Five Objects of Desire

These are five random objects found in my room, and this entry is sort of a memory exercise. Thanks to Benedict for taking pictures. The post title was inspired by Suzanne Vega’s “Nine Objects of Desire.”

1. Spongebob Soappants
Soap sculpture I did for my nephew weeks ago. I was asked to help out at the last minute. Funky-looking, limbless Spongebob was made using some carving tools and an inkless pen. I copied parts of his face from a DVD cover. It took me time to create the illusion of texture. His eyes, nose and necktie were originally chipped soap. After shaping them, I smoothened and attached them onto the main block using water. I wanted to do more with it, but there wasn’t much time left.

2. Invisible Woman
The action figure was a gift from Benedict a few days after Christmas 2005. It was the less common version of the toy from the Fantastic Four movie set. I like the transparent look, and the multiple points of articulation. I remember being given the toy while we were eating somewhere in Makati, after buying comics at DK and some Binondo Media stalls.

3. Uncanny X-Men # 188
This beat-up comic book, I found at a Greenhills comic stall called Chrishareth, back in 1985. It was a good issue: Amanda Sefton and Illyana Rasputin help the team fight the Dire Wraiths; Forge and Storm break up for the first time; Nightcrawler questions his role as an X-Man; Rachel Summers discovers that Jean Grey is dead. The title was my favorite comic book back then.

4. The Book of Lists # 2
I love this series of books from the early ‘80s. My brother bought them, and probably forgot about them when he moved out, so I’m sort of taking care of the books now. I can’t find the third one, but I think it’s just somewhere in the house. I love reading and rereading the Books; they’ve got old lists and trivia on almost every subject. I devoured them, and related books like the People’s Almanac # 3 and The Book of Predictions, after college.

5. Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill
That’s the album cover-lyric sheet of the cassette tape bought by John back in 1996. I wasn’t an instant Alanis fan, but her songs grew on me, especially Ironic, Head Over Feet, and You Learn. Her videos were heavily rotated on Channel V and MTV Asia. John gave me the tape eventually, about three years later. I remember buying Indigo Girls’ Swamp Ophelia album when he bought Jagged Little Pill. We got them after helping a friend’s mom organize a collage of pictures for a community bulletin board. Some of the pictures depicted a kid’s circumcision at a health center or something, which made me squeamish. Anyway, we were fed ice cream and potato chips before we left. Yummy.