The Carver's House

THE CYBORG GANG If Brunching.com's Cyborger program is to be taken seriously, the gang is a serious kick-ass bunch of cyborgs. Based on our names, here's the team: For Surveillance and Exploration C.A.R.L.O.: Cybernetic Android Responsible for Logical Observation M.A.R.C.O.: Mechanical Android Responsible for Calculation and Observation C.A.M.I.L.L.E.: Cybernetic Artificial Machine Intended for Learning and Logical Exploration N.O.E.L.: Networked Obedient Exploration Lifeform D.I.N.O.: Device Intended for Nocturnal Observation For Destruction and Nullification D.E.A.N.: Device Engineered for Assassination and Nullification N.I.K.K.I.: Networked Individual Keen on Killing and Infiltration A.R.N.O.L.D.: Artificial Robotic Neohuman Optimized for Logical Destruction C.Y.N.T.H.I.A.: Cybernetic Ytterbium Neohuman Trained for Hazardous Infiltration and Assassination For Both V.I.N.N.I.E.: Vigilant Individual Normally for Nocturnal Infiltration and Explo...

Leaping Salmon!! In the late nineties, I had one of those ideas that I really didn’t share with anyone because it was just… well… one of those ideas. The kind that didn’t have much of a future given the fact that I was a mere employee trying to make do with what I had. The concept involved a delivery service, wherein the items on the menu list are not cooked meals, but raw ingredients. Being an occasional cook, and having been holed up for a time in a Makati condo, I grew frustrated over the fact that those exotic ingredients found in cookbooks were nowhere to be found. And if they were available, I didn’t need to buy a whole pack or bottle, but just enough for a special dish or two, either just for myself or for a friend or visitor. So why not have a delivery service that features a menu of really swanky dishes, the ingredients of which would be delivered to your home so you could prepare them yourself? This service is, of course, meant for those who like to cook. It sou...

One of the best things that happened today was receiving good news from Marc, that our fledgling company Kestrel IMC beat out a major industry player in handling the website overhaul of a big company, which I'll call Plum Account. We were contacted by Asia Online to be their design partner in the pitch to Plum Account, where six other bigshots in the graphic design/web development industry were invited to pitch as well. Dean alongside AOL did the blah blah during the preliminaries and was later chosen to be one of the final two companies to go head-to-head. It was a David and Goliath thing, if I may offer a metaphor. It's always a good feeling when you bag a major account. Always good for the portfolio. But the trade off is usually a lot of work and a lot of frustration. I don't think Plum Account's gonna be an exception. But we'll see. On the home front, mom just got back from the hospital, but I've yet to find out what she's suffering from. All ...

Raking at Reading Apart from wracking my brain at work and dealing with a few projects on the side, I've been struggling to get some good reading time in. Two nights ago, I managed to finish Jack London's The Shadow and the Flash , an exquisitely written science-fiction short story. I've also begun to read Jules Verne's The Day of an American Journalist in 2889 , and AC Ellis' The Chanter . I've downloaded a bunch of short stories from the net, which should be enough material for the next two weeks. When my eyes get tired from all the text, I switch to a comics trade or a graphic novel. My cousin's lovey lent his collection of The Invisibles , which I'm downing ever so slowly as strongly recommended by Vin and Nikki. Grant Morrisson knows his death and despair, magic and mayhem, and may-I-fuck-your brain concepts, so I'm being a bit careful with it. I'm already working myself up to a nervous breakdown as it is. While I haven't finis...

It’s been over a year since I heard the song, that song someone once said was meant for me, its rousing melodies a confident declaration of devotion. As each note and lyric spiraled deeper into me, the way frothing stars and systems implode in black holes, I couldn’t escape remembering again – a voice, a touch, a glance – the magic that was silent in its omnipotence. It has become my poison, the magic and its song, ichor black against the veil of the cosmos, and I’ve spoke every available incant to dispel it. Though there have been small victories, futility reigns in my attempts to free myself, and I’ve sought the comfort of too many puffs of smoke and gulps of caffeine in finding answers. The song has brought me to the attic of some murky past, the ballroom of throwaway days, and I’ve been driven mad in search of an exit. There may be light but there is no window, not even a breath of passage to or from anywhere outside. So I sit at the center of the musky attic, of the splendid...

Hierbas I’ve begun to write some script lines for my Hinirang -based horror/drama grafiction tale, tentatively titled Hierbas (Weeds). In its essence, Hierbas tells about the lengths one might choose to go through to guarantee one’s status in the public eye, in a society defined by conquest politics and religious underconflict. At its core is a love triangle, its narrative flourished with history, magic, strangeness, and other classical fantasy trimmings. (Tall order, yes. I am well aware of my penchant for self-destruction.) This baby I project to run between 100 to 150 pages, and because Hinirang is largely based on Spanish Philippines, there’s quite a bit of research that needs to be done. I don’t expect to finish the script soon and, needless to say, there exists the ever-present threat of The Shelf. In any case, I don’t think I’ll be able to squeeze in another solo project within the year. There’s already too much on the plate, like finally finally finally getting On...

Twilight Spotlight Vin reported recently that the first-issue script of his spectacularly stupendous ultramega-epic science-fiction fantasy opera Twilight Empires (TwEmp) is near completion, painstakingly edited by the exotically-featured editrix Nikki. These past weeks I’ve been toying with various character designs, as well as tuning my subsconscious sponge to visual inspirations for the insanely myriad array of techgizmos, battleships, locales, and cultures of TwEmp . Vin trusts me to an endearing fault and, thanks to him, I’m about to face my most challenging art and design assignment so far. It will be wise, Vin, that you reserve a room -- a suite, with the works – at the NIMH. (And I’m not talking about the Don Bluth's magical rats.)