The Wheel and Axle

In memoriam: 2,977 souls who perished fifteen years ago today.

Where were you then?

For there be too many Squealers nowadays and not enough Benjamins (who are not lazy).

Earlier this week, September 5th, would’ve been Freddie Mercury’s 70th birthday. It’s also been nearly 25 years since the legend from Queen passed away. Despite the loss of this icon, his music and legacy live on, propelling the art forward through the influence he left behind.

Belated happy birthday, Freddie. Your rhapsody lives on.

Fran Drescher has always been and will always be an inspiration to me: funny, creative, and strong, all while having faced several tragedies in her life – including rape as well as cancer.

And now that I’ve seen this interview with Oprah from a few years ago, I appreciate her (and now, also her ex-husband) even more. As she says in this interview, “It’s turning lemons into lemonades and pain into purpose.”

May we all be as strong as this wonderful woman!

Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I have rediscovered one of my favorite, how shall I put this delicately, lesser-known actors, Stanislav Yanevski. He’s best known for his role as Viktor Krum in Harry Potter and, uhmm, that…

… that guy who gets eaten in Hostel 2.

Although he hasn’t done much acting, he still occasionally makes appearances in conventions and such, and he seems pretty active on social media.

And he loves traveling, especially on his motorbike.

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As my mentor Jessica taught me when I was developing my aswang novels, the best monster stories work on three levels… and I quote her notes to me back in 2013, “the horror tale, which should be scary/creepy as hell; the psychological, in which the monster embodies some part of the protagonist’s character that he denies or is not aware of; and the metaphorical, where the monster symbolizes some social reality. Hence Frankenstein: homicidal monster, creator with a god complex, the Industrial Revolution.”

Indeed, all the blood and gore and creep factors are great, but what elevates a tale are the added psychological and social dimensions that provide a richer experience for the audience. Otherwise, it’s just blood and gore and creep factors. This is why the likes of Dracula, The Vampire Chronicles, Lovecraft’s works, Stephen King’s novels, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Penny Dreadful, Ringu, and Ju-On work so well. In the Filipino context, we see these layers in Ang Pamana: The Inheritance, Patayin sa Sindak Si Barbara, Sigaw, SRR2’s Aswang, Yanggaw, Dagim, and Trese, among many others.

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Less than 24 hours after I posted about how timely and relevant Madonna’s anti-war video American Life still was, an explosion hit Davao City’s Roxas Night Market, attributed to violent insurgents that have been preying upon the south for over a decade.

Whatever differences we might have, we all should strongly condemn this cowardly terrorist attack.

Vigilance is important. We should not be cowed.

We are the sovereign Filipino people.

Aside from a comment here and there as well as a shared post or two, I hadn’t really been planning to write much about the whole controversy involving the upcoming GMA TV show Alyas Robin Hood, a series whose 15-second teaser trailer evoked visuals that are straight out of Arrow.

Do I believe the visuals are a rip-off? Yes. Don’t tell us that no one has a sole claim on the color green. Anyone with eyes and not in denial can clearly see that production practically copied the CW show’s version of the character from the outfit to the overall feel. Please.

How about the story? We cannot really say because the show hasn’t started yet, but I will point out that – based on a synopsis online – it doesn’t sound much like Arrow. It actually sounds like the premise of Will Eisner’s pulp hero The Spirit. Uhm, yey?

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I recently finally got to watch the banned version of Madonna’s music video for American Life.

As a Madonna fanatic, I’ll be the first to say that, when the song was released, I wasn’t exactly fond of it. It must’ve been the rap. Madonna, my queen, I love you, but unless it’s Vogue‘s spoken portion, please never rap again.

However, watching this banned video, hindsight once again schools me to show just how ahead of her time Madonna really was (and continues to be).

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