Watching the fight on a Sunday Reunion

So the Aquinos had a reunion at Tita Kris' place yesterday. Well, we do every Sunday. Recently, Tita Kris volunteered to have the Sunday lunch at her place. Weekdays, dinner at our house, Saturday's at Ninang's place.

Yesterday was extra special since we watched the Pacquiao - De la Hoya fight.

No one could really eat during lunch since everyone was glued to the TV. I couldn't take pictures since my eyes were also glued to the screen.

We were all pretty happy that Manny won with flying colors!!! Nagtagumpay ang Pambansang Kamao!!! I felt sorry for The Golden Boy at the end because a future Hall of Famer shouldn't have gotten a beating during his possible last fight. But Manny was just doing his job and he really did train very well for it.

Mark Hatton might be the next guy Manny will face... That's a different story. Don't wanna talk about it now.

Took several pictures yesterday. Will post this one cute pic of Baby James though. I was lucky to have caught this on cam! :D Such a cute baby!!!

He was actually in a very pleasant mood yesterday. :) This kid's gonna go the distance! Probably are superstar guard for the Blue Eagles? Hahaha. We'll see in 17 years.

Marvels: Eye of the Camera signing

Went to Robinsons Galleria today to meet and greet Jay Anacleto. I also got his works from the Avalon Studios days, Aria. I haven't met any artist who was rude or unapproachable. Jay Anacleto is a fun, cheerful, humble, and friendly guy. Not to mention that he's like over 6 feet tall plus he has excellent teeth! (He's a dentist full time and superstar artist on the side...)

I'm such a nerd. I went there before 2pm. Not that many people at that time. I was first in line. Hahaha. Sandy Sansolis, the owner of Comic Odyssey comes up with cool ideas for the Fanboys to some. There's even a raffle. You get to have a piece of art done by Jay Anacleto with the MARVEL Character of your choice. That's right, MARVEL! (Hope I won!)

After I had my books signed, there were already a lot of people! So I hung out for a while to talk to fellow Fanboys and even a quick chat with Gerry "Elmer" Alanguilan and Tony "Jonah Hex" De Zuniga. Edgar Tadeo was also there supporting the event!

Thought that the raffle was at 4pm. I had to leave already... But on the way to the parking lot, I was texting and someone suddenly patted me on the shoulder. It was none other than Leinil "Mr. Artist of the Year" Yu himself!!! So friggin cool!!!

So this Saturday was pretty cool! Perfect day for a Fanboy!!!

Secret Invasion #8

The Big Summer Event of Marvel Comics ended Wednesday as Secret Invasion #8 went to the comic shops.

This was 5 years in the making starting with Avengers: Disassembled which then lead to the creation of the controversial roster of The New Avengers. Putting Spider-Man and Wolverine on the same team was HUGE!!! After that came House of M and the life-changing Civil War.

But the stories all went around The New Avengers. A conspiracy started and it was because of an alien race known as the Skrulls. They believed that the earth was theirs.

No one in the Marvel Universe could trust one another because of the Shape-Shifting Skrulls. They successfully infiltrated and got through S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers Tower, Stark Tech, and even The Baxter Building. They could go undetected.

After reading the last issue. I thought that there would be more fights but it ended quickly. Skrulls lost but the Heroes didn't "win". It had such a huge change in power!

Reading Brian Michael Bendis' interview, the pitch was that he wanted the other heroes to feel what Peter Parker felt all the time, He'd win but still lose. It was sheer genius!!!

So spoiler alert, Norman Osborn, aka The Green Goblin and the director of The Thunderbolts was named the head of the earth's defense
(Still no name but I'm guessing it's H.A.M.M.E.R.). S.H.I.E.L.D. was shut down and Stark Tech was closed by the President, Tony Stark is now the world's most wanted, and the 50 State Initiative was a failure.

The last few pages showed Osborn smiling inside Avengers Tower. He goes down an elevator and into a dark room. And guess who shows in the last 2 pages...

Namor, Doctor Doom, The Hood, Loki, and Emma Frost. THERE IS A FRIGGIN EVIL VERSION OF THE ILLUMINATI DAMN IT!!!

SO FRIGGIN COOL!!! Now, DARK REIGN BEGINS!!!

This was a crossover event I enjoyed from start to finish! Kudos to Bendis and Leinil Yu!!!

Check out the cool Variant Cover of Secret Invasion #8. Steph gave it as a gift :)

Leinil Yu did a monster job with the 8 issues!!! Filipinos represent!!!

Best Artist of 2008!!! Congrats to him!!!

Anyway, I'll probably geek out when I've read the Avengers books. More excited on New Avengers than Dark Avengers though... I have a feeling that the Dark Avengers are gonna be bad guys.

And who the hell is the Iron Patriot?

Some thoughts on work

So I'll be ending my last stint on December 12.

Pretty soon. After the kick-off, I would have, by then, graduated from the Corporate Management Trainee Program of Nestle.

Life's fast. You gotta make the most out of everyday.

I ended my 14 day Nestle Fitnesse diet. For 2 weeks, I just ate Fitnesse for Breakfast and Dinner. Discipline and Determination. Whew! Lost 8 pounds. The real challenge is to maintain it. Earlier today, the team went to Cabalen. Buffet for lunch. Avoided the prichon, sisig, and the other stuff. I stuck to the crabs, sushi, and dimsum. I did have a taste of the dinuguan though. But still, I don't take the elevator going up. Stairs baby!!! 10 floors up!!!

I decided to lose weight because hearing people say that you're getting chubby/heavy is totally a downer. Nobody wants to hear those words... I've had it! Don't wanna hear that again.

The 14 days have paid off somehow. People have been telling me that I got thinner. Still big though but nonetheless, they still complemented me for losing weight. I gotta keep this up!

Christmas will DEFINITELY be a challenge. Glorious food on the 24th, 25th and 31st!!! DAMN!!!

What I'm doing now is lotsa cardio!!! I have to look better by next year!!! I promise!!!

So we'll see... Time will tell!

Reading List

Over the past month, I got two Graphic Novels to read. Both praise worthy and award-winning but different in their own way.

1. Heavy Liquid by Paul Pope.


It's about a guy named "S" in a futuristic New York City. People fight for this drug known as Heavy Liquid".


2. Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

This is a Pulitzer Prize winner and it recounts the struggle of Spiegelman's father to survive the Holocaust as a Polish Jew and draws largely on his father's recollections of his experiences.



I'll give my reviews as soon as I finish reading them :)

Collecting Comics

I went to Druid's Keep in Magallanes last Saturday for the store's 4th year anniversary. Felix Cua built the shop 4 years back and there's still a loyal fan base.

My brother and I remain loyal to the Keep. Though I try to go there weekly, it's pretty tough. The place is a bit far from the house. But nonetheless, Druid's Keep will always be the comic shop of the Cruz Bros.

Had chats with all sorts of Fanboys there. But it was real nice to see the 2 coolest Pinoy artists, Carlo and Harvey. It's a real pleasure to see the 2 guys who helped me get my project going. Carlo's working on Agents of Atlas while Harvey's doing Avengers: The Initiative #19. Harvey said he put another Ninoy cameo. Hahaha.

Comic Collecting has been my passion for the longest time. My collection is growing weekly!!! What can I say? I love the hobby. Unlike toys, you get to read comics plus you get to learn some new things as well. And hey, it's still reading!

I remain to be a Marvelite/ Marvel Zombie. I get to read the Image and Vertigo here and there. But The House of Ideas just takes the cake! Marvel will always be THE premiere publisher in my opinion. The character base is the best!!!

Collecting Comics is an expensive hobby but to those who wish to start, you gotta choose. It's either you read for the sake of reading or you read + invest.

For the sake of reading, you can read the collected graphic novels. Value won't appreciate though. TPB's or Trade Paperbacks are for catching up.

If you wanna read + invest, get singles!!! I love the feeling you get in the last page of the comic book. To be continued!!! Arrrgh! What a feeling!!!

Anyway, I'm just rambling...

But if you do want to collect, check out Druid's Keep located at the 3rd floor of Gateway Center in Paseo de Magallanes.

Or, you can check out Comic Odyssey. Galleria, Ermita, or Cybermall.

Christmas Card Picture

Last year, we had this Christmas Card made. My Lola sent it to her friends and my mom and my other titas used it as the card for the Christmas gifts. A simple digicam was used a year ago.

But this year, my Tita Kris wanted it different. She was doing a photoshoot one day and she asked the photographer if the family can join in. So it was in the studio of Jun de Leon. He's a great photographer by the way. Really good at his job!

The shoot was color coded. Since my Mom let all her siblings choose ahead, all the good colors were picked already so my family ended up with plain old white. My Lola and Tito Noy got yellow. The Abelladas got blue, Dees got green, Yaps got red. I wanted to be either blue or red but that's life... But the picture came out nicely. It's a great shot of the family! Everyone looks happy :)

So this pic will come out in this month's K Mag. Check it out!