(Sort of) tagged by Budjette...

6 WEIRD THINGS ABOUT ME


1) I've always dreamt of becoming a back-up singer. Not the main singer. Just back-up.


2) When we were kids and Ghostbusters was really popular, we used to go out at night with plastic spraying containers filled with gas, a lighter, and a mini-aquarium strapped to my back hoping to catch ghosts (you put together what all the equipment was for). I doubt my parents knew that I was sneaking those things out of the house.


3) I don't know how to talk in public. But tell me to dance, sing or perform (not that I do all those things well, mind you) and it's no sweat. But ask me to speak, I stutter and freeze up.


4) I was a cheerdancer back in my senior year in high school. And a theatre club member. That's why some people think I'm gay.


5) Small kids stare at me. I don't know why.


6) I have exactly ONE chest hair.

And I tag... nobody. If you'd like to participate, then just do it. No pressure. :)

BITS AND PIECES

Just got back from Boracay. Seems like we were just in time since it looks like the rainy season just kicked in last night, as anyone who was in Metro Manila at that time can attest.

Jade had a lot of fun building sand castles and managed to make a friend in the process. A kindly woman and her granddaughter (named Samantha) approached us on the beach asking if they could play with us. We said yes, of course. They were balikbayans from Los Angeles, and I hope they have a safe trip going back to the US.

A little plug... if you plan on going to Boracay and can afford it, stay in Discovery Shores. A bit expensive, but worth it!

Rode the MRT this morning, and, in relation to one of my previous posts, it seems that some women are proving me wrong. There was this pregnant woman who got on the train right before me, and another woman offered her seat. God bless her. I wouldn't mind seeing this kind of thing more often.

At alam niyo bang naghihirap na daw si Kuya Germs?!?!

Kasi, WALANG TULUGAN!!!

Wengk wengk wengk...

I'm outta here. :P

THE SUPERHERO PERSONALITY TEST

You are Spider-Man

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Spider-Man 80% The Flash 75% Superman 55% Robin 55% Green Lantern 55% Supergirl 45% Hulk 40% Iron Man 30% Wonder Woman 30% Catwoman 25% Batman 10%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

ANG MGA BABAE SA MRT

Madalas, ang mga lalaki ang nagpapa-upo sa MRT. Kapag may buntis, matanda, o babaeng may kasamang anak, pinapaupo ng mga lalaki. Di na gaano ngayon kapag babae ka lang na mukhang matibay naman ang tuhod (although minsan may gentleman na nagpapa-upo pa rin sa kanila). Di ko maintindihan kung bakit ang mga babae di nagpapa-upo ng iba.

Tulad na lamang noong isang beses na nakasakay ako sa MRT. Nakatayo ako, siksikan, at yung hanay ng mga upuan sa harap ko ay puro babae ang nakaupo. Sa tabi ko, may matandang babae na payat na siguro mga 70 years old na, pero wala ni isa sa mga babaeng nakaupo sa harap ko ang tumayo at nagbigay ng upuan nila sa matanda. Ganoon ba talaga iyon? Porke't babae ka di ka na kailangan mag-magandang loob sa mas nangangailangan?

Tulad din ng isa pang beses na sumakay ako. Siksikan, natural nagkakaroon ng konting tulakan o kaya'y may natatapakan. May isang lalaking matanda na natapakan ang isang babaeng mukhang disente at naka-office attire. Aba, talagang sukdulan naman ang pagkagalit niya sa matanda, kesyo di raw nag-iingat. Sinusubukan naman magpaliwanag ng matanda na may mga nakikiraan kung kaya't kailangan niyang umusod ng kaunti, malas na lang at natapakan niya ang paa ng miss na ito. Pero tuloy pa rin ang talak ng babae. Sa huli, sabi ng babae... "Nakakahiya kayo, pumapatol sa babae." Sagot ng matanda... "Mas nakakahiya ka, pumapatol ka sa nakatatanda." Doon natahimik ang mahadera. Muntik na akong mapa-palakpak. Beeh buti nga!

Sabi rin ng kaibigan kong si Annie, marami raw babae ayaw sumakay sa harapang bahagi ng tren (kung saan eksklusibo lamang sa mga babae, matanda at bata) dahil wala daw nagpapa-upo sa kanila doon. Sabi rin ni Annie siya rin mismo ay naiinis sa kapwa niyang mga babaeng sumasakay doon dahil nga kahit may matanda o buntis na nakatayo wala talagang nagpapa-upo.

To any female readers out there, I hope to be proven wrong.

The Absorbascon, a comics blog that I visit everyday, has a good article about decompression in comics. The author, Scipio, basically states that "Slow storytelling means fast reading; fast storytelling means slow reading. The first is boring; the second is exciting."

I agree. Most single issues of comic books nowadays have long, drawn out stories that run for six issues when in times past, it could fit into one or two issues. I guess we can blame the trade paperback market for that. But, isn't single issue stories also worth collecting into trades? Like what Scipio argues, those Showcase volumes from DC and Essentials from Marvel sell very well, even though they have mostly compressed stories.

I am mostly a DC fan. This is because when I first started reading and buying comics, most DC comics had done-in-one issue stories, as opposed to Marvel who's stories usually took two to three issues to be resolved. This was way back when National Bookstore had those reprints which usually sell for Php1.75 (an expensive purchase during those days, especially for a 5-year old kid like me). Comic shops were nonexistent, and it's hard to track down consecutive issues.

Even up until the mid-80s, DC comics were mostly self-contained stories, so I had no trouble following them, while Marvel still had multi-part stories. of course, I still bought some Marvel comics, especially those done by John Byrne (Yep, I'm a big Byrne fan), but those were few and far between. By then, I didn't mind if I got the whole story or not, because at this time of my life I was mostly collecting for the art and not the writing.

But now, I've become a reader again, much like my younger days, and I hate it when I don't read a story from beginning to end. That's why it's a turn-off to start collecting new titles, since I don't want to start reading in the middle. And, also, it's getting to be quite expensive.

Anyway, I've gotten quite a bit off track with the decompression topic, haven't I? I guess the point I'm making is decompression turns off new readers, and even some old readers like me. I dropped the new Moon Knight series after the first arc because it was excruciatingly slow. I had dropped JLofA, but picked it up again because of the crossover with JSA. But after that, I'm dropping it again. That's the effect decompression has on me. I want to get my money's worth, not pay for six comics when the story inside is only worth two.

Well, it's a bit delayed, but happy Mother's Day to all moms out there.



Last Saturday, Kuki asked Jade how her mom was made. She answered...

"God got fairies and made them my mom."

What a sweet, sweet kid!

BLOG FILLER #11!

Mga Kasabihang binago ng panahon... :)

1) Ang taong nagigipit...sa bumbay kumakapit.
2) Pag may usok...may nag-iihaw.
3) Dont judge the book by its cover... if u are not a judge or else you will cover the book!
4) Ang taong naglalakad nang matulin... may utang.
5) No guts no glory... no ID, no entry.
6) Birds of the same feather that prays together... stays together.
7) Kapag may sinuksok at walang madukot, may nandukot.
8) Ang buhay ay parang bato, it's hard.
9) Walang matigas na tinapay sa gutom na tao.
10) Ang taong di marunong lumingon sa kanyang pinanggalingan... ay may stiff neck.
11) Birds of the same feather make a good feather duster.
12) Kapag may taga, may tahi.
13) Huli man daw at magaling, undertime pa rin.
14) To err is human, to errs is humans.
15) Ang naglalakad ng matulin, late na sa appointment.
16) Matalino man ang matsing, matsing pa rin.
17) Better late than later.
18) Aanhin ang palasyo kung ang nakatira ay kuwago, mabuti pa ang bahay kubo, sa paligid puno ng linga.
19) Ang sakit ng kalingkingan, kailangan ng alaxan.
20) Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika, lumaki sa ibang bansa.
21) Kapag maikli ang kumot, tumangkad ka na!
22) Behind the clouds are the other clouds.
23) Aanhin pa ang damo... kung bato na ang uso!
24) It's better to cheat than to repeat!
25) Do unto others... then run!
26) Kapag puno na ang salop... kumuha na ng ibang salop.
27) Magbiro ka na sa lasing, magbiro ka na sa bagong gising,'wag lang sa lasing na bagong gising.
28) When all else fails, follow instructions.
29) No man is an island because time is gold.
30) An apple a day... is too expensive.
31) An apple a day, makes seven apples a week.
32) An apple a day cannot be an orange a day.
33) Hindi lahat ng kumikinang ay ginto... muta lang 'yan.
34) Kapag ang puno mabunga... mataba ang lupa!
35) When it rains... it floods.
36) Pagkahaba haba man ng prusisyon... mauubusan din ng kandila.
37) Ang buhay ay parang gulong, minsan nasa ibabaw minsan nasa... vulcanizing shop.
38) Batu-bato sa langit, ang tamaan... sapul!
39) Try and try until you succeed... or else try another.
40) Ako ang nagsaing... iba ang kumain. Diet ako, eh.
41) Huwag magbilang ng manok kung alaga mo ay itik.
42) Kapag maiksi na ang kumot, bumili ka na ng bago.
43) Pag may tyaga... goodluck.
44) If you can't beat them, shoot them.
45) Practice makes perfect... but nobody is perfect... so why practice?
46) Money is not everything... there is Mastercard and Visa.

Okay, there's something I want to get off my chest.

I can't help but feel disappointed with GMA 7 over Captain Barbell. Yeah, the TV series is finished, it made tons of money... good for them. What galls me is they did not even for one instant acknowledge me as the designer of the new Captain Barbell costume.

Part of a verbal agreement that we had with the Ravelos was that we would get credit for designing the costumes for their stable of characters. In fairness to the Ravelos, they have, time and again, requested GMA 7 to include my name as the costume designer of Captain Barbell in the fast-rolling credits at the end of the show. But it didn't happen. Even when QTV (GMA's UHF channel) interviewed me for a segment in one of their shows which dealt about komiks, the interviewer asked me all about how I designed the costume. But when the show aired, all the things we talked about which pertained to that topic ended up on the cutting room floor (or, in this age of digital editing, the trash bin).

I really don't know why. Was it because they've already issued statements to the press that Hollywood costume designer/sculptor/FX master Miles Teves designed the costume? Did they not want to shatter the illusion that, hey, they can afford to have someone from Hollywood do this for them, making it a "big-time" thing? Not to take anything away from Mr. Teves, but he just recycled an old Robin costume and painted it yellow and gold. Take a look...


(You can view more angles here.)



Hey, those belt buckles look nothing alike (Sarcastically speaking)!

I'm not angry at GMA 7. Hey, I'm a Ka-puso. I watch mostly GMA 7 shows. I still like GMA better than ABS-CBN (programming-wise). I'm just a bit teed off. But maybe now that I got to write about it, maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.

Last Saturday, we were involved in an auto accident.

It was around 9:00 in the evening. We were riding in my sister-in-law's Revo, along Shaw boulevard, and as we were turning left on one of the side streets, a Jeepney with no headlights came careening and smashing at us at full speed. The jeepney driver had a lot of time to put on the brakes, since he was still a bit far off, but I didn't even think he slowed down. It hit the right side of the Revo, near the wheels. I immediately embraced Jade (who was sitting on my lap) and tried to cushion her from the impact. I hit my upper lip on the back of her head, resulting in a busted lip for me, but thankfully just a "bukol" for Jade. Thank God no one else was hurt.

My lip wouldn't stop bleeding, so Kuki hailed a cab and we went home to get our car, we dropped off Jade and her yaya at my in-law's house and she drove me to the hospital. I got four stitches, and unbeknownst to me I also had a bit of a nasty bump on my head. So I had to get my skull x-rayed, and it turned out alright. I remember thinking while I was being stitched up that four stitches wasn't that bad, but then I'm a guy who watched his own circumcision as a kid, so maybe that makes me a bit of a masochist. Kuki pointed out that the fact that I required stitches at all meant that it was already bad.

After a few hours at the hospital, we went home to pick up Jade. We then learned that the jeepney driver was drunk, but still he had the gall to drive, even putting his passengers at risk. He didn't turn on his headlights, and (according to him) his brakes were defective. And still he tried to turn the tables on us at the police station, telling the cops that I punched him after the mishap. What an @$$hole! He was jailed that night, but I don't know as of this writing if he's still incarcerated or not.

The jeepney drivers' association is willing to pay for all the damages incurred, but personally I don't care about that. I only want irresponsible drivers to be taken off the road. Do we have to wait for someone to get killed before we change our ways?!?