The Carver's House

Ask me how I am and I'll answer, "Keeping it together." It's been one of those weeks when I find myself breathing a little faster and thinking a little too much. I guess it's a seasonal thing. Nothing personal--just the little dive into the quagmire of self-induced mental mismanagement. I'm sure you get those, too. It doesn't really help that my keyboard at home has some of its letters rubbed off. It's been frustrating making typo after typo, me not being like my friends whose fingers have been preprogrammed towards typing accuracy at lightning speeds. Funny, though... the letters that have rubbed off must be those that I use most often. *sigh* That's me thinking too much again. Anyway, I believe I will get back on track by the end of next week. You folks enjoy yourselves. If you've nothing better to do this weekend, why not spend an hour watching " Diet For A New America ," a documentary feature produced in the early nineties. If you...

I don't think he should. There, I said it. He's obviously very talented, charming, and cute, and a record deal isn't inconceivable whether he wins American Idol or not. Methinks his first album will have mostly ballads, taking advantage of his soothing vocals. But at his age, he's still very vulnerable and impressionable. And we know what happens to very young people who get instant, overwhelming, worldwide fame. Plus, his religious background can add to the strain. When people throw Nemo out of the ocean and into the hood of the sharks, who's going to save him?

Following are the top five blog entries, based on hits: 1) Cosmo Bachelor Bash 2007 2) Building a Hot Physique: A Smouldering 300°C 3) Philippine Comics Revival: My View 4) Thirteen Things About Writing... 5) Making Philippine Comics Interesting Again Okay, so what does this tell me? To generate more hits, I should write more about the creative/business side of Pinoy comics... and hunky men. I was asked before if I could do stuff like what (Warning: Adult Content) this guy and this guy does, and I'm positive I could pull it off somehow. Prolly make more money out of it. But... I dunno...

Got an email from Budjette about Prada. Not that Budj is into Prada, but more the fact that the high-profile fashion label has the work of a comics artist gracing its spring collection. The artwork is courtesy of James Jean , a Taiwanese-American known for his elegant covers for DC Vertigo's Fables . According to Comics212 , Jean announced the collaboration with Prada last summer. To see more of the fabulous designs, you can click here . Coincidentally, my boss and I were going over an issue of Harper's Bazaar this afternoon, and saw an image that appeared in its August 2007 issue, the month where the Simpsons donned haute couture and graced the mag's special fashion feature (with a Simpsonized version of supermodel Linda Evangelista). I saw that issue when it came out, and thought to myself, "Awww, something I've always wanted to do." Thus, leading me to execute those fantasy renderings of Queen Femina and Dodong in fake ads. Call me the dreaming fool, but...

If we have "Keys Me," Bulgaria has "Ken Lee," an Air Supply original covered by Mariah Carey.

Isang araw, kausap ko nanaman ang aking sarili... CARLO: Ano ka ba, Carl?! Pang-ilang kape mo na 'yan! Kulang na lang maglagay ka ng arinola sa tabi mo. CARL: Inaantok ako, eh! Marami pa akong gagawin! CARLO: Alam mo, dapat gumawa ka na ng komiks na hahataw sa takilya. 'Yung makapagbibigay sa 'yo ng limpak-limpak na salapi para hindi ka na parating ganyang nagkukuba-kuba sa kadodrowing. At tama na rin 'yang Zaturnina na 'yan, hindi na 'yan uso. CARL: Oo, babalikan ko na po si Zaturnnah. Minsan kasi'y kailangan po nating magpaka-pokpok. CARLO: Hindi 'yon! Dapat may bago kang ideya, istrok, gimik. 'Yung pag-uusapan! 'Yung ilalagay ka sa kakaibang antas! CARL: Marami na akong ideya, salamat. Kapag nagsaksak pa ako ng bago eh baka hindi lang utak ko ang pumutok. CARLO: Tsaraaannnn!! CARL: Ano 'yan? CARLO: Ang bago mong proyekto. "Makopa." CARL: Hah! Mukhang bold. CARLO: Tumpak! Gagawa ka ng bold. Bomba. Kangkang komiks. 'Di ba't...

Despite my late father being a tax lawyer, I nearly flunked taxation in college. And until now, this crazy little thing called taxes is to my eyes resembles a Gordian Knot, wound as tight as the roughly 30% withheld from my monthly paycheck. In a way, it's good that I'm employed, relegating the tax filing to the accounting department, unlike my freelancing friends who pay people to sift through a year's worth of receipts and bills and invoices just to get their tax obligations ironed out. One day, I went through the taxation books in National Bookstore and found one that claims to be a simplification of the Philippine tax code. Now if that book was a serious distillation of our voluminous tax code, then brushing one's teeth should be rocket science. Either that or the author of that book lives his day-to-day hanging from his nostrils. I don't think majority of Filipinos know exactly what the Philippine tax laws are. We just see an amount withheld from our paychecks,...