Babbling Point

. National (Comic) Book Store National Book Store, Greenbelt 1 now has a bin filled with P25 comic books and trade paperbacks that range from P150 to P200. I don’t know if they’re got the same type of comic book bin in the other National Book Stores, but if they do, it might just usher in a new batch of comic book writers and artists. Back in the 80s, National had a lot of badly reprinted Marvel and DC Comics. But the great thing was, they brought in a whole bunch of British and European comic magazines and graphic novels. They must have bought it from some wholesale bargain bin, because we ended up with issues of WARRIOR and TRIDENT , which contained the early works of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, and Neil Gaiman. We were also able to get Mobius graphic novels and some odd numbered, water-damaged issues of AKIRA and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Now that I think about it, National Book Store didn’t offer a single issue of manga. I still have a theory that the reason the 80s kids didn’t get

POLYSACCHARIDE: The Dollhouse Drama a solo black & white photography exhibit by WAWI NAVARROZA at BLACKSOUP PROJECT ARTSPACE June 11 to July 12 BlackSoup is at Shop 61, Shoe Expo, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City. Call them at 439-8838 for more info. See more of Wawi's photography at: http://darkelfmanila.com/Gallery4.htm

. Congratulations Harrison! EMAIL FROM: TEENY GONZALES, Executive Creative Director, Harrison Communications Last night, at the Creative Guild's Ad of the Year Awards, both McCann and Harrison made a fantastic showing. First, for craftsmanship, the BIOGESIC "GRADUATION" PRINT won BEST IN COPY. Then it was followed by McCann's SONY "REINFORCEMENTS" that got the BEST ART DIRECTION and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY AWARDS. That was just the appetizer. Later, Harrison's PDI CANNES LION PRINT SERIES won the SILVER FOR PRINT CAMPAIGN and for TV, McCann's COKE "BEAT GAME" got the GOLD for TV CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR. Then came the best part. SONY "REINFROCEMENTS" got the SILVER for TV then our very own BIOGESIC was announced PRINT AD OF THE YEAR 2004. Congratulations are in order for the the teams that made the award-winning ads: PDI CANNES LION SERIES RUSS MOLINA - CD SABEL GAMBOA - CD JULY MALANTIC - AD DAN MATUTINA - AD LOU BOGNOT - BUD SINTA ROSAL

. It's Clobberin' Time! Last Sunday, after lunch, I went back to room and was planning to go to sleep when my cellphone rang. Caller ID told me it was: Moy&Dunds. I answered and Dundee said,"Hey! What you doing?" "Well, I was about to go to sleep and..." "Wait, Tim wants to talk to you." Tim? Their five year old son wanted to talk to me? Tim' s my godson, actually. On the other end, I could hear Moy and Dundee say, "Go ahead! Tell Tito Budj what you told us. Go on!" "Hello? Hi?" said Tim. But before I could say hello, Tim dropped the phone. Liam, their 10-year old son, picked it up. "Hi there!" he greeted me. "Do you have eleven ?" I didn't know how to answer his question. "Number eleven," Liam clarified. "Number eleven of Fantastic Four?" And I immediately realized what he was talking about. During Moy and Dundee's last wedding anniversary, I gave them the complete run of