Book Review: Lourd De Veyra’s This is a Crazy Planets

Lourd Ernest H. De Veyra is a three-time Palanca Award winning writer who also happens to be the front man of local band Radioactive Sago Project. Apart from that, he is also one of the hosts of morning show Sapul sa Singko on TV5 and Tayuan Mo at Panindigan on Aksyon TV 41.

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This Is A Crazy Planets is a printed version of carefully chosen blog entries De Veyra wrote for Spot.ph. It was written in a mix of English and Filipino. Launched on June 23, 2011 at Route 196 Katipunan, QC.

This is a Crazy Planets book cover

How was the read?

The first and last book that I’ve read of De Veyra before this was Insectissimo. It wasn’t exactly anywhere near this because it was a book of poems. This one is a collection of well chosen blog entries from his blog of the same name.

I’ve been a follower of the blog itself so I already know most of the contents of the book but that didn’t stop me from buying the book. There were a couple of new entries that never got posted online.

The entries are random rants about random things like for instance the killer buses of EDSA or the President’s nosy baby sister (He even has two entries. Seems like he just doesn’t like her. haha.).

One of my favorites would be the entry called “Umasal Lamang Nang Ayon Sa Ganda”, where he tackles how one should act based what one looks like. A snippet from it is as shown below:

Q: Bakit kailangan nito sa mga panahon ngayon?

Dahil sa mundong pataas nang pataas ang stress levels, dala ng banta ng climate change, kriminalidad, trapik, polusyon. Wala nang mas nakakakulo ng dugo kesa sa isang taong hindi umaasal nang ayon sa kagandahan.

A couple more entries that I would recommend reading would be the ones entitled Taxi Drivers from Hell (This would actually make you realize that you’ve probably met all the types of cab drivers listed, which is in a way funny.) and Public Enemy No.1: A Tribute to Paquito Diaz (who apparently has made more movies than FPJ or Nora Aunor.).

His style of comedic sarcasm is simply intelligent. The humor that he uses is something that the regular Juan can actually relate to.

Was it worth the buy?

The book is sells for only Php 195.00 and available in most bookstores. It’s not a joke but it sure is funny. The entertainment value is priceless.

Would I recommend it to anybody?

Definitely Buy It. Now. Need I say more?!

Manny Pacquiao: About his ‘Real Fight’ in Life

Image from MPboxing.com

”The biggest fight of my life is not in boxing. No, the biggest fight in my life is how to end poverty in my country and this Saturday, I will wear yellow gloves (in the ring) as a symbol of unity and poverty.“

Hats off to Manny Pacquiao for this statement. How often do you hear something like this from a boxer/fighter? Not much. Well, not at all.

This must be the reason why he has earned the respect of a lot of people. He’s a politician alright, but could he have said it just because? Most likely not.

Pacquiao is a rags to riches success story. He used to and still fights to eat; just like most of the people living in the Philippines and poverty stricken places in the world.

His definition of fighting is not only about boxing. It is fighting in general. Everybody is a fighter.

People laugh at his grammar, diction and all his other unintentionally ‘funny’ feats but that really does not matter much. Thinking about it, he is a type of person that constantly tries to improves himself. He strives to get better. He is a dreamer like everyone else and now that he is living his dream, he does not hesitate to share.

Manny Pacquiao, 8-Division World Champion. A new age hero. Others should take his lead. He is an inspiration to all.

Boxing or MMA: Which is more dangerous?

Due to the results of the Donaire-Montiel bout, the question got raised yet again. Montiel suffered a hairline fracture on his skull.

Common points for the risks in both boxing and MMA:

• There are instances when a knockout is due to a punch to the head.
• There are instances when a knockout is due to body blows, specifically kidney shots or punches to the solar plexus.

Referee stoppage is also a common ground for winning in both sports.

Here is probably the most logical reason boxing is dangerous:

• More often than not, the fighters get a lot of head blows.

Here are some points why Mixed Martial Arts is dangerous:

• There are instances when a knockout is due to a kick to the head.
• There are instances when a knockout is due to a knee to the head.
• There are instances when a knockout is due to an elbow to the face/head.

Aside from strikes, there is another safer way to win in MMA – submissions. When one fighter applies a submission move and the other fighter taps, the fight gets stopped. As simple as that.

While MMA might seem more barbaric as per the general public’s say, in my opinion it still is safer given that there is an option to finish the fight without needing to punch or kick the opponent.

Disclaimer: Written above are based on how I see it as a practitioner of both sports and as a fight fan.

Writing book reviews.

Blogging seems to now be an outlet for wanna-be writers to showcase their crafts. The more common thing that the blogs contain are personal opinions about things. There’s even a money-making aspect for it now.

I came across an article by local writer Carlos Malvar – an interview with probably the most famous local writer Bob Ong. Reading through the previous entries in this blog would show how much of a fan I am of his style.

This was an excerpt from Carlos Malvar‘s interview of Bob Ong for FHM Philippines.

CM: “You’re not very fond of critics. Why?”
BO: “I have yet to hear direct negative reviews from established critics.  Right now there’s just bloggers and reviewers who need to boost their self-esteem by telling everyone that their taste is different and they’re reading books that only they read.

I think it’s counterproductive.  They are not happy that more people are now reading.  Instead of encouraging young Filipinos to enjoy books, they’re telling the new readers that they’re hopeless because they’re not reading the books that have their (‘critics’) seal of approval.

It’s basically immaturity and childishness enjoying group sex with arrogance and ignorance.   I wish somebody soon would produce the great Filipino novel worthy of critics praise and wide readership, I wish for that infallible book—no, books—to come soon.  But while we’re waiting, I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just keep our youths comfortable with reading and acquainted with books—any book.  Don’t you agree?”

I don’t fully agree with his statement. He seems to generalizing, which is unfair to some writers/bloggers.

While it is true that there are bloggers/reviewers who actually write about what they think of a certain book or product just for the sake of trying to make a name for themselves, not everybody does that. As much as I want to spend time doing some research to cite examples of bloggers who do it, I choose not to. Nobody wants to spark an online feud – it can get really dirty.

There are the ones who do it just because. If you read about something, wouldn’t you want to tell others about it?

I write reviews myself but as I mention in my entries, what I write about, I base on some facts and my opinion. After all, it still up to the person reading if he/she wants to go with what I recommended or not. It’s not like they are getting forced to read only the things that reviewers like.

They may get influenced by the reviews but I believe, the more important thing is TO GET PEOPLE TO READ MORE.

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FHM Philippines is a magazine franchise owned by Summit Media Philippines.

Bob Ong is a local writer known for his books such as ABNKKBSNPLAko?! and the more recent release, Ang mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan.

Carlos “Siege” Malvar is a local writer known for his book Roles (A not quite unreal novel) and its follow-up Crash.

Both authors’ books are under published by Visprint, inc.

This thing called blogging.

Blogging is like having a baby. You have to feed it. You have to check up on it from time to time. You have to do these things on a regular basis. If possible, weekly or better yet, daily.

I started this blog without thinking that anybody would actually visit it but the people I know. Surprisingly, there were a few articles that gave this blog some exposure – the topic was the talk of the town for a few weeks. Even famous local bloggers talked about it. Well, not my articles but the topic itself. It gave my blog a good 5,000 views for the main article and it’s follow up. So yes talking about controversial topics can help but it doesn’t mean that you have to write about it too often.

Knowing your topic well will help a lot with getting readers. Getting your thoughts together will be necessary, unless you want to get your readers confused.

Getting paid to do this kind of thing would just be a bonus. Other blogs already have advertisers on their sites. Mine has none yet since aside from the fact that I am not able to update this as regular as I used to, the site doesn’t allow its user to put at least Google’s adsense.

This blog still has a long way to go. I’m not an expert with this. This is just my two cents.