INFLUENCES and FAVORITES.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

FAVORITES. Gardening. When I was a boy, I assisted my Grandma Luz tend her flower garden of orchids, bougainvilleas, carnations, magnolias, and roses. I also planted/raised vegetables, mostly eggplants and bitter gourd (“ampalaya”), with Grandpa Severino. “Earth romancin’.” Balances my seated time/s writing, reading, and watching dozens of TV series and movies. I love dirt of soil on my hands, and nurturing and nourishing seeds to full-blown life. (Photo: The Spruce.) 📚🍎🎼

INFLUENCES. Paul Simon, With Simon & Garfunkel or as a solo performer, it is all about his brilliant songs. The Sound of Silence, America, The Boxer, and the enthralling and alluring “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Songs that he wrote in his early 20s.  The solo albums Goes Rhymin' Simon (1973), Still Crazy After All These Years (1975), and Graceland (1986) were all masterpieces. Mr Simon’s words are not prophesy, sermons, or indictments. Just songs, almost journalistic. 📚🍎🎼

FAVORITES. Watching TV. Guilty pleasure though I am not guilty at all, LOL! Since I was a little boy, the television set has always been my most favorite house implement. Why? Because reading is a natural obsession, I get to savor the sheer delight of the visual translation of what I read in books, magazines, and newspapers. From the black & white days of “Dracula,” Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee and “Combat!” to these days of streaming TV. Hooked as ever. 📺🖥📺

INFLUENCES. “Lou Grant,” starring Ed Asner in the title role as a city desk editor. The journalism/drama TV series aired from 1977 to 1982. Those were the earlier years of my media life journey, progressing from printing press apprentice to newsroom proofreader to beat reporter to desk ed to managing editor. “Lou Grant” was pretty much the only TV show that I diligently followed. If we want to imbue to the young the true wisdom of journalism work, “Lou Grant” is a good start. 🎥📺☎️

FAVORITES. Socks. Piece of clothing worn on the feet. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. In the late 16th century, machine-knit socks were first produced. Until the 1800s, both hand-made and machine-knit socks were manufactured, with the latter technique becoming more common in the 19th century. My feet are never without socks. Colorful, the better. Outdoors, indoors, in bed. 🧦🧦🧦

INFLUENCES. “Kung Fu,” an adventure martial arts Western drama series starring David Carradine. The series follows the adventures of Kwai Chang Caine, a Shaolin monk who travels through the American Old West, armed only with his spiritual training and his skill in martial arts, as he seeks his half-brother. Many of the aphorisms used in the series are adapted from or derived directly from the Tao Te Ching, a book of ancient Taoist philosophy attributed to the sage Lao-tzu. 👫🎥🏯

FAVORITES. Historical Movies. Or fiction films showing past events or set within a historical period. This extensive genre shares territory with the biopic, costume drama, heritage film, and epic film. Unless it is a documentary film, “historical movies” are adapted from real events and real people. So it helps to know your “basic history” before watching. I am not really affected in case characters or situations are “re-imagined.” A good movie is a good movie. 👫🎥🏯

INFLUENCES. “Abraxas,” the second studio album by Santana, released in 1970. The title of the album originates from a line in Hermann Hesse's 1919 book “Demian,” quoted on the album's back cover: "We stood before it and began to freeze inside from the exertion. We questioned the painting, berated it, made love to it, prayed to it: We called it mother, called it whore and slut, called it our beloved, called it Abraxas.” This LP was on steady rotation in our house when I was a boy. 📚🍎🎼

FAVORITES. Seafoods. Any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussels. I am a seafood dude. You name it, I am all for it. Raw, grilled, stewed, baked, however it is cooked or prepared. I am the only seafood glutton in my family of nine children. The only dish that I eat at a Mexican diner: Mojarra a la Diabla. In Asian buffets: Clams and mussels. 📚🍎🎼

INFLUENCES. “The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia,” a travel book by Paul Theroux, published 1975. Recounts Mr Theroux's four-month journey by train in 1973 from London through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and his return via the Trans-Siberian Railway. The book is widely regarded as a classic in the genre of travel writing. Themes of colonialism, American imperialism, poverty, and ignorance were also explored. 📚🍎🎼