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"The most dangerous [asteroid] is called Apophis, which is 1,000 feet across and will come dangerously close to Earth in 2029 and again in 2036. The most recent calculations show that Apophis will barely miss Earth in 2029, but will actually graze our atmosphere. But because of the uncertainty of its path as it whizzes past, there is a small possibility that its orbit may be perturbed so it might actually hit Earth in 2036. NASA scientists are reasonably confident it will still miss Earth in 2036, but the head of the Russian space agency takes the threat of a collision seriously, stating that we have to prepare for the worst. If Apophis hits Earth, it would have the force of approximately 20,000 Hiroshima bombs" full article

an oxford grad student ghostwrites sweet valley high : "Imagine, superimposed on the gray-and-grainy screen of a floundering, slightly depressed twenty-something, the shimmery outlines of an idealized adolescent world. All drawn—I just had to color it in. I could pick any colors, as long as they were pastel! The characters were already invented...The plots were already there... A plane crash in a Cessna. Hysterical paralysis following a bad break-up. The rich posing as poor and the poor as rich. The tennis star that longed to be ordinary, the ordinary girl that longed to be a starlet. Differences smoothed away by the sameness-machine of narrative. The teachers with secrets, the students with secrets, the secrets revealed, the revelations turned into new secrets. The core secret—the one I knew, and harbored myself, and saw in those around me—the bland central core of “sameness,” of normalcy...  Your task, my thesis advisor in Oxford told my tutorial partner and me, is to be...

and wow. it is what the harry potter series wishes it could be. peter just talking about killing his siblings in the early chapters was far more brutal and disturbing than any of the actual deaths in the hunger games. if i had read this book when i was twelve years old i think it would have become a central text of my tweens. ender is a fascinating character with a terrible burden. people say that about harry, katniss, and bella too, but to me ender carries his heavy destiny in a much more convincing and less contrived way. he does things, he drives the plot, as opposed to having things done to him, or having the plot carry him along, as is the case with the above YA triumvirate. he is also so much younger and more truly alone. i really, really hope the upcoming movie adaptation turns this into the next YA megabestseller. the book also got me thinking about orson scott card and the recent petition trying to get him dropped from a superman writing gig at DC comics for his ant...

"hey, that was rotten!"

photos by maui mauricio and knox balbastro location: rajah sulaiman park, roxas blvd.

while reading through the first few issues of the original 1950's serial on video48, i learned some stuff that today's typical darna fan, having grown up on the TV series and/or mango comics revamp, may be surprised to find out: 1.) narda and ding were beggars.  i wonder if narda knew "sa may bahay..." narda would sing for pocket change while ding played the harmonica. they supported themselves as well as their grandmother this way. 2.) darna's magic stone was hallucinogenic. the stone was actually three feet away; narda picked up a mushroom by mistake. upon first finding the stone, which fell to earth from outer space, narda is approached by a gang of kids also looking for the meteor. not wanting to share, narda hides the stone in her mouth and proceeds to trip the f out (also, the stone stays in her system permanently. apparently darna's alien gut makes her constipation-proof). 3.) seeing narda transform for the first time, her grandmoth...

so, that asteriod that'll end life on earth was we know it? we won't see it coming. " Asteroids are tracked by telescope, as they are too far away to be detected by radar. Because of this, they are observable only when illuminated by the sun against a dark background. If they are small and dark-colored, they are far more difficult to observe. In the case of the Russian asteroid, it approached Earth with the sun behind it.  "The reason it wasn’t detected by telescopes on Earth is because it literally came out of the daylight sky and, as you know, telescopes can’t see things in the daytime,” [NASA Scientist Bill] Cooke said ."

lovin' these jurassic park illos by pakoto :. via

video48 has black & white scans of the complete 1950 debut run of mars ravelo's darna, illustrated by nestor redondo and featuring darna's most iconic foe, valentina: thanks to aris panganiban of pinoy superheroes universe for the link!

so fastfood chain wendy's recently changed its logo, and i think they did an excellent job: although i also think dr. monster's concept of a "grownup wendy" would've worked pretty well, too: just sayin'.

photos by knox balbastro and maui mauricio          

house scenes today. arrived past noon. found the crew shooting street scenes along a narrow alleyway. sizeable crowds have gathered at either end. alessandra and ketchup are walking along in the sunshine, people peeking from behind parked vehicles or out of doors and windows that open directly onto the street. crowd control is a bit of a problem; thankfully the barangay tanods are there to help. "never make a movie without the cooperation of the barangay tanods," i am told. hub pacheco is there too, he's making a behind-the-scenes photo essay. after the take i am introduced to alessandra, whom everyone calls alex. the shoot moves indoors. the indoor location is on the second floor of a rickety-looking house, now crammed full of people and equipment. the wooden floorboards bend and squeak beneath my feet. the floor under the kitchen sink has rotted away and you can see the ground floor below. no one else seems to be worried though. photo by maui mauricio i han...

some time after KFC's absurd "cheese top burger" went viral  last year, i posted a cartoon with a few variations on the theme , including the equally absurd (or so i thought) "coke top float:" and then at jollibee the other day, my kids ordered one of these: i can confirm that the ice cream and fudge syrup are at the bottom of the cup (it also costs nearly twice as much as a regular float). should i laugh or demand royalties?

from the komikon baguio facebook page: Komikon Baguio is organized by Bag-iw Art Society and Literati, with the support of Komikon Inc. Join us for our first event, 'Sirko ng Komiks' on February 9, 2013 in CAP Bldg, Post Office Loop, Session Road, Baguio City Komikon Baguio Facebook Page

mara andres managed production on the ang maskot short, and she recently blogged about the experience here . lots of behind-the-scenes stuff and photos! "...Day 2. Metrica St, Manila First shot of the day. It was obviously a pretty hot day. The stress of Day 1 made Day 2 seem so much more…relaxed, so to speak. Alessandra’s management initially said that she only had until 12 midnight but Alex was kind enough to stay until around 12:30 or 1 in the morning to finish her scenes. Alessandra de Rossi and Ketchup Eusebio acting amidst the presence of styros. Haha. We had a lot of exterior shots that afternoon. Thank goodness the skies were kind enough to give us sun. Crowd control was quite a hassle and because the houses in the neighborhood were so close to each other, it was kind of difficult to filter out unexpected noise. But hey, it wasn’t as bad the as the incidents that occurred during first day." i can attest to the fact that these gals n guys ...

the restaurant scenes are being shot in the sta. cruz area of binondo. i arrive late, sneak past the guard, sit down behind ramon bautista, and steal glances while he updates his twitter. celeb stalking is off to a good start. ketchup is resting at the far side of the room, and they are filming the kids at the center of the room. once the scene is finisihed i am greeted by chris and mihk and introduced to a few people. i sit down, watching various crewmembers busily carrying stuff around, ant-like. they are shooting two scenes simultaneously. soak in the magic. this is happening. this is really, really happening. i am a clueless awkward bumpkin to everyone. i see lau and momon handling the maskot costume and ask them if they made it. "erm, no..." mara lets me listen to the jhollebird jingle on her iphone and i ask her if she composed it. "erm, no..." i mistake lau for director of photography dan villegas, and i ask him (lau) how he's related to dennis ville...

 photos by ramon bautista, sharon see, and assistant director maui mauricio: ketchup eusebio as maskot! ramon bautista as the manager. he's a riot. directors chris costello (left) and mihk vergara (right) the mcbird counter. doesn't look like it here, but this is the fastfood birthday party from hell. don't get too excited, ketchup. bandang june pa ang cinemanila.

aside from costello and vergara's  ang maskot short film, there's also a group of DLSU students turning the first issue of trese, murder on balete drive , into a short film . and then there's that mysterious letter gerry alanguilan received from peter jackson's wingnut films...

had a chat the other day with norby ela over at flipgeeks. we talked about the maskot movie, school run, and ricky lo. LOKAL GRIND: Macoy – Komiks & ‘Ang Maskot’ in Film