Influences

From a_film_by:

Is your writing inspired by/modelled on film critics or literary authors?

My list mostly reflects writers I'm actually comfortable with than writers I consider truly great (tho some of them are, definitely). As to HOW they influenced me, well--

Bazin, Agee, Greene--as I said, no real direct influences; just that they happen to be my standards for graceful, understated prose, evenhandedness (something I rarely achieve, myself), and impeccable intuition when it comes to films (tho what Agee sees in "Monsieur Verdoux" I'll probably never understand).

Joe Bob Briggs--for his ability to take on a different persona in his articles, and for reminding me not to take things too seriously.

Constantino Tejeros--for his no-balls-barred, fuck-you attitude towards conventional wisdom on Philippine cinema.

Cervantes--a critic, a great one. Incisive and hilarious, a surgeon with a sense of humor.

Hugo--for his exhaustively detailed journalism. And for being a negative example of windy political essaying.

Edgardo Reyes (who wrote the great short novel "Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag," on which Brocka based his film)--for his beautifully onomatopeaic prose on Manila's sights, sounds, smells.

JG Ballard--not only for showing us that the mind is the ultimate frontier, but also for his chilly emotional distance.

Philip Dick--not only for his out-there ideas, but for the ever-present sympathy he holds for losers, outsiders, the common man.

Graham Greene, Anthony Burgess--converted Catholics both. I have this thing for converts and their sometimes desperate, sometimes moving theology.

Those are a few of my influences; some are like the ground I walk on, some are like the sun's warmth. Don't know how else to put it.

Throw in Fernand Point's Ma Gastronomie, which is one favorite source of food metaphors. And you haven't had an orgasm until you've tried an egg fried in butter his style.