Previously on the pre-redesigned Notes:

[8/25/2002 9:50:43 PM | dean alfar]
Interesting morning at work.

I checked out the Philippine Daily Inquirer and there's an article on the National Book Award finalists, and of course we have: "Isaw", edited by Nikki Alfar, and "One Night in Purgatory" by Carlo Vergara. In an odd bit of that's-the-way-things-are-done, the editor of an anthology gets the nod, per se, but of course it is all Vince's. Good luck guys!

Jason emails to say that Arnold and Cynthia are in the the latest issue of Computerworld Philippines. I'm not sure if its this article, about Arnold designing the Webby awards look and feel. How nice for 25by8 to have access to the minds of our friends. Grrr. LOL Anyway, last year they had this silly anime/manga look. This year, with Arnold helming the Pinoy fantasy motif, it can only be better. Jayce also hopes that our secret project gets in by that time... well, we'll see, won't we?

Over at Pipeline, I'm working to close deals with a multi-national softdrink and beverage company, a logistics company, a pharma and location-based-services company. Wish me luck.

On my walkabout this AM: Superpekpek and Ron's journal (I miss this old friend of mine).

Here's the story I started to write today, after the idea came to me during my ciggie break in the stairwell. As usual, I'll have to complete this in between meetings, presentations and writing other stuff.

Lu Ladrón du Ciudad
(The Thief of Ciudad)
A Tale of Hinirang

By Dean Francis Alfar

(removed for now - you'll see it elsewhere, I promise)


[8/25/2002 8:14:57 AM | dean alfar]
Socrates said, "The misuse of language induces evil in the soul." He wasn’t talking about grammar. To misuse language is to use it the way politicians and advertisers do, for profit, without taking responsibility for what the words mean. Language used as a means to get power or make money goes wrong: it lies. Language used as an end in itself, to sing a poem or tell a story, goes right, goes towards the truth.

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper

-Ursula Le Guin


[8/25/2002 5:55:22 AM | dean alfar]
While waiting for Ang Lee's prequel of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", check out Zhang Ziyi in Hong Kong's Tsui Hark's The Legend of Zu. While imbued with funky special effects, this movie, released last year (and subsequently acquired by Miramax), is such a waste of talent and money. A clan of Immortals must fight against the evil of Insomnia, and that's about all you understand. Wooden acting, atrocious dialogue, poor plot points - all these lead to a confusing, albeit pretty, film. It's still good enough to watch, if, like me, you're in mood for a martial arts fix, Chinese-style. Too bad because apart from Zhang Ziyi, Cecilia Cheung of "Shaolin Soccer" was there too.

"Battle Royale" still takes the cake though (though the comparison between Chinese and Japanese films may seem unfair).

As an aside: I was delighted to find my old copy of "The Scent of Green Papaya", one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time.

In fact, let's list (in no order) some of the films I really enjoyed:

Cinema Paradiso (Italty) - there's a new director's cut version this year, so we'll see about that
Il Postino (Italy)
Scent of Green Papaya (Vietnam)
Belle Epoch (Spain)
Battle Royale (Japan)
In the Mood for Love (Hong Kong)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (China)
The Last Emperor (US)
Shaolin Soccer and God of Cookery (Hong Kong)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (US)
Fargo (US) (and look at this too)
Heavenly Creatures (AUS/NZ)

hmmm. I think I'll over to Dave's for a while.




[edit]
[8/24/2002 10:52:19 PM | dean alfar]
Had an interesting time with the Friday group (Jason, Marco, Carl, Dino, Nikki and myself + Mike) at Cafe All Day. Basically, a call was reiterated to come up with something together. We all agreed, and on October 19, 2002, we'll have not one, but TWO interesting things. More as things develop. Mahirap nang magsalita ng hindi sigurado, di ba? Baka matsismis. LOL

Today is also the opening of Mike's shop Comicquest at Festival Mall in Alabang. We wanted to go, but the fact that it was Sage's nanny's day-off plus the lack of immediate airconditioned transporation detered us from going. Too bad though, because we are among Mike's biggest supporters. I even used to manage their Megamall store waaaay back in 1992 (I think). A lot of our friends will be there to lend support. If Mike is not joshing and indeed this new branch will carry more indie books, then it'll be fantastic. Independent comics are very scarce here, for obvious reasons.

On my walkabout: Toon Encyclopedia, Pen & Paper, Lightning Lad's Legion, Bulfinch's Mythology, George R.R. Martin (author of Nikki's fave "Clash of Kings, etc.),and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.


[8/22/2002 8:41:37 PM | dean alfar]

Rosang Taba without the footnotes (silly blog)

Kung Paano Nanalo Nang Karera Si Rosang Taba
(How Rosang Taba Won A Race)

A Tale of Hinirang

by Dean Francis Alfar

(removed for now - you'll see it elsewhere soon!)

(Past entry)

That was a great client call. They approved all the designs we created for their logo, flyers, and banners. We're also doing their billboards, marketing kit and brochure. Good people. Strangely enough, the MRT wasn't that crowded despite the fact that it was rush hour. Anyhow, I managed to get back to office for the final corrections and met up with all my staff and partners. Dindo was there with his fiancée Leah. Formal plans have been made for their wedding in Hong Kong next year, and I was asked to be the emcee. Hmmm. Ap fan. Yum.

When I got back home to my darling wife and my beautiful daughter, they had a surprise for me. Sage was trying to stand! Wow! At six months!

Anyhow, we had dinner and tried to watch a DVD copy of "Monster's Ball" but it was simply too dragging. Sorry, girl.

I ended up playing a little of Neverwinter Nights, my latest addiction. We downloaded new modules from here and while not all of them were great, a few were pretty well-made. I was playing my umpteenth character, this time an Asian fighter named Gi (after the top-secret animation project I'm working on). As usual, I found a little time to check out the other sites I usually peruse, including Comic Book Resources, Borderline (too bad the new issue isn't out yet), Marco's site (he has a forum I've been meaning to get on), Dave's site (though I haven't gotten any funky DVDs in a while - the last few I got to watch with Nikki included Waterboys from Japan, Amelie and season 3 of Sex in the City), my nonupdated website, the ladies over at Sequential Tart, my favorite porn password site, Arnold over at Time, The Onion, the new Survivors (the truth is that Nikki and I are unabashed fans), the Savage Critic, my local news source, Budget's blog, Nikki's hacked site, and Simeon Rex, our beleaguered monkey king.

Heh. I was just looking over the sites I go to, and you can tell what interests me - comics, gaming, porn, humor and news.