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Where the heck was Angel Locsin?

So, I sat through the entire premiere episode of MARS RAVELO'S DARNA and only got to see a still picture of Angel Locsin in the end credits.

IT'S NOT FAIR!!!

If you happened to tune in a couple of minutes late, you would've thought you were watching some test episode of "Tabing Ilog", with all the shots of kids running around the river and all that crying and flirting going on.

If you did happen to catch the start of the show, which I did, you would've seen the fantastic effects used by GMA to render the Planet Marte-- which looked like it was shot in a sandbox and the city was made of left-over Lego parts.

Anyway, the show opens with the planet being attacked by some evil people.

Maureen Larrazabal, who plays Aio, was given this glowing stone which seemed important to the Queen, played by Lorna Tolentino. The stone also seemed important to Celia Rodriguez, who plays Braguda, some evil woman wearing a rip-off of Deathbird's costume. So, for some reason Aio gets to escape in what looks like the X-wing fighter and flies out of the sandbox--ahem, Planet Marte. She is pursued by Braguda in what looks like a Tie-Fighter.

The planet Marte explodes! KABOOOM!

They end up near Earth and for some reason, Aio, who was been given the task to protect the glowing stone that looks like a bubblegum, decides to play chicken with Braguda's ship and they end up crashing againstone another.

So, Aio crash lands on Earth and not only does she lose the glowing bubblegum-- she loses all her clothes! (Alright!)

Braguda also crash lands on Earth and doesn't lose all her clothes. (Thank goodness!) She decides to hang-out in an abandonded warehouse where she could deliver her monolgues at the top of her voice and not bother anyone.

We then get to meet the young Narda, the young Ding, the young Valentina, and the young Efren (who?)

Anyway, in this universe, all rich people are evil and will do bad things to poor people-- like wake you up in the middle of the night and burn your house.

So, Narda's house gets burned down by Efren's dad-- which makes him not efren at all. (he he he)

Narda's dad gets the bright idea to seek shelter with his rich half-sister-- who's also evil and makes them live in the bahay-kubo behind her summer villa.

That's when we meet Valentina, who's Narda's cousin from Manila and they're the best of the friends. (And they all live in a place called Smallville!)

In between meeting all these people, a giant snake comes out of the river and eats a fisherman.
So, if you tuned in late you would've thought you were watching ANACONDA.

Turns out the giant snake is the pet of Braguda, who's still at the warehouse talking to herself. If you rewind to the first 15 minutes of the show, you'll see that there's no way a giant snake could've fit in Braguda's Tie-figther, so I have no idea where the anaconda came from.

So, Narda and Efren make a date to meet before Efren goes back to Manila. They decide to meet on this rock by the river-- the very same spot where the giant snake made an appearance!

But Valentina's mom --because she's rich and evil-- locked Narda up in small room that had better amenities than the bahay-kubo, where she ends up crying all night. Valentina frees her the next day and they rush to meet up with Efren.

Of course, Efren's gone.Valentina tries to look for him.

Narda finds the glowing stone which talks to her but doesn't freak her out.

Giant snake appears.

Coils around Valentina.

Narda starts screaming like a little girl-- oh wait, she is a little girl.

And that's how episode 1 ends.

I guess it was too much to hope for that it would be better than the usual.

Somebody please call me when Angel Locsin finally appears. (Or just send me the vidcaps)

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And now, a word from our sponsors...

We are pleased to finally and officially announce that Russel Molina, Maira Catacutan, and Manny Martinez are now E-Heads, joining Teeny Gonzales, Maricel Pangilinan Arenas, and Dino Laurena, as Executive Committee members and officers of Harrison Communications, and that Budjette Tan has been promoted to Creative Director.

. . . .

By all human, and in fact, quite possibly divine standards, one might say Budjette Tan has been on Globe forever and we are thankful. The newest Creative Director on Globe is our resident techie/geek, born to write for telco (and write beautifully he does) and he has been doing so for Globe since July 1999. Part of the original team that conceptualized the ground-breaking (G) campaign, part of all the teams that launched and relaunched my Globe, Budj cannot stay away from the account at all – even surfing for telco developments during his leisure time. If for the longest time, Globe VAS, Postpaid, and IDD ads made it to pub deadlines through hell and high water for years of Fridays on end, it was because there was one dedicated, focused, and perhaps slightly mad creative leader who made sure the job was done and done well. As Creative Director, Budjette will now partner with Jeorge Agcaoili for leadership on Segments Marketing creative work. We also trust he will continue to write the comic books he does so well.


Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Six years ago, I entered Harrison Communications' cramped boardroom at Dolmar Plaza and pulled out bunch of comic books from my blackbag and told them that was my portfolio.

As they flipped through the pages of Batch72, Comics101, and Alamat101, I showed them the articles I wrote for Agenda and Cutting Edge magazine.

When they asked if I had any experience writing radio scripts, I told them I worked in a radio station and was one of the writers of a horror show called "World of the Unknown." The radio station was so small --how small was it?-- we wrote, produced, recorded, and did the voices for the radio show.

Then they asked if I had any experience working on TV commercials. So, I showed them a 30-second MTV-Asia spot I co-wrote with Arnold Arre. It was called "Chito's Guide to the Philppines" and it starred Chito Miranda of Parokya ni Edgar, dressed like Brown-out from Batch72. And luckily, I had just finished working on a 60-second spot for the Discovery Channel called "Ordinary People", which featured Joey Ayala, an engineer from the MRT, and an underwater cinematographer.

Finally, they asked me if I was used to working long hours. I flashed back to the times I spent with the guys folding and stapling the issues of Batch72. I remembered the nights we stayed up late to finish posters and flyers for the comic book convention the next day. Thinking that's what they meant by "working long hours", I said, "Sure! I'm used to that!"

They asked me if I had anything else to show and I said, "Sorry, that's it."

They said thanks and showed me the door.

I was interviewed by Dadi Santos, the Creative Director of team that handled the Globe Handyphone account. At that time, I only had a beeper and an analog celfone and had no idea what texting was all about. I didn't think I'd get the job.

Turns out, the moment I walked out the door, Dadi turned to her team and asked, "So, what do you think?" "I think we found our writer," said Sonny, the team's Senior Copywriter.

Couple of days later I got the call and-- and six years later I'm now one of the Creative Directors of the Globe Team.