friend: uy, you know what? a friend of mine just gave birth.
me: really? that's cool. how is she?
friend: ayun, may down syndrome.
me: what?
friend: oo, lagi siyang down. laging depressed. iyak nga ng iyak eh.
(finding a new meaning to the term down syndrome)
yet another friend was on the fone once...
friend: yeah, well, that's what's going on right now
(a new caller calls my friend, and he was going to ask the other person on the line to hold)
friend: uhmm, there's another call...can i hold you?
(realizing that what he said was not, well, right...)
friend: i meant, can i put you on hold?
and there's this friend of mine, who just arrived in the us of a from dear philippines. friend a wanted friend b to do the booking for the hotel they were supposed to be staying when they visit another city.
friend a: just make the reservations for us. call the hotel directly at 1-800-HOLIDAY
friend b: ahm, ok.
(after a few seconds...)
friend b dials the phone. 1-8-0-0-0...pauses for a while, and in a perfectly modulated voice, says "Holiday?"
there's more to come. i have a bunch of really out of this world and unique friends and i hope they forgive me for this.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
more humor
everyday humor
i was talking with a friend of mine last week and it hit me, i should start listing down my friends' (or people around me, for that matter) boo-boos and compile it to build a book. here's a sample:
friend: hey momar, alam mo bang tapos na ang initiation ni (name withheld). grabe bugbog na bugbog siya.
me: talaga? okay lang ba siya?
friend: oo, pero grabe talaga yung mga hataw sa kanya, lalo na sa hita.
me: black and blue ba siya?
friend: tange, hindi black and blue. violet!
sometimes, humor is lost when translation is involved, so i'm just gonna leave it like that for now. there's another one:
friend: uy, may bago na akong boyfriend.
me: that's good news. kumusta naman?
friend: okay siya. he's thai.
me: wow, so madalas kayo ngayong kumain sa mga thai restaurants?
friend: ha? bakit?
me: kasi nga di ba sabi mo thai siya?
friend: oo, THAI-wanese.
may pahabol pa...
friend: thai din ba ang food nila?
challenges
i dunnow hat's been happening but i have been getting tirivial challenges lately that have been testing my patience and my belief in world order. my friends tease me that i am an obsessive compulsive freak, or well, i can be. that holds true to my iTunes collection in my Ipod which i have been slowly building up for almost two years now. piece of trivia: i just got my iMac fully paid last month.
anyway, i got yet another surprising development this morning when i clicked my iTunes icon and it was asking me to register once more, the same thing it asked me when i first use this damned thing. by then, i already knew that all my playlists are gone. it's been ages since i updated my iPod, so i wouldn't know when this happened. this is the thing, i own one of those first-generation iPods and its capacity is only 10 gigs. the mp3s i have have reached way more than 10 gigs so there is absolutely no way they can fit in my iPod.
there's not one freaking song in my iPod now and that is making me mad.
Friday, January 14, 2005
victoria gardens
my countdown continues. fifth day without cable. how am i surviving so far? let's just say that the customer service people at adelphia already know me on a first name basis.
my co-worker and i went on a road trip yesterday afternoon to rancho cucamonga to attend the opening of her a restaurant (her client) and for me to write about it. the trip was kinda long, we got stuck in traffic, even if we were on the car pool lane already. the place is about 50 miles from downtown los angeles.
it was kinda late (we were about to exit already) when i noticed that the mapquest printout i had did not reflect the actual place that we were going to but the center of the city (in this case, rancho cucamonga). anyway, to make a really long drive (story) short, it took us almost two and a half hours to finally reach our destination.
it turns out that the restaurant is inside victoria gardens, a $200 million project encompassing more than 150 acres. the place is huge, but it was very, very pretty. specially for a shopaholic like me. the mere size of the outdoor shopping center mesmerized me, and i liked the wide open spaces as well. it's like the grove, only 20 times bigger. that's how huge it is.
anyway, the reason why mapquest did not recognize the street was because of the fact that the "streets" were "streets" within victoria gardens. and they were "made" only a few months ago, so online maps probably do not have their updated copies yet.
anyway, i had my fill of sushi and sashimi (thank you kabuki!) and the asparagus wrapped in beef, and the dynamite, and the eel roll, and the soft shell crab roll, and the calamari-stuffed eggplant. this was worth the long trip. but then again, we need not drive that far next time since there's one in hollywood, another one in burbank and one in pasadena too.
i dunno when i will be back to victoria garden again, but i do hope it would be anytime soon, so i can walk along its pretty streets and shop in its cool stores. oh well, that is if i have enough money to spare. good luck.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
star-struck
am still pissed at adelphia (see previous entries). it's the third day and it's very frustrating.
anyway, i got a call this morning from this lady network executive (overseas from the philippines) asking me if i was going to cover the presscon of manny pacquiao today. i said yes. she then asked a 'huge favor,' that is if i could cover the presscon for their news show. i said yes.
one of our drivers brought me to the beverly hills hotel around 12:30 (the event was to start at 12 noon). when i got to the rodeo ballroom, bob arum, one of the organizers was already in the middle of his speech. everyone was there, including manny pacquiao, his opponent erik morales and their respective coaches and teams.
i looked around to see if the cameraman was already there. to my surprise, i didn't see him.
since today is a press day, i opted to leave early and i decided not to linger anymore. on my way to the restroom, i saw maria shriver talking on her cell. i was struck, i must've stared at her for about a minute. she caught my gaze and she smiled and said, 'hi!'. and all i could muster was a faint 'hello!'.
on my way to the lobby, i bumped into kate beckinsale. she looked so simple sans make-up, wearing only sweat pants and a hooded sweater. she's pretty, that's all i can say.
hate, hate, hate
question: what is a couch potato's worst nightmare?
answer: blackout can be accepted but since that does not usually happen, i can give the next best answer. nothing on tv. by nothing, i mean absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G.
that, ladies and gentlemen, has been causing me stress the past two days. due to the torrential rains, my cable company (paging adelphia!) has not been able to provide me with its services which i have pre-paid for the month only last saturday. i know hate is such a strong word and i seldom use it (i swear) but i am using it now. i hate adelphia.
my cable channels are gone. my premium channel (the filipino channel(tfc) hah!) is gone. for crying out loud, even my local channels are gone.
i've missed a hell lot of my fave tv shows and i have no idea ho adelphia is gonna pay me for all these stressing out. i know, i know, it's trivial, and probably not worth it for some people but then again, i am not just some people. i am a couch potato. by the way, i offer my apologies to everyone who is undergoing through much more difficulties in life. i am so sorry.
however, this is my blog so i have every right to rant.
because of steve and keena's wedding last sunday, i was not able to watch desperate housewives and nip/tuck, my regular sunday evening fare. and the season premiere of 24. thank god for the vcr, i was able to tape all three shows. i have yet to meet tivo. i heard he's a darling.
the upside of not having anything to watch the past two days? i was able to catch up.
in fact, i just finished watching the 2-hour sunday premiere of 24. good lord, it was very good. as in the previous 3 seasons, i swear i am hooked. the downside? not being able to watch the next two hours during monday's premiere. which sucks. big time. i hate it when i miss 24 episodes. i've been a big, big fan since the show started with only a handful of people actually watching it.
i have been calling my cable company incessantly for the past 48 hours or so. i think, one time, i even came to a point where i actually pleaded to the customer service to please do something about it. they told me to call again tomorrow. and i promise, i will be calling. again, and again. until they restore their service. so i can move on with my life once more.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
yes, sunshine!
good morning sunshine!
for the first time in about a week, the sun shone brightly this morning. as i was typing this around lunch time, sun was still there. it's good to see the sun again. i am not a rain person, i think i've said that before. there's something about the rain that depresses me. rainy days make me really blue. i dunno if it's just me. that's why i was kinda happy when i woke up this morning with slivers of the the sun passing through my room's windows.
i am kinda pissed that my cable's not working. i've called adelphia more than a dozen times already and they can't seem to find the root cause of my problem. maybe it's because of the rain? i tape some shows during the afternoon (yes, soap opera!) so my roomie and i can watch it when we get home. my roomie called me up last night while iw as having dinner with a couple of friends. he goes, "hello? i have bad news" and i went, "hindi nag-tape?"
it's funny how people close to me already know that i get pissed by small stuff like this. he then says, "sorry if i disturbed your dinner. i just wanted you to be prepared". hah.
the cable guy will be doing the rounds this weekend, according to the customer service person i talked to on the phone. weekend. it's just tuesday. which means i won't be having my tv fix for a few more days.
sunday night on tv was just hectic. i had to tape from my room and from the vcr in the living room. in my room, i taped desperate housewives and nip/tuck while the sala vcr taped the season premiere of 24. i've seen desperate housewives and i am going to watch nip/tuck and 24 this weekend. i missed the second night of premiere (another 2 hours) of 24 last night because of the cable problems. it's tuesday night: amazing race. last week, gus and hera got eliminated.
Monday, January 10, 2005
monsoon wedding
first off, keena, one of my friends, got married last sunday, which was probably the rainiest day in los angeles history.
one of our friends, freddie, flew in from the bay area to attend the festivities. we were joined by a good friend of mine, richard, who i take my hat off, for braving the nasty weather and the torrential rains that memorable afternoon.
the church was at the wayfarer's chapel in faraway rancho palos verdes. the scene was just absolutely breath-taking. imagine a small chapel, nestled on top of a hill, overlooking the pacific ocean. it was beautiful. the chapel in itself was a gem of a beauty. the walls and the roof were all made of glass and the trees outside made it look all the more artsy and pretty. i could just imagine how keena wanted the perfect scene to be, with the beautiful sunset capping the wedding ceremony.
because of the rains, the picture-perfect scenery was somehow, well, i can't find the perfect word. it wasn't destroyed or something but it was not what was originally conceived of.
on our way to the church (which was roughly 70 miles from where i live), we passed through puddles of water along the freeway and some parts of the streets in san pedro. it reminded me of the strong typhoons back home, and the floods that used to torment commuters in metro manila. it was a long drive, made even longer by the uncertainty of the fickle weather. by the time west 25th st. in san pedro became rancho palos verdes drive south, we encountered yet another stumbling block. the road was closed. with the street being all slippery, i could just surmise that there was an accident somewhere.
we were all unfamiliar with the place and it took us a lot of effort to finally find the church. let's just say that from my place to the church took us more than two hours. anyway, it was all worth it. the wedding was at 4:00 pm and by the time we got there at 4:30, i saw steve, the groom. he told us that we have not missed a thing since it has not started yet. after about an hour, the beautiful bride made her entrance.
the entire ceremony was simple and sweet. the couple looked really happy and so in love withe ach other. to keena and steve, congratulations and best wishes! your wedding was indeed unforgettable.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
the deep end
finally, i saw the deep end on dvd. it has been raining so hard the past few days and i have not been going out. my roomie was inviting me for a nightout tonight but i just couldn't drag my ass off the couch. woohoo.
saw a couple of mtv shows. caught up with the real world philadelphia...the one about landon's drinking problem. oh well. later in the evening (as in right now), the battle of the sexes 2 is on. it's down to the final six members each. i don't care who wins, as long as it's not coral or tina. i hate loudmouths. can't these people get a life? (in the same wavelength...can't i get a life?) hah!
a good friend of mine's getting married in a couple of days. best wishes keena! i hope it won't rain THAT hard this sunday. i am keeping my fingers crossed.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
'alias' is back!
as soon as the new year set in, all i could think about was my favorite show's 2-hour premiere in its new time slot. yehey, alias is back!
the first 20 minutes of the premiere totally rocked for me. jennifer garner was just fantastic. michael vartan was back to his brooding, non-smiling ways. the rest of the cast was very good as well. i am gushing. i am looking forward to having more good episodes.
this sunday (and monday), my other favorite show, 24 is going to have a two-night premiere. this concept totally baffles me. how can something have a two-night premiere? the first night IS the premiere. but the second night? how can it still be a premiere when it has in fact, premiered the night before? oh well. i hope it's gonna be good. i am keeping my fingers crossed.
of course by now, people already know that i am a couch potato. that i love my tv. it's mid-season and my two fave shows have just premiered. wait, american idol will premiere in two weeks. hmmm. looking forward to that too.
i hope that there's another pinoy (or more, possibly) who's gonna make it to the Final 32. well, on second thought, i think jasmine trias (and okay, camile velasco) are enough. Next year na lang uli.
Monday, January 03, 2005
feliz anonuevo
it's the freaking new year. i feel old. sigh.
spent the new year weekend in las vegas with a couple of my good friends. yes, i was a frikkin' third wheel. the countdown was fun. the city government spent millions of dollars for the fireworks and laser show since 2005 is the city's centennial. tons of people...drunk people. i had one huge drink (imagine a football-sized container, filled up to the rim) i bought from the coyote ugly bar in new york, new york. it set me back $18. not bad. one drink would normally cost around 10 bucks, this one was definitely more than two drinks. which was why i got tipsy. i am funny when i get tipsy. hehehe. funny because i do things i do not normally do. let's just say i was a bit way too friendly to strangers.
the $18 drink @ coyote ugly
the travel back to LA went way too long. we left around past one and we arrived in hell-ey after eight. to make matters worse, our rental card had no cd player. that sucked.
anyway, i am looking forward to the new year. i hope that it's gonna be good, if not better than 2004 for me. over all, 2004 was not a good year, especially the tsunami/earthquake twin tragedies that happened a day after christmas.
new year countdown in las vegas
a couple of my friends and i braved the rainstorm on the last day of 2004 to troop to the sin city and celebrate there the end of the year and welcome 2005 with a bang.
we were supposed to leave around 9:00 am to avoid the mad rush to vegas but we ended up leaving around lunch-time. traffic was bad, not because of the horde of cars but because the hard rains prevented motorists from driving beyond the legal speed limit. by the time we reached victorville, the sun started showing. hah. thank you mother nature.
las vegas boulevard (aka the strip) was already teeming with pedestrians by the time we got there. the last time i was here during new year's eve was during the millennium and the year after that. next to new york, i think new year in vegas is the next best thing. we checked in our hotel and had our power naps. it was going to be a long night.
aside from welcoming 2005, las vegas also welcomed the new year with a big bang since 2005 is also the city's hundredth year. knowing the fact that the city spent more than $50 million in fireworks alone, it made me think about how far this amount could go if it were donated to the tsunami/earthquake victims in southeast asia. i know it would probably never happen but i really wondered.
back inside the casinos, drinks were overflowing, people were everywhere and gamblers were having a good time. i observed an asian couple, probably tourists, who were betting $1,000 a hand on black jack. and they had two tall piles of $1,000. they did not even seem to mind if they lost five, six, seven times in a row. sigh.
i lost 20 bucks when i played the slot machine. i felt bad. that's 20 bucks down the drain. oh well.
Friday, December 31, 2004
picanha in burbank
it's pierre's birthday today. we didn't plan on celebrating it at picanha restaurant in burbank but we ended up there anyway.
picanha is a brazilian churrascaria (traditional brazilian barbeque). i first ate there a couple of years ago when i had a one-on-one interview with philippine senator ping lacson. i heard that it was his favorite restaurant so he wanted the interview to be done there.
the food was awesome. it's an all-you-can-eat meat fest so carnivores out there, this is the place for you. slabs of meat are placed on giant skewers and are slow-cooked, or slow-broiled. the waiters...i think they are called gauchos...bring the barbecue to the table and slice portions of the meat for you, piping hot from the open fire grill located near the entrance of the restaurant. it's dizzying to even remember all the types of meat that was served: from filet mignon to top sirloin, from pork loin to ribs to sausages, from lamb to chicken wrapped in bacon. it was indeed a hearty and really filling dinner.
come to picanha. come to picanha hungry. really hungry.
Monday, December 27, 2004
christmas in phuket
i was channel-surfing (as usual) the morning after christmas and i came across a breaking news thing on cnn. i looked harder and i was shocked to see the graphic video taken by tourists in phuket. the island resort was virtually erased from the map and there was destruction everywhere.
suddenly, i remembered a good friend of mine. i got a text from him the day earlier, greeting me a 'merry christmas.' i couldn't have been dreaming because he prefaced his text message with 'greetings from phuket!'
i ran up to my room to get my cell phone to check if my friend abe, was indeed in phuket with his wife rita and daughter, gari. i almost froze when i clicked my message icon and i had to read his message over and over again. i felt so helpless, all i was able to do was to muster a short prayer that they were spared from this tragedy.
i texted my friend to ask him if they were okay. i also texted our other friends to ask if they have heard from abe at all. i did not hear a word from them the entire day so i was growing pretty restless.
the next day, i was awakened by a text message from this friend of mine. i heaved a sigh of relief when he said that they just arrived in hong kong (where they are based) and that they did survive the tsunami and the earthquake. thank god that he spared my friend and his family. i feel sorry for the hundreds of thousands of families affected. at this point, all we can do is pray.
Friday, December 24, 2004
scrooge's christmas
i have always been fascinated by scrooge, and the way he sees christmas.
oh well, it's christmas once more. i've been attending parties left and right lately, joining exhange gifts and gift grabs. so far, i've gotten a great-looking rice-cooker, a black, knitted sweater, a foot spa and some other stuff. needless to say, i recycled the foot spa. i thought i wanted to have it but then u realized i can be so paranoid sometimes. paranoid. i have this vision of myself, enjoying my foot spa and that something in it goes awry, causing the wires to malfunction, thereby, uhmmm, electrocuting me. not a good sight. the fact that the foot spa needs to be connected to an outlet before it can run + the fact that water is needed by the spa as well = this feeling that electricity + water should not be used in the same sentence...gee, it gives me the creeps.
i've bought and given my gifts to people close to me. i've received my gifts as well. for those who remembered, thank you very much.
maligayang pasko!
Monday, November 22, 2004
cold, cold, cold
yes, cold. the weather has been really cold, especially the past weekend.
friday. i covered the 'flavors of the philippines: a food festival' at the new otani hotel after my press work. it wasn't a festival for me. well, the concept was that they had 14 companies who were bringing their products to the u.s. and that's what they put on the buffet table. well, if it was a philippine food festival, then shouldn't they serve the best of philippine cuisine?
i mean, what would the other people (other races, other guests) think about pinoy cuisine when what they eat during an event called 'flavors fof the philippines: a food festival' is lumpiang sariwa, barbecue pork, pancit, longganisa (!!!) and others. no offense meant againts those dishes (i love them) but my point is, they are not pang-festival. but then again, they are the products of the traders who joined this food mission to the u.s. what gives then? i dunno. my beef? this is a philippine food festival. i probably expected more than just the longganisa on a stick.
saturday was jasmine trias' concert. well. what can i say. my lead sentence: guess who brought the house down? jasmine trias? not! bad, bad momar.
anyway, jay-r brought the frikkin' house down. he's a very good performer -- singer, dancer heck, he even breakdanced. brokedanced? well.
attended the 'exclusive' after-party at the palatial residence of the raquels in hancock park. there, i met the performers -- jasmine, jay-r, paolo santos and nyoy volante. i had my picture taken with them. so much for not being star-struck.
Friday, November 19, 2004
couch patatas
thursday's still must-see tv night for me. although i am not talking about joey. the oc, it is. sigh. i feel sad for seth (not for marisa)...the last scene hit me, specially when seth told marisa about where they were a year ago, and who would have thought that they would be, on that day, newport's two loneliest people. i like the chemistry between ryan and this new character lindsay. in tagalog, it's what they call "may kilig factor" something that i no longer see in marisa and ryan. oh well.
donald trump defied convention once more last night when he fired two of the contestants: my favorite maria and the project manager wes. the two groups needed to come up with in-store catalogues for levi's. ivana's group won, because of her brilliant idea about the wheel. it's a bummer, she wasn't recognized for her effort. to make it worse, the woman who did not even understand ivana's concept was praised in front of donald trump by the president of levi's no less. that sucks.
i stopped watching survivor this season. i watch it when there's no other show that i like on the tube. now, there's the oc, and joey. yeah, i'd rather watch joey than survivor. and yeah, the finale of tbs' the mansion was last night too. am i a sucker for reality tv shows or what? well, i don't watch all of them, just a few of them; namely the apprentice, the amazing race, manhunt on bravo, (hahaha! my bet's gonna take it all) and what else, the mansion, real world philly, real world vs road rules, the battle of the sexes.
i couldn't sleep early last night so i was flipping channels, between emeril and oprah and mtv's new show: date my mom. it was hilarious. i don't like like it, but i find it hilarious; not funny funny but funny hilarious, especially the mom who showed the date how her daughter cackles like a chicken. well, the searcher chose that mom. well, in order for the searcher to date the daughter, he should date the mother first and based on the searcher's impressions on the mothers, he decides which daughter he's gonna be dating. well.
it's almost 2 pm. haven't had breakfast yet. all i have in my tummy is the white chocolate latte from coffee bean. that's all. i am hungry but no one's budging yet. tons of work to do. i'm halfway done, i am just waiting for jojo's story which he said he was gonna email before 1:00 pm when i called him around 10:00 am this morning.
i have a coverage tonight at the otani hotel in little tokyo. i am not quite sure what it is but i think it would be similar to the food expos i have covered before. we'll see...
Thursday, November 18, 2004
on feng shui and magnifico (and a bit of bridget jones)
i was able to watch two beautiful filipino movies early this week. sunday night on tfc was this movie called 'magnifico.' i've heard so much about this movie from articles and reviews posted all over the web. in fact, this movie has been doing the filmfest circuit in the past couple of years. anyway, i watched it with my roomie and we ended up a bit emotional after watching it. it's kind of heart-tugging and the kid's acting (i think his name is jiro manio) is well, magnificent.
the next day, i got a dvd copy of feng shui from a friend. i watched it with a couple of friends and boy did i get really scared. this is something new. the movie is actually very good. the copy is very clear, the colors very vivid. the cinematography is fantastic and the actors were great. yes, including kris aquino. surprise, surprise. the story was very believable, it's kind of cultural, specially the filipino's belief in suwerte and malas. i'm so happy to see familiar names in the film's closing credits. the movie was edited by vito cajili, my good friend third's close friend. he was a batch younger in college. then there's the movie's writer roy iglesias. roy is one of my "older" classmates when i took graduate courses at ateneo's comm. dept. years ago.
by the way, last sunday, i watched bridget jones: the edge of reason at arclight. i think i spent way too much. hah. the ticket was $14! on a sunday afternoon! well, i was bored out of my wits at home so i decided to go to arclight and watching bridget jones seemed like a good idea. well, let's just say that i enjoyed the first one better.
missing posts and jasmine trias
what happened to my previous posts? mukhang nawala. well, obviously. i'm going to start all over again. naaliw kasi ako sa mga blogs na nabasa ko, at the same time, na-inspire din.
it's thursday today. load's kinda light, i finished writing an advertorial for a real estate broker who is based in west hollywood. i did the interview earlier in the afternoon and wrote the draft after the interview.
i DLd the pics i took during the presscon of jasmine trias last tuesday night at the philippine consulate. she was grilled during the interview but she emerged unscathed. on her "numerous" flats in her araneta coliseum, the poor girl replied, "i don't think i had that many flats. i might have had ne or two, but not that many. so i had a couple of flat notes, what do you want me to do? apologize?"
she's having her concert here in LA this saturday at the grand olympic. i have a couple of tickets so i think i'm gonna watch. i owe it to her. hahaha. i hope she does well. besides, i am looking forward to hear the music of paolo santos, nyoy volante and jay-r.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
filipino authors in long beach - asian journal article
Filipino Authors Gather in Long Beach
Fil-Am Contributions to American Literature Discussed
By Momar G. Visaya
LONG BEACH - It was a fitting finale to a month-long celebration of history and heritage.
Several Filipino authors gathered together on Saturday, October 30, 2004 at the Oceanview Gallery of the Long Beach Museum of Art to celebrate the declaration of the month of October as Filipino-American History Month and to read for book aficionados and swap stories about each other. Facilitated by the Philippine Expressions Bookshop, the event is part of the bookseller's outreach program.
Eight established and emerging Filipino and Filipino-American authors (and one from Germany) comprised the panel and each one of them took turns reading poetry, essay or stories from their books.
After the book-reading, a question-and-answer portion followed, with Linda Nietes, the facilitator who started the ball rolling when she asked the authors how it felt to write for a community that is not necessarily seen as a "reading public" and if it is discouraging for them to realize it.
Playwright, director and producer Reme-Antonio Grefalda replied, "You cannot persuade someone to buy a book when he or she does not know anything about the author so as writers here, we have a responsibility to the audience and the community to let them know about us."
Palanca award-winner and former University of the Philippines professor Luisa A. Igloria agreed. Igloria flew all the way from Norfolk, Virginia where she is on the faculty of the Creative Writing Program at the Old Dominion University. "Book readings such as this is one way where we can tell our audience about our books, and for our community to find out who the Filipino-American authors are," she said.
Grefalda, Igloria and Carlene (Kalifa) Sobrino Bonnivier are all from the East Coast; Oscar Penaranda and Barbara Pulmano Reyes are from Northern California; Blanca Datuin Nolledo is from Portland, Oregon; Edna Weisser flew from Germany and Noel Alumit is the only author in this group who is from Los Angeles.
Novelist Noel Alumit commented, "Before we become a book-reading community, we must first become a book-buying one," echoing Igloria's earlier suggestion that instead of giving other gifts this holiday season, the audience should give books by Filipino authors instead.
"I challenge everyone in this room," Alumit said, "to give a book by a Filipino author as a gift this Christmas instead of the usual gifts like DVDs."
Recognizing that this is a small step towards having a book-reading or a book-buying public, Nietes suggested to the audience to go to their local libraries and ask for Filipino-authored books. "They have a budget for that," she said, "and if they cannot find a single book by a Filipino author, then they are not doing enough. Bring this afternoon's program. The authors' books and novels are there."
An audience member, Lucila Dypiangco said that we "should light a candle instead of cursing the darkness." Dypiangco shared the story of how she, as a teacher of the Los Angeles Unified School District, was able to help propagate Filipino authors in her own little way. She said that when they were asked to give their inputs for a literature book to be used by the students, she suggested the name of poet Oscar Penaranda. As a poet and storyteller, Penaranda chose poetry to tell his stories, most notably of
Penaranda, who was one of the eight authors at the event, read a poem "Dear Mamang" earlier in the program. Dypiangco wanted that poem to be included in the list of required readings. For some reason, the poem did not make it, but one of Penaranda's other poems did, and it was placed right beside that of an Emily Dickinson's poem. "Now, at least, one of Mr. Penaranda's poems that celebrated the existence of Filipinos in America is something that is read by all of our students," Dypiangco added.
Grefalda also dismissed the notion of "writing for the mainstream." "Every book that comes out is a rehearsal of the next book. There is an audience out there. Let us not write for the mainstream, let us write because we want to. Let us stop butting our heads to be in the mainstream," she said.
Edna Weisser, an essayist based in Germany, has some of her works included in three anthologies, including the "Trans Euro Express: Filipinas in Europe," the first ever Filipino-European anthology. She read one of her essays, How to Cook Bagoong in Germany, a witty look about this Filipino condiment made from shrimp or small fish that has been salted, cured and fermented for several weeks. On her biggest challenge as a writer, she quipped, "I write in English, in a country which does not even speak it."
Poet and performance artist Barbara Pulmano Reyes read a poem called "Recipe" from her book "Gravities of Center". Born in Manila and raised in Fremont, California, Reyes was apologetic to the audience, "It frightens me when I am with a group of women who looks just like my mom. I am apologizing in advance for some of the vulgar words used in my poem."
Fictionist, playwright and essayist Wilfrido Nolledo, who passed away this year, was ably represented by his widow Blanca Datuin Nolledo and daughter Melissa Nolledo-Christoffels. The event also marked the posthumous launching of his book "Cadena de Amor and Other Stories," a collection of stories that had won prizes in the prestigious Carlos Palanca Memorial Literary Competition.
