JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Line of Volcanoes, Borneo 7s 2010. Jon, Ned, Andrew Evro, Patrice, Wolfie. Photo by JZ.

geekwad: Do you like reading books? Is it cool for men to read books in public places? I always get odd glances when I prop open a book while waiting in line or riding public transportation. People should start realizing that the best place to carry a book around is Manila, because there is always traffic and you have to wait in line for everything.

Jon: I love reading. My longtime friends make me promise not to read their books in the shower before they lend them to me because I’m notorious for returning them in awful shape. Manila seems like the perfect place to bring books around because of all the standing around you have to do but I’ve found the MRT is so tight that it’s hard to turn the pages and the roads are so bumpy and the traffic so stop-and-go it’s hard to keep your eyes focused on anything less than size 30 font.

Is it cool for men to read books in public places? My theory on cool is: If you’re cool, you’re cool no matter what you happen to be doing. And if you’re not? All the trendy short-brimmed designer hats, slick hairdos, and false bravado in the world are not going to make you cool. In the end I think ‘being cool’ comes down to self-possession and self-awareness: knowing who you are, the things you enjoy, and then doing those things confidently because you enjoy them and not to project an image or for acceptance. I think people can sense that sort of self-possession that radiates out as confidence (and prickly defensiveness is not the same thing. It’s just the surly flip side of searching for acceptance) and will eventually come around to appreciate that no matter who you are.

A modicum of fashion sense, personal hygiene, and social skills helps too, though. Just a drop.

* * * * *
Jon Morales works at the Asia Foundation and is taking his master’s in development studies at UP. He is the captain of the Nomads football club and is a member of the Philippine Volcanoes national men’s rugby team. Jon majored in economics at Brown, where he was captain of the rugby team. Before moving to Manila last year he lived in Beijing.

Got a question for our straight guy columnist Jon? Post it in Comments.

* * * * *

While trying to make sense of our files we found a bunch of photos of a match between the Philippine Volcanoes squad bound for the A5N tournament in India (which they won) and the Nomads rugby club with a new member, Jon Morales. The photographer happened to take several of Jon getting grabbed. . .

by Oliver Saunders (L-R: Rupert Zappia, Kit Guerra, Ollie, Michael de Guzman (hidden, in the green socks), Jon, Ronald Fong, Phil Abraham, Kenzo West, Austin Dacanay, a Nomad.)

(L-R: A Nomad, Kit Guerra, Ollie, Michael de Guzman (hidden, in the green socks), Jon, Ronald Fong, Phil Abraham, Kenzo West, Austin Dacanay, a Nomad.)

by Gareth Holgate. (L-R: Raf Zappia, Gaz, Jon, Harry Morris (back), Michael de Guzman, Ronald Fong)

Photograph by the Hubble telescope

We received ten entries for LitWit Challenge 4.1: An extraterrestrial lands in Manila. Here are the Yucch-meter’s findings.

#1 Benedict Taft

– “lends discretion over my distinguishing feature”???
– The extraterrestrial narrator laughs at the humans for consuming water and wheat and utilizing wheels but does not state what the “advanced” alternatives are.
– If the extraterrestrial is so intelligent it would know that “species” is singular and plural and never “specie”.
– Time warp is not a verb but a noun.

#2 stellalehua

– The piece is entertaining and well-written but takes the assignment too literally.
– The Rolex bit is funny until you think about it. Gold or platinum, which occur naturally, can be the waste products of some process. Rolexes are fairly complex manufactured goods and cannot be waste products. There goes the punchline.
– This story is too safe, like homework designed to please the teacher.

#3 Cacs

– Describing a space voyage: Good.
– Taking the Filipino diaspora interstellar: Very good.
– Explaining the Filipino aspiration to work abroad: Brilliant.

#4 2Qt2BSTR8

– “Doldrums” is a plural noun referring to “low spirits”. It is not a musical instrument.
– Corporate ennui leading to possible nervous breakdown: Interesting.
– Miss Universe punchline: Limits story’s audience to Pinoys aware of our beauty pageant fixation. This is a common issue in contemporary Philippine literature: We talk amongst ourselves and do not feel compelled to address the world at large.

#6 oberstein

– You have style and wit but this is too much effort for a dick joke.

#7 kindler

– Like #2, an overly literal interpretation of the assignment.
– Clever use of current events and hot topics.
– The Soylent Green plot is a hoot.
– We could see the punchline coming from the Cat’s Eye Nebula.

#8 samutsari

– At last, a story about aliens that does not mention outer space, advanced technology, or aliens outright.
– Finds weirdness in the most mundane things. This is more interesting to us than weird for weird’s sake.
– Brings up the possibility that our extraterrestrial neighbors have not revealed themselves because we are too bizarre and immature.

#9 Cacs

– Aba, poetic Tagalog.
– Very clever. Perhaps we need to designate a senior division in the next series of LitWits.
– We did not see that punchline coming. Hah!
– We think of it as Arthur C. Clarke’s The Star, as told by the star.
Read The Star here.

#10 dibee

– An attempt at an interstellar romance.
– The story itself has time dilation problems. This may be intentional but it does not make the story more readable. The search for the sister is said to take years, but all that time is taken up by the search and the relationship is not developed. (It’s not enough to say “What had been a childish fascination turned to a womanly desire” (Yucch); demonstrate it.) And then the wait takes decades but is dispensed with in a couple of paragraphs.
– We like the melancholy tone of the piece.
– The last sentence is cheating. If you feel the need to explain then you do not have complete confidence in your story.

#11 angus

– We are not convinced that this is a story about an extraterrestrial. We think it’s how you spent your weekend. Kidding.

The winner of LitWit Challenge 4.1: An extraterrestrial lands in Manila iiiiiiiiisssssssss. . .

Cacs, for both the interstellar diaspora and the meteorite.

Congratulations, Cacs! Pick up your prize any day starting Tuesday December 28 at the Customer Service counter, National Bookstore, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati.

The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to you by our friends at National Bookstore.

Dangling stars from Raul

Gun and handcuffs from Noel


Dancing Cats by Ricky

We should just open an earrings-and-eyeglass frames shop.

You have classes, jobs, lives, obligations, chores, relationships, brats, cats, dogs, friends, parents, sidelines, gym, training, hobbies, ferrets, parakeets, fish, plants, but week in and week out you summon up the time and energy to turn in 1,000 words for the Weekly LitWit Challenge. For what? For a book you could buy yourself, for snippets of advice you may not even need or use.

You join the Weekly LitWit Challenges for the best of all possible reasons: None! You write because you want to. That’s how you become a writer.

Thanks to our very cool friends at National Bookstore for supporting the Weekly LitWit Challenge and giving us the complete freedom to write whatever we like.

The winner of LitWit Challenge 4.1 will be announced shortly, and then LitWit Challenge 4.2 goes online.

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala is the chair and CEO of the 175-year-old Ayala Corporation. He has been in our Readers’ Bloc since 2006 when this blog started..

Jaime at 15, Worth School, England. Standing, second from the left. He was the number 7 on their 15s team.

Jaime’s list for 2010:

The Passage by Justin Cronin
A military experiment gone wrong leads to a post-apocalyptic world where only the fittest survive. It is an epic of sorts and as much a story of survival as it is about the dangers of unfettered science. What kept me riveted was its cinematic sweep and its surprisingly engaging prose. Part thriller, part adventure but with well-written characters. It keeps you fascinated from beginning to end. However, expect much carnage as hunter and prey twist and turn throughout.

Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt
I am a Tony Judt fan so I keep bringing up his books every year. This is philosophical non fiction at its best. Sadly Judt passed away this year from a terribly debilitating disease.

The best way to describe this book is to quote from his own article in the New York Review of Books, which sets the premise of his thoughts: “Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: Is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? Will it help bring about a better society or a better world? Those used to be the political questions, even if they invited no easy answers. We must learn once again to pose them.”

A remarkable intellectual with a profound ability to reinvent conventional wisdom on a whole range of philosophical and historical topics. In addition, and not unimportantly, he writes beautifully.

The Sugar King of Havana by Julian Rathbone
Rathbone is an English journalist who writes for the Financial Times. He is part-Cuban hence his interest in Cuban history. I was attracted to this biography of Julio Lobo, who exerted almost monopolistic control of the global sugar industry in the 1960s and 70s. He intertwines this history of Lobo with that of pre- and post-Castro Cuba; as one might imagine, there are interesting parallels with Philippine economic and social history. To make matters more interesting, Julio Lobo had dealings with the sugar industry in the Philippines under Marcos and was a partner of Benedicto (for those that remember the sugar industry at that time).

Cuba makes a fascinating backdrop for any story. Add to that Lobo’s unique personality and entrepreneurial flair and you have an interesting read. When Castro came to power Lobo represented everything that Castro wanted to dismantle. However, Castro respected his business acumen so much that he offered him the post of Minister of Sugar in Cuba, while taking away all the assets he had built up, except for the first mill he had built. An interesting proposition. Lobo left the meeting saying that he “would think about it”, and promptly packed his bags and left for the US. There he worked hard to rebuild everything he had lost. Entrepreneurship at its boldest, coupled with the clash of communism and capitalism in a country that has fascinated writers for decades.

Jaime biking somewhere remote.

Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler
Wheeler likes to write about far-off places that were once of interest only to explorers. Here she focuses on Antartica: its history, physical make-up and those who explored and “discovered” it. It is a personal narrative that mixes history with current travel. I am a sucker for hidden corners of the world. She takes you on a beautiful ride to a place few can ever hope to visit.

The Network by Jason Elliot
The author is a journalist with extensive knowledge of Afghanistan. He has used his experience to weave an interesting novel of an army officer put to work under British Intelligence in post-Taliban Afghanistan. It is a thriller with the usual mix of covert intelligence, special operations training and spy craft. Well-written and an entertaining read for those that like these types of books. You learn a fair amount about the troubles in the Middle East (and how the British Secret Service works).

Jaime accepting an Asian Business Leader award from CNBC

Jaime is also responsible for the rugbification of this site. (But not the clothing optional option for the rugby players; that’s my contribution entirely.) If you have any complaints, send them to JAZA, Ayala Corporation, Ayala Avenue. However if you’d like to thank Jaime for introducing us to rugby and our fabulous Volcanoes, for supporting the team, and for his general Jaime-ness, post a message in Comments and we’ll send it on. (Then maybe he’ll send us to cover the A5N Division 1 tournament in Korea next year. Wheeeee!)

* * * * *

And we’re covering the Volcanoes at the A5N Division 1 tournament in Korea May 31 to June 4, 2011! Thanks to Globe and our favorite rugby-playing motorcycle-riding, book-reading, The Wire-watching corporate overlord. Now back to my Rugby for Dummies.

Rivals: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

Roger picked Rafa up at the airport and they hung out in Zurich before their exhibition match for Africa. Of course the concept of rivals hanging out makes for excellent public relations, but their friendship seems genuine.

Rivals: Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi

In his bestselling autobiography Open, Agassi described Sampras as stingy (made tons of money, never picked up the check at dinner) and boring. He repeated these…observations into a microphone during their exhibition match for Haiti. So Sampras served at his head.

Immaturity: not always age-based!

ESPN’s Rick Reilly: Letter to Roger Federer’s Children