Babbling Point

+ READY, AIM, FIRE! Joey is Maricel's seven year old kid. One night, after playing MECH WARRIOR, Joey went up to his mom and asked her... JOEY: Mama, what mech warrior do you want to be? MAMA: I don't want to be a mech warrior. I only want to make love, not war. JOEY: Then you can be a LOVE MECH! We can set the mech for love. And you can be armed with torpedos of peace. More of Joey's crazy ideas at: http://joeyworld.blogspot.com/

:( ON A BLUE NOTE Got to watch the Blue Rats Friday night. As I listened to them sing about lost love, rant about life, and occassionally yell out their frustrations, I realized that I could've been a blues singer. And with those same prerequisites, I could also find work as a death metal vocalist. Maybe... in an alternate universe. And in that parallel existence, I'd end up with a legion of fangirls who'd love me and cry for my songs. But they'd never ever want to hear me sing happy songs. So I'd have to remain blue for all eternity, until I get sick of all the success and decide to become a popstar, by which time I'd be too old to join a boy band and end up writing about my failed career which becomes the number of song in the charts overnight. Yeah :)

Smells like Teen Dollars Young Ancient One??? Teen Thor??? Interesting ideas, but just makes me wonder if this is all an attempt to manufacture their own SMALLVILLE. Then there's Manga Sabrina . Which also makes me wonder, if the publishers of Archie's decided to revamp their whole comic book line and have Archie and the gang drawn in manga-style, would fans be happy or go berserk?

A funny thing happened on my way to the SIGLO book launch... Telly texted that she was able to get us tickets to LOTR: THE RETURN OF THE KING. (sorry guys!) Well, despite the rave reviews, I didn't like it as much as I liked LOTR: TWO TOWERS. Felt like it was more of the same. But at the end of it, felt sad... sad that it was the end of a wonderful, fantastic, grand adventure and that it won't happen again next year. It was like getting together with the same bunch of friends for the past three years and going through all that... and now it's over. Goodbye. Won't see you again. You go through four years of high school and four years of college, become good friends, share some interesting adventures, go through so much hardship and trials, and at the end of it, you all part ways. Well, you try to meet up whenever you can, but some reason or another that doesn't always happen. The group is never complete. The group is never the same. Some have to tak...

And so you attempt to solve for Y... You make all the right computations and to arrive at the correct answer. You double check and get the same answer over and over again. Yes, it is definitely the correct answer. Then you realized it's not the answer you were looking for in the first place. Maybe it's because you were trying to solve the wrong problem to begin with.

The other night, I took a cab home. When I got off, I looked back and realized that the name of the taxi was the SHUTTLE TYDIRIUM. I texted some people about it. Nikko replied... NIKKO: Did he have the right codes? You can use an old code and get through but beware of furry little critters armed with staffs. Then Brandie and I had this exchange via text: BRANDIE: You sure the driver has the right command codes? BUDJETTE: I'm not sure, but I told him to drive casual. BRANDIE: I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about it.

+ “The law doesn’t shape people’s opinions, TV and Hollywood do. I tell my students, `If you want to change the world, be a TV or movie producer, don’t become a lawyer.` Popular culture is the most powerful force.” Larry Kramer, New York University Law Professor Makes me wonder if Professor Kramer has ever been to the Philippines where popular culture / popular personalities have used and abused their popularity to attain even more powerful positions in government. Which makes me go back to my babbling about the need for heroes in Pinoy pop culture. Which makes me wonder if the characters of our tele-novelas and so-called Chi-novelas offer enough “heroes” for the people. More importantly, do we have enough heroes for our children whose minds are being shaped by the things that they see and watch and read. Something to keep in mind as we create these characters for the sake of entertainment— that they can be so much more.

+ DING! ANG EXHIBIT! Mars Ravelo: Sixty Years Retrospective 13 December 2003 – 15 February 2004 The Edge Gallery U.P. Vargas Museum Roxas Avenue, University of the Philippines Diliman An exhibition organized for the family of the late comics creator Mars Ravelo, explores his many talents and other facets of his life. The retrospective gathers all material culture in his family’s collection such as original illustrations by Ravelo, memorabilia items and other materials inspired by the artist’s creations. The exhibition is a contribution to the growing academic and popular interest in Pinoy komiks and to further contemporary appreciation of nearly 75 years of the local comics industry. Mars Ravelo: Sixty Years Retrospective will run from 13 December 2003 to 15 February 2004 at the Edge Gallery of the U.P. Vargas Museum. For more information, please contact the U.P. Vargas Museum at telephone numbers 928-1927 and telefax 928-1925, or e-mail at vargas.museum @ up...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. FLYING PHANTOM illustrated by Bow Guerrero. After many years of avoiding a 9-to-5, punchcard-kind-of-life, Bow is now part of the Globe Team. In theory, this would allow us to work on comic book projects while the boss isn't looking. But the workload is a killer. It's a Sunday and I'm in the office and I'm trying to avoiding work. Oh no... here comes the boss!

WHY AM I HERE? Below is the talk I gave at GENERATION WHY, a series of seminars organized and conducted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. 300 students from all over the Philippines attended the talks last Saturday at the Li Seng Giap Auditorium in the University of Asia and the Pacific. Like I mentioned in my other blog entry, I was part of the panel that talked about "How young Filipino innovators and entrpreneurs are reshaping our country's business landscape". I got lumped together with well-established entrepreneurs. I thought I'd be out of place. I was... kind of. But I'm glad I went. I had fun and felt really good, especially when a couple of the students came up to me and said they wanted to start writing again. + + + + + + + When I was invited to give this talk, the email I got said that the objective of today’s event is: “To inspire the participants to harness their energy and idealism to initiate positive change in society by prof...

:( FOUND AND LOST I've been searching a long time For someone exactly like you I've been travelling all around the world Waiting for you to come through. Someone like you makes it All worth while Someone like you keeps Me satisfied. Someone exactly Like you. I've been travellin' a hard road Lookin' for someone exactly like you I've been carryin' my heavy load Waiting for the light to come Shining through. Someone like you makes it All worth while Someone like you keeps Me satisfied. Someone exactly Like you. I've been doin' some soul searching To find out where you're at I've been up and down the highway In all kinds of foreign lands Someone like you... etc. I've been all around the world Marching to the beat of a different Drum. But just lately I have Realised The best is yet to come. Someone like you... (van morrison) Bad trip.

+ Congratulations to Brandie for all his wins in the recent Ad Congress. He got three Bronze awards and two Silver awards for his work on Bantay Usok and DOT PH. Congratulations to Dadi Santos and Argem Vinuya of the Globe Team for winning Best in Medium for the Globe TVC "Punk" (remember that one, about the punk girl named Katrina). It also won a Platinum award for Best Casting. The Globe "Great" TVC, which showed the ubiqutous blue ribbon got a special cinematography award from Kodak. The Harrison MRM Team (Roach, Mike, and Vanessa) got a Bronze award for their work on Globe Solutions. The Coke Team also got several awards for their Coke TVCs. Rachel and her team got a Silver Award for their work on J&J. Congratulations to all the people who make great ads possible.

:) FROM BRANDIE'S PHLOG This is one of the Bantay Usok (Smoke Watch for Clean Air) ads I art directed for BBDO Guerrero Ortega. It got some awards at the recently concluded 18th Advertising Congress Araw Awards. I want to thanks everyone who helped make all this possible. Tonypet Sarmiento, Writer (for putting up with me and David, who made you write over 100 headlines just to go back to one of the first you showed him.) Luv u man! Raul (of Procolor) and Vilma Magsino(one of the best in the Philippines), Digital Imagers for helping make the ads look so real. Richard de Guzman, Photographer for the wonderful close-ups of the bus sides. Al Salvador for the great quality of press production. Kim Cruz-Chan, for getting the press ads to run. David Guerrero for pushing us off the edge. Dave Ferrer also for pushing us to the other side.

+ Scenes from an Ad Congress my Phlog Rachel's pics Leigh's side trip Lisa Khan's p.o.v. And some pics from Marco. Jason's finally phlogged his Ad Con pics

On November 28, I'll be part of a panel that will attempt to answer the question: How are young Filipino innovators and entrepreneurs reshaping our country’s business landscape? Check out the other guys who are part of the panel: 1) Jay Aldeguer, Founder and President, Islands Souvenirs 2) Chit Juan, President, Figaro Coffee, Inc. 3) Michael Tan, Columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer 4) JP Tanchanco, Founder and President, Chimara Neo-Vegan Café Makes me feel like I'm the odd man out. Like I'm the example of "what-not-to-do". Oh well, they invited me for a reason. I guess I fall under the category of "innovator". "Reshaping the country's business landscape"... hmmm...

- FROM J.TORRES' "OPEN YOUR MOUTH" COLUMN: As a follow-up to Budjette Tan's two-part article about the Filipino contribution to Western comic books, I thought it would be interesting to chat with some of the artists he mentioned. Budjette put out the call for me and two to respond almost immediately were Leinil Francis Yu (X-Men,Wolverine,High Roads) and Gerry Alanguilan (Stone,Wetworks,X-Men), currently the penciller and inker on "Superman: Birthright" respectively. Read our round table discussion at: http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=15 And Batch72's cover gets featured in the article! Alright! Yey!

"You can be me when I'm gone" Yesterday, I sent email to someone and actually wrote down, "... and I sometimes hang out with me." I meant to write down..."sometimes hang out with them." Bummer! My neurosis slips out on the keyboard. But I guess that is true... sometimes I just hang out with me.

+ Unbreakable Fat-Ass I got hit by a van today and didn't feel a thing. Ow! I was standing at the street corner, waiting for a cab, when I felt this enormous mass shoved me from behind. I thought it was some drunk bum who wanted me to get out of the way. When I turned around it was a red Toyota Highlander (Plate Number URL 244 or was it 442?). It was trying to back-up into a parking space. The driver stepped on the brakes and got out. A woman driver! Aha! :) She asked if I was all right and I waved her away because I needed to get a cab and go to a meeting! I guess I'm all right. Didn't feel *much* pain. My right knee buckled when the van pushed me and my right calf took the strain. Felt this dull pain on my right side, but it eventually went away. So, I guess I'm okay. Hmmm... maybe I am invulnerable! Tomorrow, will try to become invisible.

Found this new blog that's powered by the Flux Capacitor. Check out 1.21 GIGAWATTS . Funny. Crazy. Weird.

:) STARLA! Avid uploaded the Fanzone TVC in his site. But you'll need a DIXV player to be able to view it. It was fun working on this project with Avid. He even gave the secret code name for it. The project was called DOUBLE, then TRIPLE, later was called FANATIC, but needed another name because we already released a print ad using the code name FANATIC. During one of our first meetings, we ask Avid for a new code name for the project. He suddenly raised his arms and yelled, "STARLA!" Galeng, `no? Thus it was dubbed PROJECT: STARLA.

:) "Komikeros: The Filipino Contribution to the Comic Book Medium" Part 2: 1990s-present is now online. Click please. :)

+ + + + + + + + + NOVEMBER 3, 2003 Nine years ago we were bright-eyed and optimistic that we would blaze a four-colored trailed into the comic book scene… that we could rule the world. We’ve learned our lessons. Licked our wounds. We’re still here. Congratulations to all the storytellers who are still around, to everyone still writing and sketching something. Your faithful readers, myself included, await for your next issue. glad you’re still here, --budjette Comic books made by the guys who would be Alamat (1993-1994) Comics101 Sigaw Saklolo Pagan Press Flashpoint Exodus Wasted Crest Hut Butt Shop Dead Heart Shadow Comics Alamat Comic Books (November 3, 1994) 1995 Indigo Valley / P-Noise #1, #2 Shadow Comics / Scions #1 Alamat 101 #1 Tattooed #1 TKS: The Kill Stalker #1 1996 A.R.C.H.O.N. #1 Polgas: Ang Asong Hindi Pugad Baboy Adbentiyurs 1997 Dhampyr 1998 Wasted Batch72 #1 (riso edition) 1999 Karen Kunawi...

:) it's just a matter of time A soap opera in your phone?! Why didn't the Pinoy think of this first??? Because they were too busy watching some dubbed soap opera on television. Well, Holland beat us to it. Shame on us, considering we're supposed to be the texting capital of the world. Below is the report from picturephoning.com . Holland, the country who brought to television the first "Big Brother" reality show in 1999, is now innovating with the first picture soap opera, Jong-Zuid . The technology is not exactly MMS, but WAP-push, a function of most color-screen phones. It's sort of a "photo romantic" (at least that what they used to be called in the Netherlands, "roman photos" in French), a story involving love and romance told through pictures and read by adolescent girls. What's interesting is that Jong-Zuid actually has famous Dutch TV-soap actors starring in it. Viewers can either follow the episodes on th...

:) A brief history of Komikeros in the American comic book industry Part one of my report is now online , thanks to J.Torres, who needed someone to sub for him while he attending some conventions. I do hope I was able to mention all the prominent Pinoys who did work for American comic books. If I missed out on anyone or got my details wrong, please email me at: budj (at) rocketmail (dot) com. Special thanks to these websites used for reference in the writing of my article: http://www.lambiek.net http://www.komikero.com http://www.povonline.com http://www.twomorrows.com http://members.cox.net/komikasa/ http://users.raketnet.nl/weirdcomics/home.htm http://www.ramonschenk.nl/

+ Pics and Porn Mga retrato na kuha ni Gerry sa kanyang mga paglalakbay sa tabi tabi. http://josejavierreyes.blogspot.com/ The completely uncensored rantings and ravings of the Official Pornographer of the Philippines about almost everything profound and profane, monumental and mundane with occasional references to people and places, real and imagined, living while many wish them dead.

:) A different kind of phlog Check out Wim Wenders' "Pictures from the Surface of the Earth" aka "Picture Haiku's"

Testing for Spam damn_spam@weaponx.org Our ALAMAT email address is now swamped by SPAM and CBR's anti-spam filter is no good. So, I created this email address as an experiment to see how fast these spam robots that are trawling the net can find this new address. Even my Yahoo email addy gets too much spam, but their filter works better. I read somewhere that it's best not to type in your email address in message boards and websites and blog. If you do have to give you email the best to leave spaces in between so that the robots do not read it as email. For example, instead of typing in as damn_spam@weaponx.org , you type it in as: damn_spam @ weaponx. org or damn_spam (at) weaponx (dot) org . Spam sucks. Damn spam.

- Overheard in the office One of the producers was on the phone and she said: “Ako? Hindi pa… no… no…. Eh ikaw, married ka na? Hindi pa? So, let’s have lunch?” It just sounded so wrong. Then again, what’s so wrong about being upfront with what you want.

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ay naku... ay ewan... You spend your weekend at work. You spend the next two days without sleep. Rushing something which client eventually likes but is revised to death only to have them choose the first thing that you presented to them. You rush and rush and rush and loose sleep over what seems to be the most important project in the world and then... everything comes to a grinding halt because some doohickey-doodad from Finland didn't arrive and the "network core" (which sounds like something found only in Cybertron) will not work properly and therefore they don't really need all the things you've been working on and they're not even sure when they'll be able to find enough energon cubes to get that thingamagiggy working. AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR GGGGGGGG...

Something TWISTED this way comes! :) She’s baaaack! Jessica Zafra invades the airwaves again! Tonight at 9pm, broadcasting her plans for world-domination on NU107! (For everyone outside of the Philippines, you can tune in by going to www.nu107.com )

+ HOLY SUPER POWERS! "Imagine you’re twelve years old and suddenly discover that you’re the returned Jesus Christ. You can turn water into wine, make the crippled walk again, and perhaps even raise the dead. What do you do, what does your family do, and how does it affect you knowing that you’re destined to grow up and take part in a conflict that people have been waiting almost two thousand years for?" This is the premise of CHOSEN , a comic book by Mark Millar and Peter Gross. It's been described as "Spider-Man meets the Book of Revelations" and "Harry Potter for Christian fundamentalists". The art looks great and knowing Millar, the story will be wild (and religious at the same time). First issue arrives in stores, appropriately, on Christmas Eve. :)

:) I should have tons of material for this! Found this call for submissions at collective-blog called Elephant Still Missing . Working Title: SAWI Submission Call for an anthology of creative work This is a call to writers of fiction, poetry, and creative prose who would like to publish works on the subject of heartbreak. The editors, Bolipata Santos et al., will consider light pieces only, not serious dissertations, in English or Filipino. These pieces should not be longer than 1000 words (or two pages single-space, point 12, times new roman or similar font). The collection will be published by Milflores Publishing Inc. The deadline for submission is May 31, 2004. You may submit in two ways: by e-mail sawi_kami (at) yahoo (dot) com or by snailmail to SAWI c/o Santos, Patiño, Loredo English Department, Loyola Schools Ateneo de Manila University Katipunan Ave, Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1108

:) MR. 300 I am happy to announce that out of the top 700 advertising creatives in the Asian region, Brandie Tan ranked #319. Congrats bro!

+ + \ Con"flu*ence \ , n. [L. confluentia.] 1. The act of flowing together; the meeting or junction of two or more streams; the place of meeting. 2. Any running together of separate streams or currents; the act of meeting and crowding in a place; hence, a crowd; a concourse; an assemblage. "A new breed of adventurer is roaming the globe. Armed with a GPS and an eye for a quirky mission, these men and women are seeking out the spots on the earth's surface where lines of latitude and longitude cross. Their aim - to create a picture of the world." BBC NEWS Anyone in the Philippine with a GPS and a digicam? Maybe you can help map out the confluences in our 7,100 islands. Click here to where these places can be found.

The Prometheus Curse Or WHAT’S IN THE BALIKBAYAN BOX?! When Prometheus brought back fire from the gods, he didn’t know what he was getting the human race into and in particular, us Filipinos. I’m talking about that lovely, heartwarming, cumbersome tradition of bringing pasalubong. When I went to the United States to visit some relatives, half my suitcase was filled with pasalubong. I carried 40 pounds of hopia, balut, butong pakwan, daing, dried mangoes, Skyflakes and miniature jeepneys. I was a mobile sari-sari store. Note that some of the stuff I was made to carry was illegal according to US customs law. Not only was I a sari-sari store, I was also a smuggler—all for the sake of my kamag-anak. I half-expected my mother to ask me to hide sampalok in my socks. While in the land of milk(duds) and honey(nuts) we spent half the time looking for –what else?—pasalubong. So what if all these things we were buying were available at the duty-free shops (for convenient pasalubong s...

! TO GO Would just like to inform everyone that my pocket money now consists of dimes and quarters and I still haven't bought any pasalubong. So, don't be surprised if I just bring you those peanuts they give away in the airplane. See you all in a week. :)

:) Damn you Dino ! I've been sucked into the time sink that is FRIENDSTER !!! NOOOO!!!

~ Waiter, there's a fly in my Frappucino While waiting for Brandie at the Starbucks branch on New Montgomery Street, I noticed that the guy three seats away from me was getting a lot of attention. I was busy writing/ranting in my journal and ever now and again, someone would approach the man and talk to him. Since that branch of Starbucks was near the Academy of Art, I though he was some professor and his students were bugging him for an extension of some deadline. Then some Japanese kids approached the curly-haired, bespectacled gentleman and had their picture taken with him. I thought, "Gee, he must be a popular teacher." As I continued to write my journal entry, he pulled out his cellphone and made a call. With his deep, professor-like voice, he said, "Hi, this is Jeff Goldblum." And he proceed to ask directions on how to find a particular antique shop. I stopped writing and thought to myself, "Why does that name sound so familiar? Isn't...

:) bwahahahahhaa Thanks to Bea, we got to watch Jay Mohr at the Improv last night. Never really knew that he had his beginnings doing stand-up, so we didn't really know what his act was all about. It was a mix of observational comedy and a bit of that "angry with the world" routine. It was balanced off with his experiences of being a dad to an 11-month old son and how women have it easy when it comes to masturbating and how he's really an air marshall armed with a killer ballpen. The walls of the Improv were lined with photos of other great comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Jay Leno, back when they were younger and thinner. How long did it take them to reach the point when they finally get their own talk show, their own sitcom? How many clubs did they have to play before they became an overnight success? How many jokes died on that stage before they figured out what's funny? How do you become funny? Jay Mohr told the s...

_ glazed and confused Stayed home today. Maybe all the week's driving and walking and shopping and eating have finally taken it's toll on me. The other day, I finally had the chance to taste Krispy Kreme , something I've only read about for the longest time. I think it first found otu about this wonderful glazed dougnut from Fast Company. Funny thing is, this company has been making doughnuts since 1937, but magazines and books have been writing about it's success like it was a fast running newbie company. Krispy Kreme has been as an example of a product that generates good buzz without bombarding it's audience with tons of advertising. It generates word-of-mouth and intrigue, especially when people tell you... insist that you taste Krispy Kreme the moment it comes out of the line, while it's fresh and hot, which is something we haven't had the chance to do since we haven't visited an actual Krispy Kreme store. We bought out dozen from one ...

:) Thrilling Mwahahah! Finally found McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales in a bookstore in Haight Street. Thanks to Dino and Tonet for bringing us there. I would've bought the other editions of McSweeny's but it would have left me bankrupt. Besides, I've got enough reading material as it is.

~ Moooo! Brandie and I got to spend the day with Dino and Tonet and got to see their latest works. Dino just finished making the video for The Skyflakes , a San Francisco-based all-Filipino band. You can check out the stills of the video at Dino's site. He doesn't want to upload the complete video until they get to submit it to several festivals. But we got the special preview of the video. :) Dino was actually able to upload the whole video in his Nokai 3650. Astig! He showed it to us while were walking around the Cartoon Art Museum . Later on, we got to watch it on the big screen at his house. And if you're lucky, you might just get to see The Skyflakes music video on MTV-Asia and MYX. And if you want to see Dino with his new F4 hair-cut, just click here and look for photo a261.jpg . Of course, Dino denies knowing anything about F4 since he's not exposed to ABS-CBN's top-rating show. Well, he might just get a hair-cut soon enough. While D...

Sans Vas Been here in the US for almost a week and just noticed that the cellphone companies here don't do VAS ads. It's either I've died and gone to heaven or it just goes to show how backwards the United States is when it comes to telco. No ads about icons or ringtones or textcards or colored wallpaper! It's crazy! Most of the cellphone ads we've seen talk about cheaper rates or free calls. I did see one ad for a texting promo. The more you text, the more chances of winning a brand new car!!! Goes to show they're just getting into that. In a way, we're light years ahead of these people. They're just starting to do the things we were doing back in 2000.

~ SPLURRRRG!!! Went to Barnes and Noble today... Here's my receipt: How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen. (I know it sounds like a wussy book, but I really liked Quindlen's GUIDE TO HAPPINESS book.) Maus: A Suvivor's Tale (books 1 and 2... now I can finally return Jessica's copy) One! Hundred! Demons! by Lynda Barry Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (Someone borrowed my copy years ago and never returned it.) Pattern Recognition (William Gibson's latest novel) Joseph Campbell's Hero of a Thousand Faces (which means I can finally throw away that Xeroxed copy I've had since college.) DC Guide to Writing Comics And as you can see by shopping money for this trip has been cut in half thanks to one trip to the bookstore. Might just mean drinking less Starbucks for the rest of the trip and eating more of McDo's 99cent meals. Oh well, we still have to go to Boston and my mom wants us to go by train so s...

Force of Habit Even though I'm now in the US, I still... 1. expect the guard at the mall to look into my bag. 2. think I can't take the car out on Thursdays because of color-coding. At Starbucks, I keep asking for a short cup, when the smallest size they have is a tall one. Crazy...

The flight going here was okay except for the fact I was seated beside the three-hundred pound woman who with her cute two-year little girl FROM HELL!!! Despite the fact that the woman was very apologetic of her demon child's beahvior, she just kept on shushing and cursing and threatening to leave the child everytime thath hellspawn acted up. To matters worse, we were stuck on the ground for TWO HOURS!!! So, instead of leaving at 10:30pm, we left around 1am. Good thing they started to serve dinner and showed an episode of FRIENDS. When we finally reached 39,000ft, I looked around and saw that there were a lot of empty seated and that allowed me to escape the Samoan woman and her cute succubus. Cut-to: SFO Very emotional reunion for my mom and her sis who haven't seen each other since 1996. Arrived at my aunt's home in Newark around midnight. Brandie and I slept in the living room with the family dog and parrot. The dog's name is Mene, which is short ...

:) Wahooo! I can blog again!

~ In approximately 25 hours, I'll be on a plane heading towards San Francisco. It's been almost a decade since I've last been there. Brandie lived there for a year, so he'll be our tour guide. We'll be gone for a month... which is the longest time we'll be away from work. I'm sure this will do me good. :) Godspeed. "We shall not cease from explorations. And the end of all our exploration will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." T.S. ELLIOT

~ Since I am now in headless-chicken mode, trying to prepare for our trip and still finish copy, I'm cutting-and-pasting this blog entry from an email sent to me by Nessa, who now works in Singapore and tries to not feel homesick by watching lots of 80s TV shows. Dear Budj: Watching V: The Final Battle was a weekend highlight. It was so much fun to watch because it only makes sense if you remember the context in which it was filmed. So unlike Star Wars, a re-master of this won't help make it palatable to Gen Y. But that's what makes it wonderful. It something that I could claim as my own generation's and no one else's. Hahaha. FUN STUFF: 1. Since it was shot before NYPD Blue and Saving Private Ryan, no one, not a single member of the cast knows how to hold a gun. The aliens were holding laser guns so holding it ala-Han Solo is fine. But the earthlings were using uzis so that's just inexcusable. The main character, Donovan, was holding his gun...

~ McCann-Erickson won, for the fifth time in the past six years, Agency of the Year. YEEEEHAAA! McCann also won four other business-related awards. BBDO-Guerroro-Ortega won the Best in Creative Award. So, everyone got drunk at Nuvo on red wine, white wine, and... TEQUILLA! Bad move on my part to drink that one shot. ONE SHOT! AND THE ROOM STARTED TO SPIN! OH NOOOOO! I already had several glasses of red and then they started to pass around tequilla shots. And that was that. Some of us retreated to Old Swiss Inn and attempted to sober up with coffee and Coke and fondue. Bad move! Next thing I know I was best friends with the toilet bowl. Managed to get home around 3am... or was that 4am? It's now 4pm and I'm back in the office. Work. Work. Have to rush to Megamall later for the National Book Awards! :0)

Posted a new article in the KOMIX 101 blog. It's listing of "Pinoy Comics Online". Too bad they didn't include Gerry's site and message board. Thanks to Arvie for the copy of the article. :)

FWD EMAIL FROM ROACH >>> The science-fiction author Ray Bradbury celebrated his 83rd birthday with this wish: One night, 100 years from now, a youngster will stay up late reading The Martian Chronicles with a flashlight under his blanket -- on the Red Planet. "That's the dream I have and that's the reason I'm here," the author of the 1950 classic said during a birthday party organized by the planetary society. The space exploration advocacy group presented Brandbury with a mammoth birthday card printed with messages from 4,000 fans. The actress Angie Dickinson gave him a kiss, and the director Peter Hyams, whose movie version of Bradbury's short story "A Sound of Thunder" is due in April, called him a "national treasure." ++++++++ Just came back from Bizu, Greenbelt. Outside the restaurant, the Philippine Astronomical Society set-up two telescopes for people to see Mars. We got in line and finally saw... this white ...

_ Some sites I found when I should've been working Who's more pretty, Cindy or Iya ? I'd have to stay loyal to my brand and say Iya. :) But that Kurleto girl certain does have a lot of oomhhp! (tama ba spelling nun?) Talking about pretty girls, last night I saw Aubrey Miles walking around Greenbelt with Troy Montero-- who now looks like Tau Lava because of his long, curly locks. They were definitely attracting attention. Maybe they're promoting a new movie. By the way, you can make Aubrey your textmate! Just text AUBREY to 2978 and start getting text from the sexy star herself. (She's actually one of the few celebrities that sends you a text everyday. Sometimes, twice a day. The other celebs only send text once a week, sometimes less.) Have you seen THE MISADVENTURES OF ARIEL AND MAVERICK ? I've been told it's funny. Maybe it is, because I saw Ariel and Maverick are now part of Dolphy's new HOME ALONG DA AIRPORT. Guess the gods of ABS...

:) Grace and Belai did their own Amazing Race last week when they went whitewater rafting in Kalinga. PICS HERE .

FWD EMAIL FROM GRACE >>> From a book entitled Work to Live: The Guide to Getting a Life by Joe Robinson (Perigee) "To let the free time ring without guilt, you need to change the word in front of the famous ethic that is pinning you to the wall. The operative ethic in your life should be the Worth Ethic. Measure the madness around you by whether it has worth for you, instead of whether you are worthy enough to take the ceaseless beating. Does it bring you significance, satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, contribution, challenge? Or does it cut you off from sources of internal worth, isolate you, and sabotage your health? That's not worth it, no matter the dough." (People with kids, house payments and sick parents view work much differently. I owe, I owe it's off to work i go.)

+ My Tito Jay in Canada recently emailed about that big black-out that put everyone in panic mode again. Yo bros! The power went out at around 4:15 pm EST, Thursday afternoon, and I was in a conference call with our biggest wholesale customer. Thir head office was 10 km away from ours and their power went dead and before I can even react to their cursing cuz they were building a spreadsheet during the course of the meeting, our systems went down as well. In short, we all left the office pronto after making calls to all our branches across Ontario and had the same problem. The traffic was bad due to people leaving all at the same time and all subway and streetcars (running on electric power) went dead. Complete chaos as people started walking like 5 to 20 km to get home as all the trains and buses were filled up quickly. I managed to drive home without a hitch. All the gas stations shut down but the few that opened had cars line up like a half a kilometer away. The gas stat...

~ My Saturday BLAH BLAH The talk was supposed to start at 9:30am. Of course I was late. I’m really not a morning person. Whenever I have meetings at Globe at 8am, I definitely cannot survive that without Coffee California’s Perkins Perk-up, which is brewed coffee with a shot of espresso. Anyway, finally found Room 215 of the SEC building at 10:30am. So, because I ran (well… walked really fast) to the SEC Building (which didn’t exist when I graduated from Ateneo) I ended up doing my talk panting and sweating like a pig. (Not a pretty sight.) I flubbed some of the jokes in my talk. (Lesson… never ever read the punch lines of your joke.) I just hope the kids picked up something from my little talk. Anyway, I picked up a few tips and words of advice from Dean and Kensai. Will now start using Pantene PRO-V! Dean, should really turn that into a self-help writing book and I’m sure Pantene will sponsor it. Forgot to ask the students questions about what they thought of...

:) Several reasons to visit Norway DTHPROD's phlog shows some very good sights in his homeland. Seems like the view is always like that every time he goes out for lunch or coffee break. What a happy place! Here are some examples of the friendly people you will meet in Norway . :) :) :)

BLAH BLAH BLAH Hey kids! I'll be part of a panel this Saturday, giving a talk about writing for comic books. It's the first part of a workshop session by the the Ateneo's Comic Collective in cooperation with the UP Grail. Dean Alfar of Kestrel Studios and Zach Yonzon of Mango Comics will be part of the panel. It will be held at the Ateneo de Manila University, Science Education Complex Bldg A, Rm 215 (SEC A-215). 9am to 12nn. Here's the sched of the other workshops: August 16 - Writing for Comics August 30 - Illustration Basics and Character Design September 6 - Timing, Framing, and Acting in Comics Illustration September 13 - Panel Composition and Page Composition September 20 - Digital Lettering and Coloring And it's all for FREE!

~ Better Living Through Phlogging You'll never know what or who you'll find online. Check it out! Even my high school chemistry teacher is now phlogging! Hi Malen! She's now teaching in the U.S.

> HOT OFF THE PRESS! Hot Manila compresses news. And dissatisfaction. It concentrates anger, condenses plain speaking, flavors it with irreverent humor and presents it with the sort of good writing that's been pansified and adulterated by the growing influx of suck-up lifestyle text producers (I quail at calling them "journalists" or "writers"). This is journalism without hangups or pretense.

~ AVID FAN Congrats to Direk Avid “NINJA BOY” Liongoren for winning best video is this year’s MTV PILIPINAS VIDEO AWARDS! Click here to view Avid's videos. Congrats to Dean for winning 2nd prize in this year’s Palanca Awards for his one-act play "The Onan Circle". IN OTHER NEWS… Shiloah ’s back in Nowhereville. Hurray! Digital bloggin’ postcards . Very nice. July would like these. Party MMS shows how to have real fun with the phone. Got this link from Rachel who asked why she doesn’t see these kind of pics in my phlog. Must get out of office more often. My phlog is just full of pics from our florescent-lit office. Bummer. Eh! COMICS! The very, very first issue of Batch72 is once again available and this time it’s online! “BAD TRIP SA 7TH HEAVEN” was first released in ashcan / risograph format. Jason has now put in online along with other comic book stories by Gerry , Wilson , Hai , Vinzo Ngo , and of course, Jason. ...

+ Click to open album If you're bored with the pic in my phlog , then you might want to check out these more interesting photo-logs: My cousin Carla in New York. Sonny Orange in sunny Dubai. Rogue's Gallery in Ortigas (and sometimes she's in Makati). Jason D is blogging and phlogging again. Mark's photo-log can actually be viewed on the left side of his blog. (Should really learn this HTML blah.) Comic book writer Warren Ellis phlogs with his Nokia 3650. (Still can't believe this phone became a best-seller in Manila, despite it's wacko "rotary" keypad. Goes to show that Pinoys really love to do Kodakan.)

~ Congratulations to Filipino comic book artist LAN MEDINA! 2003 EISNER AWARDS Best Serialized Story: Fables #1-5: " Legends in Exile ," by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC) Best New Series: Fables, by Bill Willingham, Lan Medina, Mark Buckingham, and Steve Leialoha (Vertigo/DC)

~ The Trouble with Dying This was one of Joey's bedtime prayers when he was four years old. JOEY: Lord, I'm wondering why we have to die to go to heaven because I don't want to die but I want to go to heaven. I want to see Jesus but I don't want to die forever. More of his musings at: The World According to Joey .

~ I DIVORC U! I DIVORC U! I DIVORC U! KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysian (Reuters) -- Malaysian Muslim men can divorce their wives through text messages on mobile telephones, the New Straits Times daily reported on Saturday, quoting a religious adviser to the government. Hamid Othman, adviser to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said divorce via SMS or short messaging service was in accordance with sharia law if it was clear and unambiguous. "SMS is just another form of writing," the daily quoted Hamid as saying, following an Islamic court decision on Thursday that ruled in favor of a man who served divorce on his wife using SMS. Islamic law permits a man to divorce his wife by declaring "I divorce you" three times. I wonder if this is a service that the local cellphone companies would like to promote. Text DIVORCE and send to 2333 and get a divorce now! I'm sure this will be a big hit consider the level of promiscuity in this country. (Thanks...

~ Good morning Or should say good afternoon. It’s already 1:16pm according to the clock on my computer. Was not feeling well this morning but I managed to drag myself out of bed, into the car, and to work. Not a great experience all together. At least there was not much traffic. Maybe people are still avoiding Makati. But when I passed by Rustans, there were already several cars parked in the lot that was cordoned off by bombs just the other night. The malls are back in business. Makati is back in business. And I guess the Philippine military is back in business. I do hope that something gets done. The so-called Magdalo Group made some heavy accusations that cannot be dismissed just because they’ve been send back to the barracks. I do not have a whole lot of hope and trust in another Senate Committee investigating another anomaly in the government system. At least the military and these personalities will be put in the limelight and will hopefully shed some real light o...

~ While playing WARCRAFT last night, got a call from my mom to come home quick. News broke out about 20 soliders / officers who left their posts due to grievances about the government. It's funny that as you wage war against orcs and elves, there was a bigger war happening down the street. Couple of hours later, around 2am, I got a text from a friend who was trying to get a cab in front of Rustans department store in Makati. He texted that there are soldiers there and that there was talk of bombs being planted around the area. I quickly switched on the TV and saw the coverage of military men with red armbands planting bombs around the parking area that's in front of Rustans and the Intercon Hotel. Later on, the TV station started to air the video message of the so-called MAGDALO GROUP. According to the news anchor, they got the video in the form of a VCD, which made me wonder... is the pirated copy already available along Ayala Avenue? The Magdalo Group's cl...

> I'm the only one left in the office. (Well, Roach just came back.) Still trying to figure out the headline of this one ad that needs to be presented on Monday. So, decided to check email and just this link from Brandie. At least, it made me laugh. Check out the heroic adventures of KIKKOMAN !!! I love Kikkoman... the sauce... not the hero. I think I can eat anything with Kikkoman. Yes, I will eat ampalaya with Kikkoman. I'll eat just rice with Kikkoman. Ice cream and Kikkoman? Ummm... maybe will give it a try. 11pm... still haven't had dinner. Time to go home. Need to buy some Kikkoman.

~ It's been a crazy week. Been working since Sunday. Actually, it's been a crazy and hectic month. (Oh God, it's August next week!) Will rush home now to watch CSI. (The little consolations of life.) Hope to see you soon... whoever you are.

_ Starboy Mr. Baloney has revamped his site. Check out THE NULL and click on the star that says "works". I like this new "painted" look that he's using. But I still like his cel-shaded art, especially the manananggal. Twisted News "[The next issue of FLIP] will be the First Anniversary edition, out in August. This issue will include the profiles of the 2004 presidential contenders, which should've appeared in the May-June issue." -- Jessica Zafra

:( Sorry. Please allow me to sulk. It's a Friday night and I'm still in the office and from the looks of things I'll be going to work this weekend. To make matters worse, IT'S THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!!! Here are photos from Day Zero and Day One of the comic con. Went there back in 1994 and 95. Had fun! Would have been more fun if I was with people I know. Back then, I thought I'd get my big break and all I had to do was show them the comic book I made. Should've. Could've. Would've. Next year... I want to go back next year.

> Glasgow, Scotland: (30 May - 2 June) In which hotel reservations are lost, haggis is piped in, and porn movies almost abound. Hurrah. Miami, FL: (12 - 19 November 2002) In which two inner party girls run rampant and I declare that I'm not a dyke but my girlfriend is. Want to know what happened next? Then read the Memoirs of a Confirmed Hotel Slut on the Move. CLICK HERE .

+ Basta Ikaw Bro! Bro. James P. Dunne, S.J. , Counselor for many years in the Ateneo High School and in the Dorms, died of massive heart failure yesterday, July 14, 2003, around noontime. Bro. Dunne was the one who interviewed me when I took the entrance exam in the Ateneo High School. He asked me what were the things I liked to do and I said that I liked to read comics and create super-heroes. He always remembered that little detail and would point it out whenever I'd bump into him in the corridors of the high school. God bless Bro. Dunne. May perpetual light shine upon his soul.

:) Just found out that our myGlobe girl already has her own fan club . Of course, I immediately signed up for membership. Yes. Yes. I am fanboy. See me drool.

~ I'm tired. Can't wait for this week to be over.

~ Found this in Evil Dex's blog . Please email him if you want to join. SGF4 (Samahang Galit sa F4) Members Wanted! Nananawagan po kami sa mga gustong sumapi sa aming samahan! Kailangan namin ng mag lalaki o babae na mahahaba ang buhok. Siyempre dapat sinusuka nila ang Meteor Garden. May free cake po para sa dadalo sa grand launching natin.

:) Text from Mark... The owls have returned with a message: MAY WC3 EXPANSION NA SA AREA! :) YEEEHAAA!!! Where shall my blood be spilled!

~ July 8, 2002 marks my fourth year here in Harrison Communications (a subsidiary of McCann-Erickson Philippines, as it says on my calling card). Tempus fugit and all that latin jazz, as Dave used to write. Surprised I survived. Lasted this long. Glad to have had great team mates when I started and an even better team now. Thankful that they are more than just work mates, but are also my friends.

~ ON THE WRITE PATH Last night, as I was getting in my car, a street kid came up to me, so I gave him some coins. He then said, “Kuya, pwedeng akin na lang yan ballpen mo?” (Sir, is it okay if you just give me your pen?) The kid pointed at the pen in my breast pocket. I held on to the pen. Despite the fact it was a typical sign pen I could easily get in National Bookstore, I was very particular about that pen. I get attached to such small things and really hate it when I loose it without having used up all the ink. So, I asked the kid why I should give him my pen. He held up a dog-eared notebook that had the HULK on the cover and said, “Wala akong pangsulat, eh.” (I don’t have anything to write with.) “Oh… okay…” I said and gave him my pen. The kid smiled, said thanks, and ran back to his friends across the street. On the way home, I thought about the kid and hoped, that maybe, God willing, he will grow up to become a great writer.

~ MY GIRL Check out pictures from the shoot of the new myGlobe TV commercial .

~ She's back! And I'm not talking about the Terminator. Well... I guess she's deadlier than the Terminator. "When my mother died two weeks ago the general reaction was one of surprise (surprise that I even had a mother). It is easier to think of me as a product of spontaneous generation, or of some hideous experiment that escaped from a laboratory." -- Jessica Zafra, an excerpt from her upcoming Twisted column, "Sympathy for the Mutant". Jessica emailed: "I think this comes out Monday. Please don't disseminate. Hey, let them buy their own copy of TODAY." Well, I'm not disseminating it... I'm promoting it! Like a duitiful Twisted disciple. So, remember... TWISTED resumes in the pages of Today on Monday. Plans for world domination continues.

The Muse known as Penny Lane Alex Sheldon (LUKE WILSON) is an author whose writer's block is the least of his problems - he also happens to be flat broke and owes Cuban loan sharks $100,000. After hanging him out the window and destroying his laptop computer, the thugs give Alex an ultimatum: pay up in 30 days or wind up dead. The only way Alex is going to get that kind of money is by finishing his novel, which is currently less than one sentence long. "Adam Shipley had given up on love. Art was to be his mistress. And so it was that in the summer of 1924, he took a sabbatical from Andover to write, if not the Great American Novel, certainly something that would make the world sit up and take notice." He's got some idea of what he wants the story to be.... He just can't seem to get it out onto paper. Now lacking both inspiration and a laptop, Alex secures the services of opinionated stenographer Emma Dinsmore (KATE HUDSON) to help him complete th...

LOOKING FORWARD it's uncharted territory in the outskirts of town, it's a dark valley and we only have crude torches for light sources. i'm proposing we make camp and start a bonfire, make scouting excursions in twos or threes, come back to camp and tell the tale of the formidable wooly mammoth with the daliesque tusks. later on, we gang up and hunt the beast, slay it and come back to camp with big slices of elephant meat for dinner, as we perform the hunt for the wives and kids before we go to sleep. we wake up the next day and start packing up, but not before writing-up a nice neat note on a previously-blank spot on the map: "here be mammoths. awful when raw. cook for a day over open fire. tastes like chicken. moving south. hear tigers have tender meat on chests. looking forward." FROM AN EMAIL I RECENTLY RECEIVED

BEING BUDJETTE TAN Gerry is part of ph-cyberview@yahoogroups.com and he sent me this message thread. Message 3 Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 01:23:23 +0800 From: Jim Ayson Subject: Budjette Tan's mobile blog Those of you who are into the local comics scene may know of Alamat comics and its head honcho Budjette Tan. I just found out he maintains a mobile photo blog at Phlog.net. The URL is http://www.phlog.net/user/budjette It's updated often (through the mobile I think) and is a little strange, as you eavesdrop on meetings etc... It kind of reminds me of that Spike Jonze movie "Being John Malkovich" where you get to enter a portal into the actor's brain and see the world through his eyes. ========== Message: 5 Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 06:05:33 -0000 From: "Miguel A Paraz" Subject: Re: Budjette Tan's mobile blog About the pics with the meeting with Globe's president (Budjette's day job is for Harrison Commu...

"He told me I was beautiful. I stared back at him in shock masking disgust. The nerve of him to say it to my face. Thank you, kind sir for telling what I already know. Now, tell me something I don't." FROM THE BLOG CALLED DRIPPINGS. btw, the human formerly known as mark is back online. CLICK MO MUKHA MO! (That's his site... was not trying to insult you. If I was trying I'd say... oh, nevermind.)

Last Tuesday, went to Galleria. While my mom did the groceries, I had the chance to walk around the mall. I was surprised to see a Nescafe Cafe at the entrance of the Body Place. I immediately texted some of the guys and said: NEW CAFE AT BODY PLACE, GALLERIA. COULD THIS BECOME THE HANG-OUT OF NEXT GENERATION OF COMIC BOOK GEEKS? :) Some texted back that maybe we should start hanging out there. Claim what was once our terriroty! hahaha One of the guys texted that they (the next gen geeks) better know what they're getting into because we certainly didn't and look where it got us. I texted back, that I think we were better off not knowing how difficult things were going to be, else we would not have attempted to achieve the impossible. Maybe it's time to try again. "There's a fine and wonderful moment near the end of `The Phantom Tollbooth`, that rich, wise children's book by Norton Juster, where Milo, the hero, having succeeded in a mighty q...