Babbling Point

Chilling at 104 degrees Stuck in traffic? Stuck at work? At home? Then tune in and chill out with this new radio station test broadcasting on 104.7FM. 24-hours of chill-out music. Hope they keep their ads and DJs talking to a minimum when they on regular broadcast.

David Hontiveros wins Palanca David is the 2nd place winner of this year's Palanca Future Fiction (short story) category. His award-winning entry is entitled “Kaming Mga Seroks”, which tells the story of a future Philippines where human clones are illegally sold in the same way pirated CDs and VCDs are sold today. David is one of the founding members of Alamat Comics and has written the comic books “Flashpoint”, “Dhampyr”, “Horus”, and “Avatar”. He has also written articles and reviews of various magazines and newspapers.

It's 4:27 am and I'm still at the office when I shouldn't be. Don't ask why. Well, of course I'm here for work but... nevermind. Flasback 24 hours ago... Went to the launching of Jessica Zafra's FLIP. Got drunk on two bottles of red wine thanks to a certain writer, who is also, currently, undergoing a "Oh my God I'm turning 30 this year" crisis! Otherwise known as the " Tick... Tick... BOOM !" syndrome. Got to watch that play last Saturday, thanks to Telly. Watched the play with Brandie, Roach, Grace, RG, Jason, Tina, and of course, Telly. Strangely enough, the play made me "calm down". Made me realize that 30 will pass me by and all that will matter is if I worked on "the work" or not. I think that as long as I get to do and keep on doing what I want... to write stories, then timelines won't matter, because eventually I'll get it done. Finish my story. Get it published. Get it done. Anyway, back...

I finished reading ROAD TO PERDITION last night. My mom read it in one sitting. She really couldn't put it down. Brandie and I bought at the bookstore-formerly-known-as-Page One and when we when to Starbucks, my mom started to read it while we lined up to get our orders. By the time we got back to the table, she was well into the first chapter and couldn't be bothered. We actually had to wait for her to finish chapter two before we could go home, where she finally finished the third chapter. Her main comment was, she can't picture Tom Hanks playing the character of Michael O'Sullivan aka the Angel of Death. For some strange reason, she thinks Eric Roberts would do a better job. Oh well, I think I'd rather watch Hanks than Roberts.

FLIP: The Official Guide to World Domination is now available. Published and edited by Jessica Zafra. Only P100.00 Get it for FREE at Powerbooks and A Different Bookstore, if you have their membership card. It begins! A PREVIEW OF THE FIRST ISSUE * The World Domination Report > How We Invented Globalization > We are the first citizens of the gloablized economy. We knew all about the global vilage even before Marshall McLuhan coined the word. FLIP Editor and Publisher Jessica Zafra explains why Pinoys don't have to take the planet by force-- it will be ours eventually. * Kingdom of Cockroaches > In our quest for wolrd domination, our fiercest competitors are these noctural creatures, Roby Alampay tells us why our claim to ebing the dominant species is shaky at best. * Canine Cuisine > The Whitebread Award-winning author James Hamilton Paterson says : When in Rome, eas as the Romans do. * Flip-Hop Nation > Hip-hop saves the local record...

All around me darkness gathers, fading is the sun that shone; we must speak of other matters: you can be me when I'm gone. --Neil Gaiman David's father passed away the other night. We all went to the cremation. I think it was the first time the whole group got together after a very long while. We weren't even that complete during my last birthday (which was when everyone was usually at full attendance, back when we still lived in La Vista). We left around midnight. Some of us ended up at Mr. Donut, our old tambayan back when there when Starbucks was not found at every corner. To our surprise, Mr. Donut had a complete facelift. It now looks like a branch of Starbucks, just more brightly lit. And we wondered if that old rat was still around. And I wondered how Dave will be. I hope that things will get better for him. The death of my father was a turning point for me and my mom and brother. I guess my dad's death was my "Call to Adventur...

I went home to get my car. Now, I’m back at the office. While at home, I got to watch Oprah. The episode was a compilation of quotes / interviews of the different authors she featured in her Book Of the Month Club. The authors talked about what inspired them, how they worked, and what they felt whenever they finished a book. Most of them said that they ended up crying as they sent the manuscript to their publisher. One of them said it was like the end of a bad relationship. Another one said, it was like saying goodbye to very good friends. While another said, that after she finishes a book, the characters never really go away, that they linger around and stay with you for a while. Oprah has a special segment for authors who were also mothers and they talked about how they had to find a way to keep writing while fulfilling their role as mother, how they learned to work either early in the morning or late at night, or how they just had to write during the in-between hour...

my happy pills 1. Wonder Twin powers activate! Take the shape of bath water ! Ohhhh yeahhhh :) 2. You know, it would be really great if Lavandera Ko hired this pretty lady to do my laundry. So, I can talk dirty to her and not get slapped. "Hey baby, what do you think about this stain on my shirt? Do think it's sexy?" 3. And here's a really good reason to watch tennis again. Love! Love, baby! :) Yeah, yeah... I know I should be working. I just needed some cheering up. I found out that I only sold ten copies of B72 in the past three months. Bummer. I can't quit my day-job yet. (oh...and thanks to everyone who bought a copy!)

I don't @#*$!! believe this!!! There's actually a site called http://www.budgettan.com/ ?! They are a... "full service provider of value-priced quality tanning products delivered directly to your doorstep." I wonder if I can sue. :)

Posted on the Komikero message board : Biltzworx conducted a survey among 500 people composed of 300 students, 100 graduates and 100 people connected to comics. The survey asked them to rank their Top 10 favorite Filipino comic book artists. The results are: 1. Pol Medina(Pugad Baboy) 2. Whilce Portacio(Stone, Wetworks, Stormwatch) 3. Taga-Ilog(Pasig / Culture Crash) 4. Jay Anacleto(Aria, Athena inc.) 5. Elmer Damaso(Cat's Trail, art of ODID, Culture Crash) 6. Leinel Yu(X-Men, High Roads) 7. Phillip Tan(Taleweaver) 8. Gerry Alanguilan(Wasted) 9. Arnold Arre(Mythology Class) 10. Gilbert Monsanto (Hellcop) The survey also asked which comic book group is the “Kings of Comics in the Philippines?” 1. Culture Crash 2. Avalon 3. Alamat 4. Exodus 5. Atlas Hmmm... talk about two tough acts to follow.

YEEEEHAAAAA! Brandie texted me great news tonight. The Creative Guild has judged "Punk" as the TV ad of the month! "Punk" aka the TV commercial where we see that Gothic girl named Katrina text her mom, "Ingat po kayo. Love you." Congratulations to the Globe Team! Yeeehaaa! And by the way, Brandie's works won in the print ad of the month category. :) Well, all right!

Get WASTED all over again! WASTED REDUX, (PULP No.25, July 2002) Most people drown their sorrow in beer and other nihilistic activities, but not this guy. Gerry Alanguilan whips up his pen and paper and starts drawing a mini comic series chronicling, among other things, a parallel story of how a girl broke his heart and the subsequent downfall of his main character, Eric. WASTED , of course, has since been released as a comic book by Alamat and later serialized in PULP magazines (PULP #8-16 / Sept 2000 to June-July 2001). A recent development in the WASTED saga turns this Dark story into an independent film for the first time, directed by award-winning indie filmmaker Noel Lim (Wolfgang’s “Weightless” video and Magkakahoy, grand prize winner in 1st Southeast Asian Competition in Japan). “He has always been talking about doing a WASTED movie for years but nothing has really come out of it,” comments the WASTED creator. “It wasn’t until middle of last year when everything bec...

There is ONE problem... "Where to go now? So the initial aim of The Date Project was for me to find a girlfriend. Well, that has pretty much happened now. 'K' and I have gone out a few times more, things are getting serious and continue to look promising. However, there is one problem. She's a Celine Dion fan. That is almost a deal breaker but with intensive counseling, a good attitude, and lots of luck, we should be able to work through that." Hmmm... well, this guy was able to find a girl by Day 25. If this was me, it might a year-long mission. Maybe even longer. With lots of entries saying: HAD TO CANCEL DATE BECAUSE OF DATE. DAMN. DAMN. DAMN. At least his blog serves as proof that love can still be found. Ugh!

. And here's a random sampling of the state of today's comic book fanboy: Posted by CHEZMARIA in PinoyExchange. Here's a true Filbar's story that happened just last week in SM Megamall. Two guys looking at the buy one take one FHM magazines 1st guy: "Wow, pare. Eto bilin mo na FHM. Denise Richards cover!" 2nd guy: (notices the comic books) "Dehins. Ito na lang comics katabi ko pag tulog." 1st guy: "Tangina. Nalilibugan ka na ba kay Spiderman?" Posted by Akolage in PEX. Sino dito ang mga tagahanga nina Portacio, Haberlin, Alanguilan, at Kemp? Ako ibilang nyo na...... Nagbabasa ako ng kanilang mga animation comics, like the Stones, by Avalon Studios....

I had breakfast in Pancake House at 6:30am. I was planning to go to the nearby donut shop but both Mr. Donut and Country Style were closed at 6:30 in the morning. And you'd think donut shops should be open 24 hours. Pancake House's piped-in music was some old Regine Velasquez CD. Strangely enough, it was very soothing. (Maybe it's because I lack sleep.) The rain has just stopped and the sky was still gray while I had my black brewed coffee. I wouldn't mind coming to work this early everyday, as soon as I get to go home early as well. While eating I thought that if anyone ever offered to give me a newspaper/magazine column about food/restaurants, I'd call it: HEY! ARE YOU GONNA EAT THAT?! It's 9:06am. Work begins.

When I got home last night, I realized that I did write a book about the way she walked, and whispered, and looked. And mostly, it was about the way she walked away. I still have the book. Don't really know what to do with it. Was supposed to give it to her but was advised by friends not to do so. I could throw it away. Maybe if there was a way to make money out of it. To make money out of misery. We could all be millionaires. Maybe I could publish it. But it wouldn't make any sense to the reader, I suppose. Maybe just to her. Then again, with her short-term memory she would probably have no idea what that book is all about. Bummer...

I've only had two hours sleep. It's already 9:23pm. I'm just trying to finish this thing... just have to figure one this one sentence. But I can't. So, I've gone online. Just went to Shiloah's blog, where she has publicly quoted lyrics from Mandy Moore's song to show her love. I can't believe how much she's in love. (Actually, I should... considering I've got friends who are very much in love and would probably do something along the same line of professing their undying love). Anyway, it just reminded me of this song... I Could Write a Book If they asked me I could write a book About the way you walk, and whisper and look I could write the preface on how we met So the world would never forget And the simple secret of the plot Is just to tell them that I love you a lot Then the world discovers as my book ends How to make two lovers of friends I gave her a copy. Sang it to her once. But she left. I bump...

. Culture Crash has been doing it for a year. Summit's getting into it. And now, comic book writer Steven Grant talks about the viability of the comics-magazine format. Something's in the air... could this be the next big thing? “…lately I've chatted with several creators attempting to do their own graphic novels. As most people who've done them know, a graphic novel is a huge, time-demanding undertaking, and while you can get paid as you go along to do a CAPTAIN AMERICA or MARTIAN MANHUNTER graphic novel, but if you're trying something truly adventurous, something original, you're pretty much on your own. This includes highly regarded, well-established talents with critical acclaim behind them, believe it or not. And publishers... continue to become increasingly conservative in their tastes.... This increasingly leaves original graphic novels in the province of "works of love," but as my grandmother used to say, "love is lik...

REJECTION SLIP FROM A CHINESE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, QUOTED IN “THE FINANCIAL TIMES” We have read you manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity.

. Wednesday, 11:03pm It was one of those days when almost nothing happened and it just left you absolutely tired. It just drains me how client can be so... oh what's the word... I don't... how they drive me crazy with these little revisions. It's just so easy to say yes to everything that they want, but it just somehow defeats the purpose of what the ad is supposed to be about. I'm rabmling and can't say much. Maybe tell you about it when the ad comes out. Maybe.