Ni Hao Ma, Kindle!

1) Given China's "reputation for duplication," time would come when Amazon's Kindle reader would find its long-lost Asian twin. And it has--welcome the WeFound. Check it out at DVice.com.

2) So the line between genius and insanity gets thinner by the day. A study carried out in Hungary establishes a link between artistry and schizophrenia, through a lone gene called neuregulin 1 that's involved in brain development. Read about it in NewScientist.com.

3) Speaking of brain-behavior connections, people predisposed to lying through their teeth can now blame their brain goo. Scientists have discovered that pathological liars have more white matter and less grey matter than...umm... normal people. Read about it in Seed Magazine.

4) In pop music, the Black Eyed Peas continued their supreme run at the top of the Billboard charts. Their single "I Gotta Feeling," which replaced "Boom Boom Pow" at the top spot weeks ago, is still at #1. Hannah Montana and Mariah Carey make high-flying debuts with their latest singles, landing on #10 and #11 respectively. Montana's "He Could Be The One" is the latest single from her television series' third soundtrack album, while Carey's "Obssessed," is the first release off her upcoming album "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel." See the latest Billboard singles chart.

5) How would Charlie Brown and Homer Simpson look like if they were real people? Pretty amazing illustrations over at Drawn.com.

Not a bank glitch

Looks like the discrepancy in my bank account was the result of human error--mine. *sigh* I hate getting frazzled. The greater the stress, the more the memory gap grows. I believe this is called a senior moment.

Really really really really cool...

CLICK HERE.

Bank glitch?

Do recall that my wallet was stolen on the afternoon of June 28th. I promptly called the customer service hotline of the bank to get my ATM account suspended until I could get a replacement. Confident that no one could touch what little money I had, I went to the bank branch the next day. After filling out the requisite forms, the new accounts person told me to pick up my new ATM card the following week.

I got my card last Monday, and was told to wait for 24 hours before checking my account balance.

So imagine my surprise when I checked my account yesterday--it was about a few thousand pesos less than what I had. How could that be, I thought? When I called last June 28, the bank's customer service rep confirmed that my account balance didn't change, so why was there a deduction?

I called the customer service hotline again this morning to report the discrepancy. Even the customer service rep had the tone of surprise when she checked the records. Unfortunately, she said, the information about activity in my account could only be checked on another server which was undergoing a "system upgrade."

So I'll call them again. Hopefully, this is all just a glitch.

(Image from hackedgadgets.com)

Beginning Stages

I was lying in bed when I was inspired to do this--I was given instructions to simply depict a comic book creator. You'll soon find out where this will come out. But, for now, I just wanted to share a behind-the-scene peek of how I do things. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

When a kiss isn't just a kiss

1) So couples can't kiss each other on the cheek when they're near a Mormon church? Security guards of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked gay couple Matt Aune and Derek Jones to leave Main Street Plaza in Salt Lake City soon after catching Aune giving Jones a kiss on the cheek. Church spokesperson Kim Farah said the couple was "asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior just as any other couple would have been." When the couple became argumentative, they were detained. Read the full story in the Salt Lake City Tribune.

2) New words, such as carbon footprint, shawarma, webisode and frenemy have been added to the 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. Strangely, the word missalette --that booklet we've been using for ages in church ceremonies-- gets its first appearance since the dictionary was first published at the turn of the 20th century. See 25 of the new words through Merriam-Webster Online.

3) New reports reveal that the title role for 2010's Green Lantern film adaptation will be The Proposal's oh-so-dreamy Ryan Reynolds. So what happens to the Deadpool movie? Will there be a Deadpool movie?

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The NBDB Book Club invited me to moderate their July 25 session which will feature Budjette Tan and Ka-Jo Baldisimo's Trese. Without batting an eyelash, I accepted the invite. So I will be at the Philippine Heritage Library on the 25th at 2pm. A nice reason to go to Makati.

Interesting Stuff

1) The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown's new novel featuring another Robert Langdon adventure now has a cover, released by the publisher last Tuesday. If we must judge a book by its cover, the new novel is set in the United States capital, “though it’s a Washington few will recognize,” said editor Jason Kaufman. Is this Dan Brown's version of National Treasure? See the new cover through the New York Times website.

2) A Sacramento, California schoolteacher gave fifth grade students a birds-and-bees orientation when a DVD she distributed to them contained a sex video starring herself. The DVD was supposed to only contain footage of the school's events during the past year, and the sensitive material snuck in reportedly by mistake. Seems like lotsa people have lately been making mistakes with their sex videos. Read the rest on the Snafu-ed blog.

3) Matthew Vaughn's big-screen adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.'s ultra-violent comic book Kick-Ass is well under way, even though the final issues of the limited-run comic book haven't been released. In a July 8 entry over at the MTV Splash Page blog, Romita Jr. revealed that he still has to get started on the 8th issue, which concludes the series. So now we have a book and a film adaptation being produced at the same time--I hope it doesn't start a trend.

Sk-Etching!

I was at the Summit Studio earlier today for a photo shoot. Client wanted a catalog insert in one of Summit's women's magazines, and I was at the shoot to help out. I think I've mentioned before that directing models isn't my forte, but necessity is the mother of invention after all. Last week, I helped out directing Dingdong Dantes for another client, and the session turned out well.

So far, I've been on "reality show" mode when it comes to my job. When an assignment comes in, I think of it as a reality show challenge, and I articulate the assignment--complete with commentary--in reality show style. For instance:

"Today, one of the big bosses of the company called me up for a special assignment. I was supposed to design a new publication that would tie in to an existing website. This isn't the first time I've been assigned to design a new publication--the last one was a bit traumatic for me because I spent a lot of time on it, only to learn later that it wouldn't push through. But the company had a good reason for discontinuing the project. I just felt bad because I think I did a good job in my design despite the quick turnaround. I've always wanted to design a major publication from scratch, so I hope this new assignment would get through. It'll be great for the portfolio."

Anyway, I digress...

While waiting for the hairstylist to finish primping the model, I itched to sketch, resulting in the above piece. You could tell that I couldn't get her out of my head. For the past nights, I would be drawn to my drawing desk and, seemingly possessed, sketch out scenes. Voices have started to whisper again in my head. New ideas. New insights. New ways to tell old things. On pieces of loose bond I'd do panels and add word balloons, containing the stuff of melodrama. "Paano ko susundan ang isang pangarap na matagal na akong iniwanan, na may mukhang 'di ko na natatandaan?" Mush like that.

I hope this is a good sign. I hope this means something. Not just "eching."

Comics-Related

Apparently, there's a book club backed by the National Book Development Board (NBDB), the Philippine "government agency mandated to develop and support the Philippine book publishing industry." For the month of July, the NDBD Book Club chose Budjette Tan and Ka-Jo Baldisimo's supernatural detective series Trese as their featured piece. A forum with the creators will be held on July 25 (Saturday) at 2:00pm at the Philippine Heritage Library in Makati. Congratulations to Budjette and Ka-Jo! Woot woot!

On that same day, a comic book creation seminar will take place in Cebu, to be led by the super-talented John Amor and Harvey Tolibao. The seminar will be held at the Teo-Fel Pension House (Oliva-Perez Building, Junquera Extension, near PCGS (Philippine Christian Gospel School). Come one, come all (kahit hindi kayo taga-Cebu)!

Stolen

For my 1000th post, I would like to make a public service announcement:

Earlier this afternoon at the Robinsons Metro East Grand Mall, my wallet and mobile phone were stolen. So contacting me through mobile would be impossible until I secure a new phone and number.

Naturally, I have been sorely inconvenienced.

That's the problem with mall shows featuring major stars--there ought to be regulation prohibiting such events in venues too small. The multipurpose area of Robinsons Metro East Grand Mall could not hold the crowd, particularly this crowd who wanted to see Robin Padilla. It was a stampede waiting to happen.

My pockets were low (about knee-high) and deep and even had flaps over them. Whoever picked them must have been really vertically-challenged, or a kid. And very experienced with crowds, seeing the sardine-can proceedings as an opportunity.

And to think all I wanted to do was grocery shopping and buying a gift for my nephew. He turned seven today.