Meme with No Specific Questions

Gladys tagged me nearly a week ago, so this is waaaaay overdue. But the premise offered a very interesting challenge:

Imagine the question that led to the answer, and then provide your own answer.

Well, here goes nothing...

1. The scrawny teenage version of me, gawking at all the effortlessly cool burnouts at Far East Plaza in Singapore, circa 1994. There are groups of international school stoners wearing t-shirts for genuinely 'alternative' bands; scraggly-haired Malaysian rockers, carrying themselves like wilful under-achievers in the Newly Industrialized Economy; under-age drinkers on allowance, looking for cheap teenage kicks in a notoriously regulated city. And I wonder if my tastes and preferences and mannerisms and social awkwardness would forever condemn me to be too geeky/(pseudo-)intellectual/esoteric/just-plain-'uncool' to be able to relate to them (let alone hang out with them).

2. Just after 2AM, in a little Mexican restaurant in Williamsburg (or Silverlake, or Berlin, or any other hipster-approved urban center), with Drew Barrymore, excitedly responding to the "half-secret" Bloc Party show we just attended. And she's playing footsie with me. The expression on her face suggests this is deliberate.

3. Conceptualizing season-long plotlines for awesome teenage drama-comedy shows that will never be made. Claire and I seriously waste hours on end doing this!

4. Obligatory Weakerthans quote:

And i'm leaning
On this broken fence
Between past and present tense

And I'm losing all the stupid games
That I swore I'd never play
But it almost feels okay

5. The ever-growing piles of marked-down music/fashion/pop culture magazines scattered around my bedroom. I just buy them compulsively. It's almost unhealthy, I swear.

6. A stick of pork barbecue, a cup of rice, and a bowl of bean sprouts in soy sauce (free meal at work).

7. Just the comforting mechanical whirr of the electric fan.

8. Three-Cheese Ensaymada from Mary Grace.

9. Honestly? I'm embarassingly complicit in the consumption and enjoyment of some kinds of commercial adult entertainment. And not in the "ironic pleasure", laugh-at-the-cheesy-aesthetics kind of way. Desire is a strange and mysterious thing, and I must admit that certain types of porn genuinely turn me on. And I will go out of my way to look for it, on fairly regular basis.

10. The poor guy never knew what hit him.

Okay, now I tag Maita, Edward, Athena, Mark, and Wendi.

The Secret Origin of Ipis Dei

I came up with the monicker "Ipis Dei" by accident, when I mis-typed the phrase "Opus Dei" ("I" being right next to both "O" and "U" on the standard keyboard). And so the staunch disciplinarian arm of the Church was transformed by the power of crappy typing into the Cockroach of God*, a divine creature blessed with preternatural survival instincts. The biological heir to our future atomic wasteland! If all that dispensationalist sci-fi about being Left Behind post-Rapture holds any weight, i'll bet you dollars to donuts there will still be roaches crawling about in the mess.

I've developed quite a strong affection for my handle. There's something undeniably representative of the Filipino burgis mentality in the idea of self-righteousness tempered by filth, or alternatively, bottom-feeding scavengers elevated to the level of Godhood. (And believe me, I mean that in the nicest way possible.)

Anyway, you could not imagine how validated I felt to discover -- in Giant Robot magazine, of all places! -- this painting by US-based Manila-based (thanks, LG!) artist Manuel Ocampo:

Virgin Destroyer (Ipis Ni Lupe)
1995
acrylic paint on muslin
60 x 40 in.[source]


On a semi-related note, I'm actually lagging behind on my roach-themed pop culture. Of course, I've seen Joe's Apartment -- own a VCD copy, actually -- but I'm not sure whether I want to put up with the full-on existential wank of Kafka's seminal Metamorphosis. (Maybe it would be more engaging as a Peter Kuper comic?)

Oh, and I keep forgetting to ask Matthew to burn me a copy of Bad Mojo, although he tells me the arcade-style game interface might just frustrate me, given my poor dexterity, and impatience with manouvering characters into key positions. (Okay, that just sounded wrong.)

I am vaguely curious about the new ongoing Verigo series, Exterminators, which the solicitations have described as "the Six Feet Under of pest control", or something like that. (Although initial reviews suggest otherwise, for better or worse.)


* "ipis" means "cockroach" in Tagalog, if you hadn't figured it out yet

Brain Droppings: A Manifesto of Sorts

This blog has several main functions. To wit:

• As a repository for my personal thoughts, or interesting anecdotes from my daily life;



• As a mirror blog (and eventual replacement?) for my dormant LiveJournal;



• As a space to re-post (what I judge to be) under-appreciated posts from my old blog, Garbage In, Garbage Out, which can no longer support comments, due to the assault of hordes of barbarian link spammers;



• As a dumping ground for memes that I decide to indulge;

Expect my writing here to be (generally) less focused or structured than my posts at Love It or Lait? (which seems to be the most popular blog that I contribute to, at the moment).

If you're cool with that, you might want to consider adding this blog's Atom/XML feed to your reader list.