Well, our visas just arrived the other day so I guess I can talk about this now that it looks like it's going to happen: Neva and I are going to Scotland in about a week! :) I'm pretty excited, but trying not to be because I'm afraid I'll jinx it or my karma will go bad. But I've never been to Europe, and haven't been out of the country in a good long while. '01 or '02. We will be staying in Edinburgh for about 3 weeks, then have a short stay (right now it's only 12 hours, but we're trying to figure out how to make it overnight) in Amsterdam. The whole thing, besides a family vacation for Neva, is for us to attend the Edinburgh International Arts Festival, one of the biggest, if not the, festivals of its kind in Europe. During the month of August, the entire city goes nuts because their film, music, and book festivals all take place! There's also festivals for theater, dance, and children's programming. Since Neva's stepdad is from there, they have a flat, and that's where we'll all be staying. So we're covered for lodging. We'll mostly be walking around to save on transpo fees, because EVERYTHING is expensive there. As in, we're planning to eat sandwiches and baon as much as possible because a Happy Meal goes for about 3-5 pounds, and I won't feel too good knowing that little burger is 300-500 pesos! Also, we need to save what little money we have for the events we're going to attend. Sadly, few of the events we want to go to are free. Even with the film festival, which I am dead excited about, we have to be really selective about what we're going to watch, considering carefully what's likely to come out in the Philippines, what we'll get to see on DVD, what will likely come out on pirated, etc. :) The average ticket price for a movie is 8 pounds! 800 pesos!

So please give us your travel tips! We're already stocking up on batteries, film, and medicine just in case. Anybody reading this that's been to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Amsterdam, please recommend things to do and places to see! I know very little about these places besides the Loch Ness monster & Trainspotting (and legal weed and the red light district in Amsterdam's case) so any info would be appreciated.

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Out of the blue, Neva asked if she could read The Invisibles. This was Sunday. I was worried about it, saying there's 7 collections, will you be able to read them all before we leave? Baka mabitin ka. She's on the 7th already. Meanwhile, I've been trying to read Bone quickly but carefully, paying special attention to the detail of art and story. I started from the beginning, even if I've read Vols. 1-8, because here it all is, finally; how could I resist? It's just an utter joy to fall in love with all the characters again. When I'm at Neva's, though, I'm trying to read her copy of Craig Thompson's Carnet de Voyage, which is terrific and inspiring, especially with our upcoming trip. I really wish I could draw worth a damn, because I might've tried making something like it. It's a travel diary that he kept while touring Morocco and other countries, mainly as a tour to support Blankets, but partly to research his next graphic novel, Habibi.

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New Mirrormask pics!

Shit this movie's gonna be so great! Tentative plans are a short theatrical run in January before they go to video.

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I'm listening to !!!'s Louden Up Now while writing this, and while "Hello? Is This Thing On?" was playing I slowly got up and started dancing. That's my exercise for the day. Download it, it's good for your health.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is amazing. You must all go out and see it, and do it soon because I think it's probably going to be playing for only a week. I love it Love It LOVE IT LOVE IT. I don't think I've reacted this strongly to a film since maybe Amelie. It further cements Charlie Kaufman's status in my eyes as the best working writer in Hollywood. Everyone in it is good, and the supporting characters' roles in the story are more significant than I expected. Jon Brion's score is perfect, and so is Ellen Kuras's soft colors. The aesthetic is also a wonderful blend: there are the clever tricks you'd expect from Gondry, but incidental in the context of a very gritty, handheld, realistic, unglossy style, which I didn't expect from him. The story is terrific: as good as I expected as regards the central relationship (Jim Carrey-Kate Winslet) but the other things they touch on are entirely welcome examinations of the technology (the temptation to abuse it, moral gray areas, repercussions and consequences, etc.) There's an aspect of it that brought to mind Vanilla Sky/Abre Los Ojos. I absolutely love that the shining, beating heart of the story is still the love story. Not the clever conceit of "what if you could erase specific people/events from your memory?" or the imaginative ways in which they depict memories "vanishing" while the subject is still occupying them. It's still about what we cherish and choose to keep even if they're painful; they're part of what made us who we are, the hammer blows that shape us. And the risks we take, even if we know the possible outcome to be traumatizing, and doing it anyway, and not caring if whether or not that's the brave choice, recognizing that for some of us it's the only choice.

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Powerbooks' annual sale has begun. There are some new editions of Haruki Murakami books you can get, and as usual, it's the time to complete your Calvin & Hobbes collections and buy whatever comics you feel are interesting. The big steal is the Tintin collections; each hardcover collects 3 stories, and are selling for something like 330 pesos, half-price. If I didn't really need to save my money right now I'd plop down the 1800 and get Vols. 2-7. Unfortunately, all Harry Potter books are only on 5% discount. I had to find out the hard way when I went to buy a copy for my godchild. I actually had to use my PowerCard because my discount would at least be 10%. I'd be more understanding if only Order of the Phoenix got the 5%, but no, it's every HP book, even the old ones. Greedy cunts. There's also this Chuck Palahniuk book called Non-Fiction, but I think it's just the UK version of his Stranger Than Fiction. Anybody have more information on this?

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Since Neva gave me 2 surprise birthday parties in a row, she couldn't possibly do it again and still have it be a surprise, so what she came up with was giving me my birthday gift 26 days in advance.

This is the Bone One Volume Edition. It is probably the deal of the year. The entire Bone saga of Jeff Smith, all 9 collections, in one volume, for only US$40. Over 1300 pages. Do you realize what a steal that is? The average price of one of the 9 collections is 17 dollars. So if you bought all 9, that'd be 153 dollars. At which price, you could almost buy 4 of the Bone One Volume Editions. It's a little smaller in size, but not as small as the manga digests you see.

I realize that the forthcoming Scholastic editions will be in color, and the typos will be cleaned up, but this is the format in which I fell in love with Bone: black and white. I'll probably be picking up the Scholastic versions anyway, since I want to see it in color. Those books will be 10 dollars apiece, so it'll still be 90 dollars total.

So get this! Please! As I understand it, it's a limited edition kind of thing, and when they sell out of it, they're not going back to print.

I love Bone, and wish I was rich enough so that I could get a copy for all my friends. It is THAT good. So the best I can do at this point is tell you all to get it, and not forget about it. At this point, Comic Quest may still have some copies. Neva got CCHQ's last one. When they get more copies I'll do my best to let everyone know.

Neva and I watched Spellbound last night, and it is marvelous, wonderful, stupendous and every other compliment I can’t think of with a short attention span. I guess it has an advantage because the spelling bee is something I can sort of relate to. It was a big thing for me (maybe not for everyone else) during grade school and one of my happiest memories in life is still winning it during 7th grade, my last chance at it, after only coming yea close since 3rd grade! It was funny, heart-warming, and, at times, heart-stopping. When you see some of the kids eliminated, the disappointment really shows and hits you almost as hard. Probably one of the most uplifting films, not just documentaries that I will see this year, or any year for that matter.

Also fantastically stupendous was Comedian, which follows Jerry Seinfeld post-Seinfeld. After he retired the biggest sitcom of all time, he set out to go back to the standup circuit, with the proviso that he would also retire all his previous material and start fresh, which is terrifyingly intimidating to stand-up comedians (one of the rules, apparently, is NEVER open with new material, and Seinfeld’s ENTIRE ACT was new material). It is dead fascinating. It also has an advantage in that I am a huge Seinfeld fan. Here you will get to see how a simple joke develops and grows into a 3-minute bit, over weeks of shows. One of the most jaw-dropping scenes is when Seinfeld actually fumbles onstage and gets mad (“Damn it, what was the point of this?”), and, amazingly, HECKLED. Some woman actually asks “Is this your first gig?” You’ll see Seinfeld worried, angry, depressed, nervous before a show, reverent to his idols Robert Klein and Bill Cosby, etc. It’s also fascinating in that there are all these celebrity cameos by the likes of Chris Rock (who raves about Cosby’s show like your average geek), Colin Quinn, Gary Shandling, Jay Leno, Bill Cosby, and Ray Romano, but they just behave like normal people shooting the shit (well, what did we expect? We’re brainwashed by the mediasphere), talking shop and catching up with each other. It’s juxtaposed with this other comedian, Orny Adams, who is still unknown but has been working the circuit and might get his big break. Before I watched Comedian I was listening to Jerry Seinfeld on Comedy, where he explains why he doesn't use profanity ("It's a shortcut to a laugh."), and in the documentary, when he's not onstage, it's a relief to see that he swears just like the rest of us.

It really is the year of the documentary, isn’t it? Neva and I have, in the last few weeks, been blown away by Errol Morris’s The Fog of War, Jacques Perrin’s Winged Migration, the aforementioned Comedian, Spellbound and Imelda; and still on our to-watch list is War Photographer and Lost in La Mancha. I really wish I was able to catch Bus 174 during Cinemanila. Margie, Quark, and Lia were able to see Fahrenheit 9/11, which I hope comes to our theaters and not just our pirated dvd sellers. Quark and Lia also saw Supersize Me (as did Lala), and Margie also saw The Corporation, whose trailers are very intriguing.

Dear me, I completely forgot to mention that there's some lovely artwork on the walls of SaGuijo, and that the upstairs is an exhibit area. *slaps forehead*

My friend Carlo Eustaquio is practically giving his paintings away for free. Get the details here. I love his work, so that offer's a steal.

Check out this cute, short strip by Joey Comeau and Kyle Cummings. Cummings is unknown to me, but I love his art. Comeau I've been a fan of since I came across A Softer World. I love his LJ, and he has a short story here and here.

And here, for all of you, but especially for Mikey, is William Shatner and Ben Folds covering Pulp's "Common People."

FAST FICTION

The first time I caught you cheating on me I ignored it.

I shouldn't say caught, really. I mean, you left your Inbox open. How could I not look? You should know better than that. Especially since you were cheating. But there it was, with that god-awful subject line: "dreaming of you."

I shouldn't have, but I closed the window. I chose to think that there was probably a perfectly good explanation why someone other than me would send you an email with that particular subject line.

But Thursday was just cruel. I mean, give me some credit. Come up with a better excuse than "My mom asked me to run some errands." Because I had just then dropped off a cake at her place and she didn't mention shit. So when I drove over and parked across the street and called you saying I was on my way, and watched whoever it was running the hell out of the place, I took pictures and followed him home. That's when you stopped hearing from me. And you'll never hear from me again.

Him neither.

But don't worry.

I'll make sure you know he's dead because of your fucking cunt.

*

I wrote the above for a Fast Fiction Friday that Warren Ellis invited unpublished writers to submit to. Only rule was that it be under 200 words (mine's 199). I missed the deadline, but thought I'd put it up here.

It is very angsty, I know. So it sort of reminds me of how I wrote in high school. From my perspective, then, it must be juvenile? Still, it is inspired by this post from Michael Barrish's Oblivio, which broke my heart. I don't really read Oblivio, to be honest. Neva forced me to read the post (not that I regret it). She's been reading him since forever, and his blog was one of the ones that made her want to start her own, and then the landslide started, about two years back.

It's amazing to me that he's able to be as forthcoming and open and honest as he is. It's a very private, personal series of events, but he laid it out there. It speaks to the rapport he has with his readers, I guess. A more cynical person might say that he craves the attention, but again, his story broke my heart, and made me very, very angry. So when I saw the invite, on the same day, I wrote the above.




Remember when we still thought cheating was rare?

Last night's SaGuijo gig was fun. SaGuijo itself is a very nice place, very comfortable and welcoming, well-ventilated and best of all, no smoking allowed. Neva and I had their choco-banana crepe and it was good. Their walls have wonderful paintings, and the upstairs is a kind of exhibit area, so I guess it's kind of like Big Sky Mind in that regard. It was just Ciudad & Boldstar, so we were treated to lengthy sets from both bands. At the beginning of Ciudad's set there were only a few of us there. Of course, while I'd rather more people were enjoying such great music I sometimes cherish these instances because it really feels like we're sitting in on a Ciudad practice session. They'll play songs that you won't hear often (4 covers last night: Pavement's "Cut Your Hair," a re-do of Smashing Pumpkins' "Zero," and the Lemonheads' "Dawn Can't Decide" & "It's About Time"). And they'll play as if no one else is in the room, looking only at each other. Especially at one point, when they were all facing Mitch. It was terrific hearing Boldstar again. It feels like forever since I heard them last. They played one of my favorites, "Pork Siomai," and it was the first time I heard "Semi-Quaver," which I also enjoyed very much.

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The nice thing about movies as bad as Catwoman is checking out how The Onion will savage it in their reviews. And they did not disappoint. The full review can be found here, but here's an excerpt: "Sent to a watery grave, meek graphic designer Halle Berry washes up on an island covered in cats. One of them, of the breed commonly known as "CGI," climbs atop her chest and breathes into her mouth. Rather than getting a whiff of half-digested Cat Chow, Berry is filled with the spirit of the Egyptian cat goddess Bast. Able to leap around with feline grace, wear revealing leather outfits without shame, and improvise cat-themed puns, she is Catwoman, even though she bears little resemblance to the Catwoman from the Batman universe. It's like naming a movie Spider-Man because it's about a guy with eight legs who shoots silk out of his ass."

And this choice line: "The film could have turned out worse, but only via the addition of a Tom Green cameo, or an accident in which the actors caught on fire."

THIS JUST IN

The Batman Begins teaser's out! Damn, those shots are sweet. Next to nothing with him actually IN the suit, though. There's maybe a split-second you can pause.

While you're at it, you might wanna take a gander at:

The new trailer of Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow, which kind of loses that retro charm of the teaser. I guess they feel it's bad for the box office.

Zhang Yimou's follow-up to Hero, House of Flying Daggers, also an action piece. I guess it's called Lovers in Japan. Saw some clips on a French site, and the fight scene in the trees outdoes Crouching Tiger on every level.

A film I really want to see, from the UK, Shaun of the Dead. Be sure to watch both trailers.

An interesting trailer for a Julianne Moore flick, The Forgotten.

John Waters's latest, the NC-17 A Dirty Shame.

Michael Winterbottom's latest, Code 46.

E. Elias Merhige's latest, Suspect Zero.

And I recently came across this article, which had these pics (click on each for bigger versions):

So okay, I will now allow myself to become a little bit excited.

I wish they showed Miho, though, who is played by Devon Aoki.

You know, I really thought Catwoman would be a turgid piece of offensive offal.

Damn if I wasn't right.

Next to Catwoman, I, Robot is 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's not the so-bad-it's-good kind of movie, like Anaconda. Or the so-bad-it's-actually-offensive, like Batman & Robin. It's so bad it's embarrassing. From the terrible one-liners to the cookie-cutter plot to the comic relief best friend, everything stinks. The dialogue is truly something else. All those cat-puns had me gagging. Frances Conroy, how could you agree to this role? Why does it say based on characters created by Bob Kane? And Neva pointed out something: Patience Phillips is Warner Brothers' attempt at Peter Parker. Notice all the times she gets bumped on the way to work, the unappreciative boss, the loser status. Somehow Pitof, whose first film Vidocq I enjoyed, got Thierry Arbogast, Luc Besson's DP, to make one of those annoying style-films, all dizzying cuts and intentionally nauseous movements. And why do the French keep shooting action so up close and personal? Two scenes in Catwoman are confusing because they just HAVE to have the camera in the characters' faces, ass and breasts. I remember that Jet Li flick Kiss of the Dragon also suffering from this. If you check Rotten Tomatoes, its rating is 10%, possibly the lowest I've seen since Roberto Benigni's live-action Pinocchio. And The Bourne Supremacy kicked its ass on opening weekend. In fact, it looks like Catwoman's going to bomb. Well, it deserves it. You have to keep wondering, preferably in the loudest and angriest Lewis Black voice, "Who greenlights this shit?! Didn't they READ the script?!" And Denise DiNovi, I'm disappointed in you. You used to have taste.

Like I told Neva when the credits began to roll: "Now THAT'S what I call female empowerment!" I keed, ladies, I keed.

I really enjoyed Imelda. It was an interesting structure to juxtapose Imelda's self-delusion with comments from journalists, Fr. Reuter, etc. I didn't like that scene with the drag show, though, especially with the parallel editing of what should've been an emotional touchstone: Ninoy. Still, there are scenes where Imelda pauses, or finishes a sentence, and the film is silent. Ramona Diaz doesn't ask questions, I guess. I kept thinking that Errol Morris would shoot back with a "But what about…" question.

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Last night's Smashing Pumpkins tribute gig was fun. Unfortunately it wasn't, as I thought, an all-SP night. Each band performed only one SP song. Though the first band didn't, I think, perform any at all. Or maybe they played it before we arrived. Ciudad played a terrific "Zero," and as Kathy mentioned it was a small thrill to hear everyone singing along to "Emptiness is loneliness and loneliness is cleanliness and cleanliness is Godliness and God is empty… just like me…" Twisted Halo did "Siva" from Gish, a surprising choice that they pulled off well. Cousin Ed did a cover of "Hummer" from Siamese Dream, and it was pretty fucking tight, I must say. And Gay's haircut rocks.

Gab mentioned he'd like to see that kind of all-SP night happen, so I hope he pulls it off.

It was my first time at Peligro, and it's not a bad place; small and intimate, I was reminded of Oracafe for some reason. Maybe the fact that there's no elevated stage. Sadly, the Fried Mozzarella we ordered was bland and tasteless, tasting more like egg than cheese. We didn't even finish half of it. Hope their other dishes are good (and less expensive).

I must say, though, that I absolutely loved that no smoking was allowed. It was such a refreshing relief to watch a gig and not have my eyes stinging. And I wasn't coughing or sneezing, and my lungs weren't being poisoned. And when you go home, your hair and clothes don't stink of cigarette smoke. I have friends who smoke, but I'm sorry, I wish the smoking ban was enforced everywhere. About 3 weeks ago I read something online (Yahoo! News, I think) about a study of the incidence of lung cancer in people who worked at bars/restaurants and the result was an alarming 80%. Sadly, half of them didn't even smoke.

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For some good reading, and some thought-provoking insights, I highly recommend you read Alan Moore's recent Salon interview, which doesn't even promote a new book of his; it kicks off because recent events have been mirroring stories he wrote in the '80s. You have to watch an ad to get a day pass for Salon, unfortunately. Thanks to Jomz for bringing it to my attention.

And this link is for Joey Antukin, in case she's looking for more info on Sin City. Seems Quentin Tarantino showed up and directed for a day, and Robert Rodriguez was able to win him over to digital filmmaking.

Just click.

And:

"Pink Ribbon Scars"
Smashing Pumpkins Tribute Night
9 PM July 28, WED at Peligro
(Peligro is in the Republic Glass Building which is on the corner of Salcedo Street and Aguirre Street in Legaspi Village, Makati)

Talik
Hopscotch
Cousin Ed
Ciudad
Twisted Halo

(info stolen and edited from Gab)

I will be there, with some copies of our Hey, Comics! anthology for sale. But it's all hush-hush, so you have to come up to me and say "Hey, you got the stuff?" and I will go "Yeah man, what you need?"

If you want to see something TRULY inspiring, check out Pia’s amazing story. It begins here, and then she set up this LJ to document the good deeds. Alexis and I both think it would make an excellent documentary. I feel really bad about not being able to post about this soon enough, but I was really busy. Sorry, Pia! At the very least, she already met her target, can you believe that?

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Neva’s last 2 posts are great: one on poetry and another on diving.

Did you know that Tim Burton’s currently shooting Charlie & the Chocolate Factory? And that Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s Sin City has already finished principal photography? Man, I used to be up-to-date on this stuff.

I, Robot: I wanted to like it, because I haven’t seen Garage Days and so this is the first Alex Proyas film I’ll be seeing since Dark City. But what can you expect when it was merely “suggested” by Asimov’s book (yet keeps the name) and was written by “Touch of Death” Akiva Goldsman and the guy who wrote Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within? And I’m sorry, Bridget Moynahan; you’re pretty but when you cry (or try to look like crying) you look like crap. Chi McBride, I’m sorry you have to be a stereotype whenever you’re not doing the principal thing on Boston Public.

JUST WANTED TO SHARE

This is Khristine, one of the proprietors of the beloved CCHQ, who was nice enough to let us give out our anthology during their Free Comic Book Day on July 3. That's our anthology on the lower right corner, on the table along with all the other free comic books they gave out that day. :)

Again, thanks to everyone who showed up, said hi, got a copy, read it. Hopefully some of you have joined the mailing list, and please feel free to give us feedback on the issue.

BOO HOO

2 friends in NY, one in his first week of graduate school, another back to being a freshman for a second degree, and Neva off to Iloilo for almost a week.

Have to keep myself busy, and it's not a difficult task these days thanks to a whole bunch of errands.

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I didn't know the Incredible Hulk was so active these days. I wasn't aware he had a blog, for example. But I did catch and enjoy his recent article for The Onion.

If there are 2 commercials you must see this season, it's this one and this one. The first is slightly horrific, but the second one, ah... the second one is the gem. And note that all the women are cute. They're part of a clever ad campaign in Japan, whose ads you can see here. This article helps shed some light on the gem.

And while you're at it, check out this hilarious, lovable ad for Kikkoman sauce, which we use here at home, and which I will never see with the same gravitas again... it's got a horribly-clad "superhero" Kikkoman who has a fish for a head, and there's a lot of homoerotic posing, and the music is wonderfully tacky, and the voice is horribly charming, and he drives a ridiculous motorcycle, and he smokes! and there's a cat who commits suicide! and he has sex! and-- and-- just go. It must be seen to be believed. You will thank me, and thank your lucky stars, that Kikkoman is there for us all when we need him.

Hello. I am back.

Suggest some Cinemanila movies naman o. I've only seen Zatoichi & Vibrator, which apparently won the Lino Brocka award for some reason. It had some interesting points but I felt it didn't fulfill the potential it promised at the beginning. The festival's been extended to the 20th, by the way, and last I checked the website they actually had today's schedule up so here's hoping it'll be updated throughout the remaining days.

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If I may be a comics evangelist again for a moment, I just wanted to show this picture, from the New York Times, of some of comics' best creators. Clockwise from top left, Seth, Chester Brown, Adrian Tomine, art spiegelman, and Joe Sacco. Here's the article it's from. They are all great; buy their books. All but spiegelman are published mainly, I realize, by Drawn & Quarterly (check out their website featuring Chris Ware art), who are definitely one of the best independent publishers out there. Spiegelman's latest work, "In the Shadow of No Towers," his first graphic novel since the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, will be coming out September 7 in the US, from Pantheon. From the title, you can probably guess it's about the aftermath of September 11, and I can't wait to read it. It was serialized in foreign newspapers, if I remember correctly, because he couldn't find anyone in the US to carry it. Needless to say, it's a little incendiary.

I believe this is the cover:

Which calls to mind his cover for the first issue of The New Yorker post-9/11:

which I mentioned before.

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Angry Alien have a new condensed film: Alien in 30 seconds (re-enacted by bunnies). I also hadn't seen the Titanic one before.

Apparently Lav Diaz wasn't finished editing Ebolusyon, so it didn't screen today. And it's at 10 1/2 hours and running... dear God.

LICK MY CLICK

If you have a half-hour to spare I heartily recommend playing the Anti-Bush game. Particularly if you hate Bush, or are curious as to the evils and atrocities that have taken place during his administration. From the guy who brought you the Emogame.

An interesting list of the Worst Comic Covers ever. Not, by any stretch of the imagination, definitive. That one's my favorite.

I should've plugged this before: Nautilus Comics is having a series of free comics workshops. You should go. They're free. Schedule here.

EVERYONE MUST WATCH THIS! It's really cute. Lego Spider-Man. Yay!

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Is anyone going to watch Lav Diaz's 9-hour Ebolusyon? It's closing Cinemanila on, if I got it right from Alexis, early Monday morning. As in, from midnight to 9 AM. With 15-minute intermissions, and free coffee and beer. I think he could make some money by selling shirts at the end that say "I survived Ebolusyon." I am morbidly curious about trying it myself (but likely won't). Just to see if I could make it, you know? I mean, how can you not go hungry or need to use the bathroom in 9 hours? You'd have to wait for the intermissions, and bring baon because you'd have to walk far to find an open 7-11 or Mini Stop.

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I'll be out of town until Sunday night.

I REALLY enjoyed Kill Bill Vol. 2. But I have a suspicion that many people will be disappointed, especially if they're coming into the theater thinking it's going to be more of what made Vol. 1 great.

And Gordon Liu rules.

My sincere and deepest thanks to everyone who went last Saturday to CCHQ and picked up a copy of our modest anthology! Love and kisses to those who helped spread the word through mailing lists and their blogs. :) Thanks must also go to the lovely proprietors Tin and Katya who tolerated our squatting. I know I had a lot of fun. Most of the time was spent sitting and talking with friends, some who I haven't seen in a while. There were a lot of nice free comics to be had. All in all, we got rid of about 80 comics at CCHQ, and we gave 40 copies to Comic Quest earlier in the day. So about 120 copies all in all. Better to have overestimated than under-, I guess.

It was a bit of a photo finish. The night before Saturday, Neva and I were overseeing the copies being stapled and folded, from 830 to 11 PM. Thursday night was when I picked up the dummy, having visited Elbert and Jamie's offices. Seeing everything together was a treat. It's the nature of anthologies that there will be stories you like more than others, even speaking as the "editor." But for the most part I'm genuinely HAPPY with what we've come up with.

Since we were rushed the issue's not perfect. Some typos were spotted after the fact, and I'm still not satisfied with my intro, so I think I'll change it for the next print run. Still, content-wise everything seemed to go off without any major hitch. It was 60 pages all in all, when I was expecting something around 48.

I saw the bulk of the work on Sunday night at Megamall, where El and Jamie were exhibiting at the Toycon. I have to admit that when I saw Arnold and Ate Cyn's pages I almost cried. It was the first significant time where I felt it was actually coming together and not just an intangible project I would've liked to see happen. Especially since I was expecting shorter work from the both of them, what with their busy schedules. To see a full 8-page story from Arn and Cyn's 3-page double-tier story (her first comics work EVER!) really surprised and touched me.

Though the whole week has been exhausting, when I was watching all the copies being stapled and folded, and knew that I wasn't going to be making money from this, the feeling I still had was I wanted to make more. Is that strange? I don't know. Certainly, I don't think we'll be giving them away for free next time. But those were the 2 things most in my mind: I want to see more, and I really should've done this sooner.

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Over lunch on Saturday we started talking about future issues. I realized that if I counted all the stories that weren't able to fit in the first, and all the late stories that are already in progress but just didn't make the deadline, I'd have the bulk of the next issue already. Which was a bit of a shock, but also a good feeling. I've also had good feedback from the people who DID contribute, and though they did it for free (for which I'm forever grateful), some were actually EXCITED about the prospect of submitting for the next issue, which is probably the best compliment you can get. I'm also hoping that people who join Hey, Comics! because of the anthology will also begin appearing in future issues. It's also a good way to force us to become more productive, and on a more selfish note I just want to see more good comics from people I'm a fan of!

We started joking about themed issues, too. If we're more disciplined about it 3 issues a year might actually be doable. And maybe 1 of the 3 could be themed. Themes are tricky: marketing-wise they're better for the anthology, and you could get some surprising results from your contributors. On the other hand, you could also get surprisingly BAD results from your contributors, who either don't like the theme or found it restrictive or just couldn't come up with something they like. But one idea we toyed with was having the themes be the uncommon kind. Ones without any necessary social value. To kind of force everyone to be creative and see what they come up with. Ridiculous suggestions were made: "Girls in red skirts," "Missed call," "Haircut," etc. One of Le Sexy Mark Lavin's genius suggestions was the Rob Liefeld tribute issue.

At the end of the meal I realized the second issue kind of has a theme already: "Late." ;P

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This is 7-year-old Alexa Kitchen, who had 2 books debut at the recent Museum of Cartoon & Comic Art Festival (appropriately called The Early Years: Ages 5 & 6). She started cartooning when she was 5.

I'm fucking pathetic.

Also in attendance: Moby, longtime comics reader. Michel Gondry, a personal idol of mine, whose 13-year-old son Paul ALSO had a comic debut at the show. Son of a bitch.

And of course, Steph Misa, who texted me saying "Am at MOCCA. Want anything?" Unfortunately, when I woke up and found the message it was 11 PM in NY. Thanks for the offer, though, Steph.

One of my new favorite artists, Stuart Immonen, apparently has an LJ. He has this hilarious series of strips, Fifty Reasons To Stop Doing Sketches (that's not his usual art style, if you're wondering). Go and read. Also found this model of the Preacher character Arseface thanks to him. I'll spare you girls the picture, but men and comics fans, make with the clicky!

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And here's Suicide Bomber Barbie:

I'm excited about this bit of news: Scholastic is beginning a graphic novel line called Grafix, launching with Jeff Smith's Bone. Bone is a terrific series I've been following since high school. I've been reading it in collections, and the end is near, and it's been a magnificent trip so far, one of those stories I wish I could get everyone to read, particularly fantasy fans like Mikey and Lia, who I'm SURE would love it. I think I lent Neva one and she immediately bought the first 6. Then she lent hers to Chris and he bought the first 7 or 8. I'm curious about the little tidbit saying it's going to be printed in color. I always imagined Bone in color to be wonderful, but Smith's art is so perfect in black and white that I wonder if my experience with the story'll be different this time around.

Here's hoping it becomes even bigger than Harry Potter. I wouldn't mind having a secret THIS good explode all over pop consciousness.

Scholastic have also approached Scott Morse, who I became a fan of since I read his The Barefoot Serpent.

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Here's the list of places we're thinking of approaching for selling the anthology:

- CCHQ
- Comic Quest
- Filbars
- UFO
- Sarabia Optical, UP Shopping Center
- Big Sky Mind

I've also asked Diego Mapa if we could sell through him. He sells a bunch of zines at gigs.

Any suggestions?

SLEEP, WHEREFORE ART THOU?

Wednesday night was fun. First, had some silvanas and then chicken skin (thanks to Lia). Then, played all-you-can-play at Timezone for an hour with Neva, Quark, Lia & Chris. Which just sent me back to high school. It was heaven, a gift I would have LOVED to be able to give to myself as a skinny AHS student. We played with reckless abandon, not caring if we were injured or not, because after all, we could just swipe the injuries away. At one point I was letting myself die in Time Crisis 3 because when you restart your grenade launcher gets reloaded. Then feasted at Bubba Gump's, joined by Dead Sexy Mark Lavin. Then Alexis arrived and we caught Spider-Man 2, which is entertaining. I'll try and write more about it later. Then after that, some of us got crepes, and we all ended up at Giligan's, home of the best sisig, and just had severe cholesterol intake. To the point where my body was just starting to shut down and I was getting dizzy. Went home and passed out...

... only to wake up 3 hours later. And then there's hardly any rest: a quick one-hour nap, followed by a rushed, last-minute introduction for the anthology. Then rush to Elbert's office to see the anthology. It's printed out twice; one's a master and the other's used to make a dummy so the photocopy people know what it should look like. Then MTV Pilipinas Awards, which has some of the most arbitrary categories I've ever heard. Then Mini Stop, because I forgot that all of Thursday, up until around midnight, all I'd eaten was a Cinnamon Swirl from Starbucks and a Regular Yum with Cheese I was eating while walking back to Chris's from Elbert's office. Go home and plan to collapse, but no: I have to bring my dad to the airport at 4 AM (a few minutes from now). Did I mention I wake up at 730 to bring my mom to the office, because we have no driver and I need the car she uses because everything else is coding? No? Well, I do. Why, you don't ask? Well I'll tell you: because I have to drive all the way to UP, where the anthology will be reproduced for Saturday. A photo finish.

All that said: I was holding the dummy in my hands this evening and showed it to some friends. I think it looks nice, but I'm biased. Re-reading everything now, I realize my introduction is really bad, and may change it for the next print run (we're initially making 200 copies). Its final page count is 60 pages. Tobie Abad was able to squeeze into the list of contributors at the last minute, after my announcements.

Next thing I have to think about is making a list of places where we can sell it. Any suggestions?

And lest I forget: Mikey is in the new FHM, talking about naughty things. You would've thought they'd have a few more Girlfriends of the Month waiting in the wings before getting desperate...

I have been remiss in updating. But there are so many posts I want to get to! And not having a scanner there are so many pictures you guys haven't seen. But, urgent things first!

This Saturday, July 3, is Free Comic Book Day in the US. So if you're in the US, or know someone there, tell them to go to a comic store (preferably early) and they can get free comics. Here, I think only CCHQ participates, but they have a system where you get a certain no. of free comics depending on how much you've spent at CCHQ recently. This because it's not exactly free to them, since there's no discount on the shipping costs from the US.

ANYWAY!

I've been moderating a small comics discussion group for about 4 years now, and partly as an anniversary project, we are putting out a zine, just a small anthology of short strips called Hey, Comics! It's coming out this Saturday! Yay! Some copies will be given to Comic Quest in Megamall, but we'll be at CCHQ handing out copies ourselves.

Contributors include Arnold & Cynthia Arre, Quark Henares, Chris Costello, Neva Talladen, Harvey Ong, Mark Lavin, Dean Alfar, Jordan Santos, Andrew Drilon & Wincy Ong. It's kind of surprising because we actually have so much material we had to push some stories to the next issue.

It will be FREE only on this ONE day. After that, we'll be selling them everyplace that'll have us (and if you have suggestions, please mention them in the comments!). We don't have the price yet, but rest assured no one's making money from this. I was prepared to foot the whole bill and lose some money but a generous person, when I wasn't even asking, actually donated a couple thousand pesos! Be still my heart! So the money will all go to recouping printing costs of the first issue, and the rest will go to making the next. All the contributors are doing this out of sweet love, and blackmail. So give it a shot, please! I swear, the stories are worth it.

Tell everyone you think would be interested! After all, it's FREE!

CCHQ is at the 3rd floor, FBR Building, Katipunan. Across Ateneo, near World Topps.

I first came across Rommel Joson's artwork in the pages of Heights, and it blew me away pretty much every time. Best of all, he seemed to change not just the style but medium he used in every issue (so did another artist, Chico Barretto). He was Neva's batchmate, but I never met him until after he graduated. And to my surprise (and utter delight) he was actually interested in making comics, being a reader himself. So I gave him two scripts I had: "Perfume" & "You Are Here." One was written for a Heights exhibit of comic art (that Chris drew beautifully, by the way. Where is it, Chris?), the other was a loose adaptation of a letter Neva sent me when she was in Chicago and I missed her terribly. He chose to do "Perfume" and promptly disappeared for 6 months. Then around New Year's of last year (or was it 2 years ago?) he emailed me out of the blue with 3 finished pages. But I lost his email address and wasn't able to reply. Then Ernan mentions in Subic that he'd seen my comic online. Of course, I'm stymied. What the hell is he talking about? Then Naz tells me the same thing at Fete. Apparently, Rommel linked to it on Friendster. So I look up Rommel on Friendster, friend him, look in the Bulletin Board archives, and there's a link, and I follow it, and find: Perfume, written by me and illustrated by John Quaresma. Who is John Quaresma? I don't know, but those are Rommel's pages. This is all interesting timing because we're about to put out an anthology of short comics works as a zine.

So: Perfume, written by me and illustrated by Rommel Joson (aka John Quaresma). Tell me what you think. I know what I find embarrassing about it (nothing to do with the art; it's splendid). Remember it's old, and was my (I think) second formal comics script. The first was for Harvey, published in MTV Ink: "The Truth About Raining Cats & Dogs."

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Here's Natalie Portman and Melchior Beslon in a Tom Tykwer-directed short, "True," for the Paris, je t'aime anthology, which also has contributions from Woody Allen, Jean-Luc Godard, and the Coen bros.

And something nice from Neil Gaiman's blog:

"...over at http://www.somethingpositive.net the following gauntlet was thrown down, following complaints that things were getting sloppy:

Help me quit my job. Seriously. Click on that donate button and give me a buck... fifty center... five bucks. Whatever. I've more than enough readers that if over half of you did that, I'd have a year's salary and could quit my day job - and that's forty hours freed up for the comics. Go ahead.

So they did. $22,000 came in. He gave up his day job. That's cool."

And something for you porn-freaks.

Yesterday (I Was A Slug)

I woke up. Didn't get out of the room. In fact, didn't leave the bed. Read Junko Mizuno's Cinderalla. After, realized I was hungry and went downstairs for nourishment. Then, seeing my dad using the computer, I went back upstairs. Read Warren Ellis & Brandon McKinney's Switchblade Honey and Brian Wood & Rob G's The Couriers 2: Dirtbike Manifesto while listening to Sonic Youth's Sonic Nurse, At the Drive-In's El Gran Orgo & Vaya, and !!!'s Me & Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story). There was a power outage due to the rain, and I decided to transfer some books to the first, top shelf of my dead sexy new bookshelf. Hey, I'm a nerd. This shit's important. I take pleasure in organizing my bookshelf. Then it was time to get ready to go to Chris's. Bathed and dressed while the gift was being wrapped.

When I get to the car I find pictures I've been missing for about a week: 3 developed rolls from underwater disposable cameras in Boracay. I am so happy and relieved! I was looking for them everywhere. I searched my room, Neva's flat, the den where the computer is, etc. It was behind the headrest in the back seat. Probably put there by one of my brother's friends when he was using the car, because I never put things there. While it was missing I really felt terrible about it, as in whenever I'd think about it I would just get depressed for an hour. Whew.

Picked up Neva at her place, went to Chris's. Despite being 20 minutes late we are the first to arrive. I show him the pictures, and some new pics from Subic, CDO and Boracay taken with the Ultimate Quad Cam. Also my first roll of developed Lomo pics. Yay.

The others arrive and we have a nice quiet dinner. Lia, Ernan, and Sexy Man Mark Lavin read Identity Crisis # 1. Quark does 3 pages of comics in under 2 hours for the upcoming anthology. We learn of Mich's eventful fete. Chris opens his gift; it goes over well. Whew.

Good day.

This morning I was crying because of a comic (the excellent Identity Crisis # 1).

Last night I met Herbert Bautista but was too shy to ask for a solo pic with him (got a group pic, though). It was very Twilight Zone-ish because we were actually listening to the Bagets theme song when he came in (Gary Valenciano going "Growing up! Getting dooown!").

I am also quite happy with my new bookshelf. I can't wait to properly shelve all these books lying on my floor and covering every other halfway flat surface.

2 books came out at Fully Booked everyone should have: Alan Moore & Jose Villarubia's The Mirror of Love, and the new McSweeney's, guest-edited by Chris Ware. I'll talk a little more about them later...

Finished a story.

It's a good feeling.

Even if it IS 8 AM.

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TRAILING

I don't know why DC, which is owned by Time Warner, is having such difficulty making good movies out of their properties. I mean, the Constantine trailer came out, and it bears virtually NO resemblance to the character that the fans know and love. Constantine in the movie is an American, played by Keanu Reeves. In the comic he is a hard-bitten Brit in his early 40s, with dirty blonde hair (modeled after mid-80s Sting). The movie seems to indicate that he is a modern-day Van Helsing who takes care of demons and the like. The trailer would be intriguing if it weren't so wrong. There's a nice part where a woman gets thrown out of a building by an invisible force, though.

And the less said about Catwoman the better. I liked director Pitof's first film, Vidocq, but this doesn't hint at anything near the visual style of that film. The outfit's insulting. Halle Berry - I'm sorry, but her face rarely strikes me as beautiful. Most of the time she just looks cheap. Also has no connection to the character: she plays Patience Price (or something), it's not Gotham, and there's no Batman.

If they're just going to make all these changes, why keep the name? Really. It makes NO sense. The name recognition will just frustrate people: Catwoman's black? Where's Batman? Wasn't she bad? And a property like John Constantine, Hellblazer doesn't have much recognition outside of comics anyway. So if you're trying to get fans of either property, you're just going to piss them off. It's like asking them to pay for the privilege of seeing their beloved (anti-)heroes pissed on. It's a further shame because both books are going really well right now; they could've just stuck to that and done good.

The new Anchorman trailer is better than the earlier one. I don't know if it'll be great; it looks enjoyable, but I like the trailer because it pokes fun at trailers. Reminds me of the Comedian trailer, which was hilarious (and had nothing to do with the documentary, which is a good thing).

Here's the trailer of Michael Moore's latest, Fahrenheit 9/11. Already controversial, I hope it's a big hit. I enjoy Moore's fans but I'm not one of those types who just blindly agree with everything he says. Apparently someone's trying to make a documentary about Michael Moore himself.

I can't wait for The Incredibles to come out. The new trailer's hilarious. And the new trailer of Garden State just makes me want to watch it more.

Chris pointed me to Open Water, which scared the bejeezus out of me as a newly-licensed diver.

Sometimes I feel like I should just leave the country.

First, congratulations to recent graduates Alexis and Cecile, and good luck to everyone going back to school today.

Second, I'm back. Since last Wednesday, actually, but things have been odd/busy. After spending a week in Boracay, one home, and then another in Cagayan De Oro, I am now backlogged with lots of work, and have other things to take care of besides, like family things that pop up at the last minute. It's a shame that my deadlines don't have vacations too.

The French Film Festival is ongoing, there's a link to the schedule in the events box to the left. I'm not familiar with any of the films this year; the only names I recognize are Catherine Breillat and Claude Chabrol, so I'll try to catch those if I have time. If you've seen something and like it, tell me in the comments. They're charging now. But 50 bucks isn't so bad. Venue's better.

There are many things I want to write about here but I don't have the time to do it the way I want, so those will have to come later. Sorry if the schedule and timeliness of thisgs will become awkward.

This is the confluence of technology and piracy: I am listening to the new Beastie Boys album, "To The 5 Boroughs," one full week before it gets released in the US.

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Trust the Onion for a laugh: check out their hilarious feature "Least Erotic Sex Scenes," which contains some choice lines - on Clint Eastwood's Blood Work, "In addition to consummating the unlikely bond between Eastwood and De Jesús's characters, the scene reminds the world that directing and starring in a movie is a great way for a 72-year-old man to end up naked in bed with a woman 30 years younger and 30 times more attractive than he is." On the Eminem starrer 8 Mile: "Brittany Murphy might make a more attractive sexual partner if she didn't look high, filthy, and professional." And my favorite, on the Kevin Spacey bomb The Life of David Gale: "The only thing less erotic than a woman sobbing convulsively during sex is the man who keeps dutifully thrusting." Hahahaha!

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Here's one of those pictures where people tell you, "You may regret seeing this, so I'll warn you beforehand; you can't erase it from your memory afterwards." Which just makes you click on it with more resolution than you would've normally. But I'll warn you beforehand: it is a toad mating ball, when more than 2 toads goes into a sexual frenzy of an orgy and they actually FUSE. It's dread disgusting. Try not to look at it around meal time.

Would you rather know what's best for you, or the Truth, no matter how much it might fuck up everything?

Yay! We're back. I went through withdrawal the first day. Unused to so much technology. Missed the sand beneath my feet, and the wind in my hair. The sound of the shore. But, I also missed certain things, which is why we went to see Troy immediately.

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If I had to sum up Troy in a word it would be bleagh. Thoroughly unengaging, it was the kind of summer film filled with "moments" instead of characters, where everything that wasn't a fight scene seemed in a hurry itself to get to a fight scene because it knew it was boring. You could invent a drinking game with the frequency of "one-liners" dropped by the various characters, most of which already came out in the trailer so there weren't any genuine surprises or keepers. I mean, "Immortality! Take it! It's YOURS!" just reminds me of Captain Planet, and anything that reminds me of Captain Planet can't be a good thing. I had to keep reminding myself that it was inspired by The Iliad and not a direct adaptation, because it was just that bad. Thankfully, this was not too difficult because, uh, THERE AREN'T ANY FUCKING GODS!!! What else sucked? Oh, the score was terrible, boring and unoriginal. Helen of Troy, possibly the most difficult character to cast, was some humdrum blonde who further reduced a cunning character (following up on the script's devaluation of her significance in all this) into a dumb blonde? That's the face that launched a thousand ships? More like a thousand yawns. One of my biggest peeves is that it's like they didn't even bother with the love angle past the opening 20 minutes. And even what was there was unconvincing and embarrassing. What, they fell in love because they'd been screwing for a week? Acting was pretty lukewarm, but I have to give props to Eric Bana for giving Hector a doomed nobility. Although in the beginning, his eyes were kind of freaky as he tried to convey panic silently. Brad Pitt got to display his two acting tricks: furrowing the brow and clenching the jaw. He cries over a fallen warrior's body but there are no tears. That's acting for ya. Sean Bean, one of the best actors we have, is wasted here; poor guy didn't even get a fucking frame in the trailer but he deserves a better salary than Orlando Bloom. Speaking of the fey one, I'm sorry but you're just too pretty. I almost thought he was Helen. Peter O'Toole got one decent scene; otherwise he was just bug-eyed. Brian Cox I enjoyed, actually; everytime he was onscreen there was a small gnashing sound in the background, I later realized it was the scenery being chewed. I'm disappointed to find out that the script was written by David Benioff, an actual novelist who was responsible for both the book and screenplay of The 25th Hour. Effects were unimpressive, but not bad; movement was stilted and crooked at times, so occasionally I'd find myself thinking, "Massive... Massive... Massive..." referring to the program invented during the production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy which specializes in armies and large groups of creatures interacting. The best scene was the duel between Achilles and Hector. Achilles had this annoying jump-in-the-air-and-strike-down move that really felt like some video game special move for his character, and I wish it wasn't TOO obvious that Hector was outclassed. Still, I liked its relative silence, and what score there was was fitting, but it was ruined by the singing at the end. There's a spoiler here, though this being one of the oldest stories in the history of the world it shouldn't be, but anyway: Hector dies. And after that point, the film just deflates, because there's no one to root for. You're just "Alright, just bring on the horse so we can get this over with." Then Achilles gets shot in the foot with an arrow, and keels over. At which point I realized they never even brought up his invulnerability, or his heel. So I felt bad for kids in the audience, who must've been confused as shit. I mean, here's the greatest warrior, and he got taken down by a stick in the foot? All in all, it was boring. The war scenes weren't very good, though I really enjoyed the choreography in the Hector/Achilles duel. I found myself thinking of various scenarios that would make it more interesting, like while Troy was being ransacked, wouldn't it be cool if suddenly you saw Jim Caviezel dragging a cross being whipped by Romans? Or if Eric Bana just turned into the Hulk on the beach and just started eating Greeks? Peter O'Toole should have called on Supergirl for aid. Orlando Bloom should have picked up a bow and arrow and started firing bolts and-- oh, yeah, that's right. Well.

I really wanted to like it. I'm in the mood for a good Big Summer Movie. And I liked some of Wolfgang Peterson's previous work like In the Line of Fire. Air Force One was okay, didn't see The Perfect Storm. Haven't seen Das Boot, though it's his claim to existence with the cineastes. But he did direct The Neverending Story, so I'm pretty forgiving for that alone.

Thank God we watched Shrek 2 next. It's everything you could hope for: funny and entertaining on all levels, from first minute to last. Antonio Banderas's Puss in Boots steals practically every scene he's in. There are even some geek nods to Alien and Godzilla fans.

Well, we are still stranded. What sucks is that I injured my foot recently so I can't even swim because the cut keeps opening up. I also neglected to bring a book, something I haven't done in years, simply because I didn't think I'd need it what with the location and the company I was with. Boy do I wish I brought one anyway. And if I may sound like a teenager for a second, I really REALLY miss comics. :( And music, and my DVDs, and...

STRANDED IN PARADISE

We were supposed to be in Manila by now, but a typhoon has screwed those plans, and now we are stranded. Mich and Chris have a flight tomorrow. They're PAL, and the airport is far away, but Neva and I are taking SEAIR and are waitlisted for Wednesday and Thursday so we may actually get back to Manila on Friday pa(!). Kutob niyo I factored this into my budget? Shit. Still, there are worse places to be stranded in, and worse company to be in. :)

More when we stop having fun.

I have a friend who told me about another friend of hers, who, when drunk out of his gourd, would cop feels and otherwise attempt to fondle his girl friends. But in the morning, he’d be totally apologetic and guilty and ashamed. But it would happen again the next time the guy was wasted.

I imagine it’s much more difficult for girls than it is for guys. Most guys would probably welcome the treatment (unless it was a gay guy), or at least, be less offended. But this friend says she understands the behavior. But if you’re this guy, and you know what you do when you’re drunk, shouldn’t you then go out of your way to make sure you don’t get wasted so often? Or does he remain unconcerned about the possible damage and, at the least, changing dynamic in his relationships with his girl friends? Or did he weigh the options: maintain relationships, or give up binge-drinking, and decide that he couldn’t give up the bottle?

I’m sure he’s not the only one who behaves that way when drunk. I’m sure because I saw it happen just the other night.

MATABUNGKAY

Yes, this is late, and I know this blog has been a bit image-heavy recently, but that's tough, you crybabies. I'm still on a fucking dial-up so don't come whining to me. Anyway, on with the show...

Not much to say about Matabungkay. It was fun, I guess, but being trapped with your family and relatives can be tiring. It was a little disorienting to have neither a television, computer, or telephone anywhere near you. Thank Christ someone thought to bring a radio, and that I had a few discs in the car, or I'd have gone insane. For the 3 days and 2 nights we were there, I must've played around 400 games of Pusoy Dos. There was just nothing else to do after reading Chris's comics and JG Ballard's A User's Guide to the Millennium. The adults, instead of Pusoy Dos, had Mahjong.

Glowsticks do not float, but can be seen underwater. That's something I learned. And Tigerfish are really dangerous.

My cousins and brother all wanted me to take "Friendster userpics," wherein they would pose and I would try to take a flattering picture of them. Kids these days.

The soundtrack of this getaway was: DJ Shadow (Endtroducing... & The Private Re-press), UNKLE (Do Androids Dream of Electronic Beats? 3 discs), Nirvana (Incesticide, Nevermind, & In Utero), Sonic Youth (Dirty Boots EP, Invito Al Cielo with Jim O'Rourke, & Kim Gordon side band Free Kitten's Unboxed), and The Best of Hanna-Barbera.

This is my cousin Raffy asleep on the hammock. He wraps it around himself to keep mosquitoes from desiccating him.

This is my cousin Pia. I waited and waited but she would not look up. She doesn't like to smile for pictures. But she does like her shells.

My turn on the hammock, with my magazine of choice, the Lapidary Journal. You can't trust your precious gems to just any hokey magazine, you know.

Here's what we did when we weren't in the water.

Here's our parents' version of Pusoy Dos (closer to Tong-its, actually).

These are the balsas at low tide. They just wash up on shore.

This was our balsa. My first time to use one of these things, actually.

2 consecutive artsy-fartsy pictures of the balsa, this one with the negative space on top...

... and this one below. With an anchor, if you look closely.

Our ambience.

That's my dad and my ninong floating. The adults don't really swim, they just float and lounge in the water like hippos. I had to wait a while for them to line up so I could take this shot but man was it worth it.

This is an ice cream vendor with his cooler on a flotation device. He'd swim from balsa to balsa, family to family.

I was walking around the compound our relatives rented and came across this stack of black wooden crosses with garlic hanging on them. In October they line the driveway with these crosses to ward off evil spirits. Creepy. Thank God we didn't come here in October.

And a hallmark to end our post. Low tide sunset, my cousins collecting shells on the beach. All is tranquil.

Now back to life.

ODDS & ENDS

I have always wanted to see The Exorcist compressed into 30 seconds, and enacted by cartoon bunnies with high-pitched voices. Voila! I got my wish.

I wouldn't mind having a devil duck sitting beside my computer, especially when its eyes light up when reading/transferring data, but I would very much like a Godzilla with 4 USB ports on its back, especially when both its eyes AND its mouth lights up!

Here is a somewhat creepy animated short.

A while back some of you may have read this post on Neva's blog, where she talks about this music video she came across on TV and it made her cry. Well, I found it, and it is indeed quite good and tear-jerking. Neva was watching it again over my shoulder as I watched it for the first time and when I looked up, she was crying again.

For you Sims fans, here's the essay Neil Gaiman wrote for the previous one's manual/booklet.

Here's a nice little strip about the literary life, courtesy of Posy Simmonds.

See my little friend over on the left with the raging boner? That's James Kochalka's Fancy Froglin. He has a book out called Sexy Forest. Anyway, there are 2 sick and twisted fan films you should see: here and here. The first is kinda graphic, so parental guidance is advised. The second has a cool rap. You can't beat a frog rapping.

TRAILER PARK

I've seen the trailer for Before Sunset, and I don't hate it. In fact, I think I'm looking forward to it, even though it slams shut, with finality, that somewhat open ending on Before Sunrise. Garden State looks really interesting; I LOVE the images in this trailer. And I love Peter Sarsgaard. He was good in Center of the World and he's amazing in Shattered Glass. He's the best young actor to come along since Ed Norton, I think. Collateral looks really intriguing, too, and it looks like there's a mix of film and DV like Mann did with Ali, but I'm just glad to have a new Michael Mann film coming out! And I am excited for The Bourne Supremacy, even if it isn't being helmed by Doug Liman anymore. If you need a laugh, check out an over-the-top Christopher Walken in Undertaking Betty. Hilarious.

I HAVE A QUESTION, MAYBE YOU CAN HELP ME OUT

Is that BLUE STEEL or MAGNUM?

HAVING ASKED PERMISSION

This is my cousin and my new cousin-in-law.

I FEEL DISCONNECTED

Yesterday everyone was talking about the fight and I could probably care less but won't make the effort. I caught the first 3 rounds before falling asleep. We were at my lola's for Mother's Day (which very few people seem to have remembered) and I was tired from tearing down political posters some motherless fucks posted around my lola's property. My dad and brother didn't really help-- they were watching the fight before Pacquiao's.

Now, everyone's talking about the elections, and some of the opinions genuinely surprise me. It was like a zoo without cages when I voted yesterday. Saw some neighborhood friends I haven't seen in years.

The past few days I've felt dreadful before going to sleep. And this is not one of those attempts at colorful language-- I really felt full of dread. I feel like something bad is going to happen, and that I should prepare. But I don't know what, and I don't know how.

I hope I'm wrong.

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This is the review I was talking about, Mikey. It's Stephen Thompson's review of Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism. Well-written, in the way that I think deftly encapsulates what the album is about, reveals something new for those who've already heard it, and sells the reader on getting it. I wish I could write as well as The Onion AV Club crew.

This is a nice ad from Ate Cyn. She mentioned this a while back, I forgot to link to it. I first heard it at Quark's; it's Francis Ford Coppola interviewing his daughter, writer/director Sofia, when she was 6 years old. He was working on Apocalypse Now, which shot here, and she sings "Lupang Hinirang" pretty well.

This is from Ylai, and I laughed out loud. And since Mikey isn't updating as frequently as he was, and because of recent entries, Ylai is now my favorite blog.

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Mich's birthday party was a blast, even if I missed Ciudad, dammit. Saw a lot of people, took a lot of pictures. Almost everyone got drunk from P's secret Iced Tea of Doom. Probably the best thing, besides the company, of course, was getting to see 2 bands I haven't seen before: Enemy of the Enemy (excellent name), and Giniling Festival. Both kicked ass. And Lacson Jackson did very well, for their first-ever gig in front of more than 2 people not in the band itself. Goldie will be a rock star one day, and I hope her guitar will still be yellow.

I’m having some friends over this Saturday afternoon at my house. If you have nothing to do then, and don’t mind a trip down South, feel free to come. It’s an informal meeting of the comics discussion list I moderate, so there’ll be some comics being shown, but we’ll also basically be hanging out, watching stuff, etc. You can bring food, comics, drinks, DVDs, a PS2, whatever. If you’re interested, email me privately and I’ll send you my complete address and directions. I live near Bicutan, and it’s near impossible to get lost because from C5 it’s only 3 left turns and a right.

If you don’t know my email address, send me a message on Friendster. Or leave your email ad in the comments. :)

I caught the lunar eclipse! Man, was it cool. Made me feel like a kid again. Every boy goes through 2 phases of utter fascination: astronomy and dinosaurs. Hadn't thought about this in a while.

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Saw Man on Fire the other day. I liked it for what it was worth: a pure revenge movie. What I expected to dislike, I disliked: the overabundance of style at certain points, particularly Creasy's "drinking" montage. Still, with such a simple plot, it's nice to see a Hollywood film take the time to infuse character; the movie's over 2 and a half hours. And if there must be an overabundance of style, you could do much worse than have it be Tony Scott style. I really disliked his use of Carlos Varela's "Una Palabra," though. I feel that it's so effective and unforgettable in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's BMW Film Powder Keg that he should've used something else. And he used it twice in the last 15 minutes of the film. The photography, especially the colour, is sumptuous; kudos to DP Paul Cameron. I also liked Christopher Walken. There's a particularly Hollywood "twist" towards the end that I disliked too; it robbed the main character of his purpose, and this wasn't reflected as much as I wanted it to be. Still, it was fun watching the single-minded drive of Denzel's Creasy mowing down everything in his path. The irony that it's written by Brian Helgeland (and that it's a second adaptation) isn't lost on me; as Nathan Rabin said in his review in The Onion AV Club, Helgeland "owns the peculiar distinction of having, in two consecutive years, adapted a contemplative critique of the futility of revenge (Mystic River) and a simplistic celebration of vigilante justice."

Saw Hellboy last week. I enjoyed it enough. Of course, having read the comics before I saw the movie, I was somewhat expecting to be a little disappointed. I loved the BPRD, and Ron Perlman as Hellboy. There were some lines of dialogue that were really true to the character, like when Abe discovered 3 eggs in HB's right hand and he just quips, "Didn't even buy me a drink." I enjoyed the fanboy things like seeing the stacks of pancakes and the lines "I'm gonna be sore in the morning," "That's all for you," etc. I loved the scene where Hellboy's following Agent Myers and Liz. He really seemed like a teenager when he was pacing back and forth going "She took his picture. She took his picture!" Things I didn't like included Abe Sapien, who is the coolest character in the comics but here seemed a little too fey. David Hyde Pierce was the (uncredited) voice, but a different actor was the body, and he must've come from mime school or something because he was overacting like crazy. What I disliked the most was that the villains just DID NOT translate well. Beyond simple things like "Why are all these Russians and Germans speaking in English when they're amongst themselves?" they were hammy actors burdened with pompous dialogue that may be alright when read, but said aloud just sound ridiculous.

I've finally seen The Passion, too, but that's its own post.

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You know how people who've had a string of bad luck take comfort in the karmic notion that there is something great waiting down the line? I wonder if it works the other way around. Do people who've had an amazing life and all the easy breaks worry that something terrible is bound to happen to them? Does this worry paralyze them? Or are they comfortable in thinking that so long as they fully appreciate and respect what they've been given things will be alright?

I don't think I believe in karma. But there is the law of averages.

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Good news for geeks: Millennium Season 1 and Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 Box Sets have been announced.

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I love Adrian Tomine:

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There's a whole mess of new links in my links box. Especially since everyone and their ghost (or pet) now has a blog. Please notify me if there's a broken (or stale) link, or if you don't want your URL out in the open like that. There'll be no offense taken, believe me; I understand some of you want your privacy and want only friends to visit. Some people have more than one link; if you would prefer it be reduced to just one, please tell me. Or if I haven't linked you yet at all. Or if your link disappeared from template updates. It's cute to see that there are now complete sibling sets online: the Costello Sharp-Tongues, for example, and The Martinez Sorority.

SUCH IS LIFE

as Kelvin Yu replied when I sent my condolences about his grandmother's death some weeks ago. Last Friday, we buried my tita in the morning, celebrated Neva's birthday in the evening, and the next afternoon, Saturday, I watched my cousin get married to his highschool sweetheart.

It was a small, intimate event: close friends and family only. What I will remember most about the ceremony was BB, my cousin Ray's yaya, who's been with them since before he was born, bawling her eyes out into a handkerchief. This is the woman who bathed him as a baby, wiped his ass when he took shits and took care of him when he was sick, made his beds and cooked his dinner. Kind of his second mom. I have my own BB: Ate Susan, who's also been with my family since before I was born. In fact, she was with my family when my dad was still young and they all still lived in Leyte. She's the only other person in the house who speaks Waray besides my dad. I'm godfather to her firstborn. I was wondering how she'd be when my time came. This has become common in recent generations: with mothers working fulltime, we're raised by our helpers, and these helpers stay with us their whole lives sometimes, and effectively become part of the family. There were times when Ate would have rows with my mother, and she'd leave for a few months to work somewhere else, and her presence would be missed, not only because we had all these chores to suddenly handle, but simply because she's the person who's always at home, who answers the phone, whose cooking we know best.

So my cousin Ray married Yoya, his girlfriend of what, 7 years? When I first heard they became a couple (senior year high school), and got more information about Yoya, the connections were almost uncanny: her best friend was my batchmate in grade school. She lived in MY village, and was dating MY first cousin, who lived far away in North Fairview. But they make an excellent couple.

Things are set up in such a way that I should hate my cousin. Because he is blessed: good looks, great family, good grades, and more. Growing up, I often heard various paraphrased versions of "Why can't you be like your cousin Ray?" He was valedictorian of his batch in grade school. Graduated high school and college with honors. Plays guitar and cello. Did I mention the good looks? Crush ng bayan yan. Even straight guys would have a crush on him. He was one of the glee club's stars in grade school, and hosted some show with Gary V. that was a big thing for my relatives then. In high school, he was an actor in Dulaang Sibol, and went on to be the definitive lead in their play Sinta. See what I mean? He had everything going for him, at least from the standpoint of the shy, insecure bookworm with average grades. Probably the closest he came to disappointing his parents was choosing to take Management Engineering (reputedly Ateneo's hardest course) instead of Biology (his parents were hoping he'd become a doctor). And of course, he had Yoya, who was the crush of 2 other people I know, and was always being compared to Liv Tyler before I finally met her.

I should hate the guy. But I don't. I love him.

Ray is my closest cousin, one of my best friends. Beyond that, he's one of those people I admire, whose sheer niceness and generosity of self have been an example, and a sign of hope for this sad, doomed world. He is one of those people I can claim to know before I am turned away from the pearly gates at the final judgment, and hope maybe that'll buy me some time before being cast into the fiery pits. With all his blessings, there's another, more important one: he's just a nice guy. He never made me feel any less of a person. He appreciated black humor. We would have vacations at one another's house during summer vacations. He taught me to shoot pool. We watched VHS tapes (or was it Betamax?) of recorded Simpsons episodes I borrowed from Gab. I can still say to him "Lemonade?" and he'd still know to reply with "Pleeze." and I would conclude with "You're my best friend." We would sing along to "Beat It." We biked around his village in the rain, and I crashed my bike into an open manhole hidden by a small flood. We both had crushes on Alyssa Milano in "Who's the Boss?" (who didn't?) I lived in his house for six months, half of my first year in high school, because we thought it would be easier than my staying at home in Paranaque, and he would get mad at me because I burned through his Michael Crichton and John Grisham books before he'd get to finish them. For the past 2 years he's stayed over with us on weekdays and went home on weekends, because he used to work for Ford over at Laguna but now is at Unilever, still a far drive from Fairview. I can't say I won't miss him, but of course, being now married, he'll be with Yoya.

Did I envy him at certain points in our lives? Hell yes. But I never, EVER wished anything bad for him.

In another world, maybe I hate him. In this one, I am one of the people who brag about him first and fastest. You'd think he was my son or something.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that. I'm really happy for him. And yes I cried during the wedding.