Babbling Point

Color Me Red Got a kiss from Cooky Chua last night--- what a great way to end the year! :) :) :) Went to 70s Bistro last night. It was Triple-A Night aka Anti-Alcoholics Anonymous Night. That what they call it whenever Pin Wheel, Hydrophonics, and Color It Red plays in one place. Don't know how long they've been doing AAA, but I'm definitely going back their for their next "session". IT'S NOT A HOAX! IT'S NOT A DREAM! NOT AN IMAGINARY STORY! Welcome to married life, Gerry & Ilyn ... hope you survive the experience! he he he The guest list of Gerry and Ilyn's wedding read like a list to a comic book convetion. I should sold tickets and had an autograph signing session at the reception. In fact, their give-away was a mini-comic book on how they met and fell in love. Awwww. I was giving hosting duties during the reception along with Chris, Ilyn's classmate. I should've drank beer or wine or taken severa...

Congratulations to Mark and Petite on the successful launch of their joint-project ! Like I said in Moy and Dundee's wedding, "It takes a whole village to raise one child." So, you can be sure that we will raise your child. No. Wait. That's not my point. My point is, you can be sure that our crazy tribe will always be there for you two. Naks! :) KEKEKE!!!

SPACE... THE FINAL FRONTIER FOR SARI-SARI STORES Aside from that Pinoy in Starship Troopers, seems like Filipinos have found their way in different parts of the universe. So, should we now call them OFWs (Outer-space Filipino Workers)? LIFELINE A novel by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason --------------------------------------------------------------------- "In shock and grief the last remnants of the human race watched from space as the holocaust of war raged across the face of the Earth. Now the future rested in the hands of three fragile space colonies: Aguinaldo--The Philippine L-5 colony whose brilliant biochemist had engineered a limitless supply of food. Kibalchich--The Soviet space exploration platform that harbored a deadly secret. Orbitech 1--The American space factory whose superstrong weavewire could be a lifeline to link the colonies--or a cutting-edge weapon of destruction. As allies, they could unite to rebuild a better world. As enemies, they could ...

Back at the office. Attended the wedding reception of Jovic and Steph. Went with Moy and Dundee. (Moy made the wedding cake.) Met some high school and college batchmates. Found out that one of them owns a comic book shop that specializes in ordering back issues. (More info about them soon.) He also mentioned that some of our batchmates who used to draw/illustrate now want to work on whatever project and get something published somewhere. Hmmm... must meet up with them soon. One of those batchmates that he was talking about is Oliver Isabedra, who did pencils from Entity Comics' ASTER ... the same comic book that introduced such talents as Gerry Alanguilan, Leinil Francis Yu, and Jay Anacleto. Back then, they were just names. Now... they are legends! he he he Anyway, I don't really know what Oliver wants to do, but it would be interesting to see his works again. When he started drawing, he had that George Perez-style going . Last time I saw his sketches , he was gettin...

News from the Gutter Grant Morrison is working on an "Invisibles" computer game with some of the people who created Grand Theft Auto. And there's a lot of Scots there. One programmer was so excited about the collaboration that he text messaged a friend from his mobile saying "I'm having a shit in Grant Morrison's toilet!!!" at 2 in the morning. Will there be any cheat codes? When this game comes out, this might finally give Dave a good reason to buy a new computer.

MURPHY'S DAY Woke up and found out my rear right tire was flat. And my spare tire was also flat. So, I had both tires fixed only to find out that my rear right tire was beyond repair and had to buy a new one. So, I got the new one and drove home to finally take a bath, dress up, and get some errands done. When I walked back to my car my rear right tire was flat again! So, I brought it back to the same repair guy who then told me the "pito"-- that rubber thingee/nozzle where you pump in air had already cracked due to wear and tear. And so I got a new "pito" and finally had four running wheels. I then went to this upholstery shop along Santolan, because a couple of days ago, the driver seat of my car went on a permanent recline. Some metal bar snapped and I had to drive around the city lying down. After I got that fixed, I drove to E.Rodriguez to get some paperwork processed. When I got to the place, I discovered that I left my bag in the upholstery sh...

Four Weddings and Comic Book Convention Yup, that's what's jotted down in my calendar for this month. Which makes me wonder if December will become some strange, comedy routine. Weddings... Can you believe it? We're now attending weddings-- of our friends! No weddings of some aunt or uncle, but of people that we grew up with. Another sign of your getting old is when one of your batchmates runs for public office. So far, that hasn't happened yet. Anyway, I just hope that the workload here in the office stays this light.

Press release ANOTHER 'GAY' COMIC BOOK BY CARLO VERGARA After his first comic book, the gay-themed “One Night In Purgatory”, garnered acclaim by landing a finalist slot in the recent Manila Critics' Circle National Book Awards and being mentioned in the Sanghaya Yearbook of the National Commission for Culture and Arts as the best comic book of 2001, Carlo Vergara is set to release his second book, ANG KAGILA-GILALAS NA PAKIKIPAGSAPALARAN NI ZSAZSA ZATURNNAH. ”Zsazsa Zaturnnah” tells about Ada, a gay man, who receives a mysterious stone that grants him the power to transform into a woman. As Zaturnnah, Ada defends his hometown from extraterrestrial amazons. Joining him in this light comedy adventure are his sidekick Didi and his secret crush Dodong. Written in Filipino, “Zsazsa Zaturnnah” is for mature readers due to suggestive content and strong language. The 65-page first part will be available in mid-December at all ComicQuest branches (SM Megamall, SM Nor...

Ding! Ang bato! At ang make-up kit ko na rin! Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni ZSA ZSA ZATURNNAH Ada's life is turned around when a mysterious stone falls from the sky. The stone enables Ada to transform into the powerful and voluptuous Zaturnnah, who attempts to defend a small town from rampaging zombies, power-tripping space women and... well, you know the drill... Adding color to this simple but riotous tale is the fact that Ada is a homosexual, proprietor of his own quaint beauty salon. With his frilly-mouthed assistant Didi, and the objet d'amour Dodong, Ada acknowledges the dictates of Destiny, and begins to explore the potential fullness of Life. "Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni ZsaZsa Zaturnnah" An Alamat Comic Book, published by Carver House thru Quest Ventures. Written and illustrated by Carlo Vergara Part One (of Two): 65 pages, black and white Price: P 120 Written in Filipino. For Mature Readers Ever. ...

Petite and Mark's Countdown to W-DAY is now online! Actually, it's been online for a couple of days from the looks of it. Please to give it a click and send them your best wishes. Will try to upload embarrasing pictures as soon as it happens. It should be fun! There are three Best Men, me included. Mark said that three guys should make up for one Best Man... or something like that. Mark said they wanted to have a Lord of the Rings motif for their wedding. During the reception, they would have some guy in a Legolas costume running around during the shouting, "The orcs are coming! The orcs are coming!" Then I guess the ring bearer could be dressed up as a hobbit and the priest should look like Gandalf. But they're not pushing through with that. Oh well, I guess if we get drunk enough, we'll all go running around the reception yelling, "The orcs are coming! The orcs are coming!" Seems like it was only yesterday when we were running around Cl...

MANGA FOR THE MASSES "In Japan, each new issue of Shonen Jump supplies 3 million teen manga addicts with their next fix. America gets its first dose November 27. The serialized anthology, which will include Dragon Ball-Z and other stories, scrupulously translates the original; the English text and pages even flow from right to left. Each 280-plus page installment is as big as a phone book, but black-and-white illustrations and low-grade paper mean that the cost – $5 a pop – is comparable to skimpy US comics. With Shonen Jump going on sale at stores like Wal-Mart, the mainlining of manga can now begin." - Chris Baker So, when SHONEN JUMP reaches local comic book stores, it'll probably be sold for P275 to P300. Which makes me wonder, will it sell. Right now, a regular 24-page full-color comic book is P160-P200. Would readers/collectors be willing to shell out the extra cash for a product like SHONEN JUMP? I also wonder, if the local komiks industry were to pr...

R U 1 OF US? "Cellphones have become a major icon of Philippine life. They have replaced the jeepney as the expression of what is quintessentially Filipino. Both symbols deal with mobility and connectivity, but while the jeepney attempts to traverse physical distance, the cellphone supersedes it." Quote from Txt-ing Selves: Cellphones and Philippine Modernity

In today's Inquirer, I saw a picture of a bunch of guys in spandex. Turned out to be the cast of the movie LASTIKMAN starring Vic Sotto as the elastic hero, Donita Rose as his love interest, Michael V. as his faithful sidekick, and Jeffrey Quizon as the villain. Jackielou Blanco and Michelle Bayle are also in the film. The movie is part of the line-up of this year's Metro Manila Filmfest... which should be renamed the Metro Manila Fantasy Filmfest. As a kid, I used to watch the original, b&w LASTIKMAN movie on IBC 13 during those lazy afternoons. Of course, back then, they didn't have any hi-tech morphing effects, so you'd usually see Lastikman run off-screen and it cuts to the object he transform in, like a tire or a table and it would have that distinct diamond-pattern that's on Lastikman's costume. There was only one scene where special-effects was used. When Lastikman was buried six feet under, he was able to escape by making his hand snake out of a...

4:34am At the office. And I can finally go home. But I have to be back here around 11am. It's been awhile since we've had to stay here so late. Bummer! Didn't get to meet up with the guys for WarCraft3. Maybe later. Crazy. Worked on several print ads, a radio commercial, and got to help out in a new TV commercial. I hate to admit it but I get a rush out of days like these, but it definitely leaves me drained. I have to be back here later to work on that radio commercial. I tried to applie some of the stuff I read in CUTTING EDGE RADIO, but client just didn't go for it. And because of that, we have to re-record tomorrow... actually in a couple of hours. That's what I get for trying to be "cutting edge". Babbling at 4am Around two years ago... (or was it a year ago?)... I was blabbing about the possible viability of the comics-magazine format. But I didn't do anything about it except blab about it. Anyway, check out what's ...

Wish we had Comix Decode sessions here. Well, I guess we can easily set it up with the local guys, but it would be fun to get foreign artists to come over and talk about their work. COMIXDECODE is a series of readings and discussions with contemporary cartoonists. Our goal is to enlighten fans, fellow artists, and new readers alike by offering a forum for in-depth discussion of the comix medium. Our main modus operandi is to get a few outstanding cartoonists together in a room, project their work on a screen while they read it, and then have an active and open discussion about it, with the cartoonists themselves acting as the panel of experts.

DOH! Last night at the NU107 Rock Awards, Diether Ocampo went up on stage to present one of the awards. The crowd started to yell, "Bakla! Bakla ka naman!" Diether took the mic and yelled back, "Hoy! Jologs din ako!" The crowd started to throw stuff on stage. Diether didn't get hit, but his co-presentor --some new talent from ABS-CBN-- got hit on the forehead with something. The DJs of NU had to calm down the crowd before they could continue giving the award. Diether soon left in his Audi TT. Jologs nga siya . p.s. Click on Mark's blog for the discussion and definition of the word JOLOG.

IndieFilipino.com is slowly developing it's KOMIKS FORUM section. You can now visit and join the following discussion sections: 1. COLORING 2. ILLUSTRATION 3. STORY DEVELOPMENT 4. GENERAL (KOMIKS) DISCUSSION Click. Discuss. Debate.

RADIO GA-GA Feeling better now. Felt crappy yesterday. I presented two radio scripts to client yesterday and they disapproved the one that I liked. I spent most of Monday writing different scripts and that was the one I liked. One of the many books that Brandie brought home from Singapore was CUTTING EDGE RADIO by Jim Aitchison. I started reading it during the weekend and I was trying to put to practice the things that I read. So, I wrote one radio commercial where I tried to “give the flavor” of what the product does for you, instead of flat-out saying it and give you the old hard-sell routine. Well, client didn’t like it. They liked the other one. I guess it’s okay. I don’t think it’s too much of a hard sell. I think. To make matters worse, out print ad barely survived. What a great way to end your day—to see your work picked apart before your very eyes. The problem with reading books like CUTTING EDGE is you see how good ad get produced elsewhere, the...

FROM THE FWD EMAIL DEPT. A group of Geography students studied the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of that section, the students were asked to list what they think were considered to be the present Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following got the most votes: 1. Egypt's Great Pyramids 2. Taj Mahal 3. Grand Canyon 4. Panama Canal 5. Empire State Building 6. St. Peter's Basilica 7. China's Great Wall While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are: 1. To touch 2. To taste 3. To see 4. To hear She he...

CROSSROADS November 9, last year, at the intersection of EDSA and Timog. I waited for the light to turn green. Up ahead, I saw a little boy, around 10 or 12 years old, begging for money.I noticed that he was pretty well-dressed for someone begging money. He had a clean white polo, khaki shorts, socks and rubber shoes. He also carried a plastic lunchbox. He soon came over to my car. Feeling generous because it was my birthday, I decided to give him whatever spare change was in my car only to discover that I had no more coins! I looked into my pocket of my polo shirt and saw that I had a twenty peso bill. I rolled down my window and gave it to the kid. As I rolled up my window, the kid quickly said, "Salamat po!" (Thank you). He took two steps away from my car and then came back. He knocked on my window. So, I rolled down my window again and find out what he had to say. He smiled and said in Filipino, "You know why I'm asking for money today? I don't no...

Well, I finally did it. I wrote a story. A 24-page comic book script. Something I haven't done for a very long time. I sent the script to Mark and Gerry. Taps already gave his comments. Gerry just emailed and said that one scene in the story is all too similar to his story, which is why I sent it too him-- to check if I did rip him off. So, I now have to find a different way to end it. But that's okay. I wrote it and finished it and that's all that matters to me. I guess that's the best birthday gift I can give to myself. I turn 30 this Saturday and last year I had hopes that by this time I would have already published a full-color graphic novel. Well, I've got a 24-page script. It's a start. Maybe next year.

As some of you may have noticed (or not noticed at all), no Alamat comic book/book/project was released for the year 2002. I sent an email to the fine and wonderful people of Alamat last Monday, greeting them "Happy Anniversary" and pointing out that we've had no projects for the whole year and hope that in the coming year we will be busy. Well, in the past two days I've been informed of two really exciting projects that... I can't really announce right now. I'm just waiting for a go signal from the creators of those projects and we'll be announcing it like crazy. Everything should be set around end November. Abangan!

This month marks the beginning of Alamat Comics’ 8th year. Seems like every year is star-up mode for us. Below is an article which is suppose to appear in the revised Alamat website, but that might take awhile, so I’m posting it here. The Secret Origins of Alamat Alamat Comics started some twenty or so years ago, when we were still kids and made our own superheroes using crayons and papers, when we traced and copied our favorite characters and made up stories about them. Alamat Comics started in 1992, when comic book artist Whilce Portacio came home to the Philippines and judged a drawing contest. Hundreds of “Pinoy mutants” were submitted and it lined the walls of a ballroom, where the contest/ party/ autograph signing session was held. Little did we know that the people who later be the founding members of Alamat were all in that ballroom. Alamat Comics started in 1993, when a group of La Salle college students published the “first comic book” as far as Western ...

The Brotherhood of Annoying Movie-Goers Watched BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF last Saturday. I liked two out of the three hours of the movie. Well, maybe it wasn't really three hours long but it certainly felt like it. The fight scenes were great, even the scenes with the Beast were well done. But I think it was just too damned long. As you discover more and more about the secret of the Beast, you'd think the pace of the movie would go faster, leading you to the final revelation about the brotherhood, but NOOOO! We keep getting this pauses in the film where they devote time for this character and that character. At that point of the movie, all the set-up about plot and characters should have been done and we should be one our way to the ending. To make matters worse, behind us sat the Brotherhood of Annoying Movie-Goers. They were five or six guys that just had to give a running commentary through-out the movie. From the sound of it they were Magic: The Gathering pl...

Gerry in the Journal Dirk Deppey of THE COMICS JOURNAL reviews Gerry's site/blog. An interesting point-of-view from someone outside looking into the Filipino comic book scene. _

Didn’t get blog yesterday. The hysteria here at the office reached an all time high. Well, maybe not, but it sure felt like it. The project I worked on last week, that ate my Friday evening and Saturday afternoon was “de-prioritized” Monday morning. I just love it when that happens. And it happens all too often. Friday night… after I finally got out of work. Met up with office mates at Segafredo. As usual, it was a regular Ad Congress that night. People from different agencies were there getting drunk or sobering up. One of my office mates, Icel, read my palm and gave me a very interesting reading. She said that there was a time three girls liked me and I didn’t know it. Had I know that they liked me at that time then I might done something about it. Why don’t I get a memo about these things? They could’ve at least texted me about it. As usual, I’m the last to find out. Well, there is supposed this other girl and that something may come out of it if I do something about ...

Well... that was that. I knew my 15-minute interview with the PiPOL crew would be reduced to a 15-second soundbite. I have become a resource person. I wonder if that's such a great thing? All in all, it was nice piece. Too bad it was shown too late for kids to see. Nothing like finding out that the guy drawing your favorite comic book is a Pinoy. It would be great if transcripts and images from the show would be put online. I think CNN and ABC NEWS would do that. Talking about Filipino comic book artists... Nonoy Marcelo died yesterday. God bless him. When I was in grade school, I was crazy about ninjas. I bought the books, the costume, and the equipment. I was one fat ninja! It was during that time when Nonoy Marcelo did several strips of IKABOD as a ninja. I clipped out those strips, pasted them on bond paper, and stapled them together. I even drew Ikabod on the cover. I think that was one of the very first comic books I "published". I don't know wher...

NeXT oN PiPOL OcToBeR 22, 11pm ABS-CBN Popular, sikat at mabiling-mabili ang imported comic Books na may iba’t ibang superheroes. Kabilang na rito ang X-Men, Superman, Spiderman at iba pa. Pero hindi alam ng marami, mga Pinoy ang may likha ng mga imahe at istorya ng mga tanyag na comic book na ito. Sino nga ba itong world-class Pinoy cartoonists at paano nila itinatayo ang bandila ng Pilipinas sa bawat pahina ng mga imported comic books na binabasa ng buong mundo? Samahan si Ces Drilon para sa mga totoong istorya ng buhay lahad ng mga tunay na tao sa PiPOL, Martes pagkatapos ng ABS-CBN HEADLINES. =========================== The crew interviewed Jay Anacleto , Gerry Alanguilan , Gilbert Monsanto , James Palabay , comic book store-owner Fil Barbasa, and me. I wonder how much of my interview will be used. I just hope they show the pages from BATCH72 and GLOBE XTM. :)

Ready? Get set! TEXT! Tomorrow night starts THE GREAT GLOBE ADVENTURE . This is what I've been working on for the past weeks with Argem. The "great dreams(G)" tv plug has been airing for a week. A Creative Director from another agency texted our bosses to say that it was a "great commercial". Which we should consider a really great compliment considering it was done using the TV (betacam) equipment and not with film. The shoot started at 8am on a bridge somewhere in Balara, where we had to stop traffic for over an hour to shoot the the opening running scene that actually just appears for two seconds. Our day ended at 3am at GMA studios, shooting the "team" in their living room. The show itself looks exciting. I guess you can call it the Pinoy version of AMAZING RACE. The pilot episode will have celebrity contestants (a usual ploy to make people watch). Succeeding episodes will have "regular" people. But from what I've heard, ...

FROM THE FWD. EMAIL DEPT: ----------------------------------------------------- Your Guide to Philippine Newspapers: A Must Read 1. The INQUIRER is the newspaper read by the people who run the country. if you don't know who runs the country, don't read the inquirer, as you may end up thinking that a newspaper actually runs the country. 2. The MANILA BULLETIN is read by people who don't care who runs the country, as long as the telephone numbers in the classified ads are correct, and the prices negotiable. 3. MALAYA is the newspaper read by people who used to run the country and think they still do. it is confusing to read Malaya because while the date may be correct, the administration is always wrong. 4. The PHILIPPINE STAR is read by people who will run the country, as soon as their newspaper overtakes the inquirer in circulation and advertising revenue. Until that happens, they will be happy to read the absolute latest in show business news. ...

I finally got my copy of THE COMPLETE COPYBOOK TALES and was shocked to find out that J.Torres and Tim Levins ripped-off my life. Even worse, they wrote a more exciting version of my life. (Actually, I said the same thing after watching Kevin Smith’s MALLRATS.) Each episode of THE COPYBOOK TALES happens in two timelines. It always shows the lead character Jaime Cruz, as a comic book fanboy in the 80s and as a struggling comic book writer in the 90s. And every little detail of his life just seemed to mirror my life. Jaime Cruz had a barkada who loved comic books. They always rushed to the comic book store every week during New Comic Book Day. He had a younger brother who called him kuya and pestered him when they were kids. He wore a black jacket, which he never seemed to take off. He and his friends watched STAR WARS dozens of times and acted out scenes in public. He kept a journal, which he called his Copybook, which eventually became the source of his comic book, which is th...

By the time I post this GLOBE XTM would have already been launched. GLOBE XTM is the name for Globe’s new GPRS services that allows you to send text messages 480 characters long and lets you email with your GRPS-capable cellphone. I joined in and helped out in writing the comic book which will be inserted in newspapers, magazines, and given away everywhere. They are supposedly printing several hundred thousand copies to be disturbed nationwide. That would be make it the highest circulating comic book I’ve ever written. Another factoid: the GLOBE XTM comic book is the first comic book I’ve written ever since Batch72. Crazy, huh? The artist of the book is Ian Sta. Maria, who was one of the inkers of Batch72. When we went through the script of the second story, he commented, “ Parang Batch72, ah .” And that struck me… in a good and bad way. I find it funny that someone can actually say that a particular story is like a Batch72, like it’s become some trademark style that can a...

And All Things Nice by Budjette G. Tan Manila, 2072 A.D. She never really bothered to find out what her father did for a living. All that mattered was that her dad uploaded her allowance to her cred-chip every week and that she was allowed to use the grav-car on Friday nights. She’d leave little holo-notes to her dad, being the sweet daughter that she is, to remind her dad that she loves him and that she needed some extra creds for the sale at the Ayala-Infinity-Mall. She never knew that father was one of the most important men working for the Hexagon BioCorporation, that her father was known as The Smith in certain circles, labeled the WeaponSmith under classified files, and was called the Blacksmith by his enemies. So, it was quite a shock to her (and embarrassing) when her cred-chip was denied at the club due to insufficient funds. How could her dad forget to reload her account? That night, she went home to their unit, on the 171st floor of the Rockwell complex,...

Text me, baby! Turns out the office upgrade my SIM so I'd have the myGlobe menu. So, they deactivated my old one without telling me and the person who was supposed to give me the new SIM went on leave. So, when I finally got the new SIM today and swtiched on my phone, 30+ messages flooded in my InBox! :) Ahhh... I can text again. :0)

Cellular Frustration For some strange reason, my phone can’t pick up a signal. Noticed it around lunch time. I now wonder if it has anything to do with using my cellphone while I was microwaving my lunch. Maybe the microwaves melted some circuit in my phone. Maybe it’s because I dropped my phone several times already. So, I brought my phone to Semicon who said that it would take a week to just check what’s wrong with it. I called up one of the Nokia Care Centers and they said it would take three days. Of course, I could take this to Greenhills can get it repaired in a couple of minutes but that would void my warrantee. Bummer. I haven’t been able to text or receive text since lunch. Very frustrating. Frustrating how we’ve become dependent on this device. So, it’s back to my 3210 until I get my phone fixed. My Happy Pill I finally got a copy of Neil Gaiman’s CORALINE . Found it in T.B.F.K.P.O. (The Bookstore Formerly Known as Page One). Only P800++. And that made me...

11:32am Should’ve been here earlier. It’s not like I had a late night. It’s just that I ended up staying in bed longer than usual. Just wanted to warm up, write some things down, clear my head before getting down to work. (Or from the looks of things… lunch.) So, how was your weekend? Saturday night, we successfully staged Mark’s surprise birthday party at Area 51. (Organized and masterminded by Petite and Wowel.) Well, it wasn’t exactly like the surprise party in FREE ENTERPRISE , but he was surprised nonetheless. I just don't think Petite would have agreed to have a green-skinned-alien-slave-girl lap dance for her Markie. :) From Area 51, I went to another party/dinner/get-together/reunion of the Globe `99 Team. (Sounds like a superhero group, huh?) They were the creative & accounts team that handled the Globe Handyphone account back in 1999, back when I started work in the agency. One of them is now a director of TV commercials. Two of them now work for t...

Lights! Camera! Pasta! If you click here , you'll see Noel F. Lim aka FLIM, me, and Gerry at Italianni's, Greenbelt 2.We met there to practice my scene with Gerry for WASTED THE MOVIE. I arrived around 6:30pm. For some reason, Noel was wearing his motorcycle goggles, which is weird because he sold his bike years ago. I guess he misses it. We started our "reading" / workshop after dinner. I thought we'd go elsewhere to practice our lines and try-out the blocking of the scene. But we didn't. And I'm just glad the place was full of people and noisy, else they would've heard me bumbling around and Gerry cursing about love lost. We did two readings, enough to figure out which lines needed to be edited and got directions from Noel on how to say this line and that line. Noel also started to sketch some ideas on how to shoot the scene. He said he wants to shoot the scene in one continous shot! No cuts! Which means it's going to be a very long da...

an email from Paolo Manlapaz Jonnel was a quiet, simple, unassuming person. He didn't stand out in a crowd or draw attention to himself. He may have looked timid, but if you pierced that disguise, you'd find that he could be fiery and passionate about many things. During our elementary and high school years, I would often spend weekends with Jonnel, either at his Malabon or Xavierville residence. Day and night, we'd fight ninja warriors in Legend of Kage, listen to When In Rome's The Promise, and walk around Virramall in Greenhills. We'd go through his stacks of Teen Titans, watch veritechs dogfight on Robotech, and strafe Kilrathi ships in Wing Commander. We'd drink those pulpy Japanese orange drinks that came in aluminum cans. We'd draw (hopefully) like Ryoichi Ikegami. When we'd play with miniatures, we'd make ridiculous battle sound effects. It was all simple, honest fun and it didn't get better than that. Over the last few ye...

Filipino comic book writer J.Torres will be one of the contributors to an upcoming issue of X-MEN UNLIMITED . I asked him how he got that writing gig. Below is his answer. My first Marvel gig was a text piece in Marvel Knights: Millennial Visions edited by Mike Marts. I first met Mike when he was an associate editor at Acclaim about three or four years ago. I was supposed to do some work for them, but the company's comic division folded before that happened. After Millennial Visions, Mike asked me to write a two-part Black Panther fill-in (which will probably never get used given the series' problems). Around the time I was finishing up that assignment, C.B. Cebulski was offered a position at Marvel. C.B. was my editor at Fanboy Entertainment, the company that originally published Sidekicks. He was initially brought on to manage the Mangaverse books. But about three months into his tenure he was assigned as the assistant editor of X-Men Unlimited, and at the time Mike wa...

Not a hoax. Not a dream. Not an imaginary story. I just received a text that Jonnel Mendiola, a batch mate from Ateneo died yesterday in an attempted kidnapping incident . I met Jonnel because we were the geeks that hung out at the covered courts, not to play basketball, but to talk about comic books. (Of course, Jonnel was usually at the covered courts because he was part of Ateneo Rifle&Pistol team.) After college, Jonnel set-up a comic book store and was one of the people to support Alamat Comics during our early years. God bless Jonnel. God bless his family. God bless our country.

“The perfect boyfriend goes to the comic-book store every Wednesday for new issues.” --Janeane Garofalo Well, she didn't really say that, but kinda meant it. Read the rest of the interview and find out THE TRUTH ABOUT JANEANE GAROFALO . To have a girlfriend like Janeane Garofalo... that would be wild.

www.time.comix Just found out that Time.com has a regular comic book reviewer. Andrew D. Arnold has been writing about comix since 1995. His column appears on TIME.com every Friday. What a cushy job. To get paid to read comix. Then again, I'd rather be writing comic book stories than reviewing them. (But you already know that. I should really stop repeating myself.)

Below is quote from an article by Steve Buccellato , one of the creators/publishers of a new comics magazine called COMICULTURE . Read his explanation of what their group is all about. Might remind you of certain local comic book groups. :) ------------------------------------------ "COMICULTURE is produced by a pretty closely knit group of comics pros. We are working for FREE, funding the project ourselves, and supporting it with a lot of our own precious time, sweat and love. "WILL WE BE ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS IN THE FUTURE? The answer to that, is up to YOU, the readers. Today, COMICULTURE is pure ambition. This is what I want to do for a living: publish my own work, and the work of creators I respect. If COMICULTURE succeeds, we will be publishing more frequently than four times a year. I'd love to be able to go bimonthly or monthly. If that happens, I'll be BEGGING everyone around me for good content! Meanwhile, we have the next few issues pretty well plan...

Quigon Jobert told me that things will get better for Alamat in two weeks. Well, it's been two weeks. Then again, it's just Monday. Lots can happen from now til the end of the week. If all goes well, I got shot this Saturday thanks to these guys . I'm sure they'll mention it there right after I got shot. I just hope we don't use karo(?) syrup for blood. That's damned sticky and ants will feast on my flesh, if that ever happens. Wish me luck.

My email to WITCH got publish in the latest issue (no.3). Great... people probably think I'm a babbling fangirl. Bummer.

CRASH AND BURN, BABY! And they finally speak and are quoted on the matter. KAKOSA : May comment si Gerry Alanguilan. His original criticism was, "It's great. Great comic book, great art, great story. But is it Filipino? Is it uniquely Filipino? Is it original?" Ang stand niya ngayon is, it's not so much as being Filipino but arriving at your own distinct style. James(publisher of CULTURE CRASH): Ang ayoko lang kasi sa ginawa niya, he took a stand. He put it in writing and then he changed it every month. For one thing, yung stance niyang iyon, it's exactly what we told people who were asking us and who were in contact with him. It's not looking for a Filipino style. He's looking for a distinct personal style. Our goal here is actually to help all the other Filipino artists. We just want to help everyone. The rest of the interview can be found here . Well, as far as I know, Gerry's article was never a direct attack against CULTURE CRA...

Like I said, almost everyone now seem to have a blog. Hey Camille ! Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging!

I’ve been offline for week. Well, not really. I’ve been checking mail, but have not had the chance to blog. I went on leave last week. Didn’t really go anywhere. Just stayed in the city from Monday to Thursday. Reverted back to my bum/mallrat lifestyle… and it wasn’t fun anymore. (Yeah, yeah, I know I’m 29 and too old to be a bummallrat.) It wasn’t fun because back in the “old days”, I used to walk around the mall, check out the comic book and book stores, and then meet up with the guys afterwards. I was in the mall the whole day, but everyone else was busy at work. Went to the Bookfair and got two books. The tried to write a story which has been running around the dark corners of my mind since two years ago. Tuesday was spent at home. Kept on switching channels til I realized there was nothing good on TV. Then went to sleep. I WAS SUCH A BUM! Wednesday, I went to check and collect sales of BATCH72 in a couple of stores. It’s just crazy how after one year, I only sold four...

Keep on bloggin' After one week of being off-line... I suddenly discover... 1. Dean's blog 2. Jason's comic book studio blog . 3. And... nevermind... DING! ANG KOMIKS KO! Posted by Zach Yonzon in the Alamat mailing list : Comic fans! Darna's back, and sexier than ever! Mango Comics, a division of Yonzon Entertainment Syndicate (YES!), will release the first story arc of Mars Ravelo's Darna under its Mango Classico line this December. The first three-issue Darna story arc features new work from Ryan Orosco, Lan Medina, and Gilbert Monsanto, who have done work for the Big Three. Check out teaser pages from Issues 1 & 2. Spread the buzz! There's no official website yet, so you can check out the preview art at Jason's blog or Gerry's message board .

I wonder if it's not too late to start drawing again. I used to draw. I have the skecth books to prove it. Than again, maybe I shouldn't show it anymore. But if I can draw again, it would certainly solve alot of problems, but I'm just afraid it would double the angst of not being able to write and draw the stories I want. But at least things wouldn't be out of my hands. Well, it's not that bad, I guess. Things are not all that bad. Not at all.

And you reach the crossroads and now have to decide whether to go left, right, or forward. Or you could also just go back where you came from, but you do know that things will never ever be the same. Then you also have the option to not follow the road and just wander into the dirt path... or to that place where there are no paths. There is also that other choice of just staying at the crossroads, to remain in statis... or is it in flux? To never decide-- that would you be your decision.

I'm buzzed. I shouldn't be blogging. Who knows what I may write and regret later. Just finished watched SATC at Telly's place with the usual suspects. And as usual, finished two bottles of wine. Not all by myself, mind you. But I'm buzzed. And shouldn't be blogging. After I finished lunch around 3pm, I checked email when I shouldn't have. Then again, I guess I couldn't have avoided it. I would have eventually found out. Three years in this agaency and what do I have to show? A lot, I guess. Three years in this agency, and what comic book do I have to show. Not a single one. But I shouldn't really use this agency as an excuse for an being able to write and publish my comic books. It is... nothing more... but an excuse. Forgive me, that's the red wine talking. whine whine whine Must stop that. And just get to work. But I'm buzzed. But it's almost midnight. But I must get back to work.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTS ANNOUNCED Philippine Daily Inquirer August 26, 2002, Section E-3 The Manila Critics Circle recently named the finalists for the 2001 National Book Awards. Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta , MCC Chair, said the winners will be announced on September 3 at the Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall, during the Philippine Bookfair, The MCC is composed of Dimalanta, Virgilio S. Almario, Juaniyo Arcellana, Fr. Miguel A. Bernard, S.J., Cirilo F. Bautista, Isagani R. Cruz, Ruel S. De Vera, Resil B. Mojares, Danton R. Remoto and Alfred A. Yuson. The finalists for the comic book category are: “Isaw Atpb.” Featuring the stories of Vincent Michael Simbulan and Marco Dimaano, with illustrations by Arnold Arre, Carlo Vergara, and Dimaano. Edited by Nikki Alfar (Quest Ventures) “One Night in Purgatory” written and illustrated by Carlo Vergara (Alamat Comics and Quest Ventures) Both comic books are available at Comic Quest.

A copy of a copy I uploaded David's award-winning story in the Alamat e-groups FILES section. Read it and enjoy!

On my way to work, saw a traffic cop with gold handcuffs hanging on his utility belt. Which makes me wonder if gold handcuffs are mandatory in the city of Pasig. I also wonder if they have their version of the Miranda Rights. “You have the right be to spanked like a bad little boy!” Also noticed this car repair shop that had the tagline, “ Kalampag Specialist ”. Which is the quickest way to describe exactly what you do. I mean, drivers like me don’t really know the difference between the engine and the radiator. All I know is that there’s this weird noise whenever my car hits a bump on the road. So, where should I bring my car? To the Kalampag Specialist! Ba-dum-bump! Well, anyway I’m now at work. It’s almost 5pm. My day just begins.

Around noon today, got a call from the Publisher at the Top. We have been officially rejected. I should really be getting used to this. But I don't. Which makes me now wonder if this a sign that we would go for the slave-wages of that other publisher and hope that things will get better. Well, at least we now know what she wants. And maybe, sometime in the future, we'll end up with a comic book title that she'd want to publish. And so, we give it another try.

Scenes from a mall at 10am Just pulled-out issues from BATCH72 from the Filbars branch in Glorietta. I dropped off 60 copies of B72 back in November 2001. Nine months later, I’ve only sold 17 copies. You know what that means? I still can’t quit my day-job. Meanwhile, CULTURE CRASH and WITCH continue to get sold out. I did see old issues of MEG, when it was still in its handy “pocketbook” size. It was an entire box full of issues from last year. So, I guess I’m not the only one with boxes of back issue. On my way out, I saw a vendo machine that would usually have prepaid call cards, but instead contained Magic cards. The other thing you could get from the vendo machine we’re packs of cigarettes. Who would’ve thought that Magic cards and cigarettes would go together. Talk about being a bad influence on kids. I passed by Timezone, which was mostly empty, expect for the clerks and security guards. But in one corner of the arcade, I saw two girls in their grey...

The best thing since Crisis on Infinite Earths >>> Futurama Comics/Simpson's Comics: Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis BWAHAHAHA!!! Talking about comics... here's Gerry's new site www.komikero.com !

Announcement posted by Gerry in the Alamat mailing list >>> Comic Quest Festival Mall Grand Opening and Comics Signing Comic Quest Festival Mall is now open, and will have a grand opening celebration on August 25, Sunday at 2:00pm. To help promote the event, several comic book pros will be coming over to promote their work and sign their books. At this point, the comics pros involved include: Leinil Francis Yu: (Tentative!) High Roads, X-Men, Wolverine, Superman: Birthright Pol Medina: Creator of Pugad Baboy Edgar Tadeo: inker and colorist (High Roads, Iron Man, Captain America) Gerry Alanguilan: Who the f?? To be confirmed...(Hey Guys Mike wants to know if you're coming....) Marco Dimaano: Angel Ace Carlo Vergara: One Night in Purgatory/Flashpoint Arnold Arre: Mythology Class, Batch 72, Trip To Tagaytay See you guys there!! Comic Quest can be located on the 4th floor near the Cinemas. Festival Mall can be found at Alabang near the corner of the S...

Been away for awhile... work just won't let up. Which is why Friday and Saturday nights are usually spent with my orc army and the rest of guys (and girl). Yup, WARCRAFT 3 is my escape these days from work, work. Below is an email from Yo Jo. Won't make sense if you don't play the game. haloo haloo haloo!! medyo di maganda result natin last week. di ata tayo nanalo. di tuloy nakangiti si mark pag uwi. hehe simpleng warcraft tips lang.. shortcut keys lang at konting tips.. ECONOMY & BUILDINGS 1. 4-5 workers sa gold .. 5-6 sa lumber 2. expand kayo... para may resources kayo.. para di makuha ng computer. 3. building placement.. basic muna kayo.. wag nyo ikalat yung buildings nyo at wag din masakip masyado. 4. expand kayo 5. wag naman kayo mag defensive structures na sobrang layo sa base nyo.. mas ok sila pag nasa base di ba.. protecting the base ;) 6. expand... 7. upgrade your troops HEROES 1. pls don't let your hero die while creeping ...