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Every year in December we ask our Readers’ Bloc to name their ten favorite books of the year. Our Readers’ Bloc is composed of two filmmakers, the frontrunner (technically the kulelat) in the Lifetime Underachievement Awardee rankings, one capitalist, one imperialist running dog, two advertising pros, one art professor, one visual artist/stylist, one rugby player, one graphic novelist, one Overlord of the Universe.

First one out of the gate: Budjette Tan, author of the Trese graphic novels, now freezing body parts off in Manchester where he’s been assigned by his ad agency for a few months.

Budjette’s List:

1. 12 by Manix Abrera

Abrera is more popularly known for his daily comic strip Kikomachine in the Inquirer, which is usually filled with chatty characters; he somehow manages to cram a hundred words in those tiny strips. In 12 he tells twelve wordless stories. These silent tales range from finding and losing love in the MRT, the tragedy of receiving super powers, and the heartache of saying goodbye to your mutant twin brother.

2. SULYAP, published by Komikon, Inc.

If you attend the Komikon, the bi-annual comic book convention in Manila, you might have a hard time picking out which new title to buy and read. The organizers of Komikon have made it easier for you by putting together this anthology, which features eight titles by Pinoy comic book creators.

3. RENAISSANCE : ANG MULING PAGSILANG, edited by Ernest Leo Hernandez

This art book compiles illustrations depicting all sorts of Pinoy heroes (super and otherwise) helping people that got caught in the typhoon and floods of 2009. Filipino artists from around the world contributed to this great collection. It features new Pinoy heroes including Mars Ravelo’s greatest characters Darna and Captain Barbell, drawn by today’s top artists. This was published for the benefit of the flood victims of Ondoy and Pepeng.

4. THE GHOST IN LOVE by Jonathan Carroll.

This is a love story. No, wait…it’s a fantasy love story. It’s actually a fantasy action-adventure thriller love story. (It’s always hard to describe Carroll’s magical stories.) It’s really about a man and a woman, a ghost and a talking dog, and the love that binds them and pushes them apart. If you liked Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: Brief Lives and Audrey Niffenegger’s Time Traveler’s Wife then you might want to give this book a read.

5. NEWS OF THE SHAMAN by Karl L De Mesa.

This collection of horror novellas gives you a glimpse of that other side of Manila where angels and devils roam, where creatures of Philippine folklore and lower-mythology have found new jobs and hobbies, and where people casually practice magic and shamans are treated like rockstars.

6. I AM LEGION by Fabien Bury and John Cassaday.

The Nazis have discovered their ultimate weapon: a little girl who can control anyone or anything that drinks her blood. The spies of the Allied Forces must stop this weapon before it’s too late. The story feels like an episode of X-Files in the 1940s (or 1940s Fringe). Cassaday’s art provides a very cinematic feel to this graphic novel full of intrigue, deception, and blood.

7. AMERICAN VAMPIRE by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, Rafael Albuquerque.

If you’re looking for sparkling, lovelorn vampires, then you should not pick up this graphic novel. As Stephen King says in the introduction, in this book vampires are doing what they were meant to be doing – hunting and killing people (and other vampires). Snyder and King tag-team in telling the story of this new breed of vampires that aren’t afraid of sunlight and use wooden stakes as toothpicks. Albuquerque provides the art and uses two different styles to tell Snyder’s story in the 1920s and King’s story in the 1880s.

8. LOLA: A GHOST STORY by J.Torres, Elbert Or, and Jonas Diego.

Written by Fil-Canadian J.Torres with art by Manila-based artists Or and Diego, LOLA tells the story of Jesse, a balikbayan who returns home to attend his grandmother’s funeral. Jesse soon learns about his lola’s unusual childhood and encounters all sorts of supernatural creatures. (And yes, there’s a ghost in this story.)

9. ELMER by Gerry Alanguilan.

I’ve mentioned this graphic novel before, but I must include it again this year because last November Elmer was made available in the US, UK, and France by its international publishers SLG and Editions çà et là.. Elmer is set in an alternate reality where chickens gain human intelligence and start to take on human jobs, have human problems, and start to dream and succeed like humans. The story focuses on Elmer’s family, his children, their surviving war and discrimination, and their struggle to live a normal, happy life.

10. INSTRUCTIONS by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

This storybook is a set of instructions on what to do in case you find yourself lost in a storybook. The instructions all apply to situations when you find yourself lost in your own story. As Gaiman wrote, “Trust ghosts. Trust those that have helped you in their turn. Trust dreams. Trust your heart and trust your story.”

The Crux: We have always known that governments lie to us. Now we have proof. What’s shocking is how shocked we are.

Hackers Attack Those Seen as WikiLeaks Enemies
By JOHN F. BURNS and RAVI SOMAIYA

LONDON — In a campaign that had some declaring the start of a “cyberwar,” hundreds of Internet activists mounted retaliatory attacks on Wednesday on the Web sites of multinational companies and other organizations they deemed hostile to the WikiLeaks antisecrecy organization and its jailed founder, Julian Assange.

Within 12 hours of a British judge’s decision on Tuesday to deny Mr. Assange bail in a Swedish extradition case, attacks on the Web sites of WikiLeaks’s “enemies,” as defined by the organization’s impassioned supporters around the world, caused several corporate Web sites to become inaccessible or slow down markedly. . .

Read the NYT report.

Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It’s your choice. John Naughton in the Guardian.

The Guardian’s complete coverage of WikiLeaks

Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government”. In zunguzungu.

Congratulations to the Azkals Philippine national football team for making it to the semifinals of the Suzuki Cup! Woof! The region’s football underdogs drew with Myanmar to advance to the next stage.

(Another victory for the diaspora and my Theory of World Domination, megalomaniacal laughter.)

The way is shut. Neil Etheridge!

The Philippines will face Indonesia next. That semifinal should be played in Manila, where we can muster a home crowd for the Azkals; unfortunately the local football rep says we have no venues that meet Asean Football Federation standards so the match will be held in another country. Shame.

PHL 11 clinches semis spot in Suzuki Cup

My book publisher says the printers will deliver the first batch of copies of Twisted 9 today, Thursday. Yay!

If you posted your orders here, you will receive your confirmation email in the next couple of days. If you haven’t ordered your books yet, we accept orders of ten copies or more here. As of now we can only fulfill orders within the Metro Manila area but we are looking into shipping costs to other areas.

If you have a pending order of Twisted 9, you can pick up your copies at the Meet and Greet with our columnist Jon Morales on Saturday, 11 December 2010, 7 to 9 pm at La Cuisine in Salcedo Village, Makati. Please confirm your attendance in the Comments under this post so I’ll know how many copies to bring.

listbonne, brewhuh23, jules, atomic_bum, the chronicler of boredom, Momelia: I will bring your orders to the Meet+Greet. Does anyone else plan to pick up their orders on Saturday?

Twisted 9 will be available in National Bookstores in the next couple of weeks.

Everyone is invited to the Meet and Greet with Jon. Bring your friends! The beer is cheap and there’s a good selection of wines.

La Cuisine is on the ground floor of Paseo Parkview, Sedeno corner San Agustin Street, Salcedo Village, Makati. It’s near Makati Sports Club and the Salcedo weekend market. On the Makati-bound side of Edsa, turn right on Buendia (Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue), left on Paseo de Roxas, and right again at Citibank. Turn left at the second intersection, which is San Agustin. La Cuisine is at the end of the street, on the left side.

By the way, Jon has been named to the Philippine Volcanoes squad for the test matches against Hong Kong to be played at Rizal Stadium in Manila on April 14 and 16, 2011. Yay, and of course we’re all going to watch!

Look into my eyes. Your eyelids are getting heavy. You are in my power. You will buy more copies of Twisted 9.

* * * * *

They’re here! I can bring your orders on Saturday. Who’s in charge of the pool, could you send someone to pick up your copies then?

We have a limited number of copies so we can only serve advance bulk orders. If your order is part of the pool, you have to claim it with the pool. Otherwise it gets confusing.

The current issue of Words Without Borders, the online magazine of international literature, is devoted to Horrors. Included are works from Germany, Italy, Japan, Finland, France, Serbia, Spain and Brazil, newly translated into English.

I’ve never associated the work of Edward Hopper with horror, though one could say isolation is a form of horror (Not to me, I’m of the “Hell is other people” school).

The Visitor Edward Hopper Received Two Years before His Death
By Mario Sabino. Translated by Clifford E. Landers

It was at the start of the winter that’s ending now. I was returning from my evening walk when I spotted a stranger sitting at my table in the bar in the piazza—more exactly, in my chair. As I could do nothing about the undue appropriation other than direct a look of disapproval at him, I occupied a table at the far end of the awning-covered veranda. He must be a lost tourist. I didn’t pay him any great attention and left once I had finished my wine.

The next afternoon, I saw the same man in my space. I installed myself beside him, dragging the chair and table in an irritated demonstration. He didn’t move, but I noticed the shadow of a smile on his lips, which looked as if they had been shaped by a palette knife. That bothered me so much that I decided to forgo the glass of wine. . .

Read the full story.

And I swear it was not rigged.

Round 5pm I got a text from Noel: I won free graphic novels from the raffle at National Bookstore!

I said, Wow and you never join raffles. At that exact moment I was at National Bookstore in Glorietta 5 for the opening of Work Station, a new section dedicated to office equipment (computers, printers, scanners, cabinets, furniture) and the full line of Apple products.

Work Station is located inside National Bookstore in Glorietta 5, SM Calamba, and SM San Pablo. It also has standalone stores in Glorietta 3 and Market! Market! in Bonifacio Global City.

You want to know how to get 100 percent attendance at your event? Send out an invitation with a picture of the new MacBook Air and the word “Raffle” under it in block letters. I don’t deny that it was a major factor in my decision to go there.

Before the grand prize was announced, 20 iPod Shuffles were raffled off. I was standing next to Bianca from the Inquirer whose name was called just as she was eating an hors d’oeuvre. “Great,” she said, “I get called while my mouth is full.” I said, “If I get nominated for an Oscar the camera will zoom in on me while I’m stuffing my face. And stay there.” Then I popped an entire quiche in my mouth and my name was called. I won an iPod Shuffle!

My joy was tinged with sorrow because it meant I was no longer eligible to win the MacBook Air.

“Quick, eat something,” I told Bianca’s friend. And she won an iPod too. The MacBook Air went to Bea Ledesma. Damn you Bea you always win the laptop!

The light show at the Ayala Triangle Park.

Afterwards I walked to Ayala Triangle Park to meet Juan, Ricky and Noel at dinner. “I won an iPod in a raffle! I never win raffles!”

“Because you never join raffles,” Juan pointed out. Then again Juan is the one who will point out that if a runaway train loaded with explosives is coming at you all you have to do is fire a missile and take out the engine. End of movie.

Pandora?

But never mind rationality, I won a raffle! My new iPod will be delivered tomorrow.