Waves of Nostalgia

Stumbled across this image-heavy blog entry by Wendell Capili, all about the UP Diliman campus, where I used to study (and, for a while, teach). Man, it made me nostalgic.

A very Happy Birthday, by the way, to JB and Joelle! My memories of UP would not be as fond had they not been with me then. Ah, yes: memories of JB dragging me out of a Math 17 class to go to SM (it takes amazing strength of will to cut a class when you're already in it), and of Joelle doing a dance from Grease (or possibly West Side Story) at the tambayan.

New Pervert Suit

Click on the pic for the full-sized image.

So, the goddamn Batman looks pretty hot in his new suit. Er. I mean... I'm straight.

I love the fact that they finally found a way to separate the headpiece from the neck. Remember the first Batman movie, when every time Michael Keaton had to look up, he practically had to tilt back his whole torso? And check the boots. Sweet. I'd wear those.

Read more about the suit at Gizmodo and Geekologie.

Ask Me, Ask Me, Ask Me

So, I mentioned this already below, but the 49th installment of my column, The King of Nothing to Do, comes out tomorrow (or today, if you happen to be reading this on June 6, Wednesday) in the i section of the Manila Bulletin. This one's called "Eighteen Years," and basically recounts some personal memories from eighteen years ago, when I was in high school. It was prompted by the realization that I have a friend close to my age who has a daughter who's now eighteen years old. The mind boggles.

And yes, you read that right -- this is my 49th column for the Manila Bulletin. Which means I've been writing it for almost two years now (a far cry from Erwin Romulo's 11-years-and-counting stint at the Star, but still. Two years is about as long as I've worked on anything). As any comic book fan knows, 50th issues are special, and should be double-sized, or have a foil-stamped hologram cover, or feature Darkseid as the bad guy, or something. So for my 50th ish, I wanted to do a sort of 'mailbag' section. Yes, yes, I know, how very original and brilliant of me. ANYWAY. What I would like you (yes you) to please, please do, is:

Send me a question.

Ask me anything, about life, love, literature, comics, hamsters, whatever, and I'll answer it in my next column (June 20) to the best of my ability -- which is not saying much, I know. Please send it to:

thekingofnothingtodo at yahoo dot com

And thanks. :)

Flash Fiction Wanted

Got this in the mail from my editor at the Bulletin. Btw, I know I haven't been plugging it lately, but my column, The King of Nothing to Do, still does come out in the i section every two weeks. :) Check out tomorrow's Bulletin for the latest installment!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

i magazine, the newest quarterly publication from the team behind the i section of the Manila Bulletin, is now accepting submissions for FLASH FICTION in English.

Launching October 2007, the i magazine is high-concept publication inspired by Another magazine and Tank, headlining fashion (a whopping 120 pages of it) as well as Filipino excellence, both here and overseas.

Feature stories range from Filipinos excelling in their fields (i.e. designers, artists, writers, professionals, or high-level executives abroad), new angles on Filipino culture stories (i.e. comparative story on a famous sculptor and a new young sculptor with similar aesthetics, or ethnographic stories of Filipino culture in European countries), and special-interest stories relating to Filipinos or Filipino culture ( i.e. Filipino toy designer in an international toy company, Filipinos who have more eclectic collections, or Filipino architects and engineers involved in reconstruction or preservation of historical buildings).

The i magazine is currently accepting flash fiction submissions for the maiden issue, in keeping with the editorial direction to introduce fresher, more intelligent, and though-provoking content that is still digestible for local readers. We are looking for stories that capture a brief moment, a single breath. We are looking for an irreverent piece, in the structured prose of fiction, with the lyrical movement of poetry. Hopefully, through these shorts bursts of story, we can slowly open up more readers to Philippine fiction.

Accepted submissions will be paid P500.00 a pop. Deadline is June 16, 2007. Send in your stuff now!

Submission Guidelines

1. All stories must be in English.
2. All stories must be at 150 words or less.
3. Priority will be given to stories that have Filipino content or references.
4. Stories must not have strong political or religious content, nor any blatantly offensive content.
5. Stories must not contain outright profanity.
6. While stream of consciousness or post-modern approaches are allowed, stories must be clear and palatable for target readers.
7. Stories must not have been released before in newspapers, magazines, or other commercial publications. Stories previously released in books or other anthologies must have written consent for publication.
8. Submissionsmust be in standard manuscript format: font size 12, double-spaced, on letter-sized paper, in true type font (i.e. Arial, Times New Roman). 9. Email submissions only. Stories must be attached as rich text format (.RTF) file. Subject of email must read " Flash Fiction submission for i magazine_(TITLE OF STORY)_(AUTHOR)."
10. Submissions must include short author biography with contact information as (rich text format) RTF file.
11. Pseudonyms are allowed. For billing purposes, authors using pseudonyms must clearly indicate his or her real name along with the biography and contact information.
12. Only authors of approved works will be contacted by the i magazine editors.

Email submissions to morningcup@gmail.com. Deadline for submissions is JULY 16, 2007.

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ideas. innovation. interests. individuality.
wednesdays, fridays and saturdays in the manila bulletin.

"What was it like, being the only woman in the cast?" "Exhausting."

While I thought Ocean's 12 was annoying -- mainly because of a plot twist, if you can call it that, at the climax of the film -- I'm probably watching Ocean's 13. If only because of this interview.

DAMON: [To Pitt and Clooney] Is it true that you were the last two actors up for the hitchhiker role in Thelma & Louise?
CLOONEY: It was pretty embarrassing. They brought Brad and me in, and they just made us take our shirts off and stand there for a while, and then they picked Brad.
PITT: That is absolutely not true.
TIME: Did you know each other at that point?
CLOONEY: I knew him afterward.
DAMON: "Hey, that's the f___ing guy that took my job!"
CLOONEY: My friends said, "You want to see Thelma & Louise?" And I'm like, "F___ Thelma & Louise!" But it was fairly obvious when you saw the movie why I didn't get it, 'cause Brad just knocked it out of the park.
PITT: Aw, they were just grooming you for Batman.

I love it when actors (or musicians, or anyone else for that matter) are relaxed and funny in interviews. As opposed to, say, bitter and funny, or mean and funny, or just unfunny.

Plus, I love Ellen Barkin. I have loved her ever since I was this gangly adolescent who read this great interview with her in Esquire. Okay, that's a lie. I've never gangled in my life.

Also, isn't it funny that, in the trailer, [Matt Damon] + [an enormous fake nose] = looks like Matthew Modine?

Frisbee or Not Frisbee

Yes, those are my friends. No, they aren't actually shitty Frisbee players. Call it an off moment.

IKON and On

From left: Pulse.ph Writer Joelle Jacinto, Wolfpac COO Rayna Roxas, Digital Media Division Manager Pats Co, Pulse Editor-in-Chief Luis Katigbak

So Pulse.ph is the presentor of IKON Philippines, the local leg of "ASEAN's biggest music contest!" We had the Artists' Briefing last Thursday, and what an array of artists it was: from The Dawn to Kapatid to the Chillitees to Julianne to Grace freakin' Nono to, yes, Vina Morales, all gathered in a ballroom at the Mandarin.


Skarlet and a couple of maangas friends

The presscon was held the next day, and featured performances by Kjwan, The Dawn, Kala, Julianne, and a show-stopping number by the peerless Grace Nono. Read all about it here!

Quezon City Ninjas

Last Thursday night at Ninja Kiss 32: Ninja Kyusi Vol. 2 was the most fun at a gig I've had in a long while. Pumping Pluto kicked things off, Bagetsafonik showcased some stuff I hadn't heard before and ended their set with "Song for the Sunlight," my current favorite of their songs, and then The Ronnies followed by Milagros Dancehall Collective got us all on our feet and dancing like the happy fools that we were.

To quote the ninjakisser: "dens dens madness ensued at route196, pare. ang daming kilikiling nakataas. happy birthday to milagros' robbie, dahil sayo naka tequila ako ulit after 10 years. what a jabariffic gig!" Many many more pix of the ninja kyusi madness here!

10 Thoughts About Spider-Man 3

So Yvette and I watched Spider-Man 3 last Friday. :) Here are some thoughts.

1. Spider-Man is fatter the third time around. Of course, I'm one to talk.

2. Tobey Maguire is great fun as Disco Parker. Though I wish they had made his hair more disco-ey.

3. Kirsten Dunst would rather be doing something else than playing Mary Jane again.

4. For some reason, Bryce Dallas Howard as Gwen Stacy reminded me a lot of Lougee Basabas from Mojofly. Maybe they should hire Lougee if they ever make Gagamboy 3.

5. James Franco portrays Harry Osborn's descent into evil by raising one (or, possibly, both) eyebrows slightly, in close-up shots. This is one of the funniest things in the entire movie.

6. Topher Grace is cast perfectly as the delusional, smarmy Eddie Brock (aka Venom). Too bad his character/story arc was crammed into this movie, instead of being given a whole installment to be developed properly.

7. Thomas Haden Church is cast perfectly as the conflicted, hard-luck Flint Marko (aka Sandman). Too bad his character/story arc was crammed into this movie, instead of being given a whole installment to be developed properly.

8. Bruce Campbell is cast perfectly as the French Restaurant Dude. Nuff said.

9. Elizabeth Banks (Betty Brant) is hot, as always. I always thought it was a shame that the movies skipped over her cute/slightly disturbing romance with Peter Parker (as chronicled in the comics) and went straight to Mary Jane. Of course, now it seems that they're backpedaling a bit, by introducing Gwen Stacy and letting Peter flirt more overtly with Betty.

10. Everyone involved needs to take a long break before working on the next one.

Overall, it’s still worth seeing, though as Star Wars geek Adrian A. observed, “It’s the Jedi of the series”—not as good as the first two, but not a total loss, and if you’re a fan at all, you’ve probably already seen it anyway. ;p

Back from Boracay

Am back from Boracay, where I covered the Summer MYX Fest, with photographer and friend Kidlat. It was my first time there, and I enjoyed myself immensely: the food, the swimming, the people, the gigs -- it was all good.

The MYX event kicked off with a surprise set from Wake Up Your Seatmate (the very cute Mia Tengco wore a bare-midriff beach outfit, much to the delight of male fans), and ended with Sandwich jamming with members of all the other bands who played (Aia of Imago, Yael of sponge Cola, Ney of 6cyclemind, and special guest Mich Dulce) and Raimund diving into the delirious, jump-up-and-down crowd. We also attended NU107's Soundburn concert featuring Sugarfree (my favorite part: when Ebe segued smoothly from "Tulog Na" into "Suburbia" by the Pet Shop Boys), and dropped by Boracay Bound 6 at Aria. All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of days. ;)

P.S. It seems I am suffering from beach withdrawal. Am now down with a clogged nose and a sore throat. Ah well.

Drip, Live

Drip on YouTube. Oh, yes. This is a live performance of "Swanker," filmed, apparently, during one of the SweetSpot production nights. Watch gorgeous, dangerous vocalist Beng Calma do her thing! Watch brothers-in-electronica Ian and Malek execute a synchronized dance routine complete with handclaps and high fives! (Kidding.) Just watch.

Exhibit Opens

Yes -- "Strange Maps" is now open! Lala spent two days setting up, aided by myself, her hubby-to-be Karlo, and, briefly, Kuya Che and my sis-in-law Sarah, and especially boy scout JB Cada, without whom I don't know how we could have completed the setup in time. Take a bow, Jabes.



Truckloads of thanks to everyone who went to the opening last Tuesday night, including Yvette my love, our very first guest; my Mom and my sister Marien; all the Gallardos and their friends; Fran, Terry (and Terry's Mom), Therese; Jovan, Conch, Pats and Bliss; JB, Steph, Anton, Dex, Jep, Miko; Erwin, Ramon, Neva, Cris; Joelle and Mikah, Jewel and Jon, Bernie and Marcus; and everyone else!



The show got lots of great feedback from everyone. Bernie said some very nice things about it to me when we were standing outside SaGuijo; I hope it's not just because she was tipsy. ;) Nico of 27+20 liked it a lot too. To those of you who haven't seen the show yet, please drop by. It'll be on display in SaGuijo til March 17. :)

Photos from Lala's LJ -- I would link to the entry, but it's locked.

Strange Maps: an exhibit by Lala Gallardo and Luis Katigbak

It all started when I attended the Graphika Manila conference last December with my friend, visual artist Lala Gallardo. (Lala's an immensely talented young artist who's had a bunch of solo and group exhibits, at places like the CCP, Big Sky Mind, Store for All Seasons, and Chunky Far Flung Gallery in Cubao.) When we were taking a short break from the lectures, she suggested that we work on an exhibit that would combine her images with my words.

I ended up writing ten very short pieces of prose, which Lala is incorporating into ten works of mixed-media art. Some themes emerged in the process: distances and how we deal with them, the relationships between people and places, the faint yet constant yearning for elsewhere. “Strange Maps” seemed an appropriate title.


Photo by Joelle Jacinto. Thanks Joelle!

We'd like to invite you all to the opening at the second floor gallery of SaGuijo next Tuesday, February 27, 7 PM! By a wonderful coincidence, a Play4Serve production is scheduled for that same night, and the lineup is killer: Sandwich, Imago, Daydream Cycle, Teeth, Pedicab, Vin Dancel's new band Peryodiko, and this new all-girl supergroup called Duster which I'm very excited about, which counts among its members Katwo of Narda, Kris of Cambio, and Myrene of Sandwich/Imago! Hoo boy. Also, according to Cris Ramos, The Bitter Pill will be playing too, for the first time in far too long a time.

So, go to the exhibit opening at 7 PM, then head on down for the gig afterwards. :) Sounds like a great night out to me. Hope to see you there!

The Sad Story of Thurber the Hamster

"So after wanting a hamster for months and buying books on hamster care and lurking on hamster owner online communities and message boards and occasionally dressing up like a hamster and roaming the streets of Makati while making loud squeaking sounds (okay, that last bit may be untrue) -- I finally did it. I got a hamster." (Read the rest here.)

The hamster in the picture isn't Thurber, by the way, though it does look a lot like him -- I just found the image on flickr. Can't post any pix or videos of Thurber yet, as my main camera these days is my cellphone, and Nokia, in its infinite wisdom, has chosen NOT to include a USB cord or any sort of way for me to connect it to my PC with its packaging. It has to be bought separately. And it's not cheap. Bastards.

"I started musing philosophically about how much there was to learn from Billy's simple life. All he did was eat, sleep, run in his wheel, and amass a pile of worthless seeds. Yet that was all it took to make him happy. If only my own life could be like that, I said to myself. Then I realized... hey, my own life IS like that. It doesn't do to think deep thoughts about hamsters." ~ from the excellent Hamster Tales

What to Do with $16,999.95

The Levitating Hover Scooter. I want one.

It's "a miniature flying saucer with handlebars." The hover scooter "provides an unprecedented experience in personal transportation, levitating inches above the ground and speeding a single rider across level land on a cushion of air... Learning to ride the scooter takes less than five minutes, and no previous skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, or other experience is required... The hovering scooter deftly glides over level, solid ground such as concrete, asphalt, or well-groomed grass, free of debris, sand, stones, and other obstacles. It can even travel up minor inclines."

I want everyone in my barkada to get one too. Then we'll find a wide open space and play Hover Scooter Ultimate Frisbee.

Mekanda Robo: TRY ATTACK!!

I love giant robot cartoon opening themes. And even though I used to hate giant robot cartoon closing themes as a kid, I grew to love them too. That is pretty much the extent of my maturation process. Anyway, I was running searches on all those giant robots of my youth ("Giant Robots of My Youth" -- what a great title for something. I call dibs), and I found this, which I wish to share with you. It is a thing of beauty. It is the Mekanda Robo opening sequence.

Mekanda Robo was one of those B-list robots that never achieved the popularity here that, say, Voltes V or Mazinger Z or even Daimos did. But man, check out that opener. First of all, the song is insanely catchy, and gloriously silly: "Mekanda Mekanda Mekanda Robo! TRY ATTACK!!" It gets even better during the volt-in sequence: "Mekanda ONE! Mekanda TWO! Mekanda THREEE!!" Thrilling!

And DUDE. The ASS-KICKING. Mekanda Robo will FUCK YOUR SHIT UP. Did you see what he did to that first monster? First he tears out its guts using his spiked shields, and then he slams the shield-spikes together on the monster's head and then he tears him in half with the blade-edges of his twin shields. Fuuuuuccckk.

The second opponent -- some stupid-looking piece of crap with antlers -- gets it worse, if that's even possible. First it gets the back of its head torn open by a kick -- a kick so lightly tossed off that it oozes contempt -- and then, when it tries to fight back using its ultimate technique (spinning like a saw blade), Mekanda just flash-fries it in mid-air with his chest flame throwers. Chest. Flame. Throwers. And then finishes it off by doing a cute little flip and launching a missile from his foot. A missile shaped like a shark. Holy crap. And then KABOOOM, that's all she wrote.

Mekanda Robo. Just one of the many reasons why I'm so well-adjusted today.

New BURN

Wahoo! The new issue of BURN is out! It's got features on AMPON, John Mayer, Jeepney Joyride, D'Sound, Callalily, Sponge Cola, and (best of all, he he) Drip, among many others. There's a fashion feature starring five kick-ass bassists: Lalay Lim, Myrene Academia, Kelvin Yu, Allen Umali and 'Nin-Yo!' Avenido. Since it's a Jan-Feb ish, there's also a Valentine section of sorts called "Babysitting the Brokenhearted" (check out my Breakup Mix). There's three excellent columns: Lourd de Veyra on the state of Pinoy rock, Quark Henares on his Top 10 Albums of the Year, and Sarah Meier on hip-hop wannabes.

Also, capoeira lessons from Myko Maca, drum lessons from Vic Mercado, a slew of reviews from my mad-skilled Review Crew (Aldus Santos, Cris Ramos Jr, Karlo Samson, JP Ong, Dodo Dayao, Lester Hallig, etc., and new reviewer Nick Azarcon)... holy crap, there's lots of stuff. And of course, as always, a FREE CD hosted by Zach Lucero with songs from Drip, Wake Up Your Seatmate, AMPON, Jeepney Joyride, and more! It's friggin' worth a measly 120 pesos. :)

Help Wanted @ PULSE.PH

Are you looking for fun? Freedom? Plenty of free time? And TRUCKLOADS OF MONEY? Yeah, me too. In the meantime, you can try working at a real job, you slacker. Pulse.ph is on the lookout for an editorial assistant. If you love music, are organized, and don't mind working with the mildly deranged, well then... good for you!

WANTED: EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

//QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate for the Editorial Assistant position should be deeply interested and knowledgeable when it comes to music and other aspects of pop culture. The job requires an organized individual with excellent computer and Internet skills, as well as good interpersonal skills.

* Should be a college graduate, preferably with a degree from a Communications, Journalism or English course
* Comfortable with computers, and proficient in the use of Word, major internet browsers, media player software, and ideally Photoshop as well
* Experience in writing/editing for publications a plus
* Experience in Web production, at an Internet-related company, or an ad/PR agency a plus
* Excellent writing and editing skills, with the ability to adjust style for specific audience and situation
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to work individually on a project or in a team environment

//DUTIES

The Editorial Assistant will, among other things:

* Research, develop, and write content for website/s
* Upload/ encode/ update sections for website/s
* Assist during events/shoots
* Transcribe interviews and other recorded materials accurately and swiftly
* Communicate with clients, artists, venue owners and other people on a regular basis to obtain information and materials (promotional photographs, schedules, etc.)
* Take notes during meetings and keep staff updated on deadlines and changes
* Occasionally attend and write coverage of events/concerts

Send yer resume + writing samples (if any) to luiskatigbak [at] pulse.ph

Fuck Unisilver

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK IS UP WITH THESE UNISILVER TIME + SAM MILBY ADS?! Has anyone else experienced this? You click on a link, and instead of going to the page you expected, you get a FUCKING SAM MILBY WATCH ADVERTISEMENT. And NO, you are not whisked off to your intended destination afterwards. You have to hit the 'back' arrow -- assuming you didn't open a new tab -- and click AGAIN. FUCKERS.

I don't even own a watch and have no intention of buying one in the near future, so I'm far from the ideal target for this stupid ad. But even if I had a million bajillion pesos and was burning with an almost-sexual need to buy a watch, this ad makes me want to spend all that money on killer adamantium robots instead, who will home in on whoever thought up this campaign and torture them mercilessly for years. Money well spent if you ask me.

UPDATE: Added the graphic above, which is what the ad looks like, plus some comments by me.

Turns out I'm not alone in my annoyance. Niña commented "I know! I saw that too! It was so annoying! I thought LJ (I was replying to a comment when that happened) might have struck a deal with Sam milby, sheesh." D.B. asked "In what sites do these ads usually sprout up?"

Doesn't seem as if Unisilver has worked out a deal with any specific site; this stupid ad has attacked me while I was browsing through LiveJournal, a comics news site, a blog about the "Honey and Clover" anime series, and worst of all, my barkada's online logbook, which only members can read and post on.

Unisilver must have installed something on my PC which redirects the browser every so often to their fucking ad regardless of what you're browsing on the 'Net, and, as I mentioned before, THEY DON'T RETURN YOU TO YOUR INTENDED DESTINATION. I'm used to having to plow through ads to get to content -- hey, I read Salon -- but this is something else entirely. BASICALLY, IT'S A VIRUS.

Do any of my lawyer or techie friends have thoughts on the legal/technical iffiness of this crap?

Report on the 2006 NU107 Rock Awards

For a complete account of the 2006 NU107 Rock Awards -- winners, commentary and all -- go here! (Just scroll down.)