Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tuesdays #12

I thought I was gonna be able to blog during the week but pagod talaga.

I just came from Naga. Went around the Bicol region with my Tito Dennis and his team who were all awesome.

Here's what my itinerary was

415am - wake up for 630am flight
745am - arrival in Naga, head straight to Naga City Hall for press con
(NO BREAKFAST :( But thankfully they got us burgers, surprise sa car, haha)
9am - Public Market / Town Visits
230pm - Lunch
330pm - Courtesy call to Governor
4pm - 1st Radio Interview
430pm - Public Market
450pm - 2nd radio interview
515pm - more town visits
815pm - Interview for Inquirer
930pm - Dinner
1115pm - tulog na!!!

6am - wake up for 750 flight to Manila
850am - head to work in Makati

The campaign is no joke. Believe me. It's hard work. The one I posted is NOTHING compared to what my Mom, my Titas, and especially my Tito Noy are experiencing.

But malapit na!!! Crunch time!!!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Tuesdays #11

I was all set to blog about the NBA Playoffs but I was watching the news and couldn't help but talk about this whole Ampatuan thing. You see, the guy who's supposedly responsible for the Maguindanao massacre is endorsing my Tito Noy?

WOW. (Please note sarcasm) REALLY? SERIOUSLY?

No thanks!

Gee... I wonder why he suddenly decided to endorse Tito Noy?

Backtrack a few days and you have in the front page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer a picture of Ampatuan wearing ballers of Mr. Sipag and Tiyaga and Mr. Hakbang sa Kinabukasan.

That picture must have hit them bad...

You know what's funny? The lawyer of Ampatuan is married to the sister of Mr. Hakbang sa Kinabukasan... Mr. Gilbert Remulla who's in Manny Villar's Senate Slate.

Man. Politics can go like this huh? Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Well, I'm sorry but people aren't that stupid!

I'm expecting a lot of more BS in the days to come. It's imminent.

But I believe that good will prevail come May 10. :)

LABAN. LABAN. LABAN. :)

Monday, April 19, 2010

SUMMER KOMIKON 2010


I can't believe it's been a year already since the last Summer Komikon. It's insane! Time flies by just like that. It's always fun to attend these cons because you get to see work from local creators. You have to give respect to these men and women because here they are doing what they love.

People who say that Pinoy Komiks are gone and dead can go fly a kite! Pinoy Komiks are alive and kickin'! I love them because there's so much love and passion involved. Here you have people shelling out their hard earned money and photocopying their work and turning them into comic books!

The one I had to get was "Umlauts and Atom Bombs" by THE Gerry Alanguilan. I've said it before, if there's someone in the Philippines who epitomizes Komiks, it's him, Mr. Komikero himself. I loved the Mitch and Mischa story because it was very well written and drawn with a lot of heart. It just fit perfectly with the story. The dialogue was fantastic! It was actually I thought about from 2004-2007. You see Mitch and Mischa were talking about the next Star Trek film. Mitch wanted to live and see the next movie. As for me, I was afraid of the end of the world and I wouldn't be able to see Spider-Man 3!!! (But we all know how much of a disappointment Spidey 3 was right?) At least I got to see Iron Man and The Dark Knight!

Other than that, I got "Laban: A love story". I finally met the creator of the book, Jose Gamboa. I think he did a great job with the book. I told them that there were very minor corrections but it's all good. It was still an awesome comic book! Plus I really appreciated him doing it. My grandparents finally have a love story in comic book form! (Picture of me and Mr. Gamboa below)


The biggest surprise for me this Komikon was PUNNX! There are 2 issues and they are frikkin hilarious! JP Cuison and Dennis Nierra are the guys who are doing the funny comics. Now it's for mature readers but I tell you, the Pinoy comedy is there and I loved it! Mighty T is probably the funniest! Guys, pick up Punnx because this stuff is gold! You can see them at http://punnxkomix.blogspot.com

I also got "Riddle of Nowhere" from my friend Apol Sta. Maria. He was the guy who did "Ang alamat ng Panget". It's not a comic book, it's actually a book of riddles. He was the one who did the art and seeing his work in colored form is pretty amazing!

I'm just sad that I wasn't able to see my friends who are usually at the cons. Harvey, Carlo, and Jason weren't there plus what made me more sad was that I missed Yvette Tan's work!!! Grrr!!! But I was happy to have finally met Mr. Jonas Diego. He was the guy who did the NOYNOY webcomic :)

KOMIKON brings a lot of new talent each and every year. It's 100% Pinoy and I'm proud to have been attending these events. I have a deadline actually... Next year, I'll be releasing my comic :)

Now after this, I can only think of setting up like a comic book society here in Metro Manila. Probably like a once a month thing. Just discussing comics! Anyone up for it? Let me know!

Anyway, see ya in the funnybooks! :D

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The IMPORTANT thing to note on MAY 10, 2010

Hi guys!


May 10, 2010 coming up VERY VERY soon! You excited to vote? Don't get too excited, we're very concerned on all the PCOS machines and all but do you know WHERE you're going to vote? WHEN you're going to vote? HOW you're going to vote?


My friend Cels went through A LOT to get all these information. I was asked to RE-BLOG this so all the credit goes to her.


Anyway, PLEASE PLEASE read the text below on HOW to vote. BE INFORMED!!! :)


Thanks again to Cels! :D


================================


Hi everyone,
May 10th is coming up in a few weeks and this date for elections is our big chance to put into government those who are competent and trustworthy enough to make the best decisions for our country and people.
Instead of trying to convince you who I think you should be voting for, I wanted to talk about how we can make sure each of our votes literally and technically, count. Our country’s new Automated Election System is only automated as far as counting and tallying is concerned. But the actual voting process is all you, and that’s pretty much manually done.
Lots of buzz is going around about a possible failure of election because of the machines, hacking, etc. etc. etc. You can read up about system security here: http://www.ibanangayon.ph/?q=content/faq and thought I don’t know myself how this is all going to pan out, what I know is that the chance of a failure of elections will be larger if a good percentage of us don’t show up at the voting stations because we have our doubts about the system, or if most of us vote incorrectly.
So let’s focus our energies at knowing how we can all make sure as individuals that we come out and vote, and that our own ballot is done correctly, because this is what we control.
Let’s make May 10th count by making sure we know how to vote (not just wisely, but correctly).

0.     Know your voting precinct. It may have changed from where you usually vote because each precinct gets only ONE PCOS machine (the device used to count votes), so bigger precincts may have been distributed to other precincts this year.
Enter your details at http://www.comelec.gov.ph/precinctfinder/precinctfinder.aspx to know your precinct for sure.
1.     Present a valid, government-issued I.D. to the Board of Election table upon arrival at the precinct. They will give you a special voting pen and ballot folder.
Accepted IDs are voter’s ID, driver’s license, passport, SSS, etc.
2.     Proceed to the voting booth. Don’t rush. Shade the ovals next to your chosen candidates completely and carefully so the machine can read it. Do not fold or make any other marks on the ballot. No erasures may be made on the ballot. Make sure your hands are clean and dry and that you’re not sweating over the ballot sheet (pasmado much?) too. THIS IS IMPORTANT. We have to make absolutely sure the machine doesn’t reject it over such technicalities like this. YOU ONLY GET ONE BALLOT.
3.     Don’t over vote! Though it may be fun to shade circles, we only shade: 1 slot for President, 1 slot for VP, 12 slots for senators, 1 congressman, 1 partylist, 1 governor (provincial), a number of provincial councilors depending on population size (provincial), 1 mayor, and a number of city councilors depending on population size. Shading one too many circles will render that particular section invalid. So if you shaded for 13 senators instead of 12, none of them will get your vote – but the rest of your ballot will be valid.
However, you can under vote. So if you choose to vote for only 8 out of 12 senators, all 8 candidates will get your vote. In the instances you decide to abstain from voting for a particular position, just leave the entire section unshaded.
It would be good to have a kodigo or sample ballot with you. You can download a sample of the ballot for your voting district here: http://www.comelec.gov.ph/2010%20National_Local/ballot_templates.html
4.     When you are done voting, proceed to the PCOS machine. Feed your ballot into the machine (any side up), like you would a crisp P20 bill into a vending machine. When you’ve gotten the ballot in there properly, the machine will print you a receipt. Smile and say thanks!
5.     Return to the BOE desk to give back the folder and pen and get your right thumb inked.

Success! It really wasn’t so hard, right?
The elderly, handicapped, and illiterate may be assisted by a family member from the voting booth all the way until the PCOS machine.
I anticipate there may be people at the voting precinct holding up the line because they are unsure of how to go about this new process. Think of it as 300 people waiting in line at the ATM, all of them having no clue what to do when it’s their turn. Help them along with these guidelines.
Hope you can help me pass on this information to your friends, family, colleagues, household help, church, barangay, etc. etc.
It may be one vote, but it is one vote. Let’s help make all the one votes count!
Thank you for reading this! And to those political mudslingers who spam my cellphone inbox at 3am, you guys are scumbags!

Cheers,
Cels

PS: I’m not affiliated with the COMELEC or any poll watch group, so everything here is summarized from:

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tuesdays #10

I'm not the most religious guy nor am I that holy. But I am faithful and I believe in my faith.

We can't explain some things. God has plans. But we can't help but question some things. When you feel you've been blocked or the door's been closed. Think again, for all you know, all you need is to knock on the door again. It's during our hardest time that our faith is tested. But you just gotta have the faith man. Hope for the best. God will never let you down.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

WEIRD... But cool at the same time :)


NEVER IN MY LIFE DID I THINK THIS WOULD HAPPEN. SERIOUSLY.

Going to work and seeing this at the Boni MRT Station is weird. I was asked how I felt. I said that it's not everyday you get to see yourself in a billboard. It's weird but cool.

So here it is. I'm proud to show this to you guys. It's my very first endorsement :) I'm not uploading this on Twitpic because some readers wanted me to blog about this. I'm sorry if I'm showing this. I'm not bragging but I'm pretty proud of this. :) Never thought this would happen. It's unreal!

I just say thanks to the compliments sent to me through text. I'm still the same old Jiggy with his feet put firmly on the ground. :)

Please do visit L TIMESTUDIO if you can. Check out the watches because they're absolutely COOL!!!

Tita Kris is also pretty proud of this. She texted me "Yehey! It's out na! Cute!" She's a pretty supportive Tita to her pamangkins. Believe me. She's the coolest Tita. :)

My friends were telling me that I need a picture with the billboard. Like I said, it's not everyday...

:D

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

To the one reading and following this blog

Dear Reader,

Let me thank you for reading this. Never in a million years did I think I'd get a following in the Tangled Web. Sure I don't get 50,000 hits a day but you still read this and it means a lot! Especially to the ones who comment. I appreciate it! I feel the interaction and it's amazing!

I never thought I'd be inspirational/influential. I don't deserve it. I don't see myself coming across to you as someone interesting really. I'm just an average joe.

But the comments really mean a lot to me. At least I'm making sense in a way. Well, you confirm to what I say right?

I admit, my blog has gotten boring the past few months. I know. I've been really stressed. But all in due time, I'll be back as the guy who blogs about anything under the sun.

I'm thinking of doing interviews for this blog. Any suggestions? :)

Anyway, you can tweet me anytime @jiggycruz on Twitter. I'll do my best to reply.

Again, thanks for reading this! If you see me around, do say hi :) Just say you followed The Tangled Web :)

Jiggy

Tuesdays #9

I was thinking about a topic to put tonight and I just got it from my girlfriend. She was telling me that it's sad seeing the comment that I was burning out.

The past few months have been very very very difficult for me at work. I'll be honest with you. There are days wherein I'm just really REALLY tired from the day. The stress levels can go high at times. But please don't get me wrong. That's how the corporate life is. I love my company and I love my team. That's life. "Walang paghihirap ang hindi natatapos". Eventually, everything will turn out fine.

Some signs that I'm loaded with work.

1. I haven't visited a comic book shop in a month
2. I haven't read any comics in weeks
3. I haven't seen a movie in 3 weeks
4. I skip lunch
5. I go home late and miss dinner

It's not nice I know. But that's the corporate life sometimes. I think my luck will change pretty soon. I'm praying hard...

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Saturday Morning Cartoons on a Saturday Night

I remember during the early 90's, every Saturday night, SkyCable used to carry ABC. I mean the ABC channel that carries LOST. Saturday night as a kid was pretty awesome back then. We got the US Saturday Morning Cartoons! Complete with the US Commercials!

What was on the lineup then? If memory serves me right, I used to watch Darkwing Duck, The Cowboys of Moo Mesa, Goof Troop, Land of the Lost, The Addams Family, Sonic The Hedgehog, The Bugs and Tweety Show, School House Rock, etc.

It was the best! Jonty and I got to stay up late since there were cartoons being shown on a Saturday Night!

It's sad that they don't make cartoons the way they used to. I still believe that the 80's had the best.

You see, if you were born in the 90's, chances are you grew up with Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Disney Channel. It was different back then. Especially here in the Philippines, I had the local channels that carried cartoons.

So to have been in my early childhood with Saturday Morning Cartoons from the US was pretty amazing. That's why I feel I'm still a kid at heart :)

God bless Cartoons :)