Babbling Point

What Teachers Make, or Objection Overruled, or If things don't work out, you can always go to law school by Taylor Mali http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. I decide to bite my tongue instead of his and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests that it's also true what they say about lawyers. Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company. "I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor," he says. "Be honest. What do you make?" And I wish he hadn't done that (asked me to be honest) because, you see, I have a policy about honesty and ass-kicking: if you ask for it, I have to let you have it. You want to know what I make? I make kids work hard...

Love the artwork of this new AT&T campaign that talks about their superior international coverage. Advertising Agency: BBDO, New York, USA Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars Executive Creative Directors: Greg Hahn, Ralph Watson Creative Director / Art Director: James Clunie Creative Director / Copywriter: Pierre Lipton Designers: James Clunie, Paul Wagner Illustrator: Snarlik Ads found at http://adsoftheworld.com/

When our dad was just 27 years old, he was already the General Manager of a TV station. Under his management, many of today’s great actors and singers were discovered and to star in their own shows. When he was 32 years old he left the TV station and set-up his own business as blocktimer, buying shows from the US and Japan and aired them on different Philippine TV stations. When he was 45 years old, he finally got to run his own TV station, SBN 21, the first local UHF TV station. It’s been 12 years since our dad passed away. Below are 12 shows that he brought into the country; shows that shaped our childhood and made us want to make our own stories. Thanks dad! Buddy Tan: January 28, 1945 – March 2, 1999

As a VDay treat, here are some romantic scenes (as romantic as we can get in the world of Trese) from Heubert Michael Khan and from Kajo. Art by Heubert Michael Khan Art by Kajo And here are some old stories from the Diabolical about love, lost, and magic. I CARRY YOUR HEART http://diabolical13.blogspot.com/2010_02_13_archive.htm l COFFEE BLACK http://diabolical13.blogspot.com/2009_04_13_archive.html THE USUAL SPOT http://diabolical13.blogspot.com/2009_02_13_archive.html Enjoy!

Photographer Marc Nicdao and the Tattoo Team from Harrison Communications having too much fun at the shoot with Alodia. Jello is no match for Alodia's sword skill. Yes, Marc Nicdao and Alodia can really fly! Just believe!!! Pahate pretending to act cool, but he actually peed in his pants. See the new Tattoo TV commercials at: http://babblingpoint.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-tattoo-tvcs-2011.html

While I was away in Manchester, the team had a lot of fun putting this campaign together. For the Globe Tattoo campaign of 2011, the team got to work with marathon runner Coach Rio de la Cruz , singer and real-life tattoo artist Sarah Gaugler , and the Philippines' cosplayer goddess Alodia Gosiengfiao ! Director Stephen Ngo and the special FX / CG team at Underground Logic did a great job in producing these FX-heavy TV commercials. I was told that the Alodia shoot took two days because of all the costume changes! But it was all worth it, I think, because after a only a couple of days of airing and being put online, it already got over 29,000 views.  These TVCs were recently featured in Adobo Magazine: http://www.adobomagazine.com/global/module.php?LM=news.level1&id=1296797455996 See behind the scene pictures at: http://blessmybag.com/2011/02/06/behold-the-cosplay-queen-pt-1/#more-2677 CREDITS Client: Globe Product: Tattoo Agency: Harrison Communications Con...

Trese – dark mysteries on the streets of Manilla a review by Richard Bruton Trese is a supernatural series starring a female investigator who steps in to protect the streets of Manilla when the police can’t deal with the supernatural weirdness that appears. Produced by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo, this Filipino book does so much right it’s practically scandalous we haven’t heard more about it here in the UK. ...Trese is definitely from the same mold as Hellblazer, just as it’s writer Budjette Tan is channelling equal parts Jamie Delano and Warren Ellis and artist Kajo Baldisimo does some impressive black and white work somewhere on a scale of Frank Miller and Eduardo Risso. But there’s a lot of other influences in there as well – is it just my prejudices or can I see Alan Davis as well? But the most important thing is that it’s a very impressive take on the whole mysterious magical investigator. Its’ a very original take on an old genre idea. A hugely entertaining series of...

Just wanted to say thanks… For the great “thought we’d never get it done” challenges… For allowing us to have fun at work… For giving me the chance to meet my heroes… For all the times we lost, so we’d savor those moments when we finally won… For taking me far away from my comfort zone… For being with my family when it mattered most… ...for bringing me home.

Down by the boathouse at Shaker Lake When there wasn't nothing but love to make, They were two young lovers wishing on the stars above. Well, they carved their initials in an old birch tree with a heart and an arrow and a 'sixty-three. You had to be blind not to see... It was a perfect love. It was a perfect love. Ooh, yeah, yeah. Well, they worked one summer together at the '64 World's Fair. They met Robert Kennedy there. Well, that was... right before the fall. And they saved up a little bit of money for his career, And they talked about the future underneath the giant sphere. And all around them, the little voices were singing it's a small world after all. Yes it is, small world after all. And it was... perfect love. Now they were dizzy from dancing on Rockaway Beach. They came to Rockaway. Yeah, and everything they dreamed of was still within reach; dreaming... dreaming as the years roll by, like they always do. Well, they had their share of hard time...

Two articles about Pinoy comic books came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer today. The first one reprints our Trese interview by Paolo Chikiamco of RocketKapre.com For fans of komiks, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo need no introduction, and neither does “Trese”, their komiks collaboration, now published by Visprint, which is one of the most popular and most successful komik series’ in recent memory. While komiks still remains, at this point, a niche market, “Trese” continues to make inroads into mainstream consciousness, its most recent success being recognition in the National Book Awards in the category of Graphic Literature. In their first post-award interview Kajo and Budjette talk about the success of “Trese”, the importance of their fans, transmedia storytelling, and the future of Philippine komiks: READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW AT: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/super/super/view/20101218-309565/Treses-victory The second one is an interview b...

It was December, when four friends went on a road trip in search of the best tasting dishes in the province. Unfortunately, in their quest for the most delicious meal, they may have driven into a town where someone eagerly awaits to have them for dinner. THE FEAST Story by Budjette Tan Script by Budjette Tan and Alex Arellano Art by Kajo Baldisimo Exclusively available in the December issue of UNO magazine . (Look for the one with the delectable Iza Calzado on the cover)

Trese (and Komiks) After the Award: Budjette and Kajo Interview by Paolo Chikiamco For fans of komiks, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo need no introduction, and neither does Trese, their komiks collaboration, now published by Visprint, which is one of the most popular and most successful komik series’ in recent memory. While komiks still remains, at this point, a niche market, Trese continues to make inroads into mainstream consciousness, its most recent success being recognition in the National Book Awards in the category of Graphic Literature. In what I think is their first post-award interview, Kajo and Budjette talk about the success of Trese, the importance of their fans, transmedia storytelling, and the future of Philippine komiks: READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW AT: http://www.rocketkapre.com/2010/trese-and-komiks-after-the-award-budjette-and-kajo-interview/

TV Commercials for the department store JOHN LEWIS John Lewis Christmas ad 2010 John Lewis Ad with Fyfe Dangerfield 'She's Always A Woman' soundtrack

i've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return. well, I don't know if I believe that's true but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you... like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a sun like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood who can say if I've been changed for the better? but because I knew you i have been changed for good so much of me is made of what I learned from you you'll be with me like a handprint on my heart and now whatever way our stories end i know you have re-written mine by being my friend...  who can say if I've been changed for the better? i do believe I have been changed for the better because I knew you... i have been changed for good... "For Good" from the musical WICKED songs and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

When TRESE: UNREPORTED MURDERS was nominated in the 2008 National Book Awards, I wrote this speech, thinking we had a good chance of winning since we were the only finalist. As most if you already know, we didn't win last year . When were told that TRESE: MASS MURDERS was a finalist for the 2009 National Book Awards, I felt happy and excited, but tried not to get my hopes up. And yet, I couldn't help up but dig up that speech I wrote, thinking that maybe November 13 (the day of the awards) would be our lucky day. Since I knew I'd still be in the UK during the night of the awards, I emailed my speech to Nida Ramirez, our publisher and asked her to read it in case we won. As it turned out, November 13 was our lucky day as TRESE: MASS MURDERS got awarded the National Book Award for Best Graphic Literature of 2009 . Here's the speech I would've wanted to read on the night of the awards: To the National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics Circle, than...

The Official Citation from the 2009 National Book Awards : Powerful, iconic characters comic book characters Darna , Zuma and Captain Barbell, among others, emerged fully-formed from the mind of Filipino comic creators. That creativity continues to this day, in all directions, in different ways. But in Trese, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo have a stunningly original idea, swathed in the irresistible spookiness of our folklore and the edged mythology of our urban legends. Alexandra Trese, the enigmatic paranormal investigator and her lethal bodyguards the Kambal helps the police when encountering cases that just don’t make any sense of the normal kind. In the process, Tan and Baldisimo offers us a peek into the supernatural embedded into Metro Manila’s badly lit corners. In the first volume, Trese: Murder on Balete Drive, we are introduced to Alexandra and her team, and the second volume, Trese: Unreported Murders, showed us one peculiar procedural after another. But it is in this th...

As far we can remember it, my mom always cooked spaghetti during our birthdays. Eventually, she taught Manang Terrie, our loyal cook, how to make that spaghetti with ground beef and hotdogs and basil leaves and it became a staple for every birthday celebration. When we were kids, we associated birthdays with big celebrations, where the house was filled with family and guests. At the end of the evening, when all the guests had left, our friends would stay behind and we’d continue talking late into the night, occasionally standing up to get our third or forth helping of spaghetti. After two months of living here and coming home to an empty apartment, it felt wonderful to come back to my apartment and be welcomed with a home-cooked meal made by my mom, Brandie, and Wella. Indeed, it was a very happy birthday day.

This is Talis and he's got a plan to save the world. I’ve been itching to do a Pinoy super hero story for the longest time. So, early this year, when I was supposed to be working on the Trese Book 4, I ended up scribbling this story and pitched it to Kajo. We had a grand plan to juggle working on Talis on one month and working on Trese on the other month. Well, our dayjobs and other projects got into the way, so we ended up getting delayed with both books. So far, this is the only finished TALIS story and we’ve decided to focus on the very delayed Trese Book 4, so it might be sometime before we can get back to revealing the other people who’ve crossed paths with Talis. We hope to release Trese Book 4 early next year and if we’re lucky, we’ll get the chance to do another Talis book soon after that. That’s the end of my intro and this link http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2010/11/talis.html leads you the first issue of TALIS. Please do give it a read and tell us what you th...

I started listening to NU107 when I was in college because of a girl. I found out that NU was her favorite radio station, so I thought if I tuned in as well, I’d have something to talk about with her. “Hey! That Midnight Countdown! That so rocks, yeah?” Did it work? Well, let’s just say I freaked her out and she didn’t talk to me for an entire sem. But I kept listening to NU anyway. It’s always Station #6 in my preprogrammed settings. It was 1993, I was trying to find parking in that patch of dirt that was considered the university car park when I heard these lyrics on NU: “Ilang isaw pa ba ang kakainin, o giliw ko? Ilang tanzan pa ba ang iipunin, o giliw ko? Gagawin ko ang lahat pati ang thesis mo!” Me and my blockmates were in the middle of preparing for our thesis and as far as we were concerned, that was the impossible task that needed to be done that year. When I got to the barkada tambayan I was raving about this song from a band I’ve never heard of, a song about a guy willing ...