Sleeping Like A Marble Girl

(Thanks to DidipusRex for the beautiful photo!)

We had the exhibit opening for Frailty – the all-female exhibit I posted about before – last weekend. Some pics below,

Frailty Exhibit Opening

… and there are *tons* more via these links: one two three four five six seven

If you were there, in behalf of the 33 chickas young and old, thanks so much for dropping by and supporting the event!

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If you’re wondering if Arn and I attended the most-talked about concert this year decade, why of course we did! And we had a blast!

The added bonus is that an impromptu reunion of sorts with almost all our friends who share the same love for the Eraserheads and their music happened right there in the open field. Lots of photos here.

And for those who missed it, there’s reason to smile because there is talk of a part two. As one of the band members said when I asked him about the possibility of a repeat show, “well we do have a show to finish”.

I would love to write more about how sentimental the concert made both Arn and me feel but I need to go back to work. In the meantime, this entry should speak of my fandom.

You can watch two songs captured live via SonyBMG’s Eraserheads channel.

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As I probably won’t be able to update again in a while, I wanted to leave you with this song. Later, operator!

But what exactly happened, you ask? Weeeell, I neglected this blog for too long that spam comments corrupted my Wordpress installation and so I had to do a total overhaul. It gave me an excuse to de-clutter and fix this page though so no worries, it’s all good.

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Anyway, much went on since my last entry before the unintended hiatus.

1. Three issues of WE have been published (I hope you can check them out, dear brides and grooms to be)

2. WE’s E-I-C Marbee Go and I started blogging at www.weheartweddings.com

3. I designed the album packaging for our dear friends, the Itchyworms. (Yes, there really are “Itchyworms” canned goods and other items in the supermarkets, LOL.)

4. I’ve concentrated on managing and marketing our online shops, Poptastic Tees and The Paper Basket. If you live, or have relatives, in the States, I really would appreciate it if you can point them to the stores.

5. I also worked on many other stuff like wedding invitations (not really my thing but I would do it for friends… and for my brother of course who’s getting married in December), some more gocco-printing, helping out Arn with his projects, etc.

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I’d also like to invite you to Superficial ll: Frailty – a group show featuring the works of 33 female artists opening September 13, Saturday 7pm at Pablo Gallery, Cubao Expo.

The participating artists are Carina Almonte / Jessica Antonio / Cynthia Arre / Bru / Mara Bernaldo / Mica Cabildo / Bea Camacho / Denise Castillo / Abi Dacayap / Liza Flores / Lala Gallardo / Marie Gan / Garovs Garrovillo / Abi Goy / Honey Hipe / Wiji Lacsamana / Ene Lagunzad / Hannah Liongoren / Mitch Mauricio / Feanne Mauricio / Jhoan Medrano / Gabie Osorio / Katwo Puertollano / Genie Ranada / Sunshine Reyes / Pepper Roxas / Sharon See / Mia Singson / Joyce Tai / Lette Teodosio / Pauline Vicencio / Shawn Yao / MM Yu

More details here.
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Taken when I was designing either Pillbox or Fruitcake, 1996

Lastly, it seems that all of Manila is a-buzz about the upcoming Eraserheads reunion concert. Naturally Arn and I are going², given our history with the band so if you’re going, we’ll see you there.

Nest & Budz Loveteam, photo taken in 1997

1. Well I am 36 y.o. after all
2. AND through the generosity of our dear friends Buddy & Nest who invited us as early as July, before the complicated ticketing details were even announced.

Sorry for the silence. As you may have noticed, something went wrong with my blog’s wordpress installation and I haven’t had time to look into it — I’m actually afraid that an overhaul might be necessary *shudders*.
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I did make you a playlist to listen to while I figure out a way to fix things around here.
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Meanwhile, I’ve been actively blogging elsewhere. I hope you can check out our new wedding-centric blog, We *Heart* Weddings too – it’s a blog by Marbee and myself, the very lean (ahem) mother-team behind Wedding Essentials magazine.
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Meet Iris Able, the smartest kid in MacGuffin Plains. She has an encyclopedic knowledge about science, technology and math that it seems she has the entire internet in her head. But because she keeps to herself a lot, the other kids in school don’t know much about her and have resorted to calling her Private Iris.

Private Iris, masterminded by Jamie Bautista and Arnold Arre¹, is a mystery comic series that challenges kids of all ages to match wits with the brilliant but secretive super sleuth, Private Iris. When Danton, the most popular boy in school, joins forces with Iris, the most intelligent loner in town, you get a crime-solving team that can’t be beat! Get to know more about Iris, Danton, and the rest of the MacGuffin Plains gang by visiting their flashy new headquarters on the world wide web right here.²

The Private Iris team

Hope you can check it out, friends. I can promise that it’s a really cute, very well thought-out book and I am sure that kids will love it³. The launch is slated for next Saturday, April 19 at Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street. Please visit the Private Iris site for details.

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I’m touched that this blog still gets hits despite my sporadic updating. I’ve actually been up to a lot of things since my last post but I’m still up to my ears with work on our next issue among other projects so I’ll save the stories for later. For now, I’ll see you on Twitter or Tumblr.

1. the same team behind Cast
2. You gotta see the site! It’s really cool!
3. Call me biased but I can tell you that Jamie’s tight story and witty dialogue and Arn’s hilarious illustrations always gel so well together. You’ll see for yourself when you read Iris.

1. Click on the link if the music player takes too long to load.

Now to prove that I never really stop working, here’s a real project. Lori of Dessert Comes First, one of my favorite food blogs, recently asked me to design headers for her website using photos that she took. The food shots were gorgeous so I made a simple template to allow the images to do the “talking”.
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Yummy, huh? The fourth one is my favorite – photo and layout-wise.
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Fortunately she liked 5 of the 6 studies I submitted so I suggested that maybe she can ask her programmer to make them all load randomly each time the page refreshes, kind of like what I did for my friend Tippi’s site. I’m happy to see that it’s now being implemented.

1. Back from when I was a college freshman so hello, that was 20 years ago!
2. By my OC self. There’s no one else to blame, really.
3. He’s the other way around, he churns out illustrations like they’re liquid.
4. Yet another activity I haven’t done in years. Let’s see if that metaphor is true…

UPDATE (9.20.08): Exciting news, everyone! I just found out that the Gocco and its supplies are available here in the Philippines! Tin, a stay-at-home-mom based in Iloilo sells Gocco kits, inks, bulbs, and other paraphernalia you will need to lead the Gocco life via her cute little shop, One Tiny Party. Her site also features pics of her pretty Gocco’d artworks and a lot of helpful tips and links for everyone interested in going Gocco. [go!]
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So let me take you through my enjoyable Print Gocco experience.
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1) Aww, that’s little PeeGee with all her accessories inside her crib. Since Gocco supplies are hard to come by in the Philippines⁴, I made sure to stock up on inks, screens, and bulbs when we were in Japan.
2) I wanted to conserve my bulbs and screens (the bulbs especially since you need two bulbs per print and they can only be used once) so to make the most of them, I made 4 gift tag designs to fit one 4″ x 6″ screen. I used the special carbon ink based pen that’s specially made for use with the Gocco to sketch my master.
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3) The bulbs are now screwed onto the print hood and my master has been inserted into the PG window.
4) A quick, heavy press on the lid will cause the bulbs to flash, indicating that the master image has been burned to the screen.
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5) And the fun begins: here’s my screen after I squeezed paint on it. I made sure to put blocking tape in between the portions where I didn’t want color to bleed into each other.
6) The screen is now positioned inside the PG’s lid again and we’re ready to get it on. Printing via Gocco produces results similar to silkscreen printing except that the process is easier, less messy, and lots of fun but, okay, more expensive because of the limited availability of supplies.
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7) Tadah, my very first print!
Here they all are, waiting to dry. Incidentally, the wooden case is a cassette tape crate given to me ages ago by my brother. I haven’t used it in a while⁵ but I discovered that it makes a good card-drying rack.
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Not so bad for a first print although I would’ve wanted it to be less colorful. And now I can’t wait to try using layers and different paper patterns and textures so I guess you’ll be seeing more of these printing experiments from now on.
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(For those who ended up on this site looking for Print Gocco PG-5 instructions, allow me to point you to the excellent tutorial by Felt Cafe which I myself referred to while working on my prints.)

1. PHP 2,565.20 according to the XE-UCC
2. PHP 7,868.25
3. But if you can’t wait and must have it NOW, then it’s worth coughing up the dough for.
4. And ordering online internationally is mucho expensive.
5. Who listens to tapes anymore?

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And if you’d like to give me something for Christmas (…awshucks), you can always mosey along to any of my two online stores and buy something for your loved ones.². The Paper Basket, in particular, carries my Christmas design collection:

We have keepsake boxes, greeting cards, note cards, magnets, button pins, and all that jazz. And hey, if you buy (or have bought) at least 5 items³ from either The Paper Basket OR Poptastic, let me know via the comments link below and I will send you a FREE T-SHIRT OF YOUR CHOICE⁴ from Poptastic, oh yes I will. How ’bout that?

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Just in case I don’t get to update again before Christmas, I’d like to leave you with this adorable video from the amazing Sufjan Stevens.

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Happy holidays!

1. I’ve already asked a similar question to my friend network on Facebook and it’s gotten a slew of fascinating responses.
2. That, my friend, will raise you to ROCKSTAR status in my book!
3. Button pins, stickers, and magnets not included.
4. Shirt styles included in the offer are the ringer tees, plain white tees, and tank tops.

‘Andong Agimat’ to the US film mart
By Bayani San Diego Jr.

MANILA, Philippines — Unitel head Tony Gloria has a new baby.

“This is my pet project,” he says of “Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat,” a popular graphic novel by prize-winning author/illustrator Arnold Arre.

Gloria has acquired the rights to “Andong,” which he plans to produce into either a feature film or a TV series. Or both.

“It can start as a feature film and we can later turn it into a TV series,” he says.

For the role of Andong, Gloria is eyeing Robin Padilla.

“He’s not your typical hero. Andong’s a loner and an ex-convict,” he explains.

Unitel is preparing an audio-visual presentation on “Andong,” which Gloria will screen at the American Film Market, running from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 in Santa Monica, California.

(You can read the entire article on the Inquirer site or in my Multiply blog)

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As you can tell, I am beyond happy that Arn and his fantastic book² are getting the recognition they deserve.³

If you haven’t read it yet⁴, “Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat” is available at leading bookstores (Fully Booked, Powerbooks, National) and comic book outlets.

Related entries:
- Si Andong Agimat, andito na!
- More Andong, more projects.
- Si Andong Agimat, parating na!

New blog for Andong Agimat:
- http://andongagimat.blogspot.com

1. Although of course family & close friends have known about it for a couple of months now.
2. Ok, biased since I’m the wife, but I strongly think that Andong is one of the most ORIGINAL takes on the Pinoy superhero out there.
3. Much thanks go to Mr. Gloria, Unitel, and Arn’s agent Dennis Cruz. (:
4. Huwaaaat????

I first became aware of Aussie rocker Ben Lee’s music via the album “Breathing Tornados” 9 years ago¹, way before Grey’s Anatomy ladled out Catch My Disease for global consumption, and since then he was always one of the artists whose releases I would anticipate. I can’t say that I like all of his songs — there are a few that I just don’t get — but I like the earnestness of his music in general, and in my opinion the albums “Breathing Tornadoes”, “Awake is the New Sleep”, and “Hey You, Yes You” have produced some really good pop rock gems.²
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So anyway I was able to get an advance copy³ of his 2007 album “Ripe” (slated for release on September 18, er today) and was pleasantly treated to what I think is his BEST work to date, I kid you not⁴. Lyrically and melodically, none of the melancholy in his previous, post-Claire album is present and what you will hear is a chirpy Ben, singing happily away about what might be mundane to some — the birds and the bees, American television, Jay-Z, and love sweet love — but with an apparent depth and soulfulness that merits repeated playbacks. Like the title implies, he demonstrates that he is indeed “Ripe”: now less experimental arrangement-wise, riskier lyrics-wise, and obviously ready to offer his heart again. Yet, like anyone who’s been hurt, he exercises caution:
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So say you’ll stay
Promise I won’t go
There’s just one thing
I really need to know
Is this how love’s supposed to feel?
Is this how love’s supposed to feel?
“Is this how love’s supposed to feel?”
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But submits to his heart in the end.

I’m tired of being alone
I wanna take you home
“Home”
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It’s a feel-good offering and a great album to play over and over (like I’ve been doing this past couple of weeks) while working or driving⁵.
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My personal picks are Numb, Ripe, Is This How Love’s Supposed to Feel, Birds and Bees — a cute duet with, gasp, Mandy Moore!, the very catchy What Would Jay-Z Do? and Sex Without Love, and the impossibly romantic Home and Love Me Like The World is Ending.⁶
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On that note, why don’t I leave you with a video of one of my favorite tracks.

1. aka the Claire Danes years
2. Some of my favorites in no specific order are No Room to Bleed, Gamble Everything For Love, Away With the Pixies, Cigarettes Will Kill You, Pop Queen, and We’re All In This Together.
3. Sigh I love the internet.
4. That is, if you like happy music like I do.
5. or, say, whiling away time at Facebook.
6. Gadzooks, I almost wrote down the entire tracklist. That’s how much I love the album.