Babbling Point

~ ON THE WRITE PATH Last night, as I was getting in my car, a street kid came up to me, so I gave him some coins. He then said, “Kuya, pwedeng akin na lang yan ballpen mo?” (Sir, is it okay if you just give me your pen?) The kid pointed at the pen in my breast pocket. I held on to the pen. Despite the fact it was a typical sign pen I could easily get in National Bookstore, I was very particular about that pen. I get attached to such small things and really hate it when I loose it without having used up all the ink. So, I asked the kid why I should give him my pen. He held up a dog-eared notebook that had the HULK on the cover and said, “Wala akong pangsulat, eh.” (I don’t have anything to write with.) “Oh… okay…” I said and gave him my pen. The kid smiled, said thanks, and ran back to his friends across the street. On the way home, I thought about the kid and hoped, that maybe, God willing, he will grow up to become a great writer.

~ MY GIRL Check out pictures from the shoot of the new myGlobe TV commercial .

~ She's back! And I'm not talking about the Terminator. Well... I guess she's deadlier than the Terminator. "When my mother died two weeks ago the general reaction was one of surprise (surprise that I even had a mother). It is easier to think of me as a product of spontaneous generation, or of some hideous experiment that escaped from a laboratory." -- Jessica Zafra, an excerpt from her upcoming Twisted column, "Sympathy for the Mutant". Jessica emailed: "I think this comes out Monday. Please don't disseminate. Hey, let them buy their own copy of TODAY." Well, I'm not disseminating it... I'm promoting it! Like a duitiful Twisted disciple. So, remember... TWISTED resumes in the pages of Today on Monday. Plans for world domination continues.

The Muse known as Penny Lane Alex Sheldon (LUKE WILSON) is an author whose writer's block is the least of his problems - he also happens to be flat broke and owes Cuban loan sharks $100,000. After hanging him out the window and destroying his laptop computer, the thugs give Alex an ultimatum: pay up in 30 days or wind up dead. The only way Alex is going to get that kind of money is by finishing his novel, which is currently less than one sentence long. "Adam Shipley had given up on love. Art was to be his mistress. And so it was that in the summer of 1924, he took a sabbatical from Andover to write, if not the Great American Novel, certainly something that would make the world sit up and take notice." He's got some idea of what he wants the story to be.... He just can't seem to get it out onto paper. Now lacking both inspiration and a laptop, Alex secures the services of opinionated stenographer Emma Dinsmore (KATE HUDSON) to help him complete th...

LOOKING FORWARD it's uncharted territory in the outskirts of town, it's a dark valley and we only have crude torches for light sources. i'm proposing we make camp and start a bonfire, make scouting excursions in twos or threes, come back to camp and tell the tale of the formidable wooly mammoth with the daliesque tusks. later on, we gang up and hunt the beast, slay it and come back to camp with big slices of elephant meat for dinner, as we perform the hunt for the wives and kids before we go to sleep. we wake up the next day and start packing up, but not before writing-up a nice neat note on a previously-blank spot on the map: "here be mammoths. awful when raw. cook for a day over open fire. tastes like chicken. moving south. hear tigers have tender meat on chests. looking forward." FROM AN EMAIL I RECENTLY RECEIVED

BEING BUDJETTE TAN Gerry is part of ph-cyberview@yahoogroups.com and he sent me this message thread. Message 3 Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 01:23:23 +0800 From: Jim Ayson Subject: Budjette Tan's mobile blog Those of you who are into the local comics scene may know of Alamat comics and its head honcho Budjette Tan. I just found out he maintains a mobile photo blog at Phlog.net. The URL is http://www.phlog.net/user/budjette It's updated often (through the mobile I think) and is a little strange, as you eavesdrop on meetings etc... It kind of reminds me of that Spike Jonze movie "Being John Malkovich" where you get to enter a portal into the actor's brain and see the world through his eyes. ========== Message: 5 Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 06:05:33 -0000 From: "Miguel A Paraz" Subject: Re: Budjette Tan's mobile blog About the pics with the meeting with Globe's president (Budjette's day job is for Harrison Commu...

"He told me I was beautiful. I stared back at him in shock masking disgust. The nerve of him to say it to my face. Thank you, kind sir for telling what I already know. Now, tell me something I don't." FROM THE BLOG CALLED DRIPPINGS. btw, the human formerly known as mark is back online. CLICK MO MUKHA MO! (That's his site... was not trying to insult you. If I was trying I'd say... oh, nevermind.)

Last Tuesday, went to Galleria. While my mom did the groceries, I had the chance to walk around the mall. I was surprised to see a Nescafe Cafe at the entrance of the Body Place. I immediately texted some of the guys and said: NEW CAFE AT BODY PLACE, GALLERIA. COULD THIS BECOME THE HANG-OUT OF NEXT GENERATION OF COMIC BOOK GEEKS? :) Some texted back that maybe we should start hanging out there. Claim what was once our terriroty! hahaha One of the guys texted that they (the next gen geeks) better know what they're getting into because we certainly didn't and look where it got us. I texted back, that I think we were better off not knowing how difficult things were going to be, else we would not have attempted to achieve the impossible. Maybe it's time to try again. "There's a fine and wonderful moment near the end of `The Phantom Tollbooth`, that rich, wise children's book by Norton Juster, where Milo, the hero, having succeeded in a mighty q...

June 12 Today is the Philippines' Independence Day. We have delayed celebration of our independence til tomorrow so that we may have a long weekend. That was the president's bright idea. Back to work. Tomorrow we sleep.

In an alternate reality, Ronald McDonald married Mother Lily and took over the Philippine movie industry. And every movie ticket will came with a free Happy Meal.

HMMMM.... FFFOOOOD! 9pm Still haven't had dinner. Saw this food gallery by Jake Verzosa . HMMMMM... HHHUUNNNGRY YUMMMM Don't think I can eat half of what he's showing in his site. GRRRRUMMMMBLE

Janjan Binks starts her own phlog ... well, kinda. She's now in New Joi-sey! Looks like a cold place. Here are two Pinoys who are also using PHLOG: Caffeine Girl , a girl after my own heart consider the amount of coffee she's drinking. Orange Crush , who seems to be working in another ad agency and his office mate was my classmate back in grade school.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE Just answered another questionnaire about the local comic book industry. Of course, part of the questionnaire asked for my influences as a comic book creator. Here's what I said: I got into writing / creating comic books because I grew reading them and liked them so much that I wanted to make my own. I liked the works of Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and Neil Gaiman. I also liked reading Stephen King, William Gibson, the Dragonlance Chronicles, Isaac Asimov, and other sci-fi / fantasy writers. I also liked listening to Sting and Kenny Rogers (yes, Kenny Rogers) and Pearl Jam and Tori Amos, who told their stories through song. So, I’d like to think that all those people somehow influenced my work. I don’t think I can pinpoint that I picked up this or that style from a particular writer. They all just become a jumble once I start to write. For example, BATCH72 was probably influenced watching ARCHIE’S ...

Dear God, I pray my future-comic-book-editor won’t be like my current clients. For the past month or so, we’ve been working on a series of ads that involves an illustrated character. And every time we present to client, we’ve been getting a whole bunch of really “entertaining” comments like… “Can you change the expression of his face?”, “He looks too mean.”, “There’s something about his eyes.”, “Can you change that one eyebrow?”, “Does he have to smirk like that?”, “Why does he look angry?”, “Can’t you just make him smile?”. AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!! I wonder if artists at Marvel or DC have to put up with such comments. I’d imagine, that when you’re a novice artist, your editor would ask you to make changes in panels and maybe even whole pages, but I wonder if they nitpick like that. I pray I get my break into comics really soon, so that I may leave these clients behind. I pray that I stop being a lazy bum AND WRITE THE STORIES I’M SUPPOSED TO BE SUBMITTING. I...

Behold! The Miraculous, Fabulous Adventures of Little Jesus ! Witness how man once again uses cutting-edge technology for something really riduculous. And for something even more ludicrous, check My Life As Seen Through My Nokia 7650 .

Jessica Zafra’s TWISTED FLICKS is now available in Powerbooks (and, I’d guess, National Bookstore). It contains a collection of published and unpublished movies reviews, as well as interviews with local film directors. In one review, she quotes me, and then disagrees with what I said about the movie. TWISTED FLICKS will be launched on June 10, 6pm, at Greenbelt 1. Afterwards, there will be an advanced screening of ADAPTATION . Must remember to bring two aspirins for me to take after the movie. Now go! Go get Twisted!

DARNA! DARNA! DARNA! Posted three magazine articles about DARNA in the KOMIX101 blog (just scroll down past the Carl "ZsaZsa Zaturnnah" Vergara interview). "[Darna's] mabait yet matapang . Strong yet sympathetic. Sexy yet dignified. And she looks damn great in a pair of teensy-weensy red pekpek shorts." --Abi Aquino, Cosmopolitan Philippines I think Abi's article was best written of the bunch. It was concise, informative, and an entertaining read. The Men Zone article felt like a bad written press release that kept repeating information through-out the article. It even had cheesy photos of the Mango Comics creative team being beat-up by Darna. Still haven't found any reviews for DARNA #2.

Carl said that Jon Lapus was raving about ZSAZSA in THE BUZZ last Sunday(?). I hope that translates to more buzz about the book (and more sales). Carl's interview with Business World came out today. Posted in KOMIX101 .

thrilling comics From the website THRILLED : These are comics which are online. Some of them have been specifically designed for the online format and some have not. They were done for ourselves for various reasons. This site exists so that you may read and enjoy them and share the experience. Some people have enjoyed our stories and felt somehow moved or enlightened and that is nice. Please enjoy, or don't, and move on to something else on the internet that is better. These comics are please not for children please . My favorites are: Trepanation and Ride .

Rachel texted that I should read LITTLE PRINCE and figure out what is really essential in life. Maricel texted that I should: take a break. read rilke. take a week off. get a girlfriend . Which makes me wonder if I should do it in that order and will I become a better writer if I get girlfriend or will I just become more neurotic (or will I make her more neurotic because of all my OT)? Well, maybe I'll pick up a copy of LITTLE PRINCE this weekend. Something nice to read on a rainy day.