Off to Congress

In a couple of hours I and my mates will hurry over to the bus station and catch our ride to the cold clime of Baguio for this year's Ad Congress. I'll be there the whole day tomorrow but be back under the Manila sun Saturday morning.
The few waking hours I will have there will probably be spent exploring the newly-opened SM Baguio, buying peanut brittle, ube jam and kulangot ng Igorot for the friends and folks. Don't suppose there's a comic and anime shop there, but I'll keep my eyes out. Hey, maybe I can watch Master and Commander there.... Heh.
Whatever. Signing off then. I should be able to blog if I find a decent internet cafe; heck, I was able to post from freakin' Boracay, so Baguio shouldn't be a problem.

Later!

Extended Epic

Today marks the release of the The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Version DVD Set. This four-disc edition looks to surpass even the DVD Perfection of the Fellowship Extended DVD set, having 43 minutes of additional footage. These scenes contain HUGE additions to the onscreen precedings, giving more character depth and moments which enrich an already robust film. These new scenes include a flashback featuring Gondorian brothers Faramir and Boromir, more Ents and Huorns, and pretty much more of everyone. Add to that over 6 hours of extras and documentaries and 4 feature-length commentaries from the cast, director/writers, production team and more, you've got one HUMONGOUS DVD set and probably the best DVD release this year.

And I'm getting MY COPY next week. Heh-heh... My Preciousss....

Baguio Bound

Tomorrow night I go to the country's summer capital to take what little part I have to play in this year's Ad Congress. The place is bound to be crawling with agency-types, and I will probably see a familiar face or two. I won't actually be there long; I'll be leaving late night Thursday, probably arrive there early morning Friday, sleep till noon, then do the usual rounds of the place till evening. I don't plan on partying till the dawn hours since my bus ride home is at five in the morning on Saturday the next day. GAH! Well, at least I get to go out with the gang this week.
Really, with that kind of a schedule I would have preferred to just stay home or go foraging in Greenhills. Well, it's for the agency, so I guess I have to go... it's been years anyway since I last set foot in Baguio. Should be neat.

Nightmare

Had a pretty freaky and disturbing dream this morning. Dreamt I was in Makati, walking along the sidewalk when a couple of little kids dressed in khaki uniforms and armed with pistols started shooting at me. Instinctively I shielded myself with whatever it was I was lugging (probably a bag), and I ran. There was chaos all around me as I realized an army of these killer kids was all over the place. The weird thing was, there were even kamikaze kids jumping off the buildings down towards the street (WHY eludes me), resulting in some Kill Bill-esque bloody smears. In the middle of it all was a man with shoulder-length white hair in a khaki uniform, wearing shades and a white cowboy hat, and apparently going by the name of 'Liedecker' (which I think may or may not be the name of a character in the TV series Dark Angel).

Hey, I'm just telling it like I saw it. Sounds like an ultraviolent comic dream. WEIRD...

Alyas

Watched an episode of Alias last night on AXN. The Philippines gets a bit of a cameo at the end. I wonder if they really shot that segment here? Probably not, but it's pretty neat. Heh.

Scary Movie

Last night I was watching TV and saw the trailer for the upcoming movie Gothika, starring Halle "Catwoman" Berry, Robert Downey Jr. and Penelope Cruz. This ghost story/psychological suspense/thriller is about a psychologist (Berry) who finds herself one night on the wrong side of an asylum's cell door. How she ends up there involves a rainy night's drive, a gruesome murder and a woman who keeps appearing despite supposedly being dead. With some creepy images from the trailer, I was a bit intrigued... shades of The Ring and other recent Asian horror flicks seem to be influencing this one. I'll be sure to take a look at this when it comes out late November.

Coming This Christmas...

Comic-lovers are going to have a field day this December. There's a slew of releases coming out, lovingly fashioned by local writers, artists and creators for their enjoyment. I am glad and not a bit proud to say that I had the good fortune of being able to take part in three upcoming releases.


Angel Ace Next continues the adventures of our favorite high-flying manga-style heroine.

My own personal baby. Angel Ace NEXT is an 80-page one-shot special, continuing the events from the previous Angel Ace Again! series. There's action, adventure, heartwarming comedy, heartbreaking tragedy, drama and more! This issue features guest artists Honoel Ibardolaza, Jon Mallari and Jeremy Arambulo, interpreting the Angel Ace crew their own unique styles.
Also featured are quite a few pages of cool fan art, with a few cool surprises. Aside from continuing the saga, NEXT also has four full-page artworks that recap events from Angel Ace Again, making this a good jump-on issue for new readers who weren't able to catch the previous issues.


Shoujo-style manga is the overall theme in Cherry Blossom High.

The brainchild of Jason Banico, Cherry Blossom High is an anthology of stories set within or about students from the magical and mysterious titular place of education. Cherry Blossom is the manga equivalent of a Hell Mouth, it seems, so something weird and magical is often happening just in the next classroom; be it someone getting whisked off to a magical fantasy world, or the school geek beating up on some demonic invaders. Or maybe it's just the magic of romance?
Despite being shoujo-style (girls' comics), CBH should appeal to any reader who likes a nice story and lovely illustrations.
The four stories are presented by Jason Banico, Elbert Or, Vin Simbulan, Honoel Ibardolaza, Joel Chua, myself and more. Watch for this one!


Ten decades of Philippine life are represented in the graphic collection known as Siglo.

And finally, there's Siglo, aka Project 100. This is the result of a collaboration between a group of individuals motivated by the singular desire to express themselves in an exceptionally rewarding way. The result, this more than 100-page masterpiece. There are simple stories, deep stories, stories with lots of words, stories with few words. There are no big epics, just tiny slice of life tales from people like an aspiring Emperor's wife, little children, a wartime traitor, a bride-to-be, a game geek and more. Not your usual comic fare, but that's what gives Siglo its unique charm.
Siglo features the talents of Dean Alfar, Nikki Alfar, Vin Simbulan, Jason Banico, Honoel Ibardolaza, Elbert Or, Andrew Drilon, Arnold Arre, Gerry Alanguilan, Carlo Vergara and myself.

WHEW! Is that a lot or what? Better start saving, because you're not going to want to miss these releases. Really! Heh.

No Rest for the Wicked

A couple of days ago I had barely finished working on Angel Ace Next (which should be well on its merry way to seeing light, with a million thanks to Carl) when I had to run off early in the morning to an office seminar all the way up in the foggy mountains of Antipolo.
Well, it was almost-two days, with weird exercised, games that involved teamwork and lifting and an irritatingly prickly carpeted room in the otherwise lovely Eugenio Lopez Center. Spent the time with the office staff, sat around listening to lectures and tests and setting up what our future workplace will be. Important stuff, I guess.

Anyway, got back home late in the afternoon; didn't bother to go out anymore since I was feeling pooped. Ended up just playing lots of Gladius on the ol' xbox.

Now that Angel Ace is out of the way, gotta start work on a couple of new titles; the AA spinoff book K.I.A. and the original new series Kunoichi Boy. Heh-heh... I love being busy. In a morbid sort of way. Even so, I think I'll keep resting all into tomorrow.