Butt Shaking

Recently a group of my friends went Ipoh. Amongst the footages they took, this one stood out. A video editor friend took it, laid down Britney Spears' song "Gimme More", and added a few nifty editing tricks. No offense to Britney fans out there, but this video is funnier than the official video promoting the song. Enjoy! (special thanks to KW for the permission to blog this.)

On the topic of butt shaking, below is a hilarious Thai commerical.

Back to Buddy Buddy.

Uploading this very old comic book sure brings back memories of my first attempt at creating a comic book.

As I am creating my new comic book, it helps to review the experience I have accumulated since my first book. What did I do right besides getting really lucky? What did I not do to push my creation further?

It was a long, lonely process, waking up on time only to bend over the drawing table to meet the daily quota. It's only years later that I realise drawing is only 10% of the work. 90% is actually being out there in the world, and talking to people who can make the book a possibility. The publisher is only the tip of the iceberg. No matter how good my work is, it will not gain wide recognition without marketing and many other support.

Hence, for my new work Sir Fong: Ottonium, I am learning to do all the stuff I did not do previously. That's why I am not updating this blog as regularly as I like.

I do what it takes to make the book a success.

Survivors

In my last blog, I mentioned that Britney Spears had nothing to do with comics. I didn't know I had to eat my words so soon.

Her new single, Break The Ice, features a Manga video. Another great song, and here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DdCFczrodc

Britney will likely be a sruvivor, just like her predecessor Madonna. Cool.

I'm excited because two of my favorite survivors will soon hit our little island: Robert Downey Jr, in his comic book adaptation of Iron Man, and Sir Elton John.

Iron Man is a comic book hero who is not as well-known here as Spiderman or Batman. From the trailer below, I believe this movie will rock!

Before he finally get a blockbuster role as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr was already an Oscar-nominated actor. He broke into the scene with his amazing portrayal of Julian, a wasted Beverly Hills rich (but neglected) kid in Less Than Zero. I met him in Los Angeles once, and he was down-to-earth and affable - no airs at all!

Downey's got really crazy with drugs and got into lots of trouble with the law. Sometimes I wondered if he would go the way of River Pheonix, another great actor who died of drug abuse.

Fortunately, Downey looks set to leave his past behind him.

In the following video, he played Sir Elton John's alter-ego, mouthing the words to one of my favorite Elton John song: "I Want Love":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_u6l7EsQMc

Sir Elton is another great hero of mine, He is outspoken, lived his talented life the way he wanted, and spoke out against homophobia. He will be performing in Singapore this May, and I look forward to hearing the great legend sing - hopefully as many of his newer songs as his classics.

Both Downey and Sir Elton are talented artists who'd overcome all odds, gained victory over their own demons and shared their gifts with the world. It is people like them that give us inspiration to battle our own odds, that inspire us to rise and shine.

And finally, Buddy Buddy:

Britney's South Park episode + Violence in Comics

When Britney Spears began her career in the pop scene, I saw her as Madonna-lite.

But her last two studio albums, In The Zone and Blackout, are really enjoyable. I practically worn out my copy of In The Zone, and her latest song "Piece Of Me" is a fantastic and meaningful song that addresses the topic of her public persona.

While she has nothing to do with comics and animation, her recent appearance in the newest season of South Park blew my mind. In it, Britney got tired of the public attention and used a shotgun and blew out her brains. And that's just the beginning of the show.

Bizzarely, she survived the blow and went on an adventure with the South Park kids of Kyle and Stan.

As you can see below, with her brains blown off, Britney went on to perform her first single, Gimme More, in the Grammy Awards. If you are aged 18 and above, you can watch the episode on the South Park site jaw agaped at this new South Park affront.

If that's not violent enough for your tender heart, you can go the the Net and check out the latest episodes of Happy Tree Friends (above). In these mini-episodes, cute little squirrels and rabbits get their innards turned inside out (organs exposed etc) in many grissly ways.

Many people are upset by the violence in Happy Tree Friends and South Park. Don't forget that in earlier seasons, Kenny from South Park died in virtually every episode.

The very same people (usually adults) forgot that when they were younger themselves, they were laughing at just as much cartoon violence. Look back at the popular cartoon Wily Coyote and the Road Runner.

In his constant bid to catch (and probably eat) the Road Runner bird, Wily Coyote used a bunch of ridiculous equipment and weapons. Everytime these technology backfired. And Coyote is usually burnt to a charred crisp, his eyeballs, teeth etc falling off his face.

We can laugh at such cartoon violence because we instinctively knew cartoon violence is different from real violence. We laugh because we knew the cartoon character always survives.

Deaths are often used in comics and cartoons to different effects. Take the famous Batman comics - the 2nd Robin, Jason Todd, was killed by The Joker. Tragic, but he eventually returned from the grave as the Red Hood.

So there.

One big fat non-secret in the comic world: noone dies. So often their deaths are quite funny.

There are no deaths in Buddy Buddy, but it's still fun. Slow in posting, but fun. :)

Buddy Buddy p35 + p36

A hanger is a hanger.
Unless it's a 3M hanger that looks like part of a cartoon bear's anatomy!
This hanger stands out (pun intended) amongst all other hangers.
And that's a humorous, attention grabbing design.

What about this? It's a family of salt + pepper shaker. And the kid is actually a brilliant tooth-pick container.

When the kid's cap is raised, the toothpicks fan out like the kid's in shock, his manga hair standing out and pushing his cap into the air! Simply ingenius!

These green and yellow chicks are each a salt/pepper dispenser. Twist their heads one side, and you get salt. Twist the other, and you get pepper!

You might think these wonderful designs are from some European or Japanese design house, but they're actually the works of Thailand.

The bags above?
They used discarded plastic bags and shampoo bottle wrappers as part of the decoration. Again, another Thailand design!

OK, now back to Buddy Buddy!

Buddy Buddy p17 + p18

I have been working on my dream project of recapturing the magic of Journey To The West for more than 2 years now (a sample is shown above). It has come a long way from the Monkey King in Buddy Buddy (below).

I am very proud of this first baby. The drawing skill was certainly raw, but the story and the heart were all right!

Buddy Buddy p15 + p16

It's no wonder why Monty Python remains one of the greatest comedy team the world has known. I'd recently became clearer that behind the jokes they make, there is always something quite profound:

"Is life just a game where we make up the rules
While we search for something to say
Or are we just simply spiralling coils
Of self-replicating DNA?"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=27-VCulMf0U

Below is Buddy Buddy:

Buddy Buddy p13 + p14

This is a piece I did for fun. That's during a time when my computer hung a lot. :)

And here's page 13 and 14 of Buddy Buddy, as promised. As u can see, the leading characters on the cover page haven't shown up yet! They will soon!

Buddy Buddy p9 + p10

Did you notice that Hiro (pictured above), the only Asian superhero in the hit tv series HEROES, is also the only character that readily embraced his powers? Everyone else - the Westerners - see their powers as burdens, something that must be hidden to protect their loved ones!


A lot of western superheroes hide their true identity. For example, Peter Parker keeps his secret that he is Spiderman. The movie catch phrase is "with great power comes great responsibilities."


I attended a talk at National Library conducted by Shawn Siow, assisted by Ocean, from Funix. He offered a view that Western superhero comics take Christianity's Jesus Christ as the basic template - where a hero is often a Chosen One whose powers save others but bring himself suffering. Manga superhero comics are heavily influenced by Buddhism. Since everyone can become a Buddha, even a commoner can be a comic book hero.

That's why Hiro Nakamura is the only one who can't wait to 'save the world' in HEROES! He does not see his powers as a burden.

Buddy Buddy p7 + p8

The one-off comic above was done just for fun in 2001.

Buddy Buddy p5 + p6

The logo "Star Wars" is familiar to many of us, but if you check out the figures of Snowtrooper, R2D2 and C3PO, you'd see that they are somewhat different.


This set of Star Wars action figures are specially created to honor one of the key concept artists, Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie was crucial in bringing George Lucas's visions into being, creating in his sketches some of the most iconic characters of our generation.

And here's page 5 and 6 of Buddy Buddy:

Buddy Buddy p3 + p4

This is a Taiwanese "Super Cute Paper Idol Doll" - that's the best I can translate. You can buy them as single sheets of colourfully-printed cardboard. It's easy to assemble - just tear along the perforated outlines, and fold along the dotted lines! In minutes you can have your little army of traditional Chinese gods and mythical creatures to welcome the Year Of the Rat and ward off evil spirits!

And here's page 3 and 4 of Buddy Buddy.
(click on images for larger yada yada)