Pounding The Keyboard

        Christmas is mercifully over and a few days from now, the 4 in 2014 will mutate into 5.   If you have an active social media life, you probably have encountered   this little Facebook year-ender thingy where they give you words to mouth: “It’s been a great year. Thanks for being part of it.”         As much as   I want it posted on my account, ‘great ‘ hardly describes my 2014—bad, nay, awful will be more accurate. 2014 manhandled me. There were a few silver linings but most of my clouds were dark and gloomy and brought only rains. It’s as if the whole universe (and all the stars, planets, galaxies, aliens, astronauts in it) plotted and conspired to bring me down and plunge me into an abyss where not a single, even microscopic light dwell. It was as if I was there when Big Bang happened and it exploded in my face. Okay, well, it’s an exaggeration. I don’t think there was an explosion involved in Big Bang.         My year’s really not that terrible but it’

        The Endless River, Pink Floyd's final studio album and a tribute to the late Rick Wright, is finally out. The album contains 17 instrumentals and one song and it's getting mostly favorable reviews and is currently taking the music world by storm, topping the charts in many countries.        I have listened to the whole album and I find it amazing. It's definitely better than the band's last two studio albums ( A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell ). While no one comes really close to the magnificence of "Any Colour You Like," Pink Floyd's greatest instrumental, imho, (and my ring tone for many years, yes, I need to mention that) the album's instrumentals are all gorgeous and exquisite and emotive and will give you glimpses of the old and great classic Pink Floyd tracks. It will make you fall in love once again with Sir David Jon Gimour's (dunno if he's been knighted) splendidly melodic guitar playing. It will make y

  "I see dead people."                      --The Sixth Sense (1999)         I’ve been sick for almost a week now: my eyes hurt, I have a recurring fever, my head and my muscles ache and my sinuses inflamed and my wallet abandoned. My niece said I’m probably turning into a zombie and she’s probably right. Watching too much zombies will probably infect you. And because my eyes hurt, I’ve been staying away from my computer and other gadgets(tablet, laptop, game and watch, Nokia 3310,  etc) and the only time I’m sitting in front of my monitor is to work and even that is a drag.         Anyway, Halloween is near and I am somehow obliged to write a blog entry   during this season of the dead, so here it is, some Halloween tidbits I could remember:         1. When I was in high school, the father of one of my classmates died so off we went to to the wake which was being held in a funeral house in Recto, Manila. We arrived there, I think, at around

 "The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think, Oh, and by the way, which one's Pink?”            "Have A Cigar," Pink Floyd            The photo above is the official cover of Pink Floyd's latest--and possibly, last--studio album.            Cool, isn't it? A boat sailing on clouds. It's not as striking or subtle like the covers of Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here but it definitely has its charms. Pink Floyd , of course, is known for its exquisite and memorable album covers.           The album is entitled The Endless River and it will be out this year.           Although made without Roger Waters, the band's former bassist, vocalist and lyricist extraordinaire,  the new album, still, is a manna from heaven  for millions of Pink Floyd fans, since their last studio album ( The Division Bell ) was released twenty years ago. It is an opportunity to hear Gilmour's soothing voice  and magica

The 35 th Manila International Book Fair will again be held at SMX Convention at Mall of Asia on September 17-21, 2014 and Black Ink Comics will be there. (See photo below for details.) The following Black Ink’s new releases will be sold at the event: 1. Dark Sun Treasure     Written by Kuting Na Basa     Illustrated by Kim Loren Dominguez  2. Never Been     Written by Nina May     Illustrated by Earl Jan Lee 3. Date With The Prince Of Hell     Written By Gino Pornasdoro     Illustrated by Regine Lim 4. FOX     Created by Ray Magbanua 5. Stray Ghost: Chasing Atticus     Written By Diana Lam      Illustrated by Crisca Jallorina 6. Tonio Tikbalang Volume 3     Created By Jake Vicente 7. Shortcuts      3-Story Anthology Featuring:          A Hundred Paper Boats— Story/Arts by Ron Mendoza/Enjelia Villanueva          Lola Mommy— Story/Arts by Diana Lam/Mitch Gatmaitan          Wish—Story/Arts b

The following story was told to me by an intoxicated friend and I have no idea if it’s true or just a product of an intoxicated mind but let him narrate it:           Around two years ago, while I was searching for a name in Facebook’s search bar, an unusual and quite an imaginative name (or pseudonym) popped up. My curiousity picked, I clicked it and I was led to its account. At first, I couldn’t tell if the owner was a male or a female. The profile pic was of a quiet river.           The posts or statuses were most likely in private setting so there was not much to see except a lone emo Radiohead YouTube video and some statuses about   the bliss of being a loner and of being alone. And basing on that emo whinings, I presumed that the owner was a female, specifically, a girl, whose age probably hovered around 16 to 20.           I closed the account and continued my Facebook browsing.           Then, few weeks after that,   the name popped again while I was