I really should start psyching myself that I no longer go by blackmoon.8m.com and I am now known as a paid domain by the name of evilwearspink.com. It’s still giving me a bad mix-up.

Anyway. Pleasant surprise this afternoon after buying a magazine in Alabang Town Center. Though the unwelcome faces of Nina and Christian Bautista added to the hesitation, there was something welcome I found in the racks: a P50 back issue of BURN Magazine, first release dated May 2006. Obviously the mag’s new, and I have already seen the hype around the internet. I didn’t bother picking up one before though because I haven’t paid attention to the news/magazine stands after the last issue of MTV Ink went out.

So imagine my surprise–and the best one so far this week–when I found the name Kristine Fonacier on one of the articles. Sweet. At least she’s back on the magazines. I flip on the pages a little bit more and guess what I find: she’s the editor-in-chief. Whoa! This is going to kick some other magazines’ butts.

 For all of you who didn’t know me before college, Kristine Fonacier, or Kf for you, is no, not an obsession nor my stalkee (hehe), but one of the people I have long looked up to in the only field of media I so dreamed of exploring: the softer side of journalism, aka magazine writing. We interviewed her for a group project back in my sophomore year along with my best friend Mark, and I’ll tell you that we were smitten by this genius of a lady. Up till today, I still am.

Let’s go through the essentials. An alumna from Ateneo with a degree from Communications majoring in Journalism, she has been around for some time with the Fookien Times Publishing (a Philippine Star affiliate, handled by VP Grace Glory Go), handling the Music Editor post of one of the leading music magazines in the Philippines, PULP Magazine under EIC Vernon Go, and in the early 2001,spearheaded the pop side of the music industry and going beside a huge entertainment icon, MTV Philippines, by releasing the printed version, MTV Ink. It was a powerhouse cast with writers coming from PULP and Philippine Star, like Igan D’Bayan of Philippine Star’s Audiosyncrasy; Palanca award winner and book writer Luis Katigbak (known for the book, Happy Endings under UP Press, which hatefully ran out of printing just when I learned of this great book); Clarissa “Conch” Concio who holds the Managing Editor post and doubles as a guitarist for the band  Olympic Smoker; graphic artist Guadakomeda of Team Manila; Bernie Sim, former Art Editor of The LaSallian, DLSU-Manila’s student publication and now one-half of Electrolychee along with Marcus Nada, both also contributors of Ang Ink or Illustrador ng Kabataan, an organization devoted to illustrating for children’s books–all of them and so much more. They dominated the field by coming up with the craziest stories and in-your-face commentaries versus fanatics, plus a different attack on articles. They also started the long newspaper-height format in magazines, a fad which is being adapted by some magazines today.

What made Kf famous is something a lot has tried to pull off but failed miserably: a cynicism better than anybody’s, wit challenging the worst artists and much more the better ones, and that she was brave to explore things that hasn’t been done by most, all the while smiling and enjoying the ride. She has established herself by fearlessly pioneering movements, leaving a significant trail in the arts.

In 2005, I was informed by Bernie (while conveniently in a cr in an on going electronica event in 2005′s Fete De La Musique, Ortigas) that Kf would be leaving the EIC post and go on a hiatus to focus on her then involvement with Masters in Creative Writing under University of the Philippines. I was shocked, of course; and although it was easy to accept that it would be for her betterment, after all Kf was into literature as well, but it was hard to imagine Ink without her. Soon after her leave, Ink lasted only a few issues, then finally sold its last issue in late 2005.

It was hard to catch Kf after that. although she has contributed to a lot of publications (summit media publishings like Mega, Pen and Ink and other online magazines), the only staple magazine which kept on coming out with her name was Pulp, but with the magazine experiencing being tagged as a glossy living for advertisements, it was hard to buy the mag without a prejudice.
So imagine my delight when, albeit like I said it was rather discomforting to be seen buying a mag with Nina and Christian Bautista’s faces pasted on the front, I was able to purchase the magyesterday, and now I have not not gotten enough of it yet. It comes with a cd supposedly hosted by Zach Lucero (and this I have to view immediately after I come home this weekend), and though its cover’s a glossy, the pages are reminiscent of MTV Ink: a little rough, but amazing blend on the colors. Sad part of course, is that it gets you with its familiarity faster than you can say “MTV Ink”: The wit is the same, the writers on board have half of the other Ink graduates, and layout is Ink crammed into a regular-sized (is it A3 or A4?) Mag. But hey, as long as Kristine Fonacier and her humor is back. I’m alright again.

So check it on your nearest news stands. Burn Magazine, a monthly publication, est P120 per printing. They would have an official launch over at Mall of Asia’s Music Hall, on September 28th, 6pm. Lots of Bands, with freebies to boot. Let’s celebrate another creation of geniuses and wish it more years to come.