Book Review: House of Leaves

To all you multi-taskers out there, here's so you can listen to my ramblings. Enjoy!

I finally finished reading House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and my eyes are crusted with dried tears. I quickly logged into my Goodreads account and rated it a full five stars and clicked on “Read”. Naturally, I checked out the book's page to read the comments to see if anyone shared the same thoughts as I had. There was one whom thought about it highly and I agreed with the comment by clicking the “Like” button. But then I saw a whole lot of other people's ratings on the book and calling it names, like “bullshit” and long paragraphs of how the book was pretentiously written. So now, I'm sitting down here before I lose this feeling and write about how I felt and these are my honest opinions that are my own, not owing at all to anyone else.

 

books galore!

Just found myself another reason to go book-shopping again. Tee hee hee... It turns out that I have another exam to study for (and I really mean STUDY!). And while I was looking through these terms in English literature, I just thought to myself: So today they'd probably be asking for the definition for something like "limerick" and it turns out that this is a fairly new term, which only dates back to the late 19th century. Hmm. If our current pop culture would survive a century or two, in the future would the question look a bit like this:

Define dubstep.

Definition by AllMusic: "...tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals."

Definition by most people: Bass drops and goes wub wub wub then seizures all around.

Listening to: "All I Need" by Within Temptation

Reading: "A World Without Islam"by Graham E. Fuller

Watching: cooking shows

Playing: ...
Eating: ...
Drinking: ...

Guess who got bored today?

I'm out of white paint so I decided to try my hand at drawing with pens this time. Only one color though, because I'm too thrifty to get several colored pens.

Unawakened

Might scan the original and put it to good use. Or not. I don't know, depends on the situation I guess.

Oh, and I just realized that I prefer listening to Eminem when I paint/draw/sketch.

Listening to: "Sing for the Moment" by Eminem

Reading: "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski

Watching: random concert clips 

Playing: ...
Eating: ...
Drinking: alkaline water

Despite the weather

Been sick for a few days and now I'm starting to get the sniffles. However so, I managed to get these done. I painted these at night because that is when everything calms down.

Mist

Breathe

I need a hug...

Listening to: "Brave" by Sara Bareilles 

Reading: "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski

Watching: paint dry
Playing: ...
Eating: ...
Drinking: alkaline water

Updates!

"Journey's End"

  

Okay, cheesy title or whatever you wanna call it, the title stays. But I apologize for the horrid quality. The camera completely ruined the colours and I'm too lazy to use/check on my scanner. Heck, my mom and sister could not even tell what it is when I showed this image to them. But then when I handed them the actual painting, they were like: "Ooh, that's what it is!"

Anyway, this is suppose to accompany the final stanza of one of my poems, "Amaya." 

"As the stranger's journey came to a closing

A warm light slowly came flooding

The beams against her trails complementing

Shadows disappearing, the traveler, too, dissolving

The bloody-like clouds seemed burning

No sooner they would turn cool and calming

All the while as she was vanishing

She made a promise of soon returning"

I love this one the most because it has a sort of special bond with me. Not only I wrote it within one night and recited it in public the next day, but I feel like there is something very personal, though universal, in those lines. Like I can find something to relate myself with everyone else.

So I'm going to do my best for this, despite being a side-project. I want to do it properly. Hopefully I can share it with as many people as I could.

Listening to: people talking
Reading: a bunch of books

Watching: paint dry
Playing: ...
Eating: ...
Drinking: alkaline water

Not so bad!

The examination that is. Turns out it's just like a 2-hour and 45-minute writing marathon. I've sat through longer exams before. Even up to 3 hours, no joke. However, it could have been nice to be able to get up once in a while because it was freezing in there for the first hour and a half.

I am sure that anyone would guess where I ran to after the invigilators told us that we could leave.

Anyway, it was quite a challenge since we had three papers one after the other but it was really comfortable in the exam hall (it was held in a hotel ballroom, and yes I have to admit that it's a first-time experience for me when usually I get a dusty classroom or a huge echoing hall).

Anyway, I have 12 days to wait for the results to come out. I am a bit nervous, especially for the Writing paper. Oh well, all I can do now is pray for the best!

Listening to: "What About Now" by Daughtry
Reading: "Gadsby" by Ernest Vincent Wright
Watching: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"(1937)
Playing: ...
Eating: ...
Drinking: ...

Uninvited guests

The sound of claws scraping against the rough surface, just like every night. The hours of which they could be heard would be earlier or later in the evening – brief seconds or prolonged moments – but they will be there without fail. Somewhere deep in my dark mind, I saw them crawling on the floor of which would be my ceiling. 

Craving for attention now, are we? So late at night and yet still so “lively.”I would beg for you to leave, dear nocturnal intruder, though it is not of my nature to succumb to fear of the night.

Once the scraping noises disappeared, I sighed in relief. Just like every night before, it will be gone in an instant so then I could continue my interrupted dreams. Until then...

...damn squirrels!

Listening to: "Who's They" by Daughtry
Reading: "Gadsby" by Ernest Vincent Wright
Watching: ...
Playing: ...
Eating: ...
Drinking: alkaline water