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local geekery, w/ chickens
Words cannot express how much I want (and possibly need) The Manga Guide to Statistics. God, if only I had known about it last semester.
Speaking of comics, I went to my first Comic Con last weekend. I'm not usually a comics convention-going person, but my friend was working the audio equipment, so I went. One of Manila's most awesome bands performed, but unfortunately I only arrived as they were finishing their set. (Okay, so this band -- Gorgoro -- are awesome mainly because of one thing: they have a puppet for a frontman. A puppet who is only trying to find his estranged father, yes he has backstory.) There was also a large "Goodbye, Tita Cory" banner that people were writing farewell messages on. And I got some nice loot!
1. Chiaroscuro: The Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci, a "sweeping tale of art, passion and politics that brings to brilliant life one of the most exciting eras in European history". In addition to that, it's from Vertigo, so how can I resist? I was going to save this one to read on the plane, but then I flipped through and got an eyeful of boobs, peen, and sexings. Which, okay, cool - and also I should have known - but maybe it's not "reading in a cramped and public space" fare.
2. Trese is a local publication about Alexandra Trese, a detective who fights supernatural crime in Manila. Urban fantasy in my backyard! You got the whole supernatural crew: rogue tikbalang leading drag racers to their deaths, white ladies causing car accidents, the asuang mafia running bars in Malate and selling powdered mermaid bones out the back room <33. So far it's monster-of-the-week, but then again it's an ongoing series with only two volumes out, so I'm hoping it develops some sort of mytharc surrounding the protagonist and her family's relationship with the spirit world, of which we get some hints.
Tikbalang are half-horse, half-human creatures, like a centaur but backwards. So kind of like a minotaur but with horse parts instead of bull. Asuang are like vampiric demons. White ladies are ghosts who tend to cause trouble and weirdness for motorists, and are the frequent stars of urban legends.
3. Skyworld: Apocrypha looks like it's going to be urban fantasy with a fallen god and tikbalang as protagonist, but the issue I got is just backstory set during some ancient times. There's so much blood, gore, and gnashing teeth that I wouldn't have figured out who was killing who if it weren't for the speech bubbles. So, that made me not care about ancient times. But I am curious to see how they get on in contemporary Manila!
And I'm not putting Purchase #4 under the cut, because.
4. My faaaaavorite purchase is a 4-part miniseries called Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan, which is an alternate history in which chickens became sentient. That's right, on February 3, 1979 -- or the Great Awakening -- chickens gained human consciousness. I prefer parts 3 and 4 because the allegory becomes less in-your-face, but the whole thing is quite intruiging. The premise is awesome and each part quite short that I couldn't stop. Gaiman-approved!
SENTIENT CHICKENS. CHICKEN MARRIAGE. EXTREMIST CHICKEN RIGHTS GROUPS. Hiding your chicken friends in the basement because otherwise your neighbors would kill them for being abominations! The protagonist gets beat up at school because he wouldn't cluck like his bullies told him to! BIRD FLU. omg.
The first part is available online here.
I admit, at first I wasn't sure whether Elmer is set in the Philippines (it is) because the characters have what I consider to be an American way of talking. Really, I feel I should've figured it out from the plants and architecture, and I shouldn't have been so unhinged by 'Americanisms', 'cos I mean, look at me. I drop U's, use Z's, and do your mom-with-an-O every night. The English in the Philippines is, so to speak, more American. I'm still deconstructing my own dichotomies.
I've been slow in replying to comments, sorry :(. Obviously the solution is to whore for even more comments. Meme me up, Scotty: Top 5 me!
Hey, remember yonks ago when I said there should be a Merlin crossover community? Someone was listening! BEHOLD:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
merlin_xovers \o/!
Speaking of comics, I went to my first Comic Con last weekend. I'm not usually a comics convention-going person, but my friend was working the audio equipment, so I went. One of Manila's most awesome bands performed, but unfortunately I only arrived as they were finishing their set. (Okay, so this band -- Gorgoro -- are awesome mainly because of one thing: they have a puppet for a frontman. A puppet who is only trying to find his estranged father, yes he has backstory.) There was also a large "Goodbye, Tita Cory" banner that people were writing farewell messages on. And I got some nice loot!
1. Chiaroscuro: The Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci, a "sweeping tale of art, passion and politics that brings to brilliant life one of the most exciting eras in European history". In addition to that, it's from Vertigo, so how can I resist? I was going to save this one to read on the plane, but then I flipped through and got an eyeful of boobs, peen, and sexings. Which, okay, cool - and also I should have known - but maybe it's not "reading in a cramped and public space" fare.
2. Trese is a local publication about Alexandra Trese, a detective who fights supernatural crime in Manila. Urban fantasy in my backyard! You got the whole supernatural crew: rogue tikbalang leading drag racers to their deaths, white ladies causing car accidents, the asuang mafia running bars in Malate and selling powdered mermaid bones out the back room <33. So far it's monster-of-the-week, but then again it's an ongoing series with only two volumes out, so I'm hoping it develops some sort of mytharc surrounding the protagonist and her family's relationship with the spirit world, of which we get some hints.
Tikbalang are half-horse, half-human creatures, like a centaur but backwards. So kind of like a minotaur but with horse parts instead of bull. Asuang are like vampiric demons. White ladies are ghosts who tend to cause trouble and weirdness for motorists, and are the frequent stars of urban legends.
3. Skyworld: Apocrypha looks like it's going to be urban fantasy with a fallen god and tikbalang as protagonist, but the issue I got is just backstory set during some ancient times. There's so much blood, gore, and gnashing teeth that I wouldn't have figured out who was killing who if it weren't for the speech bubbles. So, that made me not care about ancient times. But I am curious to see how they get on in contemporary Manila!
And I'm not putting Purchase #4 under the cut, because.
4. My faaaaavorite purchase is a 4-part miniseries called Elmer by Gerry Alanguilan, which is an alternate history in which chickens became sentient. That's right, on February 3, 1979 -- or the Great Awakening -- chickens gained human consciousness. I prefer parts 3 and 4 because the allegory becomes less in-your-face, but the whole thing is quite intruiging. The premise is awesome and each part quite short that I couldn't stop. Gaiman-approved!
SENTIENT CHICKENS. CHICKEN MARRIAGE. EXTREMIST CHICKEN RIGHTS GROUPS. Hiding your chicken friends in the basement because otherwise your neighbors would kill them for being abominations! The protagonist gets beat up at school because he wouldn't cluck like his bullies told him to! BIRD FLU. omg.
The first part is available online here.
I admit, at first I wasn't sure whether Elmer is set in the Philippines (it is) because the characters have what I consider to be an American way of talking. Really, I feel I should've figured it out from the plants and architecture, and I shouldn't have been so unhinged by 'Americanisms', 'cos I mean, look at me. I drop U's, use Z's, and do your mom-with-an-O every night. The English in the Philippines is, so to speak, more American. I'm still deconstructing my own dichotomies.
I've been slow in replying to comments, sorry :(. Obviously the solution is to whore for even more comments. Meme me up, Scotty: Top 5 me!
Hey, remember yonks ago when I said there should be a Merlin crossover community? Someone was listening! BEHOLD:
merlin_xovers \o/!