February 27, 2002
Arnold and I have been out working all week -- and weekend -- so please bear with the sporadic posting.
We did manage to squeeze in Shallow Hal in between client calls. Excuse us for wanting to de-stress our exhausted brain cells but hey, a movie with theme music by Ivy can't be all that bad.
Randomness:
Sigh, I dream to design an album packaging series that's as pretty as this.
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Aha, a comic strip about graphic designers.
(link via Antenna)
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K: Are we going to see a home page for yourself any time soon? Why and why not?
Ninoy: Yaiks, like luvskosininoy.com? I think the web can live without another site like that.
*Gee, I wonder which site he was referring to?
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Kakosa interviews our friend Ninoy Leyran:
It's Krypton this week. Have you any doubt it's about the Man of Steel?
08:40 AM
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February 22, 2002
This week has been a blur of client meetings and trips to printing presses and color separation houses, thank goodness it's Friday already.
One of the printers is near Madison Square so Arnold and I took the chance to have a late dinner at Teriyaki Boy. It's not the typical Pinoy-Japanese fastfood place and food is actually good. We had sushi and shared an okonomiyaki, which was quite heavy so I took half of it home for my family to taste.
We also discovered a new dessert place -- Lord Stow's bakery which is supposedly known for their egg tarts. We shared one and true enough, unlike any run-of-the-mill egg tart, their's has a flaky crust and the creamy center melts in the mouth. It's about the size of your palm and will only set you back P25 -- cheaper and yummier than any Starbucks pastry.
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Also found time to finish two of the books Ramon so generously lent us:
The Ballad of Dr. Richardson by Paul Pope
Dr. Richardson, a timid art history professor meets a former student in a subway train and from that moment on, ventures into the unknown and thus changes the course of his uneventful life.
His life-changing quote: "Dare I disturb the dumb universe?"
To Ramon & Nev: I haven't started reading the other PP book but I loved the Ballad and it has made me want to watch out for his other 'drawn novels'!
and
The System is composed of various stories of life in a big city that intertwine somehow, all told in fully-painted pictures with no words.
Off the book's review page: "Peter Kuper's The System is just like New York - totally sleazy and totally cool." - Bill Plympton
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And thanks to the Little Green Footballs script, I now have a referrers page.
09:40 AM
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February 20, 2002
Elephant Still Missing: A Murakami Detox Support Group is a Haruki Murakami-literature-inspired group blog (oy, Nev) by the same creative team that brought us Crumbs.
[link via Indi]
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Our friend Marcus (of the band Eraserheads, who else?) recently collaborated with my Arnold for his solo album project Kamon Kamon.
For those ready to invest enough effort into figuring this album out, they shall be rewarded with a glimpse into what makes Marcus not only invaluable to the Eraserheads, but to music in general.
KAMON is available at some stores at the U.P. Shopping Center (last we saw, Sarabia Optical and Charisms were selling it). You may also order from Marcus himself.
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My brother's girlfriend gave him a VCD adaptor for his Dreamcast, meaning it can now play VCDs -- the one thing my trusty ol' Mac can't do (it can play DVDs though, and that's far better). Since the only video disc we have is the "Behind the Sins" documentary (which Arn and I were, *gasp*, part of) for the Eraserheads' Maskara video, we were forced to watch it to test the player. Seeing it for the first time after one whole year brought to mind why I never liked that particular project.
(You don't have to read on if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Otherwise...)
10:57 AM
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February 17, 2002
Over the weekend:
1. Papa had his highschool classmates over for a get-together, so I went downstairs to a festive dining room, complete with a real rondalla band playing Philippine folk tunes.
2. Arn and I met up with friends Neva, Ramon, Quark and Harvey for merienda and then checked out Central Comic Headquarters, a spanking new comic book shop at the building in Katipunan where Beanhoppers used to be.
3. Our Saturday gang minus Dean + Gig (who are brand new parents of a baby girl, Sage) braved weekend traffic in Eastwood and tried out fine-dining bistro Nappa. Food's yummy though a bit pricey -- I had shrimp + mussels pasta with tomato sauce.
4. AND in between leisure (hah!), I slaved on a project that I can't wait to tell you about.
09:56 PM
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February 15, 2002
If you care to know how we spent yesterday, read on.
05:58 PM
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Aww, the lovely Erika sent me this snazzy candy heart greeting:
It even matches my background, cool!
Hope you all had a happy hearts day yesterday. Will talk more about ours later, as there's mucho work to take care of first.
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By the way, I often wonder if my clients have already stumbled upon this blog, and if they occasionally check in to see if I'm busy working on their requirements or just spending time surfing. But really, how much time does blogging set us back anyway? It takes me about 10-15 minutes to compose an entry and then maybe another 5 to gather URLs. How about you?
11:19 AM
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February 13, 2002
Some odds and, literally, ends:
ï Indiepop band Barcelona is no more. If you're anywhere in NYC or Washington DC this weekend, you can still catch their farewell gigs. Otherwise, make like an indie kid and download their catchy tunes.
ï Matt Groening's Futurama is about to be cancelled. Help save it.
(Gee, Ramon and Nev -- to think we were just talking about the show last night.)
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Yes folks, Arn and I will be joining the hordes of people who'll be out tomorrow, so in case I don't get to post, here's wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's day.
Z Z Z
09:19 PM
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February 12, 2002
My brother Christopher would have been 26 yesterday...
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Have you read Arnold's interview at HalfProject yet? [Go]
* Thanks again, Zoo.
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Aah, yet another graphic novel to look forward to (no.1 on our to-buy list is Blankets by Craig Thompson):
Dumped by Andi Watson. "It's a human story...about two collectors and how they meet and fall in love, and whether or not they can put any other person before their possessions."
And we have Ramon to thank for this bit of news, as always. Incidentally, you can view his site via hey-comics.blogspot.com. I've been trying to access it ever since Nev told me about it, to no avail. Turns out I've been neglecting to write in the hyphen, heh.
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Randomness:
ï In case you haven't seen it, here's E.T.'s 20th Anniversary edition trailer
ï This week's Periodic Table of Science Fiction short story: H.G.Wells on the Moon
ï Rejected Valentine's Day Cards
01:39 AM
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February 10, 2002
Congratulations go to Arn's younger brother Jing, who passed the Philippine Architectural Board Exams (hurray for another artist in the family!), and to our pal Berger who's a brand new daddy -- welcome, Sofia Elise (:
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The vibrant Felicia (of Small Spiral Notebook fame), has put up a site for the health conscious (attention, Shil), called Eat Like A Rockstar. Sophia and other fitness-savvy ladies are joining Fel in this group blog.
Okay, I'm typing this while eating a cookie -- a major sign that I should read it daily.
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It looks like Virra Mall, gadget and game haven of the 80s that's been in a sad state of deterioration for years, has become a block-wide warehouse of pirated goods. Aggressive vendors approached and stalked us non-stop everywhere we walked, peddling bootleg DVDs -- yes, crystal clear copies of recent titles like A Beautiful Mind and From Hell (pst, Ramon & Neva). Arnold even had to shoo away the persistent ones hissing "Boss, X?*" with lowered voices -- as if they were dealing drugs.
* In case you didn't get it, they were selling him X-rated films, ugh.
After only 20 minutes of making our way through the frenzy, we emerged from the building exhausted and empty-handed. It's enervating to see that a place you loved as a kid is now this bleak dump of a tiangge.
01:51 PM
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February 9, 2002
Been *really* busy so random links are all I can offer for now:
Muffin Films!
(via Felicia)
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Official site du Monsieur Tintin
(You'll love this, Arnold baby)
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Coffee Trifles - Manila stories and more
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A list of the WWW's Who's Who
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Good luck on your job hunt, Shiloah!
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Our deepest condolences to you and your family, Erna.
11:28 AM
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February 6, 2002
See what movie hype can do... before Tolkien became a household name, his books floated around bargain bins in the city.
I got my copy of Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham at a book sale for a measly P16 (30¢) in the early '90s. Bookstores have started carrying it again and are selling it now for P300.
Even the Bakshi LotR cartoon was reissued. Tsk tsk, cashing in, eh?
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Expect this to be the next Warhammer:
12:13 PM
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February 5, 2002
If not for my Arnold's lovely presence, I will probably spend every Valentine's day holed up in my room reading books like these:
Harlequin Valentine, by Neil Gaiman and John Bolton.
HV is a modern retelling of a classic commedia dell' arte legend of tomfoolery and hopeless, fawning love. Those who have spent Valentine's Day alone know that the cold February holiday can be hard to swallow. Here, all it takes is a steak knife, a fork, and a bottle of quality ketchup.
Note: Not for the faint of heart though (ugh).
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This I've mentioned before,
Toxic Paradise: Love and Romance, first issue of a comic book anthology series published through Slave Labor Graphics
Love and Romance shows relationships as deconstructed and reconstructed by today's independent comic book artists.
Note: Non-mushy. Very.
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Love in Tights , a (quarterly) comic book anthology series published through Slave Labor Graphics
LiT is an attempt to bridge the gap between two previously unrelated genres: superheroes comics and romance comics.
Note: Naturally I'm featuring the cover by our fave artist-writer Andi
* I did read them all anyway -- with him of course (:
12:08 AM
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February 4, 2002
My Arnold's on a web-feature roll: HalfProject's DIALOGUE with him is up. Here he switches into 'professor' mode and talks in depth about Pinoy art style/comicbook scene issues. Go.
See his recent interview at Kakosa too.
09:39 AM
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February 3, 2002
Arn and I took a walk around the newly-opened Podium before going to Megamall yesterday. Just a handful of clothing boutiques and eating establishments are already in operation and so, like any new-ish mall, it was refreshingly clean and crowd-free. We had a lovely gyros merienda, minus the usual hustle and bustle at Cafe Med's other outlets, and vowed to eat in all the restos* before they get infested by the hip 'n' happening young set (well, when they tire of Eastwood).
* all except UCC Coffee, which, we hear, is unbelievably expensive.
07:43 PM
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Our latest yummy find: Pudding Baby:
*Obviously they just couldn't recommend it enough.
Available at Watson's.
07:40 PM
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February 1, 2002
Arnold baby's interview and online exhibit at Kakosa is up. He answers questions about the evolution of his drawing style, the art of collaborating, and the profitability of being in the comic book business. (Go)
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Linkage for the clicky-happy:
What are those bread buns doing on that bunny rabbit's head?
Ran out of CD jewel cases? Make one yourself, the origami way.
Note: I have my own version here.
For the girls: How to make funky skirts out of pillowcases.
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I find it trÈs cool that a foreign language-speaking person has linked to my site. Muchas gracias, Adriana. Comprendo EspaÒol un poco. (now did I get that right?).
Hello to Anita, too!
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Our photo album has a few new-ish photos, by the way. (Wanna look?)
10:04 AM
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