Friday, December 24

From the Sanctum...

May you all be with the ones you love tonight.

May your tables be laden with the bounty of your labors.

May you be safe and happy and filled with joy at a year well done.


Merry, Merry Christmas to Everyone.


Thursday, December 23

Last Minute

I'm in a net cafe in Megamall. Came out of the house to finish up my last bits of Christmas chores, buy a couple of esoteric items, and deposit blood at the Blood Bank that is Comic Quest. The lines and crowds are still as thick as ever, and working ATMs are pretty hard to come by. Anyway, I don't expect to leave The Sanctum after tonight until well after Christmas- so I've got to finish it all now.

Darn, I'm hungry.

Wednesday, December 22

At Last

Today's the last working day of 2004.

WOOHOO!!! YYEEEBBBBAAAA!!!!

From tomorrow till January 2, I'll be on vacation. That's about ten days of vegetating. Yum!

So, I hope to accomplish the following:

1. Read my unread comics pile.

2. Finish the last few K.I.A. pages.

3. Unlock all the costumes in Dead or Alive Ultimate.

4. Finish Metal Gear Solid 3 again.

5. Try to play some other games on Xbox and PS2.

6. Start writing some scripts and storylines for my 2005 projects.

7. Watch some of the Film Festival movies, particularly Enteng Kabisote, Sigaw, Lastikman and Spirit of the Glass.

8. Enjoy the new Sanctum.

9. Figure out how to send pictures to my parents' 3100s.

10. Watch some DVDs.

YEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!! 5:30 already. Gotta go.
Boxed Fantasy


Box full of troubles.

A recent splurge I did recently was on a boxed set of Fighting Fantasy books, an 8-box set consisting of titles written by writers Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. Sure, they're derivative, cliche and really probably don't count as high fantasy literature, but they're damn fun. And they made my elementary and high school years quite entertaining. These books are part of the interactive-book rage that included Be An Interplanetary Spy, Choose Your Own Adventure, Which Way, Time Machine and countless other lines of pocketbooks. I purchased the set at Powerbooks at Greenbelt 3, while picking up gifts for friends. Good thing I was flush with Christmas Party prize money so I could afford the 2K set. Heh. I hope I get to read these books before they become classics AGAIN. Gotta make a point to at least browse through the hills of uread reading material I've amassed in 2004. Or at least put reading them into my New Year's Resolution. HOHO!
Ninja Babe needs your help!


"Who, me?"

Every so often, SOTA Toys, though action-figure.com, holds a vote on which characters from the Street Fighter universe gets included in the releases of their SF Series action figures. I only found out recently, and AFTER the voting for Series Three. I found out then that my favorite SF character, Ibuki the ninja girl, lost to Sakura by only a narrow margin.

Well, THIS time, I wanna make sure my super-cute SF assassin gets immortalized in action figure form. I ask you, gentle blog reader, to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for Ibuki to be included in Series Four of SOTA's Streetfighter figures.

To vote, just fill out an e-mail with your votes for the following categories:

Category 1 "The Headliner" - Akuma, Zangief
Category 2 "The Big Guy" - Birdy, Hugo
Category 3 "The Female Fighter" - Ibuki
Category 4 "The Good Guy" - Guy, Charlie, Fei Long
Category 5 "The 3rd Strike Character" - Remy, Necro, Oro

Now, of course, I don't care whom you choose in the other categories, as long as you VOTE FOR IBUKI.

In case you don't know shit about Street Fighter, I can save you the trouble of choosing from the other categories- you can just cut and paste this generic vote.

1. Akuma
2. Hugo
3. Ibuki
4. Guy
5. Oro

Send your e-mail to streetfighter@action-figure.com. Put as the title 'Series Four votes'.

I really need your help on this one, gentle blog-readers. Please don't let me and my favorite ninja girl down. Deadline for the votes is on January 16, 2005 so vote now! Thanks in advance!
K.I.A. Update

It never fails. Despite all the well-laid plans of mice, men and indie comic producers, things still rarely go on schedule. Though I actually started on the Kai project LAST Christmas, it still hasn't come out in the time I wanted. Yes, I had wanted to release K.I.A. within this year (it had originally been planned to be out on my birthday), but things just didn't work out. Deadlines had to be extended. Pages were added. Artworks redone. And of course, budgets put together.

Well, let's just say that K.I.A. is a personal, pet project and it is being paid for from my own pocket. At the time of K.I.A.'s conception, I had just started in my present place of work and I felt I had adequate funds and then some. But of course, things got into the way and money rerouted here and there... Okay, I spent money on other stuff, so sue me. Heh. Local comics, as many of my friends already know, is a bleak and losing business here in the Philippines, if you don't have the moolah and connections to back your stuff up. You could have the best comic around but if you can't get it to people (ergo, have a distribution network), you're pretty much shot in the foot from the start. And it really didn't help that I got fat and lazy in 2004, being content more to just watch other, younger and more energetic talents rather than produce things myself.

Still, K.I.A. will push through. Comics are still my passion, my way of expression and I want K.I.A. to happen. I also want it to succeed, where most of my past works have either only barely done or flatly failed. That's why I'm taking it slow this time (which is, unfortunately, still not a guarantee for success).

Anyway, the Christmas shopping's pretty much done. Once I get into my vacation, I'll finish the last few pages, wait for the final contributions and get the whole kit and caboodle ready for production. Once we have product, I'll start the business end of the deal. Hopefully we'll have K.I.A. out within the first quarter of 2005. And then I can start moving forward again, on perhaps a new Angel Ace issue or a follow-up to Kai's new adventures.

We'll see what happens.

Tuesday, December 21

Ghosts of Christmas Present

I've written before that this year's Christmas was melancholy. That's being optimistic.

All month long we've been seeing misfortune heaped upon misfortunte on people, big and small. The people in villages destroyed by storms. Fans and supporters who lost an admired icon. Parents who've lost children to disasters. Men stranded far from home by circumstance. Countless people won't find Christmas cheery or comforting this year.

But of course, when you go out into the streets and the malls, it seems as if everything is business as usual. The songs are still playing. The shoppers are still crowding. The decors are still up and shining. But perhaps, just a bit, they're a little subdued this time.
This year hasn't been kind to many, but what can we do but live as well as we can, pray that the bad things don't happen to us, and try to lend a helping hand when we can. If you've been lucky enough to reach Christmas unscathed, take that as a gift already. Everything else is profit and waffle.

Just check your plugs, switches and fuses, and don't leave the Christmas lights on through the night. Keep your purses and doors secure and your houses cozy and tight. Greet your friends and your family and give the gifts that come from the heart. With only a few days left till the day, let's not take any chances.

Monday, December 20

Headquarters



It took a while, but the Sanctum's done. But though I have unloaded quite a bit of stuff and had new shelves installed, there was just barely enough space to go around. Still, the place looks a lot better than ever before. Once the paint fumes fade completely, it'll be home from now on.

Now... to start thinking up the next diabolical scheme to rule the world... MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!

Sunday, December 19

Shopping

I finished the bulk of my Christmas Shopping today. Got my parents their new Nokia 3100 phones, which they really loved (yay!). Despite being a total technophobe, even Dad seems to be getting into the new, easy-to-use Nokia. As for Mom, she's taking to the new mobile like a fish to water, since her old phone, a 3530, seemed to work pretty much the same way.
Bought apparel for my bro and sister, and their spouses. I'm giving cash to the kiddies. All that's left are the household help, whom I'll probably get gift baskets or something within the week. I really made it a point to get things done today, since I really don't relish wading through the mobs at Greenhills or Megamall again very soon. All these saps just sap away your strength so quickly.

Well, I've got three days to rest and relax till the last couple of workdays for the year. Nice. Today's ROTK Sunday, with the college gang. Should be fun. Heh.
Mint Green

The Sanctum's walls are mint green. Mint Green.

Turns out that's the only colored paint we had in the quantity required, and mom didn't want to buy any more additional paint. It's a nice color, I guess. Really.

I've heard a long time ago that the color of the walls of a room may actually affect how you feel.

So whenever I'm in The Sanctum from now on... I'm going to feel... mildly jealous?

Hmm.

Anyway, the paint's drying. The new shelves are up. The TV's in the alcove, snug as a bug in a rug. Just waiting for the fumes to fade away before I start cleaning up, putting comics, magazines, books, dvds, vcds, toys and other shit where they should go, install the DVD player and make the place liveable and lived-in once more.

Plus, I'm expecting guests later today. Let's see what happens in the Sanctum Warming later today.