Monday, August 21, 2006
The Meaning of Love (Running time: 03:12 mins.)
The song you're hearing right now (if you're using the IE browser) is the fifth UK single by Depeche Mode originally released on April 26, 1982. It may or may not interest you to know that the band didn't like the songs they put out in the album, A Broken Frame maybe because keyboardist, Martin Gore was suddenly thrust into the position of chief songwriter after Vince Clarke's departure (Clarke departed to form Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet before splitting up to join with Andy Bell in 1985 to form Erasure). Gore would eventually hone his songwriting skills to become DM's sole album songwriter from 1986 to 2001. Those who have acquainted themselves with DM in their latter status as the black leather clad quartet who specializes in dark and depressing songs about blasphemous rumors, enjoying the silence, and shaking the disease would either be pleasantly surprised by this peppy, preppy video or put off by it. Either way the video is something enjoyable to watch.
* All information and reference are found in Wikipedia.
@ 1:02 PM ---> Tuesday, August 15, 2006
I'm always tired these past few days. In fact I think I've never felt so tired as I did this afternoon. It was only our second day of selling at the A.S. Walk in UP Diliman, well admittedly things were slow on my end. Seems like people weren't up to parting with their hard earned money for a photocopied comic they never heard of much less something that looks so clean and safe (at least that's what I presume they're thinking). It doesn't look anything remotely Japanese so they don't give it a second glance. Heck, they don't give it any glance at all. The other problem I have with attracting potential customers is the format. New generations of Pinoy comic audiences tend to be more attracted to those who have the least bit sign of panel layouts and stuff. The moment they see the inside of the book (which happens to have comic strips instead of the traditional comic book panels they think, "Ummm..." and move on). But that's ok, I've learned to live with it. I'm looking forward to the day I'll get strip creds for getting a real printed book out there with colored covers and stuff. It'll also be a step up from the usual comic strip compilation. It'll have comic book panels, the usual works. I haven't decided if I'll be including fan art or even hiring other artists to do some interior artworks to supplement my own. Maybe I'll do that on the second book, the contents of which whill have me working harder than the usual because I'll have used most of the strips that saw printing in the magazine back in the 90s in that book.Back to my problem with sleepiness, I remember my friend telling me some months ago that artists in general or those that have the temperaments akin to artists usually have problems with sleeping. They either sleep very late or they don't sleep at all. I belong to the first category. I benefit a lot from the relative quietness of night, I think a lot clearer then. There isn't a lot of distractions stemming from other people watching TV and I can more or less control the available light source to suit my needs. Not that I do my works then also. I reserve those times in the early evenings outside the house where I'm surrounded by white noise provided by complete strangers. Only then do I get to do a lot of my creative work. The pay-off comes in the morning or the daylight hours when being stuck here in the house doesn't do wonders for the creative moments that I crave. Those hours are spent gathering materials and digesting them for the next hours or so. Part of those digesting time are spent in bed napping, mostly in the afternoon. That's the schedule I'm used to everyday. It would have been better if Patrick were there earlier to provide some commentary and laughs just like he did yesterday. The members of the ACLE Org in U.P. are nice and all and they're doing everything they can to bring the crowds to stop in front of our tables but it isn't enough. Wonder what else we can do to make them stop and look at what we're selling. As far as I know Filipinos in general are shy or wary of approaching strangers or new places unless there are others browsing ahead of them. That way they can safely approach and leave without the "danger" of attracting the attention of those in charge (the smaller the place the more wary they are of attracting attention). Well, unless something catches their fancy then they're bold enough to inquire about it. You know what I think where that fear comes from? A lot of it comes from the mall culture and the unwanted attention salesladies shower potential customers. You know the way they tail people around making them feel like they're guilty of wanting to steal something? I hate that. That's what I think is the reason for it.
