"IF IT'S WORTH REACTING TO, IT'S WORTH OVERREACTING TO"

Some big Alan Moore news, if you'll allow me to geek out a bit about my favorite writer. Rich Johnston returned his Lying in the Gutters column to break the news about Moore effectively dissolving his relationship with DC (basically for the second time). Their relationship has always been spotty; Moore & aritst Dave Gibbons felt slighted when DC made so much money off of Watchmen in the '80s. There was a deal that the rights would revert to the creators after the work was out of print, but neither expected DC to keep it in print for 20 years (it's still one of their best-selling graphic novels). Also, buttons sold by DC at the time were listed under "promotional items" and not "merchandise," so they wouldn't be obligated to give a cut to the creators. Moore swore never to work with DC again. When he was about to launch a new line of comics (America's Best) in the late '90s under Jim Lee's Wildstorm Comics, things almost came to a head because DC bought Wildstorm, and Lee had to fly to England to smooth things over with Moore. Moore's instinct was to call it off, but he felt obligated to continue because some artists were already hard at work on stories and had turned down other jobs to do his comics. A system was set up so that Moore would never technically work for DC, receiving his checks from somewhere else, though effectively DC distributed America's Best. Since then 2 semi-scandals occurred: an issue of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was pulped because of an authentic turn of the century ad that DC found offensive, and a short story wasn't allowed to be published because it featured L. Ron Hubbard, father of the lawsuit-happy Scientology religion. This was discredited when a story about L. Ron Hubbard was found in a DC-published anthology.

Looks like the final straw was the V For Vendetta movie. Moore always tried to separate himself from the film adaptations of his works: he didn't want to be involved, he was happy to just receive credit and the checks. But when he was sued (along with 20th Century Fox) by a screenwriter claiming the film LXG was a rip-off of his screenplay, he had to undergo a 10-hour deposition defending his own comic from the screenplay he had nothing to do with. In fact, the similar elements were ones the studio added that were NOT in the comic, such as Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray. After that, he didn't want his name to be used, or to receive money from any movies; his share would be redistributed among the artists involved. But at the V For Vendetta press conference producer Joel Silver implied that Moore endorsed the film's script, when something more like the reverse happened (see the column for details), and Moore demanded a retraction and apology from Silver and Warner Bros., who own DC. It didn't come, and Moore basically said that was it; after my contractual obligations are complete, I'm leaving and taking League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with me (he and artist Kevin O'Neill own the property in full). They took it to Top Shelf, a small publisher who have done good by Moore for the last few years, publishing new editions of his Mirror of Love and Voice of the Fire, as well as handling the publication/distribution of From Hell.

Though I'm obviously biased, this is just ridiculous. I can see DC doing this to a lesser-known writer, but pissing off Alan Moore? I mean, not only is he possibly the greatest writer the medium's had, everyone KNOWS he can hold a grudge like nobody's business. DC just kissed off a whole lot of money.

Moore, in a rare case, spoke against the V For Vendetta script (presumably because it's the cause of so much trouble): "It was imbecilic; it had plot holes you couldn't have got away with in Whizzer And Chips in the 1960s. Plot holes no one had noticed.

They don't know what British people have for breakfast; they couldn't be bothered. 'Eggy in a basket,' apparently. Now the US have 'eggs in a basket,' which is fried bread with a fried egg in a hole in the middle. I guess they thought we must eat that as well, and thought 'eggy in a basket' was a quaint and Olde Worlde version. And they decided that the British postal service is called Fedco. They'll have thought something like, 'Well, what's a British version of FedEx... how about FedCo? A friend of mine had to point out to them that the Fed, in FedEx comes from 'Federal Express.' America is a federal republic; Britain is not."

He's also said that from now on he's not going to allow any work of his to be adapted into a film if he can help it.

A title was given for his next novel, "Jerusalem," which, based on its description, will not replace the previously-mentioned "A Grimoire" (perhaps only delaying it). Where his first novel "Voice of the Fire" took place entirely in his hometown of Northampton over a span of 10,000 years, "Jerusalem" will take place in the space of 3 or 4 blocks in Northampton where Moore grew up.

He's working on a graphic novel for Avatar Press.

He also proposed to his long-time girlfriend Melinda Gebbie (artist of Lost Girls) and she accepted.

And on the Alan Moore Fan Site you have a chance to ask the magus himself a question.

THIS YEAR IN ALAN MOORE BOOKS WILL KILL ME

Promethea Vol. 4 (already out)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 2: The Absolute Edition (June)
Top 10: The 49ers (July)
Tom Strong's Terrific Tales Vol. 1 (August)
V For Vendetta HC (September)
Absolute Watchmen (October)
Lost Girls (December)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Dark Dossier (sometime this year)

(not Alan Moore):
The Complete Calvin & Hobbes (October)

What can I say? He is my favorite writer. And C&H is my favorite comic strip.

DEVELOP

I've been using my LC-A less these last few months (hopefully this will be rectified). I developed a roll the other day and it's funny to see how many events are on it: the earliest pictures are New Year's Eve pictures, reunion dinner with my high school classmates, CD's exhibit at Saguijo, then there's our picnic at The Fort, Singapore visits 1 & 2, the HG shoot with Amanda Griffin/Georgina Wilson/Ronnie Lazaro, my quick jaunt in Malaysia, ending with the Camiling Story showing at UPFI.

STUFF

Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, an adaptation of English author Diana Wynne Jones's fantasy book.

A new Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit trailer, less cheeky than the first.

Continuing with the Alan Moore mayhem, here's a short trailer for the documentary on him, The Mindscape of Alan Moore (I hope they come up with a better title).

And we haven't had Milkman Dan recently, so

The biggest independent film of the year comes out today. I really do hope it's good.

Is George Lucas a slut? Inquiring minds want to know. It seems that so long as you're willing to pay truckloads of cash, Darth Vader/Anakin will endorse your product, from soda-pop beverages to candy. Have you seen the cute yellow M&M standing with a lightsaber beside the Sith Lord? Does it not occur to the corporate suits that they are tying up with a film whose main character SUCCUMBS TO EVIL AND THE TEMPTATIONS OF POWER AND RUTHLESSLY MURDERS PRETTY MUCH HIS ENTIRE BROTHERHOOD!?!? Now have some candy, kids. They're yummy.

This is now out in the US:

And because everyone's always wondered what a dog would look like dressed as Princess Leia in her slave gear (also for Lia who is leaving to watch Bloc Party!):

Please, PLEASE, PLEASE! Go to Saguijo sometime soon to catch the 4-man exhibit Kantutan Sa Ulan, featuring new work by RA Rivera, Jun Sabayton, Lyle Sacris, and Vincent Van Gogh in a surprise participation. Quite possibly the most electrifying exhibit you may see this year, flying in the face of all conventions, making you question what is art, and what is hanging on your walls; it is a treat for the funny bone, the heart, the soul, the spirit, the mind, the head, and your brain, too.

URGENT!

Tomorrow (Tuesday, May 17) Erwin Romulo's CAMILING STORY will be shown at the UP Film Institute, 5 PM, free of charge.

And for a bit of the funny, here is the best quote of the year! Well, today, at least:

"Last time I met her we were in a restaurant together - she slammed the menu down and screamed, 'I hate reading! Someone tell me what's on the menu!' I mean, I'm blonde but c'mon."

-- Pamela Anderson on Paris Hilton

Is it not the best? That story is good enough, but that last line! C'mon!

I spent half the afternoon trying to catch up on unread LJ posts. Boy was that wrong. So much pain and anguish! I thought it was just the heat. My feeling now is I want to stab out my eyes like that girl in the diner in the first Sandman book (Preludes & Nocturnes). I think people are too obsessed with love. I think it’s media manipulation and peer pressure to a large extent. I mean, love is great, but I don’t think it’s everything. And maybe the romantics will pounce on that sentence but would you tell someone who’s never known love to just end it because their life wasn’t worth living without it? Or are these just more signs of my growing older? When I was younger, did I think love was everything? (thinks, answer: no. Actually gave up on love around 16, 17.) I wish there was more art that affirmed that you could lead a perfectly happy life even while being single. That you are not nothing without someone else to make you feel better about yourself, or to acknowledge you, or to notice you.

Wait, what? Am I making any sense?

Gweilo’s Hour tonight at 9 on NU. Listen if you’re bored, some good songs planned.

Tomorrow at Gweilo’s Eastwood, some bands are playing. Perhaps you are interested in music, yes? Try The Extra Special, Citric Maple, another band whose name I forgot, and The Sabaytones are playing.

Laughter, oh, it is good.

Click.

MORE MOVIE GUNK

That's Portman sans locks as Evey. And the unknown who was going to play V (James Purefoy) has been replaced by Agent Smith/Elrond himself, Hugo Weaving. God, V's going to be an insufferable boor, isn't he? Also, Stephen Fry is playing The Voice, who he described in a recent interview as a voice of opposition to the fascist regime, which prompted Warren Ellis to write that he expects Watchmen to be a fucking musical (The Voice in the graphic novel is the government's PR machine, a consummate liar and sexual deviant).

Speaking of Watchmen, its greenlight was turned off due to recent executive shuffling at Paramount and a recently-struck deal with Marvel Comics. I think its status now is that the producers and director (Paul Greengrass, for those keeping track) now have to re-pitch the entire project to new suits, and they have several things going against them: a) it's not a Marvel property, b) there are no known characters, c) no sequel potential, d) it's a bit of a downer, and e) the budget's somewhere around $100 million. Rumors circulating around the time were John Cusack as Nite Owl, Sigourney Weaver as one of the Silk Spectres (I forget which), and Jude Law has said he wants to play Ozymandias (Law is a big Watchmen fan). But nothing may happen, which wouldn't bother me at all.

Possibly my favorite photographer, David LaChappelle has directed a film called Rize. I also want to see Kontroll. Looks interesting.

I guess Goblet of Fire and Chronicles of Narnia will be fighting it out this holiday season, and it occurred to me the other day that this summer, both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, who basically invented the summer movie, both have monster summer movies coming out. Hm.

Hello!

Yes, I’ve been back from Singapore for a while now. Yes, I’ve been slightly busy. Also, Hotmail screwed with me, so I missed out on a lot of messages, and had to reactivate my account with many mailing lists. If I’ve not mentioned it already, all email to me should now be sent to my Gmail address; I’ve all but given up on Hotmail’s terribly piss-poor service. If you sent me something that needed a response and didn’t get one, you should probably re-send it. Sorry.

Lots to talk about, and hopefully I will get to them, but for now let’s just get to what you go to Mindfuel for! :)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (teaser trailer; Gambon is really great as Dumbledore)

The Chronicles of Narnia (teaser)

Batman Begins (trailer 4) --> YES.

George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead (Asia Argento makes sense)

Joss Whedon’s Serenity

Jet Li in Unleashed

Save The Green Planet looks like a laugh.

A funny behind-the-scenes clip from the set of King Kong (which is done shooting! Holy shit!)

Greetings from Singapore!

Everything is damn expensive. Beer's 12 dollars! A pack of cigarettes is 10. And a dollar is roughly 33-35 pesos. Cab rides are about the same, and forget about food! Hopefully I will have lost some weight when I get back.

The shopping is good, if you're rich. But I've seen the Guero DVD, looking tempting (and not exorbitantly priced), and I looked at HMV to look for 2 CDs: the first Very Secretary album, and Alexandre Desplat's score for Birth. Only found the latter, but at $23! Madness.

That said, are there any hardcore Il Mare/My Sassy Girl fans out there? I saw the posters going for I think $14. Convert it yourself, and if you want me to get it for you, text me asap. I'm back in Manila on Saturday, fingers crossed.

I miss dried mangoes! Labo.

“Good taste is the enemy of art.” – Pablo Picasso

Mario and Erwin have kindly invited me to join them as a regular host on the Gweilo’s Hour, so, yeah, if, like me, your Friday nights are free and you’re sober enough during the hour of 9-10 PM and can reach a radio, have a listen.

I may be away for a few days, starting tomorrow.

The Ring 2 sucks. Which is sad because a) it’s Hideo Nakata, and b) there was an interesting twist that was so ripe with potential, it was the perfect excuse to have a sustained feeling of tension/dread/terror, but no, they settled with cheap shocks and the Goddamn Hollywood One-Liner. Nice Gary Cole cameo though.

I liked Closer. I really thought I wouldn’t, when I saw the trailer. But it was good. It’s very obviously adapted from a play, though, and I’m really curious if the non-linear structure is faithful (it was adapted by the playwright himself). What’s interesting to me is that there actually wasn’t that much time for character development, it just jumps right into those pivotal moments in the relationship and the betrayals/counter-betrayals. So what happens is you bring a lot to it as an audience member; your memories and experiences and knowledge of how people are petty and shallow and insecure and cheap and selfish and fuck each other over, seemingly with abandon. A reviewer described it as an emotional Rorschach test of relationships, and that’s something to think about. I loved Clive Owen, especially his showdown with Julia Roberts, when he trapped her and I actually wanted to stand up and cheer (I settled for pointing at the screen, silently hooting). Occasionally, though, it irks me when the dialogue is TOO good, TOO perfect (too witty repartee, basically), and delivered so quickly. No one talks like that in real life. It’s something plays tend to do. When I argue with someone there usually aren’t these wonderful poison-laced bon mots that fly around like confetti, I’m not trying to use my tongue as a makeshift epee. I can admire the writing, but it doesn’t feel realistic, because normal people stutter, eat their words, stumble, say stupid things they don’t mean and sometimes things that don’t even make sense after you utter them and you’re left feeling embarrassed but still trying to appear dignified in your anger. But, yeah, Closer makes you think about relationships, particularly your own, and in that, it works great.

Forgot to mention that I finished, a while back, the Hitchhiker’s Guide books of Douglas Adams, and enjoyed them. It’s occasionally brilliant writing, though inconsistent. It is definitely brilliant comedy. It’s funny to realize how big an influence he is on Neil Gaiman (who wrote a Guide to Hitchhiker’s Guide called Don’t Panic! as one of his first major works as an unknown) and pop culture in general, but in its own very British way. Like big epics, it takes turns in directions you didn’t even know existed (like suddenly jumping 5 years within the turn of a page), and by the end you are most definitely in strange unfamiliar territory. I can only assume he intended to continue the series because WHAT HAPPENED TO FENCHURCH!? And other assorted plot bits were left dangling. With his demise, it looks like these will be questions for the ages.

I had a quick fever last week, like one day, but after I had a cough that still hasn’t left, and one afternoon I was watching HBO and caught the majority of The Emperor’s Club, a film I originally dismissed as another Dead Poets Society-type film, but I was still curious to watch it because I like Kevin Kline. It’s surprisingly different, for a reason I can’t divulge for fear of spoiling it, but the real surprise is FUCKING RAHUL KHANNA, ex-MTV VJ, who is in the film as some kind of genius! I was wondering where he’d got to.

PowerBooks is on sale until the end of the month. I highly recommend David B.’s Epileptic, which is in the biographies section. I’m going through that right now and it’s definitely one of the books of the year; one of the most significant graphic novels in the wake of Craig Thompson’s Blankets, Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan, Paul Hornschemeier’s Mother, Come Home; etc. Also The Best of American Splendor & Posy Simmond’s Gemma Bovery in Graphic Novels.

Richard Kadrey has offered his new novel, Blind Shrike, to the public absolutely free as a downloadable .PDF. His Viperwire nanotales are still up on Infinite Matrix, and his earlier novel Metrophage is also still a free download.

TRAILERS

Color Me Kubrick, starring John Malkovich

Daywatch, sequel to Nightwatch

Tony Scott’s Domino

And naturally, Breakdancing Transformers

PROCRASTINATION POST

The Onion remains, if not consistently hilarious, then consistently unafraid to poke at the most sensitive and controversial of topics. Recent headlines include "Pope's Renal System Proves Fallible," "John Paul II's Last Words: 'Pope Sled'," and "Terri Schiavo Dies of Embarrassment."

MEDIA

The new, internet-exclusive Kingdom of Heaven trailer has some great-looking shots.

Kim Ki-Duk's 3-Iron looks interesting.

Night Watch looks DAMN good.

Check out the Japanese War of the Worlds trailer. More footage. And it only occurs to me now that it looks like the entire film will be from the perspective of this one family, so that has me more interested.

Here are the trailers (1 and 2) for Michael Bay's The Island, and if you're wondering why in God's name do I have trailers for a Michael Bay film linked on my blog it's this: he's been smart of late, what with producing remakes of classic cult horror films directed by chums of his (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [with an upcoming prequel], The Amityville Horror, with The Hitcher in development), and this is a good move, something Roger Ebert (I think) wrote about: remaking bad films that had good plots (instead of remaking great films [i.e. Jonathan Demme squandering his career on The Truth About Charlie, a remake of Charade, and the recent The Manchurian Candidate]). So, a good concept, with potential for Explodo (what Bay's best at), rewritten by writers from JJ Abrams's Alias. There's potential there. And apparently, the original Island was so bad it was in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The internet-exclusive Fantastic Four trailers (1 and 2) are the best of the bunch so far, but still nothing exciting.

Goddamn, that 3rd Episode 3 trailer, I'll admit it, it got me excited again. Especially that hissing Emperor. Although, I still expect that the trailers will be better than the film. Though I do expect this will be the best instalment of the new trilogy. Here are the TV spots: 1 and 2 and 3

Meanwhile, a raise should really be given to whoever's been handling the marketing of Batman Begins, everything has been classy and just whip-smart. Here are the TV spots. Check out the first. I love that they're confident enough to have a TV spot be nothing but screeching, howling bats against a blood-red sky and the emerging logo. Hardcore!

I can't wait to see this: Sarah Silverman's concert film Jesus is Magic.

If you go here, you can hear some cool authors doing readings at last year's Library of Congress Festival, including Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, Peter Straub, Lawrence Block, and Frederik Pohl.

Take a photo, apply lots of free time and fooling around with Photoshop, this is what happens. I hurt myself laughing at some, I think.

Here's the sick and wrong photo that wouldn't load for the longest time (from a previous post).

This is really for Harvey, but others may be interested: New Scientist's 13 Things That Don't Make Sense.

And this one is for Sansan, and anyone else who wants a laugh. The comments go on forever, but there are some real gems in there if you're willing to look for 'em.

And more sick and wrong.

We had this moving homily yesterday. Bishop Escaler was recounting the times he’s met the Pope-- apparently all bishops have to report to him in person every 5 years, so in the past 26 years he’s met with him 5 times. He considers it an honor that he’s had an hour and 15 minutes of personal face time with His Holiness. He recalled him as “a simple man, garbed in white, behind a simple desk… he always stood up when you entered the room, made sure you were comfortable, offered you a seat…” before they’d get down to brass tacks. The meetings went like this: first, he’d inquire as to the bishop’s own personal health and well-being, then the bishop gives his report, and then the Pope asks pretty much the same questions: How are the Muslims in your area? How is the peace and order situation? Have any members of the clergy been threatened? Are any of you in danger?

He also recounted a lunch the bishops were invited to while the Pope was visiting here, during which he remarked, “You Filipinos, you have all these problems, but you’re always happy, always singing.” He apparently loved hearing and saying mass here because of the vigorous and lively singing.

He talked about how JP II was very fond of the youth, how he was unpopular with a lot of Catholics for some controversial moves (like the Ecumenicism), how he was instrumental in the fall of communism, how he visited this Bulgarian who had shot him twice in his prison cell and forgave him. One of the coolest stories was how, by some twist of fate, Bishop Escaler was present when JP II was installed as Pope (in the Sistine Chapel? I forget) in 1978. He happened to be in Rome, a young priest, and he was invited to attend. By some mistake, he was seated IN THE FRONT ROW, along with all the Cardinals, who were glancing askance, wondering who this young Asian priest was and why he was in the front row.

Bishop Escaler broke into tears several times during the homily. He just couldn’t help himself. It surprised all of us. I wasn’t looking at him the first time it happened, my head was turned down but then I heard his voice break and waver, and I looked up and he had paused, with this look of helplessness that was heartbreaking. You could see he was trying not to cry but there was no way. You wished you could go over to the altar and console him. It really seemed to be a very personal loss for him. Several other people in church were also dabbing at their eyes.

BEDROOM BEDLAM

I really need to clean up/organize my room some day. Hopefully soon:

This bookshelf was filled up as soon as I moved in.



So was this headboard.



The top of the headboard, filled with stuff I'm reading/have to get to soon.



Unwatched DVDs. These are just TV shows. Unwatched films are in the closet. Watched films are in a filing cabinet outside my parents' bedroom.



My dead sexy bookcase, already full. :( There's Alan Moore glowering menacingly in the corner.



I haven't actually used this desk the way it was meant to be in years.



More stuff to get through.



I'm so out of room, I've got shit piled up on the floor.

In a way, I'm almost proud that my room is full of books/magazines/CDs/DVDs. It's tricky walking through it now. I wish I had the biggest room in the house. I seem to have the most stuff. No one else really reads. :(

MUSIC/RADIO

I'm looking for more new music these days. Things seem so up in the air, like you can't tell where things are heading. And a number of albums have disappointed me. I only liked maybe 3 songs from Daft Punk's Human After All (after loving Discovery), the Chemical Brothers' Push The Button wasn't bad, but didn't do anything new either; it was a bit predictable. The Prodigy's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned I heard last year in Edinburgh and it almost put me to sleep. Moby's Hotel was a real disappointment, nothing there made much of an impression and I just ended up missing all the soul stuff. I see why everyone harps on about The Bravery but I still found myself wanting more. The new Weezer, Make Believe, also didn't set my pants on fire. M83's Before The Dawn Heals Us was a surprise, but misleading. People said Air but really they're more My Bloody Valentine. Not bad, but not what I'm looking for, I guess. Queens of the Stone Age turned in a good album, Lullabies To Paralyze. But so far the only thing I've been replaying often is Bloc Party's Silent Alarm. I am glad to announce my second great album of the year so far: Beck's Guero, which is a return to a more lively, party sound, less Midnite Vultures and more of Odelay. I think it's a good move that all his albums sound so different from the one that came before it.

Neva and I watched the Bjork performance at the Royal Opera House the other night (fucking fantastic; brought me to tears several times) and I ended up listening to Post and Vespertine again as a result. Maybe that's what I'm looking for now; at the time I heard those albums the music seemed strange and exciting and unconventional, but Bjork's voice was the anchor. And it's nice that years later those albums still play great. I should dig up Medulla again. So maybe that mix of strange and new but with something still human and-- I don't know-- organic, or natural, to it.

I really hope the new Hot Hot Heat is great. You can listen to some of the songs off of Elevator at their website. And I can't wait for the Pedicab album to be released. I don't think it surprised anyone that they got signed so quickly, but I have to admit it was a bit unexpected to hear they played at Absinth.

I was listening to Zbigniew Preisner's score for Rouge the other day and was amazed to realize that he's such a strong influence on the Final Fantasy soundtracks of Nobuo Uematsu I enjoyed in high school. A day or two later and I found myself listening to the soundtrack of Final Fantasy 6 just to make sure (was also pleasantly surprised to find I still remembered Uematsu's name right).

Joey Comeau makes an interesting observation.

Speaking of ipods, I was thinking again of finally getting one, what with the price drops. The shuffle's no good to me without an LCD display (which is why it's a shuffle, people tell me, but when you can have 16 CDs and are looking for THAT ONE SONG you're fucked). But looking up some of the competition on the web, I found that some of the Archos stuff now has video (and others are practically ipod/pdas), and storage up to 100 GB. Still expensive, though. And the recent news of Apple's battery supplier being able to triple the battery life told me that I should wait a while yet. Especially since phone companies are going to try to get into the game too. Ah, well. By the time I could afford it anyway it already would have been a couple of months. I also wonder when customizability will enter the fray.

It will also be very interesting to watch the success of Sony's PSP upon its release next week. Since it can play video and music, display photos, and of course, play games, I wonder if it's going to put more things into motion.

One of the reasons I wanted an mp3 player was to listen to longer stuff like podcasts. Most of the music I've been getting into lately I was introduced to through internet radio shows and mp3/music blogs. I listen to these while I'm working but wish I could take it with me while traveling. It would also allow for the convenience of listening to international radio, maybe some of the BBC and/or NPR stuff. Trinka sent me a link to this radio documentary, Chasing Love by Miguel Macias, and it's quite interesting (only an hour). I didn't even know there were radio documentaries. It's a 3-year-project of this graduate student (I think), where he edited interviews with lots of people about love while researching the history of romantic love and how it ties into other aspects of society like economics, psychology, culture, etc. It reminded me of Waking Life. It was an eye-opener for me (metaphorically speaking) because I didn't know you could do this sort of thing with radio. Looking around the Transom website, you'll find that there are radio zines, a beautiful, brilliant idea if there was one. Just the fact that these things exist can get me excited. I listen to the occasional radio play (the Neil Gaiman adaptations, mostly) and have the Alan Moore performance pieces, but still, it's lovely that radio (or any media, really) can still surprise you.

Here you’ll find the trailer for Palindromes, the new Todd Solondz film. It’s got a nice poster, too.

I have a new mini-mission, which is to get as many of my friends to read Alan Moore & David Lloyd’s V For Vendetta as I can before the movie comes out in November. Who knows, the movie might be great, but it could also be a flaming turd seeing as it’s the first film from a guy whose biggest credit is assisting the Wachowskis (who wrote the script!). I also disagree with the casting of anyone in the role of the main character V; he’s never shown or named in the book because the point was that he could be anybody. Also, in the film, the oppressive state of things is due to the Germans winning WW2. So beyond the shades of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, it devolves a sophisticated setup (because the crime is that the English people allowed such a fascist state to gain and keep power) into a conveniently palatable Hollywood one, wherein you have an external antagonist. And not just ANY external antagonist, but the one that virtually everyone can hate in unison: NAZIS! The only people who don’t hate them are the Nazis themselves. So that, you know, there can be ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT who the bad guys are. Whereas, in the book, just as much responsibility is placed on the passive masses.

So join my crusade! And we will all end up talking about how brilliant Moore is!

Sorta rule: be quick about it, so other people can read. :)

I've been invited to play some songs of my choosing tomorrow night (Friday) on NU107.5's Gweilo's Hour, which is at 9 PM. If you're not doing anything then, I hope you can tune in. :)

Will be playing some tracks from Bloc Party, The Radio Dept., The Bravery, LCD Soundsystem, The Black Keys, and the new Beck. :) And if we can squeeze it in, Ambulance LTD, The Arcade Fire, Razorlight, and stuff from the new Weezer and shelved Fiona Apple albums.

FREE PORN!

I have no idea what this film is but I want to see it. That's effective packaging and design. Gotta love Criterion.

Been a bit busy, but here's some cool stuff:

The Guardian sent Joe Sacco to Iraq, and this is what he sent in. It's 37MB, but damn worth it. Read it, it's only 8 pages (it's easier to direct-download it first). His brand of comics journalism is really effective. Time commissioned an article from him some time ago, and Entertainment Weekly have been commissioning comics strips from Harvey Pekar and friends. Let's hope this trend continues. Some of Sacco's books are available at Fully Booked.

The Gallery of Bad Album Covers

Top Shelf, purveyor of fine sequential art, have a massive sale until the 15th of March, wherein some of their graphic novels have dropped all the way down to $3. Now is the perfect time to stock up on those books you want. I recommend Abe: Wrong for the Right Reasons, Cicada, The Soap Lady, the Pistolwhip books, The Mirror of Love, Pinky & Stinky, A Complete Lowlife, Blankets, The Barefoot Serpent, American Elf, and any of the Expo and Top Shelf anthologies. And of course, Voice of the Fire (signed at only $40).

I know I give Halle Berry shit, and she deserves it because her film choices post-Oscar have been mostly atrocious, but it was a classy move to show up to accept her Razzie, and she deserves props.

Someone mashed up the Super Friends with Office Space, and it came out quite well. I've never seen Office Space; anyone have a copy I can borrow?

First this, and now this. What's going on here? My brain can't seem to wrap itself around the idea. The twin pillars of Moore's work that first knocked me over are being made into movies, coming out within a year of each other. Although, if you check out the V For Vendetta website, there's a transcript of the recent press conference, and hearing Natalie Portman say she's going to shave her head and lose weight (what, like she isn't malnourished already?) is a sign of hope. And her playing Evey is growing on me, despite my initial mixed skepticism. And they plan to have it in theaters this November, in time for Guy Fawkes Day. It's interesting that both productions have immediately grasped onto the iconic images of the smiley and mask, respectively, for marketing/branding purposes.

And I have to say, hearing Natalie Portman say the words "Alan Moore" kind of made my brain stand up and applaud, using its hemispheres in lieu of hands.

Trailer-wise, there is A Scanner Darkly (late, but I was waiting for the Quicktime version), the new Sin City (with Quentin Tarantino getting billing, despite working a single day [chalk it up to marketing]), the very exciting Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (and kudos to Dreamworks for allowing an unconventional trailer), and really, ALL of you need to see the 3rd, Internet-only trailer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's lovely, and reflexive, somewhat reminiscent of the Comedian trailer. And in anticipation, I've begun reading the books.

And let's end with the sick and wrong:

PS: Franz Ferdinand are coming to Manila on Neva's birthday, and the Neil Gaiman thing is in July. As usual, these are tentative.

1827 days later and I still don’t know how it happened;
still reeling,
still going,
“Wow.”

:D

Scholastic is having a 3-day Book Fair from Feb. 28 – Mar. 2 (Mon. – Wed.) at Studio 1 Plaza (where is this?). According to the email I read, you can reserve Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince at a lower price than the bookstores are offering (which makes sense, since Scholastic is both the publisher and distributor of said book). I wish I could find out if they’ll have the colorized Bone volumes on sale…

If you go here you can read, for free, the first issues of Tom Strong, Top 10, and Tomorrow Stories, all written by Alan Moore. Good stuff.

An oldie but a goodie. Found it again while looking for something else.

National Lampoon argues quite convincingly that Superman Is A Dick.

-

It is mildly frightening that some people are saying that Constantine is a good film. I generally agree with Tasha Robinson’s review. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised; I hear that there are actually some people who think the last 2 Matrix movies (aka Those That Shall Not Be Named) were movies (some of those few actually say it’s good! Imagine that, Mark Lavin.). It’s a little bit more aggravating when I hear that some of the people who recommend Constantine are comics readers. Which can be, in a way, a sort of test. If you liked Constantine, you are in no way a John Constantine fan.

It’s bad. The story’s a mess. The worst thing about it is Keanu. The best thing it’s got going is a competent, better-than-expected visual style (that unfortunately somewhat peters out at the end). That and Rachel Weisz. And I’m sorry, but when is Hollywood going to learn that the only thing less scary than CG demons is the Care Bears? The only time I remember CG creatures having a genuine effect is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But here they’re just laughable (they’re brainless, too!). And, might I add, possibly the most cliché conception of Hell I’ve seen. Oh, yes, red, fire, post-apocalyptic wasteland, etc. Souls burning. That’s bad enough, but good GOD, did you see Heaven? Actual clouds and spires! Sunlight! It looks like the most boring place in imagination! In the beginning, there were still some actual touches: Constantine not holding the elevator for Isabel, for instance. But then later, it’s like, buy him some eggs, and he’ll tell you his whole fucking life story! WHO IS THIS MAN!?

I hope people are more careful with the word “good.” You know, reserve it for what really deserves it. Because Constantine, even if I wasn’t a comic fan, even if I wasn’t a John Constantine fan, is a bad Hollywood film. And when we claim that bad shit is good, that just lowers the bar further and gives Hollywood more license to churn out shit. I’m glad that in the US, Constantine’s first weekend box office take (extended, since it came out earlier) couldn’t outperform the supposedly-also-tepid Hitch, which was on its SECOND week, for the top slot. Still, word is they’re going to try and make it a franchise too. If so, poor John Constantine (the character); he really is damned.

I know in the end it’s really just a matter of taste. I just wish we had better.

Good, on the other hand, is too small a word for Alexander Payne’s Sideways. I’m glad I didn’t read up on this; I didn’t want to build an expectation. I just knew that I hadn’t seen an Alexander Payne film I hadn’t liked yet, and this one definitely did not disappoint. I know nothing about wine, but it doesn’t matter. The film’s not about that anyway. It’s difficult for me to actually talk about; I’d rather people just went out and watched it. Experience it for themselves. I’ve found that different people take different things from it, which is certainly the mark of a great film, if anything. It works on a number of levels, but even the superficial one is meaty enough for at least 3 films.

I hope to see Aviator tonight, though that 3-hour running time is a doozy when you’re not in the mood.

For some reason, Love Me If You Dare, a film I was really looking forward to, is playing at SM City, AND NOWHERE ELSE. WTF?

I've been quoted on a banner ad for the Haruki Murakami website. How strange. And I caught it on the Bookslut blog, no less, where I often go. Cool. I was happy enough getting translated into Italian, but this is cool/weird too. It's also (so far) turned up on Stereogum and Metafilter, and get this: one on Metafilter is on a page discussing a friend of mine, resident genius and sweetheart Genie Ranada, whose costume has been seen by so many people around the world she keeps crashing picture host sites and has become her own meme.

Though I wonder how many people have curiously clicked on the link and went "Whuh--? It's just some dude's blog!"

I want to see Tetsujin 28 (known elsewhere as Gigantor). What is it about robots and boys?

Another Edgar Wright video for Charlotte Hatherley, "Summer." Her songs are a bit too long, but sometimes I'm reminded of Juliana Hatfield. And I was staring at her for a while, wondering why she seems familiar, when I realized: she's the guitarist of Ash.

Finally, the trailer for Hitchhiker's Guide is up on Amazon, this time with people. It looks good; I like the cast a lot. And the release date's been moved up to April. :)

Sin City (film) website now live.

Here's the schedule for Eiga Sai (Akira Kurosawa!) at UPFI (I'm too lazy to put this much at a time in the remember! box):
23 February Wednesday 4 p.m. Doomed aka To Live (Ikiru)
23 February Wednesday 7 p.m. The Bad Sleep Well
24 February Thursday 4 p.m. Not Yet (Madadayo)
24 February Thursday 7 p.m. Judo Saga
25 February Friday 4 p.m. Doomed aka To Live
25 February Friday 7 p.m. High and Low
26 February Saturday 1 p.m. Doomed aka To Live
26 February Saturday 4 p.m. Rashomon
26 February Saturday 7 p.m. Seven Samurai
28 February Monday 4 p.m. Not Yet
28 February Monday 7 p.m. Stray Dog

Congratulations go to Erwin Romulo for the Camiling Story premiere last Tuesday. Mel Chionglo, Eddie Romero, Lav Diaz, Ricky Davao, etc. were all in attendance. It was my first time to lay eyes on Mike De Leon. Was also nice to see some people I've not seen in a while: Cecile, Trinka, Gay, Kathy. And hopefully we've convinced (or bullied) Joey into reopening Brash. Come on, man! Shallow Grave!

I liked Camiling Story better this second time around. And the trailer for Rico Ilarde's Sa Ilalim ng Cogon made me want to see it.

"Wow. United Colors of Benetton." - Neva, upon seeing Bloc Party's members for the first time (and yes, I've still been listening to "So Here We Are" a lot)

And something funny to end this post. My favorite's "Aikin-Johnson."

If you're not doing anything at 6 PM this Tuesday, Feb. 15, trot your ass over to the NCCA in Intramuros (633 Gen. Luna) for the premiere of Erwin Romulo's Camiling Story, starring Diego Mapa! With Yvonne Quisumbing-Romulo's short Puey preceding! Free entrance, open to the public, how can you beat that deal? Not even a dress code!

Neva and I went to CDy's exhibit opening last Saturday waay over at The Cubicle. It's the first of her "Short Time" series of exhibits, and it's an interesting assembly of work, charcoal pieces of a man undressing. It slowly dawned on me that though presented as fine art (which it is), it's also sequential art, meaning the exhibit is a comic strip. As you start on the ground floor and make your way upstairs (there's even a piece hanging on the wall of the stairway, so you have to stop there too), the man gradually loses all his clothing, and the coup de gras is a powerful POV shot I hope never to experience firsthand. I think it's terrific; beyond unifying the pieces with a strong theme, it makes it more interactive, and there's more of a narrative, though you can appreciate each work individually as moments/glimpses. So it works on multiple levels. They even painted the walls of the gallery specific colors to contrast with the works and try to capture the ambience/atmosphere of a motel. Kudos to CDy! You can see some of her works at her online gallery, but if you can drop by The Cubicle to check out the exhibit, do so.

Speaking of CDy, she named a teddy bear after me! Meet Mon-Mon:

Complete with zippers and chain!

She gave me the prototype a few months back, but it hasn't left Neva's possession. I wanted to post about it, but decided to wait until it was for sale already in UFO. Which it is. Check out her other stuffed stuff at BOMBA!

I've never had a sadomasochistic teddy bear named after me before. It's quite a thrill and honor.

-

Dear God. Looks like it's really happening.

Batman Begins Super Bowl TV Spot
War of the Worlds Super Bowl TV Spot
Bud Light ad banned from the Super Bowl

Rebecca Miller's The Ballad of Jack & Rose

An eerie short, Muppets Overtime

Shockingly funny news (actually not so shocking)

-

I've abandoned my Global Frequency email ad, for those who were using that to contact me. I'm still using the Hotmail and Gmail ones, and still get Friendster notifications, or you could just comment here, if so inclined.

It was a little weird. The Global Frequency account was mostly for work. But I also ended up using it as a repository for reference and stuff I thought I might need later on. Research, weblinks, addresses, etc. But cleaning it out I found stuff I'd completely forgotten about in the 2 years I've had it: correspondence from Dave McKean's producer, account info for a site I registered for but completely forgot about, a reply to someone I hardly knew who chose to come out of the closet to me, and an angry email from Neva that contained 29 instances of the word "fuck," "fucker," or "fucking." It was a bit arduous, and that was just for an account I've had for a little over 2 years. If I had to clean out my original email account, the one I've had ever since I got on the web ('94 or '95), it would take forever and be, I expect, quite painful. In this regard these email accounts are almost like diaries or photo albums. Gmail's especially structured in this way, with conversations considered one file and the ability to store a LOT of detritus.

-

I finished Peter Biskind's Down & Dirty Pictures after about 2 weeks. It's a nice thick book, the one he was promoting when I met him at the Edinburgh Book Festival last August, but it was only in hardcover then and I couldn't afford it. Got it at the recent Powerbooks sale. It concerns the era during which I fell in love with film ('90s), so it was very interesting to read the behind-the-scenes dramas and hilarity concerning some of my favorite movies. Very dishy and very much worth it.

After that I barreled through Michael Chabon's The Final Solution, which Neva got me in Singapore. I loved it. It's just a short novella, but impeccably written, just a wonderful homage to the whole detective genre. I love that he really integrated the setting and times into the story, not focusing just on the "case" that the aging Sherlock Holmes (never mentioned by name, but all the hints are there in the beginning) was working on. And the triple-meaning of the title was inspired. After winning the Pulitzer for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, which is one of my favorite books EVER, Chabon seems to have stuck very much to genre fiction, looking at his output: his next work was the young adult fantasy Summerland, then he edited the genre anthology for McSweeney's, and now The Final Solution. What I love is that he's brought this unabashed, unapologetic poetic lyricism to genre fiction. His writing style might strike some as too elaborate, but I like it that way. It doesn't flow as effortlessly as, say, Auster or Murakami, but that works to its advantage: sometimes you can read it out loud, slowing yourself down and just enjoying the arrangement of such-and-such sentences, or a clever turn of phrase, things that don't usually occur in genre fiction, which tends to more often than not be all about plot. Chabon's been great at introducing characterization and writing style as equally weighty ingredients to the mix.

Now halfway through Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, which so far isn't as thick or ambitious as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was, despite the press and hype surrounding the book. I realize it's more of an event than I first understood: not only is it his first book in a while (I think Undergound came out in '02?), it's his first NOVEL in a LONG while, because the last 2 books were an anthology and a non-fiction book of interviews. There isn't much of the whiz-bang descriptions I love, but the story's intriguing enough. The structure is similar to his Hard-Boiled Wonderland & The End of the World: alternating chapters between 2 protagonists, with elements of one sometimes appearing in the other, which feels slightly viral and uncomfortable sometimes. There is the surrealism I've come to expect (talking cats), and a harrowingly intense scene of evisceration. Elements of Underground have also emerged, in chapters that are basically transcripts from a strange event in WW2.

Must every book jacket declare that this is a work of the author at the height of his powers? It almost seems like a joke now.

-

Saw Stacy Peralta's Riding Giants, and it was breathtaking. Made me realize how little I know about surfing, even from a distanced POV. It made you want to learn how to surf at the end, and the soundtrack is awesome. Not just in the selection of music, but when and how it was used. Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Moby, and at the end, suddenly and with great impact, Erik Satie. Like I said, breathtaking. The history of surfing is more interesting than I would ever have expected. There's this guy Greg Noll, who was an icon in the '50s, '60s. He's an old guy now, but the way he talks about surfing is so... affecting. Like he just exudes this love for it, completely and utterly believable. It's actually very sweet, especially in this part where he compares it to a woman. Then there's Laird Hamilton, whose life-story kind of makes him the Jesus of surfing. This guy's so big he was in Ralph Lauren ads and when I saw them in high school I just thought he was another male model. Then you find out he's the best surfer the world's seen, is married to Gabrielle Reece (something of an icon herself), etc. After he surfs this ungodly wave there's a shot of him crying. And the footage is spectacular, especially past the 1:17 mark (the Propellerheads song). That one wave in Teahupoo, I swear to God, looks like A MOVING WATERFALL MADE OF GLASS. If that even makes any sense. And it's just so frighteningly fast, and just massive. Go watch it.

We also saw I Heart Huckabees, which we enjoyed very much. It really shouldn't be taken seriously. Some people have decried it as pretentious but I feel it's all very tongue-in-cheek. I love Isabelle Huppert. Here's an actress literally willing to have her face shoved into mud. And dammit, she's STILL hot. But the surprise for me was Mark Wahlberg. He was so funny.