[Group Events] F2F41 | Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz | May 23 2015, Saturday, 11am-2pm | Venue: Milky Way Cafe 928 Pasay Road (A. Arnaiz Ave.), Makati City

[Maria]

Hola! Welcome to the event thread for F2F41. ;)



DETAILS:
When: May 23, 2015 Saturday 11 am - 2 pm
Where:
Milky Way Cafe Restaurant
928 Pasay Road (A. Arnaiz Ave.), Makati City
Website: Milky Way Cafe
Attire: TBA

MAPS:
(view spoiler)[

(hide spoiler)]

PRE-ORDERING OF FOOD
Menu will be posted soon. Please be ready to pre-order your food once the menu is listed here. P350/minimum per person, if you may. Thank you!

REMINDERS FOR F2F41:

RSVP:
This F2F is for a small group only: 15 attendees.

1. If you are interested to join this F2F, please enter your details here. (view spoiler)[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kd7... (hide spoiler)] First 25 people will receive the invite.
2. Instructions on how to RSVP will be sent through snail mail (view spoiler)[thus, the mailing address. (hide spoiler)].
3. First 15 people to respond to the RSVP gets a slot.
4. Food in the selected venue is really good, if you are concerned with the taste.

This RSVP mechanic is intended to filter out those people who really want to discover/share the "secrets" that will be revealed/shared during the F2F discussion. Also, I have no patience to manage a large group of people in my current state. If you have concerns with that, (view spoiler)[talk to my lawyer(view spoiler)[Monique (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]. =))

Don’t fret. We have a bowling game setup after the F2F discussion. Anyone who cannot make it to the discussion proper, can go to the bowling alley anytime they want. NOTE: Bring socks if you don't want to pay for a pair. Thanks, Ranee!

Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to let me know by posting your comment in this thread. :)

[Maria]

Secret # 1

(view spoiler)[Find out where the venue is for this F2F.

Clue 1: It is located in Makati.
Clue 2: It has something to do with the Universe. How you interpret that statement is up to you. ;)
Clue 3: Address of this restaurant might include AAA initials in it. ;) (view spoiler)[Because some sites might not include this AAA in the address (hide spoiler)]

One guess only. The first person to give the correct answer through GR messaging wins a prize.

Deadline: April 20th, Monday, 9pm

Good luck!
(hide spoiler)]

[Maria Ella]

Hi Maria,

about the RSVP thingy, we can just holler via social media, yes? Are we to reply via snail mail also? HUHUHU

[Tina]

Oh dear, bowling. Of course I will suck at that again, but go lang. :D

[Ranee]

Note to self: remember to bring/wear socks. Last time I went bowling I paid 50pesos for the pair of socks the place was selling

[Maria]

Maria Ella wrote: "Hi Maria,

about the RSVP thingy, we can just holler via social media, yes? Are we to reply via snail mail also? HUHUHU"

via snail mail as well. =) Old school muna tayo ngayon, hehehe

[Maria]

Tina wrote: "Oh dear, bowling. Of course I will suck at that again, but go lang. :D"

I pity the team you will belong to...? =)

[Maria]

Ranee wrote: "Note to self: remember to bring/wear socks. Last time I went bowling I paid 50pesos for the pair of socks the place was selling"

If I remember correctly, Ronnie wants to bring her own bowling shoes, sosyal nya db. lol

[Monique]

Count me in!

[Maria Ella]

Maria wrote: "via snail mail as well. =) Old school muna tayo ngayon,..."

GAH! May nabibili pa bang Manila Envelope today? Help? Is a hallmark-y/ish envelope counts in a post office? But the post office might take a while~ huhuh. (view spoiler)[Pipicture-an ko na lang yung ipapadala kong reply tapos isesend ko online tapos ihuhulog ko rin sa post office para sigurado hehehe (hide spoiler)]

[Aaron Vincent]

ME!!!!! :)

[Ranee]

Oo naman Ella! Di lahat ng tao asa twitter. May manila envelope pa rin

Mahanap nga yung stationery collection ko nung high school...

[Veronica]

Maria wrote: "Ranee wrote: "Note to self: remember to bring/wear socks. Last time I went bowling I paid 50pesos for the pair of socks the place was selling"

If I remember correctly, Ronnie wants to bring her ow..."

Fyi, ten years ago pa yung shoes ko when Jimmy and I used to go bowling. Hahanapin ko pa sa baul. :D

[Maria]

F2F41 ACTIVITIES

*Sign up by commenting in this thread that you want to join! Until April 22nd, Wednesday, 6pm.

*There can only be ONE winner, and he/she will win the title of (view spoiler)[“Master of the Universe May 2015” or “Miss Universe May 2015” (hide spoiler)]!

*Points system:
5 points - best entry of the week
3 points - second best entry of the week
1 point - all other entries

*This is different from the ONLINE DISCUSSION "Aristotle & Dante" activities. You can win from both!

UPDATE:
And the candidates are...

1. Ingrid
2. Monique
3. Angus
4. Louize
5. Aaron
6. Tina
7. Meliza
8. Marie
9. Ranee
10. Mawi
11. Elaine
12. Lore
13. Bennard
14. Ronnie
15. Kristel
16. Alexa
17. Gwaxa
18. Maria Ella
19. Honeypie
20. Tin

[Ingrid]

Signing up for online activity!
(view spoiler)[ Dat title, winner! Hahaha (hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Ay gusto kong maging Miss Universe May 2015! Sali ako! :P

[Angus]

I want to join the F2F41 activities!

[Louize]

May rampahan bang mangyayari? I'm in.

[Aaron Vincent]

I'm running for Master of the Universe!

(view spoiler)[

(hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

Sige, pag nanalo si Aaron dito, dapat ganyan ^ ang suot nya sa F2F ha. >;)

[Tina]

Monique wrote: "Sige, pag nanalo si Aaron dito, dapat ganyan ^ ang suot nya sa F2F ha. >;)"

Can we make him win? Please? I will even help with the production of his costume. Haha.

Also, I am joining the activities! (view spoiler)[(Work please do not be pasaway yet this time. (hide spoiler)]

[Louize]

Aaron Vincent wrote: "I'm running for Master of the Universe!"

^^^ Banking my all my points, if there will be any, to Aaron.
It's for a good cause, absolutely!

[Meliza]

Hello po. Sali! :D

[Meliza]

Tina wrote: "Oh dear, bowling. Of course I will suck at that again, but go lang. :D"

Magpractice muna tayo sa eastwood. Haha!

[Tina]

Meliza wrote: "Tina wrote: "Oh dear, bowling. Of course I will suck at that again, but go lang. :D"

Magpractice muna tayo sa eastwood. Haha!"

Haha! There was this one time around 2007 when I joined the office's bowling team. I got all the highest scores at one practice, but I was really, really, REALLY angry (view spoiler)[at a guy I used to like (hide spoiler)] then. Hindi ko na naulit yun. =)) Not angry enough, I guess? Hahaha.

I have been known to make the saver shots. Yung tipong, "Sa wakas, naka-strike/spare/hindi ka nag-gutter that time! Kung hindi talo na tayo!" =)))

[Louize]

Eh pang duckpin lang ako e! huhuhu :(

[Marie]

11am - 2pm? Nakey, di ako pwede kasi may work pa ako. :-( :-(
Sa online discussion na lang ako makakabawi then, atsaka sa bowling na lang ako hahabol. But I need to warn my future team, I suck at the game. Sa eskwela, I barely scrape with a grade of 3.0 sa bowling class ko hahahaha!

Edit: Baka kasi di clear ang response eh. The F2F41 activities is online right? I'd like to join sana. :-)

[Ranee]

Sali!
May question ba na "how will you promote your country?"

[Mawi]

Sali din! Vying for Miss Universe May 2015, I thaaank you. World peace..

[Elaine]

My idea of the universe... Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before...

Kinda like how I'm doing with searching/googling for the venue.

[L]

Also signing up for the online activity.

[Maria]

^Edited the title for male category, in case Aaron wins :)

Hi Marie,

The F2F41 activities on this thread is online, so you can still join. =)

[Bennard]

Pasali din sa online activities!

[Marie]

Yay, thanks!!! :-)

[Veronica]

Signing up as well!

[Kristel]

Signing up for this!

[Alexa]

Count me in! :)

[Gwaxa]

Miss Universe May 2015! *waves*
I'll join. :D

[Maria]

^List updated!

[Maria]

(view spoiler)[Tina (hide spoiler)] is the first discoverer of Secret # 1. =) Congratulations!

Instant gratification alert!(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

^Venue is now updated!

[Maria Ella]

I hate this guessing game of GAH.
But still let me join the Miss Universe. I think I won't face any major major, I mean, problems in my life right now. hehehe

[Tina]

Maria wrote: "[spoilers removed] is the first discoverer of Secret # 1. =) Congratulations!

^Venue is now updated!"

Yay! :) *confetti* (view spoiler)[Thank you, Google! :)) (hide spoiler)]

[Maria]

Are the candidates ready?

Top Ten Tuesdays

^Click on the link for the mechanics. (view spoiler)[TTT is a regular meme that YA bloggers usually post every Tuesday, of course. ;) (hide spoiler)]

Today's feature:
April 21: Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors (yeah, I'm mean like that! You could narrow it down to a genre if you it REALLY kills you...or just make your list a top 20 :P )(view spoiler)[in no particular order (hide spoiler)]

RULES:

*Post your Top Ten Tuesdays "blog" post in this thread.

*Entries will be judged based on how many authors in your list you can convince the anonymous judges I hired to try and read the said authors' works.(view spoiler)[It's not about the authors per se, but how you elaborate your praises for them, that will convince them to try your fave authors. (hide spoiler)]

*DEADLINE of entries: Wednesday, 9pm.

Questions? Ask away!

[Maria Ella]

Any genre of the author will do, yea?

[Maria]

^Yep!

[Angus]

Top Ten Tuesdays

April 21: Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors

Upper Half:
(view spoiler)[
David Mitchell (view spoiler)[- a bold and inventive writer. He twists and bends the novel into a form that only he can untangle. He can write in different forms and genres. He writes his own fiction and he sometimes translates. He even has a young adult fiction book. (hide spoiler)]
Raymond Carver (view spoiler)[- a master of the short story form. He writes about ordinary people and their ordinary lives but manages to make them seem like big events. Brevity and subtlety are his writing virtues. (hide spoiler)]
José Saramago (view spoiler)[- if you are into allegories, parables, and surreal what-ifs (what if everyone went blind, what if there is 30-day notice for your death, what if your country sailed away from the continent), this writer is the one to go to. He has many books so there must be at least one for every reader. (hide spoiler)]
Ian McEwan (view spoiler)[- a prolific contemporary writer who writes about many subjects. His novels are usually propped on single words (like "cunt") or events (like premature ejaculation), and he uses these to explore bigger themes. (hide spoiler)]
Marilynne Robinson (view spoiler)[- her writing is nothing short of a miracle. There is a quiet calm to it that makes you want to read slowly. Reading her fiction always feel like receiving a grace from God. She has both fiction and nonfictional works. (hide spoiler)]
(hide spoiler)]

Lower Half:
(view spoiler)[
Virginia Woolf (view spoiler)[- the queen of modernist literature and stream of consciousness. She's a rather challenging writer but she never writes an off-key sentence. Her prose is always pitch perfect and beautiful to listen to when read aloud. (hide spoiler)]
Kazuo Ishiguro (view spoiler)[- he has the reputation of never writing the same novel twice, but despite that, he always returns to his favorite theme: memories. You like a bit of crime noir? A bit of sci fi? A bit of fantasy? A bit of everything? You know where to go. (hide spoiler)]
Halldór Laxness (view spoiler)[- if you like sagas and Scandinavian lore and Iceland in general, you cannot go wrong with him. If you don't like those, then perhaps you will like the dominant theme of his novels: man's struggle to conquer nature. (hide spoiler)]
William Faulkner (view spoiler)[- a prince of modernist literature. His novels are notoriously difficult but his short stories are unforgettable. His subjects are usually people from the South. In fact, he has created his own fictional county (Yoknapatawpha) where characters from his different works commune. (hide spoiler)]
Knut Hamsun (view spoiler)[- an institution of modernist literature. If you like intellectual-weird or crazy-decent or poor-philospher characters, try one of his novels. He is also accessible because most of his works are on Project Gutenberg. (hide spoiler)]
(hide spoiler)]

Bubbling Under:
(view spoiler)[
David Foster Wallace
Junot Díaz
Jeffrey Eugenides
(hide spoiler)]

[Monique]

TOP TEN TUESDAYS

APRIL 21: TOP TEN ALL TIME FAVORITE AUTHORS

(view spoiler)[
David Mitchell (view spoiler)[Consider this: there is no David Mitchell work that you will never, at the very least, appreciate. He is ingenious and smart. His works are genre-benders. And it counts that he's good looking too. :D
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: Cloud Atlas. (hide spoiler)]
Jhumpa Lahiri (view spoiler)[She writes the most beautiful prose: languid, flowing, sultry. Her short stories and novels mostly talk about the immigrant experience, but more than that, she writes about the human spirit and resilience.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: Interpreter of Maladies. (hide spoiler)]
Kazuo Ishiguro (view spoiler)[His prose is also one of my favorites: quiet and solemn. His favorite theme to write about is memories, and when praised about how he never rewrites himself, he is quick to dispute this and say that he does.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: The Remains of the Day. (hide spoiler)]
Neil Gaiman (view spoiler)[His reputation as a fantasy and science fiction writer has long been sealed. He has won the Hugo, Locus, and other prominent fantasy awards for his stories. He is awesome at retellings and graphic novels, and you'll never be bored with his full-length novels either.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: THE SANDMAN SERIES. (hide spoiler)]
Jeffrey Eugenides (view spoiler)[He did not win the Pulitzer for Fiction for nothing. He is a prolific writer, very profound. He writes literary fiction that tackles significant themes couched in haunting, soulful language.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: Middlesex. (hide spoiler)]
Junot Diaz (view spoiler)[He is blunt, candid, and significant. He also writes about the immigrant experience, being from the Dominican Republic himself, and his works are always enjoyable to read because they combine wit, humor, and reality.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. (hide spoiler)]
Anne Rice (view spoiler)[She is the Queen of the Vampires. She is the mother of the paranormal novels - the most romantic ones, not the annoying ones. She recently released a series on Jesus, which I found to be equally amazing.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: The Lives of the Mayfair Witches. (hide spoiler)]
Yann Martel (view spoiler)[He is a relatively low-key writer but I would not say the same for his works. His novels make an impact because of their themes, which range from Nazism to matters of perspective.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: Life of Pi. (hide spoiler)]
Carlos Ruiz Zafon (view spoiler)[He is a Spanish writer whose works are mainly an infusion of fantasy and magical realism. His translated works are always a treat.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: The Shadow of the Wind. (hide spoiler)]
Eleanor Catton (view spoiler)[The newest kid on this block. I've only read one of her two works, but I know that this young writer will go a long, long way.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WORK: The Luminaries. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Maria Ella]

Top Ten Tuesdays

(view spoiler)[Yours truly is a reader of feels - those with melancholia that leaves you puzzled or lonely for a day of two.

I am no rider of a bandwagon / meme, but for the sake having a blog-party, here are my Top Ten Favorite Authors of all time. Note that these favorites are in random order, for I cannot priotize who should remain in the top spot.

1. Milan Kundera - a Czech/French writer and a witness of many significant events of the Czech Republic, readers either hate or love him because of his writings. Some would consider his works as philosophical, some consider it as simply mysogynistic. My most favorite work is his first novel The Joke which encompasses the culture, music, and political events during the Communist years of the Czechoslovakia.

2. Jojo Moyes - a British writer who writes melodramatic prose catered to the women. In one of her most famous novels Me Before You, she writes the vulnerable states of a quadriplegic who decided to finally surrender to the harsh realities of life and of a woman who tries to convince the otherwise. The other notable work - The Girl You Left Behind - talks about a painting of a woman who is torn with the harshness of the first World War.

3. F. Sionil Jose - this country's National Artist for literature is not to be undermined for his contributions to the Philippine society. His biggest contribution - the Rosales Saga - spans a hundred years of the country's history, from the Gomburza years to the Martial Law years. As a reader of feels, I hugely recommend his work Ermita: A Filipino Novel for it talks of not the setting, but it is novel that takes to the heart.

4. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go is a definite feels fest for this British author of Japanese origin. His proses are evocative, measured yet it brings a sense of nostalgia.

5. Kyung-Sook Shin - this Korean's writing is characterized by a profound and unique point of view focusing on the human mind, featuring colorful prose utilizing symbolism and metaphor that captures the minute details of life’s subtle trials and tribulations. Shin is also known for her expressive and heartfelt narrative style. Please Look After Mom, the 2012 Man Asian Literary Prize winner, is one wonderful example. The book is all about penitence, realizing that mothers are a treasure, and ending into something powerful - a prayer.

6. Raymond Carver - a keen writer of short stories, who uses dirty realism to evoke the senses. In his collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, sadness hits you home in a prose written in a most realistic way.

7. Junot Diaz - a Dominican American writer who infuses mala-Marimar-Hispanic-conversations, he uses a connected-fate-character to his spanglish conversations in an often hilarious and somewhat-mongrel prose, depicting a movement from the barrio to the ghetto.

8. Jhumpa Lahiri - readers seemed to be mesmerized by this writer of diaspora, very apparent in the Pulitzer Prize novel Interpreter of Maladies. Her melodramatic prose are like gateways to the submerged territory of cross-culturalism.

9. Neil Gaiman - you may consider him as a Rock star of the literary world. From his graphic novel scripts to children's books to General Fiction, his works spans a wide array of audiences but all are the same - they are all amazed by his simplistic technique - (view spoiler)[The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, youre allowed to do whatever you like. (hide spoiler)]

10. David Nicholls - because he writes simplistic prose that are full of feels. And well, he wrote my life manual :D (hide spoiler)]

[Kristel]

Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors

1. Michael Chabon
(view spoiler)[For my money, he is the best person to write about tender feelings. Critics often emphasize the high concept, fantastical elements in his novels, but it's the beating human heart in the middle of each narrative that speaks to me. (hide spoiler)]

2. Dorothy L. Sayers
(view spoiler)[Over a series of mystery novels, she created the most emotionally fulfilling heterosexual couple I've ever experienced in literature. She is the prime argument against people that cozy mysteries can't be hilarious, literate, and sophisticated. (hide spoiler)]

3. Ray Bradbury
(view spoiler)[Ray Bradbury writes stories haloed by an Instagram filter. He evokes such deep nostalgia about childhood and hope, even though he often writes about futuristic settings. He writes atmospheric, creepy stories that are perfect for night reading. (hide spoiler)]

4. Mary Renault
(view spoiler)[She is largely overlooked in the contemporary world, but she has written some of them most evocative stories about Ancient Greece and the Alexandrian era. You can almost feel the sandals on your feet and imagine yourself marching to Persia with Alexander. (hide spoiler)]

5. Jane Austen
(view spoiler)[The best chronicler of human nature butting up against the limitations of wealth, gender, and class, all wrapped up in swoony romances that earn their happy endings. (hide spoiler)]

6. Dean Francis Alfar
(view spoiler)[His works of speculative fiction are inventive and fun, marrying literary writing with the whiz bang of a rollicking fantasy setting. He is also brains behind the Philippine Speculative Fiction Anthologies, which has upended the way Philippine literature looks like. What else can you ask of a writer? (hide spoiler)]

7. Umberto Eco
(view spoiler)[He writes twisty mysteries and conspiracy theories with such humor and erudition. His novel The Name of the Rose is the perfect homage to Sherlock Holmes combined with a medieval mystery and postmodernist tricks. (hide spoiler)]

8. Dashiell Hammett
(view spoiler)[The pillar of the hardboiled detective story, he writes the cleanest prose in the world. His world is so atmospheric, people with jaded gumshoes and willful women. You can almost hear the jazz music. (hide spoiler)]

9. Ursula K. Le Guin
(view spoiler)[Yes, she writes about interplanetary societies, but she gets to the heart of what ills society and what makes them noble despite it. Reading The Left Hand of Darkness was lifechanging. (hide spoiler)]

10. Sarah MacLean
(view spoiler)[Regency romance that is frank, sexy, and emotionally honest, with women who take their own fates in their hands. The historical romance genre can be rife with weird gender issues, and I'm so happy to have Sarah Maclean as a reliably feminist romance writer. (hide spoiler)]

The next 10, in no particular order:

(view spoiler)[Yukio Mishima
William Shakespeare
E.M. Forster
Virginia Woolf
Mario Vargas Llosa
Graham Greene
David Mitchell
Lorrie Moore
Robin Hobb
Jorge Amado (hide spoiler)]

[Gwaxa]

Top Ten Tuesdays

(view spoiler)[
Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Romance Authors (view spoiler)[because it's my favorite genre, :) (hide spoiler)]

Judith Mcnaught – she writes the most amazing historical romance ever. Her conflicts are usually centered on misunderstanding but she resolves them in believable ways.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips – she writes about women who face challenges with humor and strength of character. She is also big on family, either by blood or by choice, and their effects on the protagonists’ shenanigans.

Suzanne Brockmann – if you like sensitive alpha heroes who fight for what’s right, then you should read Brockmann’s Navy SEALs series. The action and suspense in her novels are also nail-bitingly awesome that you’ll feel like you’re there.

Tiffanie DeBartolo – emotional without being tiresomely sappy and philosophical without being didactic. She is all about the feels and feels and feels and beautiful writing. Her heroes are strong betas while heroines are kind of the manic pixie dream girl.

Kristan Higgins – cute and funny, her stories are usually set in small towns so the usual small town tropes are there. But you will not be drowned by clichés because she writes interesting and multi-layered characters. And she will make you laugh out loud, even in public when you’re not supposed to, that people will look at you funny, hahaha.

Linda Howard – another romance mystery/suspense writer who weaves wonderful stories about families, big or small, and the drama within as well as outside them. Bit soap operatic because her novels are quite dated but if you want drama, then she’s your girl.

Lorraine Heath – her novels are set in the Regency era but the ideas are usually forward for that time, i.e. a character’s mother has Alzheimer’s even before it was identified as such. Because of this, some interesting internal conflicts are present in her novels that other historical romance writers have not tackled.

Rachel Gibson – if you want to read about quirky heroines and emotionally closed-off heroes and their journey to love, Gibson has a few series you can binge read.

Jennifer Crusie - another contemporary romance writer whose characters and the situations they get themselves into are funny. What sets her apart is that she knows how to pace and place the emotional scenes that you will feel the lump in your throat even when you laugh out loud.

Cindy Gerard – more sensitive alpha military heroes? Go to Cindy Gerard. Another one who writes scenes that will make your heart pump and clench for suspense and sadness and happiness.

(hide spoiler)]