Three from this Year

Look Who's Back
by Timur Vermes

In freshman Philosophy class, our professor described what would have been the reaction of the Greek Gods (Zeus, et. al) if they saw the image of who we worshiped these days. Jesus Christ is crucified, bloody, crowned with thorns, a powerless figure of pity. Zeus would have reacted, "Is that your God?" I chuckled. Timur Vermes works on the same premise in this book. Hitler wakes up in present-day Berlin and thinks that the lady in the park scooping her dog's poo is a lunatic. It's funny all throughout, and it's not lacking in historical insight. The truth is, the death toll on this "war on terror" led by America and its Allies almost makes Hitler's war a laughing matter.

Revolution
by Russell Brand

Brand himself concedes that this book is a line-up of ideas of other thinkers/experts such as Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Joseph Campbell, Che Guevara, Fawzi Ibrahim. He also builds upon concepts from the East, from Feminism and Socialism. He tells his own tale of addiction and poverty. He delves into details but he won't bore you. It's sometimes shocking and often entertaining, without compromising the efficacy of the heavy ideas he is introducing - some of the most urgent and relevant in our time. I take this comedian very seriously. I think it helps that I read the electronic version along with the audio version. I had 37 pages worth of annotations, the most in everything I read this year.

The Old Man and the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway

I'm still catching up on what I should have read at an earlier part of my life. Hemingway makes machismo sound so romantic. "Now you are getting confused in the head, he thought. You must keep your head clear. Keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man." I still love him.

Women and December

On a wet December afternoon, the rain falls on the roofs like so many knocks to the heart. Clad in cardigans, hooded jackets, we were off to see the seventh installment of Star Wars - The Force Awakens. I.'s school sponsored a premier and we thought that a communal experience with his schoolmates was called for. Unlike Episodes 1-3 which heavily leveraged on the new available technology and eye-popping special effects, this new one goes back to touching what was wonderfully familiar: telling stories, exploring characters, along with rekindling a nostalgia.

What struck us the most was the appearance of a new, mysterious young heroine from a planet called Jakku. Rey is strong-willed and charming with an English accent, like a teenage, dolled-up version of Kiera Knightley. She seemed to embody the empowered women of this generation.

A few days forward and the sun begins to shine again this December. And like a ray of hope entering this country, the Philippines through Pia Wurtzbach, bags a Miss Universe crown. To our lot, that's like winning the world cup. But who can really tell that this is a country where the most beautiful women dwell?

A few days later, while D. beats the Christmas shopping rush, I hang out with I. in a coffee shop. I re-read Shakespeare's Macbeth and while I no longer attempt deconstructive or post-colonial readings of texts, I do find something new, or a different view of what I first perceived. The famous quote in Act V, for example:

Life is but a walking shadow, a poor playerthat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury  

Signifying nothing. 

I always thought that this an advocacy of nihilism, but looking at the context these were really the words of a man drunk with overconfidence. When he said those lines, his wife just died, and his castle is about to be attacked. My attention was caught by Lady Macbeth - how she really was the woman behind the man, who gave him the mean streak that things called for.

I remember a line from Martin Scorsese's Casino: "I've decided to complicate my life." That's what Robert de Niro's character said when he decided to marry Sharon Stone's character.

Another few days ago, I found out that I will have another woman in my life.

We first saw her through a sonogram. She bounced around in her mother's belly, looking like she was doing some yoga poses, and she kept on moving as though she was telling us that she will not only be beautiful, but also complicated, brave, sometimes inscrutable and yes, exciting, peering through this promise of enlightenment.

Women are more complicated, and truly more powerful than men. One day she will be a woman, serenaded with music, men wooing about, maybe even with poetry dripping from their tongues.

You're only on your way to this world, but it already feels complicated as it is beautiful. And it also feels affirmatively complete.  It as if the rain has cleared, or a wound has healed and the warmest room in our hearts, with all of our love - eagerly awaits.