Babbling Point

HH Client: URC / Product: Presto Agency: Harrison Communications ECD: Alex Arellano DECD: Budjette Tan ACD: Mervin Ignacio Art Directors: Mark Mendoza, Louie Aquino Copywriters: Bonsai Fojas, Louie Aquino Accounts: Monday Gonzalez, Sinta Rosales-Baguio, Ethel Dino Broadcast: Jho Moya, Bambi Gonzales

DAMN THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS Just when you thought you’ve come up with something original, you come across someone else’s work that just proves you wrong. I know there’s no way I can claim that TRESE is an original idea, but it is an attempt to tell certain stories from a different point of view. Like I’ve said before, Trese was supposed to be a man, but we decided not to go down that road because of characters like John Constantine and Karl “The Nightstalker” Kolchak. So, we made Trese a woman and one of the first reactions we got was, “Hey! She’s like Kate Beckinsale in `Underworld`!” DOH! Well… no… not really. Then, another reader pointed out to me an anime that had a female lead and her assistant /bodyguard was this tall man who wears a mask. (Thankfully, he didn’t have a twin.) The other week, I was in Fully Booked when I saw this novel and the cover art attracted my attention because she looked like you-know-who. Then I read the blurb in the back: “Something is...

13th Month 'Why do people love us? We are always trying to figure that out, but only by using our own point of view. That way is so limited. Sometimes they love us for things we don't even know about ourselves. For example they love our hands. My *hands*? Why would anyone love my hands? But they do and they've got their reasons why. You must accept that and realize the person they know and love is different from the one you know.' Jonathan Carroll, THE GHOST IN LOVE (photo swiped from Rina's blog)

Additional Evidence The latest piece of evidence for EXHIBIT 13 has been submiited by Scene of the Crime Officer DINO IGNACIO. See the rest of the evidence at: http://exhibit13.blogspot.com/ See more of Dino's work at: http://www.dinoignacio.com/ Read the latest TRESE case at: http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/

TRESE 7: EMBRACE OF THE UNWANTED At the lowest basement of the MagnaMall, the mangled body of a woman is found. The trail of blood brings Alexandra Trese face-to-face with what was once thought to be an urban legend. When all is finally revealed, midnight madness at the mall will never be the same. Read the complete story at: http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2007/09/trese-7-embrace-of-unwanted.html Story by Budjette Tan Art by Kajo Baldisimo

For this special online edition of 13 Letters Down, we did a very quick Q&A with Kajo Baldisimo, artist and co-creator of TRESE. What comic books are you reading now? What was the last comic book /graphic novel you read that you really liked? I keep re-reading WATCHMEN (ang aking paborito) from time to time and I’m still in love with it. Pero, teka… if that’s not counted , uhm… the latest comicbook I’ve read na nakaka-aliw … Kiko Machine ni Manix. Who are your favorite artists? We’ll run out of paper if I put everyone kaya siguro yung top 5 lang: Jim Lee, Nestor Redondo, Fernando Amorsolo, Alex Nino, Mar Santana, Alex Ross… saka Hal Santiago. Why the change in art style in this issue? What inspired this? I’ve been experimenting since issue 1, looking for that definitive TRESE look. I want something gritty yet clean (an’labo no?). I think I’ve hit it with issue 7. This is the same style I used dun sa Trese pinup sa Ish 1 . I will be re-drawing Trese 1-6 after I’m done with Trese 13....

TRESE 7: COMING SOON Previously in TRESE... Read all the latest cases of Alexandra Trese at: http://tresekomix.blogspot.com

Telling True Stories in the Living Room Hey, you’re here! You’re just in time. Grab a chair. There are still a few empty chairs up front. The band’s just about to start. Can I get you anything? San Mig Light? Vodka 7? Tequilla? Welcome to The Living Room. Now on stage is the beautiful Kelly Flint the rest of and Dave’s True Story. SPASM EVERLASTING NO DOG STORY There is a playlist in my iTunes marked TYPING , which is the music I listening to when I’m typing down notes I’ve written in my notebook or when I already know what to write and just need to bang away at the keyboard. Included in that folder are the songs of Dave’s True Story. I found out about them when I was looking for a soundtrack that would get me depressed. At that time, I was re-writing a storyboard for Globe called “Closure” (and for those you who are familiar with that story, then it just means you come from that G-moment batch of Harrison… I still hope to get that approved and produced some day. B...

The Illegal Facilitator IF: Illegal Facilitator, a criminal whose crimes facilitated the crimes of others. “He’d looked, Milgrim thought, like an ethnic version of a younger Johnny Depp. Brown had once referred to the IF and his family as Cuban-Chinese, but Milgrim would have been unable to make an ethnic identification. Filipino, in a pinch, but that wasn’t it either. And they spoke Russian. Or texted in an approximation of it.” — Spook Country by William Gibson In Gibson's first novels, his characters surfed cyberspace by jacking-in, literally plugging themselves into the net with a hardwire connected at the back of their necks. With his new novels set in the present, they jack-in using the usual monitor and keyboards and by going to Google and Wikipedia. Still, he introduces concepts like "locative virtual art" that just gives you the same mindfuck you got when you first read about the concept of cyberspace. So, if the IF was texting in "an approximation of...

IMMORTAL KOMBAT There are no decent comic book shops here in KL. (Well, they're not like Comic Quest, Comic Odyssey, and Druid’s Keep.) They do have enormous stores like Kinukoniya and Borders where they have a huge selection of graphic novels and an even larger section with manga. In their Chinatown, I found two stores / comic book libraries that had original manga and anime DVDs. Anyway, since I have no access to the single-monthly titles that come out, I’ve had to do with reading their summaries at: www.majorspoilers.com . (Yeah, I know I can probably down scans of comic books, but I don’t.) The site recently reviewed Matt Fraction’s THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST . Fraction’s work has been getting rave reviews from the likes of Brian Bendis and Warren Ellis, which takes a whole lot of restrain from buying the IRON FIST HARDCOVER TPB that I saw in the store recently. But check out these very, very cool villains from the latest issue. THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST will definitely be on my pull ...

What am I thinking of right now? Couple of months ago, Arjun showed me this site called TWITTERVISION , where you see a map of the world and every couple of sections a word balloon would pop up on some part of the map and it would be someone leaving a note on this big world map about what they were doing in their part of the world. At that time, Arjun thought that would make for a nice execution for a TV commercial. (Has anyone done anything like that lately?) Anyway, I later found out that the foundation of Twittervision was the site / service called Twitter . I eventually got an invitation get a Twitter account, which I did and got excited by the feature that let me text in my “blog entry” or my whatever it was I was Twittering about. It also allowed me to receive (via text) the Twittering of other people. So, ever now and again I would get a text/Twitter from the people I’m linked up with and I’d get to know little things happening in their day. They’d Twitter about where they were,...

If you need advice about... ... what to play. http://thelonegamer.wordpress.com/ ... what to watch. http://fiveleggediguana.blogspot.com/ ... or just advice in general. http://coffeespark.com/

Commentaries: babbling about movies I recently watched BOURNE ULTIMATUM If ever Hollywood decides to do another Daredevil movie and if they really want to do it right, then they should get Paul Greengrass to direct it and Tony Gilroy to write it. Heck, while they’re at it, they should get Matt Damon to play Matt Murdock (aha! They even have the same first name!) And maybe Ben Affleck can start as the cop that gets killed by Bulleyes in scene one. Did you see that rooftop/ le parkour chase scene? Did you see all those close-quarter combat scenes? Aren’t all those just classic Frank Miller-Daredevil scenes?!!! I could already see the sfx word KRESHHH pop on screen when Bourne crashed through the window. Out of the three BOURNE movies, I liked this the best. It did have the advantage of having two previous movie provide all the set-up for the character, so for most of the movie you just see him getting his mission accomplished. The movie wasn’t burdened with too much backstory and we di...

NOW SHOWING Gerry Alanguilan's TIMAWA http://www.webcomicsnation.com/komikero/cresthut/series.php?view=single&ID=84338 WASTED: Episode 4 http://www.webcomicsnation.com/komikero/wasted/series.php?view=single&ID=79874 This is probably my favorite episode in the series, where Eric delivers that monologue in the car. I read that page during one of those poetry reading sessions in Mars (some of you might not even remeber that place). Yeah, I cheated and didn't read any of my own work. Anyway, after reading that poem, I saw Barbie Almalbis and gave her a copy of WASTED. After she read it that night, she was so moved and affected by the story, she ended up writing the song "Dancing" the next morning. COMING SOON More preview art at: http://iantoy.deviantart.com/

Over here, dusk arrives a little after 7:45pm. Tomorrow seems to take its time. It wanders in much later compared to its version back home. I wonder if it’s really raining in Manila. I am waiting for the sun to set.

Don't Look Under the Hood The other day my mom drove to the church to attend mass. After the mass, her car wouldn't start. She said the battery seemed drained and she couldn't recall if she left any of the lights on. The next day, she asked our neighbor if their driver could go with her and try to jumpstart the car. So, they went back to the church and to her surprise, the car started. Thinking there might still be someone wrong with the electrical system of the car, she brought it to the reair shop. The mechanic said that once the battery gets drained, it's not possible for it to start again. "Maybe your car has a friendly spirit in it," was the diagnosis of the mechanic. Which made me wonder, how much do mechanics pay for exorcising possessed cars.

52 weeks later All of these lines across my face Tell you the story of who I am So many stories of where I've been And how I got to where I am But these stories don't mean anything When you've got no one to tell them to It's true, I was made for you --Brandi Carlile, THE STORY

Post-its A wastebasket overflowing with Kleenex. An empty blisterpack of Neozep on top of it all. On the shower drain are overlapping spirals made out of long, black hair. The scent of burnt Spam still lingers in the kitchen. Reminders of your very short stay. As I clean up everything, I get teary-eyed, but I stop myself when I remember that you used up all the tissue.

arrival The trip seemed to take too long even though there wasn’t any traffic on the road. I glanced at the taxi cab’s speedometer and I was surprised to see the needle at the 100kph mark. As it wobbled near 110kph, it still felt like we weren’t moving fast enough. Funny how time warps when I’m rushing to meet you.

KaPaw!!! If you've been wondering why you haven't seen any new TRESE episodes lately, it's because Kajo's been busy with the day-job, as well as working on other artworks (and using a different canvas). Check his collaborations with Paw. Here's my favorite pair: If you want your own pair made/modified, just ask them at: http://kapaw.multiply.com/ They've already been featured in a magazine: http://hyphenate.multiply.com/journal/item/1/KAPAW Astig! p.s. Kajo emailed me the latest pages for TRESE. So, you'll get it to read it very soon.