The Pulse!

The Pulse has released a preview of No Man's Land! This is really exciting news for me and the crew at Seven Seas! Check it out! The Pulse.

Gomanga Site is Up!

All systems' are GO!

The official Gomanga site is up! Be sure to check it out and be part of the forums! My manga is No Man's Land. The preview should be scheduled next week. I'm a bit nervous and excited at the same time. What would people say about my work... but all criticisms are always welcome. It will make me better and that, friends, is what I'm after! Improvement! Well, work work work! That's all we do! Wish me luck!

And there's a No Man's Land preview on the pulse! here's the link! ThePulse

High School Again

This wasn't tampered with Photoshop.

I picked up Velvet Revolver's album, Contraband earlier. And listening to it transported me back to high school where bands such as Alice In Chains (my favorite), Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, GNR, Metallica were the subject of parents' debates. Some accused of being Satanists... well, sometimes, you can't blame them. As for me, I loved these band's music because of the songs' messages. If you just get past the "noise" and just listen to the lyrics, you might say that the songs are more sincere and heartfelt than your ordinary ballads. Well, that era like our favorite pair of shoes, got worn out and replaced by rap-metal and the revival of punk. At first, it was a refreshing change, but now, the airwaves are over-saturated with these sounds. That's where VR steps in to change the trend. And having members from GNR and STP's Scott Weiland (who dances like a high gay-man), it makes this band more special. And I love it!

A Good Farewell Message

Bambi Eloriaga, Questor's editor-in-chief has just sent me a copy of her coming editorial on Questor magazine... and it really touched me. I don't remember the first time we talked but I sure remember why I didn't initiate a conversation. One day, while browsing through the files on our server, I saw a folder named "Bambi's Lesbo Files"... and that came as a shock to me. So me, being the homophobe that I am, tried to stay as far as possible from her. Turns out it was just a prank. Hehehe! But the contents were damn good! Heh! Anyway, since I've recently submitted my resignation, I now have the priviledge of having a sort of "tribute" and this one had me looking for a tissue. It's nice to be remembered, but the best to have those memories together. So here's a copy of Bambi's editorial, to Bambi, my boss, my writer, my big sister... Thank you! Those were memorable years...

Every once in a while, a writer meets an artist who knows exactly what the writer wants to come across to readers. Thus, great partnerships are born. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano. JRR Tolkien and John Howe and Alan Lee.

Me and Jennyson Rosero… Riiight… We wish! Not that we can even compare to how good those people are / were, it's just that in retrospect, this is how I'd like to regard my working relationship with Jens.

Of course, the fact that we have a lot of common interests helped in keeping professional disagreements to a minimum. But Jens and I didn't always see eye to eye. When I first started working for Questor, I didn't have much of an impression of Jens. Mostly because we didn't talk much. Okay, okay, we didn't talk at all. Honestly speaking, I didn't see much need to strike up a conversation with a guy who all I ever saw doing was sketch, sketch, and sketch some more with his face almost kissing the drawing table. ^ ^;

Quite serendipitously, he brought to the office one day, a Dave Matthews Live CD. For me, it was impetus enough to start having more decent conversations beyond your usual hi's and hello's since I also liked Dave Matthews and even asked if I could burn me a copy. Over the next few days, we discovered that not only did we have similar tastes in music, but we also liked the same movies and even the same food. Even the same quirks in eating food! Unlike Managing Ed Igor who sometimes mixes everything in one bowl, Jens and I don't like the rice to touch the ulam to touch the sawsawan to touch the sidings to touch the sabaw.

He became like a little brother to me, only better since we could talk about anything and everything. And I do mean everything. Even down to the nitty-gritty, often sordid, details which one doesn't really need to know in the first place. *nervous laughter*

But as the old adage goes, all good things (even partnerships) must come to an end. And so it is with genuine sadness that I must announce that the "tungaw" will no longer be part of Q's regular staff. But don't despair guys, he promises he is still readily (and willingly) available to do covers, posters, maybe even a manga or two for Q.

Though the occasion is rather somber, I am truly happy for the opportunity that has landed on Jens' lap. I'm sure it will make him reach his fullest potential and I, as well as all of us here at Q, will be proud when that happens.

But Jens, in the case of either of these two events: 1) you make your first million or 2) you become a National Artist, don't forget to take the Q bullpen out for a round of brewskies, ya hear?

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Ganbarimasu!

Bambi Eloriaga

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Sniffling EIC

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PS Thanks Jens, for bringing my stories to life. Watching you create powerful (not to mention, beautiful) images out of my words was a great, often amazing, treat.

Cheese, Billy!

Whatcha lookin' at?!

Billy the Kid

Here's my Billy the Kid figure... seen here with extra AV cables... DAMN!

Back to my toy hobby

Beds in cheap motels during the Old West... not comfy.

I just got back from Greenhills where my main reason for going there is to purchase this McFarlane figurine of Billy the Kid. It's a good thing the shop I got this from still sells this item separately, the other shops are either out of stock or are selling this figure included in a set of 5 or 6 which will cost me P5K. I'm not that crazy. Anyway, I love how the details in this figure has been put in. It's near-perfect! Although I think it has a missing accessory which is his revolver (sad, since it's my favorite gun of all), but who am I to complain? I got this for P880 and that for me is a bargain already. The coffin has a corpse inside, stiff... like all corpses. Damn, I think this will go on forever. As long as McFarlane toys keep on producing interesting toys like this. There goes my budget!

Batman Begins

Doing number 2 while in costume is very hard work.

Asa child, I enjoyed watching the first batman movie by Tim Burton. The feel was right at the time and the visuals, dark enough for the Dark Knight. It continued to Batman Returns, slightly lighter but still good. But it all came down from there. Passing the helm to Joel Schumacher, the next movies seemed intended for gay audiences. Complete with visible guy nipples even under the costume, it must be really cold there... wait, Mr. Freeze was there.... now it makes sense. Anyway, it lost the Batman essense, it was like an updated version of the Batman series with Adam West (a classic!). But this upcoming Batman seems like a good one. Can't wait for it!

Burnout 3: Takedown

Road rage has its rewards.

I picked up this game yesterday with my friend, Kellogg. The idea of being rewarded by crashing your car into another, pillars, trucks, whatever... seemed like a fun idea to me. And it IS! This is by far the most intense game I've ever played. Started playing racing games with Midnight Club2, then to NFS:Underground, I made it a point to pick this one up. And I'm glad I did. The sense of speed is just too much to take sometimes, you almost feel like sticking out you tongue like a dog and you'd swear you felt the wind on your face. The graphics are very rich and the sounds are great. I wish though that the DJ would just shut up (Hmm... I think there's an option for that...) But that's just me. There are several events available for you to try out. There's the usual race (but you are allowed to takedown your rivals to get to the top place), a crash event where you are given a car to smash through traffic and cause as much damage as possible, a roadrage event where you take down as many cars as you can with the given time or until your car is completely destroyed, and so on. During the first hour playing this game, you'll find yourself shouting from the adrenaline rush escaping a million dollar in damage crash gives you. It really is that good. I'd recommend this game to people who love racing games and for those who dreamed of causing some serious road crashes... and that means all of us! hehehe!

Timekeeping

Tempus Fugit.

I was never one who wears a watch, since having a celphone, I mostly relied on that to know what time it is. But since getting Guia a Fossil watch for her birthday, I kept thinking of getting one myself. So yesterday, while we were walkng through crowd-infested mall, we passed by a Casio shop. Looked around and something caught my eyes... it was this. looks good enough, not too flashy but very functional. We checked out the price and it was just P2,700. Sounds like a good deal for me. So we got it. I don't feel comfortable wearing it yet though. I just have to give it some time... or is it the other way around?! Heh!
And after that, we entered the moviehouse showing Sky Captain! I enjoyed the film, it's very stylized in its visuals and delivery, too bad the theter that showed it wasn't equipped with Dolby Sounds or DTS, that would have made it a better experience. But it was good, don't expect too much from the story, this movie is pure eye candy. I love how it looked and the character designs were just pure vintage! Pretty cool! Sometimes though, it becomes too dark, but thats okay, it was intentional (maybe the screen was dirty too). The important thing is, we both enjoyed it! Gonna wait for its DVD release.

Devil Made Me Cry

The King of Cool!

I was able to get my hands on a trial version of the upcoming game from Capcom, Devil May Cry 3. This is set to be released early next year but a trial version was released along with Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2 in Japan. And let me just say that this beta version literally blew my mind! The action was frantic and somehow, you really feel like you're in control of someone this cool! It has definitely changed a lot from DMC2 which was a disappointment in many ways. Although Dante's moves have improved from the first game, the story was almost non-existent and the difficulty setting felt like I could finish the game half-conscious. But DMC3 sure promises to be different this time. With the action entirely up to you, you are able to customize Dante's fighting style, you may choose from being a Trickster, a Swordsman, a Gunslinger and a Royal Guard. The first 3 styles are pretty obvious, it all depends on how you want to play it. But the royal guard style (locked in the Trial version) seems vague so I don't know how that one plays. The coolest however is the gunslinger style. With this, you are able to shoot at one enemy while you control Dante's other gun with the left analog stick. Shooting at different directions. Cool! Anyway, this has only made me wabt to get the final game more. It's a shame it has been delayed to next year since I heard that the game just isn't ready yet. Anyway, looks like we'll have to wait some more.

Waking the Shutterbug Again

UFOs are not as big as we thought they were.

I didn't regret buying the Z30, it has renewed my love for photography, in my college days, our photo class was one of my favorite subjects, next to constitution because our killer professor always made me nearly pissing my pants. Hehe!

Casio Exilim Z30

I just got back from the mall and got myself the Casio Exilim Z30 digital camera. Since I've practically delayed my S700i acquisition, I think this purchase will more than make up for it. This slim digital camera is feature-loaded and very user-friendly. I don't regret buying this but it will just mean that I'll have to work faster and harder to earn more and live a happy and comfortable life. Hehehe!
Hmm... what to take... what to take... AHA! A grain of sugar on the table! CLICK... ahh... art! Hahaha!

The SE S700i

Such beauty! Design perfection?! Almost!

I skipped getting the Sony Ericsson K700i when I heard about this fon with a 1.3 megapixel camera and expandable memory. Although at first glance, I wasn't really interested in its design, having the swivel-type keypad. But after reading more about it and seeing more of it, I can now say that I am definitely interested in getting one once it's available. The forums say it will be available here in the Philippines officially on October 7. A few stalls in Greenhills even has a few units available already but with an unreasonable price of P40K! That's just plain absurd! I will have to wait until its released, maybe, hopefully... the price will go down, but definitely, one way or another, I'll have this!

What?!

I was quite surprised when someone left a comment on my post about my first love, it just blew my mind! Haha! Turns out, Angeli, who I mentioned as being my "first love", have read this post. Hahaha! Well, if you're still reading this, I'm glad you're okay... working your ass off. As we all are nowadays. And may you have a happy and fruitful life ahead of you! Thanks! I was trying to find you in friendster but with no luck. Maybe you can add me instead or something. Well, I'm off. Back to work...