Babbling Point

pumping scenes Photographer Eddieboy Escudero covered the launch of PUMP magazine . He said he had a lot of fun. If you want to see why, go to his site: http://www.filphoto.com/thumbnails.php?album=155 Talking about photos... I noticed that some people end up at my blog because they Googled "Wawi Navarroza". Well, if you'd like to see The Late Isabel's haunting vocalist you can head on over to Mr. Oz Mendoza's DeviantArt page at: http://strangenchanted.deviantart.com/gallery/

This a (cleaned-up, clearer) pic of me kneeling before the Dream King. (Thanks, Gerry!) I didn't even realize it until Andre texted me: "Did you just kneel down in front of Gaiman?!" And Cecille took this picture as proof. I don't know why I did it. It just felt the right thing to do. Felt like the repectful thing to do rather than just talk to the top of his head. Four days after our last encounter with Mr. Gaiman, people are still in that dream-like state. Fully Booked's "Neil Gaiman in Manila" mailing list has been very active with people's complaints and thanks. Blogs and phlogs and Flickr albums and LJs all curently detail people's meeting with the Maker of Morpheus. So, did anyone get to record / remember the Gaiman Q&A at The Gathering? I remember that Jordan Pinzon from the mailing list got to ask him this question: "Some people say that in order to gain something, you must sacrifice something in return. What did you sacrifice th...

. It's already Tuesday and I'm still tired, drained, and a bit disturbed by the whole Neil Gaiman experience. So, in the meantime, I point you to friends (and friends of friends) who have filed their reports like "embedded reporters" in the Dreaming. Adel "Little David" Gabot got exclusive photos and an interview: http://www.livejournal.com/users/agabot/ Turns out Karen Kunawicz already has a blog and I'm the last one to know about it. Anyway, she stalked Gaiman for all three days and you can read her stalkings here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/nazgulqueen/ Az was lucky enough to get close and chummy with The Sandman: http://www.azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com/ Quark, another lucky bastard, got to interview Gaiman. Let us all collectively bug him to upload the interview in his blog. http://www.livejournal.com/users/intrigero/ Gerry and Ilyn was part of that long line outside Fully Booked, Promonade: http://www.alanguilan.com/sanpablo/wbnormal.html Joe...

. I don't know where our country's going, but I know where I'll be tomorrow: at the Neil Gaiman event at Rockwell!!! Anyway, here's an excerpt from a speech that Gaiman gave at the 1997 PRO/con in Oakland: We are creators. When we begin, separately or together, there’s a blank piece of paper. When we are done, we are giving people dreams and magic and journeys into minds and lives that they have never lived. And we must not forget that. I don’t want to sound like an inspirational speaker here. “Be you.” be the best you that you can be.” But this is really important. It’s something that we mostly lose track of when we starts, because when we start in comics, we’re kids, and we have no idea who we are or what our voices, as artists or as writers. Young artists want to be Rob Leifeld, or Bernie Wrightson, or Frank Miller, just as young writers want to be Alan Moore, or Chris Claremont or, well, Frank Miller. You’ve seen their portfolios. You’ve read the scripts. We all swi...

. Below is an article I wrote for Karen's column about my trip to the San Diego Comic-Con and my report on the Neil Gaiman talk. I even got him to autograph my copy of "Sandman: Seasons of Mists". My only regret was that I wasn't able to attend the midnight reading of his story because I fell asleep. At least this time, the Gaiman talk will happen in the afternoon and I'll surely be there. Check out the part where he talks about his projects. Interesting to note how some of the titles have changed and how some books never pushed through. Maybe we can ask him about it this Saturday. See you in The Dreaming. Hanging Out with the Dream King by Budjette Tan (Published in Karen Kunawicz’s ON THE VERGE, Mirror Weekly, September 18, 1995) Over two hundred people, including myself, packed that room in the San Diego Convention Center last July 28. As we filled up the place up, we immediately saw the man we came to see and hear. As expected, he was dressed in black from hea...

. Bronze Boy Brandie's print ads for IMDOIUM can now be viewed in Adverblog: http://www.adverblog.com/archives/001641.htm#more The ads recently won the bronze at Thailand's Adman Awards. Another ad-blog is: http://eschenck.typepad.com/ Before starting his blog, Ernie Schenck used to (and still does) write a column for Communcation Arts. Hmmm... a blog about Pinoy ads.

. The Best Policy Did any of you get to watch that episode of IMBESTIGADOR on GMA? They conducted an experiment to test the honesty of the Filipino. They had a teen-age girl walk around in the different parts of the city and they had her drop her wallet. She sometimes dropped her wallet in front of someone or a group of people. Sometimes she'd just leave the wallet even if no one was looking. Inside the wallet was two hundred pesos and a note that said, in case the wallet was found to please call her number. If I remember correctly, 65 people returned the wallet. 15 people didn't. As pointed out by a UP Psych-teacher, some of the 15 people who didn't return the money were really poor might have felt they needed the money more, some didn't own cellphones and wouldn't have a way to call the owner, and some might have just considered it too much of a bother to return it. Later on, the IMBESTIGADOR team interviewed some of the people who returned the wallet. It was enco...

. Recent Keyword Activity (Babbling Point) Top five keywords that people either Googled or Yahooed (I'm surprised that people still use Yahoo to search for stuff): zsazsa zaturnnah how alamat started bakla diether ocampo filbar's budjette Awww... somebody searched for ME?! Me! You like me! You really like ME! And about that Diether thing, he's in a band called BLOW. `Nuff said.

"Kadi: vector-grrl version" Art by Argem Vinuya

"Kadi" art by Arvie Villena Click here for more new Batch72 pin-ups.

RP entry wins Silver Lion in Cannes ad festival FROM: The Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 26, 2005 Cannes, France -- The Consuelo Foundation and the United Nationsl childnre's Fund (Unicef), together with their advertising agency BBDO-Gurrero Ortega and film director Ditsi Carolino, won the country's first Cannes Lion for Film in the 52 years of the Cannes Advertising Festival. The Silver Lion was won for the television commercial entitled "Bunso". You can view the commercial at the other winners at the Cannes Lions web site: http://www.canneslions.com/winners/film/win.cfm?award=0

. Songs that make you go HMMM... On the way to work, I heard song remade by Kyla: I look into your eyes so far away there's trouble on your mind your losing faithhey now let me hold you it'll be okay 'cause i will love you til' they take my heart away Which made me wonder, who exactly are "they" and why do they want to take away her heart? Was she abducted by aliens before and now they want her heart? Or did she fall in love with a zombie and now the other zombies are after her body parts?

. My Not-so-Terrific Tuesday I'm beer buzzed on an empty stomach. So, forgive me if I rant. Found out that the competition is sponsoring the Neil Gaiman/Manila Tour. Bad trip! Found out that Disney's new movie SKY HIGH , has similiarities with Batch72 . One of the characters even has a super-villain for a father. (Just like Kadi! Well, in her case, she's got a super-villain for a granfather.) Bad trip! Of course, all my ranting was put to stop when I found this quote in my folders. "I'm only going to repeat this once more: It doesn't matter if you thought of it first, or if your idea is better. If you didn't do anything with it, if you didn't push it, then don't come complaining when someone else get noticed for it, or gets attention for it, and their effort succeeds." - Anil Dash I just wanted to rant. It' s my blog and I'll rant if I want to. Bad trip!

. Twentysomething Couple of weeks ago, I got a text from SUPER! writer Pepe Diokno (and I wonder if their IDs actually say they’re SUPER!writers). He asked if I knew anyone 20 years old and below who had already achieved something noteworthy. And suddenly, I was stumped. Launching into Global Frequency-action, I texted a couple of people and found out they were already 25 years old. I texted back, “You’re too old!” One of them replied, “hehehe that’s the first time anyone’s ever that!” A couple of more texts and Andrew Drilon finally replied. Aha! He fit the category. I later remembered that I had Angelo Suarez’s book at home and texted Pepe that they should include Angelo as well. I don’t personally know Angelo, but I’ve read about him, and got his book, and he’s only 20 and already won several Palanca Awards. Bummer. It was just interesting, and a bit shocking, to suddenly feel that generation gap, of not knowing a whole lot of people who are a decade younger than me. It also made me...

. something old... More stuff from the archives... Uploaded an article by David Hontiveros . His take on the secret origin of Alamat, as well as a "state of the comic book nation" report during 1996. Read it at: http://iguana5legs.blogspot.com/ something new... Filipino comic book artist Darrio Carrasco Jr. got interviewed at THE PULSE about his new comic book "Mask of the Gargoyle"

monkeying around Found another old article, which I re-typed to include in the Komix101 blog . On the Verge Karen Kunawicz Mirror Weekly, March 12, 1998 Budjette Tan is back. And the tables have turned a bit. As President-at-gunpoint for Alamat comics, Budj is used to being interviewed for write-ups in paper, magazines, and TV (I’m just proud to say “On the Verge” was one of the firsts to feature Alamat—that was over three years ago!) Now it’s Budjette who’s writing about a new local comic and graphic literature group called ZENITH GRAPHICS—and I must say he’s written such a fun piece. Mabuhay ang malikot na utak! I meant that in a positive, halfways wholesome sense, OK? Xeroxed Monkeys at the top By Budjette Tan Ever heard of the Hundredth Monkey Effect? No, it’s not some kinky bestiality thing! Supposedly, researches were studying the behavior of monkeys in the island of Koshima, near Japan. Sweet potato is part of the diet of those monkeys. The monkeys somehow learned that if they w...

. National (Comic) Book Store National Book Store, Greenbelt 1 now has a bin filled with P25 comic books and trade paperbacks that range from P150 to P200. I don’t know if they’re got the same type of comic book bin in the other National Book Stores, but if they do, it might just usher in a new batch of comic book writers and artists. Back in the 80s, National had a lot of badly reprinted Marvel and DC Comics. But the great thing was, they brought in a whole bunch of British and European comic magazines and graphic novels. They must have bought it from some wholesale bargain bin, because we ended up with issues of WARRIOR and TRIDENT , which contained the early works of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and Neil Gaiman. We were also able to get Mobius graphic novels and some odd numbered, water-damaged issues of AKIRA and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Now that I think about it, National Book Store didn’t offer a single issue of manga. I still have a theory that the reason the 80s kids didn’t get...

POLYSACCHARIDE: The Dollhouse Drama a solo black & white photography exhibit by WAWI NAVARROZA at BLACKSOUP PROJECT ARTSPACE June 11 to July 12 BlackSoup is at Shop 61, Shoe Expo, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City. Call them at 439-8838 for more info. See more of Wawi's photography at: http://darkelfmanila.com/Gallery4.htm

. Congratulations Harrison! EMAIL FROM: TEENY GONZALES, Executive Creative Director, Harrison Communications Last night, at the Creative Guild's Ad of the Year Awards, both McCann and Harrison made a fantastic showing. First, for craftsmanship, the BIOGESIC "GRADUATION" PRINT won BEST IN COPY. Then it was followed by McCann's SONY "REINFORCEMENTS" that got the BEST ART DIRECTION and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS. That was just the appetizer. Later, Harrison's PDI CANNES LION PRINT SERIES won the SILVER FOR PRINT CAMPAIGN and for TV, McCann's COKE "BEAT GAME" got the GOLD for TV CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR. Then came the best part. SONY "REINFROCEMENTS" got the SILVER for TV then our very own BIOGESIC was announced PRINT AD OF THE YEAR 2004. Congratulations are in order for the the teams that made the award-winning ads: PDI CANNES LION SERIES RUSS MOLINA - CD SABEL GAMBOA - CD JULY MALANTIC - AD DAN MATUTINA - AD LOU BOGNOT - BUD SINTA ROSAL...

. It's Clobberin' Time! Last Sunday, after lunch, I went back to room and was planning to go to sleep when my cellphone rang. Caller ID told me it was: Moy&Dunds. I answered and Dundee said,"Hey! What you doing?" "Well, I was about to go to sleep and..." "Wait, Tim wants to talk to you." Tim? Their five year old son wanted to talk to me? Tim' s my godson, actually. On the other end, I could hear Moy and Dundee say, "Go ahead! Tell Tito Budj what you told us. Go on!" "Hello? Hi?" said Tim. But before I could say hello, Tim dropped the phone. Liam, their 10-year old son, picked it up. "Hi there!" he greeted me. "Do you have eleven ?" I didn't know how to answer his question. "Number eleven," Liam clarified. "Number eleven of Fantastic Four?" And I immediately realized what he was talking about. During Moy and Dundee's last wedding anniversary, I gave them the complete run of ...