I Know, But…

I am in love.

BUT.

But it has nothing to do with a person. It has something to do with this TV show that I have recently been hooked into.

Not your ordinary fairy tales.

Yes, this is the “Grimm” TV series which kicked off last year. It reminded a little (just a little) of “Supernatural.” What fascinated me about this one is that they gave something else to the term “fairy tales.”

The lead character, Nick, researching on his current supernatural enemy.

The story started when Nick, a cop, discovers he is the last in the line of Grimms. Know all those fairy tales you read about, written by the brothers Grimm? It turns out that those aren’t merely fairy tales at all but documentations of all the supernatural forces they have encountered over the years. And this cop Nick is the last in the line of descendants. And there the story unravels.

Hello, supernatural creature!

He encounters different creatures. Yes, there’s the Big Bad Wolf, the Three Little Pigs and others more. But the first scary one I saw in the first episode? This:

Holy crap. This scared me!

This one was too reminiscent of those… things I saw in the horror movie from way back, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.” And needless to say, that movie scared the crap out of me. Here is another screen capture, just because I want to scare myself even more:

What if your nurse looked like this one???

I think the show is good mainly because the pacing is enough to keep you on edge and the twists just keep you guessing. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Nick is HAWT.

If Nick points a gun at me, I would be smiling & feeling lucky. Too hot to handle, this guy is.

And I like how efficient the tandem is. Cops Nick and Hank? Funny, reliable, alert, solid as rocks, and witty as hell. What’s not to love about them?

Cop buddies, Nick & Hank, can handle any case with humor and efficiency. Plus points for them!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m in love. I’m in love with this show. I owe my brother for telling me about this one but when I told him about my gratefulness, he said to me, “What are you talking about? I never mentioned to you this ‘Grimm’ TV series. I meant the movie! You got the wrong Grimm reference!” Okay. So I did get my hands on the wrong Grimm but hey. That error was destined to fill my weekends, to make me look forward to kicking back and relaxing on a weekend night, totally glued to the TV.

P.S. Watch out for another character, a reformed wolf named Eddie Monroe. He is funny and adorable and I think he has OCD.

The reformed Big Bad Wolf (a.k.a. The Clockmaker).

Image sources: “Grimm” poster, Monroe in wolf form, Monroe in human form, “Grimm” photos

I Crawled My Way Back to Reality, You Guys!

I don’t know about you but when I enter a bookstore, I lose track of minutes and hours. I get sucked into a space in time wherein I jump into the tons and tons of books. I check the covers, I read the summary at the back, I move around from shelf to shelf… And then BOOM! A child tugs on the edge of my plain white cotton shirt and insists we go home. I look down at the child (a boy) and blink and blink. And then blink some more.  He’s oblivious to my confusion and so he just says emphatically, with such feeling and impatience, “Mommy, let’s go home.” This is the point wherein bafflement becomes total astonishment. Apparently, I lost track of time and when I heaved myself back to the real world, SURPRISE! I now have a child. Really? I gave birth without knowing about it? Wait, wait. I know this. I have read about this somewhere. This child is genetically engineered. This is NOT my child.

So anyway. Dropping the silliness. I browsed around the bookstore during my lunchtime and found a couple of books to read before I turn 31. I have a year and a few more months to make good that goal statement. Perfect time range!

Without further ramblings, here are my picks for today’s arbitrary trip to the bookstore:

This seems like a fun read.

I was never a fan of Anne Rice. But this? I think I'm going to like it.

Surreality. Mystery. Nothing ordinary. Need I say more why I am drawn to this?

Sci-fi... Something new for me. I never was into sci-fi but this seemed like a good book to start with.

This one seems like a good read, too. After reading the back cover, I was completely intrigued.

Maybe Next Time

I took a walk outside a couple of minutes ago. The air was brisk and cool and I loved it. It made me want to walk even more.

Walking along the streets where I live reminded me so much of all the years I’ve spent growing up and growing old in pretty much the same place. It’s amazing how doing something you’ve always done can still make you feel renewed.

But now I’m here inside the house, clad in my pajamas and old gray shirt, feet bare and eyes somewhat drooping close. I still have work at nine in the morning tomorrow. And once in the office, I need to focus on staying awake (somehow, it’s not that different when you’re in a party and there’s drinking and eating and at the end, you try so hard on making it home alive).

I was supposed to blog about another list I have, one I came up with while taking that beautiful, delicious brisk walk on the wide streets where I live. It’s a list of my 2012 issues — slight OCD, the penchant for notebooks, this fixation with all things horror, love life (or whatever is left of it), how people come to me just to talk when they have problems (apparently I should’ve taken been a psychiatrist and I missed my calling in life), the many secrets I hold just to save some people’s faces, et cetera.

They are just random things that screeched and halted and went ahead and held one big street party inside my head. And I was supposed to lay them down in one neat little list. Instead, I talked about walking, about my pajamas and shirt and isn’t this just nuts? I am talking non-sequitur here. It’s best I come back another time and day. But before I do, let me throw in here this short prose I came up with while inside one of the many restrooms of Mall of Asia during my lunch break:

Ever felt this? You're alone in the restroom but you don't FEEL alone. Not at all...

She had known the difference between red and green at an early age. Red meant someone’s inside. Green meant it’s vacant and you can come in.

As she walked along the rows and rows of bathroom stalls on either side, something struck her as odd. On all the bathroom doors, the sliding latches were green. And yet… yet she did not feel alone. And what’s even more odd… what’s even more odd was how each and every door she touched and pushed (it did indicate vacant, didn’t it?) was met with a force that pushed the door right back at her. But it was the afternoon and the lights overhead were bright. She wasn’t scared. Not at all. She found it odd, yes, but not scary enough to send her running out of that weird restroom.

Last door to her left. It indicated green. Her pale fingers, delicate looking, planted themselves on that door. And then gave a light push. There it was, that feeling that someone (something?) was on the other side of the door. She pushed again, a bit harder this time. Still the door would not budge. She stepped closer, so that now her fragile-looking body was fully facing the door. She sucked in her breath and she did not even realize it. Another push, with more force now. The door rattled on its hinges, but not because she pushed it. Rather, because someone (something!) had slammed it back at her.

“Someone’s here!” A voice hissed from behind the door, a harsh whisper from the other side of that door. Just a whisper and yet filled with so much venom, too much hate. It sounded like it came from an old woman, with her throat parched and scratched dry.

She gasped, stepped back and gaped at the door in horror. She could not move. Her eyes fell on the gap between the floor and the door. No feet. She couldn’t see any feet. Her body grew cold and goosebumps dotted every pore. Her head felt too large for her; she felt like she was floating. That thing, that creature, it could see through the door. It could see her.

The lights in the bathroom suddenly flickered. She muffled a shriek and her feet finally unhinged themselves from that spot…

* image source: ThoseCameraCurls

A Slice of Sunshine

We all know that life isn’t fair but I often forget that fact because I choose to overlook it. When something wrong happens to me, I always try to look at the bright side, laugh at my situation, poke fun of it. Sure, I’d pout and throw a histrionic fit about it but it doesn’t usually last for long. It’s just that I hate dwelling on the negative. But sometimes, when all the negative vibes you’ve tried so hard to set aside come piling down on you in one great crash, it’s hard to keep the rose-colored glasses on, eh?

But back to the mundane, the usual: Weekend was pretty much fun. Hung out with my friends from my previous company. Got invited to a trip outside the city. Managed to sleep for 14 hours straight. The weather is better now (No more storm. Hooray!). And I’m starting the read the first Anita Blake novel. And did I tell you, I’m eating junk food and drinking iced tea while doing so.

Half the time, it’s the little things that make me smile and relax.

A Tale of London Below

Mr. Croup: “Were I you, I would no longer worry about the young lady. Her days are numbered, and the number in question isn’t even in double digits.”

I’ve been going through my books during my free time and came across my Neil Gaiman’s books. I only have three of them – Smoke and Mirrors, Fragile Things and Neverwhere. The latter was the first novel of Neil Gaiman that I have ever read. That was when I knew he is one of my favorite authors, carving in a spot right there with Stephen King and Haruki Murakami. I fell in love with  Neverwherebecause it’s quirky and interesting and creepy and twisted in all the right ways, making you wonder what will happen next and what will the ending be.

The story starts off like this: You know that feeling when there’s a storm that’s brewing? The sky is a mixture of gray and bruised blue, the air is thick and heavy and somewhere at the back of your head, there’s the whisper of impending doom. That’s exactly how Neverwhere starts off. One day, the lead character, Richard Mayhew, is on his way to England. The next thing you know, he’s in the middle of a busy life there with a career and a gorgeous fiancee and then BAM! He decides to tend to a girl he’s seen on the streets, unconscious and fragile-looking. His whole world then turns upside-down. The girl doesn’t seem to be from his side of the world. Two men (?creatures?) show up at his doorstep, looking for their so-called missing sister, a mouse is made a messenger, an angel needs to be found, and it turns out there is a London Below.

What is London Below, anyway? Great question but I’m afraid you may have to read the book to know. Someone else will always do a better review than I do, so you can read one right here. Have a happy reading! I’d love to hear from you when you’ve started or finished the book.

Neverwhere