Bugger Off...

.:Back Off:.

Pardon my French. This post will not be pretty.

Artists have got to have the most petulant and self-absorbed egos I've ever encountered.

Well, not all of them, but the bad ones are just really such characters.

You see, my best friend, Elbert, has been doing comics for the longest time. Sure, he's only 22, but in no way does that make him any less qualified to talk about comics. If anything, the passion that he brings to the table shows to everyone that he is willing to do more than his fair share to help make the Philippine comics industry grow as a whole.

I've seen the man pile on sleepless nights, pour out tears, and almost sweat blood just to get where he is right now.

Next thing I hear, some people who think they know it all see it fit to criticize him for critiquing other people's work.

I'd be the first to say that Elbert isn't the best artist I've ever met. Then again, so? Who died and made these know-it-alls God? Did they think that seniority is some kind of entitlement or guarantee of immunity from criticism? Did they think that it requires excellence in a field for one to be qualified to critique another's work?

Simon Cowell can't sing for crap and yet his word on who can sing well and who can't is law in “American Idol”. Fr. Nick has never directed a single film, yet his film reviews are as good as gold for a lot of people who want to ask what's the next good movie to watch. Phil Jackson was nowhere nearly as good a basketball player as he is a coach. So did anyone expect these people to be any good in the respective fields they supposedly critique? Or have we all forgotten that the best coaches tend to be on the benches?

Why is it, then, that when it comes to comic book artists, people think you have to be good at it for your word to be any good? Why do people think that the amount of time they've been involved in the industry is enough entitlement for them to throw their weight around and question the legitimacy of people other than them? Why? What have they done to make the Philippine industry any better lately, to begin with? Did they think for one moment that Elbert, just because he's maybe young, or perhaps because he's not the best artist in the world, is not qualified to critique, or hasn't, in his own way, and through his own drive and desire, earned the spot that he finds himself in today?

Well, a big “fuck you” to anyone who thinks Elbert's not good enough to do what he does.

What do you know? Who are you to judge him? You come around asking for critique, and then your fragile little ego can't take the heat? Well, then bugger off. I won't mince words and I won't take that kind of crap sitting down. Nobody talks that way about my best friend, and I don't care if you're Leonardo Da Vinci's next of kin, but if your art is crap, then your art is crap. The issue is that Elbert is critiquing art, not coddling artists' egos.

The problem with these artist types who find themselves entitled to better things is that they sit on their asses waiting for things to get better for them, and yet look on in envy as others who may or may not be as talented as they are grab the opportunities they feel should be theirs.

Well, newsflash, retards: you have to get off your ass if you intend to get anywhere. Its always been that way, and always will be that way. You never did anything to merit being born into this universe in the first place, so the universe does not fucking owe you anything. Capische?

Elbert has earned his keep through blood, sweat, and tears. If you feel you deserve better, then do yourself a favor, get off your high horse, and start walking the walk because while you talk about how much better an artist you are, this so-called “bad artist” is running circles around you because you're too busy being engrossed with your grandiose sense of self-worth to realize how much you actually suck at life.

Fission mailed, punks. My only regret was that I wasn't there last Sunday to give a verbal drubbing to anyone who tried to question Elbert's sincerity at helping people. Still, I'm sure, given how I heard things boil down, Elbert pwn3d his pathetic little detractors like the egotistic whiny little bitches that they are.

Unlike certain self-engrossed people, El would rather help everyone including himself rather than just toot his own horn and demand entitlement in an industry that is only as good as your last work.

Don't hate, appreciate. Elbert doesn't get off on telling artists how much they suck. He's actually trying to help, and in case you haven't noticed, by being the person that he is, he has helped advance the Philippine comic book industry further than a lot of his detractors ever have despite their supposed tenure. So if you find yourself using only your credentials, your past as an excuse to question the man's integrity, then get a fucking clue, and back off from Elbert. If you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen. If you ain't down with that, then I've got two words for ya.

Screw you.