"The thing I love about the Peppers is that the music is so happy but at the same time it’s hardcore — it’s hardcore happiness. 'Cause you know, they sing about a happy that you have to be sad to get there. So when Anthony sings about ‘taking it on the other side,’ you know that motherf*cker was on the other side. When they sing ‘Scar Tissue,’ you know they got scars." 

— Chris Rock, inducting the RHCP into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

When the darkness within you isn't leading you to the light, at least be thankful that it's led you to good music. Good, heavy rock music. It heals.

For the last fourteen days, it's been the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The whole damn discography, from Freaky Styley to the golden-era of John Frusciante to the most recent The Getaway. And shit, I think it just might have changed my life. I am not kidding.

I've known them for a good fraction of my post-adolescence - always hearing them on the radio, or on the bus, or in someone's car - but they never really spoke to me until now. Holy Mercury in retrogade, I am grateful. Truly effin' grateful.


P.S. After all these years, "Dani California" is still my favorite. "Scar Tissue" and "The Zephyr Song" are now tied in second. "Under the Bridge" comes a close third. But man the guitar riffs in "BSSM" deserve a spot too. 

1.
The first time I heard this song in a TV show, a teenager who suffered a heart attack is being resuscitated, a man who murdered his brother is in prison for killing someone else, a fetus' heartbeat is heard for the first time after its pregnant high school mother wakes up from a coma, a heartbroken ex-girlfriend comes to terms with her great love and best friend being together.

Such incredible recovery from dire circumstances. I was fifteen years old, bawling my eyes out, completely alien to losses of this magnitude, but nonetheless affected by it. That episode hit me hard, but for reasons that don't really go beyond the show. Like a dutiful fan, I took that song with me - I found a copy on Limewire, put it on my iPod, and had it filed under my 'One Tree Hill mix.' And life went on as usual.

Read more »

Labels: finger exercises

"The thing I love about the Peppers is that the music is so happy but at the same time it’s hardcore — it’s hardcore happiness. 'Cause you know, they sing about a happy that you have to be sad to get there. So when Anthony sings about ‘taking it on the other side,’ you know that motherf*cker was on the other side. When they sing ‘Scar Tissue,’ you know they got scars." 

— Chris Rock, inducting the RHCP into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

When the darkness within you isn't leading you to the light, at least be thankful that it's led you to good music. Good, heavy rock music. It heals.

For the last fourteen days, it's been the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The whole damn discography, from Freaky Styley to the golden-era of John Frusciante to the most recent The Getaway. And shit, I think it just might have changed my life. I am not kidding.

I've known them for a good fraction of my post-adolescence - always hearing them on the radio, or on the bus, or in someone's car - but they never really spoke to me until now. Holy Mercury in retrogade, I am grateful. Truly effin' grateful.


P.S. After all these years, "Dani California" is still my favorite. "Scar Tissue" and "The Zephyr Song" are now tied in second. "Under the Bridge" comes a close third. But man the guitar riffs in "BSSM" deserve a spot too. 

1.
The first time I heard this song in a TV show, a teenager who suffered a heart attack is being resuscitated, a man who murdered his brother is in prison for killing someone else, a fetus' heartbeat is heard for the first time after its pregnant high school mother wakes up from a coma, a heartbroken ex-girlfriend comes to terms with her great love and best friend being together.

Such incredible recovery from dire circumstances. I was fifteen years old, bawling my eyes out, completely alien to losses of this magnitude, but nonetheless affected by it. That episode hit me hard, but for reasons that don't really go beyond the show. Like a dutiful fan, I took that song with me - I found a copy on Limewire, put it on my iPod, and had it filed under my 'One Tree Hill mix.' And life went on as usual.

Read more »

Labels: finger exercises

Hello, I'm Karla Bernardo. If you Google my name, you will find the Wikipedia entry of a Canadian serial-killer (and trust me, you do not want to read about that - but I'm sure you will because now you're curious), which is why I suggest you type Bombastarr instead so you can stalk me better.

I spent eight-and-a-half years of my life in the University of the Philippines, where I graduated with degrees in Creative Writing and Juris Doctor. It is also where I learned how to speak a bit of Italian, got a taste of the best tapsilog, and took striptease for PE.

I love telling stories, as much as I enjoy finding them.

<center><font style="color: #ffffff;">____</font>Want <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/09096636074047764491">more</a>?</center><br>

Featured Works

Stargirl (Cover story for Nadine Lustre, Scout, January-February 2017)
Surreal / So Real (at Scout)
Ode to a Great Love's 17-year-old Self (Love.Life, Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Postcard from Diliman (Youngblood, Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Writer for Philippine Law Register
A Call to Arms (January 2017)
Expecting the Expected (March 2016)

Former Writer for Stache Magazine
The Hero's Journey (June 2013)
The 8 People You Become In Your Youth (June 2013)
The Best Bad Idea That Is Argo (April 2013)
Mike Ross Remembers Everything You Don't (August 2012)
Style Between the Riffs (August 2012)
Book Lovers Never Sleep Alone (June 2012)
A Spectrum of Change (December 2011)
Digital Art (October 2011)
Elements of Style (June 2011)
In Her White Dress (All-Art April 2011 issue)

Morning After Pill (Fervore: Literary Folio 2013, UP Portia Sorority)
How To Make a Blueberry Cheesecake (Kalas: Kalasag Literary Folio 2011, UP College of Arts and Letters)
January 14th (100: The Hundreds Project, UP Writer's Club)

An Ode to The Pillow Book (at New-Slang)
Introductions (at TeenInk)
One by One (at TeenInk)

   

Recently

27(.5)
Endgame
Standout Songs: "Overkill" on Scrubs
You'll be out of the dark, yeah you'll get your shot
Music of the Night
Marrakesh Treaty: More access to books for the vis...
How we weep and laugh at the same thing
Something
Conflict resolution
Book frustrations

This Is How It Doesn't Start

this is how it doesn't start, in eleven parts

Labels

An attempt at poetry; Books; Bullets; Creative nonfiction; CW; Featured; Feeble attempts at poetry; Fiction; Finger exercises; Law school; Mixtape; Playwriting; Poetry; Senioritis; Shuffle Wednesdays; Summer; The Pillow Book; Thesis; UP

Archives

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Got a comment, question, violent reaction, love letter, or random piece of information you want to share with me? Just fire away. I don't bite.

(I changed my form and went back to Freedback because Ask.fm's being a bitch, requiring people to sign up for accounts before asking questions. Because I love you guys, I tweaked my ask box a bit, so that the questions will now go directly to my e-mail, but I'll be posting the answers still on my Ask.fm for convenience. TL;DR - I'll still be getting your questions so no worries. You're still free to harass me / send me your love.)

Answers

Most Frequently Asked Question

Are you a pornstar?
No, I am not a pornstar, stripper, or your friendly neighborhood call girl. It's just a fancy pseudonym with a long history, and two R's. Rawr.

Bombastarr is my personal blog and my little corner in the Internet since 2005. Yes, I started writing here when I was 13 years old (aka when I was very angsty, hormonal, and always gushing at the littlest things) -- ergo, you'd have to forgive me if you come across an old post that reeks of immaturity and slightly unpolished grammar. I did a lot of growing up here, and from the looks of it, there's still a lot of growing up to do, so I don't think I'll be leaving this place any time soon.

The domain, Bombastarr.com, was purchased on June 2014 and launched on July 2014, on the blog's ninth year (and fifth month, to be exact).

It's crazy to think that this blog is now thirteen years old, because (1) that seems like an eternity in internet years, and (2) that means if my blog were a kid, it's a teenager! That's insane.

Here's to more tales, explosive and otherwise.

If you've been living under a rock and think I'm a threat to world peace or an object of covetousness, sorry to disappoint you, folks: it's just a fancy pseudonym.

As in most things, it started in high school. It began as a joke between me and a couple of friends during our freshman year. We were practicing for a field demonstration dance which involved the use of shawls, and being the crazy-always-trying-to-be-funny person that I was (or I always attempted to be) I started doing poses with the garment. Someone started taking my picture using my phone, and one shot looked like I was posing for those B-list movies (or should it be R-list, as in R-rated?) of the vegetable-nomenclature variety. #IKYWIM. Hence, the word, "Bombastarr." Yes, very cheeky, I know, but for a 13-year-old, it was quirky enough to figure as a username. That was 2005, right around the time I trying to decide on a URL for a new blog. It's been a lot of years since, and what started as a joke became something I've eventually embraced as an identity.

Despite the many other chances I've gotten to permanently move (to Multiply, Livejournal, Tumblr, Wordpress; to a bigger platform where I can earn or use the blog as a venue for commerce), I've come to realize that Bombastarr is something I can never truly leave behind. It is a place I've grown to appreciate and love because it is a place I can call my own. It's a venue for my rants, my views, my writing. It is home, and it is who I am.

Bombastarr is a glimpse of my life: the thoughts, ideas, and stories that shape it into what it is, and what it will still become. This journal has been with me for all my crazy, often embarrassing adventures, but I'm sure there will be more anecdotes and feelings and people to write about. Which is something I'm really looking forward to. After all, you know what they say about the greatest stories - sometimes, there's still a lot that's left unwritten.

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