The Face

Photos from Pinterest. Cover art done by yours truly, c/o Phoster.

May for The Pool Collective is pretty exciting! While all my Diamond writers haven't sent in their works yet (boys and girls, I'm waiting hahaha.) I present to you the theme for May. Ladies & gentlemen, The Face: Dean, Hepburn, Brando and Kelly.

Well actually, I think it'd be better to call May 2013's theme, "Faces of Hollywood" but there's definitely more drama with less words on it. These are four of Hollywood's most iconic faces and even when there are still more beautiful people out there, these four, for me, have the most memorable and beautiful faces that have ever graced the screen. And I could never stress it enough, that for me, beauty especially the human face's, is definitely one of God's most precious gifts to mankind. Correct? 

And there is just something about the face that  summarizes almost everything of a person's, not to say that without a face we're less human, but this is pretty much the cover of a magazine, the cover that captures all of what's inside and gives the outside  an easily understandable material to look at, absorb and appreciate.

So for the writers out there, May 2013 is all about these faces, the faces of Old Hollywood and most definitely the faces the world, even generations from now will love, admire and always look back to as the standards of what stars on Earth ought to look like.

While it's still not May, please make sure to drop by The Pool Collective and read up on the stories published so far. I'm very very happy that I've got myself great writers, I hope this will attract many more talented writers out there! Send me an e-mail at thepoolcollectiveph@gmail.com.

- Gerard

The Great Gatsby

The opening of the trailer, I could still remember in the book.

See, even cool Mr. Gatsby goes crazy when it's hot...

By now you, dear reader, should have some restraining order ready for me whenever there is anything F. Scott Fitzgerald present anywhere it is that I am. But just let me kill myself over how excited I am that Warner Bros. released a new trailer AND a damn handsome soundtrack for The Great Gatsby. This book is the reason I write and read and search. So just imagine my face when I heard they turned it into a movie. And imagine my face when I found out about the cast, Callan McAuliffe (terribly good-looking and promising child), Leonardo Di Caprio (definitely a God now), Carey Mulligan (diamond, for sure) and Tobey Maguire (my all-time favorite Spider-Man...), I mean it felt like Christmas and my birthday rolled in one day.

Come May, you'll be flooded with Great Gatsby shit, you won't like me anymore. But please, even if you're not a fan, spare some time to appreciate the beauty of Fitzgerald's work. While maybe the unsung hero is Tender Is The Night, and I'm obsessed with how intelligently scary This Side of Paradise turned out to be, The Great Gatsby just did it for Fitzgerald. I just can't explain how much I love the book. Seriously. It's a story, so beautiful, so grandiose yet human and real...Definitely thestandard for stories.

But if you're the kind who would never flip a page of a book, give yourself this experience. The movie. The trailer alone almost had me in tears. But yes, you must catch this. You know how other trailers promise you the film will be an experience of a "insert season here", this will surely fit the bill.

And who could ignore the cast, the cinematography, those amazing sweeping shots? I smell resurrection for Tobey Maguire. Beyonce and Andre 3000 doing Amy Winehouse' s Back To Black, Florence & the Machine on the soundtrack and Lana Del Ray too, I mean, come on...Do I even have to?
Or maybe that's just me. I'm fanning.

Jokes aside, this is one piece of art we're lucky to be experiencing, so whether you'll like it or not, it'll be worth it, somehow.

-Gerard

So Swim

So Swim by Gerard Gotladera
Photo credit

There was always something beyond the pool. And the tall, tall trees that stood guard around it. And beyond it, deep past the darkness I've known and somewhere farther than what I've explored. And it stares right back at you, that something, comfortably darker than the dark itself yet oddly bright that it stands out, impossible to miss...Eyes...Cold. White. Eyes, with only a drop of what once was some hue. It disappears when you've stared too long, like a blink or a flash of light or an idea so good, so quickly conceived it leaves the moment it comes to life. Too fast it disappears that you'd ask yourself if you've truly seen something, anything...

...I swam through the lunar blue of our pool, feeling my beating heart nestled safe and warm deep in the recesses of muscle, bone and skin. As I rolled through the surface, looking up and stabling myself on the water, I could still feel it and hear it. It had calmed me, this kind of stillness all over, except for the heart. It reminded me, for 17 years, that despite what could've been-should've been, I still am alive.

The moon was watching me, her stars once and a while showing off some glitter as choreographed as most of nature was. And it was beautiful. I was falling asleep, counting stars and proud that I had floated on in such still, unmoved fashion when little waves slowly woke me up. The stars were still there in their stationary dance, the moon mum and watching. Nothing's changed, but there obviously was something different. Some foreign object had disturbed the peace of the waters and it was growing harder. Little waves like ripples were now strong enough to tip my float and force me to get up and check what it was that has disturbed my peace. I swing my legs down and feel my stomach crunch under the weightless water and immediately check around. There was nothing here. And the water too had calmed down. 

"Dad?" I called, now suddenly familiar with my own voice. The house was approximately ten long steps from the pool and it was still lit. Dad didn't answer, he wasn't here. Something wasn't right anymore. The top of my ears felt cold and my nape grew tingly. I looked around again, in search for something, anything just to satisfy my curiosity. When I turned to the little woods that framed the back part of our house, I caught a glimpse of an incredibly white object, slicing through a tree and ruffling some plants that lay on the ground. I moved back, feeling my once calm heart race madly inside my chest. 

"Who's there?!" The water just rippled, a reaction from my sudden movement and the plants that it had disturbed were slowly heading back to their upright positions. The moon watched on, her stars still glowing and everything else looking at me as if they knew what it was while I feared for my life.

"Hello?" I called, one last time, my voice dying in the open space. I kept my eyes on the tree where the flash of white disappeared and waited long until I memorized how it looked in the dark. I was slowly walking back to the pool's edge to where my towel was and had planned to head back inside as fast as I could. And just as I was about to head up, there it was again, a fast flash of white letting itself in plain sight, like catching a glimpse of a pale, pale foot stepping off past a wall. I think I might've screamed too loud for my own good that  in such short notice everyone was outside, my parents, Frank and Polly and our three maids.

"What happened Greg?" My dad asked.

"There's something there-" I pointed and stumbled on my way up the slippery steps of our pool. My mom looked at the tree I was pointing at, gave it a thought and a smile cracked her beautiful 40 year old face. 

"Hijo, don't tell me you still believe in that story...Come on...Let's get inside. Jesus Christ, I can't believe my 17 year old Greg is scared of that childhood horror story he used to love..."

"But there really was something there. Do I look like I'm shitting you?" 

"Mom he's shaking." Polly felt my shoulders and put on the thick orange towel I kept by me for my swim. My mom went off to frown at my language and gave a short speech about respect. Frank meanwhile, walked to the other side of the pool, looked into that eternal darkness and turned to us, confused.

"Nothing there bud. Maybe it's just your imagination..." Frank said, yawning and bracing his waist. I looked behind Frank and saw nothing but a tree. When we've all decided I was on drugs and that I was crazy, we all headed back inside. By the door I gave the night one last look and saw the pool in ripples and waves dashing towards where the trees were, as if someone had raced through the pool, got up and just disappeared. --- Gerard Gotladera

***

Weekend Hits: Darker Now

Falling into the dark side...
Diego Fragoso for Slurp magazine @ models.com

Embrace the dark side...That's what I'll suggest to you right now. And no, we're not turning all evil and demonic here. It's just one of those phases you slip into when the things you've been liking fall under a certain mold or category and they all just work! For my Weekend Hits post I'm bringing together sight, sound and loads of sense on some things pretty sinister and while it's ironic, please enjoy!

>>> MIKKY EKKO's PULL ME DOWN

The video is like a spell, really. Keep watching.

My encounter with Mikky Ekko is thanks to Rihanna's new album, Unapologetic. Stay is my favorite track on her album and she sings it (pretty well) with Mikky Ekko. At first I thought it was Ryan Tedder, but then the song's credits obviously mentioned someone else. Then I went searching all over YouTube and landed possibly one of the coolest songs I've heard this month (definitely for the year too). Pull Me Down sounds like a long, night swim, the moon watching, stars hiding, and it's just you and this vast body of water. The video helps a lot with the song. The song itself is quite simple (he basically wants you to be his girl but sings it so damn good, you'd want to be a girl for him...) and it meets your expectations somehow, especially come chorus time, you'll find yourself smiling at how liquid and right it sounds. Mikky Ekko's songs all share that same, bittersweet quality about them, when you know love's not always loads of sparkles and sprinkles. He definitely puts you on that dark sink-and-swim feel you'll never want to rise from.

>>>> JERICH EUSEBIO DRAWS

Honoring & Overcoming by Jerich Eusebio
from his Facebook page

One of my best friends (since 5th grade) has been dabbling in the arts since I've known him: literature, theater, music, film, the fine arts, he's had some happy experience with. But as we've all grown old, it seems his forte lies heavily on the basic pen-and-paper, not as a writer yet, but as an illustrator. As a registered nurse, he's not 24-7 exposed to art and knowing him, he pretty much needs his dose of it at least once and a while. His solution? Draw with his trusty pens and pour it all out there. What he lacks in color, he makes up for in texture and detail, giving his images weight, depth and a sense that what he does, he wants to do well in his own terms. Honoring & Overcoming is my favorite. I'll have to talk to him first to know what it really means and who the image is, I'm thinking Jesus, but who knows...And what's most fascinating about his works, aside from his signature strokes and well-improved style, is his reference to so much of these dark elements and arts. The stories told behind the images, the references pulled out from the very best and cool of arts and fashion and literature and film, I mean, what he does has great potential. If only he had a space to share these images to others with...I'm quite lucky I have him on Facebook. So consider this, dear best friend, a baptism into the other side of the world. 

The Spotlight on the Wallflower

Watson, Lerman and Miller
The Perks of Being a Wallflower @ Collider

Finally got to catch The Perks of Being A Wallflower today with my sister and I must say this is one of the few movies that lived up to the hype. I've had my fair share of movies and stories that are about teenagers, but those I've seen and read before pretty much pale in comparison to what Stephen Chbosky has done. Both as a book and a film, Perks manages to strike a chord in a lot of people and I think that's the reason why it's such a success. 

I still wonder though how a book such as Perks that has the easy-to-bake recipe (complex yet simple enough characters, the musical choices that linger through the novel, teenage joys and troubles, etc.) took some 11-12 years before making it to the big screen, but  2012 is a great year to have Perks. When kids these days, including those of us who are a bit older, are into these old timey songs, vibes and moods, Perks is definitely a satisfying piece of literature and film (my book review). 

The film did the book much justice. I guess you could credit this to the fact that Chbosky is responsible for the screenplay and directing, allowing him to preserve and add just about enough to his material. You could still recount parts from the book on the film and actually match what you've visualize while reading the book to the ones you see on the movie. Couldn't picture a better Charlie than Logan Lerman. This film has made a star out of Lerman. Still couldn't put the finger on it as to who Lerman reminds me of, but I'm sure this one will go very, very far. He's easily likable, very charming and handsome and he effortlessly manages to balance the brooding, tortured side of Charlie with the character's desire to belong and understand himself. Ezra Miller is another breakout star. I know he's scared audiences with his performance in We Have To Talk About Kevin, and here, he makes Patrick, extra funny, realistic and exciting. Watching him makes you want to wish you had a real life Patrick as a friend. Miller's look, his talent and the movies he's done so far will put him high up on the A-Lists, possibly sooner than we think. Emma Watson is extra beautiful. Whenever she appears on screen, I couldn't help but see her rising up to the ranks of Anne Hathaway with a face like hers. Her Sam is expected: cool, quirky, funny, mature and always so understanding of everybody. But the story however made bigger stars out of Lerman and Miller.

It was an overall pleasing experience. You'd expect Perks to turn out this good. A chunk of the movie somehow took me back to a familiar place, somewhere in the not-so-distant past and it tugged at the heart as I watched (and while reading) Perks. Surely others could attest to this too. There are plenty of moments that will haunt and will continue on a loop in your head and while not everyone could relate to the same exact issues the characters go through, there is always a part of Charlie, Patrick or Sam in all of us that were put on film and on pages thanks to Perks. Grab the book, watch the film and it'll teach you a lesson about youth, life and the moments you should never take for granted. 

Gerard

Salt Bites: Six For The Weekend

Mr. Neff and Mr. Bond at the background. Loving the bracelets on the stylist by the way.
amfAR 2012

How was the weekend everybody? Hope you all enjoyed the hot two days off. 

As for myself, I'm pretty drained this weekend, like I always am. Since I got a job, I reserve my nights out for Saturdays. So the drill will be something like, go out around 7 in the evening, get home at the latest at 5 in the morning, wake up at around 7 something in the morning for mass and then just get on with the day. So it's pretty normal for me to be all grumpy and unproductive on a Sunday. 

But anyway, I've been blessed with enough time this weekend so I've given myself a breather to discover some new things, things that I love occupying myself with. I'm making Salt Bites a permanent section and post for my blog so we're all updated on things that are inspiring, exciting and worth knowing. So click and read on to see what I'm happily sinking my teeth, time and thought in for this weekend.

The Past Now

Julian Barnes' masterpiece: The Sense of an Ending
Photo obviously not mine cause this one's too cool...

Finally a week deep in the down South and I could say, with confidence, that I, know Southern style. Been flying back and fourth from Manila to Memphis since I was a kid and I now understand better why people love it here. Aside from staying in a hundred year-old mansion, all well kept and sprinkled with the finest I've seen, it's the sense of family and slow, warm hospitality that I truly love about Memphis. Food's great, people are all so charming and simple and when Target and Starbucks is a hop away (well, sort of), you know life's all good. But anyway, how is everybody doing?

I hope back home weather's better, in all sense of the word. Heard it's been raining crazy.  I love it when it rains in Manila. I want to believe it's cooler than those past weeks we've had---felt like everyone was melting. Here weather's dry and hot, but it still takes more to break a sweat.

So while I've left my hectic and fun job back home, I have all the free time in the world now to do just about what I've longed to do in so long: finish and read a novel. Murakami's 1Q84 is a whole different story, and when I do finish that, I'll let you know.

Whenever I go on vacation, I make sure I am occupied with something good to read. Last time I left the country I discovered Child 44 and Drink, Play, Fuck. Add to that a bag of magazines and I was happy. Now, I've chosen to get myself the book I've been waiting for: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. So far it's a splendor to read. Tons of philosophies, tons of retrospect in the context of the character, Tony, and a study of a certain part of human nature and what it is about.

The Perks of Reading

Sam and Charlie...The Perks of Being a Wallflower cast photo from Tumblr

I've grown tired of pretending I had the best say on what books one should read. Besides, I've been educated to keep an open mind and to always allow ones self to explore different things. Months ago, I've been hooked and picky on books that I add to my small library and most of the time it turns out that the coolest looking and sounding books that I pick, end up collecting dust on my shelf. I told myself I better drop the act that I had some literary radar for each and every good book out there. It is, anyway a matter of personal preference and it shouldn't be the way that just because you think it's good, it is actually good. 

The Year in Covers (Book Edition)

Designed by Chip Kidd.
When I see it in my room, I just want to race through all the rest, cause I want this savored.
Thanks to my sister for this one.

Year's about to end and I am delighted to have shopped and have received multitudes of books for myself and for others as well for this year. Just like most of us confessed bookies, we don't really get to read all of them right after its purchase, but we do feel the comfort in knowing that they're just there, a world separate from our own within reach.

To start my string of year-enders (and God knows I am late for these ones), let's start off the end of 2011 with my year in covers. I bring you the books I've loved, learned a lot from all read, half-understood and will always treasure from this year. Enjoy.

Polka Dots and Moonbeams

Arizona Muse as Adeline

Stories: All-New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio has only been a few hours under my possession and I already love the 20-something short stories by today's most read authors (Jodi Picoult, Chuck Palahniuk, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub and more). It's an attractive little anthology because it has the heaviest name dropping in Literature you could imagine---if you are, that is, into the name dropping. The cover has this real nice texture and its simple, almost kiddy look adds much to how deep the stories are inside. It's pricey, of course to people who don't have the bone or inclination towards books and magazines and/or anything that requires some time of the day for reading, but for people like myself it's a steal, really. 

Magazines, are definitely drugs to me, but books are like quick vacations. I've been tired at work and even though I enjoy it, I still need that break. I sometimes wish I was the kind of person who doesn't need to stop, but anyway...Yeah. If you want to take your mind off things, sort of detoxify it from the usual, I suggest you pick-up a book and get away for a while. It keeps me inspired in all aspects: writing, creativity, the imagination, life, language and the lot. So if you do have the time and if you're itching for something to read, this one's a perfect solution.

The Fashion Week Ramble

Patrick Kafka and a model I have yet to know.
THOSE SUNGLASSES @ Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2012 are killing me.
Sonny Photos

Still not over Pitti? Well you better get over. Hah. You want to get hooked, hungover on something better, I recommend you check out Milan Fashion Week...Assuming that you haven't yet, it's worth the time. In my case, those morning/afternoon shows happening in Milan all go livestreaming from Europe in the night time here and I look like crap inside my room cause I've been waiting for the shows. 

I've been blasting Milan Fashion Week tweets on my account and I'm sure some of my followers are finding it annoying. I apologize. First of all, I really am annoying. Second, Menswear Milan Fashion Week is pretty much the equivalent of all those Mav/Dallas tweets when they were winning, Pacman during his fights, how Darren Criss is singing a certain way on a new episode of Glee, or you know how people, at parties, tweet their every single breath away? So yeah. Third, I rarely tweet sensible things, so...

Stylish & Deep...Haunting

" I always thought it'd be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody."
---The Talented Mr. Ripley

Have you seen the movie? 

Yes, the 1999 film based on the part psychological, part stylish novel by Patrica Highsmith of the same title from way back in the 50s, I think. Anyway, if you're into smart movies that will stick to your head NOT cause they're scary like, say, Insidious (which I haven't seen) but are memorable because they sting you in a psychological way, this one's a keeper. 

About Making Love

Jack Kerouac's On The Road...
NOW part of my all-time favorite reads

I had no money; I sent my mother an airmail letter asking her for fifty dollars and said it would be the last money I'd ask; after that she would be getting money back from me, as soon as I got that ship. Then I went to meet Ruth Gullion and took her back to the apartment. I got her in my bedroom after a long talk in the dark of the front room. She was a nice little girl, simple and true, and tremendously frightened of sex; she said it was because she saw such awful things in the hospital. I told her it was beautiful. I wanted to prove this to her. She let me prove it but I was too impatient and proved nothing. She sighed in the dark . "What do you want out of life?" I asked and I used to ask that all the time of girls. "I don't know" she said. "Just work and try to get along." She yawned. I put my hand over her mouth and told her not to yawn. I tried to tell her how excited I was about life and the things we could do together; saying that, and planning to leave Denver in two days. She turned away wearily. We lay on our backs looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when he made life so sad and disinclined. We made vague plans to meet in Frisco. My moments in Denver were coming to an end. I could feel it when I walked her home in the holy Denver night and on the way back stretched out on the grass of an old church with a road. Every now and then one would get up and hit a passerby for a dime. They talked of harvests moving North. It was warm and soft. I wanted to go and get Ruth again and tell her a lot more things, and really make love to her this time, and calm her fears about men. Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together; sophistication demands that they submit to sex immediately without proper preliminary talk. Not courting talk---real straight talk about souls, for life is holy and every moment is precious. I heard the Denver & Rio Grande locomotive howling off to the mountains. I wanted to pursue my star further.---- Jack Kerouac, On The Road "Original Scroll"

Beauty-ing the Weekend

Been doing my homework this weekend and after visiting most of the blogs and websites I frequent, I am pleased to say that everything's looking splendid lately. You know that when inspiration comes, you better drink it hard while it's there. Without further a do, here is the splendid, artsy, super beautiful weekend of everything that matters!
Enjoy.

Lanvin's little girls collection @ DesignScene

She sewed to dazzle her daughter, and in doing so dazzled the world. ---- Louise de Vilmorin on Jeanne Lanvin's love for her daughter

Sean O'pry for Wonderland Magazine

Everytime I look at Sean O'pry, The Picture of Dorian Gray comes to mind. I could might as well write O'pry a novel...He's that handsome, it'll sometimes sting your heart and no piece of medication would ever cure it. I would never know if it's jealousy or a strong admiration for humans blessed and kissed by God on the cheek that I'm feeling...Whatever it is, it's incredibly strong. Beauty's a gift O'pry, take care of it.

Arabian Harper's Bazaar featuring Houda Shretah

Houda Shretah stars in this damn right sexy and beautiful swimsuit story shot by Jeff Tse for Arabia's Harper's Bazaar. Need I say more? Let the photos do the talking, I am currently recovering from a heart attack.

The expensive Twin magazine @ Selectism

I have no idea, what Twin magazine is. But from the looks of it (and that $ 35 price tag), I believe it's quality publication right here. I want one. Anybody willing to give me a copy?

The Cindy painting (not the title of the painting) by Daniel Peddle 

Boys' First Looks by Daniel Peddle

I badly want to go check out Daniel Peddle's The Undertow at NPCAC New York. I mean, look at those water color paintings? Beautiful... I badly need me some art folks.

- Gerard

The Heat List

David Foster Wallace & his late greatness @ GQ

Summer starts today, for me. Why? Wala lang. Grades are out (and final), and yes, I've done well. All of my hard work has finally paid off.
I'm waiting for my last one subject---that one subject I have been nervous about for probably a month now, and this is exactly how summer has felt for me for ages. 

A lazy, waiting that could stretch for forever. And while I'm (hopefully) finally done with school, I decided it's time for a summer lifestyle change. 

Here is a compilation of great things I've been interested in for a while. From David Foster Wallace's intriguing GQ story (not to mention his much-talked about novel The Pale King) to Laureen Uy's super style to our photoshoot, to Goodies magazine to Perry Como and more.

Let's quit the yapping and get it on with the Heat List.

WHO THE HELL IS DAVID FOSTER WALLACE?

David Foster Wallace's story on GQ is very interesting so far. For me, the great thing about it is how fellow writer and author of this article, John Jeremiah Sullivan writes about the controversial and contemporary literature icon. Read more about it and answer the question, why the hell should we care about David Foster Wallace, here. 

GOODIES COMING

THE EDGE column @ Goodies mag

When a certain Kelvin Zlochevsky e-mailed me sometime ago, I had no idea what Goodies Mag was. The invitation to become a columnist for the New York-based online magazine was more than humbling. One of my dreams has always been to write as a columnist for a newspaper. That was when the internet wasn't the internet. Goodies magazine, in a nutshell is a guy's magazine. From all those babes you'd want to be with to the music you ought to listen to to the latest eateries 'round the world and to more masculine concerns you should be concerned with, Goodies has got it figured well. Make sure you check out soon what I'm writing for Goodies. I've been thinking about Star Trek lately and its odd connection to Prada...Why? How? Well, better read it when it's done. 

THE DELHOMME TOUCH

Jean-Philippe Delhomme for Kitsune's Spring 2011 campaign @ HighSnobiety

A GQ reader would know JP Delhomme, for his languid, super chic and cool illustrations are regulars at the Style Guy section. This Spring 2011, Delhomme lends his awesome touch to Maison Kitsune's for handsome illustrations that tell a fantastic story. If only clothes really looked that cool, I'd spend a leg over them. Great work Delhomme...Now if only I could have these framed.

SUMMER DRESSING

My favorite summer lady look @ BreakMyStyle

Undeniably one of the most fashionable personalities I've seen, Laureen Uy shows ladies how a dressed-up summer looks like. She's always turned out, no doubts about that, but this super chic ensemble is my favorite. What I love about it is how it's all so summery, what with that almost sheer top lined with pink, buttoned-up to perfection and paired down with a beautifully-printed skirt. At first I thought it was a dress, but her credits prove that with the right pieces combined, you could create a look that's all your own. I'd be Tommy Ton to whoever could dress this elegantly. People just don't dress this clean and polished these days. We're too casual a generation, I'm guilty, and this is an example that dressing up sometimes does you great things. Follow Laureen's blog and keep track of her stylish adventures....

PERRY & PAUL

Papa Loves Mambo by Perry Como

Cool Hand Luke starring Paul Newman

Knowing this blog (and me), old school tribute and reference is a must! I'm giving my usuals the break (Dean, Clift, Brando, E & F Fitzgerald, Shearing, Holiday, etc.) for two P's: Perry Como and Paul Newman. Since I've been hooked on old school songs sometime now, I listen to my grandmother's station of choice after lunch...Dr. Love on Radio DZMM plays you all these old-timey tunes and when you're young, you'll think it's cheap, old, korny and what have you, but for those of us who have a classic bone, this is a pretty fun station to tune into. Perry Como is a playback king in Dr. Love's station and it doesn't hurt that he's pretty stylish and one of the great-looking men I've seen. 

Paul Newman is another stylish inspiration. After seeing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with the late Elizabeth Taylor, I started to like Paul Newman a lot. He and McQueen, I believe are more of the same calibre, than the Holy Trinity. Anyway, Paul Newman is a stunner for sure stylewise and as an actor. I'm downloading more of his movies and I'm excited to watch them all.

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA

Hey doll. Jessica Stam and loads more of today's most beautiul people @ICanTeachYouHowToDoIt

Great-looking people, you could say, is my drug of choice. There is no other experience out there for me that could take you on a high than seeing and oggling at handsome ladies and beautiful men. I Can Teach You How To Do It by fellow Gerard, Gerard Estadella is an amazing blog (and why I found it just now, I have no idea). This is definitely one of the blogs I'll be frequenting this summer, just so I have inspiration when it comes to taking pictures and being taken. Just always remember to put your best face on and you'll surely get photos as great as Estadella's.

BACK TO SCHOOL

The most beautiful rucksack I've seen @ Selectism

The first ever rucksack I had was from my mom's, a black bag printed with Mickey Mouse's profile all over in different colors. Then I have my Forever 21 one which is really the biggest bag I have and I've used it way too often. This Bill Amberg Hunter Rucksack though is definitely an art. The delicious leather, the color, the tiny gold accents, not to mention the deep sea green inner lining of this bag that makes it extra charming for me, has got me begging for money in the streets. Maybe going back to school is a great idea, I mean, I could pursue my master's degree AND carry this around, now that's an amazing deal right there.


FALLING IN LOVE WITH SASHA 





I still can't believe she has kids and she's not in her teens. Sasha Pivovarova, otherwise known a just plain Sasha, is a mad presence on the runway. And by mad I mean that in the best, most casual way. Top model---and not just a title you throw around, Sasha's awfully beautiful here for Free People and she's looking radiant, young and oh so fragile, it kills me. I'm having this video on my iPod soon. And I can't hold myself from tearing up when she's doing that two-tooth model smile, it's beautiful.

I'll be coming up with more of these while summer's here. Enjoy you guys!

- Gerard

On The Road

My copy...One day, I'll sit myself somewhere and read it...
Never done it before, I'll have to do it with this one

"I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, that I didn't know who I was..." ----Jack Kerouac

My beautiful, beautiful copy of Jack Kerouac's On The Road is published by Penguin classics with 83 pages worth of great introductory material and then starts, as a second part of the book, with the original scroll of the story. So if you think it's "Dean Moriarty", here it's not...Here it's "Neal Cassady" and "Allen Ginsberg" and for some reason, it's all so much better.

What I love about this book, meaning literally this thick, pastel-colored book, is how the introduction really situates you on the road...hahaha...That's how I've come to learn of George Shearing (above). Howard Cunnell believes On The Road's the first book with a built-in soundtrack, mostly played by Shearing's quintet. And also Slim Gaillard. 

Now, what I really want to do is to just drop everything, for now, and really pull of a Kerouac. In all its pretentious, American youngster feel, I honestly think it's going to do me some good. Not to complain, but I've been really bothered by so many things lately and what's funny is that they're all pretty serious things. I've known myself to get mixed up with tiny you-know-what problems that are all so pathetic...This time, it's big time serious.  And having just at least a day of freedom, of not worrying will do me (and all of us) good. What I do now though is to fight the anxiety with good humor...

And though On The Road is not a comedy, it sure does take you away on a literary ride...At least here, it's a momentary escape...

....then it's back to reality.


-Gerard

Fever 50

photo by Lesley "Le Sizzle" Choa

Jack Kerouac

Neil Cassady (white t-shirt) and Allen Ginsberg (middle)

So during the holidays and while it's still an on-going fascination, the 50s has not only proved that it's back (in style of course) but it's also giving me the biggest fever I've had in ages. Suddenly, all I think about now is the 50s, the 50s, the 50s, what they'd wear in the 50s, what they'd smoke in the 50s, what language they used in the 50s, and why the hell did I ever leave my 20s behind?

I tell myself it's a phase, cause I'm quite the pathetic type, you know? The kind that when it's all I ever think about I let it consume me until I'm tired of it and I tell myself, well, you've felt how it is to go Gatsby, now it's time for some Kerouac. It reads like a pretentious kid trying to write instead of just writing...But hey, I'm honest like that. I guess it's all the movies I've been watching lately, thanks to Film Class, the magazines, the books, fashion...And you have to ask yourself, even when you're not as open or easily swayed as I am, why is it that at certain times we resurrect certain pasts and fall in love with them? I'm staying as close to the things I believe I understand such as fashion and film....Like suddenly Howl (which by the way is the core of this fascination with the 50s...well, at least one of the biggest factors) and other era-inspired shows like the super sleek Mad Men... Fashion I see is turning 50s too... Or maybe not, but the idea is that our times have been incredibly open to looking back at the past, loving it maybe because we see in it the present...Don't you think? I've never lived in the jazzy, dizzying 20s or the smoking, paired-down 50s (and the Beat generation I've always heard in Western Literature class) to say that sure today, it's just like those times...but there has to be something about them that we find so addictive, so important that they're worth the reliving...

And while we leave those daunting questions slightly unanswered, I finally pinned down the all-important Ms. Lesley Choa for a photo of myself. hahaha...That sounded crappy...So, the inspiration behind this look, aside from my mood, was the colors I've constantly seen in Howl...It's mostly olive green, navy blue, brown like the ones from those handsome tortoise shell glasses, mustard yellow and they're all so very masculine, poetic even and for some reason, romantic. The shirt is from my grandfather's, the man whose style I will always admire and place as a touchstone...And yeah, it's a 50s inspired look and I'm pretty much in love with it now....Who knows what I'll be wearing tomorrow...

But you do have to admit, Allen Ginsberg, makes perfect, perfect sense here:

"The weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of dissatisfaction." ----Allen Ginsberg 

And that's one of the reasons why I'm mad about my course (meaning madly in love) and mad about the olden times...

-Gerard

#12

Arresting cover. Will be a movie real soon. Awesome...

There was Nabokov's Lolita cover that shows a pair of pale pink lips of a woman, so beautifully done you'll want to kiss the book cover, it's crazy. I saw Kazuo Ishiguro's book, Never Let Me Go last Sunday when I dropped by one of my favorite places in the Philippines (Fully Booked) and immediately felt the need to have this book wrapped under our tree for myself...or for my sister and when she's not around, I'll steal it. I'm a sucker for beautiful face covers (like the Lolita one) and after seeing the synopsis of the book, it seems promising to me. Being a trained researcher and always fueled by curiousity (thank you Jose Javier Reyes and National Geographic for that) I looked up a few quotes from the book and so far, here's a popular favorite:

"I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart. That's how it is with us. It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can't stay together forever." --- Never Let Me Go

Now that is some serious stuff right there. I've been reading too many old books lately that it'd be nice to read some new ones...That's number 12 for my 12 days of Christmas post, and I HIGHLY recommend you give this to a friend who loves reading and loves reading slightly life-changing fiction.

-Gerard

Now by the Sea: A Short Story

Maybe it's a telling sign of how I feel and how some of us feel...I don't know

"Funny how after all such hard work, promise, achievements, even love to the end suddenly fall apart when I am this close to its perfection. It's not quitting, nor losing or admitting defeat. It's something else, something I know everyone else will go through in their own, opportune time. When I'm tired, I'm tired, and for this moment, life's eternal tribute to times been and will be gives way to something the rest of the world and I have forgotten...now. 


Now, by the sea the world allows me a short chance to feel and be, while I have time to face life with and time wasted believing it was. The pursuit for love, success, fame and glory and everything else that seem to have figured the soul's most troubling questions faded into the background and all of now was the scent and music of salty waters, crashing and rolling on each other unto sand pure and pristine, a dome of blue and white and the depth of the ocean ahead of me, keeping ghosts of the world far from where I sat. I wanted to run wild and scream like today was created just for that. I was bursting with energy and joy, bursting with an innocence I have lost years and years ago. But I kept it for a while, because I had the rest of the day to do that and everything else. Somehow, nature and its lady, the sea, has taken me back to what matters and what matters is that now, I have finally lived." ----Gerard Gotladera

Possibly, my very first masterpiece to hit the shelves...And may I not jinx this one, but someday soon, this will probably be the ending you'll lose your heart to. So if you're an editor, please do contact me....I am dying to have this published.


-Gerard

The Gatsby Effect

Redford and Farrow on The Great Gatsby 1974

"His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the turning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete."

---- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

The original movie had the handsome Robert Redford as Gatsby and the thin and frail, wide-eyed Mia Farrow playing "the fool" Daisy Buchanan. For the new version, it's Leonardo Di Caprio and Carey Mulligan. This ought to be exciting.

And above is probably one of the most moving, haunting words in the book. I couldn't describe my first kiss, but whenever I try to write it down I aim at making it sound like it's a Fitzgerald writing. Amazziiinnnggg....

To Nikki, I will work on my Gatsby piece for you this weekend and to Bryle, have fun reading my favoritest book of all time!

-Gerard