Laguna Internet rocks! If I renew my pre paid plan of 100 hours before April 30, I'll get a hundred hours free! At least that's how I understand their promo. If you renew your pre paid plans before that date, they will double your subscription hours. Which is really cool! Since I only need to renew when the hours run out, I can pretty much make that 200 hours last a long time, specially now when I'm only around my computer on weekends.

Being away from my computer is a big help too because I think I may have developed carpal tunnel syndrome. Part of wrist and arm hurt now, specially when grasping a mouse. The pain goes away when I'm in Manila away from my computer. Can anyone recommend some exercise I can do for this thing?

Early in the week I met with Leinil to pick up some High Roads pages for me to ink. We also watched Showtime! with Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy. I didn't watch it for those two though. I watched it because William Shatner was in it!! Damned shame he was on screen for less than 5 minutes. The movie was OK, and Eddie Murphy continues to blow me away with his acting. damned shame they don't give out acting awards to comedians. Eddie Murphy would clean house every time.

Later in the week I had to drop all comics stuff to concentrate on our architect's convention at the Manila Midtown Hotel. It all went really fine. It's like a whole different world. It's whole different set of people, different kind of language to use, different clothes to wear. I used to hate wearing formal clothing but now I see the value of it. Strange as it may seem, people treat you better because of it. I went to the convention at different times wearing different clothes. The first time was in casual wear. Jeans, shirt, boots. It went OK, but when I returned later in barong, slacks and leather shoes, I was suddenly greeted from all sides, specially from the hotel personnel and exhibitors, by "Sir!" "Welcome!" "Good afternoon!". Here's a pic of me in a semi formal barong with my girlfriend Ilyn. This wasn't really taken at the convention but at home before the event.



I was so engrossed in our activities that to receive text messages from Leinil or Ed was really disconcerting. It's like 2 of my world suddenly collided.

My Nosferatu DVD also arrived while I was away. This is the original 1921 movie starring Max Schreck and directed by FW Murnau. It's the movie which inspired the John Malkovich/Willem Dafoe movie "Shadow of the Vampire". Nosferatu was actually the very first vampire movie, predating Bela Lugosi's Dracula by a decade. Nosferatu was freely adapted from Bram Stoker's novel, but the names were changed because they were not able to get permission to adapt the book officially. When Bram Stoker's widow found out about it, she sued big time, but the film company that produced Nosferatu became bankrupt. She instead asked for all prints of the film be destroyed. Thankfully enough, some prints (or maybe even just ONE), survived.




When I saw it, wow, this movie is truly CREEPY, and manages to frighten, even for an old silent movie like this. I like it better than Bela's Dracula to be honest, or even Frank Langella's or Tom and Brad's or Gary Oldman's. Well, Christopher Lee's Dracula still rocks of course!

2 weeks now in my apartment. Pissed by cockroaches, I went to some extreme measures to get them the hell away from me. Aside from the typical bug spray, I got myself a mosquito net, and gathered a basketful of pandan leaves to spread around the apartment. I'd take a bunch of leaves, tie them together and place them on windows, inside cabinets, beneath the bed, near doors etc. Pandan leaves are known to offend cockroaches. They'll be pissed, but they'll stay away. Good riddance damn bugs. Now I understand Starship Troopers a little bit more.

Got home to a TON of mail. An Art of Rudy Nebres book arrived via Fedex thanks to Ben Ramos. Thanks Ben! Your Francisco V. Coching book is on the way! Also via Fedex came an original copy of the Shaolin Soccer Special Edition Widescreen DVD. Coolness!! I've been watching almost nothing but this for the past two weekends. I never get tired of it. In fact, I understand no Cantonese, but I can recite certain dialogue word for word! he.he. To je sai!! Miramax has bought the rights to show this in the US, moved the showing back to 1st quarter of 2003, changed the title to Kung Fu Soccer, received plenty of hate mail from loyal fans, and will now be releasing the movie back to its original title. Good for you! Now don't even think of messing with the soundtrack, and I hope you get really good dubbing actors.

Shooting hasn't resumed yet on the Wasted movie. I spent the last week dealing with a High Roads deadline and met with director Noel Lim on how certain scenes will be shot. Due to limitations on budget and equipment, we're trying to solve certain problems with regards to staging certain scenes. I'm continuing to write the screenplay, which is just basically translating the comic story to tagalog. Very little will be changed in the structure of the story. Of course, I do realize that film is a totally different medium altogether that's why Noel Lim is there to see the story through the eyes of a filmmaker.

This week I'll be attending our annual Architect's convention from Thursday to Saturday, the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) National Convention at the Manila Midtown Hotel in Malate, which incidentally, is just a 10 minute walk from my apartment. So from Thursday on, I'll be wearing my Architect's cap for a few days. This is one of those rare times you can see me all respectable in leather shoes and barong. he.he. Till next week!

FREE INTERNET! No Shit!

Applicable to the Philippines only, and to those with PLDT lines! I was browsing the Inquirer today and I saw their big ass ad introducing PLDT VIBE, their built in Internet connection which you can have free for a month! Any surfing after that will be billed directly to your phone bill. And with just 30 pesos an hour for peak hours and 15 pesos an hour for off peak hours well, that's not so bad. I only have a 33K modem so I have no idea how fast it can go, but it's as fast as my current Internet provider now, which is not so bad too. I just followed the instructions on the newspaper, and here I am, surfiing like CRAZY! Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 15, 2002, page A28. Check it out!!

Damn, I sound like a PLDT ad. Hey PLDT, you ought to be paying me! he.he.

Interview!

An Interview I did for Original Comic Art Collector's Club. He.he. Check out the horrid picture of me. My friends think it's horrible but I sorta like it.

BBC Reviews OCHLOCRAT!

Speech Bubble Burst
The Ochlocrat

Published by Comics Conspiracy, written by Doug Miers and illustrated by Gerry Alanguilan.
£2.10 / $2.95
This is a very funny book indeed. And by 'funny', I mean both 'funny peculiar' and 'funny ha-ha'. It is a one-off high-concept science-fiction story, revolving around the central character, The Ochlocrat.

'Ochlocracy' is, according to the dictionary, quite simply 'mob rule'. So how is mob rule represented by an individual? Easy - he's a type of vigilante enforcer, motivated by the constantly changing public opinion that is relayed to him. He takes action as dictated by the whimsy of the majority, which results in him switching roles from an exposer of corruption to an amorous seducer in the brief time it takes for a phone vote to be counted. This being the future, presumably phone votes (or their equivalent) take very little time indeed.

In our current climate of 'Reality TV', of Big Brother and Survivor, the idea of the general populace voting on the actions of a state-sanctioned vigilante is all too plausible. Raising as many serious questions as genuine laughs, the writing is extremely thought-provoking.

The art is detailed and extremely fine black and white inkwork, and is of especially high quality when rendering vehicles and the grim urban surroundings the story takes place in. Gerry Alanguilan is clearly going to be a name to watch - his grasp of perspective is excellent - but his figure drawing and facial expressions are not quite so impressive. It would probably have been beneficial if his pencilwork had been inked by someone else, as it is a little heavy-handed in places.

However, it is an interesting comic, and worth checking out, if only for the posse of heavily-armed attack lawyers and the gags about adult viewers.

SPEECH BUBBLE BURST
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A692408

He.he. Witness the Kakosa guys waste some of their time with me. :)
http://www.kakosa.com/

I don't know how long it will be up, maybe a week....

Back from my first week all by myself in my new apartment. Whew! It's amazing how much work I get done! Without any distractions brought about by my computer, TV, DVD player, comics etc., I'm left with nothing else to do but just draw. It's been fun, if a bit hot. First thing I had to buy was a fan.

I'm getting a mosquito net next. Not that there are a lot of mosquitoes, really. I hardly see any of them. It's the damn cockroaches I'm worried about. One bit me in the foot in the first night. I haven't been bitten by a cockroach before and it damned sucks. I couldn't let the fucker get away so I chased it until I smashed it's body to bloody pieces. It's friend took revenge on me one night in the week because I woke up one morning part of my neck swollen because of a bite. Damn it!

I'm getting a CD player after that. Even though I can live without the computer, Internet and TV, going through the day without music is enough to drive me crazy.

High Roads #1 came out during the week and some reviews have come out.....
*********************************
From The Fourth Rail:

Critiques On Infinte Earths by Don MacPherson

HIGH ROADS #1
Recommended (8/10)

"The greatest strength of this book is easily Yu's artwork. It's far more focused and grand in scope than previous efforts on such books as Wolverine and Uncanny X-Men. There are a number of strong and positive influences at play in his work here, from Howard Chaykin to Chris Bachalo, from Jim Lee to John Cassaday. His highly detailed and kinetic art really draws one into the story, and the character and background designs are stunning."

For more, go here:
http://www.thefourthrail.com/reviews/critiques/040102/highroads1.shtml
********************************

Snap Judgments by Randy Lander
Mildly Recommended (6/10)

"So, basically, you've just read an entire review that boils down to: art fantastic, writing disappointing. Well, yeah. It's just that I found the dichotomy so striking, as Yu's artwork is gorgeous and detailed on every page, with incredible inks by Alanguilan and gorgeous, lush colors by Avalon Studios, and the script is full of godawful, unfunny dialogue. I was one of the many criticizing Marvel for the "'Nuff Said" month of silent storytelling... now I find myself wishing Cliffhanger would try a similar experiment for about six months."

For more, go here:
http://www.thefourthrail.com/reviews/snapjudgments/040102/highroads1.shtml

*****************************
From Spinnerrack:

"So far, High Roads is a fun read with a bit of action, and it has got to be Leinil Yu's best work to date. If you're looking for a new series, try this one."
—Brian Meredith

For more, go here:
http://www.spinnerrack.com/reviews/comics/reviews020404.php#highroads
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I'm moving to Manila tomorrow! Well it's just as well. I bet I can a lot more work done. I'll be staying in Manila from Monday afternoon to Saturday morning, and it's back to San Pablo the rest of the time. Just email me at timawa@laguna.net and I'll get back to you on weekends.

Guys, I can't recommend SHAOLIN SOCCER stongly enough.



It's simply one of the funniest, most visually creative movies I've seen in a long time. I only got to see it through DVD, but it hasn't actually been shown here in the Philippines. In the US it's going to be shown next year as Kung Fu Soccer, some dubbing and editing will be done and unfortunately, they said they'll be replacing some of the music with hip hop. That's too bad, because Shaolin Soccer is perfect as it is.

HIGH ROADS #1 from Cliffhanger/DC has just come out. Go out and get yer copies!!