Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass

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A young girl named Alice tours the river with her two sisters and lays bored along the riverbanks when she sees an oddity in the scenery, that of a white rabbit wearing a coat and staring at a pocket watch as if late for an appointment. Her curiosity brings her to a rabbit hole where she falls down and finds herself in front of a tiny door that her size wouldn’t allow her to enter. Taking advice from a bottle with a note that says “Drink Me” scribbled on it, she finally enters the door. What follows is a series of growing and shrinking by way of eating and drinking certain food and drinks in the strange new world she finds herself in. Along the way she meets a variety of weird creatures such as talking animals, insects, and a pack of humanoid cards led by a Queen of Hearts that has an obsession for beheading her constituents.

Atonement

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13-year-old Briony Tallis wants to be a writer and makes it a habit to write stories and plays that she asks her cousins to present, with her as director. This summer is no different as her cousins Lola and her twin brothers Jackson and Pierrot all spend time at the Tallis’ vast country estate in the midst of their parents’ divorce. Cecilia, Briony’s older sister, is bored after her stint at Cambridge and is annoyed at her childhood friend Robbie, who lives with his mother in a cabin that her father has gifted them in exchange for housework. Also coming back home are Leon, the sisters’ eldest sibling who is bringing his friend Paul Marshall along with him. At the end of a long day, the family dinner is marred by the disappearance of the twins and what is later concluded as sexual assault of their sister Lola by an unknown assailant, whom Briony swears she knows and saw, leading to an accusation that will ruin one too many lives.

Interview with the Vampire

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Louis de Pointe de Lac is 200 years old, but this is not because of a gluten-free diet. As a French migrant whose family had established a new life in Louisiana, he had been living a good life as an indigo plantation owner when a vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt decided to leave two bite marks on his neck. As Louis’ humanity died, he was introduced to a life of immortality as a blood sucker fatally allergic to the sun and spending most of his day asleep in a coffin. What follows is a rollercoaster ride with his new friend, their vampiric ways differing greatly as far as hunting and diet preferences are concerned. Soon, they turn an orphan girl named Claudia into one of them, which is not really a good idea considering she would be a woman trapped in a young girl’s body just decades later. All this Louis narrates via an interview with an eager journalist who wants to introduce him to the world.

The Silmarillion

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In the beginning was the creator named Iluvatar and he created a group of spirits called the Ainur. The Ainur referred to him as Eru and he bid them to create beautiful music for him, which they did, to perfection. The most powerful of them all, Melkor, decided to break the harmony of their music and composed his own, openly defying his creator. After their disagreement, Iluvatar offered them a vision of Arda, a new world that they could all descend upon to govern. There they became the Valar, basically gods, while their subordinates became demigods called the Maiar. Thus begins the battle between Melkor and his siblings for dominion over the new world they have been entrusted to oversee. As the first children of Iluvatar, the Elves, come into being, a tug-o-war of influence between Melkor and the other Valar ensues, causing confusion and sowing division that will persist until the coming of Iluvatar’s second children: Mankind.

The Sympathizer

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An anonymous narrator writes a confession about his time in exile in America. As a North Vietnamese mole embedded in the South Vietnamese military, he is there to experience the fall of Saigon himself before being airlifted to Guam and continuing his journey as a refugee to the United States. With him is his best friend Bon who has lost all will to live after his wife and son fail to make it out of Vietnam alive. The two become roommates in a tiny room, living the “American Dream” while maintaining a double life as immigrants and covert military men, carrying out assassinations of other refugees suspected as northern spies by whatever is left of the exiled South Vietnamese government. Being a son of a French priest and a Vietnamese mother, the narrator reflects on the duality of his existence, his job, as well as his relationship with the West and the East as a half-half who never seems to be ever given a chance to become whole.

The Merchant of Venice

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A young member of the Venetian nobility named Bassanio desires marriage to a young wealthy heiress called Portia who resides in Belmont. Not wise with his spending and with no ducats left to fund his courtship of her, he turns to his friend Antonio, a merchant, who agrees to become his guarantor should he manage to secure a loan from a willing party. Bassanio ends up borrowing the required amount from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender who is furious because his daughter Jessica has converted to Christianity and marries Lorenzo, a friend of Antonio and Bassanio. When Shylock fails to collect the amount he has lent to Bassanio due to Antonio’s ships where his wealth is locked in being stranded at sea, he brings the matter to the Venetian court and demands a pound of Antonio’s flesh in lieu of his monetary debt. Conniving to rescue their friends, Portia hatches a plan to outwit the Jew.

[KANSAI] Budget and Itinerary (3)

THURSDAY: August 8, 2024

Cebu Pacific (Manila - Osaka - Manila) - 12,220.00

Kansai-Kuko (Kansai Airport - Namba) - 970.00

White Hostel Shinsaibashi (7 Nights) - 20,540.00

McDonalds (5 pcs Nuggets w/ Fries & Coke) - 550.00

Lawson (Groceries) - 400.00

JPY34,680.00

[SHIGA] Beach Day at Lake Biwa

Looking at my prefecture map of Japan yet again, I noticed another prefecture in Kansai that hasn’t been visited yet. What’s a bit interesting about Shiga is that the entire prefecture is almost made up by a land area embracing Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan, as if the prefecture’s sole purpose is to surround the lake on all sides. The lake is said to be 4 million years old and serves as the prefecture’s main tourist attraction. Lake, huh? Okay, we can beach there, after a good mix of mountain Buddhism, a castle, and deer. A big body of water should be the best way to wrap up our visit to Kansai. But where should we go?

[NARA] A Deer for Everyone and Everyone for a Deer

The plan was to diversify the kinds of attraction to visit for each prefecture. The obvious choice for Nara would have been temples since it did serve as the capital of the country during the Nara period between 710 and 794 AD and, thus, has its own fair share of worship places. But who are we kidding here? Nara is more popular nowadays for its deer population. Doe, a deer, a female deer. The male ones with big antlers. They are all here. Everywhere you go, actually. But first, how do we get here in the first place? Nara is part of the region of Kansai, often dwarfed by the grandeur of its more popular neighbors Osaka and Kyoto.

[HYOGO] Himeji Castle

Just how many Japanese castles do you need? When is enough enough? It’s NEVER enough. It was decided early on that Kobe will be the representative of Hyogo prefecture. A simple cityscape tour along the bay. I wasn’t aware that a train ride to Kobe from Osaka won’t even take an hour. And then I consulted Wikitravel and suddenly there was a contender. Himeji. It has a castle and it’s not that far from Kobe. After some serious deliberation, a compromise was reached to visit Himeji Castle in the morning and then go on a side trip to Kobe’s Nunobiki Falls on the way back. Only the castle trip materialized because I was out of time.