i think i’m in love with…

chibi! how cute can you get?

Characters from Maria-sama ga Miteru, White Rose family. Wish I knew who the artist was.

Buffy #22 – Swell (cover art by Jo Chen)

Amazing likeness for Kennedy! Jo Chen nails it again. And Satsu, whoa, she’s looks so butch here, in a very good way. Can’t wait for the release date!

Issue summary:

“Vampires are the hottest thing around — forget hipsters; being a bloodsucking fiend is where’s it’s at! Slayers must take the good fight underground if they’re to avoid any bad press from the general public.

When Kennedy is sent to Japan to evaluate Satsu’s efforts as team leader, they are taken by surprise by some fierce furry creatures who want to do nothing more than destroy Buffy (surprise!), while Twilight remains the captain of the anti-Slayer ship. Steven S. DeKnight (Angel, Smallville, Dollhouse) teams with series artist Georges Jeanty in “Swell.”

guys, meet my newest crush…

Si Jo Chen! OMG, ang cuuuuute!

I had no idea she was this pretty. Basta alam ko lang ang ganda ng art nya sa Buffy comics covers. See her MySpace page for samples of her work (there’s slideshow on the right, where I got all these pics. sorry, Jo!): http://www.myspace.com/jochencomics

Eto nagbebenta ng posters sa convention. Hehehe. Astig ng pose.

Lastly, dito kasama nya si Joss Whedon, creator ng Buffy. Yung background ay cover ng first issue ng Buffy Season 8 Comics na gawa ni Jo. Cool. \m/

OK, tama na muna, baka paluin na ko ng isa dyan. Haha.

you gotta have Faith!

After an experience at the Pasay City Post Office I’d rather forget, I’m now in possession of my long-awaited Buffy Season 8 Comics Volume 2. Yes, in case you didn’t know it yet, Buffy lives! The comics picks up where the TV series left off. Yup, that’s me. Kulot pag bagong ligo. Happiness!

This volume is a compilation of Issues #6-10, featuring Faith’s four-part arc “No Future for You” and the cryptic one-shot “Anywhere But Here”. One of the things I love about it are the covers created by Jo Chen. She really hits the mark with the characters’ likeness and personality. Here they are in the series for comparison :

One word: TENSION.

Now, on to the covers. This one below is for Issue #6 which, in my view, completely captures Faith – the rogue slayer stuck in Buffy’s shadow. It’s like saying, “Move over, b!tch. It’s my turn.” And though I like Buffy, I can’t help but cheer Faith on.

This second cover is for Issue #8, and it’s a solid illustration of their love-hate relationship. There was a lesbian subtext between them in Season 3, but things got complicated.

And this cover for the arc’s finale, wherein she burns her formal dress as an act of rebellion. Hmmm… naked Faith. Can’t think. Too darn hot.

At kapag natapos na yung exams ni TQ, yung Volume 1 naman!

Goodbye, CTS

It’s the end of an era.

My old account, the one I used to work in, has been officially given notice by The Client that it’s not renewing the contract for next year. This means over 100 people will have to look for other accounts within the company, or leave altogether.

Part of me is sad, because I was with Batch 1. We were pioneers who built the account from 70 people up to about 300 during its peak. Twice we were hailed as being #1 Technical Support site, the Best of Breed around the world. After I left, the number of people dwindled to almost half of what it once was. The most competent people had left the company, and no one could really blame them. Management sucked. Big time.

The surest way to fail is to neglect your employees, especially if it’s a service-oriented business wherein your employees, or their talents, are basically your product. I’ve been an agent, an RS, and a QA. Although I would have been a shoo-in for a TC position (a manager), I never applied. Too much politics down that path. I’m happy I stayed with the Quality Department during most of my tenure, because I feel like I grew a lot and learned a lot. Plus, I had many, many friends. QA rocks!

I made a comic strip over at the HoyPinoy! webcomic about call center agent stress. Go have a look.

HoyPinoy! we’re not anorexic, just hungry

A few weeks ago I told you about the development of Project HP, a webcomic I was cooking up inspired by XKCD. Well, now I’m proud to announce that I’m ready to launch it. Friends, may I present to you… HoyPinoy!

Go on, click on the image below and tell me what you think.

work, new comics, and more work

I’m very positive about work. Celine and I sat down to meet regarding business plans and so far I’m happy about how everything has been going. We’re doing this regularly from now on, ala “PU” (or program update, as we used to call it in the office), complete with reports and deliverables. I’m doing all the Excel charts later for analytics. Yes, I am a nerd.

Earnings could use a little push, but if you think about it, since I no longer spend for daily cab fare or buy food outside, things even themselves out. Robert Kiyosaki was right: “It’s not how much you earn. It’s how much you save.” Amen. Now, if they could just speed up printing my ID so I can actually get my money at the bank. *sigh*

Anyway…

There’s another project I’m excited about, and it’s a Pinoy slice-of-life webcomic (let’s call it Project HP). Minimalist, I should say, inspired by xkcd, which I found on mogli’s website. Read it and die laughing. Of course, Gay Balls of Fire has always been an inspiration. Target launch would be end of this month. I still need to get a domain name c/o the gf’s sister. Right now I have 10 ideas for the first issues and I’ve finished sketching 8 of them already. It’s fun!

maus: a survivor’s tale

Jews depicted as mice, and Germans as cats, caught in a very deadly game called World War II. it’s a biographical story set mostly in war-torn Poland, drawn in plain comic strip fashion. this unassuming two-volume saga was conferred the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1992, and for good reason.

it’s portrayal of a Jew that survived the nightmare of Hitler’s mass killings during the Holocaust is so brutally honest that one can’t help but be engrossed in the story. you suddenly find yourself right there, inside the concentration camp at Auschwitz, forced into slave labor and waiting to be gassed. you cheer everytime the characters cleverly find ways and means to evade the German soldiers, and you breathe a little harder when you read the tales of tragedy. i still can’t get them out of my head.

if you ever wondered what really happened during that war, don’t bother with the history books. more than dates, numbers, and famous figures, Maus gives you a first person account of what it’s like to actually live through it, and survive. it’s the sort of book you read and never quite forget.

math: the universal language

i think i found the key to world peace.

don’t you just love math?