November 30, 2001

My Happy Meal came with this adorable Boo!™ toy.

Monsters, Inc is undoubtedly the best movie I've seen in months years. (Yes, it even surpassed Harry Potter on my list). A very original concept, witty dialogue, great design and guaranteed laugh-out-loud moments (ask Arnold!) make this movie a must-see-over-and-over-again.

***
Postscript to my post a few days back, here is the poster Romeo Lee allegedly made for this year's UP Mountaineers concert (yup, yet another Bin Laden spoof).

- sent by Ninoy (Thanks, and hello to Jen!)

Christmas break in the U.P. Campus is traditionally marked by the popular Lantern Parade which Arnold and I make a point to attend for sentimental reasons. In recent years though, the Mountaineers came up with the Elvis series concerts to also signal the much-awaited end of classes.

The fine print reads "Elvis Strikes Back! Featuring The Eraserheads, Parokya ni Edgar, Tropical Depression, Brownman Revival, Romeo Lee and the Brown Briefs, Brownbeat All Stars, Sandwich, Imago, Pepe Smith, The Sunken Gardeners, Pan, Lilian, Itchyworms, The Brew, Noel Cabangon, Jun Lopito, emp Republic, Noli Aurillo, Betrayed and more. Bahay ng Alumni, Dec. 18, 2001, 6 pm."

November 29, 2001

It may seem like I'm not doing much but Arnold and I are actually up to our ears with production design work for a music video (arrgh, lots of legwork). Tell you all about that soon.

***

Makati, Metro Manila. Photo swiped from this page.

An LA-based longtime friend, Erick, is in town and since he hasn't seen the Philippines for 11 years, Arn and I are making time to keep him entertained. So far, Erick says he loves how Manila has morphed into the glamorous urban jungle that it now is. (He's probably too polite to mention anything about the traffic situation). Most of all, he seems especially delighted that everything here is, in his words, darn cheap (grumble dollar earner grumble).

November 27, 2001

First of all, join me in welcoming Arnold online! Hi baby, are you reading this? See the newly uploaded stuff in his site too. (:

***
Random links for today's log:

1. A Queen and His (Her?) Weblog.

2. Girls, Robots, or Vikings?

3. Designaholics of the world, unite
(via Sushi Hendrix)

4. Running out of things to write about?

5. They Are Anime

***

Okay, this kind we like.

***
Here are things I learned after a day of reading up on spam, tweaking mailform codes and junking 500+ e-mails:

• Never reply to a spam, not even to say "remove me from your list."
• Do not mailbomb the alleged spammer who may be an innocent party too.

If you have a site:
• Have mailforms forward e-mail to a Yahoo address, and not to your domain account
• Download pppfile.pl, a FormMail script that prevents your address from being used by spammers
• Get an anti-spam e-mail address

And above all else, don't use spam to fight spam.

***
By the way, did you notice that you can now add URLs to my linkee list instantly?

November 26, 2001

A virus called Badtrans is going around and it has, unfortunately, infiltrated my address book. This morning I received about a hundred delivery failure notices of a message I did not send! If any of you receive mail from me with LEGAL ORDINATION in the subject line, please DELETE it right away. I'm now working on de-spamming my website and all instances of my e-mail addy scattered on the internet *groan*

(anti-spam link via Pangilinan)

November 25, 2001

My Arn's Trip to Tagaytay is the PEx Bookclub's selection for October/November and we got a chance to meet the wonderful forum members yesterday. It's interesting to note that some of them aren't really comic book readers and that reading Trip... was able to provide them new insights regarding the medium. That's so refreshing to know! I can relate since I only started reading graphic novels in college myself (thanks to my friend Emil who now teaches Sci-Fi & Fantasy Literature), but now that I have a graphic novelist boyfriend, of course I appreciate the medium better than ever. I think that once a new reader gets past the initial dialogue-visual sensory overload, he/she'll eventually see comics simply as movies, in static form.

• Comic Book Resources
• Bugpowder
• Sequential Tart
• Free comics from Onipress

***
We also ran into our musician friends Marcus, Mika, and Dong and they told us about the upcoming annual Mountaineers concert wherein they'll be performing together in a new band called -- and I'm sure only UP people will get this -- "The Sunken Gardeners".

***
Arn's buddy Sam informed us earlier that my former office BBDO/GO swept the Araw Awards, yay! Also heard that my close friend Sheila brought home a number of golds for her catchy McDonald's ads (way to go, girl!)

November 24, 2001

It's Saturday here but am posting my Friday Five a la Heather (technically it's still Friday in some parts of the world):

1. What was the last book you read? Little Lit: Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies edited by Art Spiegelman
Did you enjoy it? Immensely!

2. What's you're most favorite book of all time? Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson

3. What's the worst book you've ever read? All I can think of now are the books we *had* to read in high school

4. What book that you've read would you most like to see adapted into a movie? A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? Definitely NOT working.

November 23, 2001

Arn and I finally got to see the long-awaited Harry Potter movie Thursday morning. We're both huge fans of JK Rowling's work having read all four Harry books twice over, so although we found the movie very enjoyable, the purist in me noticed that a few things didn't quite hit the mark. (Caution: spoilers ahead)

Negative comments first:
1. A lot of scenes from the book were omitted, obviously to keep it within 2.5 hours. Understandable -- but it made some of the transitions look choppy and awkward. Some of the scenes, especially in the first 30 minutes, lacked drama too.

2. Some characters are underdeveloped -- Professor Quirell, most notably. Since he's the feeble underdog who turns out to be the villain, they should have established that he gained Harry's trust at first, just like in the book, to heighten the impact of the twist in the end. Also, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle aren't portrayed as the troublesome imps that they were in Rowling's original story.

3. The sorting hat sequence is too abrupt. I think they should have at least had an overhead shot showing the long queue of freshmen waiting to be sorted to give the atmosphere a "nervous anticipation" feel.

All *Glowing* praises now:
1. Spectacular Quidditch scene -- it salvaged the movie's weakish beginning by capturing the action, emotion and tension that so gripped me while reading that part in the novel. It is so well orchestrated the actors look like they're really playing the game (and flying!). Even Arnold, impressed, said "Now THIS is what we paid for."

2. Fantastic production design, art direction and special effects. Hogwarts Castle looks better than I ever imagined it. I believe most of the designs were patterned after Mary Grandpre's vision but the overall effect is breathtaking.

3. Good casting. I'm glad they decided to get newcomers to play the kids because they happen to fit the roles perfectly. Hermione was a bit more arrogant in the movie version though but the actress pulled that off without being (too) annoying.

Although there are parts that are better read in the book than seen, I have to admit that the movie was a good adaptation and exceeded our expectations. We'd see it again for the magical experience alone.

(Read the experts' reviews)

November 22, 2001

I was just going through Shelle's new pics when I saw this very familiar fella.

I took the liberty of cropping the photo (hope you don't mind, Shelle) for a clearer view.

Now isn't it somewhat disturbing to see a sausage happily pouring catsup all over itself? And if you'll look closely, it's licking its upper lip, as if in anticipation... (eww, of what?)

Note: There's one of these life-size mascots at a fast food place in Rockwell and well, it never fails to give Arnold and me the creeps whenever we see it.

Other peculiar mascots:
• Tropical Hut's Burgee (a skinny man with a burger for a head)
• McDonald's Grimace (what IS that purple thing?)

November 21, 2001

Due to the economic crisis, Arnold and I have agreed to go for a creative yet cost-effective way of handling mass gift-giving this year -- well we hope we won't have to succumb to the default original artwork greeting card solution. So anyway, I'd like to share with you some great and budget-friendly gift ideas I wouldn't mind making myself, time-permitting:

If you're craftsy (and have tons of patience) --

1. DIY fashion accessories like love beads and macrame belts.
(Cost estimate: P50@)

2. String bookmarkers, sorta like this, using beads instead.
(Cost estimate: P25@)

3. Tie-dyed shirts.
(Cost estimate: P100@)

Pressed for time? --

1. Mix tapes or CDs (if you have a burner) of rare, downloaded MP3s. Just make your own inlays/cd flaps.
(Cost estimate: P40@)

2. Personalized t-shirt designs. Make your own designs and print them out on iron-on transfer sheets. Attach an instructions page and place in a gift-wrapper envelope.
(Cost estimate: P30@)

For your clients --

1. You can never go wrong with munchies! Fill a nice bottle with nuts or candy. Design a label and print it out on sticker paper -- the stickier, the better! And don't forget to put your logo or website URL. (Baked pastries are ok too but they don't usually last long. Remember, shelflife is key if you want your logo visible longer.)
(Cost estimate: P75@)

2. Or better yet, do what my good friend Naomi does and bake cookies or homemade pies. That'll surely keep your client from kicking you out of their roster.
(Cost estimate: P100-200@)

The idea is to give the gifts a personal touch, however inexpensive they are. Now if you didn't like any of my suggestions, you can always turn to this site.
(link via Kottke)

Any other suggestions?

***

Okay. Genie's project and these sites have gotten me fired up in working on an artsy scrapbook journal of my own, something I've always wanted to do ever since, and especially after I read "Spilling Open".

Finally, the many years' worth of mementos I've amassed in my room -- ticket stubs, candy bar wrappers, comic strips, what have you -- will have purpose. (Let's just hope I don't flake out).

Now imagine how wonderful it would be to do that for a living.

***
Hey thanks so much for the good luck messages but I'm not attending the Philippine Ad Congress this year (for the first time in nine years). And since I've kissed the biz goodbye, I doubt if I'll ever attend one again. I wish my colleagues in BBDO/GO luck! (Not that they need it, they're the best).

November 19, 2001

Yesterday was my mom's birthday so Arnold, Calvin and I bought her this book. We wanted to give her something more expensive but knew she'd rather that we save our money.

My dad then treated us all to lunch at nearby Spasso, a semi - new restaurant that serves "continental fare". Um, don't bother checking it out. Food was so-so plus it took the waiters a while to serve everything. Parking is good though, partly because there were only three groups of customers present, us included. I kinda pity the owners... especially since A Veneto across the street is always packed.

***
I neglected to mention that the other day in Ateneo, right after Arnold's talk, we walked back to the parking lot to find his car plastered with a big, ugly yellow ILLEGALLY PARKED really sticky sticker. What??? I bet those mean guards had a blast letting us walk away not knowing that we "violated" some hidden parking rule. Anyway, upon finding out that we were guests, they apologized profusely, saying they mistook us for students, and that the really stuck sticker can be removed using hot water -- a tip they don't just share with anyone, they said. (Of course I'm broadcasting it here).

Note: Funny but Ramon told us that some students actually wear that sticker proudly on their windshields, sort of like a badge or seal of non-conformity.

November 18, 2001

Hmm, according to this test, I'm (only) worth exactly $1,874,140.00.

Fine. The US government allocates double that amount to maintain NASA's space shuttle.

(link c/o Ladybug)

November 17, 2001

My Arnold had a lecture at the Ateneo yesterday morning and I must say I was really proud (and impressed!) to see him in his element. I don't think anyone can talk about about creating graphic novels as well as he does. It was no surprise to see all 30 students riveted once he started drawing on the board, explaining how to create drama and tension through panelling and imagery. Wow. Baby, you just never cease to amaze me. (: (: (:

It was also nice seeing our friend Ramon (whose comics recently got published by MTV Ink, news courtesy of gf Neva) and meeting Elbert (and gf) from the Hey Comics list.

***
Congratulations to everyone who won at the Philippine Web Awards!
(see the site for info on the winners)

Apart from the *many* technical glitches, the show went well. (It could have been better, though. We were there at 7pm for pre - show cocktails; it started at 9, an hour late, and some bands took so much time setting up their equipment that the whole thing ended past midnight.) The theme was anime and everyone was encouraged to wear costumes. Of course we opted to dress conventionally although my brother offered to lend Arnold his old (Japan) high school uniform so that we could go as Furinkan High kids, ^_^

Oh, and we absolutely loved the witty animated manga and videogame - inspired category introductions by 25*8.

Chismis - worthy incidents include China Cojuangco's apparent irritation after hosts (Cristina Peczon and JC Gonzales) forgot to introduce her as presentor, and Akiko Thompson's constant mispronunciation of the word "Zines" -- she kept saying "Zayns".

Postscript to my NU Rock Awards post: Jim Ayson (whose Philmusic won again last night!) told us that he thinks the design we did for the Itchyworms album deserved to be in the finals. Yeah...

November 15, 2001

Aha! Two of mine made it to the finals -- good news enough (:

***
Anyway, our most recent design project was for BMG's "Himig ng Dekada '90" ("The Sound of the '90s", roughly translated) series. Arnold baby of course did the funky illustrations.

(The series' lead album)

It's a collection of six Greatest Hits albums featuring the country's top rock acts the Eraserheads, Rivermaya, Yano, Color it Red, and FrancisM, and is now available at an anti - piracy price of P280.

Note: The 90's was known for the band scene explosion jump - started by my college pals/regular client, the Eraserheads.

• Philmusic is the best place to get info on the Philippine band scene.
• Curious about the other rock band album covers I've designed? Click here. (:

November 14, 2001

My ever - growing linkee lists (from both this site and Bauzon.ph) were getting too big for their own good so I've sorted and stuffed everything into the huge wall that you'll find via the purple pulldown menu. (You can also click here if you like). Now isn't that much better?

Oh yeah, I won't be putting direct links on the pulldown menu itself lest I be accused of favoritism. (;

And while we're on the subject, let me call to your attention some of the nice sites I found in recent surfing expeditions:
• Nowhereville, USA -- Shiloah reads C.S. Lewis and writes really well
• Flowerhead - Susan's been on my list for quite a while now but I'm giving her special mention for the simple reason that her blog is sooo entertaining

Other new links of note: Benboy Studios, Sashimigirl, /There, Snazzykat

November 13, 2001

Following this example, here are 5 things that make me feel good (:

1. A steaming cup of chai latte with a cinammon swizzle stick

2. A thick slice of Naomi's yummy apple crumble

3. Sean Lennon and Yuka Honda's "Into the Sun" duet on loop

4. My parents, holding hands

5. Waking up each day knowing there is an Arnold in my life.

November 12, 2001

Oh my gosh

Act of terrorism or not, this is another reminder to count our blessings and treasure every moment with our loved ones...

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims' families.

***
This is amazing!
...and, well, kinda embarrassing.

The Wayback Machine makes it possible to surf pages stored in the Internet Archive's web archive. The nature of the project also points out the importance of maintaining the same domain name over time, otherwise the archive is broken.

(Whew. It's a relief to know that all evidence of my domain - less 1996 - 1997 amateur Geocities attempts is lost forever.)

- link c/o Brushstroke though I actually first heard about the Internet Archive from Dino.

• Web pioneers.

November 11, 2001

I managed to convince Arnold to watch Legally Blonde with me this weekend and guess what, we didn't leave the theatre disappointed -- a few notches shallower, maybe, but not disappointed. *giggle*

Trivia: Arn even mentioned something about recognizing one of the movie's crew members as part of the production of, brace yourselves, Dune. That's my baby for you, haha.

Oh, we also caught the trailer of "American Adobo", a film shot almost entirely in the U.S., starring Dina Bonnevie, Christopher de Leon, Ricky Davao, to name a few. We haven't seen a Filipino movie in such a long time and Laurice Guillen's direction, presumably good acting by the stellar cast, and excellent production values (by Unitel, an outfit I've worked with several times doing TV commercials) make this one something to look forward to.

***
So I took the Colorgenics test that's been making the rounds. Here's my profile in case you're interested.

November 9, 2001

Had a really hectic day going to and from clients' offices scattered across town. Arnold usually drives me around (didn't I say he's my *knight*?) but he has deadlines of his own so I told him to take it easy today, I'd just go it alone. Anyway, I think I lost about 10 pounds (at 5 lbs/km) working my way through the narrow, congested shortcuts that I thought would bring me to my destinations quicker. It obviously turned out to be a bad idea, it being a Friday (and a drizzly one at that), as I ended up arriving late in both meetings.

Freelancing Tip#1:Don't try to squeeze all your meetings in one day.

On a different note, don't you just hate it when a client tells you you'll get paid "next week, we promise" but then that "next week" stretches to, oh, six months??! Not only that, whenever you call them to follow - up, you get a mishmash of excuses ("we missplaced your billing", "one of the signatories is out of the country", "we haven't received any request for it"), you don't know what and who to believe anymore.

And then you find out that the very same company is getting good press (and loads of money) lately because of their high - rating TV game shows. Grrrrr.

Freelancing Tip#2:Make sure you ask for a downpayment before handing in a completed job.

***
Note: At the end of the day though, what really counts is that being a freelancer allows me to spend more time with my loved ones. (:

***
Genie had just invited me to be part of her Deconstructing You project over at Nervousness. (Thanks, Genie!!!). It's somewhat like the 1000 Journals project that took off last year, but is more personal and on a smaller scale. Speaking of 1000 Journals, I was supposed to receive one of them but the person in Malaysia who was supposed to send it to me months ago never did. Oh well.

November 8, 2001

John en no more Marsha. ):

Yesterday was a sad day not just for the movie industry but for everyone who grew up watching veteran actress Nida Blanca play the endearing lead in the long - running hit TV show that featured the First Family of Filipino Television... Arnold and I could barely speak while watching the news coverage last night. My parents were equally distraught since the actress was really well - loved and we couldn't believe anyone could do such a thing to someone like her. *sigh*

November 7, 2001

Yes, Sky Cable, where did our money go?

Anyway, as I've been trying (that being the operative word) to make the most of what the Sky - Home merger left us subscribers with, I recently noticed the addition of Solar 25, a channel that, at first impression, airs a hodgepodge of low - resolution Chinese action movies and old, forgotten TV shows. I even chanced upon a cheesy episode of "Lovingly Yours, Helen" once, starring this former classmate from UP Fine Arts *snicker*. The 80's kid in me, however, was delighted to note that Solar also shows the teenybopper flicks I grew up watching like "The Sure Thing" and "For Keeps".

Am signing off now because "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" will be on in a while. Popcorn?

More 80's movies are here.

November 6, 2001

Do you know YOU? We played Kokology:The Game of Self Discovery with a group of friends last weekend and ended up finding out even more stuff about each of our selves. It's really fun because unlike other psychological tests, the scenarios that are given seem to have absolutely no connection to what the test is about. For instance, picture yourself walking down a sidewalk. All of a sudden you accidentally topple over a garbage can. What spills out? i.e. loose trash, a neatly tied garbage bag, nothing? Your answer will actually determine how much of yourself you are willing to share to others. Lots of other seemingly innocent scenarios deal with issues concerning love, sex and family matters. This makes the game a great way to bridge communication gaps between friends, to bring you closer together and help you understand each other better, to open up conversations on what might otherwise be difficult, sensitive or forbidden subjects, author Isamu Saito says in the book's foreword.

Related articles:
• Kokology uses games to understand self
• Getting to know yourself through Kokology

***

*blush*

November 4, 2001

Okay, power just got restored. We got hit by a Luzon - wide blackout about five hours ago. Electricity in our area came back at around 7:30pm and I was just about to blog about it when the lights suddenly went out again at 9:30. *grrr*

***
My Arnold is such a darling, he got me this lovely dress yesterday, but it was really how he always manages to hide surprises from me til the last minute that amazes me. We were window - shopping and he saw me looking at that dress and so urged me to try it on. We both liked how it looked so I made a mental note to come back for it next week. Anyway... a yummy dinner, dessert and 8 hours later, I'd forgotten all about it but right as we pulled over at my house, he reached behind my seat and pulled out a shopping bag containing the dress! I was with him all throughout the day so I couldn't believe he was able to buy it without me knowing! Mind - boggling!

(I eventually figured out how he did it after like 5 minutes of mentally retracing our steps for the entire day).

This isn't the first time he's pulled off something like this. When I was still in advertising, I brought my car to work everyday so there was that time he snuck into the carpark and filled it with red long - stemmed roses, and all the while I thought he was still at home. He actually did that a lot of times, on different occasions, and in different ways. Other gifts he caught me off - guard with were a beautifully framed portrait, a slew of charcoal sketches, books, poems, and stuffed toys, and a whole (award -winning!) graphic novel dedicated to me. Awww, I love my baby. (: (: (:

November 2, 2001

Attention Neva and Ramon (...although I'm sure you know about this already!) --

Little Lit: Strange Stories for Strange Kids is the second groundbreaking anthology from the New York Times Bestselling husband and wife team of Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly...Featuring stories and games from celebrated, award-winning comics artists and authors from around the world. Now available!...

...in the U.S. *sigh*

Arnold and I have been eyeing the first Little Lit book, Folklore & Fairy Tale Funnies, for months ever since our above mentioned friends pointed it out to us at Page One. It was only this morning that I finally got around to buying it. (And now there's a second one out, hmmph.)

If you've only heard of the Little Lit books now, well... do any of these names ring a bell: Art Spiegelman, Dan Clowes, Kaz, J. Otto Siebold? Anyway, these talented people (and more) have gathered to tell and re - tell old and new fairy tales through sequential art. My favorites are Clowes' version of "Sleeping Beauty" (What do you think happened after the prince kissed the sleeping maiden? Did his parents approve of his rash decision?); Bruce McCall's silly "What's Wrong with this Picture?"; Kaz' "The Hungry Horse" and Chris Ware's "Once Upon a Time". The best part though is the very creative board game, also by Ware, included on the endpapers. It's called "Fairy Tale Road Rage," and it comes complete with punch - out cardboard chips and assemble - it - yourself car tokens. Lovely!

I'm notorious for going on book - buying sprees but this is the first time I've purchased a *really* good, thick volume in months and at P 999, it's quite a steal (:

If fractured fairy tales are your kind of thing, you'll also love Jon Sciezska and Lane Smith's "The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales"

November 1, 2001

Yes I'm still online. My client is on vacation so I'm taking this time to work on my little site updates:

• Just finished uploading pics from Arnold's FAAE Post Event Show Exhibit at the Glorietta. Click here. Or here.
• I also buried more "dead" artwork in my portfolio's Graveyard. (Click on "Thingamabox").
• If you're a UPIS classmate and are wondering where our batch site went, well it's back online.
• Sandwich fans, sorry but I need to wait for additional input from the band before I release the new site.

***
What is it with our pets dying on us this week? Our family dog of six years, Snowie, just took a nap one morning and never woke up. Several other dogs came and went during the time Snowie reigned but no one was ever as funny, as cute, and as LOUD as he was. ): Shortly after, in the Arre household half the city away, four of Arnold's cute little puppies started dying one by one. His dad suspects they may have gotten infected with some sort of virus. Arrgh.. what a way to end Pet Month.

***
A few posts back, I mentioned that our friend's brother died in a swimming accident. This Philippine Star article pays tribute to him.

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