my baby

Finally. After weeks of preparation and unloading buckets of anxiety, let me introduce you to my first baby: Weights & Cushions, a chapbook of poetry by yours truly.

Most of the poems are first written sometime between 2007 and 2012, and most of them are previously featured in zines, journals, magazines and literary reviews like Dark Blue Southern Seas, Montage, Philippines Free Press, Philippines Graphic, and Quarterly Literary Review Singapore.

Fresh off the printers this morning are 30 copies—20 of which are going to Dumaguete for Silliman University's LGBTQ Zine and Book Fest on June 25, 2018 (Monday) at the SU Main Library, starting at 10AM. The remaining 10 copies would be for people within my perimeters who would think of getting one. If I’d run out of copies, I’d publish another set for you.

I am selling these for P200 each. A bit pricey, I know, because working things on your own turned out to be laborious and costly. (Shipping costs will also be shouldered by the buyer; which is P100 for shipments around the Philippines).

If you want to support and help out a local writer trying to sell his goods that he has worked with sweat and blood, feel free to drop me a message personally. Feed an artist and get him to pay the bills on time. Trust me, you are doing something good with your purchase. Hehe.

in praise of janine berdin

Janine Berdin still got me thinking. I was so mesmerized by her winning performance yesterday on the second season of Tawag Ng Tanghalan Ang Huling Tapatan (even if that was the first time I heard her sing) that I spent the whole night watching her previous performances. Man, glad I did. It was like discovering a sterling talent, a new mineral that has yet to be named. Yes, obviously I cannot stress the superlatives enough.

I am not sure how this would affect her vocal capabilities in the future, whether this is natural or a result of her years-long stint on the stage (and family gatherings), but the crack(s) in her voice when she sings lends her renditions both mortal and ethereal qualities. It is a voice that definitely sits on another plane, at least for me. Don’t get me wrong; her competitors Steven and Ato are undeniably powerful singers but there is something in Janine’s voice that hits me differently the way my ears first heard QUEEN’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Adele’s “Chasing Pavements”, Janelle Monáe’s “Cold War.” Perhaps it is her untarnished and optimistic passion? Her focussed drive that could easily dismantle all pretenses and pressure around her? Who knows.

I mean, just watch her cover of Kamikazee’s “Narda” on YouTube and witness how she sang that 2006 rock song and turned it into a painful, forlorn yearning. I got goosebumps, seriously. And there were her renditions of Yano’s “Banal Na Aso” and Eraserhead’s “Ang Huling El Bimbo” where she managed to interpret these iconic masterpieces without getting herself trapped into the easy allure of copy and theatricality—the two-punch combo that TKO’d lesser singers. It is like she wrote these songs herself, knew them by heart. (Honestly, some producer should compile all of her covers and make an album out of ‘em ASAP).

And she is but a little 16-year-old girl from Cebu! Now just imagine when she finally gets acquainted with all the nitty-gritty of every emotion in the spectrum. Just imagine when she finally experiences her first massive, irreversible heartbreak that usually informs and shapes the finest work of many artists. This may sound awful, but deep I inside I cannot wait to see her get through these things soon.

Okay. That’s all.