I bugged my mom to get me a broadband internet connection for my PC so I could download everything I want at the speed of light, and generally spend my spare time wasting away on cyberspace. Perhaps it’s to my advantage that the slowness of my Smart WiFi connection is preventing me from doing the latter. But damnit, give me my downloads at least!
You see, I’m the kind of person who’s too cheap to buy pirated games when I can just rip them off the ‘net. Why spend 90 bucks on a burned game CD when I can get them online for free? Take note that PC games usually have more than 1 CDs. So that’s at least 180 pesos spent on discs that I will only use once to install, and then never again. Currently I’m downloading 4 gigs of a PC game that I really really want to play - if you can call a transfer speed of 0.0 kb as “downloading”. It’s been on my TorrentStorm for a few days now, and with only 30% to go, you can imagine how frustrated I am that the progress bar is not moving at all.
Aside from my download problems, I can barely load websites and check my e-mail. Every now and then, there would be bursts of speed where the site would actually load. However, most of my surfing time is spent clicking on the “try again” button when Firefox can’t locate the server.
I did call customer service to complain but the problem won’t be remedied until 24 hours from now. So I guess I’ll have to contend with the dial-up speed of Smart Wifi for the rest of the day. Yargh. With the way I’m crawling through the intarnets right now, it’s amazing I was even able to get this entry up.
I suppose I’m what some people would call a “fake” fan. Every now and then I get obsessed over a certain band or music artist;I listen to nothing but their songs for weeks at a time. But even at the height of my fandom, I find myself too cheap to shell out 450 pesos (approx. $10) for an original CD. Why pay so much when I can just download their songs over the Internet?
With Belle and Sebastian, an indie Scotish rock group, it’s different. Their music calms and comforts me like an invisible best friend and leaves me feeling warm, happy, and strangely content. I love what their songs have done for me, which is why I didn’t flinch when I paid a thousand pesos ($20) today to buy Put The Book Back On The Shelf: A Belle And Sebastian Anthology (published by Image Comics). This graphic novel is an anthology of stories inspired by or interpretations of various Belle and Sebastian songs. I knew that I had to get a copy of this book no matter what. And I was in luck; the last copy was on the shelf and I had just enough money in the bank to buy it.
Reading this graphic novel is a uniquely trippy experience. As I read each story, I played the song that inspired the writer or the artist - and I couldn’t tell if it was the music that made the story more vivid, or the story that made the music more real. It took me over two hours to finish reading the whole thing and if the songs alone could relax me and leave me in a good mood, playing them along with the stories was just heaven. It felt just like a good night’s sleep after a long, exhausting day.
I can see why Put the Book Back on the Shelf might not be for all fans because some writers made quite a lot of unexpected interpretations. For instance, the strip for the song If She Wants Me has a really sad story, but I imagined the song to have something more to do with two young friends playing in a grassy field. Another one of my favorite strips, We Rule the School, is about a kid who finds a ninja in his backpack. The song didn’t fit the story too well but never mind - it was still cute and a lot of fun to read.
In spite of whatever clashing interpretations there might be, Put the Book Back on the Shelf is a must for any Belle and Sebastian fan. Reading the anthology heightened my appreciation of their music, and made me fall in love with the songs I haven’t listened to till tonight. I wouldn’t recommend this book to those who are merely curious about the band, though. If a taste of their music is what you’re looking for, I suggest you listen to these songs instead:
Waiting for the Moon to Rise
My Wandering Days Are Over
Funny Little Frog
Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
If She Wants Me
The Blues are Still Blue
Taken out of context, I don’t think this restaurant would last a month:
I took this picture yesterday while I was at the Gateway Mall food court with Pat. I haven’t had the chance to check out the food they were selling, but I’m pretty sure they don’t serve people. Literally. ;p Negros is a province in the Visayas region of the Philippines, so I can only assume that they sell delicacies and dishes that are native to the area.
Still, Flavors of Negros has to be the most hilarious restaurant name I have ever come across. I wonder if the owner intended for the name to be so blatantly politically incorrect. But in any case, it’s working. The next time we happen to be at Gateway, I think I’ll persuade Pat to try out various Negros flavors with me.
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