Fallen Angel



Yesterday I went to CQ for the customary bloodletting, netting myself a copy of the latest Fallen Angel and the collected edition of Formerly Known as The Justice League. Incredibly enough, I was able to actually read some of the stuff I got last night.

Fallen Angel (written by Peter David, art by David Lopez and Fernando Blanco- I wonder if they're Pinoy?) is one of the few titles I actually collect these days, a dark and mature-themed story about a hooded, super-strong woman named Lee who lives in the crime-infested city of Bete Noir, serving as a vigilante, bounty hunter, enforcer and whatever it takes to deal out her brand of justice. The 'Fallen Angel' isn't squeaky clean- she sleeps and deals on both sides of the fence, and, in the latest couple of issues, isn't above using a bit of torture to get what she needs- in this case, a mysterious shard.
The latest issues also reveal some quite odd quirks about Lee; particularly how she the soles of her feet actually never touch the ground when she walks, and how there's a definite link between the Crucifixion and the events in present-day Bete Noir. Hmmm. I wonder if it's just a coincidence that The Passion of the Christ in the theaters? Intriguing. I can't wait for the next issue to see where this story goes.

As for Formerly Known as The Justice League TPB, I got this solely on the art- the art is gorgeous, and reminds me a lot of Carl's work on Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah. Hyper-detailed, with lots of sexy women and great action- plus the humorous story looks like it's worth a read. Heh.

Good stuff. Check it out if you can at your favorite comic shops.

Go Nuts Donuts


My officemate Allan and his box of GONUTS DONUTS!!!

I finally got to taste the near-legendary Gonuts Donuts today. I've been hearing about these goodies forever; how they're patterned after the popular Krispy Kreme donuts in the US, and how they're so incredibly delicious. Well, I was able to sample a small morsel and I have to say... they're good. Scratch that- they're really good. The closest thing I can compare the cake-like donut is to the sour-cream donut from Country-Style donuts. Perhaps someday, I can make the trek to The Fort and grab a box myself. Someday.


It doesn't look like much, but it tastes great.

K.I.A. in a Jar


Hmmmm....

Saw this at the window display of KinX Cakes at Megamall. Just had to snap a pic. Heh.

It runs in the Family


That's my sister, Lea, posing beside her masterpieces.

There's a definite artistic streak running through my family. My brother is an architect from the same university that brought up Gerry Alanguilan, and he's good at technical drawing. I do comics. My elder sister on the other hand, paints. I've seen her draw a lot years and years ago, when we were a lot younger. Recently though, she's been able to get deeper into her painting. Well, it was a pleasant surprise to see her open an art exhibit along with a gaggle of other painters. The exhibit, entitled Sikat, is open now at the 4th floor of SM Megamall. Lots of colorful art to see. Go and take a look if you're in the area.

The King Returns in May

Yep, if you wanna see the nailbiting Siege of Minas Tirith, the MAD, mad, mad charge of the Rohirrim versus the monstrous Haradrim Oliphaunts, the battle between hobbit and giant spider, the charge of the Dead Armies and Viggo Mortensen singing again (Yipe), the date to wait for is May 25. The initial release of ROTK dvd will be the 2-disc widescreen theatrical cut release, which will include of course special features, trailers and other good stuff. The much meatier and more anticipated EXTENDED version will most likely land on our shores by November. Well, that's the LOTR event to wait for this year...

Appealing to my Inner Tyrant

Several weeks ago, Carl introduced the gang to a site called Nationstates.net, a game site where you create and guide your own 'nation'. You make up the name, type of government, policies, flag and national animal, and you're off. It seemed like an interesting way to waste more time online, so I resolved to try it. But it was only after seeing Nikki do it that I finally got to making my own little private country online.
My state is called The Dictatorship of Madrapoor, and we're a benevolent but iron-fisted state that has one year of compulsary military service, a belief in strong spirituality and a national animal known as The Madripoor Viper. Yep, it's a nice place to visit, but live there only if you like snakes.

Heh. Okay, back to work...

Gaming Interlude

Over the weekend I was able to pick up a bunch of games. The first two are for the Xbox. One is Samurai Shodown Special, which is apparently a cracked version/port of the latest game in the SS series- which is COOL since normally you'd need to have a NEO GEO arcade unit to play that. Anyway, Samurai Shodown 5 brings together a lot of familiar fighters from the past SS games, such as Haohmaru, Genjuro, Charlotte Christine Colde, Nakoruru, Rimururu, Tam Tam, Kyoshiro, Hanzo Hattori, Galford, Gaira, Basara, Sogetsu, Kazuki and more. Joining the veterans are some new combatants, including a sexy, scantily-clad archer girl, a HUGE demon, a warrior with more swords than he has arms, an 'evil' version of Nakoruru and an old man who looks a bit like Han Myoung from the Soul Edge games. I can't really say that I find too many of the new guys interesting (the archer girl is quite fetching though), but this is the latest in a classic series, so I'll give it a play or two.
Everything or Nothing is the latest videogame in the James Bond franchise, and I have to say it looks great. The producers pulled out all the stops and got actor Pierce Brosnan to give his looks for your onscreen bond. Actors Judy Dench (M) and John Cleese (Q) reprise their roles from the films via voiceovers, taking you through the missions and giving the game quite a bit of authenticity. Along with the regular Bond cast, there are a bevy of Bond girls to encounter, played by actress Shannon Elizabeth, model Heidi Klum, singer Mya and Japanese model Misaki Ito. On the heavies side, Willem Dafoe plays the head bad guy. Yep, this game has all the trappings of a real Bond movie- Hell, they even got Richard Kiel to reprise his role as Jaws!

While I never got into past bonds because the gameplay was generally blah, EON has intuitive controls which are responsive and fast. Firefights are exciting and enemies are smart, and it takes no time at all to become an expert gunman. The first few levels are pretty cool and include a battle in a fortress and a train chase. I think I'm gonna see this Bond through.

Finally, Final Fantasy X2: International + Last Mission for the PS2 adds the english voiceovers of the US FFX2 with new modes, a couple of new dress spheres and more to freshen up this girlpower RPG. I doubt I'll be able to finish this one through, but I got it just to see Yuna in her kimono outfit. Heh.
Sigh. So many games, yet so little time to enjoy them. Gotta put these away and get back to churning out pages...

Hoodlums

Recently, I was walking home sometime after midnight, inside our subdivision. As I was passing the local basketball court/playground, I noticed some youths grouped at the side in the yard, smoking and hanging around. As I walked by, I heard some of them talking 'gangsta' speak (You know... words with mother and the 'F' word). Just then, several small pebbles clattered all around me. One even hit me on my back. It didn't hurt, but the blow wasn't physical.'

WHO THE HELL ARE THESE BASTARDS TO THROW FRICKING ROCKS AT ME?

I stopped and turned to look at the darkened playground where the youths were. One of them kept muttering (at me), still in the stupid gangsta speak- "What'cha looking at Motherf___er?"

Perhaps it was against better judgement, but for some reason, I walked TOWARD the pebble-throwers. I could tell they were teens, smoking and probably tipsy with drink, or worse maybe even drugs. It didn't matter. I was mad.
"Were you throwing stones at me?" I rasped.
They at first denied it, saying that it was maybe just some rocks falling from the sky or something. There were no more gangsta comments or quips. They were silent, obviously not prepared to get confronted for their posturing.

"Stop that." I said. I turned, but kept my eyes at them. As I walked away, the guy who spoke to me started apologizing, probably worried that I'd cause trouble. I didn't give any reply and just kept walking away. I was done. I had half a mind to report them, but if I did, whatever happened next I would be at a disadvantage. I'll let it pass, for now. But still, I'm not totally unscathed. Now I have to make it a point to avoid walking that way at that time, just for safety's sake. Gotta make it a point to ride a cab home that late.

This is my home, for God's sake. I've been living here for the past seventeen years. Those bastards were just frickin' sperms in their stupid parents' when I started living here. They have no right to terrorize people here.

PRIME Vanishing Ray targets. Bastards. What a waste of oxygen.

WOW

I once thought all SOLAR USA was just good for B-movies, bad cartoons and the odd tagalog action film. Well, ever since the channel got WWE wrestling into its program schedule, it's been a regular stop for me. Imagine my surprise when one night I turned to SOLAR and found myself watching WOW, or Women Of Wrestling. FYI, WOW is the recent (well, it was a few years ago) resurgence of the old GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) show in the 80s. Like its predecessor, WOW features an all-female roster of female wrestlers, most with their various themes, schticks and gimmicks. This includes of course 'faces' (Good Girls) like Terry Gold the Perfect Ten gymnast, and the Beach Patrol, who skip into the ring wearing the trademark red one-piece swimsuits from Baywatch. Then there are the 'heels' (Bad Girls) which include Jungle Grrl, a leopard skin-wearing wildcat who loves flattening her enemies with a splash from the top turnbuckle; and the Disciplinarian, a teacher from hell. As you'd expect, the cheese factor is pretty high, but so is the babe factor, so it's cool for anyone who loves seeing slinky femme fatales doing clotheslines and suplexes. Hey, that's me! Heh.

Blog-on-the-Run

Right now I'm blogging at home on my laptop. Plugged in the phone line, filled in the numbers, and voila! I'm online. Amazing tool, this Powerbook is. Like Dean, I'm really getting into the portable office/writing thing. For now though, I'm really having fun with the Bluetooth feature, which lets me link with my phone, letting me load videos and wallpapers into my lovely 6600. It's not the lightest thing around, and I do have to lug it back and forth from Makati to Marikina everyday, but I guess the good things outweigh (argh) the bad.
This beats surfing on the PC, which seems to be soooooo buggy these days. Maybe if the old grey box sees how great the new silver tray is doing, it'll shape up. Sigh.

Hot Topic

It's been a long time since I've posted a taxi story.

I got down at the usual disembarking point with Vin. I didn't even have to wait; a taxi was already slowing down to meet me. As I told him my destination and settled down into my seat, it became plain that the middle-aged driver was the talky type.
Anyway, the conversation started with the traffic situation. We talked about how fast the overpass at C-5/Libis was completed (like it grew out of the ground), and how, in comparison, the construction at Katipunan was painfully slow.
As we talked about the traffic at Katipunan and how overpasses would help ease it, the driver got into a slight tirade at how these flyovers would fail to ease traffic so long as there was no Mobile/Vehicle Regulatory Board to control the influx of new cars and drivers.

Wow.

He went on to say that because of the traffic, the multinationals were leaving, since all their goods weren't reaching their destinations on time. The goods in the trucks were spoiling in the containers. The talk then shifted to chocolates (!) and how the confections would melt well before they reached the stores and customers.
"I remember the old Werter chocolates before. Those were so popular but now, they're all gone." he said (translated from tagalog, of course). Kitkat is still around, but that's because they're mostly wafer, and probably treated with preservatives so they don't melt." (I wonder if the man knew I had a bunch of Kitkats in my bag?)

I talked about Horlicks, which was a nice candy from Europe, which I remember was impervious to metling too. As we went along, more candy brands were mentioned, like Toblerone, Chupa Chups and more.

Hmm. That was an interesting taxi ride. I don't think I became a better person because of it, but I am gonna appreciate the sweets I got tonight a lot more. Oh well. You take what you can.

Out with the Old

Today I saw my old iMac being lugged off from my table, to be taken elsewhere. All my work (and play) will now be centered on my new laptop- Workfiles, Office communications, surfing... it's all where I go (at least, when I have my bag). It's an odd but refreshing thing to be portable- it will probably take me a bit of time before I get used to it. Tonight, I'll try surfing and blogging with my laptop via my home connection. Will that signify the end of my home desktop as well? Probably not. I'll still keep the ol' PC for hard file storage, and probably the odd game or two. Or ten. Heh.
Again, it'll all be a matter of being able to manage my time and utilize my new mobile capabilities to their best. It won't happen right away, but it will. Darn.

Last-minute Submissions

With all the great stuff that has been submitted, I feel so fortunate that three more artworks have been submitted for K.I.A. just slightly after the deadline. Here are sneak peeks at the latest and last pinup submissions, from three great local comic artists.


Anthony Yap has done lots of comics in the past, for Alamat's Baylans and Blitzworx comics. He submits a sexy, action-packed ninja chase/battle.


Edgar Tadeo is one of the more respected and well-known names in local comics. I am so glad to have him give us an artwork. CUTE!


Arnold Arre needs no introduction. No one draws Kai like he does, and his artwork is simply awesome. It's also in full color, so I am loathe to lose those wonderful hues and tones. We'll see what we can do...

Great stuff. If K.I.A. were just an art or pinup book, it would rock. But of course, the meat and potatoes of this grafiction meal are still being cooked. The pages of the more than ten stories are being done as we speak (I hope), and hopefully they'll all come together soon.

Wait for it.

Rush Food

On my way home I was able to stop by a Ministop to get my dinner- microwave chicken and pork adobo rice, pork kariman and a hefty slice of Black Forest cake. All were pretty good; the adobo was tasty and ALMOST satisfied me; still, there were only about 4 or 5 pieces of meat, which was just enough for the accompanying rice. Good thing the Kariman was there to give my hunger the coup de grace. The cake was actually a bit too big, was tasty but only had the cream and the chocolate; black forest lovers will probably complain at the lack of cherries.

Darn. I'm really getting into this microwaveable food thing. Hope I don't start developing some weird habits. Okay, exceptionally weird habits...

Gushing

Return of the King sweeps the Oscars! WOOHOO!!!

Say what you will about a big-budget fantasy film winning the Academy Awards, but the LOTR trilogy's overall production, direction, performances, music... EVERYTHING about LOTR screams of the highest quality, and for me ROTK's overwhelming victory is a win for all 3 films. For me, no other trilogy/series/franchise has maintained consistent entertainment quality like The Lord of the Rings.
Congratulations to director Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, WETA Digital, New Line Cinema and the whole cast of LOTR, and thank you for giving us fantasy lovers a glorious and lasting film series to represent the genre (Better than Dungeons and Dragons...). Heh.

CHEERS!

A New Start

Today was a pretty interesting day. I started work today in my agency's new office in Makati. The new place is pretty cool, though quite unfinished. We'll give it a couple of weeks before it becomes totally liveable. So far, the PROS are; NICE view, smart, snazzy building, closer to clients. CONS so far, it's quite a distance from a meal (and NO MINISTOPS nearby!!!), farther from home, closer to clients... Heh.
I rode the MRT again after a looooong absence. Still as crowded as I remember it. Anyway, I got down at Buendia and found FX taxis aplenty which would take me to my new building. It's a really posh and modern place, with a nice cafeteria where you order stuff with a swipe card and pay only when you leave the premises.

Today, we spent our time trying to get our lives back in order as we faced a new and more radical, free-flowing office layout, dust and boxes of STUFF everywhere, and unfinished furnishings laying about. Of course, EVERYTHING paled in comparison to the sudden entrance of our NEW LAPTOPS. Yep, our Apple Powerbook G4 notebooks arrived today, and we were able to finally hold them in our hands, set up our new partners-in-crime and even go out later in the evening to shop for laptop bags.



Afterwards, we ate a little snack at SPAM JAM, the restaurant at Glorietta which specializes in various preparations of... well, Spam. Not as bad as Dean made it out... or maybe I was just really hungry, and it's been a long time since I had Spam. Heh.

It was a hot yet cool day. Lots of firsts and new things, and things that bode well for the future. Here's to things getting better as we go.

Fantasy Rules the Oscars


RETURN OF THE KING: BEST PICTURE!

Peter Jackson for Best Director

Grant Major and Dan Hennah won the Oscar for Best Art Direction.

Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor won for Best Costume.

Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke for Best Visual Effects.

Richard Taylor and Peter King for Best Makeup.

Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek for Best Sound Mixing.

Howard Shore won for Best Original Score.

James Selkirk won for Best Film Editing.

Annie Lennox, Fran Walsh and Howard Shore won for Best Music (Song).

Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens won for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Phone Whore Part Deux

On another whim, I ran off to Greenhills this evening to snazz up my new toy. I traded in the 32 MB Memory Card for a 128 MB version, and had it loaded up with some cool applications and games. Unfortunately, I came near closing time so I wasn't able to get all the good stuff (I'll have to go back there probably next week), but I got some real nice treats, such as an application that lets me take videoclips of up to 30 seconds (the regular camcorder only lets you take 9-second vids), a Sonic the Hedgehog game, a cool fighter videogame called Steel Warrior that reminds me of the classic Sega Space Harrier, an alternate camera program, a 'safe' program for storing top-secret photos (heh) and some more odds and ends.
All in all, that stuff took up about 21 MB of space, leaving me, oh, 104 more Megabytes to play with. That's pretty much all the space I would ever need for short clips and photos till the cows come home. Yep, I love my 6600. Things should get even better next week, but even now I'm one happy phone fanatic.

Smarty Pants

Last night, the group went to Chili's. It's been a long time since we've been there last, so it was cool. Bottomless drinks and good chili! WOOHOO! The capper of the night was a couple of games of Smarty Pants, a board game/pop culture knowledge competition where the more you know, the less you advance, and the the best player never leaves the starting line.
Well, you're reading the blog of the champion of our debut Smarty Pants round. MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Vin won the second, but that's just a footnote). Fun though somewhat potentially very stressful game. Hoho!

Today I'm enjoying the last of the weekend; still, I've got art chores to do, including stuff for Kunoichi Boy, K.I.A. and some more odds and ends. Tomorrow, I'm off to Makati to see our new digs. And hopefully, I'll have MMS on my new phone, so I'll have cool pics up again on my phlog. Stay tuned!

Phone Whore


Yep, I got it.

I know, I know. I've been saying for some time that I would be staying with my Sony Ericsson T610 for a while. I've had the nice T610 for a couple of months, and I loved it for it's lovely, sophisticated design, the large screen, the cool camera, Internet-WAP-GPRS and other features. But while I loved it, the seeds of doubt were in it from the start.
For the benefit of those who haven't read through my blog a lot, I got my T610 as a means of assuaging my frustration when I won a Z600 last Christmas, at my ad agency's Xmas party. I won it... and LOST it since I wasn't there to claim it; I left a bit early on personal reasons. You see, I NEVER win in raffles. And when I finally DO win, (and win BIG), I still lose. GAAAHHH!!!

Well, anyway, if the T610 was a shock-absorber phone, the Nokia 6600 is my dream phone. I've been dreaming about owning it ever since I saw it late last year online, at the Nokia site. I loved the look, the firmness and tight design, the cool wideness (which just lets you know it's FULL of features- and it is!), the VAST screen and hi-res camera and videocam (more hi-res and brighter pictures compared to the T610 and lesser Nokia camera phones such as the 7250 and 3650), and the loads of other stuff.
I also love the fact that memory is NOT a problem- not with a memory card which can potentially give you the space for hundreds of pictures, loads of applications, videos and other crap. You get a 32 MB card right off the bat, but you can upgrade to as high as 256 MB. What you have with the 6600 is a viable digital camera, videoclip recorder, PDA-type thingie, internet browder and e-mail device, a gaming device (yep, you can load in cool games meant for the crappy N-Gage into the 6600- I've got the original Tomb Raider right now- How COOL is that?!) AND you can call and text people.

So, when I found that ONE single 6600 being sold second-hand at the cellphone bazaar in Greenhills, I jumped at it. I traded in my T610, added cash for the balance (which was nicely enough just a thousand more than the cash I put out for the T610) and I was the owner of my dream phone. Dream comes true. Lovely, lovely, lovely phone in my hand.

I'm happy as a clam right now. This time, I WILL be staying with this one for a while. Until the next superphone comes along, perhaps, in a couple of years...

But then again, that new Nokia 7600 looked pretty wild... heh... maybe... hahaha...

Just kidding.

Cellular Ghost Story

My Dad told me this funny story recently.

About a week ago, he was riding the car with my sister's driver, Mang Primo (both are probably in their sixties). At one point, they heard a sound which he described sounding like, Treet-treet-treet. Both men assumed that it was the taxi behind them, honking its horn.
The continued driving. After a few minutes, again the honking noise. Darn taxi.

They drove down the road to our subdivision, entered through the gate and were nearing our street when AGAIN the sound.

Treet-treet-treet...

The taxi was, of course, no longer there.

"ABA!" exclaimed my dad. "Wala na ang taxi, ah!" Hey! The taxi's no longer there!

"Baka may multo! May tao sa trunk!" said the driver. Maybe there's a GHOST! Or someone's in the trunk!

At that moment, before panic could go any further, my dad had a thought.

Maybe it was his cellphone. The same cellphone I gave him (it's a Samsung C100, a nice, simple but cool color phone I gave him for Christmas). And yes, they saw that this was so.

Apparently, he had forgotten that he had asked my brother to change the ringtone and then didn't recognize the new tone.

End of story.

Grand Century


A grand spread for Siglo!

Saturday night saw the whole Siglo: Freedom crew, tons of comics and creative personalities, press and the good people of Nautilus Comics and Mango Books together at Glorietta 2, to celebrate the Grand Launch of the 'Comic book of the Century'.

I'll say this... Nautilus really knows how to throw a party, complete with lots of great food, drinks, merchandising materials, streamers, sound system and even a cultural dance show (featuring an arnis drummer and a flamenco dancer). The event was graced by our publisher, Mr. Choy Cojuangco and Raul Roco Jr., son of Presidentiable Raul Roco, and Dean's batchmate in college. While there were tons of food around, I really didn't get to eat too much since I was too busy signing books, mingling and chatting with local comics people (Hello to Jac Lim, Ner, Fero and the Blitzworx people) to really relax and dine. I was lugging a bag and it was hard to really get comfortable, but I still managed to eat up an ice cream drumstick, a couple of chicken lollipops and lots of softdrinks (I was more thirsty than hungry).
Afterwards, the gang packed up into Vin's tan van, which promptly conked out on EDSA in traffic. Luckily, we were at the side of the road when it happened. So while Vin was working the engine, Dean had an impromptu photoshoot with Gig on the curb. Heh.

We ended the night at UCC Coffee, chatting about stuff to come in local publishing and comics in this bright year 2004. Congratulations, guys and girls!


The Guys and Gal of SIGLO; Me, Elbert, Dean, Gig, Vin and Gerry.

Siglo

Later this evening we'll all be heading for Glorietta in Makati for the Siglo: Freedom Grand Launch. There will be regular softcover and limited hardcover editions available, as well as an exhibit, auction and dance number (kidding). Most of the Siglo people save HAI and Arnold will be present to sign copies, chat and mingle. See you there.

Shutdown

I came to the office and found it in ransacked. Work crews were taking out the computers, shutting down e-mail and internet servers and basically carting it all away for transit. Basically, the place was dead. Most of my department didn't even bother to come in (thanks to the recent Overtime sessions, as well), but I was expecting a meeting, so I was there. Anyway, that was that. Goodbye, Ortigas Center.
I'll miss the walks to Megamall after quitting time. The leisurely taxi rides to work. The nearby Ministop and Karimans and crispy wontons. The Quickly store at the ground floor. The view from our office window. The general peacefulness of the area. Sigh.
Monday brings Makati. A new age begins.

But for now, I'll linger with grief for the passing of the old.

Gotcha Covered


Check out our Bloody Magnificent Masthead.

I've more or less finalized what K.I.A. will look like, from the outside. Both front and back covers will feature the stunning art of Jennyson Rosero (he also designed the K.I.A. masthead). I'll keep the back cover a surprise till the release; just let me say that the art Jen cooked up reminded me of my fave manga, Blade of the Immortal. COOLNESS. Heh. Anyway, pinup artworks are almost all in, though we are expecting a couple more entries to come in very soon. As for the interior pages, all the artists have committed to our schedule, so we're looking good. Wait for it... It's coming.

Teaser


She, er, He's coming. Very soon.

The latest issue of Questor Extreme, the first issue of the mag's 'Volume 2' line, is now available. Why is this extra-special? Well, the back cover has a teaser ad for my very own Kunoichi Boy, that's why! I've been told that the publishers are going to fast-track the production, so we might actually see the next QE issue shortly, and Kunoichi Boy might actually start, oh, in about a month's time. Coolness. Yikes... I guess this means I have to actually start working on the next installments... Gah...
So grab a copy and support QE so we can look forward to many, many issues of ninja-fighting, demon-hunting, cross-dressing action. Heh-heh.

Breakfast of Champions


Dean, Elbert, Jamie and Andrew talk Freedom with the hosts of Breakfast.

This Thursday morning I came home from doing overtime at the office, just in time to catch Dean, Elbert, Andrew and Jamie Bautista talk about Siglo: Freedom with the hosts of the morning show, Breakfast on Studio 23. It was quite a nice segment, with liberal views of the book and the pages (with a lot of HAI's pages being focused on by the camera). Dean kinda looked like he had taken a valium before the show- he was all calm and smooth and hypnotic; Elbert was perky while Jamie talked about the advantages of black and white printing. Luckily, Andrew was able to get in a word instead of just sitting there silent as a Buddha. Heh.
Nice segment. Hopefully, a lot of morning-watchers saw this and will attend the Grand Launch tonight, at the Glorietta.

My new superhero

His name is... Kariman!

Yep. Whenever poor souls are ravaged by hunger, whenever the pain of stomachs reverberates in the city, this lovely, satisfying bread roll filled with saucy, savoury meat will bring salvation. No waiting necessary- the buns are available and warm for the taking at anytime, any hour of the day. There's beef (which I have never tasted), pork barbecue, chicken and tuna variants (the Kariman Force). For extra-large predicaments, Kariman can call on his sidekick, Crispy Wonton. Trios of crunchy, meaty morsels that come to life with toyomansi (soy sauce with a hint of kalamansi).
From the Ministop Hall of Justice, these superheroes await for the next pang of hunger... Go, Kariman Force!!!

Savouring the Old Office...

... or perhaps 'Wallowing in' is a more correct term? Still at work, still doing overtime as we finish the stuff that's due in... oh... a couple of hours. Most probably, I'll be seeing the sun shine over the city in a while.

Well, I guess it's fitting that we all get SICK of seeing and being in our office, since we'll be off to the skyscraper-laden expanse of Makati next week.The bosses have been pretty secretive about the new digs... rumor has it that the new place is awesome. Well, seeing is believing. Next week.

Next week... Have to see about getting past the next hour, first...

Gah...

Final Fantasy: Advent Children


Old friends reunite, old wounds reopen in this CG movie based on the most popular Final Fantasy chapter.

This summer, FF7: Advent Children will see release on dvd. Fans of this mega-popular RPG will be able to see their favorite heroes, such as Cloud, Barret and Aeris in realistic CG rendering (instead of the blocky little SD avatars of old), and find out just what happened to the world of Midgar after the events in the game. Screenshots have hinted at a possible return of the awesomely evil Sephiroth, and perhaps more closure in this beloved classic. A trailer to Advent Children can be found included in the recently-released Final Fantasy X2: International + Last Mission for PS2.

The Last Overtime

... in my present workplace, I mean. There will be other days when sleep won't come easy, when work spills into the wee hours of the morning... it just won't be here in our soon-to-be vacated office.
We're working on a major pitch, which means we'll be working even today, though it's an announced holiday (People Power Anniversary). Work will continue on until the presentation later this week.
The various departments have been packing up their stuff, disposing of excess materials, papers and files, and boxing everything that still has use in them for storage. By week's end, even the computers and the network they function on- the lifeblood of the agency- will be gone.
It'll be a busy weekend, with the SIGLO: FREEDOM launch at the Glorietta. Gotta work on K.I.A. pages over Saturday and Sunday. But I am, actually, looking forward to seeing our new headquarters in Makati. Sigh. Gonna miss Ortigas.

Street Fighter Figures


Are you man enough to play with them?

Toymaker SOTA will be releasing a new line of Street Fighter action figures this summer. The figures will feature over 30 points of articulation, much like the earlier-released Marvel Legends figures (in fact, the SF toys will be on scale with the ML figures). The figure designs will be much influenced by the popular new Street Fighter comics being released by Udon Press. The first wave of toys will include wandering fighter Ryu, Interpol agent Chun Li, evil Shadowloo leader Bison, Muay Thai champion Sagat and Mad Gears' gangleader Sodom. Future releases will hopefully include characters from Streetfighter 2 and 3 as well. Gimme my Ibuki figure!!! Now!!!

Focus

When I started on K.I.A., I knew I'd be looking for contributors. I initially drew upon longtime collaborators, and those I had recently worked with on Angel Ace Next, such as my cousin Jeremy and Honoel Ibardolaza. However, for some reason, the desire to get more people to contribute grew stronger. Soon, I was inviting people left and right. People I met at the C3Con. Other comics personalities. People I haven't met but was impressed by through their art. Artists I only heard about. No one was safe!

Right now, there are almost 20 people in the K.I.A. group, giving in pin-up art or doing actual story pages, or writing scripts. Unlike a similar project I intended for the main Angel Ace title, K.I.A. worked since Kai's story is more free-flowing and mission-based, rather than Angel's more rigid and fixed destiny. I could afford to give people freedom to do almost anything they wanted within the context of Agent K's missions.
And so far, I have had no problems, no frustrations, no headaches with any of my wonderful pool of contributors.

Well, almost none. There's one guy who just has to be a prima donna, who just has to be perfectly satisfied with every frame and page and word, who refuses to be content on one thing and is constantly nitpicking and driving me crazy.

That guy is... me. GAH!

Seriously, I've been constantly battling myself on how best to begin the book, how best to end it. Do I show Seta from Angel Ace for a suitably shocking prologue (and a link to Angel Ace) or do I keep her out and thus preserve the book's stand-alone factor? Do I end the book with a cliffhanger or status quo? Or a tantalizing precursor to something wild in succeeding issues?
Do I continue to do the Frank Cho-emulated style I was eyeing when I began? Or do I slightly shift to try and approach the spectacular cheesecake of Birds of Prey from Ed Benes and Cliff Richards? Or return to a more manga-ish bent, such as that of Blade of the Immortal's Hiroaki Samura? Damn, I wish I could draw babes half as sexy as these pros do. With awesome artwork coming from guys like Gerry Alanguilan, Taga-Ilog, Wilson Tortosa and Jennyson Rosero (who can draw Kai better than I can!), I'm up against the proverbial wall to come up with the best art that I can. Somehow!

Sigh. Thankfully, I've managed to pin down what I have to do in terms of the stories. As for the art, I'll just have to see what comes out of my pencil as I churn out the pages.

With all the brain matter I am devoting to K.I.A., this baby should hopefully find it's mark with comic lovers when the book (fingers crossed) comes out later this year, by June. We'll see.

Wait for it.

More Killer Art

Here are a couple more artworks for K.I.A.. The first one is from Jon Mallari, a longtime contributor to the Angel Ace series and the creator of his own comic, Variable Edge. The second is from none other than Wasted's Gerry Alanguilan, internationally-known comic artist and creator extraordinaire. I can't wait to show off these masterpieces in full, but I'll hold back all the goodies for the finished book. Add to this a very promising development on the production side and I am truly excited to see how K.I.A. comes out, in a few months. Wait for it.


Nice... suit. This sexy pic of Agent K loosening up is from Jon Mallari.


The detail on Gerry's K.I.A. masterpiece is amazing. And this isn't the only piece he's given in.

POWER


Absolute Power(book) corrupts absolutely...

One of the best things about the coming move and changes at my job is that instead of getting us desktop computers, we're all getting brand-new laptops. And not just any laptop- our entire department is getting outfitted with uber-cool Mac G4 Powerbooks- without a doubt the best laptops available. Can you say... combo and DVD super drives? Gigs of power and data storage? Wi-fi and Bluetooth? Portable power absolute. DAAAAAAMMMMNNNNN!!!!
Everyone's anticipating getting our new, aluminuim-wrapped, 15-inch Powerbooks within the next week or so, just in time for our move to our new digs in Makati. Gotta think about getting a cool laptop bag.

Of course, it's not all about having a cool laptop. It's gonna mean a whole new world of responsibility, of course; of being able to manage my time and flexibility and being able to use the fact that my workplace isn't limited to just my office spot anymore. And of course, it will mean me ALWAYS watching my new tool like a hawk. After a couple of years, it'll be paid for and MINE, but till then, it's an office thing that I have to account for. Yep, it's not all fun and games.

BUT DAMN, IT'S STILL FREAKIN' COOL!!!! MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Backpack or shoulder bag? Gotta decide soon. Heh.

Roleplaying



Last night, in celebration of Gig's birthday, the gang hied off to a condo for a night of roleplaying. To get prepped, we bought provisions at the newly-opened Ministop at Pearl Drive. Then, so loaded with chips, beer, more chips and soda, we were off.
I've been to a few RPG sessions, but never quite like a one overseen by soon-to-be-bonafide-internationally-published-writer Dean. No simple Swords and Sorcery scenario this, but more like a present-day/near future horror/suspense/action/espionage movie that you become a part of.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to join since I was leaving just after midnight; me and Jason contented ourselves to be kibitzers on the side as Gig, Carl, Vin, Dino, Andrew and Vin's friend Marc took the roles of archaeology students on a seemingly haunted dig in Angola, and then later as members of a Catholic super-spy squad complete with the powers of patron saints.

Wild, eh?

Maybe next time I can actually play a game. We'll see. Heh.

Ninja Gaiden

I was finally able to play the demo version of this much-anticipated and long-awaited ninja action game from Tecmo, thanks to the latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine. Basically, the game puts you in the tabi boots of Ryu Hayabusa, part-time Dead or Alive competitor and full-time ninja hero. This time, he trades in wrestling with Kasumi and the DOA girls to battle hordes of evil ninja, demons and other mystical adversaries in his own title.
Anyway, the demo only has one level, and has Ryu entering a ninja fortress. The controls are pretty awesome, with really responsive controls and quite impressive acrobatics and moves you can accomplish with your ninja avatar. The attacks and swordplay/weapon use is quite flashy and the gameplay rocks. My only gripe is that the camera can often get you into trouble, though a simple tap at the camera trigger should remedy it.
Looks great, and the graphics and gameplay are up to Team Ninja's standards.

Ninja Gaiden is set for a March release, though delays are anticipated. This game may just live up to the hype. We'll see soon once we get our own copy.

Art from the Ilog Man


Kai and Seta sizzle in this latest K.I.A. pinup.

This hot and sexy artwork featuring Agent K and her former mistress and commander, Seta, is brought to us by the enigmatic Taga-Ilog. The creator and artist of the mega-popular Pasig from Culture Crash will also be doing an 8-page story in the K.I.A. anthology, for which we are eternally grateful. Will Kai ever get back at the evil SIVA commander? Only time (and future issues of Angel Ace and K.I.A. will tell.

Hungry

Darn I'm starving.

I usually miss breakfast, which is really not good since the big 'B' is the most important meal of the day. But I simply don't have time for it, unless I make it a point to wake up extra early so I can have a nice meal at home. Or perhaps have breakfast in some restaurant.
My favorite breakfast eating out is probably at, gasp, McDonald's. Yep, I admit it... I absolutely adore the Big Breakfast. I love the spicy, savoury meat patty, the soft muffin bread (which originally was a crusty, crumbly muffin but now looks more like two pieces of round heel bread- not bad, but not as good as before) and the heavenly fluffy eggs (which I can't seem to get anywhere else). Add to that a hash brown and a supplementary sausage McMuffin (which is basically a Big Breakfast in sandwich form) with large orange juice... A FEAST. Well, not really, but to a hungry 9-to-5er, it's close enough.

Tapsilog (Tapa, Sinangag and Itlog- marinated/cured meat, fried rice and egg to english-only readers) is also a yummy alternative, a more Pinoy meal to start off the day. A hot bowl of Arroz Caldo on the side makes this perfect. MMmmmmmm....

Darn I am hungry. Mental note: Eat somewhere nice today.

Femme Fatale Fighting League PPV: RETRIBUTION



The HOTTEST and DEADLIEST Pay-Per-View event is coming this June! Femme Fatale Fighting League Ultimate Champion Dragon Lady puts her title on the line. Will a new DIVA finally defeat the Goddess of Death, or will Dragon Lady rule undisputed for a SIXTEENTH straight win?
RETRIBUTION will also feature the hottest ladies of martial arts: The Tower of Power, Goliatha! The brutal Brooklyn Basher! The stunning Princess Pure! And of course, the mysterious masked marvel, The Assassin!
No Holds Barred. Fights to the Finish. One Woman Takes All. It's RETRIBUTION. And it's coming this JUNE.

Call 1-800-FFFLPPV for details.

This is a little pinup I made up from Jeremy's art and character designs for his K.I.A. story, Victors and Victims. Always wanted to do something like this. Heh.

She kicks high


KKKKIIIIYYYYAAAAA!!!

Does the style look familiar? This kick-ass piece of K.I.A. artwork is brought to us by none other than Wilson Tortosa, artist of Battle of the Planets, staunch supporter of Alamat and other local comics and all-around nice guy. We're really glad he could take a bit of time off from his busy gigs with the big international boys to grace our humble little anthology. Hoho! Thanks a lot, Wilson! More K.I.A. stuff to come! Just you wait!

Making the Move

A lot of people I know have been moving these days. I myself will be going through a bit of displacement within the next few weeks. My ad agency's taking the whole kit and caboodle and heading back into the business district of Makati. That's where the buzz is, where the work and clients are, where our future will be.
I'm gonna miss working in Ortigas. Gonna miss walking to Megamall and taking early dinners, or late meriendas. Gonna miss getting home with the sun still up. Sigh.

Looking on the bright side, I always enjoy a good move- new stuff, new places, new views (not really that new since I've worked in Makati before). The building we're moving to is posh and is reported to have the BEST internal food center around... which hopefully is true since we are outside stone's throwing distance from the nearest mall or commercial center. I imagine it will be cool to make a new nest to roost in at the new office. To pick what toys to spruce up and personalize my spot, to make myself comfy and get into a new groove. And it will be good to be in the middle of the advertising community again.
Once more, into the breach... and let loose the dogs of war...

MORE Awesome K.I.A. Art!



This cool and stylish pinup is brought to us by Marvin del Mundo of Atomic Underground. His title in their indie anthology work is called Mario and the Spy Inc., an action-comedy spy title. That's why I know he's right at home drawing cloak and dagger stuff, including ninja, femme fatales and one sexy superagent. Great stuff, Marv!

Next up are samples of Jon Mallari's work in Fear Itself, a 10-page story written by myself. This story is a 'sequel' of sorts to 'The Code' in Angel Ace Next. I am really glad I got Jon to draw this (he initially thought he would be too busy in work to contribute to K.I.A.); his art is getting better all the time.

WOOHOO! I said it once, and I'll say it again. K.I.A. is gonna kick arse! Heh.


Agent K sports a lovely trenchcoat by KALI Fashions.


This story features the return of the Shanghai Five, first seen in Angel Ace Next.


Rematch!


I REALLY like how Jon's action scenes get better and better each time.

Bracing for Valentine's

As a dedicated bachelor and singles guy, slacker and MADman, the day for couples is always an irksome day for me. Well, not really. I would be the first to always say that while I do see myself someday kneeling before and pledging my devotion to a goddess, NOW is not the time. Still, when Valentine's Day comes along and you see all those couples doing the ol' PDA routines, I can't help but feel a slight tinge in the back of my head.
I remember several years ago, I spent Valentine's with several other single guys, including now-attached loverboy Arnold. We'd mope and look like we felt sorry for ourselves that we had no warm bodies to hold onto... that we had cold beds to lay on that night. Hey, but I like cold beds! That's why I keep the aircon on all night!

Well, since then our numbers as single guys has dwindled a bit. In my college gang, one has married and is so far doing okay. Another went through a cancelled wedding, got busted with another girl (which drove him near to insanity at one point) and is currently still cruising for bruising. Another is preparing for married life as well. Yet another is having a relationship with a pretty young nymphet.

Me? I'm the unattached guy. The guy everyone goes to when they want to crash and have fun with. Fancy that.

I'm having the time of my life, actually. I'm earning well and enjoying my labor and the freedom of single life. I'm able to make my dreams come true, pursuing my art and letting my skill and experience as a storyteller grow even more. And I guess I just feel that I have to have fun by myself while I can.

Because the day will come... when we forsake our friends and forget all bonds of fellowshi- oh, wait, wrong line...

Because the day will come, when I will crave the presence, companionship and acceptance of another. When I will feel that I am not complete without my arm around someone else. When I find that wonderful woman who will make me turn over a new leaf and cast aside my MADness.

But that is not this day.

My Friday Night...

... may just be for watching a tagalog film. Who'd have thought it? Anyway, I have to go and watch the premiere of the new Regal Films' light drama movie, Kuya. After that, it's off to a party with the cast and producers and hopefully a good interview with several of the stars. It's all for work... I'm not starstruck or anything. We'll see what happens later.

DOAX Doujinshi


The Dead or Alive girls by Eisu!

I love Dead or Alive, the videogame series by Tecmo of Japan. So, it was a treat for me to see an online comic/manga based on the sexy DOA spinoff, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. The doujinshi (fan manga) is done by artist Eisu, who is quite the online comic creator (check out his other stuff at his site!). Anyway, his 22-page DOAX doujin has great art and a funny, action-packed story. Check it out!
You can find the doujin at DOAX Neotaku by clicking here.

Sigh. Maybe someday, when I'm not loaded with other comic stuff, I'll be able to do another DOA fan manga again... we'll see.

The Last Samurai



When I first saw the trailer of The Last Samurai I immediately had a recognition of the era and the possible story behind it, being a fan of the manga/anime Rurouni Kenshin (which is probably set in the same time, the Meiji era). I've been holding back watching this flick, but last night I was finally able to just go into a theater and watch it.
Well, I'm glad I did. This kind of movie deserves to be seen on the big screen. And I am happy to say I loved it.


Ken Watanabe plays Katsumoto, a Lord among Lords.

What can I say? Tom Cruise plays a much more bedraggled character as former Civil War hero Nathan Algren, and I have to say the beard and moustache put him right well in place with monumental characters such as the noble rebel, Lord Katsumoto (played incredibly well by Ken Watanabe despite having to talk in engrish most of the time) and his host of samurai warriors (which include Hiroyuki Sanada, whom moviegoers should remember from The Ringu).
The story takes its time to tell, at over two hours, but I have to say that the beauty of the settings, production values and costumes (and yes, the hypnotically gorgeous Taka, played by Japanese model/actress Koyuki) kept me from being bored.


GOSH she's gorgeous. Actress Koyuki plays the perfect Japanese samurai woman.

The action setpieces are actually not that many, but all are superbly done (I expect no less from Ed Zwick of Glory). No Matrix-style slow mos (though there is a weird flashback effect in one ambush), just really well-done fights and battles.
The highlight is, yes, an incredibly thrilling NINJA ATTACK on the samurai village, though I did find myself sitting up with excitement at the final battle, where Katsumoto's Kurosawa-era samurai army is faced with a larger, modern-equipped occidental army. The finale is inevitable but strangely enough it's glorious and fitting- VERY samurai, VERY Japanese. Of course with a Hollywood resolution for Algren, but I think he deserved it.

Great performances all around by whole cast, great production, an interesting story... this one hit me in the right places. Very entertaining and satisfying. Want the DVD. See it if you haven't in theaters. Great stuff.

Extended Epic

From The One Ring.Net, this little tidbit for fans of the recently-concluded Lord of the Rings Trilogy of films. Peter Jackson has apparently finished the edit of the extended version of The Return of the King. So, how does the final, final, final, more epicker cut of the finale stand?

FOUR HOURS AND TEN MINUTES!!! WOOHOO!!!

That's almost an hour (50 minutes) of unseen, new scenes. This should include the fate of Saruman (Christopher Lee), more battle scenes at Pelennor, The duel between Gandalf and the Witch King, Faramir and Eowyn at the House of Healing, the Mouth of Sauron (whom you can see in the ROTK game for the PS2 and Xbox... UGLY sucker...) and more.

I hope though that these rumored scenes prove UNTRUE...

Denethor's twelve-course meal...

King Aragorn singing... and then getting EVERYONE else to start clapping and dancing to do a finale production number (complete with a can-can).

MORE climbing up Mount Doom...

Heh...

Well, at least movie fans have something to look forward to at the end of the year. Heh.

Digital Dungeons

I picked up a couple of fantasy videogames over the weekend. They are Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 and Champions of Norrath.


It's back to Faerun once more...

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 has nothing to do with the PC game Shadows of Ahm, save for the common setting. While the PC game was a full-on RPG and strategy title, BG:DA2 is a hack-and-slash arcade-style action game very close to Diablo 2 and of course, the original Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.
In the first game, you picked one of three heroes: A human ranger, a dwarf fighter and an elf sorceress. After being victimized by some thieves, your character gets involved in the battle to stop a dark shadow of the past from endangering the realm. However, BGDA ended with a cliffhanger ending, and now in the sequel we get to see what happens next.
This time around however, players have five new characters to kill monsters with. There's a human barbarian, an elven necromancer (who is VERY similar to the Diablo 2 equivalent, down to the use of animated corpses to do battle for him), a dwarf warrior, a female human cleric and a dark elf monk who can kill with just her hands and feet. There's a new villain and a new plot afoot, and to foil it the heroes must wade past swarms of enemies before the quest is over.
As far as graphics go, the game looks at least as good as the previous game, though again the view places you a bit too far away to really appreciate the graphics. Still, this is a gorgeous game, with miles of dungeons to explore and various monsters to kill. As before, you can equip your hero with armor and weapons that show up on your onscreen avatar. As you level up, you can build up your character's feats- special abilities that range from spells to powerful battle moves. Like the first game of course, you'll spend most of your time running about, killing monsters, opening portals, finding keys, killing bosses... rinse, repeat. Not unexpected, not bad but it seems a bit too similar as before.


Everquest Offline.

Champions of Norrath is also a dungeon crawler, and as far as I can tell it was also made by the same team that did BGDA. The controls and gameplay are almost identical, though of course CON is set in the Everquest universe, not in the Forgotten Realms. CON is best played as an online game, but thankfully (unlike the earlier Everquest Online) allows the game to be played by a single player, offline. This is good since I don't have broadband, nor do I want to pay any more for playing a game than the price for the CD.
CON looks similar to BGDA, but seems to have sharper, prettier graphics (and a closer-in view), and a bit more customization; you can choose from one of five classes, each of which lets you make either a male or female hero to your liking (you are given options to customize your character's skin color, hairstyle and hair color). As you move around, you can equip your hero with armor and items and build him/her to be a bad-ass monsterslayer.
As for the story, your hero is called to defend an elven city from invasion, and from there... stuff happens. Haven't gotten that far yet, but the game looks good and it's pretty fun.

Really though, both games are so similar, that unless you really want to play through a game twice, one or the other should suffice. Given a choice, I'd probably take Champions for the customization options, since it looks prettier, and because it seems more fresh and new... kind of.

Still, I'd love to see what happens next in Baldur's Gate, so it's pretty cool that I have them both. Aaah. We'll see if I can save the world in between overtime and drawing K.I.A. Hmmm...

Addition and Subtraction

Over the weekend I cut away and added stuff to my life. On the cutting side, I went off and had my hair cut... in a big way. Yep, I finally got the 'semikal' haircut I've been thinking about for months. Semikal is in fact, semi-kalbo (bald), which means my hair is pretty much little more than stubble. It's pretty radical for me, I guess, but when I did it, it was pretty easy and painless. I just walked into a salon (perhaps some barbershop would have been adequate, but what the hey) and said 'semikal!'
The barber started buzzing away with his clipper. The guy remarked at the round shape of my head, which he said was 'perfect' for the cropped hairstyle. Heh. I've never had anyone say that about my head before. It felt good. Kinda. Heh. So now, here I am. My head's a lot cooler, and I should be able to save a lot on shampoo. Don't have to worry about combing (Not that I did before) at all. This is great!

MAHAHAHAHA!!! STARK RAVING MAD and BALD!!! GRAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

The Addition of the weekend is my acquisition of a stationary exercise bike. I've been thinking about buying a mountain bike for the past several months (since last year, actually), so I can have a bit of physical exertion and have a nice way of zipping down to the store to get goodies. Well, I won't be going anywhere with the exercise bike, but I will be able to exercise and burn calories while watching Animax or playing videogames. The only problem is, that the Sanctum is now even more crowded than ever. I may have to sacrifice some stuff... perhaps the Bean Throne... to make more space.

Nah. I think it's cozy. HOHO!

K.I.A. from the U.S.A.

Here's a sneak peek at the first four pages of Victors and Victims, a 22-page story in K.I.A. written by yours truly and drawn by the incomparable Jeremy Arambulo. Jeremy's unique art style is cool with crisp, clean lines and bold, solid blacks. It's really refreshing to see and if you think these pages look good, wait till you see the rest, all in hi-res when K.I.A. comes out, later this year. WOOHOO! Great work, Jeremy!


We risked life and limb to sneak a hidden camera into K's dressing room...


'Agent K joins the WWE' was the original brief for this story. Eventually though, the tournament became a mixed martial arts thing instead of just a wrestling league.


Of course, no fighting tournament would be complete without the oddball pair of commentators.


K does a move she first used in Angel Ace Again # 3...

OT Antics

I'm STILL at the office. Working overtime to finish stuff for a big presentation that will happen in... oh, a few hours. Heh.
We've been at work all day, the labor only broken by a couple of meals of Kariman (a meat-filled bun) and Crispy Wonton. A while ago, me and my officemate Derrick bought some microwave lasagna. Imagine our surprise to learn later that the office microwave had been taken out of the premises.
YIPE! So, being the two smarties that we were, we tried to remedy our situation. Derrick had the bright idea to place his lasagna into the rice cooker. I, being the impatient one, used the oven toaster. In the end, we both got our instant pasta ready and heated through our individual odd ways. Ah, the skills of the male human. Amazing.

On the bright side, by now everything's pretty much done. I'm just blogging around, snapping random shots with the ol' cameraphone to hopefully catch a cool ghost photo of the mischievous spirits said to be playing around the office at these late (or early) hours. No luck yet, sadly enough.

Anyway, after we finish up here we'll limp off home to get some rest. Hopefully the stuff we worked on won't be in vain and we finally get all this overtime business behind us.

On the fun side, my FIRST eBay order arrived at my house during the day. I'm really not a newbie to online purchasing, but this is my first order in a long time (I usually buy stuff in waves), so I'm kinda excited to see the old comics I ordered. I'll probably stay up for a while to enjoy my purchases before flopping into bed.

Oh well. Today is a new day... Wah.

NOW


The latest invader from Korea arrives.

First it was Lee Myoung-Jin's Ragnarok that introduced me to the term 'manhwa' (Korean comics/manga). Now another manhwa about kung-fu, mysticism, fantasy and cute super-powered kung-fu girls has caught my eye.

That book is Now by Sung-Woo Park. Set in the time of the Three Kingdoms era of ancient Korea, this tale centers on the battles fought over a powerful fighting style known as Sashinmu. A mysterious force is after the secrets, and it is up to a small company of heroes to either protect Sanshinmu or master it's powers for the good of the land.
The heroes are a mixed bunch; there's Bi Ryu (pictured above), a 16-year old who has mastered Sashinmu to an extreme degree. Young, spritely lass Rin Yhun may look like a harmless, barefooted pixie, but she's the daughter of a powerful fighter and is superhumanly strong. Then there's Cho Ryung, a fierce and speedy cat girl who's Bi Ryu's apparent pet. Finally, there's Yu Se Ha, a young bookworm and the last surviving member of the fighters charged with protecting Sashinmu.

The art is pretty clean and eye-catching, though not as complex as Ragnarok's later volumes- I am hoping that Mr. Sung Woo improves as much as Myoung Jin-Lee did. The character designs are quite nice and have a unique feel from your usual manga. Like Ragnarok, it's not that far in look from Japanese art, but you can tell the difference if you've seen other manhwa titles.

As for the story, the premise brings to mind those old 'Buddha Magic Palm' kung fu epics where warrior clans and heroes fought tooth and nail over powerful martial arts secrets. I'll be sure to collect this series and see where it goes. Good stuff.

Agent K Anime?


So far the damn COOLEST pic of Agent K yet, by Jennyson Rosero.

Here's some more of Questor artist Jennyson Rosero's art for K.I.A. The uncolored Shikaze artwork is actually lifted from pages of Intercept, the 8-page story he's drawing. The colored Agent K art is something I asked him to draw separately, and DAMN isn't it so COOL? I am thinking COVER ART. WOOHOOO!!!! Darn awesome stuff. Every new page and pinup being submitted amazes me to no end. I really can't wait to see them all come together, in a few months.


Is this the man who can tame the deadlysexy K?

Animax Report: GTO


Would you trust this man as a high school teacher?

It's been almost three weeks since Animax, the 24 hour anime channel, debuted on Philippine cable TV. The channel is available to major distributors Sky and Home cable.
So far, I've found the current lineup sparse, but watchable. Foremost among the series is GTO, or Great Teacher Onizuka, which could be described as 'Dangerous Minds' in Japan. Instead of Michelle Pfeiffer's former marine-turned teacher though, we get Ekichi Onizuka, a 22 year old former biker and gang member (I even think he's actually a former Yakuza) who now is determined to become the greatest high school teacher in Japan. Onizuka is pretty odd; sometimes he can be incredibly dense, but can come through with surprising results. While course and rough, he is also apparently very astute to human nature, being able to see through facades and walls people build around themselves and take an unconventional way of reaching hardened hearts.
This is pretty vital since Onizuka has to face one super-delinquent after another in his road to becoming a Great Teacher. While warriors battle dragons, or sentai superteams battle Biomonsters, Onizuka has to face misguided geniuses, shy popstars-in-the-making, classroom terrorists and other rogues in the school. Not helping any is the fact that most of the other faculty members either dislike him or hate him like the plague- the most dangerous being the Vice Principal, a thoroughly unsympathetic lout who cares more for his own rep or his new car (which is wrecked on a regular basis through circumstances that often involve Onizuka) than his students.
But somehow though, Onizuka pulls through with great strength, a hard head, often physical and freaky tactics, a LOUD voice, martial arts know-how, a gang of biker friends and a genuine willingness to lay down his life for his students. Imperfect he may be (old gangster habits die hard), but he's a pretty engaging character.

This series can have some slow moments, though episodes with really irritating delinquent are interesting enough for you to wonder at how Onizuka will manage to get past the latest challenge. The animation isn't anything to crow about, but the design of the main hero himself is pretty cool, and the goofy facial expressions Onizuka often has throughout the show are hilarious. As for content, there are some pretty risque moments, though the most violent being Onizuka dishing out punishment to some thugs, to some villainous girls getting spanked in their underwear (really).

GTO is one of the more popular titles in Japan, comprising of a manga, the anime, a live-action series and more. Well, I can understand why. It's a pretty fun show.

Well, that's one reason not to miss class- er, Animax, every weeknight. Heh.

K.I.A. Art Intecepted!


Agent K in ACTION!

Here's a sample page from 'Intercept', a K.I.A. story written by Elbert Or, drawn by the extremely talented artist Jennyson Rosero. Jennyson has done tons of pages and art for Questor magazine in the past. We're hoping to work with him even more in the future. DAMN doesn't this page rock? I can't wait to see the whole story. WOOHOO!!!

Grudge: Part Deux



I've watched the theatrical version of Ju-on. Shot with a bigger budget, it's also a lot more pronounced in using music and a tad more shock tactics to elicit scares. Creepy but I actually found the video version slightly creepier. Again, it's all about a very haunted house and how it's disturbed spirits reach out to ensnare and KILL those unfortunate enough to wander too close to it's shadowy interiors. A sequel is also available, but it's really just more of the same, albeit revealing a bit more of the story that seemed cryptic with earlier chapters. Worth checking out if you enjoyed the frights of other Asian horrors such as Ringu.

Grudge

Just watched the original Ju-on video. This feature is different from The Grudge movie that was recently shown in theaters here in Manila. Basically, it's the same premise; a haunted house reaches out to pull in unsuspecting people who are unfortunate enough to be living in the cursed abode. The film has a very Asian, very eerie feel to the horror, relying on sound, building suspense, edge of the screen creepiness to give you the chills. The video is made up of several segments, each one focusing on a different person, all of whom are somehow linked or involved. Instead of out-and-out horror, Ju-on uses some subtle itches to draw viewers in- itches that are of course commonplace, such as creaking sounds, cats and that weird bit of movement you sometimes catch in the corner of your eye. And THEN the ghost comes out to get ya... HAHAHAHAHA...

Anyway, while the various vignettes of fright are creepy in themselves, the movie in it's entirety is a bit on the cryptic side, and I really haven't figured out everything on the first viewing... still, it was pretty neat to see this original horror piece finally. Yep, Chiaki Kuriyama is in the original, as one of the unfortunates the spirits victimize.

I'll try to watch the theatrical version later and see how that version stacks up to the original.

For Weekend Viewing

I hope to get some time to just relax this weekend. Well, as relaxed as I can get while pencilling pages for K.I.A. and the next installment of Kunoichi Boy. that is. Anyway, I'll try to put a couple of DVDs or anime VCDs from the backlog of unwatched stuff that I have been stockpiling for the past several MONTHS. High on priority will be Battle Royale 2, JUON and Finding Nemo. It's just that it's really been a long time since I just put in a DVD or VCD and just sat or laid down to JUST watch... I usually put in a disc just to have it in the background while I surf or draw. Oh well... I should learn to focus again. FOCUS!
Also got to try and read the comics I've been hoarding; Batman HUSH, Superman/Batman, Elektra, Wildguard and Street Fighter. Lots more still untouched, like Ultimates and the latest POWERS Trade Paperback. DARN. I could just wrap all the comics, dvds and vcds I got and just give them to myself on my next birthday...

Hey. That's a good idea. Heh.

Xcited


No butts about it: Ninja Gaiden for Xbox is one HOT game.

Last night I came home after leaving a ton of blood at Comic Quest. Got the latest issues of Newtype USA (which features Full Metal Alchemist on the cover), the latest Previews and the newest Official Xbox Magazine.
My favorite feature on the free DVD with OXM is a video on the much-anticipated Ninja Gaiden game for Xbox. Worked on by Tecmo's Team Ninja since last year, this game puts you in the toed-boots of Ryu Hayabusa, a superninja and warrior (and Dead or Alive competitor) who must take on the evil Vigor Empire in this latest hack and slash videogame. Featuring graphics and animation on par with the graphically awesome Dead or Alive series on Xbox, Ninja Gaiden has Ryu swinging and fighting with the grace of... well, a ninja... as he battles soldiers, other human ninja, undead, demons, cyborgs and other horrors. The game also features incredible CG cinematics which seem to be telling an epic tale- well, epic in the sense that there are tons of cool stuff to be seen like burning temples, mammoth airships, evil samurai-armored bosses, giant bat-winged demon babes and a sexy blonde ally in a corset. WOOHOO! Along with Dead or Alive Ultimate, BC and Jade Empire (a martial arts-themed RPG from Bioware, the same company that produced last year's Xbox game of the year, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), Ninja Gaiden should be a MUST for Xbox gamers in a couple of months.
Now if I only had more time to PLAY these games...

Quick Bites

Dead or Alive Ultimate is a 2-disc set for Xbox. Disc one will have a port of the original DOA Saturn edition; this means everything from the retro Model 2-board graphics to Lei Fang's string bikinis should be intact. Disc two will have a remade, remastered version of Dead or Alive 2, with character models and a graphic engine from DOAX (DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball). This should make DOA2 Ultimate look even better than Dead or Alive 3. The absence of Xbox cuties Christie and Hitomi sucks though. DOAU will see release in Japan this coming March.

Virtua Fighter 5 is in the making! WOOHOO!!! More fighting action from Sega.

Animax is cool. My only problem is... WHAT THE HELL IS TECHNOLYZE ALL ABOUT??!? I've given up trying to figure it out...

No more LOTR this Christmas... unless you count the Extended version DVDs of The Return of the King which will supposedly have at least an hour of extra scenes and footage. Saruman... Witch King versus Gandalf... Aragorn and company versus the Corsairs of Umbar...MORE Pelennor Fields... WOOHOOO!!!

The Elektra movie starring Jennifer Garner (reprising her role from Daredevil) should kick arse. I just hope they give her the sexy red costume this time...

Zombie flicks should take a chunk out of theaters this year. Resident Evil: Apocalypse will have nubile undead killer Milla Jovovich reprising her role as Alice. The last time we saw her she had just woken up in an Umbrella Lab after having her boyfriend taken away and injected with the Nemesis virus. Now, she's still walking around naked except for a lab coat and a shotgun in the middle of a seemingly empty city. Well, we know quite well that the city is anything but abandoned... This time around, Alice will be joined by characters from the game, including Jill Valentine and Carlos Olivera (the latter played by Mummy alumni Oded Fehr).

The other zombie movie is a remake of Dawn of the Dead. A ragtag group of survivors, including a pajama-clad housewife and a pregnant woman will have to fight off HORDES of rabid, flesh-eating zombies (are there any other kind?). Looks cool. This lurches into theaters in March.

I just saw XBOX versions of Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX! Incredible. I am thinking that these are ports or conversions of the PC versions of these classic RPGs. I don't think I can dedicate as much time to re-playing these gems as I did before. It'll still be a kick to have these discs for posterity/archive purposes.

A videogame version of the comic 100 Bullets is coming...

An Angel Ace movie casting thought... Victor Garber would make a great Gregor. He's already a kick-ass agent as Jack Bristow in Alias, playing a stoic, stone-faced and formidable CIA agent perfectly (What clinched it for me was one episode where Jack fights his way out of an SD6-laid trap in a movie theater- this guy is bad-ass!). He could be a great fill for the role of our girl Angel's Rock of Gibraltar mentor and guardian. I wonder if he could speak in a Russian accent?

Later then!

Coming Soon to a Mangazine Near You


The adventures of the first male kunoichi are coming your way in 2004.

Here's a mocked-up Questor cover featuring my newest character, Kunoichi Boy. The artwork itself is real, and will hopefully be used when KB debuts within the next couple of months in Questor Extreme, the manga anthology series of the popular anime/manga magazine.
I thought up the idea for KB last year, throwing around the ridiculous title of 'Ninja Girl Boy', which is basically what it says- a guy with all the powers of a ninja girl. Though I first meant it as a joke, the idea stayed in my head and eventually an actual, engaging storyline began to form around the bare idea. Soon, character studies and sketches evolved, and the final title- Kunoichi Shonen, or simply Kunoichi Boy, was decided.
The title stars Jin Dragu (the name is a play on 'In Drag'), a soft-spoken travelling artist who, when trouble beckons, can change into The Pink Ninja, an incredibly skilled and boobsy ninja woman! Just WHY Jin has to turn into a female ninja, what his quest is, and how he gets involved with an evil force threatening the entire continent of Tao will be what KB is all about.
Can't wait to tell this story. And if all goes well, in a couple of months or so, we'll be ready to start.

KILL BILL Volume 2

It's not over till it's over.

In Volume 1, The mysterious Bride (Uma Thurman) took bloody revenge on two of those who wronged her. With Vernita Green (Viveca Fox) and O-ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) now cold and dead, the rest of the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad (DIVAS),Bud (Michael Madsen) and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) are waiting for the inevitable strike. But suffice to say, they won't be content to just lay down and die. The Bride will have to go through Hell and High Water to reach the DIVAS' mastermind, Bill, and revenge's bloody end.
Volume 2 is set for release in the US in month or two, and it has me curious as to how they're going to top the first one. This considering that they cut out an entire subplot involving the younger sister of Volume 1 villainess Go Go Yubari from the movie. In the original script, the younger and even more psychotic Yuki Yubari was going to go after The Bride for revenge, her hunt culminating in a deadly shootout in suburban America. This whole character was taken out since the film was at that point deemed too long.
Side Note: Yuki was apparently supposed to be played by Kou Shibasaki, who played the evil Mitsuko Souma in Battle Royale (who incidentally kills the character played by co-star Chiaki Kuriyama, aka Go Go Yubari, in that controversial Japanese film).

The teaser trailer for Kill Bill Volume 2 can be seen here.

MADman with a gun


Now I've got a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho...

My pal Pot came around in the afternoon and we went off to Greenhills to walk around. I really didn't plan on spending after having such a splurgy time last week. So it was with total amazement that I found myself (it was like an out of body experience) handing over some money to a vendor selling BB guns. They were quite realistic-looking, cheap and could be used with regular BBs and paintball ammo. I got myself a lovely-looking assault rifle (with a working LASER SIGHT! HOW COOL IS THAT?!) and pretty much had to heft it all over Greenhills before we left. Eventually though, seeing me with my new toy irked Pot so much that he eventually got himself a weapon as well. So armed, we made out way back to our hideout, er, the Sanctum, taking care to avoid any checkpoints.
Having these BB guns made me feel like a kid again, when we ran around with our pointy-fingers going BANG BANG BANG; then we moved to peashooters for deadly monggo bean battles all over the place. Straws turned into those neat rubber-band pistols, and then into BB guns in college. I owned a BBBerreta once, a cheap toy compared to the gas-powered fully-automatic pseudo weapons real gunfreaks owned.
Ah. To be a kid again, totally innocent, worry-free and war-hungry. Those were the days.

Now if only someone sold Vanishing Rays...

Assassin


You. Are. Next.

Agent K lets her eyes do the talking in this latest K.I.A. artwork. It's brought to us by colorist and comic artist extraordinaire, Joel Chua.

Gallivanting: The Movie

Yesterday, the gang drove off to Enchanted Kingdom to celebrate Vin's birthday. We went in two vehicles; the oldies (me, Dean, Gig, Carl and Jason) went in the Dynati-Car, while the bagets (El, Camy, Andrew) went with young-at-heart Vin and Ralph. We had a laugh thinking of how it all seemed like we were like in one of those pinoy 'Berks' movies, complete with cheesy sing-song and cliche' dialogue.

We tramped through heavy traffic, finally reaching our destination after about two hours.

I was pretty excited, seeing as it was my first time at the much-talked about theme park. The place wasn't overly crowded, but there were people aplenty and the rides had long lines which required a bit of patience. After we paid a certain fee, we were inside and given the ability to go on any ride we wanted.
The first ride was Anchors Away (or is it Anchors Aweigh?), which is basically a pendulum shaped like an old sailing ship. Groups of passengers sit down and are held in place with a metal bar to keep you from tumbling off to your doom, and then the ship starts swinging from left to right. Simple, right?

WRONG. The darn ride almost tilts to a 90 degree angle, and despite the fact that you are pretty securely fastened into place... YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT.
I was yelling out loud to expend my adrenaline and terror rush. Had to close my eyes when we reached the peak, since I really felt I was going to DIE. The worst part is, after the first terrifying teeter, I knew with foreboding that IT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING. EEEEEYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

Well, I survived somehow. Me and fellow wusses Jason and El collected what pride we had from the floor and limped off with the rest to the next torture.

The Log Jam was a bit tamer. A ride on a car which would often go up a height and then send you hurtling down to a splashy landing. Me, Carl and Jason got into a car together, which was pretty fun since we were all goofing off and mouthing lines from Aragorn's speech in ROTK to allay our fears. Heh. My main worry was getting my nice cellphone wet. Luckily, while my shirt was drenched, my other stuff was fine. Vin got the souvenir picks which I vow to get and burn if I ever get the chance. Heh.

Next was a Flying Swing, which was again tamer than our initial ride. You get into a chair attached to a chain and then are sent spinning around. Now I know how Mike Rodriguez, my character in Angel Ace must feel every time he hangs onto his main girl Angel. But then again, he can put his trust into a beautiful, fearless, unfailing superheroine. All I had was a couple of chains. EYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!



After three rides, we were getting pooped, and split up. While the others went off to tackle the park's most daunting ride, the Space Shuttle, Vin, El, Camy, Ralph and I went to the relatively calmer and more visually-appealing Rialto Theater, showing off the 7th Portal. A 3-D ride where you focus on events on screen while your seat rocks and gyrates in tandem, this was based on the webcartoon created by Stan Lee. Basically, the passengers are 'beta-testers' who find themselves sucked into a cyberworld after we are attacked by a sexy and evil birdwoman named Vultura. Now trapped in Darkmoor, we must try to find the 7th Portal to get back to our world. Along the way, we meet up with the good heroes and more evil villains. Basically, we're a little target, constantly slamming into something or getting slammed. It wasn't scary at all, but it was pretty cool to watch the CG animated characters and action. Not too much in terms of story- just one long chase sequence, but it was an enjoyable ride while it lasted. I actually got interested in 7th Portal, but unfortunately the website and comic are now defunct. Oh well.
After that last couple of rides, we went off to the long trek back to civilization. We eventually landed at Kaya restaurant for a delicious Korean dinner, and lots of laughs as we recounted our experiences.

Happy Birthday, Vin! And Happy Birthday Carl, who turns one year older today!

Some Enchanted Kingdom Pics Here!