Babbling Point

(click the images enlarge) Congratulations to Ace Saatchi & Saatchi for their wins in the recent ADFEST! Press Category of the Lotus Awards Best "Our Ride - She Hated" Vespa, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Bronze "Our Ride - Behind" Vespa, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Silver Campaign "Our Ride" Vespa, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi Great to see ads that tell you a nice, little story instead of trying too hard to sell, sell, sell you something. See the complete list of Pinoy ADFEST winners at http://brandietan.blogspot.com/2010/07/adfest-2010-results.html?spref=tw

Saw this ad in the Philippine Daily Inquirer today: Which makes me wonder... is the owner of this company a Star Wars geek? is the writer/art director of this ad a Star Wars geek? what will Lucas do when he sees this ad? (here's the complete page)

!!!FLASHBACK FRIDAY!!! Back in 2005, I got dragged into helping out with this project, where I got to work with director Romeo Candido . This campaign was Romeo first advertising work in the Philippines. He would later say that this project gave him a crash course on how it is to work in Philippine advertising. Years later, after he directed the horror movie "Ang Pamana: The Inheritance" , we got work with him again on the viral videos we did to promote the Neil Gaiman event in Subic . 1 2 3 4 This commercial stars Teddy Corpuz, who was just starting out as the singer of the band Rocksteddy. The team found him in a casting session for a project that never pushed through. When we needed to find a new Gentxt guy, they immediately remembered him and knew that he was perfect for the role.

Goes without saying how excited I am to watch INCEPTION. Good review so far! Love these posters, especially the ones that introduce the characters. They sound like superhero codenames and I am such a sucker for getting to know new characters.  All posters were found from Empire's site: http://www.empireonline.com/futurefilms/film.asp?id=136118 Empire's review of INCEPTION: http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=136118 Plot : Corporate spy-for-hire Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) steals ideas in dreams, but then he's hired to achieve the impossible: "inception" - planting an idea in the mind of a target. If he succeeds, he can see his estranged children. If he fails, he'll be trapped forever. Verdict : Like The Matrix mated with Synecdoche, New York — or a Charlie Kaufman 007. To paraphrase Casino Royale’s Vesper Lynd, it’s a meaningful pursuit in a summer of disposable entertainments. With physics-defying, thunderous action, heart-wringing emoti...

This month marks my 11th year in Harrison Communications. Time certainly flies by when you're doing a lot of OT. During one of those nights, an officemate said she'd read my palm and tell my fortune. One of the things she said was I was going to stay in the agency for 10 or more years. I laughed, shook my head and said, "No. No. I don't think I'll last that long." Well... Yeah... Right... And so... Moving on... Many thanks to be given to many people. You know who you are. :) So, let me just share some of the TV commercials that I've worked on in the past 11 years. Enjoy! GLOBE "Kookaburra MAGIC CREAMS "Lipsynch" BPI "Let's Begin" GLOBE "Kami na!" GLOBE "Punk" Globe "Funny Guy" Globe "Proof" Globe "Trophy" MAGIC FLAVORS "Rambol" QUAKE "Habulan" MAGIC CHIPS "Bakeman" MAGIC FLAKES "Serpentina"

  The latest issue of HIGH PROFILE magazine just came off the press and if you can somehow stop staring the fantastic Georgina Wilson photo-spreads and the "Land of Legend" fantasy pictorial, you'll get read three geeks (i.e me, Mark Torres, and Paolo Fabregas) talk about comics and making comics.   Many thanks to the High Profile-crew, headed by Marco Venditti, Carmena Moura, and Chad Rialp.   Flip through the digital version of HIGH PROFILE magazine at: http://www.vegamedia.com/pagcor/issue6/pageFlipper6.html   Or better yet, go to the bookstore and grab a copy!

Chippy THE INITIATION Chippy TRY-OUTs Ever since the "Chippy Barkada" was introduced several years ago, the teams have always had fun working on the new Chippy campaign. It's also been tough trying to come up with new misadventures for the new Chippy Barkada and make it as fun --if not funnier-- than the last ones. Hope you all like these two new Chippy commercials. Client: URC/Jack 'n Jill Product: Chippy Agency: Harrison Communications DECD: Budjette Tan, CD: JB Tapia Writers: Budjette, Taps, Reinard Santos, Henry Gonzales Art Director: Mark Mendoza, Henry Gonzales Accounts: Maricel Pangilinan-Arenas, Monday Gonzalez, Jello Tan-Goloy, AR Riparip III Producer: Jho Moya/Netnet Valencia Director: Henry Frejas ProdHouse: Filmex PostHouse: Optima

First of all, let me say how excited I am to make this announcement. Yes, we are in the process of producing a short film about a Trese mystery and we are in need of a few actors, actresses, and aswang. Please read the casting requirements below. If you would like to audition for any of these roles, please email your pictures (one headshot and one full body pic) along with your bio-data. Send them to: osh @ revolver.ph with the SUBJECT: TRESE CASTING CALL   ALEXANDRA TRESE, female, in her late 20s Physically fit, looks like the type that practices martial arts or is an accomplished dancer Height: 5’5” – 5’6” She commands authority even if she is just sitting quietly in one corner. If you saw her alone in a bar, you’d be curious to meet her, but would hesitate to approach her. KAMBAL, male, in their early 20s, Trese’s loyal bodyguards (Real twins are encouraged to audition, but we’re willing to see actors who closely resemble one another) Height: th...

I am a Filipino – inheritor of a glorious past, hostage to the uncertain future. As such, I must prove equal to a two-fold task – the task of meeting my responsibility to the past, and the task of performing my obligation to the future. I am sprung from a hardy race – child many generations removed of ancient Malayan pioneers. Across the centuries, the memory comes rushing back to me: of brown-skinned men putting out to sea in ships that were as frail as their hearts were stout. Over the sea I see them come, borne upon the billowing wave and the whistling wind, carried upon the mighty swell of hope – hope in the free abundance of the new land that was to be their home and their children’s forever. This is the land they sought and found. Every inch of shore that their eyes first set upon, every hill and mountain that beckoned to them with a green and purple invitation, every mile of rolling plain that their view encompassed, every river and lake that promised a plentiful living ...

The secret origin of my dynamic team-up with talented Mr. Baldisimo aka KA-JO. I first met Kajo when he was part of Virtual Media Studios -- which was the unofficial tambayan of Alamat Comics way back when. During those years we'd drop by and hang out, I got to see Kajo and guys work on the pages of A.R.C.H.O.N. Kajo actually finished three fantastic issues of that comic book. All the art was colored and letter and then... their PC crashed and they lost all the artwork. So, we may never know whatever happened to that band of law-enforcers in outer space. Here's one of Kajo's pin-ups from A.R.C.H.O.N., showing Troy, the team leader. My first collaboration with Kajo was a comic book that only got distributed in Malate. We were hired by an NGO to make a comic book about AIDS and HIV. So, I wrote a story about a guy who sleeps around and ends up getting AIDS and gives it to his wife as well. The issue ends with some literature about the benefits of regularly going to...

Talk about a very late announcement. Goes to show what happens when you party first and blog later (and then work catches up with you)! Anyway, the official announcement after this really chic pic. cut-and-pasted from : http://bbdo-go.com/?p=271 ...we formally announced the promotion of Brandie Tan & Tin Sanchez to the position of joint Executive Creative Directors. Brandie & Tin were the team responsible for the our highly awarded ‘Lola Techie’ campaign for Bayan Telecommunications, and they will take over the creative leadership from Simon, who is returning to England as Creative Director of a top London Agency. Brandie & Tin have been with us since 2008, when they joined as Head of Art and Head of Copy, prior to that they were joint Executive Creative Directors of Lowe Vietnam. As well as their highly recognized work for Bayan Telecommunications, they were the winners of the first and only Cannes Gold Lion for the Philippines. Remarking on the appointments Davi...

This isn’t really a formal review. It’s just a collection of raves and rants about the movie. Therefore, this is going to have spoilers galore. If you haven’t seen it, then don’t read this. And just to give you enough spoiler space, here's the theme song to the Iron Man cartoon just to give you enough time to go and watch the movie and come back. Ok… moving right along… What I liked about the movie… The fight scene at the race track! What a great entrance by Whiplash. Loved that effect where his overalls just burned up to reveal his make-shift exoskeleton underneath. The way he handled those whips made me wonder if he sidelined as a lion-tamer while he was in Russia. And did that armor really provide him enough protection from being rammed by a car—twice! The suitcase-armor! In the comic book, it was always funny that the briefcase only contained the helmet the gauntlets and the boots. So, it was great that they found a way to make that collapsing armor look believab...

A talk about men with capes and women in tights; about mutants with claws and aliens with a lot of angst. If you like sci-fi stories, romance novels, crime shows, horror movies, then there's a comic book or graphic novel that you'll definitely like.  Join us as we guide you through the shelves of graphic novels and find out which titles will grab your interest and open new worlds for you.  The seminar will be led by Budjette Tan, comic writer and editor, and co-creator of the graphic novel Trese. Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010 Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm Location: U-View Theater, Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street This seminar is for free. On May 15, Raymond Sison leads KONICHIWA MANGA, a discussion about manga and anime. 2:00 to 4:00PM at U-View, in Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street. These seminars are organized and hosted by The Center for East Asian Languages. Learn more about it at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Makati-Philippines/The-Center-for-East-Asian-Languages/80...

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