Citizen On Mars Blog Review

Renan is renan. If you visit his blog “Random Musings Of A Disorganized Mind”, you will find not much information about the man behind the name, not even in the profile section. So who is really renan and what’s is he fuzzing about? I scoured through half-a-year’s worth of writing in order to unravel this mystery and at one point there, I started to realize that the seeming ambiguity behind the name was somewhat intentional for simply said, this blogsite is more of substance than personality (or style for that matter). What I mean is that the contents of “Random Musings Of A Disorganized Mind” speaks thunderously for itself with its highly-informative postings like “Writing your dissertation with LaTeX” (Saturday, September 25, 2004) and “Are you QWERTY or Dvorak?” (Monday, October 18, 2004) and propound philosophy in entries like “The Burden of Teachers” (Wednesday, September 29, 2004). In one segment of this blog, renan even painstakingly narrated point by point how to install Linux and Windows XP as partitions in one hard disk space, designed to be in a dual boot system and his explanation was crystalline enough that I almost believed that given an hour or two, I may be able to perfect this trick that only computer geeks seem to have a clue about.

Traipsing further into this “disorganized mind”, you’d be surprised how “organized” is the author’s insight on varied subjects that tackles so many facets of life from Philippine laws to movies and even cartoon shows on television. Renan is a chemist and with that scientific background, the reader will have not have much choice but to admire the clarity of each presentation and the conciseness of each idea proffered. This blog is a little subliminal in a sense that it takes hold of you the moment you read through it and try to influence your views of the world with frequent referrals to great icons of the times such as Shakespeare, Ray Charles, Rudyard Kipling, Feodor Dostoyevsky, and Hayao Mizayaki. Simply put, “Random Musings Of A Disorganized Mind” gives us a rare glimpse of the mind of a true-blue intellectual and see for ourselves if we can also someday be called “an intellectual”---which of course is a good thing.

All is not about “intellect” or “thought” in this blog as once in a while, renan speaks in a melancholic way and tells us how he longed for the home country after being away for more than five years and the many native foods that had defined his younger days back in U.P. Los Baños when he was still then a youthful student. He allows us at times to peep into his family life---with S. and a daughter---and how they spend wonderful moments together; mostly by going to the movies; typical of how Filipino families seek simple but joyful pleasures. Even in America, we retained our uplifting simplicity.

In one simple talk, he had tried to picture himself as a cook and maybe be called “a chemist who cook” someday. This earned some sly smile from me, for I have imagined grimly how a chemist like him might turned a kitchen into a place full of smoking and bubbling ingredients contained in pink flasks and long measured tubes, just like every cartoon scene of a mad scientist’s whizzing laboratory. We might not want to eat our food that way. Just kidding here.

There is one hitch to this site though and that is the infrequency of postings where each entry is at times too far apart. This maybe mainly because renan is such a busy soul (he is a chemist) and it is just but expected of a Filipino scientist living in America. But despite of this, the reader shouldn’t mind waiting for each upcoming entry for certainly, each one would be as informative, insightful, and subliminal as the ones we have already read.

Design is just fittingly appropriate for a blog that is more of substance than style.

All in all, “Random Musings Of A Disorganized Mind” is a good thing that should not go away and stay for good as a reading habit.

GO TO : Random Musings Of A Disorganized Mind.

This early in its blog life---barely three months to this day---this reviewer could safely say that The Samuel Bilibit Diaries is a labour of love.

In fact when Criocksz G. was still in that crucial stage of choosing the name for this weblog, he had to scrutinize a long and protracted list of potential banner title that included such names as Katapusang Singgit sa Amang, Aping Daldal, Kanto Tiño, Sa lilim ng punong manga, Conversations with Jack Daniels, Blog Bath, Lamang Utak, Isipang Buntis, Panuhot, Careless Whispers, Blah blah blog, Sangplatitong Mani, Duha Singko, and Pasakalye and by this you could tell how this weblog author take his blogging seriously and that must be how every blogger should be.

Then Criockz G. became Sam when he chose “The Samuel Bilibit Diaries” as his blog title. The title came about when once he was reminded that when he was a child, his mom scolded him for being a constant wanderer, mumbling to him “Murag ka man si Samule Bilibit” (“As if you we’re Samuel Bilibit.”). In one of his earlier entries, Sam explained the tale behind the Visayan mythological icon. In legend, Samuel Bilibit was cursed to walked the Earth until the end of time and many believed that to this day, he is still walking among us ---along the streets he strolls by us everyday and inside the speeding jeepneys he rides along with us, towards his never-ending journey.

Sam says he is a wanderlust, craving for places to roam ever since he was merely a youth of the greatest exuberance, that in his words he must have traveled nearly half of the world.

The traveler in Sam is best exemplified in his posting billed as “A Mindanaw Travelogue” where he recounted a sojourn into heartland Mindanao, the island that he hold so dear in his heart, and tells the reader how despite the potential dangers that one could encounter in a land ravage by years and years of war and conflict, there is that hidden satisfaction of threading a paradise reborn amidst the thorns of blood on the tarmac of this land of his birth. These narrations of scenic excursions are wonderfully littered with good quality images such as maps as well as pictures that are well focused and illuminated.

Yet despite Sam’s apparent forte for travel journalism, the Samuel Bilibit Diaries shines all the more every time it ventures into scathing and pointed socio-political commentaries like in one of his more recent entry titled “Banal Na Aso”, where Sam held no punches whatsoever while proceeding to censure a bishop’s bizarre statement concerning the wrath of God just after innocent children just died of fortuitous poisoning. He says he has no problem with God, but it is God’s fans that he could not take. With this foray into political commentary, this weblog shows a great promise and may find a good niche in it for the longest time. Sam has the right amount of audacity and frankness that most readers look for when it comes to being a political critic.

And then there are the light and heartfelt moments in this blog that finally consolidate its great shot at blog success. In “And aking kaibigan si X”, Sam speaks with great esteem of his stepson and how the child that he met as a three year old now finally stands toe in toe with him and finally have interest in the matters of the heart. “Time flies like an arrow” Sam declared.

Even when The Samuel Bilibit Diaries was still hosted by the popular Blogger web log engine, it was already a sight to behold with the shadow of a man threading a hill as its central image. Now that it had transferred to the Word Press portfolio, the sharp lay-outing remained and the arrangement of its contents had become even more organized and structured—just like how every blog should be. Among the new and notable blogsites today, The Samuel Bilibit Diary is a prime candidate of finally joining the roster of the more famous blogs in the local blog scene.

Content: Highly Enjoyable
Graphics: Excellent.

Bono of U2 once gave a contrite description of an artist in the song “The Fly”. He crooned, “Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief. All kills their inspiration and sing about their grief.”

Tanyaloca, the woman behind “Found Bohemian”, is in no way a cannibal and surely not a thief although evidences show that she is an artist through and through. According to her, she is a writer, a director, a photographer, a dreamer, a dancer and a crazy woman all rolled into one. I believe everything she says about herself except the part on her being a crazy woman—I clearly doubt that. She failed to mention that she is also a poet and apparently a trained one at that as we are serenaded by this one poem she had written in one of her earliest entry. This is a pretty one.

Monday, December 23,2002

He bit the apple

Seduced by the temptress

Feel to the ground

Loved it and bound

Sleep with me, drink with me

Forget them and feel me

The temptress sings

The temptress singsKiss the floor

Come there’s more

Sleep with me, drink with me

Forget them and feel me

The temptress sings

The temptress sings

Tied to the lies

Lied to the highs

Content with normal existence

Far from deliverance

Offered the hope, he denies it

Uttered the Truth, he despises it

Devil you can’t hold him forever

He has the power to kill and destroy you

Faith is the answer

You’re over, you’re over

Clearly, “Found Bohemian” is at a glance an artist’s diary, a recitation of all things that the artist is musing on, and everything that she craves for and longed for as well as the things that she digresses on. “Found Bohemian” seemed to have started that way as Tanyaloca introduces her reader to her indie films inclinations and photography in most of her early entries that dates back as far as the year 2002. But as the entries progresses, the reader would soon realize that the artist in Tanyaloca merely serves as the focal point of hordes and hordes of telling and affecting narration that revolves around the life of a young woman caught in the furious transition of late adolescence amidst the urban landscape of the often hectic city of Manila. Reading through her blog opens up a whole realism of lives that are closely intertwined among each other and a family that celebrates life with food and fancy places. It’s almost like an online soap opera, only that the dramatic moments aren’t tearful at all, but mostly joyful and funny even. She had a father who loves to cook excellent meals (he can cook lamb stew) and brothers who jokes at a glance, even in an elevator. Tanyaloca might also be a mall rat as Eastwood and Rockwell serves as the background to a number of scenes. But most of all, she is a schooled filmmaker and an art photographer.

There was once a night that Tanya dreamt and believed that it was God that gave her a funny dream. She awakens to a bright sunny day and she was thankful that God had lifted her spirit in a time when she was feeling down and distraught. That is Tanyaloca with her robust faith. Another good side to the blog is the author’s meanderings on her spiritual self as every now and then, she gives the reader some lessons in faith that she had gained by her joining a charismatic group. Now we know why she pronounces that she “..lives for God.” And her faith is truly affecting.

I must admit that as I examined the whole breath of “Found Bohemian”, I was a little blown away by the enormousness of some lives, especially that of the author. As the reader threads along, you wonder if the lives of the people within Tanyaloca’s world is as colorful and as eventful as she have. This is perhaps the main reason why there is never a dull moment in her entries as each one narrates an interesting happenstance that goes around her and within her.

Her stories are almost larger than life although they are not fictional at all. You will have the feeling as if each entry is one separate short story, with its own characters and plot. In one entry titled: “Cupid Tanya” (Sunday, Feruary 6, 2005), she narrated how while she was having a haircut one day, some girl just came in looking desperately for a date to a prom to be held that night. The hairdresser suggested to the desperate girl that Tanya offers one of her brothers as an impromptu escort. Tanya and the girl both agreed but sadly, Tanya is to find out that her brother ain’t available. And so Tanya instead contacted a friend to go with the desperate girl and luckily this time, the friend consented. That hectic day ended when the desperate girl and the escort friend appeared at Tanya’s doorstep later that night and praised and thanked her to high heavens for letting two strangers meet and discover each other. It turned out that the two were past schoolmates and now they only have meaningful stares at each other. Gosh, how small the world could be? In Tanya’s world, it can’t be that small. Again I’ll tell ya’, never a dull moment in this blog.

The writings in “Found Bohemian” are clear and often concise. It verges away from verbosity and any form of linguistic acrobatics as the author deliberately uses the fewest words in order to verbalize her thoughts. This is where the author becomes truly effective and the reader is not in any way dragged down into the usual elongated elaborations that are usually found in some diarist’s blog. “Simplicity is beauty”, this blog declares and the message gets across quite well. This assures the reader that he or she won’t feel any difficulty in absorbing what the blog’s author is trying to impart. Contentwise therefore, “Found Bohemian” is a highly enjoyable blog to read.

Graphically, the row of surfboards in her front pages is one of the most lasting images ever found in Philippine blog scene. The moment you see those colorful surfboards appear in your computer screen, you are certain that you are in Tanya’s blog.

When I decided to review …And At This Moment, I was not prepared to go deep into her works and had planned really just to examine the graphic features of the blog while summarizing the general content of the entries there. But as I skimmed through the archives, I felt immediately like I fell into a deep well and could not get out.

Do not get me wrong here for it is not actually in negativity when I said I found myself in trap and never able to get out of it. What I meant there is that if you were the reader, you would not want to get out of that hole for you would certainly enjoy your time reading many of Cerridwen’s poignant and at times funny meanderings on life in America.

I am serious and this is not the usual lapping dog criticism that reviewers often make. …And At This Moment truly stimulates both our mind and emotions as we are presented with a good vacillation of issues from both the socio-political sphere and the personal issues within the author’s own world. We are brought easily to a trip down to the writer’s own soul, as she portrays the joys and leanings of a working woman within the context of American living. She does not hold back much of her emotions and by this, the reader becomes thankful that for the slightest of moment, he or she becomes part of her joy and pains.

In the entry “Black History Month”, she tackles the issue of segregation and discrimination in America in a time not easily forgotten with such poignancy and truthfulness that the reader felt like being sent through time back towards old America when many of black Americans suffered indescribable torture and mocking in the hands of their unthinkably evil pursuers back then. This line of presentation of issues does not wane and can be found in many other entries like “Rape In American Prison” and “Strategies For Eradication”. In the scope of social issues, Cerridwen writes like an accomplished pundit.

You can share some American experience while you read entries like “The Pharmacist” and “books and movies” In “The Pharmacist”, the author writes the first person narrative so well that never struggles a bit. Every recounting is smooth and flowing. Perhaps, the genuineness of the writer’s emotions is never held back that is why as you read through these personal entries, you are being led mystically into a world by its own self, and feel like you become involved in it, a character inside the story being told, and feel the gladness or sorrow that was in them. The truthfulness in the narration reminds me of Feodor Dostoyevsky ‘s “Notes From The Underground” and Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”. Consider this portion:

“He told me I am to take the pill early in the morning for it will make me pee throughout the day. He even warned me about long exposure to sunlight. I didn't bother to ask what could happen if. I just kept nodding my head to get it over with. He pat my hand that was resting on the counter and said, ‘That is all Ma'am, as much as I want to see you again, I wouldn't want to if it is to pick up more medicine because you are ailing’ I looked at him and asked him if he is being cute & giving me a pick-up line, and you have to imagine me asking this with a straight face. He froze, probably not expecting something like that since I think he knows he is quite a good-looking guy (who likes to talk too much). I made a gesture that I am waiting for an answer. His quick reply was ‘I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or your husband’ Now that warrants a good giggle even as I tried to control it. I shook my head and told him my husband haven't realized he loves me yet to marry me, so there is none and I said goodnight and walked towards the door. In a louder voice he said ‘Goodbye and hope to see you again’ ”…

“I got in bed and I keep seeing his face and my son's face. How much they look alike, how cute they both are, how angelic both their faces. I was reminded of how both their faces feel, the curves of their nose, the softness of their lips....By the time I was shedding tears, I wasn't sure anymore if it was just my prince I am missing. Maybe that is another reason why I didn't take my sister's reaction so well. I don't want to be lead to how I will feel. Only thing I am sure right now is I do not know what or how i feel towards him and I am not in a rush to find out. I need to heal first and re-learn a lot of things, one of them is to express my feelings.”

Graphically, …AND AT THIS MOMENT is easy on the eyes as the black background clearly highlights the contents for convenient reading. Its headings show that of a naked woman’s back while diving into clear blue water. It has the aesthetics of a good personal diary but just when you thought it is a diarist’s blog, you’d be surprised to find out later that there is so much more in it than meets the eye. If I have my own blog award giving body, …AND AT THIS MOMENT would win as the “Best Diarist” blog award if the awarding ceremonies were held right now.

GO TO ….AND AT THIS MOMENT.