Print to Paint

went to my friend's exhibit last week as my part of supporting him in his path to dream achievement. he was one of the featured creators of what we call "indie" comics who had their characters done by different artists either in oil or as a sculpture. in his case, he got 3 versions of his super hero - estrella. i promised to be there and of course, i won't miss it. other than supporting my former roommate, i really was eyeing on the first issue of his comicbook which he told me he'll give as a gift :) he said he revamped the whole thing which i've read years ago in our boarding house. i asked if he could do a me character since we're friends and all. talk about connection. my character was released on book 2 but he had problems with the individuals that printed it so i was out of luck. jericho, promised though that he'll work on it and will have the reprints of the 2nd issue done. i joked if his work would reach amazon.

anyway, here are the art collection. if i had all the bucks in the world, i'll get them all but i'm just a simple employee who can just stare at them all.

i wasn't able to meet the artists who did them, well, except for the sculptor. i was with my office friends and they too were amazed of the art the place has. the event showcases of the philippine comicbook characters. some old, some new. there was even one who made a tribute to manny pacquiao.

nice work. but of all the frames i saw that time. this probably is my favorite:

the character's name is galema. she's the daughter of zuma (check the upper pic with the green guy who has 2 snake heads on his neck). if the father's snake's green, her's is white. i remember watching a movie when i was a kid about these two characters. zuma is the bad guy with super strength and all and nobody can defeat him, maybe thor, except his daughter. i faintly remember every detail but i'm sure there was his scene on the caves where she trapped his dad.

if i'm not mistaken, there are rumors about this character to be brought to life by a popular tv station here but haven't seen any latest updates. i would be cool. cooler if they'll make my friend's character - estrella a tv series as well. who knows, right?

btw, jericho used to appear on tv commercials before. i think my sister is a fan (heheh) but she'll never admit it but she always informs me whenever she see's him on the box.

Summer may be over but...

here's what happened during our (company) summer outing this month. we went to a place called eagle's point. located at anilao, batangas which is south of manila. the trip was around 2-3 hours. the weather is great. sun shining brightly which blends perfectly with the strong wind and water.

of course we swam

and ate a lot. lol!

part of the activity is playing games. of course our team won all of the prizes.

we were even lucky to be part of releasing the young turtles to the sea. when we got to the island there was this tv reporting who was covering it and our group was asked to join while the camera started recording the event. i tried holding one turtle and it felt like rubber. moving and wet rubber. but we were informed that although many are released only a few actually make it alive. either birds or big fishes eat them or us humans end their life.

anyway, summarizing everything that happened that day, i say it's the best summer outing with colleagues so far.

How do you extinguish a flame?

simple, you put a lot of monsters in there.

farewell, johny storm, aka, the human torch.

Sto Nino

santo means holy and niño is a small kid. yeah, we're talking about the baby version of jesus. of course, living here in the philippines meant lots and lots of festivities. for a place made up of more than 7000 islands, you'll see a lot of action.

i wanted to see the visaya's region celebration of festivities. i always visit iloilo when i was a kid summertime since my dad's parents live there but never have i seen how the place celebrates its fiesta. iloilo, cebu and bacolod are know to celebrate extravagantly the feast of sto. nino every january. you see a lot of dancing, drums, food, people, and yeah, different versions of baby jesus.

cebu, if i'm not mistaken, would be the start of such festivity as this is the place where magellan from spain set foot first time in the philippines and offered the sto nino to the locals there as their symbol of allegiance. next is history. locals became christians, our country was then called philippines and everything else followed.

anyway, to my luck, i wasn't able to book a flight nor reserve a room on that week. not really, really sad as this event is celebrated yearly so i'll just be early next year. so just imagine me smiling when a friend asked to me join them in celebrating the feast of their patron - none other than sto. nino, last week of january. i know that may not be the same as what happens on cebu but check out these:

of course, they were telling how awesome it will be but i never expected it to be this awesome. there were a lot of participants. everyone has their own unique design for the sto. nino - a police officer, sta. clause (with reindeers), classic look with long curly hair, a bird guy hero on tv, etc. 2 of them were carried by more than 10 guys. At some parts, they danced while carrying the arc. really awesome how they did it.

we also have this kind of event back home. actually, the celebration is  this week but i won't be able to go home. i have said yes to another event - the hot air balloon festival.