Sagewatch

Babycenter was a great resource for us last night, educating us on the various things we needed to know about what's happening with our baby girl. The good news is that Sage's fever broke and while she's not as active as she was prior to this bout of illness, she definitely looks better. Nikki gave her various medicines every 8 hours, as instructed by the pediatrician, and Sage has responded well. We hope she recovers completely by tomorrow or Monday. In the meantime, we discover that her first two teeth have grown some more, giving her a toothy smile (such as it is). Jo, Reb's twin, came over in the morning to check up her and told us that her breathing was okay (just a little distressed, given the circumstances). We had our blood pressures taken as well, and Nikki and I are both within the normal range. I was thinking of having an executive checkup, but balked at the cost - P30,000. I'll do it next year when we have cash to spare.

Thanks to everyone who has wished Sage well - Felix (whom we bumped into at CQ today), Rob and everyone who texted us yesterday and through the night. You warm our hearts and I'm glad Sage is surrounded by people like you.

convention planning

Jescie, Taga-Ilog and the creators of Culture Crash gave a lunch at Sukhotai and invited other Filipino comic people to participate in the convention they're holding come December at Megamall. Apart from us (Nikki, me, Mike, Marco, Jason, Arnold and ATE Cyn), the attendees included Lyndon Gregorio (Beerkada), Robert Magnuson (Shirley's Pets), and Pol Medina of Pugad Baboy fame, among several others.

While the convention will primarily be focused on anime and manga-inspired local comics, we all thought it was a good idea to have a presence there. We'll iron out the details among ourselves and get back to them. Mike will take charge of informing Budjette over at Alamat, the guys of Ground Zero and the other invitees unable to make it. We may take the opportunity to launch a couple of projects or books there. I almost broke a rib laughing when Taga-Ilog asked Nikki and me to do sketch for his sketchbook. Being the very drawing-impaired, we made do with a seal from her and tree branch from me with the inscription "Sorry, we're writers!".

evangelion summary for Arnold

Marco told Arnold that I could summarize why I don't like Evangelion very succintly. Well, the truth is this: I tried to watch some of it, but my patience gave out when the lead boy (Shinji) just laid down on a hospital bed, his feeble white arms outstretched and did absolutely nothing but look pathetic. For me, that was the extent of what Evangelion was - sorry to offend all the people who argue about its depth and artistic merit (if you enjoyed it good for you) but for me, it was simply...blah. Angst, wanting father to love him, mother figure found in teammate, etc. What a loser. Look at this (from an Evangelion guide):

"Shinji is for the most part of the time an extremely troubled individual, however, most of his ordeals are worsened, and often even caused, by his severe lack of self confidence. Shinji finds it incredibly hard to express his feelings towards others for the fear of being emotionally hurt, and is all too often unwilling to adapt to new situations."

I'm for tragic heroes, but this guy is just a wuss.

"it takes light to make shadows, I guess..."

Tonight, Nikki and I will watch stuff from Jason, including Metropolis (which Marco said was up there with Akira in terms of animation technique). It takes a wonderful anime to get my blood going, since I am sadly predisposed to not like anything with mecha in it. It's a good thing Marco's around to remind us that there are many good ones around. He and Mike are raving about a new one whose title I can't recall. Let you know when I remember.

Walkabout

I liketrue porn clerk stories - an very insightful and well-written blog about a woman porn store clerk and her observations of the people who rent stuff from her - it's not offensive, give it a try. And while Slashdot answers my occassional odd need for tech-type info and news, the comic book fan boy in me isdelighted by Quarter Bin and The Comics Characters Database (far from comprehensive, but still a good resoruce if you're into this kind of thing). Have you seen Mark Sinclair's Post-it Theatre?

While you're there, give the Filthy Critic a read - his movie reviews (non-porn, don't mistake his moniker) are a blast. From his review of Swimfan: "It takes monster nuts to have absolutely nothing to say, write a whole movie to prove it, and find a director and studio who share your lack of vision. Then you must have the conviction and strength of belief to see your ass-ripping turd through to completion. You have to wake up every morning and be excited to think "Today's the first day of the rest of my life barfing up someone else's ideas." You have to know that your story is entirely implausible and laughably absurd, but not care for one second. You have to be willing to cave in to every studio demand to make sure that the final product is as compromised as possible. You have to pretend you care, yet put something on the screen that shows you don't."