experiences, reactions and emotions.

Papa's Table is usually published in the Sunstar Davao Newspaper and Website every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Jerusha C. Asprec: THE NUTTY PROFESSOR!

Nope, this is not about the movie. This Nutty Professor is Jerusha C. Asprec. Jerusha is a writer, a professor and blogger.

She prefers to define herself as a...

"Middle child, only girl * Young face, old soul * Outsider, looking in * Adventurer * Weirdo * Caffeine addict * An insomniac who can sleep like a log * Popcorn devourer * Knuckle cracker * Lyrics expert * Soup and pasta cook * Occasional klutz * Part-time professor, part-time grad student, FULL-TIME NUT CASE * Extreme thinker * Big-time dreamer * Crazy over childhood candies * Lover of the rain * Forever nostalgic * In the world, but not of the world * A certified radical for JESUS."

In her blog, The Nutty Professor!, she writes about her fulfilling, but frustrating and sometimes funny experiences as a professor.

Pablo Neruda's TONIGHT I CAN WRITE

TONIGHT I CAN WRITE
by Pablo Neruda

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, "The night is shattered
And blue stars shiver in the distance."

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through the nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her over and over again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I did love her too.
How could I not have loved her great eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter if my love could not keep her.
The night is shattered and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied because it has lost her.

Robert Frost's Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Oedipus Rex Characters

Characters in Sophocles' Greek Drama OEDIPUS REX:

1.) Oedipus is the king of Thebes. He is the tragic hero in the drama. He is actually the ill-fated son of Laius and Jocasta who was predicted to kill Laius and marry Jocasta. Because of these prophecies, he ends up believing that Polybus and Meropé, the king and queen of Corinth, are his real parents. He leaves Corinth after an oracle makes a similar prophecy about him. He ends up killing a man at a place where three highways meet and answering the Sphinx’s riddle to become the king of Thebes and marry Jocasta as reward. In the drama, he is seeking the murderer of Laius to get rid of the plague in Thebes. He is a man admired by the Thebans because of his great intellect. But in the end, he falls from grace after his true identity is revealed. Oedipus is often described as the perfect example of a tragic hero whose hubris or pride and hammartia or error in judgment lead to his downfall.

2.) Jocasta is Laius’ widow and Oedipus’ mother. She later married Oedipus after Oedipus saved Thebes from the Sphinx. She believed in the prophecy that said her and Laius’ son would kill Laius. Thus, she gave her infant son to a herdsman to be left at the mountain of Cithaeron to die. Later on, she ceases to believe in human oracles after she is misled to believe that a band of foreign robbers killed Laius. As soon as she realizes Oedipus’ real identity, she discourages Oedipus to continue his inquiry. When Oedipus refuses to stop the search for Laius’ murderer, Jocasta hangs herself to death.

Da Vinci Code

I admit that I read Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code out of curiosity. I wanted to know what all the hullaballoo was really all about. And my curiosity was indeed satsfied after reading the book.

Dan Brown has a subtle way of revealing factoids and myths which simply grabs the reader's attention. And sometimes, it does make the reader think and reflect. After reading the book, one does not really know which is fact and which is fiction. The intrigue and the so-called "greatest" conspiracy in history of man is carefully unraveled bit by bit.

Abo Sa Dila

Abo Sa Dila (Ash on the Tongue) is the title of Mikael Co's blog. Who, you ask, is Mikael Co? Mikael or Kael is a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, a former writer for Heights (AdMU's Literary Publication). He is a wonderful creative writer in both Filipino and English. Kael is the only person I know who can get away with speaking and reciting in Tagalog in an English or Philosophy (in English) class. He is that brilliant.

His latest post, Senti-naryo is his 100th blog entry. In the entry, he writes his sentiments about a number of random things.

Abo sa Dila is basically a peek into Kael's mind: his musings, reflections, and other things that are sometimes deep and sometimes mundane. He is always witty and sharp. He also posts his poems and other products of his bursts of creativity. Most of his blog's entries are in Tagalog.

Conrado de Quiros

Conrado de Quiros is one of the opinion colmunists of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. His column entitled "There's the Rub" appears in the aforementioned daily from Monday to Thursday. His is witty, straight to the point appears to follow a strict code of ethics and morality. He is not a moralist but he does have a good sense of right and wrong which is apparent in his opinions. De Quiros does not simply admonish the appaling but also praises the whatever requires praise. He also has a readable style of writing which is witty but simple.

His columns also appear on INQ7.net and a reader also compiles it on the De Quiros Blog.

My Fair Maladies

I received a new book this New Year and so far I am loving it. The book is "My Fair Maladies" a compilation of "Funny Essays and Poems on Various Ailments and Afflictions". The book is edited by Cristina Pantoja-HIdalgo and published by Milflores Publishing Inc.

So far, I have read the first three essays and I am LOVE IT! The first essay is "Ock Ock" a witty essay on Obssessive Compulsiveness (OC) by Vicente Garcia Groyon. It is followed by an essay on Anal-retentivenes, "My Name is Susan, and I am Anal-Retentive" by Susan S. Lara. Then, a weird but mildly amusing take on knuckle cracking, "When I Get Cracking," by Jerusha Asprec follows.