Huh? Is it time for my once-a-month entry already? I hardly even noticed February creep in because I was [see subject heading]¹ with:
1. A website for a very talented Cake Artist. Can’t show you the new site yet but I will soon because I want you to see her beautiful handiwork. UPDATE: It’s almost live, friends. You can take a peek if you like 🙂
2. Another album packaging project. It’s here².
3. Illustrating and designing for merchandise not just for *cough plug cough* Poptastic³ but also for a well-loved blogger/writer who’s coming up with her line of products soon. Sorry but that’s all I can say about that for now. 😉
4. And now that it’s Feb, I have to start working on the layouts for a new publication by the same team that’s brought you Wedding Essentials called “WE Destinations”. Watch out for it in April! 😀
That said, it’s likely that my next “well-planned”⁴ blog entry will be in April.
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Please also watch out for the latest issue of Cast, due out this week –written by Jamie Bautista, drawn by my hubby. I’ve read the issue and it totally rocks! I like the series because it has the feel of Veronica Mars (and I mean that in a good way, you know I’m a fan) only without the murder. Here’s the ad starring some, well, very familiar faces:

Click to launch the ad in a separate window
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And because Arn and I are terribly hooked and cannot (and will not) be stopped from talking about it, here’s a link to the unofficial Heroes blog by director/producer Greg Beeman. Warning: there are a few spoilers in there but it’s worth visiting because of the interviews, behind-the-scenes photos and very entertaining director’s commentary.

Photo swiped from aforementioned blog.
No matter how busy we are, we make it a point to set aside an hour every Tuesday, Pacific standard time, to watch the latest episode⁵. Arn’s even gone as far to say that the superhero concept will never be seen the same way again. If you haven’t seen it yet, please do yourselves a favor and watch the first episode on Wednesday at 9pm, Star World. You will LOVE it. 🙂

1. And I was in 3rd year college when that song was all the rage with the new wave crowd. Do the math if you like.[ back]
2. Oh please don’t say we’ve sold out, we already know that. We just never say no to SonyBMG because they’re wonderful people and are like family to us.[ back]
3. check out our new Heroes-inspired designs![ back]
4. As opposed to this one which is 90% written from stream of consciousness[ back]
5. Hot off good ol’ Isohunt[ back]

Hello, I hope you can support the following projects that my Arn recently worked on¹
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• Cast 10: Issue 10 of the charming Nautilus Comics series that revolves around the lives of high school stage play actors. Story by Jamie Bautista, art by Arnold Arre.
• Graphic Classics: Jack London volume 2. Arn illustrated the somewhat tragic Jack London story “The Wit of Porportuk”, adapted by Tom Pomplun.
• Bandang Pinoy, Lasang Hotdog. A re-issue of the original Hotdog Tribute album which was first released in 2001. The line-up includes all of Hotdog’s best-known, well-loved songs and a host of today’s hottest bands.

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I was supposed to write a travelogue about our trip but work got the better of me and so I only managed to make the following articles²:

• The Ghibli Museum in Mitaka
• NHK Studio Park in Shibuya

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We’re currently putting together the 5th issue of Wedding Essentials and the articles and features are pretty amazing as always³ so for the brides-to-be reading this, I hope you’ll watch out for it. 🙂
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Here are a few photos to whet your appetite⁴:
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Among the perks of being freelance is that Arn and I can work anytime of the day and still be able to squeeze in some R&R like an occasional movie (or grocery) date, coffee with a gal pal at a nearby mall, dinner with a best bud, the odd blog entry, and the once-in-a-blue-moon-thank-goodness-for-Nest-for-making-it-happen night out with old friends.
[Soundtrack of the night: opening riff of The Final Countdown]⁵
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The bunch in front of the spanking new Blow-up Babies branch at Serendra: Buddy, Earnest, Myrene, Arn, Lia, Raimund, and Quark
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The “shiny happy people” shot. We contemplated having dinner at “Abe: Where Good Friends Dine” but it was just so given, diba?
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Because Cupcakes by Sonja was closed for a private function (hmph!), we ended up having dessert at Cafe Mary Grace which actually turned out to be a great idea (You have to try their Tsoknut Tsokolate, it’s a yummyness!). This photo was taken before the waitress recognized Quark⁶ and asked to take photos with him. A few minutes later, she also recognized Budz and Raims⁷ and then asked to take pictures with them and eventually the whole group hehe.
UPDATE: Coolness, Nest has a complete recap of the shiny, happy night out including the dialogue between Jona (the very friendly girl who waited on us — Ms. Mary Grace, in case you’re reading this: she’s a keeper!), Quark, and Budz when she realized who they were, hehe. Clicky click, velly funny.

1. I only played supporting roles in these projects — you know, scanning, photoshop and layout/FA work. It’s really me hubby’s show. 😉[ back]
2. They’re quite detailed so if you’re planning a trip to Japan, be sure to check em out before you go.[ back]
3. Kudos to Marbs and the girls! And as always, I hope to do them justice with the design and layouts.[ back]
4. I’ve to be careful not to give away too much to avoid dealing with copycats flatterers. Remember?.[ back]
5. Tinenenent… tinenentnentnent! Pasensya na, panahon namin ito.[ back]
6. “Wag Kang Lilingon“! He’s also directing two films for the MMFF — “Super Noypi” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. Show him some love and watch his films, yeah.[ back]
7. Who were bandmates in… Rivermaya! Ahehehe. 😉[ back]

Non-trad ad for The Yoga Center.

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In Non-traditional Advertising, ads are strategically positioned in the most unexpected places e.g. the sidewalk, a manhole cover, and as in the brilliant¹ example above, a straw. The trick is in fusing your big idea with the 3D properties of the medium without making the proposition seem contrived². On that note, I stumbled upon this really cool collection of Creative Ads Around The World I thought you might enjoy!

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UPDATE: Mr. Katana of Hemmy.net is the real creator of the Creative Ads list, and not the webmaster of Eglobe1 like I originally linked to. Apparently Onion82 of Eglobe stole Mr. Katana’s entry and is passing it off as his³. Read more about it here.

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Heyheyhey, why don’t you deck out your windows with these dooper-cute Halloweenie windsocks our good friends Nina and Carlo designed⁴ :

They’re available in Maxitoylab Alabang Town Center and Maxiworks Powerplant Mall in Rockwell. They’re made of nylon, are 2.5 feet in length and 18 inches in diameter, and cost P150 each. Grab one now, yes?
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It’s been said time and again that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Last July, our 2-year old magazine Wedding Essentials came out with a Special Issue called WE Beautiful Weddings featuring 25 real wedding stories and photos submitted and written by actual brides. We even included a “supplier box” listing down all the vendors each couple worked with.

Remember?

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Fast forward to this month: look what our more-than-5-year-old rival mag did. For their, um, version, they also asked brides to write the stories themselves — something WE has been doing since the very first issue. At least the art direction is different but the overall concept and format was copied right down to the supplier box.⁵) Well, well, well, how utterly flattering! 😉
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So if you love WE, pretty please wait for our next issue and do feel free to take a peek at the behind-the-scenes action via my phlog.

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Arn and I will be away from home⁶ for a couple of weeks but I’ll see if I can post from where we’ll be. Seeya. 🙂

1. It’s so simple, it makes you go “why didn’t I think of that?”[ back]
2. I’ve actually seen it employed locally, some better executed than others though, but it’s good to know that the brand people are becoming more open to the non-conventional approach.[ back]
3. Sigh, aren’t we all victims of intellectual property thievery lately.[ back]
4. They’re sooo cute! I’m guessing that sock #s 1, 3, 4, and 5 are by Nina and #s 2 and 6 are by Carlo, correct?[ back]
5. The only difference is that ours was a true labor of love and not something borne out of marketing warfare. ;[ back]
6. …and our dear little Abbas 🙁[ back]