Word Association

Right Here, Write Now

I’ve been writing professionally for over six years now. That started officially with my Pulp gig (the Lexy, Nance & Argus strips), which was followed shortly by contributed reviews to MTV Ink and PDI. I actually submitted something to the paper’s Youngblood section back then, but those two articles, which I discovered months ago and are admittedly icky, thankfully never saw print. Strangely, I’d find out a few months into my contributorship that my then-editor, Sir Louie Camino, used to be night editor for that particular section. Barely a year later, he transferred and headed the Metro-Entertainment portion, where I’d become one of the more regular people that got published.

Over five years later, I can honestly say that I’m still learning, still honing the technical side of my craft and sharpening my analytical faculties. That never stops, really. Between those early days and now, I’d written hundreds of entertainment reports and reviews, written a comic book, blogged regularly, and interviewed people I never even dreamed of talking to. I continue to write copy for press releases, where I’m able to put to good use things I learned from some marketing and English subjects from way back. While those don’t have bylines and aren’t pop culture-related, I give just as much effort and energy to them, even when the occasional know-it-all client sucks the soul out of some pieces and alters them to appease some really dubious standards.

As someone who pimps products as the faceless press release guy, I’ve been to real estate events, visited homes for pest control testimonials, asked different questions to a variety of professionals, and so on. You meet clients with some serious behavior problems, who feel like they’re the center of the universe. Well, there really are people who love the sound of their own voice. It’s a job and I don’t really complain, even when I don’t feel like doing it. If anything, they add to my catalogue of experiences, enriching me with knowledge that I wouldn’t have gained elsewhere.

Events can be unbelievably boring, so I just blank out and just look at people, sometimes, to study or admire them. That’s how I cope, I suppose. I’ve been to a concert staged at a lavishly decorated and airconditioned church where people shout “Bravo!” after almost every number. That felt so alien and pretentious to me, as I don’t belong to the moneyed, higher class circles. However, I don’t think about being an outsider during such events since, again, I can say that I do my work dutifully. I just sit down and do the job, constantly editing until there’s an agreeable result, and then I forget about it.

Stringing together words into coherence has been a skill that’s been useful to me, and I find myself lucky to occasionally find my work in the company of those I admire and respect in the broadsheet. I’ve nothing but admiration for most of those talented and eloquent people, whose stuff I read and am impressed by. I’m proud to call some of them friends. The shared, overlapping fringes of cyberspace ensure that I’ll be meeting more, each of them wielding a distinct style and command of language, as well as some valuable insights and dissections.

Yeah, I know. Such a nerd.

Sun Always Shines

A few decades ago, when the world was so big. Look at the old TV. My Kuya’s watching some '70s show.

Suddenly, Last Summer

Deadpool GLI Summer Fun Spectacular, written by Dan Slott and Fabian Nicieza and drawn by a bunch of artists, is undoubtedly one of the funniest comic books of the year. Marvel’s outcast heroes team up, and bicker with, the Merc With a Mouth, and the results don’t disappoint. If you followed the Great Lakes Avengers’ misadventures in 2005’s GLA mini, as well as in the GLX-Mas special, or their previous run-in with Wade Wilson in Cable/Deadpool’s Civil War tie-in, then you can’t afford to miss this gut-busting one-shot.

The quirky bunch of misfits previously called themselves the Lightning Rods, the Great Lakes X-Men, and the Great Lakes Champions. Now, post-registration, the Great Lakes Initiative, still the Milwaukee-based super-adventurers with correspondingly wacky arch-foes, face their biggest challenge yet: new member Deadpool!

Highlights include Big Bertha and Wade’s date, Squirrel Girl’s post- Civil War encounter with former flame Speedball (now Penance, above), and Flatman’s Origami-Fu battle, among many others. It helps if you’re a fan of these characters already, although those who pick this up and get acquainted with them for the first time will find this a fun read, as well. I’m looking forward to the inevitable reunion of the unconventional super-characters next summer. Or preferably, much, much sooner.