Recently got to read this essay by another of my favorite writers, Ed Brubaker, where he recounts the tale of how he met his idol, Charles Schulz. It's a sweet little thing, with some interesting facts about Schulz. Like his daughter was an Olympic skater, and he built an ice rink for her when she was a girl, and he used to have breakfast there every day and anyone could just go up and meet him. Whatta guy. Oh, and he drives a Jag with the license plate Woodstock 1.

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You'd think that, the way music video channels rely on VJs, they'd at least give them some kind of public send-off. But no, they just quietly and suddenly disappear, and they leave no trace of themselves behind, and no one ever mentions them again: it's as if they never existed. Remember when MTV was brand new in Asia? They had the best VJs then: Nonie, Sophiya, Danny McGill, etc. Where'd they all go? I know Nonie's now married to one of the richest men in Asia, Sophiya's an actress/musician in her home country, and Danny McGill married Kamal, who now hosts some extreme sports show on AXN. Nadya Hutagalung is also married to one of the richest men in Asia, after a failed stint as an MTV US VJ (which is where Sara Meier's disappeared to; good luck to her, she'll need it). Who gives a damn where Mike and sister Kerri Kasem went (probably back to dad Casey in the US)? David Wu probably went back to his acting career. Sarah, you never mattered anyway. G? Gone. And nothing anyone says is going to change my opinion that Jamie Aditya was always a talentless boob who couldn't deliver a joke to save his family's life. Rahul Khanna went back to being an actor (and is doing well, it looks like; his Bollywood Hollywood actually reached our shores). Sonia Couling, who was the last great MTVCrush (following Nonie and Nadya), has gone back to hosting variety and game shows, if I remember correctly. Shannen Torres; blink and you missed her. Belinda may be on her way out too, since I never seem to see her anymore. And I think Asha's been let go by Channel V because I never see her anymore: it's always either Paula (who I like) or Amanda Griffin, who I never used to see except if I happened to be up really early in the morning.

So why are they so unceremoniously dumped? Obviously, there are all sorts of possible factors: personal, maybe the person's lost his/her buzz, maybe the person never had any, maybe the person was giving management a hard time with an attitude problem or prima donna-style primping, maybe the person had skeletons rattling in their closet that started making too public a ruckus, etc. The real reason is probably very simple: the channel doesn't want you to think about and maybe realize that your liking the channel has anything to do with the VJs. So they're seen as expendable, replaceable at the drop of a hat or a whim.

I'm curious now about whether or not Donita will continue on with MTV past her marriage. And good luck to the VJ Hunt winners: unfortunately, most VJs really go on to nothing more lucrative, career-wise. Even in the US (uh, Kennedy? Pauly Shore? Anybody?).

And may I just say that I love the fact that complete unknowns won the recent MTV VJ Hunt. Mostly because it's a slap in the face to the "famous" people who thought they had it in the bag. You know who I'm talking about. Now it further confirms the sad, pathetic state of their careers. And the girl, Patti, is a Comm student at Ateneo. Which Sara Meier was before her "rise" to fame. She was in my block, apparently, but I never met her. She left before freshman year was over.

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FLY, SUMO, FLY!

You can't not love this picture.

And more Red Meat is good for the body: