Notes from June

    Hello from your monthly dose of lists. I'm currently listening to Kate Bush's The Whole Story which is a great album for Kate Bush starters except that the version of Wuthering Heights included in this album features a matured Kate Bush singing about the laments of a ghost. If you prefer a more creepy version singing ghost, I suggest you go and listen to the 1979 version of the song. Thank you very much. 

    June 2021 was ok- watching music documentaries, reading books and others. There's one thing however that made the month a little challenging for my decision- making skills. Recently,  I rediscovered the wonderful world of fountain pens and, as much as I want not to spend a penny on fountain pens, I caved in to the temptation and bought several Diamine Inks. This is the first time I tried Diamine inks and the brand instantly became my favourite. As much as I want to hoard Diamine Inks, I don't want to keep inks I won't use. Nonetheless, these new fountain pen inks will surely motivate me to spend more time writing even the miniscule details of my day. 

    Now, let's get into the business of enumerating the usual things. This time, let's start with books. For the first 2 days of the month, I read Siobhan Curham's Dear Dylan. To clarify, the book's not about Bob Dylan, ok. The novel's actually far from any Bob Dylan references. On a more serious note, I did not expect the book to discuss domestic violence.

    Reading the novel and thinking about the character's experiences, I can't help but feel sad that not much has changed since the publishing of this book. When you search for domestic violence on Google, there are several articles that reported the co-relationship between the lockdown and the rise of domestic violence cases worldwide. This reality made the whole situation twice difficult for victims since most of them do not have access to authorities and people who can help them. Overall, I find the book mature for its intended audience ( young-adult readers) but nevertheless, it did a great job in raising awareness about a very pressing topic that most people can relate with.

    Another book I read this month is Tim Bradford's The Groundwater Diaries. The book explores the lost rivers of London and the urban development of the capital. While reading this book, I found similarities between London and Manila. Like London, Manila once had smaller rivers now lost due to the rapid development of the city. All the alterations we do to our geography will affect us in a way or another. One result of our alterations to our geography is the flooding we experience in Manila especially during the rainy season. Although it's a burden we've pretty much learned how to carry, it still calls for a more long-term and sustainable solutions. 

The Groundwater Diaries' book cover is the main reason why I bought it; reminds me of Grant Snider's Incidental Comics.

   Reading the book was an entertaining experience that I sent an email to the author to express how much I enjoyed reading his book. To my surprise, I received a reply from the author who said that the book belongs to a specific genre called "psychogeography". Psychoegeography focuses on the relationship between geography and a person's well-being. This whole psychogeography thing makes me want to look for a book that contextualises the idea to Philippine cities. I hope to find one and will definitely update you of my progress. 

    Speaking of updates, I am interrupting this blog post to provide you with an update as to what I'm listening whilst typing this post.  I am now listening to France Gall's obscure German songs. Track no. 5 is a prophetic song about computers and dating, just in case you're curious.

    Back to our monthly list, I watched 2 episodes of Ricky Gervais' Derek several nights ago. I originally wanted to watch the The Office UK but I can't find it on Netflix, so I settled for another Ricky Gervais show. I don't know how the British classify their shows, but in the Philippines, this kind of show would be classified as a documentary (minus that one character because our country's still conservative). The premise of this show is too realistic to be classified as comedy or drama. Even his show After Life is too serious and dreary to be considered as comedy, no wonder they don't show British comedy shows here in the Philippines. 

    Enough of the British comedy and Ricky Gervais shows since I also did other things such as spending the early days of the month watching music documentaries on Netflix. The first one the list is Elvis Presley: The Searcher.  As someone who knows nothing about Elvis Presley besides his 70s outfits and the songs from Lilo & Stitch, the documentary provided a helpful explanation as to why people consider him as The King of Rock 'n Roll. The documentary also provided  the context of American society during the late 1950s and how that kind of atmosphere made way for artists like Elvis Presley to hit the airwaves. I can't say that the documentary turned me into an Elvis fan, but I'd say that it did help me in appreciating his songs.

    Second on the list is Echo in the Canyon.  Like the previous documentary, Echo in the Canyon told of the story of the musical landscape during the mid-1960s California. California in the mid-1960s produced well-known bands that helped in defining the youth culture of the decade. Prior to watching music documentaries, I never really thought that geography influences the kind of sounds that people make. Thanks to music documentaries, I'm beginning to see the application of pyschogeography in people's activities.

    As for the songs, I can't remember most of the songs I listened to this month because I spent less time listening to albums, which made remembering song titles easier since I tend group songs as part of a whole. Anyway, I never thought how chill it is not to listen to all songs of an album. No matter which way you listen to songs, the whole experience remains the same- inspiring and enthralling.

    And there, my friend, is where I'll leave you for this month's edition of this series. Have nothing much to say except that I'm listening to Townes Van Zandt's Live at the Old Quarter while finishing this post.