Longtime readers of this blog should know that I just love Posy Simmonds‘ work (… in fact I not-so-secretly wish to be able to do what she does, sigh) so imagine my delight when I learned that she has a new serialized strip called Tamara Drewe at the Guardian Online. What a treat!

It was really Ramon and Neva who introduced me to Ms. Simmonds via Gemma Bovery and I’ve since armed myself with what I could afford of her stuff — well, apart from the Gemma hardcover I found for half-off at Strand, it’s just this one actually (sheepish smile).

Well, I would love to build a collection of her work on my side of the bookshelf and you can help me do that by buying from my shop. (;

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We were at the Komikon in UP last Saturday and it was great seeing and meeting all of Arn’s readers and fans and of course friends from the comic scene. No anime cosplays this time around, just 100% pure unadulterated Kon, and I must say it was quite well-executed — kudos to the organizers. There were contests for the best indie comics and other stuff and the highlight of the program was the Q&A onstage with guests of honor Gerry, Leinil and my Arnold. There are a few pics on our phlog.

Marco, Gerry, Elbert, and Tobie have chronicled the Kon day pretty well on their blogs so I urge you to click on their links for more pics and kwento.

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And because I still get search hits regarding the Itchyworms via this entry, here’s an SMS message from the guys to their fans:
#8 na po ang “Akin Ka Na Lang” sa Midnight Countdown. Please help push it to the #1 slot by texting NU MIDNIGHT AKIN KA NA LANG to 2299.

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From the forwarded email department: Mistula: the world’s first and the Philippines’ only doll rock band launches into a series of web updates that shall extend until December, starting this month with a redesign of the main site. [Go]

While I occupied myself designing t-shirts and whatnot, Arn was busy creating a card game to accompany his latest book The Mythology Class Special Collected Edition. The game is now available for download (for FREE!) at the Myth Class website so please do give it a try. It’s really fun, trust me, and is very easy to learn even if you haven’t had any experience playing CCGs.

You can also download the rules and decks via the following links:
– Adventure Deck, 1.3mb pdf file
– Character Deck , 412kb pdf file
– Creature Deck , 544kb pdf file
– Game Rules, 296kb pdf file

Once you’ve played it, please drop Arn a line. He’ll love to hear what you think. And if you’re going to the Komikon this Saturday, do drop by Arn’s booth and say hi. For sure we’ll be playing it there.

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Sigh, our skeds have been unbelievably crazy lately. I’m designing another album for Sony BMG and Marbee and I are currently working on the third issue of WE, set for release in a couple of months. Meanwhile, my Arn since coming back from Korea had already finished a project with Sheila and Mike for their agency in Singapore, and is currently working with the local counterpart of the sameagency on an illustration-heavy project. It’s amazing that we still find time to sleep!

The CafePress bug bit me hard so I made another shop, this time selling fun household items and apparel carrying playful Pinoy food prints like isaw, bibingka, sago’t gulaman and the like. Hope you can check it out. 😀

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Do you dig the itchyworms!? (We do!) There’s good news, their much-awaited 2nd album Noontime Show is out. It’s a steal at P250 and is probably the best local rock album Arn and I have listened to in a long time. It still has the itchies’ signature catchy melodies but their music and writing have matured in terms of style and substance. Apart from the early favorites “Buwan” and “Akin Ka Na Lang”, you have to listen closely to the lyrics of “Theme From Noontime Show” (hanggang dito na lang ba ang masa?), “Contestant #1” (kalahok sa kalokohan, kala mo ay panalo ka) and “Soap o Pera” (sa pangongopya lang ba tayo magaling?) and then say “hooray, it’s about time someone said something about the state of local TV programming!” A must-listen-to is “Production Number”, a 12-minute hodgepodge of snippets spoofing the different characters polluting noontime TV — it’s a riot!

UPDATE:Since I posted this entry, I’ve been receiving tons of hits via “Google Search: itchyworms akin ka na lang lyrics”. The correct link is here, peeps.

And as a bonus, here are really retro pics of them (c.1998 I think) from their early gigging days.