Babbling Point

Trying to find an old email in my inbox, I stumbled upon this one sent to me back in the year 2000. I remember reading it while I was in my dad's office and got teary-eyed as I neared the end. So, here's something for the fathers (and mothers) and their children; something for the people who have fallen too many times and need to find some encouragement to stand up again. Hope you like it. QUIT! GIVE UP! YOU’RE BEATEN! D.H. Groberg I Quit! Give up! You're beaten!" They shout at me and plead. "There's just too much against you now; This time you can't succeed!" And as I start to hang my head In front of failure's face, My downward fall is broken by The memory of a race And hope refills my weakened will As I recall that scene; For just the thought of that short race Rejuventates my being. II A children's race- young boy, young men, How I remember well. Excitement, sure! But also fear; It wasn't hard to tell. They all lined up so full...

"In some ways, every business man needs to learn how to be an artist. It's crucial when you're leading a project." --Lionel Poilane One of Poilane's favorite projects is the cage that he and Salvador Dali made together out of bread dough. "The bird could eat it's way out of the cage," Poilane explains. "That was very real to me. As an apprentice, I too felt like a bird in a cage made out of bread. I just had to feed on my limits." Lionel Poilane, Fast Company, March 2001

"Fly High, Seek Peace" -- that's a line from Dinotopia, one of our favorite books back in the 90s. I used it a lot and usually ended my letters, greeting cards, and speeches with that line. I also used it for The Flying Phantom, our comic book character. Ten years ago, Brandie gave me a journal for my birthday and on the first page he wrote: The Adventure continues. We have to wake up a few more times to finish what we have started. To tell stories. Through comics, ads, the net, maybe someday even the movies. We may never be able to run a nationwide television station... but we can evoke emotions through our stories; evoke memories and lives that have yet to be lived by our audience. That is Power. More powerful than being president. I finally realized what kept us from going onto more successful ground. We keep following Flying Phantom's motto, when it should be "Fly High, Seek Trouble!" That makes all the difference. Happy Birthday to the Chief Trouble ...

“Underpass” by various creators (Summit Media) A CHILLING journey to the dark, hidden places we fear, “Underpass” is a comic book anthology featuring four well-crafted horror stories. In “SIM,” Gerry Alanguilan shows just how much can go wrong when one picks up a discarded SIM card in a jeepney. Betrayal comes in many colors in “Judas Kiss,” a tale from David Hontiveros, Budjette Tan and Oliver Pulumbarit. There is a magnetic quality to the violence found in Hontiveros’ and Ian Sta. Maria’s “Katumbas.” Vanity and fame come at a pretty price in “The Clinic,” from Tan and Kajo Baldisimo. “Underpass” is a sidetrip worth your attention as it is both disturbing and amazing.  Read the other titles recommended by the Sunday Inquirer at: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view/20100424-266190/Booking_Passage  You can also read the complete story of THE CLINIC at: http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2010/01/down-other-dark-corridor-clinic.html For more preview UNDERPA...

“I was never gonna get off that island. I was gonna die there, totally alone. I was gonna get sick, or get injured or something. The only choice I had, the only thing I could control was when, and how, and where it was going to happen. So... I made a rope and I went up to the summit, to hang myself. I had to test it, you know? Of course. You know me. And the weight of the log, snapped the limb of the tree, so I-I - , I couldn't even kill myself the way I wanted to. I had power over *nothing*. And that's when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. I knew, somehow, that I had to stay alive. Somehow. I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope. And all my logic said that I would never see this place again. So that's what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing. And one day my logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, and gave me a sail. And now, here I am. I'm back. In Memphis, talking to you. I have ice in my glass... and I've l...

"Sometimes winning is as hard to deal with as losing. It's easy to moon over a lost love-- to fantasize over what might have been, secure in the knowledge that it'll never happen-- it makes a great excuse for not facing the risks and demands of reality." Wolverine, Uncanny X-Men No. 183, written by Chris Claremont

"We each have our lives to live, our own roads to walk to our individual destinies. Friends-- and lovers-- may walk by our side but ultimately, the journey is made alone." "Life involves growth, and growth, continual change. You may not like those changes but you cannot run from them. You must face them." Storm, Uncanny X-Men No.180, written by Chris Claremont

"...poker taught me you play the hand you're dealt. Winning and losing aren't in the cards, they're in the people playing them." Rogue, Uncanny X-Men No. 239, written by Chris Claremont

You’ve heard `the media is the message`? It’s not really true anymore. Message is Media. Internet, YouTube, blogs, vlogs, camphones – this is really THE DAWN of human history, right? This is the moment when we start recording ALL of our moments. Asymmetrical media, viral, unmarketable and unstoppable. Our histories are broadcast instantly and remembered infinitely. Everything we do now will haunt us all the rest of our lives. And it’s my job to manage that history – to manage that message any way I can. Kate Kildare, Press Agent of the super-hero team The Order THE ORDER (Marvel Comics), written by Matt Fraction

Congratulations to Brandie Tan, Tin Sanchez, and David Ferrer for winning the Radio Commercial of the Decade in the last night's Creative Guild Awards. LOTUS SPA Radio Commercial “Traffic Therapy” The Creative Guild of the Philippines presented its first Kidlat Ads of the Decade at the 2010 Kidlat Awatds: McDonald's "Karen" TV by Leo Burnett, Philippine Daily Inquirer "Volcanic Ash" print ad by Ogilvy & Mather and Lotus Spa "Traffic Therapy" radio ad by JWT. READ THE FULL REPORT AT ADOBO MAGAZINE: http://www.adobomagazine.com/global/module.php?LM=news.level1&id=1271267434460 McDonald's TV commercial "Karen" INQUIRER print ad "Volcanic Ash" http://www.adobomagazine.com/global/module.php?LM=news.level1&id=1271236863411 ANG TUNAY NA CREATIVE GUILD Brandie was also elected into the board of the Creative Guild. At Kodak's Opening Cocktail Party for the Kidlat Awards, agency representatives voted a new set of offi...

SUMMER KOMIKON 2010 U.P. Bahay ng Alumni April 17,2010 / 10am to 8pm P50 entrance fee

The generators roared as it came to life, disturbing Reyrey’s afternoon nap. It must be 1:04pm, he thought; because 1:00pm is when the city’s electricity shuts down and it takes four minutes for the generators to switch on. These rolling brown-outs now happen on a daily basis. Reyrey wanted to bury his head between the black trash bags that served as his pillows and blanket; but he didn’t even try to go back to sleep. He stood up and stretched and looked around the street corner where he and his friends would usually beg for money, gamble with that money, and rummage for trash. He hasn’t seen Ronnie, Rick, and Tomboy for the past four days. Underneath where Reyrey stood, under the level that housed the generators, the Beast growled for more food. Lately, the Beast’s nightly meals have not been enough to keep it satisfied. The summer heat had made more hungry than usual. These brown-outs have become the perfect excuse to switch on the generators of all the bui...

"Apple never holds focus groups. It doesn't ask people what they want; it tells them what they're going to want next." -- Lev Grossman "...I discovered that one doesn't relate to it [the iPad] as a "tool"; the experience is closer to one's relationship with a person or an animal. I know how weird that sounds. But consider for a moment. We are human beings; our first responses to anything are dominated not by calculations but by feelings. What [Jonathan Ive] and his team understand is that if you have an object in your pocket or hand for hours every day, then your relationship with it is profound, human and emotional. Apple's success has been founded on consumer products that address this side of us: their products make users smile as they reach forward to manipulate, touch, fondle, slide, tweak, pinch, prod and stroke." --Stephen Fry Quotes from: How Apple Does It By Lev Grossman http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1118384...

"A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise. Promise of a better day. Promise of a greater hope. Promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten little thing about life seem like it's going to be okay." This was one of our favorite movies back in the 90s. If we developed the biggest crush on Natalie Portman in LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL, we absolutely fell in love with her in this movie. I also loved this poster back then—loved it so much that we used it as a peg for a cover of BATCH72. (But now that I look at it, I quickly noticed the awful Photoshop job done on the poster.) I was cleaning out my folders today when I found this poster again, which made me check IMDB and found the quote above. Just wanted to share. More qu...

I was surprised to get this message from Mark Torres on my Facebook: Hey Budj, congrats on being PowerBook's Filipino Author spotlight! was very pleasantly surprised to enter PB Megamall and see your stand. It's great that the shop's recognizing your great work and contribution to the local fiction industry. It's a pleasure being able to collaborate with you. Keep up the fantastic work... And so, I clicked on the link and found out I am PowerBook's Filipino Author of the Month! Oh wow! Talk about having a Happy Easter! Thank you PowerBooks! And remember kids, you can order TRESE via http://powerbooks.com.ph Just click the links below! Order now! TRESE: MURDER ON BALETE DRIVE http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=4204 TRESE: UNREPORTED MURDERS http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=4770 TRESE: MASS MURDERS http://powerbooks.com.ph/webinternal/products.asp?product_id=5049

Last Wednesday, in between last minute meetings and last minute revisions, I went to the clinic to get a boil checked. The boil aka a carbuncle aka a “pigsa” was under my left armpit and was becoming a source of major discomfort. So, the clinic referred me to the surgeon on duty. He took one look at the pigsa and said we needed to incise it. The procedure took less than five minutes. He cut it open, cleaned out the puss, put a whole lot of gauze pads and medical tape and sent me out of the clinic with a prescription for antibiotics and painkillers. I stepped out of the clinic around 5pm. I went back to work, attended one more meeting, rewrote a script and finally got to have dinner around 10pm with Wella. Got home a little before midnight. In the bathroom, I took off my shirt, looked at my bandaged underarm, and noticed the gauze was soaked with blood. I poked it with a finger to check if it was dried blood or fresh blood. It looked okay. I suddenly felt this warm, liquid gush on my ...

"A few years ago, a young taxi driver drove me to John F. Kennedy Airport on Long Island. After a few minutes of conversation, I discovered that Mike had belonged to my synagogue years before I came to the community. "So, rabbi," he asked while we sat in heavy traffic, "what do you say to a Jew like me who hasn't been in a synagogue since his bar mitzvah ceremony?" Thinking for a moment, I recalled that in Hassidic lore, the baal aqalah (the wagon driver) is an honored profession. So I said, "We could talk about your work." "What does my work have to do with religion?" "Well, we choose how we look at the world and at life. You're a taxi driver. But you are also a piece of the tissue that connects all humanity. You're taking me to the airport. I'll go to a different city and give a couple of lectures that might touch or help or change someone. I couldn't have gotten there without you. You help make the connection hap...

RJ Ledesma was lucky enough to have a really long interview with Neil Gaiman (and managed to hug him as well). It was also great that RJ got to ask Gaiman about what he thought of the local comic book creators. RJ: Did you also like Budjette Tan’s Trese? GAIMAN : I really liked it. What I’m really enjoying right now is that people from the Philippines send me and give me comics. This makes me happy. And I just love the fact that these are comics using Philippine culture and folklore. One of the things I really love about the contest is the feeling that I got to point out to people that this stuff is cool. Because when I first came out here, people were giving me books of local folklore and I was reading them. And I was loving them. People would then ask me, “What do you like?” and I would tell them “I liked the aswangs and the manananggals.” After that, they would ask me if I would put them in my stories. Then I started feeling as if I did (write about them) it would lend them some ki...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSP1TyiugA Client: Jack N Jill (URC) Product: Magic Flakes Junior Agency: Harrison Communications Creative Team: Budjette Tan, Mark Mendoza, Rivelle Mallari Accounts: Maricel Pangilinan-Arenas, Monday Gonzalez, Jello Tan-Goloy, Ethel Diño Producer: Barbie Leyba Production House: Provill Director: Ricky Villabona Post House: Road Runner

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home... I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office... and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The ...