In Love With Your Ghost

Archangel Lexy, Queen Nance, and The Great Argus

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

‘Tis the season for spooks, scares and, of course, dressing up and role-playing, once again. I drew the picture above two nights ago. Actually, I wanted Argus to dress up as a billboard. I sketched it; it could’ve worked, but it felt right and much easier to draw him as a trendy prestidigitator, instead. That's a magician, but you already knew that. Drawing these old “friends” again felt nice.

I like the candy-and-costumes season, even when I’m not into attending masquerade parties or creating costumes. The idea of designing (and maybe constructing) masks and accessories is interesting, though. I think I can do that, and maybe I will, if time and money allow it some day. Back in high school, I had to create papier mache masks for the entire class. Those were for our Speech and Drama subject. In that special group project, we had to, you know, perform an excerpt of a literary piece on stage. The masks looked crude and hideous; they were supposedly tribal, but I felt good doing them. I hand-painted each, and… waitasec, I did that all by myself, if I remember correctly. My classmates didn’t help me. Crap. Maybe I wanted the work all for myself, but I dunno now for sure. We had fun while performing during the play, anyway. At least, I think so.

Well, back to Halloween. I’ve always loved the short vacation season. I’m not an active participant of the revelries; I’m just fascinated with the whole thing: trick or treaters, the scary stories, the festive atmosphere, the crazy costumes. Over the years, the different holiday customs have meshed and mutated, and it’s quite a spectacle that people are celebrating it, and quite creatively.

Anyway, be safe, everyone, and have fun! By the way, to those who texted, messaged and called about you-know-what, thank you so much. :)

What’s In Your Head?

Yup, some of the scariest things on earth are people. Take Rep. Bienvenido Abante, congressman of the 6^th District of Manila, for instance. This ultra-conservative pastor turned politician is one of the most homophobic people I’ve had the displeasure of seeing and hearing on TV. He’s likened homosexuality to pedophilia on different occasions. He overzealously cites damning verses from Leviticus (the one that says, to paraphrase, no man shall shtup his fellow man, yadda yadda, or something), and deliberately ignores verses in the same book that are sexist, cruel, and similarly discriminatory. And guess what? He’s the Chairperson of the House Committee on Human Rights, for crying out loud.

He believes that gay people are, get this, “morally reprehensible.” Abante, contrary to his duties as committee chairperson, is also bent on blocking the Anti-Discrimination Bill, which was designed to protect the GLBT community. Well, the guy’s got issues, like a certain aging bigot newspaper columnist. How sad. Not to mention, idiotic and horrifying.

Please read Fullman’s post about the issue, and Lagablab’s report. They have the congressman’s contact numbers and email address; please protest his lack of sensitivity, among other things. Also, Speaker Jose De Venecia’s contact information is in those posts as well. Please find time to call or write, even just a short note, and express your dismay over Abante's self-righteousness and hatemongering. It’s just wrong on so many levels.

Candy, Candy, Candy, I Can’t Let You Go

“Missing You Like Candy” (Mixed Media, March 2006)

Got to Bogey

Here are a few of my favorite TV, comics and film bogeymen, monsters and villains. They’re some of the fantastic, shocking menaces that I genuinely dreaded these past couple of years.

Cassandra Nova- She’s relentless, insane and genocidal. She killed millions of mutants residing in the island nation of Genosha using some old, unused Sentinels. She's Professor X's evil twin.

Kang- I hate his extra-muddled time-traveling history, but his villainy was defined when he mercilessly destroyed Washington, DC. The attack killed thousands and forced the Avengers, and the rest of the world, to surrender. He actually ruled Earth 616 for a few weeks, if I remember correctly.

Angelus- Perhaps Buffy Summers’ greatest enemy is her murderous ex-lover, a centuries-old vampire who caused much damage when he lost his heroic soul. Season 2, where he cuts loose, is the best, in my opinion.

Nina- Jack Bauer’s ruthless arch-enemy was one of 24’s most unpredictable, most evil characters.

Gamemnae- The JLA villainess, a sorceress from the past, hatched a plan that killed the Big Seven heavy-hitters.

Palpatine- He’s patient, duplicitous, and he knew just how to manipulate the love-struck and whiny Chosen One. Plus, he can give Yoda a proper beatdown.

Ozymandias- His schemes were broad, diabolical, and almost perfect. Loved it when he was explaining them to the Watchmen.

TAO- WildCATs combat strategist TAO is another of Alan Moore’s smart, calculating and forearmed bad guys. Loved that issue when he was being chased by the team, and he was outsmarting them all.

Bullseye- He killed two of Daredevil's ex-girlfriends. Really horrible guy.

Bob- Twin Peaks’ mysterious entity looked creepy, and was involved with a number of heinous crimes, including the murder of Laura Palmer.

Ultima- She’s a super-powerful junkie. And she’s openly racist, too. Good thing the Top Ten cops exposed and beat her. Too bad for one of them, though.

Ghostface- Probably the only slasher flick villain I consider intriguing. Secret motives and shared histories with the Scream series’ protagonist have always been tricky puzzles to solve.

The Marauders- Mr. Sinister’s superpowered assassins were unrepentantly evil. They took pleasure in killing, as shown in the X-Men’s Morlock Massacre event.

Dire Wraiths- The female Wraiths were violent. They spooked me as a child, but I couldn’t look away whenever they attacked. Loved those dark and moody issues of Rom.

Drusilla- Crazy psychic vampire lady. You just don’t know what she’ll do next. One of Buffy and Angel’s toughest, most entertaining foes.

T-1000- Unstoppable robot. Almost. Cutting-edge effects helped a lot.

Magneto- Ironically, the Holocaust survivor became a mutant extremist that wants regular humans enslaved. He was a mass-murderer, too, if you count the Xorn-Magneto issues of New X-Men.

The Governor- This guy is a damn creep. Just read recent issues of Walking Dead. He makes me sick.

Joker- He’s interesting, but only when he’s written right. He’s humiliated a lot of Gotham City’s protectors, and he’s still around.