Elephants and Visitors

Missed two events I would have wanted to go to yesterday, namely the launch of White Elephants, Sarge Lacuesta's second book of short stories, and the re-opening of Doi's bar, 77, on the very spot where Millennia used to be, along Kamuning (just after the Burger Machine, across the Pares place -- note that all my geographical reference points are food-related). Congratulations, guys, and apologies for my non-attendance; rest assured it was for very, very good reasons. :)

I did, however, manage to pass by the opening of Gabby Barredo's new show at the Ayala Museum last Thursday night. Couldn't stay as I had to rush off to a meeting, but I will say that it's definitely worth a look. If you pass by, don't forget to get a copy of the program; it's excellently photographed and designed, and contains "Visitors," a short short story I wrote, inspired by the exhibit. Congrats to Erwin, Yvonne, Juan and of course Gabby, and everyone else associated with the show.

In other news: apparently, the Earth-2 Superman has returned. Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, just move along. The comics geeks among you, however, may have just experienced a slight but pleasant tingling of the spine at the news. And speaking of geeks, and tinglings -- along the spine and elsewhere -- the animated Ralph Bakshi/Frank Frazetta collaboration Fire and Ice is being released on DVD. Here's a true story from the Newsarama thread:

In 1984, I rented this movie for my 13th birthday party. While my friends and I were watching it, one of my friends said that the main girl in the film was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Another friend said something like, "why don't you just go hump Betty Boop?", and somehow a gigantic fistfight broke out in the living room. The point of the story is that I never saw the rest of the movie and now I finally get to buy it. Thank God.

And finally, Jessica Zafra's blogging. (Got the link from Budjette). "Yes that IS my real name, I AM the columnist slash talk show host, I AM the author of the seven Twisted books (eight if you count Twisted Flicks) and this IS my first and only blog."