No Wit Title

Conversation with James Jean

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:38:18 GMT

Thank you Liz for giving me the idea to post this :)

Anyhow, I had the good fortune to talk with Mr. James Jean last November, and the conversation gave me so much more insight above what I know from his work, and what research I've done on him online. As mentioned, he's very reserved, soft-spoken and somewhat shy.

My article on him appeared in the Inquirer on November 28. However, due to page constraints I had to trim it half-heartedly to the parts I really, really wanted to keep. Too bad, because a lot of the subtle insight and charm of James's character disappeared in the cutting. For the published version, go here - but it's a very, very light and condensed version of our conversation. It doesn't have good bits like his favorite medium, his amazing college thesis, and more reflections on being an Asian-American artist.

So thanks to Liz (who believed that a conversation everyone could benefit from would be wasted if I didn't share it in full) I'm posting the full conversation online. Included are particular moments in the interview that I thought was funny and added more color and dimensions to James's character. It also mentions a lot of his creative process, so I think my LJ friends who are into art, typography, design and other visual craft will benefit from his full insight.

Here now is my conversation with James Jean, presented in full. Also, I've ended this with reactions from fans who gathered to catch James in person during his book-signing event.

This was recorded on November 21, 2009 in an office on the third floor of Fully Booked High Street. James and I were joined by Fully Booked's Jaime Daez and Natasha Ringor, a lucky fan who got to tag along and ask James questions. We sat on a table surrounded by James's magnificent works - full-scale oil paintings of his Fables covers and personal work. The sound bites from fans were recorded later in the evening, inside the store.

How’s your stay been so far?
Excellent. Jaime’s a great host – five stars all the way.

Is the world of James Jean as fascinating and colorful as his art?
(beat) Yes. (laughter) Everything you want to know is in the paintings and is in the books. Personally I think my life is pretty mundane but other people say – it’s hard to be objective. I guess my life is pretty interesting and working for yourself and being an artist always leads you down interesting alleys.

You’re style is very surreal, cartoon-like with touches of the macabre. You live a life that informs that kind of art?
(chuckles) No – I’m actually very serious and detail-oriented. I don’t know, that’s where that kind of work comes from – the contrast. The art is an outlet for whatever is suppressed in me as a person.

So your art is a way of sublimating certain desires, thoughts, feelings?
Sure, yeah. You can see an aspect of my subconscious and inner desires through all the work. Even the commercial work is quite personal.

Did you always want to be an artist?
Yeah, I’d always drawn. You know, my parents groomed me to be a doctor or lawyer but somehow I felt compelled to just apply to art school and try my hand at being an artist.

How did your parents feel about that?
Well, at first of course they were first resistant, afraid. But I think that only made me compelled to be more self-sufficient and independent and to prove to them that I could be an artist, a working artist.

I was very surprised to discover you’re Asian-American.
Yeah – it’s my real name, James Jean (pronounced “je-an”).

Well, I’d been pronouncing it wrong.
Yeah (snicker).

How does that influence your art, your heritage?
I think when you see the Asian aspects in my work. It must be something in the genetics maybe, because when I look at Chinese scroll paintings or Japanese wood block prints, there’s this attraction to the line and draftsmanship that’s there. A lot of Asians draw really well for some reason, especially in the comics world – all the best drawers are Asian. (laughs) I don’t know why that is.

You mentioned in a blog that you enjoy looking at woodblocks. One of your pieces has the touch of Japanese in it. How does it come that you feel like you’ll create something very Asian, and at the same time very different – very modern?
I’m Asian-American so I think that dichotomy of the two things comes together in the paintings. On the one hand I don’t feel completely American, on the other I don’t feel completely Asian. So that’s why you see those two in the paintings. And I’m always trying to push the paintings toward something more unusual and unexpected. So I take a foundation grounded in craftsmanship, grounded in the culture so I sort of transform it into my world.

Has any Asian-American or Asian approached you and said they felt a certain kinship through you?
(hesitates, laughs) Why are you snickering? (to Jaime)
Jaime: Mention it, man (laughs).
Well, I’ve been on a book tour doing signings and in London, this kid came up to me and gave me a drawing (laughs). It was actually a drawing of me with aspects of my work behind the drawing and on the back he wrote a little letter saying how I’m an inspiration for “that nerdy little Asian kid who can draw.” (shrugs) So maybe there’s something there but I think for a long time I feel like (pauses) my body and being, my corporeal existence has nothing to do with the paintings, so it is strange for me to see that. I mean, my identity as a person is not connected to the paintings.

Some artists brand themselves, you know, the way they dress, the way they address the media, it’s very flamboyant and everyone knows who they are. I’m sort of more reclusive. I like to be the wizard behind the screen. Yeah, it’s a little strange but it does happen.

Being a recluse, when you come out do your admirers come out in droves?
Droves? (laughs) Only in Asia.

Not in the U.S.?
No, no, no. Well, yeah, I don’t like to be mobbed or recognized. I have friends who are very famous, and whenever I go out with them it’s kinda awkward when they have fans come up for pictures. I mean, it’s helpful when you’re at a restaurant – they seat you immediately – but on the other hand it’s nice to go out and be like a normal person. Yeah, the U.S. is enormous so I’m not a celebrity wherever I go. I’ve gotten recognized here and there which is unusual but that’s why I’m growing my hair long: so I can kinda hide.

So it’s like a curtain?
Yeah, a curtain. Exactly?

What’s it like having won those Eisners? Six Eisners.
Jaime: Seven.
James: Is it seven now?
Jaime: I think it’s seven. In 2003 you started, right?
James: Yeah? I think it’s six. Check on Wikipedia.
The awards have been great for credibility and exposure. But it really doesn’t affect how I work or what I do. I don’t make work to get awards.

These covers have elevated comic covers to a different aesthetic. Did you really want that approach for Fables? Did you have something traditional in mind or did you go out with this style?
I just wanted to make covers that I thought were interesting to me. Actually for a long time I thought I was a horrible cover artist because I was looking at all the other covers out there and every cover was really bold, dynamic. In Vertigo’s case they were all dark and moody. So I thought I couldn’t compete, so I just did what I thought was interesting. Especially after a few issues when they trusted me more I asked to get the file for the logo so I could play around with it because the logo is such a huge integral part of the cover, and I didn’t want to feel restricted by the words on top. I want to play with everything in a composition.

Do you have graphic designer training?
No, not at all. I have a graphic design interest, I think that’s what has sustained me over the years. No, I wasn’t trained in graphic design. I just learned that on my own. Essentially it’s all about proportion so, you know, if you can draw well or coming up with a composition you should be proficient with text as well.

A lot of admirers think that you are a graphic designer because of the way you play with type and how well it blends with everything you make.
Well I see it all as a whole, there’s no distinction. The type is part of the composition and the image is all a part of the idea of communication. You think of type as a communication the image also communicates. It’s all one thing to me.

Why did you feel that it was time to move on from Fables?
I’d always wanted to paint for myself, and Fables was the last commercial thing I was doing at the time. I had quit illustration for the previous year and then after I quit I was putting together the Fables covers book. After finishing the book, I decided it was finally time to move on to do what I always wanted to do, which is to create my paintings.

How was that met by Bill Willingham and the Vertigo team?
I think it was very… sad. But I think everyone’s very supportive of my decision.

Natasha: Will you ever go back to illustrating for Fables?
Probably not – The way it works in my head is that I can only do something when it’s inspiring to me, and after working on Fables for so long I felt like I got to a point where I was losing my interest – and I didn’t want to create work that was inferior or didn’t feel inspired. I think there might have been a couple of covers where something was lacking and I always need to put out work that’s of the outmost quality. I didn’t want to start working on Fables because it was a job. I wanted to do it because I liked it and sustained my inspiration. So right now my mind is in a completely different so I don’t know if I can go back to working for Vertigo.

Or commercial work?
Commercial work too.

You’ve done Prada and mint tins. That’s a lot of range. How did it get to the point where you were making so much for so many?
(shrugs) Well, I just get asked. That’s why it’s interesting how my work has been able to appeal to so many people and so many different industries – and I just get asked from all parts. I just get asked, and I just go down wherever the road takes me. I don’t really pursue any avenues which I might have to change when I engage when the finite world. As far as the commercial work goes I’d just always get asked.

I have with me a book with your work on it. What can you tell me about it? I picked it up because the cover was cool – and this is a book published in 1983. How did you end up getting this project?
(laughs in amazement) Yeah, so I was four years old and was contacted by the publisher (all laugh) I worked for this book publisher, Tor, for a little while. They do a lot of young readers’ books and they’re republishing this book and I know the art director, Irene Gallo (check). She works with a lot of cool artists, and she just asked me to work on this book. I think she saw something in the story that had a similar sensibility to the work that I was making at the time. Actually, I haven’t seen this in print (handles book momentarily).

Jaime: But that must have been printed just two years ago?

Very recent, I found it in the young adult section.

James: (inspects publishing detail) 2006.

So you’ve read the whole story?
Yeah, I have.

Is that how you approach it with comics? You read the entire scripts?
I usually get the entire script – I love reading the manuscript. I’ve done some book covers for Simon Schuster. Time Travelers, Time Quake? Kinda sci-fi… these kids can travel through time.

Time Travel Trio?
Yes! Yeah. He knows.

What was it like working with Gerard Way twice?
Great, because he’s also an artist. We actually went to the same school but we didn’t know each other back then. For the Black Parade cover he had a lot of ideas, he just couldn’t settle on one. So he came up with sketches and character designs and they were really minimal, simple. Just like black squiggles. He actually can draw really well and some of the characters were well drawn. He had just this black mass he wanted for Black Parade. He had some ideas that he wanted to go into the parade. I was able to take that and just articulate all the details he wanted in it.

Did you listen to the music before making the art?
He played some of the music for me, but at the time it was really hush-hush. He couldn’t give me the CD or anything – the music industry was very protective. I listened to a few pieces must mostly it was from this packet he created – pictures he pulled from the Internet or from other artists that he liked. It was a huge mish-mosh of ideas – same of the Umbrella Academy. He actually drew all the characters for the pitch that he wrote for the whole story and gave me this booklet: “The Umbrella Academy Bible.” I took that and used that to create some of the covers?

Who’s your favorite Umbrella Academy character?
(pauses) Uh (represses laugh), maybe this isn’t the best question to ask me because I actually didn’t read any of the issues.

Natasha: Who’s your favorite Fables character?
Um… well, I like drawing Snow White, but I like the Big Bad Wolf, because of all the ways you can sort of depict him. Who else… I like Buffkin. It’s always fun drawing flying monkeys.

What’s the most challenging medium to work in?
For me all the mediums are the same. You can’t really view one as more difficult than the others because it’s just the challenges that you put in front of yourself. The best style is no style. Once you’ve mastered everything, then you sort of start creating your own mastery of whatever you’re trying to do. Drawing in pen can be as difficult as painting with oils and vice versa. Oils might be the most challenging to most people but after a while it’s just essentially the same thing as anything else. It’s about how you see and how you put on canvass. Your manual dexterity should not inhibit you in any way. It did take a lot of hard work to get to this point, but essentially I don’t want to see any medium as more difficult than the other because you already put up mental blocks in your head.

Were you ever a starving artist?
(laughs) Yeah. When I was in art school I slept on the floor in Brooklyn, shared one room with two other artists, the other room was our studio. I’d go have Taco Bell every other night. It was horrible. This was in 1999. Then the Internet bubble grew and I got sucked in, and I had an Internet job during my last two years of school. So I was working thirty hours a week while going to school at the same time, which is completely nuts, because I was turning in my thesis and all this other work.

What was your thesis?
A series of biographical paintings. You couldn’t paint literal depictions of the guy’s life – you had to paint aspects of the guy’s life and create something to use as inspiration for your paintings. So you don’t want to depict where this person was born or what they did – just parts of it and do something creative. I picked this guy, Ugo Cerletti, the inventor of electro shock therapy so I thought that had a lot of interesting images I could use. So I did about five large paintings based on his life. So yeah, during the Internet bubble it was pretty cushy living. I was able to pay for school and also sustain myself for a little while. But then after school the bubble burst, 9-11 happened, no jobs. Basically I got the gig for Fables and that paid my rent and my bills for the month. Everything snowballed from there.

You create art for a living. How do you relax?
By creating art (laughs). At this other interview they asked all these video game questions, but yeah, I like to – actually it’s funny. Whenever I think about trying to make time to relax, it makes me stressed out (laughs). So it makes me relaxed when I can work and be productive. Sometimes when I’m completely blitzed I’ll – sleep is when I relax, actually. I love sleeping. I slept twelve hours last night only because for three weeks I haven’t slept much at all.

It’s always been a thing for Asian families for parents wanting children to inherit businesses. I remember giving a talk at my high school about choosing courses. A grandmother asked me to convince her grandson to pursue business instead of graphic design. You mentioned your parents being resistant to your being an artist. Have they embraced it now?
Yeah, they have, totally. I don’t think they understand what I’m doing but my mom reads my blog. My dad understands, uh, money (laughs). But it’s interesting because the more parents try and convince their child to do something, the more they’re gonna resist. So if they’re growing up in the business I think it’s somehow in their DNA. So if they’re encouraged to find their own way, who knows? They might find it back to the family business. I mean, hey, even graphic design is pretty practical in terms of art fields.

My parents are very supportive now, and they’d like to hang up some of my art in their home.

Have they commissioned you?
Yeah, for free. I inherited most of my artistic sensibility from my mom. She sows, she likes to make things: she makes curtains, a bed out of wood. My dad is business-oriented, he sells industrial plastics. We actually used to deliver newspapers together. When I was in high school I had to wake up at 5a.m. to deliver newspapers – I think that stunted my growth. My parents are short, but my brother is taller – I don’t know what. In any case that’s how I made money for my comics – delivering newspapers.

Do you have any words for any struggling Asian artists?
I think they should really pursue what they believe in. If they don’t believe in their work they’re not going to be as productive. If you try and do something – especially with the Internet these days, that’s such a huge advantage if you’re an entrepreneur. There’s a guy who has a wine store but he’s become such a huge force in wine tasting and promoting his store by having YouTube and Twitter accounts.

Do to be an entrepreneur online – if you’re passionate about what you’re doing, you’re going to be focused on it all the time. You’re going to be doing it all day. Eventually you’re going to produce something useful and be an evangelist of your own ideas and convince everyone that your idea is worthwhile.

I have a friend who kissed Neil Gaiman. Are you prepared for adulation like that?
As long as it’s from a girl (laughs).

Natasha: What’s going to happen on your talk?
Give a presentation of my work and hope no one falls asleep.

Have you ever been to Taiwan?
Yeah, several times. It’s great there. I always miss the food after leaving Taiwan.

Natasha: How long does it take to make a big piece?
It varies, I think. (indicates painting behind him) That took maybe two days, but some of the paintings I make take months to finish… mainly because they’re sitting there and I’m trying to figure out how to finish them. But I work pretty quickly.

How much of your work is digital?
I don’t know, right now I’m painting more but occasionally I’ll do a piece on the computer. When I was illustrating almost all of it was finished on the computer but now I use it to help make decisions when painting. I’ll take a picture, take it to Photoshop and put drawings on it to see how it’ll work.

Did doing things digitally change your art in a radical fashion?
I wouldn’t say in a radical fashion. It’s just an evolution. I didn’t have one set way of doing something and the computer changed it. The computer just added to my vocabulary. Actually I think it probably hurt me. I stopped painting for a long time, doing things on the computer, and once I started painting in reality I felt like I was stuck. I had to do Control Z.

Jaime: Just to clarify – sever Eisner awards.

Which writer would you like to work with?
Haruki Murakami, especially with the work I’m doing right now.

How would you describe your work right now?
“Romantic decadent ruin.”

* * *

Fans at James Jean signing, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009.

You just hugged James Jean.
Oh, yeah.

Why?
Because he’s cool.

How bout you guys?
(hyperventilating) Yes! We’ve loved him since, ever! Since like, five years ago! We’re just really ecstatic that he’s here!
Friend: We were here before it opened, she was holding the door handle. He (James) smells like a winner.

What do you say about James being here?
It’s a dream come true.
Tash: It’s an artgasm.

You’re still in line. How long have you been waiting?
Three hours?

Would you stay for three more hours?
Why not? He’s just here once in a lifetime so might as well wait.

What’s it like being finally this close to James?
Actually, kind of exciting. After all the waiting. I’ve been here since 4p.m.. I’m having four books signed.

Is it worth the wait?
I’d like to think so, yeah.

Cotto: Herald of a Harder Road

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:22:53 GMT

It happened in the eighth round: the rapid fireworks of cheers in our darkened venue diminished into a fog of observant hush. The audience hadn’t counted on the opponent to last this long. Everyone had been expecting a spectacular knockout –but it didn’t come. Battered and dizzy, Miguel Cotto hopped in an uneasy dance of evasion, Manny Pacquiao stalking but wary of counters. When the fighters returned to their corners, the camera zoomed in on Cotto, his scornful visage now a bloodied and worried mask. Beholding his face’s pummeled state, the crowd behind me roared. They were certain he wouldn’t last the seventh round. But through body-hugging, aggressive close quarter jabs and more evasive side-stepping, he did. The memory of Ricky Hatton’s falling to the floor in the second round had swept people in a daze of knockout euphoria – but the people were denied another knockout. And by the tenth round, the crowd starting booing – a shocking turnaround from the festive opening of what many have one-sidedly dubbed “The Manny Show.”

“Firepower”, Manny admitted, would be the toughest fight of his life. And true – in the first two rounds Cotto gave Manny trouble, sending him into the ropes and landing solid blows to his head. In Round Two many Filipinos who were sure of Pacman delivering Cotto to instant oblivion started having second thoughts: the Puerto Rican was good. Manny tightened his defense, drawing in Cotto but still fell prey to several combinations. But when Manny blazed the blows that had sent old foes reeling, he was met with tight defense and resounding counter-punches. Cotto landed good hits through the Pacman’s defense, notably several uppercuts and jabs to the chin. It was Manny’s astounding hitting power that gave him the edge in Round Three, dizzying Cotto and causing him to lose form. The Puerto Rican was shaken: in Round Three Cotto’s confident stance drooped to a sloppy swagger.

Throughout the match furious blows from Manny sent Cotto to the ropes again and again. The display of firepower met with hurrahs erupting in cadence from the millions watching. When Cotto finally stumbled, jubilation exploded as the referee gave him time to get up. Yet through vexing body hugs and ring control, he reeled Manny in as if drawing him to the edges of a knife. Cotto exhibited sustained stamina, and caught his second wind numerous times in the rounds past the seventh.

“Survival Mode” was how one radio commentator remarked of Cotto’s motions past that point. True enough, he backed quickly from Manny who kept advancing like a lion circling prey. The only things that kept Cotto from falling over were the ropes and his body hugging. In one momentous scene his and Manny’s arms were draped on each other’s backs as if Cotto were a wounded soldier being pulled by his comrade off the battlefield. The audience heckled Cotto, chiding him to finally get knocked out by the National Hero. When the bell rang for the final round the agitated audience, starved for an explosive finish, erupted in a final wave of “Manny! Manny! Manny!” And Manny flew in, fists casting Cotto into the ropes like an eagle shredding flesh. When the referee saw Cotto stumble he stopped the round– and it was over. Multitudes screamed as the battle ended dead in the middle of the twelfth round.

The cheers that followed were proud, but surprisingly cautious. Cotto was an amazing –and gracious opponent. At the start of their final round Manny and Cotto struck each other’s gloves, saluting each other in terrific sportsmanship. My heart swelled at the sight. Though Manny walked in the favored win, Cotto promised he would foil Manny’s plans for history. Instead, he made history for himself – through both prowess and chutzpah he lasted the whole twelve rounds with Manny Pacquiao, foiling Manny’s fans’ clamor for a speedy, thunderous knockout. And when the entourages of both camps poured into the ring Cotto walked over and embraced Manny, his wounded face inflated with what I believe to be gratitude. Both fighters gave each other the fight of their lives – Manny knew it would be difficult, and Cotto resolved not to make it easy for him wrest away his belt. And when they saluted each other at the start of the twelfth round, there was nothing but respect.

Manny’s history-making seventh weight division victory was his most challenging bout. Though it spoke of his astounding rise to the title of Pound for Pound King, it only further highlights the path ahead of him. People ask: “Who can face Manny now?” The only real answer is undefeated Floyd Mayweather, Jr. There are very few challenges for Manny left, and the moment he was asked in the ring whether he would face Mayweather the crowd roared in excitement.

But this match should serve everyone well for what challenges lay ahead. Watching Cotto draw in Manny and sending him to the ropes and almost to the floor made me realize Manny’s road will be harder than ever. His opponents can only get more challenging–if we’re to assume that Ricky Hatton was a fluke. Pacman’s rise to undisputed King of Boxing will be marked by harder opponents, with fiercer punches and sharper strategies. Freddie Roach and Team Pacquiao should further improve Manny’s game – as should the southpaw. A celebrated icon now of our time, Manny cannot afford to be waylaid by any distractions from the red carpet boxing history is laying out for him. Cotto was an example of how future opponents may treat the threat of Manny. He showed that though he acknowledged Manny’s feats and abilities, he wasn’t below stunning Manny with his own. By going the full twelve rounds, Cotto revealed a strong resolve not to be one of Manny’s celebrated knockout wins.

On my ride home someone remarked that Manny’s opponents now feel the beating drum of anxiety even before stepping into the ring. If only to see what his opponents look like before their fights with Manny, and after three rounds with him, I agree immensely. Manny stands now in history, a fearsome and intimidating fighter with a record as astounding as his talent. But Team Pacquaio must heed the warning of Cotto: they’d best prepare to face opponents with stronger resolve not to be swept away by the tour de force that is Manny’s road to history.

A really cool chicken pad

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:08:40 GMT

I read this story online about how some Americans have started raising chickens in their backyards, despite neighbor's complaints and city legislature against it.

It went on to say how some owners built henhouses to look like children's play houses to "appease" neighbors, and how some took to hiding their backyard fowl from neighbors for years. It also provided a link to this snazzy "stealth coop" that owners could use to camouflage their chicken coop in urban settings....

Yeah, cool huh?? It's shaped like a trash can on wheels, merged with a cart. But I'm more amused by the fact that an actual website named www.mypetchicken.com actually exists. Who knew?

Personally, I don't see what's so strange about the practice. Times are hard, so I can understand how some families would rather raise their own livestock and get some free eggs in the process. I'll bet if some backyards were even bigger, they'd get a cow - but then again maybe they should move to a farm if they're going to go that far.

The only question I have is... what happens when avian flu comes back? I'd hate to have avian flu in my backyard.

But you gotta admit, that's a cool-looking trash coop.

feels like insomnia, oh-woah-oh

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:14:20 GMT

I'm sitting here figuring out how to refine this company's visual identity before sending it off to my boss for approval.

Will it be awkward to claim my check for previous projects, when I've got something right now for them that hasn't been sent in a few months? O_O

* * * *

Lining up stories for the paper! Must contact people. Must schedule interviews. Must write!

Today

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:43:25 GMT

Actually, yesterday, I turned 24. And I spent it in the most awesome, special, most spectacular way possible - I had fun. Simply put, I had fun with my family, and people very close to me. I could not have had it any other way.

Spent a good time ruminating about my life too. Was this another crossroads? I don't know. I regard my age as a trivial thing now. It's only a number. Maturity is not measured by digits signifying the time you have existed on Earth. It is much more than that.

I am thankful for a lot. My talent, my friends, my family, and all the opportunities given to me by the Almighty, and for all the blessings in disguise.

Umm... can I keep this short? Haha, I'm sorry, but it's past three a.m. and I need to get up early today. Lots more to do.

Anyway, here's a recap. Hope you enjoy.

Happy Birthday to me!

UNBELIEVABLE

Sun, 03 May 2009 05:08:21 GMT

I hereby declare that the chalk outline of Ricky Hatton on top of the ring's Rockstar Energy Drink logo become the official logo of The Battle of East and West.

Not that it was a really long fight...

My God. Two rounds.

TWO FUCKING ROUNDS!

Unbelievable! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

Creepy

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:43:09 GMT

Here's a brief outline of a dream I had while napping yesterday afternoon.

I was talking to a demon/possessed man, who was a tall blonde Caucasian. Knowing I was in the presence of evil, I sang. Yes, I sang. I don't know why. But I knew that the lyrics had an empowering feel to them. What I sang was this:

I believe, I believe,
I believe, oh I believe,
all will be forgiven

I believe, I believe,
I believe, oh I believe,
There is love in Heaven

Yeah, it's a Spring Awakening song. Then the demon laughed and mocked me, saying not all things can be forgiven.

"We tried to be beautiful", he sneered, referring cryptically to it and its brethen's rebellion against God.

The encounter with the demon had elements of the movie "Fallen" to it. It would possess a human being, then would transfer to another human upon touching his or her hand.

What's creepy is this.

I woke up, and saw my mom watching CSI: New York. And the perp in it was Elias Koteas.

And he played the serial killer who was possessed by the demon at the beginning of "Fallen".

I dared to watch DRAGONBALL: EVOLUTION

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:45:50 GMT

=====

April 12, 2009.

I walk up to my friends, who are bunched up outside the cinema, lining up and handing their tickets over to the ticket person.

And with deliciously dark glee, I hoot right behind them. "LET'S WATCH THIS PIECE OF SHIT!"

They turn to me, grin, nod, and slap me fives.

If there was any way any of us were going to see this thing, it was to see it as a group. We had grown up reading, watching, and playing Dragon Ball. We were the kids who'd razzle you as a quick five-button combination on the SNES pulled off a Kame-hame-ha on your pathetically controlled Dragon Ball avatar (Cell? Broli?? You guys are LAME). We'd rat off all the inane conventions of death-resurrection-death-resurrection of every series (What, Goku has three halos?!). We knew every epic Dragon Ball bad guy even from reverse chronological order ("Majin-boo before Kid-boo, moron", "Wait, I thought this was in reverse chronological order?"). And we'd be damned if we weren't catching the Hollywood adaptation, to satiate the combined behemoth of sarcasm, snark, curiosity, and sadism.

The lights dim, the snickering and giggling give way to silence, the Fox Studios opening graphics roll, and a pause falls on the theater.

I fire the first riff.

"Cha-la, hed-cha-la."

Snorted laughter. My friends to both sides snicker through covered mouths. "That's one", my friend says to me. "That's one", repeats another, emphasized with a raised finger.

We are keeping score. "Plus thirty points if you piss off a member of the audience", my other friend said earlier.

And the riffs roll in with the movie...

Goku trains with his master.

"Flash kick! Oh yeah, that was a Flash Kick alright."

Goku's bike gets totalled by a yellow Camarro driven by school bullies.

"Nice going, Bumblebee."

Chi-Chi invites Goku to her party. Awkward romantic tension.

"Alright, let's make Gohan."

Piccolo appears on screen. The girls of our group swoon.

"Spike!"

"SPIKE!"

"SPIIIIIIIIKE!!!"

Goku opens the inheritance chest of his fallen master, revealing the orange training costume.

"Grandpa was a cosplayer?!"

Bulma shows up, threatening to blow Goku's head off if he doesn't hand her his four-star Dragon Ball.

"What the hell. She's using the Batman voice!"

Bulma shows Goku her Dragon Ball Detector.

"It's an iPhone."

Bulma opens her transformer-bike.

"It's Ravage!"

Master Roshi shows up. He starts off as a wise, ominous master. Then inexplicably flips into invigorated-cackling-dirty old man mode.

"That was so fake."

Piccolo straps himself into a dentist's seat and has his blood forcefully extracted through his arms by giant, teeth-like syringes. He shrieks. "MY BLOOOOOODDD!!!!"

"For God's sakes, just take a sample."

Ernie Hudson, in a lame cameo as Master Po-Po, with super fake eyebrows and a beard, does some prayer chanting hand movements with other monks over a table.

"Mah-jong."

An audience member snaps at our riffing.

"SSSSH!"

Thirty points!

Master Roshi teaches Goku how to control his ki to do the Kame-hame-ha. He does a series of interpretative dance moves that look like he's giving his arms a sponge rinsing without a sponge, and fires into a lamp. The candle in the lamp ignites.

"And that's how you do the Hadoken."

Goku is blasted by a phazer gun. He experiences near-death, waking up in a field. The scene is awash in a blue filter.

"Oh man. Goku died and woke up in Twilight."

Before confronting Piccolo, Goku dresses up in his orange costume in a heroic montage.

"That was completely unnecessary!!!"

This is it. The crowining moment of the movie. Goku performs the Kame-hame-ha as Piccolo, in mid-air, unleashes a Genki-dama looking move.

"Kameeeee-"

"This is it guys!"

"-Hameeeeee-"

"Here we go!"

"-HAAAAA!!!!"

Goku rips the Kame-hame-ha. THEN HE FUCKING FLIES TOWARDS PICCOLO WHILE STILL IN THE KAME-HAME-HA FIRING POSITION AND SMASHES RIGHT INTO HIM.

Goku stands triumphantly over Piccolo's unmoving body, his tiny, kiddie-sized orange uniform contrasting with his super huge pajama cargo pants.

"...that was so _bad."

"Awwwwwwwww :( " (fangirls reacting to James Marster's dead body).

Goku gathers the Dragon Balls to revive Master Roshi. He yells at the sky angrily.

"DRAAAAAGOOOOOON!!!!!!!!"

My friends erupt and spasm into unnncontrollable laughter.

"REVIIIIIVE MASTER ROOOOSHII!!!!"

Roshi is revived.

WAIT! There's a mid-credits sequence! Cliffhanger secret ending!

A lady prepares hot water in a cabin!

"VEGETA!"

The camera tracks her movements down a corridor as she caries a basin of boiling water. The score rises dramatically!

"FREEZA!"

"CELL!"

"Goddamn this is a long extra scene. COME ON!"

The lady sits down next to a figure on a bed, completely covered in sheets! You can't tell who it is!

The lady dabs a cloth in the hot water, and the figure turns its head...

It's frigging Piccolo.

Resume credits.

"...dammit, that was the most pointless extra scene ever."

"Haha! Two minutes long! That scene was two minutes long!"

"I bet the camera man was like, 'Hahaha, I'm gonna draw this out as long as possible, I'm gonna make that fucking audience wait so hard for this scene, hahahaha! They'll think it'll be something cool, and then it'll be the most useless extra scene they'll ever see!' This is gonna be so good!"

And the riffing goes on even beyond the cinema. We gather outside a shake stand near the mall exit and tear into the movie over and over...

"Dammit, I'm giving this five out of five stars on my Multiply blog just to piss people off."

"Geez, if I were the dragon, I'd frigging kick Goku for yelling at me like that! Such an ass! 'Shut up! Okay! Just gather the balls, and I'll show up! That's it! No yelling or hand movements!'"

"Did you hear that lady shush us??"

"Yeah, what was her problem. It wasn't like the movie was even taking itself seriously at that point anyway."

"Well... she had a kid."

"...oh. A kid."

"They were a lesbian couple, weren't they?"

"Huh?"

"Those ladies, cuddling in front of us?... they were lesbians. And they had the kid with them. I saw the lady in front of me kiss her kid."

"Well, I would've said, hey kid? Your moms? They're gay."

We go to our friend's house and watched some fan-made trailers of Dragon Ball. French fan-made trailers.

"Now THAT'S how you do Dragon Ball!"

"See? Only four minutes long but it's still better than Dragon Ball."

We open the Ryan versus Dorkman 2 clip.

"See? So far they're only walking, but still better than Dragon Ball."

And so on, and so on...

So friends. If you're going to watch Dragonball, watch it with friends. Watch it with geek friends. Open-minded geek friends. It will be one of the best bonding experiences you'll ever get!

PostScript: The Hannah Montana trailer played before the movie. My friend looks to us, with a knowing look, and says, "Okay guys. Right now. Let's make a plan for this right NOW!"

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:48:09 GMT

Brigadier General Carlos Clet was a friend of my dad's. My dad and he were batchmates at PMA, both from Batch 80. My mom and his wife, Mrs. Clet, were good friends, and would often see each other at reunions and get-togethers. Most recently, I am sure, they both attended my parents' 25th Wedding Anniversary last January.

I also knew his kid. He was in Ateneo High, and I was in college, last I saw him.

I never always remembered the faces of my dad's friends. That's because I seldom met them, and if I did, I didn't think much of them. But - I heard the news Tuesday, and was startled. I knew him - knew the wife and kids even more, because she ran a store that my family and I would frequent after church some years ago.

I finally remembered who he was today. I saw his photo on the paper, and realized, "Oh... it's you."

I shall have a moment of silence now. If you will.

I believe I will pray for them this Holy Week.

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:34:02 GMT

_{I have no idea who "I.K." is, but this is brilliant.

Taken from the side of a table in the Ateneo Information Design Lab.}

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:28:22 GMT

There's an oldish building right next to Inquirer's main office, which houses both its vast printing presses and well-kept accounting office.

The printing press contains gigantic vats of CMYK - cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink, combinations of which produce every single text and image you see on print.

On the way to collect some tax forms, I spotted this cat at the landing of the stairs to accounting. It had no doubt had some kind of run-in with the ink vats.

I call it a "Cyanese".

Badum-tssh.

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:44:52 GMT

This scene wrote itself in my head. I imagined myself older and an experienced designer, giving a talk at an unspecified conference. God willing, I'll be able to weave this exchange one day.

* * *

Open Forum Questioner: “I’ve got tons of ideas.”

Speaker:“So what are you doing with them?”

Open Forum Questioner: “Uh…”

Speaker:“You’re not sitting on them, are you? Just, sitting on them and hoping for them to hatch, are you?”

Open Forum Questioner: “Well…”

Speaker:“What is the kind of animal that only sits on something, waiting for it to hatch?”

- silence -

Speaker:“Chickens.”

“Well, we’re not chickens. We can’t just sit on our ideas for as long as we can, hoping they’ll hatch on their own.”

“We are people. Human beings. And human beings must act to make their ideas a reality. To make them real.”

“So, don’t be a chicken. Go out there, and act on your idea. Right now.”

Viral video for the new Superman movie!

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:37:32 GMT

PDI: PACQUIAO DROPS IN

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:48:32 GMT

Incredible day to be at the office today. Awesome timing. Simply awesome.

Manny Pacquiao himself was at the Inquirer building to receive his award of recognition for being the paper’s Filipino of the Year for 2008. I tried to squeeze in for a photo, sheepishly I admit, but in between the near-hundreds of people wanting a photo-op with him, I managed to sneak this sad but manageable co-opt photo on my crappy low-res camera phone.

Seriously, after the awarding and formalities people just surged in like a mob with their DSLRs, camera phones, and every other recording device imaginable. People were getting their shirts signed, my goodness. The man must have some kind of special training for endurance towards the type of fan demand fervently descending upon him in waves of raucous devotion.

I was really thankful to score this though:

I can’t tell you how crazy it was to line up at a slow-ass printer as it was cranking out dozens of these colored sixty-percent prints. People were grabbing these wherever they could get them to cue up for a signature. Heck, even Ma'am Lynette, the Art head, brought out a 2006 issue with Manny on it so she could have it signed.

Man was I so shy to approach for it - because he was already eating and chatting with the Inquirer big shots by the time I got the print out! But he still signed it, auto-click pentel pen at the ready. The guy's so simple, friendly and warm in person. At one comical point in the fan-photo-frenzy he helped out a guy figure out how to make his camera work.

But I'm proud to say I am the owner of one edition of Mandom (dear God I can't believe I actually strung that into a word) that I think no one else in the world could claim to have. Remember this?

After getting my first signature did I only realize that I had my external drive with me – and it contained the Pacquiao graphic art. So I had it printed...

And fan art comes full circle.

I almost sashayed off the third floor balcony thinking the euphoria would keep me afloat! When I first handed the print-out PDI president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez's sister thought I was handing it to him as a gift, with a dedication. After getting that signature, I realized with giddy urgency, why not?

So I quickly printed a second copy - waiting at the printer like a guy anxiously cueing at the washroom for a desperate leak - hastily scribbled out a dedication, Maraming salamat po, Mabuhay po kayo! Kamao ng Bansa!, and handed it to him.

He beamed at my gift art, and he shook my hand.

I exchanged signatures with Manny Pacquiao. With my signature on a copy of my art, now in Manny Pacquiao’s hands.

Glorious.

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:40:06 GMT

Zac Efron and The Rock to appear in JOHNNY QUEST MOVIE?!?!?

MY YOUTH IS DESTROYED.

I want this book, and this movie isn't as good as that other movie with people with SUPERPOWERS

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:06:48 GMT

I seriously want to get this book.

According to io9, "Shambling towards Hiroshima [by James Morrow] is billed as a playful romp and a parable of the dawn of the nuclear era, one that blends, tongue-in-cheek, Godzilla, World War II Japan and genetic engineering gone wrong as the U.S. Navy attempts to breed large fire-breathing iguanas, hiring B-Movie actor Syms Thorley in an attempt to film some propaganda to try and force the Japanese to end the war."

So, I'm guessing the gist is that the US fakes an upcoming attack by a genetically-engineered radioactive giant lizard on Japan, to scare them into ending the war?

I'm sold on the concept. I love how it plays with the cinematic mythology of Japan's giant monsters, and the idea that it germinated from a spin concept cooked up by WII US propagandists to end the war. It sounds wacky and over-the-top, plus it's obviously crafted by a Godzilla fan. Should pick this up at Fully Booked when it comes out.

[Also...]

I saw Push today with my brother. It's about people with powers, who are engineered and tracked by the world's governments. The focus is mostly on Chris Evans' and Dakota Fannings' characters, who are a telekinetic (Mover) and precognitive (Watcher), respectively, and their quest to search for Camilla Bell (a Pusher, someone with the ability to implant fake memories into people's heads) before bad guy Djimon Hounsou can capture her for his own nefarious, government-sponsored purposes.

And while watching the movie, I had the feeling that I was watching an incomprehensibly slow art film. There's bits of shaky cinematography with dank lighting, which undermines the oft-kilter "superpowers" concept at the core of the film. The movie does a great job of showcasing its setting, Hong Kong, from its glitzy gentleman's clubs to its seedy tenement and port areas, but struggles too hard to make the characters compelling.

Fanning's, Hounsou's, and Evan's talents are wasted in this ramshackle attempt at popcorn entertainment. Fanning and Evan deliver their lines with all the weight and pathos of gravy, mucked-up and cholesterolized with trite dialogue and eye-rolling melodrama. I could see Fanning trying to trawl deep within her own talents to pull whatever fresh, slapping catch she could to the surface of the dank river of her character, but it just doesn't mix well within the sea of convoluted plot and crappy dialogue. Plus the attempt to debut Fanning as a teenage movie star, far from her doe-eyed child roles of yonder, doesn't do as well when she's a supposedly edgy, I'm-so-troubled-but-cool, smart-mouth tween skank. It just. Doesn't. Work.

The action scenes were really good, with bits of clever CG choreo involving guns, bullets, and telekinesis, but these are too few and far in between, and nothing too spectacular either. Between scenes you could feel the film just forcing through whatever improbable plot development just to get it moving to the next big powers-amok fight scene.

And the nomenclature of these characters and their power types are just hokey. They try to put too much casual grit into these names: Pusher (memory implanting), Mover (telekinetic), Shifter (object transformation), and et cetera. The filmmakers obviously tried to differentiate themselves from power labels we already know from stuff like X-men, and from obvious peg Heroes. It's too bad Jumper came out the previous year! Bet the filmmakers were just seething that they couldn't put in teleporters due to legal studio issues. Plus, it's just too funny to see Sniffs (people who can sniff out a person's history from objects they've used or touch) use their powers. Seeing a bald, menacing guy in a suit suddenly clutch and start deeply inhaling from strangers' towels, toothbrushes and other personal items is less then impressive. Instead, it gives off a creepy fetish vibe. And as for Bleeders (guys whose sonic screams are powerful enough to cause aneurysms), what's so threatening about an angry-looking Chinese guy yell at the top of his lungs? It's not scary, it's hilarious.

The movie drags on for about a good two-thirds of its run, but I'll contend there's a payoff in the plot towards the end. It doesn't exactly resolve all of its obvious plot holes, but there's enough of a sudden sharp curve in the plot to keep the end engaging enough, and to keep bored audiences engaged again in the movie. Suffice to say, the way these characters' abilities are depicted and re-used make the last parts of the movie entertaining to watch.

In all, Push is a flick whose ending is a lot better than the whole movie. Which isn't too good of a selling point, because it feels like the movie's manipulated you into suddenly making it like it despite abusing you for having spent your money on it. But, if you're willing to stick around for hours of cliche dialogue and improbable plot twists for an entertaining last thirty minutes, then it may be up your alley. Just don't expect to walk out of the theater recommending it to anyone else. Just to drive home the point: a single episode of Heroes is better than the whole movie. And that's saying a lot.

(Oh, and I will spoil just this little. Don't expect extravagant power displays from Chris Evans. That poster, of Push? It is a lie! Not once in the entire movie does Chris actually blow away a whole car, let alone an entire street of bad guys, as that poster implies!)

TERMINATOR: NO SALVATION

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:27:26 GMT

For the benefit of those who haven't heard of it yet! What a prick.

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 06:07:02 GMT

Delete 10 Facebook friends,
GET A FREE WHOPPER.

Dreams in the Grotesque

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:15:06 GMT

This is the work of Jessica Fortner, a sculptor-illustrator-photographer whose work I stumbled upon while blog-surfing.

Creepy stuff, eh?

She calls her work "illustrations" - I don't know why, since they're photographs of surreal and dreamy sculptures that she makes from Super Sculpey. Perhaps she means "illustration" figuratively, in that her creations illustrate a certain concept, or idea that she wishes to convey?

Going back, I was immediately drawn to her work, which looks like ghoulishly inspired retrospects on creepy stop-motion films of old. But on the strange figurines she creates there burst a sort of warmth and whimsy. There's a sort of humanism reflected in the absurdly exaggerated faces, a childlike allure in the exaggerated contours. Maybe it's the color palettes she chooses, that contrast with how strange the work appears. They're certainly bright, but the clay sculptures look diseased, puckered, yet happy. Hers is a work that straddles borders between candy-surreal and patchwork-macabre.

You'll probably want to write up a corresponding Gaiman-esque prose paragraph to accompany each fantastically odd image you'll find on her blog-folio.

Check out her collection of artworks that include dinner table-buzzing winged pigs, puppy-eyed asylum inmates, and a lady doing a backstroke on a bed of phallic sea cucumbers.

Snide remarks on Snyder posters

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:43:47 GMT

I have this fleeting suspicion that there’s a copy-paste format when it comes to marketing posters of Zack Snyder’s comic book movies.

Take 300. “Old school” swords-and-sandals movies, such as Gladiator and Troy, have traditionally used serif fonts to convey a classical tone, a pseudo-Hellenic feel that gave people the notion that buildings in ancient times were carved by letters using either Bembo or Minion.

When 300 came out in 2007, it pretty much set itself apart from other S&S’s by using bold sans serif fonts, bent at dynamic angles. Taglines were then placed across character’s faces as if screaming the very words.

The effect is jarring and aggressive, which admittedly matches the hypermasculine context of the film by making it look as if the posters themselves were screaming as loud as Gerard Butler’s angry Spartan king (WATCH! THIS! MOVIEEEEE!!!) My one nitpick is that why would the marketing team opt to use properly shaped letterforms when the 300 logo itself is a stylized blood spatter? Then again, if they had used that sort of type for the slogans, they may have ended up looking like posters for a slasher flick – which 300 was anyway, with all the hacking and goring and ugly, disfigured people-butchers in it.

Now we have the Watchmen posters.

Sharp Watchmen fans will immediately recognize the taglines as a quote spoken by each character in their respective poster. No doubt they were chosen by the marketing team (or by Snyder) because they were the simplest quotes in terms of delivering to the audience that character’s profile and psyche. Which echoes the technique they used in 300; they took a central character, and on their poster stitched them with the appropriate tagline.

Then there’s the flying-bold-letters fonts. Sure, in the case of Watchmen, it makes sense that they would use the same font if they wanted the marketing to visually echo the book. The Watchmen comic in itself is a feedback loop of recurring imagery, so marketing must have thought, “Well hey, since the title’s standing to the left in big yellow font, let’s do that too for the posters!” Fair enough.

But what I don’t like is that with the way the letters are rendered, they end up giving off a dynamic kind of feel. It’s like the taglines are speaking in that deep, superheroic tone typical of big-chinned dudes humbly stoic in delivering their catch phrases. And the point of Watchmen is that it’s not dynamic, it’s subtle. Everything about it, from the character’s actions, lines, and the book’s imagery, is a subtle stitching together of the big picture. The very core of the story is beneath the surface of the illustrations, understandable only after multiple reads. It would have suited the posters more if the words were just floating, full frontal towards the reader with no angles, without any embellishments or hooplah. That way, it would look more psychological and less big bang, which is what Watchmen is all about. If Snyder wasn’t out to make just another comic book movie (because Watchmen is not just another comic book), then he shouldn’t have resorted to typical comic book movie marketing styles.

And both the 300 and Watchmen posters look way too similar. The marketing team must have been the same as the ones on 300, if only to explain why it seems their posters were stuck in a style rut. The art direction is not the way to go if Snyder doesn’t want to be ghettoized as the “comic book director” – because his comic book movies, both already bogged with extreme-slow-to-extreme-fast cinematography, are being marketed by posters that reek of redundancy.

If this was intentional on the filmmakers' parts, then they've done a good job of keeping Snyder's shtick stuck on one format. Better that they break out of this rut instead of landing the next Snyder movie into a predictable design format.

Shooting Star

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:19:48 GMT

Last night, atop the roof deck of kayekatarn's house, I glanced up at the purplish night sky, and immediately spotted an orange streak diving and twirling across the clouds.

A shooting star.

I had never seen one before. And it filled me with an odd, cosmic sort of joy at seeing such a beautiful celestial body.

Then it puttered out and disappeared into the air.

... wondrous.

(But for a few seconds I had the paranoid consideration that it was a missile.

Which commenced a joking uproar on the roof deck on the economy and engineering a World War to divert the world's attention and jumpstart the war economy to start bringing in money.)

There's just too much confusion

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:38:30 GMT

There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
Theres too much confusion
I cant get no relief

Finally, a subject head to suit the journal I've been dying to write.

First off, here's some advice that everyone probably knows by now, but it needs saying: never do the same screw up twice at work, especially if it involves the same people. No one means to screw up, the same way no one's brain means to skip like a rotten CD after it's been played over and over without being aired out. It just... happens. So make sure it never does!

Second, I need a long vacation. I need to get out. Far, far away from where I always am. My parents suggested I go find work abroad. Who knows. I may just do that. I need to upgrade everything about me.

As for work, it's time for a fresh start. I doubt I'm cut out for the rigors of long-term newspaper layout, but I have been contributing stories and I really enjoy being out there, meeting people and experiencing the things they bring to the world and the people around them. I always had my foot in the world of journalism, one way or the other, so maybe being a writer is the way for me to go.

And drawing. I haven't used a pencil and pen in such a long time. I've gotten used to the tablet so much that I think my work's lost some of its, I don't know... well, something in my work disappeared ever since I started doing majority of it on the tablet. Comparing my old hand-drawn comics with my digital work, I have to say there's a certain substance in manual work that's not there in digital, no matter how polished it looks. Henceforth I will get myself a new set of pens and pencils, and start drawing more in my sketchpad.

Another thing on my mind is starting my own business. I'm sure I've saved enough money to get it started, and I've been talking to the proper resource people regarding getting it off the ground. Once it's out (hopefully in a month or so), I'll be sure to share it here on the net.

Lastly, I really want to get back to doing comics. It's just that I'm so distracted and my mind is so full of loops and zigzags. I don't know, I just feel aimless now. Maybe I should take a better hold on the steering while of existence.

Well, on that note I'll go off to watch Battlestar Galactica's TV movie, "Razor". Then I'll finish that article I've been working on... get some sleep, talk to the fabrics people... ugh I think it's gonna be a rough day tomorrow.

DAMN. What a life!

Hey, coolness

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:01:18 GMT

These would have made great Christmas gifts. I guess I'll have to settle for ordering them through US-resident relatives.

http://shanalogic.com/item.php?item_id=801&category_id=144

http://www.monsterhoodies.com/

Of course, it'd be hard to wear that hoodie in someplace that's not a Halloween party, or some similarly-themed event. Maybe for those days when I'm in an odd clothing mood.

But that bag's got that aura of weird I really dig. It's a simple image, but striking . Plus that elephant-squid's wearing a conductor's hat. What's up with that, right? I love absurd random images like that. And I've always had an affinity for academic-looking, black-and-white drawings with hints of Lovecraft inspiration.

I'd love to see more apparel like this around here.

Pretty late for a music video, but still fun

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:56:46 GMT

Christmas may have gone now, but this song is really fun, with a fun-er video.

The Killers - "Dont' Shoot Me Santa"

Features the lead singer of The Killers getting kidnapped and terrorized by a redneck Santa Claus in the desert. What's more fun than that????

Simbang Gabi!

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:27:47 GMT

Simbang Gabi na!

I hope to wake up in time!

Wish me luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~