Pounding The Keyboard

       “What are the songs that instantly make you happy or feel good the moment it plays and what songs instantly make you sad?’      I saw this question just this morning on a Facebook page that I don’t even follow. I didn’t comment but I looked at the answers and saw lots of familiar happy and depressing tunes (for the feel-good songs, I saw The Turtles’ “Happy Together” a lot and for the sad ones, I saw, expectedly, “Alone Again (Naturally)” a lot.      For me, I had a lot of instant feel-good songs, but the first one that came into my mind that moment was Paul McCartney’s “Coming Up.” Years ago, that song always perked me up. I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to it again for months now, I think, but I think it still would have the same effect on me once I hear it again. I once read an article that John Lennon changed his mind from retiring from music into being active again the moment he heard “Coming Up.” “A good piece of...

       So our president, President Marcos, Jr. met with US President Trump in the Oval Office yesterday, and I really don’t care what they talked about. Lol. But I have always been (quite morbidly) fascinated with Trump, as he’s not much different from our previous president, Rodrigo Duterte. They both do and say the most outlandish and cruel things. Duterte ordered the massacre of thousands of (suspected) drug dealers and drug addicts in the country, Trump constructed a prison that looks like a concentration camp for millions of illegal US immigrants where they are allegedly being tortured and starved without due process.      My fascination with Trump stems from the fact that he acts and looks sleazy, and if you’d watch his interviews, you’d see that he’s not really smart (when he was president during the pandemic, he suggested injecting COVID-19 patients with disinfectant to treat them; he also thought that there were already airports du...

            Lots of interesting news on my Facebook News Feed this morning.      On the local front, there’s now a 20% tax on interest of all kinds of savings accounts, courtesy of Taxman himself, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto.      Rumors abound that Senator Bato Dela Rosa will soon be arrested by ICC. Yay!      Taal Volcano is threatening to erupt while the search for the missing sabungeros continues.      And finally, Sara Duterte’s impeachment will begin on August 4. Yay!      Abroad, USA President Donald Trump was diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI). People noticed his bruised hand and severely swollen ankles and demanded an explanation. CVI happens when your leg veins are damaged and struggle to efficiently return blood to your heart. Ironic, because just a few months ago, Trump, after a physical examination, boasted that he was the fittest and healthies...

  This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end…        The world is probably ending.      Israel and Iran finally went to war with each other and are now bombing each other to kingdom come.      And the demented US president seems inclined to join and help Israel.      Russia’s military officials are saying that World War III is forthcoming.      Russia and Ukraine are still fighting.      Putin, Russia’s president, is threatening war on UK, which Putin accuses of helping Ukraine with the war, and an attack on UK is an attack on Europe.      And with all the nuclear weapons most countries have, the world will not survive another world war.      Hitler is happily tossing and turning and laughing in his grave.      And to make matters truly worse, my Instagram account, inactive except its messag...

  Chasing the clouds Forever trying to unveil a shroud It’s the perfect metaphor Like running after some elusive cure Happily Desperately Like searching for the Holy Grail It's always bound to fail Chasing the clouds You'd never be allowed Chasing the clouds You might as well attempt to kiss God...

       A few weeks ago, I was trying to create a (commissioned) concept for a planned comics for children, and as usual, I first browsed through music albums (mostly rock) to procure some ideas. Lots of my stories (I am, believe it or not, a published writer) come from song titles, and I mean a lot, (my first published komiks story was entitled “Brain Damage” from Pink Floyd’s “Brain Damage”) and so while I was browsing some Radiohead albums, I saw “Paranoid Android” from OK Computer album. OK Computer is the band’s best album, IMO, and “Paranoid Android” is the best song in the album and, according to myriads of music critics, one of the best songs of all time. Its title comes from “Marvin the Paranoid Android” from the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Galaxy . Thom Yorke, Radiohead's frontman, wrote it after an unpleasant encounter with some stalkers inside a bar.      Anyway, so I was trying to write a concept about an android which is, well, ...