A week's worth of blogging, coming right up --

Larry Alcala, 75 and Doreen Fernandez, 67, R.I.P. These bastions in the Philippine Arts and Lit community touched our lives, unknowingly.

As a child, I would always look forward to Sunday's Panorama for Larry Alcala's much-emulated Slice of Life cartoons, so when I enrolled at the U.P. College of Fine Arts and saw his scribbles on the alumni canvas, I remember feeling so much awe that I was going to the same school he went to. Young Arnold, on the other hand, went as far as dragging his family to see Mr. Alcala's exhibit, and even signed his guestbook with a sketch of the monster from Krull.

Larry Alcala did the cartoons for UP-CFA's Visual Communication Department's corporate identity.

Thank you for the inspiration, sir.

Doreen Fernandez was only 'a writing gourmet' to me until a two years ago when we met her at the National Book Awards the first time Arn won. A few months ago, this regal woman entered Twist of Minggoy's and sat beside our booth. I nudged Arn and whispered, "Look, it's Doreen Fernandez. Let's say hello and thank her for voting for you twice". By that time she was already surrounded by too-eager-to-please waiters and, well, we felt intimidated and decided not to talk to her. Sigh.

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It's been a pretty hectic week, folks, but nothing could ever be too hectic for Arn and me to miss Minority Report. It's keep- you- on- the- edge- of- your- seats -exciting and is definitely worth your 2 hours. (As a bonus, the theatres show trailers of Matrix and Chamber of Secrets at every screening of MR. What more can a fangirl ask for?). I haven't read the Philip K. Dick story it was based on so I don't know how much of it Spielberg tweaked, but the treatment was so fresh, it didn't even feel like a Spielberg movie*.

*Not to put Spielberg down because I really do love his work.

By the way, some scenes, like the criss-crossing 90 degree-drop highways, actually reminded me of my own Arn's Trip to Tagaytay'. Plugging, haha.

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Shiloah and I finally met up and de-stressed over pasta and spinach artichoke dip. First time meetings usually scare me but ours was easy and comfy and it felt like we've known each other all along. (: (And yes, Shil, you're a really nice person, and I have a pretty good idea which blog it is you're referring to.)

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Finally, never eat at Komoro Soba in Megamall. Two words: food poisoning.

After (barely) eating a bento box meal for dinner, I felt a strong headache coming on. Arn didn't want me to drive home alone in that condition so we went to his house (which is nearer Megamall than my family's house) to ask his brother Jing to follow us in their family car so Arn would have a ride home afterwards. By the time we got there, the throbbing had spread throughout my entire cranium and my tummy was already in excruciating pain. His loving parents massaged my head and back, and made me drink medicine before we made the long drive home to our place*, where my mom was worriedly waiting for us. Obviously I'm ok now but the sight of food of any kind still nauseates me.

*Our homes aren't really that far apart, it just seemed looong because of the frequent, um, throw-up stopovers. Blecch.

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Yes Macy, I meant Luis Katigbak in my previous entry. (Luis if you're reading this, thanks for the story you sent us! It's now with Arn. (: ).

Hello there, Halina! Thanks for reading this and I hope you're enjoying yourself at BBDO.

02:14 PM
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June 22, 2002

Hey I got to meet Astrid yesterday. How? Arn and I had a meeting in U.P. with Luis K. It turns out that he and Astrid, whose blog I discovered months ago via Jessel's, are buddies and they were hanging out in an FC office when we arrived so, as Luis said, it became an impromptu mini-eb*. What a small, small world (yet again!).

*e.b. stands for 'eye-ball', a.k.a. meeting in person. Small groups of 3-4 (or one-on-one, like Shiloah and I have been planning for the longest time) are always best for first-time meetings.

Recognize this guy? (The image was swiped from Philmusic).

There's something about U.P. that forges an unexplainable connection between iskos. Yup, it's not by coincidence that my reading list* consists mostly of U.P. alumni/students.(: It feels good knowing that I won't be alone in getting senti over hearing the words isaw, blue book, CASAA, or Romeo Lee.

Can you name more exclusive-to-U.P. terms?

* with the exception of Atenistas Ramon and Neva who are dear, longtime friends, Don Bosco-ite Luis P, and Povedan kolehiyala Meg, among others.

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Newly-bookmarked notables --

Fun with words: Lonely Tylenol. See, it reads the same forward and backwards. And most of the entry titles are palindromes, too. Ingenious!

Artsy: Ibalik. He can cook, do the laundry, wash dishes, take very nice photos and design pretty websites.

Celebrity web designer: Ivonne. She co-authored a book on Dreamweaver X and is helping me learn some CSS tricks via e-mail, all because of a comment I left at OnClick. What a nice woman.

01:04 PM
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June 19, 2002

Don't laugh but I took this ultra-rare pic of Lea at the, er, Menudo concert in 1985.

Theatre-musical fans that we are, Arnold and I attended Lea Salonga's (packed!) repeat concert at the PICC last night. The short of it: Braaavo! Broadway music and Lea go together really well.

Not that I ever doubted it -- I saw her perform at the Manila productions of Grease and My Fair Lady in the 90s with my mom; watched her in Miss Saigon and They're Playing Our Song a couple of years ago with Arn; and, come on, who in our generation didn't grow up watching her belt out "Tomorrow" and "Happiness" on Love Lea? She's practically synonymous with anything Broadway-related in this country.

If you didn't get to watch the show, don't worry, the Broadway Concert album is out in stores already -- released by BMG and designed by, ahem, yours truly. (: Click here for a preview.

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And since we're on the subject of musicals, we've been watching The Fantasticks over and over since Star Movies started playing it last (?) week. Nothing like a good old-fashioned magic-realism-laced love story to perk you up on a rainy working-afternoon.

05:30 PM
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June 18, 2002

As most of you know, Arn and I were both in the ad biz sometime ago -- behind the scenes of course, in the creative department. The funny thing is that my very first exposure to that industry was in front of the camera as an extra* in an 80s Coke commercial with Lilet. *cue music "I am the future of the world..."* Remember that ad?

* Haha, actually a bunch of us UPIS kids were gathered for that ad.

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Last weekend I found my reel* collecting dust in one corner of my bookshelf and so I thought I'd list down the TV commercial projects I was involved in, good and bad alike, for your entertainment (tell me if you remember any of 'em):

*Reel = TVC portfolio

03:19 AM
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June 14, 2002

Before anything else, my belated congratulations to Team Dindi and the rest of IndieFilipino for finally launching their maiden issue last Wednesday, Philippine Independence Day, no less! I haven't had a chance to surf the entire thing, but it's nice to see some very familiar names in there.

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Arn and I have both been very busy the past few days but we managed to squeeze in a pilgrimage to the QC post office to pick up his copies of Graphic Classics: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

So, did you know that you have to pay tax for every package you receive whether you bought the contents or not?

P.O. clerk (rummaging thru the box, presumably searching for a receipt): "What are you using these books for?"

Arnold: "Oh they're complimentary copies because my artwork's in them."

P.O. clerk (somewhat perplexed upon not finding any receipt): "...Well sir, I still have to charge you [insert totally inappropriate amount] for tax."

Arnold: "Ma'am, these books were given to us, we didn't ask for them. Besides we can't afford to cough up that kind of money right now."

Cyn (opens one book): "Yes, and look, here's Arnold's drawing. See, that's his name right there."

P.O. clerk: "Hmmm..." (looks at Arn) "You're a very good artist, can you draw my portrait?""

(Arn quickly does a caricature of the old lady clerk.)

P.O. clerk: "Wow, thank you! ... Okay I won't be charging you then." (D'oh!)

Note: Of course the entire conversation was in Filipino. It was funnier that way, I guess. (I-drowing mo naman ako, iho?)

12:14 PM
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June 8, 2002

Citadels* is a medieval-themed role-playing card game where players seek to be the first to complete a grand city of their own by secretly taking the roles of either the King, Magician, Architect, Thief, Bishop, etc. and using the powers of such offices to win the game. The funny thing is that all players get to play a different role in each turn so you can be the King in one round and Thief the next, and so on. (Ooh, Erap must've had his own set, eh?)

A game of Medieval cities, nobles, and intrigue.

*Arn and I have yet to play it though. We only got to "inspect" it at CQ the other day.

They sure don't make games like they used to. Today, an RPG -- in card game or computer form -- could last just a few hours, thus providing instant satisfaction. Back in high school, games would last for days because completing an action could take at least 15 minutes per player, what with all those dies and charts. Cumbersome as they were, I'm beginning to appreciate their crude, DIY quality now.

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Interesting -- statistics show that as a group, boys:

ï Score lower in all grades on standardized reading and writing tests than girls
ï Are more likely than girls to be placed in remedial classes or held back a grade
ï Rank lower in their class and earn fewer honors than girls
ï Get into fights twice as often, and commit suicide four times more often than girls.

Precisely why Jon Sciezska has come up with Guys Read, a literacy program for boys.

(via Butas na Chucks)

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Please go and visit Sunshine who I know from my Mayrics-going days! This blog world is getting smaller by the minute.

01:18 AM
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June 4, 2002

Aww, thanks for the greetings, everyone! It's lovely to know that my efforts here are appreciated. (: Now back to our regular scheduled programming...

The sudden change in temperature (from dry-humid to drizzly-humid) and a currently heavy workload rendered me sniffly sick last weekend so instead of us going out as usual, Arnold came over bearing movies for a relaxing stay-at-home date.

So I finally, finally saw Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis which is so refreshingly different from the current crop of anime that we see on AXN or in the local channels. It's reminiscent of Akira (no surprise there, Metropolis was written by Otomo too), only less "heavy" -- possibly because the central character Tima is so cute that you wouldn't think the fate of all humanity will one day depend on her. Riveting and visually breathtaking, it's sure worth the two hours of your planet time.

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Now that's a flyover.

Speaking of futuristic cities, my mother just got back from a week-long tour of Shanghai and, looking at the photos she took, Calvin, Arn and I were surprised to learn that the city is so well-developed now you'd half expect to see cars flying around ala Coruscant. Wow, when did all that happen?

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To cap this entry, here's Wired's list of the best sci-fi movies of all time.

03:19 AM
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