The Wheel and Axle

Less than a week after I wrote about IDAHOT and the continued struggle of the LGBT community around the world against hatred and violence, Omar Mateen massacred fifty people and injured fifty-three others when he stormed the Pulse gay club in Orlando, Florida. It is now the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States and their deadliest terrorist attack since 9/11.

And make no mistake about it: this was a terrorist attack. Omar Mateen had pledged allegiance to ISIS during the attack itself.

(continue reading…)

IJ2 Aquaman Early Access on IJ Mobile

I have been waiting for the Injustice: Gods Among Us sequel for years, and I am friggin’ stoked because this is one of my favorite – if not my favorite – games of all time. I have spent hours upon hours upon hours across the last three years on both the console and mobile versions, and DC and NetherRealm do not disappoint.

Judging from the trailer released for the sequel, it looks like they will continue to not disappoint.

(continue reading…)

Happy Independence Day, my beloved country!

Yes, nowadays, a lot of things in this country suck.

A lot of things are annoying and frustrating.

(continue reading…)

I won’t lie and say that there are no closet cases that irritate me. I’m not perfect, and there are certain types I hold in disdain. They fall into two categories:

• The closet cases who compensate for it by being homophobic and are assholes towards other gay people. These closet cases, in my opinion, deserve a lot of rightful shaming for being vile hypocrites.
• The closet cases who use unsuspecting women as beards in order to give off the illusion that they are straight. Often, this type of relationship results in major pain for the woman involved, and in some cases, can also lead to abuse. (I’m 50/50 on closet cases who date women who know the truth and are willing parties in order to help cover up for the guy; I guess that depends on the situation.)

(continue reading…)

… is quite a pleasant surprise.

This pic is from http://animomedstudent.blogspot.com/. There are also quite a few blogs from premed/med students reviewing it. I didn’t realize it until now.

I wrote this NMAT Reviewer (two volumes – the main reviewer plus a companion volume with extensive answers and explanations) over fifteen years ago when I was still teaching in MSA. I had a degree in Biology and had taken the NMAT as a pre-requisite for medical school, though I decided not to pursue medicine and went (initially) into teaching instead.

(That lasted all of less than a year before I decided to move into corporate as well as pursue side graduate studies in Creative Writing. That’s a story for another time.)

In any case, as part of my job in MSA, I not only taught and did review classes; I also wrote reviewers. One was co-written with others, while my boss (the late, great Mrs. Merle Alferez, who founded MSA) asked me to write the NMAT Reviewer because, at that time, nothing like it was in the market.

(continue reading…)

There are a lot of comic artists I love. Adam Hughes. Kevin Maguire. Alan Davis. Bryan Hitch. Nicola Scott. Aaron Lopresti. Alex Ross. Art Adams. Colleen Doran. And quite a few more.

However, the one who will always be my favorite is George Pérez, who from what I’ve seen on Facebook is not only a wonderful creator but is also one of the nicest people on the planet.

I got into comics because of George. Specifically, this issue of his Wonder Woman caught my eye in an Alemar’s store in the late 80s. (I just carbon-dated myself.)

Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #10

(continue reading…)

So I came across this article today, and apparently it also slightly trended.

“Flys.” Really?

(I won’t even mention how she misspelled “Philippines.” Oh, wait, I just did.)

Karlie Kloss is the reason why models are stereotyped as stupid. Now obviously not all of them are, quite a number are actually pretty smart, but she certainly just came out as the poster girl of the typecast.

What makes it worse is that, in this case, she was completely at fault: arriving late for a flight and expecting special treatment.

PAL is not perfect and can be frustrating. In fact, its only advantage in the Philippines is that its competitions are Cebu Pacific and AirAsia, making it seem five star in comparison – which is not a compliment. I was in Jakarta a few weeks back, and getting in touch with them to rebook was hell, especially since they don’t have any international hotlines except for the USA.

(continue reading…)

I never get tired of watching Anderson Cooper, who recently celebrated his 49th birthday but doesn’t look a day over thirty. Those are some mighty good genes.

Not only is he Ivy League smart, not only is he unafraid to call out the bullshit of armchair journalists or politicians, not only is he a Vanderbilt who relies on his own merits and not the family legacy (which, by the way, his mother – the Gloria Vanderbilt? just awesome!), not only is he an inspiration for the gay community…

(continue reading…)

A few weeks ago, the world observed IDAHOT: the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.

Early last week, a body stuffed into a trash bag wrapped in packing tape was found in Cebu, identified by media only as a “man” – supposedly a robber killed by vigilantes based on a note left behind. The victim was wearing a bra and a blouse.

Mere days later, another trans sister was brutally murdered in Metro Manila. Barbie Ann Reilly was viciously killed by her Chinese boyfriend, stuffed in a luggage, and dumped in Cavite.

(continue reading…)

WHWN Wave 1

Two years ago, during the first Write Here, Write Now workshop with Jessica Zafra, we were given an optional exercise. I don’t remember the exact instructions, but I found myself writing an entire film sequence where the dialogue was composed purely of Filipino movie titles.

I don’t recall ever submitting it. Finding and re-reading it now, I thank the great literary deities that my mentor never got to see it.

(continue reading…)