Babbling Point

eto na ang pagkakataon di kailangan hintayin ang bagong taon ngayon at ngayon din sa takdang araw na ito simulan na ang mga pagbabago nasa iyo ang lakas simulan ang pag-aklas humakbang palayo mula sa mga bisyong napakasarap pagkaabalahan ang pagtambayan na walang hanggang ang mga tsimisang walang nahahantungan humakbang palayo mula sa iyong matinding pagkagalit sa iyong walang pagmamalasakit simulan na ang pag-aklas simulan na ang personal na rebulosyon nasa iyo ang lakas nasa iyo ang solusyon ngayon at ngayon din humakbang palayo sa mga bagay-bagay na wala namang saysay nasa iyo ang lakas upang mapalapit sa matamis na tagumpay sa minimithing mas magandang buhay. Above are the words that were supposed to be in a TV commercial, but my boss didn’t go for it. I remembered them after seeing all the things that happened today, after remembering all the things that happened 20 years ago.

Ces in WonderCon (PHOTO: Grant Morrison and Cecille Cabangon at Isotope Comics) Cecille is now stationed at the city where people have a tendency of leaving their hearts. She's supposedly there to study, but decided to skip school on her first week and attend the WonderCon. Her report on the talks given by J.J. Abrams, Kevin Smith, and Frank Miller can be read at... http://news.inq7.net/lifestyle/index.php?index=1&story_id=66962 More of Ces' pictures at the WonderCon can be viewed at... http://delirium81.multiply.com/photos/album/2

We Are Giants There's the latest commercial from Globe made by the fun-loving guys here at Harrison Communications . Reinard Santos , the art director, was the one who came up with main idea for this ad. Mervin Ignacio wrote the copy. Directed by Jun Reyes. SFX was done here in Manila by Unitel; additional SFX were done in Digit Digit in Hing Kong.

It has been awhile since a story got me teary-eyed. In fact, I can't even remember the last time a comic book made me weepy. Which shows the power of this six-page comic book story that Jeph Loeb wrote in honor of his son Sam, who died of cancer at the age of 19. You might appreciate it better if you read Loeb's SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS , but I think it stands on its own as a very good and moving story. You can read the complete story at: http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Sams_story/jeph.html

What's Your Starbucks Name? THE CHALLENGE: Inspired by Bart and Lisa Simpson's crank calls to Moe, your challenge is to try and make the baristas yell out your "Starbucks" name. For example... "Tall mocha Frappucino for... Gerri!" "Tall marshmallow mocha for... Life!" "Tall strawberry Frappucino for...Nication!" So, you need to get the barista to write your name on the cup and for them to yell our your name. Got it? Here's a tip, to make sure they call for you, don't stand too close to the counter. Make sure you're far away so they yell out your Starbucks Name. Enjoy!

pieces/of/you// by/budjette/tan 12:59AM Menu Select Create Message Text Message New Message AWAKE? IM ONLINE. WANNA CHAT? :-) Send Search Contacts Select LEAH OK Message Sent 1:37AM New Message I HAVE STARTD 2 CHAT WTH OTHR GRLS IN D CHATRM. Send LEAH365 is the lonely housewife whose husband thinks she’s surfing for pastry recipes. LEAH143 is heart surgeon who chats while wearing her ex-boyfriend’s boxer shorts. LE@H is the computer engineer who likes it when her boss yells at her. LEAHHH!!! is the choir girl who downloads mp3s of heavy metal bands. SUPERSEXYLEAH is a man. 2:01AM New Message AWAKE? R U ONLINE? :-) R U JUST IN INVISIBLE MODE? Send. 3:55AM New Message ALL D OTHR LEAHS HAV LOGGD OFF ALREADY. WR U? AWAKE? Send. 4:04AM New Message CLDNT U HAV AT LEAST SAID GBYE OR SUMTHIN INSTD OF JST IGNORING ME LIKE DIS???! Send. 4:05AM New Message I’M SORI Send. 4:06AM New Message I’M REALLY REALLY SORI!!! Send. 4:07AM 1 New Message Open Message FROM: LEAH WHO U? 4:44AM Menu Contacts Sea...

BEHOLD! THE MOLTING MAN! That's me, as seen through the eyes of Reinard Santos. Doodled while we were presenting stuff to our boss. I need a hair cut. (Or maybe I should just shave it all off!)

coming your way You can now view the preview pages of TRESE: OUR SECRET CONSTELLATION at http://tresekomix.blogspot.com For every one who's been waiting to see the Kambal in action again, then you have got to get this issue! (And, as seen here, Alexandra Trese will be leading her boys into the thick of things.) Trese #3 will be available in Comic Quest , Megamall on Monday, February 6.

Sesame Street G.I. JOE Transformers Voltron Macross The Six Million Dollar Man Wonder Woman Kojak Balatak Jeeg Jan Kugo Ron Ron The Flower Girl Lone Wolf and Cub Moonlighting The Twlight Zone The Ray Bradbury Mystery Theater Nora Aunor SUPERSTAR John en Marsha Takeshi's Castle TVJ If you were a fan of any of these shows, if you grew up and have fond memories of all those stories and characters, then please say thanks (and a prayer) for my dad Buddy Tan. He would've turned 61 last January 28. As a teen-ager, my dad started working as a DJ in a radio station in Bacolod. He worked his way up and eventually became General Manager of the TV stations BBC2, RPN9, and IBC 13. After that, he continued to be a "blocktimer", buying airtime and providing the networks with some of the TV shows listed above. Later on, he was the first to venture into broadcasting on the UHF band. He launched SBN 21, which he ran til his final years. Brandie once pointed out, that even ...

The Envelope is the Message Above is the print ad promoting the magazine MANILA ENVELOPE, now available at Fully Booked . The ad was made by BBDO Guerrero-Ortega and written by Jessica Zafra . Click here to see the other MANILA ENVELOPE ads On a related note, singer-song writer David Byrne recently blogged about his trip to Manila: I meet up with a group of people whom I’d previously contacted at film director Antonio “Butch” Perez’s apartment, which is conveniently around the corner from the hotel. Marcos’ former cameraman Edgar Navarro and his very pregnant wife sit beside me and we are joined by editor Jessica Zafra (her magazines Flip and Manila Envelope, both in English, are wonderful,) poet and columnist Krip Yuson, photographer Neal Oshima, restauranteuse Susan Roxas, performance artist Carlos Celdran, adman David Guerrero, …and eventually even more filmmakers and writers. Click here to read the his complete entry.

We Have Such Sites to Show You While we rush to bring you TRESE #3 (and hopefully, it'll be typo-free), let me distract you with some new sites featuring online comic books, babes in bikinis, and reviews about "Trese". http://aha-hule.blogspot.com/ Aha Hule Komiks! which first came out in Manila Bulletin is now online. http://toweringsilver.blogspot.com/ Jon Zamar's "Digmaang Salinlahi" is now also online. Updated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Written by Jon Zamar. Art by a man named Keso. Additional drawings by Jon Zamar Adam David has splattered his words and art all over the net lately. First up is, PAOLO MATALO , a comix based on mykel andrada's short story. Second is franz arcellana's the yellow shawl is the comix adaptation of arcellana's story. (written by emil flores, art by adam) And finally, you can read Adam's poems about half-naked women at http://wasaaak.blogspot.com/ , where you can also read his review of Trese #1 and ...

WHO U? UR NUMBR NT IN MY PHONE BK ! "What happens on the afternoon of October 1 came to be known as the Pulse, a signal sent though every operating cell phone that turns its user into something...well, something less than human. Savage, murderous, unthinking – and on a wanton rampage. Terrorist act? Cyber prank gone haywire?" FROM: http://www.cellthebook.com/ CELL is Stephen King's latest novel and he's promoting it via cellphone networks. Plot-wise, it sounds like something Warren Ellis already tackled in GLOBAL FREQUENCY (another story that has cellphones playing an important part of the story). Marketing-wise, it's something new, as far as promoting novels and authors are concerned. (As reported by Ernie Schenk and Adverblog .) VAS-wise, they're offering the usual ringtones, wallpaper. (The trick is, to offer something to the reader that won't be found in the novel.) Makes me wonder if this marketing-gimmick will work for some of out local authors.

. SANDMAN SAYS... Wow! All I can say right now is... WOW! Well, I can say some other stuff as well. What am I talking about? I'm talking about Neil Gaiman posting the link to TRESE in his blog, that's what I'm talking about. I emailed Mr. Gaiman last night, inviting him to check out TRESE. Of course, I was hoping he'd check it out and maybe leave a message on the comments board. Something along the lines of: "Nice." And that would've made me happy. (I still remember the time I met Dave McKean at the 1994 San Diego Comic-Con and I showed him some of Brandie's artwork for PAYASO. McKean flipped through the pages and muttered, "It's good." So, I called up Brandie and yelled, "DAVE MCKEAN SAID YOUR WORK IS GOOD!!!" If Mark and Brandie ever do finish the PAYASO comic book, we can print it with a blurb that says: "It's good"--Dave McKean.) Anyway, in the middle of a meeting for a pitch happening in less that 48 hours, ...

Since it is Friday the 13th, I thought I'd give all of you a TRESE treat. I've uploaded the complete first issue of TRESE at: http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/ If it's your cup of black tea, then you can get the dead-tree version at Comic Quest , Megamall. Trese #2 is also available there. (By the way, thanks to all the 10 people who bought #2. It got sold out in just two weeks! hehehe! So, I recently brought new stocks to CQ.) Trese #3 should be available by the first week of February. Sorry for the delay. The holidays (and work during the holidays) just got the better of me and Kajo. (Artwork shown: one of Kajo's intial cover designs)

. It is an hour away from Tuesday. I'm looking at the workload-list in front of me and I am already tired. Funny, I thought having no Globe assignments would make the load lighter. I guess they never really promised that. Ha. Ha. Ha. (sarcastic laughter) I found this Xeroxed page when I was cleaning up my drawers: Violinist Itzhak Perlman, stricken with polio as a child, has braces on both legs and walks with aid of crutches. Gaining the stage, he must reach his chair, set down his crutches, and undo the clasps on his legs before he can play. On 18 November 1995, during a concert at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York, one of the strings of his violin broke. Undaunted, he closed his eyes and signaled the conductor to continue. Recomposing the piece as he played, changing and compensating note after note, bar after bar, he coaxed sounds from the remaining strings that they had never made before. Finishing the performance to screams of applause, he waited a moment before saying quietly...

THE AGENCY PHONE Thanks to the fast-acting,number crunching ladies of the Finance Department and our super-duper-executive-assitant Amy (who makes great things possible)... I now have a phone again! MWAHAHAHAHA!!! Please take note that I'm slowly rebuilding my contact list and typing in each and every name and number all over again. So, if you text me and I text back: WHO U?, hope you understand. :-)

HAVE YOU SEEN MY PHONE?! If you ever happen to see (or buy) a black Nokia 6630 and for some strange reason it has the Alamat logo as a wallpaper... THEN THAT'S MY PHONE!!! ugh I still don't have a phone. I feel so... disconnected from the world. (At the same time, it's so liberating.) ugh

I LOST MY GLOBE! ARRRRRGH!!! Please help me re-build my Contact List. Send me your cell# at: budj (@) rocketmail (dot) com Thank you. Ugh! I lost my cellphone in Starbucks, Greenhills (the one beside Chili's). I must have been too sleepy to notice that it fell out of my pocket. I was at work til 10am yesterday. I rushed home, took a bath, dressed up, then went with my mom and Brandie to meet up with family friends. After lunch, we went to Starbucks and that's where I lost my phone. I noticed that I didn't have my phone as we turned the corner. So, we rushed back. That must have only taken 5 minutes. Maybe less. By the time we came back, the table was already clean and my cellphone could not be found. The busboy who cleaned up our area said he didn't see any cellphone. Even the guard said he didn't notice anything. Bummer. It's just annoying how people can be so dishonest. I wish that whoever got that cellphone will put it to good use. Maybe he'll use the mon...

Our Golden Age Men of Justice and Speed of Mystery and Magic of Fire and Steel and War, Women who burned with the light and energy of distant stars, whose shoulders carried the weight of the world whose beliefs kept all of our heads high and whose lives were lived for the greater good. ("Justice", a poem by Wang about the Justice Corps of World War II , transcribed by David Hontiveros) Here's to looking forward to an even greater year in comic books, graphic novels, and storytelling. Congratulations to all the writer and artists who were able to find a way to get their works printed and published. Many thanks to all the shops and stores that carry our titles and to all the readers who got copy and shared our stories with others. May we someday look back and mark these times as a "New Age" for Filipino comic books. (I think it would be presumtuous to already call these times our Silver Age, but I'm sure we've already set the foundations of something truly...

Chief of Staff LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- John Spencer, who played a tough and dedicated politico on "The West Wing" who survived a serious illness to run for vice president, died of a heart attack Friday. He was 58. I read this news a couple of days before Christmas, but haven’t had the chance to blog about until now. I’ve been a big WEST WING fan ever since I saw “ Isaac and Ishmael ”, their special episode that dealt with what happened during 9/11. When the local stores started to bring in copies of the first two seasons of WEST WING, I got both sets. John Spencer played Leo McGarry , the President’s Chief of Staff, in the show. One of my favorite moments was a scene in the first season. President Bartlet was about to give the State of the Union address and he was talking to the Secretary of Agriculture in the Oval Office. From the adjoining room, Leo McGarry overheard this conversation: President Josiah Bartlet: Roger, If anything happens, you know what to do, right?...