The Carver's House

For the longest time, whenever I'd remember the Transformers, I'd sing "The Transvestites, more than meets the eye"... Anyway, after buying a birthday gift for my nephew (Happy Birthday, Diego!), I rushed to the Podium to catch the Autobots. The show was at 9:30pm and I arrived 10 minutes late. The tickets were almost sold out--there were three left. Luckily, a prime spot was left unfilled, smack at the upper center of audience area. I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Bay's latest boom-fest, and it was thrilling to see the computer-generated effects merge almost seamlessly with the live-action shots. The whole film looked very, very expensive given the level of property damage, digital or otherwise. The cinematography was top notch. I liked how a lot of the action sequences were shot from a worm's eye view. And the warzone treatment worked well, from the shifty camera shots to the tight edits, placing the viewer right smack in the action. And the vehicles! I'm n...

It's okay to get rusty sometimes. Yesterday afternoon, I was on the ninth floor of the immaculately fresh School of Design and Arts (SDA) building of the College of St. Benilde. JM had approached me before the Zaturnnah show last Saturday night and gingerly asked if I could give a talk for his Philippine Literature class. I found it as an opportunity to visit Manila again, despite my chronic lack of knowledge in Philippine Literature, and perhaps see if there had been any more major changes in the area. The SDA is a huge modernist structure designed by Lor Calma and Associates, one of the premier architectural firms of the country. The white building's sloping lines and stark facade stands out, in some kind of snobbish fashion, amidst the squalor of unkempt Vito Cruz. When I stepped off the elevator onto the ninth floor, I felt like I was in a high-rise Makati office building--wide corridors, awning-type windows from ceiling to floor, glass-paneled conference areas. Unfortunate...

Oliver Pulumbarit recently interviewed yours truly, Gerry Alanguilan , Filomena "Luming" Coching (widow of Francisco V. Coching, "Dean of Filipino Illustrators"), and Regie Ravelo (daughter of late luminary Mars Ravelo, who authored over 300 komiks novels) for an article about the revival of Filipino komiks. The article appears in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In the fourth anniversary issue of Real Living , we once again give out informative and inspiring tips on home decor. Our Budget Issue zeroes in on budget-friendly yet tasteful finds, the basics of kids' room decorating, as well as a shopping stopover in Pasay City. We also issued a design challenge to interior designer Marilen Faustino: decorate a living room for less than P20,000. Get your copy at major magazine stands. Now na! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My second Graphic Classics project "The Mysteries of Udolpho" (adapted by Antonella Caputo) was recen...

When you reach a certain age, you worry about health care. You worry about your insurance policy. You worry about what to do when you find yourself languishing on a hospital bed with an expensive disease. And then you think about all those years you've been trying to earn a decent living, only to be ripped off by a medical bill, or an insurance claim that doesn't pull through. Michael Moore's latest documentary Sicko does a healthy job in revealing the ironies of the American health care system, contradictions that many Americans are already aware of yet sadly succumb to. It's hard enough getting insurance coverage, but ultimately frustrating getting yourself treated. In one of the opening scenes, a man whose middle and ring fingers had been accidentally sliced off is given the option of paying $60000 to reattach the former, or $12000 to reattach the latter. In another, a woman who had been found to have a brain tumor is denied treatment--the authorities had declared th...

Zaturnnah (played by Eula Valdez) was included in one of the production numbers of the Independence Day event Kalayaan 2007 : Bayan, Bayani, Bayanihan. The event was held last Monday, spearheaded by the Department of Tourism and the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation. Check out the short video at the Zaturnnah Multiply site .

Listening to: History (Madonna) Recently, in-attempt kong i-adjust ang body clock ko. Last week, 'di masyadong successful. This week, medyo umo-okey na. Nabuwisit na siguro ako sa sleeping time ko, an ungodly hour any self-respecting sarariman would avoid. Pero naging sakit ko na 'yung matulog nang umaga. Kahit nakakabuwisit, gano'n at gano'n pa rin ang oras ng pagtulog ko. Siguro'y dulot ito ng aking imagined neurosis. O baka nama'y neurosis na nga ito. Buti na lang at nagkaroon kami ng out-of-town shoot noong Linggo. Alas singko y medya ang call time namin, kaya nag-decide ako na wa' na borlog. Naglaro na lang ako ng Age of Empires III, isang recent addiction ko. Inisip ko na lang na iidlip ako sa sasakyan habang papunta ito sa destinasyon namin. But no. Nakadilat ang mata ko sa buong trip, hanggang sa pagtapos ng shoot nang after lunch time. Mabait ang may-ari ng bahay na pinagsiyutan namin. Naghanda siya ng bandehadong pampiyesta para sa amin at mga kas...

I just heard from the grapevine that Arnold Arre 's latest graphic novel Ang Mundo Ni Andong Agimat was signed up by a film producer! Oooh, I hope this is true. :-)