Babbling Point

The Christmas rush traffic in Makati got worse this morning due to a bomb scare in one of the buildings. It was quickly found and disfused by the Philippine National Police. Once again, real-life heroes come to our rescue. Hyperlink to the Mayor Giulani's introduction to the Marvel comic book "A Moment of Silence" . Giulani once again brings praise to the brave people New York who have come together during the city's time of need. Hyperlink back to the Decemeber 30 last year, when several bombs went off in different parts of the city, bringing chaos, panic, and death so many during the holidays. One year later, the bombers and whoever else was responsible have not been caught. As much as we have heroes, there just seem to be too many people that make worse, bringing a looming shadow to our already not-so-cheery lives. Only means we need more heroes. More role-models. Because all it will take is one brave soul, who would dare to put aside his

I was about to start my blog when revisions came in for stuff we've been working on for the longest time suddenly not in the mood to write anything haven't bought anything for Christmas i'm just so tired

LOCAL COMICS IN THE NEWS Marco's interview in Sunday Inquirer Magazine finally came out. "I don't mind because I really like the character because she stands for something," Marco Dimaano states. "Angel Ace stands for always being true to yourself." And here's review of Francisco V. Coching's book. Can't wait for the next year... in fact in the next months to come, we're going to see some exciting projects getting published. Exciting year ahead! :)

Yehey! I'm back online! will blog later... ... now at work... bummer...

I am now in slacker mode. Don't want to write. But I got so much that I need to write. Maybe later.

Soundtrack of my Life Went this site , answered some questions, and gave m this fortune cookie response (which is so true!): Your Tori Song is: SPARK from "From the Choir Girl Hotel" Let it go. That was a long time ago. You tend to hold onto the bad things. ------------------------------------------------------- Damn! How could it know??? I just answered some questions about what I drink and eat and what Tori song I like and it told me that! It's so damned true! I dwell in the past too much. Why, I remember the time I... ugh! Nevermind. So, what's your story Tori song ? Tell me!

Overheard at the NU107 ROCK AWARDS MALE MODEL: Hey man, where are all the illicit women? You know, the type that just wants to have sex? **** ATOM HENARES: Astig!!! ****

There's frog stuck in my throat! Just came from the recording studio. They're using my voice for a radio commercial. While listening to my recording I suddenly realize that I sound like a muppet. Damn. Must be the effect of watching Sesame Street and Muppet Show during my formative years. Ribbit

It was the best of shows. It was the worst of shows. THE NU107 ROCK AWARDS 2001 : A ROCK ODYSSEY had great bands. Everything else can be fast-forwarded. You might to hit the pause button to check out what the showbiz-starlets were wearing, but nothing still beats what Osang was (or wasn’t wearing) a couple of years back. This year’s NU Rock Awards also served a primer to the shows of UNTV 37. And from what I saw, there’s not much reason to tune in. The Awards Ceremony was hosted by Tado and this girl who's name I didn't really get, who host a show on UNTV called Strange Brew. Even though Tado had some jokes that actually made the crowd laugh, their spiels were just too damn long. It always seemed like they were just killing time until the next band got on stage. My general comment about the hosts of UNTV’s different shows is that they all seem have graduated from the school of Beavis and Butthead and Wayne and Garth. They all seemed to be trying to pull-o

NEVERLAND 4 SALE Neverland isn't much fun when... ...some of your friends have outgrown your love for comic books. ... some of your friends find rock music too loud and just settle for... things are aren't too loud. Shit happens... like growing up and you are left behind in the playground with kids who don't want to play with you

One of the few times I was actually thankful for those annoying pop-up-banner-ads. Found this link of photos of Emmanuelle Chriqui . I have no idea who she is but she's pretty ! :) Seems like she's appeared in some movies and hangs out with some boyband. But she's pretty!

2:34am still here Found Clarissa's blog through Mark's links Reading her blog makes me miss college life so much suddenly remember what Batch72 is all about all that fun all that angst all that... nothing reading Clarissa's entries reminds me of how... "profilic" I was back in college Back in the old days (said in grumpy old man's voice) we didn't have blogs... we wrote stuff down on paper and use ballpens that made a mess on your paper Actually, I still keep a journal which is my "paper life" is now divided in my journal and in my blog and in the emails I send to friends It's funny how I sometimes read my college journal and discover that I actually knew words which I don't use now that I actually sounded intelligent back then and that I actually suprise myself that I was capable of such "deep thought" ugh i'd like to blame txting for my devolution or maybe it's like in the agency plus

Sunday 1:14am in a 24hours internet cafe where 90% of the patrons are playing some network game well, for some reason it's not as full I could just go to the office but that would mean surfing the net with the ghosts never been proven that we have ghosts in the office thank God spent most of the day in hibernation had this grand plan to deliver the books in the stores in QC no go my body clock got screwed by those two cups of brewed coffee I drank at 3am was at the Old Swiss Inn with Andre talking about comic books, the internet, and... about endings and the struggle to find new beginnings so, here i am

6:51am still here thank god starbucks opens at 630am damn... they've got good donuts or maybe i'm just hungry they're corned beef pandesal could use more corned beef and since i'm car banned i can't take the car home til 7pm si even if i do get to go home by lunch time i'll still have to come back for my car bad trip wasn't able to get my fix the new stuff arrived also wanted to check out the new Catwoman oh well maybe tomorrow ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh getting my coffee and yes, it's brewed not yet finished not yet done ho! ho! ho! merry christmas

4am still at office need coffee want it brewed only got instant want food breakfast pancake house bacon eggs spam mmmmmmmm... spammmmmmm brain stopd just trying to jump start it think of other things look at other things before going back tow rite all that stuff bummr

The Golden Boy I am very proud to announce that Brandie won 2 Gold Awards, 2 Silver Awards, and several Bronze Awards in the recent Araw Awards helds at the 17th Philippine Ad Congress . He received those awards for his work on Pizza Hut , Dimensione , and Argentina. Congratulations Brandie!!! Yeah!!!

Artsy-Fartsy Stuff Lady Death get's revamped by J. Scott Campbell! uhhh... so what???!!! I find it amazing that her book still sells. Anyway, what I'm really excited about it Gerry's work in a book called OCHLOCRAT . The question is, when will Gerry to do kick-ass stuff like this that will have the Alamat logo on it? :)

Scooby-dooby-doo!!! THE CAST: Matthew Lillard .... Norville 'Shaggy' Rogers Freddie Prinze Jr. .... Fred Jones Sarah Michelle Gellar .... Daphne Blake Linda Cardellini .... Velma Dinkley Rowan Atkinson .... Mondavarious Charles Cousins .... Metal Head Scott Innes .... Scooby-Doo Rio Nugara .... Spooky Island Emissary Hey! Rowan Atkinson! At least you can be sure that someone in the movie will be funny! Then again, there's also seeing Sarah Michelle Gellar in the Daphne outfit! Rrrrowwrrr!!! What next? Wonder Twins the movie? Wacky Races the movie? Catch the Pigeon the movie? I don't really see the appeal of cartoons turned into live-action movies. It's not like it's a comic book turned into a movie. It's cartoon, with episodes that last less then 30minutes, following formulaic storylines. They were fun back then and some are still fun to see now, but I don't think it'll ever be good as a movie.

Was invited to go to the Box Cafe Monday night. It was all Dang's idea. It was one of those plans that was just put together at the last minute. Just like the old days. :) It was fun being with the guys again. And just like watching you favorite sitcom, we were telling the same old joke and still laughing as hard as the first time we heard them. And let me just metion that Dang is a... ahem, ahem... a fan of my blog! :) Yup! There are now three people who read my blog! Yehey! I was surprised how he quoted by entries, chapter and verse! Man! I'm so touched! he he he But aside from the usual jokes, we could help but talk about... THE FUTURE! Talk of marriage, new jobs, and trying out new things... new opportunities... Who would have thought this we would have been talking about such things? And I just couldn't help of think of what Rog would be saying at a time like this... I'm sure it would have been fun to have him around. "Fun! Fun! Fun! O

Yesterday, I went home at 5am. Woke up 5pm. Got back to office at 10pm It's now 4:35am. It's Ground's Hog day! ugh Strange things you find on the web at 4am Darna has a big following online. The club has over 160 members. Hey, I consider that big! KC now has a website. And it's damn good looking website. Very purrrteee! Gaiman talks about hanging out with Michael Chabon and Will Eisner. Wow! To be able to join that dinner table and just listen to them talk about their stories. ummm... must go home now... hommmmmmmmme

Bwahahahahahahaha I can't believe I misspelled "proof reading" in my November 11 blog.

My City of Kandor A colony of termites invaded my comic book box! Shocking news indeed! The good news is that the termites were too busy eating the box and not the comic books. For some strange reason, they started eating the Alamat books rather than the American comic books. Goes to show they have taste? (You should have seen that joke coming.) The termites also made a home a box full of old documents and sketches. Again, nothing valuable was really lost. It’s a good thing I put all the Alamat artwork in a separate box and pulled it out of that cabinet. But my doodles and sketches from high school and college are now all gone. I doubt that my drawings would eventually be compiled and sold as a coffee table book, but there are times when I just like to look back and see how my ideas started. I think the termites ate the sketchbook that had the Payaso sketches. It was half-eaten and covered with dirt and little termites running around. Anyway, it just goes to show that t

Last night, got out of the office at 9pm, after porrfing reading the mechanics for this his promo (mechanics which were written a week ago and could have been checked by client way back then, but they didn't.) So, needless to say, I was the last one to arrive at my birthday dinner. A grand entrance. :) All of the guys were seated at the furthest table in the back. The moment I entered the restaurant , they started to sing happy birthday and didn't stop til I got to the table. Wonderful! What can I say, I was the star of the whole place. :) he he he We had our fill. I think we ordered something from every page of the menu. Ended up at Dencio's afterwards for a couple of drinks. This branch is connected to a Par-mini-golf-place. College kids were all over the holes. (hmmm... that didn't sound too good) Anyway, guess they missed that Par44 craze when it all started years ago. Geez... I feel old. Got the Assunta canlendar from Mark and Petite. Yeah

I'm in Greenbelt. It's raining outside. So, I'm stuck here for awhile. Don't think my umbrella will be any help in the rain. There's a storm coming. Wonder how bad it'll get tomorrow. Tomorrow... in three hours, actually, it's be my birthday. And I'll be 29. Yey. hmmm... now what? Actually, I've got a lot of stuff to do. Wow! I'll be 30 next year. Karen celebrated her 30th bday with the launch of her book. Not a bad idea. I've got a year to put all together. But what's it going to be? I have several things in mind. It's just a question of what can be done in 365days, considering everyone else's schedule... and my schedule... Avid replied to my email about Alamat's 7th anniversary. Said something about, after seven years, Alamat hasn't really done a "real comic book"-- "a book with colors and good lettering". :) I wonder who he's referring to. :) Anyway, that'

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #36 comes out next week (I think). It deals with the Sept.11 attack.Written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated John Romita Jr. Here are some preview pages: showing the building collapsing , a tribute to the fire fighters , and random scenes in the city and in the crashed airliner. Damn. Just looking the pictures made me teary-eyed again. God bless us all. Fly high, seek peace.

Guess what I got today? HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! It will be available next week. :) See you at the comic book store!

Getting wired on Mr.D The nearby coffee shop closed down. Starbucks is all the way down the street. And Dome is on the other side of the street. Both are just too expensive for me these days. Then there's Mr. Donut is is just across the street. It's always been there, but never really bother. The other day, went over there with Grace and we both ordered to cups of their brewed coffee. Back the office, I pour my two cups into my mug and realized that it was as much as a tall drink from Starbucks-- and only for P35.00! So, I've now gone back to Mr.D... good old Mr.D. He who kept us awake and fed during the early days of Alamat. I just wish they didn't tune in to those lousy pop stations-- but I guess that's what makes Mr. D, Mr.D.

Whilce Portacio comments on " Looking for Heroes " Hey, I for one thank you for sharing your thoughts...even tho' I was raised here in the US, I as a Filipino also share your final thoughts. Where are our heroes? In fact, I have been trying to no avail to convey in words and thoughts that a Filipino audience could understand some of these same thoughts that you have shared with all of us. My perspective would be mostly concentrating on the view that I wish that Filipino's as a culture, as a people would take to heart the lesson in hero cherishing that America is showing to the world and has been showing to the world for decades. The one thing that motivates every American whether you are born to it, or naturalized to it, or are in the process of gaining that status is the love and value of heroes. From the second America realized that those video images we watched live on TV were actually real, America went actively hunting for Heroes. Th

Rafael Kayanan comments on " Looking for Heroes ". Excellent post Budjette. From my New York citizen's perspective though, many NYCers felt the same as you did about the police and the government on the eve of Sept. 10th. Only the firemen have been held in high regard because we see the skyscrapers and experience daily the problems of dealing with the tall structures. What do we do if caught in an earthquake (which we had on a small scale this morning) or a fire etc.? So these were folks we saw in high regard already. The police and Giuliani had some scars on them due to certain aberrations in the department. It took a time of great crisis to show the rest of the city what they represented. Their ideal core as protectors of the citizenry. It took a crisis such as this for NYers to show the country what they were made of. It took the comic industry a crisis such as this to touch on the very core of what makes a hero. I bet there were many with tears in

“They can’t stick to walls. They can’t summon thunder. They can’t fly. They’re just HEROES” --from Marvel Comics’ HEROES HEROES , as some of you already know, is Marvel’s tribute to the fire fighters, policemen, and emergency medical personnel who died during the September 11 attack of the World Trade Center. Proceeds from the sales of this “poster book” will go to the families of those who died. The book contains 64-pages of art from Marvel artists of every generation. Veterans like Joe Kubert, John Romita Sr., and Neal Adams were joined by the likes of Frank Miller , George Perez , J.Scott Campbell and Humberto Ramos. Writers like Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Kevin Smith contributed essays, poems, simple words to accompany some of the visuals. It was also nice to see people who’ve left Marvel, like Todd McFarlane and Jim Shooter, come back to contribute something to the book. As I flipped through the book, looked at the art, read the words, I start

ALAMAT COMICS is back online!

What a way to start the week. Got to work 10am. It's already 3:46am and I'm still here. Wonderful. Mark's site is active again. And the net just became a little more insane. Chaos rules, baby! :) Here's something Mark emailed, part of a Neil Gaiman interview: Whenever I do things because I want to do it and because it seems fun or interesting and so on and so forth, it almost always works. And it almost always winds up more than paying for itself. Whenever I do things for the money, not only does it prove a headache and a pain in the neck and come with all sorts of awful things attached, but I normally don't wind up getting the money, either. So, after a while, you do sort of start to learn [to] just forget about the things where people come to you and dangle huge wads of cash in front of you. Go for the one that seems interesting because, even if it all falls apart, you've got something interesting out of it. Whereas, the other way, you

The Ten Commandments - Ebonics Style I. I'm God. Don't play me. (I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have any other gods before me) II. Don't be makin no hood ornaments and charms outta me, or like me. (Thou shalt not have any graven images) III. Don't be callin' me for no reason. (Thou shalt not use the name of the Lord thy God in vain) IV. Y'all betta be in church on Sunday. (Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy) V. Don't dis or cuss out yo momma....and if you know who ya daddy is, don't dis him neither. (Honor thy father and thy mother) VI. Don't be goin' on no drive-bys (Thou shalt not kill) VII. Stick to ya own Boo (Thou shalt not commit adultery) VIII. Don't be "borrowing" stuff you know don't even belong to you. (Thou shalt not steal) IX. Don't be snitch'n on the uva man to save your own butt. (Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor) X. Don't

4:16pm The meeting just got cancelled. The meeting that I was so nervous about. I can get all worked up about it tomorrow, I guess. Anyway... Check our YourMan's favorite book these days. I was planning to write about CABLE. Yes, it's my favorite book, too. The second issue of this CABLE creative team comes out this week... today, in fact. If you're looking for something new to collect and if you like guys with guys, mind powers, and an over-active techno-virus, then CABLE is the book for you.

“Let October pass”, said Qui-Gon Jobert. Saw him at the Studio23 party a couple of weeks ago. We’ll, it was more like he sensed me. I saw Jessica with Cookie at the “lounge” area of the party. She told me that Jobert was over the Points of View booth. So, from across the crowded room (or crowded lounge), Jobert looked up and looked at me straight in the eye. He sensed me! Freaky man! Anyway, he told me that whatever was troubling me, I should just let it go and take it up again first week of November. November 6,7, or 8. I wonder if it has anything to do with my birthday. I wonder if it has anything to do with the comic book. I wonder if it has anything to do with the NU-deal. Well, whatever it is, I’m trying to take it easy. Trying to focus on the work. At least for the next two weeks. Of course, I still hope to get the second issue of Batch72 to the printing press this week. The last issue of Angel Ace is supposed to come out early November. So, that might mean B72

Osama Bin Bert Dino's made news again and this time it's really international! The monster that is "Bert is Evil!" is growing beyond Dino's control! Bwhahahahahahah!!! Where it's appeared so far... 1. Fox News 2. Wired 3. E! online Dino's official statement about the whole thing. Makes me wonder if Osama will make contact with Dino soon! :)

Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man . (a preview from the upcoming issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN set in the aftermath of the Sept.11 attack on the WTC)

I was just looking at my resume and realized that I only have a handful of published comic book works: The Flying Phantom, Comics 101 Presents, July 1994 Payaso, Comics 101 Presents, July 1994 The Secret Origin of the Flying Phantom, Alamat 101, December 1995 Batch72 “Prelude”, Agenda, October 1997 Batch72 “Fashion Victim”, Agenda, November 1997 Batch72 #1 (ashcan), May 1998 Batch72 #1 (version 2), September 2001 The Batch72 stories that appeared in Agenda were only 4-page stories, so, techinically, not a comic book. So, the last time I ever wrote anything for a comic book was way back in 1995! Gaaahd! Well, now I'm baaaack! Batch72 No.2 out this month! Nyahahahahaha! :)

Stretch Hello Stretching Writing Trying to get my brain going again Need to learn how to write all over again Push pin Pin drop Pin prick Needles and pins Needles and pins That’s what I’ve got right now Needles and pins In my stomach Tied up in knots Not wanting to go to the client But the same time I should Not that I have any choice Need to show that I can get something right Get something done Done right Well done Done right away To learn how to talk to the reader And not instruct the reader Thought I could Thought I knew how Considering I write dialogue for comic books Thought that’s what I was doing with my copy for print ads Turns out it’s far from it Frommit Mr. Frommit Who the heck is Mr. Far Frommit? That’s where I am? That’s who I am? Mr. FF Sam I am Mr. FF It’s World War III and you’re the last one to know? Get the latest news about Armageddon through myGlobe

And I suddenly started to play with Google's IMAGE search . Of course, one of the first things I typed in was my name, to see if anyone has been using my photo for some porn site. :) Unfortunately, only one site popped up and it didn't even have my photo. Google found it because my name was in the text piece. When I typed in Brandie's name , all I got were photos of animals and girls. Geez... Mark had this photo of him in Clud Dredd during one of those hazy nights we had poetry reading. And when I typed in Alamat , not one comic book appeared! All these Indonesian sites popped up. Anyway... I'm not busy punching in the names of Joyce Jimenez and the like... later... :)

When Myrene gave birth to baby Atari a year ago, I got Atari a Mojo Jojo doll, so she can get to practice her Powerpuff action moves when she gets old enough. A couple of weeks ago, I got this text from Myrene: hi. thot youd like 2 know that Atari can now say moodoo doo doo doo while watching p.puff grls this am. So I finaly took th mojo jojo doll out of storage. Messages like that just make you smile and make your day. :) p.s. Myrene is in the latest issue of MTV INK, featured as one of today's "rock music's babes"

Txt msg frm my mom: LIFE is like a COMIC BOOK-- everyday is a new page, with adventures to tell, lessons to learn and tales on good deeds to remember. Have a good episode today!

"Perhaps this final act was meant To clinch a lifetime's argument That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could" -- Sting from Fast Company's First Impression Newsletter September 21, 2001

"Comics have always reflected their times; they've told the stories that people needed. It's the reflection that allows us to see the truth. "But when escapist fantasies are no escape, different stories are needed. And what those stories may be, I don't know. "For me, right now, the most important part of fiction is that it allows us into other people's heads. And that empathy, that understanding that other people exist and matter may be the most valuable lesson we can learn, and re-learn, and re-learn." --Neil Gaiman, talking about comic book violence in reference to the WTC Attack Read the comments and reactions of other comic book creators here . Meanwhile... Other comic book creators are putting together their own efforts to do what they can for the people of New York. Marvel , Alternative Press , DC Comics , and even Japanese artist Kia Asamiya are all pitching in. Heroes all.

HEROES It's 6:14pm. I'm in the office. I just clicked on Gerry's blog and found myself staring at this illustration posted. On the CD player, Aimee Mann is singing, "It's not going to stop, til you wise up." And just kept staring til the song came to an end. "I saw more than the usual number of people inside one of the largest comic book stores in the city- people were looking to get away from the tv and read about superheroes. Lastly, I saw a worker coming back from the tragic site - he was dusty and looked very tired- he was wearing a superman shirt. How appropriate." --Rafeal Kayanan New York, 13 September 2001 PRAYERS Before coming to the office, I was once again glued in front of the TV set. At the end of one CNN report, they started to show images from all over America, of the services held for those who died, and of the clean-up and rescue operations being conducted in WTC. And while the images were being show

txt msgs frm new yrk Quark's in New York. I texted him on his Globe. There was no reponse from him til the next day. Sender: QUARK Sent: 12-Sept-2001 03:59:57 hell budj! its hell here, people are cussing, screaming, crying but im ok. get yr messages late tho. fuckn globe :) Sender: QUARK Sent: 12-Sept-2001 08:09:33 no naman, but i think two more buildings have collapse. whole fucking lower manhattans being evacd. still in my apt, hope things dont get too bad.

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow When I was a still in grade school, I watched on Betamax the documentary “ The Man Who Saw Tomorrow ”, which made me so afraid of the predicted events.It was narrated by Orson Wells which made it even more scary. They made it sound like it was really going to happen. And since I had an uncle who was into jetfighters and military technology, I was very much aware of the threat of ICBM’s and nuclear winter. It’s funny how every time some mad leader from the Middle East says something against the West and then actually does something about it, I’d think that “He must be the Anti-Christ!” And I’d check if he’d be seen wearing a blue turban, or blue cap, or blue beret, or a blue hat. Quaddafi, Saddam, and now Bin Laden. Will the real Anti-Christ please stand up. They are the modern day Boogey Men who hide bombs in our closets. It’s funny how people scramble to decipher the enigmatic writings of a Frenchman who supposedly predicted his own death,

AMERICA'S DARKEST DAY Yvette was the first one to text me that a plane crashed in to the World Trade Center. I shurgged it off. Through it was a some small prop plane that made the wrong turn. The texts came in that a second plane crash and that another one crash into the Pentagon. The whole team scrambled out of the office to go to the nearest place with CNN. We couldn't log-on to the web site. We still can't log-on to CNN.com. We ended up in McCann where the rest of the creatives who were doing O.T. were gathered around the TV set. We watched in awe and disbelief as the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed into itself. After watch for a couple of more minutes, hunger set in, we hadn't had dinner, so we went to Chili's and got the table with the best view of the TV sets. Been trying to text/call Quark. No word. I just emailed my relatives/classmates in the States, just to check if they're ok. Roach's sister is okay. S

BATCH 72 now available! (“New” Alamat Comic Book) BATCH72 No. 1 Story: Budjette Tan Art: Arnold Arre (of TALA STUDIOS) Inks: Ian Sta. Maria Ink Assists: Brandie Tan Letters: Ka-jo Baldisimo Cover: Arnold and Ka-jo 40 pages, black-and-white, P70.00 Hey classmates! It’s not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! BATCH72 #1 is now available at Comic Quest, Megamall! As in, if you go NOW, you will see copies on the counter and can actually buy a copy (or copies for you and your friends and family and loved ones)! (To be distributed in other outlets within the month) For the uninitiated, BATCH 72 tells the story of a college barkada who have super-powers. “Yeah? So?” you might grunt. Well, the thing is, Kupcake and her friends don’t want to be superheroes. They just want to be a rock band! They want their music to be heard and their friendship to last forever! But since they do have super powers, it means they get into a whole lot of s

Yes! Yes Yo! It's the Bloody Amir! Mark will love this . :) To everyone who loves rap music and hate all those wanna-be-rap-poseurs, click here ! Enjoy!

Bwaahahhahahahahahaha Plan 9 from George Lucas I'm sure this is how he really pitched it.

Sticking to the schedule Finished sticking the corrections around 3am. Well, they did all the sticking and I did all of the cutting. Thank you Mark , Petite , Drake , Jojo, and Brandie! Special thanks for Yellow Cab Pizza and Coke for keeping us alive! We'd also like to thank... uhhh... I need more sleep. So, we're ready to roll! I plan to get to the book to Comic Quest, Megamall by tomorrow, or early Saturday if my tomorrow get screwed up. After that, every weekend I'll be spending in some school with the PULP campus tour. And now the hard part... selling the book... here we go! :)

Moving Day (part 2) Well, this time I just moved a couple of steps into my own cubicle. :) Now, I can go to sleep without the boss seeing. :) About that "slight delay" So, about those typos... the printing press has printed the corrected copy on sticker paper and they printed it out for free. So, now it's up to me (and anyone else willing to) stick all the corrections on all the copies. Hope to finish it before Friday. Copywriting 101 "Brevity is the soul of wit." Did I get that right? Ay naku... been trying to crack this headline since last night. Why can't I get it??????????????????????????????????????????? It's like learning how to write all over again. Just when you think you've got it, turns out you don't. bad trip And so, we go back to the keyboard and try again.

Cold start It’s 955am on my computer clock Need to write three things Well more than three things There are three J.O.’s on my desk Some small Some big Actually They’re all little jobs A sentence or two A headline A headline which you just can’t neglect Trying to find a new way to say that “it’s a new way!” Playing eheads PLAYGROUND in the background In inq7 today The list of the nominees for the national book awards Yup he got in Well, judging by the books that came out this year, there would be more compete next year I can already see ONE NIGHT IN PURGATORY, ISAW and THE LOST getting in Depends what else comes out in the next three months Ahhhhh Just trying to loosen and stretch the old typing fingers Crack Crack Jogging the grey matter to start thinking I’m still on auto pilot Still asleep This instant coffee just isn’t kicking in Damn I need that brewed stuff When I was parking Brandie cal

Happy day Happy day :) Got it! Got the first sample copy! Looks great! Paper is better than I thought it would be. Thought it would be flimsy and that heavy inks will be seen on other side of paper... but it's not that bad. In fact, it's good. :) There are some typos... ooops...a name misspelled here and there and a word missing in my editorial... damn those Word-Gremlins! I could have sworn I fixed those typos. Of course, this blog isn't making sense... I'm happy I'm babbling the rest will be delivered next week and then the real work begins... selling it! SELL SELL SELL Still, I'm riding this "high" despite lacking sleep for 24hours happy :-) happy :0) happy :^)

Bagong Klaseng Komiks? K2K issue no.1 Story by: Mark Navarro Art by: Lan Medina Colors and lettering by: Gilbert Medina Published by Atlas. Price: P35.00 Full-color, 32pages Available at National Bookstore and wherever komiks are sold. A quick intro on the book’s cast: THE GOOD GUYS aka K2K aka KATIPUNAN 2000: Supremo , leader and strong guy, a “Captain America” in military gear. Sora , Chinese-looking sorceress. Ladino , the tech-guy, stays at the base to monitor everyone’s progress. Kalasag , an Am-boy, seems to the brawler of the group, has not yet displayed his superhuman abilities. Dilubyo , Chinese-looking martial artist, with the ability to generate whirlwinds. THE BAD GUYS: Guho , the big boss man in trench coat, sporting some Street Fighter-like punk hairstyle. From the looks of the cover, Guho has to ability to shapeshift into this Thing-like creature, except his rocks are purple. Latigo , Chinese martial artist, who c

MOVING DAY We're moving to a bigger cubicle. Moving the cattle to a bigger pen. :) It's funny what you discover when you're packing and moving to a new place, even if it is just a few meters away. Documents, Xeroxed articles which you thought would be useful. Old ideas sketched on scratch paper which you thought would be THE idea that would be turned into THE print ad or TV commercial. Now all in the trash can. It's also somewhat sad to see all those print ads and TV commercials that we worked on overnight (and in some cases, worked on for several nights) and to see that they didn't push through, that they got cancelled for one reason or another, and they all now have to end up in the trash can. Anyway, as one of the writers here once again, "If you didn't miss it, then you don't need it." So, into the can goes so many things which I thought would be useful later on. It's nice to clear out your desk, to have a clean desk a

P A N D A Y 1 0 1 Below is an email sent to Alamat mailing list by Elsa Bibat, answering queries about PANDAY, the komiks and movie character. I was surprised that someone actually knew all these things about the character... even more surprised that it seems like her family knew such interesting pieces of information. Enjoy! ==================== Being part of the "Panday" fanatics of the family, I can probably supply most of the answers to the question. First of all, the sword was not a sword! It was a simple dagger made from metal from the flaming meteor as prophesied in the "Aklat na Itim". Following the intstructions as deciphered by Tatang, Flavio, "Ang Panday" of the title crafts a blade to fight the oppression of Lizardo(shades of Buckaroo Banzai twenty years before the film was made!!^_^). It had all these weird properties: it would hum a particular vibration when drawn or in the presence of evil, it radiated a light that

Welcome to DAY 5 of our "slight delay." I think I'll just stop talking about the books release... just in case I'm am jinxing it by talking too much about it. We are fixing the problem and everything should be rolling by next week. I'll just formalling announce the availability of the book when it's already in my hands. Raining again today. I feel like the weather. The NU107 Rockology at St.Scho was cancelled due to weather conditions. That was the main reason I went on leave today, so that I could promote B72 at that event. Rain Rain Go away Come again Another day ... I just want my comic book printed... geezz... I wonder if Gaiman goes through these things... On Gaiman's blog , he was talking about seeing his son off to college and bringing his youngest daughter to meet her new grade school teacher. Just makes me wonder what it's like growing up in the Gaiman household. What stories does he tell his kids? Are

Funny thing about these oracles, they're never really specific... and so our "slight delay" has reached DAY 4. Heavy rains again. Streets flooded. Traffic in most parts of the city. Had to revised some pages of the B72 because the printing press use PCs and we assemble the book in a MAC. So... the revised pages are still with me. Don't know if we'll still meet the Aug.31 release date. Ay naku... The petinent man... the petinent man... the petinent man... Anyway, after I deliver this disc tomorrow morning, everything SHOULD be fine. Read somewhere, if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. Funny guy, that God of ours. So, after tomorrow... count 14 days after that and we should have the books in the stores by then... or at least in Comic Quest, Megamall. ...on a holding pattern...

It has been delivered! The book is at the press and should be availble by the end of next week. Hopefully, I can get it to the stores as early as August 31. I'll be at St.Scho on the 24th, promoting the book, distributing flyers. It'll be the third and last leg of NU107's Rockology campus tour. After that I'll be joing the PULP Campus Tour. Will probably post the tour sched here and in the Alamat mailing list as soon as things are finalized. Keeping fingers (and toes) crossed that everything will go well.

Last week, I "consulted" my I-Ching cards on what will happen to B72 and the cards said, expect a slight delay, but don't worry, the project will push through. Well, of course, that's just my interpretation of what the card said, but essentially, that was the message. Today, due to Typhoon Jolina, B72 is slightly delayed. Will be bringing it to the printing press on Monday. Already had a chat with the press and they said it can be ready in two weeks. God bless these slight delays. "The color of the sky as far as I can see is coal grey. What a cold and rainy day. Where on earth is the sun hid away." --10,000 Maniacs

It's 3:07 am. Am at Brandie's office. He's now doing the final lay-out of BATCH 72 #1. Will be bringing this to the printing press later today. And if all goes well, we should have printed copies by next week! Brandie said that he got teary-eyed after he read Mark's article. Hate to admit it, but I got teary-eyed too. (And you'll have to buy the book if you want to know what Mark wrote... he he he) Here we go, kids... six years after it was conceptualized, three years after the first issue saw print, it's all finally happening! And it's all good! "These are the days you'll remember. These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break. And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be. See the signs and know their meaning. It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be. Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you." --10,00 Maniacs

Alamat is now in myGlobe! Text ALAMAT to 2355 and you’ll get the latest news about Alamat Comics! Right now, you’ll just get a text about our titles that are currently in the stores, and you should have bought all of them by now. The program that makes this possible is still being beta-tested, so there will still be some glitches. Just in case you’re wondering, Alamat did not make some multi-million dollar deal with Globe. This new service is open to everyone with a Globe Handyphone. It’s called Text Site and anyone can make their own T-Site. Just log-on to: www.myglobe.com.ph and click on MyServices. From there, you’ll go to a page where you can select “Text Group and Text Site.” You can then begin to set-up your T-Site. Note: for some reason, it takes Globe two days to approve the “domain name” of your Text Site. Fee: you only pay an annual fee of P300.00. (And no, you don’t get one peso for every person that texts your site.) The myGlobe site is still a bi

I'm online again!!! Ahhh... I really need an internet connection at home. I really need a new and faster computer... and maybe a DSL connection. What I really need to do is focus on B72. Went to PWU last Friday and distributed flyers. If at least ten of those kids would buy the book, then the trip would have been worth it. There's a PWU local band called Planet Mimic. I predict that they will be the next big thing... or at least, of the next big thingees. Anyway, since I was restless last night and couldn't get online I started reading SMOKE AND MIRRORS again. Don't know why. Maybe it was because it was the book on the top of my pile of books. Re-read that Hollywood story, about the writer who goes to L.A. and goes through the torture of having to rewrite his besting novel novel about Charles Manson, into a b-movie script about a serial killer who gets reicarnated in a video game, just to please the studio execs. Maybe I now identify with the chara

Went to the Itchyworms album launch last night at the Republic of Malate. Can’t believe I was watching the same band that was doing Beatles covers way back in 1999 in Ora Café when we were there trying to promote PANTHEON. (Ended up selling a grand total of one copy to Ernest, the manager of the I-worms). Can’t believe that Eric aka Jugs, their guitarist and one of the band’s vocalist, was the same Eric I met in Galleria way, way back in 1995, showing me his Xeroxed “Shadow Comics”. And like most kids, Jugs “grew up” and away from comics and ended up in a band. Seems like he made the right choice, while some of us are still trying to make our comic book dreams come true. Last night, the band was just pure fun, fun, fun! When we got Republic, I immediately made my way to the stage area. Jason was able to get the CD (which came with a free “little monster” and a poster). So, by the end of the launch, there were no more CDs just cassette tapes. It was nice to see the parents

Took the day-off to work on B72. Geez, using one of my VLs (vacation leave) to do... work. Well, it's for the book, so it's worth it. But just goes to show that a day is not enough. Still have more stuff to do for the book. The first leg of Rockology will be this Friday at P.W.U. Must have all the promo materials ready by Thursday. Got to talk to Francis Brew. Asked him about... a project I'm wroking on and trying to figure out if it's worth the headache. He also told me that the Dawn might have a U.S. Tour, five weeks, five cities (or something like that). Wow! Cool! Road trip! Anyway, must focus on B72 for the moment before pursuing other projects. hmmm... a road trip... :)

It was definitely spectacular... NO! It was spectular Spectacular!!! MOULIN ROUGE , definitely the best movie I've seen this year! What a flashy site , too. Must watch it again!

BACK-BLOG August 2, 2001 It’s 12:06am on my watch. It’s 11:55pm on my computer clock. And I’m wondering if it’s already safe to go online. I wonder how much damage the Code Red virus has done. I haven’t gone online today. I fear that will experience withdrawal symptoms soon. I was doing my timesheet yesterday and calculated that for the month of July, I spent 220 hours working on this . Today is the formal, public, blah blah launch( and even Mark was dragged on it. God, I hope all that… that… work is worth it. I wonder what people think about it. I wonder what the competition thinks about it. And there are times during the day when I just don’t care about what my wonderful client has to say and just wish I can get to work on B72. I just finished my editorial to the first issue. Still waiting for Mark to finish his foreword. Still waiting for the chance to go online… damn…. Maybe later today it’ll be okay to surf again. Well, if you’re reading th

I was about to call it a slow Tuesday when the J.R.s started to pour in. Well, I exaggerate... only had to do some scripts, check on the print ad, and it's all done... at least for the moment. Excited about the books coming out tomorrow. After how many months, PLANETARY is finally arriving. Also can't wait for part 3 of DAREDEVIL: YELLOW . Loeb and Sale are really the team supreme. Wonder if there's a "Tim Sale" here in Manila? Just miss that feeling of being able to create and collaborate on stories. There is a certainly thrill when you're working on a print ad or an idea for a TV commercial and you're idea just clicks with you art director... but the feeling is different when you click when collaborating on a story, comic book or otherwise.

Signs that it is a Monday. I get to work in good minute (less than 20minutes) only to find that some moron had taken my parking space. I get to my desk to find three J.R.’s (job requests). Then one of the A.D.s tells me that the AE’s are looking for an additional study that would make the ad look exactly like what my C.D. doesn’t want them to look like! Yup, it’s a Monday.

I'm now at the Power Plant at a place called Paperclips, where they have internet rental, and thank God for that. Waiting for the others to arrive, going to watch JURASSIC PARK 3. Across from Paperclips is a Dunkin Donuts. Got some coffee and donuts before walking over here. While munching on my Choco Caramel Donut and sipping on their not-so-strong brewed, I couldn't help but think about all those nights we spent in Dunkin or Mr. Donuts during the mid-90s. We usually ended up there after a movie where we talked about movie, other movies, comic books, and came up with many fantastic and inane stories that will never see print. The people in the Alamat mailing list were talking about meeting up and having a tambayan . Gerry was the one who mentioned about CyebrCafe, that it was almost a guarantee that every Saturday there would be at least two Alamat people in that cafe. God, I miss those days (and nights and early mornings). But life goes on and so do we. Last

Been reading the reports about this year's San Diego Comic-Con … nakakainggit! Went there in 1994, which was when I was giving away copies of COMICS 101, the very first comic book which I got published. It was at that convention when I gave Whilce a copy of our comic book, which reminded him to include me in that little meeting, which lead to the formation of Alamat. But that’s another story… Went back San Diego in 1995, giving away the Alamat Comics Package to every editor we could corner. Was able to meet Neil Gaiman. Got his autograph. Saw this girl dressed up a Voodoo... :) Hopefully can go next year.

btw, I've updated Dave's site (in case anyone out there is interested)

You think you're kung-fu is better than my kung-fu?! I am master of the Farting Snake technique! Attack me and try! Well, not really a kung-fu style, but the Sonoran Coral Snake does, well... fart when threatened. Now, I'd love to see that Croc Hunter -dude from Animal Planet try and catch a Sonoran. "Oh, what a beeeeooootiful snake..." PPRRRRRRRRFFFTTT!!! "Blimey!"

Call me Mud! Just wanted to write down some stuff before it all escapes me, before fatigue and aching muscles get the better of them and I’d rather not write at all. Yesterday (THURS) had a team building seminar or sorts. The whole Globe Handyphone Team played Gotcha!, that paintball-war game, against the Coke-Jollibee Team of McCann. Definitely lots of fun! I spent most of the time lying down on the mud. Slipping, sliding, crawling on the mud, trying to gain a foothold on anything. Felt really helpless. My protective goggles kept fogging up and for safety purposes, I couldn’t remove my goggles and mask while I was on the battle zone. We played three games. During the first game, we were the defenders of Hamburger Hill. The Coke Team had to capture our flag. Five minutes into the game and I was already breathing heavy, felt like I could move my legs, and just couldn’t stand up due to the slippery mud. By this time, my green pants and black jacket had turned brown

1:20am Still at the office. Yesterday, went home at 4am. Got to work at 4pm. Rushed to the recording studio. Back at the office by 5pm. Yesterday, went out for a two hour "lunch break" and finally finished reading Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS . Yes, finally got my Gaiman-fix. :) Past couple of years, I've had to get my Gaiman-fix by reading those 8-page Endless stories that would come out in Veritgo's WINTER'S EDGE. Course I also got that SANDMAN: DREAM HUNTERS , which was nice... not thrilling, but nice. But AMERICAN GODS definitely gave me my fill of a great Gaiman story... of stories within a story... most of the ideas presented in the novel would be very familiar to the typical SANDMAN reader, but it's all good... good to see familiar characters and see them from a different point of view. Will be going home in awhile... New comic books arrive later today. Happy day. Then again... there's work...