Adventures in Computer Coloring

For nostalgic reasons this image cracked me up. With my free time I dabbled in some more Photoshop experimentation:

The original drawing

The smiling cube with the derby hat giving the Hulk the smack-down is Mr. Strong, one of many Mr. Men characters created by Roger Hargreaves in 1971. True, this was before I was born, but years later I distinctly remember having Ma buy me Meet Mr. Strong in Goodwill Bookstore. Back then several things about the character appealed to me. He was red, my favorite color. His story was short and simple. ("Mr Strong is so strong he can lift entire buildings. If you need something lifting, Mr Strong is the one to call!") The secret to his strength? Eating lots of eggs! As an impressionable kid I tried to emulate him. Also ate lots of eggs, mostly hard-boiled because in his book it looked like that's how Mr. Strong took them. Don't remember getting stronger, but I did get sick of eggs quickly. And this was before health "experts" began flip-flopping on how healthy they were. (C'mon, they came out of a bird's ass. How the hell did anyone think they'd be edible?) Nowadays I hate eating eggs by itself, hard-boiled, scrambled, whatever.

Eggs beat Gamma Rays

But I digress. My old problem with coloring line art was how to color without painting over the actual art. One Darken command later and I was up and running. This piece is very amateur, w/c is to be expected, and I always have trouble deciding on a good background color. I did achieve the desired effect shading Hulk's green physique to give the illusion of depth.

Hope you like it. (Wait. Who am I talking to, anyway...?)

In Today's PHILLIPPINE STAR

Professional host/ columnist Tim Yap is a friend of mine, so far be it from me to make fun of a guy who bought a whole house/apartment just to make room for his wardrobe or tries to dance (and, boy, does he try) on public television every week. Then I spot this piture in The Philippine Star:

"I vant to suck your..." okay, that's just too easy.

'Kay, I know he likes to constantly change his looks, but I've never known "Creepy Albino Vampire chic" to be a hit anywhere outside of Prague, at least when they were still shooting Blade II. And the man travels with his photographer, or crying out loud (and/or brings his own digicam. That much I can remember from our last encounter at H Salon. Don't ask.) You'd think he'd have final say on what creepy looking photograph gets published.


It's a MIRACLE!!!

Anyhoo, speaking of pictures in the paper, this came out in the World News section of the same broadsheet. I've always said/joked that Bo Bice is Jesus reincarnated, and that if someone like Jesus can get eliminated outta American Idol, whoever wins had better be Really Good. (Granted Ye Son of God was raised a carpenter, and the last time a carpenter became a successful singer was about 2000 years after his death, and even then that woman died from complications brought about by an eating disorder. And she wasn't a carpenter by profession.)

1 Night in Greenbelt

Met up with Des (who came in from Cotabato and will be in town for a while) in Greenbelt. We couldn't find Kym at first, and both of us were hungry already. Had dinner at Bubba Gump, where I had their ribs for the first time. Not too bad. Fernds joined us awhile later, and I gave him a necktie with a sheep pattern for his birthday. Afterwards we headed for Nuvo.

Fernds, Kym and Des

Des insisted on ordering shooters. Kym (who was attending/organizing) the Rampage fashion party at the restaurant next door (eek, it's Maurice! is that Phomela...?) joined in us just as the B52s, Long Island ice teas and my SanMig light beer arrived. How to describe my first taste of B52, aflame and sucked thru a straw: chocolatey, with the burning sensation hitting your throat immediately afterwards. Debbie calls it a "sexy drink." At 195 bucks a shot, it better be.

3/4 ounce Kahlua + 3/4 ounce Baileys + 3/4 ounce Grand Marnier = My face as red as my shirt

"So, dinner at my place...?"

After the somewhat disappointing reunion in Greenhills (again, no reflection on those who came, particularly the ones I recognized), I took advantage of the 'rents not being home (Hong Kong) and decided to throw a small pasta dinner party. Again logistics had me deciding whether to invite Old Batch or New Batch. Settled for the former when the latter didn't RSVP. Whoda thunk some last minute invites would actually make it? Glad they did.

Generation Pastel

I prepared spaghetti and salad, Dianne brought drinks, while Tiffany and Pyao graced us with (coincidentally) chocolate mousse cakes. A good meal was had by all. Sure wish I had them model for "clone" pix, though.

Assassinaversary

I heard on the radio yesterday that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was getting ready for celebrations on the anniversary of the assassination of its namesake, the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino III.

Why an airport would want to celebrate the worst security lapse in its history of operations is beyond me.

What Does THIS Button Do...?

I dunno why, but this pic I took just cracks me up.

My dad's a bit slow on working electronic appliances. He's handy at garden work and house utilities, but god help him if you left him alone with the universal remote. (Now I'd understand having difficulty in using the remote if you were a houseguest... but, geez, the man lives here.)

At least he didn't use Post-Its...

So in order to remind himself how to work certain buttons on the remote (in this case the picture-in-picture function), he encircles them with a red felt pen. He's done the same with the DVD remote, so as not to confuse PLAY with PAUSE, as well as ON/OFF with OPEN/CLOSE.

I just look foward to Father's Day, his birthday and Xmas because if gives the family/house a chance to buy new gadgets he'll never use himself. (What, you actually thought he could work that Sony Handycam?)

My Idiot Move of the Month: the Sequel

Man, what is it with my luck and cars this month? After being incredibly lucky about one car last weekend, now I'm faced with cracking the left tail-light of my cousin's Toyota while I was backing it out of his office driveway and subsequently hitting his customer's Rav4. Mebbe most of the good luck was used up last Sunday.

See, this is why I don't like driving automatic.

Thankfully both cousin and his client were cool about it, with no damage to the latter's vehicle. Still, I can't believe all of this was due to a need to get Mom to the dentist and get her temporary bridge glued back to her mouth. AND the fact that the Altis was number-code restricted today. (See? An excuse so lame I couldn't have made it up.)

All the $#!++y stuff seems to happen to me either on days after holidays (assuming August 15, The Assumption of Mary, counts as a holiday) or after Friday the 13th (damn you, Sunday the 15th!!!). I was already having small bouts of bad luck today, w/c I thought would've "evened out" by now. Turns out it was only the calm before the $#!+storm.

My Idiot Move of the Month

Remember that feeling u get when the pen that u took the longest time looking for turned out to be on your ear? Take that feeling at reverse it. Now look at the picture.

Carnapper's dream come true.

The spare set of car keys was hanging on the antenna of the car I drove and left at the International Exchange Bank's (Greenhills Branch) parking lot for 5 hours. I only spotted it once I got home. Da-yamn lucky.

And to think after I saw printouts from the bank posted on the lot's wall that said that those who parked their cars there for more than 30 minutes would be fined 200 bucks, I contemplated moving the car to the parking lot of the Banco De Oro across from IEB, facing the the nearby jeepney terminal. This would've solved at least one commuter's woes.

Anyway, why'd I go out? Watched Charlie & the Chocoloate Factory with Wella and bought 1 tpb each of Animal Man and 100 Bullets.

Yikes.

The creature on the left is Tammy Faye Bakker Messner (born in 1942), the former wife of televangelist (boo!) and later convicted felon (yay!) Jim Bakker. The "woman" on the right is Pamela Anderson (born 1967).

The mascaras were separated at birth.

If you click on the pic to see a larger version you can see that the Time has not been kind to Pam. Scientific fact: exposure to sunlight causes wrinkles. Seems all those years pretending to be a lifeguard have taken their toll. That and the hepatits C, mebbe, but I'm just speculating.

Filed Under "Yeesh..."

Hope there's a Nerd Heaven for guys like this:

S. Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games

Filed Under "Eeewwww..."

Whatever happened to just having mom kiss your boo-boo...?

Teacher caught licking students' wounds

"The Oregon teachers' board reprimanded a high school football coach for licking the bleeding wounds of student athletes..."

Man, this crap would never happen in The O.C....

Right Said Den

Too sexy for his shirt...

On the Outs on the Outing

After all the effort and planning, I arrive at the designated venue for the "grand" Beijinoy reunion, only to find...nobody. Okay, so I'm "early." Go browse a bit in Fully Booked first. In and outta the bookstore I went. Still nobody. Man, is everybody late? Knew I should've RSVPd more thoroughly. About 45 minutes later Tina texted to say they moved to another place to eat. Oy. When I finally reached Oyster Boy (after a wrong turn, w/c makes me grateful that I'm used to walking), my worst fear came true: most of the people who showed up came from the new (i.e. who the heck...?) batch of Beijinoys.


About a third of the crowd that I recognized.

Granted, this meeting was actually coincidental. Tina said Mela and New Guys &Girls were taking their Korean classmates out to dinner and planned to stop by Bizu (the original venue) afterwards. When they didn't see me (or anybody else, for that matter) there they moved to Oyster Boy. In short: they were gonna meet up with or without my planning. Good thing I managed to tell the remaining few I expected to come that we moved the venue. They showed up (except Rad) and left just as quickly. I, on the other hand, just wanted to leave. Is it from resentment that my "guests" were "hijacked?" Well, I just felt like I was at the "wrong" party.

Tonight confirmed 2 things for me. One: I'm really more for quiet, smaller gatherings. Two: my socializing skills really depend on other people making the introductions. I rarely introduce myself to new people (Hell, the last time I did it was Nov. 2001), even if I wanna meet 'em. Nerves, I guess. Nervous, more like it.

In hindsight: if I knew the 'rents were gonna be outta town for the weekend, I would've hosted the reunion at my house. Maybe sans New Guys & Girls, though.