BREAKING UP
The act of breaking up has never been a popular one. The need to suck up your pride, embrace your fears and take that initial step into trying to put to words why a relationship won't survive can be difficult. If not downright stressfully frightening to do. For some, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. For others, it simply reminds them of how cruel they can be. For others even, it reminds them how much they're being too idealistic or too realistic about love.

But many of the problems associated with breaking up is the fact few actually continue to be honest when they explain their reasons for breaking up with someone, be it with someone whom you've been with for a few days, months, weeks or years. For some reason, the urge to cover it up with the most cliche of excuses ("It's not you, its me..." "I think its time we should try seeing other people...") too easily comes to the fore and replaces the urge to honestly explain one's own side.

And in many cases, the ever eternal "I don't want to hurt you..." excuse comes up as a reason to why such honesty isn't permitted or embraced.

Well, guess what friends. The inevitable event of someone getting hurt happens independently on whether or not you actually honestly admit your reasons for breaking up with someone. Because getting hurt is part of the process of any ending that occurs, be it in a relationship, or an event. And by getting hurt, it could range from everything be it a small tinge of regret to a tsunami of guilt-ridden feelings, painful memories, crying periods and a quiet moment of tearing apart every picture or old letter you used to keep of the said person.

Getting hurt sucks. But it happens. And no break-up ever completely dissolves its presence.

Being honest and communicating what you really feel is never easy. But in many ways, it would be what the relationship, had it had any degree of emotional honesty to begin with, deserves. Don't waste what could have been many special moments and touching memories with a sucky false reason that was spoken in hopes of causing less pain. If the relationship, or at least the attempt to have one was worth the effort before, it should be worth the tears shed in its failure.

So be honest.
Say what you feel.
And give a break-up the respectability you would have given the relationship when it was just starting.

Vector Art Madness

Adobe Illustrator can be such a fun art tool if you really try to use it as one. Strangely, at work, Illustrator is used more often than not as a replacement for Pagemaker, giving us better control over type and the flow of type for lay-outs and for stranger shapes which we need to use later in Photoshop.



Anyway, here's a piece of work I made with my brother's photo as inspiration.

Hope you like it!

SNIPPITY SNIP
Decided to get myself a haircut.
As it turns out, we're having a pictorial next week for our Human Resources AVP which we will soon have to orient any newcomers to ABS-CBN Global of the many departments we have. So we're all going to have to look pretty smart and professional. Ergo, bye bye growing unkept urban artist rugged hair and hello salon-fixed stylized hair-do.

Well, I have to admit, it did help make me look a lot more... neat.

PROMAX AWARD


Just sharing. ABS-CBN Global Limited just won a Promax award for our recent music video Station ID and this morning, the trophy finally arrived. Just had to pose with it beside me and share it with everyone out there. Beautiful piece of work, this trophy. And its nice to know that an international award giving body has just acknowledged our presence in the world. On our first try too.

So to all Filipinos out there who miss the Philippines, this award is also for you!

MOVIES TO CHECK OUT
Howl's Moving Castle



Already showing in some areas is Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, Howl's Moving Castle. Based on the novel by Dianne Wynn Jones, the film is about a young girl who is literally lifted off her feet by her encounter with the enigmatic magician known as Howl. And the chain of events that lead her to being cursed by a witch into becoming an old woman, as well as learning the secret that binds Howl to the fire demon Calcifer.

Rich with wonderful scenes that captivate the imagination as well as truly creative imagery for certain scenes and characters make the engaging storyline only even more compelling and entertaining to watch. Although the film has gained acclaim in Japan and many other places, I personally felt Spirited Away or Nausicaa was much more... Miyazaki for me. Part of how the story unfolded felt a tad more... contrived than the usual suave twists and turns Miyazaki movies contain.

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe



Lucy, Edmund, Suzy and Peter Pevensie embark on the adventure of a lifetime as a magical Wardrobe brings them in touch with the incredible world of Narnia! Reputedly Disney's attempt to recoup the losses of having turned down Lord of the Rings when it was first being circulated for a producer, the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia film looks very interesting and shows much promise... possibly becoming The fantasy film for the coming years the way Lord of the Rings captured the hearts of millions of viewers not too long ago.

Directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Shrek 2), the film has a number of not-too-familiar names to handle the main cast: Tilda Swinton who was the fiesy Gabriel in Constantine plays the role of the White Witch, Georgie Henley plays Lucy, Skandar Keynes as Edmund, Anna Popplewell as Susan and William Moseley as Peter. Then again, fresh faces may give this film the push it needs to feel credible and real. The effects look great so far, although some would feel Arslan has a bit of an evident computerization still visible.

V FOR VENDETTA



When I first read V for Vendetta, I loved how many levels the story reached out to me. There was the disgust for the favor it held towards the acts of terrorism which the man called V had indulged in to make his message known, but at the same time, there was the painfully honest and brutal truth about how much V's feelings and motivations were things that I felt were things many could relate with.

Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta is the story of Evey (Natalie Portman) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked vigilante (Hugo Weaving) known only as “V.” V's quest for truth and his attempts to inspire his fellow citizens to revolt against their oppressive government becomes a parallel quest towards the discovery of truth which Evey learns about herself.

The cast includes Stephen Rea (Interview with the Vampire), Rupert Graves (The Madness of King George), Stephen Fry (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and is produced by Joel Silver, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, V For Vendetta is directed by James McTeigue.

Surprisingly, though heavily inspired (heck, it wouldn't exist without the comic!) by the comic by Alan Moore, there is precious little mention of him in the posters or movie trailers. Most even seemingly and misleading boast that the story is the "uncompromising vision of the people who brought you The Matrix." Frankly, its for that lack of respect for Alan Moore that tempts me at times to not support this film, even if it shows so much promise.

NIGHT WATCH




Last on the list for now is the upcoming German film, Night Watch, a first of an epic horror trilogy that tells us the story of a world where Vampires and Witches exist in the shadows as two opposing sides of Light and Dark. Each side is forbidden to directly influence mankind, and to ensure both sides follow the rules, each side creates a team whose duty is to ensure no one crosses that line: The Day Watch and the Night Watch.

Like the merging of concepts from White Wolf's World of Darkness with the supposed duality of good and evil in Constantine, Night Watch shows much promise to set the bar for horror as well as give the genre a new stab into the vein so to speak on how it can be approached. With vivid imagery and interesting Dave McKean-ish visual critters, there seems to be much to look forward to this upcoming film where the darkness and the light collide once more.

TODAY I SIMPLY WANT TO SAY...

That I love my family
and I thank the Lord God
for all the blessings and graces
that we receive from Him.

Life can be very fleeting.
When was the last time you looked back and realised how much you really love your loved ones?

FREE FLASH GAMES

Part of the fun of being online is the access to fun free games that are just really a treat to experience and enjoy! Let me focus on the flash-created games of 3wish.com where one get's the chance to experience being a boy trapped by aliens, a rat in a cage or a very interesting fellow with a bladed-edge.



All the games are played with what is know as the point-and-click system, made popular by old games such as Shadowgate or Myst as well as adventure games like Secret of Monkey Island or even Maniac Mansion. One tries to solve the riddles and puzzles and find a way to move forward in the game.



Cute, undeniably smart and yet tricky makes these games not just fun but actually very amusing to play through. The blend of really stylized graphics, cartoony music and a wonderful sense of animation make the games feel very professional even if they are free. Something, I guess, for local programmers to aspire to creating to break into the market.


Check them out and tell me how far you get! So far, I'm finding the rat puzzles to be the toughest ones in the set.

A Strong Foundation

When we had our teambuilding seminar a few weeks back, the importance of having a strong foundation was paramount in our discussion. We were all tasked to build towers using plastic straws. All towers were supposed to be at least five feet tall and were supposed to symbolise ABS-CBN. My group and I quickly worked on our tower and came up with one that had the best foundation among all those made: a square base and a lot of good inner links to distribute the stress that it would face. Though we were the second of three groups to finish, we wanted to ensure the strength of our tower as much as possible. When we were told that the towers were to be tested after by having someone from another group fan the tower as strong as possible with a newspaper, we were not worried. We were confident with the way we constructed our tower. True enough, try as they might, the others were unable to topple our tower with their swings.



Having a strong foundation means a lot in many things in life.



Relationships founded on mere physical attraction or sex are doomed to fall apart. Friendships founded merely on the interest on similar things are eventually torn asunder by the next big hobby. Communication with one's parents founded on just problems would lead to arguments and lack of sensitivity to one another. Even weddings, founded on the simple need to "save one's face because of a pregnancy" are very delicate things that if not taken care of, can quickly dissolve into separations.



The problem is not finding a relationship with a strong foundation. Ironically, almost any relationship can be given a foundation to stand on. The true problem is choosing the right foundation to build upon. And this can differ between persons more than one would expect. For some, humor stands as the very firm earth that the long friendship has built upon. For others, its understanding of each others situation that allows the mutual respect to grow and nurture into something far lasting. There are even others who have made the ills of a third party the skeleton of what allows their passion to thrive, and that, though wrong, allows them to keep going as if they have done nothing wrong.



A strong foundation is key to anything meant to last.



And there is only one other thing harder than having to do what it takes to keep a friendship/relationship/partnership going... it is finding the courage to end something which you realise has no fertile ground upon to grow. When you realise there is nothing between you and another that can serve as a good foundation to develop upon... there is sadly no easy way to call things to an end.



But, it must be done.

TRACKSHEET:
1) Diliman issue #14
2) Bangungot
3) James Project
4) Alex-Budjette Project
5) Ghibli Project
6) Eloy Project
7) 24-Hr RPG Project
8) Gaiman Project
9) Open Meet Modules

I guess I am spreading myself thin again.

PANIC
I have just discovered that I am missing my copy of Issue Eleven of DILIMAN.
Oh god. Does anyone out there by some miracle of a chance actually have a copy of that issue still with them?
Ever since the website of the comic went kaput, I though I safely had a back-up of all pages in my computer.
Turns out I didn't. Damn...

Please someone out there tell me you have it.

Project: NEIL IN MY NOTEBOOK
A collection of fan fiction, poetry, short stories, artwork and essays written by people who have been touched, influenced or inspired by Neil Gaiman and his works.

Plan:
To collect them and transform them into a netbook that all consent shall be freely distrubed and shared with the rest of the world that chooses to be interested in it. Share the joy, the inspiration and the writings and expressions you have found born in you with those who may have not yet heard or encountered Neil Gaiman or his works.

What do you guys think?
Sounds good?

I was thinking of having some rules too. Like a page count maximum for fiction, etc, or a size max for artwork so when we lay it out into a book, it comes out all nice and proper. I wonder who'd be up to contributing to making this happen?

A FEW RANDOM MUSINGS
With me still being down with the flu, I decided to mark today's Slinging Ink entry with a few random musings of my own. With the great possibility of being unable to write something coherent due to a medicine that encourages your eyes to feel heavier than Roseanne Barr, here's hoping this actually comes out with a semblance of logic and wit.

THE POLITICAL CIRCUS
I've actually avoided as much as possible blogging anything about this pathetic display of "pagalingan mambola ng masa" (except perhaps for that pay coupon I got a hold of to share which the Makati rally used to gain more numbers) simply because I hoped if I ignored it as much as many others did, it would just go away. And by ignoring it, I meant not talking about it further online. I've been keeping up with the news reports, listening to the reports of growing rallies, of smarter Makati-based workers who simply ignored the "well paid" rallyists when their work hours ended, the noticeably well-orchestrated snow-balling attempt of getting PGMA caught in a rut, and the just as well-launched counterassault of PGMA's camp with the Super Electro-Magnetic Ramos! And so on and so forth (the rest kinda were less exciting than those moments).

And so far, nope, I have not seen anything new.
Nor do I see anyone who would be better to replace PGMA. Or who would actually "raise us up" from the crisis we are in.

So for me, let's just return to the more comfortable status quo and wake up to the fact that most likely there are many wealthier people out there who just got even wealthier with the peso=dollar exchange rate plummeting that well.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE INDIE COMICS PRESENCE
Having never earned a single peso from making my comics, be it online or via contributions with others, I personally feel I remain among the Independent crowd of creators compared to other comic-creators I know. But strangely, I have those weird "showbiz" moments when I actually bump into people who turn out to be familiar with my stuff (Diliman or Bangugnot or in a few rare occasions Isaw, Atbp, Love & Heartbreak, and Wan) and greet me as if they finally got to meet someone they have long hoped to meet. Its frightening, I tell you. Frightening in a good way. The kind of way you get scared good by a horror film and find yourself wanting to get spooked again the next time you see it.

So lately, I find myself thinking: Am I really going to just be in the Independent portion of local comics? Do I ever plan to branch out? To (gulp) actually invest?

The problem with me and the concept of making money out of my comics is threefold:
1) I could never place a price on my works. Even way back, when I used to do these really cool black art pieces on newspaper pages, I would give away my works to those whom I felt would appreciate have something by me. My art was either something shared, or something showed to others. The idea of selling it is still a difficult prospect to face (hence any sold indie stuff were always financially managed by someone else).

2) I don't really think I'm at a point I am confident enough to claim my works have reach a level of being a priced commodity. My work tends to still have that raw-around-the-edges feel of an independent creation (read: non-professional) unlike stuff by Carlo Vergara, Dean Alfar,Gerry Alanguilan, Jonas Diego, Elbert Or, Arnold Arre or even he-who-must-never-be-spoken-of-since-his-partner-supposedly-hates-my-ass-and-reads-my-blog.

3) No one has really approached me with the intention of investing.

So I guess I'm just going to keep at it. Just going to keep working on making my indie stuff. On sharing it free online. And on being content that there are people out there who actually DO like the stuff I come up with and share.

WHILE CHATTING WITH SUNDIAL GIRL
Just remembered a blast from the past I MUST share with you all. To my friend... uh.. who will remain nameless lest she slap me again for revealing this, know you have made more people smile today than you realise.

Sundial Girl and I were talking about the way some people talk and how humorous they can get. I provided the usual Lasallian "Dude Pare" syndrome while she offered the "Like...like..." sydrome many girls from private shools tend to get.

Then I remembered this. The girl was a friend of mine back when I was studying at DLSU Taft. She was from DLSU-College of Saint Benilde. And I quote:

"Haaaaay naku, kasi naman you see, you know about that... ano... kasi wait, am thinking ha. I forgot eh."

To which I promptly replied to with:

"Wow. You're actually thinking."

She slapped me of course. Painfully. But damn, that was a slap well worth it. I should have blogged that sooner. Thank you Sundial Girl for reminding me of that moment in my past.



Nikki Alfar
Tobie Abad
Gabby Lee
Andre Mischa Cleofe
Cathy delos Santos

LOOKING AT MY OPTIONS
While sick I realised I had some time on my hands. So this is what I did:

I visited the school that I was interested in getting into, the California Institute of Arts and then chatted with an old schoolmate whom I knew was studying abroad for loan tips.

That's how I got to know the existence of TERI.org (The Educational Resources Institute) which offers loans to foreign students so long as they can provide US resident cosigner.

So, with those in mind, consider the idea of being able to say the following were schoolmates of yours:

Henry Anderson (BFA 88, Character Animation) received an Academy Award nomination in 2000 for supervising animation on the film Stuart Little. Earlier, in 1992, he had won an Emmy for helping to create special visual effects on the TV movie The Last Halloween.

Robin Anderson (BFA 95, Character Animation) is the character art director at the gaming division of Saban Entertainment. Previously, she was an animator at Disney.

Brad Bird (76, Character Animation) wrote the screen story and directed The Iron Giant, among the best reviewed animated features of 1999. It won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement and was named best animated film of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. After joining Pixar Animation Studios, Bird wrote and directed the feature The Incredibles.

Dave Bossert (BFA 83, Character Animation) is a producer-director at DisneyToon Studios. Previously, he was the artistic coordinator and visual effects supervisor on Fantasia 2000 and, more recently, the associate producer of the short Destino, a work begun by Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí more than 50 years ago and completed only in 2003 by Dominique Monfery. Destino received an Academy Award nomination for best animated short in 2004.

Bill Brown (MFA 97, Film & Video) received a Fulbright Fellowship to investigate issues of nationality and national identity while traveling along the Trans-Canadian Highway. The result was a documentary film called Confederation Park, which won two awards at the 2000 Ann Arbor Film Festival. His next film, Buffalo Common, a work about nuclear weapon depots throughout the farmlands of North Dakota, screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003 after being named best documentary short at the 2002 New York Underground Film Festival.

Brendan Burch (BFA 00, Character Animation) has worked at the online film company AtomFilms, where he wrote and directed the short Chemo Phone. He subsequently went to work for IdeaRAGE, where he developed two original animated pieces for the Pocket PC platform. He is currently a lead animator for the Knowledge Kids Network and a partner in Six Point Harness, an independent animation studio.

Tim Burton (79, Character Animation) has directed the movies Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns and Ed Wood, among others. He is currently working on a new version of the classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, slated to be released in 2005.

Brenda Chapman (BFA 87, Character Animation) directed The Prince of Egypt for DreamWorks Pictures. Earlier, she had received an Annie Award for her work as story supervisor on the 1994 hit The Lion King.

Peter Chung (81, Experimental Animation) is the creator of Aeon Flux, the cult animated series that ran on MTV. More recently, he was one of the seven leading directors--alongside the likes of Mahiro Maeda and Shinichiro Watanabe--on the animated-shorts anthology The Animatrix. Chung's segment, Matriculated, was one of the anthology's most daring. Chung has since directed the animated short The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, released on DVD in the summer of 2004.

Sean Daniel (BFA 73, Film & Video) was president of production for Universal Pictures from 1984 to 1988 and supervised the films National Lampoon's Animal House, Coal Miner's Daughter, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Breakfast Club, Brazil, Field of Dreams and Do the Right Thing. In 1992, Daniel formed Alphaville Films, an independent media company headquartered at Paramount Studios, and went on to produce films such as Dazed and Confused, American Me, The Mummy, The Scorpion King, Pootie Tang and Intolerable Cruelties.

Eric Darnell (MFA 90, Experimental Animation) co-directed Antz, the first computer-animated feature produced by DreamWorks Pictures. Darnell is currently directing DreamWorks' Madagascar, an animated feature scheduled to be released in 2005.

Dane Davis (BFA 81, Film & Video) is founder and president of Dane Tracks, a sound design and editing studio. In 2000, he won an Academy Award for his sound effects editing on The Matrix. Davis has since served as sound designer and supervising sound editor on the last two installments of the Matrix franchise. He has worked on numerous other movies, including 8 Mile and Dogtown and Z-Boys.

Paul Demeyer (MFA 77, Experimental Animation) directed Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. Earlier, while at the animation studio Klasky Csupo, he directed spots for the likes of MCI and Taco Bell. Demeyer teaches at CalArts.

Pete Docter (BFA 90, Character Animation) is one of the key figures at Pixar Animation Studios. Most recently, he co-directed the Disney/Pixar hit Monsters, Inc., nominated for the best animated feature award at the 2002 Oscars. Docter also worked on the original story and provided additional voices for the film. Previously, he had won an Annie Award for co-writing Toy Story 2 and received an Oscar nomination for co-writing Toy Story.

Ralph Eggleston (86, Character Animation) has worked at Pixar Animation Studios since 1992. His film For the Birds won the Academy Award for best animated short at the 2002 Oscars. He also holds an Annie Award for his production design work on Toy Story. Eggleston has been named by Animation Magazine as one of the most creative people in animation.

Robert Fenz (MFA 02, Film & Video) has received widespread acclaim for his film cycle Meditations on Revolution, an eclectic set of five 16mm black-and-white experimental shorts. His work has been shown at the New York, London, Rotterdam and Vienna film festivals, the Pacific Film Archive, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Biennial, among other venues. In 2004, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Steve Hillenburg (MFA 92, Experimental Animation) is the creator of the hit animated series SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon. In 2002, the show became the highest-rated kids' show on cable television. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was released in the fall of 2004.

William E. Jones (MFA 90, Film & Video) has directed two feature films and three short videos. His film Finished was voted best independent/experimental film of 1997 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1999.

Glen Keane (74, Experimental Animation) has been the supervising animator for memorable characters such as Tarzan, Pocahontas, Aladdin, the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Ariel in The Little Mermaid, and Marahute in The Rescuers Down Under. He won an Annie Award for his character animation work on Beauty and the Beast and received an Annie nomination for Tarzan. In 2004, he received the Friz Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Mark Kirkland (BFA 78, Experimental Animation) has directed more than 30 episodes of The Simpsons.

Joel Lam's (MFA 01, Film & Video) thesis film, the documentary The Circle's Corner, gives a poetic representation of Hong Kong as experienced by three residents--one blind, one deaf and one mute. It won the award for best short at the Hong Kong Film Festival and was also shown at the Yagamata International Documentary Festival, the Viennale and Rotterdam's Shadow Festival.

John Lasseter< (BFA 79, Character Animation) is executive vice president of creative development at Pixar Animation Studios--described by the Los Angeles Times as "the most reliable creative force in Hollywood." Lasseter has directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2 and executive-produced Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. He has won Academy Awards for Toy Story (special achievement) and The Tin Soldier (best animated short film). His original screenplay for Toy Story was also nominated for an Oscar.

James Mangold (BFA 85, Film & Video) directed the acclaimed Girl, Interrupted. His other movies include Identity, Kate and Leopold, Copland and Heavy, for which he was named best director at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. He is currently working on the feature Walk the Line, a biopic about Johnny Cash.

Craig McCracken (92, Character Animation) is the creator of The Powerpuff Girls, an Emmy-nominated series on the Cartoon Network. The show originated as The Whoopass Girls--a work McCracken made at CalArts.

Michael Nguyen (88, Character Animation) was a supervising animator on the Warner Bros. animated feature The Iron Giant and handled character animation and storyboarding on 20th Century Fox's The Pagemaster. Nguyen owns and runs the July Films Animation Studio. Henry Selick (MFA 77, Experimental Animation) has directed The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone. He is currently working on a film version of Coraline, based on Neil Gaiman's children's novel. Gary Trousdale (82, Character Animation) and Kirk Wise (CRT 85, Character Animation) have co-directed Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Their Beauty and the Beast was the first animated feature to earn an Oscar nomination for best picture.

What do you think?
Sounds good, eh?

AND JUST LIKE THAT
Its over.
The weekend has passed and I am still here on the road to recovery. After what can only be described as eight t-shirts, three showers, four Bioflu tablets, and around 4 liters of water in two days, I am starting to feel better. Unlike everyone else who had the chance to meet up with friends, hang out with loved ones, or make a scene at a rally, I was stuck at home with sweat pouring out and my eyes heavy from my meds.

Ah, it could have been worse I guess.

Earlier, I had a post sharing really good comic pages
This time, its "trainwreck" time as we see the things that we might have best never seen.
Be warned, some of these links might not be worl-friendly. Be further warned, many of these links can really make you want to quit comics all together.

Yes, they're that bad.
Stryfe? Come on...
Liefeld remains one of the few people who somehow continues to get work... despite... argh, I don't want to say anything that's that blatantly obvious.
Aunt May + Galactus
Oh cripes...
Barbie
Yes. Barbie.
Everyone is so purty...
...Its just wrong.
I know its meant to be funny
But come on, this is Darkseid!
This is so wrong.
Sonic. Yeah. Frighteningly, I know someone who actually loves this shit.
The subtext... the subtext?!?!?!
Oh this is so wrong.
What The... gets stupid.
Usually, they have good ideas.
Bad bad manga
And it isn't really manga to boot!
So wrong... so wrong..
Michael Jackson would have a fit with the first one too!
Batman... how could you?
Maybe this is why Jason Todd is after him?
Punisher and the Comics Code
Tell me again why it should exist?
This is sooo badly built up, then not even continued.
Shatty and Rico.

So let's make it up with one GOOD entry.
This is simply priceless.

Storytelling VS Gaming
Author note: This article is written with White-Wolf Gaming Studio's Vampire: The Masquerade in mind. But the ideas and concepts within can apply to any roleplaying game.

No, this is not your typical Storytelling is Vampire the Masquerade, Gaming is Dungeons and Dragons statement. After all, as many of you are probably loathe to admit (and yet deep inside realise its true) more than half the Vampire: The Masquerade games have approached a Gaming method than a Storytelling one.

Perhaps it would be easier if I defined the difference between the two.

Storytelling = playing the game to make a great story and have fun in the process.
Gaming = playing the game to have FUN and creating a story in the process.

In as much as it seems trifle, there is a big difference between the two. And this becomes evident if you've played both types of games.

Gaming - Let's pretend that you're the storyteller. You wake up one night and think, "I'd love to hold a Vampire game focusing on the Camarilla and how the players try to gain political power and yet not fall into the Elder ennui trap." So you begin crafting your plot thread, setting up the major points of the game and work out the NPCs. Before you know it, you're talking to your players and they begin grabbing the character sheets and asking you if they can play this or that Clan. You moderate their characters to not only be "well-developed concepts" but to actually have a reason of existing in the game. Many real time months pass and the characters develop further, going through conflicts and trials, emotional barrages and release... and the game goes on.

Storytelling - Let's pretend that you're the storyteller. You wake up one night and think, "I'd love to hold a Vampire game focusing on the Camarilla and how the players try to gain political power and yet not fall into the Elder ennui trap." So you begin crafting your plot thread, setting up the major points of the game and work out the NPCs. Before you know it, you're talking to your players and they begin grabbing the character sheets and asking you if they can play this or that... HOLD IT, you're probably thinking, why am I reading the exact same thing? Well, that's because Storytelling and Gaming types of games are nearly 100% identical in their
presentation.

Notice I mentioned nearly.

Storytelling types of games have an ENDING.

"All good things come to and end," is a quote which many of us have heard and sadly, I cannot recall who deserves the credit for such a wonderfully meaningful line. A story, i believe all would agree, would be one of the "good things." Thus, a story deserves an ending.

In a Gaming Type of game, the story is second of importance. So in the said example above, the characters would eventually reach a peak in the game... say, each player is now portraying a Prince of a City, or maybe they have all decided the Camarilla is not worth it and join the anarchs with the knowledge of the whereabouts of the City officials, or perhaps something in
between the two threads... but the game keeps going on and on and on.

Why?

Because its fun.
In a Gaming Type of game, FUN is what is of primary importance. Yep, stop any Gaming Type of game for a brief moment and try to describe your character in a sentence and you'll find yourself in trouble. "He's a Gangrel who began as a woodman, embraced out of spite, struggled to learn
the ropes of Vampiric existence, eventually became a Prince, fought the Sabbat, endured a Justicar's wrath, seiged against the Independents, awakened the beast, etc, etc..." But so what? He's still FUN to play right? And I'm not even speaking in the "powerful vampire" manner of fun. Imagine the emotional ranges you can have access to with everything he had gone through. Or perhaps try and see what new political ideas would actually form in his head to bring a unity and oneness in the Camarilla. Again, I say, it is FUN.

But it falls into the eternal trap:
"When does the Storyteller know its time to END the Chronicle?"

Gaming Type of games tend to go past the Storyteller's "Chronicle End" point. After all, they had fun and why should the fun end there?

High profile comic books such as Spiderman, Superman, X - men, Avengers, WildC.A.T.S are of this type. Notice that now, loking back at their histories, you find yourself going, "These characters when through WHAT???"

Sadly, this tends to lead to many wonderful games either turning sour and becoming absolutely distorted and multi-complexed due to the Storyteller's attempts to "keep the game going." A state which can even be detrimental to the Storyteller himself ("Did i give a good game? In the end, it sucked so bad...")

Storytelling Types of games have a definite end.
They are structured towards that end in mind. Just like movies. Or novels. Hence, they tend to have the more spectacular and memoreable endings.

"But don't Storytelling games sacrifice the player's freedom in the game?"

No. Because in a Storytelling game, BOTH the players and the Storyteller CRAFT the story as they move along. And as an added benefit, both the Storyteller and the players have a hint when to go for the more "heroic" moments for their characters. It may seem like cheating since you know that the story is nearing its end point, but come on, how many stories have the characters faltering every move and being afraid to finally give it their all in the end?

Take for example books such as Sandman, Enigma, Gen 13:Ordinary Heroes, Age of Apocalypse line of Marvel Comics. Notice how they have definite endings and their stories were more structured and yet they were still FUN to read and even interesting to imagine being in.

So which is better?

Neither. Everyone of course has their own game type of interest. Some like things to focus on the story. Others like the game to simply be a moment where we can explore the character's experiences on and on. Some like a mix of both.

But KNOWING that these two approaches exist is helpful to BOTH the Storyteller and the player as a whole. When I told my players about these two types of games and asked then which one they wanted more, they all replied that it depends on what they feel like playing on certain days.

Thus we have a Vampire game set in the Dark Ages, played Storytelling Type, which has a definite end: Year of Revelations date.

And we have an Aberrant to Trinity game, played Gaming Type, where we see if they can avert history for taking its course.. and struggling to make the world a better place to live in.

Try having your gaming circle read this article. Then discuss what you want to achieve. Try one or the other at least once and you'll see how much better games can become with a clear understanding of what Type of game you are truly to play.



Nikki Alfar
Tobie Abad
Gabby Lee
Andre Mischa Cleofe
Cathy delos Santos

FEVER AND CHILLS, oh my!
Its the first eight hours since I started taking some meds and I think my fever is dropping well. From what was 38.5 degrees last 10:20p.m. yesterday evening, its down to a much less freaky 38 degrees right now (its 6:30 a.m.). Major Thanks to Seth Suico and his minstrations (gawd, that sounds sooo wrong! heheheh, all you naughty minded freaks, shush!) for taking care of me and making sure I don't get too sweaty while am sleeping.

Joints have been screaming in frustration. I guess this is a touch of the Flu considering the most painful areas are my waist, my elbows, my shoulders and my knees. I hate the flu. It feels more like being on the Rack or the Iron Maiden back during the time of the Inquistion... slow painful discomfort that grows worse and worse. Makes me wonder if this is some form of cosmic irony all of the sudden, considering the Vampire game I am running for my friends has reached the period of the Inquisition. Hmm...

Been taking BioFlu tablets which are also known as Phenylpropanolamine HCl Chlorophenamine Maleate Paracetamol. The meds has a powerful kick that can knock you down asleep if you're not careful so I won't advise it to those who are feeling sick and have to drive. Water is my best friend, having drunk practically 2 Liters of water in what can only be described as "They're like healing pots from role-playing games... If I drink enough I feel better." Then there's good ole VICKS vaporub which frankly should have an award for all those Filipinos it has helped out.

To those who YM!ed their greetings and get well soons, my sincerest thanks! To the one who offered to come over and take care of me, I really really appreciate it but I don't think its necessary. Parents are coming over I think to nurse me back to health.

Blaaah.. I hate being sick.

Huling hirit lang before I sleep
Wala pa ring acknowledgement for using my pic.
Sigh.

One can only wonder...
If this is for real.
Can someone who has a copy of the book tell me if its real?
Or if this is the most convincing form of fan-writing I have ever seen.
I even like the twist on who/what the Half-Blood Prince is.
Found this in Ikesulat's blog.

FLUIDS, BIOGESIC and REST
Monday is a non-working Holiday thanks to President Garci.. I mean Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's upcoming State of the Nation Address and as cosmic irony would have it, I am sick tonight. With a burning fever running after me (Fever! When you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight...) it looks like I am going to horribly be bed-ridden while other friends go out on dates, have quickies and watch movies.

Waaaah...
Garapata need some luvin....

Role-playing Games Articles
I've decided I will be sharing my role-playing articles here in my blog in hopes of getting more people interested in the hobby. If you missed an article (or you want to peek at future articles in store for you, you can check them out in my roleplaying games website.

A short history on Tobie's Gaming
by Tobie Abad
October 1, 2000

I was an elf.
I had the nice pointed ears. The golden blonde hair. A bow on my back, a quiver of arrows on my side. I was an elf. An elven ranger.

The game was held in the bus I rode each morning to get to school. I was barely old enough to really understand the concept of a roleplaying game, just enough to understand that it had to do with creating a small character using numbers and paper and then telling the other person if you want to try to kill the monster.

My elf was on a mountain. The other guy told me that my elf felt the mountain shaking.

I had my elf look around. The other guy told me my elf discovers I am on a volcano. The volcano erupts. He asks me what do I do.

I say, "Jump up the nearest tree."

The tree burns.

Game over.

My first roleplaying game experience. I was barely in my teen years. My Dungeon Master was a High school Senior who also took the school bus. It lasted barely 5 minutes.

After that day, I vowed to myself never to ever give any player I have under me a game as horrible as that one.

My first taste of roleplaying games was Dungeons and Dragons. Strangely, since my own source for information on the game was with the High school Seniors who hated my guts, getting to understand the game was though. Nearly impossible even. A friend of mine, one just a few years older than me, offered to lend me one of his copies of the game. Although I did not know it then, the book I got was a copy of the Master's book. A book meant for those who have played past the basics of the book. One meant for the more experienced troupe.

I studied it. Learned it wrongly. Played it wrongly ("yes, to hit the monster, roll above your Armor Class.") and eventually decided that the game was fun.

Then game the others. A host load of others that surged past me like a hurricane let lose on the fringes of my imagination.

Marvel Superheroes. Star Frontiers. Top Secret. Battletech. Robotech. D.C. Heroes. Gammarauders (although, only to read and not play) and hundreds of Choose Your Own Adventures books.

The games rattled by the hundreds. I played in many. Started Game Mastering most. An amazing feat considering this was within a three year span.

The focus of the games was the action. The combat scenes. Blowing things up, killing the evil creatures, tearing apart the well-laid plans of the wicked villains... those were the roots of each game. No exploration on the themes of life, or society. No depth. But fun nontheless.

Then came Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

The games suddenly shifted in approach. Although experience points and stopping the villains were present in the game, my Dungeon Master back then decided to throw a new approach to the game; He gave the game a whole story focus. The previous games did have their plots, but they were too comic-cut and simple. The previous games were almost like simply reading a comic book where each episode, a new villain is introduced, fought, and defeated.

This time, the good guys can lose.

And the game goes on as the heroes struggle to win again... struggle to save what they can... and continue to make more stories carrying with them the regrets of their faliures and the rewards of their heroism.

Suddenly, the games were deeper than we thought possible.

I began taking my Communication arts major in college. I got into theater, learned to be more open-minded to both the music I listened to and the books I read.. and discovered that I can add these to the gaming experience.

And what's more, we learned they weren't limited to the AD&D system. We applied the approach to all the other games we had... and discovered they worked there too.

And even on other games we discovered such as Macross and Teenagers from Outer Space. The system was there to play the game, but the approach was entirely up to us. That was the beautiful thing we discovered about gaming back then.

Then White wolf Gaming Studios came and changed the way we thought... well, not changed, but added a new paradigm.

We could play the bad guys too.

Suddenly, from what began as angst-ridden games that projected our anger towards a materialistic world run by a patriarchal society lacking courage to stand up for its rights.... we began exploring mature themes. Was there a time when killing might be considered? Is there such a thing as Truth? Can Faith be as deadly as Sin? Does Love truly win in the end? Should there be gender biases? Many questions were explored, and re-explored and raised in the games.

Whitewolf Gaming Studios offered opportunities to play everything from vampires to werewolves, mages to sorcerers, fae to ghosts, and so forth... the hundreds of variations of each theme too were offered all for the enjoyment of the individual gamer.

All of the sudden, we learned that RPG offered both Fun and Education in one sitting.

We tried more stuff, although unlike before, we still kept on playing Whitewolf games. Some weekends were allocated to try other games such as Paranoia, Chill, In Nomine, Live Action Roleplaying games, Children of Fire, Aberrant, Trinity, Alternity, Legend of the Five Rings, and a host load of original homebrewed games.

And each time we played, we discovered more and more about how versatile roleplaying games can be.

To end this article, I guess, since its intention was more to give you an idea of the type of gaming systems I have gone through in my entire life... I just want to add, the roleplaying game you choose is not necessarily the definition to use when describing what roleplaying games are to another person. The roleplaying game you choose is nothing more but a MEDIUM of storytelling games. Be it Marvel Superheroes, Vampire:the Masquerade, Chill or Dungeons and Dragons, the depth a game can have is totally dependent on how the game is approached.


Nikki Alfar
Tobie Abad
Gabby Lee
Andre Mischa Cleofe
Cathy delos Santos

Things You Might Not Have Known

1) Money isn't made out of paper. It's made out of cotton.

2) The 57 on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of varieties of pickle the company once had.

3) A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

4) Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.

5) The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.

6) The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

7) A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

8) Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.

9) A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

10) A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.

11) A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2 by 3-1/2.

12) 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

13) Every person has a unique eye & tongue print.

14) The "spot" on the 7-Up comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an albino.


15) 315 entries in Webster's 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

16) During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur", a small red car can be seen in the distance.

17) On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily!

18) John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.

19) Warren Beatty and Shirley McLaine are brother and sister.

20) Chocolate kills dogs. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.

21) Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps.

22) Playing cards were issued to British pilots in WWII. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape.

23) Most lipstick contains fish scales.

24) Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

25) Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

26) Dr. Seuss is actually pronounced Seuss such that it sounds like Sue-ice.

27) Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

29) During the California gold rush of 1849, miners sent their laundry to Honolulu for washing and pressing. Due to the extremely high costs in California during these boom years, it was deemed more feasible to send their shirts to Hawaii for servicing.

30) American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in First Class.

31) Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

32) The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.

33) Upper and lower case letters are named "upper" and "lower" because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.

34) There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

35) There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and silver.

36) The numbers "172" can be found on the back of the US 5 dollar bill, in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

37) The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. There was never a recorded Wendy before.

38) The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

39) There are 4 cars and 11 lightposts on the back on the US 10 dollar bill.

40) Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. It also took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

41) If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

42) Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.

43) If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes and 4 pennies, you'd have $1.19. You would also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

44) The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA".

45) The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.

46) The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

47) The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

48) The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

49) Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.

50) By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.

51) Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo.

52) Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

53) Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

54) In Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift described the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, giving their exact size and speeds of rotation. He did this more than 100 years before either moon was discovered.

55) Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

56) Sherlock Holmes NEVER said "Elementary, my dear Watson".

57) An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

58) Sharon Stone was the first StarSearch spokesmodel.

59) The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.

60) The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

61) Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

62) Back in the mid to late 80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator.

63) Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!!

DRAMA QUEEN

Based on a true story shared to me.

MOONGIRL and CORALINE
Herny Selick is one of those directors whose name when mentioned tends to incite a "Who?" response from others. Few have heard of him. Fewer even realise why he is important in the coming months (or years). He was the stop motion animation director many films, most notably those of Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. He was also said to have had some friction in his working relations with Tim Burton, having allegedly felt that he was not consulted enough during the production of Nightmare Before Christmas.

But that's already skipping to the future. Back in 1977, the year I was born, Henry Selick was already working on films such as Pete's Dragon and The Small One under Disney's Character Animation Design Program. Eventually, he took an absence from Disney to work on several personal projects with the backing of the American Film Institute, one of which gained him the beginnings of his critical acclaim: Seepage, a stop motion and watercolor animated story of two people talking while sitting next to a pool. He returned to Disney and was immediately put to work on The Fox and the Hound, but the call for creative freedom and exploration demanded that he leave Disney and set out his sights on his own.

Eventually, he reunites with his CalArts schoolmate, Tim Burton, and collaborates with him to produce The Nightmare Before Christmas (using a Mitchell 35mm camera, the same camera used for the classic movie King Kong).

(For a more in-depth write up on him, check here.)

Going back though, the main reason this article focuses on him is this:
Henry Selick has a coming movie project with Neil Gaiman. He his directing the coming movie-adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline.

Yes.
Read that again.
Coraline has been green-light for production under the man whose artistic style and visual treatment can only be described as PERFECT for the book.

I can't wait!
But since we have to, let me direct you to this site to check out Moongirl, Henry Selick's current ongoing project with Laika productions. This lovely upcoming film is filled with its own surprises and really cool visuals. You're going to love the eyecandy and even more the fact everything in the weird animated logic such worlds exist upon, works.

(lastly, if you play Orpheus, you'd be freaked to know he's also working on a film adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox)



Nikki Alfar
Tobie Abad
Gabby Lee
Andre Mischa Cleofe
Cathy delos Santos

DECIDED TO JOIN
Yep one last quick post before I rush off to work. Decided to join the PINOY TOP BLOGS (Wasn't that supposed to be TOP PINOY BLOGS?) and see if my little garapata actually rates anything. I anticipate to be in the 80-200 area though. I was never popular among the Philippine reading community. The peaks of my online popularity were back during the early days of Diliman and when I was writing for the now defunct DCFutures where I had my The Enigma Grows fanfic sequel to Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo's The Enigma as well as its own spin-off title Little Deaths... oh and back when I wrote Ally McBeal fanfiction.

If anyone is interested in seeing those I can dig them out if you want. Although I believe there are still links out there to them somewhere in the web. So, do click on the PINOY TOP BLOGs icon (show both here and down below beside my RSS button) and vote for me!

Nobody Does It Better Lyrics:
(carole bayer sager/marvin hamlisch)

Nobody does it better, makes me feel sad for the rest,
Nobody does it half as good as you, baby, you’re the best.
I wasn’t lookin’ but somehow you found me.
I tried to hide from your love light,
But like heaven above me, the spy who loved me,
Is keeping all my secrets safe tonight.

Nobody does it better, sometimes I wish someone could.
Nobody does it quite the way you do. did you have to be so good?
The way that you hold me, whenever you hold me,
There’s some kind of magic inside you,
That keeps me from runnin’, but just keep it comin’,
How’d you learn to do the things you do?

And nobody does it better, makes me feel sad for the rest.
Nobody does it half as good as you.
Baby, baby, baby you’re the best!

-----------
Shit happens I guess. Story of my life.
Time to get used to it again.

"If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things that are missing. If you don't have love in your life, no matter what else there is, it's not enough." Ann Landers quotes

I have been neglecting things
1) My project with James
2) My Slinging Ink posts.. Twice na... Sorry talaga Jonas!
3) My project with Force Vector
4) My parents, whom have always remained resolutely there to support me
5) My paperwork to study abroad
6) Myself

Sorry to all concerned.
Will make it up to you somehow.
Somehow.

GANDA PALA NG SONG NA ITO
(Sappy moments do happen, so sue me!)

Each Day With You
Martin Nievera

Flowers oh, on this lovely evening
Though they have no words
they share my feelings;

As we walk along the avenue,
Pardon me, I just can't
help staring at you.

When I look into those
sparkling eyes,
If float in the air and wonder
in paradise;
You give my heart a source of
inspiration,
Your beauty is beyond imagination.

CHORUS:

You are the one
The only one I desire,
When we touch,
When we're one you light the fire;

The seasons we share
Hand in hand, there seems to be no time,
Each day with you becomes a Valentine.

Time must go on and so must we
Moments slip away to unlock the memories;
One day as we look back with
all this treasure,
Candle light that shines beyond before.

(REPEAT CHORUS EXCEPT LAST LINE)

Each day with you becomes a Valentine.
Your beauty is beyond imagination.

(REPEAT CHORUS EXCEPT LAST LINE, 2X)

Each day with you becomes
Valentine.

(REPEAT CHORUS FADING)

So It's You lyrics
Christian Bautista

INTRO

We smiled, that's how it all started
And you came right in time
When I needed someone
And we said hello
Suddenly, my heart was beating fast

CHORUS
So it's you I've been waiting for so long
So it's you, where were you all along
Very special moments, these will always be with me
We are here, you and I, we belong

AD LIB

We touched and we felt more beautiful
Add two hands reachin' out
Filled with so much longing
It felt good inside
There is no denying I'm in love

[Repeat CHORUS twice]

CODA
We are here, you and I, we belong

WITH BENNYLEE AND FRIENDS!






Fun fun fun!

And the funny thing was, I just met everyone but one of them that night!

MUST... SOLVE...
Argh
http://home.cwru.edu/%7Ejnt5/Planarity/

AMUSE THYSELF
Sometimes, there are just some things that are hard to explain. Hard to give logic to. Hard to take at first glance. But nontheless, they're great.

Here are some from the "What the hell?" category:
A glimpse of the future from the past.
Obviously, unless you're a current DC comics reader, you won't get the reference.
They sure don't write comics this way anymore.
Sigh. Would have been fun.
Definitely Not for the kids.
The humor, not the content.

Here are some from the "Coolness!" category:
Global Frequency.
If you don't know it yet, hopefully this teaser will entice you to get it. You simply must.
And just in case you aren't convinced yet. Here's more.
The Authority
Superheroes who really have what it takes to make the world a better place. And they do what it takes to do it. Look for the original trades. The later recent stories... am not so sure if they're as good. Haven't read enough. (Yes, this is a link to a Stormwatch scan, but it does focus on two of the biggest names in The Authority.) Need proof? Here, read this.
The New Mutants
I miss the old run. But I guess the new run ain't that bad.
Fables
Give the old fairytales a great realistic twist. Wish there was a television series this good!

And here are some from the "Putcha, galeng!" category:
Ex Machina
Gay rights. Yeah!
How to make the Joker Cry.
All of the sudden, I have even more respect for Lex Luthor.
Batman Finally Meets His Match.
And yes, this is a spoiler. But damn, I love how it was written.
Slightly Cheesy, but Damn.
She should run here in Manila.
Kingdom Come
If you haven't read it... Really, must.
Onion Jack
Pure genius.
You Haven't Really Seen Me Dance, Roger.
Sandman. Forever. More.
Shoot.
There is no reason this should not be published.


Enjoy!

San Pablo... my golly, ang layo pala!!!

I had no idea how far San Pablo was from Paranaque. Straight from an all-nighter Orpheus game with Sam, Aldwin, James and Teddy as well as BennyLee as a guest player (and possibly a constants on enough!), I head out to San Pablo at ten a.m. in hopes of joining them for lunch. Instead I arrived around 12:30 and nearly got lost looking for a spot for Jonas and Gerry to find me. Still, it was a great time. The Komikeros were very friendly and accomodating!



There was a bunch of people there. Guys from Glass House were there too. Jokes about initiation, about unnecessary panty-shots as well as the war between ABS-CBN and GMA began to swirl around. Thoughts of making radio plays, erotica with Komikero names used to replace bad words and the like brought bouts of laughter and the struggle to breathe.



If things go as discussed, we might actually see a "Komikero Scandals" bittorrent download available for the upcoming Anniversary! Heheheh, here's to "Laging naka-poise" pag may camera... to brush pens... to faster internet connections... to great artwork and to holding someone else's instrument.

Komikero na ako!!!

AZ, SO SORE-Y MAN
I blame myself. This is what happens after asking him the most times he did "it" in a day. After sharing it was 8 during his online birthday party... he just had to prove he could break the record.
And now, http://azrael.coladilla.swellserver.com/news/top_stories/worldrecord.phphappens. To this future children, to his loved ones, to his family, I humbly ask for forgiveness. May he recover and still spill his seed someday.

HEhehhe!

Shame, shame, shame....

Shame of fools....

(to the tune of Chain of Fools)





Kaya pala maraming tao nag-ra-rally.

Grabe... is that how low your self-worth is, mga kababayan?

DILIMAN teaser

Just thought you'd like to see them. First four pages.

Just saw ARAHAN

Korean movies keep getting better. Just finished watching ARAHAN with my housemate Seth today. Best way to describe this fun movie? The union of My Sassy Girl and Kung Fu Hustle. Great acting, funny antics and really impressively choreographed fight scenes where the Wuxia moves actually have a sense of weight, realism and gravity unlike most wire-work fight scenes. The use of weaponry, scenery and even sound to make the fights even more impressive really added to each battle the movie would show. And lastly, you got very creative sequences which give the fights a really good touch and raise it a few notches above movies like Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I tremendously recommend the film!
Though Yun Soy is not as beautiful as Jun Ji-Hyun (Jeon Ji-Hyeon), she still does make my heart flutter when I see her pout.

STAR WARS: EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH: THE ABRIDGED SCRIPT™ By Rod Hilton
Check it out here!
http://hedonistica.com/text/starwars_abridged.php
 

WRITER's FORUM WITH NEIL GAIMAN


Finally got to meet Arnold Arre! I bumped into him and Cynthia Bauzon on the way into the Writer's Forum/Press Conference with Neil this Monday. There was a standee of Mythology Class on display up front near the entrance.

By the way, he's releasing a trade paperback collection of his Mythology Class soon! Don't forget to grab one!

Being considered press, I was given the freedom to sit at the front row of seats. I took the task to taking as much pictures as much as I can. Sadly, my camera does not have the anti-red eye mechanism others do.

Neil answered every question with much frankness and an occasional touch of humor. There was no sign of the signature leather jacket this time, which I believe was a clear indicator he's finally gotten the hang of how humid the Philippines really is.

People lined up along four microphones in order to have the chance to ask Neil Gaiman their questions. A total of sixteen questions were asked by various fans ranging from simple to interestingly profound ones. I'll try to post my summarized transciptions of the questions and answers when I can.

Another shot of the Dream King. And again, the red-eye problem resurfaces. I could not believe how close I was standing the whole time there in front of the panel. Just a bit over an arm's reach away.

Standing behind the panel to take a shot of Neil, the three others and the audience of fans, thankful writers and press people. We got some glimpses on how Neil approaches his writing, what kinds of stories he had been juggling about in his head and even a few anecdotes about how posting in his journal about fanfiction has made him realise a thing or two.

Some quotes:
"I wanted to do a story of someone who was changed more than he knows... The Morpheus who entered that glass prison was not the same Morpheus who stepped out."
- Neil Gaiman in reference to why Sandman comics seems to have an over-all theme of Change.

"Stay where you are and you'll get your orders!"
- Neil Gaiman humorously replying to the question on using his large fanbase for the greater good.

"I don't think I have anything left to prove."
- On whether or not Neil Gaiman will have another monthly title to write.

Neil prepares to leave for the book signing. Most of the audience wish he could stay longer, but like Sandman, all good things come to an end.

Some more quotes:
"I really would like to. But you have to understand, Answers will only just lead to more questions. I like that people wonder about things... that people can contribute to the stories..."
- Neil Gaiman on whether or not he'd like to go back and tell us more about the unrevealed stories in Sandman, such as Delight turning into Delirium, etc.

"Read everything you can. Read stuff that has nothing to do with what you like to read. Anything you can get your hands on. Non-ficiton is really good."
- One of the many advice Neil Gaiman shared on being a better writer.

Met Budjette Tan, Quark Henares, and David Hontiveros (Idol!!!) after the Forum.

Budjette and the endearing (No, He's NOT gay or hospitalized) Elbert Or.

Bryan Vallesteros, artistic God and idol ni Dave McKean (biro lang!) Girls, this pic is for you!

And finally, met Jonas Diego, Jac Ting Lim, Joel Chua, Adrian Martinez and Nabs. Wasn't able to catch Dean Alfar, Andrew Drilon, Patrick Salamat or other friends on film, but I guess that's just how it is. Most of us headed then to Dulcinea for some chatting, laughs and lots of churros. Talked about "Chuva Churros" as a marketing ploy, but I dunno if it would ever get off the ground.

I prepared a CD-R with my DILIMAN and BANGUNGOT comics in it, as well as a message to Neil Gaiman. Wrapped it inside an issue of WAN which Ner Pedrina and I released a few months back (or has it been years?). Thanks to the ever helpful Azrael, I was able to get it to Neil himself. THANK YOU SO MUCH AZ!!!

Thus ends the wonderful days with Neil Gaiman in Manila. Hope you enjoyed your visit Neil! Do feel welcome to come by and collaborate with any of us! You truly are one of the 1st raters in the world.