Eldest

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Christopher Paolini

Thoughts:
Lo and behold, our hero, Luke Skywalker, I mean Eragon.. travels to a the Degobah System.. no I meant, Duweldenvarden or Lothlorien? And meets the old sage, Yoda.. no wait, NOT Yoda, I meant Oromis who’s really the Last Jedi.. Last Rider! Familiar? Sounds like the empire Strikes Back? This book is really no fun if you know the Star Wars movies. Okay, while reading this book, I was expecting Eragon to meet Galbatorix and for Galbatorix to tell him.. “Eragon.. I am you Father..” and for Eragon to wail like a child and say.. “No It’s not true!!” or for Arya to end up as Eragon’s sister. Since in the beginning of the book series, it was never revealed who was Eragon’s dad. In the end Eldest, we now find out that Morzan, the leader of the forsworn, the person who helped destroy all the Jedis.., no I meant, Riders (Really this story is soooo confusing.. hehe), is Eragon’s dad. Much like Luke’s Dad is Anakin, who helped Palpatine get rid of all the Jedi.

A NEW thing about the Eldest is that Arya is NOT his twin sister. And we will see how Eragon’s infatuation for this overly perfect Elf will develop! I swear, this woman has NO flaws! (Mary Sue but much!) She’s breathtakingly beautiful, she’s immortal, she’s an amazing swordsman, she can do exceptional magic (in Eragon, when she separated Silver), she’s an ambassador for her race and she’s the sole heir to the elven throne! She’s a princess! And of course after every battle, all her scars will be healed like it didn’t even happen! (convenient but much!) Really! The only flaw that I could see with this character is that she’s NOT REAL! Really, I don’t care much for her. If she died, I probably wouldn’t cry. Haha. All she did both books was… mysteriously appear out of nowhere, and reprimand Eragon for every little THING! Then she goes prancing around wearing really seductive elven clothing, show Eragon around, smile charmingly, and EXPECT Eragon NOT to get infatuated with her.. Puh-lease! Hopefully in the next book, she’d be more than uber smart Barbie doll.

The Roran Arc was also a fun read… to bad no one important died. Will they be able to save Katrina? I’m betting THEY will!

The final battle with Murtagh was also scary.. I really was expecting him to CUT Eragon’s arm.. Then Eragon will fall off from the Plateau and call Arya from his mind.. hehe.
Enough with the sarcastic review, the book was waay too long for me. When I was reading Lord of the Rings, I didn’t like Fellowship because it was too long and had lots of scenery descriptions and singing. But, LOTR picked itself up by Two towers and Return of the King! Both books were very gripping, really so many things happening at the same time. You’d actually feel the despair of hopelessness when facing the Orcs. In Eldest, It’s like it got EVEN more boring than Eragon! But why should I compare it to LOTR? Hehe.

So, It’s still a good read, if you want to find out what will happen to our swash buckling hero. He gets better at his skills. He gets all the greatness of an elf. But when it comes to battle, he’s still an amateur. And Like in most battles the Evil ones are always stronger. You’ll get really curious and excited how he would be able to defeat Galbatorix in the last two books.. would it be by skill alone? Luck? Or someone else sacrificing himself/herself to save Eragon? (much like what Darth Vader did.) If you want a very straight forward, no mysteries involved, predictable and enjoyable fantasy book, the Inheritance Cycle is for you! Can’t wait to read the next book! Brisingr!



(If you are not familiar with the story.. the summary is written below)
Summary:
Eldest starts with Eragon scouting the damage. After the battle, they are now trying to kill all the remaining Urgals. Along with this scouting group is Ajihad, Murtagh and the twins. In an urgal ambush they were able to kidnap Murtagh, the twin and kill Ajihad. Arya tries to follow them, but to no avail.

After the tragedy, the council of elders decide that Nasuada, Ajihad’s daughter, succeed her father. Eragon swears his loyalty to Nasuada. Saphira then promises the dwarf king to fix the destroyed sapphire star. Eragon will now continue his training in the Elf land of Duweldenvarden. The dwarves give Eragon this helm in order to make them one of their brothers. Eragon, Arya, Orik and Saphira now travel to Duweldenvaren. They visit this Dwarf village underground.They have this wonderful feast. Eragon also learns about dwarf religion.

On they travel peacefully. They reach Duweldenvarden. Arya teaches Eragon about Elves customs and greetings. They reach the center of the elves country, Ellesmira. They meet Queen Islanzadim who apparently is Arya’s mom. Eragon also starts to develop this HUGE infatuation for Arya. All hope is not lost when he found out that.. well she’s a princess, perfect just perfect, isn’t it? They are shown to their living quarters and meet the old Rider Oromis and his dragon, Glaedr.
Eragon and Saphira’s lessons start. They learn some sort of tai chi of the elves. He learns about opening his mind to his environment. Eragon learns alot about the Ancient language. Learns about magic. Arya occasionally visits him and they explore Ellesmira. Eragon meets this great elf smith. Eragon also starts sparring with this Arrogant Elf Vanir, who outclassed him 100 times over. This continue for days on in. Then Oromis teaches Eragon how to creates a sort of image from reality. He creates one of Arya, and she breaks the image into pieces. (thus, rejecting Eragon’s advances.) Heartbroken, they then focuses more on his studies. He learns to kill a dozen opponents in an instant.

On the other hand, Saphira is now trying to mate with Glaedr, which he also rejects. (poor horny dragon. =) We also learn why the elves are great magic folk and why they have long lives. This is the result of the magic the dragons bestowed on them. This celebration of the contract is the blood oath festival. Eragon recites a moving poem. And the dragon gave him this gift. He also confesses his love for Arya, which, surprise surprise, she rejects.

The next morning, Eragon wakes up to find out that his scar was gone. He also has a strength and speed of an Elf. He continues his studies. Until he got worried about Arya. He checks up on her and saw that the Varden is in danger. He has to go back to help the Varden, while not yet finished with his training! (Luke? Yoda? Is that you?) So he, Orik and Saphira venture back to the Varden to help their comrades in battle. Oromis and Islanzadi give him precious gifts. (like he’s not coming back anymore! )

I skipped on Roran, lets talk about Roran. He on the other hand, went back to Carvahall. To find that his dad is dead and his farm burnt and his cousin fled. The Raz’ac come back to Carvahall to take Roran, but the villagers fight to save him. Katrina his fiancé was taken instead. Roran convinced the whole village to join the Varden because their village will be killed otherwise. They whole village travelled for who knows how far.. to join the battle Eragon was heading for.

The varden is no longer located in Tronjeim. Nasuada decided to move the Varden to Surda. All the soldiers of the empire and the Varden/Surda are prepared for battle in the burnt Plains. Eragon arrives just in time. He was assigned to head all the spell casters. They plan their battle. The urgals pledged their allegiance to them. The battle starts. They are outnumbered by thousands. Then the dwarves come to their rescue.

Hope! But then a Red dragon comes out! A new rider is upon them, on the side of the Empire. Two powerful spell casters are also revealed. Eragon head straight for the Rider. They battle endlessly. Eragon losing the match because of the fatigue from battling for hours on end. Then, Eragon removes the helm of the mysterious Rider.. It’s Murtagh! Murtagh plans to kidnap Eragon and Saphira. He also reveals that.. “Eragon... I am your BROTHER!” bwhahahah! Yes, he is Eragon’s elder brother, and their father is Morzan. He spares Eragon and flies off taking Zar’roc
Roran from afar, will kill the spell casters and thus deciding the battle. In the end, Eragon was devastated by the news and couldn’t be happy about the outcome of the battle. Now they decided that he will help Roran rescue Katrina, where they found out that she’s still alive in the Raz’ac’s hideout.

Eragon

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Christopher Paolini

Thoughts:

Wait, what’s this? A farm boy yet again? When have we last seen a farm boy waged war in story? There’s Luke Skywalker, it think Clark Kent too? Good thing Harry Potter didn’t have farming aspirations! Really, do humble beginnings always spell out farm boy? I’m also wondering where I’ve read this story from.. A farm boy lives humbly in an isolated field. He lives with his uncle. His house was burnt down. Then a wise sage, an old friend, suddenly knows a lot about the empire politics and the farm boy’s potential powers. They travel together, the sage enhances the boy’s skills. They save a princess. They go to the secret place of the rebels. The boy is the last of his kind. The boy fights in the rebel battles. The boy saves the rebels! The next part of the story is that the boy has to continue his training because the sage dies. Does this story ring a bell? Watch Star Wars: A New Hope! That’s exactly what happened. After watching that movie, don’t read Eragon anymore, because Star Wars just spoiled the whole plot for you. Yes, folks. That’s the summary of Eragon, except that He has a dragon. And instead of being the first Jedi after the race have been extinct, Eragon is the last Rider. He can also do magic, unlike Luke who can control the “Force”. Oh, and the princess is not his long lost twin sister.

This book is a Merger of Lord of the Rings AND Star Wars.. Just given different names. Eragon-Aragorn, Arya – Arwen (who happens to be an elf princess that Eragon falls in love with, familiar??). It was entertaining enough, but really not worth buying. I had to put down the book several times because it was not as exciting, as say, His Dark Materials. . All in all it was fun. What’s great for me is the dragons bit. I have not read a fantasy book that involves a whole lot of dragons in it.. (unless you consider Harry Potter with his hungarian horntail, or Terry Pratchett’s color of Magic.). And I’m not familiar with tons of fantasy novels so I really can’t compare if this work is in fact a hack. I think I loved the very straight forward and predictable story line, where you know that in the end the hero would survive, and save the princess. It’s really formulae yet very enjoying… just please don’t overdo the fancy words! Really! I liked this BOOK, despite everything else, I enjoyed Eragon's adventures! =) Just don't expect anything BIG.

Book vs. Movie. Well, the movie SUCKed that’s for sure. I’d have to watch the movie again in order to compare correctly. But If I remember correctly, I felt like I was watching a TV-Movie in the theatre. Really-really B type. And they left out A LOT from the book. The book was decent enough, the movie.. 100% dud. Didn’t like Eragon, or Brom or even Arya.


(If you are not familiar with the work...)
Summary:
Enter the Shade, scary sorcerer who’s waiting for an ambush. Together with a few urgals they are waiting for a certain band of elves. Then 3 elves enter the scene, a woman in the middle carrying a stone, the other two are her guards. The guards drop dead, and when the shade was about to take the stone the woman makes the stone disappear. The shade then kidnaps the woman and destroys everything in sight.

Eragon, 15 years old, farm boy and hunter. When he was about to shoot a dear, a mysterious stone suddenly appears. He was not able to get the dear but thought that the stone may be worth something. Eragon tried selling the stone but no one would buy it, for no one knows its worth, and people seem to be afraid of magic. He goes home to his Uncle Garrow, and cousin Roran. They live away from the village and tend to a farm.

Roran, his older cousin tells everyone that he wants to find work elsewhere so that he may earn enough money to marry. This pisses Eragon off and he goes all broody and mopping in his room. Then the stone suddenly hatches. It’s not a stone after all but a dragon egg! Eragon takes care of the dragon in the forest and hides this from his uncle. Suddenly, strangers come into the village looking for the stone. Villagers point to Eragon and the strangers go to his farm. Saphira , the dragon’s name, out of fear carries Eragon to a secluded area for no reason. When they come back to the farm, it was burnt down and Eragon’s uncle is found dead.
Brom the village storyteller finds Eragon trying to escape the village. Brom knows alot about dragons and such and pledged that he will help Eragon avenge his uncle. Brom and Eragon are now set out to track down the Raz’ac to kill them. (The Raz’ac are the creatures that killed Garrow). We now find out that the Raz’ac are working for the Empire. The empire is lead by the tyrant Galbatorix, the main villain in this series. The legend of the Riders has ended with Galbatorix. He is a Rider himself and killed all the Riders before him. So, Eragon is part of this new generation of Riders.

Brom gives Eragon this sword called Zar’roc. Saying.. “You have more of a claim to it than I do” hint hint? Now they have to track down the Raz’ac with the Empire not noticing them because of Saphira. The empire would of course like to get the last dragon and Rider. Brom makes a saddle for Eragon, and they get horses for travelling. During their travels Brom would train Eragon by sparring with him using branches or sticks.

On their travels, they stop by Yazuac to gather provisions, where the whole town has been destroyed and the villagers killed. It was silent until they were attacked by urgals. They fight, and suddenly in a desperate attempt to survive, Eragon performs magic. Brom explains a little about magic, that it should be spoken in the Ancient Language (elves use this) and the elves a great at magic. Brom teaches Eragon the little that he knows of magic.

They drop by a town called Darat. They hear of tidings of the Urgals and the pirates that attack particular Merchants. Next destination Teirm. Brom’s merchant friend Jeod lives here. They try to investigate about the Raz’ac’s location through the rare oil they found in the forest. Eragon learns to read and write. He also meets Angela who tells his fortune and Solembaum the werecat.

Next town, Dras Leona, they have a lead on the Raz’ac! Finally. They head to this town, find out about slave trades. They also find out that the Raz’ac live in Hellsgrind. On the way here, they battle a couple of Raz’acs and Broms gets killed in the process. We now meet Murtargh a fellow traveller and he helps Eragon keep Brom save. They bury Brom and continue travelling.

They are now at the outskirts of Gil’ead. Here Eragon is captured by the urgals. In prison, he sees the woman in his dreams. (I did not mention this before but he has been dreaming of a woman being tortured.) He is now compelled to save this woman. He also meets the Shade, Durza for the first time. He manages to get out from his cell and with the help of Saphira and Murtagh they escape. Now they head to the Varden (the rebel group). The woman elf named Arya told them of the secret location of the Varden. They have to get there in time to save Arya from the poison. With perseverance they manage to get to the Varden. The Varden is located in a dwarf city called Tronjeim. Eragon meets Ajihad the leader of the Varden and Hrotghar the dwarf King.

Murtagh was kept in prison, Its now revealed that Murtagh is the son of one of the forsworn, Morzan. Arya also battles Eragon to test his skill in the sword. And the twins tested him on his magic prowess. After all the pleasantries, and Arya surviving a battle is now in order. They are now going to battle the Kull an elite force of the Urgals. Together with the shade. All the dwarf tunnels are now being destroyed the ones left are being prepared for ambush. Everyone’s in battle now, Eragon, Arya, Murtagh, Orik, Nasuada and Ajihad.

The battle ensues, Eragon helps here and there. Saphira gets wounded badly so they had to go inside. But the Shade suddenly appears beside Eragon. They cross their swords. Which apparently, Eragon is a gazillion times weaker and will in NO WAY win the fight. Durza manages to inflict this long wound on Eragon’s back. When all hope is lost. Saphira and Arya destroys the Isidar Mithrim. This distracted Durza and Eragon manages to stab him in the heart. Eragon passes out. They win the battle because the kull are now released from the mind control. Ze end.

Nahuli nanaman ako ng MMDA sa EDSA

Kahapon ng umaga papunta ako ng gateway. Dumaan kami ng edsa, galing east avenue, galing elliptical road. Nagkwkwentuhan kami ng kasama ko kaya’t hindi ko napansin yung mga lanes. Nagdrdrive na pala ako sa Bus lane. Sobrang nakakatakot nang biglang may MMDA na nagpapahinto sakin. Grabe, adrenaline rush ito. I think I just uttered every curse word I could think of in my head. Hindi ko na ililista lahat ha. So ayun na nga, pinahinto na nya ako.. sabi ba naman sakin.

(bago nyo ituloy ang pagbabasa, be forwarned, the following will be a narration where in I would lie and lie profusely to the MMDA. A series of lies will follow, long lies, long enough to get me home and get my license back.)

MMDA: “Mam, mali kayo ng lane, dapat nasa outerlane kayo”

Ako: “manong pasensya na hindi ko napansin”

MMDA: “Hindi kasi kayo nagbabasa eh”

Ako: “Sorry po manong, baka pwedeng pag-usapan nalang natin..” (ito na yung sinasabi ko pag nag-aattempt akong mang-bribe)

MMDA: “Patingin ng lisensya nyo”

Ako: “Ano pong gagawin nyo?”

MMDA: “ titiketan kita at tutubusin mo sa makati, akin na lisensya mo”

Kinuha ko naman lisensya ko, at humirit pa.

Ako: “Manong maawa ka na, dyan lang naman ako pupunta sa gateway at sandali palang naman ako nag-drive sa yellow lane”

MMDA:”Hindi nyo kasi tinitignan eh, akin na yung OR.” (ito yung OR ng kotse ko)

MMDA: “parang tampered to ah”

Ako: “hindi ko na po alam yan manong, yan na po OR ng kotseng to”

Tapos may pinakita syang ticket, nakalagay dun na 500 pesos yung babayaran ko, at may mga seminars pa ako aattendan sa Makati, upang makuha yung lisensya ko.

Ako: “manong, pag-usapan nalang po natin, pero wala po akong ganyan kalaking pera, masyado pong malaki yung 500pesos sa akin”

MMDA: “naku, delikado yan, baka mahuli pa ako sa gusto mong mangyari, sige, bababaan ko nalang violation mo, 300pesos nalang”

Ako: “manong, hindi ko po magagawa yang mga seminars, kailangan ko pong magdrive papunta sa trabaho araw-araw, maawa napo kayo, hindi ko na po uulitin yung violation ko.”

MMDA: “talagang hindi mo na uulitin”

Ako: “Pano ba yang manong? Ako na pong bahala sa inyo, wag nyo na pong sabihin, kayo nalang po babayaran ko, gusto nyo ipit ko nalang sa OR yung pera?”

MMDA: “Delikado yang gusto mo, saan ka ba pupunta?”

Ako: “sa gateway po, unang beses ko po kasing dumaan dito.”

MMDA: “oh, sige, i-guguide ko nalang kayo papunta dun”

Hindi ko alam kung anong i-guguide, yun pala sasakay sya sa likod ng kotse at ituturo sa amin yung daan. At ganon na nga yung nangyari, umupo sya sa likod at tinuro sa amin yung daan papuntang gateway. Pagliko sa may araneta, ibinigay na nya sa akin yung lisensya ko. Ako naman, nagpasalamat, at nag-sorry ulit, habang nagpapaumanhin ako, inabutan ko na ng isang daan. 50 sakin, at 50 galing sa kasama ko.

Grabe, natapos din! Nakakatakot talaga! At nakakainis! Saying ang pera, at sobrang nakakakaba ang magmaka-awa sa MMDA. Stupid ko nga, hindi ko man lang alam kung anong violation ko at kung totoong 500php talaga. Basta, takot na takot talaga ako. Nung pauwi na galing gateway, hindi na kami dumaan sa EDSA, nag-aurora-anonas-kamias-kalayaan nalang kami, medyo malayo, pero ayoko nang mahuli ulit.

Buti nalang tumanggap ng bribe yung MMDA, at kung ano anong acting at pagsisinungaling pa ang ginawa ko para mangyari yun. Ilang dahilan na kaya ang narinig ng MMDA na yun? Siguro sanay na sanay na yung sa mga tanong kung ano anong dahilan. Naisip ko tuloy, mga lalaking driver ba, nagmamakaawa ng ganon? (I was clasping my hands together, saying, sorry and pleading my case.)  Nakakapagod talaga yun, ilang minuto lang yung pangyayari pero sobrang laking relief nung natapos. Hehe.

Atonement

Rating:	★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Romance

Kiera Knightly as Cecilia,

James McAvoy as Robbie,

Saoirse Ronan as Briony at 13, Romola Garai as Briony at 18, Vanessa Redgrave as Briony at Old Woman

Short Summary:

Briony, a child of 11, had a crush on Robbie, a farmboy. Robbie liked Cecilia, Briony’s older sister. Cecilia Liked Robbie back. Briony and Cecilia where wealthy daughters of a fine Englishman. Their cousins Lola and two twin boys were staying over for the summer at Briony’s house. From afar, Briony sees Cecilia and Robbie, it looked to her that Cecilia took off her clothes in front of Robbie. This just perturbed her. The scene will then explain what that had happened. Robbie and cecillia were in a row, and Cecilia had to get something from the fountain and she was not naked afterall. Afterwards, Robbie went home to write an apology letter to Cecilia, in the heat of summer he wrote a lewd letter describing Cecilia’s vagina. Then he wrote another serious apology letter. He gave the letter to Briony to give to Cecilia. Briony opened to discover the lewd letter, Robbie gave it by mistake. Cecilia read the letter. Later, Cecilia and Robbie were passionately making love in the library, which Briony once again witnessed. Suddenly, their twin cousins went missing. Everyone went out to look for the two boys. While Briony was looking, he spotted Lola on the grass apparently being raped. She was not sure who attacked her. But Briony told everyone that it was Robbie and that she was sure that it was Robbie. Robbie came back, found the twins and was arrested for the crime he did not commit.

Later, we see Robbie in the military, he volunteered instead of rotting away in prison. Cecilia knew of this, and told Robbie to promise her that he’d come back to her. To their love. (next would be what I thought was a never-ending scene of the toils of war, nothing happening, no one speaking)

Briony on the other hand, volunteered as nurse instead of continuing her studies in Cambridge. She wanted to be useful in the war. She mended the wounds, held a French men as is died. War was cruel. Then she finds out where Cecilia lives and consistently sends her sister letters of her well being. She wanted to talk to Cecilia about what she did many years ago when she was a child. Before going to Cecilia’s place, she attended the wedding of Lola. She saw that Lola ended up marrying the very same man to raped her many years ago. (this was not Robbie, this was a guy who owned a chocolate factory and is a friend of Briony’s brother.) Briony continued on to cecilia’s house. She wanted to make things right. She apologized to Cecilia, and Cecilia was nowhere near in forgiving her. Then we see Robbie coming out of Cecilia’s room. He was furious. He hated Briony and wanted to strangle her there and then. Only Cecilia stopped him. They decided that Briony should testify again and tell everyone the truth on who really was at fault and hence to clear Robbie’s name. The scene ended showing Cecilia and Robbie kissing from the window while Briony left. Afterwards, we see Briony as an Old woman. She was being interviewed for her book, Atonement. This book was revealed to be autobiographical and that all names and events where kept intact. This was her final book. She will also reveal that the ending written was not what had really happened. Robbie died in war. And Cecilia was killed in one of the bombs. Briony was not able to visit Cecilia, the whole scene in Cecilia’s house was not real. She didn’t have the courage to go. Nothing was fixed between her and her sister. But she wanted to give Cecilia and Robbie the happiness that they did not experience because of her. In that way, she wrote about the life that they should have shared together. That was her Atonement.



Thoughts:
Snooze Fest 2008. This movie should join Marie Antoinette in a sure-snooze-award. Did you ever get that feeling when you’re half-way through a movie that you’re regretting why you even watched it in the first place? But since you’re HALF_WAY, you can’t stop now, or you’d have wasted an hour of your life? That’s how I felt watching this critically acclaimed piece of bore. I really don’t know what the director was aiming for in this movie, it had hardly any lines. The characters where not built up enough that you’d sympathize for their love and longing for each other. Surprisingly, I just wanted Robbie to die so that something exciting would happen in the movie. There was this long over-emphasized war scene, where all they did was walk and the view was just panned. All the soldiers shown and nothing was said. Here’s the thing, I don’t care for Robbie and I don’t care for Cecilia. I most definitely love epics, where the lovers where separated forcibly because of the war. I love those! I liked cold mountain, letters from iwo jima, Casablanca.. every epic love story there is! But the love story here was just sooo trivial, or the foundations were trivial. It seemed like Cecilia had sex with Robbie because Robbie mistakenly sent her a very lewd letter describing how he wanted to lick her… the exact word used in the movie was cunt. After that, they were passionately in love with each other. And the long unending scenes of excruciatingly painful nothingness surrounded the whole movie. We were so bored with it, that every time they showed Robbie, we thought that he looked liked.. “russel crowe”, later “Elijah wood” later, “a-plain-english-pale-faced-man”.

At one point, we were just describing the whole scene as it unfolds! “he is now walking. He went into a house, he looked down, he went out again, he stares in the horizon with that wistful longing, he watches a movie longing for cecilia” there were NO lines! And nothing was freakin happening! All he did was walk and walk with other soldiers.

I would just like to say that Kiera Knightly was super boney.

The most interesting part was when of course the scene went back to Briony. She was the most interesting character. Robbie and Cecilia sucked. All the violence was shown on her part, how badly the men were wounded. And I loved the part where she was interviewed about the book she wrote. It was the BEST part of the book. I did not expect the ending to be that way. How, it was revealed to be ended differently. I’m wondering now what’s written in the real book, which the movie was based on. It was good, yet it still did not redeem the whole boring film. More than that, It did not make me feel any differently towards the dying characters, I never liked them in the first place. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, or Neo and Trinity, you’d really feel their love.. here its just like, what? You fell in love because of cunt? Hehe. That’s all folks.

Lyra's Oxford

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Philip Pullman

A short story about one of Lyra’s many adventures. This is set 2 years after the amber spyglass. Lyra’s grown up, and studying at St. Sophia. She and Pan are still hanging out on Jordan college rooftop, to study and just bask in the moonlight. Now, she has a key to get there all the time. One time, they saw a witch deamon being attacked by a herd of birds. Lyra and Pan helped the witch deamon to safety. This deamon was looking for Mr. Makepeace in Jericho. Lyra promised to accompany the deamon after school. She asks around where to find this Mr. Alchemist and learns that he is a mad alchemist. Lyra, Pan and the deamon now walk to Jericho. The deamon says that he needs a cure that Makepeace has because his witch is sick. Upon arriving on the house, Lyra sees a witch. This is the witch of the deamon. Pan wrestles the deamon and Lyra attempts to fight the witch. Suddenly a flock of swans attacks the witch and she eventually dies. Mr. Makepeace tells Lyra that the deamon tried to trick her. The witch’s plan was to kill Lyra and blame Mr. Makepeace for it. Makepeace was once the lover of the witch. Their son died in the battle for Lord Asriel and she scorns Lyra for it. It is also revealed that Mr. Makepeace is not an alchemist and is intent of studying something else. (will not be mentioned). The swans, and all the other birds in Oxford, were actually protecting Lyra from the evil deamon.




Thoughts:
It was nice to hear from Lyra again. She’s still the same old Lyra, great liar and is always in the middle of an adventure. After two years, she’s still longing for Will and keeps his memory with her, which is nice to know, but also quite sad. (move on!) It’s a very very short adventure and contains lots of description about Oxford. Which is of no interest to me, cause I haven’t been to the real Oxford.




Next Philip Pullman books still related to His Dark Materials? Still to be written and published! Check them out bellow---

Book of Dust:
It will follow Lyra, returning to her story two years after Lyra's Oxford, and will tie into that previous book. Lyra will be "about 16".The book will also be "about Dust" and will address the questions about the lack of portrayals of positive effects of religion in His Dark Materials, although it "will be not a continuation of the trilogy, but other stories about the same world and the same characters."

Once Upon a Time in the North:
Forthcoming fantasy short story by Phillip Pullman. It is a prequel to Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and will be published on April 3, 2008 in the United Kingdom. The premise of the story involves the meeting of Iorek Byrnison and Lee Scoresby--something that was originally suggested to be appearing in The Book of Dust. It will be printed in the format of a small blue book with several extras, much in the same way as Lyra’s Oxford.

[Untitled Will’s short story]
Lyra's Oxford was a dark red book. Once Upon a Time in the North will be a dark blue book. There still remains a green book. And that will be Will's book. Eventually...

His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Amber Spyglass

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Philip Pullman

Book 3: Amber Spyglass.
Mrs. Coulter took Lyra back into their world. She kept her in a cave in the Himalayas, giving Lyra medicine inducing sleep for days and days. She pretends to be a hermit caring for her sleep enchanted daughter. Ama a village girl goes there constantly to bring fruits and flowers.
Cigazze: All the witches that were protecting Lyra and Will died from the Specters. Will was now alone in his quest to find Lyra. Not for long, he is just found out that two angels Baruch and Balthamos were going to help him. They are angels who support the cause of Lord Asriel and would like to bring Will to Lord Asriel because of the subtle knife. Before that they had to help Will find Lyra. Baruch led the way, until in they came across Metatron the Regent of the Almighty. He was the second most powerful angel and was after Baruch and Balthamos because of the information they knew about the Clouded Mountain (Where the Almighty was seated.) Will helped them escape and decided that Baruch should go immediately to Lord Asriel while Balthamos had to stay and guide Will to Lyra. They went Lyra’s world.
Serafina Pekkala informs Iorek Byrnison of Lee Scoresby’s death.
Ama the village girl finds a cure for Lyra’s sleep enchantment. She also learns that Mrs. Coulter is the behind the sleep enchantment.
Baruch was able to reach Lord Asriel. But he was on the brink of death. He was able to inform Lord Asriel that the Almighty/the Creator/the Authority was not god but an Angel himself. The very first angel. Metatron was now leading the forces and they plan to build a new replubic, focusing on meddling with human affairs. He tells Lord Asriel about the subtle knife and the exact location of Lyra.
Dr. Malone enters the world of the Mulefa. Diamond-shaped wheeled people. (Really, I’m not going to elaborate on this, Philip Pullman had done enough.)
The Church, now that they know that Lyra is Eve. They have now planned to kill her. They also know where she is kept. Troops are sent there as well. Father Gomez is now sent to kill Lyra. By following the tempter (Dr. Malone), who will lead him to Lyra.
Will now travelling with the grief stricken Balthamos (felt Baruch died) to a town where he met Iorek Byrnison. They became immediate friends and decided to work together to help get Lyra back. There were now three forces coming for Lyra and Mrs. Coulter, Lord Asriel’s army with his gyropters, the Church’s Zeppelins and Will. Will gets there first, talks to Mrs. Coulter and was enchanted by her. That night they went for Lyra. He was able to cut a different world where they will escape. While battling Mrs. Coulter the knife breaks. In comes the Gallvaspians, small creatures working for Lord Asriel and stings Mrs. Coulter. There is a battle fought outside the cave gun fires exchanged between Lord Asriel’s forces and the Church. Will and Lyra were able to escape to a different world. Mrs. Coulter was captured by Lord Asriel’s army.
The alethiometer told Lyra that Iorek Byrnison may be able to mend the knife. They go to Iorek Byrnison and he fixed it. Their next destination: The world of the dead. Apparently there is a world of the dead. There is no heaven or hell everyone’s ghosts go here. Lyra wants to go and see Roger. She wants to apologize for causing his death. Will will go with Lyra and also talk to his dad.
Mrs. Coulter, captive of Lord Asriel was able to charm her way to the council of Lord Asriel (Now we know where Lyra got her natural talent of lying.) She is now only concerned for the well being of Lyra. She then steals the intentional craft and the spy Lord Roke followed her to the church.
While living with the Mulefa, Dr. Mary Malone invented the Amber spyglass (yey! Hence the title), an apparatus that can see Dust/Shadows/Sraf.
Lyra, Will and the Gallivespians reached the suburbs of the dead by following the ghosts they’ve seen in a new world (yet again, that knife is working way beyond its book title.) They learn that in order to go to the world of the dead you have to be lead there by your own death. Lyra met her death for the first time and they were lead to a boat that will bring them to the world of the dead. But in order to ride the boat , Lyra must leave Pan behind! Deamons are not allowed the world of the dead. Will also left his. They travel inside, met up with Roger and Lyra decided to free all the ghosts in the world of the dead. Will would then cut a hole to the world outside.
Mrs. Coulter brought the intentional craft to the church in Geneva. She planned to act as a spy for Lord Asriel in order to find out Lyra’s location. The church had a different plan in mind. They created this bomb that was intended to kill Lyra, all it needed was a piece of Lyra. They took some of Lyra’s hair from Mrs. Coulter’s Locket. The bomb exploded, but did not hit Lyra, instead it created an Abyss in the world of the dead. Mrs. Coulter was once again rescued by Lord Asriel.
After a very long journey, Will was able to cut a hole into the world outside and freed all the ghosts that could tell good true stories about their lives. Will and Lyra’s next goal was to find their deamons. (As was the goal of Metatron and Lord Asriel’s camp) The church needed to get to the deamons in order to control Lyra and get the subtle knife from Will. Another battle was at hand. The Clouded mountain was now placed near Lord Asriel’s fortress. In the midst of battle, Mrs. Coulter ventured on her own. She went directly to Metatron and seduced him, lied to him to lead him to Lord Asriel. The plan was to bring Metatron down into the abyss. After much grappling, Lord Asriel, Metatron and Mrs. Coulter, they all fell into the abyss and the Regent was no more. The authority, whom Metatron decided that should be transferred to the different location from the Clouded Mountain was released by Will and Lyra and got absorbed by nature. The great battle was over. (not much of a battle.) Will and Lyra went to the cave where the abyss was located. Their deamons were surrounded by Specters. They can see Specters now, so it means they’ve grown up! They took their deamons and went to the world of Dr. Malone.
Dr. Malone had problem, Dust was running out of the world. The consciousness, the source of all life, Dust. So Will and Lyra met up with Dr. Malone. They told stories of all their adventures. Dr. Mary Malone “tempted” the two by telling the story of why she left her life as a nun. This was because she fell in love with a man. Lyra and Will realized that they were in love with each other. This Love was now the source of Dust. By looking at the amber spyglass, Dr. Malone saw that Dust went back to its original flow and the two were surrounded by Dust. Serafina Pekkala shows up with a message for the deamons. Will and Lyra’s deamons return to them. The deamons and an Angel tell them of the news. The reason why Dust is running out is because of all the cuts in the different worlds. All openings should then be closed in all of the worlds. This means that Lyra and Will would not be able to see each other ever. Lyra also lost her power/skill in reading the alethiometer. And Pan has settled into a Pine Marten and Will’s Kirjava settled into a cat. The gyptians picked them up and brought them back to Cigazze. Lyra goes back to Will’s world for one last time and after their bitter sweet goodbye, they’ve decided to live their lives to the fullest not wasting any moment of it. Now Lyra will go into all girls’ boarding school.




Thoughts:
Loved it. Just a few things that bugged me.. we the whole Mulefa thing was not so entertaining. And well the battle, after Metatron who fell into the abyss, it seems like nothing happened afterwards. Who won? The Lord Asriel? How? I thought the only way for Lord Asriel to win the battle is if he got the subtle knife? And if Mrs. Coulter got tired of holding Metatron’s wings, can’t he just flap them and fly up again? It also seems that the author really liked Mrs. Coulter. This woman rocked! She turned from super bitch to super Mom! After the whole ending of the Authority, the story turned into a Shakespeare romance. It’s great though, how the message of the whole book was to live your lives to the fullest and don’t let the church suppress you. Cause in the book, you will only be freed from the world of the dead if you had true stories to tell on how you lived your life. All in all, it was a great book, and it’s the first time I’ve read a fantasy fiction of the Catholic Church being a tyrant. And how the angels envied the living. It’s weird to see and read all the holy figures playing a part in this whole story. Now, I’m moving on to Lyra’s oxford.

His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Subtle Knife

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Philip Pullman

Subtle Knife:
Book 2 starts in our own world, where your soul lives in you. We get to know a new character named Will(William Parry). Will is a very mature kid. He’s mother is mentally ill and will although only 12, grew up taking care of his mom. But now, there were bad men after them and he could not protect her in their own home so he had to leave his mom in the care of his piano teacher Mrs. Cooper. Once he was alone in the house, the men broke in; they were after something, something that Will’s dad owned. Will figured that it must have been the letters his dad had written to his mom. He took it and knocked off one of the guys and that killed him. Now Will not only had to run from these men but also from the police. He had one goal now, to find his dad, who was missing from an expedition in the north. On his way to Oxford he finds a window to a different world and enters it. No one was in this world, so he ate and slept in the desolated town(Cigazze). The following day, he met Lyra. Lyra who’ve been wondering for three or four days now ate omelette. Lyra who is looking for dust and who followed her father into this world. Will said may be she can find Dust in his world where there are physicists/scientists.. in Lyra’s world they call them experimental theologians. They go to Will’s Oxford.
Back in Lyra’s world. After the battle in Svalbard some of the witches rebelled against the Magisterium. One of which was tortured by Mrs. Coulter. She wanted to know about the prophecy regarding Lyra, her daughter. But before the name was revealed Serafina Pekkala killed the witch.
All the witches now met up to discuss the matters regarding Lyra, Dust and Lord Asriel. Serafina Pekkala decided to bring a few witches with her to the other world to find and rescue Lyra. Lee Scoresby on the other hand will Look for Stanilaus Grumman the German scientist who became a shaman. It was rumoured that he died
Back to will’s world. Will asked around for his dad, finds out that his dad has gone missing. Lyra on the other hand met Dr. Mary Malone a physicist who studies about Dark Matter/Shadows or Lyra’s Dust. This substance ,that seems to have been the source of consciousness and is found in the very core of the alethiometer, is now studied by Dr. Malone. It seems that the dust is consciousness itself. Lyra and Will head back to the Cigazze. This time they find out why there are no people, only children. This world had been plagued by Specters. The Specters are floating misty beings that eat adults souls. Children can’t see them so the Specters can’t harm them (Sounds a bit like the dementors? Don’t you think?). Lyra consults the alethiometer and it tells her that she should just help Will find his dad and nothing else. Lyra goes back to the world of Will and meets up again with Dr. Mary Malone. But instead she bumps into the very men that were looking for Will. Lyra runs into a man and rode inside his car. This rich powerful knight (Sir Charles) steals Lyra’s alethiometer. When Lyra got back to Cigazze, she told Will of the clumsiness that she did. Will and Lyra went back to Will’s world and to Sir Charles’s mansion. Lyra asked for her alethiometer back. But the Sir Charles refused her. He needed something in exchange, the subtle knife. This knife can be found in the Torre di Angeli in Cigazze. Will and Lyra went to retrieve the knife. There they found the knife bearer who’s tied up and a kid who stole the knife. Will battles the kid and loses his two leftmost fingers on his left hand. We won the battle and was now the official bearer of the subtle knife. The subtle knife had two sides; the first side is so sharp it can cut any material in the world (even angels and Specters). The other side can cut a hole a world (to go to a different world). So Lyra and Will go back to Lyra’s world and decided to steal the alethiometer from Sir Charles. On that same night, Sir Charles had a guest, a very important guest, none other than Mrs. Coulter. Sir Charles was in fact Lord Borreal, a person who came from Lyra’s world. He had a snake deamon that he kept hidden under his sleeves. They were successful at it and went back to Cigazze.
Meanwhile, Lee Scoresby finally finds Stanilaus Grumman. He became a shaman for the tartar tribe. He is not from Lyra’s world but from will’s world! His real name is John Parry, Will’s dad. He now had a new task for Lee Scorseby. Lee Scoresby must bring him to Lord Asriel because the shaman needs to tell Lord Asriel about the subtle knife. Only with the subtle knife can Lord Asriel win in his battle against the almighty. (Oops, i didn’t mention this) Lord Asriel is planning a battle against God, the Almighty, the Creator, Yahweh. He is gathering the biggest army ever seen. This is the second rebellion for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Cigazze: All the kids in Cigazze formed a mob because Lyra and Will got the subtle knife and they want it. Good thing Serafina Pekkala came just in time to save them from the kids. The witch tried to cure will’s wound but the spells won’t work. Now they have decided to help Lyra and Will to seek Will’s father. They are navigating via the alethiometer.
Will’s World: Dr. Mary Malone and her partner where supposed to shut down their research about dark matter, when Sir Charles showed up. He wanted them to continue in his direction so that he may fund the project. Dr. Malone decided to quit. That night she figured out how to talk to Dust in the same way that Lyra talks to the alethiometer. Dr. Malone uses her computer for this. The Dust/Shadows tells her to play serpent and follow Lyra. She then destroys the computer and heads off into the world of Cigazze.
Lee Scoresby’s side: they are travelling on Lee Scoresby’s balloon. They have been followed by 4 zepellin’s of the magisterium. The shaman, with his magic was able to bring down three while Lee Scoresby died in battle to help the Shaman escape and pursue his goal. Lee Scoresby called Serafina Pekkala for help to no avail.
Lyra’s side: While resting one night, Serafina had to leave to answer Lee Scoresby’s call. Mrs. Coulter and Lord Borreal are now, not so far behind Lyra. Mrs. Coulter has some sort of control on the Specters. One of the witches looking after Lyra was caught and tortured to give out their position. Now it is revealed what Lyra’s name was in the prophecy. She is Eve.. mother of all. And like in the bible she will fall. And the church must stop this from happening again to avoid the ultimate sin of mankind. Mrs. Coulter tells the Specters to attack all the witches. She also learns about the power of the subtle knife by poisoning Lord Borreal.
In the dark, Will gets up alone and is attacked by a man. This is in fact the shaman/stanilaus Grumman/John Parry. He tells will of his purpose and that he must take the knife to Lord Asriel. John also heals Will’s wound. When they saw each other’s faces, recognition drawn in.. an arrow hits John on the heart and he dies instantly. A witch scorned by Stanilaus hit him, then kills herself. Will enraged by this, could not understand the scorn spurned from love. He goes back to camp only to find Lyra missing.






Thoughts:
Go Will! You’ll really immediately like will the moment you get into his mind. He’s way mature and very very responsible about life. He had to grow up quickly for his mom. I also thought the Specters where really creepy, reminded me of the soul sucking dementors. Little has happened in this book, although they never explained why Mrs. Coulter was able to command the Specters. She really is the most ruthless being on this trilogy. We also discover Lyra being EVE! The author’s really creating a fiction from the bible. I got hooked after reading this book. Very very exciting, so I immediately read Amber spyglass afterwards. Why is it when there are trilogies, the second book’s cliff hangers are ALWAYS ALWAYS annoyingly addicting?

His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Golden Compass

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Philip Pullman

Summary Golden Compass:
Enter Lyra Belacqua, orphan of Jordan College, cared for by scholars. Lyra is hiding in the retiring room, with her deamon. L yra was with her deamon, Pantalaimon. She wanted to explore the retiring room, but of course she was not allowed here. Lord Asriel arrives, and Lyra stops him from drinking the poisoned Tokay and starts discussing about Dust, much the same as in the movie. (we’ll soon learn to be the main topic of the trilogy). After that, we learn about Lyra’s life outside Jordan College, she plays and wars with gyptians (travellers in boats) and streets kids England. They raid, play mud. Much like in the movie, it will be revealed how she loved playing on rooftops of Jordan College with her good friend the kitchen boy, Roger.
Then a problem arises in the cities of London, children went missing. They were kidnapped by the gobblers, headed by Mrs. Coulter, the stunningly intelligent woman who has a golden monkey for a deamon. (Pan can take any form he wants). This was fine, until Billy Costa one of Lyra’s gyptian friends was taken. Lyra then set out a game of hunting down these gobblers. Then Roger went missing too, and no one was taking Lyra seriously about them Gobblers.
Then Mrs. Coulter suddenly arrives (like in the movie), adopts Lyra and the Master or Jordan College gives her the golden compass or the alethiometer. Lyra leaves Jordan college, travels all around London. She dresses up, attends parties and such, she became Mrs. Coulter’s little assistant. Until she discovered that Mrs. Coulter was the head of the Gobblers and she ran away. Like in the movie, the gyptians get a hold of her. They tell her of her lineage, apparently, Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are Lyra’s real parents. Lord Asriel is now a captive of the Armored bears in Svalbard. Lyra is brought to the place of the gyptians, hidden, because the whole of London is looking for her. (thanks to Mrs. Coulter.) They hide Lyra, and tag her along in their journey to the North to rescue the kidnapped children. They bring her because of her skill of being able to read the alethiometer, which will be very useful for the upcoming battle. We now hear that Lyra has an important part to play in the future of the world, and she must not know how she will achieve this, no one should help her. In the town, she meets Iorek Byrnison, helps him find his armor (via golden compass) and they are able to hire him for his skill to fight, together with the Texan Lee Scoresby.
While resting on their journey to “Bolvangar”, this is the final destination of the gyptians, we find out early on actually that this was where the kids are kept. Lyra finds Tony Makarios in a nearby village, his deamon was cut off by the gobblers (so that they may learn more about dust), and he eventually died.
During the journey, Lyra was kidnapped was brought to Bolvangar. She pretends to be a dumb kid named Lizzie. She sees Roger and Tony, and frees all the deamons of the children separated from them. Mrs. Coulter arrives, Lyra escapes from her again and the gyptians save the children, with the help of witches lead by Serafina Pekkala.
On continues Lyra’s Journey to Svalbard, together with Roger. Lyra thinks that her ultimate goal is to deliver the golden compass to her father, Lord Asriel. Like in the movie, she tricks the bear king Iofur Raknison and Iorek Byrnison beats him and becomes the bear King. Because of Lyra’s exceptional lying skills she is now called Lyra Silvertongue. Now, she goes to her father, who has a much much bigger plan. We now find out that he didn’t need the golden compass but a child. Lord Asriel kidnaps roger, goes up north and finishes his experiment by opening a window to a new world.(Killing Roger in the process) Lyra then follows suit and wants to learn about the true meaning of dust.

Thoughts:
I wish the movie followed the book closely. Such a waste for a wonderful epic fantasy. I didn’t expect to like it that much. I’m just going to compare the book and movie. When I watched the movie, I had so many questions! I didn’t get the quest, i didnt get the purpose and I didn’t like Lyra that much. I don’t know. After reading the book, then watching the film, I’ve realized how much they’ve taken out. They didn’t make the Gobblers clear. I know these things always happen in the book-to-movie business, but this was way confusing! Anyway, I’ll still have to admit that the production was great. And I loved the battle with the bears. I just wish they followed the ending of the book.

dec 28-29 2007 overnight pics

picture-picture, while waiting for the others.. jho! where are your photos? post em! please!

2007 Overnight Chronicles 09: bye-bye junnis, gwen, and tina

Bye bye everyone. Didn’t show up on cam coz, I was filthy. Anyway, didya notice they were all wearing white?? And I can’t seem to find my momma. Where are you? You’ll see there a glimpse of my bike, and mikee and Nicole. And tina’s message for les.. galit ka nananaman? Tina! Hehehe. So yun, you wanna know what really happened here? I really was not planning on bringing them all the way down to manila. But my mom convinced me to do it. They didn’t want to commute!! So, I ended up taking a bath and drove them all the way down to megamall. It’s really hard when you live in the mountains. That ends the overnight chronicles… thoughts?

2007 Overnight Chronicles 08: Idle in my room

Best taboo moments Here are some of the best taboo moments that night:
For the purpose of this message, I’m going to define a few new terms
Person who will say out clues – “cluer”
Person/s who will guess the taboo word -- "guesser/s".

Cluer: tina-- guesser: gwen – taboo word: teenage mutant ninja turtles.
Tina: its an eighties cartoon.
Tina: its shown in the afternoon.
(times up...)
Tina: it’s from the family of PORPOISE!
Gwen: what?!
(beeeep time!!)
(TINA! Porpoise! We’re just normal people, who occasionally watch movies and tv and who hardly reads encyclopedias! Porpoise!)

Cluer: tina - guesser: gwen – taboo word: wavelength
Tina: when we think alike we’re on the same…?
Gwen: page?
tina: we agree on the same things, we’re have the same… ?
gwen: point of view?
Tina: okay, two words, first word, the water does this, if the water curves..
(beeeep time!!)
(hahaha WAVELENGTH! Gwen! Shame on you! You and tina should NEVER pair up in taboo!)

Cluer: junnis - guesser: tina – taboo word: debt
Junnis: before you go bankrupt you have this.
Tina: embezzlement!!
(tina! TOO BIG!)

Cluer: chesca -- guesser: tina, junnis, gwen – taboo word: metabolism
Chesca: Gwen thinks she has a slow….
Junnis and tina in unison: METABOLISM!!!
(HAHA! Its fun how they said this in unison! And we were eating desert at that time!)

yes kathy! its the game of unspeakable fun!

2007 Overnight Chronicles 07: Bye-bye sam and jho

Sam and jho are going home! Hindi sila nag-sleep over, mga 2am na ata sila umuwi or 3am? Can’t really remember, naglaro pa kasi kami ng taboo.. the game of unspeakable fun! Hahaha jho: “carpenters use this to build stuff” everyone: “cement? Bulldozer? Bricks?” jho: “its noisy” everyone: “hammer”!! how in the world do you get HAMMER, from NOISY?? Haha. Well, they just said their messages for belle and les. =) belle? Totoo ba yun? Hindi ka na sasama sa mga lakad natin??
Si tina, galit nanaman sa message! Tina! Lahat ng messages mo, hostile!!
I also like the beso part! Sam! hahah

2007 Overnight Chronicles 06: from this moment

Kathy, naalala mo ba yung bumaba ka pa sa stairs sa elementary building ng angelicum, para lang gayaghin si shanai twain sa video nya ng “from this moment”? hahaha. Well this song is for you. Sam and junnis is doing their own version of Shania! Hope you love it.

2007 Overnight Chronicles 05: jho sings a song

Jho’s singing this song, that I obviously don’t know. But in the video, I seem to know the song. Really weird huh? Well, I’m surprised jho didn’t sing the “killing me softly”, that’s like her trademark videoke song. I remember the last time we went out. We were talking about something.. hmm, oh yeah, buying gadgets and stuff. Chesca: “if you’re really going to buy expensive gadgets, expect your money to be burned, talagang bumababa presyo ng techy stuff, the next day, there’s always something new.” Jho: “kaya mas OK talaga mag-invest in jewelry.” Tina: “hindi naman fun ang jewelry” jho: “fine, mag-invent nalang in Luois Vuitton bags” gwen: “bababa din presyo nun kung lagi mong ginagamit” jho: “edi hindi ko na gagamitin, ilalagay ko nalang sa plastic bag forever” hahaha, hindi na natapos yung conversation.. we got bored talking about it.

2007 Overnight Chronicles 04: Tina sings sembreak

Tina sings sembreak of eraserheads! Haha it’s so UP! UP Fight! Go UP! Oo nga pala, ika-100 anibersaryo ngayon ng UP. Ikinalulugod kong ibalita sa inyong lahat! Nakakatuwa talaga ang pag head-bang ni tina sa bideo na ito. Si tina, laging galit sa mga messages nya sayo, or kung kanino pa. hahaha. Tina, anong masasabi mo? Sandal lang naman eh. Si gwen pala ay hindi kumanta ng buong gabi. Nakakalungkot, kasi kapangalan pa nya ang napakasikat na mang-aawit na si gwen Stefani! Haha, okay wala nang point itong mga sinasabi ko.

2007 Overnight Chronicles 03: Chesca and Junn as Beyonce

This is me and junnis singing irreplaceable. Sorry, I had to post the whole thing. Really, if you just watch a few seconds of this thing and stopped, I won’t hold it against you. But you really have to give us points for the effort! I wonder, if we used these videos to audition for the amazing race asia, do you think the producers would accept us? Haha. I’m still feeling the beyonce fever back then. Beyonce, if you’re watching this, I’m not working right now, and you can hire me as your personal assistant!

2007 Overnight Chronicles 02: sam as fergie

Kathy , I would like to warn you: before watching the following videos, please proceed with caution. The overnight chronicles 2-9 feature all of US (except gwen) singing! Our singing is american idol audition material. We’ve got the looks, the confidence, the expression.. we’re just kinda missing the voice. Hohoho. Any, this is sam, singing a Fergie song… “Big girls don’t cry”. It’s a pretty nice song. I think. Hehe. Sam’s really giving it her all. Message to sam! If you don’t want this to be viewed publicly, please sign up to multiply so I can change the access modifier of this video. From public to private. Anyway, Kathy, its time for the next video.

2007 Overnight Chronicles 01: Message for Kathy

Kathy, this is the loooooooong overdue videos that i was too lazy to upload. As usual, the night started with us coming up with messages for you. (which we obviously DID NOT prepare for.) hahaha. pati yung christmas greetings expired narin.. Oh, and at the end of the video, they're all gonna throw they're shoe sizes at you. I'm an 8 by the way! good thing ako nag-uupload nito. Sam, says “bag” four times I think. Junnis: “you can find happiness in LV, peace of mind in Chanel” tina wants a book. I think she wants a computer book, find something for her about assembly language! (Just kidding! Sorry tina!) Despite that, we all obviously miss you! It was pretty late, kasi, dapat mag-memeet kami 9pm.. but I think everyone’s internal clock just adds 2 hours to ALL our agreed time! Hmpf! We all met up at eastwood. Leslie and belle couldn’t make it. For several different reasons. Sam brought her car, jho left hers at eastwood. I brought mine. And we drove in the middle of the night to my place. At the end of the ride.. they were saying, “grabe! Ang LAYO nito ches!” “oo, bumili na kami ng collete’s” “hahhaha collete’s” yup. Malayo talaga to, bundok na talaga to. We actually make fire from wood and flint. And see jho’s long fake eyelashes! I love it!