The Carver's House

I was contacted by Whilce Portacio (one-time penciller of Uncanny X-Men and creator of Wetworks) weeks ago to contribute to a coffee table book to help raise funds for the victims of typhoon Ketsana. The book, entitled Renaissance: Ang Muling Pagsilang , features the artwork of dozens of Filipino and Fil-Am illustrators, comics book artists, cartoonists, and animators based here and abroad. This is the piece I contributed to the book. It was inspired by a friend's experience: I arrived at the star-studded February 21 book launch held at SM Megamall only in the afternoon, as I had forgotten that it was my dear mom's birthday. It was a very humbling experience being in the presence of so much talent, from veterans to newbies, mainstream to indie, including Michael "Bitoy" V. Many of you may not know that the Bubble Gang mainstay is a fantastic comics artist, and has actually done some comics work in the past before going full blast into novelty rap and television. I act...

Thanks to Budj for the info: Besides the convention proper on November 22, 2008, there will be activities held from November 17 - 21 at the UP College of Arts and Letters (UP CAL) and in the UP College of Fine Arts (UP CFA) for KOMIKON. Our schedule is as follows: November 17 (Mon) KOMIKS 101 Talk Venue: UP CFA Auditorium "KOMIKEROS FOR HIRE" Filipino Comic Artists Working for Companies Abroad Time: 10:00am - 12noon Panelists: Harvey Tolibao, Wilson Tortosa, Gilbert Monsanto, Melvin Calingo "KOMIKS IN EDUCATION" Including Comics into the Curriculum Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm Panelists: Gerry Alanguilan, Gilbert Monsanto, Elbert Or, Jose "Chong" Ardivilla, Emil Flores November 18 (Tue) OPENING of EXHIBIT at UP Faculty Center Galleria 1 UP CAL Workshop: "Comic Making for Writers" Time: 2:30-4:30pm Venue: UP CAL (classroom to be announced) Speaker: Jonas Diego November 19 (Wed) UP CAL Workshop:...

Thursday. It was my third Cosmo Bachelor Bash, the highlight of which were Billy Joe Crawford singing "Bright Lights" and the mega-ripped Paolo Contis. The show didn't match the energy, spectacle, and star-studdedness of last year's, but was better than the show two years ago. It was held at the new A.Venue along Makati Avenue, just across Government. A small but upscale commercial establishment, A.Venue provides a much needed contrast to Burgos Street. Friday. After work, I met Angelo at Greenbelt to watch Wall-E , my first movie after Mamma Mia! Wall-E was endearing during the first half, but digressed awkwardly to a socio-environmental statement towards the climax. Still entertaining and thought-provoking, but I feel that the two plot trails could've been meshed in a cleaner way. Saturday. Had lunch with a couple of former co-workers at Dad's Megamall. I didn't gorge on the buffet as much as I normally would have--the acid reflux issue again. Went ho...