Sigh, my only excuse for not updating except is that I’ve been preoccupied¹. Anyway, here are a few notes:
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* It’s been out for a while but here’s a plug nonetheless: our mag Wedding Essentials came out with the annual Beautiful Weddings issue last month. It features 25 real-life weddings, over 75 wedding element inspirations, plus over 200 pages of articles, tips, and everything there is to know about planning your big day! Please do grab a copy now, it retails for a very reasonable P200. 🙂

You can see a bigger photo of the cover here, and view the launch party pics here.
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* You can find a couple of artworks by Arn in the September and October issues of Rogue mag² one’s an illustration for our dear Quark Henares‘ really funny article about meeting Sarah Silverman and the other’s for Quark’s Quentin Tarantino fanboy chronicles.

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* A sister publication³, Imagine Magazine‘s maiden issue is now out. It’s the new, innovative fashion and design glossy by the team behind the i section of the Manila Bulletin. A high-end, 280-page glossy, Imagine takes fashion coverage to the next level, following the trends in international fashion publishing, where fashion is treated as an exhilaration of an art form, and a magazine serves both as a portfolio and an idea platform. .

There’s an article on Arn in this issue⁴ penned by no less than one of our favorite writers in the world, Luis Katigbak.
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* I was invited to judge for this year’s NU Rock Awards, yes exactly 10 years after I won one. I initially thought that I was only judging for the album packaging design category; it turns out I had to pick winners for the other sections as well. Gasp! The result: a night of cram-listening to all the finalists’ albums because I wanted to be fair to these musicians⁵ and make the right decisions after all.

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* We managed to squeeze in a week of R&R in Hong Kong. I’ve been there tons⁶ of times before for leisure with either family or friends and mostly for work⁷ but it was my first time to go with Arn so we allowed ourselves to “do the touristy”. 🙂

More here.
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1. With this, this, this, this, and this.[ back]
2. A new-ish cutting-edge literary lifestyle magazine for the modern and might I say intelligent Filipino man.[ back]
3. Meaning they also belong to Manila Bulletin’s roster of magazines.[ back]
4. Which we haven’t seen because we haven’t gotten a copy yet, oops![ back]
5. Never mind if I only got to hear of some of them and their music for the first time last Sunday night.[ back]
6. Also because I’m old na.[ back]
7. When you’re in the advertising biz, going to Hong Kong becomes just like going to Cebu or Baguio. Most post-prod work is done there.[ back]

Just in case you heard rumors about it through the extremely tiny Metro Manila grapevine, please allow us to finally confirm that yes, it’s true: Unitel Productions acquired the film rights to Arn‘s 2006 graphic novel “Ang Mundo ni Andong Agimat”. We couldn’t announce it formally¹ until they released the press release. The following came out in today’s Inquirer:

‘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.[ back]
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.[ back]
3. Much thanks go to Mr. Gloria, Unitel, and Arn’s agent Dennis Cruz. (:[ back]
4. Huwaaaat????[ back]