CHECK THIS OUT! (July 30, 2022)

ARENA Glossary (1)

ARENA GLOSSARY

domaz

the winner of the previous Tornos, who acts as a scorekeeper/referee/impartial observer for the current one

numen (pl. numina)

omnipotent entity (considered by some as a deity) who views the Tornos as idle entertainment; each numen acts as a patron for a pehon

pehon (pl. pehonem)

fighter chosen (and often abducted from their home dimension) to represent a particular numen in the Tornos

taumaz

a group of four pehonem temporarily allied together

Tornos

a tournament the numina mount on a regular basis, in which pehonem battle each other till only one remains undefeated, becoming the winner, and subsequently, the domaz for the next Tornos

Vahta

the isolated location from where the numina observe the Tornos

(the) Vanayis (The Wish Without Limit)

the ultimate prize of the Tornos, a reality-altering wish

If you haven't read the first episode of ARENA yet, and have absolutely no idea what those funky words are all about, then please click on the logo above for front row seats to the Tornos.

(Click on the logo, people...

Click on the logo and engage...)

ARENA is brought to you by the tag team responsible for the DAKILA: Siyudad story arc--the mighty fine Pytr Mutuc on art and colors, Ye Olde Space Monkey on script and letters.

As with PODERICO POWERBOMB!, ARENA is also one of the many, many entries in the Webtoon "Call to Action" contest, so, we need as much support as all you mighty fine folk can muster...

We need what Webtoon calls "engagement"...

So, please, engage away, people!

And please be kind enough to help spread the word; feel free to share the ARENA link to any and all, particularly those you feel would groove to its distinctive beat.

As I've said before, my mighty fine collaborators Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc, and I, need all the support we can get, and all the support all you mighty fine people out there can muster.

Thanx so much!

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

Thanx to my mighty fine co-creators on PODERICO POWERBOMB! and ARENA, Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc.

Thanx to all you mighty fine folk helping to spread the word.

(ARENA logo designed by Pytr Mutuc.)

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 27, 2022) PODERICO POWERBOMB! Glossary (1)

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 27, 2022)

PODERICO POWERBOMB! Glossary (1)

                                                                    

What you'll find here, though we're calling it a glossary, can actually be looked at as a primer as well.

For anyone who's read (or is about to read) PODERICO POWERBOMB!, and who happens to be unfamiliar with Filipino myth and folklore or things like Filipino place names, then we've got you covered here.

Our intent is to present an updateable glossary/primer, in that new terms and entries will be added as new episodes are released, and these updates will hopefully be of service to those who may be encountering these terms for the first time.

To wit:

PODERICO POWERBOMB! GLOSSARY

BGC

Bonifacio Global City, a “financial and lifestyle district” located in the city of Taguig in Metro Manila

bruho [broo-ho; from the Spanish brujo]

male witch, sorceror, witch doctor; often a practitioner of so-called “black” magick

danag [da-nag]

race of vampiric humanoids

datu [da-too]

title used to denote the ruler of a particular group or community; equated with “chief” or “prince”

diwata [di-wa-ta]

spirit who protects the land and those who dwell upon it 

huevos [hoo-we-vos]

eggs

huevos rancheros [ran-che-ros]

literally, ranch-style eggs

kantahan [kan-ta-han]

singing

mijo [mee-ho]

contraction of mi hijo, "my son"; a term of endearment sometimes used regardless of blood relation

Pasay [Pa-sai]

city located in Metro Manila

Pasig [Pa-sig]

city located in Metro Manila

We hope that helps those who might have stumbled on some unfamiliar terms...

PODERICO POWERBOMB! is brought to you by the tag team responsible for the Dakila/Fr Trese DEVIATION crossover, "Iunctura"--that would be the mighty fine Marv del Mundo on art and colors, and Ye Olde Space Monkey on script and letters.

Click on the image below to join Team 'Rico!

Please be kind enough to help spread the word; feel free to share the PODERICO POWERBOMB! link to any and all, particularly those you feel would groove to its distinctive beat.

My mighty fine collaborator Marv del Mundo and I would greatly appreciate the support.

Thanx so much!

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

Thanx to my mighty fine co-creators on PODERICO POWERBOMB! and ARENA, Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc.

Thanx to all you mighty fine folk helping to spread the word.

(PODERICO POWERBOMB! logo designed by Marv del Mundo.)

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 24, 2022) [Updated with New Link]

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 24, 2022)

[UPDATED with NEW LINK]

Is!

Now!!

Live!!!

Click on the logo, people...

Click on the logo and engage...

ARENA is brought to you by the tag team responsible for the DAKILA: Siyudad story arc--the mighty fine Pytr Mutuc on art and colors, Ye Olde Space Monkey on script and letters.

As with PODERICO POWERBOMB!, ARENA is also one of the many, many entries in the Webtoon "Call to Action" contest, so, we need as much support as all you mighty fine folk can muster...

We need what Webtoon calls "engagement"...

So, please, engage away, people!

If all goes well, this will hopefully be our foot in the Webtoon door, and for those of you who are familiar with my writing, you'll know that there is still so much more story to be told...

And, if you haven't checked it out yet, there's also

                                                                    

which you can find

PODERICO POWERBOMB! is brought to you by the tag team responsible for the Dakila/Fr Trese DEVIATION crossover, "Iunctura"--that would be the mighty fine Marv del Mundo on art and colors, and Ye Olde Space Monkey on script and letters.

You can check out some promo art here and here, or as a tag team combo, here.

Please be kind enough to help spread the word; feel free to share the PODERICO POWERBOMB! and ARENA links to any and all, particularly those you feel would groove to their distinctive beats.

As I've said before, my mighty fine collaborators Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc, and I, need all the support we can get, and all the support all you mighty fine people out there can muster.

Engage away, people!

Thanx so much!

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

Thanx to my mighty fine co-creators on PODERICO POWERBOMB! and ARENA, Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc.

Thanx to all you mighty fine folk helping to spread the word.

(ARENA logo designed by Pytr Mutuc; PODERICO POWERBOMB! logo designed by Marv del Mundo.)

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 19, 2022)

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 19, 2022)

                                                                    

Is!

Now!!

Live!!!

See?!

https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/poderico-powerbomb/all-manner-of-things/viewer?title_no=787924&episode_no=1

(Actually, both images above are links too, so, hey, please feel free to click away...)

Brought to you by the tag team responsible for the Dakila/Fr Trese DEVIATION crossover, "Iunctura"--that would be the mighty fine Marv del Mundo on art and coloring, and Ye Olde Space Monkey on script and letters--PODERICO POWERBOMB! is one of the many, many entries in the Webtoon "Call to Action" contest, so, as I said in an earlier "Check This Out", we need all the support all you mighty fine folk can give us...

While a majority of the judging percentages lies in the work itself and is determined by Webtoon's judges, there is a percentage taken up by "engagement."

So engage away, people!

If all goes well, this will hopefully be our foot in the Webtoon door, and for those of you who are familiar with my writing, you'll know that there is still so much more story to be told...

As for

from the tag team responsible for the DAKILA: Siyudad story arc--Pytr Mutuc on art and colors, Ye Olde Space Monkey on script and letters--this should hopefully go live sometime later this week...

You can check out some promo art here and here, or as a tag team combo, here.

Please be kind enough to help spread the word; feel free to share the PODERICO POWERBOMB! links to any and all, particularly those you feel would groove to its beat.

As I said, my mighty fine collaborators Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc, and I, need all the support we can get, and all the support all you mighty fine people out there can muster.

Engage away, people!

Thanx so much!

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

Thanx to my mighty fine co-creators on PODERICO POWERBOMB! and ARENA, Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc.

Thanx to all you mighty fine folk helping to spread the word.

(PODERICO POWERBOMB! logo designed by Marv del Mundo; ARENA logo designed by Pytr Mutuc.)

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 5, 2022)

CHECK THIS OUT! (July 5, 2022)

                                                                        and

Yeah, these are what have been keeping me busy (and sane) recently...

Please check out the promo art here and here, or as a tag team combo, here.

If these teasers pique your interest, then please be kind enough to help spread the word.

My mighty fine collaborators Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc, and I, will need all the support we can get, and all the support all you mighty fine people out there can muster.

Please keep your eye out and watch those spaces (and this space, too), for updates.

And...

                                                                         and

The hardcover Tuttle editions of The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo and The Black Bestiary are now available for pre-order at Amazon, here and here.

If you haven't had a chance to check these out via the original Summit releases, then here's your chance, 'cause...

Hard.

Cover.

And if you already have copies of the Summit editions, you still might want to consider these because...

Hard.

Cover.

Just sayin'...

Curiously enough, they are apparently releasing Black Bestiary first, on October 18 (just in time for Ha-ha-halloween), while Lost Journal hardcovers its way out into the wide world on November 22.

I'm so glad something I co-wrote and was creatively involved in is being described as a "phantasmagoria"... on the cover!

And I love it that in the copy on the Amazon order page, good old A.P. is described as being "... a bit of a lout".

Go, Pardo! Alienate as you educate!

Hope you're all staying safe and sane in the Still On-Going Crazy that our lives have apparently become...

you can’t drink just six,

 

Dave

Thanx to my mighty fine co-creators on PODERICO POWERBOMB! and ARENA, Marv del Mundo and Pytr Mutuc.

Thanx to all you mighty fine folk helping to spread the word.

And thanx to the Summit Crew (past and present), for helping get Pardo out into the wide world.

(PODERICO POWERBOMB! logo designed by Marv del Mundo; ARENA logo designed by Pytr Mutuc; The Lost Journal of Alejandro Pardo and The Black Bestiary Tuttle edition cover art courtesy of amazon.com.)

X (March 2022)

 

X

(March 2022)

“That's right. The deviants are already amongst us, waiting for our sons and daughters. So heed dire warnings and repent before it is too late.”

Less than 24 hours in rural Texas in 1979 turns out to be enough time to build up to a disturbing and horrendous bloodbath in Ti West’s thunderous Iguana return with X.

As intimated by its title, X follows the cast and (minimal) crew of the, ahem, “adult” film, The Farmer’s Daughters, as they shoot on the sly at an isolated Texas farm.

Dreams of wealth and fame all come crashing down though, because this is “one G*ddamn f*cked up horror picture” from Ti West, after all…

“We shouldn’t disturb him. It would only make him angry. You wouldn’t like Daddy when he’s angry.”

West has been messing about on the TV front for the past few years (stray episodes of The Exorcist and Wayward Pines among his small screen work), so his return to silver screen horror is most welcome.

The fact that X comes not just with a soon-to-follow prequel (Pearl) but also a planned sequel, makes things all the more (heh) X-citing, even though this does look like the beginnings of the dreaded “F” word.

(Uurrmm… franchise?)

Still, West does remind us, “You can’t make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels.”

And the fact is, X does position itself as a slasher, albeit one with other things on its mind aside from gory kills.

Prominently, it takes cues from cinema (and cinematic movements) at large to inform its narrative approach.

X is also juuuust self-aware enough so that West can occasionally remind us that there’s some grindhouse fun to be had here as well.

“Everybody likes sex. It’s a gas. We’re just not afraid to admit it. Queer, straight, black, white… It’s all disco.”

While there is an actual drug that’s showcased in X, the addiction that ultimately proves to be the most dangerous here is our very human attachment to youth (with the promise of ever-elusive fame coming in a close second).

Most of the film’s characters (played by familiar genre faces like Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, and Brittany Snow) still have their youth and are quite brazen about that; a couple of other characters don’t, and it’s the friction between those two groups that sets off X’s slasher powder keg.

So, come in for readily on-display “f*cked up horror,” but stay for all the substance beneath the bloody celluloid skin that West manages to explore here.

“Porn ain’t only gonna be for perverts no more.”

“Awww… Toast to the perverts. They’ve been payin’ our bills for years.”

“Hear, hear. To the perverts.”

Parting Shot:

Previous Ti West Iguana appearances may be found here and here, while mentions of TV’s The Exorcist may be found here and here.

(X OS’ courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com & twitter.com.)

SEVERANCE Season 1 (February 2022)

 

SEVERANCE Season 1

(February 2022)

“The numbers were scary…”

Severance* takes the idea of work/life balance to its chilling extreme, as we bear witness to the denizens of Lumon Industries’ “severed floor,” where the employees have elected to undergo a surgical process that effectively separates the work persona (who only becomes active and awake at work) from who the individual actually is in their home life.
Work memories are not accessible when the person is out of the office, and the work persona has no idea what their home life is like (are they married? Do they have kids?).
It’s the kind of scenario that a corporation will absolutely love (no pesky personal problems to interfere with productivity; industrial espionage… what’s that?) but isn’t necessarily beneficial to the employee.
As we see over Severance’s nine-episode season, hopefully only the first of many more…
 
“I trusted you, and you abused that trust.
“Your inefficiency and free range chicken roaming is ultimately your responsibility.
“Escort him… to the Break Room.”
 
It’s odd, going over the quotes I’ve gathered here.
You read them and some are so patently absurd that the overall effect is whimsy.
And while, yes, the absurdist office humor is indeed off-the-wall, it is also, in practice, disturbing.
There are shades of Twin Peaks here, not just in a visual sense, but in the way that the crackpot, occasionally non sequitur humor serves to mask the cold, inhuman horror that lies beneath the cheery, quirky facades.
 
A worker may suffer injurious pain or ghastly dehumanization, and no workspace is without its perils. But whatever your task, dear worker, see that you perform it with love. Endow in each swing of your axe or swipe of your pen the sum of your affections, that through me they may be purified and returned. No higher purpose may be found than this. Nor any higher love.
 
So join us at Lumon, where no one quite knows what it is they’re actually doing (even in the office!).
Spend the work days with a truly excellent cast that includes Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, and Christopher Walken!
Thrill to passages of The You You Are, by the one and only Dr. Ricken (Michael Chernus)!
And watch out for the MDE!
 
Our job is to taste free air. Your so-called “Boss” may own the clock that taunts you from the wall, but my friends, the hour is yours.
 
Severance: A damning indictment of corporate culture, with all its perks and incentivizations and sudden terminations.
It’s a world where the terms “Break Room” and “overtime” are positively chilling to hear.
 
“Let’s burn this place to the ground.”
 
* Brought to us by an excellent team headed up by creator Dan Erickson, and Ben Stiller (yes, that Ben Stiller), who directed 2/3 of the season.
 
(Severance key art courtesy of impawards.com.)