Pounding The Keyboard

          Few days ago, I received an FB friend request from Tonton Young, yes, the Tonton Young, cartoonist of Pupung, which was serialized in Manila Bulletin. I found out that he was already friends with many komiks colleagues of mine. I wanted to send him a PM to tell him that I bought and used to own some of his The Best of Pupung Books, but I got shy.      Future bubble wrap will no longer pop—yup, 2020 is such a cruel year.      My long wait is over. Season 2 of The Boys will come this September. The Boys is about a group of vigilantes (composed of ordinary human beings) whose goal was to stop some superheroes who abuse their superpowers.      I went to a public market a few mornings ago to buy some vegetables and sweet corn, and while I was in the process of buying (the vegetable stall was just on the side of the street so I didn’t need to get off my bike), a man in his sixtie...

  I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time Walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me It's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie Your eyes are soft with sorrow Hey, that's no way to say goodbye…        What’s that one word the best describes most of Leonard Cohen songs?      Sublime.      “Hey, That’s No Way To say Goodbye,” “True Love Leaves No Traces,” “Suzanne,” “So Long, Marianne,” “Hallelujah,” “Bird On The Wire,” and “Famous Bluer Raincoat,” to a name few of his songs, all sublime.       This pandemic, most people, to battle depression and anxiety, try to find succor in music.      And I’ve been finding succor from Mr. Cohen’s music among others.      An acclaimed poet and a ...

    You can’t reach out for a star that won’t shine in your sky You can’t frolic with a wave that won’t crash at your shore You can’t smell a flower that won’t bloom in your garden You can’t bask in a sun that won’t come out of the clouds You can’t dance in the rain that refuses to fall You can’t kiss awake a princess that won’t climb in your bed So stop stargazing Walk out of the shore Uproot the flower Laze under the moon Prance in the desert Kiss a frog

       Two nights ago, in his late night comedy, er, address to the nation, President Duterte announced that Russia would soon unveil its COVID-19 vaccine and give some to the Philippines, and our president happily announced that he was willing to be inoculated by it. The next day, lo and behold, Russian President Putin announced that his country had developed a vaccine, which they called Sputnik V , referencing not the notorious Sigue Sigue Sputnik gang here in the Philippines but   the world’s first satellite. Before the whole world, terribly weary of the disease, could rejoice, it turned out that the vaccine was kind of shadowy, that it hadn’t completed all the necessary clinical trials, making it quite dangerous--and the Filipinos who would receive it, guinea pigs.      Putin-ina! Duterte might have cursed regarding the vaccine’s quickness.      I agree that taking the vaccine would really be risky, but I sug...