In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal Damnation. Amen.

Right now, I am at Netopia in SM Megamall, Ortigas, Metro Manila. The place is so bloody cold. I am also as hungry as hell, so it is all good.

I have been in the big city since Wednesday. Most of my free time I spend here at Megamall, because I just love the place, the activity, and the sheer anonymity that the space affords me.

Anyway, I went to Comic Quest (located at the Lower Ground level same as this Internet cafe) and was able to purchase all 13 episodes of the Hellsing anime series. I am a pleased little vampire.

I am going back to barracks tomorrow afternoon, on the 3:20 PM flight.

As time is of the essence, I might as well get my freezing buns off this light metal chair and get some serious shopping done.

Here is the Amazon.com product description for the Hellsing anime:

The worst enemy of the night is one of its own. A secret war brews in the night – a war where humanity is only a pawn.

The Hellsing Organization deploys in the shadows to protect the mortal world. But now, artificially spawned vampires have appeared, forcing Hellsing to call in their ultimate weapon – the rogue vampire, Alucard!

After he transforms the dying Seras Victoria into a vampire, they join forces to combat the undead army, as well as her own newfound hunger!

Majority of the populace in ye olde domicile have religiously followed Endless Love: Autumn Story and Endless Love 2: Winter Sonata on GMA-7.

As it is one of my fine, unbreakable habits of spoiling things for everyone by knowing the endings of television novellas way ahead, I stumbled across an Endless Love 2: Winter Sonata domain in one of my sporadic online research sessions in the middle of December last year.

This very elegantly designed website, however, is currently offline. Of late, all that ever shows up during my visits is a placeholder page for Name Secure. Most unfortunate, really.

The aforementioned domain used to have a front/splash page containing a sweet montage of photographs of the lead characters as well as a heartbreakingly beautiful poem by Sara Teasdale.

I have long since downloaded the poem’s full text and would now like to share it, for everyone to appreciate.

The Flight
by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

Look back with longing eyes and know that I will follow
Lift me up in your love as a light wing lifts a swallow
Let our flight be far in sun or blowing rain
But what if I heard my first love calling me again?

Hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the foam
Take me far away to the hills that hide your home
Peace shall thatch the roof and love shall latch the door
But what if I heard my first love calling me once more?

Next week, GMA-7 will have its premier broadcast of the romantic drama series’ third installment, Endless Love 3: Summer Scent.

The goddess herself says:

The best-looking, most rebellious, most dangerous of the four marauders…

And to answer one burning question on the discussion boards, his eyes are grey.”

Sirius Black has GREY eyes.

I can now die in ecstasy.

Nick Joaquin, Philippine National Artist for Literature, passed away last April 29th, at 7:00 AM, in his San Juan, Metro Manila home. He was a week shy of his 87th birthday, which will be taking place on 4 May 2004.

Yahoo! News Asia provides a very good news feature as tribute to this brilliant man, whose rich imagination and poetic soul reached beyond print to capture the numerous facets of the human spirit.

Among his most notable works are the short stories Summer Solstice, Guardia de Honor (Honor Guard) and, my personal favorite, the savagely bittersweet May Day Eve. He also wrote the local classic novel, The Woman Who Had Two Navels.

His play A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino: An Elegy in Three Scenes was a big hit when it was first staged in 1955. This work was later made into a movie. In the years that followed, Portrait has been staged time and time again by various professional and amateur theatre groups, testimony to its timeless grandeur.

More recently, his play Tatarin, a mystical and sexually charged battle between woman and man, was likewise transposed into film form, topbilled by big silver screen names such as Dina Bonnevie and Edu Manzano.

Indeed, Nick Joaquin was more than just a novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist in his time. He was a creator of sharp, witty reflections of the Filipino essence.

The Ramon Magsaysay Foundation called him “the greatest Filipino writer of his generation” who produced “a body of work unmatched in richness and range by his contemporaries.”

According to the faithful logs of Paolo Manalo, Mang Nick was cremated at La Funeraria Paz Araneta on the night of his passing.

His wake began at 1:00 PM last Friday, April 30th, at the Sanctuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati City. Necrological rites were held this morning at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, with the interment immediately following, at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (translated as “Graveyard of Heroes”).

Rest in peace, Mang Nick.

That they were at peace at last, the two of them and her tired body at rest; her broken body set free at last from the brutal pranks of the earth–from a trap of a May night; from the snare of summer; from the terrible silver nets of the moon.

~Nick Joaquin (4 May 1917-29 April 2004), May Day Eve