Babbling Point

+ Ilang tulog na lang... dadating na siya! You're 12 years old and you discover you have super-powers! Are you a mutant? A strange visitor from another planet? Nope... turns out, you're God. Chosen #1 is tentatively scheduled to hit stores on January 21st.

PHLOG PHLESH The Ombundsman of Tech has once again discovered another interesting mobile blogging site. Jason was the first one to tell me about PHLOG.NET . And now, the wild side of moblogging... www.phonebin.com!!! Actually, it's quite funny. Wondering when the first Pinoy (or Pinay) will make a post there. Click here to see the strip show . Meanwhile, back in blogland... You can read the diary of a London callgirl , a porn star's journal , or, if you wish True Porn Clerk Stories . Take your pick and click. Looking at these sites, it would make for an interesting marketing tool if all of the Viva Hot Babes kept a blog/phlog. Just to make sure they're all okay and doing well. :)

00:00 DAY ONE In 15 minutes, Jan1 will become Jan2. Here we go... Spent most of the day in bed, then went to mass, then the mall, then back home. Deliver some gifts and went around Greenhills and Makati looking for an internet cafe that's open on New Year's Day. Found that old reliable Station 168 is open, but ended up in using a keyboard that had Korean keys. So, I blame the keyboard for any typos. Got to spend the second to the last day of the year with old friends. We ended up at 90 PROOF , where we talked about... oh... work... and girls... and life in general. Parted ways around 4am. Wow... 4am... been awhile seen we did any of that. Usually, when I'm going home at 4am, it's because I'm coming from work (and would usually have an 8am meeting to deal with.) Was supposed to meet up with the guys again early this morning, after all the fireworks had been spent and as the smoke and smog would blanket the city, but they all texted that they were too t...

+ 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.