Angel Art


Angel on a ledge.

Here's a nice artwork I made of Angela Gale AKA Angel Ace, my original manga character. She's just kicking back, enjoying the free night air as she watches the lights of the sleeping city. Like the toe ring? Heh.
I'm currently working on the next Angel Ace issue, with help from some friends. I'm hoping to release this Angel Anthology within the year. At the very least, I want to release a prelude to this, perhaps an ashcan-type comic with pinups, art, character designs and info, and maybe a mini-story, soon. We'll see what happens...


I like the nightlife!

The Ghost Surfer

Now, I still seem to be tone-deaf when it comes to Third Eyes and sensing the supernatural, but this seemed pretty interesting. A new trainee at the office (who sits right behind me in our area) was working alone a few days ago. It was in the afternoon and the rest of the people where on a training seminar, so he had the room to himself. As he was working, he heard the distinct sound of mouse-clicking (as in computer mouse). At that time he dismissed it as maybe sounds coming from the adjacent offices. Never mind that he was quite sure that there was no one else in the immediate area.
Then, some days later, the same guy was working late. It was just before midnight, and he was finishing up his load when, once again, he heard the telltale mouse clicks.
The clicks were, in his words, VERY close. It was as if someone was leisurely surfing. Almost certainly within the area, but there was no one else there… or in any of the nearby rooms.
The final straw came however, when the lights started flickering.

Needless to say, he decided it was time to call it a day.

Now, I’ve worked late in the office myself many, many times, but I’ve never encountered such things… though I have at times decided to hold off the call of nature when I saw that the CR lights were out (and I don’t know where the light switch is). We just moved into our new area, but I’ve never heard of ghosts or eerie events there before. Then again, prior to the Creative Team moving into the area, the place was the Finance Department… maybe they were just too occupied with numbers and figures to notice spooky stuff. Heh.

Interesting. Intriguing. Not enough to make my equivalent of The Ring, but still pretty cool.

Dead or Alive Motion Picture Coming Soon!


The DOA girls get some beauty rest in preparation for their movie debut.

Now this is news close to my videogaming heart. Plans for a Dead or Alive motion picture have finally been cemented, according to a report by Reuters and the movie trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter. The film is apparently under the wing of Impact Pictures, a company which is a veteran of videogame-to-movie conversions (they handled the first Mortal Kombat movie, and Resident Evil.
According to Paul Anderson (Impact), the movie can be described as ‘Charlie’s Angels meets Enter the Dragon’.
The story will focus on about six characters from the movie, with special emphasis on four female protagonists. The DOA girls, both beautiful and well-versed in the martial arts, are invited by Fame Douglas (a corporate magnate with shady connections from the game’s storylines) to take part in the Dead or Alive fighting tournament. The action will supposedly be set on an exotic island. The writer for the film is reportedly JF Lawton, known for penning the scripts for Pretty Woman and Under Siege.
Unlike the more mystical and fantasy-based Mortal Kombat movies/games, DOA will be set more or less in ‘reality’(No otherdimensional overlords molesting the DOA girls? Aw nuts...). Fans of the game will be treated to a film that remains loyal to the game’s essential principles, while mainstream and non-gamer audiences can still look forward to a fun, enjoyable and sexy popcorn movie. The PG-13 film will also feature at least one scene of ‘babes in bikinis’, a tribute no doubt to the sexy DOA game spin-off, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. DOAX has sold close to 500,000 copies worldwide since it’s release.
The DOA movie will reportedly be released together with Dead or Alive 4, the latest DOA fighting game, in late 2004. Since that’s still a ways off, gamers will be glad to know that Tecmo is set to release Dead or Alive: Code Chronos in Fall 2003. Chronos is rumored to be a spinoff fighting/action game based on past games in the Dead or Alive series. Just what it is exactly may be finally revealed in the upcoming E3 2003.

While I am having so much fun with DOAX, I am really looking forward to DOA Code Chronos; though just what exactly it IS remains a mystery to this day. Hopefully there will still be as much trademark DOA cheesecake and fan service in it as much as action…
As for the DOA movie... well... there really hasn't been much success in fighting game movies. The Streetfighter movie sucked, and the Tekken anime was horrible (the live-action movie was plagued and doomed even before it started). Double Dragon... Ugh... that second Mortal Kombat film... GGGGUUUUHHH...
But then again, Dead or Alive is all about butt-kicking, sexy babes. You'd have to be really bad to mess that up... right? Just get great casting for the characters, a damn good fight choreographer and wirework (easy on the Matrix stuff and zippy editing though) and a reasonable script and... it may be a nice, enjoyable, popcorn movie. If it's at least as cool as the first Charlie's Angels film was, I'll be pleased.
Crossing fingers now.

Pinay in fighting game!


"Kamusta, kabayan! Ako si Talim from the Fiesta islands in the Philippines! Mabuhay!

Yep, there's finally a Filipino character in the colorful world of videogames. That character is Talim, a female fighter who uses the Kali martial art in the awesome new weapons fighter, Soul Calibur 2! Described as a priestess of the wind, Talim is one of the elite fighters out to find the fragments of the evil sword, Soul Edge. Her fighting style is fast, in-your-face and nasty... MABANGIS! Heheh.
If you want to learn more about Talim and her back story, click here.

Soul Calibur 2 (import/Japanese version) is already out in Japan for the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. A US release is scheduled in August 2003.

Funny Copy

I was surfing around the net and came to Jabootu, a 'bad movie' site. Scanning through the coming Cheezy films of 2003, one particular entry had me laughing out loud. It was for a movie called Vampire Assassin by Cinetel productions. The tagline read, "To kill an army of vampires, you must become one."
So... how does one become an army of vampires? Heheheheheh...

Check out the site for a list of upcoming corny and cheezy movies, and quite a few laughs.

Training Day

Today is the day that I first rode the new MRT which travels west-east along Marcos Hi-way to Aurora Boulevard all the way to Recto. After several years of traffic caused by construction, the wait has finally paid off. My mom informed me that the trains were operational, and had been since President Macapagal’s birthday recently. Woohoo!

There are a few cons, though. The nearest station to my house at Katipunan is a WALK. About ten minutes at least, uphill. Well, I get exercise. Anyway, once I got to the station, I was kinda amazed that there seemed to be no one entering the place. But there was of course the large streamer announcing the ‘Libreng Sakay’ (Free Rides) which would last until tomorrow. As I stepped towards the security guards, I was asked from which office I was. I was at a loss of words for a second and was on the verge of flashing my agency ID when the female guard finally realized I was a passenger. Heh.
The Katipunan MRT station is underground, and pretty impressive actually for its size. The place was empty, clean and cool as I walked down the stairs and rode the escalators to the riding platforms. When I got there, I saw several other passengers waiting (I could probably count them on my fingers).
The train for Cubao arrived after a few minutes of waiting, and I was on it. There weren’t enough people to fill all the seats, yet predictably there was still the odd man standing. The train waited for a few more riders to board, and we were off.
The new MRT is at least a third wider and maybe a little longer than the EDSA MRT. It was a cool feeling to see the buildings along Aurora from the new vantage point. I actually stood up just to see the new sights. Nice. From Katipunan, there was only one other stop (Anonas) before reaching Cubao. Luckily, that was my stop since the train apparently only operated up to there as yet.
I really didn’t know how complete the Cubao terminal was, but it was already at least 9/10 finished. There was a length of the side which seemed to be totally open; anyone wanting to jump off from the MRT to the street below need only take a running start; the only thing standing between him and space was a rope cordon. Aside from that, I was almost positive that I saw Gloria (the Prez) herself; well, obviously it was just a lady who had the same hair, facial shape and height due to the lack of any security personnel or commotion

I got down and proceeded to the EDSA MRT, which would take me to Ayala and my workplace. Had a new era begun for me? Probably. Commuting to Cubao, which once was unpredictable, now had a new dimension. I could probably make it in less than thirty minutes once the train was completely running, and that helps a lot to shave off transit time. I hope it all just works out as great as the second MRT. Trains rock.

Sex and Violence and a Senseless Sequel


Lady assassins up the wazoo!

I picked up a Hongkong movie on DVD entitled Naked Weapon. The film stars Maggie Q, Anya and Daniel Wu, and is yet another film in the infamous Naked series (which includes the similar earlier film, Naked Killer), which pretty much popular for it's steamy sex and violence. Not for kiddies, but mature viewers, especially those who love seeing kick-butt model-gorgeous girls go at each other's throats. The story is a doozie; A mysterious woman named Madame M runs a female assassin ring, which specializes in training young girls to become professional killers who use sex as well as martial arts. To this end, she brings together forty young girls and puts them through a six year program to forge them into deadly fighters. Along the way, many are weeded out, and like another popular film of mine, Battle Royale, it soon becomes apparent that Madame M only wants ONE to survive the batch.
Later, full-fledged assassins Charlene (Maggie Q) and Katt (Anya) are experts in the trade. A cop (Daniel Wu) soon gets wise to the murders the girls perpetrate, and soon becomes embroiled in the sordid drama.
Now, Naked Weapon may not be as classy as the recent So Close (Su Qi, Zhao Wei) but you really can't go wrong with sexy girls and martial arts, can you? Heh. Anyway, the fight scenes are cool and pretty wild, and come with some pretty raw CG effects that seem to be all the rage in Hong Kong films. The movie does have some leaps in logic and some credibility problems... I mean, you train forty girls for six years, feeding, housing and giving them all sorts of training... and then just kill them outright? Waste of man- er, girlpower, if you ask me. Kinda reminds me of the SIVA organization from my Angel Ace comic, but it would be such a waste to just kill off well-trained operatives in-house... and violate and mistreat them as well? Sigh.
Anyway, it's not a great film, but it's pretty and entertaining if you're looking for some mindless sex and violence and martial arts with lots of babes. And it's mostly in english, too!

Another DVD I picked up is Atlantis II: Milo's Return. Yes! I wasn't aware of this sequel as well! Apparently, the gang from part one gets together again, including of course leads Milo and Kida. They soon go off on a world-spanning journey to discover the secret of the Atlantean crystals. Anyway, shoddy animation and action highlight this direct-to-video release... plus the normally hot Kida spends most of the time fully clothed... what's up with that? BAH!

Well that's pretty much it. Hopefully I can get stuff done tomorrow since it's a holiday... particularly to enjoy the stuff I've acquired over the weekend.