Weekenderers

Delivered copies of Lexy, Nance & Argus to Pride Exchange in Malate early Friday evening, something I should’ve done months earlier, as the comic book had sold out there quite some time ago. Went there with Malate newbie John, who found the streets of the Nakpil-Orosa district and those leading to A. Mabini fascinating and textured. They were so removed from how the rest of Metro Manila’s commercial establishments looked—the area's a mixture of decades-old structures and new food and recreational joints—and you just know the people working there have really colorful stories to tell.

Ended up eating dinner at Robinson’s Place. The Comic Odyssey shop has transferred to another part of the mall and is now bigger and better lit. And they had the nicest looking action figure sets on sale, too. Worth going back and checking out again. It reminds me a bit of Druid’s Keep, which has affordably priced toys and related items. And speaking of hobby shops, Comic Quest looks different now because Vinnie moved his things out of the Megamall store. It’s strange, actually, to see his clutter of comics piles and toys gone from that corner. Hope he’s well and enjoying life away from the family business.

Benedict dropped by last Saturday night and brought some borrowed DVDs. We watched the 1988 suspense flick Apartment Zero, which starred a young Colin Firth. That was weird. But Firth’s good, even then. We also watched the last ten minutes of Memento, a part which he hasn’t seen yet because his copy was broken. We were able to watch 40 minutes of the excellent Serenity too, but we were too sleepy already to fully appreciate it so we stopped it and just rested. He was supposed to take pics of my toys again but we can do that next time he’s around. Gave him my Brokeback Mountain preview ticket, production notes and pictures, since he liked the movie and felt really depressed about it for several days. Oh, and we shared a Big Mac.

Plugger

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Dumbo

It’s really annoying when store employees don’t want to help you because they’re too lazy to do their job. Whenever I look for certain things in music stores or other shops, it’s easy to tell when they don’t wanna help you because they don’t even bother checking their stock lists, and just tell you point blank that they're not available. It’s happened to me a number of times. “Wala kaming Marvel Select”. Or, “Wala kaming ganung CD.” Sometimes, they don’t even know what they’re selling. Once, I asked for Cynthia Alexander’s new album, and one saleslady asked her co-worker the same question. That other person responded, “Alexander? Movie? ‘Di ba ‘yon ‘yung pumatol sa bakla?”

They shrug and say they’re not available, looking at me sometimes as if I just made the stuff up. But I feel vindicated when I look through their display items, show them when I find what I’m looking for, and tell them, politely, “Eto, o.”

Jeez. Sometimes, some snarky and sarcastic mall security guards have the same nasty effect. That’s another thing entirely, but it all boils down to bad training. As customers, we deserve much, much better.

Super Foxy Chocolat


Aisha Tyler (pic from Yahoo! TV)

Saw some episodes of 24 (season 4) earlier this week, too. It started off pretty much by the numbers, even with most of the cast replaced and new characters putting a new spin on the conceit. Jack Bauer has a female boss now; the president is a new one; Kim, Chase, and Michelle are gone. The only familiar character aside from Jack is Chloe, and the actress looks skinny now. The suspense and dangers proceed like clockwork. But I was surprised with the guest appearance of Aisha Tyler. I loved her in E!’s Talk Soup. I like how she hosted that, and I miss her infectious, bordering-on-drunkenness laughter. She plays someone serious and mysterious (in this show, who isn’t?), a techie named Mary Anne. I hope she does more shows after this. Aisha was way subdued in Friends as Charlie in the last two seasons. It’d be great if her fans can see her comedic host-side again. I miss her going, “Heeeeyyyy!!!!”

Hero Watch

The Exiles (pic from marvel.com)

Infinite Crisis # 5 slows down after the action-packed previous issue. A lot of it is foreshadowing for the next two issues’ big battles, no doubt. The death toll has also slowed down, but someone buys the farm, and we don’t know exactly why, yet.

Astonishing X-Men returns with the all-new Hellfire Club, still communicating with Emma Frost. I hope she doesn’t turn out to be evil all along. I’m sure that she’s got a grand plan of her own come the arc’s climax. She’s more interesting as a bitchy, manipulative character that stands out in the flock of angels, than a villainess that gets her ass handed to her occasionally by the heroes.

Exiles (pictured above) is really fun. It gathers less popular characters from Marvel’s infinite Earths (Blink, Morph, Spider-Man 2099, Longshot, Sabretooth and Power Princess make up the latest lineup), who guard the realities from interdimensional threats like Proteus, an evil Hyperion, and so on. I found the “Destroy All Monsters” storyline one of the title’s cooler arcs. The heroes’ jaunts through the New Universe and the 2099 reality were also memorable. The mix of familiar characters and concepts, and the non-stop visits to Marvel’s forgotten franchises offer infinite story possibilities. The art could be better, though. And Claremont will be taking over the writing chores soon… I’m not too excited about that.

Leave ‘Em Wanting More


Bye, now (pic from silverbulletcomics)

Justice League Unlimited is over. The show ends with a full-scale alien invasion, just like in the first episode about four years back, and everyone, even the Legion of Doom, is fighting for the planet’s salvation. Man, it’s one of the most memorable cartoon series ever. It's been a fine final season. In the concluding episode: Superman cuts loose! Batman lightens up! Martian Manhunter returns! And Flash gets a kiss! This show will be missed. But it’s still airing over Cartoon Network and Jack TV, methinks. Hail and Hallelujah.