Artworks: Pong Pagong

one of the most influential educators of the 80's generation. Pong Pagong was one of the characters that was loaned from CTW to PCTVF's Batibot. Too bad they took him along with his best friend kiko matsing away back in 1994. Pop Culture Icons like them should never be taken away in the first place, because along with them comes the childhood memories of the 80's generation.

Vector Illustration By yours Truly
Adobe Illustrator CS2
Click on the Image to view it on the DA Page

Life

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

ho ho ho.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Yes, we're back to that time of the year again. The time were everyone pretends that they are happy, another boring day with your family. The Time where you would want to go out but you cant because of the horrible traffic caused an by over commercialized event. The time where media shows how everyone is happy and adds contrast to get a scoop by exploiting the less fortunate and stating the obvious. The time where everyone gets to pretend they are catholics because they worship a big fat guy in red. Its all about money, materialism and Pretending to be happy. And yes A LOT of calories.

Kung Fu Dunk

What if you combine Slam Dunk and Shaolin Soccer?

This is the new basketball movie Starring Jay Chou. From what I've seen so far, the movie looks quite decent to say the least. Because aside from Slamdunk, there hasn't been that much good asian series. Dear Boys and CKBC aint that good either. Buzzer Beater and MVP Valentine were decent but seem to be lacking something.




Come to think of it, I'm surprised that the Philippines hasn't produced a basketball themed movie for more than a decade now. The Last time there was one was when "The Flying A" Johnny Abarientos and "Papi" Willie Revillame filmed Go Johnny Go back in 1996-97. Where it banked in on the Flying A's MVP Season and the Charlotte Hornet's Scout Hype. Pretty Decent movie. There was That movie of Asi Taulava, Juday and Robin Padilla but the movie Only used hoops as a side accent.

But then Again I saw the Basketball Match at the Philippine Tokusatsu Uchuu Keiji Zaido Between the Uchuu Keiji (Space Shereiffs) and the Fuuma Empire. It Even Had Alex Crisano on it LoL.

life

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

The Real Hanamichi Sakuragi?

I Came across this article regarding the supposedly Real Life Hanamichi Sakuragi circulating through the net. Too bad that the article is not true. The world could need an example of hope such as him.




"Hanamichi Sakuragi was born in 1968 in a family of the common and current working class. Her mother passed away when he was very small, without the love of her mother he used the violence (street fights) to solve her problems. From boy mts was very high to 12 years average 1,75, and its body began to acquire force and much resistance through its fights. Once it had a fight with the students in the sport zone of the University of Tokyo; their abilities of fight, speed and physical power, attracted the trainer of the basketball equipment, and ingenió so that it entered the smaller equipment.

In a practice party, to the 17 years of age, against the National Equipment of Japan, Hanamichi of 1,89 mts, was the unique one that was not scared by the professionals and only wrote down 33 points he: 10 shots, 3 nailed, 1 free triple, 1 shot that did not find the terminology to explain it, and 2 shots.

Although its equipment lost just by 59 points (59 - 115), had been excellent a first party for Hanamichi. The basketball was in chaos, and he was named “La Hope of the Basketball japonés”. Nevertheless, his father fell ill a year later. Hanamichi went from return to Tokyo, and this way would cost everything to him. It lowered of the bus in Tokyo and was on the verge of crossing the street to the hospital when an automobile that went very fast I strike it. Although it had “cuerpo of acero”, the impact simply was too strong. One collapsed, took it to the hospital. Unfortunately he was too much tarde… before they sent to him to the operating room died by the great internal hemorrhage, only with 18 years of age.

The World of the Japanese Basketball completely was destroyed, called this loss “Colosal”. The mangaca Takehiko Inoue created its series ” Slam Dunk ” cradle in the history of this young person."



then I saw this:

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb384/zendesigns/Resource/Yoshiki.jpg

Click on the link and Look at the second picture of the japanese musician yoshiki, poof! yes that's his picture when he was young. Same picture as the one used in the article.

kawawa naman yung mga nauto. (I pity all those who got fooled).

RP Team bags the hoops gold!

wow! this has got to be a really special RP team in recent memory. Not only because They bagged the Sea Games Gold but also

Defeated an NBL Team (It's the slingers, but still an NBL Team)
Mercilessly demolish their enemies including the host team (Take that you King!)
2 different outfitters for their jerseys, accel and nike (First time I saw a team with 2 outfitters and changing them back and forth within the said tourney.
Had the gesture to donate their stuff to the cambodian players (those poor guys couldn't even afford basketball shoes) :-(

Slam Dunk: 10 Days After

Takehiko Inoue's Slam Dunk was not only one of the best manga and anime series ever created, it is also one of the most inspirational underdog stories around. However, The story went short as the 101 episode anime series only covered up to the regional finals and the 32 volume manga only made it at the End of the season. Sadly Dr. T never did any sequel or continuation for it. The only known scene after the season was the Shisheido commercial where scenes of rukawa, miyagi and sakuragi playing together where shown. Miyagi wears the jersey no. 4 to indicate that he is the new captain.

Last 2004, at the 10th yr aniversary of slam dunk, Takehiko Inoue made a mini comic sequel of slam dunk named slam dunk 10 days after. The event took place 10 days after the ending of the manga. he wrote the manga on a school and each page was on a classroom's blackboard.

http://entertainment.webshots.com/al...iGRKgw?start=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grE8C...eature=related

The manga was about the everyone preparing for the next season. Akagi can't study well in college because he can't play basketball. Rukawa Studying english, Kogure visiting the team, mitsui making up for lost time and wants to impress college scouts. the freshmen training hard to compete for the vacant starting five slot. Miyagi is seen skipping class and studying leadership books as the next captain.

The other teams prepared as well. Shoyo was very superstitious with hanagata changing his glasses, hasegawa cutting his hair and fujima slimming up. Ryonan on the other hand had uozumi teaching the team members, scolding sendoh for fishing at practice time. The captain became Koshino instead of sendoh. Kainan was investigated by yayoi aida on their secrets since they got 2nd place iin the inter high.They saw maki Surfing, kiyota racing with his dog and jin jogging.

Coach taoka and kainan's coach takato are discussing a combined kanagawa selection for the winter tournament (shoyo ryonan, shohoku and kainan). But cant decide who between them will be the coach.

Anzai was told by doctors to jog for his health. Ayako sees him and chats for a while.

The sannoh players were reflecting on their loss to shohoku. Masashi and his younger brother Mikko was training harder when the Masashi told his younger sibling that he'll train him since he and sawakita will leave the team. Sawakita is seen on a plane going to the US.

Finally, the scene shifts to sakuragi, still on the rehab center. His trainer was telling him that he saw sakuragi's inter high games and was impressed by it. She asks sakuragi if he can be the first japanese nba player, sakuragi says he will go to the US and be it because he is a tensai.

Funny though a few months after this, Yuta tabuse was signed by the phoenix suns and became the first japanese player in the nba. He was released 10 days after when the Suns merchandise in japan got sold out

Here is the Scanlation translated in carabao english

Final Fantasy VIII Finally Finished

This was the longest time I spent on a game that as supposed to be only around 60 hours long, it spanned 8 years, 3 months and 4 days over 4 discs, 2 gaming systems and 3 memory cards.

On September 1999, I got myself a copy of the game played it on and off around once a month. Levelling up and getting the proper Items and weaponry. By the time 2002 was around, I finally had the urge to finish the game, Improved to disc4 and went down on ultimecia's castle, the final level in the game. Then luck stroke down again as my PS1's lens finally broke down. At this time, I thought I was never going to finish the game anymore.

A kindle of hope came 2 years later when I was finally able to afford a ps2. Unfortunately, although the system is capable of backwards compatibility, It is not compatible for jack sparrow and captain hook versions. So then again I wasn't able to continue the progress.


Finally last November, I was able to borrow an original FF8 game thanks to my friends Patrick and Jr. went on to finish the last stage and eventually finishing the game last sunday.

Fate looks like it wasnt going to allow me to finish this game, as the Final boss, Ultimecia's final form was nearing to die, the boss quickly casted armageddon which automatically destroyed the other 2 characters, zell and rinoa. Before I could revive them, ultimecia drew the life and full live magic from the remaining character, squall and again casted an attack that reduced my HP to 1. with no other choice, I used the limit break renzokuken and squall unleashed the lionheart for the dramatic finish.

Finally the game was finished, The CG Ending that I was waiting for 8 years is now flashing on my screen. I avoided seeing this at youtube because I want to finish the game first to avoid spoilage.

Then the disc hanged. I was so pissed and just watched the ending at youtube.

For those who want to see it:

Part 1



Part2

The Ugly Side of Geekdom in the Philippines

The world of anime/comics/ video games/ toy collectors/ card gaming etc. counterculture has been around in the country for more than a decade now. During the days it was very much held underground, with a super conservative country and the like, geeks or as the politically correct term, enthusiasts are often held with very small peer groups, usually sharing the information resources and materials. But as time passes by, and through the constant exposure in various media as well as that thing called the internet, it has now changed from an underground society to a mainstream fad in the late 90's and now a well established subculture.

But along with its evolution came a more ecstatic change. What was born in humble underground beginnings has now morphed in to an upstaging medium where refuge and social acceptance are replaced by the quest for superiority and elitism.

Attention Whores

What used to be an accepting and comforting shelter form the societies' norms has now evolved in a plethora of upstaging mediums. Enthusiasts or Otakus in the old days usually shelter themselves into small and underground gatherings that shield them from the public's ultra narrow minded view back then. It was a time where enthusiasts were just glad that they can meet with people that has the same passion and interests as them. It was a time where they could share information and resources that were then considered to be so scarce. It was a time to just BE YOURSELF.

But now this does not seem what it used to be. People aren't here for the fun and fulfillment any longer rather quite a number seems to be in it for the attention, money and fame. While there is nothing wrong in running a livelihood or getting a recognition for whatever artistic or creative field that you won, because you have earned all right to do so. But other than that, a lot of people are now trying to be a part of the socialite elite of the subculture. The question is though, for what cause? isn't this a subculture built to have the fans enjoy what they want without them having to worry about the annals of society? So that they could be themselves and be free against being intimidated by all the "Sirs" and "Mams" of what is supposed to be the same level of people that they are.

If you don't like it, don't watch it.

I myself had never been interested in medieval themed. series/ movies/ games or books. Thats why I never bothered to waste my time watching those things, Much less waste time bashing it.

Remakes, sequels Side stories, spin offs and even knock offs, Everything like that will happen. Everything is all about business. Markets will need to be tapped. Sellers would make their product more sellable to the general public be it Shows, Sequels, remakes, movie adaptations or whatever. Money would need to be made because the entertainment industry is an INDUSTRY, it needs to feed on the general interest of the public to gain money. No producer would be entitled to please a niche much less an individual unless that niche has a big purchasing power.

Why squabble that you hate a show, movie, franchise etc. and whine like a kid over it over and over again like a retarded 10 year old kid when you knew it was gonna suck in the first place. How about ranting when a show gets a tagalog dub when they know its targeted for the general public. To satisfy their purist ass? To have some sense of remorse or attention since what they saw wasn't suited for their tastes. Some of my friends have a term for this, "Milo" not to be confused with the beverage drink, these are People who would go far annoying normal fans in constant senseless battle for information and perfection from the series that they're watching rather than doing something decent with their lives. Maybe they're that delusional, since they are living in their "perfect" make believe world. Where everything has to be suited to their tastes. But then, Living in that pretend world has its price. Instead of doing something productive on your life, you just tend to waste your time, drowning yourselves in information that nobody even cares about.

As Wilt Chamberlain said, Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. There's nothing wrong in saying a piece of your mind. But to senselessly and repeatedly whine like a kid over a franchise while not recognizing that there is such a thing as a "power button"on a television set is absurd. A bigger comfort would be available for movie and literature enthusiasts since all they need to do is leave the movie house or close the book.

But then I already saw my share of 35 year old, 300 pound virgin bums. Yes they do exist. Be Afraid.



Senseless Squabble over material things.

I just never get some collectors. Especially of the elitist kind. Sure, collecting is not bad, its a hobby. A good stress relief and expression of one's personality. Sure it breaks the norm a bit, but there are a ton of collectors nowadays for the hobby to even be considered "deviant" TV shows are constantly featuring them and the public drools upon seeing them. They're not as in demand in events as lets say, cosplayers. But they still hold up on their own with their displays.

But Throw, Fist Fights, Backstabbing, hoarding and death threats into the mix and what do you get? a totally fucked up subculture. I'd probably get it if all the fuzz is about business deals, politics, money, religion and the like. But toys? and for the end result of envying others and taking pleasure of something others do not have? Man these so called elitists need to seriously grow up.

But then again, I'd like to see those fist fights for marvel toys that occasionally happens in front of toy stores. It would be cool to tape it and upload it in youtube.

Hikari Sentai Maskman

80's melodrama doesnt get any more tragic than this:

Guy gets dating partner.
Dating partner turns out to be princess of the underworld.
Enemies capture the princess and freeze her into a block of ice.
Guy wears spandex suit and swears to save her for 50 episodes with his other color coded friends.
50 episodes later, princess finally gets rescued and dumps the guy.

Xmas 08 material wishlist

Konti lang ang hihingin kong materyal na bagay this Xmas. This time around, non material things are more important.

Adidas Originals Boston Celtics Hardwood Classics Banner Warmup Jacket.

Acquiring that rare Philippines jacket heightened my taste buds to the (Adidas originals line, particularly the jackets) Since I cant afford one back in college. And once I saw this in nba.com's store, I want this one as well. Still thinking though which would I order online, its a toss up between kg's swingman alternate jersey or this. But the jersey is currently not available at the online store, and because its Swingman,its partially screen printed. and being screen printed "Kumukupas sya through time pag nilabhan". While on the other hand this one reeks old school.

One thing though, This jacket will get outdated by the time june comes, as there will be 17 banners hanging at the td banknorth garden.

Hydroxycut Hardcore

Getting down from 240 to 180 lbs required a lot of effort, but I got it done anyway. For some reason, It has been hard to get a normal BMI and trim it down to 160-ish. Normal fat burners given my routine and diet helped me trim down around 14-17 lbs a month so Maybe this one could do a little more.

Adidas TS Lightswitch KG Version

I admit, I'm slowly starting to switch sides from the swoosh to the three stripes, particularly , its trefoil variant. Finally after long years of wait, a black-green variant! this is the first time in a long while that this color scheme has been used in a major line unless you count the player exclusives, the custom IDs and those "greenhills tiangge exclusives" (buti pa mga japeks sa greenhills may black/green colorway). Even KG's Lightspeed came in a very bland black and white scheme. I just hope this gets released locally though since all I've seen so far are the lightspeeds.


A very short wishlist as you can see, no gadgets, auto parts and surprisingly, no toys (o sige na nga "Model Kits" kuno). How times have changed. Priorities and Tastes have changed as well.

Hoping for a hotter Xmas this time around.

how geek are you?

53% Geek
53%

Looking for payday loans?
I think I could've scored higher if not for the questions about WESTERN fandoms which I dont give a rat's ass about.

Earn your respect or eat your words.

If there was one thing I'd hate about a person it's those who do a lot of talking but cannot back it up. For me, its all about earning your respect, doing it with accomplishments to back up whatever you're saying. You don't act so big if you haven't proven anything. Its all about earning your respect.

These types of people are everywhere where you look. I've seen quite a number back in high school and college and I've seen A lot online, be it through blogs, message boards or whatever. Though bragging is much easier done online where you can hide behind your computer screen, your username or even your alternick. Whenever you screwed up or failed to back up what you're saying there's a little chance that you'd eat your words because lets face it, In your blog, you are a god. Do, say anything you like shut or delete those who doesn't agree with you. That goes well if you're just an ordinary person hiding behind a username? everyone knows you. I have 2 classmates back in college who bragged of how intelligent they are, yet are the only ones from the batch who still hasn't graduated. You can see the public humiliation on their faces. They're just ordinary people. What more if you're a famous one?

But what if you're a well known personality that hiding in any username won't do?

Last September, Gilbert Arenas Talked about revenge when saying the Celts passed up on him as a rookie. Came down yapping that he'll get his revenge and beat them by a margin. I used to have some respect for agent zero for being an underdog (seeing I have a soft spot for underdogs). After being told that he'll make zero points in his college days and being a 2nd round pick, but that can't be seen now as he transformed into the same people who placed him down in his early career. Arrogant, self knowing and tactless to say the least. Heres a guy who sets up his nba live press con while his team is getting beat up in the playoffs. He now acts like Barkley and a WWE heel combined.

So the result? gilbert ate his words. Their team got beat by 20. Got irked by the crowd all day long and set a new nba record, most 3 point attempts without making a single one. They are now 0-2 in the season.

he is now eating his words. Lesson: dont talk so big if you can't back it up.

new TS

On a Sporty Sunday

First, Like any other pinoy, I went to watch the Pacman-Barerra 2 fight at the Cinemas, it was the first time I got to watched a boxing PPV Live on the cinemas. As the other people told me, the experience was worth it. It was like watching live. There were round girls and even rexona's male cheereaders which has a funny and entertaining performance. The undercard was okay though. The atmosphere was exiting and it's like watching it live.



When Kyla said she would sing the national anthem the traditional way, as a march, I initially thought it was going to be less dramatic and a bit disappointing. But what turned out was exactly the opposite, with all the "kaartehan" removed, the song turned out to be more simple, effective and turned out to be one of the best renditions of lupang hinirang in recent memory.

As for the Fight, It was a good victory for us, But the fight ain't so. Barrera just backed off the whole 12 rounds, so he can prove to everyone that he can last 12 rounds with Manny. So he ran and backed off just to last the whole fight,preserve his legacy and get his paycheck. Sadly, he just "Jobbed" for the money and did not fight to win. And to come out with a dirty blow in the 11th round. Well Erik morales may be knocked out in the 3rd round, but at least he's more of a man than Barrera.


After that, we went into the GameX Convention in Megatrade 3, the convention was a bit small but okay nonetheless. Lots of decent cosplayers and old school videogames as well as previews from the next-gen consoles. The event is head and shoulders above PC and online gaming conventions.

Pics are here




Later at night, I was able to catch the replay of NBA Euro live game between the Celtics and the Raptors. Damn, these Euro live jerseys are sweet. The Italian flag was incorporated into the Celts' jerseys are sweet! That made it look a little christmas-esque, but sweet. They wore their alternate jerseys (the best looking jerseys in the league for me) maybe because the original home and away jerseys were to sacred to be redesigned with. They one 89-85, some of the things I noticed:

The team's supposed "weak spots" at the PG and C position were met up as Rondo and Perk rose up to the occasion. Rondo showed he can handle the pg slot, but would need a good veteran back up at the point at the stretch of the season. Eddie House can handle but hes more of an off guard. Perk is capable of handling the middle, Although Pollard's not here, KG can also switch to 5. And oh yeah speaking of big men, Glen "Big Baby" Davis was a great find. Danny really has talent for finding people in the 2nd round and turning them to all rookie second team potential.

Garnett was everywhere, As expected. Pierce was a bit slow at first but showed why he is the cornerstone of this team.

Tony Allen showed some flashes of explosiveness and flare, but paid dearly for it. He went to dunk in the 3rd and it paid with a lot of pain. Its still going to take time before he goes back at 100%. Hopefully, we get the old Tony back as he is crucial for the Celts, and my fantasy team's run.

Celt's dancers are good but they were sadly outclassed by the Raptor's cheerleaders.

Philippine Inspired Jackets

There is now a part 2 of this feature, click Here.

Note to everyone: Please do not ask me anymore about the availability of the said jackets. They have been sold out a long time ago and another production is highly impossible. If you are really desperate then there are some online sellers which sell them for 2-4 times the original cost in ebay.

Also, If you saw my pics below being used in selling sites such as ebay or sulit, then the seller is using my pics without permission, Also be careful because the adidas philippine jacket has a lot of fakes being sold on the net. The fakes has a white tag with an "adidas performance logo" as opposed to the original one which has a black tag with the "Adidas originals trefoil logo" and usually sold for around 3,000 php.

There will be a part 2 of this article coming very soon. Featuring another batch of RP inspired jackets. Most likely in late 2008.

Finally, After months of waiting I was finally able to grab hold of the Adidas Philippines jacket. It came out about 2 weeks ago. And I got it a few days after its release, thanks to the nice people at Adidas. As of press time only very few stocks are left and most likely is sold out.

Anyways, here's a mini review of the 3 RP Inspired jackets that I got.



Nike Team Pilipinas Jacket

This was the jacket used by Team Pilipinas on their heartbreaking campaign on the Fiba Asia championships. It was deemed as limited edition and within less than a week, got sold out on several outlets. The only ones remaining in stock from this collection were the "believer" shirts and some XXL sized shorts. There are still overpriced ones available on Ebay.

Design is pretty much basic and similar with TP's Royal blue jersey highlighted by white accents and minimal red ones. TP's Flag crest shield is on the right side, the flag shield has been used by The old National teams from the 40's to the 60's when the country was on its glory days. A white swoosh mark on the left side. Simple Pilipinas Basketball serif at the back. Retailed for around 2k.




Adidas Flag Jacket

This is not worn by any national team or used in an international competition since the Flag track top series of Adidas originals was supposed to be a tribute to countries who have a rich tradition of football. Though that sport is not even close to popular in this country, unless you're part of some club or living in Bacolod.

The design is great! it shows the Philippine flag in front with the sun-face probably inspired by the old revolutionary flags. A small Football is seen in the lower right area with the PH sign. At the back, it shows the crest flag with a ball looking like a Sepak takraw/ Sipa which probably pays homage to our national sport. One thing wrong here though is that According to Article RA 8491, Section 10 of the constitution; when the flag is raised vertically the blue should be on the left. This was because Blue, signifying peace should be closer to our hearts. But this one had the red on the left side and blue on the right. I wished the design team researched a little more before deciding on the final design. Fabric is thick and retails for P4.6k and 85$ US




Accel Phils 2005 Team Philippines jacket

This one was worn by the Philippine Contingent in the 2005 sea games where they bagged the overall title for the first time in Seag history. As expected from accel designs, they turn out to be plain and simple. But what's disappointing on this one is that there are no RP flags visible on the design. There is a big Philippines text on the back but the embroidery is not that good. The red blue design on the side looks good. This was the cheapest among the 3 at a little over 1k. Cloth is made of nylon and lightweight material.

2009 UPDATE!
There is now a part 2 of this feature,
Click Here to view the part 2 of this article.
Includes 3 new RP inspired jackets

High and Mighty no more?

Ever since they debuted their single "Pride" caught my attention. My eyes have laid on High and Mighty Color as My Favorite J- Rock Band. Known for their hard rocking songs, a mix of Harajuku and Rock inspired get ups and A cute Rocker Chick , Maki for a lead singer. It was a breath of fresh air for the usual J-rock scene. The Single Pride was followed up by a handful of hits including the Upbeat "OVER", the energetic "dive into yourself", and the popular "Ichirin no Hana" helped HandMC Rise to prominence over the past 2 years. However with the popularity, the band's image started to change as well. Their songs, from being upbeat and hard rock, has now become mellow and sentimental, the band's image changed as well. Their style became a lot more conservative. There's still the attitude, but not like before. Makes me ask if they'll ever come back from their old style and image. Recent music videos showed some signs and hints, hope they do though.

Bakuc 2007

BAKUC (Bandai Action Kits Universal Cup) is the premier Gunpla model kit competition outside of Japan. It started back in 2003 as BAKAC (Bandai Action Kits Asia Cup) Which runs a series of regional competitions in various asian countries and those who have qualified, would participate in Hongkong for the grand finals. Throughout the years, the reprensenting winners have steadily gone down. In 2003, the top 5 winners get to represent their said country and go to hongkong. In 2004 and 2005, only the top 3 would represent their respective countries and only the champion will go to hongkong. By 2006, The name of the tournament was changed To BAKUC because of the inclusion of 2 other european countries, and only the champion would represent his said country (this was due to issues of mishandling when entries are shipped to HK) . By 2007, the US is making its debut via an online competition.

Though the US Site does would be the basis to choose their representative, It also runs other contests for the members outside of the north american region. I'm entered in those categories.

To vote, please Click the banner above this post, after which, scroll down and click at the model entries, and click on the stars (1-10) on the criterias and submit.

As for the Philippine tournament, Deadline for entries is at Oct 27,2007. For more
information visit the bankee site or here

Cynthia Luster

Farrahcat is one of the villains in the 1980s hit sentai show Choudenshi Bioman. She was Farrah's asistant in the neo empire, she was usually seen squaring off with the female members of the bioman. She was played by Yukari Oshima or more popularly known in the Philippines as Cynthia Luster. After Bioman She did a lot of martial arts films in hongkong as well as in the Philippines where she teamed up with actors such as Lito Lapid and Vic Sotto.

Farrahcat figure from Sentai girls in uniform series 3 by Bandai
Camera: Canon Digital IXUS i
Exposure: 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 6.4 mm
Exposure Bias: -2/3 EV

repairs

Finally had my camera and ps2 back. Both of them got broken a few weeks back. On the way to HK, I mistakenly placed the camera into the check in luggage and It had a lens error when using the zoom into custom or normal mode. As soon as we came back home, I sent it to the service center for repairs, Waited for about a week and claimed it. The people at the service center didnt even charge for the repairs.

As for the Ps2, It was unable to read the games but was able to read the movies, had it repaired turns out the problem was onto the adjustment of the lens. I thought it was going to be the lens or mod chip damage, good thing it was neither one or the other. Finally, I'm exited to play ACE 3 and SRW Original Generations.

Best Nights

Tagged by Aion.

Rule: Name five of the Best Nights of your Life and then tag four people.

Sept 5 1984 - bday.

Feb 20something 1986 - going to crame to be a part of the edsa revolution was just a little kid back then, didn't remember much.

April 2000 - Spent the night in the subway/ bus terminal area of new york, since we came of a bus trip from washington and it was very early in the morning (around 2am), You can see so many homeless black people in the streets. And very discriminating white ones as well.

Feb 2006 -Watched Wrestling Live after 11 years of waiting.

Mar 2007 - Overnight at Abscbn pagkatapos kaming umagahin.

Wishlist

Funny that every Christmas time, I usually create of what I wanted to have for Christmas wishlist to hopelessly assume that someone would give them as a present. As it obviously turns out, I end up buying all of it myself. Well in a matter of Hours I’ll turn 23, Might as well do something different for a change and do it a bit earlier.


Here’s my wishlist of uber wallet unfriendly material goodies in no particular order.


1. Adidas Originals Philippines Jacket - Everyone's looking for this as well. as I mentioned in my earlier blog post, this one's a keeper since Philippine inspired items are rare.

Damage: $85



2. MG 1:100 Strike Noir Gundam – Big bad evil looking black robot with devilish wings. Well Actually I’ve already ordered this online a few months back. But it sealed a tragic fate as it was a casualty on a fire at the manila warehouse of customs. Good thing that I haven’t payed for it before it happened.

Damage: 2.1k on Online Acquisition, 2.3k on Greenhills and 3.5k on malls.



3. Canon EOS 400D - It's really my dream to get one of these. I mean I love my S3IS but want to get a better, more professional camera.

Damage: 37k for sole camera, 45k for kit



4. Kevin Garnett Celtics Alternate Jersey – Preferably Authentic or swingman. But since they would be scarce here, even a replica would do, wag lang fake. I don’t think adidas ever released alternate jerseys locally, so most likely online na to available.

Damage: $44.95 for Replica, $79.95 for swingman and $120 for authentic.



5. Smoked Tail lights for mazda 3. – I’m not really big into updating and giving custom parts for cars. For me, I just use the car to get to one place onto another. But if there was one thing that I’d like to change to my car, it has to be those tail lights. Bright red tail lights on a blue car just doesn’t fit. And yes, It doesn’t need to be like the led effects one pictured above. Any smoked tail lights would definitely do.

Damage: Around 6-8k sa labas, around 15k sa kasa.



6. Nike Air Zoom Flight Five – I have this habit of waiting for a sale before buying a pair of shoes. Usually a year after they were originally released. While It was successful on some acquisitions (Fila GH3, Jordan 13, Lebron2) of which had me acquired for a much lower price. But there are times in which when I waited too long for a sale, there are no more sizes left. Case in point is this shoe 10 years ago. From 5,600 php, I waited till it became 3,500 then there's no available size anymore. It is available now on nike ID.com so anyone can customize it. I'd prefer one in a black/green colorway.

Damage: $150 sa NikeId.com



7. John Cena Top Dawg T shirt - Love him or hate him, he's still my fave wrestler. After the marine inspired shirts, he's back to the hustle, loyalty respect motto. A top dog image is in the back.

Damage: $25 sa wwe.com, might be 300php if they produce it locally, but they dont produce locally anymore.

hongkongan

Guess what, its hongkong trip time once again. The time where I spend my savings for months on and stock on clothing, gunpla and lots of reading material. Still, mongkok is truly the place to be especially for a cheapo othaku like me. I did get to take a lot of pictures but its a lot harder now, since my Canon S3IS's zoom lens started acting like crazy, it wasnt good as I wanted them to be. Come to think of it, my ps2 needs to be repaired to. Still a lot of games to be played before shifting to ps3.

Anyways, here are some pics.



Seems like keroro gunsou is big in HK, as in most of the other asian countries. There's the keroro platoon everywhere, from posters to fashion magazines, techie gadgets, mobile phones, mooncakes, to toothpaste and even some clothing stores display keroro in the entrance of their stores. I like this show as well, It really cracks me up. Too bad Channel 2 cancelled it in their program block.



This is one of the 3 pandas that were lent by the chinese government to hongkong's ocean park. I've never seen actual pandas before this. They really look cute on personal.

Also it seems like a lot of the peeps there are very much into street fashion as well. You can see a mixture of fob and japanese style fashion as sported by the locals.

Living the fantasy

Last month's Storms caused numerous days of boredom. And which, resulted into living a fantasy of a frustrated sports fan.

With a Drive against kobe, F-U against edge and a Slobber knocker against morales made the storm seem dead.

Supernatural

It’s Kobe’s Bday today (well technically yesterday because its already past 12 midnight). And he’s coming back in the country on my bday .

Yes guys, you heard it right, nike is bringing back an nba superstar to the country. And unlike Vince Carter and Paul Pierce, They wont place them to visit some school while the rest of the public would just have to watch the news or read the papers a day after. Kobe will be in megamall (I thought it would be at moa). While it would be sort of ironic for a celts fan to talk about our anti hero, but what the heck.

Kobe and AI both came nearly a decade ago. It was August of 1998. Before they were fighting over the 2001 finals, the media here already created a sort of rivalry of who had the better tour. It’s Adidas versus Reebok. Quite ironic that they’re both under the same ownership now. The 2 came a year later after shaq’s and grant hill’s promotional tours. Iverson came first, the media was prevented from asking questions such as Kobe Bryant coming 4 days later and shaq being cut as a reebok endorser. But he did came to megamall with Jerry Cordinera and waived at the fans. No games or exhibitions though, and went to cuneta astrodome to shake hands with Tim Cone and Lanont Strothers in game 4 of the 1998 commisioners. Kobe on the Other hand arrived and greeted by the then bb pilipinas candidates. Went to megamall to play a pick up 3 on 3 game with Bong Ravena and Bal David against Alvin Teng, Rommel Adducul and Vic Pablo. After which, he went to Araneta not just to wave to the crowd, but to have a slam dunk exhibition at the halftime of the game 6 of the finals. One of the dunks was the same Vinsanity did 4 years later. The next few days, he came into play with the participants of the streetball challenge finals, met with then President Estrada, went to nayong Pilipino and played against some kids in an orphanage before going back to the US. It is evident that kobe won this one.

Say all you can say about kobe, all the troubles, scandals and negative news. But one thing is clear, the impression he made when he came here was tremendous, It’s a rarity to even see one staying for 4 days, entertaining the crowd and doing a favor to the less fortunate as well.

Now that he’s a full pledged superstar, would he still do the same things?

Lets find out.

A.C.E. 3 The final

I've been a VERY big fan of the A.C.E. Series (Another Century's Episode) its so rare to find a game that covers several mecha series and not be turn based or a strategy game nonetheless. That is why I'm very exited that ACE 3 would finally be out in a matter of months. The mecha series included is pretty promising (Seed, Macross, Wing, Nadesico) as well as the additions (Shin Getter, Turn A, Overman, Eureka 7) and like the previous games, have a stunning cg opening sequence that can put even a hollywood film to shame.

Touchdown!

Yesterday night as the rain starts to pour down, After a full day’s of work, I went into my room to rest and watch some television. And with no particular television show to watch unto, I began channel surfing, of which a local channel has something interesting to show, yes it’s the super bowl. However, it was the super bowl 39, which occurred 2 years ago. It featured the Patriots against the Eagles. Being a celtic fan, I’ve read a lot regarding the “other” sports teams of boston’s successes ( like the red sox and the patriots) so I decided to watch the game. As I watched the game, It reminded me an old desire of playing the sport.

About a decade ago, nfl games were shown in IBC/Vtv 13. I used to watch some of those games. After spending the summer vacation in southern california prior to that schoolyear, I was exposed to their major US sports, the nba, nfl, mlb and nhl. This exposure made me more interested to watch their telecast. And that interest led to a desire, back then I really wanted to play this game. As a grade schooler in an all boys elementary school, we’ve already tried a lot of sports on our physical education classes. Basketball, Volleyball, Ping pong, Baseball, Kickball, Badminton, Soccer and the native games. And yes, I was sucky to fairly decent at the most for these sports. But I thought I had the potential to be good in football for a change. So by the time our PE Teacher told us that we were supposed to play football, I though it was the finally real deal. But was disappointed when it turned out to be soccer (I didn’t know any better back then, I was in grade school). I asked our PE Teacher, why still play soccer, as we’ve already took that sport on our previous years (grade 3 and 4) and try “Football” instead. He said go play it yourself. With a facial expression that sees the sport as something that’s gruesome or violent.

Or maybe he’s scared that I’d injure everyone else on the class.

Bandila

I saw these jackets online for quite some time now. They look really good, Problem is, they got sold out fast online. Good thing I saw in the papers that it is going to be released locally. Cant wait for these. Its really a good thing to see these sporting companies release mechandise that are related to the country. First nike (though team pinas lost and the AF1s arent even released locally) and now adidas (accel doesnt count because they're already the official outfitters, but thanks to them nonetheless).

This is the men's jacket with the tri color, and has the 3 stars and a sun. The sun looks freaky but shows a lot of vintage inspirations.

and this I think, is the women's version. Toned down.

d'oh

Turn yourself into a simpsons character with this simpsons avatar creator at www.simpsonsmovie.com/ . My Avatar is photoshopped a bit for obvious reasons.

The Pride is Back

(originally posted on Aug 1, 2007)

I was really exited about this one that I forgot TP's Dissapointing performance in fiba asia championships (But I still believe). Yes we're contenders again. Expect a lot of bandwagoners to join team green. But IMO it came with a very high price, the team's entire future. Jefferson, Green, Telfair, the 1st round pick and Ratliff were already enough. The other draft pick, gomes and cash considerations were just too much. But still Better do It now while PP and ray are on their prime than wait for the youngsters to grow. But whatever happens, the celtic pride is back!

Makes you think if this was mc hale's greatest performance as a celtic.

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