San Pablo City Blog

Jonas Diego, Inc and Komikero Publishing is proud to announce the SECOND San Pablo City Comics Festival, to be held at the Lion's Club beside Sampalok Lake oN December 6, 2009 from 9am to 6pm.

Check out the Festival's offical blog here.

Stay tuned for more updates! Just be sure to keep your December 6 open! See you there!

San Pablo City is a featured location in one of my new comics stories entitled "SIM". It is an 8-page story that will be included in a comics anthology entitled UNDERPASS published by Summit. It will be launched this Sunday, October 18, 2009 at the 5th Annual Komikon: The Filipino Komiks Convention at the Megatrade Hall of the SM Megamall.

Here's a press release on UNDERPASS:

Set to launch this coming KOMIKON 2009 (October 18, Megatrade Hall 1, SM Megamall), Underpass is a graphic anthology featuring dark fantasy stories from some of today's greatest Pinoy comics creators.

Sim by Gerry Alanguilan
Judas Kiss by David Hontiveros, Budjette Tan and Oliver Pulumbarit
Katumbas by David Hontiveros and Ian Sta. Maria
The Clinic by Budjette Tan and Ka-jo Baldisimo.

The full-color anthology, which is Summit Media's first foray into Philippine-produced comics, will retail for P250. After the Komikon, Underpass will be available in major magazine shops.

"SIM" is only the latest in a series of short comics stories of mine that has San Pablo City as a featured location.

My first story, "San Dig, 1944", appeared in SIGLO: FREEDOM in 2002, and it had Sta. Catalina/San Dig as a featured location. It was even translated into Croatian in 2007.

The second story, "San Pablo, 1978" appeared in SIGLO: PASSION in 2004, and it featured Lake Pandin as a location.



A launching was held at Fully Booked, Greenhills in 2005.

A lot of my future stories are also set in San Pablo. I guess I just can't help it. It's part of my blood.

(UPDATE) Donations are accepted in all 7-Eleven branches nationwide 24/7.
http://www.7-eleven.com.ph/

I've confirmed that the local Red Cross office (next to the big mango tree) and the Mail & More/Air 21 Outlet along Rizal Avenue (across Security bank) are accepting donations in clothes and other goods for relief of flooding due to Typhoon Ondoy.

If anyone is aware of other donation outlets, please post in the comments below and I will update this page accordingly.

To those abroad, here is a link to sites where you can donate:
http://moongirl.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/donating-to-manila-from-abroad/

From the comments:

The Jaycees San Pablo is also receiving donations c/o John (cell no: 0916-462-2994) at the Learners' Academy, Alimario Street, cor Lt. Brion St. Land line (049) 561-3139. They are also looking for volunteers to help at the evacuation centers. (Thanks to Raniela)

Nag grocery ako sa Ultimart kahapon. Parang na depress ata ako. Kasi konti na lang ang taong bumibili, parang madilim, isang hilerang freezer ang walang laman, wala ring laman yung fresh meat, parang amoy luma... parang nakakalungkot.

Parang nung isang taon lang siksikan ang tao dito at ang hahaba ng pila. Nagrereklamo pa ang ibang tao na konti lang ang cashier na bukas. And to think na Linggo kahapon. Usually maraming tao ang namimili dito pag linggo. Kahapon, parang mga lima lang kami doon.

Asan ang mga tao? Andun sa PUREGOLD.

Tama ang kutob ko na tatamaan ang ilang business sa bayan ng dahil sa Puregold. At ang isa sa mga kutob kong maaapektuhan ay Ultimart. Sayang din kasi OK para sa akin mag grocery dun. Marami rin kasi silang mga sosyal na bilihin doon na gusto kong bilhin pag may konting pera ako.

Tulad ng Salmon. Wala sa Puregold nyan. Tulad ng Nestle Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix. Wala sa Puregold nyan. Yung ilang mga imported na bagay tulad ng Muesli, mga de lata... wala sa Puregold nyan.

Tama ang ginagawa ng Ultimart na mag renovate sila. Yun din ang naisip ko noon bilang isa sa mga pwede nilang gawin para tapatan ang Puregold. Pero sana meron silang regular maintenance. At dapat maliwanang. Yang mga simpleng bagay na ganyan ang hanap ng tao e. Malinis. Maliwanag. Malinis ang CR at well maintained.

Pano na pag nagka SM na? Balita ko magkaka SM sa Riverina next year. Lalo nang malilintikan ang Ultimart... pati na rin Puregold.

Ito, may bidjo ako ng pamimili ko sa ULTIMART noong 2006.

We had our regular Komikero meeting yesterday beside Sampalok Lake. It's an artists group that meets there every last Sunday of the month. And ever since we discovered Fat Larrie's across the top of the stairs more than a year ago, we've been going there regularly at lunchtime.

Jonas wrote about them here last July 2008:
http://foodmayhem.blogspot.com/2008/07/fat-larries.html

And when I have guests from Manila, I would bring them there. I brought my French comics friend Ivan Brun for a snack and a drink there last January 2. See this video? This was shot there.



The last time I was there before yesterday was January 13, 2009 where me, Jonas and Johnny ate and hung out.

I always thought it was one of the better places to eat at San Pablo because the food was great, the service was nothing to complain about, and the ambiance beside the lake was something you can't get anywhere else.

Yesterday we had a particularly large group of people from Manila for a visit and as usual, I brought them to Fat Larrie's for lunch. And it turned out to be the single worst eating experience I've had in any place, be it San Pablo, Manila or abroad.

For one thing, the waiters weren't sure if they could allow us to connect our tables. That was puzzling because connecting tables should be typical for restaurants that receive a large amount of patrons.

They later agreed to connect two tables together. I kept wondering why they were hesitant to do it and later we learned it's about the billing, but more on that later.

For one thing, the waiter had little idea of what was available and what was not. And every order we gave, he kept going back to the kitchen to ask if it was available or not. And it was kind of frustrating that more and more items on the menu were not available on that day.

A friend of mine was kept waiting for 10 minutes before being told that his order wasn't available. Even worse, two guys was told their order wasn't available AN HOUR after they had ordered.

The waiting time was frustratingly long. Some were getting their orders 45 minutes to an hour after they ordered. We were starting to wonder if they were just using one stove in there. Frustratingly, they even brought out an order than nobody ordered. Take note that during our entire time there, nobody else was eating there except us. So we should have had their entire attention.

A few of the guys who had already finished eating wanted to leave and explore the lake and wanted to pay. However, the waiters billed the entire table, including those who haven't even been served their food yet.

I had mine an hour and 15 minutes after I had ordered it, a grilled tuna steak. And even though it took them that long, the steak wasn't even close to being cooked. Only the surface was singed and browned. The inside was still red and bloody all throughout. I thought about returning it and have them cook it, but how long will it take them this time? I decided to eat it. I eat raw tuna anyway whenever I eat sushi. Since it wasn't sushi, it was horrible, but almost everyone was already finished, and I didn't want to hold anyone up.

My friend Jonas got his order an hour and 20 minutes after he ordered it, and he said that it was not completely cooked. Jonas is a normally patient guy, but he was really steamed by this time and was really ready to cancel his order go and eat isaw down the stairs rather than wait another minute. He was already miffed about there not being any softdrinks that wasn't lite earlier on. He had to go to a sari sari store nearby just to get his regular coke in a plastic bag and straw.

To be honest, if we weren't with friends, enjoying each other's company, allowing us to keep our cool and humor, it would have turned really ugly.

I don't know what happened to Fat Larrie's yesterday for them to be so incompetent and lousy with their service. Understaffed? Regular chef called in sick? What? It's never happened before, and I'm really scratching my head over it.

In any case, Fat Larrie's chose the wrongest day of the year for their service to suck because a lot of these guys are bloggers like me, who will not hesitate to write about this experience online.

Me, as a San Pablo resident and host to these group of people, I felt terribly embarrassed. I will no longer be eating there, and neither will my friends.

Fat Larrie Sunday Experience
Jonas Diego
http://foodmayhem.blogspot.com/2009/01/fat-larrie-sunday-experience.html

Labels: food

For a larger, clearer video, go to You Tube at this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QaAik1wA-o

And then click on "Watch in High Quality".

You can also watch a good quality version here:


San Pablo City Coco Festival 2009 from komikero on Vimeo.

Labels: festival, video

Winner: Float Competition


Winner: Masquerade Parade

More photos at my Multiply account here.

Video coming soon!

Labels: cocofest