An Inconvenient Truth

I just recently watched "An Inconvenient Truth" of Al Gore. It's a documentary of an environmental crisis that we are facing, which is Global Warming. This film just woke up the environmentalist in me again. You can check their site at climatecrisis.net

It is a very alarming documentary of the current status of our planet. Very scary if you ask me. If you live here in the Philippines, you may notice the heat that we are experiencing is already not normal. It is freaking HOT. In the video, this heat is happening every where in the world. If you have not seen this video before, please go to their web-site and watch the trailer.

BADDASS MADAPAKA

BADDASS MADAPAKA - No more Mr. Nice Guy

I have not posted any of my drawing here lately because I am still busy with the pages of Kalayaan #4 that I can't post here(yet). That is why I decided to create a warm up sketch to be posted here. I normally don't do any warm up before I draw a sequential page. Most of the time, I would just hammer it out right away. But this time I tried.

At first I did not have any plans to ink this, but after a while, it is like talking to me. It's like it wanted to be ink. "Ink me you stupid bastard or I'll rip your head off. "

Can you spot the hidden Mickey? My kids had a good time looking through at each circle and oval that they could find. Hint: there are 3 hidden Mickey..

What the Hell

Hellboy 2

Looks pretty darn good trailer to me. Hollywood is really putting their money on comic book based superheroes. I wish the local movie industry would do the same here.

New 7 Wonders

I just recently watched "The Correspondents" show of ABS-CBN channel 2. It featured places in the Philippines that are nominated to be the New 7 Wonders of the world. The nominated in the Philippines are Tubbataha Reef and Puerto Princesa Subterranian River National Park. Just in case that they are to be included in the New 7 wonders. This will boost the tourism economy of the Philippines in general, so I hope you would click on the link and vote for them.

Words of Wisdom

Cherish things while you still have them,
before they're gone,
and you realize how precious they really are.

Life can only be understood backwards,
but it must be lived forwards.

Everything in life is temporary.
So if things are going good,
enjoy it because it won't last forever.
And if things are going bad,
don't worry because it won't last forever either.

Destiny is not a matter of chance,
it is a matter of choice;
it is not a thing to be waited for,
it is a thing to be achieved.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Never cross a bridge without knowing how to swim the tides.

If you could not add years to your life,
Add life to your years.

Typical Typo

Can you see what is wrong in this picture? My boss showed me this from flickr. At first I did not notice any thing wrong with it until he pointed the word "Costumer" instead, it should be "Customer".

I will confess, I have already met many people in my life time. But I never met a person whose spelling is worst than me. From the moment I have learned to read and write, up to now, I am still terrible in spelling. Maybe that is why I like to use Firefox and word processor to much, because they have a built in spell checker.

One of my major mistakes when I released the very first issue of Kalayaan. I did not have any proof reader. Thank God for the kindness of some people in DeviantArt that I met, and become friends and now became my proof reader.

Cathy's B-Day

It is the birthday of my youngest daughter Catherine. Sometimes I am amazed when I see how big she have grown up through the years. It was just like yesterday that I was holding her in my arms trying to feed her milk.

Sometimes I am a little sad that I am not spending more time with my kids than I should be. Most of the time I will leave our house while they are still sleeping and come home that they are already in bed. Maybe one of this weekend we could go and play at the mall.

Another FanArt

Here is another FanArt by Daverge (Vergil Espinosa). Another person I just met in DeviantArt. As an appreciation of his work, I will be including this art on issue #4 of Kalayaan together with the FanArt of other artist such as Gener Pedrina, Bien del Rosario and others. I am hoping that I could do this on a regular basis. Be able to show other artist version of my character. If only more artist will create a FanArt for me. :-)

Script finished

I had a splitting head ache last Sunday night after finishing the script for the Sanduguan-Kalayaan crossover. But I am much ok now. It was a two day straight of brain squezing effort for me. It's a 20 page script with thumbnails. It was very tiring but very enjoyable as well. Specially when I created some humorous dialog of some of the characters.

I wanted to finish it right away so I can go back and continue my work on issue number 4. Which I think that I am a little bit behind on schedule already. I also wanted to finish it way ahead of its scheduled release so Gener would have an easy and non pressure way of drawing the pages. This is the first time I will be working with a anybody on comics and I wanted it to be enjoyable as possible for the person I am working with. And besides, this is a BIG favor and honor that Gener is giving me. I do not want to waste it.

I have already given him a photocopy of the script I made. We met last night at Megamall after my office work. It is a convenient place for me since it is just a walking distance from our office. Every time I talk to Gener, I always learn something new about our Philippine heritage. He is like a walking book of knowledge on Philippine Mythology. I found my self yesterday sitting with him and hearing this wonderful story that he has. Many wonderful character that we have that majority of Filipino does not even know existed. I then realize how little I know about our history, Philippine folktales and old traditions. I also saw his sketches of many interesting character that are based on Filipino Mythology. And what amazes me is that he has a story for each and every one of those characters.

I sometimes shake my head as I surf around the internet and see most of the young Filipino today are adopting Japanese and other countries culture instead of ours. I have nothing against Manga and I do not blame these youngster. They are what they are today because of the influence of media. They do costplay, dressing up like Japanese characters because they idolize what they see on T.V., that is what they are because there is no one out there making animation about Filipino based heroes and not enough comics based on our Filipino culture. Superheroes that is truly Pinoy. It is sad that we do not have or slightly loosing our character as a nation.

I admire the Japanese, the sister of my wife got married to a Japanese. We occasionally see each other every time they visit the Philippines. I even have an audio CD of how to speak Japanese. I listen to it once in a while. They are a people that values their culture. Technologically advance and yet they retain their old ways. I only admire them, but I do not want to be one of them. I have my own identity and so should all of us. Filipinos are loosing its identity. Filipinos has so much to prove to the world. We often lookup to other countries. And I think that is were the problem lies.

I work as a computer programmer at Pan de Manila. The reason I brought that up is because if you look at our branches you would notice that it has a Filipino theme. A few years ago my boss show me a give away calendar for our customers. When I looked at it, it looked like a post card with a painting of the old Manila. I simply said "Ang ganda po sir, Pinoy na Pinoy and dating". The daughter of my boss replied "Yan ang gustong marining ng Daddy ko sa iyo, Gio". Every time I remember that event, medyo kinukurot ang puso ko. Dahil ang boss ko ay Filipino-Chinese. Iniisip ko, Mabuti pa sya, hindi full blooded na Filipino, nag mamalasakit sa kulturang Pilipino. Hindi katulad ng iba.

Funny Pixs

With all the tension that boss Gerry's blog has gathered this past few days. I thought I might loosen up things here in comics blog world by posting some funny pictures. I hope no body out there gets offended by this pictures coz I already have more discussion and debates on my head right now. :-)

The storm is over.

The storm is over, or is it? Well at lease it has subside a little. This storm is the heated debate in Gerry Alanguilans blog regarding Atlas publication issuing a girlie magazine. Many points had been noted. Weather it was a good thing or a bad thing, it makes you think. Sometimes even if your intentions are good, it might be interpreted as offending. Sometimes it is not what you say, it's how you say it. With all modesty aside, having a degree of Bachelor of Science in Mathematic (B.S.Math), I think I am the most qualified person (those who posted) there in terms of numbers. On top of that, my day time job is a computer programmer that creates a computer business software of many clients. Every day I work with numbers.

Yes, I do believe that numbers are important in making business decision. And I do not hate or blame Atlas in publishing this magazine. In fact, with all this fuss going on, I even might consider buying one. The goal of a business is to make profit. If Atlas think that publishing a Playboy like magazine will gain them money, then so be it. I don't care.

One thing that bothers me is that people are saying many negative thing on the future of local comics. Such as.. "It will never recover."... or.... "Even if you make comics, it will not sell, it will fail". Please do not take those words verbatim. It is not their exact word for word. But more or less, that is what they are trying to say. Sometimes I wonder what is the goal of these people? They already know that the local comics industry is already doomed but still they hangout on comic forums and they still post on many comic blogs? And they still socialize with persons that are making comics as if they still care about the comics industry.

Are they old comics people that is just trying to reminisce the old glory days of the comics industry by going to these forums and blogs?

Are they people (comics creator wanna be) that is just jealous when a comics creator says that their comics has done well in the market and they have been sold out?

We are not using their time and money. We are not convincing them to invest in our comics. And yet they still trying to weaken our morale. Fortunately many of the local comics creator today has a strong desire to continue. Whatever what other people says.

What ever their intentions are. They still makes you think.

Old Friends

After many years of not seeing each other, me and my old classmates had a little reunion last Monday, during the holiday. We email and sometimes chat with each other once in a while, but there is nothing like seeing and talking to the real thing.

Majority of us all have our own kids now. And some decided to bring theirs (I did not bring mine). In some ways, when I saw their kids playing with each other. I kinda saw me and my classmates when were still back in collage. When I was still in college, I still consider my self as a kid and not an adult.

Most of them are really doing very well. One of them just came back from Canada. Three who attended already have their own car. Other could not attend because they are still in abroad. Without any envy (maybe a little bit :-D) I can say that I am very very happy for them. Because back on the old days of our collage life in P.U.P. Sta.Mesa Manila. I can say that we all came from a very poor family. One of us even lived near a bridge and has a torn down house. They have earth as the floor of their living room. And with a great determination on his studies, that same person now lives in L.A. and drives a very nice car and has a comfortable house. This guy is not so smart, but rather he is just a good hard working guy and never gives up on life. Before he went abroad I was surprise when he told me that he was taking Law. Unfortunately (or fortunately), opportunity abroad knocks on his door and He and his wife now lives a happy life on that foreign land.

New Star Trek Movie

The new Star Trek movie will be in May 2009. It is still a one year wait for a Trekkie like me. But at lease they already created a trailer of the movie. I wonder if Paramount picture is thinking of creating another TV series based on Gene Roddenberry Star Trek again. I think there a still a lot of stories can still be created continuing what DS9 had left of, or what ever happened with the crew of Voyager after they reached Earth. Perhaps if this movie would be successful, they will consider it greatly.

For non Star Trek fans out there, please forgive me. The whole Star Trek universe just went alive with me lately because I have been watching few of the series lately from my collection this past couple of days. Because as you know, it's another holiday that we are spending at home. Basically this past few days, all I did is draw a couple of Kalayaan pages and watch old Star Trek episodes.

Issue #4 update

This is the final cover of the issue #4. I am still finishing on the first few pages of this issue. I hope I could finished it and print it on or before May 31. Because I am planning to attend M3 (Mangaholix Manga Mania '08) indie booth this coming May 31. It will be held at Hall 4, SMX Convention Center (beside SM Mall of Asia). I am planning it to be like the launching of Kalayaan issue #4. I hope I could finish this issue before that date because aside from that, I am also working on the script for the Sanduguan and Kalayaan crossover. Because I have to pass it to Gener for approval. Baka kasi magbago pa ang isip nya eh..hehehe.